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diff --git a/old/14583-8.txt b/old/14583-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f5d074 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14583-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9773 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Continental Monthly - Volume 1 - Issue 3, 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 - Volume 1 - Issue 3 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: January 4, 2005 [EBook #14583] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTINENTAL MONTHLY VOL.1 ISS.3 *** + + + + +Produced by Cornell University, Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +THE CONTINENTAL MONTHLY: + +DEVOTED TO + +LITERATURE AND NATIONAL POLICY. + +VOL. I.--MARCH, 1862.--No. III. + + * * * * * + +SOUTHERN AIDS TO THE NORTH. + + +Perhaps the most difficult question at present before the American +people is that so often and so insolently put by Southern journals, and +so ignorantly babbled in weak imitation of them by English newspapers, +asking what, after all, in case of a victory, or even of many victories, +can we do with the revolted provinces? The British press, prompt to put +the worst construction on every hope of the Union, prophesies endless +guerilla warfare,--a possibility which, like the blocking up of +Charleston harbor by means of the stone fleet, is, of course, something +which calls for the instant interference of all cotton-spinning +Christian nations. Even among our own countrymen it must be confessed +there has been no little indecision as to the end and the means of +securing the conquest of a country whose outlines are counted by +thousands instead of hundreds of miles, and whose whole extent, it is +too generally believed, forms a series of regions where dismal swamps, +bayous, lagoons, dense forests, and all manner of impenetrabilities, bid +defiance to any save the natives, and where the most deadly fevers are +ever being born in the jungles and wafted on the wings of every summer +morn over the whole plantation land. The truth is, that the simple facts +and figures relative to this country are not generally known. Let the +Northern people but once learn the truths existing in their favor, and +there will be an end to this misapprehension. There has been thus far no +hesitation or irresolution among the people in the conduct of the war. +'Conquer them first,' has been the glorious war-cry from millions of the +freest men on earth. But when we are driving a nail it is well to know +that it will be possible to eventually clench it. And when the country +shall fully understand the ease with which this Union nail may be +clenched, there will be, let us hope, a greatly revived spirit in all +now interested in forwarding the war. + +It is evident enough that if all the millions of the South remain united +to the death in the cause of secession, little else than a guerilla +warfare of endless length is to be hoped for. The accounts of the +enthusiasm and harmony at present prevailing in Eastern Virginia, and in +other places controlled by the active secessionists, have struck terror +to the hearts of many. But, united though they be, they must be more +than mortal if they could resist the influences of a counter-revolution, +and of strong bodies of enemies in the heart of their country, aided by +a mighty foe without. 'Hercules was a strong man,' says the proverb, +'but he could not pay money when he had none;' and the South may be +strong, but she can hardly fail to be entirely crippled when certain +agencies shall be brought to bear against her. Let us examine them, and +find wherein her weakness consists. + +The first is the easy possibility of a _counter-revolution_ among the +inhabitants of the mountain districts, who hold but few slaves, who have +preserved a devoted love for the Union, and who are, if not at positive +feud, at least on anything but social harmony with their aristocratic +neighbors of the lowlands and of the plantation. Unlike the 'mean +whites' who live among slaves and slave-holders, and are virtually more +degraded than the blacks, these mountaineers are men of strong character +and common-sense, combining the industrious disposition of the North +with the fierce pride of the South. And so numerous are they, and so +wide is the range of country which they inhabit, that it would seem +miraculous if with their aid, and that of other causes which will be +referred to, a counter-revolution could not be established, which would +sweep the slaveocracy from existence. + +In a pamphlet entitled 'Alleghania,' by James W. Taylor, published at +Saint Paul, Minnesota, by James Davenport, the reader will find 'a +geographical and statistical memoir, exhibiting the strength of the +Union, and the weakness of slavery in the mountain districts of the +South,' which is well worth careful study at this crisis. Let the reader +take the map and trace on it the dark caterpillar-like lines of the +Alleghanies from Pennsylvania southward. Not until he reaches Northern +Alabama will he find its end. In these mountain districts which form +'the Switzerland of the South,' a population exists on whom slavery has +no hold, who are free and lovers of freedom, and who will undoubtedly +co-operate with the Union in reestablishing its power. This 'Alleghania' +embraces thirteen counties of North Carolina, three of South Carolina, +twenty of Georgia, fifteen of Alabama, and twenty-six of Tennessee. + +According to Humboldt and other writers on climatology, an elevation of +two hundred and sixty-seven feet above the level of the sea is +equivalent in general influence upon vegetation to a degree of latitude +northward, at the level of the ocean. Therefore we are not surprised to +learn from Olmsted that 'Alleghania' does not differ greatly in climate +from Long Island, Southern New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. 'The usual +crops are the same, those of most consequence being corn, rye, oats and +grass. Fruit is a more precarious crop, from a greater liability to +severe frosts after the swelling of the buds in the spring. Snow has +fallen several inches in the month of April.'[A] + +The Western Virginia portion of Alleghania, which in the +counter-secession programme of its inhabitants was to have formed the +State of 'Kanawha,' embraced in its total population of 284,796 only +10,820 slaves. Its area is 4,211 square miles larger than the entire +State of Maryland. With this we have 'Middle Virginia,' in the valley of +the Shenandoah, which extends east of the main Alleghany range to the +Blue Ridge. This region also is broadly distinguishable in respect to +slavery from the Atlantic counties. With 200,262 freemen according to +the census of 1850, it has only 44,742 slaves, and there is reason to +believe that this population has largely diminished in favor of freedom. +Yet again we have the mountain district of South-western Virginia, where +in its ten counties the proportion of freemen to slaves is nearly ten to +one, or 76,892 to 8,693. As regards internal resources, beautiful +scenery, and all that conduces to pleasant life and profitable labor, +this portion of Virginia far surpasses the eastern division, and will +eventually attract the great mass of immigration. + +The reader is aware that Eastern Kentucky, embracing the counties along +the western base of the Cumberland Mountains, 'has nobly responded to +the cause of the Union.' 'They represent a population which from the +first outbreak have been on fire with loyal zeal, repudiating all +sympathy with this war of slavery against the Union.' The proportion of +slaves to freemen in these counties, according to the census of 1850, is +as follows:-- + +COUNTIES FREE SLAVE +Letcher, 2,440 62 +Floyd, 5,503 149 +Harlan, 4,108 123 +Whitley, 7,222 201 +Knox, 6,238 612 +Perry, 2,972 117 +Clay, 4,734 515 +Breathitt, 3,603 170 +Morgan, 7,305 187 +Johnson, 3,843 30 +Lawrence, 6,142 137 +Carter, 5,000 257 + +In contrast to this healthy, temperate Eastern Kentucky, 'a portion of +the great central district of mountain slopes and valleys,' let the +reader turn to the secession hot-bed of the State. He will find it the +largest slaveholding district of Kentucky. It is worth noting that +secession is matured in the slave regions, for though it is popularly +identified with slavery, they are not wanting among its leaders--no, nor +among their traitorous and cowardly sympathizers here at the North--who +constantly assert that secession is simply a geographical necessity, and +slavery only a secondary cause--that the South will, in fact, eventually +emancipate, and that race and latitude are the great fundamental causes +of national difference, constituting us in fact 'two peoples.' How +completely false and puerile are all these assertions, appears from an +examination of the mountain region now under discussion. + +Of all these sections of 'Alleghania,' none is of more importance to the +Federal Union than East Tennessee. Immensely rich in minerals, with a +healthy and agreeable climate and much rich soil, it is one of the +finest countries on earth, lying under the temperate zone, and developes +the most extraordinary physical perfection in the human form. Its +proportion of slaves to freemen is no greater than in the other mountain +regions of the South--its area is about equivalent to that of +Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island united. In considering this +with the loyalty of its inhabitants, and in studying 'Cumberland Gap,' +the great natural highway of the Alleghany Range, the observer +appreciates with pleasure the remark of Secretary Chase, who, in a +recent interview with certain eastern capitalists, disclaimed on behalf +of the Government and of General M'Clellan any purpose to send the army +into winter quarters, remarking with much significance that 'a glance at +the map will perhaps astonish those who have never reflected, _how short +is the distance from East Tennessee to Port Royal Harbor, and may +suggest the possibility of cutting a great rebellion into two small +pieces_.' + +In the mountain region of North Carolina we have 'the Piedmont of the +Alleghanies.' Its seventeen counties embrace a larger area (11,700 +square miles) than the whole of Vermont. Its scenery is of extraordinary +beauty, its peaks are the highest east of the Rocky Mountains. There is +full ground for the belief that in North Carolina a majority of the +people are Union at heart. The following extract from 'Alleghania' will +be read with interest as illustrating the assertion: + + In the Union camps of East Tennessee, there are numerous + volunteers from Watauga and other adjacent counties over the + border. At the only popular election suffered to be held upon the + question of Union and secession, the Union majority was as two to + one; and even after the storm of Sumter, the vote in the + convention of North Carolina on a proposition to submit the + ordinance of secession to a vote of the people, received + thirty-four yeas to seventy-three nays. I have confidence that + those thirty-four names, representing one-third of the State, were + given by delegates from the western counties,--the Alleghany + counties,--from the base and sides of the Blue Ridge,--from a land + of corn and cattle, not of cotton. Again, when the news of the + capture of Hatteras was announced in the legislature of North + Carolina, it is evident from the language of the Raleigh + newspapers that an irrepressible explosion of Union feeling--even + to an outburst of cheers, according to one statement--occurred. + Nor is such a state of feeling surprising, when we remember that + not even in Kentucky is the memory of Henry Clay more a fireside + treasure of the people. In this respect, the quiet, unobtrusive + 'North' State was in striking contrast to its immediate + neighbors--South Carolina in one direction, and Atlantic Virginia + in the other. Politically, when the pennons of Clay and Calhoun + rode the gale, the vote and voice of North Carolina were ever + given for the great Kentucky leader. Let us accept these omens for + the winter campaign, which will open with the triumph of the Union + and the Constitution on the Cumberland heights of East Tennessee. + +'In one-fifth of Georgia, over an area of 12,000 square miles, slavery +only exists by the usurpation of the cotton aristocracy of the lowland +districts of the State.' In all of them, slaves, though in a greater +proportion than in the rest of Alleghania, are very greatly in the +minority, as appears from the following table:-- + +COUNTIES FREE SLAVE +Madison, 3,763 1,933 +Hart,* +Franklin, 9,076 2,382 +Jackson, 6,808 2,941 +Banks,* +Hall, 7,370 1,336 +Habersham, 7,675 1,218 +Rabun, 2,338 110 +Towns,* +Union, 6,955 278 +Lumpkin, 7,995 939 +Dawson,* +Forsyth, 7,812 1,027 +Milton,* +Cherokee, 11,630 1,157 +Pickens,* +Gilmer, 8,236 200 +Faunin* +Murphy,* +Whitefield,* +Gordon, 5,156 828 +Cass, 10,271 3,008 +Floyd, 5,202 2,999 +Chattoga, 5,131 1,680 +Walker, 11,408 1,664 +Catoosa,* +Dade, 2,532 148 + +* Counties marked with an asterisk, organized after the census of 1850, +of which the foregoing are returns. + +Last in the list we have North-east Alabama, in which we find the +following counties:-- + +COUNTIES FREE SLAVE +Cherokee, 12,170 1,691 +DeKalb, 7,730 506 +Marshall, 7,952 868 +Jackson, 11,754 2,292 +Morgan, 6,636 3,437 +Madison, 11,937 14,329 +Limestone, 8,399 8,063 +Lawrence, 8,342 6,858 + +'It will be observed,' says Mr. Taylor, + + That the three counties last named have a slave population, in the + case of Madison exceeding, and in Limestone and Lawrence nearly + equal to the number of free inhabitants. They would seem to be an + exception to our former generalization, and are only included + because there is other evidence that Athens, in Limestone County, + and Huntsville, in Morgan County, were to the last possible moment + the head-quarters of resistance to the Montgomery conspirators. It + was the Union vote of these highland counties, notwithstanding the + number of slaves in some of them, which would inevitably have been + rolled down in condemnation of an ordinance of secession. This was + well known by Yancey and his associates, and it was to avoid this + revelation of their weakness over a compact and populous area of + the State, which was in direct communication with East Tennessee, + that they refused the ordeal of the ballot upon the consummation + of their treason to the Union. + + I estimate that the district which could readily be rallied in + support of a loyal organization of the government of Alabama, with + its capital at Huntsville, to be equal to the area of New Jersey, + or 8,320 square miles. With the occupation of the Alleghanies by + an army of the Union, and such a base of operations, civil and + military, in North Alabama, a counter-revolution in that State + would not be difficult of accomplishment.