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diff --git a/old/13634-8.txt b/old/13634-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d119f83 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13634-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9697 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Continental Monthly, Vol. I. February, +1862, No. II., by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Continental Monthly, Vol. I. February, 1862, No. II. + Devoted To Literature And National Policy + +Author: Various + +Release Date: October 5, 2004 [EBook #13634] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTINENTAL MONTHLY, VOL. I. *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci, the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team, and Cornell University + + + + + + + + + + + +THE + +CONTINENTAL MONTHLY: + + +DEVOTED TO + +LITERATURE AND NATIONAL POLICY. + + + * * * * * + +VOL. I.--FEBRUARY, 1862.--NO. II. + + * * * * * + +OUR WAR AND OUR WANT. + + +Can this great republic of our forefathers exist with slavery in it? + +Whether we like or dislike the question, it must be answered. As the war +stands, we have gone too far to retreat. It clamors for a brave and +manly solution. Let us see if we can, laying aside all prejudices, all +dislikes whatever, discover an honest course, simply with a view to +preserve the Union and insure its future prosperity. Let us avoid all +foregone conclusions, all extraneous issues, adhering strictly to the +one great need of the hour--how to conquer the foe, reëstablish the +Union, and do this in a manner most consonant with our future national +prosperity. + +It is manifest enough that in a continent destined at no distant day to +contain its hundred millions, the question whether these shall form one +great nation or a collection of smaller states is one of fearful +importance. He who belongs to a _great_ nation is thereby great of +himself. He has the right to be proud, and will work out his life more +proudly and vigorously and freely than the dweller in a corner-country. +Do those men ever _reflect_, who talk so glibly of this government as +too large, and as one which must inevitably be sundered, to what a +degradation they calmly look forward! No; Union,--come what may,--now +and ever. Greatness is to every brave man a _necessity_. Out on the +craven and base-hearted who aspire to being less than the co-rulers of a +continent. See how vile and mean are those men who in the South have +lost all national pride in a small-minded provincial attachment to a +State, who love their local county better still, and concentrate their +real political interests in the feudal government of a plantation. Shall +_we_ be as such,--_we_, the men who hold the destinies of a hemisphere +within our grasp? Never,--God help us,--_never!_ + +On the basis of free labor we are pressing onward over the mighty West. +Two great questions now require grappling with. The one is, whether +slavery shall henceforth be tolerated; the other, whether we shall +strengthen this great government of the Union so as to preserve it in +future from the criminal intrigues of would-be seceding, ambitious men +of no principle. Now is the time to decide. + +We must not be blind to a great opportunity which may be lost, of +forever quelling a foul nuisance which would, if neglected _now_, live +forever. Do we not see, feel, and understand what sort of _white men_ +are developed by slavery, and do we intend to keep up such a race among +us? _Do we want all this work to do over again_ every ten or five years +or all the time? For a quarter of a century, slavery and nothing else +has kept us in a growing fever, and now that it has reached a crisis the +question is whether we shall calm down the patient with cool rose-water. +In the crisis comes a physician who knows the constitution of his +patient, and proposes searching remedies and a thorough cure,--and, lo! +the old nurse cries out that he is interfering and acting unwisely, +though he is quite as willing to adopt her cooling present solace as +she. + +If we had walked over the war-course last spring without opposition,--if +we had conquered the South, would we have put an end to this trouble? +Does any one believe that we would? This is not now a question of the +right to hold slaves, or the wrong of so doing. All of that old +abolition jargon went out and died with the present aspect of the war. +So far as nine-tenths of the North ever cared, or do now care, slaves +might have hoed away down in Dixie, until supplanted, as they have been +in the North, by the irrepressible advance of manufactures and small +farms, or by free labor. 'Keep your slaves and hold your tongues,' was, +and would be now, our utterance. But they would not hold their tongues. +It was 'rule or ruin' with them. And if, as it seems, a man can not hold +slaves without being arrogant and unjust to others, we must take his +slaves away. + +And why is not this the proper time to urge emancipation? Divested of +all deceitful and evasive turns, the question reduces itself to +this,--are we to definitely conquer the enemy once and for all, the +great enemy Oligarchy, by taking out its very heart? or are we to keep +up this strife with slaveholders forever? It is a great and hard thing +to do, this crushing the difficulty, but we must either do it or be done +for. In a few months 'the tax-gatherer will be around.' If anybody has +read the report of the Secretary of the Treasury without a grave +sensation, he is very fortunate. How would such reports please us +annually for many years? So long as there exists in the Union a body of +men disowning allegiance to it, puffed up in pride, loathing and +scorning the name of free labor, especially as the ally of capital, just +so long will the tax-gatherer be around,--and with a larger bill than +ever. + +To such an extent is this arrogance carried of urging utter silence at +present on the subject of slavery, that one might almost question +whether the right of free speech or thought is to be left at all, save +to those who have determined on a certain course of conduct. When it is +remembered that those who wish to definitely conclude this great +national trouble are in the great majority, we stand amazed at the +presumption which forbids them to utter a word. One may almost distrust +his senses to hear it so brazenly urged that because he happens to think +that our fighting and victories may go hand in hand with a measure which +is to prevent future war, he is 'opposed to the Administration,' is 'a +selfish traitor thinking of nothing but the Nigger,' and altogether a +stumbling-block and an untimely meddler. If he protest that he cares no +more for the welfare of the Negro than for that of the man in the moon, +he is still reviled as an 'abolitionist.' If he insist that emancipation +will end the war, his 'conservative' foe becomes pathetic over his +indifference as to what is to become of the four millions of 'poor +blacks.' And, in short, when he urges the great question whether this +country is to tolerate slavery or no, he is met with trivial fribbling +side-issues, every one of which _should_ vanish like foam before the +determined will and onward march of a great, _free_ people. + +Now let every friend of the Union boldly assume that _so far as the +settlement of this question is concerned he_ does not care one straw for +the Negro. Leave the Negro out altogether. Let him sink or swim, so far +as this difficulty goes. Men have tried for thirty years to appeal to +humanity, without success, for the Negro, and now let us try some other +expedient. Let us regard him not as a man and a brother, but as 'a +miserable nigger,' if you please, and a nuisance. But whatever he be, if +the effect of owning such creatures is to make the owner an intolerable +fellow, seditious and insolent, it becomes pretty clear that such +ownership should be put an end to. If Mr. Smith can not have a horse +without riding over his neighbor, it is quite time that Smith were +unhorsed, no matter how honestly he may have acquired the animal. And if +the Smiths, father and sons, threaten to keep their horse in spite of +law,--nay, and breed up a race of horses from him, whereon to roughride +everybody who goes afoot,--then it becomes still more imperative that +the Smith family cease cavaliering it altogether. + +There is yet another point which the stanch Union-lover must keep in +view. In pushing on the war with heart and soul, we inevitably render +slaveholding at any rate a most precarious institution, and one likely +to be broken up altogether. Seeing this, many unreflectingly ask, 'Why +then meddle with it?' But it _must_ be considered in some way, and +provided for as the war advances, or we shall find ourselves in such an +imbroglio as history never saw the like of. He who cuts down a tree must +take forethought how it may fall, or he will perchance find himself +crushed. He who in a tremendous conflagration would blow up a block of +houses with powder, must, even amid the riot and roar, so manage the +explosion that lives be not wantonly lost. We must clear the chips away +as our work advances. The matter in hand is the war--if you choose, +nothing but the war. But pushing on singly and simply at _the war_ +implies _some_ wisdom and a certain regard to the future and to +consequences. The mere abolitionist of the old school, who regards the +Constitution as a league with death and a covenant with hell, may, if he +pleases, see in the war only an opportunity to wreak vengeance on the +South and free the black. But the 'emancipationist' sees this in a very +different light. He sees that we are _not_ fighting for the Negro, or +out of hatred to anybody. He knows that we are fighting to restore the +Union, and that this is the first great thought, to be carried out at +_all_ hazards. But he feels that this carrying out involves some action +at the same time on the great trouble which first caused the war, and +which, if neglected, will prolong the war forever. He feels that the +future of the greatest republic in existence depends on settling this +question now and forever, and that if it be left to the chances of war +to settle itself, there is imminent danger that even a victory may not +prevent a disrupture of the Union. For, disguise it as we may, there is +a vast and uncontrollable body at the North who hate slavery, and pity +the black, and these men will not be silent or inactive. Did the +election of Abraham Lincoln involve nothing of this? We know that it +did. Will this 'extreme left,' this radical party, keep quiet and do +nothing? Why they are the most fiercely active men on our continent. Let +him who would prevent this battle degenerating into a furious strife +between radical abolition and its opponents weigh this matter well. +There are fearful elements at work, which may be neutralized, if we who +fight for the _Union_ will be wise betimes, and remove the bone of +contention. + +Above all, let every man bear in mind that, even as the war stands, +something _must_ be done to regulate and settle the Negro question. +After what has been already effected in the border States and South +Carolina, it would be impossible to leave the Negro and his owner in +such an undefined relation as now exists. And yet this very fact--one of +the strongest which can be alleged to prove the necessity of legislation +and order--is cited to prove that the matter will settle itself. Take, +for instance, the following from the correspondence of a daily +cotemporary:-- + + + THE ARMY SPOILING THE SLAVES.--Whatever may be the policy of the + government in regard to the status of the slaves, one thing is + certain, that wherever our army goes, it will most effectually + spoil all the slaves and render them worthless to their masters. + This will be the necessary result, and we think it perfectly + useless to disturb the administration and distract the minds of the + people with the everlasting discussion of this topic. Soon our army + will be in Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana, and the soldiers will + carry with their successful arms an element of liberty that will + infuse itself into every slave in those States. The only hope for + the South, if, indeed, it has not passed away, is to throw down + their arms and submit unconditionally to the government. + +That is to say, we are to free the slave, only we must not say so! +Rather than take a bold, manly stand, avow what we are actually doing, +and adopt a measure which would at once conciliate and harmonize the +whole North, we are to suffer a tremendous disorder to spring up and +make mischief without end! Can we never get over this silly dread of +worn-out political abuse and grapple fairly with the truth? Are we +really so much afraid of being falsely called abolitionists and +negro-lovers that we can not act and think like _men!_ Here we are +frightened at _names_, dilly-dallying and quarreling over idle words, +when a tremendous crisis calls for acts. But this can not last forever. +Something must be done right speedily for the myriad of blacks whom we +shall soon have on our hands. Barracooning contrabands by thousands may +do for the present, but how as to the morrow? Let it be repeated again +and again, that they who argue against touching the Negro question _at +present_ are putting off from day to day an evil which becomes terrible +as it is delayed. It can _not_ be let alone. Already those in power at +Washington are terrified at its extent, but fear to act, owing to +'abolition,' while all the time the foul old political ties and +intrigues are gathering closely about. Let us cut the knot betimes, act +bravely and manfully, and settle the difficulty ere it settles us. +Something must be done, and that right early. + +But what is to become of the freed blacks? Again and again does this +preposterous bugbear rise up to prove, by the terror which it excites, +the vast ignorance of the subject which prevails in this country, and +the small amount of deliberate reasoning generally bestowed on matters +of the most vital importance. Reader, if you would answer it, go to +facts. You have probably all your life accepted as true the statement +that the black when free promptly becomes an idle, worthless vagabond. +You have believed that a _majority_ of the free blacks in the North are +good for nothing. Now I tell you calmly and deliberately, and +challenging inquiry, that _this is not true_. Admitting that about +one-fifth of them are so, you have but a weak argument. As for the +forlorn, unacclimated exiles in Canada, where there is no demand for the +labor which they are peculiarly fit to render, they are not a case in +point. The black servants, cooks, barbers, white-washers, carpet-beaters +and grooms of Baltimore and Philadelphia, which form the four-fifths +majority of free blacks in those cities, are not idle vagabonds. Above +all, reader, I beg of you to read the dispassionate and calmly written +_Cotton Kingdom_ of Frederick Law Olmstead, recently published by Mason +Brothers, of New York. You will there find the fact set forth by closest +observation that the negroes in part are indeed lazy vagabonds, but that +the majority, when allowed to work for themselves, and when free, _do_ +work, and that right steadily. In the Virginia tobacco factories slaves +can earn on an average as much money for themselves, in the 'over hours' +allowed them, as the manufacturer pays their owner for their services +during the day. There are cases in which slaves, hired for one hundred +dollars a year, have made for themselves three hundred.[A] + +[Footnote A: 'If the slaves be emancipated, what with their own natural +ability and such aids and appliances as the government and 20,000,000 of +people in the North can furnish, I do not believe but that they will get +employment, and pay, and, of course, subsistence.'--HON. GEORGE S. +BOUTWELL.] + +But the vagabond surplus,--the minority? Is it possible that with Union +or disunion before us we can hesitate as to taking on this incumbrance? +In a hard-working land vagabonds must die off,--'tis a hard case, but +the emergency for the white men of this and a coming age is much harder. +After all, there are only some fifteen hundred or two thousand lazy free +negroes in New York city,--the climate, we are told, is too severe for +them,--and this among well-nigh a million of inhabitants. We think it +would be possible to find one single alderman in that city who has +wasted as much capital, and injured the commonwealth quite as much, in +one year, as all the negroes there put together, during the same time. +It would be absurd to imagine that the emancipation of every negro in +America to-morrow would add one million idlers and vagabonds to our +population. _But what if it did?_ Would their destiny or injury to us be +of such tremendous importance that we need for it peril our welfare as a +nation? The standing armies of Germany absorb about one-fifth of the +entire capital of the land. Better one million of negative negroes than +a million of positive soldiers! + +There was never yet in history a time when such a glorious future +offered itself to a nation as that which is now within our grasp. In its +greatness and splendor it is beyond all description. The great problem +of Republicanism--the question of human progress--has reached its last +trial. If we keep this mighty nation one and inseparable, we shall have +answered it forever; if not, why then those who revile man as vile and +irreclaimably degraded may raise their pæans of triumph; the black +spectres of antique tyrants may clap their hands gleefully in the land +of accursed shadows, and hell hold high carnival, for, verily, it would +seem as if they had triumphed, and that hope were a lie. + +But who are they who dare accuse us of wishing to weaken the +administration and impede its course? Bring the question to light! If +there be one thing more than another which those who demand emancipation +desire, it is that the central government should be _strengthened_--aye, +strengthened as it has never been before; so that, in future, there can +be no return of secession. We have never been a republic--only an +aggregate of smaller republics. If we _had_ been one, the first movement +toward disunion would have hurled the traitors urging it to the dust. +Aye, strengthen the government; and let its first manifestation of +strength and will be the settling of the negro question. Give the +administration as full power as you please--the more the better; it is +only conferring strength on the people. There is no danger that the men +of the North will ever lose a shadow of individual rights. They are too +powerful. + +And now let the freemen of America speak, and the work will be done. A +great day is at hand; hasten it. The hour which sees this Union +re-united will witness the most glorious triumph of humanity,--the +greatest step towards realizing the social aim of Christianity, and of +Him who died for all,--the recognition of the rights of every one. +Onward! + + * * * * * + +BROWN'S LECTURE TOUR. + + +I.--HOW HE CAME TO DO IT. + +My last speculation had proved a failure. I was left with a stock of +fifty impracticable washing-machines on my hands, and a cash capital of +forty-four cents. With the furniture of my room, these constituted my +total assets. I had an unsettled account of forty dollars with Messrs. +Roller & Ems, printers, for washing-machine circulars, cards, etc.; +and-- + +Rap, rap, rap! + +[_Enter boy_.] + +'Mr. Peck says as how you'll please call around to his office and settle +up this afternoon, sure.' + +[_Exit boy_.] + + _New York, Nov. 30, 1859_. + + Mr. GREEN D. BROWN, + + _TO_ JOHN PECK, _Dr_. + + _To Rent of Room to date_ $9 00 + + _Rec'd Pay't_, + +I came to the emphatic conclusion that I was 'hard up.' + +I kept bachelor's hall in Franklin Street, in apartments not altogether +sumptuous, yet sufficiently so for my purposes,--to wit, to sit in and +to sleep in; and inasmuch as I took my meals amid the gilded splendors +of the big saloon on the corner of Broadway, I was not disposed to +reproach myself with squalor. Yet the articles of furniture in my room +were so far removed, separately or in the aggregate, from anything like +the superfluous, that when I calmly deliberated what to part with, there +was nothing which struck me as a luxury or a comfort as distinct from a +necessary of life. I took a second mental inventory: two common chairs, +a table, a mirror, a rocking-chair, a bed, a lounge, and a single +picture on the wall. + +I declare, thought I, here's nothing to spare. + +But things were getting to a crisis. I must 'make a raise,' somehow. +Borrow? Ah, certainly--where was the benevolent moneyed individual? My +credit had gone with my cash; both were sunk in the washing-machines. + +I lighted my pipe, and surveyed my household goods once more. + +There was the picture: couldn't I do without that? + +Possibly. But that picture I had had--let me see--fifteen, yes, sixteen +years. That picture was a third prize for excellence in declamation, +presented me at the school exhibition in ---- Street, when I was twelve +years old. That was in 1843, and here, on the first of December, 1859, I +sat deliberately meditating its sale for paltry bread and butter! + +No, no; I'd go hungry a little longer, before I'd part with that old +relic--remembrancer of the proudest day of my life. What a pity I hadn't +permitted that day to give a direction to my life, instead of turning my +attention to the paltry expedients for money-making followed by the +common herd! I might have been an accomplished orator by this time, +capable of drawing crowds and pocketing a thousand a month, or so. But +my tastes had run in other channels since the day when I took that +prize. + +Still, when I thought of it deliberately, I made bold to believe there +was that yet in me which could meet the expectant eyes of audiences nor +quail before them. + +A thought struck me! Was not here an 'opening' for an enterprising young +man? Was not the lecture-season at hand? Did not lecturers get from ten +to two hundred dollars per night? Couldn't I talk off a lecture with the +best of them, perhaps? Well, perhaps I could, and perhaps not, but if I +wouldn't try it on, I hoped I might be blessed--that--was all. + +I thought proper, after having reached this conclusion, to calculate my +wealth in the way of preliminary requisites to success. By preliminary +requisites to success, I mean those which lead to the securing of +invitations to lecture. I flattered myself that all matters consequent +to this point in my career would very readily turn themselves to my +advantage. The preliminary requisites were as follows:-- + +1. _Notoriety_. I could boast of nothing in this line. I had no +reputation whatever. I had never written a line for publication. + +When I had satisfied myself that I lacked this grand requisite, I turned +my attention to the subject again only to find that No. 1 was quite +alone in its glory. It was the Alpha and Omega of the preliminary +requisites. I should never be able to get a solitary invitation. + +Here I was for a moment disheartened; but, persevering in my +newly-assumed part of literary philosopher, I proceeded to the +consideration of the consequent requisites:-- + +1. _Literary ability_. To say the truth, my literary abilities had +hitherto been kept in the background. I was glad they were now going to +come forward. For present purposes, it was sufficient that the Astor +Library was handy, and that I could string words together respectably. + +2. _Oratorical ability_. As already indicated, I was conscious of no +mean alloy of the Demosthenic gold tempering the baser metal of my +general composition. My voice was deep and strong. + +3. _Facial brass_. I felt brazen enough to set up a bell-foundery on my +personal curve. My cheeks were of that metalline description that never +knew a blush, before an audience of one or many. + +4. _Personal appearance_. I consulted my mirror on that point. It showed +me a young man of only twenty-eight, and tall and shapely proportions; a +well-dressed young man, with light-colored hair, prominent nose, and +heavy red beard and moustache. I twisted the latter institution +undecidedly, and ventured the belief that by shaving myself clean and +bridging my nose with a pair of black-bowed spectacles I could pass +muster. + +The result total was satisfactory. I resolved to disregard the +preliminary respecting invitations, and to make a modest effort of my +own to secure an audience, by going into the country, and advertising +myself in proper form. I commenced the work of writing a lecture +forthwith; and in a few days I had ready what I deemed a rather superior +production. + + +II.--HOW HE PROCEEDED TO DO IT. + +I gave up my lodgings in town, sold all my salable possessions, settled +up with my landlord, paid my printers in the usual way (i.e., with +promises), and, supplied with a satchel-full of hand-bills (from a rival +establishment), started for the country. My ticket was for Sidon--a +place I knew nothing whatever about; the only circumstance of a positive +character connected with it was, that it was the farthest point from New +York which I could reach by the Rattle and Smash Railroad for the net +amount of funds in my pocket. I stepped into the streets of Sidon with a +light heart, and looked out on the scene of my contemplated triumph. I +made up my mind at once that if ancient Sidon was no more of a place +than modern Sidon, it couldn't lay claim to being much of a town. The +houses, including shops and stores, would not exceed one hundred. I +walked to the tavern, and delivered my satchel to the custody of a +rough-looking animal, whom I subsequently found to be landlord, hostler, +bar-tender, table-waiter, and general manager-at-all-work. He was a very +uninviting subject; but, being myself courteously inclined, and having +also a brisk eye to business, I inquired if there was a public hall or +lecture-room in the place. + +'I've got a dance-hall up-stairs. Be you a showman?' + +I said I was a lecturer by profession, and asked if churches were ever +used for such purposes in Sidon. + +'Never heard of any. 'Ain't got no church. Be you goin' to lecter?' + +I replied that I thought some of it, and inquired if it was common to +use his hall for lectures. + +'Wal, Sidon ain't much of a place for shows anyhow. When they is any, I +git 'em in, if they ain't got no tent o' their own.' + +I would look at the hall. + +We went up a rickety stairway, into a dingy room. The plaster had fallen +from the ceiling in several places, and the room had a mouldy smell. +There was a platform at one end, where the musicians sat when saltatory +_fêtes_ were held, and on this I mounted to 'take a view.' I didn't feel +called upon to admire the hall in audible terms; but as I stood there an +inspiring scene arose before my mental vision--a scene of up-turned +faces, each representing the sum of fifteen cents, that being the +regular swindle for getting into shows round here, the landlord said. I +struck a bargain for the hall, at once--a bargain by which I was to have +it for two dollars if I didn't do very well, or five dollars if I had a +regular big crowd; bill-stickers and doorkeeper included, free. + +In the evening, I went to the village post-office, which was merely a +corner of the village store, and inquired if there was a letter there +for Professor Green D. Brown. I knew very well there was not, of course, +but I had the not unexpected pleasure of seeing the postmaster's eyes +dilate inquiringly, so that I felt called upon to say:-- + +'I am a stranger, sir, in Sidon, at present, but I hope to enjoy the +honor of making the acquaintance of a large number of your intelligent +citizens during my brief stay with you. I propose lecturing in this +village to-morrow evening, on a historical, or perhaps I should say +biographical, subject.' + +The postmaster, who appeared like an intelligent gentleman, said he was +glad to see me, and glad to hear I was going to lecture; and he shook +hands with me cordially. The store contained about half the adult +population of the village, lounging about the warm stove, talking and +dozing; and the postmaster introduced me to Squire Johnson, and Dr. +Tomson, and Mr. Dickson, and Mr. Dobson and Mr. Potkins, who, five, +constituted the upper ten of Sidon. With these gentlemen I held a very +entertaining conversation, during which I remember I was struck with the +extreme deference paid to my opinion, and the extreme contempt +manifested for the opinions of each other. They all agreed, however, +that my visit would be likely to prove of the greatest importance to +Sidon in a literary and educational point of view. + +I returned to the hotel, and retired with heart elate. + +In the morning, it was with emotions of a peculiarly pleasurable nature +that I observed, profusely plastered on posts and fences, the +announcement, in goodly capitals:-- + + LECTURE!! + + * * * * * + + PROF. G.D. BROWN, + + OF NEW YORK CITY, + + WILL LECTURE THIS EVENING, DECEMBER 14, + + IN JONES'S HALL, SIDON, + + AT 7 O'CLOCK. + + * * * * * + + SUBJECT: 'EURIPIDES, THE ATHENIAN POET.' + + * * * * * + + ADMISSION 15 CENTS. DOORS OPEN AT 6 O'CLOCK. + +The critical reader may experience a desire to propound to me a +question:--'Professor of what?' + +Now I profess honesty, as an abstract principle--being, perhaps the +conscientious reader will think, more of a professor than a practicer +herein. But the truth is, in the present mendicant state of the word +'Professor,' I conceived I had a perfect right and title to it, by +virtue of my poverty, and so appropriated it for the behoof and +advantage of Number One. Which explanation, it is hoped, will do. + +Friday passed in cultivating still farther the acquaintance of the +previous evening, and receiving the most cordial assurances of interest +on their part in my visit and its object. I was candidly (and I thought +kindly) informed by my good friends, not to get my expectations too +high, as a very large house could scarcely, they feared, be expected; +but I deemed an audience of even no more than fifty or seventy-five a +fair beginning,--a very fair beginning,--and had no fears. + +I retired to my room at five o'clock, and remained locked in, with my +lecture before me, oblivious of all external affairs, until a few +minutes past seven, when I concluded my audience had gathered. I then +smoothed my hair, adjusted my spectacles, took my MS. in my hand, and +proceeded to the lecture-room. The doorkeeper was fast asleep, and the +long wicks of the tallow candles were flaring wildly and dimly on a +scene of emptiness. Not an auditor was present! + +I descended to the bar-room. It was full of loungers, smoking, dozing, +and drinking. Without entering, I hastened across the way to the +post-office. There was the courteous postmaster, engaged in a sleepy +talk with Squire Johnson and Dr. Tomson and Mr. Dickson and Mr. Dobson +and Mr. Potkins, who sat precisely as they sat the evening previous. + +I returned to the hotel and called out the landlord. + +'There's no audience, I perceive,' said I. + +'Wal, I didn't cal'late much of anybody'd go in. They gen'ally go over +to Tyre when they want shows. Tyre's quite a town. You'd do better over +thar; 's on'y seven mile over to Tyre.' + +I explained my position to the landlord at once, and threw myself on his +mercy. I told him I had no money, but would walk over to Tyre that very +evening, rather than task his hospitality longer. After making a little +money in Tyre, I would return to Sidon and settle his little bill. To +which the generous-hearted fellow responded,-- + +'Yas, I think likely; but ye see I'm _some_ on gettin' my pay outen +these show chaps that go round. I reckon that thar satchel o' yourn's +got the wuth o' my bill in it. I'll hold on to it till ye git back, ye +know.' + +Remonstrance was in vain. I found that my sharp landlord had entered my +room while I was looking in at the post-office door, and had taken my +carpet-bag, with everything I had, even my overcoat, and stowed all in a +cupboard under the bar, under lock and key. He would not so much as +allow me a clean shirt; and I started for Tyre, wishing from the bottom +of my heart that the inhuman landlord might engage in a washing-machine +speculation, and involve with himself Mr. Potkins and Mr. Dobson and Mr. +Dickson and Dr. Tomson and Squire Johnson. + +I reached Tyre at ten o'clock, and found that I had not been deceived +respecting its size. It was quite a large Tillage, with well laid out +streets, handsome residences, two large hotels, and three or four +churches. I took this inventory of the principal objects in Tyre with +considerable more anxiety than I had ever supposed it possible for me to +entertain concerning any country town in Christendom. I was interested +in the prosperity of Tyre. I sincerely hoped that the hard times had not +entered its quiet and beautiful streets. The streets certainly were both +quiet and beautiful, as I looked upon them in the clear moonlight of ten +o'clock at night, an hour when honest people in the country are, for the +most part, asleep. I entered the handsomest of the hotels, and +registered my name in a bran-new book on the clerk's counter. + + Name. + + Residence. + + Destination. + + _Prof. D.G. Brown, + N.Y. City. + Lecture in Tyre_. + +'Beautiful evening, sir,' said the clerk, who was also the landlord, but +not also the bar-tender and the hostler. + +'You are right, sir,' said I; 'it is truly a lovely evening. I have +rarely seen moonlight so beautiful. Indeed, such were the beauties of +the evening, that I have positively been tempted so far as to walk over +here from Sidon this evening, leaving my baggage to follow me in the +morning.' + +'Ah! lectured in Sidon perhaps?' + +'Well, ah! um! yes; that is, I intend to do so, but unforeseen +circumstances induced me to relinquish that purpose. Sidon is very +small.' + +'Yes, sir, small place. Never heard of a lecture, or any kind of a +performance, there before. Fact is, they're a hard set over to Sidon, +and the place is better known by the name of Sodom around here.' + +I felt much encouraged at hearing this; for, to tell the truth, my +cogitations as I tramped over the rough road between Tyre and Sidon had +been anything but cheerful. This was a realization of my fond dreams of +a ten-to-fifty-dollars-a-night lecture tour, such as I had hardly +anticipated, and as I drew nigh unto Tyre I had been thinking whether I +had not better try to get a situation as a farm-hand or dry-goods clerk +before my troubles should have crushed me and driven me to suicide. + +But the landlord cheered me. Tyre was a model town. Tyre had a +newspaper, and Tyre patronized literary entertainments. There was a good +hall in Tyre, and the Tyrians had filled it to overflowing last winter +when Chapin spoke there. I went to bed under the benignant influence of +my cheerful host, and dreamed of lecturing to an audience of many +thousands in a hall a trifle larger than the Academy of Music, and with +every nook and corner crowded with enthusiastic listeners, whose joy +culminated with my peroration into such a tumult of delight that they +rushed upon the stage and hoisted me on their shoulders amid cheers so +boisterous that they awoke me. I found I had left my bed and mounted +into a window, with the intention, doubtless, of stepping into the +street and concluding my career at once, lest an anti-climax should be +my fate. + +In the morning, I called on the editor of the newspaper. + +I desire to recommend my reader to subscribe at once to _The Tyre +Times_, and thus aid to sustain the paper of a gentleman and a scholar, +who was, as editors usually are, a plain-spoken, sensible man, conscious +of the presence of talent in his sanctum, by 'sympathetic attraction.' +The editor of the _Times_ looked into the circumstances of my case with +an experienced and kindly eye, and then said to me,-- + +'My dear sir, you can not succeed here with a lecture. We have had +several in our village within a few years, but never one which 'paid,' +unless it was one on phrenology, or physiology, or psychology, and +plentifully spiced with humor of the coarsest sort. If you want to make +money in Tyre, you'll take my advice and get a two-headed calf, a +learned pig, or a band of nigger minstrels. Any of these things will +answer your purpose, if you want money; but if you have ambition to +gratify, if you want to lecture for the sake of lecturing, that's a +different thing. At all events, you shall have my good wishes, and I'll +do all I can to get you a house. But it won't pay.' + +The reader knows that if I had not been a fool I would have understood +and heeded a statement so plain as this, made by an editor. But then, if +I hadn't been a fool, you know I should never have started on a lecture +tour at all. So, being a fool, I had bills printed, hired a hall (at ten +dollars), and was duly announced to lecture in Tyre on the coming +Tuesday evening. The same afternoon, _The Tyre Times_ appeared, and its +editorial column contained the following notice, which I read with great +interest, it being my first appearance in any periodical:-- + + + LECTURE AT GRECIAN HALL.--We take pleasure in announcing that Prof. + GREEN D. BROWN, of New York city, will favor the citizens of Tyre + with a lecture on Tuesday evening next. From what we know of the + gentleman, we are satisfied our citizens will not regret attending + the lecture. We trust he may not be met with an audience so small + as lectures have heretofore drawn out in Tyre. The apathy of our + citizens in these matters, we have before stated, is disgraceful. + Let there be a good turn-out. + +But there was not a good turn-out. The receipts were two dollars and a +half. The proprietor of the hall consented to take the receipts for his +pay, and I returned to the hotel to muse over my unhappy fortunes. + +The landlord took occasion the next morning, as I was passing out of the +house, to remind me that my baggage had not arrived. + +'No,' said I, 'but, as I soon leave Tyre, I shan't need it.' + +The landlord looked at my dirty collar and bosom as if he doubted either +my sanity or my decency, and remarked that perhaps I knew his rules +compelled him to present the bills of strangers semi-weekly. + +'O, yes! that's all right,' said I; 'I'll see you when I come back from +the printing-office.' + +I noticed that mine host stood watching to see that I entered the +printing-office safely. + +The editor remarked, after I had told him all the experience narrated +here, commencing with the washing-machines,-- + +'It's a bad case, and I don't admire your experience at all, to speak +candidly; but I have a little idea of my own to work out, and you can +help me do it, perhaps. In the first place, though, I want to know +whether you intend to continue in this line of business,--eh?' + +'Not I,' was my fervent reply; 'I'm satisfied to leave lecturing to +those who have a reputation, and to earn my bread and butter in a, for +me, more legitimate way. But what is it you have in view?' + +'Come and see me this evening, when I am at leisure, and I'll tell you +what my enterprise is. Meantime, will you sell me your lecture? I can't +afford to pay much for it, but I'll agree to settle your hotel bill if +you'll part with it. Not that I think it's worth it, but you need to be +helped somehow right away.' + +I jumped at the chance, and thanked my friend heartily. He asked if I +would please go and send the landlord to him, and I retired to perform +that errand. + +I was punctual to my appointment in the evening, and listened to the +project my editorial angel had in view; a plan by which he proposed to +inflict a lesson on the negligent Tyrians, and at the same time +replenish my purse. He explained to me the part I was to perform in this +enterprise, and I found I could enter heartily into the spirit of it. We +shook hands in the best of humors, and parted that evening understanding +each other perfectly. + + +III.--HE MAKES A HIT IN TYRE. + +The next day, the entire jobbing facilities of the _Times_ office were +brought into requisition, and toward evening a mammoth bill was posted +around the town, which read as follows:-- + + MONS. BELITZ'S + CELEBRATED AND MAGNIFICENT EXHIBITION, + THE GREAT TRAVELING HUMBURG! + The most wonderful entertainment, whether + CAININE, PRISTINE, OR QUININE, + ever brought before the astonished Public's visual organs!!! + + * * * * * + + The _avant courier_ of this monster troupe has the honor of + announcing to the ladies and gentlemen of Tyre, that Mons. BELITZ, + accompanied by his entire retinue of attachés and supes, Female + Dancers and Dogs, Operatic Vocalists and Vixens, Royal Musicians and + Monsters, Bengal Tigers and Time-servers, Magicians and Madmen, + Flying Birds, Swimming Fishes, Walking Cats and Dogs, Crawling + Reptiles, and various other extraordinary and impossible + arrangements, the like of which never before appeared in Bog county, + until the arrival of the present occasion, to wit:-- + + AT GRECIAN HALL, TYRE, + + On Saturday Evening, December 22, 1859. + + * * * * * + + ---> LOOK AT THE ARRAY OF TALENT! <--- + + * * * * * + + MONS. BELITZ, + the celebrated Magician from Egypt, performer general to + + THE GRAND FOO FOO, + and professor of the Black Art to all the crowned heads of the + Cannibal Islands and Ham Sandwichlands!! + + MADEMOISELLE HELIOTROPE, + the charming Danseuse from all the city theatres, but most recently + from the Imperial _Deutscher Yolks Garten_, Liverpool, Ireland! + + SIGNOR STRAWSTEKOWSKI, + the celebrated Demagogue and Snake eater, whose unrivaled feat with + a living _Gryllus_, whose fangs have never been extracted, fills + thousands with awe and delight! + + YANKEE SHOCKWIG, + the mirth-splitting and side-provoking delineator of down-east horse + peculiarities. Must be appreciated to be seen. + + HERR BALAMSASS, + the distinguished Vocalist from Italy, whose lower notes, as + recently discovered by the celebrated examination before the Council + of Trent, reach so far below the _epigastrium_ as to be utterly + inaudible to the most acute auricular organs! + + BRUDDER GEORGE AND AUNTY CLAWSON, + the never-to-be-sufficiently-equaled delineators of Ethiopian + eccentricities, whose performances during the winter of 1869 + delighted overflowing houses in the Cape Cod Lunatic Asylum for 4000 + consecutive nights. + + BENJAMIN BOLT, Esq., + the justly-celebrated trumpeter from the splendid orchestral band + attached to Marnum's Buseum, New York city, for the past fifty + years! + + FANTADIMO FANTODIMUS, + the graceful and efficient master of ceremonies, whose efforts have + been awarded by the entire available population of Blackwell's + Island, in a series of resolutions of the most pathetic description! + + * * * * * + + Owing to future engagements, the stay of this troupe in Tyre will be + POSITIVELY FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY, when the Programme will be specified + in small bills of the evening. + + Admittance, 25 cents. Doors open at 6; Master of Ceremonies makes + his bow at 7. + + PROF. BROWN D. GREEN, AGENT. + +Against the advice of the editor of the Times, I dispatched an agent +over to Sidon, with a supply of blanked bills from the same form, with +instructions to arrange for a similar 'sell' on the following Monday +evening in that charming village. + +I was sufficiently busy during the interval that lay between this and +Saturday evening in rehearsing my part for the entertainment thus +advertised. I was not entirely free from doubts of the success of a +'take-in' so palpable and ridiculous, and even if a house-full of +numbsculls _should_ gather, I deemed the experiment a dangerous one for +me; but my editorial friend took the risk, remarking that he had +calculated his chances, and knew what he was about. Nevertheless, it +was not without some trepidation that I entered Grecian Hall by the +private door, at a little before seven o'clock, and laid my hat behind +the temporary curtain that had been erected for the accommodation of the +great Humbug Troupe. Applying my eye to a chink in the cloth, I +perceived that the hall was crowded to suffocation. My editorial friend +sat in a prominent position near the stage, and the audience was +manifesting those signs of impatience which seem to be equally orthodox +among the news-boys in the pit of the old Bowery Theatre and the coarse +young rustics who go to 'shows' in the back villages of ruraldom. I +tinkled a bell. The uproar grew quiet. I drew aside my curtain, and made +my bow, amid the silent wonderment of my auditors. Then I said:-- + +'Ladies and gentlemen: You now see before you the redoubtable Fantadimo +Fantodimus, master of ceremonies for the Great Humbug Troupe. You also +see before you, ladies and gentlemen, Mons. Belitz, the renowned +magician, Mademoiselle Heliotrope, the graceful danseuse, Signor +Strawstekowski, Herr Balamsass; and, in short, ladies and gentlemen, you +see before you the sum and substance of the Great Humbug Troupe, as it +exists in all its original splendor. We salute you! + +'My friends, you were drawn here to-night by the extravagantly worded +and outlandish representations of a poster which promised you only one +single thing, namely, that you should behold a Great Traveling Humbug. +Nothing could be more honest, though some things might be more +straightforward. Force of circumstances compels me this evening to +represent the Great Traveling Humbug you came to see. I am this evening +the greatest of humbugs. I travel. A week ago, I traveled into this +village with the laudable intention of giving you a sensible lecture on +EURIPIDES, a historical personage of whom some of you may have heard. I +traveled over to this hall on the evening of my lecture, and spoke to a +beggarly array of empty seats. To-morrow morning, I intend to travel to +church in your beautiful village, repent of my sins, and on Monday +travel home to New York, where I shall at once take measures to rid +myself of the title I wear this evening, by earning my bread in the +old-fashioned way, by the sweat of my brow. + +'Humbug, ladies and gentlemen, is a pill not at all disagreeable to +take, when gilded carefully. My pill has been prepared by the hand of a +novice, and you have swallowed it with your eyes open. May it benefit +you!' + +Symptoms of a disturbance immediately became manifest, when my editorial +angel arose and spread his wings over the troubled audience. + +'People of Tyre,' said he, 'the exhibition of the Great Humbug Troupe +is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting and least objectionable +that ever appeared in our village. It remains for us to make it +instructive. I propose that we give three cheers for our brave +entertainer,--hip, hip, + +'_Hurrah!_ HURRAH! HURRAH!' + +Like young thunder the last cheer arose; and my bacon was saved! + +The receipts placed me in possession of fifty dollars, after defraying +all expenses in Tyre and settling my bill and recovering my satchel from +Sidon--which I did by a messenger the same evening after the lecture. My +editorial friend advised me now to stop at Sidon only long enough to +take the first train home, leaving the Sidonites to discover the sell +without expense. But I scouted the idea. I was flushed with the success +of the previous evening (a success mainly due, as the sagacious reader +knows, to the editor of the _Times_ and his _corps_ of confidants +distributed at intervals over the hall); I was chagrined at the turn my +original enterprise had taken, but determined to carry it out 'to the +death;' and, more than all, I was burning to revenge myself on the +perfidious postmaster of Sidon, and Dr. Tomson and Squire Johnson and +Mr. Dickson and Mr. Dobson and Mr. Potkins. And on Monday evening I +faced an audience in Jones's Hall, Sidon, prominent among whom I +noticed, the principal objects of my ire. + + +IV.--HE DON'T MAKE A HIT IN SIDON, THOUGH SOME PERSON IN THE AUDIENCE +DOES. + +No time for contemplation was left on my hands, however; for as soon as +I had articulated the words 'ladies and gentlemen,' an offensive missile +hit me between my eyes, exploded, and deluged me with an odor in +comparison with which that of Limberger cheese would be mere geranium. I +was betrayed. Tyre had sent over a detachment of spies, and the +Sidonites were armed. I briskly dodged several companion eggs whose +foulness was permitted to adorn the walls of Jones's Hall behind me, and +then undertook to escape. Simultaneously with the explosion of the first +shot, a howl had burst from the audience, which boded no good for any +prospects of comfort and profit I might entertain. Escaping on my part +became no joke; and I beg the reader to believe that my chagrin was +quite overwhelmed in the all-impressive desire to protect myself from +total annihilation. In my subsequent gratitude at having accomplished +this feat, I overlooked the little discomforts of an eye in mourning, a +broken finger, and garments perfumed throughout in defiance of _la +mode_. + +At present, I am engaged in a business which I deem far more respectable +and lucrative than lecturing, to wit, explaining the merits and +advantages of a patent needle-threader to interested crowds on Broadway. +Here my oratorical abilities are advantageously displayed, my audiences +are attentive, and my profits are good. + +[_Exit Brown_] + + * * * * * + +THE WATCHWORD. + + + 'Trust in the Lord, and keep your powder dry!' + So cried stout OLIVER in the storm, before + That redder rain on bloody Marston Moor, + Which whelmed the flower of English chivalry. + Repeat the watchword when the sullen sky + Stoops with its weight of terror, while the roar + Of the far thunder deepens, and no more + God's gracious sunshine greets the lifted eye! + Not Faith alone, but Faith with Action armed, + Shall win the battle, when the anointed host + Wars with the alien armies, and, unharmed, + Snatch victory from a field where all seemed lost. + Front Death and Danger with a level eye; + Trust in the Lord, _and keep your powder dry!_ + + * * * * * + +TINTS AND TONES OF PARIS. + + +It is a curious test of national character to compare the prevalent +impressions of one country in regard to another whereof the natural and +historical description is quite diverse: and in the case of France and +England, there are so many and so constantly renewed incongruities, that +we must discriminate between the effect of immediate political jealousy, +in such estimates, and the normal and natural bias of instinct and +taste. To an American, especially, who may be supposed to occupy a +comparatively disinterested position between the two, this mutual +criticism is an endless source of amusement. In conversation, at the +theatre, on the way from Calais or Dover to either capital, at a Paris +_café_, or a London club-house, he hears these ebullitions of prejudice +and partiality, of self-love or generous appreciation, and finds therein +an endless illustration of national character as well as of human +nature. But perhaps the literature of the two countries most +emphatically displays their respective points of view and tone of +feeling. While a popular French author sums up the elements of life in +England as being _la vie de famille, la politique, et les +affaires_,--'domestic life, politics, and business,'--he complacently +infers that _le fond du caractère Anglais_, 'the basis of the English +character,' is nothing more nor less than _le manque de bonheur_--'a +want of anything like happiness.' An English thinker, on the other hand, +finds in the very language of France the evidence of superficial emotion +and unaspiring, irreverent intelligence. 'How exactly,' writes Julius +Ham, 'do _esprit_ and _spirituel_ express what the French deem the +highest glory of the human mind! A large part of their literature is +_mousseux_; and whatever is so, soon grows flat. Our national quality is +sense, which may, perhaps, betray a tendency to materialism; but which, +at all events, comprehends a greater body of thought, that has settled +down and become substantiated in maxims.'[A] How far a Frenchman is from +appreciating this distinction, as unfavorable to his own race, we can +realize from the following estimate of the historical evil which an +admired modern writer considers that race has suffered from the English, +and from the character of the latter as recognized by another equally a +favorite:-- + +[Footnote A: Guesses at Truth.] + +'Iniquitous England,' writes a popular novelist, 'the vile executioner +of all in which France most exulted, murdered grace in Marie Stuart, as +it did inspiration in Jeanne d'Arc, and genius in Napoleon;'--'a race,' +says another, 'gifted with a national feeling which well-nigh approaches +superstition, yet which has chosen the whole world for its country. The +gravity of _these beings_, accidentally brought together and isolated by +mere interest, their life of mechanical activity, and of labor without +relaxation as without life, all interest, yet freeze you at the same +time.' 'The Englishman has made unto himself a language appropriate to +his placid manners and silent habits. This language is a murmur +interrupted by subdued hisses,'--'_un murmure entre-coupé de sifflements +doux_.' + +The gregarious hotel life in America commends itself to the time-saving +habits of a busy race; but the love of speciality in France modifies +this advantage: in our inns a stated price covers all demands except for +wine; here each separate necessity is a specific charge--the sheet of +writing paper, the cake of soap, and the candle figure among the +innumerable items of the bill. Thus an infinite subdivision makes all +business tedious, involving so many distinct processes and needless +conditions; at every step we realize of how much less comparative value +is time in the Old World. On the other hand, the rigid system that +governs municipal life, the means adopted to render all public +institutions both accessible and attractive, claim perpetually the +gratitude of artists, students, and philosophers. A programme of +exploration may be arranged at will, yielding a complete insight, and, +when achieved, such has been the order, communicativeness and facility, +that we have a more distinct and reliable idea of the whole circle of +observation than it is possible to obtain elsewhere. We are continually +reminded of Buffon's maxim: '_la genie est la patience_.' A curious +illustration of this systematic habit of the French occurred at +Constantinople, during the Crimean war, where they immediately numbered +the houses and named the streets, to the discomfiture of the passive +Turks--one of whom, in his wonder at the mechanical superiority of these +Frank allies, asked a soldier if the high fur cap on his head would come +off. The _concièrge_ beneath each _porte cochére_, the social +distinction which makes each _café_ and restaurant the nucleus of a +particular class, the organized provision for all exigencies of human +life in Paris, illustrate the same trait on a larger and more useful +scale. If we survey the institutions and the monuments with care, and +refer to their origin, associations and purposes, the historical and +economical national facts are revealed with the utmost clearness and +unity. The old Bastile represented, in its gloomy stolidity, the whole +tragedy of the Revolution; and St. Genevieve combines the holy memories +of the early church with that of the first French kings; the site of a +_fosse commune_ attests the valor of republican martyrs; the Champs +Elysées are the popular earthly fields of a French paradise. One _café_ +is famed for the beauty of its mistress, another for the great +chess-players who make it a resort; one is the daily rendezvous of the +liberals, another of royalists, one of military men, another of artists; +they flourish and fade with dynasties, and are respectively the +favorites of provincials and citizens, gourmands and traders, men of +letters and men of state.[A] The _Monte de Piété_ acquaints us with the +vicissitudes and expedients of fortune; the _Hotel Dieu_ is a temple of +ancient charity; the _Hospice des Enfants Trouvées_ startles us with the +astounding fact that half the children born in Paris are illegitimate; +and the Morgue yields no less appalling statistics of suicide. In +Vernet's studio we feel the predominance of military taste and education +in France; in the _Ecole Polytecnique_, the policy by which her youth +are bred to serve their country; at the manufactories of the Gobelines +and Sévres china, we perceive how naturally the mechanical genius of the +race finds development in pottery and fabrics instead of ships and +machines, as across the Channel and beyond the ocean; and in the +self-possession, knowledge of affairs, and variety of occupation of the +middle class of women, we see why they have no occasion to advocate +their rights and complain of the inequality of the sexes. + +[Footnote A: 'Mes habitudes de dîner chez les restaurants,' says a +Parisian philosopher, 'ont été pour moi une source intarrissable de +surprises, de decouvertes, et de revelations sur l'humanité.'] + +All large cities furnish daily material for tragedy, and life there, +keenly observed and aptly narrated, proves continually how much more +strange is truth than fiction; but the impressive manners and +melo-dramatic taste of the people, as well as their intricate police +system, bring out more vividly these latent points of interest, as a +reference to the _Causes Célébres_ and the Memoirs of Vidocq illustrate. +A friend of mine, returning from a trip to Lyons, became acquainted in +the rail-car with an English gentleman, and when they reached the +station, just before midnight, the two left for their hotels in the same +cab. After a short drive, the vehicle suddenly came to a halt, the +cabman sprang to the ground, and his passengers were left to surmise the +occasion of their abrupt abandonment: presently a crowd collected, a +shout was raised, and they learned that a valise had been stolen from +the top of the carriage, and its owner had set off in pursuit of the +thief. He ran with great swiftness, doubled corners, sprang over +obstacles, and was in a fair way to distance his pursuer, when a +soldier thrust out his foot and tripped up the fugitive, who was taken +to the nearest police station. Confronted with the owner of the valise, +he declared it was his own property, placed by mistake on the wrong cab. +The official authorized to settle the difficulty not being present, my +friend and his companion were informed they must leave the article in +dispute, and the case itself, until the following morning, when a +hearing would be had before one of the courts. On reaching their +destination, the gentlemen parted with the understanding that they would +dine together at a certain restaurant the next day. The appointed hour +came, but not the Englishman; and my friend's appetite and patience were +keen set, when, after an hour's delay, the truant made his appearance, +looking pale, _triste_ and exhausted. He soon explained the cause of his +detention. He had gone to the police court to prove and regain his +valise, and found at the bar a young man of genteel address and +remarkable beauty; his costume was in the latest fashion, though +somewhat soiled and torn from his fall and rough handling the previous +night; but his countenance was intelligent and refined, and his bearing +that of a gentleman. Upon a table lay the valise and the contents of the +prisoner's pockets, among them a large penknife; he held convulsively to +the rail and kept his eyes cast down; the judge had taken his seat, and +a crowd of idlers and gens d'armes filled the room. The claimant +immediately satisfied the court that the valise belonged to him by +mentioning several articles it contained and producing the key. In the +mean time the accused, earnestly watching the entrance, started and +turned pale and red by turns as a beautiful girl, in the dress of a +prosperous grisette, pushed her way into the crowd, stood on tiptoe, and +exchanged glances with the prisoner. The latter, when asked his name, +replied, 'I have brought disgrace enough upon it already,' and, seizing +the penknife, thrust it into his heart, and fell dead. He was the +descendant of a noble house in one of the southern provinces, and came +to Paris as a medical student, and, through a devoted attachment to his +mistress, whose costly tastes soon drained his purse, was induced to +steal the trunks of travelers as they left the railway stations at +night. In his apartment was found a large wardrobe; and a month's +purloining was thus summarily expiated. Similar incidents occur +elsewhere, but the details, when the scene is laid in Paris, are more +picturesque and dramatic. + +Two instances which I heard related will illustrate this same dramatic +significance in the municipal system. After an _émeute_, the _chef_ of +police in a certain _arrondissement_, while engaged in superintending +the removal of corpses from a barricade, noticed the body of a female +whose delicate hands and finely-wrought robe were so alien to the scene +as to excite suspicion. He ordered it to be placed in a separate +apartment for examination. A more careful inspection confirmed his +surmise that this was the body of no amazonian whose warlike zeal or +accidental presence in such an affray could explain its discovery. There +was no trace whereby the remains could be identified except a geranium +leaf that was found imbedded in her long and disheveled tresses. This +was given to a celebrated botanist, with orders to learn, if possible, +from what plant it had been taken. The man of science visited all the +houses of the neighborhood, and critically examined every specimen of +the shrub he could find. At length, in the elegant library of a young +abbé, he not only discovered one of the species, but, by means of a +powerful microscope, detected the very branch whence the leaf had been +nipped. By dexterous management the _chef_, thus scientifically put on +the track, brought home the charge to the priest, who confessed the +murder of the young lady in a fit of jealousy, and, by depositing her +body, at night, amid the dead of humbler lineage, who had fallen in the +revolutionary strife, thought to conceal all knowledge of his crime. + +The lessee of an extensive 'hotel' had reason to believe that a child +had entered and left the world in one of his tenants' apartments, +without the cognizance of a human being except the mother; and, aware, +as a landlord in Paris should be, of his responsibility to the municipal +government, he communicated his suspicions to the authorities. The rooms +were searched, the charge denied, and no proof elicited to warrant +further action; and here the matter would have ended in any other +country. But the police agent entrusted with the inquiry raked over the +contents of a pigsty in the courtyard, and discovered a square inch of +thin bone, which he exhibited to an anatomist, who pronounced it a +fragment of a new-born infant's skull; the hogs were instantly killed, +the contents of their stomachs examined, and small portions of the body +found. The question then arose whether the child was born alive; pieces +of the lungs were placed in a basin of water, and the fact that they +floated on its surface proved, beyond a doubt, that the child had +breathed; the crime of infanticide was then charged upon the unhappy +mother, who, appalled by this evidence of her guilt, confessed. + +In the gray of the dawn a watchful observer may behold the two extremes +of Paris life ominously hinted;--a cloaked figure stealthily dropping a +swathed effigy of humanity, just 'sent into this breathing world,' in +the rotary cradle of the asylum for _enfants trouvés_, and a cart full +of the corpses of the poor, driven into the yard of a hospital for +dissection. + +Summoned one evening at dusk to the sick chamber of a countryman, I +realized the shadows of life in Paris. From the dazzling Boulevard the +cab soon wound through dim thoroughfares, up a deserted acclivity, to a +gloomy porch. A cold mist was falling, and I heard the bell sound +through a vaulted arch with desolate echoes. When the massive door +opened, a lamp suspended from a chain revealed a paved _entresol_ and +broad staircase; there was something prison-like even in the patrician +dimensions of the edifice; the light nickered at every gust. Ascending, +I pulled a _cordon bleu_, and was admitted into the apartment. It +consisted of four places or rooms, the furniture of which was in the +neatest French style, both of wood and tapestry; but the fireplace was +narrow, and so ill-constructed that while the heat ascended the chimney +the smoke entered the room. A nurse, with one of those keen, +self-possessed faces and that efficient manner so often encountered in +Paris, ushered me to the invalid's presence. He was a fair specimen of a +philosophic bachelor inured to the life of the French metropolis; +everything about him was in good taste, from the model of the lamp to +the cover of the arm-chair; and yet an indescribable cheerlessness +pervaded his elegant lodging. The last play of Scribe, the day's +_Journal des Debats_, a bouquet, and a Bohemian glass, were on the +marble table at his side. His languid eye brightened and his feverish +hand tightened convulsively over mine; years had elapsed since he left +our native town; he had drunk of the cup of pleasure, and cultivated the +resources of literature and science in this their great centre; but now, +in the hour of physical weakness, the yearning for domestic and home +scenes filled his heart; and his mind reacted from the blandishments of +a luxurious materialism and a refined egotism of life. It was like +falling back upon the normal conditions of existence thus to behold the +'ills that flesh is heir to' in the midst of a city where such rich +outward provision for human activity and enjoyment fills the senses. +Excessive civilization has its morbid tendencies, and great refinement +in one direction is paralleled by an equal degree of savagery in +another. There is in absolute relation between the facilities for +pleasure and the frequency of suicide. Of all places in the world, Paris +is the most desolate to an invalid stranger. The custom of living there +in lodgings isolates the visitor; the occupants of the dwelling are not +alive to the claims of neighborhood; with his landlord he has only a +business and formal connection; thus thrown upon himself, without the +nerve or the spirits for external amusement, few situations are more +forlorn. The Parisian French are intensely calculating and selfish; +illness and grief are so alien to their tastes that, to the best of +their ability, they ignore and abjure them. As long as health permits, +out-of-door life or companionship solaces that within; the stranger may +be enchanted; but when confined to his apartment and dependent on chance +visitors or hireling services, he longs for a land where domestic life +and household comfort are better cultivated and understood. + +The stranger's funeral is peculiarly sad everywhere, but in Paris its +melancholy is enhanced by the interference of foreign usages. Over the +dead as well as the living the municipal authorities claim instant +power, and the bereaved must submit to their time and arrangements in +depositing the mortal remains of the loved in the grave. The black +scarfs and chapeaux of the undertakers and their prescriptive orders +were strangely dissonant to the group of Americans collected at the +obsequies of a young countryman, and seemed incongruous when associated +with the simple Protestant ceremonial performed in another tongue. Under +the direction of those sable officials we entered the mourning coaches +and followed the plumed hearse. It is an impressive custom--one of the +humanities of the Catholic--to lift the hat at the sight of such a +procession; such an act, performed like this by prince and beggar in the +crowded street, so gay, busy, self-absorbed, bears affecting witness to +the common vicissitudes and instincts of mankind. The dead leaves +strewed the avenue of Pere la Chaise, and the bare trees creaked in the +gale as we threaded sarcophagi, tablets, and railed cenotaphs; in the +distance, smoke-canopied, stretched the vast city; around were countless +effigies of the dead of every rank, from the plain slab of the +undistinguished citizen to the wreathed obelisk of the hero, from the +ancient monument of Abelard and Heloise to the broken turf on the new +grave of poverty only designated by a wooden cross; gray clouds flitted +along the zenith, and a pale streak of light defined the wide horizon; +Paris with its frivolity, temples, business, pleasures, trophies and +teeming life, sent up a confused and low murmur in the distance; only +the wind was audible among the tombs. Never had the beautiful Church of +England services appeared to me so grand and pathetic as when here read +over the coffin of one who had died in exile, and with only a few of his +countrymen, most of them unacquainted even with his features, to attend +his burial. + +However a change of government may interfere with a Parisian's freedom +of speech and pen, the autocrat is yet to appear who dares place an +interdict on his culinary aptitudes. The science of dining in Paris has, +notwithstanding, its new mysteries; and in order to be abreast of the +times, it is wise, instead of drawing on past experience, to take +counsel of a friend who holds the present clue to the labyrinth of bills +of fare and fair bills. The little cabinet of my favorite restaurant, +sacred to the initiated, had the same marble table, cheerful outlook, +pictured ceiling and breezy curtains,--the same look of elegant +snugness; but, when we had seated ourselves in garrulous conclave over +the _carte_, it was to the member of our party whose knowledge was of +the latest acquisition that we submitted the choice of a repast; and as +he discoursed of the mysterious excellences of _cotelletes a la +Victoria, rissoles a la Orleans, patés de fois gras a la Bonaparte, +paupicettes de veau a la Demidoff, truffes a la Perigord_, etc., we +realized that the same incongruous blending of associations, the same +zest for glory and dramatic instinct, ruled the world of cookery as of +letters, and that, with all the political vicissitudes since our last +dinner in Paris, her prandial distinction had progressed. + +From the restaurant to the theatre, is, in Paris, a most natural +transition; and the play and players of the day will be found far more +closely representative of the social tone, the political creed, the +artistic tastes of the hour, than elsewhere. The drama, for instance, in +vogue not long since at the Vaudeville Theatre in the Place de la +Bourse, is one we can scarcely imagine successful in another city, at +least to such a degree. It was _Les Filles de Marbre_; and this is the +plot. The opening scene is at Athens, in the studio of Phidias. It is +the day after that on which Alcibiades cut off his dog's tail; and, +exulting in the effect produced by that exploit, he enters with the rich +Gorgias, who has ordered and paid Phidias in advance for statues of his +three friends, Laïs, Phryné, and Aspasia. He finds Phidias unwilling to +part with the statues, on which he has worked so long and ardently till, +like Pygmalion of old, he has fallen in love with his own creation; he +will not even allow Gorgias to see them, and the latter departs swearing +vengeance. Diogenes enters, and a satirical brisk dialogue ensues, at +the end of which Phidias draws aside a curtain and shows his work to +Diogenes, who, stoic as he is, can not refrain from an exclamation of +delight. The group is admirably arranged on the stage, and the effect is +very fine as Theä, a young slave, holds back the drapery from the group +while the moon illumines it with a soft light. At this moment an +approaching tumult is heard. Theä drops the curtain, and Gorgias with +his friends, heated with Cyprus wine, enters, accompanied by the +'myrmidons of the law.' He again demands the statues, for which Phidias +has already received his gold. Phidias expostulates, then entreats,--no, +Gorgias will have his statues. At this, Theä, who had long loved +Phidias, unknown to him, hardly noticed, never requited, throws herself +at Gorgias's feet and cries, 'Take me, sell me; I am young and strong, +but leave Phidias his statues.' Gorgias says, 'Who are you? Poor +creature, you are not worth over fifty drachmas! Away! Guards, do your +duty! Slaves, seize the statues.' Then Diogenes, hitherto half asleep on +a mat in the corner, cries, 'Stop, Gorgias! You always profess justice, +strict justice. Why don't you ask with whom of you the statues will +prefer to stay?' A shout of laughter from his jolly companions makes +Gorgias accede to this droll proposal. 'So be it!' cries he; and +Diogenes draws aside the curtain, and holds up his lantern, which, with +a strong French reflector, throws a powerful light on the upper part of +the group, with a fine and startling effect. The group represents +Aspasia seated, with a scroll and stylus, Laïs leaning over her, and +Phryné at her feet looking up, all draped, artistically _posed_, and the +three beautiful girls that perform the parts look as like marble as +possible. + +'Now, Phidias,' cries Diogenes, 'come, what have you to say to your +marble girls?' + +'Laïs, Aspasia, Phryné, I am Phidias. You owe me your existence, and I +love you; you know it, and that I am poor.' + +'That's a bad argument, Phidias,' says Diogenes. + +'I am poor, and have nothing but you. Stay by him to whom you owe your +glory and your immortality!' + +The statues remain immovable. + +Gorgias addresses them: 'I am Gorgias, the rich Athenian; I alone am as +rich as all the kings of Asia, and I offer you a palace paved with gold. +Aspasia, Laïs, Phryné, which of us do you choose?' + +The statues turn their heads and smile faintly on Gorgias, who starts +and stands as if petrified. The Athenians look horror-struck. Phidias +covers his face with his hands, and, uttering a cry, falls to the +ground. A soft and enervating strain of music fills the air. + +'By all the gods!' cries Gorgias, 'I believe the statues moved their +lips as if to smile upon me.' + +'I know you by that smile, O girls of marble,' says +Diogenes,--'courtesans of the past, courtesans of the future!' and he +returns to his mat. + +At this moment Theä's voice is heard in the far distance, singing a few +mystical, mournful bars of music, and the curtain falls. + +This is the 'argument,'--the other four acts work it out. + +The next act opens in a restaurant of to-day in the Bois de Boulogne, +near Paris. A young artist lives there, and falls desperately in love +with an actress, for whom he leaves his art, his mother, and his +betrothed, is ruined in purse, and returns at last, heart-broken, to +his old home, to die; the actress all the while sees his despair with +indifference, and proves herself therefore a '_fille de marbre_' + +In another recent piece, we are told that a 'procession of nuns, dressed +in white, sing a lay at midnight. In the intervals, a chorus of frogs in +the neighboring swamp croak the refrain in unison. Sax, the great +brass-founder, who made the Last Trumpets for the 'Wandering Jew,' and +the instruments for the Band of the Guides, is engaged upon the +frogpipes required. The illusion will be heightened by characteristic +scenery and mephitic exhalations. M. Sax visited the pool in the Bois de +Boulogne, known as the _Marée d'Auteuil_, and brought back many useful +ideas in reference to the quadruped with whose vocal powers he desired +to become acquainted. The frog voices will be a series of eight, +representing a full octave.' + +The Provincial, at Paris, is a standard theme for playwrights; what the +Scotch were to Johnson, Lamb, and Sidney Smith, is the native of +Provence or Brittany to the comic writers of the metropolis,--a nucleus +for wit and an occasion for practical jokes. One of the late pieces, +called 'My Uncle,' turned upon the devices of a wild youth to obtain +money from his simple-hearted relative in the country. For months a +pretended love affair, a marriage, and the birth of an heir, elicited +remittances, which were expended upon banquets, at which a bevy of gay +students applauded the ingenuity of their entertainer. At last the uncle +comes to town, and it becomes quite a study to carry on the game, which +yields occasion for innumerable salient contrasts between rustic +simplicity and city acumen. A diagnosis of the provincial's ways in +Paris, like every form of life there, has been given by a shrewd +observer, who mentions among other signs that the novice may be +recognized by the fact that he keeps his toothpick after dinner and +carries it to the theatre. + +I found that marvelous actress, Rachel, before her visit to America, +much attenuated; indeed, she resembled a bundle of nerves electrified +with vitality; her bleached skin, thin arms, large, scintillating eyes, +and that indescribable something which marks the Jewish physiognomy, +gave her a weird, sibyl-like appearance, as of one wasted by long +vigils. There was in her glance and action the spasmodic inspiration +observable in Malibran towards the close of her career. The play was +Racine's Andromache, and the depth and energy of Hermione's emotions +were illustrated by a sudden transition of tone, a working of the +features, that a painter might study forever, and a gesture, bearing, +look and utterance which were the consummation of histrionic art; yet so +exclusively was this the ease, that admiration never lost itself in +sympathy; it was the perfection of acting, not of nature; it won and +chained the scrutinizing mind, but failed to sway the heart; it lacked +the magnetic element; and while the critic was baffled in the attempt to +pick a flaw, and the elocutionist in raptures at the sublime +possibilities of his art, it was Rachel, not Hermione, the genius of the +performer, not the reality of the character, that won the earnest +attention, and woke the constant plaudits. [A] That over-consciousness +which belongs to the French nature, so evident in their 'Confessions,' +their oratory, their manners, their conversation, and their life, and +which is the great reason of their want of persistence and +self-dependence in political affairs, modifies their ideal +representations on the stage as well as in literature. The process +described so philosophically by Coleridge, to lose 'self in an idea +dearer than self,' is the condition of all greatness. It sublimated the +life of Washington, and made it unique in the annals of nations; it +enabled Shakspeare to incarnate the elements of humanity in dramatic +creations, and Kean to reproduce them on the stage; it is the grand law +of the highest achievements in statesmanship, in letters, and in art, +without which they fall short of wide significance and enduring +vitality. + +[Footnote A: The very description of her enthusiastic admirers suggests +that such were the original traits and the special character of Rachel. +At first we are told by the patron who earliest recognized her genius, +'a delirious popularity surrounded the young _tragedienne_, and with her +the antique tragedy which she had revived.' How different from the +original relation of Kemble, Kean, or Siddons to the Shaksperian drama! +Then the manner in which she prepared herself for artistic triumph is +equally suggestive of the artificial and the conventional: 'Elle se +drape,' we are told, 'avec un art merveilleux; au theatre elle fait +preuve d'études intelligentes de la statuaire antique.' It was in the +external form rather than by sympathetic emotion that she wooed the +tragic muse. Véron compares her to Thiers. 'C'est la même netteté de +vues, la même ardeur, les mêmes ruses vigéreuses, la même fecondité +d'expedients, la même tableau phllosophique que ne la comprend ni la +vengeance ni les haines, qui se contente de negocier avec les inimities, +d'apaiser les rancunes et de conquerir toutes les influences, toutes les +amitiés qui peuvent devenir utiles.'] + +Although thus destitute of great central principles, nowhere is human +life more enriched by minor philosophy; it may be a fate, a routine, a +drudgery, and an accident in other parts of the world, but in Paris it +is or can easily be made an art. The science of substitution, the law of +compensation, nowhere more obviously triumphs; taste cheaply gratified +atones for limited destinies; manners yield a charm, which, for the +time, renders us oblivious of age; tact proves as good a resource as +learning, wit as beauty, cheerfulness as fortune. The _boudoir_, by +means of chintz, gauze, and human vivacity, is as prolific of fine talk +and good company as the drawing-room. A bunch of violets or a box of +mignonnette suggests to sensitive imaginations the whole cornucopia of +Flora. Perhaps the eclectic provision for enjoyment in the French +capital was never more apparent than during the sojourn of the allied +armies there after the battle of Waterloo. It was as good as a play +illustrative of national manners and taste, to note how Russian, German, +Cossack, and English, hussar, diplomat, and general, found the dish, the +pastime, and the observance each most coveted, when that vast city was +like a bivouac of the soldiers of Europe. + +The communicative habit and social tendency of life, under every aspect, +in Paris, often promotes success by making individuals famous,--a +process far easier of achievement there than in any other metropolis. A +poor fellow who opened a _café_, and had so little patronage as at the +end of his first quarter to be on the verge of bankruptcy, resorted, one +day, to the expedient of firing a heavily-charged musket in the midst of +his neat but unfrequented saloon. The report instantly brought half a +score of policemen, two gens d'armes, and a crowd of idlers, to the +spot; curiosity was on tiptoe to hear of a murder, a suicide, or an +infernal machine; strange rumors began to spread from the crowd within +to the street; and a long investigation was held on the premises. +Meantime people wanted refreshments, which the hitherto indolent waiters +of the _café_ supplied; the place was found to be quite snug and +tasteful, and the proprietor quite a lion; thenceforth his credit was +established in the neighborhood, and a regular set of customers +liberally sustained his enterprise. Dr. Véron informs us that, after +waiting six weeks for a patient, upon first commencing practice, he had +the good fortune to stop the bleeding nose of a _concièrge_, in his +vicinity, which had resisted all the usual appliances; the news of his +exploit was soon noised abroad, its merit exaggerated, and he was +astonished to receive six or seven patients a day, attracted by his +sudden reputation. Unfortunately, however, one day an old lady, of much +consideration in that quartier, requested him to bleed her; she was so +fat that he made two or three unsuccessful attempts to open a vein, when +she rose indignantly and pronounced him an _imbecile_,--a judgment which +was so quickly adopted by the gossips, that in less than a week he sank +into his original obscurity. + +Another speciality of Parisian life occurred in the person of an old +man, who came hither in youth, and while pursuing his studies received +news of the loss of his fortune,--a pittance only remained; and so +enamored had he become of the means of study and the monastic freedom +here possible for the poor dreamer, that, hiring a cheap and obscure +lodging, he remained a voluntary exile, unallured by the attractions of +American enterprise, which soon revived the broken fortunes of his +brothers. A more benign cosmopolite or meek disciple of learning it +would be difficult to find; unlike his restless countrymen, he had +acquired the art of living in the present;--the experience of a +looker-on in Paris was to him more satisfactory than that of a +participant in the executive zeal of home. + +Such instances form a pleasing contrast to the outward gayety we +habitually associate with Paris. It boasts a world of patient labor. +Emile Souvestre has drawn some faithful and charming pictures of these +scenes, wherein philosophy and cheerfulness illumine the haunts of +modest toil. In England and America only artists of great merit enjoy +consideration; but in Paris the pursuit itself insures countenance and +sympathy, which in themselves yield vast encouragement. There are more +odd characters ensconced in the nooks of this capital than anywhere else +in Europe;--men who have become unconsciously metropolitan +friars--living in celibate dens, haunting libraries and gardens, +subsisting on a bare competence, and working out some darling theory or +speculative problem; lonely in the midst of a crowd, and content in +their self-imposed round of frugality and investigation. + +I found the dissatisfied spirit of a young artist, whom I had known in +America, here completely soothed; instead of feeling himself overpowered +by the commercial spirit of his own country, one of a neglected +minority, striving in vain to excite interest in a vocation too +profitless for a community absorbed in trade, politics, and fashion, he +now experienced the advantage of a recognized class, and the excitement +of a fraternity in art; his life, studies, aims were those of hundreds +as limited in their circumstances and as ideal in their aspirations; +galleries, studios, lectures, models, criticism, illustrious men, noble +examples, friendly words and true companionship, made his daily life, +independent of its achievements, one of self-respect, of growing +knowledge, and assured satisfaction. Without some pursuit thus enlisting +the higher powers and justifying, as it were, the independent career of +a resident, it is astonishing how the crust of selfishness gathers over +the heart in Paris; the habit of living with an exclusive view to +personal enjoyment, where the arrangements of life are so favorable, +becomes at last engrossing; and a soulless machine, with no instincts +but those of self-gratification, is often the result, especially if no +ties of kindred mitigate the hardihood of epicurism. + +We soon learn to echo Rochefoucauld's words as he entered Mazarin's +carriage,--'everything happens in France;' and, like Goethe, cast +ourselves on the waves of accident with a more than Quixotic +presage,--if not of actual adventure, at least of adventurous +observation; for it is a realm where Fashion, the capricious tyrant of +modern civilization, has her birth, where the '_vielle femme remplissait +une mission importante et tutelaire pour tous les âges_;' where the +_raconteur_ exists not less in society than in literature; the elysium +of the scholar, the nucleus of opinion, the arena of pleasure, and the +head-quarters of experiment, scientific, political, artistic, and +social. + +Imagine a disciplined mind alive to the lessons of the past and yet with +sympathy for casual impressions, free, intent and reflective,--and Paris +becomes a museum of the world. Such a visitor wanders about the French +capital with the zest of a philosopher; he warms at the frequent +spectacle of enjoyable old age, notwithstanding the hecatombs left at +Moscow and Waterloo, Sebastopol and Magenta; he reads on the dome of the +Invalides the names of a hundred battle-fields; muses on the proximity +of the lofty and time-stained Cathedral, and the little book-stall, +where poor students linger in the sun; detects a government spy in the +loquacious son of Crispin who acts as porter at his lodgings; pulls the +_cordon bleu_ at a dear author's oaken door on the _quatrième etage_ in +a social mood, and recalls Wellington's marquee on the Boulevard +Italien, in the midst of the gay throng; notes the dexterity of a +peripatetic shoeblack at his work; loves to sup in one of the +restaurants of the Palais Royal, because there Dr. Franklin was +entertained by the Duke of Orleans; remembers, at the church of St. +Genevieve, that Abelard once lectured on its site; and, gazing on the +beautiful ware in one of the cabinets of the Louvre, muses of the holy +patience of Palissy. By the handsome quays and bridges of the Seine, he +tries to realize that once only an islet covered with mud hovels met the +wanderer's view. He smiles at the abundance of fancy names, some chosen +for their romantic sound, and others for the renowned associations, +which are attached to vocalist, shop, and mouchoir. He separates, in his +thought, the incongruous emblems around him at this moment,--tricolor +and cresent, St. George and the Lilies, 'God save the Queen' and High +Mass, banners that have floated over adverse armies since the +crusades,--amicably folded over the corpse of a French veteran! Nor are +character and manners less suggestive to such an observer; if an +American, he beholds with astonishment, after all he has heard of the +proverbial courtesy of the French, women habitually yield the wall to +men, and stops with ill-disguised impatience, on returning from an +afternoon's ride, to have his carriage examined at the gate; contrasts +the degraded state of the lower orders with the general urbanity and +quietness of demeanor and the stern sway of political rule; marks the +little crucifix and cup of holy water at the head of the peasant's bed, +and the diamond cross on the lace kerchief of the kneeling empress; +recognizes the force of character, the self-dependence, the mental +hardihood of the women, the business method displayed in their exercise +of sentiment, and the exquisite mixture in their proceedings of tact, +calculation, and geniality. + + * * * * * + +THE TRUE BASIS. + + +Never at any stage of American history was there such a crisis of ideas +as at present, and never was there such urgent necessity of setting +promptly, vigorously and clearly before the people the great and new +principles which this crisis is bringing to life. So vast are the issues +involved, so tremendous their inevitable consequences, that we acquit of +exaggeration the statesman who, in comparing even the gradual unfolding +of the mighty past with this our present, exclaimed, 'Now is the first +of the world's progress.'[A] + +[Footnote A: Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson.] + +The reader is doubtless perfectly familiar with the fact that in the +battle between the North and the South two opposite principles are +involved,--the same which have been at the bottom of all wars for +freedom, from the beginning of time. The one party believes that one +portion of society must flourish at the expense of another part, of a +permanently sunken class; while the other holds that history proves that +the lot of all persons in a commonwealth is capable of being gradually +ameliorated, and that in any case it is our sacred duty to legislate for +the poor, on this basis, by allowing them equal rights, and making every +exertion to extend the best blessings of education to them, and open to +every man, without distinction, every avenue of employment for which he +is qualified. + +The Northern party, or that of equal rights and free labor, like their +predecessors, hold many ideas which coming years will see realized, +for--as has always been the case in these contests--science and learning +are always on the liberal side. By a strange accident, for the first +time almost in history, the Republican party is for once in its +constituted rights, on its own ground, while the feudal or conservative +wing form the aggressors. As of old, too, the Southern conservatives are +enforcing theories once the property of their foes, who have now +advanced to broader, nobler, and more gloriously liberal views. + +For instance, the men of the South believe that labor and capital are +still antagonisms. Now it is true enough that they _once_ were, and that +when the _people_ in different ages first began to rebel against their +hereditary tyrants, the workman was only a serf to his capitalist +employer. That was the age when demagogues flourished by setting 'the +poor' against 'the rich.' A painful, sickening series of wars it was, +ending too often by labor's killing itself with its adversary. Then, a +foul, false 'democracy' was evolved, which was virtually a rank +aristocracy, not of nobility, but of those who could wheedle the poor +into supporting them. Such was the history of nearly all 'radicalism' +and 'democracy' from the days of Cleon and Alcibiades down to the +present time. + +But the enormous developments of science and of industry have of late +years opened newer and broader views to the world. As capital has +progressed in its action it is seen that at every step labor is +becoming--slowly, but surely, as Heaven's law--identified with it. The +harmony of interests is now no longer a vague Fourieristic notion,--for +nothing is plainer than that the more the operative becomes interested +in the success of the enterprise which employs him, the better is it for +him and it. And all _work_ in it--the owner and the employee. But then, +we are told that 'the owner gets the profits.' Does he? Sum up the +companies and capitalists who have failed during the past +decade,--compare what they have lost with what they have paid their +workmen, and then see who have really pocketed the money, and whether on +the whole the capitalists have been more than properly repaid for their +risks, and wear and tear of _brains_. To be sure we are as yet far from +having realized a regularly arranged harmony of interests. But I see +that here, even in this New England, there is nothing which the great +and most intelligent capitalists desire more than this harmony, or a +system in which every man's brains and labor shall be properly and +abundantly remunerated, since they see (as all must see who reflect) +that the nearer we approach such practical adjustment of forces, the +less liable will they be to fail. And the world, as it has reflected +that labor has flourished among barren rocks, covering them with smiling +villages, under the fostering care of capital, when fertile Southern +lands are a wilderness for want of this harmony between it and capital, +has concluded that the old battle between rich and poor was a folly. The +obscure hamlets of New England, which have within thirty years become +beautiful towns, with lyceums, libraries, and schools, are the most +striking examples on earth of the arrant folly of this gabble of +'capital as opposed to labor.' In the South, however, the old theory is +held as firmly as in the days when John Randolph prophesied Northern +insurrections of starving factory-slaves against manufacturing lords, +and--as President Lincoln recently intimated in his Message--the effort +is there being made to formally enslave labor to capital. That is to +say, the South not only adheres to the obsolete theory that labor is a +foe to capital, but proposes to subdue it to the latter. The progress of +free labor in the North is, however, a constantly increasing proof that +labor _is_ capital. + +Let the reader carefully digest this statement, and regard it not as an +abstraction of political economy, but as setting forth a vital truth +intimately allied to our closest interests, and to a future involving +the most serious emergencies. We are at a crisis which demands a new +influx of political thought and new principles. Our Revolution, with its +Constitution, was such an epoch; so too was the old strife between +Federalism and Democracy, in which both sides contended for what were +their rights. Since those days we have gone further, and the present +struggle, precipitated by the madness and folly of the South, sees +those who understand the great and glorious question of free labor with +its affinities to capital, endeavoring to prepare the way for a grand +coming North American Union, in which poor and rich hand in hand shall +press on, extending civilization, and crushing to the ground all +obsolete demagogueism, corruption, and folly. + +It is time that the word 'radical' were expunged from our political +dictionary. Under the old system of warfare men were regarded as being +divided into the 'poor,' who were 'out' of capital, and the rich, who +were 'in.' The progress of good, honest, unflinching _labor_ is causing +men to look higher than these old limitations. We want no 'outs' or +'ins'--in this country every man should be 'in,' given heart and soul to +honest industry. And no man or woman who can _work_ is without capital, +for every such person is a capital in self. When politics are devoted, +as they must be, to extending education and protecting industry, we +shall hear no more of these absurd quarrels between the 'conservative' +and 'radical' elements. + +When the government shall have triumphed in this great struggle,--when +the South, with its obsolete theories of the supremacy of capital over +labor, shall have yielded to the great advancing truth of the age,--when +free labor, rendered freer and nobler than ever, shall rule all powerful +from ocean to ocean, then we shall see this great American republic +restored to its original strength and beauty, progressing in the path +laid down by our Revolutionary forefathers, and stripped of the cruel +impediments which have clogged its course for years, proving to the +world the great assertion of all time, that man is capable of +self-government. It is this which lies before us,--neither a gloomy +'conservative' prospect of old-fashioned unchangeability, and still less +the gorgeous but preposterous dreams of Fourierite or other socialist; +but simply the healthy future of a hard-working country, in which every +impediment shall be removed from free labor and its every right +respected. And to bring this to pass there is but one first step +required. Push on the war, support the Administration, triumph at any +risk or cost, and then make of this America one great free land. +Freedom! _In hoc signo vinces_. + + * * * * * + +THE BLACK FLAG. + + You wish that slavers once again + May freely darken every sea, + Nor think that honor takes a stain + From what the world calls piracy; + And now your press in thunder tones + Calls for the Black Flag in each street-- + O, add to it a skull and bones, + And let the banner be complete. + + * * * * * + +THE ACTRESS WIFE. + +[CONCLUDED.] + + +After a few moments he arose, and, staggering towards me, grasped my +hand and shook it violently, stuttering out, 'Evelyn Afton is an +angel--that is, your wife, I mean, would have made a greater actress +than Mrs. Siddons. Sefton's a rascal--d----d rascal. You see, Mr. Bell, +I'm not what I was once. The cursed liquor--that's what made me this. +John Foster once held his head as high as anybody. Want, sir, absolute +want, brought me from my "high estate"--_id est_, liquor. Cursed liquor +made me poor, and poverty made me mean.' He continued for some time in a +broken strain, interrupted by hiccoughs and sobs, exhibiting in his +demeanor the remains of former brilliancy, but now everything +impaired--voice, manner, eyesight and intellect--by excessive +indulgence. + +The result of my conference was learning that Foster had been the agent +of Sefton in a conspiracy against my wife. Foster had of late years made +a precarious livelihood by occasional engagement on the stages, and a +few weeks since had strayed to this city. Being well known to Sefton, +the latter had promised him ample provision if he would feign illness, +induce my wife to visit him from motives of charity, and subsequently, +when called upon for testimony, allege that her visits were the renewal +of an old licentious intimacy. To these disgraceful propositions +Foster's degradation acceded, though in his better moments he contemned +his employer and himself. + +'What,' I meditated, 'can be Sefton's design? Can it be to compel my +wife to his passion through threats of destroying her reputation?' I +smiled as I thought of the futility of such a scheme, for Evelyn would +treat with the most scornful defiance any attempt at coercion, although +resistance would sacrifice not only her honor but her life. But this can +not be his real object, else why would he have advised a divorce? I have +it. He is really infatuated with her, and desires to free her from my +possession that she may come into his--knowing his ability to clear her +character, should it appear contaminated, but reckoning chiefly on its +preservation by my own delicacy from any public stain. + +Foster informed me that he always made Sefton aware of my wife's +visits,--as she appointed the evenings for them,--and that Sefton +attended the interviews, concealed in the next room. I therefore +arranged with Foster to inform Sefton that she would be present the next +evening, and then took my leave, Foster repeating again and again, +'Sefton's a rascal--Mrs. Bell's an angel. Only want, absolute want, made +me undertake this. Yes, sir,--I assure you,--_want_.' + +In pursuance of the arrangement, I visited Foster the next evening, +arriving before Sefton, and going into the next apartment. Sefton soon +after entered and engaged in a conversation with Foster, which fully +corroborated the information I had previously obtained. During its +progress I entered upon them. Sefton was amazed, and struck with a +consciousness of discovered guilt. + +'I am now fully aware,' I said, 'Mr. Sefton, of your cause for interest +in my affairs, and of the manner in which you have evinced it' + +He had by a violent effort recovered his equanimity, and +said,--'Prevarication or denial I suppose to be useless. You have +probably outbid me for the confidence of this miserable villain. What do +you propose to do?' + +'Were we both young,' I replied, 'there would be only one answer to that +question. It would be necessary to have recourse to a duel. As it is, I +am too old a man to be indulged leniently by the public in such a +proceeding. Moreover, I am conscientiously averse to initiating it. +Besides, it will not be permissible in this case to drag my wife's name +into any publicity. My only alternative, therefore, is to remain content +with the private discovery of your rascality, and hereafter to forbid +you any association with what pertains to me or my affairs.' + +'I will obviate all your objections,' he replied. 'I will assume the +initiative, and attribute your acceptance of a challenge to such causes +as will excuse you to the public. Some story may easily be devised which +will cover the real motives for our proceeding.' + +'_Now_,' I meditated, 'I have the clue to the mystery. Relying properly +on my wife's pride, and (alas!) her probable want of regard for me, this +man was convinced that she would not relate his attempt upon her, and +that I should never therefore be able to trace his connection with the +conspiracy. My opportune knowledge has counteracted his designs. +Evidently he has determined to possess Evelyn in marriage, since he can +in no other way. Therefore he suggested the divorce; and now, being an +excellent shot (while unaware of my own skill), he counts on removing me +by death--thus destroying all proof of his villany, and at the same time +all obstacles in his path to her. Well, I am not called on to meet him, +but I will take this hazard, as well as every other, for her.' + +I signified my assent to his proposals, and there, on the scene of his +detected iniquity, we calmly discussed the necessary arrangements. + +The next day, in pursuance of them, we met as by accident in the most +frequented hotel, and, after the usual salutations, engaged in +conversation, handling various papers, as if transacting a negotiation +of some kind. Gradually we warmed and our tones became louder, until +finally he exclaimed, 'It is false, Mr. Bell! Entirely false! I never +made any such representation.' + +'Perhaps,' I answered mildly, 'you mean to intimate that I am mistaken, +and would not charge me, as your words imply, with wilful falsehood.' + +'You must make your own application, sir,' he rejoined. 'I say your +statement is false--so false that a mere mistake can scarcely be +considered responsible for it.' + +'Such a reiteration of your insult,' I said, 'leaves me no redress +except by force. As you gave the first offense, I return it to your +keeping.' So saying, I struck him. + +By-standers, who had been attracted around, now seized us, and there +was, of course, much excitement and confusion. + +'This is a simple matter of private business, gentlemen,' said Mr. +Sefton, 'and its settlement will take place elsewhere.' + +'Yes, gentlemen,' I added, 'your interference now is not required, and +hereafter will be of no avail.' So we separated. + +I proceeded to my place of business and retired to my secret chamber, +giving orders to admit no one to me (lest I should be disturbed by the +officiousness of friends seeking to 'arrange' matters), but to send up +any letters. Soon a formal challenge arrived, to which I despatched a +formal answer. At the hour of closing business I sought my chief clerk, +whom I knew to be a sporting man, and briefly informed him of the +anticipated duel, which was appointed for an early hour the next +morning, the weapons pistols, and the place a short distance from the +city, and engaged him to act as my second. + +I occupied the evening in the necessary preparations of my affairs for +the contingency of a fatal issue. Near midnight I went to my residence, +and in the seclusion of my sleeping chamber passed an hour in a +tumultuous variety of thought. I had briefly written, for Evelyn's +perusal, a history of my life as connected with her, and a true version +of the circumstances leading to the duel. 'If I fall'--I sadly +thought--'will she appreciate my self-offering? Shall I leave her a +legacy of sorrow, if my death under these circumstances would grieve +her? No! I will die as I have thus far lived--making no expression of +the love which sways my soul.' I tore my letter into fragments and +burned them. Passing silently into her chamber,--the first time I had +entered it for long months,--I kneeled at her bedside and sobbed. By the +dim light I could trace the marks of grief--cold, heart-consuming +grief--on her beautiful features--marks which in the day-time resolute +pride effaced; as the furrows in the rocks of the sea-shore are seen at +ebb-tide, but are concealed when the waters bound at their flood. Slowly +and cautiously I approached my lips to hers, and lightly touched them. +She stirred, and I sank to the floor. Her sleep being but lightly +disturbed, I glided like a ghost from the chamber, and with a +heart-rending groan threw myself on my bed and forced forgetfulness and +slumber. + +All parties were on the field at the appointed hour, and the +preliminaries were quickly arranged. There was in Sefton's countenance +the expression of deliberate criminality, encouraged by the expectation +of an easy triumph. Immediately upon the word, he fired. The ball grazed +my breast, tore from my shirt-front a pin, and, glancing off, fell into +a creek which partly encircled the ground. Had he been a moment less +precipitate in his determination to ensure my death, the slight movement +I would have made in raising my arm to fire would probably have changed +my position sufficiently to have received the bullet. My shot followed +immediately upon his. He was seen to stagger, but declared himself +unhurt, and demanded a second shot. The pistols were prepared and +delivered. I noticed that Sefton received his with the left hand. We +were again placed, and just as the word were being given, he fell to the +ground. On examination it appeared that at the first fire my ball had +struck immediately in front of the arm and shattered the clavicle, +thence passing--in one of the freaks peculiar to bullets--immediately +beneath the flesh, half round the body, lodging under the opposite +shoulder. He had fainted from the wound. + +Of course the duel was ended. Sefton was confined to his house for +weeks, and on recovering removed to Texas, where in a few months +afterward he died from _mania a potu_. + +On returning home, I found that the tidings of my difficulty with +Sefton, and its anticipated consequences, had been communicated to my +wife. She met me in the hall, her eyes flashing, but her manner evincing +more tenderness than I had ever before witnessed in it. 'Is this true, +Mr. Bell,' she asked, 'that public rumor has informed me? Have you had a +quarrel with Mr. Sefton? Have you fought with him?' + +'It is true, my dear,' I replied. 'I have just returned from a duel.' + +'Are you injured? Tell me,' she exclaimed, passionately. + +'Not in the least,' I replied, 'but desperately--hungry.' + +'And he?' + +'I believe he is quite severely wounded. He was carried from the field +insensible.' + +'Thank God,' she exclaimed. + +I knew it was on her lips to tell me that I had been drawn into a +conflict by a villain, who had met his just deserts, but I forestalled +all explanations by demanding my breakfast, and after her first emotions +had subsided, merely gave her a matter-of-fact account of our pretended +quarrel, and of the duel. + +But I laid up in my heart, as a sweet episode in my desolate life, the +anxiety she had manifested for my safety. + +Public conversation and the newspapers were for a time employed on the +duel, but fortunately the truth was not suggested in the remotest +degree. + +I provided liberally for Foster, and sent him from the city. Where he +now is I know not. He had informed Evelyn, by a letter, that, his health +having improved, he designed to remove. + +I had long since learned Frank's early history, and, through persons to +whose patronage I had commended him and who had visited his studio at +Florence, was well acquainted with all his proceedings. My charity +towards him was producing ample fruits. + +A few months after the duel, Evelyn and I were making a tour in Europe. + +At a comparatively early hour on the morning after our arrival in +Florence, we proceeded, without previous announcement, to visit Frank's +studio. Being ushered into an antechamber of the rather luxurious range +of apartments, which, as I was aware, he occupied, in company with +several other bachelors, I merely sent him word that a gentleman and +lady had called to see his works, the servant informing us that he was +at breakfast. Of this our own ears received a sufficient evidence, for, +from an adjacent apartment, we heard not only the rattle of table +service in industrious requisition, but conversation and laughter, which +proved that the bachelors were jolly over their meal. Indeed, their +mutual rallying was not altogether of the most delicate kind, and +several favorite signoritas were allude to with various degrees of +insinuation. In all this, Frank, whose voice I could well distinguish +(its echoes had never left my ear), and which I was satisfied, from +Evelyn's peculiar expression, that she also recognized, bore a prominent +part. Evelyn was astonished. Frank soon appeared, looking the least like +the imaginative and love-vitalized artist possible, and entirely like +the gay young dog I knew he had become. The confused character of +_their_ greetings may be conceived. But of this I professed to be +entirely uncognizant, and, after a hasty visit to the studio, gave Frank +an invitation to dinner on the succeeding day, and we departed. + +The money with which I had liberally supplied Frank had induced him to +enter with a youthful zest into the pleasures of life, and his dream of +love for Evelyn had attenuated into a mere memory. He was now a +successful and courted artist. I was possessed of another fact in +reference to him--that he was very much domesticated in an American +family residing in the city, one of whose young lady members was greatly +disposed, much to Frank's satisfaction, to recompense to him whatever +subtractions from his fund of love had previously been wasted on Evelyn. +Access to this family had been secured to Frank on my recommendation, +given before they left America. I conveyed Evelyn to their residence, +and, after also inviting them to our proposed dinner, we returned to our +temporary home. + +I was careful not to intrude on Evelyn during the evening, leaving her +alone to struggle with the melancholy which I knew the incidents of the +day must induce. + +Frank arrived early the next day. Evelyn's presence had evidently +renewed the power of his former feelings. Indeed, had opportunity +offered, he was prepared to give way to them, but I was careful that +none should be afforded. When our other guests arrived he was thrown +into unexpected confusion. The conflict between the past and the present +love--the ideal and the real--the shadow and the substance--the memory +and the actual--was painful, yet ridiculous to look upon. I calmly +watched, without giving any symptom of observation, the results of my +strategy, and never did a chess-player more rejoice over the issue of a +hard-fought contest. Evelyn, as I perceived, soon discovered all the +circumstances, and I could trace the conflict of passions in her +bosom--the revulsion at Frank's infidelity, yet the spontaneous +acknowledgment of her heart that he had acted wisely. She was also +reflecting, I was confident, on the weakness that constrained him to +abandon the worship of her image,--however vain and unsatisfactory it +might be,--and to elevate on the altar of his affections such a goddess +as supplied her place. For the young female in whose service Frank was +enrolled was a plump, merry and matter-of-fact girl, destitute of +genius, though possessing all the qualities which adapt woman to fulfill +the duties of the domestic relations. + +My time for a final demonstration had now arrived. In the despair of her +abandonment, Evelyn must, either welcome me as her deliverer, or she +must perish in her pride. Death alone could sever us--death alone +furnished me a remedy for the deprivation of her love. + +In one of the large, gloomy apartments of the dilapidated palace we +occupied, I sat alone as the twilight was gathering. My pistol case was +on the table at my side. I rang the bell, and directed the servant who +answered it to desire Evelyn's presence, and bring lights. She soon +appeared--cold, passive, incurious, yet beneath this I could see the +confined struggle of passion. + +I remarked on her looks as peculiar, and expressed a fear that she was +unwell. No, she assured me, her health was as usual. Perhaps, then, she +did not find her stay in Florence agreeable. Perfectly so. She had no +desire to go or to remain, except as I had arranged in the programme of +our tour. But, I urged, she seemed dejected. Something must have +occurred to depress her mind. Not at all. She was unaware that her humor +was different from ordinary. + +'Indeed, Evelyn,' said I, 'there is deception in this, and I insist on +an explanation.' + +She looked surprised, but did not yet comprehend my purport; so +answered, in a proper, wife-like manner, that my anxiety had deceived +me--that in all respects her feelings, and, so far as she knew, her +appearance, differed not from what they had been. + +'Well, then,' said I, 'your feelings and appearance must be changed. I +will tolerate them no longer.' + +Her features evinced the greatest astonishment. 'You are inexplicable,' +she said. 'May I beg to know your meaning?' + +'Know it? You shall, and you shall conform yourself to it. Resistance +will be vain, for (displaying the pistols) I have the means of +coercion.' + +She thought I was mad, and rose on the impulse to summon help. + +'Do not stir a step,' I said, aiming a pistol at her, 'or it will be +your last.' She stopped, without exhibiting the least symptom of fear, +but simply because she saw that to proceed would be useless. + +'Ha! ha! Evelyn,' said I, forcing an imitation of incoherent laughter, +'I am but trifling with you. I am not mad. I sought but to rouse some +passion in you--either of fear or of anger. But, alas! I have not +sufficient power over you even for that. Sit down. I have something to +relate. When I have ended, these pistols may be useful for one or both +of us. But you do not fear them. I have long known that life was too +valueless to you for fear of losing it to make any impression.' + +She saw that something unusual was impending--what she did not fully +understand, but calmly took her seat to await it. At this moment a +servant knocked and entered with a letter. I mechanically opened it and +read. It was an announcement from my partners that my inattention to the +business had involved us all in ruin. The clerk to whom I had entrusted +it (the sporting character before mentioned) had defaulted and fled. He +had contracted large debts in the name of the firm, and gambled away all +the accessible funds. The ruin was supposed to be irretrievable, and +with many bitter reproaches I was summoned to return with speed to +extricate affairs, and--make such reparation as I could. + +The letter filled me with almost demoniacal joy. I was ruined, and for +her sake. I gloated over the thought. + +'These weapons will now be useless,' said I. 'Place them on the shelf +beside you. This letter will answer in their stead.' + +She obeyed me, and I then related the information I had received. 'This +ruin comes upon me through you.' She thought I was about to make a +vulgar complaint of extravagance, and for once flushed with anger. +'Remain entirely quiet,' I said. 'Hear me, but do not interrupt by word +or gesture. You do not yet understand me.' + +Then I entered on all the particulars of my life; recounted my passion +for her; told how in my mad infatuation I had bargained for her; how in +my selfish exultation I had assumed all the freedoms of love, never +stopping to question my right to exercise them; how I was aroused from +my stupid content by accidentally witnessing her interview with Frank. I +related the feelings this excited within me; how for the first time I +learned the miserable and contemptible part I had acted; how I then +understood the sorrow of her life; how I would have crushed out my love +and given her to Frank, had there been any practicable way; how, knowing +that the only chance for happiness to both was in mutual love, I had +determined to gain hers by every act of devotion; how I sought to give +her the only relation to Frank she could properly bear--his +benefactress. I told her of my secret studies, designed to fit me for +companionship with her; of my withdrawing with her into the wilderness, +that her grief might be alleviated in the inspiring presence of +uncontaminated nature; of my expenditures to gratify her wishes and +tastes. I narrated the incidents which preceded the duel, and informed +her that I was perfectly acquainted with Sefton's object in seeking an +encounter with me; that I gratified him because willing to undertake +every hazard for her sake. Finally, I avowed my knowledge of all the +disappointment her heart had experienced by Frank's inconstancy.' know +you feel, to-night,' I said, 'that existence is an imposture--worse than +the meanest jiggle. So do I. The only thing that can render it a reality +is love. I intended to say to you, let us end it. For two years, I have +borne the mask of a hypocrite that I might thus tell you of my idolatry, +and say give me love or die. This letter necessitates a change of +purpose. I welcome it as announcing that my sacrifice is +complete--inadequate in comparison with the one you made in uniting +yourself to me, but all that I have to give. It is requisite that I must +yet live to do others justice--to provide for our children; although +they have been valueless to me since I knew that their souls were not +links between ours. But you I release. Before dawn I shall be on my +return. The provision for your future, thank heaven, no demands of +justice can infringe. Hereafter know me not as your husband, but as one +who wronged you, devoted his all to reparation, and failed.' + +I rose--weak and tottering--and passed to the door. I caught but a +glimpse of her face. There was in it, and particularly in her +eyes,--which, perhaps, on account of her dramatic cultivation, had the +faculty of concentrating in a wonderful manner the most powerful as well +as the most indefinable expressions,--a peculiar light, which then I did +not understand, but afterwards, oh, too well. Fool, fool, that I was, +after all my anxious scrutiny of her moods through two years of +intensest agony, not to understand this one. The alchemist, who wasted +his life in vigils over his crucible, but stood uncognizant of the gold +when it gleamed lustrously before him, was not more a dolt. Thrice +afterward I beheld that light in her glorious eyes. To my spiritual +sight I can ever recall it. When you asked me her history, those orbs of +beauty beamed out upon me with that same fascinating light. + + * * * * * + +I went immediately to America. My ruin was entire. I had greatly +embarrassed my fortune in wild extravagances for Evelyn, and the +remainder I surrendered to my partners. Their criminations were somewhat +assuaged, and our partnership relations being dissolved, the business +was reorganized, and I was engaged in a humble clerical capacity. Moody +and taciturn, I was regarded simply as the ordinary victim of a +recklessly spendthrift wife, and was ridiculed and pitied as such. What +cared I for ridicule or pity? + +A letter came from Evelyn, stating that she designed resuming her +profession, and would appear immediately in London. Sometime in the +Spring I should hear from her again. + +Accompanying the letter was a formal legal surrender of such property as +she possessed by my gift or otherwise, and a demand that I should apply +it to cancel my obligations. She would hereafter, she said, provide for +herself. Except a small reservation for the benefit of the children, I +complied with her direction. No mandate of hers would I disobey. + +So existence dragged on. I resided in a humble dwelling with my two +children. Their presence did not soothe me,--their infantile affection +made no appeal to my heart,--but their dependence claimed my +care.--Memories of Evelyn alone possessed me. I secured full files of +London papers, and watched for notices of her appearance. At last they +came. A new star, the papers said, had suddenly appeared, unheralded, in +the theatrical firmament, and rapidly culminated in the zenith. She was +understood to be an American lady, formerly an actress, who had returned +to the stage on account of domestic difficulties. Some papers intimated +that her husband was a brute, who had forsaken her; others, that by a +series of mischances she had been compelled to the stage to support a +husband and numerous dependent relations. Lengthy criticisms on her +various performances were inserted, most of them stuffed with the +pseudo-taste and finical ostentation of knowledge prevalent in that +department of newspaper literature, but all according her the most +exalted merit. The tragedies involving the intense domestic affections +were those she had selected for her _rôles_. Romeo and Juliet, Evadne, +Douglas, Venice Preserved, and others of that class, were mentioned. The +critics, however, devoted their most enthusiastic encomiums to her +performance of Imogen in Shakspeare's Cymbeline, a version of which, it +seems, she had herself adapted. The reproduction of this piece, which +had vanished from the modern _repertoire_, attracted marked attention. +Her rendering of 'Imogen'--was pronounced superb. + +The papers also made passing allusions to her personal beauty. Soon +paragraphs appeared concerning the attentions of Lord A---- and the Earl +of B---- to her; of the infatuation of certain members of the various +diplomatic corps. Young men of fashion were reported as throwing to her +bouquets containing diamonds; others sent horses and carriages to her +residence, with requests for her acceptance. One paper alluded +maliciously to the fact that a certain antiquated nobleman had given her +a New Year's present of _bon bons_, every 'sugared particle' being +folded in a five-pound Bank of England note. The paper added some rough +witticism, and informed the nobleman that his 'assiduities' would be +ineffectual, saying that 'the lady, with true Yankee shrewdness, accepts +all offerings at her shrine, but confers no favors in return.' + +So the season wore away until the Spring had again come around. I saw an +announcement in a New York paper that Evelyn Afton (her maiden name), +who had recently acquired such a brilliant reputation in London, etc., +would perform during a short engagement at the Park Theatre. The next +morning saw me on the route to New York. I placed myself in an obscure +corner of the theatre. The curtain rose. There was a brief absence of +all consciousness, and then she came upon the stage. The play was +Cymbeline. I know nothing of what transpired, save that when she +rendered the words,-- + + 'Oh for a horse with wings,'-- + +that light again appeared in her eyes. + +The performance ended, and a man, feeling himself old and weary, passed +into the streets, and wandered through them till morning, wondering if +he had not in some way been connected with the brilliant being he had +seen; it seemed to him that once there had been some entwining of their +fates, but the recollection of it came like the indistinct memory of a +half-impressed dream,--as if it had been in some previous condition of +existence, and the consciousness of it had lingered through a subsequent +metempsychosis. + + * * * * * + +I was sitting solitary in an apartment of the humble dwelling which I +occupied, poring in a slow, melancholy memory over my past life, and +questioning myself when Evelyn would fulfil the promise of again +informing me of her intentions. My mood was scarcely disturbed by a +knock at the outer door, which was responded to by the maid who had +charge of my children, and the next instant I was thrilled almost to +stupefaction by seeing Evelyn enter the room. + +'I've come! I've come!' she cried, in wild eagerness. 