[B] + +It will thus be seen, that, in the South itself, there exists a +tremendous groundwork of aid to the North, and of weakness to +secession. The love of this region for the Union, and its local hatred +for planterdom with its arrogance towards free labor, is no chimera; nor +do we make the wish the father to the thought when we assert that a +Union victory would light up a flame of counter-revolution which would +in time, with Northern aid, crush out the foul rebellion. And relying on +this fact, we grow confident and exultant. If Europe will only let us +alone--if England will refrain from stretching out a helping hand to +that slaveocracy for which she has suddenly developed such a strange and +unnatural love, we may yet be, at no distant day, great, powerful, and +far more united than ever. + +But we have, in addition to all these districts of Alleghania, a vast +reserve in Texas--that Texas which is now more than half cultivated by +free labor, and which is amply capable of producing six times as much +cotton as is now raised in the entire South. An armed occupation of +Texas, a copious stream of emigration thither, to be encouraged by very +liberal grants to settlers, and a speedy completion of its railroads, +would be an offset to secession, well worth of itself all that the war +has cost. With Texas in our power, with Cumberland Gap firmly held, with +the negroes in South Carolina fairly disorganized from slavery, with +free Yankee colonies in the Palmetto State, with New Orleans taken--a +blockade without and complete financial disorder within, what more could +we desire as a basis to secure thorough reëstablishment of power? Here +our superiority to the South in possessing not only a navy, but, what is +of far more importance, a vast merchant marine containing all the +elements necessary to form a navy of unparalleled power, appears in +clearest light, giving us cause for much congratulation. To effect all +this, _time_ is required. Let those who fret, look over the map of a +hemisphere--let them reflect on the condition to which Southern perfidy +and theft had reduced us ere the war begun, and then let them moderate +their cries. It will all be done; but the programme is a tremendous one, +and the future of the most glorious country on earth requires that it +shall be done thoroughly, and that no risks shall be taken. + +But, beyond all the aid which is to be expected from a +counter-revolution in the South, to be drawn from the 'Alleghania' +region, there is one of vast importance, insisted upon in a series of +articles published during the past year in the New York _Knickerbocker +Magazine_, and which may be appropriately reconsidered in this +connection. Should the government of the United States, by one or more +victories, obtain even a temporary sway over the South, it will only +rest with itself to produce a powerful counter-revolution even in those +districts which are blackest with slavery. _Let it, when the time shall +seem fit_,--and we urge no undue haste, and no premature meddling with +the present plans or programme of those in power,--_simply proclaim +Emancipation_, offering to pay all loyal men for their slaves according +to a certain rate. The proportion of Union men who will then start into +life, even in South Carolina, will be, doubtless, enormous. It may be +objected that many of these will merely profess Union sentiments for the +time being. But, on the other hand, those noted rebels who can have no +hope of selling their slaves, save indeed to the Union professors, will +have small love for the latter, and two parties can not fail to show +themselves at once. Those who hope to see the slave principle ultimately +triumphant will oppose selling the chattels; those who wish to 'realize' +at once on them, owing to temporary embarrassments, will urge it; and +dissension of the most formidable character will be at once +organized,--precisely such dissension as the Southern press has long +hoped to see between the dough-faces and patriots of the North, or +between its labor and capital, or in any other disastrous dissension. + +Be it borne in mind that the price of slaves is at present greatly +depressed in the South. Those who would sell would speedily acquire +more, in the hope of a profit by selling to government. Those too who +would willingly act as brokers between those who wished to sell, but who +would not dare to openly do so, would be very numerous. Between these +and the leaders of the ultra pro-slavery party there would be bitter +feud. Let a counter-revolutionary party once succeed in holding its own +in the South, and the days of secession would speedily be numbered. In a +land where all rushes so rapidly to extremes, we should soon see the war +carried on for us with a bitterness fully equal to that now manifested +towards the North. + +It is with no pleasant feelings that we thus commend counter-revolution. +It is the worst of war that it drives us to such considerations. But +what is to be done when our existence as a nation is at stake, and when +we are opposed by a remorseless foe which would gladly ruin us +irretrievably? There is no halting half-way. It was these endless +scruples which interfered with the prevention of the war under the +imbecile or traitorous Buchanan; it is lingering scruple and timidity +which still inspires in thousands of cowardly hearts a dislike to face +the grim danger and prevent it. + + * * * * * + +WESTWARD! + + + How the pink-hued morning clouds + Go sailing into the west! + And the pearl-white breath of noon, + Or the mists round the silver moon, + In silent, sheeny crowds + Go sailing into the west! + + The glowing, fire-eyed sun + In glory dies in the west; + And the bird with dreamy crest, + And soft, sun-loving breast, + When throbbing day is done, + Floats slowly into the west. + + Oh, everything lovely and fair + Is floating into the west. + 'Tis an unknown land, where our hopes must go, + And all things beautiful, fluttering slow; + Our joys all wait for us there,-- + Far out in the dim blue west. + + * * * * * + +IS COTTON OUR KING? + +BY A COTTON-SPINNER. + + +No falsehood has been so persistently adhered to by the Southern +planters and their advocates, and so successfully forced upon the +credulity of the North, as the statement that white men can not perform +field labor in the cotton States, coupled with the equally false +assertion that the emancipated negro lapses into barbarism, and ceases +to be an industrious laborer. + +It is one of the chief points of weakness in a bad cause, that, although +a _single_ advocate may succeed in rendering it plausible, _many_ are +certain to present utterly irreconcilable arguments. An impartial man, +examining De Bow's _Review_ for a series of years, would arrive at +conclusions in regard to the economy of slave labor, and the necessity +of colored laborers in the Southern States, the very reverse of what the +writers have intended to enforce. + +It is constantly asserted that white men can not labor in the tropics, +which we may freely admit; but the inference that the climate of the +Southern States is tropical we have the best authority for denying: +firstly, from the testimony of all Southern writers when describing +their own section of country, and _not_ arguing upon the slavery +question; and, secondly, from Humboldt's isothermal lines, by which we +find that the temperature of the cotton States is the same as that of +Portugal, the south of Spain, Italy, and Australia. Do we find +Australian emigrants writing home to their friends not to come out +because they will not be able to work? We know they do not; and yet the +mean annual temperature of Australia is 70°--greater by five to six +degrees than that of Texas; and, from the best accounts we can get, the +extreme of heat is very much greater. + +Examine De Bow's analysis of the census of 1850, and we find him +compelled to admit that one-ninth of the force then cultivating cotton +were white men. If one-ninth were white men in 1850, when the price of +cotton was much less and the crop much smaller than of late years, how +many are there now? + +One of the most reliable witnesses to the cultivation of cotton by free +labor is a Quaker gentleman in Philadelphia, who conducts a cotton +factory supplied entirely with free-grown cotton, the goods being sold +to the Quakers, who will not use the product of slave labor of any kind. +This gentleman writes:-- + + I learned by correspondence with several intelligent Germans in + Texas, that their experiment of raising cotton by their own labor, + without the help of slaves, was a complete success. One planter + offered to supply me at once with one hundred and forty bales + raised in this way. The ground taken by thee that cotton can be + raised by white men, as well as by colored men, is entirely + correct. A very large portion is every year so raised. I have had + particular information of its being thus raised in Texas, + Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and North + Carolina. In some neighborhoods thousands of bales are thus raised + within the limits of two or three adjacent counties. + +It may be urged that this is upon uplands almost exclusively, and that +upon bottom lands it is not possible, on account of their being +unhealthy. + +Two statements will be made to disprove this latter assertion, and we +will then admit it to be true, and prove it to be of no consequence. + + The cotton planters, deserting the rolling land, are fast pouring + in upon the 'swamp.' Indeed, the impression of the sickliness of + the South generally has been rapidly losing ground (i.e. among the + whites of the South), and that blessing, health, is now sought + with as much confidence on the swamp lands of the Yazoo and the + Mississippi, as among the hills and plains of Carolina and + Virginia.--_De Bow's Resources of the South and West_. + +Dr. Barton, of New Orleans, in a paper read before the Academy of +Science, says: + + The class of diseases most fatal at the South are mainly those of + a preventable nature. In another place I have shown that the + direct temperature of the sun is not near so great in the South + during the summer as in the North. In fact, the climate is much + more endurable, all the year round, with our refreshing breezes, + and particularly in some of the more elevated parts of it, or + within one hundred miles of the coast. + +Dr. Barton had forgotten that white men can not perform field labor in +the South. + +But admit that white men had better work upon uplands,--the crop is +surer, owing to the less liability to frost and overflow; and good +cultivation will give an equal crop. Intelligent Northern men have taken +up exhausted plantations upon the uplands of North Carolina, and, by the +application of moderate quantities of guano, phosphate of lime, etc., +have carried the crop from two hundred up to eight hundred pounds of +clean cotton per acre; and for the last three years the writer has been +in the habit of selecting the North Carolina guano-grown cotton, in the +New York market, where it has been shipped via Wilmington or Norfolk, on +account of its good staple, good color, and extra strength. + +There is nothing in the cultivation of cotton involving harder work than +that of corn. In the early stages of its growth it is more tender than +corn, and requires more care,--which it does not get, since we find +Southern writers deploring that the cut-worm and the louse are charged +with many sins which are caused by careless cultivation and the bruises +inflicted by the clumsy negro hoes. The soil is very light, and most of +the work might be done by the plow and cultivator. Except upon very poor +soil there is only one plant allowed to eight and even ten square feet. +By the admission of Texas planters themselves, in the accounts of their +country which they have written to induce emigration and sell their +surplus land, there is very little work to be done during the hottest +part of the summer; the cultivation taking place in the spring, and the +picking in the fall and winter. Dr. J.S. Wilson, of Columbus, Ga., +writing upon the diseases of negroes, says there is no article of +clothing so needful to them, and so seldom supplied, as an overcoat. +Should some shrewd Yankee, starting South to go into the business of +raising cotton, lay in a large supply of flannel shirts, thick Guernsey +frocks, and woolen stockings, for his field hands, how many of his +neighbors would remind him of Lord Timothy Dexter's noted shipment to +the West Indies, and ask him why he did not take some warming-pans; and +yet, for his supply of thick, warm clothing he would have the authority +of all Southern physicians. + +Examine the directions given for the cultivation of cotton, and see how +much labor could be saved, provided slaves could be induced to use good +tools; planting the seed and covering it requiring one horse or mule and +_four_ hands,--one to smooth the ground, one to open the furrow, one to +plant, and one to cover. All of these operations can be performed by one +man with a planting machine. But the negro can not be trusted with one; +for the moment you begin to teach him the reasons for using it, you +begin to teach him the benefit of using another complicated machine, +which he has not before known much about--his own head and arms, and, +worse than all, his own legs, all of which you have stolen from him; and +then he will misapply his knowledge, as an old fugitive once told me he +had done: 'I took my own legs for security, and walked off.' + +I know a fugitive slave who was taught the trade of a blacksmith, and +who stole the art of writing; and a sad use he made of his +accomplishments; he forged free papers with his pen, and the sacred seal +of the State of Alabama with his tools, and then started North. In +Tennessee he got out of money, and stopped to work at his trade, was +suspected, brought before a court, his papers examined and pronounced +genuine, and he passed on to Canada or elsewhere. Surely this man did +not know how to take care of himself! + +There is no great reason why the slave should exert himself very much, +and why he should not, cannot be better stated than by the Rev. Mr. +McTeyire, the son of a large planter in South Carolina. 'Men,' he says, +'who own few slaves, and who share the labors of the field or workshop +with them, are very liable to deceive themselves by a specious process +of reasoning: they say, "I carry row for row with my negroes, and I put +no more on them than I take on myself." But the master who thus reasons +is forgetful or ignorant of the great truth that the negroes' powers of +endurance are less than his, while in the case of the latter there are +wanting those incentives which animate and actually strengthen the +master. This labor is for him, the gains of this excess of industry are +to make him rich. What is the servant bettered by the additional bale of +cotton extorted from exhausted nature, only that next year he shall have +more companions in the field, and the field be enlarged?' This is +extremely well put; but Rev. Mr. McTeyire, of South Carolina, must have +been unaware of the fact that it is not possible for a white man to work +row for row on cotton! + +But Southern planters are not without some ingenious machines. In a +_premium_ essay upon the cultivation of cotton, read before the Georgia +Agricultural Society, the Hon. Mr. Chambers thus describes one invented +by himself for covering the seed: 'I would cover with a board made of +some hard wood, an inch or an inch and a half thick, about eight inches +broad, beveled on the lower edge to make it sharp, slightly notched in +the middle so as to _straddle_ the row, and screwed on the foot of a +common shovel.' Very safe for negroes to use, not being complicated. + +But in the protests of intelligent Southern men, when they occasionally +wake up to the terrible results of their mode of cultivation, may be +found their own condemnation. + +Dr. Cloud, of Alabama, editor of the '_Cotton Plant_,' mourning the want +of pasturage in his own State, writes thus: 'Our climate is remarkably +favorable to rich and luxuriant pasturage. The red man of the forest and +the pioneer white man that came here in advance of our _scratching +plow_, tell us they found the wild oat and native grasses waving thick, +as high as a man's head, and so entwined with the wild pea-vine as to +make it difficult to ride among it, all over this country. Every cotton +planter has heard of these fine primitive pasture ranges, and many have +seen them. _If the country or the climate has been cursed in our +appearance as planters here, it has been in the wasting system, that we +introduced and continue to practice_.' + +Gov. Wise, in an address upon the agriculture of Virginia, condenses the +whole case in an epigram,--' The negroes skin the land, and the white +men skin the negroes.' + +The limit to the production of cotton is in the capacity of the +plantation force to pick the amount cultivated by the field hands; but +the whole available force is insufficient, and large quantities are +lost. The policy of the planters being to buy out the small landholders +in their neighborhood, they have no extra force upon which to draw. +Olmsted says: 'I much doubt if the harvest demand of the principal +cotton districts of Mississippi adds five per cent. to their field-hand +force. I observed the advantage of the free-labor system exemplified in +Western Texas, the cotton-fields in the vicinity of the German village +of New Braunfils having been picked far closer than any I had before +seen,--in fact perfectly clean. One woman was pointed out to me who had, +in the first year she had seen a cotton field, picked more cotton in a +day than any slave in the county.' + +'Substitute the French system (that of small allotment or +_parcellement_) for the Mississippi system in cotton-growing, and who +can doubt that the cotton supply of the United States would be greatly +increased?' + +Dr. Cloud, the most intelligent writer upon cotton cultivation I have +been able to find, is urgent in his advice to manure the land, practice +rotation of crops, and produce larger crops upon fewer acres. But the +universal practice is precisely the reverse; the process of exhaustion +is followed year after year; cotton is planted year after year; the +seed--which Northern men would cultivate for oil alone, and which +exhausts the land ten times faster than the fibre--is mostly wasted; in +the words of a Southern paper, 'The seed is left to rot about the +gin-house, producing foul odors, and a constant cause of sickness.' The +land is cropped until it is literally skinned, and then the planter +migrates to some new region, again to drive out the poor whites, +monopolize the soil, and leave it once more to grow up to 'piney woods.' + +Note again the warning words of Dr. Cloud: 'With a climate and soil +peculiarly adapted to the production of cotton, our country is equally +favorable to the production of all the necessary cereals, and as +remarkably favorable to the perfect development of the animal economy, +in fine horses, good milch cows, sheep and hogs; and for fruit of every +variety, _not tropical_, it is eminently superior. Why is it, then, that +we find so many _wealthy cotton planters_, whose riches consist entirely +of their slaves and worn-out plantations?' + +No crop would be more remunerative to a small farmer, with a moderate +family to assist in the picking season, than cotton. + +Upon the fertile lands of Texas, which produce one to two bales of +cotton to the acre, ten acres of cotton is the usual allotment to each +hand, with also sufficient land in corn and vegetables to furnish food +for the laborer and his proportion of the idle force upon the +plantation, which are two to one, without reckoning the planter and +overseer and their families. Now, upon the absurd supposition that a +free man, with a will in his work, would do no more work than a slave, +what would be the result of his labor? 1st, food for his family; 2d, 10 +acres of cotton, at 500 pounds to the acre, 5000 pounds, at 10 cents per +pound, or $500. But the result would be much greater, for, as a Southern +man has well said, 'the maximum of slave labor would be the minimum of +free labor;' and the writer can bring proof of many instances where each +field hand has produced 13, 15, and even 18 bales of cotton in a year. +With the denser population which would follow the emancipation of the +slaves and the breaking up of the plantation system, a harvest force for +the picking season would be available, and one man would as easily +cultivate 20 to 25 acres of cotton, with assistance in the picking +season, as he could thirty acres of corn, the usual allotment to each +hand upon the corn land of Texas. + +The very expense of slave labor is a proof of the profit which must be +derived from it. The writer has elsewhere estimated the cost of slave +labor at $20 per month, which statement has been questioned, because no +allowance was made for the increase of the live stock. Now it is well +understood that where the women are worked in the fields in such a +manner as to make their labor pay, the increase of live stock is much +smaller, and the business of breeding is left to the first families in +Virginia and other localities where the land has been exhausted (readers +will pardon a plain statement,--it will cause them to realize the full +horror of the business). The slaves in the cotton States increased from +1850 to 1860 33-88/100 per cent., in all the other slave States 9-61/100 +per cent. The surplus increase in the cotton States, above the average, +was 190,632. Where did they come from?[C] At $900 each, this surplus +represents a capital of $171,568,800. How was this sum earned, and to +whom was it paid? + +Let us examine the estimate of $20 per month, and, although it is +admitted that female field hands do not bear many children, take the +average increase of the country, or 2-335/1000 per cent. per annum. + +The standard of value for an A 1 field hand is $100 for each cent per +pound of the price of cotton, say ten cents per pound, $1000, and the +standard of value for all the slaves upon a plantation is one-half the +value of a field hand. + + Suppose a plantation stocked with + 100 slaves, men, women, and piccaninnies, + at 8500 each, $50,000 + Interest at 8 per cent., a low rate + for the South, 4,000 + Customary allowance for life insurance + or mortality, 1,000 + Overseer's wages, 1,000 + House and provisions, 500 + Doctor's fees, hospital, and medicines, 500 + Renewal and repairs of negro quarters, 500 + Clothing and food, at $1 per week + for each slave, 5,200 + ______ + 12,700 + + _Credit_. + + Increase to keep good the mortality, 2 + Annual gain, 2-335/1000, say 3 + Gain, 5, at $500 2,500 + Net cost, 10,200 + +The usual allowance for field hands is one-third,--allow it to be forty +in a hundred, the cost of each would be $255 per annum, or $21.25 per +month. + +Let each one make his own allowance for the disadvantage of having the +larger portion of the capital of a State locked up in a tool which would +do more and better work if recognized as a man and representing no +invested capital. How much productive industry would there be in New +England, if every laborer or mechanic cost his employer $800 to $1500 +before he could be set to work, and if each one who undertook to labor +upon his own account, and was not so purchased, were stigmatized and +degraded and termed 'mean white trash?' + +It will again be objected that the theory of the cotton planter is to +raise all the food and make all the clothing on the plantation. The +cultivation of cotton in the best manner is described by Southern +writers as a process of _gardening_. Now what would be thought of a +market gardener at the North who should keep a large extra force for the +purpose of spinning yarn on a frame of six to ten spindles, and weaving +it up on a rude hand loom? Would this not be protection to home industry +in its most absurd extreme? But this is the plantation system. + +The correctness of the estimate of cost can be tested in some degree by +the rates at which able-bodied slaves are hired out. Many lists can be +found in Southern papers; the latest found by the writer is in De Bow's +_Review_ of 1860. + +A list of fourteen slaves, comprising 'a blacksmith, his wife, eight +field hands, a lame negro, an old man, an old woman and a young woman,' +were hired out for the year 1860, in Claiborne Parish, La., at an +average of $289 each, the highest being $430 for the blacksmith, and +$171 for 'Juda, old woman.' + +The Southern States have thus far retained almost a monopoly of the +cotton trade of the civilized world by promptly furnishing a fair supply +of cotton of the best quality, and at prices which defied competition +from the only region from which it was to be feared, viz., India. This +monopoly has been retained, notwithstanding the steadily increasing +demand and higher prices of the last few years. + +Improvements in machinery have enabled manufacturers to pay full wages +to their operatives, both in this country and in England, and to pay +higher prices for their cotton than they did a few years since, without +materially enhancing the cost of their goods, the larger product of +cloth from a less number of hands and the saving of waste offsetting the +higher price of cotton; but it is not probable that the cost of labor +upon cotton goods can be hereafter materially reduced. The cost of labor +upon the heavy sheetings and drills which form the larger part of our +exports is now only one and one-half cents per yard, and the cost of +oil, starch, and all other materials except cotton, less than one-half +cent, making less than two cents for cost of manufacturing; but with +cotton at ten cents to the planter and twelve and one-half cents to the +spinner, the cost of cotton in the yard of same goods is five cents. + +With cotton at the average price of the last few years, we have supplied +a very small portion of India and China with goods, in competition with +their hand-made goods of same material. With new markets opening in +Japan and China, and by the building of railroads in India, we have to +meet a constantly decreasing supply of raw material as compared with the +demand. Give us cotton at six to seven cents, at which free labor and +skill could well afford it, and the manufacturing industry of New +England would receive a development unknown before. But when we ask more +cotton of slavery, we are answered by its great prophet, De Bow; that +because we are willing to pay a high price we can not have it; for he +says, 'Although land is to be had in unlimited quantities, whenever +cotton rises to ten cents, labor becomes too dear to increase production +rapidly.' + +And this is what the great system of slave labor has accomplished. The +production of its great staple, cotton, is in the hands of less than +100,000 men. In 1850 there were in all the Southern States only 170,000 +men owning more than five slaves each, and they owned 2,800,000 out of +3,300,000. + +These men have by their system rendered labor degrading,--they have +driven out their non-slaveholding neighbors by hundreds of thousands to +find homes and self-respect in the free air of the great West,--they +have reduced those who remain to a condition of ignorance scarcely to be +found in any other country claiming to be civilized--so low that even +the slaves look down upon the 'mean white trash,'--they have sapped the +very foundations of honor and morality, so that 'Southern chivalry' has +become the synonym for treachery, theft, and dishonor in every +form,--they have reached a depth of degradation only to be equalled by +those Northern men who would now prevent this war from utterly +destroying slavery,--they have literally skinned over a vast area of +country, leaving it for the time a desert, and with an area of +368,312,320 acres in the eight cotton States, they have now under +cultivation in cotton less than 6,000,000 (an area scarcely larger than +the little State of Massachusetts); they have less than two slave +laborers to the square mile; and their only opposition to the re-opening +of the African slave-trade is upon the ground that an increase of +laborers will but reduce the price of cotton, give the planters a great +deal more trouble and less profit, and only benefit their enemies in New +and Old England. + +Have not the manufacturer, the consumer, the business man, the farmer, +the soldier, every free man, every friend of the poor whites of the +South who are not yet free men, a right and an interest in claiming that +this monopoly of 100,000 cotton planters shall cease, their estates be +confiscated for their treason, and divided among our soldiers, to repay +them for their sacrifices in the cause of their country? First of all, +however, let us claim the 100,000,000 acres, not the property of any +individual, but fought for and paid for by the United States, and then +given to that most ungrateful of all the rebel States, Texas--the great +'Cotton State.' + +Upon these fertile lands, and in this most profitable branch of +agriculture, let us find the bounty for our soldiers, the reward for +their sacrifices, and our own security for the future good order of the +state. + +By so doing we shall silence the outcry of the South that ours is a war +of conquest (since the right of the government to the public lands of +Texas is unquestionable), and, at the same time, furnish a powerful +incentive to the zeal of our soldiers. + +I have compiled a few facts and statements in regard to the soil and +climate of Texas from Capt. Marcy's Exploration of the Red River, in +which he was accompanied by Captain, now General, McLellan, from the +_Texas Almanac_, a most violent pro-slavery publication, and from the +letters of a friend, a loyal Texan, who has been driven from his home, +and is now in the North. + +In advocating the Memphis and El Paso route for the Pacific Railroad, +Captain Marcy writes as follows:-- + + The road alluded to, immediately after leaving Fulton, Ark., leads + to an elevated ridge dividing the waters that flow into Red River + from those of the Sulphur and Trinity, and continues upon it, with + but few deviations from the direct course for El Paso and Dona Ana + to near the Brazos River, a distance of three hundred and twenty + miles, and mostly through the northern part of Texas. This portion + of the route has its locality in a country of surpassing beauty + and fertility, and possesses all the requisites for attracting and + sustaining a dense farming population. It is diversified with + prairies and woodland, and is bountifully watered with numerous + spring brooks, which flow off upon either side of the ridge + above-mentioned. The crest of the ridge is exceedingly smooth and + level, and is altogether the best natural or artificial road I + ever traveled over for the same distance. + + After leaving this ridge, the road crosses the Brazos near very + extensive fields of bituminous coal, which burns readily, with a + clear flame, and is very superior in quality. + + From the Brazos, the road skirts small affluents of that stream + and the Colorado for two hundred miles. The soil upon this section + is principally a red argillaceous loam, similar to that in the Red + River bottoms, which is so highly productive. + + As this route is included within the thirty-second and + thirty-fourth parallels of latitude, it would never be obstructed + with snow. The whole surface of the country is covered with a + dense coating of the most nutritious grass, which remains green + for nine months in the year, and enables cattle to subsist the + entire winter without any other forage. + + The line of this road east from Fort Smith would intersect the + Mississippi in the vicinity of Memphis, Tenn., and would pass + through the country bordering the Arkansas River, which can not be + surpassed for fertility.--_Marcy's Red River Exploration_. + +The route thus described lies through the following counties, and +attention is specially directed to their several products in 1858:-- + + Acres + County White Slave Corn Wheat Cotton Sug. Misc'l Total. + +Bowie 2,077 2,321 10,392 1,421 8,240 23 3,232 23,308 +Cass 6,112 4,816 28,474 5,552 20,168 36 4,368 58,508 +Titus 6,025 1,891 18,987 2,272 9,872 92 6,227 36,450 +Upshur 5,999 2,801 22,515 3,092 16,692 45 3,122 46,065 +Wood 3,254 733 8,336 1,090 3,194 31 1,841 14,501 +Van Zandt 2,548 242 6,504 837 1,213 8 596 8,160 +Henderson 2,758 827 8,470 845 4,768 70 908 15,061 +Navarro 2,885 1,579 10,531 2,785 4,678 127 2,609 20,730 +Hill 1,858 508 5,161 3,189 181 201 761 9,493 +Bosque 887 182 2,702 872 224 45 83 4,026 + ______ ______ _______ ______ ______ ___ ______ _______ + 34,403 15,800 121,072 22,564 69,330 678 22,748 236,392 + +Let us allow the usual proportion of field hands to the whole number of +slaves, viz., one-third, and we have a force of 5297; if whites do not +labor in the field, each field hand must cultivate 44 64/100 acres of +land. The customary allotment is ten cotton and five corn, or, where +corn and wheat are the principal products, from twenty to twenty-five +acres. + + July 15, 1852. We were in motion at two o'clock in the morning, + and, taking a north-east course towards the base of the mountain + chain, passed through mezquite groves, intersected by brooks of + pure water flowing into the south branch of Cache Creek, upon one + of which we are encamped. + + We find the soil good at all places near the mountains, and the + country well wooded and watered. The grass, consisting of several + varieties of the grama, is of a superior quality, and grows + luxuriantly. The climate is salubrious, _and the almost constant + cool and bracing breezes of the summer months_, with the entire + absence of anything like marshes or stagnant water, remove all + sources of noxious malaria, with its attendant evils of autumnal + fevers.--_Marcy's Exploration of the Red River_, p. 11. + + Our camp is upon the creek last occupied by the Witchitas before + they left the mountains. The soil, in point of fertility, + surpasses anything we have before seen, and the vegetation in the + old corn-fields is so dense that it was with great difficulty I + could force my horse through it. It consisted of rank weeds + growing to the height of twelve feet. Soil of this character must + have produced an enormous yield of corn. The timber is + sufficiently abundant for all purposes of the agriculturist, and + of a superior quality. + + We have now reached the eastern extremity of the Witchita chain + of mountains, and shall to-morrow strike our course for Fort + Asbuekl. + + The more we have seen of the country about these mountains, the + more pleased we have been with it. Bounteous nature seems here to + have strewed her favors with a lavish hand, and to have held out + every inducement for civilized man to occupy it. The numerous + tributaries of Cache Creek, flowing from granite fountains, and + winding like net-work through the valleys, with the advantages of + good timber, soil and grass, the pure, elastic and delicious + climate, with a bracing atmosphere, all unite in presenting rare + inducements to the husbandman.