'Have you not +expected me? I'm home--home once more. Dearest--lover--husband--I'm +here, never to leave you!' + +I only gasped forth--'Evelyn!' + +I knew not but it was an illusion. + +Then she threw herself upon me, and covered me with kisses, uttered a +volume of passionate endearments, entwined her arms about me in all +tender embraces. I reasoned with myself that it was a dream, and would +not stir lest it should dissolve. + +She stood above me, and again I saw that light in her eyes. Then for the +first time I understood its import. Oh! the strange, deep, glorious +light of love and resolute devotion. + +I rose falteringly, and asked in feeble accents,--'Is it you, Evelyn? +Have you indeed come?' + +'Yes, yes, your Evelyn at last,--come to your arms and your heart. Your +own Evelyn, so long unworthy of you. Will you receive me?' + +I but threw my arms around her, and sank down with her on my breast. +Nature exhausted itself in the intensity of that embrace. Language was +denied to emotion. For some moments she lay like a child, nestling to my +heart, then suddenly started up and disappeared in the hall. Again I +thought it was a dream, and that it had fled. She reappeared, bearing a +small casket, which in a quick, frantic sort of way she thrust on the +table, opened and pulled out gold pieces, jewels and bank notes, +flinging them down, some on the table and some on the floor, exclaiming, +'See, you ruined yourself for me, and I have come to repay you. Look, +all these your Evelyn brings to testify to her love. The children!' she +exclaimed, as she threw out the last contents,--'where are they? Come, +show me.' She seized the lamp, and, grasping my arm, dragged me in my +half-bewildered state to the next apartment, where the infants lay +sleeping. She flung herself eagerly but tenderly upon them, and devoured +them with kisses. 'Now you will love them, for my sake,' she said; and, +for the first time since discovering that she loved me not, I bestowed +upon them a voluntary paternal caress--I bowed over them and gently +kissed their foreheads. Her love for them had restored them to my heart. + +Then again, with her wild, impetuous manner, she led me back to the +other room. I sat upon the sofa and drew her to my breast. She lay +passive a moment, then started up and paced the floor, with rapid +utterances, broken with half sobs and half laughter. She returned to me, +and again repeated this, till finally interrupted with a violent fit of +coughing, occasioned, as I supposed, by excitement. + +'Be calm, Evelyn,' I said. 'Come and lie in my arms. This joy is too +great for me to realize. I must feel you on my bosom to convince me that +I am not deceived.' + +So she reposed in my arms, and--with broken sobs, the intervals of which +gradually increased, she finally slept. A lethargy also fell upon me, +which endured how long I know not. As I returned to wakefulness, I +shuddered with a cold thrill, such as one might feel on suddenly finding +himself in the presence of a spirit; for I heard what was of more +terrible meaning to me than any other sound. The rest of the precious +sleeper at my side was disturbed frequently by a short, husky cough, +followed by a low moan as of dull pain. Well I knew the prediction +conveyed by those sounds. Long watchings by the bedside of a +slowly-dying mother had made me fearfully familiar with them. Through +the lingering hours of that night I sat listening to them with an +agonized ear, and in my bitterness I almost cursed Heaven for providing +the doom I anticipated. + +At the first glimpse of morning I bore her carefully to the side of the +sleeping children, and, after replacing in the casket its contents, sped +to the house of the physician whom I have previously mentioned, and, +leaving word for immediate attendance, hastened back, and resumed my +watch. Oh! in the dawn how pallid and sunken the features which I had so +often seen flushed and full with the animation of life and genius! +Evelyn woke and smiled peacefully on me, but lay as if still exhausted +with weariness. The physician came. He was already aware that my wife +had been engaged in her profession, though ignorant of the objects which +had induced her to it. I informed him of my apprehensions. Conducting +him to Evelyn, I excused his presence by stating my fear that she might +require his advice after her excitement and fatigue. With skillful +caution he observed her, and in conversation elicited the statement that +some months since she had been ill from exposure. She had recovered, she +said, and was entirely well, except that occasionally slight exertion +prostrated her. Even while she spoke the monitor was continually making +itself heard. + +I drew him to the other apartment, and in a hoarse whisper said,--'Well, +your verdict;--but I know it already from your countenance.' + +'If you were wealthy,' he replied-- + +'Wealthy! I am rich--rich,' I interrupted him. 'Look!' (with this I +opened the casket, and run my fingers through the glittering contents, +like a miser through his coin.) 'Tell me what wealth can do, and these +shall do it. To gain these she has imperiled life. Let them restore it +if they can.' + +I saw suspicion on his countenance. 'It is false,' I exclaimed, 'false! +I tell you she is as pure as heaven. It was for me that she earned all +these.' And I dashed them on the floor and ground them under my feet. + +He seized me and was weeping. 'You are mad,' he said. 'I believe you. +Now I understand all. Do not delay. Take her to Italy, and may Heaven +preserve her to you.' + +In a week's time we were on our voyage, accompanied by the children and +the physician--the latter professing to Evelyn that he desired to make +the tour of Europe. My own apology for the voyage was a wish to complete +the tour previously interrupted. + +The passage was long and tedious. Before reaching our destination my +hopes of Evelyn's recovery had vanished. Her demeanor was so gentle, +childlike and affectionate, my heart was wrung with anguish. I could not +break her sweet serenity by disclosing the fate which was impending. She +seemed to have reached a period of the most holy and perfect +satisfaction. All the suppressed bitterness of former years--all the +earnest resolution of the later time--had vanished, and she rested happy +in the enjoyment of our mutual love. This quiet assisted the process of +destruction. Had there been something to rouse her old energy, I am +confident she would have made a desperate, perhaps successful, struggle +for life. But I could not force myself to excite it by a warning against +the insidious destroyer. + +On our arrival she was in a deplorable condition of weakness. She +imputed this debility to the voyage. Day by day I saw the flame of life +dwindling, but she was unsuspicious, and only wondered that her recovery +was so slow. Once, as she was watching, in a half-declining position, +the setting sun, and talking of the happy days to come, I could contain +myself no longer, but burst forth into a frenzy of sobbing. + +'Evelyn,' I said, 'you are dying. You know it not, but, oh God, it is +true. You are dying before me, and I can not save you. Perhaps it is too +late for you to save yourself.' + +At first she supposed that my emotion was only the undue result of +anxiety for her, but as I grew calmer, and told her more precisely my +meaning, and the causes of my fears, she said, with something of her old +firmness,-- + +'If this be true, let me become fully convinced. Call in Dr. ----, and +leave me alone with him. I have not thought of dying, but should have +known that my present happiness was too exquisite to last.' + +I sent in the doctor, and he told her all. What passed between us, on my +return, is too sacred for relation. It is enough that the bitterness of +that hour filled all the capacity of the human heart for anguish and +despair. Afterwards we became more reconciled to the dispositions of +Heaven. + +The history of her gradual decline need not be related--the hopes, the +suspense, the disappointments--the reviving indications of health, the +increasing symptoms of fatal disease--the flush and brilliancy as of +exuberant vitality--the fading of all the hues of life--all the +vicissitudes of the unrelenting progress of decay--one after another, +resolving themselves into the lineaments of death. + +It was indeed too late. + +Frank still remained in Florence, but had discarded the society of his +bachelor friends for that of the young lady previously mentioned, who +was now entitled to call him husband. + +Soon after our arrival I called upon him, announced Evelyn's illness, +with its hopeless character. The young man was shocked. He had never +thought of disease or death in connection with Evelyn. Who could? +Besides, I could read in his face a horror mixed with thankfulness at +the escape, as his memory recalled the madness which would have urged to +guilt, her who was about to leave the scenes of earthly passion. I +invited him to return with me. He did so, and I left him alone with +Evelyn. I knew that his presence would now give her no shock. + +What passed between them I never heard; but it was not beyond +conjecture. The method of his regard for her subsequently, fully +revealed it. It was the most lofty and refined feeling of which humanity +is capable--the worship of the artist--the friendship of the man. + +Well,--the last scene arrived. We knew that the time had come. It was, +as she had hoped, at sunset. She gazed long at the changing splendors of +the western sky. 'Such,' she said, 'is death. Life merely revolves away +from us, but the soul still shines the same upon another sphere. The +faith that invests death with terror is a false one. We pass from one +world to another--drop one style of existence for a higher. We enter on +a life in which may be realized all which here we have vainly sought +for. The soul-longings shall all be there fulfilled. Come soon--all of +you. I shall be waiting you. There love and friendship--unsullied and +unruffled--without passion or misconception--will give perpetual +happiness.' + + * * * * * + +And so she passed away. This is the tenth anniversary of her death. We +bore hither all that was left of her to us, and Frank's chisel has +marked her resting place. Her children are beside her, and I wait +impatiently the time when I may enter with them on that existence where +the budding affections of earth shall blossom into immortal enjoyment. + + * * * * * + +As Mr. Bell ceased his narrative, I pressed his hand, and without words +departed. + +About noon next day the rumor circulated through the streets that he was +dead. I hastened to his house, and learned that it was true. He had been +found at a late hour of the morning lying on his bed, dressed as I had +left him. Physicians made an examination of the corpse, and attributed +the cause to apoplexy. I did not lament him, for I knew his spirit was +in the embrace of the loved ones who went before him. + + * * * * * + +SELF-RELIANCE. + + + When the eaglets' tender wings are feathered + The old eagles crowd them from the nest; + Down they flutter till their plumes have gathered + Strength to lift them to the granite crest + Of the hills their eldest sires possessed. + + When the one cub of the lordly lions + Strikes the earth and shakes his bristling mane, + Forth they lash him, though he growl defiance, + O'er the sand-waste to pursue his gain,-- + Shaggy Nimrod of the desert plain! + + Still the eagles watch out from the eyrie + On the mountains, their young heirs to screen; + The old lions on the hot sand-prairie,-- + If some peril track their cub,--unseen, + Stealthier than the Bedouin, glide between. + + So the noblest of earth's creatures noble + Are cast forth to find their way alone, + So our manhood, in its day of trouble, + Is but crowded from the sheltering zone + And broad love-wings, to achieve its throne. + + We are left to battle, not forsaken, + Watched in secret by our awful Sire; + Left to conquer, lest our spirits weaken, + And forget to wrestle and aspire, + Finding all things prompter than desire. + + He hath hid the everlasting presence + Of his Godhead from the world he made, + Veiled his incommunicable essence + In thick darkness of thick clouds arrayed, + On our bold search flashing through the shade. + + We are gods in veritable seeming + When we struggle for our vacant thrones, + But are earthlings beyond God's redeeming + While we lean, and creep, and beg in moans, + And base kneeling cramps our knitted bones. + + Strength is given us, and a field for labor, + Boundless vigor and a boundless field; + Not to eat the harvests of our neighbor, + But our own fate's reaping-hook to wield-- + Gathering only what our lands may yield; + + If perchance it may be wheat or darnel, + Bitter herbs to medicine a wrong, + Stinging thistles round a haunted charnel, + Or rich wines to make us glad and strong,-- + Fitting fruits that to each mood belong. + + While such power and scope to us are given, + Who shall bind us to the triumph-car + Of some victor soul, before us driven, + Earlier hero in the work and war, + Him to mimic, humbly and afar? + + No! we will not stoop, and fawn and follow; + There are victories for our hands to win, + Rocks to rive, and stubborn glebes to mellow, + Outward trials leagued to foes within; + Earth and self to purify from sin. + + No! our spirits shall not cringe and grovel, + Stooping lowly to a low thoughts door, + As if Heaven were straitened to a hovel, + All its star-worlds set to rise no more, + And our genius had no wings to soar. + + Truths bequeathed us are for lures to action; + Not for grave-stones fane and altar stand, + Tempting men to wait the resurrection + Of old prophets from their sunsets grand,-- + Rather mile-stones towards the Promised Land, + + Gird your mantles and bind on your sandals, + Each man marching by his own birth-star; + God will crown us when those glimmering candles + Swell to suns as forth we track them far,-- + Suns that bear our throne and victory-bannered car! + + * * * * * + +THE HUGUENOT FAMILIES IN AMERICA. + + +The celebrated 'Edict of Nantes' was, to speak accurately, a new +confirmation of former treaties between the French government and the +Protestants, or _Huguenots_--in fact, a royal act of indemnity for all +past offences. The verdicts against the '_Reformed_' were annulled and +erased from the rolls of the Superior Courts, and to them unlimited +liberty of conscience was recognized as a right. This important and +solemn Edict marked for France the close of the Middle Ages, and the +true commencement of modern times; it was sealed with the great seal of +green wax, to testify its irrevocable and perpetual character. In +signing this great document, Henry IV. completely triumphed over the +usages of the Middle Ages, and the illustrious monarch wished nothing +less than to grant to the 'Reformed' all the civil and religious rights +which had been refused them by their enemies. For the first time France +raised itself above religious parties. Still, a state policy so new +could not fail to excite the clamors of the more violent, and the hatred +of factions. The sovereign, however, remained firm. 'I have enacted the +Edict,' said Henry to the Parliament of Paris,--'I wish it to be +observed. My will must serve as the reason why. I am king. I speak to +you as king.--I will be obeyed.' To the clergy he said, 'My predecessors +have given you good words, but I, with my gray jacket,--I will give you +good deeds. I am all gray on the outside, but I'm all gold within.' +Praise to those noble sentiments, peace was maintained in the realm; the +honor of which alone belongs to Henry IV. + +In the first half of the seventeenth century, there could be counted in +France more than eight hundred Reformed churches, with sixty-two +Conferences. Such was the prosperity and powerful organization of the +Protestant party until the fall of La Rochelle, which was emphatically +called the citadel of 'the Reform.' This misfortune terminated the +religious wars of France. The Huguenots, now excluded from the +employment of the civil service and the court, became the industrial +arms of the kingdom. They cultivated the fine lands of the Cevennes, the +vineyards of Guienne, the cloths of Caen. In their hands were almost +entirely the maritime trade of Normandy, with the silks and taffetas of +Lyons, and, from even the testimony of their enemies, they combined with +industry, frugality, integrity all those commercial virtues, which were +hallowed by earnest love of religion and a constant fear of God. The +vast plains which they owned in Bearn waved with bounteous harvests. +Languedoc, so long devastated by civil wars, was raised from ruin by +their untiring industry. In the diocese of Nimes was the valley of +Vannage, renowned for its rich vegetation. Here the Huguenots had more +than sixty churches or 'temples,' and they called this region '_Little +Canaan_.' Esperon, a lofty summit of the Cevennes, filled with sparkling +springs and delicious wild flowers, was known as '_Hort-dieu_' the +garden of the Lord. + +The Protestant party in France did not confine themselves to +manufactures and commerce, but entered largely into the liberal +pursuits. Many of the 'Reformed' distinguished themselves as physicians, +advocates and writers, contributing largely to the literary glory of the +age of Louis XIV. In all the principal cities of the kingdom, the +Huguenots maintained colleges, the most flourishing of which were those +at Orange, Caen, Bergeracs and Nimes, etc. etc. To the Huguenot +gentlemen, in the reign of Louis XIII. and Louis XIV., France was +indebted for her most brilliant victories. Marshal Rantzan, brave and +devoted, received no less than sixty wounds, lost an arm, a leg, and an +eye, his heart alone remaining untouched, amidst his many battles. Need +we add the names of Turenne, one of the greatest tacticians of his day, +with Schomberg, who, in the language of Madame de Sevigne, 'was a hero +also,' or glorious Duquesne, the conqueror of De Ruyter? He beat the +Spaniards and English by sea, bombarded Genoa and Algiers, spreading +terror among the bold corsairs of the Barbary States; the Moslemin +termed him 'The old French captain who had wedded the sea, and whom the +angel of death had forgotten.' All these were illustrious leaders, with +crowds of distinguished officers, and belonged to the Reformed religion. +Wonderful and strange to relate, in the midst of all this national +happiness and prosperity, the kingdom of France was again to appear +before the world as the persecutor of her best citizens, the destroyer +of her own vital interests. The Edict of Nantes was revoked on 22d +October, 1685. It is not our purpose to name the causes of this suicidal +policy, as they are indelibly written on the pages of our world's +history, nor shall we point to the well-known provisions of this insane +and bloody act. In a word, Protestant worship was abolished throughout +France, under the penalty of arrest, with the confiscation of goods. +Huguenot ministers were to quit the kingdom in a fortnight. Protestant +schools were closed, and the laity were forbidden to follow their +clergy, under severe and fatal penalties. All the strict laws concerning +heretics were again renewed. But, in spite of all these enactments, +dangers and opposition, the Huguenots began to leave France by +thousands. + +Many entreated the court, but in vain, for permission to withdraw +themselves from France. This favor was only granted to the Marshal de +Schomberg and the Marquis de Ruoigny, on condition of their retiring to +Portugal and England. Admiral Duquesne, then aged eighty, was strongly +urged by the king to change his religion. 'During sixty years,' said the +old hero, showing his gray hairs,' I have rendered unto Cæsar the things +which I owe to Cæsar; permit me now, sire, to render unto God the thing +which I owe to God.' He was permitted to end his days in his native +land. The provisions of the Edict were carried out with inflexible +rigor. In the month of June, 1686, more than six hundred of the Reformed +could be counted in the galleys at Marseilles, and nearly as many in +those of Toulon, and the most of them condemned by the decision of a +single marshal (de Mortieval). Fortunately for the refugees, the guards +along the coast did not at all times faithfully execute the royal +orders, but often aided the escape of the fugitives. Nor were the, land +frontiers more faithfully guarded. In our day, it is impossible to state +the correct numbers of the Protestant emigration. Assuming that one +hundred thousand Protestants were distributed among twenty millions of +Roman Catholics, we think it safe to calculate that from two hundred and +fifty to three hundred thousand, during fifteen years, expatriated +themselves from France. Sismondi estimates their number at three or four +hundred thousand. Reaching London, Amsterdam or Berlin, the refugees +were received with open purses and arms, and England, America, Germany, +Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Prussia, and Holland, all profited +by this wholesale proscription of Frenchmen. All agree that these +Protestant emigrants were among the bravest, the most industrious, loyal +and pious in the kingdom of France, and that they carried with them the +arts by which they had enriched their own land, and abundantly repaid +the hospitality of those countries which afforded them that asylum +denied them in their own. + +The influence which the Huguenot refugees especially exerted upon trade +and manufactures in those countries where they settled, was very +striking and lasting. England and Holland, of all other nations, owe +gratitude to the Protestants of France for the various branches of +industry introduced by them, and which have greatly contributed in +making their 'merchants princes,' and, their 'traffickers the honorable +of the earth.' We refer to these nations particularly, because they are +so intimately connected with the colonization of our own favored land. +The Huguenot refugees in England introduced the silk factories in +Spitalfields, using looms like those of Lyons and of Tours. They also +commenced the manufacture of fine linen, calicoes, sail-cloth, +tapestries, and paper, most of which had before been imported from +France. It has been estimated that these refugees thus brought into +Great Britain a trade which deprived France of an annual income of +nearly ten millions of dollars. Science, arms, jurisprudence and +literature, were also advanced by their arrival. The _first_ newspaper +in Ireland was published by the Pastor Droz, a refugee, who also founded +a library in Dublin. Thelluson (Lord Redlesham), a brave soldier in the +Peninsular war, General Ligonier, General Prevost of the British army, +Sir Samuel Romilly, Majendie, Bishop of Chester, Henry Layard, the +excavator of Nineveh, all are the descendants of the French Huguenots. +Saurin secured the reputation of his powerful eloquence at the Hague; +but in the French Church, Threadneedle street, London, he reached the +summit of his splendid pulpit eloquence. Most of the Huguenots who fled +to England for an asylum were natives of Normandy, Brittany, Picardy, +and Guienne. Their numbers at the revocation may be calculated at eighty +thousand. Hume estimates them at fifty thousand, another writer at +seventy thousand, but we believe these calculations are too low. In +1676, the communicants of the Protestant French Church at Canterbury +reached not less than twenty-five hundred. Of all the services of the +Huguenots to England, none was more important than the energetic support +to the Prince of Orange against James II. The Prince employed no less +than seven hundred and thirty-six French officers, brave men who had +been learned to conquer under the banner of Turenne and Condi. Schomberg +was the hero at the battle of Boyne. One of his standards bore a BIBLE, +supported on three swords, with the motto--'_Ie maintiendray_.' The +gallant old man, now eighty-two years of age, fell mortally wounded, but +triumphing, and with his dying eyes he saw the soldiers of James +vanquished, and dispersed in headlong flight. Ruoigny, in the same +battle, received a mortal wound, and, covered with blood, before the +advancing French refugee regiments, cheered them on, crying, 'Onward, my +lads, to glory! onward to glory!' + +In England, the French Protestants long remained as a distinct people, +preserving in a good degree a nationality of their own, but in the lapse +of years this disappeared. One hardly knows in our day where to find a +genuine Saxon,--'pure English undefiled,'--for the Huguenot blood +circulates beneath many a well-known patronymic. Who would imagine that +anything French could be traced in the colorless names of White and +Black, or the authoritative ones of King and Masters? Still it is a +well-known fact that such names, at the close of the last century, +delighted in the designations of Leblanck (White), Lenoir (Black), +Loiseau (Bird), Lejeune (Young), Le Tonnellier (Cooper), Lemaitre +(Master), Leroy (King). These names were thus translated into good +strong Saxon, the owners becoming one with the English in feeling, +language, and religion. Holland, too, glorious Protestant Holland! the +fatherland of American myriads, welcomed the fugitive Huguenots. From +the beginning of the Middle Ages that noble land had been a hospitable +home for the persecuted from all parts of Europe. During the last twenty +years of the seventeenth century, the French emigration into that +country became a political event. Amsterdam granted to all citizenship, +with freemen's privilege of trade, and exemption of taxes for three +years; and all the other towns of that nation rivalled each other in the +same liberal and Christian spirit. In the single year of the revocation, +more than two hundred and fifty Huguenot preachers reached the free soil +of the United Provinces. Pensions were allowed to them, the married +receiving four hundred florins, those in celibacy two hundred. The +Prince of Orange attached two French preachers to his person, with many +French officers to his army against James II.--thanks to the generous +Princess of Orange, who selected several Huguenot dames as ladies of +honor. One house at Harlaem was exclusively reserved for young ladies of +noble birth. At the Hague, an ancient convent of preaching monks was +changed into an asylum for the persecuted ladies. Of all lands which +received the refugees, none witnessed such crowds as the Republic of +Holland; and hence Boyle called it '_the grand arch of the refugees_.' +No documents exactly compute their number; one author calculates it at +fifty-five thousand, and another, in 1686, at nearly seventy-five +thousand souls. In the Dutch Republic and Germany, as was the result in +England, the Huguenots exercised a most powerful influence on politics, +literature, war, and religion, and industry and commerce. Holland, +contrary to the general expectation, outlived the invasion of 1672, the +Prince of Orange fortunately checking the designs of Louis XIV. Refugee +soldiers had powerfully contributed to the triumph of his cause in +England, Scotland, and Ireland, and then they followed him, with valor, +in the war against Louis XIV., which compelled that monarch to sue for +peace. + +Literary men and preachers obtained repose and liberty in that land, +with consideration and honor. Amsterdam alone received sixteen banished +refugee ministers; and more than two hundred spread themselves through +all the towns of the United Provinces. Very eloquent French pastors +filled the pulpits of the Hague, Rotterdam, Leyden, and Harlaem. Their +most brilliant orator was James Saurin. Abbaddié, hearing him for the +first time, exclaimed, 'Is this a man or an angel, who is speaking to +us?' Let us dwell a moment upon the character of this wonderful man. By +the elevation of his thoughts and brilliancy of imagination, his +luminous expositions, purity of style, with vigor of expression, he +produced the most profound impression on the refugees and others who +crowded to hear his varied eloquence. What charmed them most was the +union in his style of Genevese zeal and earnestness with southern ardor, +and especially those solemn prayers, with which he loved to close his +discourses. Saurin displayed in these petitions strains of supplication +which up to this time among the Hollanders had never been observed in +any other preacher. + +All the branches of human learning were advanced in Holland by the +Protestant Frenchmen. Here no fetters on genius, no secret censorship or +persecution, existed. The boldest democratic theories, with the most +daring philosophic systems, were freely discussed, and the refugees +promoted this spirit of investigation. They also increased the commerce +and manufactures and agriculture of the Netherlands, and rendered +Amsterdam one of the most famous cities of the world. Like the ancient +city of Tyre, which the prophet named the 'perfection of beauty,' her +merchant princes traded with all islands and nations. Macpherson, in his +Annals of Commerce, estimates the annual loss to France, caused by the +refugees establishing themselves in England and Holland, was not less +than 3,582,000 pounds sterling, or about ninety millions of francs. +Until the close of the eighteenth century, the descendants of the +Huguenots in Holland were united among themselves, by intermarriage and +the bonds of mutual sympathies. But in time a fusion with the Dutch +became inevitable. Then, in Holland, as was the case with England and +Germany, many refugees, abjuring their nationality, changed their French +names into Dutch. The Leblancs called themselves De Witt,--the +Deschamps, Van de Velde,--the Dubois, Van den Bosch,--the Chevaliers, +Ruyter,--the Legrands, De Groot, etc. etc. With the change of names, +Huguenot churches began to disappear, so that out of sixty-two which +could be counted among the seven provinces in 1688, eleven only now +remain,--among them those at Hague, Amsterdam, Leyden, Utrecht, +Rotterdam, and Groningen. These are the last monuments of the Huguenot +emigration to Holland, and a certain number of families preserve some +sentiment of nationality, who consider themselves honored by their +French, noble, Protestant origin, while at the same time they are united +by patriotic affection to their newly adopted country. + +This rapid chapter of the expulsion of the 'Huguenots,' or +'Protestants,' or 'Refugees,' from their native land, with their +settlement in England and Holland, seem necessary for a better +understanding of our subject. Thence, they emigrated to America, and it +is our object to collect something concerning their origin and +descendants among us. The Huguenots of America is a volume which still +remains fully and correctly to be written. This is a period when +increased attention and study are directed to historical subjects, and +we gladly will contribute what mite we may possess to the important +object. + + * * * * * + +THE BLACK WITCH. + + +'A witch,' according to my nurse's account, 'must be a haggard old +woman, living in a little rotten cottage under a hill by a wood-side, +and must be frequently spinning by the door; she must have a black cat, +two or three broom-sticks, and must be herself of so dry a nature, that +if you fling her into a river she will not sink: so hard then is her +fate, that, if she is to undergo the trial, if she does not drown she +must be burnt, as many have been within the memory of man.' + + +ROUND ABOUT OUR COAL FIRE. + +In a bustling New England village there lived, not many years ago, a +poor, infirm, deformed little old woman, who was known to the +middle-aged people living there and thereabout as 'Aunt Hannah.' The +younger members of the little community had added another and very +odious title to the 'Aunt'--they called her 'Aunt Hannah, the Black +Witch.' Not that she was of negro blood. Her pale, pinched and patient +face was white as the face of a corpse; so, also, was her thin hair, +combed smoothly down under the plain cap she always wore. Very white +indeed she was, as to face, and hair, and cap, but otherwise she was all +and always black, especially so as regarded an ugly pair of gloves, +which were never removed from her hands, so far as the youngsters were +aware, and which added to the fearfully mysterious aspect of those +members. Exactly what they covered, the children never knew, but they +saw that one hideous glove enclosed something like a gigantic, withered +bird's claw, while within the other there musts have been a repulsive +and horrid knob, without proper form, and lacking any remotest attempt +at thumb and fingers. + +These shapeless members, forever covered from the world, wrought fearful +images in the minds of the children, and their youthful imaginations +conjured up all sorts of uses to which such strange members might be +applied. Upon one point they were agreed. There was no doubt in any +little head among them that Aunt Hannah had at some time sold herself to +Satan, and that he had placed this deformity upon her as a mark of +ownership. Then she had a humped back, poor woman, the result of the +cruel weight of many weary years; and she leaned upon an old-fashioned +staff with a curved and crutch-like handle; and her bleared eyes were +bent forever on the ground; and her thin lips twitched convulsively, and +she muttered to herself as she crawled about the village streets; and +it was said by those who knew, that she was nearly a hundred years of +age. So the youngsters called her the 'Black Witch,' and sometimes +hooted after her in the streets, or hobbled on before her with bowed +heads and ridiculous affectation of infirmity. Thanks to her evil name, +none of them ever ventured to actually assault the poor old creature, +and their taunts she bore with patient meekness, going ever quietly upon +her accustomed, peaceful way. + +The older villagers regarded her with a pity that was half pity and half +disgust. Those fearful hands they never could forget, nor the bowed +figure, nor the strange working of the lips. Therefore, they held her in +a sort of dreading, but still her lonely life, and her patient, +uncomplaining spirit, moved their hearts. Then a vague +tradition--nothing more, for neither kith nor kin had ancient Hannah--a +vague tradition said that she had once been very beautiful; that when +she was in her fresh and lovely youth, some strange misfortune had +fallen upon her, and that she had worn since then--most innocently--the +mark of a direful tragedy. One lady, old, nearly, as Aunt Hannah, but +upon whom there had never fallen any blight of poverty or wrong, loved +the poor creature well, and she only, of all the inhabitants of the +village, frequently entered the cottage where the 'Black Witch' dwelt. +This lady, it was said, had known her when both were young, and carried +forever locked in her heart the story of that saddened youth. None +called good Mrs. Marjoram a witch. _Her_ face was clear, her smile +bright, her eyes sparkling, and she bore her years with an upright and +cheerful carriage. + +The little, one-storied house where Aunt Hannah dwelt was situated in a +hollow just out of the village, in the shadow of a grove of tangled +hemlocks and pines. It consisted of two rooms only, with an unfinished +attic overhead; and before her door the poor old soul might be seen any +pleasant day, sitting meekly in the sun. She could neither knit nor sew +as other old women do, but she sat there waiting patiently for the time +when her kind Father should call her home, to lose forever the blackness +that clung to her in this weary world. + +She did not live here entirely alone, for, true to the universal +reputation of witches, she kept, not one cat only, but several; all +black cats, too. It was the only fancy she indulged in, the only luxury +she allowed herself, and it was sad that this harmless freak should cost +her so many taunts. Sometimes the boys tried to kill her cats, aided in +the murderous attempt by the village dogs, but no dog ever came back +scatheless from those sharp and spiteful claws. Hence the boys were +certain as to the witchcraft, and 'knew' that these savage animals were +true imps of Satan. + +This weak and defenceless creature, living thus apart from human +companionship, was supported on a small annuity, paid her quarterly by a +very honest company, that would have been ruined with many such +venerable clients. On pleasant days she crept about the town to do her +meagre marketing, or crawled to the paupers' pew in the old brick +meeting-house. During the warm summer weather her scant life was +somewhat cheered, and a faint attempt at joyousness sometimes winked in +her old eyes, but with the winter's cold came the cruel cramps and +rheumatism, the sleepless nights and painful days. Then Mrs. Marjoram +frequently drove to her door, carrying medicines and nourishing +food,--over and above all, bringing cheerful words and a warm and hearty +smile. + +One winter Mrs. Marjoram was taken ill, and, being so very old, her life +was despaired of. During this sickness there came a great fall of snow, +piling up four or five feet on the level, and driving and drifting into +the hollows, so that for several days the less frequented roads in that +part of the country were impassible. And now, when Mrs. Marjoram, but +for her own sad plight, would have thought of poor Aunt Hannah, there +was no one enough interested to give her loneliness a moment's +consideration, till, one morning, one street lad cried out suddenly to +another that Aunt Hannah must be buried alive! + +Buried _alive?_ The men, suddenly summoned from their business or their +leisure, hardly thought _that_ possible in the deep hollow, filled +nearly to the level with heavily packed and frozen snow. + +Men walked out on the firm crust till they were directly over the spot +where, full twenty feet below, stood Aunt Hannah's little house. And +they shook their heads mournfully at the sickening thought of what must +lie below them. + +It was a good day's work for twenty men to open a gradually descending +way to the lonely house,--a good day's work; so that when they reached +the door--finding it locked inside--they sent back to the village for +lanterns and candles before bursting it in. + +The sight that startled and horrified them after they had forced the +door, they never liked to speak of. The sounds from the furious, +spitting and snarling cats they never forgot. + +Her disfigured and mutilated remains were decently interred, and when +the spring-time carried away the snow, they leveled the house with the +ground. But, though they buried her out of their sight and pulled down +the rotten cottage she had inhabited for so many weary years, the +fearful memory of her evil name and dreadful end remained, and nearly +all the village came to regard her as, in very truth, a witch. + +Only Mrs. Marjoram took from the cottage with pious love an ancient and +much-thumbed book, on whose fly-leaf was written 'Jason Fletcher, His +Bible.' Then, having no longer any reason to conceal the early history +of the deceased, she related to the village gossips--as a warning +against trusting too fully to evil appearances--the following + + +STORY OF POOR HANNAH LEE. + +A long time ago--before the middle of the last century, in fact--there +dwelt in one of the most flourishing towns in Western Massachusetts a +family of Puritan extraction named Fletcher. Straitest among the strict, +John Cotton Fletcher and his wife Mehitabel held all lightness of +conduct or gamesomeness of speech as sin most devoutly to be prayed and +striven against, and not only 'kept' the ten commandments with pious +zeal, but, for the better serving of the Lord, invented an eleventh, +which read 'Laugh not at all.' _Holy days_ they knew, in number during +the year fifty-four, namely, the fifty-two 'Sabbaths' and the governor's +Fast and Thanksgiving days; _holidays_ they held in utter abhorrence, +deeming Christmas, especially, an invention of the devil. On 'work-days' +they worked; on 'Sabbath-days' they attended the preaching of the word; +otherwise, on the Lord's day, doing nothing save to eat and drink what +was absolutely necessary to keep them from faintness. They lived to +praise the Lord, and they must eat to live. But no cooking or other +labor was done on that day, and if the old horse was saddled to carry +them to meeting it was because that was a work of necessity. On Fast and +Thanksgiving days--because they were peculiarly of Puritan origin--there +was an especial effort at godliness, and woe, then, to any profaning +youngster who dared to shout or play within sound or sight of Deacon +Fletcher's premises. Every Saturday night, at sunset, all tools for men +and playthings for children were put away, to be disturbed no more till +sunset on Sunday. All papers, books, knitting-work, sewing, were +disposed of 'out of the way.' It was necessary to milk the cows, feed +the pigs, and saddle the horse, but that was all the work that was +allowed. As to any jest on any holy day, that was, beyond all other +things, most abhorrent to their ideas of Christian duty. Life with them +was a continued strife against sin, cheered only by the hope of casting +off all earthly trammels at last, to enter upon one long, never-ending +Sabbath. And their Sabbath of idleness was more dreary than their +'week-day' of work. + +Yet were they an humble, honest, and upright pair, walking purely before +God according to the light they had, and as highly respected and honored +in the community, that the fiat of the minister himself--and in those +days the minister's word was 'law and gospel' in the smaller New England +villages--was hardly more potent than that of Deacon Fletcher. + +To this couple was born one son, and one only. Much as they mourned when +they saw their neighbors adding almost yearly to their groups of olive +branches, the Lord in his wisdom vouchsafed to them only this one child, +and they bowed meekly to the providence and tried to be content. Why his +father named the boy 'Jason,' no one could rightly tell; perhaps because +the fleece of his flocks had been truly fleece of gold to him; at all +events, thus was the child named, and in the strict rule of this +Christian couple was Jason reared. + +It would be sad as well as useless to tell of the dreary winter-Sundays +in the cold meeting-house (it was thought a wicked weakness to have a +fire in a church then) through which he shivered and froze; of the +fearful sitting in the corner after the two-hours sermons and the +thirty-minutes prayers were done; of the utter absence of all cheerful +themes or thoughts on the holy days which they so straitly remembered to +keep; of the visions of sudden death, and the bottomless pit thereafter, +which haunted the child through long nights; of the sighing for green +fields and the singing of birds, on some summer Sundays, when the sun +was warm and the sky was fair; and the clapping of the old-fashioned +wooden seats, as the congregation rose to pray or praise, was sweeter +music than the blacksmith made who 'led the singing' through his nose. +It would be a dreary task to follow the boy through all this youthful +misery, and so I will let it pass. Doubtless all these things brought +forth their fruits when his day of freedom came. He was a large-framed, +full-blooded boy, with more than the usual allowance of animal spirits. +But his father was larger framed and tougher, and in his occasional +contests with his son victory naturally perched upon his banners, so +that the boy's spirit (which rebelled alway against the iron rule of the +household), if not broken down, was certainly so far kept under that it +rarely showed itself. It was a slumbering volcano, ready, when it +reached its strength, to pour out burning lava of passion and +evil-doing. + +Thus the boy grew up almost to manhood, with very few rays of sunshine +cast over his early path to look back upon when he should Teach the +middle eminence of life. And the gloom of the present cheerless and +austere way caused him to look forward with the more rapture to that +time, when, with his twenty-first birth-day, should come the power to do +as he pleased with himself: with his hours of labor and of ease, with +his Sabbath-days and his work-days. + +A little before the time when big majority was to come and set him +partially free--for then, according to the good old Puritan custom, he +would have his 'freedom-suit,' and probably a few hundred dollars and a +horse, and might remain with his father or go elsewhere--there fell +across Jason's path a sweet gleam of golden sunshine, such as he had +never known before, nor ever dreamed of. When he was in his twenty-first +year, his father, the Deacon,--being urged thereto by the failing health +of his overtasked wife,--adopted as half daughter, half serving maid, a +beautiful and friendless girl, who might otherwise have gone to ruin. +Her name was plain Hannah Lee. No name can be imagined too liquid, sweet +and voluptuous in its sound to typify her loveliness. It was not +strange, therefore, that she had not been long in the house before Jason +Fletcher, hitherto deprived of much cheerful female society, felt +stealing over him a new and strange excitement of mingled joy and +wonder. It is trite and tame to say that for him there came new flowers +in all the fields and by all the road-sides, and a hitherto unknown +fragrance in the balmy air; rosier colors to the sunset, softer tints to +the yellow gray east at dawn, brighter sparkle to the brooks, breezier +glories to the mountain-tops; but, doubtless, this was strictly true, as +it has been many times before and since to many other men, but scarce +ever accompanied by so great and complete a change. + +His father might have expected it, and his mother have reckoned upon it, +but no thought of love in connection with their quiet and awkward son +ever entered into their minds, and so they put this sweet creature into +the youth's way, not reflecting that only one result--on his side, at +least--could follow. + +They kept no watch upon the pair, and knew not of the many meetings, +accidental, apparently, even to themselves, that took place between the +innocent youth and girl. It needs no reading of light books to make a +successful lover, nor grace, nor elegant carriage; and Nature points the +way to the most modest and untrained wooer. So, without a word having +been spoken on the subject, nor any caress exchanged, except, perhaps, +an occasional momentarily clasped hand, or the necessary and proper +contact, when Hannah rode, sometimes, behind Jason on the pillion (one +arm around him to keep her in her seat), they became lovers, and none +the less so that they had given no verbal or labial utterance to their +loves. + +And the summer flew by on wings of the fleetest, and Jason's +twenty-first birth-day approached. + +It fell this year upon a Sunday. The family had 'been to meeting' all +the day as usual, no reference being made to the fact that the youth was +now 'free.' (His father had said to him, as they milked the cows on +Saturday night, 'We will put by your "Freedom Day" till Monday.') But +all day Jason had walked, and thought, and eaten, and drunk, not to the +glory of the Lord, as his father and mother piously believed _they_ did, +but to the glory of himself--no longer a child, but a man! + +It lacked a full half hour to sunset, and there was no cooler resting +place that warm summer afternoon than beneath the shade of a +thick-leaved grape-vine that overspread a stunted pear tree some little +distance in the rear of the house. Hannah, with her natural love for +pleasant things and places, had induced Jason, some time before, to make +a seat for her in this charming spot. It was quite out of sight from the +house, and the little bower the vine made could be entered only from one +side. In this bower Hannah sat this sunny afternoon, wondering if it +would change Jason very much to be a boy no longer, and devoutly praying +in the depths of her pure little heart that it would not. + +She sat, half sadly, and not very distinctly, dreaming over this +problem, when the shade was deepened, and, looking up, she was aware +that Jason stood at the entrance to the arbor. Her heart stopped beating +for half a moment, and she felt quite faint and sick. Then she said, +with a smile, half sad, half jocose, 'You are a _man_ now, Jason, are +you not?' + +There was room for two on the seat, and she moved a little toward the +further end as she spoke. + +'I am a man to-day, Hannah,' he said. 'Father wants to keep me boy till +to-morrow, because this is the Lord's day, and I suppose it is wicked to +be a man on Sunday. To-morrow I shall go away from here, and not come +back for a long, long time.' His voice trembled, and sounded very cold +and sad. + +Hannah put her two elbows on her knees, rested her face in her hands, +and uttered a little, low, wailing cry, most painful to hear. + +Then Jason seated himself beside her, put his arms about her, and, +raising her gently up, kissed her on the cheek. He had never before +kissed any woman save his mother. + +'When I come back,' he said, 'I will marry you, if you love me, and then +we will always live together.' + +The little maid dried her eyes, and a look sweet and calm, such as, +perhaps, the angels wear, stole over her innocent face. + +'Oh, do you love me so? Will you?' she said. + +'So help me God, I will,' he said. + +Then she put her arms about his neck, and lifting up her innocent face +to his, gave him her heart in one long kiss. + +(Just then a light foot, passing toward the house from a neighbor's, +paused at the arbor door, all unknown to those within, and little Martha +Hopkins, the neighbor's daughter and Hannah's special pet, looked in +upon them for a moment. Then she sped quickly to Deacon Fletcher's +house, and burst, all excitement, into the kitchen.) + +'Will you wait for me, Hannah, darling,' said Jason, 'all the time it +may take me to get ready for a wife, and never love any other man, nor +let any other man love you? Never forget me, for years and years, +perhaps, till I come back for you? Will you always remember that we love +each other, and that you are to be my wife?' + +'I will wait for you, dear, if I wait till I die,' she answered. + +He folded her yet more closely to his breast. + +While they held each other thus, forgetting all else in the world, his +father burst, furious and terrible, into the arbor! + +He seized them with a strong and cruel rasp, and tore them pitilessly +asunder. + +'Go into the house, boy,' he cried, 'and leave this'-- + +'Stop!' shouted Jason, springing to his feet, his face as white as death +and his eyes flashing--'Stop! Do not call her any name but a good name! +I would not bear it if you were twenty times my father!' + +The old man stood transfixed. + +'She is as good as you or as my mother, and will go to heaven as well as +you when she dies,' he continued passionately; 'as well as any of us; as +well as the minister! What did you come here for? Haven't you driven my +life almost to death ever since I can remember; and isn't that enough, +but you must come here and kill my darling, my dear, my love?' + +He knelt where she lay on the ground. + +'Hear the boy,' cried the father, in a rage equally terrible and far +less noble. 'Hear the boy go on about the baggage!' + +The boy still knelt, unheeding anything save the senseless form beside +him. + +'Wasn't it enough that you should wanton with a young woman in this +style, but you must do it on the holy Sabbath day?' the old man +continued. 'Mother,' he cried, jerking the words over his shoulder at +his wife, who stood behind him, 'do you bring such profligates as this +into the world, to disgrace a pious man's fame and bring his house to +sorrow? Let him go forth--my oldest and youngest born, and eat husks +with the swine; he shall have no portion, and there shall be no fatted +calf killed when he returns!' + +Still the youth knelt, and now his head had fallen upon the prostrate +body, and he was covering her cold hand with kisses. + +'Look here, young man,' the father cried, 'leave go that girl's hand and +come into the house; as true as there's a God in Israel I'll teach you +what a stout rawhide is made of!' + +Just at this juncture neighbor Hopkins and his wife, warned by +quick-flying little Martha that something terrible was going on at +Deacon Fletcher's, appeared, hurrying towards the spot. + +Peter Hopkins was considered a somewhat ungodly but a very just man, and +while the Deacon most highly disapproved of his spiritual state, and +doubted that he and 'vital piety' were strangers, he still respected +Peter's rugged honesty and directness of purpose, and ranked him +foremost among the 'world's people.' He was a man of powerful frame and +strong impulses, and when his feelings were aroused he stood in awe of +no man, high or low. When he forced his way into the arbor, therefore, +the Deacon paused in his invective and made no remonstrance. + +Peter Hopkins at once put the worst construction on the scene before +him. He saw in the son of Deacon Fletcher only a seducer, in poor Hannah +Lee only a victim, and his blood rose to boiling heat. Without pausing +to ask any question, grasping at one guess, as he supposed, the whole +sad history, he seized Jason by the collar, and, lifting him up, dashed +him violently down again, the boy's head striking a corner of the bench +as he fell. + +Then he took the girl tenderly up and faced about upon the father, +actually foaming with wrath. + +'This comes of psalm singing,' he cried. 