--_Marcy's Red River Exploration_. + +This section of country is in latitude 34°, longitude 99°; the latitude +the same as the central part of South Carolina and the southern part of +Arkansas. + +We will now give statements from the _Texas Almanac_. + + The south winds are the source of comfort and positive luxury to + the inhabitants of Texas during the hot weather of summer. The + nearer the sea-coast, the cooler and more brisk the current; but + the entire area of prairie, and a large portion of the timbered + country, feel it as a pleasant, healthful breeze, rendering our + highest temperature tolerable.--_Prof. Forshey, of the Texas + Military Institute_. + + + TRINITY RIVER AND ITS VALLEY. + + So far as I have described the river, the climate is pleasant and + salubrious, and favorable for planting. The forests and + cane-brakes mitigate the cold of the northers in winter, and the + south breezes temper the heat of summer. Contrary to the usual + opinion, plantations, when once cleared of decaying timber, are + found to be remarkably healthy. In fact, there are no causes of + sickness. The river in summer is only a deep, sandy ravine, with a + clear and rapid stream of water running at its bottom, and in the + rear of the plantations, instead of swamps, are high rolling + cane-brakes. + + The paradox, that there is more good land on the Trinity than on + the Mississippi, is one which will be readily sustained by those + who are acquainted with the subject.--_Texas Almanac, 1861_. + + + TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS. + + The soil is exceedingly rich, from two to ten feet deep, and when + the seasons are favorable it produces from sixty to one hundred + bushels of corn, and from one and a half to two bales of cotton, + per acre. From twenty-five to thirty acres of corn, or twelve to + fifteen acres of cotton to the hand, are usually cultivated. + + Our country upon the whole is fertile and well watered, has timber + enough to supply its demands, and an everlasting amount of stone + for building; it has an eternal range of mesquit grass, on which + horses and cattle that never smell corn keep perfectly fat all + winter. The climate is delightful, the nights pleasant, a fine + south breeze in summer continually playing over the face of our + broad prairies, and the atmosphere so pure and invigorating, that + it is more conducive to good health to sleep out in the open air + than to sleep in-doors. There is something so attractive in this + section of country, that those who live here a short time are + seldom satisfied to live anywhere else. + + Our citizens are generally intelligent, enterprising, industrious, + religious, sober, and, _laying politics aside_, honest.--_Texas + Almanac_. + + + COMAL COUNTY. + + BY THE ASSESSOR. + + Mostly settled by Germans. In this county there are in cultivation + 600 acres in cotton, 15,000 acres in corn, 500 acres in wheat. The + acre yields 500 pounds of clean cotton, 40 bushels of corn, 20 + bushels of wheat. From 3,500 to 4,000 white inhabitants; 188 + slaves; 396 farms. Improved lands $30, unimproved $3 an acre. + _Most of the farms are cultivatd by white labor_; a white hand + cultivates thirty acres of corn. Peaches yield abundantly; apples + and quinces have been tried successfully. The wild grape, plum, + cherry, _mulberry_, and blackberry grow luxuriantly. Wine of good + quality has been made here. + + New Braunfels is the county seat. It has 2,000 inhabitants, and + boasts of having the only free school in the State, supported by + aid from the State school fund, and by direct taxation on the + property of the school district. Four teachers are employed, and + there are 250 pupils. + +The letters of my Texas friend give the following description of the +climate of Texas:-- + + The climate of Texas is very peculiar. This is owing to the body + of water to the eastward of it, and to the dry and elevated plain + of the Llano Estacado, and the lofty mountains which lie to the + westward. To these two causes are due the moisture and the cool + temperature, and at times and in certain localities the excessive + dryness of Texas. + + The Gulf stream, in its course along the coast of Florida and in + the Gulf of Mexico, has beneath it, running to the south, a cold + stream, nearly down to the freezing point. The great equatorial + current which strikes north of Cape St. Roque and through the + Caribbean Sea is suddenly narrowed between Cape San Antonio and + Cape Catoche; here the upper and warmer current, being condensed, + strikes deeper, and forces to the surface the cold water from the + under current, sometimes occasioning a roaring and very peculiar + noise. By this means the Gulf stream is divided, part turning to + the eastward around Cuba and between that island and Florida, and + part turning to the westward, north of the banks of Campeachy, and + striking Padre Island, an island upon the coast of Texas, about + one hundred and forty miles this current strikes, there are very + deep soundings, almost up with the land. South of this point, upon + the beach, are found mahogany and other tropical drift-wood, + brought there from the tropics; while north of it the drift wood + is oak, ash, and cotton-wood, brought from the north by a current + running counter to the Gulf stream, which I will hereafter + describe. From Padre Island the Gulf stream strikes off to the + north-east to the mouth of the Mississippi, thence around the + coast of Florida and through her keys, until it joins the other + branch. Inside the Gulf stream, along the coast of Texas, is the + counter-current before referred to, making down the coast at the + rate of two to three miles per hour, and bringing down the silt + and mud of the Mississippi, Sabine, etc. I have seen the water off + the Island of Galveston the color of chocolate, after a long + norther. + + Above the centre of Padre Island the coast of Texas deepens at the + rate of about a fathom to the mile, until at twenty fathoms there + is a coral reef, and on the easterly side of this reef the water + deepens, as by the side of a perpendicular wall, to a very great + depth. This reef marks the boundary of the Gulf stream, and also + the boundary of the terrible tornado. The tornado of the Gulf of + Mexico never passes this barrier, never strikes the land, nor has + it been known within memory of man upon the coast. + + It seems to confine itself to the course of the warm water of the + stream, and the great 'Father of the Waters' spreads his + counter-current down the coast of Texas, like a long flowing + garment, fending off the storm and the whirlwind, and thus still + better fitting Texas for the white man and the white man's labor. + + With this freedom from violent storms comes the delicious + southerly wind in the summer, which gives health and moisture to + the larger part of Texas. This wind varies in the point from which + it flows. From Sabine to Matagorda its course is from south-east + to south-south-east, growing more and more to the south as the + coast tends to the south, until at the Rio Grande it blows from + due south with perhaps a little westing in it. The course of this + wind will explain the three belts of Texas, the rainy, that of + less rain, and that of great drought. + + This wind from the south-east corner from across the ocean and + gulf (being a continuation of the south-east trades) laden with + moisture and of a delightful temperature, when it is met by the + cool air from the mountains, and condensed, giving the rains of + Eastern and Central Texas. The more southing they have in them, + the less moisture, until the extreme south-eastern portion of + Texas, or the country near the mouth of the Rio Grande, is one of + almost constant drought. There are thus three belts of moisture: + first, from the Sabine to the mouth of the Brazos, may be called + the belt of greatest rain,--from the Brazos to Lavaca or Victoria, + that of moderate rain,--and from Lavaca to the Rio Grande, the dry + belt. But even in the dry belt there is moisture enough to give + fine grasses, and make the country a fine one for grazing, and the + streams taking their rise in great springs, which probably have + their source in the melting snows of the Rocky Mountains, flowing + under the Llano Estacado and breaking out in great numbers in a + line almost north and south, never dry up, even in the dryest + seasons. + + In the winter months, Texas has winds from the north, which come + on very suddenly, and produce great variation in the temperature. + They are disagreeable, but wholesome, and clear the atmosphere. + They do not extend north of the Red River, nor very far west, but + increase in intensity as they go south. + + No country in the world can be healthier than Texas, and + consumption and pectoral complaints never originate in the area of + the northers. + + Eastern Texas is generally well wooded; Middle and Western Texas + have wood on the banks of the streams, and frequent spots of + timber on the prairies. + + Most of the country is covered with nutritious grass, affording + good pasture throughout the year, capable of supporting an endless + number of cattle and sheep, and almost all the soil is suited to + the growth of cotton. There are more than five thousand square + miles of bituminous coal in Texas, presenting seams five feet + thick, and hills of pure gypsum seven hundred feet high. These are + all covered by a generous sky and climate beneath which the white + man can live and work without fear of malaria or sickness, and + where he can enjoy all the blessings of the tropics without their + attendant disadvantages. + +It is this superb country which we trust General Lane and his forces may +soon redeem from the curse of slavery. + +The woolen manufacturer has an equal interest with the cotton-spinner in +demanding that this shall be done, for with this unequaled country for +the production of wool remaining under the curse of slavery, we import +annually nearly thirty million pounds of wool,--about one-third of our +whole consumption. With Texas free, and emigration from abroad--for a +long time reduced almost to nothing--freely encouraged, we should become +exporters of wool, not importers. + +But I am warned that I have exceeded the space allotted me. The absurd +assertion that the emancipated negro lapses into barbarism and will not +work, can only be met by the question, 'If he will not work except by +compulsion, why does he work extra after his compulsory labor is over?' +Evidence that he does so work can be presented _ad infinitum_, upon +Southern testimony; witness that De Bow's _Review_ makes only a _few_ +selections. + +The _peculium_ of Southern servants, even on the plantation, is +sometimes not trifling. We make a _few_ selections, showing-- + + THE NEGROES' CROP.--A friend has reported to us a sale, on + Tuesday, of a crop of cotton belonging to Elijah Cook, of Harris + Co., Ga., amounting to $1424 96-100.--_Columbus_ (Ga.) _Sun_, Dec. + 29, 1858. + + Mr. J.S. Byington informs us that he made two cotton purchases + lately. One was the cotton crop of the negroes of Dr. Lucas, of + this vicinity, for which he paid $1,800 in cash, every dollar of + which goes to the negroes.--_Montgomery (Ala.) Mail_, Jan. 21, + 1859. + + Speaking of negroes' crops, the sales of which our contemporaries + are chronicling in various amounts,--the largest which has come to + our knowledge is one made in Macon, for the negroes of Allen + McWalker. It amounted to $1969.65.--_Macon (Ga.) Telegraph_, Feb. + 3, 1859. + +Upon Louisiana sugar plantations, the exhausting work of the grinding +season can only be maintained by a system of premiums and rewards +equivalent to the payment of wages. Under that system the negroes of the +sugar plantations are among the most healthy and contented in the South; +while the same labor performed in Cuba, under the most severe +compulsion, causes an annual decrease of the slave population, and the +product of the island is only maintained by fresh importations of slaves +from Africa. + +With the following Southern testimony as to the intelligence of the +negro, I leave this subject:-- + + Without book learning the Southern slave will partake more and + more of the life-giving civilization of the master. As it is, his + intimate relations with the superior race, and the unsystematic + instruction he receives in the family, have placed him in point of + intelligence above a large portion of the white laborers of + Europe.--_Plantation Life, by Rev. Dr. McTeyire_. + +We claim emancipation for the white man; it can only be secured by the +freedom of the negro. The infinite justice of the Almighty demands both. + +If we now fail to accomplish it, to bear in the future the name of +'American Citizen' will be a badge of shame and dishonor. + + * * * * * + +GENERAL PATTERSON'S CAMPAIGN IN VIRGINIA. + + +It seldom happens that the history of any series of events can be +written soon after they have transpired. The idea of history implies +correctness, impartiality and completeness; and it is of rare occurrence +that all these requisites can be obtained in their fullness within a +brief period after the time of which the history is required. The +historians of this day write of the past; and the historian of our +present civil war is not yet born, who shall emulate the completeness +and conciseness of Irving's Columbus, or Prescott's Ferdinand and +Isabella, or Motley's Dutch Republic. Nor can we expect an early +solution to the 'Fremont question,' which shall be full and +satisfactory, though the length of time involved be but one hundred +days. But it is different with Gen. Patterson. It is true that his +loyalty is disputed, and in this question may be involved many +complicated issues; but the question of the general result of his three +months' campaign in Virginia admits but one answer;--it was a failure. +And it is an exception to the general rule that we can, within a few +months after his campaign closed, see and understand exactly why and how +he failed. + +It is not proposed in this article to discuss the loyalty of Gen. +Patterson, or to take sides with either those who claim for him a +patriot's laurels or those who would have him suffer a traitor's fate. +We shall ignore this question entirely, simply examining the acts of his +last campaign, with reference to his capability and efficiency, the +nature and effects of his policy, and the reasons of his failure. We +propose to try him in the same manner and by the same standard as we +would if his loyalty had never been questioned. + +The early morning of the 12th day of June, 1861, found the writer a +volunteer soldier of less than two months' experience in camp, just +arrived with his regiment, from the distant Badger State, at +Chambersburg, in Pennsylvania, where it was to join Patterson's division +of the Federal army. For the next two months ensuing, the writer +possessed all the facilities attainable to a private in the ranks for +observing the progress of events in that division of the army, judging +as to the propriety or necessity of the various movements, and forming +opinions as to whether Patterson was using to the best advantage the +military means within his control. These facilities were not many, it is +true; but the public opinion of the North demanded certain actions from +the general, and the writer, though but a private, could judge as to +whether those demands of the loyal North were reasonable, and as to +whether Patterson could accomplish what was required, if he chose. He +was expected to _do something_; it did not matter in what particular +manner; but it was deemed essential that he should in some way hold +Johnston in check, and prevent his junction with the main rebel force at +Manassas. And this was precisely what Patterson did not do. Bull Run was +fought and lost, and the very result attained which Patterson was +expected to prevent. Could it have been prevented? + +It is fashionable in these days to set up the cry of inefficiency when a +general does not do everything that public opinion requires. The +Americans are proverbially a fault-finding people; and it will of course +be as easy to make out an _ex parte_ case against Gen. Patterson as +against our other generals. We propose, nevertheless, at the risk of +being unfashionable, to discuss candidly these expectations of the +American people which were not realized, together with the actual doings +of the unsuccessful general. We deem it susceptible of logical proof +that Patterson might and should have prevented Johnston's junction with +Beauregard. + +Tents pitched, and the dust of travel from a journey of a thousand miles +washed off, the 'boys' of the 1st Wisconsin regiment stretched their +weary limbs on the fragrant clover of Pennsylvania, and, like American +soldiers everywhere, discussed with earnestness and warmth the causes, +progress, and prospects of the war. Our own position was not a little +interesting. The strength of Patterson's division was