'Clear the way there!' and he +bore the still unconscious maiden toward his own house. + +Then a sudden and strange revulsion came over Deacon Fletcher. For the +first time, perhaps, in twenty-one years, the father's heart triumphed +over the Deacon's prejudices. As he saw his son--his only son--lying +pale and bleeding on the ground, all recollection of his offense, all +thought of sinfulness or godliness in connection with his conduct, +vanished, and he only considered whether this pride of his, this strong +and beautiful son, were to die there, or to live and bless him. He +stooped, sobbing, over the boy, reconciled, at last, to humanity, and +conscious of a strong human love. + +Not more tenderly was poor Hannah Lee borne to the house of Peter +Hopkins than the father carried the son he had only just received into +his own dwelling. There were no thoughts of husks now, but only a +sorrowful joy that one so long dead to him was at length alive, that a +new heart, full of human instincts, had found birth within his bosom. +But mingled with this joy was the fear that he had only, at length, +possessed his son to lose him. + +While Jason Fletcher lay tossing, week after week, through the fever +that followed the scene of violence in the arbor, poor Hannah went sadly +but patiently about the light duties that farmer Hopkins and his wife +allowed her to perform. + +Thoroughly convinced, through his wife's communications with Hannah, of +the innocence of the pair, Peter Hopkins had gone to Deacon Fletcher and +remonstrated with him on his outrageous conduct. + +'Your son is a fine lad,' he said, 'and Hannah is fit to be queen +anywhere; and if you don't give her a fitting out when he's well enough +to marry her, hang me if _I_ won't! I owe the boy something for the ill +trick I played him in my hot-headedness, and he shall have it, too! Say, +now, that they shall be man and wife!' + +Deacon Fletcher astonished the hot-hearted man beyond measure by quietly +telling him that, God willing, his dear son should marry Hannah as soon +as the visitation that now kept him on a bed of raving illness was taken +away. He added meekly that he hoped God would forgive him if he had +abused the trust placed in him, and, misled by a vanity of holiness, had +done his son great wrong, these many years. + +'Give us your hand, Deacon,' cried the delighted pleader; 'you are a +good man, if you _are_ a Deacon, and that's more'n I'd have said a week +ago! You _have_ hurt that boy, and no mistake! You've either beaten the +spirit all out of him, or you have shut up a devil in him that'll break +out one o' these days, worse'n them that went into the pigs that we read +about! But 'tain't too late to mend, an' if a stitch in time _does_ save +nine, it's better to take the _nine_ stitches than to wait till they are +ninety times nine. You've got to be a thousand times kinder to the boy +than you would if you hadn't been so hard on him all his life.' + +It was agreed that while the fever held its course nothing should be +said to poor Hannah, and so the two men parted--warm friends for the +first time in their lives. + +And poor Hannah Lee went droopingly and patiently about her duties, +asking quietly from day to day as to the health of Jason, and telling no +soul how her heart seemed breaking within her, and how all the future +looked to her like a dreary waste. + +Mrs. Hopkins threw out gentle hints that the Deacon might relent, and +that if he did the wish that was ever in Hannah's heart might be +realized. But the poor child paid little heed to her suggestions, a +foreshadowing of some direful calamity constantly enfolding and +saddening her. Still she kept bravely and quietly about her duties, and +it was only when she was alone in her chamber at night that she gave way +to the terrible wofulness that oppressed her, and prayed, and wept, and +wrestled with her sorrow. + +And this sweet and lovely creature was the same pious and patient soul +who was afterwards taunted by rude village boys, and pointed at as one +who had sold herself to Satan. + +One night she had cried herself asleep, and lay in an unquiet and fitful +slumber. As she thought of him alway by day, so now in her dreams the +image of Jason Fletcher was fantastically and singularly busy. It seemed +to her that she stood upon an eminence overlooking a peaceful valley of +that charming sort only to be seen in dreams. Afar off, and still, in +some strange way, very near, she beheld the youth of her love, who +reclined upon a bank beside a quiet stream. Everything was at rest. The +soft moonbeams--for, in her dream, evening rested on the valley--bathed +all the prospect in a cool effulgence. There was no sound, save only +that sweet music of never-sleeping nature which is forever heard within +all her broad domain. Still the dreamer felt that there was something +direful and most to be dreaded that threatened to invade and mar the +heavenly peacefulness. She felt it coming, and fearfully awaited its +approach. And she had not long to wait. For presently there appeared, +flying between the calm moonlight and the figure, and casting a doleful +shadow over his form, a scaly and dreadful dragon, like those we read of +that devastated whole countries in the old, old times. This hideous +beast breathed fire and smoke from its horrid nostrils as it flew, and +it flapped its fearful way downwards to scorch and destroy the figure +recumbent by the stream. + +Just when it was stooping upon its unconscious victim, a heavy scale, +beaten from its side by the bat-like wings, fell upon the night-mare +stricken sleeper's breast, and she awoke. + +The moon was shining peacefully into the room, and she found upon the +bed a black cat that had leaped in through the low window. It was a +gentle and loving animal, that had made friends with her upon her first +arrival, and it had already coiled itself up on the bed with a gentle +purring. + +Everything was most quiet and calm as she lay gazing out through the +window; still the dreadful memory of her dream weighed upon and +oppressed her. She arose and leaned out into the cool night air. So +leaning, she could see Deacon Fletcher's house, standing bare and brown +in the moonlight only a few rods distant. She could gaze, with what +pleasure or sorrow she might, at the windows of the room where poor +Jason lay tossing with the fever. + +She gazes earnestly thitherward, and her breath comes thick and short, +while her heart seems rising into her throat. For she sees, gathered +thick and dun above the house, a dense, undulating and ever-increasing +shadow, that threatens to obscure the low-floating moon! There is no +wind, and it rises slowly but steadily! Deacon Fletcher's house is on +fire! + +Her shrill cries, uttered in wild and rapid succession, aroused the +household of Peter Hopkins to the fact that there was fire +somewhere--fire, that most terrible fiend to awake before in the dead of +night. As for Hannah, it was but an instant's work for her to throw on a +little clothing and spring from the low window into the yard. Then she +ran, with what trembling speed she might, towards the burning house. + +The smoke still rose sombre and heavy from the roof, and about one of +the chimneys little tongues of flame leaped up as she approached. She +could hear a fierce crackling, too, of that spiteful sort made by the +burning of dry wood. The house was all of wood, and old, and it was +evidently thoroughly afire within. + +She realized this as she hurried up to it. In the brief seconds of her +crossing the field and leaping a small stream that ran near the house, +she thought of Jason, so noble, so self-denying, so persecuted, so +beautiful, lying there in his little upper room, powerless from the +fever, and doomed to die a dreadful death. She thought of him, weak and +helpless, with no strength even to shrink from the flames that should +lap over him and lick him to death with their fiery tongues. All this as +she sped across the field and leaped the stream. + +Reaching the house, she glanced upward, and could perceive the light of +the flames already showing itself through the upper front windows, next +the room where slept the Deacon and his wife. Fortunately Jason's room +was in the rear. Then she remembered that an old nurse from the village +watched with him, and she called fiercely on her name, but with no +response. + +As she had approached the house, the nearest outer door was that facing +the road, immediately over which the fire was evidently about to break +out, and this door she tried, finding it fast. Then she remembered a +side entrance, through an old wood-shed, that was seldom locked, and she +immediately made her way to it. + +Meanwhile the fire was busy with the dry wood-work of the house, and +though there was no wind, it spread with fearful rapidity. Already the +flames had burst out through the roof in two or three places, and in the +front of the house they were cruelly curling and creeping about the +eaves. They seemed confined, however, to the upper portion of the +building, and therein she had hope. + +As she had anticipated, she found the side door unfastened, and she made +her way rapidly to the foot of the back stairway. When she opened the +door to ascend, a thick, black smoke rushed down, almost overpowering +her. The opening of the door seemed to aid the fire, too, and there was +a sort of explosive eagerness in the new start it took as it now +crackled and roared above her. Then she recognized in the sickening +smoke a smell of burning feathers, and she felt faint and weak as she +thought that it might be _his_ bed that was on fire. + +This was only for an instant. Staggering backward before the cloud of +smoke, with outstretched, groping hands, like one suddenly struck blind, +an 'instinct,' or what you please to call it, struck her, and she tore +off her flannel petticoat, wrapping it about her head and shoulders. +Then, holding her hands over mouth and nose, she rushed desperately up +the stairs. + +No one, unless he has been through such a smoke, can conceive of the +trials she had to undergo in mounting those stairs. No one can fancy, +except from the recollection of such an experience, how the fierce heat +beat her back when she reached the upper hall. The walls were not yet +fully on fire, but great tongues of flame curled along the ceiling, and +hot blasts swept across her path. + +She knew his room. It was but a step to it, and the door opened easily. +The nurse was fast asleep, so fast that poor Hannah's warning cry, as +she stumbled in, hardly aroused her. On the bed lay Jason, so thin, so +white, so corpse-like, she would hardly have known him. In the fierce +strength of her despair it was no task to lift that emaciated body, but, +ah! how to get out of the house with it? For when she turned she saw +that the hall was now wholly on fire. + +But she did not hesitate. Wrapping him quickly and tenderly in a blanket +taken from the bed, she rushed out into the flames. + +Meanwhile Peter Hopkins and his 'hired man' had been aroused by Hannah's +first screams, and had hurriedly scrambled on a portion of their +clothing and rushed out. They had been in time--running quickly across +the field--to see Hannah disappear behind the house. Neither of them +supposed for an instant that she had entered it. + +Trying the front door, and finding it fast, Peter uplifted his stout +foot and kicked it crashing in, but he found it impossible to enter by +the breach he had made. The front stairway was all in flames, and the +fierce heat drove him hopelessly back. Then they ran around to the rear. +By this time the entire upper portion of the building seemed to be one +mass of fire and smote, and now they could hear shrill and terrible +shrieks, evidently proceeding from the suddenly awakened inmates. They +ran to the kitchen door and burst it in. + +As they did so there rushed towards them from the foot of the kitchen +stairs some horrible, blazing, and unnatural shape, that came stumbling +but swiftly forward. With it came smoke and flame and a horrible sound +of stifled moans. + +At the approach of this strange and unsightly object they sprang back +amazed, and it passed them headlong into the open air; passed them and +_dropped apart_, as it were, into the stream before the door. + +For many years thereafter the slumbers of Farmer Hopkins were disturbed +by visions of what he saw when the two two parts of that terrible +apparition were taken from the water. + +There lay Hannah Lee, no longer beautiful and fresh as the morning, but +blackened, crisped, scorched and shrunken, with all her wealth of silken +hair burned to ashes, with all her clear loveliness of complexion gone +forever. And there lay Jason Fletcher, unburned,--so carefully had she +covered him as she fled,--but senseless, and to all appearance a corpse. + +Thus Hannah Lee went through fire and water, even unto worse than death, +for the sake of him she loved. And verily she had her reward. + +When the sun rose, there only remained a black and ugly pit to mark the +place where Deacon Fletcher's house had stood. + +And of all its inmates, only Jason--carefully watched and tended at the +house of Peter Hopkins--was left to tell the tale of that night's +tragedy. And he, poor fellow, had no tale to tell, the delirium of fever +having been upon him all the night. It was very doubtful if he would +recover,--more than doubtful. Not one in a thousand could do so, with +such an exposure at the critical period of his sickness. + +Even more tenderly, with even more anxiety, did all in the country round +minister to poor Hannah Lee. The story of her love, of her bravery, of +her heroic self-abnegation, spread throughout all those parts, and there +was no end to what was done for her by neighbors and friends. So widely +did her fame spread, that people from thirty, forty, and even fifty +miles away came to see her, or sent messages, or money, or delicacies to +comfort her. + +What _could_ be done for them was done, and they both lived. + +When Jason Fletcher arose from his sick bed, he arose another man than +the Jason Fletcher who was thrown down in the arbor by Farmer Hopkins. +He went sick, a dependent, simple, good-hearted, though impatient boy, +worn out by the constraints of twenty years, but capable of future +cultivation and improvement; he arose from his sickness a moody, +cross-grained, dogged and impatient man, whose only memories were tinged +red with wrong, and made bitter by thought of what he had endured. It +was little matter to him that all his father's broad acres were now his +own--the thought of the horrible death his parents had died only +suggested a question in his mind, whether it were not a 'judgment' on +them: they having lived to persecute him too long already. Through all +the vista of his past life he saw only gloom and shadows, and no ray of +brightness cheered the retrospective glance. + +No ray? Yes, there was one. He saw a fair young girl, loving and +innocent, whose sweet face scarce ever left his thoughts. She reigned +where father and mother held no sway; and she made, with the sunshine of +her love, a clear heaven for him even in the purgatory of the past. So +he lay, slowly gathering strength, dreaming about her. And presently +they told him--gently as might be--how she had saved him. And they +nearly killed him in the telling. + +When he was well enough to be about, it was strange that they would not +allow him to see her. She was still very ill, they said, and the doctor, +a reasonable man enough usually, utterly refused him admission to her +chamber. He fretted at this, and as he gained strength he 'went wrong.' + +Mingled with the memory of his old privations was a full assurance of +his present liberty. He was of age, and he owned, by right, all the +extensive property the Deacon, his father, had so laboriously amassed. +During all his boyhood he had never had a shilling, at any one time, +that he could call his own; now hundreds of pounds stood ready at his +bidding, and he proceeded very speedily to spend them. During all his +boyhood he had been cut off from the amusements common to the youth of +that day; now he launched out into the most extravagant pleasures his +money could procure. Money was nothing, for he had it in plenty; +character was nothing, for he had none to lose; only love remained to +him of all the good things he might have held, and love lay bleeding +while he was denied access to Hannah. Love lay bleeding, and he turned +for comfort to the wine-cup, and raised Bacchus to the place Cupid +should have occupied. Alas for Jason Fletcher! + +Weeks rolled on and passed into months, and still he was refused speech +with, or right of, Hannah. And he chafed at the denial. Had she not +risked everything to save his life? And he could not even thank her! + +At length, being unable to find further excuse wherewith to put him off, +they one day told him he could see his love. They endeavored to prepare +him by hints and suggestions as to the probable consequences of the +trial she had passed through, but all that they could say or he imagine +had not prepared him for the fearful sight. + +Poor Hannah Lee! This scarred, deformed and helpless body, without +proper hands--oh! white hands, how well he remembered them!--without +comeliness of form or feature, was all that was left of the once +glorious creature, whose heaven-given beauty had ensnared his fresh and +untutored heart! Poor Hannah Lee! + +The rough youth, loving her yet, but repelled by the horrible aspect she +presented, fell sobbing upon his knees and buried his face in the +bed-clothing. He spoke no word, but the tumultuous throes of his agony +shook the room as he knelt beside her. And from the bed arose a wail +more terrible in its utter, eternal sorrowfulness than had ever fallen +upon the ears of those present. It was the wail of a soul recognizing +for the first time that the loveliness of life had passed away forever. + +They mingled their cries thus for a little time, and then Jason arose +and staggered from the room. He would have spoken, but the dreadful +sorrow rose up and choked him. All the memories of the past were linked +with youth and beauty. He could not speak to the blight before him, as +to his love and his life, and so, with blind and lumbering footsteps, he +toiled heavily from the house. + +The fires of the Revolution had broken forth and swept over New England, +burning out like stubble the little loyalty to the crown left in men's +hearts. + +At the battle of Bunker Hill Jason Fletcher fought like a tiger. Last +among the latest, he clubbed his musket, and was driven slowly backward +from the slight redoubt. + +He was heard of at White Plains, at Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, +Germantown, and always with marvelous mention of courage and prowess. +Then he was promoted from the ranks, and was mentioned as 'Lieutenant +Fletcher.' Then there were rumors of some dishonor that had sullied the +brightness of his fame; and then it came to be hinted about that in all +the rank and file of the patriot army there was no one so utterly +dissolute and drunken as he. And then came news of his ignominiously +quitting the service, and a cloud dropped down about him, and no word, +good or bad, came home from the castaway any more. + +Meanwhile poor Hannah Lee languished upon her bed of suffering, but did +not die. And finally, when spring after spring had spread new verdure +over the rough hills among which she dwelt, she got, by little and +little, to venturing out into the village streets. And when they saw her +bowed form and her ugly, misshapen hands, the village children, knowing +her history, forbore to sneer at or taunt her. All the village loved the +unfortunate creature, and all the village strove together to do her +kindness. + +One man in the town--a cousin of Jason the wanderer--was supposed to +hold communication with him. This man notified Hannah one day that a +safe life annuity had been purchased for her, and thereafter she lived +at the house of Farmer Hopkins, not as a loved dependent, but as a +cherished and faithful friend. Thus freed from the bitter sting of +helpless poverty, Hannah sank resignedly into a quiet and honorable +life. + +At length, one warm summer day, when Jason Fletcher should have been +about forty years of age, there strayed into the village a blind +mendicant, with a dog for guide, and a wooden leg rudely fastened to one +stiff stump. This stranger, white-headed and with the care-lines of many +years on his sadly furrowed face, sought out poor Hannah Lee, and told +her that he had, by the grace of God, come back, at last, to die. +Leading him with gentle counsels to that Mercy Seat where none ever seek +in vain, poor Hannah saw him bend with contrite and humble spirit, and +seek the forgiveness needed to atone for many years of sin. Patient and +penitent he passed a few quiet years, and then she followed to the tomb +the earthly remains of him for whom she had sacrificed a life. + +And this being done, she removed to a distant town, where Martha +Hopkins, now kind Mrs. Marjoram, dwelt. + +And many years afterwards Mrs. Marjoram told her story, as a lesson that +men should never judge a living soul by its outward habiliments. + + * * * * * + +FREEDOM'S STARS. + + From Everglades to Dismal Swamp + Rose on the hot and trembling air + Cloud after cloud, in dark array, + Enfolding from their serpent lair + The starry flag that guards the free:-- + One after one its stars grew dun, + Heaven given to shine on Liberty. + + But swifter than the lightning's gleam + Flashed out the spears of Northern-light, + And with the north wind's saving wings, + The cloud-host, vanquished, took to flight. + Then in her white-winged radiance there + The angel Freedom conquering came, + Relit once more her brilliant stars, + To burn with an eternal flame. + + * * * * * + +ON THE PLAINS. + + +The plains is the current designation of the region stretching westward +from Missouri--or rather from the western settlements of Kansas and +Nebraska--to the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. Part of it is +included under the vague designation of 'the Great American Desert;' but +that title is applicable to a far larger area westward than eastward of +the Rocky Mountains. The Great Basin, whereof Salt Lake is the lowest +point, and the Valley of the Colorado, which skirts it on the east, are +mainly sterile from drouth or other causes--not one acre in each hundred +of their surface being arable without irrigation, and not one in ten +capable of being made productive by irrigation. Arid, naked, or thinly +shrub-covered mountains traverse and chequer those deep yet elevated +valleys, wherein few savages or even wild animals of any size or value +were ever able to find subsistence. Probably that of the Colorado is, as +a whole, the most sterile and forbidding of any valley of equal size on +earth, unless it be that of one of the usually frozen rivers in or near +the Arctic circle. Even Mormon energy, industry, frugality and +subservience to sacerdotal despotism, barely suffice to wrench a rude, +coarse living from those narrow belts and patches of less niggard soil +which skirt those infrequent lakes and scanty streams of the Great Basin +which are susceptible of irrigation; mines alone (and they must be rich +ones) can ever render populous the extensive country which is interposed +between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. + +The Plains differ radically from their western counterpoise. They have +no mountains, and very few considerable hills; they are not rocky: in +fact, they are rendered all but worthless by their destitution of rock. +In Kansas, a few ridges, mainly (I believe) of lime, rise to the +surface; beyond these, and near the west line of the new State, +stretches a thin-soiled, rolling sandstone district, perhaps forty miles +wide; then comes the Buffalo range, formerly covering the entire valley +of the Mississippi, and even stretching fitfully beyond the Rocky +Mountains, but now shrunk to a strip hardly more than one hundred and +fifty miles in width, but extending north and south from Texas into the +British territory which embosoms the Red River of the North. Better soil +than that of the Buffalo region west of Kansas is rarely found, though +the scarcity of wood, and the unfitness of the little that skirts the +longer and more abiding streams for any use but that of fuel, must be a +great drawback to settlement and cultivation. The coarse, short, hearty +grass that carpets most of this region, and which is allowed to attain +its full growth only in the valleys of the Chugwater and a few other +streams which have their course mainly within or very near the Rocky +Mountains, and which the Buffalo no longer visit, seems worthy at least +of trial by the farmers and shepherds of our older States. Its ability +to resist drouth and overcropping and hard usage generally must be +great, and I judge that many lawns and pastures would be improved by it. +That it has merely held its ground for ages, in defiance of the crushing +tread and close feeding of the enormous herds of the Plains, proves it a +plant of signal hardihood and tenacity of life; while the favor with +which it is regarded by passing teams and herds combines with its +evident abundance of nutriment to render its intrinsic value +unquestionable. + +The green traveler or emigrant in early summer has traversed, since he +crossed the Missouri, five hundred miles of almost uniformly arable +soil, most of it richly grassed, with belts of timber skirting its +moderately copious and not unfrequent water-courses, and he very +naturally concludes 'the American Desert' a misnomer, or at best a +gross exaggeration. But, from the moment of leaving the Buffaloes behind +him, the country begins to _shoal_, as a sailor might say, growing +rapidly sterile, treeless, and all but grassless. The scanty forage that +is still visible is confined to the immediate banks or often submerged +intervales of streams, though a little sometimes lingers in hollows or +ravines where the drifted snows of winter evidently lay melting slowly +till late in the spring. By-and-by the streams disappear, or are plainly +on the point of vanishing; of living wood there is none, and only +experienced plainsmen know where to look for the fragments of dead trees +which still linger on the banks of a few slender or dried-up brooks, +whence sweeping fires or other destructive agencies long since +eradicated all growing timber. The last living, or, indeed, standing +tree you passed was a stunted, shabby specimen of the unlovely +Cotton-wood, rooted in naked sand beside a water-course, and shielded +from prairie-fires by the high, precipitous bank; for, scanty as is the +herbage of the desert, the fierce winds which sweep over it will yet, +especially in late spring or early summer, drive a fire (which has +obtained a start in some fairly grassed vale or nook) through its dead, +tinder-like remains. How far human improvidence and +recklessness--especially that of our own destructive Caucasian race--has +contributed to denude the Plains of the little wood that thinly dotted +their surface at a period not very remote, I can not pretend to decide; +but it is very evident that there are far fewer trees now standing than +there were even one century ago. + +Of rocks rising above or nearing the surface, the Plains are all but +destitute; hence their eminent lack first of wood, then of moisture. +Your foot will scarcely strike a pebble from Lawrence to Denver; and the +very few rocky terraces or perpendicular ridges you encounter appear to +be a concrete of sand and clay, hardened to stone by the persistent, +petrifying action of wind and rain. Of other rock, save the sandstone +ridges already noticed, there is none: hence the rivers, though running +swiftly, are never broken by falls; hence the prairie-fires are nowhere +arrested by swamps or marshes; hence the forests, if this region was +ever generally wooded, have been gradually swept away and devoured, +until none remain. In fact, from the river bottoms of the lower Kansas +to those of the San Joaquin and Sacramento, there is no swamp, though +two or three miry meadows of inconsiderable size, near the South Pass, +known as 'Ice Springs' and 'Pacific Springs,' are of a somewhat swampy +character. Beside these, there is nothing approximating the natural +meadows of New England, the fenny, oozy flats of nearly all inhabited +countries. Bilious fevers find no aliment in the dry, pure breezes of +this elevated region; but this exemption is dearly bought by the absence +of lakes, of woods, of summer rains, and unfailing streams. + +Vast, rarely-trodden forests are wild and lonely: the cit who plunges +into one, a stranger to its ways, is awed by its gloom, its silence, its +restricted range of vision, its stifled winds, and its generally +forbidding aspect. He may talk bravely and even blithely to his +companions, but his ease and gayety are unnatural: Leatherstocking is at +home in the forest, but Pelham is not, and can not be. On the better +portion of the Plains--say in the heart of the Buffalo region--it is +otherwise: though you are hundreds of miles from a human habitation +other than a rude mail-station tent or ruder Indian lodge, the country +wears a subdued, placid aspect; you rise a gentle slope of two or three +miles, and look down the opposite incline or 'divide,' and up the +counterpart of that you have just traversed, seeing nothing but these +gentle, wave-like undulations of the surface to limit your gaze, which +contemplates at once some fifty to eighty square miles of unfenced, +treeless, but green and close-cropped pasturage; and it is hard to +realize that you are out of the pale of civilization, hundreds of miles +from a decent dwelling-house, and that the innumerable cattle moving and +grazing before you--so countless that they seem thickly to cover half +the district swept by your vision--are not domestic and heritable--the +collected herds of some great grazing county, impelled from Texas or New +Mexico to help subdue some distant Oregon. It seems a sad waste to see +so much good live-stock ranging to no purpose and dying to no profit: +for the roving, migrating whites who cross the Plains slaughter the +buffalo in mere wantonness, leaving scores of carcasses to rot where +they fell, perhaps taking the tongue and the hump for food, but oftener +content with mere wanton destruction. The Indian, to whom the buffalo is +food, clothing, and lodging (for his tent, as well as his few if not +scanty habiliments, is formed of buffalo-skins stretched over +lodge-poles), justly complains of this shameful improvidence and +cruelty. Were _he_ to deal thus with an emigrant's herd, he would be +shot without mercy; why, then, should whites decimate his without +excuse? + +Beyond the Buffalo region the Plains are bleak, monotonous, and +solitary. The Antelope, who would be a deer if his legs were shorter and +his body not so stout, is the redeeming feature of the well-grassed +plains next to Kansas, and which recur under the shadow of the Rocky +Mountains; but he is an animal of too much sense to remain in the +scantily grassed desert which separates the buffalo range from the +latter. There the lean Wolf strolls and hunts and starves; there the +petty Prairie-Wolf, a thoroughly contemptible beast, picks up such a +dirty living as he may; while the sprightly, amusing little Prairie-Dog, +who is a rather short-legged gray squirrel, with a funny little yelp and +a troglodyte habitation, lives in villages or cities of from five +hundred to five thousand dens, each (or most of them) tenanted in common +with him by a harmless little Owl and a Rattlesnake of questionable +amiability. The Owl sits by the mouth of the hole till driven away by +your approach, when he follows his confrere's example by diving; the +Rattlesnake stays usually below, to give any prowling, thieving +prairie-wolf, or other carnivorous intruder, the worst of the bargain, +should he attempt to dig out the architect of this subterranean abode. +But for this nice little family arrangement, the last prairie-dog would +long since have been unearthed and eaten. As it is, the rattlesnake gets +a den for nothing, while the prairie-dog sleeps securely under the +guardianship of his poison-tongued confederate. The owl, I presume, +either pays _his_ scot by hunting mice and insects for the general +account, or by keeping watch against all felonious approaches. Even man +does not care to dig out such a nest, and prefers to drown out the +inmates by pouring in pail after pail of water till they have to put in +an appearance above ground. The only defense against this is to +construct a prairie-dog town as far as possible from water, and this is +carefully attended to. I heard on the Plains of one being drowned out by +a sudden and overwhelming flood; but of the hundreds I passed, not one +was located where this seemed possible. + +Absence of rock in place--that is, of ridges or strata of rock rising +through the soil above or nearly to the surface--has determined the +character not only of the Plains but of much of the roll of the great +rivers east and south of them. Even at the very base of the Rocky +Mountains, the Chugwater shows a milky though rapid current, while the +North Platte brings a considerable amount of earthy sediment from the +heart of that Alpine region. After fairly entering upon the Plains, +every stream begins to burrow and to wash, growing more and more turbid, +until it is lost in 'Big Muddy,' the most opaque and sedimentary of all +great rivers. I suspect that all the other rivers of this continent +convey in the aggregate less earthy matter to the ocean than the +Missouri pours into the previously transparent Mississippi, thenceforth +an unfailing testimony that evil company corrupts and defiles. +Louisiana is the spoil of the Plains, which have in process of time +been denuded to an average depth of not less than fifty and perhaps to +that of two or three hundred feet. I passed hills along the eastern base +of the Rocky Mountains where this process is less complete and more +active than is usual,--hills which are the remaining vestiges of a +former average level of the plain adjacent, and which have happened to +wear away so steeply and sharply that very little vegetation ever finds +support on their sides, which every rain is still abrading. At a single +point only do I remember a phenomenon presented by some other mountain +bases,--that of a water-course (dry perhaps half the year, but evidently +a heady torrent at times), which had gradually built up a bed and banks +of boulders, pebbles and gravel, washed down from a higher portion of +its headlong course, so that its current, when it had a current, was +considerably above the general surface on either side of it. Away from +the mountains, however, boulders or loose stones of any size are rarely +seen in the beds of even the largest and deepest channeled streams, +which are usually swift, but never broken by a fall, because never down +to the subjacent rock in place, assuming that such rock must be. + +In the rare instances of rocky banks skirting the immediate valley of a +stream, the seeming rock is evidently a modern concrete of clay and the +usual sand or gravel composing the soil,--a concrete slowly formed by +the action of sun and rain and wind, on a bank left nearly or quite +perpendicular by the wearing action of the stream. In the neighborhood +of Cheyenne Pass,--say for a distance of fifty to a hundred miles S.S.W. +of Laramie,--this effect is exhibited on the grandest scale in repeated +instances, and in two or three cases for an extent of miles. Along +either bank of the Chugwater, at distances of twenty to forty miles, +above its junction with the Laramie affluent of the North Platte, +stretch perpendicular rocky terraces, thirty to forty feet high, +looking, from a moderate distance, as regular and as artificial as the +façade of any row of city edifices. I did not see 'Chimney Rock,' +farther down the Platte; but I presume that this, too, is a relic of +what was once the average level of the adjacent country, from which all +around has been gradually washed away, while this 'spared monument' has +been hardened by exposure and the action of the elements from earth to +enduring rock--a gigantic natural _adobe_. + +The Plains attest God's wisdom in usually providing surface-rock in +generous abundance as the only reliable conservative force against the +insidious waste and wear of earth by water. Storms, rills, and rivers +are constantly at work to carry off the soil of every island and +continent, and lose it in the depths of seas and oceans. Rock in place +impedes this tendency, by arresting the headlong course of streams, and +depositing in their stiller depths the spoils that the current was +hastening away; still more by the formation of swamps and marshes, which +arrest the sweep of fires, and so protect the youth and growth of trees +and forests. An uninhabited, moderately-rolling or nearly flat country, +wherein no ridges of stubborn rock gave protection to fire-repelling +marshes, would gradually be swept of trees by fires, and converted into +prairie or desert. + +Life on the Plains--the life of white men, by courtesy termed +civilized--is a rough and rugged matter. I can not concur with J.B. +Ficklin, long a mail-agent ranging from St. Joseph to Salt Lake (now, I +regret to say, a quarter-master in the rebel army), who holds that a man +going on the Plains should never wash his face till he comes off again; +but water is used there for purposes of ablution with a frugality not +fully justified by its scarcity. A 'biled shirt' lasts a good while. I +noted some in use which the dry, fine dust of that region must have been +weeks in bringing to the rigidity and clayey yellow or tobacco-stain hue +which they unchangeably wore during the days that I enjoyed the society +of the wearers. Pilot-bread, a year or so baked, and ever since +subjected to the indurating influences of an atmosphere intensely dry, +is not particularly succulent or savory food, and I did not find it +improved by some minutes' immersion in the frying-pan of hot lard from +which our rations of pork had just been turned out; but others of more +experience liked it much. The pork of the Plains is generally poor, +composed of the lightly-salted and half-smoked sides of shotes who had +evidently little personal knowledge of corn. The coffee I did not drink; +but, in the absence of milk, and often of sugar also, and in view of its +manufacture by the rudest and rawest of masculine cooks, I judge that +the temptation to excessive indulgence in this beverage was not +irresistible. Most of the water of the Plains, unlike that of the Great +Basin, is pretty good; but as you near the Rocky Mountains, 'alkali' +becomes a terror to man and beast. + +The present Buffalo range will, doubtless, in time, be covered with +civilized herdsmen and their stock; but beyond that to the fairly +watered and timbered vicinity of the Rocky Mountains, settlers will be +few and far between for many generations. What the Plains universally +need is a plant that defies intense protracted drouth, and will +propagate itself rapidly and widely by the aid of winds and streams +alone. I do not know that the Canada thistle could be made to serve a +good purpose here, but I suspect it might. Let the plains be well +covered by some such deep-rooting, drouth-defying plant, and the most of +their soil would be gradually arrested, the quality of that which +remains, meliorated, and other plants encouraged and enabled to attain +maturity under its protection. Shrubs would follow, then trees; until +the region would become once more, as I doubt not it already has been, +hospitable and inviting to man. At present, I can only commend it as +very healthful, with a cooling, non-putrefying atmosphere; and, while I +advise no man to take lodgings under the open sky, still, I say that if +one must sleep with the blue arch for his counterpane and the stars for +its embellishments, I know no other region where an out-door roll in a +Mackinaw blanket for a night's rest is less perilous or more +comfortable. + + * * * * * + +SEVEN DEVILS: + +A REMEMBRANCE OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS. + + +Once upon a time--see the Arabian Nights Entertainments--as the Caliph +Haroun Alraschid--blessed be his memory!--walked, disguised, as was his +wont, through the streets of Bagdad, he observed a young man lashing +furiously a beautiful, snow-white mare to the very verge of cruelty. +Coming every day to the same place, and finding the spectacle repeated, +the curiosity of the humane Caliph, was excited to learn the cause of +such treatment. Mr. Rarey had not yet been born; but the Arab knows, and +always has known, how to subdue and to control his steed with equal +skill, without resort to severity. The explanation of this afterwards +appears in that wonderful book. + +One Sidi Norman having married, as the custom was, without ever having +seen his bride, was agreeably surprised, when the veil was removed, at +finding her dazzlingly beautiful. He enfolded her in his arms with joy +unspeakable, and so the honeymoon began. Short dream of bliss; she +became capricious at once, and seven devils at least seemed to have +nestled in her lovely bosom. Sid was touchy himself, and not the man to +bear with such humors. Every day she sat at his bountiful board, and, +instead of partaking the food which he set before her, she would +daintily and mincingly pick out a few grains of rice with the point of a +bodkin. Sid asked her what she meant by such conduct, and whether his +table was not well supplied. To this she deigned no reply. When she ate +no rice, she would choke down a few crumbs of bread, not enough for a +sparrow. His indignation was aroused, but his curiosity also. He looked +daggers; but he was a still man, kept his counsel to himself, and set +himself to study out the solution of this problem. + +One night, when his wife stole away from his side,--she thought he was +asleep, did she?--he followed her with the stealthiness of a cat; and, +oh horrible! tracked her steps to a graveyard, where she began to cut +and carve; and he then discovered, to his great loathing, that he had +been married to a ghoul! + +Amina came home after a good feast. Sid was snoring away, apparently in +the profound depths of sleep, hiding away from any Caudle lectures. He +was about as sound asleep as a weasel. Breakfast passed off most +charmingly without a word said by any one; and he walked round to the +khan to scrutinize some figs. + +'How does the lady?' said Ben Hadad, sarcastically. + +'Very well indeed, I thank you,' replied Sid. + +The dinner-bell rang, down they sat, and out came the bodkin. It did +not, however, 'his quietus make.' + +'My dear,' he said, smothering up his Arabian fury, 'do you not like +this bill of fare, or does the sight of me take away your taste for +food? Could you obtain a better meal even at the Bagdad St. Nicholas?' + +No answer. + +'All well,' said he; 'I suppose that this food is not so toothsome to +you as dead men's flesh!' + +Thunder and furies! A more dreadful domestic scene was never beheld. The +lovely Amina turned black in the face, her eyes bulged out of her head, +she foamed at the mouth, and, seizing a goblet of water, dashed it into +the face of the unfortunate man. + +'Take that,' said she, 'and learn to mind your own business.' Whereupon +he became a dog, and a miserable dog at that. + +Many adventures he then had. For full particulars, see the Arabian +Nights. He used to fight for a bone, or lick up a mouthful from a +gutter. He had not the spirit to prick up his ears, or to wag or curl up +his tail, if he had one--for, shortly after his transformation, the end +of it was wedged into a door by his wife, and he was cur-tailed. + +Happy is he who gets into trouble by necromancy, who can get out of it +by the same. The devil rarely bolts and unbolts his door for his own +guests. He is not wont to say, 'Walk in, my friend,' and afterward, +'Good-by.' But it so turned out in the case of Sid Norman, because he +had not been knowingly bewitched; and Mrs. Amina Ghoul Sid Norman +learned to respect the motto, _Cave canem!_ + +While his canine sufferings lasted, he fell in with various masters, and +nosed about to see if he could substitute reason for instinct, and get +established on two legs again. He looked up wistfully into the faces of +passers-by, as if to say, 'I am not a dog, but the man for whom a large +reward has been offered.' On one occasion, seeing Amina come from a shop +where she had just purchased a Cashmere shawl of great size and value, +he set his teeth like a steel trap, and made a grab at her ankles. But +she recognized him on all fours, with a diabolical grin, and fetching +him a kick with her little foot, caused him to yelp most pitifully. +Running under a little cart which stood in the way, he skinned his +teeth, and growled to himself, 'By the prophet, but I can almost love +her again; she distinguished herself by that kick, which was aimed with +infinite tact; it went right to the spot, and struck me like a +discharge from a catapult, drove all the wind out of me, and left an +absolute vacuum, as if a stomach-pump had sucked me out. +Yap--yow--eaow--yeaow--yap--snif--xquiz;' and, after a good deal of +panting and distress, he at last yawned so wide as nearly to dislocate +his jaws, sneezed once or twice, and then trotted off on three legs, +with his half a tail tucked up underneath, and lay down disconsolate in +an ash-hole. + +'Oh, how distressing it is,' said he, 'to be bewitched by a bad woman! +It metamorphoses one entirely. He loses all semblance to his former +self, parts with all his reason, no more walks upright, and bids +philosophy adieu. One drop from the cup of her incantations, and the +gossamer net-work which she threw about him is changed into prisonbars, +her silken chain into links of forged iron; strong will is dwindled, and +he who on some 'heaven-kissing hill' stood up to gaze upon the stars, is +fit to grovel in a sty.--Miserable dog! Bow-wow, bow-wow!' + +One day, as the story proceeds, Sid's master was offered a base coin in +his shop, when this 'learned dog' at once put his foot upon it, and in +fact put his foot in the bargain. + +'Ah, indeed!' said a Bagdad lady, who stood by; 'that's no dog, or, if +he is, the Caliph ought to have him.' So, snapping her fingers slyly as +she went out, he followed her. + +'Daughter,' said she to the fair Xarifa, who was working embroidery, 'I +have brought the baker's famous dog that can distinguish money. There is +some sorcery about it.--You have once walked on two legs,' said she, +looking down upon the fawning animal, 'have you not? If so, wag your +tail.' + +Sid thumped the floor most furiously with the stump of it, whereupon she +poured liquid into a phial, threw it into his face, and he stood up once +more a man,--Sid Norman, lost and saved by a woman, his eyes beaming one +moment with the tenderest gratitude, but on the next flashing with the +most deadly revenge. Heaven and hell, the one with its joyous sunshine, +the other with its lurid lights, appeared to struggle and mix up their +flashes on Sid Norman's countenance, till gratitude, that rarest grace, +was quenched, and hell triumphed. + +'Than all the nectar ever served in golden cups and brewed by houries in +Mahomet's paradise, revenge is sweeter,' he murmured to himself. + +'Stay,' said Xarifa, who divined his thoughts; 'you will transform +yourself back again. There will be no transmigration of soul for you, if +you are lost by your own sorcery. Let dogs delight to bark and bite.' + +'Hold your tongue, Xarifa,' said the mother, who was not so amiable. +'The man shall have revenge. Since he has trotted about so long on all +fours, he must be paid for it. It is not revenge, it is sheer justice.' + +'True as the Koran,' exclaimed Sid Norman, who was becoming infatuate +again, and would have fallen down at the knees of this new charmer and +worshiped her. The fact is, that he was too easily transformed, and +submitted too quickly to the latest magic; otherwise he would have +always walked erect, instead of wearing fur on his back, and a tail at +the end of it. A coat of tar and feathers would have been a mere +circumstance compared with such an indignity. Well, it was the fault, +perhaps it should rather be called the misfortune, of character. + +'Sidi Norman,' said the lady, fixing upon him an amorous glance, 'you +shall not only have revenge, but the richest kind of it. You have a bone +to pick with your wife. She was brought up in the same school of magic +that I was, hence I hate her. She has the secret of the same rouge, and +concocts the same potions and love-filters; but she shall smart for it. +Excellent man! injured husband! Monopolize to yourself all the +whip-cords of Bagdad.' + +Sid Norman kneeled and kissed her hand. Xarifa looked up from her +embroidery and frowned. + +The benefactress withdrew to consult her books, but returned presently. + +'Your wife,' she said, 'has gone out shopping, also to leave some cards, +to fulfil an engagement with the French minister, and to engage a band +of music for an entertainment at which Prince Schearazade is expected to +be present. Wait patiently for her return, then confront her boldly, +upbraid her, toss this liquor in her eyes, and then you shall see what +you shall see.' + +Sid Norman went to his late home, which was in the West End, the Fifth +Avenue of Bagdad. He opened the door, but silence prevailed. Costly +silks, and many extravagant and superfluous things, lay strewn about. He +sat down in a rocking-chair and gazed at a full-length portrait of the +Haroun Alraschid. + +About noon the lady came in, with six shop clerks after her, bearing +packages, tossed off her head-dress, and flung herself inanimately on +the sofa. + +'Ahem,' grunted Sid Norman, who was concealed in the shadow of an +alcove. + +Amina looked up. Furies! what an appalling rencontre! She looked as pale +as the corpses which she adored; she would have shrieked, but had no +more voice than a ghost; she would have fled, but was riveted as with +the gaze of a basilisk. + +'Dear,' said Sid Norman, with an uxorious smile, 'what ails you? Has the +fast of Kamazan begun? Hardly yet, for this looks more like the +carnival. How much gave you for this Cashmere, my love?' + +A great sculptor was Sid Norman, for, without lifting a hand, or using +any other tool than a keen eye and a sharp tongue, he had wrought out +before him, carved as in cold marble, the statue of a beautiful, bad +woman. Such is genius. Such is conscience! + +'Mrs. Amina Sidi Ghoul Norman,' proceeded the husband, giving his wife +time to relax a little from her rigor, 'is dinner ready? We want nothing +but a little rice. Set on only two plates, a knife and fork for me, and +a _bodkin_ for you, if you please, madam.' + +(_A symptom of hysterics, checked by a nightmare inability of action_.) + +'Have you nothing to say? Is thy servant a dog? Why have you wrought +this deviltry? Take that.' + +Therewith he flung some liquid in her face, and the late fashionable +lady of Bagdad became a mare. Sid seized a cow-skin, and laid on with a +will. + +'You may now cut up as many capers as you please,' said he, reining her +in with a bit and bridle, and cutting her with the whip until the blood +rolled. 'To-morrow you may go to grass in the graveyard.' + +Every day he made a practice of lashing her around the square, if +possible, to get the devil out of her. When the Caliph Haroun Alraschid +learned the true cause of such conduct, he remarked that it was +punishment enough to be transformed into a beast; and, while the stripes +should be remitted, still he would not have the woman to assume her own +shape again, as she would be a dangerous person in his good city of +Bagdad. + + * * * * * + +The moral of this tale of sorcery, which is equal to any in Æsop's +Fables, may be drawn from a posthumous letter which was found among the +papers of Sidi Norman, and is as follows:-- + + 'TO BEN HADAD, SON OF BEN HADAD. + +'You, who stand upon the verge of youth,--for that is the age, and there +is the realm, of genii, fairies, and wild 'enchantments,--learn wisdom +from the said story of Sidi Norman. + +'I was brought up to respect the laws of God and the prophet. When I +came to marriageable age, and, "unsight, unseen," was induced to espouse +the veiled Amina, it was, as we say in Bagdad, like "buying a pig in a +poke," although rumor greatly magnified her charms, and a secret +inclination prompted me. I longed eagerly for the wedding-day; and when +her face was revealed to conjugal eyes, methought that Mahomet had sent +down a houri from his paradise. Yet I found out, to my cost, that a +little knowledge of a woman is worse than ignorance, and that the +blinding light of beauty hides the truth more than the thick veil of +darkness. Oh, her bosom was white as the snows of Lebanon, and her eyes +were like those of the dear gazelle. Cheeks had she as red as the +Damascus rose, and a halo encircled her like that of the moon. Her +smiles were sunshine, her lips dropped honey. I thought I saw upon her +shoulders the cropping out of angelic wings. I sought out the carpets of +Persia for the soft touch of her tiny feet, and hired all the lutes of +Bagdad to be strung in praise of my beloved. I sent plum-cake to the +newspapers, and placed a costly fee in the hand of the priest. Oh, +blissful moments! But I purchased hell with them, for she began to lead +me a dog's life. She had no taste for home, no appetite for healthful +food; she ran me into debt, hated my friends, loved my enemies, and +changed her soft looks into daggers to stab me with. Her bloom became +blight; her lips oozed out poison, and she dabbled in corrupt things. I +tracked her footsteps from my sacred couch as they led to the very brink +of the grave. + +'O, my son, beware of your partner in the dance of life; for, as Mahomet +used to say, in his jocular moods, 'those who will dance must pay the +fiddler.' To be tied, forever, for better, for worse, to such a ---- as +Amina Ghoul, is to be transformed in one's whole nature. It is the +transmigration of a soul from amiability to peevishness, from activity +to discouragement, from love to hate, and from high-souled sentiment to +the dog-kennel of humility. Go thou, and don't do likewise. + +'Woe is me! Who takes one wrong step, gets out of it by another; and so +I went on from enchantment to enchantment, and fell out of the +frying-pan into the fire. If I stood erect, and no longer groveled, if I +was not any more a beast, I became like the devils which possessed them. +So did I scourge and lash the object of my hatred with feelings of the +deadliest revenge. + +'Oh, my Ben Hadad, presume not from my ultimate escape. If I have ceased +to snap and snarl and growl,--if I now, in the decline of life, pursue +the even tenor of my way,--if I have been redeemed from snares, and +learned even to forgive my enemies, it is because the fair Xarifa +represented my better nature, and that has triumphed because I took +counsel of her. Farewell, my son, and, in the pilgrimage of life, +reflect upon the dear-bought experience of SIDI NORMAN.' + + * * * * * + +'WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH US?' + + + What will we do with you, if God + Should give you over to our hands, + To pass in turn beneath the rod, + And wear at last the captive's bands?' + 'What will we do?' Our very best + To make of each a glorious State, + Worthy to match with North and West,-- + Free, vigorous, beautiful and great! + As God doth live, as Truth is true, + We swear we'll do all this to you. + + * * * * * + +JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. + + +A late _National Review_ asserts with true English shrewdness that +American literature is yet to be born,--that it has scarcely a +substantive existence. 'Its best works,' says this modern Scaliger, 'are +scarcely more than a promise of excellence; the precursors of an advent; +shadows cast before, and, like most shadows, they are too vague and +ill-defined, too fluctuating and easily distorted into grotesque forms, +to enable us to discriminate accurately the shape from which they are +flung.... The truth is, that American literature, apart from that of +England, has no separate existence.... The United States have yet to +sign their intellectual Declaration of Independence: they are mentally +still only a province of this country.' With a gallantry too +characteristic to be startling, a discernment that does all honor to his +taste, and a coolness highly creditable to his equatorial regions of +discussion, the critic continues by assuring his readers that Washington +Irving was not an American. He admits that by an accident, for which he +is not responsible, this beloved scholar, writer and gentleman claimed +our country as his birthplace, and even, perhaps, had a 'full appetite +to this place of his kindly ingendure,' but informs us he was an +undeniable contemporary of Addison and Steele, a veritable member of the +Kit-Cat Club. We may reasonably anticipate that the next investigation +of this penetrative ethnologist may result in the appropriation to us of +that fossil of nineteenth-century literature, Martin Farquhar Tupper, an +intellectual _quid pro quo_, which will doubtless be received gratefully +by a public already supposed to be lamenting the unexpected loss of its +co-nationality with Irving. + +What species of giant the watchful affection of Motherland awaits in a +literature whose unfledged bantlings are Cooper, Emerson, Holmes, Motley +and Lowell, our imagination does not attempt to depict. We venture, +however, to predict that the _National Review_ will not be called upon +to stand sponsor for the bairn, whose advent it so pleasantly announces, +and for whose christening should be erected a cathedral more vast than +St. Peter's, a temple rarer than that of Baalbec. But while our +sensitive cousin across the water would pin us down to a _credo_ as +absurd as that of Tertullian, and hedge us in with the adamantine wall +of his own lordly fiat, let us, who fondly hope we have a literature, +whose principal defect--a defect to which the one infallible remedy is +daily applied by the winged mower--is youth, inquire into its leading +characteristics, seeing if haply we may descry the elements of a golden +maturity. + +It has been asserted that we are a gloomy people; it is currently +reported that the Hippocrene in which of old the Heliconian muses bathed +their soft skins, is now fed only with their tears; that instead of +branches of luxuriant olive, these maidens, now older grown and wise, +present to their devout adorers twigs of suggestive birch and thorny +staves, by whose aid these mournful priests wander gloomily up and down +the rugged steeps of the past. We have begun to believe that our writers +are afflicted with a sort of myopy that shuts out effectually sky and +star and sea, and sees only the pebbles and thistles by the dusty +roadside. Truly, the prospect is at first disheartening. The great +Byron, who wept in faultless metre, and whose aristocratic maledictions +flow in graceful waves that caress where they mean to stifle, has so +poisoned our 'well of English undefiled,' that wise men now drink from +it warily, and only after repeated filterings and skillful analyses by +the Boerhaaves of the press. And Poe, who, with all the great poet's +faults, possessed none of his few genial features, has painted the fatal +skull and cross-bones upon our banners, that should own only the +oriflamme. Yet it is Poe whom the English critic honors as exceeding all +our authors in intensity, and approaching more nearly to genius than +they all. + +Now may St. Loy defend us! At the proposition of Poe's intensity we do +not demur. All of us who have shrieked in infancy at the charnel-house +novelettes of imprudent nurses, shivered in childhood at the mysterious +abbeys and concealed tombs of Anne Radcliffe, or rushed in horror from +the apparition of the dead father of the Archivarius of Hoffman, +tumbling his wicked son down stairs in the midst of the onyx quarrel, +will willingly and with trembling fidelity bear witness to the intensity +of Poe. He was indeed our Frankenstein (of whom many prototypes do +abound), wandering in the Cimmerian regions of thought, the graveyards +of the mind, and veiling his monstrous creations with the filmy drapery +of rhyme and the mists of a perverted reason. In his sad world eternal +night reigns and the sun is never seen. + + 'Tristis Erinnys, + Prætulit infaustas sanguinolenta faces,' + +by whose red light awed audiences see the fruit of his labors. + +But what right has he to a place in our van, who never asked our +sympathy, whose every effort was but to widen the gulf between him and +his fellow-man, whose sword was never drawn in defence of the right? +Genius! The very word is instinct with nobility and heartiness. Genius +clasps hands with true souls everywhere: it wakes the chord of +brotherhood in rude hearts in hovels, and quickens the pulses under the +purple and ermine of palaces. It has a smile for childhood and a +reverent tone for white-haired age. Its clasp takes in the frail flower +bending from slender stems and the stars in their courses. There is +laughter in its soul, and a huge banquet-table there to which all are +welcome. And to us, on its borders, come the summer-breath of Pæstum +roses and the aroma of the rich red wine of Valdepeñas; and there toasts +are given to the past and to the future, for genius knows no nation nor +any age. It sparkles along the current of history, and under its warm +smile deserts blossom like the rose. + +And Poe? With a mind neither well balanced nor unprejudiced, and an +imagination that mistook the distorted fantasies of a fevered brain for +the pure impulses of some mysterious muse, and gave the reins to +coursers that even Phaeton would have feared to trust, he can only +excite our pity where he desires our admiration. _Qui non dat quod amat, +non accipit ille quod optat_, was an inscription on an old chequer-board +of the times of Henry II. And what did Poe love? Truth shrugs her +shoulders, but forbears to answer,--Himself. His were the vagaries of +genius without its large-hearted charities; its nice discrimination +without its honesty of purpose; its startling originality without its +harmonious proportions; its inevitable errors without its persevering +energies. He acknowledged no principle; he was actuated by no high aim; +he even busied himself--as so many of the unfortunate great have +done--with no chimera. From a mind so highly cultured, an organization +so finely strung, we expected the rarest blossoms, the divinest +melodies. The flowers lie before us, mere buds, from which the green +calyx of immaturity has not yet curled, and in whose cold heart the +perfume is not born; the melodies vibrate around us, matchless in +mechanism, wondrous in miraculous accord, but as destitute of the _soul_ +of harmony as the score of Beethoven's sonata in A flat to unlearned +eyes. If his analyses and criticisms are keen and graceful, they are +unreliable and contradictory, for he was often influenced by private +piques, and unpardonable egotism, and the opinions of those whose favor +he courted. He was Byron without Byron's wonderful perceptions of +nature, Byron's consciousness of the good. + +And is it from a genius like this that our literature has taken its +tone? Heaven forbid! Wee Apollos there may be, 'the little Crichtons of +the hour,' who twist about their brows the cypress sprays that have +fallen from this perverted poet's wreath, and fancy themselves crowned +with the laurel of a nation's applause. But these men are not types of +our literature. The truly great mind is never molded by the idol of a +day, a clique, a sect. Pure-hearted and strong the man must be whose +hands take hold of the palaces of the world's heart, who grasps the +spirit of the coming time. Errors may be forgiven, vices may be +forgotten, where only a noble aim has influenced, as a true creative +genius gleamed. + +But larger constellations have appeared in our literary sky, that burn +with undimmed lustre even beside that great morning star that rose above +the horizon of the Middle Ages. Historians we have, with all of +Chaucer's truthfulness and luxuriance of expression, and poets with his +fresh tendernesses, his flashing thoughts, and exquisite simplicity of +heart. And perhaps, if we inquire for the distinguishing features of our +literature, we shall discover them to be the strength and cheerfulness +so pre-eminently the characteristics of Chaucer, which we have so long +been accustomed to deny to ourselves. Observe the stately but flowing +periods of Motley; his polished courtliness of style, the warm but not +exaggerated coloring of his descriptions, the firm but never ungraceful +outlines of his sketches of character that mark him the Michael Angelo +among historians. In his brilliant imagery, his splendid scholarship, +his fine analytical power, he is not surpassed by Macaulay, while he far +exceeds him in impartiality,--that diamond of the historian,--and in his +keen comprehension of the great motive-principles of the age which he +describes. Neither are Prescott, Bancroft, or Irving inferior to Gibbon, +Hume, or Robertson. + +And over and through our poetry blow fresh and inspiring the winds from +our own vast prairies. Those names, few, but honorable, that have become +as household words among us, are gilded, not with the doubtful lustre of +a moonlit sentimentality, but with the real gold of day-dawn. If they +are few, let it be remembered that we are now but first feeling our +manhood, trying our thews and sinews, and must needs stop to wonder a +little at the gradual development of our unsuspected powers. The most of +our great men have been but stalwart mechanics, busied with the +machinery of government, using intellect as a lever to raise ponderous +wheels, whereon our chariot may run to Eldorado. We have a right to be +proud of our poets; their verses are the throbs of our American heart. +And if we do but peer into their labyrinth of graceful windings and +reach their Chrimhilde Rose-garden, we shall find it begirt with the +strong, fighting men of humor. This element lurks under many a musical +strophe and crowns many a regal verse. And yet in real humorous poetry +we have been sadly deficient. Only of late years have the constant lions +by the gate begun to rouse from their strong slumber, to shake their +tawny manes, and rumble out a warning of their future prowess. + +Nor is it strange that we, who were scarcely an organized people, should +have lacked this great witness to the vitality and stability of a race. +The features of a national character must be marked and prominent, and a +strong sense of a national individuality be developed, before that last, +best faculty of man is aroused, and leaps forth to maturity in verse. +The one magnificent trait of true humorous poetry is, that in its very +nature it is incapable of trivialities. It must grasp as its key-note +some vast truth, must grapple with some great injustice, must hurl its +lances at some wide-spread prejudice, or toy with the tangles of some +mighty Nærea's hair. Undines and satyrs, cupids and merry fauns, may +spring laughing from under the artist's hand, but it is from the +unyielding marble that these slender children of his mirthful hours are +carved. It was not in her infancy that Rome produced her Juvenal. +Martial and Plautus caricatured the passions of humanity after Carthage +had been destroyed and Julius Cæsar had made of his tomb a city of +palaces. Aristophanes wrote when Greece had her Parthenon and had +boasted her Pericles. France had given birth to Richelieu when Molière +assumed the sack, and England had sustained the Reformation and +conquered the land of the Cid when Butler, with his satires, shaking +church and state, appeared before her king. So with America. It was not +until wrongs were to be redressed, and unworthy ambitions to be checked, +that the voice of LOWELL'S scornful laughter was heard in the land, +piercing, with its keen cadences and mirth-provoking rhyme, the policy +of government and the ghostly armor of many a spectral faith and ism. + +True, we had the famous 'Hasty Pudding' of Joel Barlow, the 'Terrible +Tractoration' of Fessenden, and Halleck's 'Fanny,' but these were mere +_jeux_, gallant little histories, over which we laughed and _voila le +tout!