not precisely +known, but troops were arriving daily, and it was supposed to consist of +about twenty thousand men. As was well understood, it was intended to +menace Harper's Ferry, a strong natural, military and strategic +position, then held by the rebels. A severe struggle was anticipated if +the Ferry were attacked, and many were the pictures drawn of bloody +scenes and terrible carnage. But the writer, doubting the assumed +strength of the rebels at that point, freely expressed the opinion that +there would be no fight there, but that the rebels would evacuate the +post. And before his regiment left Chambersburg, this prediction was +verified. The rebels, alarmed at the prospect which loomed up before +them of a strong column of Federal troops, burned the Armory and +Arsenal, and fled. And here we may find a key to the whole of the rebel +manoeuvring--they were weak, and unable to cope with Patterson, _and +they knew it_. Upon no other hypothesis can we account for their +evacuating so strong and so important a point as Harper's Ferry. + +Up to this time it had been a foregone conclusion with the army, as well +as with the American people, that Patterson was to occupy Harper's +Ferry. No other course of action was for a moment thought of. Even so +late as the 30th of June, when the different brigades were called +together, preparatory to crossing the Potomac, very many were sanguine +that Harper's Ferry was to be made the base of operations, and did not +give up that opinion till they found themselves _en route_ for +Williamsport. But the strong strategic position was neglected for more +than a month; and finally, on the very day when Johnston poured his +fresh legions upon the bloody field of Bull Run, and forced the Federals +to fall back, Patterson, with his back to the foe, entered Harper's +Ferry, with his three months' men, whose term of enlistment was +expiring, by the very road by which Johnston had left it in June. + +This neglect of Patterson to occupy the strongest point in his field of +operations puts the stamp of imbecility upon him at the commencement of +his campaign. The rebels expected him to occupy that point, as, even so +late as the time of his crossing the Potomac, the force which disputed +his onward march into the valley of Virginia was not so great as that +held at Charleston to dispute his march from Harper's Ferry in case he +entered the valley there. Patterson himself confessed his mistake, by +retiring to the Ferry in July, for the avowed reason that his three +months' men must soon go home, and he must be in such a position as not +to tempt an attack from the rebels while his column was thus weakened +and disorganized, and before he could be reinforced by three years' men. +Why did not this necessity, and the propriety of holding Harper's Ferry +as a base of operations for this reason alone, if for no other, occur to +the cautious general before, as it did to so many of less military +experience than himself? Patterson, at the last day, thus confesses his +error. It was the first great mistake of his campaign. The second was +one of a different nature. + +On the 2d day of July, the army crossed the Potomac at Williamsport, by +means of the ford. The crossing was commenced at daylight, and consumed +the whole of the day. Just before daylight, a little passage at arms +occurred on the Virginia side of the stream, the companies who had been +thrown over the night before as pickets having been fired on by a +detachment of the 'Berkeley Border Guard,' and returning the fire +promptly. But this served only to stimulate the already keen energies of +the Federal forces, who waded knee-deep through the clear Potomac, and +trudged along over the 'sacred soil' with a willingness unchecked by the +cold nor'wester that raged on that July morning. That portion of +Berkeley County, Virginia, which lies opposite to Willlamsport, is +called 'the Neck,' being in the shape of a horse-shoe, and nearly +surrounded by the detour of the Potomac. The turnpike leading from +Williamsport to Martinsburg and Winchester traverses the whole length of +'the Neck;' and it was on this road that the advance guard of the +division, Abercrombie's Brigade, took its line of march, a brush with +the rebels being momentarily expected. The first view of their pickets, +after leaving Williamsport, was obtained at Falling Waters, by which +sonorous appellation the Virginians designate a small and pretty +mill-pond, which loses itself over the dam of a solitary grist-mill, +within a stone's throw of the Potomac. Here was a strong natural +position, and an excellent place for waging a defensive war, if the +rebels had been so disposed. But they did not make a stand till a point +was reached a mile south from Falling Waters, and about five miles from +Williamsport, where their skirmishers opened fire at 9.15, A.M. The +skirmish which ensued, and which has since been styled the Battle of +Falling Waters, was sustained on the part of the Federals by +Abercrombie's Brigade, consisting of the 1st Wisconsin and the 11th +Pennsylvania regiments, McMullen's Philadelphia company of Independent +Rangers, the Philadelphia City Troop of cavalry, and Perkins' Field +Battery of six guns. This force speedily dislodged a superior force of +the enemy, and pursued them for two miles, as far as the hamlet of +Hainesville, where orders from Gen. Patterson to cease the pursuit +allowed the rear-guard of the rebels to elude their grasp. The contest +and the chase lasted but two hours, and at noon the advance guard +encamped at Hainesville. The remainder of the day was consumed by the +army in selecting grounds and pitching tents; and by night, Gen. +Patterson, with twenty thousand men, had succeeded in marching seven +miles, routing Col. Jackson's rebel brigade, and occupying Camp Jackson, +distant about two and one-half miles from the Maryland shore of the +Potomac. On Tuesday, the 3d of July, the indomitable general advanced +five and one-half miles farther, to Martinsburg, the county seat of +Berkeley County, and occupied the town with his whole force, without +firing a gun; the rebel rear-guard leaving Martinsburg for the south as +the Federal advance entered it from the north. + +It would seem that at such a moment a skillful general would take +advantage of such a little success, and follow it up, especially when he +had spent as much time in preparation as had Patterson, by a series of +crushing blows, if anything could be found to crush. And in view of the +facts that Gen. Johnston had thus far made almost no opposition to the +advance of the Unionists, and that Patterson's soldiers were without +exception eager and anxious to push on, the policy of holding back seems +almost unaccountable. But Patterson tarried at Martinsburg for nearly +two weeks, and telegraphed for more troops; and on the 15th of July, +when he commenced his forward march toward Winchester, he suddenly +discovered that Johnston had so fortified that place that it would be +unsafe to attack it! It may be that he could get no accurate information +as to the strength of the rebel force, and that he supposed them to be +superior to himself. Still, there were many signs which a capable +general could have read plainly. It was well known that there were in +Johnston's advance force no really good troops, except the 'Berkeley +Border Guard,' a company of cavalry, composed of citizens of Berkeley +County, who, from their complete and minute knowledge of the country, +their skill in the saddle, and their zeal in the rebel cause, were as +formidable, though not so notorious, as the Black Horse Cavalry of +Fairfax and Prince William. The rout of the rebels at Hainesville, or +Falling Waters, partook of the nature of a panic, as was evidenced by +the profuse scattering of knapsacks, clothing, canteens and provisions +along the 'pike.' Indeed, the conduct of the Virginia militia scarcely +sustained the loud professions of desire to 'fight and die in defending +the sacred soil of Virginia from the invader,' as announced by the +letters and papers found in their knapsacks. And the whole course of +these events convinced the private soldiers, if not the commanding +general, that Johnston's highest ambition at that time was to gain time. +Did he not know as well as any one that the time of enlistment of many +of Patterson's men had nearly expired? And what more natural than for +him to keep the latter at bay till such a time as the withdrawal of very +many of his best troops would force him to retire? There were many true +Unionists, too, in the ranks of the rebels, who would have been glad of +opportunities to escape; this was well known. It seems impossible to +resist the conclusion that Patterson should have acceded to the +unanimous wish of his rank and file, and followed up his success at +Hainesville, by occupying Martinsburg on the 2d, advancing to 'Bunker +Hill' on the 3d, and dispersing the small rebel force known to be there, +and celebrating the 4th of July by marching on Winchester, and attacking +and reducing that post, as it seems he might easily have done at that +time. This would of course prevent the apprehended junction of Johnston +with Beauregard. The history of the war in the Old Dominion would then +have been differently written; Bull Run and its panic would not be a +stain upon our national honor, and--but who can not read the rest? It is +true, Patterson should bear none of the blame of the Bull Run disaster, +if he could have done nothing to avoid it; but we have shown that he +could have done what was necessary, and that there were reasons existing +at the time for taking such a course, of which he should have been +cognizant. + +The army left Martinsburg for the south, as we have seen, on Monday, +July 15th. The whole division, with trifling exceptions, moved forward, +and advanced on that day as far as 'Bunker Hill,' ten miles from +Martinsburg. An insignificant rebel force fell back as Patterson +advanced, and at 'Bunker Hill' the army encamped around the smoking +brands of the rebel camp-fires, just deserted. Here was a small +post-town called Mill Creek; and near by, the high ridge called 'Bunker +Hill' formed another fine natural position for defence; but the rebels +were not disposed to defend it. Patterson lay here two days, within +twelve miles of the rebel strong-hold at Winchester, the pickets of the +two armies watching each other by night and day. On the 17th the Federal +army was astir before daylight, and an advance to the south was +commenced. But before the rear-guard filed down from 'Bunker Hill' to +the turnpike, a counter-march was ordered; and the whole division +proceeded twelve miles to the east, leaving Winchester on their flank, +and occupying Charlestown, in Jefferson County. What could have pleased +Johnston better? What wonder that he should take the opportunity, as +soon as satisfied that this flank movement was not intended to operate +against him, to leave his fortifications at Winchester in charge of a +small force, and rush to reinforce Beauregard? And is it not more than +remarkable that Patterson, after occupying Charlestown for four days, +should fall back to Harper's Ferry on the very day when his foe had +effected his _ruse de guerre_, and was actually turning the tide of +battle at Bull Run? + +There is nothing in all this to change the opinion, previously formed, +that Patterson should have pushed on to Winchester early in July. The +whole of Johnston's manoeuvering seems to have been calculated merely to +deceive Patterson, and to gain time. And so clever was he in his +strategy, that, when his march to Manassas commenced, Patterson, +learning either of the main movement or of a feint towards himself, +aroused his army at midnight, and held them in readiness to fight, in +apprehension of instant attack. As early as the middle of June, when +Patterson threw a brigade over the Potomac at Williamsport, on a +reconnoitering expedition, Johnston heard of the movement, and advanced +a small force to engage and delay the Federals, which fell back as soon +as the latter retired, as has since been learned from escaped prisoners +and deserters. Indeed, the whole of Patterson's campaign shows far +superior generalship on the part of his adversary. + +Scarcely had the cautious general occupied from necessity that point +whose strength and natural facilities he had previously despised, when +the term of his appointment as general of the division expired, and the +government allowed him to retire to private life. His successor's first +act was to retire across the Potomac and occupy the Maryland Heights, +opposite to Harper's Ferry, leaving not a foot of rebel soil to be held +by our army as an evidence of the 'something' which had been expected of +the venerable commander of the army of the Shenandoah. He had spent +three months of time, and ten millions of money, and had only emulated +the acts of that Gallic sovereign whose great deeds are immortalized in +the brief couplet, + + 'The king of France, with twice ten thousand men, + Marched up the hill, and then--marched down again.' + +He had done more. He had committed another grave error, which has +received but little public attention, but which told with disastrous +effect upon the Union cause in Northern Virginia. That section of the +State, as is well known, contained many true Union men. Previous to +Patterson's entry into Virginia, they had been proscribed and severely +treated by the secessionists. Many had been impressed by the rebel +troops; the 'Berkeley Border Guard' had dragged many a peaceable +Unionist from his bed at night to serve in the ranks of Johnston's army. +But many others had been able to keep their true sentiments wholly to +themselves, and had feigned sympathy with secession; while many more had +fled from their homes across the Potomac, and sought refuge in loyal +Maryland, where they hung around the Federal camps, vainly urging an +early advance, that they might go home and take care of their families +and their crops. Thus was Berkeley County completely shackled, and a +reign of terror fully established. And on that bright morning of the 2d +of July, as the Federal army marched over the 'sacred soil,' the cleanly +cut grain fields, with their deserted houses, told plainly of +secessionist owners, who could stay at home and cut their grain while +the rebels were in force, but who fled before the advance of Union +troops, and deserted their homes; while the fields of standing grain, +with the golden kernels ripe and almost rotting on the stalks, and the +cheerless-looking houses, tenanted only by women and children, told as +plainly of the poor Unionists, driven from home and family by the +'Border Guard' who so bravely 'defended the sacred soil.' With the +advance of the Union army came back hundreds of Union refugees from +Maryland; poor, half-starved men crept out to the roadside from their +hiding-places, and told the Union troops that they now first saw +daylight for several weeks; and the lonely yet brave women displayed +from their hovels the Union flags, the true 'Red, White, and Blue,' +which their loyalty had kept for months concealed. And as the army +tarried at Martinsburg, and reinforcements came in, the secret Unionists +avowed their real sentiments; the Union flag was displayed from many a +dwelling; and the fair hands of Martinsburg women stitched beautiful +banners, which, with words of eloquent loyalty, were presented to the +favorite Union regiments, and even now are cherished in Northern homes, +or in Union encampments, as mementos of the gratitude of Berkeley County +for its deliverance from the reign of terror. Yet how was the confidence +repaid which these loyal people thus reposed in Gen. Patterson? In less +than three weeks, not a Union soldier was left in Martinsburg, and +before the first of August they were withdrawn wholly from Berkeley and +Jefferson Counties. And the poor refugees who had returned to their +homes in good faith, and the loyalists who in equal good faith had +spoken out their true patriotism and their love of the Union, were left +to the tender mercies of the 'Berkeley Border Guard,' and such braves as +the Texan Rangers, the Mississippi Bowie-knives, and the Louisiana Tiger +Zouaves. Gray-headed men like Pendleton and Strother were dragged from +their homes to languish for weeks in Richmond jails, and the old reign +of terror was reëstablished with renewed virulence. Shall we ask these +poor, deceived Unionists of Northern Virginia what they think of Gen. +Patterson, and of the success of his campaign? How can we estimate the +injury to the cause of the Union inflicted in this way alone by a +grossly inefficient Federal general? + +There were other reasons than those already enumerated why Patterson +should have occupied Harper's Ferry at an early day, and these were +reasons of economy, which commended themselves to the judgment of almost +every one except the commanding general. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad +is the natural and only good thoroughfare along the valley of the upper +Potomac. Harper's Ferry, confessedly the strongest and best military +point in Northern Virginia, and the one best fitted for a base of +offensive operations, is on this railroad, and, of course, of easy +access from Baltimore and Washington. In June last the road was open +from Baltimore to the Point of Rocks, between which last place and the +Ferry were some rebel obstructions easy to be removed. Had Gen. +Patterson occupied Harper's Ferry in June, and opened the railroad to +that point, and from thence carried on the campaign like a brave +general, worthy to command the brave men who filled the ranks of his +army, the government might by this time have made the whole line of the +Baltimore and Ohio Railroad of use, as a means of transporting troops +and munitions between Cincinnati and Baltimore,--a desideratum then, as +now, very strongly urged, as the shortest route between those points is +the circuitous one _via_ Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. It could have been +of great use, too, to Patterson's division of the army, in transporting +supplies from Baltimore, by the most natural and expeditious route. But +it was his plan to enter Virginia at Williamsport, so that all supplies +for his division must go from Baltimore and Philadelphia to Harrisburg, +and thence by rail to Hagerstown, where they were loaded upon army +wagons, and transported thus to and across the Potomac, and for fifteen +or twenty miles into Virginia, to the Federal camps, at very great +outlay and expense. So earnest did Gen. Patterson seem to be, either in +doing nothing, or else in causing all the expenditure possible. + +These are the arguments which address themselves to our reason, as +bearing on the question of Patterson's success or failure, and as +explanatory of the latter. As before stated, they are urged, not to show +that Patterson should have possessed prophetic knowledge or any +extraordinary powers, but to illustrate his failure to understand what +was transpiring before his face and eyes. He is culpable, not because he +did not achieve impossibilities, but because he did not do what plain +common-sense seemed to require. The writer heard, among the Federal +camps, but one reason suggested for Patterson's neglect to occupy +Harper's Ferry in June, which was, that probably the rebels had +concealed sundry infernal machines in its vicinity, which would destroy +thousands of the Union soldiers at the proper time. This was building a +great military policy on a very small basis. If there was running +through Gen. Patterson's policy any such plan of military strategy, or, +in fact, any plan whatever, we have the curious spectacle presented of a +general of an army ignoring common-sense, and building up a plan of a +great campaign solely upon improbabilities. And it strikes us that this +may be the key to the general's system of warfare, and a very plain and +lucid explanation of his failure. + +It is not deemed desirable here to treat of Patterson's other faults, +such as his indulgent treatment of rebel spies, his failure to +confiscate rebel property, and his distinguishing between the property +of rebels and loyalists, by placing strong guards over the former, and +neglecting to take equal care of the latter. Such acts only prove him to +be either more nice than wise, or less nice than foolish; unless we +argue him to be, as many do, a secret secessionist. But we leave it to +others to draw inferences as to his loyalty or disloyalty. Our task is +accomplished if we have shown that whether loyal or false, whether a +patriot or a traitor, his three months' campaign in Virginia proves him +unfit to be a commander, by revealing three great faults, each injuring +the cause he professed to aid, all combining to render his campaign a +failure, and two of the three assisting directly in our disaster at Bull +Run, and deepening that dark stain upon our national escutcheon. His +neglect to occupy Harper's Ferry in June, his failure to push on against +Johnston when there was an opportunity to injure him, and his cool +betrayal of the Unionists of Northern Virginia into the clutches of the +rebel Thugs, will place the name of Patterson by the side of the names +of Lee, Hull, Winder, and Buchanan, who, though not the open enemies of +their country, were its false and inefficient friends. + + * * * * * + +THE GAME OF FATE. + + + Ever above this earthly ball, + There sit two forms, unseen by all, + Playing, with fearful earnestness, + Through life and death, a game of chess. + + Feather of pride and wolfish eye, + Judas-bearded, glancing sly; + Many a pawn you have gathered in, + Through circling ages of shame and sin! + + Fair as an angel, tender and true, + Is he who measures his might with you; + Oft he has lost, in times long gone, + But ever the terrible game goes on. + + But where are the chessmen to be found?-- + Where the picket paces his dangerous round; + Where the general sits, with chart and map; + Where the scout is scrawling his hurried scrap. + + Where the Cabinet weigh the chances dread; + Where the soldier sleeps with the stars o'erhead; + Where rifles are ringing the peal of death, + And the dying hero yields his breath. + + Where the mother and sister in silence sit, + And far into midnight sew and knit, + And pray for the soldier-brother or son,-- + God's blessing on all that the four have done! + + Where the traitors plot, in foul debate, + To war with God and strive with fate; + Digging pitfalls to catch them slaves,-- + Pitfalls, to serve for their own deep graves. + + Where the Bishop-General proves that the rod + Which lashes women is blest of God. + There's a rod to come, ere the red leaves fall, + Which will swallow your rattlesnake, scales and all. + + Where the wretched Northern renegade + On a Southern journal plies his trade, + Swearing and writing, with scowl or smile, + That all that is Yankee is low and vile. + + Where the cowardly dough-face talks of war + But fears we are going a little too far;-- + Hoping the North may win the fight, + But thinking the South is 'partially right.' + + Where the trembling, panting contraband + Makes tracks in haste from the happy land; + And where the officer-gentlemen + Catch him and order him home again! + + Where the sutler acts like an arrant scamp, + And aids the contractor to rob the camp; + Both of them serving the South in its sin, + And all of them helping the devil to win. + + So the game goes on from day to day, + But there's ONE behind all who watches the play; + Well he knows who at last must beat, + And well he will reckon up every cheat. + + Wolfish dark player, do your best! + There's a reckoning for you as well as the rest; + Eastward or westward your glance may wend, + But the devil always trips up in the end. + + * * * * * + +JONATHAN EDWARDS AND THE OLD CLERGY. + + +Of late years the attention of many thinking men has been much turned to +the early clergy of America. One reads of St. Peter's Church that, +notwithstanding its immense size above ground, it has an equal amount of +masonry under ground. Of the iceberg even more can be said, since its +submerged proportions are of vastly greater extent than its visible +surface. One may well inquire how much of American greatness is hidden +in its foundation. How massive indeed must be the hidden corner-stone on +which rests the structure of national character. New England is now +turning its attention to the histories of ancient families; genealogy is +no small feature in modern literature, and thus the age seems to confess +that such research is a token of advance. + +I believe that the strength of our ancestors was owing to their pure and +simple piety; indeed, one can not go back even for a century without +meeting this element in clear developement. The old New England +preachers were of a character peculiarly adapted to the severe +exigencies of their day. They stood as iron men in an iron age. However +rude in other social features, the early settlers, as they worked their +way to the frontier, demanded the soothing influences of pastoral care, +and the first institution reared in the forest was the pulpit, the next +the school-house. The pastors were settled for life, and minister and +people abode in communion, with little change but that of age. In +seeking a field, the youth just launched into his profession +'candidated' among vacant churches, and was heard with solemn attention +by the selectmen and bench of deacons. Notes were taken by the more +fastidious for subsequent criticism, and the matter was discussed with +all the importance of a national treaty. When the call had been +accepted, the stipend was generally fixed at one hundred pounds, and a +rude parsonage opened its doors of welcome. To this was almost +invariably attached a farm, whose native sterility called for such +expenditure of toil that it might truly have been said, + + 'The furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke.' + +These men indeed united mental and physical labor in a remarkable +degree. The long winters were devoted to study, to sermons, or to +meetings,--the summer to the plow and the harvest. One instance is on +record in which the entire stock of a year's sermons were written +between December and April. But, notwithstanding the inevitable drudgery +of such a life, the ministry was, upon the whole, noted for study. The +course held at Harvard required close application, and even at the +chapel exercises the Scriptures were daily read in the original +languages. These labors and studies are recorded in that quaintest of +all American books, Mather's Magnalia. Whatever be the pedantry and +vanity of its author, he is undeniably worthy of rank among the men whom +he chronicled. Indeed, the Mathers, father and son, illustrated a race +of rare moral and intellectual power. The first of these, who enjoyed +the profitable name of 'Increase,' was equally popular and successful as +president of Harvard or pastor of the church of Cambridge, and the son +takes little pains to conceal his filial pride as he blazons the virtues +of 'Crescentius Madderus.' He is particular in recording him as the +first American divine who received the honorary title D.D. As one looks +back upon the primitive days of the nascent university, he is struck by +the contrast between the present numerous and stately array of halls, +the magnificent library, and all the pomp of a modern commencement, and +the slender procession of rudely clad youth led by Increase Mather. As +they marched out of the old shaky college and filed into the antique +meeting-house, what would they have said to a glimpse of Gore Hall and +its surroundings? But those were the beginnings of greatness, simple as +they were. + +The pages of the Magnalia are filled with portraits hit off in a +masterly style. Mather was a true 'Porte Crayon,' and knew how to bring +out salient points with a few happy touches. His picture-gallery is like +an ancient Valhalla, full of demigods. Among their characteristics are +strong contrasts. Here are piety and poverty and learning, hand in hand. +These men, as we have stated, could swing the axe, or chop logic, at a +moment's notice; could pull vegetables, or dig out Hebrew roots, with +alternate ease. Notwithstanding their long days of labor, their minds +kept their edge, being freshly set by incessant doctrinal disputations. +Such, indeed, was the public appetite for controversy that polemic +warfare never slumbered. Our view of their character is assisted by a +contrast with the English clergy of the same day, and which reveals +shameful deformities on the part of the latter--avarice, indolence, and +gluttony. Of such, Milton spake in Lycidas, with withering contempt, as +those who + + 'for their bellies' sake + Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold.' + +If the Puritan poet be charged with prejudice, we have only to turn to +the pages of Macaulay for confirmation. Where, indeed, if this be true, +did Fielding obtain the originals for the ordinary at Newgate, or +'parson Trulliber' in Joseph Andrews? + +Sad and strange was that disappointment which awaited the first +emigrants to Massachusetts Bay. But there was a divine mercy in it; they +came to seek peace, but a sword awaited them. I refer to the famous Anne +Wheelright controversy, which rent the infant settlement of Boston for +more than ten years. The excitement extended through the entire colony, +affording many a bitter and vindictive argument. The pulpit belabored it +in sermons of two hours' length, after which the deacons in their +official seats occasionally expatiated to audiences whose patience on +this theme was inexhaustible. As the controversy waxed hot, it got into +the hands of the civil authorities, and some of its disputants were +thrust into jail as heretical. Anna Wheelright was a woman of great +mental vigor, and could hold her own in a debate with her reverend +disputants. Unfortunate as this controversy may appear, it proved a +benefit, by sharpening the public mind to a prodigious degree. Indeed, +the very children of Boston could define the terms of the covenant of +grace. Weary of a controversy bordering on persecution, Anne Wheelright +sought a new home in the wilderness, and was subsequently murdered by +the Indians. But the force of mental exercise which she had put in +motion still continued. It is worthy of remark that almost the only +intellectual peculiarity to which Franklin refers, in speaking of his +father, is 'a turn for polemics.' The great features of New England +character were, at that day, opinion and faith. It was these, as boldly +and defiantly expressed, which excited the fears and jealousy of Charles +the Second, and instigated the deprival of the colonial charters. + +The studious and prayerful habits of the clergy continued from +generation to generation, and their piety was most tender and touching +in their ministrations. We might dwell, had we time, on the Cottons, the +Mitchells, and the Sheppards, but, revered above all others, comes +before us the venerable form of John Elliott, the missionary, clad in +homespun apparel, his face shining with inward peace, while his silver +locks overhang his shoulders. He was the Nestor of divines, and the +character of his labors might be judged from his motto--' Prayers and +pains with faith in Christ Jesus can accomplish anything.' His efforts +and successes amongst the Indians were remarkable, and it was commonly +reported that he possessed the gift of prophecy. But he was not the only +man of that day who dwelt so close to the confines of the spiritual +world as to be alternately visited by angels and devils. Indeed, what +tales of the supernatural Mather relates, what a juxtaposition of saints +and demons! Of course, there was a foundation to build upon,--had not +Mather himself in his family for more than a year a possessed girl, +whose familiar haunted the house and made it ring at times like a +bedlam? It was a peculiar characteristic in this chapter of _diablerie_, +that when the Scriptures were being read, or prayers attended, the +spasms became terrific; but when any ungodly book was substituted in +place of the Bible, there was an immediate relief. + +The age was one of wonders, and Mather devotes an entire book to what he +calls Thaumaturgia. Many of its statements are bold impositions on the +reader's credulity; but there was much which, in those days of +ignorance, must have seemed to Mather to be undeniable phenomena of a +mysterious nature. After the colony had escaped many minor dangers, a +new ordeal of suffering awaited it in a faith in sorcery, resulting in +the horrible episode of Salem witchcraft, which may be considered the +darkest stain upon the age. The death-beds and parting scenes in such a +community were cherished features in domestic history, and almost every +cottage could boast its Euthanasy. Ministering angels not only hovered +over the couch, but touched their harps in melodies, whose music +sometimes reached the human ear. Youth tender and inexperienced claimed +a share in these triumphs, and Nathanael Mather, though but seventeen, +expires in all the maturity of a saintly old age. + +Coming down to the survivors of the first emigration, we find them +lingering amid the respect and veneration of the community, and their +graves were deemed worthy of patriarchal honor. After their departure +the ministry seems to have lost tone and fervor. The union of church and +state swept them into secularities, and thus impaired their strength. So +great was