_ And our Astolfo, Holmes, flying by on his winged horse, sends +down now and then + + 'His arrowes an elle long + With pecocke well ydight,' + +which we gather, and our fair dames weave into brilliant fans that +flutter and snap in many a gay assembly, and whose myriad eyes of blue +and purple smile with irresistible mirthfulness into the most hostile +countenances. Still Holmes apparently likes best the unrestrained +freedom of prose. His genius delights in periods finished after its own +heart,--pyramidal, trapezoidian, isoscelesian, rhomboidical. But +Lowell's genius is infinitely pliable, accommodating itself without +hesitation to the arbitrary requirements of the Sieur Spondee, and +laughing in the face of the halting Dactyl. His Birdofredom could, we +doubt not, sail majestically in the clouds of a stately hexameter, make +the aristocratic Alexandrine cry for quarter, and excel the old +Trouveurs in the _Rime équivoquée_. From the quiet esteem which his +early poems and essays had won for him, he leaped at once into the high +tide of popularity, and down its stream + + 'Went sailing with vast celerity,' + +with the 'Biglow Papers' for his sail. This work electrified the public. +It pierced the crust of refinement and intelligence, and roused the +latent laughter of its heart. Even newsboys chuckled with delight over +its caustic hits at the powers that were, against which, with the +characteristic precocity of Young America, each had his private +individual spite; while they found in its peculiar phraseology a mine of +fun. Patriots rejoiced that one vigilant thinker dared stand guard over +our national honor, with the two-edged sword of satire in his hand. Men +in authority, at whom the shafts of its scathing rebukes were leveled, +writhed on their cushions of state, while, in sheer deference to his +originality and humor, they laughed with the crowd at--themselves. And +in sooth it was a goodly sight, the young scholar, who had hitherto only +dabbled delicately with the treasures of poetry, whose name was a very +synonym for elegance and the repose of a genial dignity, whom we +suspected of no keen outlooks into the practical world of to-day,--to +see this man suddenly flashing into the dusty arena, with indignation +rustling through his veins and breathing more flame + + 'Than ten fire-kings could swallow,' + +scorching with his burning words, which an inimitable carelessness made +doubly effective, the willful absurdities of government and the palpable +wrongs of society, to question which had seemed before almost a heresy. +But Lowell's humor was the chrism, snatching together parallels whose +apparent inequalities, yet real justice, were powerfully convincing. He +never sought the inconsistencies of his subject, they flocked to meet +him uninvited. And his infinite cheerfulness, his freedom, even in his +most daring onslaughts, from ill-nature, these were the influences meet, + + 'That bowed our hearts like barley bending.' + +Scarcely did we know our knight in his new armor. Off with the hauberk +and visor, down with the glittering shield of his mediæval crusade, and, +lo! with his hand on the plow and his eyes on the fair fields of his own +New England, our country boy sings his _Ave Aquila!_ while other men are +rubbing the sunbeams of of the new-born day into their sleepy eyes. + +And it was not alone in our own country that this newly developed phase +of our poet's genius was acknowledged and applauded. Says a British +Review, with an admiration whose reservations are unfortunately too just +to be disputed: 'All at once we have a batch of small satirists,--Mr. +Bailey at their head,--in England, and one really powerful satirist in +America, namely, Mr. J.R. Lowell, whose "Biglow Papers" we most gladly +welcome as being not only the best volume of satires since the +Anti-Jacobin, but also the first work of real and efficient poetical +genius which has reached us from the United States. We have been under +the necessity of telling some unpleasant truths about American +literature from time to time, and it is with hearty pleasure that we are +now able to own that the Britishers have been for the present utterly +and apparently hopelessly beaten by a Yankee in one important department +of poetry. In the United States, social and political evils have a +breadth and tangibility which are not at present to be found in the +condition of any other civilized country. The "peculiar domestic +institution," the fillibustering tendencies of the nation, the +charlatanism which is the price of political power, are butts for the +shafts of the satirist, which European poets may well envy Mr. Lowell. +We do not pretend to affirm that the evils of European society may not +be as great in their own way as those which affect the credit of the +United States, with the exception, of course, of slavery, which makes +American freedom deservedly the laughing-stock of the world; but what we +do say is, that the evils in point have a boldness and simplicity which +our more sophisticated follies have not, and that a hundred years hence +Mr. Lowell's Yankee satires will be perfectly intelligible to every +one.' + +The predictions of the English reviewer are fulfilled already. The +prescribed century has not elapsed, and in a decade the 'Yankee satires' +are comprehended as perhaps even their author failed to comprehend as he +created them. There is something positively startling and uncanny in his +prophetic insight into the passions that have attained their majority in +this present year of grace,--passions that, + + 'Like aconite, where'er they spread, they kill.' + +He does not approach with the old show of superstitious reverence the +altar of our vaunted destiny, where men have sung their +in-secula-seculorums, while pagans at the chancel rail have been +distributing to infidel hordes the relics of their holiest saints, and +threatening the very fane itself with fire. Mere words will never strike +him dumb. He does not bow to the shadow of Justice or kneel with the +ignorant and unsuspicious at the shrine of every plausible Madonna by +the roadside. Hear him on the constitutional pillars that heaven and +earth are now moved to keep in place, and let us commiserate what must +now be the distracting dread of Increse D. O'Phace, Esquire, lest some +Samson in blind revenge entomb himself in the ruins of the Constitution. + + 'Wy, all o' them grand constitootional pillers, + Our four fathers fetched with 'em over the billers, + Them pillers the people so soundly hev slept on, + Wile to slav'ry, invasion an' debt they were swept on, + Wile our destiny higher an' higher kep mountin' + (Though I guess folks'll stare wen she hands her account in). + Ef members in this way go kickin' agin 'em, + They won't hev so much ez a feather left in em.' + +Not less wonderful than his penetration into political affairs is +Lowell's command of the pure Yankee dialect. His knowledge of it is +perfect; he elevates it to the dignity of a distinct tongue, having its +own peculiar etymology, and only adopting the current rules of prosody +in tender consideration for its thousands of English readers. There is, +however, we are tolerably assured, a certain class of critics who +venture to lament that this laughter-inspiring muse should have +descended from the sunny Parnassus of its own vernacular to the meads +below, where disport the unlearned and uninspired, the mere kids and +lambs of its celestial audience: a generous absurdity, at which the very +Devil of Delphos might have demurred. These are the dapper gentlemen, +who, tripping gayly along to the blasts and tinklings of Lanner's +Waltzes, would judge every man's intellect by the measure of their own. +Know, oh dwarfed descendants of Procustes, that the quality of humor is +not strained, but droppeth as the gentle dew from heaven; and if, after +patient blending with grains of intolerance and egotism, in the mortar +of your minds, it seems to you but that poisonous foam that of old +sorcerers drew, by their incantations, from the moon, we can only smile +with Voltaire at your 'foolish ingenuities,' and recommend to you a new +career. 'Go pype in an ivy lefe,' Monsieur Mustard-seed, or 'blow the +bukkes' horne.' + +It is no trifling merit in a work of so extraordinary a character that +the original programme should have been so perfectly carried out. The +poet never relaxes, even into a Corinthian elegance of allusion; his +metaphors are always fresh and ungarnished; they no more shine with the +polish of the court than do those of Panurge. In fact, there is a flavor +of the camp about them, a pleasant suspicion, and more than a suspicion, +of life in the open air, the fresh smell of the up-turned earth, the +odor of clover blossoms. The poet is walking in the _fresco_, and the +sharp winds cut a pathway across every page. Equally remarkable and +pervaded by a most delightful personality are the editorial lucubrations +of the Rev. Homer Wilbur. The very lustre of the midnight oil shines +upon their glittering fragments of philosophy, admirably twisted to suit +the requirements of an eminently unphilosophical age; moral axioms from +heathen writers applied judiciously to the immoral actions of Christian +doers; distorted shadows of a monstrous political economy, and +dispassionate and highly commendable views '_de propagandâ fide_.' Like +Johnson, + + 'He forced Latinisms into his line, + Like raw undrilled recruits,' + +that have yet done immense service in his conflicts with the enemy. This +pedantry, so inimitable, is unequaled even by the most weighty pages of +the 'Pseudodoxia Epidemica' of Sir Thomas Browne. That it should prove +obnoxious to some critics only testifies to its perfection and their own +incapacity for enjoyment. If a man does not relish the caviare and +truffles at a dinner, he does not question the wisdom of his Lucullus in +providing them; the fault is in his own palate, not in the judgment of +his host. The aggrieved individuals, who are either too weak or too +indolent to scale the numberless peaks of Lowell's genius, may comfort +themselves with the reflection that the treasures of their minds will +never be tesselated into the mosaic of any satirist's fancy, for in them +can abound only emptiness and cobwebs--as saith the Staphyla of +Plautus:-- + + 'Nam hic apud nos nihil est aliud qua sti furibus, + Ita inaniis sunt oppletæ atque araneis.' + +Caricatures have never been disdained by the greatest minds. They were +rather the healthful diversion of their leisure hours. Even the stern +and rugged-natured artist, Annibale Caracci, was famous for his humorous +inventions, and the good Leonardo da Vinci esteemed them as most useful +exercises. We all remember the group of the Laocoon that Titian sketched +with apes, and those whole humorous poems in lines found in Herculaneum, +where Anchises and Æneas are represented with the heads of apes and +pigs. Lessing even tells us in his Laocoon that in Thebes the rage for +these _caricatura_ was so great that a law was passed forbidding the +production of any work conflicting with the severe and absolute laws of +beauty. + +In quite another vein, yet transfused with the same irrepressible mirth, +we have Lowell's 'Fable for Critics,' which, with its 'preliminary notes +and few candid remarks to the reader,' is a literary curiosity whose +parallel we have not in any work by an American author. It is all one +merry outburst of youth and health, and music and poetry, with the spice +of a criticism so rare and genial, that one could almost court +dissection at his hands, for the mere exquisitely epicurean bliss of an +artistic euthanasia. It is genius on a frolic, coquetting with all the +Graces, and unearthing men long since become gnomes, + + 'In that country + Where are neither stars nor meadows,' + +to join in his merry carousing. They float on floods of Chian and moor +their barks under 'hills of spice.' What golden wine of inspiration has +our poet drunk, whose flush is on his brow and its fire in his veins? +For every sentence of this poem is aglow with vigor and life and power; + + 'Its feeldes have een and its woodes have eeres.' + +And if he sometimes stumbles over a metre or lets his private +friendships and preferences run away with his cool discretion and +judgment, why, _bonus dormitat Homerus_, let us, like the miser Euclio, +be thankful for the good the gods vouchsafe us. Taken in themselves and +without regard to their poetical surroundings, no more comprehensive, +faithful, concise portraitures of our authors have ever been produced. +They unite in the highest degree candor and justice, and there is withal +a tone so kindly and a wit so pure, that we almost believe him to be +describing a community of brothers affiliated by the close ties of deep +mutual appreciation. He flings his diamonds of learning upon the page, +and we recognize the scholar whom no extravagance in knowledge can make +bankrupt. We seem to have come by rare chance upon one of those +wardrobes of the early kings, wherein are all savory treasures,--the +rose and violet colored sugars of Alexandria, sweet almonds, and +sharp-toothed ginger. We pardon his puns, indeed we believe them to be +inevitable, the flash of the percussion cap, the sparks of electricity, +St. Elmo's stars, phosphorescent gleams, playing over the restless ocean +of his fruitful imagination. And we are persuaded that if the venerable +Democritus (who was uncanonized only because the Holy See was still +wavering, an anomalous body, in _Weissnichtwo_, and who existed forty +days on the mere sight of bread and honey) had been regaled with the +piquant delicacies of Lowell's picture of a Critic, he might have +continued unto this present. It is a satire so pleasantly constructed, +so full of palpable hits at the 'musty dogmas' of the day, so rich in +mirthful allusion, and with such a generously insinuated tribute to the +true and earnest-hearted critic, that we know not which most to admire, +the sketch, or the soul whence it emanated. The following description of +a 'regular heavy reviewer' is complete: + + 'And here I must say he wrote excellent articles + On the Hebraic points, or the force of Greek particles, + They filled up the space nothing else was prepared for; + And nobody read that which nobody cared for; + If any old book reached a fiftieth edition, + He could fill forty pages with safe erudition; + He could gauge the old books by the new set of rules, + And his very old nothings pleased very old fools. + But give him a new book fresh out of the heart, + And you put him at sea without compass or chart,-- + His blunders aspired to the rank of an art; + For his lore was engraft, something foreign that grew in him, + Exhausting the sap of the native, and true in him, + So that when a man came with a soul that was new in him, + Carving new forms of truth out of Nature's old granite, + New and old at their birth, like Le Verrier's planet, + Which, to get a true judgment, themselves must create + In the soul of their critic the measure and weight, + Being rather themselves a fresh standard of grace, + To compute their own judge and assign him his place, + Our reviewer would crawl all about it and round it, + And reporting each circumstance just as he found it, + Without the least malice--his record would be + Profoundly æsthetic as that of a flea, + Which, supping on Wordsworth, should print, for our sakes, + Recollections of nights with the Bard of the Lakes, + Or, borne by an Arab guide, venture to render a + General view of the ruins of Denderah.' + +He draws with a few strokes of his magical charcoal a sharp silhouette +of Brownson upon the wall of our waiting curiosity, fills in his sketch +of Parker with a whole wilderness of classical shades, disposes of +Willis with a kiss and a blow, gives pages of sharp pleasantries to +Emerson, pays a graceful tribute to Whittier, and Hawthorne,-- + + 'His strength is so tender, his wildness so meek, + That a suitable parallel sets one to seek,-- + He's a John Bunyan Fouqué, a Puritan Tieck; + When Nature was shaping him, clay was not granted + For making so full-sized a man as she wanted, + So to fill out her model, a little she spared + From some finer-grained stuff for a woman prepared, + And she could not have hit a more excellent plan + For making him fully and perfectly man.' + +Turning backward from these evidences of Lowell's ripening powers to his +early poems, astonishment at his versatility is the first emotion +produced. It is hard to believe that the 'Biglow Papers' slid from under +the hand that wrote the 'Prometheus' and the 'Legend of Brittany.' His +genius flashes upon us like a certain flamboyant style of poetic +architecture--the flowing, flame-like curves of his humor blending +happily with the Gothic cusps of veneration for the old, with quaint +ivy-leaves, green and still rustling under the wind and rain, springing +easily out of its severer lines. What resistless magic is there in the +fingers whose touch upon the same rich banks of keys, summons solemn, +vibrant peals as of Beethoven's grandest fugues, endless harmonies as of +the deep seas, and the light and graceful fantasies of Rossini, which +are as the glad sunshine upon their waves. Truly the poet's gift is a +divine and an awful one. His heart must needs be proud and humble too, +who is claimed as nearer of kin than a brother by myriads of stranger +souls, each, perhaps, owning its separate creed, and in whose unspoken +prayers his name is ever present. In his 'Conversations on some of the +old Poets,' we discover the alembic through which his crude opinions, +his glowing impulses, his exquisitely minute discrimination were +distilled;--the old poets, to whom the heart turns ever lovingly as to +the wide west at eve. They were the nursing mothers of his intellectual +infancy, and it is probably to his reverent but not blind esteem for +them, his earnest study of them, not merely as poets, but as men, +citizens, and friends, that much of the buoyancy and vigor of his poetry +is to be attributed. The 'Conversations' themselves are alive with that +enthusiasm and sympathetic inquiry that disproves the false saying of +the Parisian Aspasia of Landor--'Poets are soon too old for mutual +love.' They are the warm photographs of feeling as it bubbles from a +burning heart; sometimes burned over-deep, with a leaning to fanaticism, +but with so much of the generosity and justice of maturity in their +decisions that these necessary errors of an ardent youth are overlooked, +and the more as they have disappeared almost entirely from the +productions of later years. He betrays in his quick conception of an +author's mood and meaning a delicacy so extreme, an organization so +nervously alive to beauties and discords, and a religious sentiment so +cultured to the last degree of feeling, that we dread lest we shall +encounter the weakness, morbidness or bigotry that naturally results +from the contact of such a soul with the passions of everyday life, +recalling the oft-quoted '_Medio in fonte leporum_'-- + + 'In the bowl where pleasures swim, + The bitter rises to the brim, + And roses from the veriest brake + May press the temples till they ache.' + +But among the roses of his criticisms we look in vain for thorns. In +style, it is true, these essays are halting and unequal. His adoption of +the colloquial form for the expression of opinion to the public has +never seemed to us remarkably felicitous, in spite of its venerable +precedents. Where his imagery becomes lofty and his flow of thought +should be continuous, we are indignant at its sudden arrest, and +involuntarily devote the intruder to a temporary bungalow in Timbuctoo. + +It is refreshing to lose the moony Tennysonian sensuousness which +induced, with Lowell's vigorous imagination, the blank artificiality of +style which was visible in several of his early poems. There was a +tendency, too, to the Byzantine liberty of gilding the bronze of our +common words, a palpable longing after the _ississimus_ of Latin +adjectives, of whose softness our muscular and variegated language will +not admit. Mr. Lowell's Sonnets, too, we could wish unwritten, not from +any defect in their construction, but from a fancied want of +congeniality between their character and his own. In spite of its +Italian origin, the sonnet always seems to demand the severest classical +outlines, both in spirit and expression, calm and steadfastly flowing +without ripples or waves, a poem cut in the marble of stately cadences +that imprison some vast and divine thought. Lowell is too elastic, +impulsive, for a sonneteer. But considered apart from our peculiar ideas +of the sonnet, the following is full of a very tender beauty:-- + + 'I ask not for those thoughts that sudden leap + From being's sea, like the isle-seeming Kraken, + With whose great rise the ocean all is shaken, + And a heart-tremble quivers through the deep; + Give me that growth which some perchance deem sleep, + Wherewith the steadfast coral-stems uprise, + Which by the toil of gathering energies + Their upward way into clear sunshine keep, + Until, by Heaven's sweetest influences, + Slowly and slowly spreads a speck of green + Into a pleasant island in the seas, + Where, 'mid tall palms, the cave-roofed home is seen + And wearied men shall sit at sunset's hour, + Hearing the leaves and loving God's dear power.' + +And what could be more drippingly quaint than his song to 'Violets,' +which breathes so gentle and real a sympathy with its subject, that we +almost imagine it was written in those early times when men communed +with Nature in her own audible language. It is even more beautiful than +Herrick's + + 'Why do ye weep, sweet babe? Can tears + Speak grief in you, who were but born + Just as the modest morn + Teemed her refreshing dew?' + +We give but a fragment of the Violet. + + 'Violet! sweet violet! + Thine eyes are full of tears; + Are they wet + Even yet + With the thought of other years? + Or with gladness are they full, + For the night is beautiful, + And longing for those far-off spheres? + Thy little heart, that hath with love + Grown colored, like the sky above + On which thou lookest ever-- + Can it know + All the woe + Of hope for what returneth never, + All the sorrow and the longing + To these hearts of ours belonging?' + +And there are touches of what we are wont to call dear, womanly feeling, +as when the 'Forlorn,' out in the bitter cold, + + 'Hears a woman's voice within + Singing sweet words her childhood knew, + And years of misery and sin + _Furl off and leave her heaven blue_.' + +The 'Changeling' alone would sustain a reputation. It seems always like +the plaintive but sweet warble of some unknown bird rising from the +midst of tall water-rushes in the day's dim dawning. A wonderful melody +as of Mrs. Browning's best efforts pervades every verse, priceless and +rare as some old intaglio. But when we come to his 'Odes to the Past and +the Future,' the full power of poesy unfolds before us. Their images are +not the impalpable spectres of a poet's dream, but symbols hardened into +marble by his skill, and informed with the fire of life by his genius. + + 'Wondrous and awful are thy silent halls, + O kingdom of the past! + There lie the bygone ages in their palls, + Guarded by shadows vast; + There all is hushed and breathless, + Save when some image of old error falls, + Earth worshiped once as deathless.' + +Was ever picture of silence more effective and complete? We can see the +desolate quiet of the vast arched halls, left undisturbed by centuries, +and as the moldering statue totters forward from its niche, we feel a +faith has fallen which was once the heaven of nations, and the awful +tumult is audible as a voice from the drear kingdom of death. And the +hymn to the Future, with all the joyful Titian hues of its opening +strophes, the glowing fervor of its deep yearning, swelling through +'golden-winged dreams' of the 'Land of Promise':-- + + 'To thee the Earth lifts up her fettered hands + And cries for vengeance; with a pitying smile + Thou blessest her, and she forgets her bands, + And her old woe-worn face a little while + Grows young and noble: unto thee the Oppressor + Looks and is dumb with awe; + The eternal law + Which makes the crime its own blindfold redresser, + Shadows his heart with perilous foreboding, + And he can see the grim-eyed Doom + From out the trembling gloom + Its silent-footed steeds toward his palace goading.' + +We pass by the 'Legend of Brittany,' which, as a mere artistic study of +light and shade in words, is worthy an extended notice. Its fine polish +and refinement of feeling remind us of Spencer's silver verses, frosted +here and there with the old fret-work of his lovable affectations. But +we pause at the 'Prometheus,' honestly believing that no poem made up of +so many excellences was ever written in America. Its defects are not of +conception, but in an occasional carelessness of execution--a gasp in +the rhythm; and when we consider its richness and majesty, when we feel +its resistless grasp upon the heart, we could pardon it if its great +pearls were strung on straws or its diamonds hidden in a sand-hill of +sentimentality. But never was poem freer from morbidness: it repels the +sickly pallor of our modern stereotyped sorrow, and is made up only of a +grief that is regal--more--divine. If any place by its side the +Prometheus of Æschylus and appeal to the unapproachable dignity of their +model, we can only say that we hold these two poems distinct as the East +is from the West, only between them springs boldly the blue arch of a +universal humanity that suffered and enjoyed as now when the earth was +young. But it must not be forgotten that the Greek lived when with men +was born a boundless sympathy for, and pride in, their gods; that what +are now to us but the wonderful dreams of a primeval poesy, shadowing +mighty truths, were to the ancients living influences that molded their +lives. And if it be urged that already faith must have grown dim in so +great a mind as that of Æschylus, then indeed we wonder not at the +marvels of magnificent despair, the death-in-life of a godlike suffering +which reach in his 'Prometheus Chained' a height of sublimity we may +scarcely hope to see approached in modern times, for the mind that +created it stood in a light shallop, drifting away from the old +landmarks of a worn-out creed into the dark, unknown night of doubt and +speculation. But the Prometheus of Lowell is not the god-man writhing in +an awful conflict with his slavery but begun. His heart + + 'For ages hath been empty of all joy, + Except to brood upon its silent hope, + As o'er its hope of day the sky doth now.' + +The defiant pride and scornful dignity that raised him above our +sympathy in Æschylus, are tempered by Lowell with a human longing for +comfort that, in its mighty woe, might melt adamant, or draw from the +watchful heavens + + 'Mild-eyed Astarte, his best comforter, + With her pale smile of sad benignity.' + +Chained to the rock in utter loneliness he lies. Long since the 'crisped +smiles' of the waves and the 'swift-winged winds' had ceased to listen +to his call. + + 'Year after year will pass away and seem + To me, in mine eternal agony, + But as the shadows of dark summer clouds, + Which I have watched so often darkening o'er + The vast Sarmatian plain, league-wide at first, + But, with still swiftness lessening on and on, + Till cloud and shadow meet and mingle where + The gray horizon fades into the sky, + Far, far to northward. Yes, for ages yet + Must I lie here upon my altar huge, + A sacrifice for man.' + +'A sacrifice for man.' The theme has won a high significance with time. +One more passage, and we are done--a passage which rivals Shakspeare in +its startling vividness, as it whispers with awful power close to our +ears. All night had the prisoned god heard voices,-- + + 'Deeper yet + The deep, low breathings of the silence grew + + * * * * * + + And then toward me came + A shape as of a woman; very pale + It was, and calm; its cold eyes did not move, + And mine moved not, but only stared on them. + Their fixed awe went through my brain like ice; + A skeleton hand seemed clutching at my heart, + And a sharp chill, as if a dank night-fog + Suddenly closed me in, was all I felt. + And then, methought, I heard a freezing sigh, + A long, deep, shivering sigh, as from blue lips + Stiffening in death, close to mine ear. I thought + Some doom was close upon me, and I looked + And saw the red morn, through the heavy mist, + Just setting, and it seemed as it were falling, + Or reeling to its fall, so dim and dead + And palsy-struck it looked. Then all sounds merged + Into the rising surges of the pines, + Which, leagues below me, clothing the gaunt loins + Of ancient Caucasus with hairy strength, + Sent up a murmur in the morning wind, + Sad as the wail that from the populous earth + All day and night to high Olympus soars, + Fit incense to thy wicked throne, O Jove!' + +Mr. Lowell is no fine dreamer, no enthusiast in the filmy questions of +some cloud-land of poetry: the sword of power is in his hand, and the +stern teachings of Right and Justice ring through his heart. To such +men, Destiny looks for her unfolding. Woe to them, if upon their +silence, inaction or irresolution in these great days, the steadfast +gaze of her high expectation falls unheeded. + + * * * * * + +RESURGAMUS. + + + Go where the sunlight brightly falls, + Through tangled grass too thick to wave; + Where silence, save the cricket's calls, + Reigns o'er a patriot's grave; + And you shall see Faith's violets spring + From whence his soul on heavenward wing + Rose to the realms where heroes dwell: + Heroes who for their country fell; + Heroes for whom our bosoms swell; + Heroes in battle slain. + God of the just! they are not dead,-- + Those who have erst for freedom bled;-- + Their every deed has boldly said + We all shall rise again. + + A patriot's deeds can never die,-- + Time's noblest heritage are they,-- + Though countless æons pass them by, + They rise at last to day. + The spirits of our fathers rise + Triumphant through the starry skies; + And we may hear their choral song,-- + The firm in faith, the noble throng,-- + It bids us crush a deadly wrong, + Wrought by red-handed Cain. + AND WE SHALL CONQUER! for the Right + Goes onward with resistless might: + His hand shall win for us the fight. + WE, too, shall rise again! + + * * * * * + +AMONG THE PINES. + + +My last article left the reader in the doorway of the Colonel's mansion. +Before entering, we will linger there awhile and survey the outside of +the premises. + +The house stands where two roads meet, and, unlike most planters' +dwellings, is located in full view of the highway. It is a rambling, +disjointed structure, thrown together with no regard to architectural +rules, and yet there is a kind of rude harmony in its very +irregularities that has a pleasing effect. The main edifice, with a +frontage of nearly eighty feet, is only one and a half stories high, and +is overshadowed by a broad projecting roof, which somehow, though in a +very natural way, drops down at the eaves, and forms the covering of a +piazza, twenty-feet in width, and extending across the entire front of +the house. At its south-easterly angle, the roof is truncated, and made +again to form a covering for the piazza, which there extends along a +line of irregular buildings for sixty yards. A portion of the verandah +on this side being enclosed, forms a bowling-alley and smoking-room, two +essential appendages to a planter's residence. The whole structure is +covered with yellow-pine weather boarding, which in some former age was +covered with paint of a grayish brown color. This, in many places, has +peeled off and allowed the sap to ooze from the pine, leaving every here +and there large blotches on the surface, which somewhat resemble the +'warts' I have seen on the trunks of old trees. + +The house is encircled by grand, old pines, whose tall, upright stems, +soaring eighty and ninety feet in the air, make the low hamlet seem +lower by the contrast. They have stood there for centuries, their rough, +shaggy coats buttoned close to their chins, and their long, green locks +waving in the wind; but man has thrust his long knife into their veins, +and their life-blood is fast oozing away. + +With the exception of the negro huts, which are scattered at irregular +intervals through the woods in the rear of the mansion, there is not a +human habitation within an hour's ride; but such a cosey, inviting, +hospitable atmosphere surrounds the whole place, that a stranger does +not realize he has happened upon it in a wilderness. + +The interior of the dwelling is in keeping with the exterior, though in +the drawing-rooms, where rich furniture and fine paintings actually +lumber the apartments, there is evident the lack of a nice perception of +the 'fitness of things,' and over the whole hangs a 'dusty air,' which +reminds one that the Milesian Bridget does not 'flourish' in South +Carolina. + +I was met in the entrance-way by a tall, fine-looking woman, to whom the +Colonel introduced me as follows:-- + +'Mr. K----, this is Madam ----, my housekeeper; she will try to make you +forget that Mrs. J---- is absent.' + +After a few customary courtesies were exchanged, I was shown to a +dressing-room, and with the aid of 'Jim,' a razor, and one of the +Colonel's shirts,--all of mine having undergone a drenching,--soon made +a tolerably presentable appearance. The negro then conducted me to the +breakfast-room, where I found the family assembled. + +It consisted, besides the housekeeper, of a tall, raw-boned, +sandy-haired personage, with a low brow, a blear eye and a sneaking +look, the Overseer of the plantation; and of a well-mannered, +intelligent lad,--with the peculiarly erect carriage and uncommon +blending of good-natured ease and dignity which distinguished my +host,--who was introduced to me as the housekeeper's son. + +Madam P----, who presided over the 'tea things,' was a person of perhaps +thirty-five, but a rich olive complexion, enlivened by a delicate +red-tint, and relieved by thick masses of black hair, made her appear to +a casual observer several years younger. Her face showed vestiges of +great beauty, which time, and, perhaps, care, had mellowed but not +obliterated, while her conversation indicated high cultivation. She had +evidently mingled in refined society in this country and in Europe, and +it was a strange freak of fortune that reduced her to a menial condition +in the family of a backwoods planter. + +After some general conversation, the Colonel remarked that his wife and +daughter would pass the winter in Charleston. + +'And do _you_ remain on the plantation?' I inquired. + +'Oh yes, I am needed here,' he replied; 'but Madam's son is with my +family.' + +'Madam's son!' I exclaimed in astonishment, forgetting in my surprise +that the lady was present. + +'Yes, sir,' she remarked, 'my oldest boy is twenty.' + +'Excuse me, Madam; I forgot that in your climate one never grows old.' + +'There you are wrong, sir; I'm sure I _feel_ old when I think how soon +my boys will be men.' + +'Not old yet, Alice,' said the Colonel, in a singularly familiar tone; +'you seem to me no older than when you were fifteen.' + +'You have been long acquainted,' I remarked, not knowing exactly what to +say. + +'Oh yes,' replied my host, 'we were children together.' + +'Your Southern country, Madam, affords a fine field for young men of +enterprise.' + +'My eldest son resides in Germany,' replied the lady. 'He expects to +make that country his home. He would have passed his examination at +Heidelberg this autumn had not circumstances called him here.' + +'You are widely separated,' I replied. + +'Yes, sir; his father thinks it best, and I suppose it is. Thomas, here, +is to return with his brother, and I may live to see neither of them +again.' + +My curiosity was naturally much excited to learn more, but nothing +further being volunteered, and the conversation turning to other topics, +I left the table with it unsatisfied. + +After enjoying a quiet hour with the Colonel in the smoking-room, he +invited me to join him in a ride over the plantation. I gladly assented, +and 'Jim' shortly announced the horses were ready. That darky, who +invariably attended his master when the latter proceeded from home, +accompanied us. As we were mounting I bethought me of Scip, and asked +Jim where he was. + +'He'm gwine to gwo, massa. He want to say good-by to you.' + +It seemed madness for Scip to start on a journey of seventy miles +without rest, so I requested the Colonel to let him remain till the next +day. He cheerfully assented, and sent Jim to find him. While waiting for +the darky, I spoke of how faithfully he had served me during my journey. + +'He's a splendid nigger,' replied the Colonel; 'worth his weight in +gold. If affairs were more settled I would buy him.' + +'But Colonel A---- tells me he is too intelligent. He objects to +"knowing" niggers.' + +'_I_ do not,' replied my host, 'if they are honest, and I would trust +Scip with uncounted gold. Look at him,' he continued, as the negro +approached; 'were flesh and bones ever better put together?' + +The darky _was_ a fine specimen of sable humanity, and I readily +understood why the practiced eye of the Colonel appreciated his physical +developments. + +'Scip,' I said, 'you must not think of going to-day; the Colonel will be +glad to let you remain until you are fully rested.' + +'Tank you, massa, tank you bery much, but de ole man will spec me, and I +orter gwo.' + +'Oh, never mind old ----,' said the Colonel, 'I'll take care of him.' + +'Tank you, Cunnel, den I'll stay har till de mornin.' + +Taking a by-path which led through the forest in the rear of the +mansion, we soon reached a small stream, and, following its course for +a short distance, came upon a turpentine distillery, which the Colonel +explained to me was one of three that prepared the product of his +plantation for market, and provided for his family of two hundred souls. + +It was enclosed, or rather roofed, by a rude structure of rough boards, +open at the sides, and sustained on a number of pine poles about thirty +feet in height, and bore a strong resemblance to the usual covering of a +New England haystack. + +Three stout negro men, divested of all clothing excepting a pair of +coarse gray trowsers and a red shirt,--it was a raw, cold, wintry +day,--and with cotton bandannas bound about their heads, were 'tending +the still.' The foreman stood on a raised platform level with its top, +but as we approached very quietly seated himself on a turpentine barrel +which a moment before he had rolled over the mouth of the boiler. +Another negro was below, feeding the fire with 'light wood,' and a third +was tending the trough by which the liquid rosin found its way into the +semi-circle of rough barrels intended for its reception. + +'Hello, Junius, what in creation are you doing there?' asked the +Colonel, as we approached, of the negro on the turpentine barrel. + +'Holein' her down, Cunnel; de ole ting got a mine to blow up dis mornin; +I'se got dis barrl up har to hole her down.' + +'Why, you everlasting nigger, if the top leaks you'll be blown to +eternity in half a second.' + +'Reckon not, massa; de barrl and me kin hole her. We'll take de risk.' + +'Perhaps _you_ will,' said the Colonel, laughing, 'but I won't. Nigger +property isn't of much account, but you're too good a darky, June, to be +sent to the devil for a charge of turpentine.' + +'Tank you, massa, but you dun kno' dis ole ting like I do. You cudn't +blow her up nohow; I'se tried her afore dis way.' + +'Don't you do it again; now mind; if you do I'll make a white man of +you.' (This I suppose referred to a process of flaying with a switch; +though the switch is generally thought to _redden_, not _whiten_, the +darky.) + +The negro did not seem at all alarmed, for he showed his ivories in a +broad grin as he replied, 'Jess as you say, massa; you'se de boss in dis +shanty.' + +Directing the fire to be raked out, and the still to stand unused until +it was repaired, the Colonel turned his horse to go, when he observed +that the third negro was shoeless, and his feet chapped and swollen with +the cold. 'Jake,' he said, 'where are your shoes?' + +'Wored out, massa.' + +'Worn out! Why haven't you been to me?' + +''Cause, massa, I know'd you'd jaw; you tole me I wears 'em out mighty +fass.' + +'Well, you do, that's a fact; but go to Madam and get a pair; and you, +June, you've been a decent nigger, you can ask for a dress for Rosey. +How is little June?' + +'Mighty pore, massa; de ma'am war dar lass night and dis mornin', and +she reckun'd he's gwine to gwo sartain.' + +'Sorry to hear that,' said the Colonel. I'll go and see him. Don't feel +badly, June,' he continued, for the tears welled up to the eyes of the +black man as he spoke of his child; 'we all must die.' + +'I knows dat, massa, but it am hard to hab em gwo.' + +'Yes, it is, June, but we may save him.' + +'Ef you cud, massa! Oh, ef you cud!' and the poor darky covered his face +with his great hands and sobbed like a child. + +We rode on to another 'still,' and there dismounting, the Colonel +explained to me the process of gathering and manufacturing turpentine. +The trees are 'boxed' and 'tapped' early in the year, while the frost is +still in the ground. 'Boxing' is the process of scooping a cavity in the +trunk of the tree by means of a peculiarly shaped axe, made for the +purpose; 'tapping' is scarifying the rind of the wood above the boxes. +This is never done until the trees have been worked one season, but it +is then repeated year after year, till on many plantations they present +the marks of twenty and frequently thirty annual 'tappings,' and are +often denuded of bark for a distance of thirty feet from the ground. The +necessity for this annual tapping arises from the fact that the scar on +the trunk heals at the end of a season, and the sap will no longer run +from it; a fresh wound is therefore made each spring. The sap flows down +the scarified surface and collects in the boxes, which are emptied six +or eight times in a year, according to the length of the season. This is +the process of 'dipping,' and it is done with a tin or iron vessel +constructed to fit the cavity in the tree. + +The turpentine gathered from the newly boxed or virgin tree is very +valuable, on account of its producing a peculiarly clear and white +rosin, which is used in the manufacture of the finer kinds of soap, and +by 'Rosin the Bow,' and commands, ordinarily, nearly five times the +price of the common article. When barreled, the turpentine is frequently +sent to market in its crude state, but more often is distilled on the +plantation, the gatherers generally possessing means sufficient to own a +still. + +In the process of distilling, the crude turpentine is 'dumped' into the +boiler through an opening in the top,--the same as that on which we saw +Junius composedly seated,--water is then poured upon it, the aperture +made tight by screwing down the cover and packing it with clay, a fire +built underneath, and when the heat reaches several hundred degrees +Fahrenheit, the process of manufacture begins. The volatile and more +valuable part of the turpentine, by the action of the heat, rises as +vapor, then condensing flows off through a pipe in the top of the still, +and comes out spirits of turpentine, while the heavier portion finds +vent at a lower aperture, and comes out rosin. + +No article of commerce is so liable to waste and leakage as turpentine. +The spirits can only be preserved in tin cans, or in thoroughly seasoned +oak barrels, made tight by a coating of glue on the inner side. Though +the material for these barrels exists at the South in luxuriant +abundance, they are all procured from the North, and the closing of the +Southern ports has now entirely cut off the supply; for while the +turpentine farmer may improvise coopers, he can by no process give the +oak timber the seasoning which is needed to render the barrel +spirit-tight. Hence it is certain that a large portion of the last crop +of turpentine must have gone to waste. When it is remembered that the +one State of North Carolina exports annually nearly twenty millions in +value of this product, and employs fully three-fourths of its negroes in +its production, it will be seen how dearly the South is paying for the +mad freak of secession. Putting out of view his actual loss of produce, +how does the turpentine farmer feed and employ his negroes? and, pressed +as these blacks inevitably are by both hunger and idleness, those +prolific breeders of sedition, what will keep them quiet? + +'What effect would secession have on your business?' I asked the +Colonel, after a while. + +'A favorable one. I should ship my crop direct to Liverpool and London, +instead of selling it to New York middlemen.' + +'But is not the larger portion of the turpentine crop consumed at the +North?' + +'Oh, yes. We should have to deal with the Yankees anyhow, but we should +do as little with them as possible.' + +'Suppose the Yankees object to your setting up by yourselves, and put +your ports under lock and key?' + +'They won't do that, and if they did England would break the blockade.' + +'We might rap John Bull over the knuckles in that event,' I replied. + +'Well, suppose you did, what then?' + +'Merely, England would not have a ship in six months to carry your +cotton. A war with her would ruin the shipping trade of the North. Our +marine would seek employment at privateering, and soon sweep every +British merchant ship from the ocean. We could afford to give up ten +years' trade with you, and have to put down seccession by force, for the +sake of a year's brush with John Bull.' + +'But, my good friend, where would the British navy be all the while?' + +'Asleep. The English haven't a steamer that can catch a Brookhaven +schooner. The last war proved that vessels of war are no match for +privateers.' + +'Well, well! but the Yankees won't fight.' + +'Suppose they do. Suppose they shut up your ports, and leave you with +your cotton and turpentine unsold? You raise scarcely anything +else--what would you eat?' + +'We would turn our cotton-fields into corn and wheat. Turpentine-makers, +of course, would suffer.' + +'Then why are not _you_ a Union man?' + +'My friend, I have two hundred mouths to feed. I depend on the sale of +my crop to give them food. If our ports are closed, I can not do +it,--they will starve, and I be ruined. But sooner than submit to the +domination of the cursed Yankees, I will see my negroes starving and my +child a beggar.' + +At this point in the conversation we arrived at the negro shanty where +the sick child was. Dismounting, the Colonel and I entered. + +The cabin was almost a counterpart of the 'Mills House,' described in my +previous paper, but it had a plank flooring, and was scrupulously neat +and clean. The logs were stripped of bark, and whitewashed. A bright, +cheerful fire was blazing on the hearth, and an air of rude comfort +pervaded the whole interior. On a low bed in the farther corner of the +room lay the sick child. He was a boy of about twelve years, and +evidently in the last stages of consumption. By his side, bending over +him as if to catch his almost inaudible words, sat a tidy, +youthful-looking colored woman, his mother, and the wife of the negro we +had met at the 'still.' Playing on the floor, was a younger child, +perhaps five years old, but while the faces of the mother and the sick +lad were of the hue of charcoal, _his_ skin, by a process well +understood at the South, had been bleached to a bright yellow. + +The woman took no notice of our entrance, but the little fellow ran to +the Colonel and caught hold of the skirts of his coat in a free-and-easy +way, saying, 'Ole massa, you got suffin' for Dickey?' + +'No, you little nig,' replied the Colonel, patting his woolly head as I +might have done a white child's, 'Dickey isn't a good boy.' + +'Yas, I is,' said the little darky; 'you'se ugly ole massa, to gib +nuffin' to Dickey.' + +Aroused by the Colonel's voice, the woman turned towards us. Her eyes +were swollen and her face bore traces of deep emotion. + +'Oh massa!' she said, 'de chile am dyin'! It'm all along ob his workin' +in de swamp,--no _man_ orter work dar, let alone a chile like dis.' + +'Do you think he is dying, Rosey?' asked the Colonel, approaching the +bedside. + +'Shore, massa, he'm gwine fass. Look at 'em.' + +The boy had dwindled to a skeleton, and the skin lay on his face in +crimpled folds, like a mask of black crape. His eyes were fixed, and he +was evidently going. + +'Don't you know massa, my boy?' said the Colonel, taking his hand +tenderly in his. + +The child's lips slightly moved, but I could hear no sound. The Colonel +put his ear down to him for a moment, then, turning to me, said,-- + +'He _is_ dying. Will you be so good as to step to the house and ask +Madam P---- here, and please tell Jim to go for Junius and the old man.' + +I returned in a short while with the lady, but found the boy's father +and 'the old man'--the darky preacher of the plantation--there before +us. The preacher was a venerable old negro, much bowed by years, and +with thin wool as white as snow. When we entered he was bending over the +dying boy, but shortly turning to my host, said,-- + +'Massa, de blessed Lord am callin' for de chile,--shall we pray?' + +The Colonel nodded assent, and we all, blacks and whites, knelt down on +the floor, while the old preacher made a short, heart-touching prayer. +It was a simple, humble acknowledgment of the dependence of the creature +on the Creator,--of His right to give and to take away, and was uttered +in a free, conversational tone, as if long communion with his Maker had +placed the old negro on a footing of friendly familiarity with Him, and +given the black slave the right to talk with the Deity as one man talks +with another. + +As we rose from our knees my host said to me, 'It is my duty to stay +here, but I will not detain you. Jim will show you over the plantation. +I will join you at the house when this is over.' The scene was a painful +one, and I gladly availed myself of the Colonel's suggestion. + +Mounting our horses, Jim and I rode off to the negro house where Scip +was staying. + +Scip was not at the cabin, and the old negro woman told us he had been +away for several hours. + +'Reckon he'll be 'way all day, sar,' said Jim, as we turned our horses +to go. + +'He ought to be resting against the ride of to-morrow. Where has he +gone?' + +'Dunno, sar, but reckon he'm gwine to fine Sam.' + +'Sam? Oh, he's the runaway the Colonel has advertised.' + +'Yas, sar, he'm 'way now more'n a monfh.' + +'How can Scip find him?' + +'Dunno, sar. Scipio know most ebery ting,--reckon he'll track him. He +know him well, and Sam'll cum back ef he say he orter.' + +'Where do you think Sam is?' + +'P'raps in the swamp.' + +'Where is the swamp?' + +''Bout ten mile from har.' + +'Oh, yes! the shingles are cut there. I should think a runaway would be +discovered where so many men are at work.' + +'No, massa, dar'm places dar whar de ole debil cudn't fine him, nor de +dogs nudder.' + +'I thought the bloodhounds would track a man anywhere.' + +'Not t'ru de water, massa; dey lose de scent in de swamp.' + +'But how can a negro live there,--how get food?' + +'De darkies work dar and dey take 'em nuff.' + +'Then the other negroes often know where the runaways are; don't they +sometimes betray them?' + +'Neber, massa; a darky neber tells on anoder. De Cunnel had a boy in dat +swamp once, good many years.' + +'Is it possible? Did he come back?' + +'No, he died dar. Sum ob de hands found him dead one mornin' in de hut +whar he lib'd, and dey buried him dar.' + +'Why did Sam run away?' + +''Cause de Oberseer flog him. He use him bery hard, massa.' + +'What had Sam done?' + +'Nuffin', massa.' + +'Then why was he flogged? Did the Colonel know it?' + +'Oh, yas; Moye cum de possum ober de Cunnel, and make him b'lieve Sam +war bad. De Cunnel dunno de hull ob dat story.' + +'Why didn't _you_ tell him? The Colonel trusts you.' + +'Twudn't hab dun no good; de Cunnel wud hab flogged _me_ for tellin' on +a wite man. Nigga's word ain't ob no account.' + +'What is the story about Sam?' + +'You won't tell dat _I_ tole you, massa?' + +'No, but I'll tell the Colonel the truth.' + +'Wal den, sar, you see Sam's wife am bery good-lookin', her skin's most +wite,--her mudder war a mulatter, her fader a wite man,--she lub'd Sam +'bout as well as de wimmin ginrally lub dar husbands,' (Jim was a +bachelor, and his observation of plantation morals had given him but +little faith in the sex), 'but most ob 'em, ef dey'm married or no, tink +dey must smile on de wite men, so Jule she smiled on de Oberseer,--so +Sam tought,--and it made him bery jealous. He war sort o' sassy, and de +Oberseer strung him up and flog him bery hard. Den Sam took to de swamp, +but he didn't know whar to gwo, and de dogs tracked him; he'd ha' got +'way dough ef de Oberseer hadn't shot him; den he cudn't run. Den Moye +flogged him till he war 'most dead, and arter dat chained him up in de +ole cabin and gabe him 'most nuffin' to eat. De Cunnel war gwine to take +Sam to Charles'on and sell him, but sumhow he got a file and sawed fru +de chain and got 'way in de night to de 'still.' When de Oberseer cum +dar in de mornin', Sam jump on him and 'most kill him. He'd hab sent him +whar dar ain't no niggas ef Junius hadn't a holed him. _I'd_ a let de +ole debil gwo.' + +'Junius, then, is a friend of the Overseer.' + +'No, sar; _he_ hain't no friends, 'cep de debil; but June am a good +nigga, and he said 'twarn't right to kill ole Moye so sudden, for den +dar'd be no chance for de Lord forgibin' him.' + +'Then Sam got away again?' + +'O yas; nary one but darkies war round, and dey wouldn't hole him. Ef +dey'd cotched him den, dey'd hung him, shore.' + +'Why hung him?' + +''Cause he'd struck a wite man; it 'm shore death to do dat.' + +'Do you think Scip will bring him back?' + +'Yas; 'cause he 'm gwine to tell massa de hull story. De Cunnel will +b'lieve Scipio ef he _am_ brack. Sam'll know dat, and he'll come back. +De Cunnel'll make de State too hot to hole ole Moye, when he fine him +out.' + +'Does Sam's wife "smile" on the Overseer now?' + +'No; she see de trubble she bring on Sam, and she bery sorry. She won't +look at a wite man now.' + +During the conversation above recorded, we had ridden for several miles +over the western half of the plantation, and were then again near the +house. My limbs being decidedly stiff and sore from the effects of the +previous day's journey, I decided to alight and rest at the house until +the hour for dinner. + +I mentioned my jaded condition to Jim, who said,-- + +'Dat's right, massa; come in de house. I'll cure de rumatics; I knows +how to fix dem.' + +Fastening the horses at the door, Jim accompanied me to my +sleeping-room, where he lighted a pile of pine knots, and in a moment +the fire blazed up on the hearth and sent a cheerful glow through the +apartment; then, saying he would return after stabling the horses, the +darky left me. + +I took off my boots, drew the sofa near the fire, and stretched myself +at full length upon it. If ever mortal was tired, 'I reckon' I was. It +seemed as if every joint and bone in my body had lost the power of +motion, and sharp, acute pains danced along my nerves, as I have seen +lightning play along the telegraph wires. My entire system had the +toothache. + +Jim soon returned, bearing in one hand a decanter of 'Otard,' and in the +other a mug of hot water and a crash towel. + +'I'se got de stuff dat'll fix de rumatics, massa.' + +'Thank you, Jim; a glass will do me good. Where did you get it?' I +asked, thinking it strange the Colonel should leave his brandy-bottle +within reach of the darkies, who have an universal weakness for spirits. + +'Oh, I keeps de keys; de Cunnel hisself hab to come to me wen he want +suffin' to warm hisself.' + +It was the fact; Jim had exclusive charge of the wine-cellar; in short, +was butler, barber, porter, footman, and body-servant, all combined. + +'Now, massa, you lay right whar you is, and I'll make you ober new in +less dan no time.' + +And he did; but I emptied the brandy-bottle. Lest my temperance friends +should be horror-stricken, I will mention, however, that I took the +fluid by external absorption. For all rheumatic sufferers, I would +prescribe, hot brandy in plentiful doses, a coarse towel, and an active +Southern darky, and if on the first application the patient is not +cured, the fault will not be the nigger's. Out of mercy to the +chivalry, I hope our government, in saving the Union, will not +annihilate the order of body-servants. They are the only perfect +institution in the Southern country, and, so far as I have seen, about +the only one worth saving. + +The dinner-bell sounded a short while after Jim had finished the +scrubbing operation, and I went to the table with an appetite I had not +felt for a week. My whole system seemed rejuvenated, and I am not sure +that I should, at that moment, have declined a wrestling match with +Heenan himself. + +I found at dinner only the Overseer and the young son of Madam P----, +the Colonel and the lady being still at the cabin of the dying boy. The +dinner, though a queer mixture of viands, would not have disgraced, +except, perhaps, in the cooking, the best of our Northern hotels. +Venison, bacon, wild fowl, hominy, poultry, corn-bread, French +'made-dishes,' and Southern 'common doin's,' with wines and brandies of +the choicest brands, were placed on the table together. + +'Dis, massa,' said Jim, 'am de raal juice; it hab ben in de cellar eber +since de house war built. Massa tole me to gib you some, wid him +complimen's.' + +Passing it to my companions, we drank the Colonel's health in as fine +wine as I ever tasted. + +I had taken an instinctive dislike to the Overseer at the +breakfast-table, and my aversion was not lessened by learning his +treatment of Sam; curiosity to learn what manner of man he was, however, +led me, towards the close of our meal, to 'draw him out,' as follows:-- + +'What is the political sentiment, sir, of this section of the State?' + +'Wal, I reckon most of the folks 'bout har' is Union; they're from the +"old North," and gin'rally pore trash.' + +'I have heard that the majority of the turpentine getters are +enterprising men and good citizens,--more enterprising, even, than the +cotton and rice planters.' + +'Wal, they is enterprisin', 'cause they don't keer for nuthin' 'cep' +money.' + +'The man who is absorbed in money-getting is generally a quiet citizen.' + +'P'raps that's so. But I think a man sh'u'd hev a soul suthin' 'bove +dollars. Them folks will take any sort o' sarce from the Yankees, ef +they only buy thar truck.' + +'What do you suffer from the Yankees?' + +'Suffer from the Yankees? Don't they steal our niggers, and hain't they +'lected an ab'lishener for President?' + +'I've been at the North lately, but I am not aware that is so.' + +'So! it's damnably so, sir. I knows it. We don't mean to stand it eny +longer.' + +'What will you do?' + +'We'll secede, and then give 'em h--l, ef they want it!' + +'Will it not be necessary to agree among yourselves before you do that? +I met a turpentine farmer below here who openly declared that he is +friendly to abolishing slavery. He thinks the masters can make more +money by hiring than by owning the negroes.' + +'Yes, that's the talk of them North County[A] fellers, who've squatted +round har. We'll hang every mother's son on 'em, by G----.' + +[Footnote A: The 'North Counties' are the north-eastern portion of North +Carolina, and include the towns of Washington and Newberne. They are an +old turpentine region, and the trees are nearly exhausted. The finer +virgin forests of South Carolina, and other cotton States, have tempted +many of these farmers to emigrate thither, within the past ten years, +and they now own nearly all the trees that are worked in South Carolina, +Georgia, and Florida. They generally have few slaves of their own, their +hands being hired of wealthier men in their native districts. The +'hiring' is an annual operation, and is done at Christmas time, when the +negroes are frequently allowed to go home. They treat the darkies well, +give them an allowance of meat (salt pork or beef), as much corn as they +can eat, and a gill of whisky daily. No class of men at the South are so +industrious, energetic, and enterprising. Though not so well informed, +they have many of the traits of our New England farmers; in fact, are +frequently called 'North Carolina Yankees.' It was these people the +Overseer proposed to hang. The reader will doubtless think that 'hanging +was not good enough for them.'] + +'I wouldn't do that: in a free country every man has a right to his +opinions.' + +'Not to sech opinions as them. A man may think, but he mustn't think +onraasonable.' + +'I don't know, but it seems to me reasonable, that if the negroes cost +these farmers now one hundred and fifty dollars a year, and they could +hire them, if free, for a hundred, that they would make by abolition.' + +'Ab'lish'n! By G----, sir, ye ain't an ab'lishener, is ye?' exclaimed +the fellow, in an excited tone, bringing his hand down on the table in a +way that set the crockery a-dancing. + +'Come, come, my friend,' I replied, in a mild tone, and as unruffled as +a basin of water that has been out of a December night; 'you'll knock +off the dinner things, and I'm not quite through.' + +'Wal, sir, I've heerd yer from the North, and I'd like to know if yer an +ab'lishener.' + +'My dear sir, you surprise me. You certainly can't expect a modest man +like me to speak of himself.' + +'Ye can speak of what ye d---- please, but ye can't talk ab'lish'n har, +by G----,' he said, again applying his hand to the table, till the +plates and saucers jumped up, performed several jigs, then several +reels, and then rolled over in graceful somersaults to the floor. + +At this juncture, the Colonel and Madam P---- entered. + +Observing the fall in his crockery, and the general confusion of things, +the Colonel quietly asked, 'What's to pay?' + +I said nothing, but burst into a fit of laughter at the awkward fix the +Overseer was in. That gentleman also said nothing, but looked as if he +would like to find vent through a rat-hole or a window-pane. Jim, +however, who stood at the back of my chair, gave _his_ eloquent thoughts +utterance, very much as follows:-- + +'Moye hab 'sulted Massa K----, Cunnel, awful bad. He hab swore a blue +streak at him, and called him a d---- ab'lishener, jess 'cause Massa +K---- wudn't get mad and sass him back. He hab disgrace your hosspital, +Cunnel, wuss dan a nigga.' + +The Colonel turned white with rage, and, striding up to the Overseer, +seized him by the throat, yelling, rather than speaking, these words: +'You d---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----, have you dared to insult a +guest in my house?' + +'I didn't mean to 'sult him,' faltered out the Overseer, his voice +running through an entire octave, and changing with the varying pressure +of the Colonel's fingers on his throat; 'but he said he war an +ab'lishener.' + +'No matter what he said,' replied the Colonel; 'he is my guest, and in +my house he shall say what he pleases, by G----. Apologize to him, or +I'll send you to h---- in a second.' + +The fellow turned cringingly to me, and ground out something like this, +every word seeming to give him the toothache:-- + +'I meant no offence, sar; I hope ye'll excuse me.' + +This satisfied me, but, before I could make a reply, the Colonel again +seized him by the throat, and yelled,-- + +'None of your sulkiness; get on your knees, you d---- white-livered +hound, and ask the gentleman's pardon like a man.' + +The fellow then fell on his knees, and got out, with less effort than +before,-- + +'I 'umbly ax yer pardon, sar, very 'umbly, indeed.' + +'I am satisfied, sir,' I replied. 'I bear you no ill-will.' + +'Now go,' said the Colonel; 'and in future, take your meals in the +kitchen. I have none but gentlemen at my table.' + +The fellow went. As soon as he had closed the door, the Colonel said to +me,-- + +'Now, my dear friend, I hope you will pardon _me_ for this occurrence. I +sincerely regret you have been insulted in my house.' + +'Don't speak of it, my dear sir; the fellow is ignorant, and really +thinks I am an abolitionist. It was his zeal in politics that led to his +warmth. I blame him very little,' I replied. + +'But he lied, Massa K----,' chimed in Jim, very warmly; 'you neber said +you war an ab'lishener.' + +'You know what _they_ are, don't you, Jim?' said the Colonel, laughing, +and taking no notice of Jim's breach of decorum in wedging his black +ideas into a white conversation. + +'Yas, I does dat,' said the darky, grinning. + +'Jim,' said the Colonel, 'you're a prince of a nigger, but you talk too +much; ask me for something to-day, and I reckon you'll get it; but go +now, and tell Chloe (the cook) to get us some dinner.' + +The darky left, and, excusing myself, I soon followed suit. + +I went to my room, laid down on the lounge, and soon fell asleep. It was +nearly five o'clock when a slight noise in the apartment awoke me, and, +looking up, I saw the Colonel quietly seated by the fire, smoking a +cigar. His feet were elevated above his head, and he appeared absorbed +in no very pleasant reflections. + +'How is the sick boy, Colonel?' I asked. + +'It's all over with him, my friend. He died easy; but 'twas very painful +to me, for I feel I have done him wrong.' + +'How so?' + +'I was away all summer, and that cursed Moye sent him to the swamp to +tote for the shinglers. It killed him.' + +'Then you are not to blame,' I replied. + +'I wish I could feel so.' + +The Colonel remained with me till supper-time, evidently much depressed +by the events of the morning, which had affected him more than I could +have conceived possible. I endeavored, by cheerful conversation, and by +directing his mind to other topics, to cheer him, and in a measure +succeeded. + +While we were seated at the supper-table, the black cook entered from +the kitchen,--a one-story shanty, detached from and in the rear of the +house,--and, with a face expressive of every conceivable emotion a negro +can feel,--joy, sorrow, wonder, and fear all combined,--exclaimed, 'O +massa, massa! dear massa! Sam, O Sam!' + +'Sam,' said the Colonel; 'what about Sam?' + +'Why, he hab--dear, dear massa, don't yer, don't yer hurt him--he hab +come back!' + +If a bombshell had fallen in the room, a greater sensation could not +have been produced. Every individual arose from the table, and the +Colonel, striding up and down the apartment, exclaimed,-- + +'Is he mad? The everlasting fool! Why in h---- has he come back?' + +'Oh, don't ye hurt him, massa,' said the black cook, wringing her hands. +'Sam hab ben bad, bery bad, but he won't be so no more.' + +'Stop your noise, aunty,' said the Colonel, but with no harshness in his +tone. 'I shall do what I think right.' + +'Send for him, David,' said Madam P----; 'let us hear what he has to +say. He would not come back if he meant to be ugly.' + +'_Send_ for him, Alice!' replied my host. 'He's prouder than Lucifer, +and would send me word to come to _him_. I will go. Will you accompany +me, Mr. K----? You'll hear what a runaway nigger thinks of slavery: Sam +has the gift of speech, and uses it regardless of persons.' + +'Yes, sir, I'll go with pleasure.' + +Supper being over, we went. It was about an hour after nightfall when we +emerged from the door of the mansion and took our way to the negro +quarters. The full moon had risen half way above the horizon, and the +dark pines cast their shadows around the little collection of negro +huts, which straggled about through the woods for the distance of a +third of a mile. It was dark, but I could distinguish the figure of a +man striding along at a rapid pace a few hundred yards in advance of us. + +'Isn't that Moye?' I asked the Colonel, directing his attention to the +receding figure. + +'I reckon so; that's his gait. He's had a lesson to-day that'll do him +good.' + +'I don't like that man's looks,' I replied, carelessly; 'but I've heard +of singed cats.' + +'He _is_ a sneaking d----l,' said the Colonel; 'but he's very valuable +to me. I never had an overseer who got so much work out of the hands.' + +'Is he cruel to them?' + +'Yes, I reckon he is; but a nigger is like a dog,--you must flog him to +make him like you.' + +'I judge your niggers haven't been flogged into liking Moye,' I replied. + +'Why, have you heard any of them speak of him?' + +'Yes; though, of course, I've made no effort to draw gossip from them. I +had to hear.' + +'O yes; I know; there's no end to their gabble; niggers will talk. But +what have you heard?' + +'That Moye is to blame in this affair of Sam, and that you don't know +the whole story.' + +'What _is_ the whole story?' asked the Colonel, stopping short in the +road; 'tell me before I see Sam.' + +I then told him what Jim had recounted to me. He heard me through +attentively, then laughingly exclaimed,-- + +'Is that all! Lord bless you; he didn't seduce her. There's no seducing +these women; with them it's a thing of course. It was Sam's d---- high +blood that made the trouble. His father was the proudest man in +Virginia, and Sam is as like him as a nigger can be like a white man.' + +'No matter what the blood is, it seems to me such an injury justifies +revenge.' + +'Pshaw, my good fellow, you don't know these people. I'll stake my +plantation against a glass of whisky there's not a virtuous woman with a +drop of black blood in her veins in all South Carolina. They prefer the +white men; their husbands know it, and take it as a matter of course.' + +We had here reached the negro cabin. It was one of the more remote of +the collection, and stood deep in the woods, an enormous pine growing up +directly beside the doorway. In all respects it was like the other huts +on the plantation. A bright fire lit up its interior, and through the +crevices in the logs we saw, as we approached, a scene that made us +pause involuntarily, when within a few rods of the house. The mulatto +man, whose clothes were torn and smeared with swamp mud, stood near the +fire. On a small pine table near him lay a large carving-knife, which +glittered in the blaze, as if recently sharpened. His wife was seated on +the side of the low bed at his back, weeping. She was two or three +shades lighter than the man, and had the peculiar brown, kinky hair, +straight, flat nose, and speckled, gray eyes which mark the metif. +Tottling on the floor at the feet of the man, and caressing his knees, +was a child of perhaps two years. + +As we neared the house, we heard the voice of the Overseer issuing from +the doorway on the other side of the pine-tree. + +'Come out, ye black rascal.' + +'Come in, you wite hound, ef you dar,' responded the negro, laying his +hand on the carving-knife. + +'Come out, I till ye; I sha'n't ax ye agin.' + +'I'll hab nuffin' to do wid you. G'way and send your massa har,' replied +the mulatto man, turning his face away with a lordly, contemptuous +gesture, that spoke him a true descendant of Pocahontas. This movement +exposed his left side to the doorway, outside of which, hidden from us +by the tree, stood the Overseer. + +'Come away, Moye,' said the Colonel, advancing with me toward the door; +'_I'll_ speak to him.' + +Before all of the words had escaped the Colonel's lips, a streak of fire +flashed from where the Overseer stood, and took the direction of the +negro. One long, wild shriek,--one quick, convulsive bound in the +air,--and Sam fell lifeless to the floor, the dark life-stream pouring +from his side. The little child also fell with him, and its +greasy-grayish shirt was dyed with its father's blood. Moye, at the +distance of ten feet, had discharged the two barrels of a +heavily-loaded shot-gun directly through the negro's heart. + +'You incarnate son of h----,' yelled the Colonel, as he sprang on the +Overseer, bore him to the ground, and wrenched the shot-gun from his +hand. Clubbing the weapon, he raised it to brain him. The movement +occupied but a second; the gun was descending, and in another instant +Moye would have met Sam in eternity, had not a brawny arm caught the +Colonel's, and, winding itself around his body, pinned his limbs to his +side so that motion was impossible. The woman, half frantic with +excitement, thrust open the door when her husband fell, and the light +which came through it revealed the face of the new-comer. But his voice, +which rang out on the night air as clear as a bugle, had there been no +light, would have betrayed him. It was Scip. Spurning the prostrate +Overseer with his foot, he shouted,-- + +'Run, you wite debil, run for your life!' + +'Let me go, you black scoundrel,' shrieked the Colonel, wild with rage. + +'When he'm out ob reach, you'd kill him,' replied the negro, as cool as +if he was doing an ordinary thing. + +'I'll kill you, you black ---- hound, if you don't let me go,' again +screamed the Colonel, struggling violently in the negro's grasp, and +literally foaming at the mouth. + +'I shan't lef you gwo, Cunnel, till you 'gree not to do dat.' + +The Colonel was a stout, athletic man, in the very prime of life, and +his rage gave him more than his ordinary strength, but Scip held him as +I might have held a child. + +'Here, Jim,' shouted the Colonel to his body-servant, who just then +emerged from among the trees, 'rouse the plantation--shoot this d---- +nigger.' + +'Dar ain't one on 'em wud touch him, massa. He'd send _me_ to de hot +place wid one fist.' + +'You ungrateful dog,' groaned his master. 'Mr. K----, will you stand by +and see me handcuffed by a miserable slave?' + +'The black means well, my friend; he has saved you from murder. Say he +is safe, and I'll answer for his being away in an hour.' + +The Colonel made one more ineffectual attempt to free himself from the +vice-like grip of the negro, then relaxed his efforts, and, gathering +his broken breath, said, 'You're safe _now_, but if you're found within +ten miles of my plantation by sunrise, by G---- you're a dead man.' + +The negro relinquished his hold, and, without saying a word, walked +slowly away. + +'Jim, you d---- rascal,' said the Colonel to that courageous darky, who +was skulking off, 'raise every nigger on the plantation, catch Moye, or +I'll flog you within an inch of your life.' + +'I'll do dat, Cunnel; I'll kotch de ole debil, ef he's dis side de hot +place.' + +His words were echoed by about twenty other darkies, who, attracted by +the noise of the fracas, had gathered within a safe distance of the +cabin. They went off with Jim, to raise the other plantation hands, and +inaugurate the hunt. + +'If that d---- nigger hadn't held me, I'd had Moye in h---- by this +time,' said the Colonel to me, still livid with excitement. + +'The law will deal with him. The negro has saved you from murder, my +friend.' + +'The law be d----; it's too good for such a -- hound; and that the d---- +nigger should have dared to hold me,--by G----, he'll rue it.' + +He then turned, exhausted with the recent struggle, and, with a weak, +uncertain step, entered the cabin. Kneeling down by the dead body of the +negro, he attempted to raise it; but his strength was gone. Motioning to +me to aid him, we placed the corpse on the bed. Tearing open the +clothing, we wiped away the still flowing blood, and saw the terrible +wound which had sent the negro to his account. It was sickening to look +on, and I turned to go. + +The negro woman, who was weeping and wringing her hands, now approached +the bed, and, in a voice nearly choked with sobs, said,-- + +'Massa, oh massa, I done it! it's me dat killed him!' + +'I know you did, you d---- ----. Get out of my sight.' + +'Oh, massa,' sobbed the woman, falling on her knees, 'I'se so sorry; oh, +forgib me!' + +'Go to ----, you ---- ----, that's the place for you,' said the Colonel, +striking the kneeling woman with his foot, and felling her to the floor. + +Unwilling to see or hear more, I left the master with the slave. A +quarter of a mile through the woods brought me to the cabin of the old +negress where Scip lodged. I rapped at the door, and was admitted by the +old woman. Scip, nearly asleep, was lying on a pile of blankets in the +corner. + +'Are you mad?' I said to him. 'The Colonel is frantic with rage, and +swears he will kill you. You must be off at once.' + +'No, no, massa; neber fear; I knows him. He'd keep his word, ef he loss +his life by it. I'm gwine afore sunrise; till den I'm safe.' + +Of the remainder of that night, more hereafter. + + * * * * * + +MR. SEWARD'S PUBLISHED DIPLOMACY. + + +With the executive capacity and marked forensic versatility of William +Henry Seward whilst Governor and Senator of the Empire State, the great +public have long been familiar. That public are now for the first time +practically discussing his diplomatic statesmanship. A world of +spectators or auditors witness or listen to the debate, and are eager to +pronounce favorable judgment, because so much of national honor is now +entrusted to him. Our national history discloses no crisis of domestic +or foreign affairs so momentous as the present one. The most remarkable +chapter in that history will be made up from the complications of this +crisis, and from the disasters to or the successes of our national fame. +Hence to himself and to his friends, more than to the watchful public +even, Mr. Seward's course attracts an interest which may attend upon the +very climacteric excellence of his statesman-career during a +quarter-century. + +Much, that remains obscure or is merely speculative when these pages at +the holiday season undergo magazine preparation, will have been unfolded +or explained at the hour in which they may be read. The national +firmament, which at the Christmas season displayed the star of war and +not of peace, may at midwinter display the raging comet; or that star of +war may have had a speedy setting, to the mutual joy of two nations who +only one year ago played the role of Host and Guest, whilst the young +royal son of one government rendered peaceful homage at the tomb of the +oldest Father of the other nation. + +Hence, it is not the province of this paper to indulge in speculations +regarding the future of Mr. Seward's diplomacy;--only to collect a few +facts and critical suggestions respecting the diplomatic labors of +Secretary Seward since his accession to honor, with some interesting +references to our British complications which have passed under his +supervision. + +Fortunately for the enlightenment of the somewhat prejudiced audience +who listen to our American discussion, there appeared simultaneously +with the publications of British prints the governmental volume of +papers relating to foreign affairs which usually accompanies a +President's Message. It is not commonly printed for many months after +reception by Congress. But the sagacity of Mr. Seward caused its +typographical preparation in advance of presidential use. It therefore +becomes an antidote to the heated poison of the Palmerston or Derby +prints, which emulate in seizing the last national outrage for party +purposes. And its inspection enables the great public, after perusing +what Secretary Seward has written during the past troublous half year, +to acquire a calm reliance upon his skill in navigating our glorious +ship of state over the more troublous waters of the next half year. + +The most cursory inspection of this volume must put to shame those +Washington news-mongers, who from March to December pictured the +Secretary as locked up in his office, in order to merely shun +office-seekers, or as idling his time at reviews and sham-fights. The +collection demonstrates, that his logic, persuasion, and rhetorical +excellence have in diplomatic composition maintained their previous +excellences in other public utterances; and that his physical capacity +for labor, and his mental sympathy with any post of duty, have been as +effective, surrounded by the dogs of war, as they were when tasked amid +the peaceful herds of men. The maxim, _inter arma silent leges_, is +suspended by the edicts of diplomacy! + +Mr. Seward entered the State Department March the fifth (according to +reliable Washington gossip), before breakfast, and was instantly at +work. He found upon his table, with the ink scarcely dry, the draft of a +(February 28th) circular from his predecessor, Mr. Black (now U.S. +Supreme Court reporter), addressed to all the ministers of the United +States. That circular very briefly recited the leading facts of the +disunion movement, and instructed the ministers to employ all means to +prevent a recognition of the confederate States. The document in +question is dated at the very time when President Lincoln was perfecting +his inaugural; and why its imperative and necessary commands were +delayed until that late hour, is something for Mr. Buchanan to explain +in that volume of memoirs which he is said to be preparing at the +falling House of Lancaster. + +From the dates of Mr. Seward's circulars, it is evident that he devoted +small time to official 'house-warming' or 'cleaning up.' Some time, no +doubt, was passed in consulting the indexes to the foreign affairs of +the past eventful four months, and in making himself master of the +situation. His first act is to transmit to all the (Buchanan) +subordinates abroad copies of the President's Message, accompanying it +with a score of terse and sparkling paragraphs regarding the rebellion; +yet, in those few paragraphs, demonstrating the illusory and ephemeral +advantages which foreign nations would derive from any connection they +might form with any 'dissatisfied or discontented portion, State, or +section of the Union.' In this connection, he refers to the +'governments' of J. Davis, Esq., as 'those States of this Union in whose +name a provisional government has been _announced_;'--which is the +happiest description yet in print. + +There is apparently a fortnight's interregnum, during which a procession +of would-be consuls and ministers marches from the State Department to +the Senate chamber to receive the _accolade_ of diplomacy. The Minister +to Prussia, Mr. Judd, first finds gazette, and on March 22d the +Secretary prepares for him instructions suitable to the crisis. There +are 'stars' affixed to the published extracts, showing _coetera desunt_, +matters of _secret_ moment perchance! And here we may fitly remark, that +whilst the labors of the diplomatist which came before the public for +inspection display his industry, it is certain that quite as voluminous, +perhaps more, must be the unpublished and secret dispatches. 'The note +which thanked Prince Gortchacow through M. De Stoeckl was reprehensibly +brief,' the leading gazettes said; _but are they sure nothing else was +prepared and transmitted, of which the public must remain uncertain?_ +Are they ready to assert that Russia has become a convert to an _open_ +diplomacy? Or does she still feel most complimented with ciphers and +mystery? + +So early as the date of the Judd dispatch, the text of the Lincoln +administration appears. 'Owing to the very peculiar structure of our +federal government, and the equally singular character and habits of the +American people, this government _not only wisely, but necessarily, +hesitates to resort to coercion and compulsion to secure a return of the +disaffected portion of the people to their customary allegiance_. The +Union was formed upon popular consent, and must always practically stand +on the same basis. The temporary causes of alienation must pass away; +_there must needs be disasters and disappointments resulting from the +exercise of unlawful authority by the revolutionists_, while happily it +is certain that there is a general and profound sentiment of loyalty +pervading the public mind throughout the United States. While it is the +intention of the President to maintain the sovereignty and rightful +authority of the Union everywhere, with firmness as well as discretion, +he at the same time relies with great confidence on the salutary working +of the agencies I have mentioned to restore the harmony and union of the +States. But to this end, it is of the greatest importance that the +disaffected States shall not succeed in obtaining favor or recognition +from foreign nations.' + +Two months prior to this, and on the Senate floor, Mr. Seward had said, +'taking care always that speaking goes before voting, voting goes before +giving money, and all go before a battle, which I should regard as +hazardous and dangerous; and therefore the last, as it would be the most +painful measure to be resorted to for the salvation of the Union.' + +A day or two succeeding the Judd dispatch, Mr. Seward writes for +Minister Sanford (about to leave for Belgium) instructions; commingling +views upon non-recognition with considerations respecting tariff +modifications. In these appears a sentence kindred to those just +quoted--'_The President, confident of the ultimate ascendency of law, +order, and the Union, through the deliberate action of the people in +constitutional forms_,' etc. + +From those diplomatic suggestions, which are accordant with _European_ +exigencies, Mr. Seward readily turns his attention to Mexican affairs, +in a carefully considered and most ably written letter of instructions +for Minister Corwin. He touches upon the robberies and murder of +citizens, the violation of contracts, and then gracefully withdraws them +from immediate attention until the incoming Mexican administration shall +have had time to cement its authority and reduce the yet disturbed +elements of their society to order and harmony. He avers that the +President not only forbids discussion of our difficulties among the +foreign powers, but will not allow his ministers '_to invoke even +censure against those of our fellow-citizens who have arrayed themselves +in opposition to authority_.' He refers to the foreshadowed protectorate +in language complimentary to Mexico, yet firm in assurance that the +President neither has, nor can ever have, any sympathy with +revolutionary designs for Mexico, _in whatever quarter they may arise, +or whatever character they may take on_.' + +Within one week (and at dates which contradict the prevailing gossip of +last April, that Messrs. Adams, Dayton, Burlingame, Schurz and Co. were +detained _awaiting_ Mr. Seward's advices) still more elaborate and +masterly instructions are given out to these gentlemen. The paper to Mr. +Adams will in future years be quoted and referred to as a model history +of the rise and progress of the secession enormity. It may be asked, Why +are such dispatches and instructions needed? Why such elaborate briefs +and compendiums required for gentlemen each of whom may have said, +respecting his connection with subject-matter of the Secretary (none +more emphatically so than Messrs. Adams and Burlingame), _quorum pars +magna fui?_ Yet, it must be remembered that diplomacy, like +jurisprudence (with its red tape common to both), taketh few things for +granted, and constantly maketh records for itself, under the maxim _de +non apparentibus non existentibus eadem est ratio_; and ever beareth in +mind that when _certioraris_ to international tribunals are served, the +initiatory expositions and the matured results must not be subjected to +a pretence of diminution, but be full and complete. + +The early dispatch for Mr. Burlingame contains the caustic sentence, +'Our representatives at Vienna seem generally to have come, after a +short residence there, to the conclusion that there was nothing for them +to do, and little for them to learn.' But 'the President expects that +_you_ will be diligent in obtaining not only information about political +events, but also commercial and even scientific facts, and in reporting +them to this department.' + +Although the Austrian mantle was soon transferred to the classic +shoulders of Mr. Motley,--another honored Bay-state-ian,--the caustic +reference to predecessors, and the implied compliment of request, did +not at all lose their respective significance. + +What a compact statement is contained in the following sentence of the +instructions to the representative of foreign affairs at Vienna!--'The +political affairs in Austria present to us the aspect of an ancient and +very influential power, oppressed with fiscal embarrassments,--the +legacy of long and exhausting wars,--putting forth at one and at the +same time efforts for material improvement and still mightier ones to +protect its imperfectly combined dominion from dismemberment and +disintegration, seriously menaced from without, aided by strong and +intense popular passions within.' A lyceum lecturer might consume an +evening over the present political condition of Austria, and yet not +convey a more perfect idea thereof than is comprehended by the preceding +paragraph! + +Mr. Seward in first addressing Mr. Dayton discusses the slavery element +of the rebellion, and elucidates more particularly the relations of +France to a preserved or a dismembered Union; and evolves this plucky +sentence: 'The President neither expects nor desires any intervention, +_or even any favor_, from the government of France, or any other, in +this emergency.' But a still more spirited paragraph answers a question +often asked by the great public, 'What will be the course of the +administration should foreign intervention be given?' Foreign +intervention _would oblige us_ to treat those who should yield it as +allies of the insurrectionary party, and to carry on the war against +them as enemies. The case would not be relieved, but, on the contrary, +would only be aggravated, if _several_ European states should combine in +that intervention. _The President and the people of the United States +deem the Union which would then be at stake, worth all the cost and all +the sacrifices of a contest with the world in arms, if such a contest +should prove inevitable_.' + +In the advices to Mr. Schurz, at Madrid, occurs a most ingenious +application of the doctrine of secession to Spanish consideration in +respect to Cuba and Castile; to Aragon and the Philippine Islands; as +well as a most opportune reference to the proffered commercial +confederate advantages. 'What commerce,' asks the Secretary, 'can there +be between states whose staples are substantially identical? Sugar can +not be exchanged for sugar, nor cotton for cotton.' And another sentence +is deserving remembrance for its truthful sarcasm: 'It seems the +necessity of faction in every country, that whenever it acquires +sufficient boldness to inaugurate revolution, it then alike forgets the +counsels of prudence, and stifles the instincts of patriotism, and +becomes a suitor to foreign courts for aid and assistance to subvert and +destroy the most cherished and indispensable institutions of its own.' + +Thus, within six weeks succeeding his entrance into the chambers of +State, Mr. Seward had mapped out in his own brain a much more +comprehensive policy than he had even laboriously and ably outlined upon +paper. He had placed himself in magnetico-diplomatic communication with +the great courts of Europe; surrounded by place-seekers, dogged by +reporters, and paragraphed at by a thousand newspapers, from 'Fundy' to +'Dolores.' And the most remarkable rhetorical feature of these many +dispatches is the absence of iteration, notwithstanding they were +written upon substantially one text. It is characteristic of them, as of +his speeches, that no one interlaces the other; each is complete of +itself. Mr. Seward has always possessed that varied fecundity of +expression for which Mr. Webster was admired. A gentleman who +accompanied him upon his Lincoln-election tour from Auburn to Kansas, +remarked, that listening to and recalling all the bye-play, depot +speeches, and more elaborate addresses uttered by Mr. Seward during the +campaign, he never heard him repeat upon himself, nor even speak twice +in the same groove of thought. Neither will any reader discover +throughout even these early dispatches a marked haste of thought, or a +slovenly word-link in the Saxon rhetoric. + +So far, we have alluded only to the instructions prepared before +plenipotentiary departure. But the executive axe in the block of foreign +affairs having been scoured, and new faces having fully replaced the +decapitated heads in foreign diplomatic baskets, circulars, instructions +and dispatches daily accumulate, 'treading on each other's heels.' The +volume contains _one hundred and forty emanations_ from the pen of +Secretary Seward. How many more there exist is only known to the Cabinet +or the exigencies of secret service. Is not the bare arithmetical +announcement sufficient to satisfy the inquirer into Mr. Seward's +diplomatic assiduity? If not, will he please to remember as well Mr. +Seward's perusals of foreign mails, cabinet meetings, consultation of +archives or state papers or precedents, examinations into the relation +of domestic events to foreign policy, and the inspection of the sands of +peace or war in the respective hour-glasses of his department? + +The circulars of Secretaries Black and Seward are promptly answered by +Mr. Dallas about a month after the inauguration, and whilst awaiting the +arrival of Charles Francis Adams. He said, among other things, 'English +opinion tends rather, I apprehend, to the theory that a peaceful +separation may work beneficially for both groups of States, and not +injuriously affect the rest of the world. The English can not be +expected to appreciate the weakness, discredit, complications and +dangers which _we_ instinctively and justly ascribe to disunion.' + +In this connection, let us remark, that we recently listened to a very +interesting discussion, at the 'Union' club, between an English traveler +of high repute, and a warm Unionist, upon the attitude of England. The +former seemed as ardent as was the latter disputant in his abhorrence of +the Southern traitors; but he constructed a very fair argument for the +consistency of England. Taking for his first position, that foreign +nations viewed the Jeff Davis movement as a revolution, self-sustained +for nearly a year, his second was, that the most enlightened American +abolitionists, as well as the most conservative Federalist, coincided in +the belief that disunion was ultimate emancipation. Then, acquiescing in +the statement of his antagonist, that the English nation had always +reprehended American slavery, and desired its speedy overthrow, he +inquired what more inconsistency there was in the English nation +construing disunion in the same way wherein the American abolitionist +and conservative Unionist did, as the inevitable promotion of slavery's +overthrow? When it was rejoined that the canker of slavery had eaten +away many bonds of Union, and promoted secession, the English disputant +demanded whether the war aimed at rebuking slavery in a practical way, +or by strengthening it as a locally constitutional institution? When the +question was begged by the assertion that recognition of the Southern +confederacy, although granted to be of abolition tendencies, was +ungenerous and unfraternal, the position assumed was that nations, like +individuals, cherished self-love, and always sought to turn intestine +troubles among competitive powers into the channels of +home-aggrandizement; and it was asked whether, should Ireland maintain +a provisional government for nearly a year, there would not be found a +strong _party_ in the States advocating her recognition? + +But Mr. Seward, in replying to Mr. Dallas in a dispatch to Mr. Adams, +dismissed all arguments of policy or consistency, and remarked: 'Her +Britannic Majesty's government is at liberty to choose whether it will +retain the friendship of this government, by refusing all aid and +comfort to its enemies, now in flagrant rebellion against it, _as we +think the treaties existing between the two countries require_, or +whether the government of her Majesty will take _the precarious benefits +of a different course_.' + +So early as May 2d, the British Secretary told Mr. Dallas that _an +understanding existed between the British and French governments which +would lead both to take one and the same course as to recognition_. Mr. +Seward comments upon this in one of the most manly letters ever written +by an American Secretary. It will be preserved upon the same historic +shelf whereon reposes the manuscript of Daniel Webster's letter to the +Chevalier Hulsemann. To Mr. Adams he says, that the communication loses +its value because withheld until the knowledge was acquired from other +sources, together with the additional fact that other European states +are apprized by France and England of the agreement, and _are expected +to concur with or follow them in whatever measures they adopt on the +subject of recognition!_ Great Britain, if intervening, is assured that +she will calculate for herself the ultimate as well as the immediate +consequences; and must consider what position she will hold when she +shall have lost forever the sympathies and affections of the only nation +upon whose sympathies and affections she has a natural claim. In making +that calculation she will do well to remember that in the controversy +she proposes to open, we shall be actuated neither by pride, nor +passion, nor cupidity, nor ambition; but we shall stand simply upon the +principle of self-preservation, our cause involving the independence of +nations and the rights of human nature. These utterances were doubtless, +in their book form, perused by the British cabinet during the Christmas +holidays. + +Taking the pages which close up the word-tilts of the diplomatists at +date of November first (and we dare say our Board-of-Brokers readers +regret that complete dispatches down to the sailing of the Africa, with +that interesting pouch of letters on board, are not to be had at all the +book-stores!) we may imagine Messrs. Russell, Adams, Seward and Lyons +resolved into a conversational club, and talking as follows from week to +week:-- + +_Mr. Adams_. It is gratifying to the grandson of the first American +Minister at this court to feel that there are now fewer topics of direct +difference between the two countries than have, probably, existed at any +preceding time; and even these are withdrawn from discussion at St. +James, to be treated at Washington. It would have been more gratifying +to find that the good will, so recently universally felt at my home for +your country, was unequivocally manifested here. + +_Lord Russell (smiling blandly)_. To what do you allude? + +_Mr. Adams_. It is with pain that I am compelled to admit that from the +day of my arrival I have felt in the proceedings of both houses of +Parliament, in the language of her Majesty's ministers, and in the tone +of opinion prevailing in private circles, more of uncertainty about this +than I had before thought possible. (_Lord Russell silent and still +smiling blandly_). It is therefore the desire of my government to learn +whether it was the intention of her Majesty's ministers to adopt a +policy which would have the effect to widen, if not to make irreparable +a breach which I believe yet to be entirely manageable. + +_Lord Russell_. I beg to assure your Excellency there is no such +intention. The clearest evidence of this is to be found in the assurance +given by me to Mr. Dallas, before your arrival. But you must admit that +I hardly can see my way to bind my government to any specific course, +when circumstances beyond our agency render it difficult to tell what +might happen. + +_Mr. Seward (aside)_. But the future will care for itself. We deal with +the 'Now.' '_There is "Yet" in that word "Hereafter."_' Great Britain +has already acted on the assumption that the Confederate States (so +called) are _de facto_ a self-sustaining power. After long forbearance, +designed to soothe discontent and avert the need of civil war, the land +and naval forces of the United States have been put in motion to repress +insurrection. The _true_ character of the pretended new state is +revealed. It is seen to be a power existing in pronunciamento only. It +has obtained no forts that were not betrayed into its hands or seized in +breach of trust. It commands not a single port, nor one highway from its +pretended capital by land. + +_Mr. Adams_. Her Majesty's proclamation and the language of her +ministers in both houses have raised insurgents to the level of a +belligerent state. + +_Lord Russell_. I think more stress is laid upon these events than they +deserve. It was a necessity to define the course of the government in +regard to the participation of the subjects of Great Britain in the +impending conflict. The legal officers were consulted. They said war _de +facto_ existed. Seven States were in open resistance. + +_Mr. Adams_. But your action was very rapid. The new administration had +been but sixty days in office. All departments were demoralized. The +British government then takes the initiative, and decides practically it +is a struggle of two sides, just as the country commenced to develop its +power to cope with the rebellion. It considered the South a marine power +before it had exhibited a single privateer on the ocean. The Greeks at +the time of recognition had 'covered the sea with cruisers.' + +_Lord Russell (smiling yet more blandly)_. I cite you the case of the +Fillmore government towards Kossuth and Hungary. Was not an agent sent +to the latter country with a view to recognition? + +_Mr. Seward (aside)_. The proclamation, unmodified and unexplained, +leaves us no alternative but to regard the government of Great Britain +as questioning our free exercise of all the rights of self-defence +guaranteed to us by our Constitution, and the laws of nature and of +nations, to suppress insurrection. But now as to the propositions sent, +viz. (1.) Privateering abolished. (2.) Neutral flag covers enemy's goods +except contraband of war. (3.) Neutral goods safe under enemy's flag, +with same exception. (4.) Effective blockades. + +_Mr. Adams (aside to Mr. Seward)_. It is to be agreed to, if there be +received a written declaration by Great Britain, to accompany the +signature of her minister,--'Her Majesty does not intend thereby to +undertake any engagement which shall have any bearing, direct _or +indirect_, on the internal differences now prevailing in the United +States.' + +_Mr. Seward (still aside)_. I am instructed by the President to say it +is inadmissible. (1.) It is virtually a new and distinct article +incorporated into the projected convention. (2.) The United States must +accede to the Declaration of the Congress of Paris on the same terms +with other parties, or not at all. (3.) It is not mutual in effect, for +it does not provide for a melioration of _our_ obligations in internal +differences now prevailing in, or which may hereafter arise in, Great +Britain. (4.) It would permit a foreign power for the first time to take +cognizance of, and adjust its relations upon, _assumed_ internal and +purely domestic differences. (5.) The general parties to the Paris +convention can not adopt it as one of universal application. + +_Lord Russell_. Touching the disagreements as to acquiescing in the +Paris convention and the proposed modification, I ask to explain the +reason of the latter. The United States government regards the +confederates as rebels, and their privateersmen as pirates. We regard +the confederates as belligerents. As between us and your government, +privateering would be abolished. We would and could have no concurrent +convention with the confederate power upon the subject. We would have in +good faith to treat the confederate privateersmen as pirates. Yet we +acknowledge them belligerents. Powers not a party to the convention may +rightfully arm privateers. Hence, instead of an agreement, charges of +bad faith and violation of a convention might be brought in the United +States against us should we accept the propositions unreservedly. + +_Mr. Adams_. Your Lordship's government adhere to the proposition of +modification? + +_Lord Russell_. Such are my instructions. + +_Mr. Adams_. Then, refraining for the present from reviewing our past +conversations to ascertain the relative responsibilities of the parties +for this failure of these negotiations, I have to inform you that they +are for the time being suspended. + + * * * * * + +_Mr. Adams_. But your Lordship has many time _unofficially_ received the +confederate ambassadors, so styled. This has excited uneasiness in my +country. It has, indeed, given great dissatisfaction to my government. +And, in all frankness and courtesy, I have to add, that any further +protraction of this relation can scarcely fail to be viewed by us as +hostile in spirit. + +_Lord Russell_. It has been custom, both here and in France, for a long +time back, to receive such persons unofficially. Pole, Hungarians, +Italians, and such like, have been allowed unofficial interviews, in +order that we might hear what they had to say. But this never implied +recognition in their case, any more than in yours! + +_Mr. Adams_. I observe in the newspapers an account of a considerable +movement of troops to Canada. In the situation of our governments this +will excite attention at home. Are they ordered with reference to +possible difficulties with us? + +_Lord Russell_. Canada has been denuded of troops for some time back. +The new movement is regarded, in restoring a part of them, as a proper +measure of _precaution_ in the present disordered condition of things in +the United States. But Mr. Ashmun is in Canada, remonstrating as to +alleged breaches of neutrality. + +(_Lord Lyons_. I viewed the subject as cause of complaint. + +_Mr. Seward_. And I instantly recalled Mr. Ashmun.) + +_Mr. Adams_. He was in Canada to watch and prevent just such a +transaction as the fitting out of a pirate or privateer--the Peerless +case. + +_Lord Russell_. Mr. Seward threatened to have the Peerless seized on +Lake Ontario. + +_Mr. Adams_. I respectfully doubt your Lordship's information. It was +surely an odd way of proceeding to furnish at once the warning in time +to provide against its execution! + + * * * * * + +_Mr. Adams_. I deeply regret a painful necessity which compels me to +make a representation touching the conduct of Consul Bunch at +Charleston. A private and opened letter, intercepted on the person of a +naturalized American citizen and colonel in the confederate +army,--Robert Mure, bearer of dispatches to Great Britain,--disclosed +these words: 'Mr. Bunch, on oath of secrecy, communicated to me that the +first step to recognition was taken. _So prepare for active business_ BY +THE FIRST OF JANUARY.' + +_Lord Russell_. I will without hesitation state to you _that, in +pursuance of an agreement between the British and French governments, +Mr. Bunch was instructed to communicate to the persons exercising +authority in the so-called confederate States, the desire of those +governments that certain articles of the declaration of Paris should be +observed by them in their hostilities(!)_ But regarding the other +statement, I as frankly say, Her Majesty's government have not +recognized, and are not prepared to recognize, the so-called confederate +States as a separate and independent power. + +_Mr. Seward (aside to Mr. Adams)_. The President revokes the exequatur +of Consul Bunch, who has not only been the bearer of communications +between the insurgents and a foreign government in violation of our +laws, but has abused equally the confidence of the two governments by +reporting, without the authority of his government, and in violation of +their own policy, as well as of our national rights, that the proceeding +in which he was engaged was in the nature of a treaty with the +insurgents, and the first step toward a recognition by Great Britain of +their sovereignty. His whole conduct has been, not that of a friend to +this government, nor of a neutral even, but of a partisan of faction and +disunion. + + * * * * * + +_Lord Lyons_. My government are concerned to find that two British +subjects, Mr. Patrick and Mr. Rahming, have been subjected to arbitrary +arrest. + +_Mr. Seward_. At the time of arrest it was not known they were British +subjects. They have been released. + +_Lord Lyons_. They applied for habeas corpus, and its exercise was +refused. Congress has not suspended the writ. Our law officers say that +the authority of Congress is necessary to justify this arrest and +imprisonment. + +_Mr. Seward (with suavity, but profound dignity, as if the nation +spoke)_. I have to regret that, after so long an official intercourse +between the governments of the United States and Great Britain, it +should be necessary now to inform her Majesty's ministers that _all_ +executive proceedings are of the President. Congress has no executive +power or responsibility. The President constitutionally exercises the +right of suspending the writ of habeas corpus. This government does not +question the learning of the legal advisers of the British Crown, or the +justice of the deference which her Majesty's government pays to them; +nevertheless, the British government will hardly expect that the +President will accept _their_ explanation of the Constitution of the +United States! + + * * * * * + +Are not the following inferences legitimately to be made from a close +and calm study of the published dispatches respecting our foreign +relations with Great Britain, and in connection with much that has +transpired since their congressional publication?-- + +1. The British government officers were in some way prepared to expect +that the election of Mr. Lincoln would result in an attempted disruption +of the Union. The arrival of Governor Pickens in England just before the +presidential election, and his arrival in New York, and immediate +journey to South Carolina, on the day of that election, may be cited as +one of many coincidences--showing that the spirit of Cobb, Floyd, and +Thompson, if not their doings and plans, were parodied on the other side +of the Atlantic. + +2. The British government were not averse to disunion from the outset, +and seized every pretext of tariff, or of inaction respecting the +rebellion, that it might quibble with the United States authority. + +3. The tone of the press, ministry and people was early heard, and +echoed by Mr. Dallas to our government. Mr. Seward therefore, at the +outset, knew his position, and most opportunely and dignifiedly +maintained a bearing all the more noble because it proceeded from a +government which had taken arms against a sea of troubles. + +4. The British government waited _only_ so long as international decency +technically warranted before proclaiming an acknowledgment of _civil_ +war in the United States, and accepting the government of Mr. Davis as +an equal belligerent with that of Mr. Lincoln. This was a matured step, +and a strong link in a chain of ultimate recognition. + +5. The Crown ministers early sought and obtained an understanding with +France for mutual action: an understanding palpably hostile to the +United States and tantalizingly acknowledged by open diplomacy. + +6. The British ministry construed strictly as against the Washington +government, but liberally as toward that of Jeff Davis, in regard to all +arising complications. + +7. The British government palpably permitted purchases and shipments of +contraband articles by Southern emissaries, but exercised the utmost +vigilance when the United States agents entered the market for similar +purposes. + +8. The action of Lord Russell respecting the proposition to abolish +privateering was covertly insulting. It asked to interpolate a new +condition as between France and England of the one part and the United +States of the other; and a condition conceived in a spirit of liberality +toward Jeff Davisdom, and promulgated in a meddlesome mood toward the +United States government. + +9. The tone of Lord Lyons was a more permissible manifestation of +British spleen than the higher functionaries at home displayed, yet none +the more acrid. This appears in all his letters and dispatches +respecting blockade, privateering, the arrest of spies, and the +detention of British subjects, or the seizure of prizes. It is +especially offensive in the letter to Mr. Seward which drew forth a +diplomatic rebuke upon a dictation by English law authority regarding +constitutional construction. + +10. The correspondence of the State Department was conducted by Mr. +Seward (as was well said by the N.Y. Evening Post, Dec. 21) with great +skill and adroitness. It was also firm in the defence of our national +honor and rights. His rhetoric was always measured by the dignified, +tasteful, and cautious rules of international intercourse. Its entire +tone in correspondence was earnest but restrained, and in style fully +equaling his best, and most ornate efforts. + +What are Mr. Seward's views in the 'Past' respecting England and the +emergency of a war with her, is a question now much mooted. It can be +readily answered by reference to a speech made at a St. Patrick's Day +dinner whilst he was Governor. 'Gentlemen, the English are in many +respects a wise as they are a great and powerful nation. They have +obtained an empire and ascendancy such as Rome once enjoyed. As the +Tiber once bore, the Thames now bears the tribute of many nations, and +the English name is now feared and respected as once the Roman was in +every part of the world. England has been alike ambitious and +successful. England too is prosperous, and her people are contented and +loyal. But contentment and loyalty have not been universal in the +provinces and dependencies of the English government. The desolation +which has followed English conquest in the East Indies has been lamented +throughout the civilized world. Ireland has been deprived of her +independence without being admitted to an equality with her +sister-island, and discontent has marked the history of her people ever +since the conquest. England has not the magnanimity and generosity of +the Romans. She derives wealth from her dependencies, but lavishes it +upon objects unworthy of herself. She achieves victories with their aid, +but appropriates the spoils and trophies exclusively to herself. For +centuries she refused to commit trusts to Irishmen, or confer privileges +upon them, unless they would abjure the religion of their ancestors.' + +Ten years later, in the United States Senate, during the debate upon the +Fisheries dispute, Mr. Seward said, after discussing England's financial +and commercial position: 'England can not wisely desire nor safely dare +a war with the United States. She would find that there would come over +us again that dream of conquest of those colonies which broke upon us +even in the dawn of the Revolution, when we tendered them an invitation +to join their fortunes with ours, and followed it with the sword--that +dream which returned again in 1812, when we attempted to subjugate them +by force; and that now, when we have matured the strength to take them, +we should find the provinces willingly consenting to captivity. A war +about these fisheries would be a war which would result either in the +independence of the British Provinces, or in their annexation to the +United States. I devoutly pray God that _that_ consummation may come; +the sooner the better: but I do not desire it at the cost of war _or of +injustice_. I am content to wait for the ripened fruit which must fall. +I know the wisdom of England too well to believe that she would hazard +shaking that fruit into our hands.' + +Another question, now asked,--'Will Mr. Seward exhaust +negotiation?'--may be in like manner answered by himself. In a +succeeding debate on the same 'fisheries' controversy, commenting upon +negotiation, he said: '_Sir, it is the business of the Secretary of +State, and of the government, always to be ready, in my humble judgment, +to negotiate under all circumstances, whether there be threats or no +threats, whether there be force or no force: but the manner and the +spirit and the terms of the negotiation will be varied by the position +that the opposing party may occupy_.' + +It can not be denied that more cordial relations exist between the +President and the Secretary of State than ever any previous +administration disclosed: so that when Mr. Seward acts, the government +will prove a powerful unit. Indeed, in this connection, history will +hereafter write precisely what Mr. Seward, in his speech on the +'Clayton-Bulwer treaty,' said respecting the Taylor +administration:--'Sir, whatever else may have been the errors or +misfortunes of that administration, want of mutual confidence between +the Secretary of State and his distinguished chief was not one of them. +They stood together firmly, undivided, and inseparable to the last. +_Storms of faction from within their own party and from without beset +them, and combinations and coalitions in and out of Congress assailed +them with a degree of violence that no other administration has ever +encountered_. But they never yielded.' + +We can not better conclude this paper, while the volumes of Mr. Seward's +works are open on the table, than by quoting still again, and asking the +reader to apply his own remarks on Secretary of State Webster in the +fisheries-war speech, before alluded to: 'I shall enter into no encomium +on the Secretary of State; he needs none. I should be incompetent to +grasp so great a theme, if it were needed. The Secretary of State! There +he is! Behold him, and judge for yourselves. There is his history; there +are his ideas; his thoughts spread over every page of your annals for +near half a century. _There are his ideas, his thoughts impressed upon +and inseparable from the mind of his country and the spirit of the age_. +The past is at least secure. The past is enough of itself to guarantee a +future of fame unapproachable and inextinguishable.' + + * * * * * + +TO ENGLAND. + + + The Yankee chain you'd gladly split, + And yet begin by heating it! + But when the iron is all aglow, + 'Twill closer blend at every blow. + Learn wisdom from a warning word, + Beat not the chain into a sword. + + * * * * * + +THE HEIR OF ROSETON. + +CHAPTER 1. + +Qui curios simulant, et Bacchanalia vivunt. JUV. + +Odi Persicos apparatus. HOR. + +Indulge Genio: carpamus dulcia. PERS. + + +Roseton awoke. A silver clock upon the mantle, so constructed as to +represent Guido's 'Hours,' had just struck the hour of eight, +accompanying the signal with the festal _la ci darem_ of Don Giovanni. +This was Roseton's invariable hour of waking, no matter what might be +the season, or what might have been his time of retiring. Slightly +stirring upon the couch, the night drapery became relaxed, and from his +sleeve of Mechlin lace appeared a hand and wrist of unspeakable +delicacy, yet of iron strength. Another slight movement, and one saw the +upper portions of the form of the late slumberer; 'a graceful +composition in one of Nature's happiest moments.' It was indeed +difficult properly to estimate either the beauty of his proportions or +their amazing strength. The most celebrated sculptors of Europe had made +pilgrimages across the sea to refresh their perceptions by gazing upon a +figure which, even in the unclassic habiliments of modern dress, caused +the Apollo to resemble a plowboy; and the athletes of both hemispheres +had, singly, and in pairs, and even in triplets, measured their powers +vainly against his unaided arms. To keep ten fifty-sixes in the air for +an hour at a time was to him the merest trifle; but the _ennui_ of such +diversions had long since crept upon him, and only on occasions of the +extremest urgency did he exercise any other faculties than those of the +will. In compliance with an effort of the latter nature, his favorite +servant now entered the apartment. The Rev. Geo. Langford had but a +moment before been deeply engaged in solving the problem of the fourth +satellite of Jupiter, when a sharp, tingling sensation in the rear of +his brain convinced him that a master will desired his attendance. The +scholar, who thus rose to be the servant of Roseton,--a position that +even the President of a Western college might envy, such were its +dignities and emoluments,--stood for a moment at the foot of Roseton's +couch, and in silence received the silent orders of the day. No words +passed, but in an incredibly short space of time Roseton's commands had +flashed into the mind of his attendant, and the latter withdrew to +reduce them to writing for the benefit of the four masters of the four +departments of the House. They in turn methodized them for their +forty-eight deputies, and one hundred and ninety-two servants--in +addition to the female who came to the house to receive the weekly +wash--performed their daily task intelligently and harmoniously. + +A bath of atar of roses next received the master of the House of +Pont-Noir. This was renewed every hour of the day; for Roseton's fancy +indulged the frequent and the casual lavation, and his exacting taste +demanded the strictest purity. A careless servant once ventured to leave +the bath filled without a change of the fluid, after it had been +occupied; but the negligence was at once detected by the master of +Pont-Noir, and his weekly allowance of cologne-water was summarily +reduced. Upon the ceiling, over the bath, were frescoed, in Titianelli's +richest style, the most graceful legends of mythology. Here Theseus +toyed with Ariadne; here the infant Mercury furtively enticed the +Grecian Short-horns; here Triton blew his seaweed-tangled horn, and +troops of ocean-nymphs threw the surface of the deep into 'sparkling +commotions of splendor;' here Venus allured Anchises, by sweetly calling +him to the leafy tops of Ida; here Deucalion surmounted the miraculous +floods; and here Pyrrha first instructed wondering men in the knowledge +of the existence, beauties and duties of the fairer part of creation. +Here, reclining in dreamful ease, and indulging in the perpetual warmth +by which the bath confessed the power of unseen caloric agency, Roseton +was wont ever to sport with delicious memories, now with rapturous +hopes, and at times to compose those elegant sonnets for the New York +weekly newspapers, for each one of which a thousand dollars was joyfully +given by the delighted proprietors to the poor of the city. + +Carefully wiped, and clothed in a morning robe by twelve gentlemanly +attendants, each one a scion of the first families of the metropolis, +Roseton was borne to the breakfasting apartment. Here, indeed, a scene +presented itself, among whose splendors imagination only could safely +dwell, and before which the practical and the prosaic mind might well +grow comatose or skeptical. Malachite tables of every conceivable shape +from the Ural; carpets to whose texture the shawls of Cashmere had +become tributary; paintings by all the known, and many of the unknown, +old masters; these were only rivaled by chairs of the most undeniable +and gorgeous curled maple; and a beaufet of true cherry acknowledged, in +common with a Jerome horologe, a Connecticut origin. These incredible +adjuncts to luxury were, however, eclipsed by the dazzling glory of a +vast pyramid of purest oreide, which at its apex separated into four +divisions to the sound of slow music, by forty hidden performers, +revealing, as it descended to the floor, an equal number of tables, on +which plate, Sévres China, Nankin porcelain, and the emerald glass of +New England, rivaled the display of damask, fruits, liqueurs, and +delicatest meats. Here smoked a sweetbread, here gleamed a porgy, not +yet forty-eight hours caught, and here the strawberry crimsoned the +cream that lapped its blushing sides. Here the Arabian berry evolved +clouds of perfume; here Curaçoa glistened from behind its strawy shield; +and here a decanter of warranted real French brandy, side by side with a +bottle of Stoughton's bitters, suggested that a cocktail might not only +be desirable, but possible. But Roseton's eyes gazed languidly upon the +spectacle, and the walls of the pyramid again ascending, shut the +quadruple banquets from the sight. + +A moment elapsed, and they fell once more. A fountain of cool, fragrant +distillation threw showers of delight into the atmosphere, under the +canopy of which again appeared four luxurious tables. Upon one, tea and +toast suggested the agreeable and appropriate remedy for an over-night's +dissipation; upon another, an array of marmalades, icy tongues reduced +by ether to a temperature of minus sixty, Finnane haddock, and oaten +meal of rarest bolting, indicated and offered to gratify the erratic +taste of a Caledonian. Again, upon another, a Strasburg pie displayed +its delicious brown, the members of the emerald songster of the fen lay +whitely delicate, and accompanying absinthe revealed the knowledge of +Gallic preferences. Upon the fourth, smoking and olent Rio, puddings of +Indian, cakes composed of one third butter, one third flour, one third +saleratus, and the crisping bean, surmounted by crimped pork, showed +that a Providence Yankee might well find an appropriate entertainment. +But again the eyes of Roseton looked vacantly on, and again, amid +strains of music, the walls of the pyramid ascended. + +A short pause, and they sunk again. Now appeared, as a central figure, +an odalisque. In each ivory hand she bore a double fan of exquisite +workmanship, on each of which again glistened a delicate and fairy +banquet. Here were ultimate quintessences--pines reduced to a drop of +honeyed delight; bananas whose life lay in points of bewildering +sweetness; enormous steamboat puddings compressed within the compass of +a thimble, exclusive of the sauce; chocolates, oceans of which lay in +mimic lakes, each of which the bill of a humming-bird might expand; +tongues of most melodious singing birds--the nightingale, the thrush, +and the goldfinch; lambs _en suprême_, each eliminated of earthly +particles, and spiritualized in scarcely tangible results. Over all +hovered the memories of exquisite beverages, which became realities when +you approached, and stole over the sense with insidious deliciousness. + +These, too, faded away amid the disregard of their owner, though the +odalisque shed floods of tears of disappointment; and others succeeded, +but they tempted Roseton vainly, and a glance at the clock showed that +it was now ten o'clock by New Haven time. At this moment the Rev. George +Langford experienced another biological sensation; Roseton had conceived +a breakfast. + +Repairing to a battery in a recess of his laboratory, Langford +attentively studied the ebullitions occasioned by an ultimate dilution +and aggregation of the chemicals in the formula HP + O^(22). During this +time the sensations in his brain successively continued to rack and +agonize him; but, faithful to his mission, he remained immersed in +thought until his intellect grasped the key of the problem. Issuing then +from the recess, he promulgated the results of his investigation to the +four masters of the house, These, with the aid of the forty-eight +deputies, executed the inchoate idea, and once more--and finally--the +pyramid unfolded. But now a single table appeared, bearing upon its +snowy mantle a Yarmouth bloater, and a bottle of Dublin stout. Roseton's +eyes lighted up with unaccustomed pleasure, and he gave instant commands +for the duplication of the salary of his esteemed attendant-in-chief. + +In accordance with the custom of the house, the morning journals now +appeared; and here the fancy of Roseton had therein a living and +distinctive character over each. Youths, of perfect beauty, who had, +during the three previous hours, diligently studied the sheets in +question, passed before him, one by one, dressed in appropriate costume, +and each one delivered to him in mental short-hand the entire contents +of the journal which he represented. These were rendered wholly in the +Sanscrit tongue, in which Roseton was an adept; with the exception of +the _Tribune_, the language of which, Roseton was accustomed to say, is +unique, and incapable of translation. First appeared the representative +of the _Herald_, dressed as a jockey; an irresistible air of assurance +accompanied him, and he threw frequent summersaults with inconceivable +quickness. Next marched the _Tribune_;--a youth shrouded in inexplicable +garments, and the living centre of a whirlwind of exploding theories. +Then stepped the _Times_ in rapid succession; a blooming boy dressed +with precision, and delicately balancing himself as he delivered his +part. Next appeared the _World_, habited as a theological student, and +sorrow for irreparable loss was indicated by a Weed upon his hat. One +looked for the embodiment of the _News_ in vain, but a Wooden figure, +wheeled in silence through the apartment, was thought to convey a +mysterious lesson. A martial ghost, wearing upon his head a triple +crown, like the vision of Macbeth, yet bravely supporting himself under +the three-fold encumbrance, seemed the _Courier_ of Wall Street. The +pageant passed, but Roseton seemed unsatisfied; and it soon occurred to +him that the deep draughts of secession news, which he had been +accustomed to receive each morning from the _Journal of Commerce_, had, +on this occasion, failed him. But on further reflection his infallible +logic convinced him that the existence of this paper must have ceased at +the same time with that of the Southern mails. + +It now remained to perform the morning toilet; and a corps of attendants +conveyed Roseton to his dressing-room. Here the lavish wealth of the +Pont-Noirs found another appropriate field for its display. The floor +was of Carrera marble, curiously tesselated, rising in the centre to the +support of a fountain, where water-nymphs breathed forth shattered +columns of fragrant spray, whose parabolic curves filled a spacious lake +below. Vases of diamond, emerald and ruby crowded the mantles, each +filled with some unknown perfume--the result of Roseton's miraculous +chemistry; for in this science Roseton was supreme. In a single day he +exhausted the resources of American laboratories, and a short visit to +Europe convinced him that henceforth he must be his own instructor. +Savants in vain solicited his formulas. 