the decline, that by the close of the first century, formality +chilled the churches, and the people bewailed their coldness, while the +aged wept at the remembrance of by-gone days. Cotton Mather had +prophesied of a coming time when churches would have to be gathered _out +of the churches_ in the colony. The cry of the saints was 'Return, how +long, O Lord, and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.' Some of +the more hopeful maintained that the midnight only heralded an +approaching dawn. Two ministers on Long Island, Barber and Davenport, +had received divine assurance of a return of power, and held themselves +in anxious waiting. At last, brilliant flashes began to play athwart the +sky, and instead of the meteoric glare which some feared, it indicated +the purer sunbeam, in whose genial power the church was to rejoice for +more than a third of a century. Whitefield's advent sent a thrill +through all New England. He sailed from Charleston to Newport, where +venerable parson Clapp, tottering with age, welcomed him as though he +had been an angel of God. Whitefield's power was comparable to the +supernatural, and it was in this view John Foster, at a later day, found +the only solution of his success. In the pulpit his appearance and +manners exceeded the dreams of apostolic grace--a youth of elegant form, +with voice of enchanting melody, clear blue eyes, an endurance which +knew no exhaustion--a fancy which ranged both worlds--were all fused by +a burning zeal for the salvation of souls. Such was Whitefield at +twenty-five, and as such he was worthy of that ovation which he received +at Boston, when governor and council went out in form to welcome him. +The evangelist bore his honors meekly, and hospitality did not weaken +the vials of wrath which he poured upon the unfaithful. He found, as he +said, in New England 'a darkness which might be felt.' At Cambridge, he +thundered at the deadness of Harvard and its faculty, and electrified +the land by striking at its glory. The hearers alternately wept and +shivered, and the professors, headed by old Dr. Holyoke (who afterwards +lived to celebrate his hundredth birthday), levelled a defensive and +aggressive pamphlet at their castigator; but Governor Belcher kissed the +dauntless preacher, and bade him 'cry aloud and spare not, but show the +people their sins.' + +The second century, like the first, opened with fierce ecclesiastical +tumult. Whitefield's itineracy, like the blazing cross in the Lady of +the Lake, was the signal for an uprising. Fired by his passionate +oratory, the masses revolted from the chill formalism of a dead +ministry. The effect of the excitement which pervaded New England, when +considered merely as an appetizer of the intellect, can not be +over-estimated, and the vigor which the colonial mind thus acquired +astonished in an after day the dullards of the British Parliament. The +chief throb was felt in Connecticut, where strolling preachers of a new +order held forth in barns and school-houses. Among these imitators of +Whitefield were some men of high character, such as Tennant and Finley +(afterwards president of Nassau Hall, Princeton), while others were +frenzied enthusiasts. Davenport, the chief of these, was 'a +heavenly-minded youth,' whose usefulness was wrecked by fanaticism. In +his journey he was attended by one whom he called his armor-bearer, and +their entrance into each village was signaled by a loud hymn sung by the +excited pair. The very tone in which Davenport preached has been +perpetuated by his admirers; it was a nasal twang, which had great +effect. A law was passed against those irregularities, and Davenport was +thrown into Hartford jail, where he sang hymns all night, to the great +admiration of his friends. On being released he went to Lyme, where, +after sermon, a bonfire of idols was made, to which the women +contributed their ornaments and fine dresses, and the men their vain +books. This religious movement was marred by much evil; yet its fruits, +as we have stated, were found in that mental strength which subsequently +bore the brunt of the Revolution. Its excited scenes are hit off by such +reports as these,--'Sally Sparhawk fell and was carried out of meeting;' +this statement being frequently repeated. The style of preaching in +vogue may be imagined when we read of Tennant's appearance in the +pulpit, with long locks flowing down his back, his gaunt form encased in +a coarse garment, girt about the loins with a leathern girdle, in +imitation of the prophet Elijah. His discourses were 'awful and solemn,' +and the houses were crowded, though the cold was so intense as to sheet +Long Island Sound with ice. Other memorials of this great awakening are +found in Edwards' thrilling sermons, such as 'Sinners in the hands of an +angry God,' 'Wicked men only useful in their destruction,' etc. For +years after, the grand idea of New England was piety and good morals, +and as there were no journals, except here and there a dwarfed weekly, +the power of the pulpit was unrivaled. Religion was a common theme in +every house. As a result, it is stated that during the whole Revolution, +there was but one case of wilful murder in Massachusetts, and Dwight +informs us that up to his day there had never been a lawsuit in +Northampton, nor a loss by fire in which the damage was not mutually +shared by the citizens. He also adds that on a given Sabbath five-sixths +of the community were found in meeting. The minister in each town was +supported by tax, and being in some sense a public officer, the ceremony +of ordination was sometimes celebrated with procession and band of +music. + +Jonathan Edwards, the great light of New England, at this time could +have been found in a quiet village on the Connecticut, whence his fame +had already spread to the mother country. How Northampton gloried in her +matchless preacher! For sixty years his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, +had labored there. Let us linger a moment over those scenes which, +though fled like a dream, once witnessed the joys and sorrows of a +lifetime. Here in this retired street stands the weather-stained +parsonage, graced by a pair of saplings, planted by his own hands, to +which Northampton points as 'the Edwards elms,' and which now fling +giant shadows across the lawn. This dwelling, though scant of +furniture, is passing rich in its domestic treasures. Here is a wife of +lustrous beauty, sweet of disposition, fervent of spirit, and 'mighty in +prayer.' She is a matchless judge of sermons, wise in human nature, and +being wiser still in grace, must long rank as a model of the ministerial +wife. Here, too, is her group of daughters, well worthy of such +parentage, Esther, Sarah, Mary, and Jerusha, all beautiful and artless +as herself. Here a world of daily interest is found in the studies and +duties of a New England home. But who is he, of tall and attenuated +form, whose days are passed in his solitary study, secluded like a +hermit from the common experience of life? Like Moses, he is slow of +speech, and might be considered almost severe of countenance. The +lineaments tell their story of childlike simplicity of character, and +yet they are inspired by an expression of power, which at first seems +repellant. Those large black eyes seem to pierce and read on every +thought. I have referred to this family in a previous article,[D] but +would now speak at more length of its paternal head. This man has but +two pursuits, study and prayer. Of the outer world he has ever remained +in blissful ignorance, and even of his own parish he only knows what he +has learned of his wife. He has no 'turn' for visiting, and can not +afford time for vain talk. The secret of this is, that he breathes an +atmosphere of his own; his soul is like a star, and dwells apart. Behold +him seated at his table, jotting down casual thoughts on the backs of +letters and scraps of paper (for paper is very dear); he is building up +some great argument, whose vast proportions will in due time be +developed, like the uncovering of a colossus. Beware, Mr. Solomon +Williams of Hatfield, and you, Chubb and Tyndal, and John Taylor of +Norwich, for you will each and all of you find your master in this +secluded parson. Thirteen hours per day are given to study, and this has +been the average for years. + +And _such_ study to create realities out of the fogs of metaphysics, and +to span the concrete and the abstract with a bridge such as Milton threw +across space. This man can spend hours in pursuit of 'volitions' with +all the excitement of the chamois-hunt. Now his eye brightens, for he +has transfixed an idea, and holds it up in all the nicety of artistic +touch, while he dissects it to its ramifications. It is all _con amore_ +with him, though his readers will need a clue to the maze of intricate +reasoning. + +One can not pass through the streets of Northampton, so broad, so rural, +and so picturesque, without being overshadowed by that memory, which may +be expressed in the sweet lines of Longfellow,-- + + 'Here in patience and in sorrow, laboring still with busy hand, + Like an emigrant he wandered, seeking for the better land.' + +It is gratifying to know that his memory is honored in Northampton by +the naming of a church, though all may not understand the connection. +The old 'meeting-house' (for the Puritans used the word church only in a +spiritual sense) stood fronting the site of the present enormous +edifice. It was torn down in 1812. Here for nearly a quarter of a +century the tall form, and face pale and meagre from intense thinking, +appeared each Sabbath before a people among whom his recluse habits +rendered him almost a stranger. Here, having rested upon the desk, upon +the elbow of his left arm, whose hand held a tiny book of closely +written MS., he read with stooping form and low tones those solemn +arguments and tremendous appeals which now thrill us from the printed +page. Each of those tiny books was a sermon. Many of these are still +preserved, and Dr. Tryon Edwards, of New London, has a chest filled with +these memorials of his great ancestor. They are written in so fine a +hand as to be hardly legible except to one practiced in their +deciphering--a result of the extreme economy of one who, with all +carefulness, was the largest consumer of paper and ink in New England. +Solemn as was the deportment of this reverend man, sundry practical +jokes at his expense are on record. It is said that the house dog was +his close attendant, and on Sabbath day would invade even the pulpit in +search of his master. Hence he was carefully fastened during 'holy +time.' On one occasion, however, some wag not only loosed the animal, +but actually garnished his neck with a pair of ministerial bands. The +poor dog, unwitting of his sacred insignia, made his way into the pulpit +without being noticed by his absent minded master, until some one showed +him the dog, _a la parson_, perched up behind him on the pulpit bench. + +As a public speaker Edwards' delivery was the minimum of force, and in +this feature he admitted his utter failure. Indeed, when driven from +Northampton, he replied to Erskine's invitation to remove to Scotland, +that he was assured that his style would not be acceptable. After his +dismission, the sorrows of poverty fell heavily upon him, and he writes +to the same correspondent that 'he and his large and helpless family +were to be cast upon the world.' A collection was made for him in +Scotland, and forwarded at this time of need. The Scottish saints, +indeed, held strong sympathy with the colonies, and it was their +'benefactions' which supported the mission of Brainerd, the most +successful of modern days. Edwards remained more than a year at +Northampton after leaving its pulpit, and was humbled by seeing the +people assemble to hear sermons read by laymen in preference to his own +ministrations. What a bitter cup this must have been: but Sarah cheered +his heart, and grace reigned. In the mean time the girls wrought fancy +work, which was sent to Boston, and sold in their behalf, and thus they +were spared from want. Subsequently he was appointed missionary to the +Stockbridge Indians. It was Orpheus among the wild beasts, but without +his success. President Wayland quotes this fact in order to support a +theory which is palpably false, that a preacher should not be much above +the literary platform of his people; whereas, Edwards' ill success was +in a large measure owing to the troubles and opposition incident to +frontier life. With all his sorrows, however, he had one great +satisfaction. His chief assailant, Joseph Ashley, of Northampton, who +had borne so large a part in his expulsion, came in deep penitence, and +besought his forgiveness, which was granted with Christian tenderness. +Ashley's compunctions continued, and after Edwards' death increased in +horror so greatly that to obtain relief he published to the world an +explicit confession of his sins against 'that eminent servant of God.' + +Edwards, like Milton, had long meditated a work which 'the world would +not willingly let die,' but, although he had for some years been +gathering materials, yet it was not until his removal to Stockbridge +that he addressed himself fully to the mighty task of authorship. His +habits of abstraction grew upon him amazingly during this effort, and +the notable Sarah sheltered him from intrusion, and anticipated his +wants. She was conscious of the greatness of the work with which he had +grappled, and stood by his side like a guardian angel while he +demolished errorists. It was her custom after the labors of the day to +steal up to the study, where, like Numa and Egeria, they held serene +communion. This was his sole medium of secular information, for in his +occasional walks he was like one in a dream. The whole man was engrossed +in what he alone could perform; indeed, to reconcile liberty and +necessity were a task for which he seemed providentially set apart. But +beneath these arguments, which rise Alp on Alp, there lurked a quiet +perception of humor, and the _reductio ad absurdum_, which he +occasionally drives home, showed the keenness of Puritan wit. How he +must have smiled, nay even laughed, in the midst of his abstractions at +that[E] metaphysical animal which illustrates the absurdity of his +opponents. When 'The Freedom of the Will' was finished, and the author +had sent it forth to do battle, he felt that the work of his life was +done. + +Just at this time a deputation waited on him to solicit his acceptance +of the presidency of Nassau Hall. It was a strange sight to that rude +hamlet of Stockbridge--those reverend forms finishing their long journey +at the feet of the poor exiled missionary. When their errand was +announced, he burst into tears, overcome by a sense of unworthiness, and +in a subsequent letter he confirms his unfitness by reference to his +'flaccid solids and weak and sizy fluids.' But the demand was pressed, +and Northampton learns with astonishment the exaltation of her banished +pastor. The successful deputation possessed one member of rare interest. +This was John Brainerd, who had succeeded his brother David as a +missionary, and whom Edwards had met ten years before at the bedside of +his dying brother. David would have been, had both lived, the husband of +Jerusha--but now they slept side by side in Northampton burial-ground, +and the surviving brother reappeared bearing this invitation. It was one +not easily resisted; and so, amid dangers and infirmity, he was fain to +say, + + 'To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new.' + +Before another spring, a higher glory awaited him; and the same year, +five of his family, including the incomparable Sarah, were likewise +'received up.' A sad year was that to Princeton and to the church. + +We have stated our opinion, that the activity of the New England mind +arose from the digestion of strong doctrine; that very activity now +generated a new style of preaching, which may be termed the metaphysical +school. The days of _thaumaturgia_ were passed, and in place of +discussing demonology and temptation, an appetite for subtle dogma +prevailed. I doubt if Britain and Germany, with their combined +universities, could have equaled, during the last century, the New +England pulpit in mental acuteness or philosophical discrimination. A +reference to Edwards recalls mention among his followers of such names +as Smally, Bellamy, Emmons, and Hopkins. Those who listened to the +preaching of such men could not avoid becoming thinkers, and thought has +made our country what it is. Very possibly what is known as 'Yankee +ingenuity' arose from the thinking habits of careful sermon-hearers. A +man who could follow the subtle theories of the pulpit, could think