'Why,' he reasoned, 'should I +furnish children in science with tools of which they can not comprehend +the use?' Delicate tables, chiseled from the humbler gems, were +scattered about the chamber; agate, topaz, lapis-lazuli, amethyst, and a +smaragdus of miraculous beauty. Chairs of golden wire completed the +furniture of this unequaled apartment. + +The hangings of the walls were a freak at once of genius and lavishness. +They consisted of the bills of the Valley Bank, extravagantly lapped, +and of untold denomination. But the ceiling--how shall I describe it? +Did you, indeed, look up inimitably into a Hesperian sky, or was this +firmament the creation of the painter's art? Nothing flecked the +profound, unsearchable, impassive blue. There brooded the primeval +heavens, undimmed by earthly vapors, unfathomed by earthly instruments; +forever indescribable by earthly tongues. + +Two hundred years before, a Pont-Noir of the Roseton branch accumulated +immense wealth from a diamond mine in East Haddam, Connecticut. He was a +man of deep and ardent imagination, and uncomprehended by the simple +villagers, who irreverently styled him the 'mad Roseton.' He died, and +left a singular will. It provided that his estates, money, and jewels, +should be realized and invested on interest for the space of two hundred +years, by a committee of trustees, consisting of the governors of the +six New England States, to be assisted by the fiscal board of +Mississippi, whenever such a State should be organized. At the +expiration of that time, the avails were to be paid to Roseton, of +Pont-Noir, provided but one of that name should exist; if more were +living, the estate was to remain in abeyance until such a condition +should be reached. Not undiscerningly had he foreseen the probability +that his will would be disputed, and a short time before his death he +caused a formal attestation of his sanity to be made by the entire body +of clergymen comprising the Middlesex Conference. His mode of proof was +simple, consisting only of an original manuscript, refuting the Arminian +heresy; but it sufficed, and the will was obeyed. Not unwisely, also, +had he calculated upon the energies of population; for, during one +hundred and fifty years, the Pont-Noirs spread over both continents. +Then they paused, and but two of the race--chosen by lot--were allowed +to marry. At the expiration of twenty-five years, a single male of the +race, also chosen by lot, married, and became the father of the present +Roseton. On the day that Roseton was twenty-four years old, his father +summoned him to his apartment. 'To-morrow,' said he, 'the mystical two +hundred years expire, and an estate of inconceivable magnitude will vest +in the single Roseton--if there be but one. My son, my life is of less +consequence than yours, since it is farther spent; but it still has +sweetness, and it is the _only_ life that I possess. Here are three +goblets of wine--one is Scuppernong, the other two are harmless. I will +apportion our chances fairly, and will drink two; you shall drink one. +The lawyers are at hand to arrange the inquest, and to confer the +title-deeds to the estate.' In silence the son consented, and the +devoted pair drank off the goblets as proposed, and at once sat down to +a banquet prepared for them, and for the legal gentlemen attendant. When +the ices came in, the elder Roseton was carried out; and the heir of +Pont-Noir, having seen the remains properly bestowed in a place of +safety, and a special inquest held, finished the night with the +counsellors in the enjoyment of a tempered hilarity, and rose next +morning the possessor of wealth so boundless, so unspeakable, that my +brain reels as I endeavor to grasp at even its outlying fragments. + +In the hope of presenting some of its details to the reader, I procured, +at an enormous expense, a Babbage calculating engine, and during three +successive weeks worked it without pause upon the illimitable figures. +It then became clogged, and the village Vulcan, whose impartial hand +corrects at once the time-pieces and the plowshares of the neighborhood, +having knocked the machinery to pieces with a sledge, declared himself +incompetent to explain and unable to repair. My results therefore are +maimed and imperfect, but I trust they will show that I have not +exaggerated the difficulty of the process of reduction and estimation. + +The fragmentary portions of the estate, then, are: the entire capital +stock of thirty-eight of the Banks of New York city (though here a wise +policy has suggested the employment of various respectable names as +those of shareholders, in order to protect these institutions from the +fury of a mob); all that portion of the metropolis lying between the +Twelfth and Twenty-second Avenues, from Canal Street to the suburb of +Poughkeepsie, comprising of necessity the water rights and quarries; +eighteen thousand millions of bullion specially deposited in the State +Bank of Mississippi, to the order of the six New England Governors, +trustees; the Pont-Noir mansion on Nultiel Street, surrounded by +twenty-five acres of land, the very heart of the best New York +residences, and variously estimated from six to eight millions of +dollars; the remote but tolerably well known villages of Boston and +Philadelphia in their entirety; and one undivided tenth of the stock of +the Valley Bank. It was upon the last investment that Roseton chiefly +drew for his expenses. 'My fancy,' said he, 'inclines me to convert +Boston into an observatory, and Philadelphia into a tea-garden, and +nothing but an amiable regard for the comfort of a handful of families +prevents at once from carrying such plans into effect. My mansion is of +necessity unproductive; and the Mississippi bullion is greatly needed +where it already is. City property is a dreadful nuisance, the taxes are +outrageous and the tenants pay poorly; and although the New York Banks +announce dividends, yet when you come to look at their actual condition, +hum, hum;--is that door shut?--just put your ear a little this way, so; +there, I say nothing; there are Banks and Banks; but a building may have +two doors, and what goes _out_ at one may come _in_ again at the other, +eh? Mind, I say nothing. So you see, beside the East Haddam diamond +mines, which are at present badly worked; and a few South American +republics which are chiefly occupied in assassinating their presidents; +and a border State or two that usually leave me to provide for their +half-yearly coupons;--besides these resources, you see, I have really +little else to look to but the Valley Bank.' + +While the possessor of this wealth is undergoing his morning toilet, let +us attend the steps of his butler in chief, whose duty it was to prepare +the eleven-o'clocker with which Roseton was accustomed to fortify +himself against the fatigues of the middle part of the day. Passing down +a succession of flights of stairs, each one consisting of two hundred +and twenty-five steps of the finest ebony, we at last find ourselves in +an immense cavern, dimly lighted by the internal fires of the earth, +which are here approached and verified. It was, however, left for +Roseton to discover that these flames consisted of negative qualities as +to caloric; and a project for cooling the streets of Newport by night, +in summer, by means of floods of brilliant radiance, every point of +which shall surpass the calcium light of the Museum, will soon evince to +society that Roseton has not lived in vain. It was indeed a place of +rarest temperature, and a sublime sense of personal exaltation thrilled +you as you entered. The butler approached an arch, and unlocking a +wicker door which was ingeniously contrived to admit air, but to exclude +the furtive or the inquisitive hand, threw open to your inspection the +immense wine-cellar within. + +Such indeed were the dimensions of the crypt that some little time might +elapse before your eye could fully gauge them: but on accustoming +yourself to the enlarged mensuration occasioned by the unearthly light, +you saw that the cavity in question could not be less than six feet high +at the top of the arch, three feet wide, and at least forty-eight inches +deep. It was musty, cobwebbed, and encrusted with stalactic nitre, but +the spirit of rare old vintages exhaled from its depths, and visionary +clusters of purplest grapes dangled in every direction. And first your +eye lighted upon a half dozen real old India Port, picked up by golden +chance at an assignee's sale in Rivington Street. The chalk-mark on the +bottles was intended to be cabalistically private, but an acquaintance +with the occult dialect of Spanish Zingari convinced you that 1/2, meant +nothing else than that the bottles represented twelve and a half cents +each, with three years interest,--a fabulous sum, but lavished in a +direction where the pledge of a dukedom had not been irrational, if the +object could not have been otherwise accomplished. Next a row of Medoc +claimed the enraptured attention; delicately overspread with the dust of +years, but flashing through the filmy covering the undeniable blood of +the Honduras forest. Here might one well pause and indulge in Clautian +memories: the violent remonstrances of Nature against, and her +subsequent acquiescence in, the primal draughts of _vin ordinaire_, +whether expertly served by a Delmonico, or carelessly decanted by the +Hibernian attendant in the gorgeous saloon of a Taylor; next the ascent +to St. Julien, Number 2, when haply a friend from the country lingers at +the office, and you see no way of escape but an exodus in quest of +chicken and green peas; a blushing crimson at the surface and unknown +clouds below; then the _De Grave_ in delicate flagons, a fit sacrifice +to the exquisite tastes of the editor who is to notice your forthcoming +volume, or to the epicurean palate of some surcharged capitalist, into +whose custody you are about to negotiate some land-grant bonds. +Recovering from these delicious souvenirs, your attention was drawn to +the Sauternes, indisputably titled at a Wall Street sale, and priceless. +This wine had never yet been tasted, for Roseton was wont to say, 'I +only care for vitriol when it is a hundred years old,' and this had only +seen the summer of twenty. But a precious odor breathed from the casks, +and the corroding capsules confessed the mighty powers that lurked +within. Inhaling this odor, you seemed to see the Original White Hermit +himself, brooding over his tiny principality of barren rock, and +performing miracles with the aid of the imported carboy and the +indigenous rill. As the evening gloomed, and twilight fell among the +crags, a faint snicker spread upon the air, and in the dim light of the +rising moon one might fancy a finger laid to the side of the nose of the +holy man. From these reveries, a smart blow on the back, neatly executed +by the butler, recalled your active attention to a demi-john of +warranted French brandy, and a can of Bourbon certified by the +hand-writing of Louis Capet himself. Upon the sawdust in the lower +niches of the vault lay packages of the finest Hollands, wicker +casements of Curaçoa, and the apple-jack of Jersey in gleaming glass. +But the eye dwelt finally, and with a crowning wonder and approval, upon +an entire basket of the celebrated eleven-dollar Heidsieck champagne, +blue label, that lay upon the floor of the crypt. + +The acquisition of this treasure was one of those rare good-fortunes by +which the life of here and there an individual is illustrated. About a +year previous to this, in the dead of night, a mysterious stranger +solicited audience of the master of Pont-Noir. Attended by the entire +force of the house in complete armor, Roseton granted the interview. The +stranger advanced within easy gun-shot, and said:--'The great house of +Boscobello, Bolaro and Company is in imminent peril. Unless a certain +sum can be raised by two o'clock to-morrow, their acceptances will lie +over. These acceptances constitute the entire loan and discount line of +thirty-eight of the Banks of this city, for they have latterly made it a +rule to take nothing else.' A meaning glance shot from the stranger's +eye as he delivered this fearful announcement, but Roseton remained +firm, though a cold shiver passed through the frames of his domestics, +who were aware how vitally he was interested. 'The pledge of their stock +of wine alone,' continued the mysterious visitant, 'will relieve them +from their difficulties, and the capitalists then stand ready to carry +them forward if they will retire from the Southern trade. Ten hundred +nickels is the sum required, and I stand prepared to deliver the +security by ten o'clock, A.M. The discount is immense, but the +exigencies of the case are weighty.' + +A consultation ensued. The bill for the kitchen crockery had just come +in, and a set of three-tined forks were badly needed; but Roseton's +intellect grasped the necessities of the operation, and the necessary +funds were ordered to be advanced; and the pledge, now forever forfeited +by the loan clause of the Revised Statutes, lay upon the floor of the +vault. + +The aged butler delicately lifted a flask from its encampment of straw, +and bore it to that section of the apartment where the light was +clearest. 'I wonder if the boss would miss it, if we should just smell +of this here bottle,' said the faithful servitor. Turning it his hand, +it flashed brilliant rays on every side. Entangled among these played +vivid and beautiful pictures, changeable as auroras, yet perfect, during +their brief instant of existence, as the imaginations of Raphael, or the +transcripts of Claude. + +Here then you saw a sunny hill, and troops of vintagers dispersed along +its sides, whose outlines wavered in the afternoon heats. But you +rapidly outlived this scene, and now the broad plains of Hungary lay +before your gaze. Speeding over the contracted domains of the Tokay, you +entered upon the Sarmatian wastes, where the wild vines fought for life +with the icy soil and the chill winds of the desert. Uncouth proprietors +urged on the unwilling peasants to the acrid press, and rolled out +barrels of the 'Rackcheekzi' and the 'Quiteenough-thankzi' vintage, +curiously labeled to a New York destination. Soon you beheld Water +Street, and long low cellars, where groups of boys cleansed now the +clouded flask, and now the imperfectly preserved cork. Now bubbles of +the rarest carbonic acid gas flow, in obedience to the powerful machine, +in all directions through the glassy prison; and rows of gleaming +bottles indicate the activity of the enterprise. Then you saw the dining +rooms of the Saint Sycophant and the Cosmopolitan Hotels. Here flew the +resounding cork, to be instantly snatched up by the attendant Ethiopian, +and scarcely were the champagne flasks emptied before they were reft +from the tables with unimpaired labels. At the rear doors, there seemed +to wait handcarts, and soon in these the corks, the bottles, and the +baskets were carefully bestowed for their down-town journey, and money +appeared to pass from hand to hand. Then you saw a sleighing party in +the country, and soon a hostel of goodly size. The travelers entered and +demanded banquet; and while they masticated the underdone and tendonous +Chanticleer, quaffed deeply of the amber vintage of the previous +visions. Again you saw morning couches, where lovely woman tore her +Valenciennes night-cap in agonies of headache, and where her ruder +partner filled the air with cries for 'soda-water!' + +Engaged with these enchanting dreams, the butler made a false step, and +the precious package, falling to the floor, was instantly shattered. The +fluid trickled away in rivulets, but the ascending odors made amends for +the untimely loss, and you felt that it might all be for the best, and +haply a bill for medical attendance avoided. But the butler brooded over +the scene of the calamity in hopeless despair; and you perceived that it +would be necessary for him deeply to infringe upon his master's stores +of cordial before his former serenity might be regained. + +It was now after eleven, and Roseton's carriage waited. He entered, +simply saying to the footman who lifted him in, 'To Mundus;' and shortly +the vehicle stopped before the most palatial mansion in the entire +extent of the Fifth Avenue. + +I pause a moment before I attempt the portraiture of the young wife of +Mundus. Her shadow has indeed flitted once before across these pages +(see Chapter Four of the Novel), but the dim outlines of a shadow may be +traced by a hand that is powerless to paint the living, breathing +figure. The boudoir where she sat was draped with the fairest pinks of +the Saxony loom, and the carpet confessed an original Axminster +workmanship. With this one, the pattern was created and extinguished, +and, though it cost Mundus five thousand dollars, he drew his check for +the bill with a smile. The sofas and chairs were of hand-embroidered +velvet, representing the delicate adventures of Wilhelm Meister; and the +paintings that profusely lined the walls gave form to the warmest scenes +of Farquahar's 'gayest' comedies. Bella herself sat near a window, +negligently posed, reading the 'Journal of a Summer in the Country,' +over which she had now hung for three hours in speechless admiration, +breakfastless, and with her slipper-ribbons not yet tied. 'I _must_ see +what becomes of Wigwag,' she replied to Mundus, as he called through the +door that he was eating all the eggs. 'Thank Heaven,' she finally +exclaimed, as he went down into the smoking room, 'that's the last of +_him_ to-day; and now I shall have this delicious book all to myself, +and all myself to this delicious book.' + +'That's very prettily turned now,' said a silvery voice; 'nothing could +have been prettier,--but you'-- + +'Oh, you naughty man, is that you already?' said Bella; 'didn't you meet +the Bear as you came in?' + +'He is in the front basement, sucking his paws,' replied Roseton, for it +was indeed he, 'and he is trying to do a stupider thing, if possible.' + +'What's that?' asked the fair Bella. 'Now don't tire me with any of your +nonsense.' + +'To read himself,' answered Roseton. + +'You alarm me,' exclaimed she; 'it can't be possible that the servants +have let him have a looking-glass, contrary to my express instructions!' + +'No, no,' said the master of Pont-Noir, 'he is at work over the +_World_.' + +'The _World?_' said Bella, inquiringly. 'Pray don't give me a headache.' + +Roseton leaned over her shoulder, and placed in her lap a miniature +Andrews and Stoddard's Lexicon, open at the eight hundredth page. 'You +take?' he said: '_Mundus_, the World.' + +'Ah, Percy,' sighed Bella, 'why do you thus unnecessarily fatigue me? +Have I not often told you that, faultless as you are in every other +department of life, and how I love to dwell upon this fact, still, +still, my Percy, your puns, or rather your attempts, are worse than +those of a Yale College freshman? You are cruel, indeed you are, thus to +disappoint and wound me. Be persuaded by me, and _never_ try again.' + +Roseton paused, irresolute--it was a great struggle; but what will not +one do for the woman one loves? 'I promise,' said he, at last; and, +bending over her, laid a kiss--like an egg--upon her brow. 'This will +forever bind me.' + +'Thank you, dear Percy,' said Bella; 'and I hope you'll keep your +promise better than you did the last one you made about giving up +smoking. You're sure you haven't tumbled my collar, and that you wiped +the egg off your moustache before you came in; get me the toilet-glass, +there's a good boy. You men are _so_ careless, and I shouldn't like it +to dry on my forehead.' + +Let us approach, and gaze into the mirror. Can one describe that +face--the lovely brown eyebrows; the eyes, like a spring sky, just as +the light, fleecy clouds are leaving it after a shower; the perfect +roses, dipped in milk, of the skin; the lips where good-nature, +sprightliness, and love, lay mingled in ambush; the dewy teeth never +quite concealed? It is, indeed, useless to attempt it. And, what is very +remarkable, Bella knew it. 'There, Percy,' said she, 'your indiscretion +is cleared away, and now upon my word I don't know which flatters me +most, you or the glass.' + +'Why, I haven't tried yet,' replied Roseton. + +'That's only because you know you can't,' said she;' neither can this +poor little mirror. But to think what Mundus said yesterday!' + +'What did he say?' + +'He said--he said--he saw a pretty apple-girl in Wall Street, and I +presume the wretch paid her some compliment or other while he was buying +her apples, for he appeared very much pleased after he came home, and he +hasn't bestowed a compliment on me since the month after we were +married. Ah, fated word! Ah, Percy, Percy!--on that ill-omened day, what +caused you to linger? We _might_ even then have retraced our steps, and +been--happy.' + +'I was waiting--at the dock--for the news--of the Heenan prize-fight, +Bella,' gasped Roseton, turning away to conceal his emotion, and to +assuage the tears that fell from his manly eyes. It is a mournful sight, +a strong man, in the morning of life, weeping; but Roseton's agony might +well excuse it. 'I know it was unpardonable, but my card of invitation +had been tampered with, the date altered; and, Bella--my Bella--we were +the victims of a base deception!' + +'Oh, yes, my Percy,' faintly cried Bella, letting the book fall to the +ground in her confusion; 'traitorous wiles, indeed, encompassed us, and +the arts of a Mundus were too subtle for my girlish brain. I sometimes +fear that my poor frame will sink under the agonies I endure.' + +Roseton raised the volume from the floor. 'I am told,' said he, 'that +this is a very ingenious work, and that no gentleman's library is +complete without it; but I never read. My days, my nights, are filled, +Bella, with thoughts of you. Yes,' continued he, seating himself upon +the sofa by her side, and passing his arm about her throbbing waist, +'yes, you are my muse--my only volume. You are the inspiration of the +poetical trifles that I send to the weekly newspapers, and which I may +say, without vanity, are considered equal to Mrs. Sigourney's. Without +you, life were indeed a dreary void; and without you, I should be +dreadfully bored of a morning.' + +'Ah, Percy,' murmured the fair listener, 'so could I hear you talk +forever.' + +'Bella,' whispered Roseton, in her fairy ear, 'could you prepare your +mind to entertain the idea of flight with me?' + +'To Staten Island?' cried she, jumping up and clapping her hands. 'Oh, +let's go to Staten Island! Mundus can never follow us there, the boats +are so dangerous.' + +'But, Bella _mia_' said Roseton, in the soft accent of Italy, 'as the +eminent but slightly impractical Hungarian--I refer to Kossuth--said, +Staten Island "is lovely, but exposed." We should not be safe there. +Listen; in my house I have prepared a secret chamber, fifty feet square, +plentifully supplied with healthful though plain provisions, and +furnished with a tolerable degree of comfort. There will we dwell, until +the curiosity of Mundus and the whispers of the metropolis are overpast. +We will then re-appear in society, and assert our happiness. Bella, +_mia_ Bella, shall it be so?' + +'Ah, Percy,' sighed she, leaning back in his arms, 'let it be just as +you say.' + +Their lips-- + +'Bella,' said Mundus, leaning over the pair, and fumbling among the +vases over the fireplace, 'is there any stage change on the mantlepiece, +or have either you or Roseton got such a thing about you as a sixpence? +I have nothing in my pocket but hundred-dollar city bills, and those +infernal omnibus drivers make change with Valley Bank notes, which a +certain _person_ furnishes them,'--and Mundus fixed his eyes full on the +master of Pont-Noir. + +'Mr. Roseton,' he continued, 'will you be so kind as to call at my +office after the Second Board, to-day? I have matters of importance to +discuss with you.' And so saying, the haughty banker strode from the +apartment. + +Roseton's eyes mechanically followed him. In an instant he turned to +Bella. She had fainted upon the sofa. His first impulse was to apply his +vinaigrette; but 'no,' he said to himself, 'this will probably last +twenty minutes, and do her good. During that time I can smoke a cigar, +and arrange my plans. But stop,'--and here a cold sweat broke out upon +him, and a livid paleness overspread his features,--'what did Mundus say +about the notes? He refuses them! Strange, strange, indeed! Can it then +be that the Valley Bank has bu--?'[A] + +[Footnote A: This is all of this interesting family tale that will +appear in this place. The remainder will be published in the _New York +Humdrum_; the week after next number of which was issued week before +last. Get up early and secure a copy.] + + * * * * * + +OUR DANGER AND ITS CAUSE. + + +It is certain that when this page comes under the eye of the reader, the +relations of the United States, both foreign and domestic, will have +been changed materially. At the present moment, however, the condition +of the country is unpromising enough; yet not so gloomy as to preclude +the hope of a fortunate issue. The sacrifices and sufferings of the +people are greater in civil than in foreign wars, and the ultimate +advantages and benefits are proportionately large. We speak now of those +civil wars which have occurred between people inhabiting the same +district of country,--as the civil wars of England. Other contests, as +the revolutions of Hungary, Poland, and Ireland even, were not, strictly +speaking, civil wars. The parties were of different origin, and had +never assimilated in language, customs, or ideas. The struggle was for +the reëstablishment of a government which had once existed, and not for +the reformation or change of a government that at the moment of the +conflict was performing its ordinary functions. + +The civil war in America does not belong to either of the classes named. +To be sure, in Missouri, Kentucky, and Western Virginia, the contest has +been between the inhabitants of the several localities, aided by forces +from the rebel States on the one hand, and forces from the loyal States +on the other. But those States, as such, were never committed to the +rebellion; and the struggle within their limits has demonstrated the +inability of the so-called Confederate States to command the adhesion of +Missouri, Kentucky, and Western Virginia by force; but it does not, in +the accomplished results, demonstrate the ability of the United States +to crush the rebellion. The border States were debatable ground; but the +question has been settled in favor of the government so far, at least, +as Western Virginia and Missouri are concerned. + +In the eleven seceded States there is no apparent difference of opinion +among those in authority, or among those accustomed to lead in public +affairs. The sentiment of attachment to the old Union has been +disappearing rapidly since the secession of South Carolina, until there +are now no open avowals of adherence to the government, unless such are +made by the mountaineers of Eastern Tennessee and Western North +Carolina. These men are for the present destitute of power. Should our +armies penetrate those regions, the inhabitants may essentially aid in +the reëstablishment of the government. Still, for the present, we must +regard the eleven States as a unit in the rebellion. Thus we are called +to note the anomalous fact that the rebels seek a division between a +people who speak the same language, occupy a territory which has no +marked lines or features of separation, and who have from the first day +of their national existence been represented by the same national +government. Hence it is plain, whatever may be the immediate result of +the contest, that there can be no permanent peace until the territory +claimed as the territory of the United States is again subject to one +government. This may be the work of a few months, it may be the work of +a few years, or it may be the business of a century. Without the +reëstablishment of the government over the whole territory of the Union +there can be no peace; and without the reëstablishment of that +government there can be no prosperity. + +The armies of the rebel States will march to the great lakes, or the +armies of the loyal States will march to the gulf of Mexico. We are +therefore involved in a war which does not admit of adjustment by +negotiation. In a foreign war, peace might be secured by mutual +concessions, and preserved by mutual forbearance. In ordinary civil +strife the peace of a state or of an empire might be restored by +concessions to the disaffected, by a limitation of the privileges of the +few, or an extension of the rights of the many. But none of these +expedients meet the exigency in which we find ourselves. The rebels +demand the overthrow of the government, the division of the territory of +the Union, the destruction of the nation. The question is, _Shall this +nation longer exist?_ And why is the question forced upon us? Is there a +difference of language? Not greater than is found in single States. +Indeed, Louisiana is the only one of the eleven where any appreciable +difference exists, and the number of French in that State is less than +the number of Germans in Pennsylvania. Nor has nature indicated lines of +separation like the St. Lawrence and the lakes on the north and the +Rocky Mountains on the west. The lines marked by nature--the Rocky +Mountains, the Mississippi River, and the Alleghanies--cut the line +proposed by the confederates transversely, and force the suggestion that +each section will be put in possession of three halves of different +wholes, instead of a single unit essential to permanent national +existence. + +Do the products of the industry of the two sections so conflict with +each other in domestic or foreign markets as to encourage the idea that +by separation the South could gain in this particular? Not in the least. +The North has been a large customer for the leading staple of the South, +and the South is constantly in need of those articles which the North is +fitted to produce. The South complains of the growth of the North, and +vainly imagines that by separation its own prosperity would be promoted. +The answer to all this is, that there has never been a moment for fifty +years when the seceded States had not employment, for all the labor that +they could command, in vocations more profitable than any leading +industry of the North; and, moreover, every industry of the North has +been open to the free competition of the South. Not argument, only +statement, is needed to show that by origin, association, language, +business, and labor interests, as well as by geographical laws, unity +and not diversity is the necessity of our public life. Yet, in defiance +of these considerations, the South has undertaken the task of destroying +the government. Nor do the rebels assert that the plan of government is +essentially defective. The Montgomery constitution is modeled upon that +of the United States; though the leaders no longer disguise their +purpose to abolish its democratic features and incorporate aristocratic +and monarchical provisions. They hope, also, to throw off the restraints +of law, bid defiance to the general public sentiment of the world, and +reopen the trade in slaves from Africa. It remains to be seen whether +the desire of England for cotton and conquest, and her sympathy with the +rebels, will induce her to pander to this inhuman traffic. + +It has happened occasionally that a government has so wielded its powers +as to contribute, unconsciously, to its own destruction. But our +experience furnishes the first instance of a government having been +seized by a set of conspirators, and its vast powers used for its own +overthrow. + +It is now accredited generally that several members of Mr. Buchanan's +cabinet were conspirators, and that they used the power confided to them +for the purpose of destroying the government itself. Hence it appears, +whatever the test applied, that the present rebellion is distinguished +from all others in the fact that it does not depend upon any of the +causes on which national dissensions have been usually based. + +The public discontents in Ireland, in their causes, bore a slight +analogy to our own. There were existing in that country various systems +and customs that were prejudicial to the prosperity of the island. Among +these may be mentioned the Encumbered Estates and Absenteeism; and it is +worthy of remark that whatever has been done by the British government +for the promotion of the prosperity of Ireland, and the pacification of +its people, has been by a reformation of the institutions of the +country. + +Rebels in arms may be overthrown and dispersed by superior force, but +the danger of rebellion will continue so long as the disposition to +rebel animates the people. This disposition can not be reached by +military power merely; the exciting cause must be removed, or, at least, +so limited and modified as to impair its influence as a disturbing force +in the policy of the country. As we have failed to trace this rebellion +to any of the causes that have led to civil disturbances in other +countries, it only remains to suggest that cause which in its relations +and conditions is peculiar to the United States. All are agreed that +slavery is the cause of the rebellion. Yet slavery exists in other +countries,--as Brazil, for example,--and thus far without exhibiting its +malign influence in conspiracy and rebellion. This is no doubt true; but +it should be borne in mind that, in the United States, slavery has power +in the government as the basis of representation, and that the slave +States are associated in the government with free States. If the +institution of slavery had not been a basis of political power, or had +all the States maintained slavery, it is probable that the rebellion +would never have been organized, or, if organized, it could never have +attained its present gigantic proportions. + +We have now reached a point where we can see the error of our public +national life. The doctrine announced by President Lincoln, while he was +only Mr. Lincoln, of Springfield, that the nation must be all free or +all slave, was not new with him. The men who framed the constitution +acted under the same idea, though they may not have so distinctly +expressed the truth. There is, however, abundant circumstantial evidence +that they so believed, and that their only hope for the country was +based on the then reasonable expectation that slavery would disappear, +and that the nation would be all free. It was reserved for modern +political alchemists to discover the idea on which the leading +politicians have been acting for thirty or forty years, that one half of +a nation might believe in the fundamental principle on which the +government is based, and the other half deny it, and yet the government +go on harmoniously, wielding its powers acceptably and safely to all. +This is the error. Our failure is not in the plan of government; the +error is not that our fathers supposed that a government could be based +and permanently sustained upon slavery and freedom advancing _pari +passu_. They indulged in no such delusion. The error is modern. When +slavery demanded concessions, and freedom yielded; when slavery +suggested compromises, and freedom accepted them; when slavery, +unrebuked, claimed equal rights under the constitution, and freedom +acknowledged the justice of the claim,--then came the test whether the +government itself should be administered in the service of slavery or in +behalf of freedom. Two considerations influenced the slaveholders. +First, even should they be permitted to wield the government, they +foresaw that its provisions were inadequate to meet the exigencies of +slavery. No despotism can be sustained by the voluntary efforts of its +subjects. Slavery is a despotism; and as such can only be supported by +power independent of that of the slaves themselves, and always +sufficient for their control. The slaves were yearly increasing in +numbers and gaining in knowledge. These changes indicated the near +approach of the time when the slaves of the South would reenact the +scenes of St. Domingo. The plantations of the cotton region are remote +from each other, and the proportion of slaves on a single plantation is +often as many as fifty for every free person, The sale of negroes from +the northern slave States has introduced an element upon the plantations +at once intelligent and hostile, and, of course, dangerous, The time +must come when the white populations of plantations, districts, or +States even, would disappear in a single night, In such a moment of +terror and massacre how, and to what extent, would the United States +government, acting under the constitution, afford protection, aid, or +even secure a barren vengeance? These were grave questions, and admitted +only of an unsatisfactory answer at best. The government has power to +put down insurrections; but for what good would a body of troops be +marched to a scene of desolation and blood a fortnight or a month after +the servile outbreak had done its work? These considerations controlled +the intelligent minds of the South, and they were driven irresistibly to +the conclusion that the government of the United States was insufficient +for the institution of slavery, even though the friends of slavery were +entrusted with the administration. What hope beyond? They dared to +believe that by separation and the establishment of a military +slaveholding oligarchy, to which the public opinion and public policy of +the seceded States now tend, they would be able to guard the institution +against all tumults from within and all attacks from without. If success +were to crown their present undertakings, is it probable that the +government contemplated would be strong enough for the task proposed? If +Russia could not hold her serfs in bondage, can the South set up a +government which can guard, and defend, and secure slavery? Or will a +French or English protectorate render that stable which the government +of the United States was incompetent to uphold? These questions remain, +but the one first suggested is settled:--That the government of the +United States, howsoever and by whomsoever administered, +constitutionally, is inadequate to meet the exigencies of slavery. + +Secondly. The leaders of the rebellion foresaw, a long time since, that +slavery had no security that the government would be administered in the +interest of that institution. The admission of California, followed by +the admission of three other free States, forced the slaveholders into a +hopeless minority in the Senate of the United States. The census of 1860 +promised to reduce the delegation of the slave States in the House of +Representatives. Previous to 1870 other free States were likely to be +admitted into the Union; and thus by successive and unavoidable events, +the government was sure to pass into the hands of the non-slave States. +It would not be just to the South to omit to say that apprehensions +there existed that the North would disregard the constitution. These +apprehensions were fostered for unholy purposes; and so sealed is the +South to the progress of truth, through the domination of the +slaveholders over the press and public men, and by the consequent +ignorance of the mass of the people, that these misapprehensions have +never been removed in any degree by the declarations of Congress or of +political parties in the North. + +The mind of the South was thus brought logically to two conclusions: +First, that the government of the United States was inadequate to meet +the exigencies of slavery, even though it should be administered +uniformly by the friends of slavery. Secondly, that the administration +of the government would be controlled by the ideas of the free States. + +These conclusions would have been sufficiently unwelcome to the Southern +leaders, if they had had no purpose or policy beyond the maintenance of +slavery where it exists; but they had already determined to extend the +institution southward over Mexico and Central America, and they knew +full well the necessity of destroying the Union and the government +before such an enterprise could be undertaken with any hope of success. +Hence they denied the right of the majority to rule unless they ruled in +obedience to the will of the minority. Thus the slaveholders came +naturally and unavoidably to the denial of the fundamental principle of +the government; and, having denied the principle, there remained no +reason why they should not undertake the overthrow of the government +itself. And thus the conspiracy and the rebellion sprung naturally and +unavoidably from the institution of slavery. + +Further, slavery is the support of the conspiracy and the rebellion both +in Europe and America. However disastrous slavery may be to the mass of +the whites, it affords to the governing class the opportunity and means +for constant attention to public affairs. + +In all our history the North has felt the force of this advantage. As a +general thing, a northern member occupies a seat in Congress for one or +two terms, and then his place is taken by an untried man. And even +during his term of service, his attention is given in part to his +private affairs, or to plans and schemes designed to secure a +re-election. The Southern member takes his seat with a conscious +independence due to the fact that his slaves are making crops upon his +plantation, and that his re-election does not depend upon the hot breath +of the multitude. He enjoys a long and independent experience in the +public service; and he thus acquires a power to serve his party, his +country or his section, which is disproportionate even to his +experience. A good deal of the consideration which the South enjoys +abroad, and especially in England, is due to the fact that in the South +a governing class is recognized, which corresponds to the governing +classes wherever an aristocracy or monarchism exists. By a community of +ideas the South commands the sympathy, and enjoys the confidence and +secret support of the enemies of democracy the world over. Through the +political and pecuniary support which the public men of that section +have derived from slavery, they have been able to take and maintain +social positions at Washington, which, by circumstances, were denied to +much the larger number of northern representatives, and thus they have +influenced the politics of this country and the opinions of other +nations. Consider by how many sympathies and interests England is bound +to encourage the policy and promote the fortunes of the South. There is +the sympathy of the governing class in England for the governing class +in the South, even though they are slaveholders; there is the hostility +of the ignorant operatives in their manufacturing towns, who, through +exterior influences, have been led to believe that whatever hardships +they are brought to endure are caused by the desire of the North to +subjugate the South; there is the purpose of English merchants and +manufacturers to cripple, or if possible to destroy the manufactures and +commerce of the North; and, finally, there is the hope of all classes +that by the alienation or separation of the two sections England would +derive additional commercial advantages, and that the scheme of here +establishing a continental republic would be abandoned, never to be +again revived. There is, moreover, a reasonable expectation, founded in +the nature of things, and possibly already supported by positive +promises and pledges, that England is to stand in the relation of +protector to the confederated States. Nor will she be in the least +disturbed by the institution of slavery, if perchance that institution +survives the struggle. If she can be secure in the monopoly of the best +cotton lands on the globe, if she can be manufacturer and shop-keeper +for the South, if she can deprive the North of one half of its +legitimate commerce, if she can obtain the control of the gulf of +Mexico, of the mouth of the Mississippi, if she can command the line of +sea-coast from Galveston to Fortress Monroe or even to Charleston, and +thus compel us to make our way to the Pacific by the passes of the Rocky +Mountains exclusively, there is no sacrifice of men, or of money, or of +principle, or of justice, that would be deemed too great by the English +people and government. But what then? Are we to make war upon England +because her sympathies and interests run thus with the South? Is it not +wiser to consider why it is that the South is sustained by the interests +and sympathies of England? If slavery for fifty years had been unknown +among us, could there be found a hundred men, within the limits of the +United States, who would accept a British protectorate under any +circumstances or for any purpose whatever? And is it not therein +manifest, that our foreign and domestic perils are alike due to slavery? +And shall we not have dealt successfully with all our foreign +difficulties when we shall have established the jurisdiction of the +United States over the territory claimed by the rebels? But until that +happy day arrives, we shall not be relieved for an instant from the +danger of a foreign war; and if the rebellion last six months longer, +there is no reason to suppose that a foreign war can be averted. When we +offer so tempting a prize to nations that wish us ill, can we expect +them to put aside the opportunity which we have not the courage and +ability to master? We have observed the hot haste of England to +recognize the rebels as belligerents; we have seen the flimsy covering +of neutrality that she has thrown over the illegitimate commerce that +her citizens have carried on with the South, and from the time, manner, +and nature of her demand for the release of Mason and Slidell, we are +forced to infer that she will seize every opportunity to bring about an +open rupture with the United States. And though Mr. Seward has carried +the country successfully through the difficulty of the Trent, we ought +to expect the presentation of demands which we can not so readily and +justly meet. Indeed, enough is known of the Mexican question to suggest +the most serious apprehensions of foreign war on that account. + +The necessity for speedily crushing the rebellion is as strong as it was +at the moment when Lord Lyons made the demand for the release of the +persons taken from the deck of the Trent. + +Is there any reason, even the slightest, to suppose that by military and +naval means alone the rebellion can be crushed by the 19th of April +next? + +Yet every day's delay gives the confederate States additional strength, +and renders them in the estimation of mankind more and more worthy of +recognition and independent government. Their recognition will be +followed by treaties of friendship and alliance; and those treaties will +give strength to the rebels and increase the embarrassments of our own +government. It is the necessity of our national life that the settlement +of this question should not be much longer postponed. + +By some means we must satisfy the world, and that speedily, that the +rebellion is a failure. Nor can we much longer tender declarations of +what we intend to do, or offer promises as to what we will do, in the +face of the great fact that for eight months the capital of the Republic +has been in a state of siege. If, in these circumstances of necessity +and peril to us, the armies of the rebels be not speedily dispersed, and +the leaders of the rebellion rendered desperate, will the government +allow the earth to again receive seed from the hand of the slave, under +the dictation of the master, and for the support of the enemies of the +constitution and the Union? If there were any probability that the +States would return to their allegiance, then indeed we might choose to +add to our own burthens rather than interfere their internal affairs. +But there is no hope whatever that the seceded States will return +voluntarily to the Union. + +There could be no justifying cause for the emancipation of the slaves in +time of peace by the action of the general government; and now it must +be demanded and defended as the means by which the war is to be closed, +and a permanent peace secured. If before the return of seed-time the +emancipation of the slaves in several or in all of the disloyal States +be declared as a military necessity, and the blacks be invited to the +sea-coast where we have and may have possession, they will raise +supplies for themselves, and the rebellion will come to an ignominious +end, through the inability of the masters, when deprived of the services +of their slaves, to procure the means of carrying on the war. + + * * * * * + +SHE SITS ALONE. + + + She sits alone, with folded hands, + While from her full and lustrous eyes + Imperial light wakes love to life,-- + Love that, unheeded, quickly dies. + + She sits alone, among them all + So near, and yet so far,--they seem + But our coarse waking thoughts, while she + Is the reflection of a dream. + + She sits alone, so still, so calm, + So queenly in her grand repose, + You wish that Love would slap her cheeks + And make the white a blush-red rose! + + * * * * * + +LITERARY NOTICES. + + + + CHEAP COTTON BY FREE LABOR. By a Cotton Manufacturer. Second + edition. Boston: A. Williams & Company, 100 Washington Street. + 1861. Price 12 cents. + +It seldom happens that we find so many weighty facts within so short a +compass as are given in this pamphlet. For many years the assertion that +only the negro, and the negro as a slave, could be profitably employed +in raising cotton in America, has been accepted most implicitly by the +whole country, and this has been the great basis of pro-slavery +argument. But of late years, doubt has been thrown, from time to time, +on this assumption, and in the little work before us there is given an +array of concise statements, which, until their absolute falsehood is +proved, must be regarded as conclusive of the fact, that the white man +is _better_ adapted than the negro to labor at the cultivation of +cotton. + +Our 'cotton manufacturer' begins properly by bursting the enormous +bubble of the failure of free labor in the British West Indies; showing, +what is too little known, that the decrease in the export of sugar from +Jamaica began and rapidly continued for thirty years before the +emancipation of slaves, but has _since_ been well-nigh arrested. With +this decrease of export the _import of food has decreased, although the +population, has increased_; but, at the present day, the aggregate value +of the exports of _all_ the British West Indies is now nearly as great +as it was in the palmiest days of slavery, while on an average the free +blacks now earn far more for themselves than they formerly did for their +masters, and are therefore 'better off.' Even those who regard the +negro, whether a slave or free, as fulfilling his whole earthly mission +in proportion to the profit which he yields Lancashire spinners, have no +just grounds of complaint. But as regards the United States, there are +certain facts to be considered. According to the census of 1850, there +were in our slave States, 'where it is frequently asserted that white +men can not labor in the fields,' eight hundred thousand free whites +over fifteen years of age employed exclusively in agriculture, and over +one million exclusively in out-door labor. Again, wherever the +free-white labor and small-farm system of growing cotton has been tried, +it has invariably proved more productive than that of employing slaves. +It can not be denied that, deducting the expense of maintaining decrepit +and infant slaves, every field hand costs $20 per month, and German +labor could be hired for less than this, the success of such labor in +Texas fully establishing its superiority,--and Texas contains cotton and +sugar land enough to supply three times the entire crop now raised in +this country. Such being the case, has not free labor a _right_ to +demand that these fields be thrown open to it, without being degraded by +comparison to and competition with slaves? Our author consequently +suggests that Texas, at least, shall be made free, and a limit thereby +established to slavery in the older States. It would cost less than one +hundred millions of dollars to purchase all the slaves now there, and +the completion of the Galveston railroad would have the effect of giving +to Texas well-nigh the monopoly of the cotton supply. Such are, in +brief, the main points of this pamphlet, which we trust will be +carefully read, and so far as possible tested by every one desirous of +obtaining information on the greatest social and economical question of +the day. + + + A DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. By Joseph E. Worcester, LL.D. + Boston: Swan, Brewer & Tileston. 1862. + +To boldly declare in favor of any _one_ dictionary at the present day, +would be as bold, and we may add as untimely and illogical a proceeding +as to endorse any one grammar, when nothing can be clearer to the +student of language than that our English tongue is more unfixed and +undergoing changes more rapidly than any other which boasts a truly +great literature. The scholar, consequently, generally pursues an +eclectic system, if timid conforming as nearly as may be to 'general +usage,' if bold and 'troubled with originality,' making up words for +himself, after the manner of CARLYLE, which if 'apt,' after being more +or less ridiculed, are tacitly and generally adopted. But, amid the 'war +of words' and of rival systems, people must have dictionaries, and +fortunately there is this of WORCESTER'S, which has of late risen +immensely in public favor. We say fortunately, for whatever discords and +inconvenience may arise at the time from the rivalry of different +dictionaries, it can not be doubted that each effort contributes vastly +to enrich our mother-tongue, and render easier the future task of the +'coming man' who is, years hence, to form from the whole one perfect +work. Our own verdict in the matter would, accordingly, be, that we +should most unwillingly dispense with either of the great candidates for +popular orthographic favor. + + + RELIGIO MEDICI, A LETTER TO A FRIEND, CHRISTIAN MORALS, URN BURIAL, + AND OTHER PAPERS. By Sir Thomas Browne, Kt., M.D. Boston: Ticknor + and Fields. 1862. + +Beautiful indeed is the degree of typographic art displayed in this +edition of one of the raciest and most readable of our sterling English +classics. The antique lettering of the title alone, in which words of +carmine-red alternate with the 'letters blake,' the counterpart +portrait, and the neat red-illumined capitals of every chapter, not to +mention the type and binding, all render this volume one of the most +appropriate of gift-books for a friend of true scholarly tastes. Few +writers are so perfectly loved as Sir THOMAS BROWNE is by such +'friends;' as in BACON'S or MONTAIGNE'S essays, his every sentence has +its weight of wisdom, and he who should read this volume until every +sentence were cut deeply in memory, would never deem the time lost which +was thus spent. Yet, while so deeply interesting to the most general +reader, let it not be forgotten that it was with the greatest truth that +Dr. JOHNSON testified of him that 'there is scarcely a writer to be +found, whose profession was not divinity, that has so frequently +testified his belief of the sacred writings, has appealed to them with +such unlimited submission, or mentioned them with such unvaried +reverence.' + + + TRAGEDY OF ERRORS. _Aux plus déshérités le plus d'amour_. Boston: + Ticknor & Fields. 1862. + +The extraordinary conception of a blank verse dramatic novel of Southern +slave life. We can not agree with its very talented author in finding so +much that is touching and beautiful in the negro, believing that the +motto which prefaces this work is simply a sentimental mistake. The +negro _is_ degraded, vile if you please, and not admirable at all, and +therefore we should work hard, and induce him too to work, rise, and +purify himself. Apart from this little difference as to a fact, we have +only praise for this work, which is most admirably written, abounding in +noble passages of brave poetry, and bearing, like the 'Record of an +Obscure Man,' genial evidence of scholarship and refined thoughts and +instincts. It will, we sincerely hope, be very widely read, and we are +confident that all who _do_ read it will be impressed, as we have been, +by the true genius of the author, even though they may dissent, as we +do, from the idealization of the negro as is here done. The cause of the +poor was never yet aided by false gilding. + +EDITOR'S TABLE + + +During the past month our domestic difficulties have threatened to +become doubly difficult, owing to the demand made upon this country by +England, and to the circumstances attending it. + +Very recently it became known that on board of an English mail steamer, +'The Trent,' were two men, Messrs. SLIDELL and MASON, accredited agents +from a portion of the United States which is in open and flagrant +rebellion against a constituted government which has been recognized as +such by every nation in the world. Those men, calling themselves +ambassadors, and just as much entitled to that dignity or to official +recognition as two agents from NENA SAHIB would have been during the +revolt stirred up by that Hindoo, were taken by an officer of the United +States government from the Trent, under the full impression by him that +the seizure was in every sense legal. + +The British government regarded this arrest an outrage, and promptly +responded by a demand for the restoration of Messrs. SLIDELL and MASON. +Numerous 'indignation meetings' held in the great centres of English +commerce and manufactures echoed this demand, which received a +threatening form from the fact that great military and naval +preparations, evidently aimed against the United States, were at once +put under way. + +Was the seizure illegal? + +The vast amount of international law which has been brought to light on +this subject, not merely in the press, but from the researches and pens +of eminent jurists, led us to no severely definite conclusion. That an +emissary is not a contraband of war as much as a musket or a soldier, +appears preposterous, and offers a distinction which, as Mr. SEWARD +observes, disappears before the spirit of the law, M. THOUVENEL to the +contrary, notwithstanding. It was therefore in the mode of procedure in +regard to the seizure of the emissaries that the trouble lay. According +to law, the vessel, if carrying contraband of war, is liable to seizure. +But if this assumed contraband be _men_, these may not be guilty, and +are entitled to a trial. Still, as the law--or want of law--stands, the +seizure of the vessel is the requisite step, the minor issue being +practically regarded as the major; an anomaly not less striking than +that which still prevails in certain courts, where, to recover damages +for seduction, the defendant can only be mulcted in a penalty for the +loss of time caused to his victim. It was not possible for Captain +WILKES to seize the vessel, Great Britain declined to waive her claim to +the execution of every jot and tittle of the letter of the law, and +consequently the 'contrabands' were surrendered. + +The absurdity of involving two great nations in a war, on account of a +legal paradox of this nature, requires no comment. The dry comment of +General SCOTT, that the 'wrong' would have been none had it only been +greater, recalls the absurd line in the old play:-- + + 'My wound is great because it is so small;' + +and the supplement,-- + + 'Then 'twould be greater were it none at + all.' + +But, absurd or not, the law must be followed. Great nations must settle +their disputes by the law, even as individuals do, and there is no shame +in submitting to it, for submission to the constituted authorities is +the highest proof of honor and of civilization. And if England chooses +to strain the law to its utmost tension, to thereby push her neutrality +to the very verge of sympathy with our rebels, and manifest, by a +peremptory and discourteous exercise of her rights, total want of +sympathy with our efforts to suppress rebellion,--why, we must bear it. + +And here, leaving the letter of the law, we may appropriately say a few +words of the _animus_ which has inspired the 'influential classes' in +England as regards this country, during our struggle with the South. We +are assured that the mass of the English people sympathize with us, and +we are glad to hear it,--just as we are to know that Ireland is friendly +in her disposition. But we can not refrain--and we do it with no view to +words which may stir up ill-feeling--from commenting, in sorrow rather +than anger, on the fact that such a majority of journalists, +capitalists, yes, and the mass of inhabitants of English cities, have so +unblushingly, for the mere sake of money, turned their backs on those +principles of freedom of which they boasted for so many years, flouting +us the while for being behind them in the race of philanthropy! It is +pitiful and painful to see pride brought so low. We of the Federal Union +are striving, heart and soul, to uphold our government--a government +which has been a great blessing to England and to the world. Who shall +say what revolutions, what tremendous disasters, would not have +overtaken Great Britain had it not been for the escape-valve of +emigration hither? If ever a situation appealed to the noblest +sympathies of mankind, ours does. Struggling to maintain a government +which has given to the poor man fuller rights and freer exercise of +labor than he has ever before known on this earth; fighting heroically +to uphold the best republic ever realized;--who would have dreamed that +'brave, free, honest Old England' would have regarded us coldly, sneered +at our victories, grinned over our defeats? But more than this. Though +not avowed as an aim, and though secondary to our first great +object,--the reëstablishment of the Union and a constitutional +government,--we _all_ know, and so does every Englishman, that the +emancipation of the slave, to a greater or less degree, _must_ +inevitably follow our success. Here comes the test of that English +abolition of the blackest and fiercest stamp which has for years been +avowed in Great Britain, and which has done as much as aught else +towards stirring up this foul rebellion. Where be your gibes _now_, O +Britannia? Where be your bitter jeers against the 'lying Constitution,' +against the 'stars for the white man and the stripes for the negro,' +against everything American, because America was the land of the slave? +We are fighting--dying--to directly uphold ourselves, and indirectly to +effect this very emancipation for which you clamored; we are losing +cotton and suffering everything;--but _you_, when it comes to the pinch, +will endure nothing for your boasted abolition, but slide off at once +towards aiding the inception of the foulest, blackest, vilest +slaveocracy ever instituted on earth! Disguise, quibble, lie, let them +that will--these are _facts_. Because we, in our need, have instituted a +protective tariff, which was absolutely necessary to keep us from utter +ruin, and on the flimsy pretext that we are not fighting directly for +emancipation, proud, free, and honest Old England, as publicly +represented, eats all her old words, and, worse than withholding all +sympathy from us, shows in a thousand ill-disguised ways an itching +impatience to aid the South! Men of England, _we_ are suffering for a +principle common to all humanity; can not you suffer somewhat with us? +Can you not, out of the inexhaustible wealth of your islands, find +wherewithal to stave off the bitter need, for a season, of your +cotton-spinners? Feed them?--why we would, for a little aid in our dire +need, have poured in millions of bushels of wheat to your poor,--one +brave, decided act of sympathy on your part for us would ere this have +trampled down secession, and sent cotton to your marts, even to +superfluity. Or, were you so minded, and could 'worry through' a single +year, you might raise in your own colonies cotton enough, and be forever +free of America. + +Or is it really true, as many think, that your statesmen would gladly +dismember this Union? The suggestion reveals such a depth of infamy that +we will not pause on it. Let it pass--if the hour of need _should_ come +we will revive it, and out of that need will arise a giant of Union such +as was never before dreamed of. Let the country believe _that_, and from +Maine to California there will be such a blending into one as time can +never dissolve! + +But be it borne in mind;--and we would urge it with greater earnestness +than, aught which we have yet said,--there is in England a large, noble +body of men who do _not_ sympathize with the Southern rebels; who are +_not_ sold, soul and body, to cotton; who see this struggle of ours as +it is, and who would not willingly see us divided. These men believe in +industry, in free labor, in having every country developed as much as +possible, in order that the industry of each may benefit by that of the +other. Honor to whom honor is due,--and much is due to these men. +Meanwhile we can wait,--and, waiting, we shall strive to do what is +right. England has her choice between the cotton of the South and the +market of the North. Let her choose the former, and she will grasp ruin. +We should suffer for a time, bitterly. But out of that suffering we +should come so strengthened, so united, and so perfectly able to +dispense with all foreign labor, that where we were before as rough ore, +then we should be pure gold in our prosperity. + +The first statesmen of England have shown by their speeches, as the +first British journals have indicated in their articles, that they +earnestly believe what Stephens and hundreds of other Southerners have +asserted, that _all_ the wealth of the Northern States has come from the +South, and that the South is the great ultimate market for the major +portion of our imports. Glancing over our map,--as was done by _The +Times_,-the Englishman may well believe this. He sees a vast extent of +territory,--he has heard and witnessed the boasts and extravagance of +Southerners abroad,--he knows that where so many million bales of cotton +go out, just so much money must flow in; he is angry at our Northern +tariff of emergency, and so believes that by opening to himself the +South he will secure a vast market. Little does he reflect on the fact +that, this step once taken, he will close up in the North and West his +greatest market, one worth ten times that of the South, and constantly +increasing, just in proportion as our population progresses more rapidly +than that of the slave States. It is no exaggeration,--strange as it may +seem,--but this extraordinary ignorance has been manifested time and +again by high authority in England since the war began. But supposing +the balance struck, and cotton found to be worth more to England than +the market of the North. Does not our very independence of English +manufactures imply such a stimulus to our own, as to threaten that we +shall thereby be in a much shorter time in a condition to compete with +her in every market of the world? Drive us to manufacturing for +ourselves, and we shall manufacture for every one. Already every year +witnesses American inventiveness achieving new triumphs over British +rivalry. Has England forgotten the report of Messrs. Whitworth and +Wallis on American manufactures, in which they were told that of late +years they have been more indebted to American skill for useful +inventions than to their own? War and non-intercourse will doubtless +compel us to economy, and render labor cheaper in America, but they can +not quench our innate Yankee-Saxon inventiveness and industry. But if +labor is made cheaper in America, then our final triumph will only be +hastened. If England seeks her own ruin, she could not advance it more +rapidly than she would do by a war or a difference with us. And this +many think that she will do for the sake of one season's supply of +American cotton! The fable of him who killed the goose for the sake of +the golden egg becomes terrible when acted out by a great nation. And if +this be true, then the uplifted sword of Albion is, verily, nothing but +a goose-killing knife. + +'God is not dead yet.' If we are in the right, He will guide and guard +us, and they who contend for right and justice and the liberty of the +poor, first fully taught on earth by the Saviour Jesus Christ, will not +suffer in the end. When we first entered on this struggle with the +South, it was soon realized that we had undertaken the greatest struggle +of history, the reformation of the modern age, the grandest battle for +progress and against the old serpent of oppression ever known. Let them +laugh who will, but such a trial of republicanism against the last of +feudalism is this, and nothing less. God aid us! But it may be that, as +the contest widens, grander accomplishments lie before us. Whether it be +done by the sword, or by peaceful industry; whether as victors, or as +the unrighteously borne-down in our sorest hour of need,--it is not +impossible that, in one way or the other, it is yet in our destiny to +refute the monstrous theory that whatever the most powerful nation on +earth does is necessarily right, and that all considerations must yield +to its enormous interests. Such has been till the present the morality +of English and of all European diplomacy,--who will deny it? Can it be +possible that this is to last forever, and that nations are in the +onward march of progress privileged to adopt a different course from +that enjoined by God on individuals? 'Was Israel punished for this?' No, +it can not be. We stand at the portal of a new age; step by step Truth +must yet find her way even into the selfish camarilla councils of +'diplomacy.' Storms, sorrows, trials, and troubles may be before +us,--but we are working through a mighty time. 'Nothing without labor.' +_Our_ task for the present is the restoration of the sacred Union. From +_this_ let _nothing_ turn us aside, neither the threats of England or of +the world. If we must be humiliated by the law, then let us bear the +humiliation. Our Great Master bore aforetime the most cruel disgrace in +the same holy cause of vindicating the rights of man. If new struggles +are forced upon us, let us battle like men. We are living now in the +serious and the great,--let us bear ourselves accordingly, and the end +shall crown the work. + + * * * * * + +There is no use in disguising the fact--the people of the North, +notwithstanding their sufferings and sacrifices, are not yet _aroused_. +While immediate apprehensions--were entertained of war with England, it +was promptly said, that if this state of irritation continued, we should +be able to sweep the South away like chaff. + +Meanwhile, the North is full of secession sympathizers and traitors, and +they are most amiably borne with. There are journals which, in their +extreme 'democracy,' defend the South as openly as they dare in all +petty matters, and ridicule or discredit to their utmost every statement +reflecting on our enemies. They are, it is true, almost beneath contempt +and punishment; but their existence is a proof of an amiable, impassive +state of feeling, which will never proceed to very vigorous measures. +Were the whole people fairly aflame, such paltry treason would vanish +like straw in a fiery furnace. + +Yet all the time we hold the great weapon idly in our hands, and fear to +use it! By and by it will be too late. By and by emancipation-time will +have gone by, and when it is too late, we shall possibly see it adopted, +and hear its possible failure attributed to those who urged the prompt, +efficient application of it betimes. + +The article in this number of the Continental entitled The Huguenot +Families in America, is the first of a series which will embrace a great +amount of interesting details relative to the ancestry of the early +French Protestant settlers in this country. Those who are familiar with +the English version of WEISS'S History of the Huguenots, and who may +recall the merits of that concluding portion which is devoted to the +fortunes of the exiles in this country, will be pleased to learn that +its writer and our contributor are the same person--a gentleman whose +descent from the stock which he commemorates, and whose life-long +studies relative to his ancestral faith and its followers, have +peculiarly fitted him for the task. Descendants of _any_ of the Huguenot +families, in any part of this country, would confer a special favor by +transmitting to the author, through the care of the editor, any details, +family anecdotes, short biographic sketches, or other material suitable +for his history. It is especially desirable that some account should be +given of all those descendants of Huguenots who have in any way whatever +distinguished themselves in this country. + + * * * * * + +According to the report of the N.Y. Central Railroad it appears that the +average reduction of wages of the employes of that company, since the +beginning of the war, has been from $1.12 1/2 _per diem_ to 75 cents. +Taking increased taxation and the rise in prices into consideration, we +may assume that the working men of the North have lost fifty per cent. +of their usual gains. + +So far as this is an honorable sacrifice for the war, it is good. But +how long is it to last? It will last until the _whole_ country shall +have lost a sneaking sympathy for the enemy and their institutions, and +until every man and woman shall cease to openly approve of those +principles which, as the secessionists truly maintain, constitute us +'two peoples.' With what consistency can any one avow fidelity to the +Union and yet profess views according in the main with the platform of +Messrs. DAVIS and STEPHENS? + + * * * * * + +Divested of all other issues, the great complaint of Europe against our +conduct of the war is our 'inefficient blockade.' If we are to attach +faith to those arch-factors of falsehood, the New Orleans newspaper +editors, a vessel leaves their port daily and securely for the Havana. +It was the same journals which some months since announced in each +succeeding issue that 'the fifteen millions loan is all taken;' 'the +loan is very nearly taken;' 'it gives us pleasure to announce that the +loan is now completed,' and so on, backing up their assertion's by a +series of truly amusing details of 'proof.' + +That sundry vessels _have_ broken the blockade is as palpable as that it +was for some time most inefficiently conducted. Yet, at the same time, +let the enormous difficulties of the task be remembered, and our great +want of means at the beginning of the war, when, stripped by the +machinations of traitors for years, we had indeed to _begin_ from almost +nothing. The coast from Maryland to Mexico is a different affair from +that of France or England. The great Napoleon himself, with all his +efforts, could never keep his coast-line unbroken by smugglers. Had +foreign critics of our war made the slightest friendly or kindly +allowance, they would never have spoken as they do of our 'inefficient +blockade.' But the great majority of their comments have been neither +kindly nor friendly. + +Meanwhile, the work goes bravely on. 'The Stone Fleet' will soon have +effectually stopped that 'rat-hole,' Charleston, and it is evident that, +unless distracted by foreign intervention, the whole coast will be well +walled in and guarded. It must, will, and shall be done in time. 'It is +more difficult to move a mountain than a marble.' + + * * * * * + +It would be interesting to trace the probable European results of a war +between America and England. Russia, threatened with a servile war, +would find in a war with England the most effectual means of settling +home difficulties. Louis NAPOLEON, it is said, tacitly encourages +England to get to war. How long would he remain her ally when an +opportunity would present itself of avenging Waterloo? Or if Hungary +and the Sclavonian provinces blazed up in insurrection, what price less +than the long-coveted Rhine, and perhaps Belgium, would Louis NAPOLEON +accept for his services in aiding Austria? Or would he not take it +without rendering such problematic service? Let England beware his +friendship. He is a great man, and for his subjects a good one,--but woe +to those who trust him for their own ends or believe in his lore! There +was one VICTOR EMMANUEL who trusted him once--with the result set forth +in the following merry lay:-- + +A TRUE FABLE, WITHOUT A MORAL. + + 'This LOUIS is a rascal, friend; + From all his arts may Heaven defend! + And be thou ever on thy guard, + Lest thy faith meet a sad reward. + And if he swear he loves thee, laugh! + For give him thy little finger half, + And the iron chains of his stern control + Will sink like fire on thy poor soul!' + + Now VICTOR heard all this, one day, + And smiled--'It's queer how men can say + Such things to injure their neighbors! + For do but look at this wonderful man, + So rich in thought, so fertile in plan, + Who, to place all tyranny under ban, + Never remits his labors,-- + This dear, good soul, who, with magical art, + Brings freedom and peace to my trembling heart.' + + Soon after, Sir LOUIS rode over the moor: + 'My VICTOR, how comes it you're still so poor, + When I have paid all your debts, sir? + I've made you so rich, I've made you so great; + I've brought you gifts of money and plate; + Is there anything more to complete your state, + That you'd like to have, _I_ can get, sir? + Come, VICTOR, confess to your faithful friend, + Who to make you happy his honor would lend.' + + 'Oh, worthy man,--my tower and strength! + How sweet it is that I may, at length, + Confide in you as a brother!' + 'Yes, take what you will, my statesman hold, + Only ask not whence comes the shining gold. + Just see what a beauty here I hold; + If you're good I may bring you another!-- + A crown so rich in costly gems + It will match the Eastern diadems!' + + Little VICTOR gazed at the sparkling crown, + Then fell at the feet of his LOUIS down, + Overcome by deep emotion. + 'Oh! oh! is it true? is it all for me? + This beautiful crown, with its diamonds _three?_ + And he clapped his hands in boundless glee, + And vowed eternal devotion; + While LOUIS looked on with a happy heart, + And blessed himself for his consummate art. + + 'Yes, VICTOR,' he said, 'it gives me joy + To present you, to-day, with this pretty toy, + With such freedom from envy or rancor! + But get up from your knees; 'tisn't quite orthodox + To kneel to a man; you might get on the rocks + Of his HOLINESS' anger. + Now lay the crown in your jewel-box, + And, lest some wandering, cunning fox + Should steal it, be sure to secure the locks.' + + 'Oh, a friend in need is a friend indeed!' + Quoth VICTOR; 'but this is beyond my meed. + And what gift of mine can repay you?' + 'The key of the casket, friend, if you please, + I will take to my safe beyond the seas. + Your grateful heart will thus rest at ease; + So give it to me, I pray you.' + But VICTOR'S eyes grew large with fright, + And he cried, 'Oh, LOUIS! this can't be right; + For how can I get of my jewels a sight? + You might as well take them away too.' + 'Give me the key!' screamed his guardian angel, + 'Or receive the curse of the LORD'S evangel!' + + Poor VICTOR trembled with fear and pain, + When he found his entreaties were all in vain, + And the key was lost forever. + Alas, alas for the counsel scorned; + For the jewels hid and the freedom mourned. + And the faith returning never! + For link after link of the adamant chain + Mounted endless guard over heart and brain. + + * * * * * + +The London _Times_ of Dec. 12 contained the following:-- + + + Blind indeed must be the fury of the Americans if they can + voluntarily superadd a war with this country to their present + overwhelming embarrassments. It is clear, notwithstanding the + sanguine spirit in which small successes are regarded, that the + Federal Government is making no material progress in the war. + +That is to say, 'We have you at disadvantage. Now is our time to strike. +A year ago we might have been afraid, but not now.' When John Bull is +next cited as the standard authority for fair play, let his very manly +vaunts at this time be quoted in illustration! + +Up through the misty medium of 'News from the South' have struggled of +late divers rumors to the effect that the triumphant HOLLINS, of Steam +Ram and Greytown memory, has been somewhat shorn of his 'lorrels.' How +his stock fell below par is solemnly narrated in the second and +following instalment of our' Chronicles:'-- + + CHRONICLES OF SECESSIA. + + BOOK II. + + CHAPTER I. + + +There was a man and his name was HOLLINS. + +He was of those that go down to the sea in ships, and sometimes across +the bay in very different conveyances. + +Bold of speech, with a face like unto a brazen idol of Gath, and a voice +even as a bull of Bashan; a man such as Gog and Magog, and ever agog for +to be praised of men, or any other man. + +Now this HOLLINS was greatly esteemed of the South, howbeit he was held +of but little worth in the North, since they who made songs and jokes +for the papers had aforetime laughed him to scorn. + +For it had come to pass that sundry niggers, the children of Ham, with +others of the heathen, walking in darkness, had built unto themselves +shanties of sticks and mud, and dwellings of palm-leaves, and given unto +the place a name; even Greytown called they it; + +And, waxing saucy, had reviled the powers that be, and chosen unto +themselves a king, wearing pantaloons. + +And HOLLINS said unto himself, 'Lo! here is glory! + +'Verily here be niggers who are not men of war, strength is not in them, +and their habitations are as naught.' + +So he went against them with cannon and sailors, men of war and +horse-marines, and made war upon the children of Ham, + +Bombarding their town from the rising of the sun even unto the going +down of the same--there was not left one old woman there, no, not one. + +Now when the men of the South, and they which dwell in the isles of the +sea, with those of the uplands, + +Heard that HOLLINS had battered down the cabins of the niggers and slain +their hens, + +Then they said, 'This is a great man, and no abolitionist.' + +And his fame went abroad into all lands, and they made a feast for him, +where they sung aloud, merrily, + +'We will not go home, no, not until the morning. + +'Until the dayspring shineth we will not repair unto our dwellings. + +'Advance rapidly in the days of thy youth, + +'For it will come to pass that in thy declining years it will not be +possible. + +'Let the tongue of scandal be silent, and let the foot of dull care be +no longer in our dwelling. + +'It was in the centre of the Boomjalang, even on a summer day did it +come to pass,--rip snap, let her be again exalted! + +'Now let all the elders who are not wedded, even they that are without +wives, fill up the goblet, and let those who are assembled live for many +years! + +'Let them drink each unto the handmaid of his heart. May we live for +many years! + +'_Vive l'amour, vive le vin, vive la compagnie!_ + +'We will dance through the hours of darkness to the dayspring, and +return with the damsels, even unto their dwellings. + +'There was a man named JOHN BROWN; he owned a little one and it was an +Indian, yea, two Indian boys were among his heritage. + +'The ten spot taketh the nine, but is itself taken by the ace, and since +we are here assembled let us drink! + +'I will advance on my charger all night, even by day will I not tarry; +lo! I have wagered my shekels on the steed with a shortened tail; who +will stake his gold on the bay? + +'Great was COCK ROBIN, and JAMES BUCHANAN was not small, neither is +WIKOFF, + +'But greater than all is HOLLINS,--who shall prevail against him?' + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER II. + + +In the days of war, even after the South had seceded, + +When the arrows of the North were pointed, and the strong men had gone +forth unto battle; + +When the ships had closed up the ports of the great cities, and their +marts were desolate; + +When the damsels that had aforetime walked in fine linen and purple, and +precious stones, were clad in homespun and went to indigenous parties; +When the Mississippi was blockaded by the Preble and Vincennes, and many +more and several such; + +Then HOLLINS got himself ready for battle: with great boasting and +mighty words did he gird on his armor, + +Saying, 'Be not afraid, it is I who will unfold the terrors of my wrath; +the Yankees shall utterly wither away, their ships will I burn, and +their captains will I take captive, in a highly extra manner. + +'Did I not burn Greytown? was it not I who made the niggers run? who +shall stand before me?' + +Now they had made a thing which they called a steam-ram, an iron-covered +boat, like unto a serpent, even like unto the evil beast which crawleth +upon its belly, eating dirt, as do many of those who made it. + +And all the South rejoiced over it, the voices of many editors were +uplifted, + +According to the Revised Statutes, + +Prophesying sure death and sudden ruin, on back action principles. + +Yea, there were those who opined that the ram would suffice to destroy +the whole North, or at least its navy--there or thereabouts. + +And they cried aloud that the rams of Jericho were nowhere, and that the +great ram of Derby, was but as a ramlet compared to this. + +And the reporters of the _Crescent_ and _Bee_, and _Delta_, and +_Picayune_, and they of the kangaroon Creole French press, went to see +it, + +And returned with their eyes greatly enlarged, so that they seemed as +those of the fish men take from a mile depth in the Gulf of Nice,--which +are excessively magnocular,--even as large as the round tower of +Copenhagen were their optics, + +Declaring that on the face of the earth was no such marvel as the ram; +the wonderful wonder of wonders did it seem unto them; sharp death at +short notice on craft of all sizes. + +Then HOLLINS got unto himself divers tugs and clam-boats, ferry-boats, +and one or two larger craft, which thieves had stolen privily aforetime +from the government, + +For in that land all was done in those days by stealing; pilfering and +robbing were among them from the beginning. + +And he went forth to battle. + + * * * * * + +Chapter III. + + +Now it was about the middle of the third watch of the night, + +Came a messenger bearing good tidings unto the Philistines, even unto +the Pelicans and Swampers of New Orleans, + +Saying, 'He has done it, well he has. _C'est un fait accompli_.' + +Then got they all together in great joy, crying aloud, '_Vive_ +Hollane!--hurrah for Hollins! _viva el adelantado!_ Massa Hollums fur +ebber! _Der_ Hollins _soll leben!_ Go it, old Haulins! _Evviva il +capitano_ Hollino! Hip, hip, hurroo, ye divils, for Hollins!' + +Then there stood up in the high place one bearing a dispatch, which was +opened, the words whereof read he unto them: + +[THE DISPATCH.] + +'I have peppered them. + +'Peppered, peppered, peppered, peppepa-peppered them. + +'Pip, pap, pep, pop, pup-uppered 'em. + +'I drove 'em all before me--glory, g'lang; knocked 'em higher 'n a kite +and peppered 'em. + +'I sunk the Preble, and the Vincennes did I send to thunder. I peppered +'em. + +'The ram has rammed everything to pieces, and the rest did I drive high +and dry ashore, where I peppered 'em. + +'What was left did my ships destroy; verily I peppered 'em. + +'The residue thereof, lo! was it not burnt up by my fire-ships?--yea, +they were peppered. + +'The remainder I am even now peppering, and the others will I continue +to pepper. + +'Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers--even so did I--such a +peppering never yet was seen, neither aforetime, or aftertime, not in +the land where the pepper grows, or any other time. + +'I peppered 'em.' + +And lo! when this was read there arose such a cry of joy as never was +heard, no, not at the Tower of Babel on Saturday night. + +And he who read, said: 'Rome was redeemed for a thousand pounds of +pepper and a thousand of gold, pound for pound did they weigh it out. +But such pepper as this is beyond price--yea, beyond all gold. + +'But what are they whom he has conquered, oh my soul? Dirt and Iniquity +is their name, evil are their ways, cuss and confound them! + +'It was not worth the while for a gentleman to fight such +scallawags--behold, a blind nigger in a mud-scow could have put them to +flight--even a blind nigger should we have sent against them. + +'Great and glorious is HOLLINS, splendid is his fame, great is his +victory, beyond all those of the Meads and Prussians, Cherrynea and +Chepultapec, Thermopilus and Vagrom.' + +Then it was telegrammed all over the South, and the rest of mankind, +that HOLLINS had peppered the fleet, and pulverized the last particle +thereof into small-sized annihilation. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER IV. + + +But on the evening of the first day there came yet other tidings of a +reactive character, + +Saying that a confounded abolitionist man-of-war was still there giving +block-aid to Uncle Sam. + +And HOLLINS, who was in town, being asked what this might mean, + +Said, 'Fudge! + +'Go to, it is naught. Now I come to think of it, there _was_ one +infernal little sneaking 90-gun Yankee frigate, + +'Which, hearing of my coming, ran away six hours before the battle--ere +that I had peppered 'em.' + +But lo! even as he spake came yet another message, declaring there were +twain. + +Then HOLLINS declared, 'It is a d----d lie, and he who says it is +another--an abolitionist is he in his heart. Did I not pepper 'em?' + +But lo, even as he sware there came yet another, + +Saying, 'Let not my lord be angry, but with these eyes have I seen it; +by many others was it perceived. + +'Whether the ships which my lord peppered have risen again I know not, +but if the whole Yankee fleet isn't there again, all sound and right +side up with care, I hope I may be drotted into everlasting turpentine.' + +Then the newspapers arose and reviled HOLLINS, + +Calling him a humbug--even a humbug called they him. + +As for the multitude, they laughed him to scorn; such a blackguarding +never received man before, + +Calling him an old blower and bloat, a gas-bag and _fanfaron_, a Gascon +and a _carajo_, _alma miserabile_, and a pudding-head, a _sacre menteur_ +and a _verfluchte prahlerische Hauptesel_, a brassy old blunder-head and +a spupsy, _un sot sans pareil_ and a darned old hoffmagander; a +pepper-_pot-pourri_, a thafe of the wurreld and an owld baste, the +divil's blissing an him! + +In French, English, Dutch, Spanish and Irish, Yankee and Creole, yea, +even in Nigger and in Natchez Indian, reviled they him. + +And the rumor thereof went abroad into all lands, that HOLLINS had been +compelled to hand in his horns. + +How are the mighty fallen, how is he that was exalted cut down in his +salary! + +Beware, oh my son, that thou pullest not the long bow ere the bowstring +be twisted, or ever the arrow be at hand--send not in thy bill ere the +customer have bought the goods. + +Sell not the skin ere thou catchest the bear, and give not out thy +wedding cards before thou hast popped the question. + +For all these things did HOLLINS--verily he hath his reward. + + * * * * * + +CHRISTOPHER NORTH, in _Blackwood_, and many others since him, have +popularized this style of chronicle-English of the sixteenth century, +and our contributor has sound precedent for his imitations. 'Should time +permit, nor the occasion fail,' we trust to have him with us in the +following number. Our thanks are due to some scores of cotemporaries who +have republished the last Chronicle, and for the praise which they +lavished on it. + + * * * * * + +To HENRY P. LELAND we are indebted for a + +SONNET TO JOHN JONES. + + + Thou who dost walk round town, not quite unknown, + I have a word to speak within thy ear. + Hast thou no dread to hear in trumpet tone + 'John Jones has got a contract!'--dost not fear + Thy children, yet unborn, may then disown + The parent, with whose name they thus may hear + Transactions worse than usury's heaviest loan + Of twenty odd per cent. and more a year? + Oh, John! I pray thee that within thy heart + The lesson that 'Police Court' teaches thee, + That other Jones' rob hen-roosts, and take part + In many a rousing fight and drunken spree, + May have its influence; and that thou wilt start + And have thy name changed, quickly as may be. + +Who has not had his attention called to the small, black carpet-bags +which so greatly prevail in this very traveling community? Who has not +heard of mistakes which have occurred owing to their frequency and +similarity, and who in fact has not lost one himself? That these +mistakes may sometimes lead to merrily-moving, serio-comic results, is +set forth, not badly, as it seems to us, in the following story:-- + + +THE THREE TRAVELLING-BAGS. + +CHAPTER I. + + +There were three of them, all of shining black leather: one on top of +the pile of trunks; one on the ground; one in the owner's hand;--all +going to Philadelphia; all waiting to be checked. + +The last bell rang. The baggageman bustled, fuming, from one pile of +baggage to another, dispensing chalk to the trunks, checks to the +passengers, and curses to the porters, in approved railway style. + +'Mine!--Philadelphia!' cried a stout, military-looking man, with +enormous whiskers and a red face, crowding forward, as the baggageman +laid his hand on the first bag. + +'Won't you please to give me a check for this, now?' entreated a pale, +slender, carefully-dressed young man, for the ninth time, holding out +bag No. 2. 'I have a lady to look after.' + +'Say! be you agoin' to give me a check for that 'are, or not?' growled +the proprietor of bag No. 3, a short, pockmarked fellow, in a shabby +overcoat. + +'All right, gen'l'men. Here you are,' says the functionary, rapidly +distributing the three checks. 'Philadelfy, this? Yes, +sir,--1092--1740.11--1020. All right.' + +'All aboard!' shouted the conductor. + +'Whoo-whew!' responded the locomotive; and the train moved slowly out of +the station-house. + +The baggageman meditatively watched it, as it sped away in the distance, +and then, as if a thought suddenly struck him, slapping his thigh, he +exclaimed, + +'Blest if I don't believe--' + +'What?' inquired the switchman. + +'That I've gone and guv them three last fellers the wrong checks! The +cussed little black things was all alike, and they bothered me.' + +'Telegraph,' suggested the switchman. + +'Never you mind,' replied the baggageman. 'They was all going to +Philadelfy. They'll find it out when they get there.' + +They did. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER II. + + +The scene shifts to the Continental Hotel, Philadelphia.--Front parlor, +up stairs.--Occupants, the young gentleman alluded to in Chapter I., and +a young lady. In accordance with the fast usages of the times, the twain +had been made one in holy matrimony at 7.30 A.M.; duly kissed and +congratulated till 8.15; put aboard the express train at 8.45, and +deposited at the Continental, bag and baggage, by 12.58. + +They were seated on the sofa, the black broadcloth coat-sleeve +encircling the slender waist of the gray traveling-dress, and the jetty +moustache in equally affectionate proximity to the glossy curls. + +'Are you tired, dearest?' + +'No, love, not much. But you are, arn't you?' + +'No, darling.' + +Kiss, and a pause. + +'Don't it seem funny?' said the lady. + +'What, love?' + +'That we should be married.' + +'Yes, darling.' + +'Won't they be glad to see us at George's?' + +'Of course they will.' + +'I'm sure I shall enjoy it so much. Shall we get there to-night?' + +'Yes, love, if--' + +Rap-rap-rap, at the door. + +A hasty separation took place between man and wife--to opposite ends of +the sofa; and then-- + +'Come in.' + +'Av ye plaze, sur, it's an M.P. is waiting to see yez.' + +'To see _me_! A policeman?' + +'Yis, sur.' + +'There must be some mistake.' + +'No, sur, it's yourself; and he's waiting in the hall, beyant.' + +'Well, I'll go to--No, tell him to come here.' + +'Sorry to disturb you, sir,' said the M.P., with a huge brass star on +his breast, appearing with great alacrity at the waiter's elbow. +'B'lieve this is your black valise?' + +'Yes, that is ours, certainly. It has Julia's--the lady's things in it.' + +'Suspicious sarcumstances about that 'ere valise, sir. Telegraph come +this morning that a burglar started on the 8.45 Philadelphia train, +with a lot of stolen spoons, in a black valise.--Spoons marked +T.B.--Watched at the Ferry.--Saw the black valise.--Followed it up +here.--Took a peek inside. Sure enough, there was the spoons. Marked +T.B., too. Said it was yours. Shall have to take you in charge.' + +'Take _me_ in charge!' echoed the dismayed bridegroom. 'But I assure +you, my dear sir, there is some strange mistake. It's all a mistake.' + +'S'pose you'll be able to account for the spoons being in your valise, +then?' + +'Why, I--I--it isn't mine. It must be somebody else's. Somebody's put +them there. It is some villanous conspiracy.' + +'Hope you'll be able to tell a straighter story before the magistrate, +young man; 'cause if you don't, you stand a smart chance of being sent +up for six months.' + +'Oh, Charles! this is horrid. Do send him away. Oh dear! I wish I was +home,' sobbed the little bride. + +'I tell you, sir,' said the bridegroom, bristling up with indignation, +'this is all a vile plot. What would I be doing with your paltry spoons? +I was married this morning, in Fifth Avenue, and I am on my wedding +tour. I have high connections in New York. You'll repent it, sir, if you +dare to arrest me.' + +'Oh, come, now,' said the incredulous official, 'I've hearn stories like +that before. This ain't the first time swindlers has traveled in +couples. Do you s'pose I don't know nothin'? 'Tan't no use; you've just +got to come along to the station-house. Might as well go peaceably, +'cause you'll have to.' + +'Charles, this is perfectly dreadful! Our wedding night in the +station-house! Do send for somebody. Send for the landlord to explain +it.' + +The landlord was sent for, and came; the porters were sent for, and +came; the waiters, and chambermaids, and bar-room loungers came, without +being sent for, and filled the room and the adjoining hall,--some to +laugh, some to say they wouldn't have believed it, but nearly all to +exult that the unhappy pair had been 'found out.' No explanation could +be given; and the upshot was, that, in spite of tears, threats, +entreaties, rage, and expostulations, the unfortunate newly-married pair +were taken in charge by the relentless policeman, and marched down +stairs, _en route_ for the police office. + +And here let the curtain drop on the melancholy scene, while we follow +the fortunes of black valise No. 2. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER III. + + +When the train stopped at Camden, four gentlemen got off, and walked, +arm-in-arm, rapidly and silently, up one of the by-streets, and struck +off into a foot-path leading to a secluded grove outside the town. Of +the first two, one was our military friend in a blue coat, apparently +the leader of the party. Of the second two, one was a smiling, rosy +little man, carrying a black valise. Their respective companions walked +with hasty, irregular strides, were abstracted, and--apparently ill at +ease. + +The party stopped. + +'This is the place,' said Captain Jones. + +'Yes,' said Doctor Smith. + +The Captain and the Doctor conferred together. The other two studiously +kept apart. + +'Very well. I'll measure the ground, and do you place your man.' + +It was done. + +'Now for the pistols,' whispered the Captain to his fellow-second. + +'They are all ready, in the valise,' replied the Doctor. + +The principals were placed, ten paces apart, and wearing that decidedly +uncomfortable air a man has who is in momentary expectation of being +shot. + +'You will fire, gentlemen, simultaneously, when I give the word,' said +the Captain. Then, in an undertone, to the Doctor, 'Quick, the pistols.' + +The Doctor, stooping over and fumbling at the valise, appeared to find +something that surprised him. + +'Why, what the devil--' + +'What's the matter?' asked the Captain, striding up. 'Can't you find the +caps?' + +'Deuce a pistol or cap, but this!' + +He held up--a lady's night-cap! + +'Look here--and here--and here!'--holding up successively a hair-brush, +a long, white night-gown, a cologne-bottle, and a comb. + +They were greeted with a long whistle by the Captain, and a blank stare +by the two principals. + +'Confound the luck!' ejaculated the Captain; 'if we haven't made a +mistake, and brought the wrong valise!' + +The principals looked at the seconds. The seconds looked at the +principals. Nobody volunteered a suggestion. At last the Doctor +inquired, + +'Well, what's to be done?' + +'D----d unlucky!' again ejaculated the Captain. 'The duel can't go on.' + +'Evidently not,' responded the Doctor, 'unless they brain each other +with the hair-brush, or take a pop at each other with the +cologne-bottle.' + +'You are quite sure there are no pistols in the valise?' said one of the +principals, with suppressed eagerness, and drawing a long breath of +evident relief. + +'We might go over to the city and get pistols,' proposed the Captain. + +'And by that time it will he dark,' said the Doctor. + +'D----d unlucky,' said the Captain again. + +'We shall be the laughing-stock of the town,' consolingly remarked the +Doctor, 'if this gets wind.' + +'One word with you, Doctor,' here interposed his principal. + +They conferred. + +At the end of the conference with his principal, the Doctor, advancing +to the Captain, conferred with him. Then the Captain conferred with his +principal. Then the seconds conferred with each other. Finally, it was +formally agreed between the contending parties that a statement should +be drawn up in writing, whereby Principal No. 1 tendered the assurance +that the offensive words 'You are a liar' were not used by him in any +personal sense, but solely as an abstract proposition, in a general way, +in regard to the matter of fact under dispute. To which Principal No. 2 +appended his statement of his high gratification at this candid and +honorable explanation, and unqualifiedly withdrew the offensive words +'You are a scoundrel,' they having been used by him under a +misapprehension of the intent and purpose of the remark which preceded +them. + +There being no longer a cause of quarrel, the duel was of course ended. +The principals shook hands, first with each other, and next with the +seconds, and were evidently very glad to get out of it. + +'And now that it is so happily settled,' said the Doctor, chuckling and +rubbing his hands, 'it proves to have been a lucky mistake, after all, +that we brought the wrong valise. Wonder what the lady that owns it will +say when she opens ours and finds the pistols.' + +'Very well for you to laugh about,' growled the Captain; 'but it's no +joke for me to lose my pistols. Hair triggers--best English make, and +gold mounted. There arn't a finer pair in America.' + +'Oh, we'll find 'em. We'll go on a pilgrimage from house to house, +asking if any lady there has lost a night-cap and found a pair of +dueling-pistols.' + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER IV. + + +In very good spirits, the party crossed the river, and inquired at the +baggage-room in reference to each and all black leather traveling-bags +arrived that day, took notes of where they were sent, and set out to +follow them up. In due time they reached the Continental, and, as luck +would have it, met the unhappy bridal pair just coming down stairs in +charge of the policeman. + +'What's all this?' inquired the Captain. + +'Oh, a couple of burglars, caught with a valise full of stolen +property.' + +'A valise!--what kind of a valise?' + +'A black leather valise. That's it, there.' + +'Here!--Stop!--Hallo!--Policeman!--Landlord! It's all right. You're all +wrong. That's my valise. It's all a mistake. They got changed at the +depot. This lady and gentleman are innocent. Here's their valise, with +her night-cap in it.' + +Great was the laughter, multifarious the comments, and deep the interest +of the crowd in all this dialogue, which they appeared to regard as a +delightful entertainment, got up expressly for their amusement. + +'Then you say this 'ere is yourn?' said the policeman, relaxing his hold +on the bridegroom, and confronting the Captain. + +'Yes, it's mine.' + +'And how did you come by the spoons?' + +'Spoons, you jackanapes!' said the Captain. 'Pistols!--dueling-pistols!' + +'Do you call these pistols?' said the policeman, holding up one of the +silver spoons marked 'T.B.' + +The Captain, astounded, gasped, 'It's the wrong valise again, after +all!' + +'Stop! Not so fast!' said the police functionary, now invested with +great dignity by the importance of the affair he found himself engaged +in. 'If so be as how you've got this 'ere lady's valise, she's all +right, and can go. But, in that case, this is yourn, and it comes on you +to account for them 'are stole spoons. Have to take _you_ in charge, all +four of ye.' + +'Why, you impudent scoundrel!' roared the Captain; 'I'll see you in +----. I wish I had my pistols here; I'd teach you how to insult +gentlemen!'--shaking his fist. + +The dispute waxed fast and furious. The outsiders began to take part in +it, and there is no telling how it would have ended, had not an +explosion, followed by a heavy fall and a scream of pain, been heard in +an adjoining room. + +The crowd rushed to the scene of the new attraction. + +The door was fast. It was soon burst open, and the mystery explained. +The thief, who had carried off the Captain's valise by mistake for his +own, had taken it up to his room, and opened it to gloat over the booty +he supposed it to contain, thrusting his hand in after the spoons. In so +doing he had touched one of the hair triggers, and the pistol had gone +off, the bullet making a round hole through the side of the valise, and +a corresponding round hole in the calf of his leg. + +The wounded rascal was taken in charge, first by the policeman, and then +by the doctor; and the duelists and the wedded pair struck up a +friendship on the score of their mutual mishaps, which culminated in a +supper, where the fun was abundant, and where it would he hard to say +which was in the best spirits,--the Captain for recovering his pistols, +the bride for getting her night-cap, the bridegroom for escaping the +station-house, or the duelists for escaping each other. All resolved to +'mark that day with a white stone,' and henceforth to mark their names +on their black traveling-bags, in white letters. + +MORAL.--Go thou and do likewise. + + * * * * * + +By odd coincidence, this is not the only 'tale of a traveler' and of a +small carpet-bag in this our present number. The reader will find +another, but of a tragic cast, in the 'Tints and Tones of Paris' among +our foregoing pages. + + * * * * * + +There are errors and errors, as the French say. The following is not +without a foundation in fact:-- + +THACKERAY'S young lady, who abused a gentleman for associating with low, +radical literary friends, must have had about as elevated an opinion of +literature as an Irishman I lately heard of had of the medical +profession, as represented by its non-commissioned officers. + +My friend BOB handed his man-servant some books, to return to the +Franklin Library. Noticing, a few minutes afterwards, while passing +through the hall, that he was busy carefully wrapping them up in +newspaper, he asked him what he was doing that for. + +'Och, shure, Mister ----, I'm afraid, if they say me carr'ing books +rouhnd undher me ahrm, they'll be afther tayking me for a _maydical +student_!' + + * * * * * + +The very remarkable and enthusiastic welcome which has been extended to +our proposal to establish the CONTINENTAL as an _independent_ magazine, +calls for the warmest gratitude from us, and at the same time induces us +to lay stress upon the fact that our pages are open to contributions of +a very varied character; the only condition being that they shall be +written by friends of the Union. While holding firmly to our own views +as set forth under the 'Editorial' heading, _we by no means profess to +endorse those of our contributors_, leaving the reader to make his own +comments on these. In a word, we shall adopt such elements of +_independent_ action as have been hitherto characteristic of the +newspaper press, but which we judge to be quite as suitable to a monthly +magazine. We offer a fair field and _all_ favors to all comers, avoiding +all petty jealousies and exclusiveness. Will our readers please to bear +this in mind in reading all articles published in our pages? + +We can not conclude without expressing the warmest gratitude to the +press and the public for the comment, commendation and patronage which +they have so liberally bestowed upon us. We have been obliged to print +three times the number for which we had anticipated sale, and believe +that no American magazine ever circulated so many copies of a first +number. In consequence of this demand we have been compelled to go to +press earlier than was anticipated. Articles promised for February, by +Messrs. BAYARD TAYLOR and CHARLES F. BROWNE, but not yet received, are +necessarily deferred. From the latter gentleman we have a note promising +a positive appearance in March. + + * * * * * + +THE KNICKERBOCKER + +FOR 1862. + + +In the beginning of the last year, when its present proprietors assumed +control of the Knickerbocker, they announced their determination to +spare no pains to place it in its true position as the leading +_literary_ Monthly in America. When rebellion had raided a successful +front, and its armies threatened the very existence of the Republic, it +was impossible to permit a magazine, which in its circulation reached +the best intellects in the land, to remain insensible or indifferent to +the dangers which threatened the Union. The proprietors accordingly gave +notice, that it would present in its pages, forcible expositions with +regard to the great question of the times,--_how to preserve the_ UNITED +STATES OF AMERICA _in their integrity and unity_. How far this pledge +has been redeemed the public must judge. It would, however, be mere +affectation to ignore the seal of approbation which has been placed on +these efforts. The proprietors gratefully acknowledge this, and it has +led them to embark in a fresh undertaking, as already announced,--the +publication of the CONTINENTAL MONTHLY, devoted to Literature and +National Policy; in which magazine, those who have sympathized with the +political opinions recently set forth in the KNICKERBOCKER, will find +the same views more fully enforced and maintained by the ablest and most +energetic minds in America. + +The KNICKERBOCKER, while it will continue firmly pledged to the cause of +the Union, will henceforth be more earnestly devoted to literature, and +will leave no effort untried to attain the highest excellence in those +departments of letters which it has adopted as specialties. + +The January number commences its thirtieth year. With such antecedents +as it possesses, it seems unnecessary to make any especial pledges as to +its future, but it may not be amiss to say that it will be the aim of +its conductors to make it more and more deserving of the liberal support +it has hitherto received. The same eminent writers who have contributed +to it during the past year will continue to enrich its pages, and in +addition, contributions will appear from others of the highest +reputation, as well as from many rising authors. While it will, as +heretofore, cultivate the genial and humorous, it will also pay +assiduous attention to the higher departments of art and letters, and +give fresh and spirited articles on such biographical, historical, +scientific, and general subjects as are of especial interest to the +public. + +In the January issue will commence a series of papers by CHARLES GODFREY +LELAND, entitled "SUNSHINE IN LETTERS," which will be found interesting +to scholars as well as to the general reader, and in an early number +will appear the first chapters of a NEW and INTERESTING NOVEL, +descriptive of American life and character. + +According to the unanimous opinion of the American press, the +KNICKERBOCKER has been greatly improved during the past year, _and it is +certain that at no period of its long career did it ever attract more +attention or approbation_. Confident of their enterprise and ability, +the proprietors are determined that it shall be still more eminent in +excellence, containing all that is best of the old, and being +continually enlivened by what is most brilliant of the new. + +TERMS.--Three dollars a year, in advance. Two copies for Four Dollars +and fifty cents. Three copies for Six dollars. Subscribers remitting +Three Dollars will receive as a premium, (post-paid,) a copy of Richard +B. Kimball's great work, "THE REVELATIONS OF WALL STREET," to be +published by G.P. Putnam, early in February next, (price $1.) +Subscribers remitting Four Dollars will receive the KNICKERBOCKER and +the CONTINENTAL MONTHLY for one year. As but one edition of each number +of the Knickerbocker is printed, those desirous of commencing with the +volume should subscribe at once. + +[Symbol: Pointing Hand] The publisher, appreciating the importance of +literature to the soldier on duty, will send a copy _gratis_, during the +continuance of the war, to any regiment in active service, on +application being made by its Colonel or Chaplain. Subscriptions will +also be received from those desiring it sent to soldiers in the ranks at +_half price_, but in such cases it must be mailed from the office of +publication. + +J.R. GILMORE, 532 Broadway, New York. + +C.T. EVANS, General Agent, 533 Broadway, New York. + +All communications and contributions, intended for the Editorial +department, should be addressed to CHARLES G. LELAND, Editor of the +"Knickerbocker," care of C.T. EVANS, 532 Broadway, New York. + +Newspapers copying the above and giving the Magazine monthly notices, +will be entitled to an exchange. + + +PROSPECTUS + +OF + +The Continental Monthly. + + * * * * * + +There are periods in the world's history marked by extraordinary and +violent crises, sudden as the breaking forth of & volcano, or the +bursting of a storm on the ocean. These crises sweep away in a moment +the landmarks of generations. They call out fresh talent, and give to +the old a new direction. It is then that new ideas are born, new +theories developed. Such periods demand fresh exponents, and new men for +expounders. + +This Continent has lately been convulsed by an upheaving so sudden and +terrible that the relations of all men and women to each other are +violently disturbed, and people look about for the elements with which +to sway the storm and direct the whirlwind. Just at present, we do not +know what all this is to bring forth; but we do know that great results +MUST flow from such extraordinary commotions. + +At a juncture so solemn and so important, there is a special need that +the intellectual force of the country should be active and efficient. It +is a time for great minds to speak their thoughts boldly, and to take +position as the advance guard. To this end, there is a special want +unsupplied. It is that of an Independent Magazine, which shall be open +to the first intellects of the land, and which shall treat the issues +presented, and to be presented to the country, in a tone no way tempered +by partisanship, or influenced by fear, favor, or the hope of reward; +which shall seize and grapple with the momentous subjects that the +present disturbed state of affairs heave to the surface, and which CAN +NOT be laid aside or neglected. + +To meet this want, the undersigned have commenced, under the editorial +charge of CHARLES GODFREY LELAND, the publication of a new magazine, +devoted to Literature and National Policy. + +In POLITICS, it will advocate, with all the for command, measures best +adapted to preserve the oneness and integrity of these United States. It +will never yield to the idea of any disruption of the Republic, +peaceably or otherwise; and it will discuss with honesty and +impartiality what must be done to save it. In this department, some of +the most eminent statesmen of the time will contribute regularly to its +pages. + +In LITERATURE, it will be sustained by the best writers and ablest +thinkers of this country. + +Among its attractions will be presented, in an early number, a NEW +SERIAL of American Life, by RICHARD B. KIMBALL, ESQ., the very popular +author of "The Revelations of Wall Street," "St. Leger," &c. A series of +papers by HON. HORACE GREELEY, embodying the distinguished author's +observations on the growth and development of the Great West. A series +of articles by the author of "Through the Cotton States," containing the +result of an extended tour in the seaboard Slave States, just prior to +the breaking out of the war, and presenting a startling and truthful +picture of the real condition of that region. No pains will be spared to +render the literary attractions of the CONTINENTAL both brilliant and +substantial. The lyrical or descriptive talents of the most eminent +_literati_ have been promised to its pages; and nothing will be admitted +which will not be distinguished by marked energy, originality, and solid +strength. Avoiding every influence or association partaking of clique or +coterie, it will be open to all contributions of real merit, even from +writers differing materially in their views; the only limitation +required being that of devotion to the Union, and the only standard of +acceptance that of intrinsic excellence. + +The EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT will embrace, in addition to vigorous and +fearless comments on the events of the times, genial gossip with the +reader on all current topics, and also devote abundant space to those +racy specimens of American wit and humor, without which there can be no +perfect exposition of our national character. Among those who will +contribute regularly to this department may be mentioned the name of +CHARLES F. BROWNE ("Artemus Ward"), from whom we shall present in the +MARCH number, the first of an entirely new and original series of +SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. + +The CONTINENTAL will be liberal and progressive, without yielding to +chimeras and hopes beyond the grasp of the age; and it will endeavor to +reflect the feelings and the interests of the American people, and to +illustrate both their serious and humorous peculiarities. In short, no +pains will be spared to make it the REPRESENTATIVE MAGAZINE of the time. + +TERMS:--Three Dollars per year, in advance (postage paid by the +Publishers;) Two Copies for Five Dollars; Three Copies for Six Dollars, +(postage unpaid); Eleven copies for Twenty Dollars, (postage unpaid). +Single numbers can be procured of any News-dealer in the United States. +The KNICKERBOCKER MAGAZINE and the CONTINENTAL MONTHLY will be furnished +for one year at FOUR DOLLARS. + +Appreciating the importance of literature to the soldier on duty, the +publisher will send the CONTINENTAL, _gratis_, to any regiment in active +service, on application being made by its Colonel or Chaplain; he will +also receive subscriptions from those desiring to furnish it to soldiers +in the ranks at half the regular price; but in such cases it must be +mailed from the office of publication. + +J.R. GILMORE, 110 Tremont Street, Boston. + +CHARLES T. EVANS, at G.P. PUTNAM'S, 532 Broadway, New York, is +authorized to receive Subscriptions in that City. + +N.B.--Newspapers publishing this Prospectus, and giving the CONTINENTAL +monthly notices, will be entitled to an exchange. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Continental Monthly, Vol. I. February, +1862, No. II., by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTINENTAL MONTHLY, VOL. 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