out +the most elaborate machinery. Next to Jonathan Edwards, Dr. Emmons +possessed the most philosophical mind of the age. So severe and +invincible is his logic, that it is said that the New Haven lawyers +often sharpened their minds on Emmons' sermons. His scheme of making God +the author of sin may be considered one of the errors of a great mind. A +modern novelist has placed old Dr. Hopkins among the characters of a +romance. But however great may be the powers of Mrs. Stowe, it was quite +impossible for an ĉsthetic and poetic mind to grasp that bundle of +dried-up syllogisms which once occupied the Newport pulpit. Hopkins had +preached the church at Great Barrington empty, and that of Newport died +by lingering degrees. Only to think of that tall, ungainly form, the +head covered with a linen cap, stiff and white, coming forth like an +apparition once a week to the public gaze. We do not wonder at the +child's inquiry '_if it was God that stood up there_.' Hopkins' scheme +of 'indifferent affection' was a grand conception, but as unnatural as +grand: yet it showed an amazing boldness for a public teacher to lay +down as a postulate that a willingness to be damned was a condition of +salvation. + +From a survey of the earlier clergy, even as superficial as the present +one, we are struck with its ambition of a lofty range of doctrine. They + + 'reasoned high + Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate, + Fixed fate, free-will, foreknowledge absolute, + And found no end in wandering mazes lost. + Of good and evil much they argued then, + Of happiness, and final misery, + Passion, and apathy, glory, and shame.' + +The highest tribute which Milton could offer the fallen angels was that +mental power which survived the general wreck. And no lesser flight +would have satisfied the subjects of this sketch. Their lifelong effort +was still to climb higher, ever exclaiming + + '--Paula majora canamus.' + +Their services in the cause of public education are beyond our +appreciation, and it may be well for us to remember that Harvard, Yale, +Williams, Union, Princeton, Amherst, Hanover, and other institutions, +sprang from the bold philanthrophy of men so poor as often to be objects +of pity. They saw that knowledge is power, and that power they would not +only possess, but bequeath to coming generations. + +Long as these rambles have been, they would still be incomplete without +a tribute to the influence of wives and mothers which soothed and +mellowed the sterner aspect of primitive life; but this can only be +referred to as a theme worthy of distinct treatment. It should not be +forgotten that the children reared under such influences have often been +counted worthy of the highest stations of honor and trust; and although +the scapegrace character of ministers' sons is a common fling, yet +careful research has proved that it has many and brilliant exceptions. + +While penning these pages, my mind has often wandered over ancient +burial-grounds where pastor and people sleep side by side. One may find +them in every New England town, and they chain with a spell of which the +modern cemetery with its showy marbles knows nothing! We turn from the +fresh mortality, which chills us with its recent sorrows, to those massy +headstones whose faint inscriptions tell of generations long since freed +from toil. Here one may find the rude monuments of those who still walk +the earth and lead its progress, and here the heart may run over, as +Byron says, + + 'With silent worship of the great of old! + The dead but sceptered sovereigns who still rule + Our spirits from their urns.' + + * * * * * + +HEMMING COTTON. + + + 'Hem them in!' is the country's cry; + See how the bayonet needles fly! + Nothing neglect and nothing leave, + Hem them in from the skirt to sleeve. + Little they reek of scratch or hurt + Who toil at hemming the Southern shirt; + Little they'll care, as they shout aloud, + If the Southern shirt prove a Southern shroud. + Hurrah for the needles sharp and thin! + Cotton is saved by hemming it in.' + + * * * * * + +ONE OF MY PREDECESSORS. + + +No books have quite the same fascination for me as the narratives of old +travelers. Give me a rainy day, a state of affairs which renders the +performance of a more serious task impossible, and a volume of Hakluyt +or Purchas, or even of Pinkerton's agreeable collection, and I +experience a condition of felicity which leaves Gray and his new novel +far in the background. For I thus not only behold again the familiar +scenery of the earth,--never forgetting a landscape that I have once +seen,--but I am also a living participant in the adventures of those who +have wandered the same paths, hundreds of years before. I visit +Constantinople while the Porphyrogenite emperors still sit upon the +throne of the East; I look upon the barbaric court of Muscovy before the +name of Russia is known in the world; I make acquaintance with Genghis +Khan at Karakorum, and with Aurungzebe at Delhi; I invade Japan with +Kampfer, penetrate the Arctic Seas with Barentz, or view the gardens of +Ispahan in the company of the gallant Sir John Chardin. + +This taste was not the cause, but is the result, of my own experience. +My far-off, unknown Arab progenitor says, in one of his poems: 'Fly thy +home, and journey, if thou strivest for great deeds. Five advantages +thou wilt at least procure by traveling. Thou wilt have pleasure and +profit; thou wilt enlarge thy prospects, cultivate thyself, and acquire +friends. It is better to be dead, than, like an insect, to remain always +chained to the same spot of earth.' In the Middle Ages, and especially +among the members of the enlightened Saracenic race, the instinct of +travel was mainly an instinctive desire for education. There was no +other school of knowledge so complete and practical, in the dearth of +books and the absence of other than commercial intercourse between the +ends of the earth, I fancy that this instinct, skipping over some +centuries, reappeared, in my case, in its original form; for it was not +until after I had seen a large portion of the earth, that I became +acquainted with the narratives of my predecessors, and recognized my +kinship with them. With the ghost of the mercantile Marco Polo, or those +of the sharp fellows, Bernier and Tavernier, I do not anticipate much +satisfaction, in the next world; but--if they are not too far off--I +shall shake hands at once with the old monk Rubruquis, and the Knight +Arnold von der Harff, and the far traveled son of the Atlas, Ibn Batuta. + +These old narratives have a charm for me, which I do not find in the +works of modern tourists. There is an honest homeliness and unreserve +about them, which I would not exchange for any graces of style. The +writers need no apologetic or explanatory preface; they sit down with +the pressure of a solemn duty upon them. When much of the world was but +dimly known, the man who had reached India, China, or the Islands of the +Sea, and returned to describe his adventures, made his narrative a +matter of conscience, and justly considered that he had added something +to the stock of human knowledge. The world of fable had not then +contracted into as narrow limits as at present; foreign countries were +full of marvels, and science had not made clear the phenomena of nature. +The old travelers had all the wonder and the credulity of children. All +was fish that came to their nets, and their works are singular compounds +of personal adventure, historical episodes, statistics of trade, and +reflections on the laws, manners and religions of races, interwoven with +many astonishing stories, and with the most amusing conjectures and +speculations. Their sincerity is apparent on every page. How delightful +is that remark of honest old Bernal Diaz, when, in describing the +battle of Tlascala, he states that many of the Spanish soldiers believed +that St. James and St. Thomas fought in person against the pagans, and +adds, in the simplicity of his heart, 'Sinner that I am, it was not +given to my eyes to behold either the one or the other of those holy +persons.' Montanus, in his travels through Muscovy, speaks of a +wonderful plant on the borders of Tartary, which resembled a +pumpkin-vine in appearance, only that instead of pumpkins it produced +lambs covered with wool. He calls this 'a mighty pleasant story,' but +takes care to say that he had never seen with his own eyes the lambs +growing upon the vines, but only the wool thereof, which the natives +manufactured into garments. + +Another characteristic of the old books of travel is, that they are, +unconsciously, autobiographical. The honest pilgrim, in his desire to +give a faithful description of new lands, is little aware that he is all +the time describing himself as well. His prejudice, his likings, his +disappointments and aspirations are all transparently revealed to us, +and through him we lay hold on the living character of his age. We +follow him, step by step, on his slow and wearisome journey, enjoying +his fatigues and dangers with the better zest, since we know in advance +that he reached home safely at last. One of the most popular modern +books of travel--Eothen--is a poem which gives us the very atmosphere +and odor of the Orient, but nothing more; and the author floats before +our vision in so dim and wraith-like a manner, that many readers have +doubted whether the work was founded on actual experience. On the other +hand, those old narratives, of which Robinson Crusoe is the ideal type, +bear unmistakable stains of the soil on every page. You not only feel +the vital personality of the traveler, but you would distinguish his +doublet and hose among a thousand. He does not soar, with an airy grace, +from one hill-top to another, picking out for you a choice scene here +and there, as he skims the land--he plods along the road, laboriously +and with muddy shoes, and sees the common much oftener than the sublime. + +In all that concerns man, indeed, a much plainer speech was permitted to +the old traveler. There were no squeamish readers in those days, and +hence, in some respects, he is too candid for modern taste. But it often +happens that precisely the characteristics or customs of strange races +which are of most value to the anthropologist, belong to those cryptic +mysteries of human nature, to which, in our refined age, one is +prohibited from referring. At least, the absence of constraint--the +possibility of entire frankness, even though the writer should have no +occasion to avail himself of the privilege--imparts a rare loveliness +and raciness to the narrative. On the other hand, in modern works which +I have tested by my own personal knowledge of the subject, I have been +quite as much struck with the amount of suppressed as with that of +expressed truth. Mansfield Parkyns and Captain Burton, I have no doubt, +will bear me out in this statement. Why has no African explorer, for +instance, yet ventured to announce the fact,--at once interesting and +important,--that if a traveler in the central regions of that continent +could be accompanied by his wife, the chances of his success would be +greatly improved? In the apparent celibacy of explorers, barbarous races +perceive simply an absence or perversion of the masculine instinct, +which at once excites their distrust. + +Let me resume the volume which I have laid down to pursue the foregoing +reflections, and, while the eastern storm drives through the autumn +woods, hurling its mingled volume of rain and leaves against my window, +ask the reader to look over my shoulder and follow with me for a while +the pilgrimage of Abou Abdallah Mohammed, better known under the name of +Ibn Batuta,--'may God be satisfied with him, and confound those who have +an aversion towards him!'--to apply to himself his own invocation in +favor of another. + +Ibn Batuta, a native of Tangier, in Morocco, unquestionably takes the +first rank among the travelers of the Middle Ages, if we consider the +distances he traversed, the remote points he reached, or the number of +years consumed by his wanderings. From Pekin to Timbuctoo, from the +Volga to the Ganges, from Bukhara to Zanzibar, he vibrated to and fro, +making himself acquainted, with the exception of Christian Europe, with +the greater part of the known world. He touched, in many directions, the +borderland of darkness, beyond which the earth fell off precipitously +into chaotic depths which no mortal might explore. Having reached home +again after uncounted perils, he sat down to tell the story of his +adventures. Many of his notes had been lost by the way, and he was +obliged to depend mainly on his memory; but as this is a faculty which +all genuine travelers must not only possess, but cultivate by constant +exercise, his narrative is remarkably clear, complete, and truthful. + +Born on the 24th of February, 1304, he set out, in his twenty-second +year, on a pilgrimage to Mecca, traversing the Barbary States and Egypt +on the way. Once fairly launched in the world, twenty-four years elapsed +before he again saw his native town. He explored the various provinces +of Arabia; visited Syria, Persia, and Armenia; resided for a while in +Southern Russia (Kipchak), then belonging to princes of the line of +Genghis Khan; traveled by land to Constantinople, where he was presented +to the emperor; repeated his pilgrimage to Mecca, and reached Zanzibar. +Then, returning, he made his way to Bukhara, and through Afghanistan to +the Indus; exercised, for two years, the functions of a _Kadi_, or +judge, at Delhi; was appointed by the Sultan Mohammed, the son of Togluk +Khan, on an embassy to the emperor of China, but, missing the Chinese +vessel, was obliged to remain a year and a half among the Maldive +Islands. Nothing daunted by the delay, he started again, by way of +Ceylon and the Indian Archipelago, and finally succeeded in reaching +Pekin. He appears to have returned to Tangier in the year 1349, and to +have taken up his residence soon afterwards in Granada, under the +protection of the caliph Yusef. His thirst for exploration, however, was +not yet quenched, and in two years he was ready to undertake a second +journey of greater difficulty and danger. Leaving Fez with a caravan, in +the year 1351, he crossed the Sahara, and spent three years in Central +Africa, visiting the great cities Melli and Timbuctoo. He was thus the +first to give the world an authentic account of those regions. His +descriptions correspond, in almost all respects, with those given by the +travelers of modern times. + +Ibn Batuta returned to Morocco in 1354, and there remained until his +death, in 1378. During the year after his arrival, he dictated the +history of his travels to Ibn Djozay, a young Moorish poet, who, having +been unjustly treated by Yusef, in Granada, fled to Fez, where he was +appointed secretary to the Sultan, Abau Inau Faris. The latter, it +appears, commanded that the work should be written, and it was also, no +doubt, by his order that Ibn Djozay became the amanuensis of our +traveler. 'He was recommended,' says the introduction, 'to bestow great +care on the correctness and elegance of the style, to render it clear +and intelligible, in order that the reader may better enjoy the rare +adventures, and draw the greatest profit from the pearl, after it shall +have been extracted from its shell!' To Ibn Djozay, therefore, we are +indebted for the abundant poetic quotations interspersed throughout the +work--the ornaments which hang, sometimes with curious effect, on the +plain, straight-forward story which Ibn Batuta tells us. Making the +usual allowance for Oriental exaggeration, and the occasional confusion +which must occur in a memory so overcharged, we do not hesitate to +pronounce the work worthy of all credit. Burkhardt, Seetzen, and Carl +Ritter have expressed their entire confidence in the fidelity of the +narrative. + +This interesting work was known to European scholars, until quite +recently, in a fragmentary condition, frequently disfigured by errors of +transcription. Since the French occupation of Algiers, however, two or +three perfect copies have been discovered, one of which, now in the +Imperial Library at Paris, bears the autograph of Ibn Djozay. The +publications of the _Société Asiatique_ furnish us with the narrative, +carefully collated, and differing but slightly, in all probability, from +the original text. Let us now run over it, freely translating for the +reader as we go. The introduction, which is evidently from the elegant +hand of the amanuensis, is so characteristic that we must extract a few +Title and all, it opens as follows: + + A PRESENT MADE TO OBSERVERS, + TREATING OF THE + CURIOSITIES OFFERED BY THE CITIES AND + OTHER WONDERS ENCOUNTERED IN + TRAVEL. + +'In the name of God, the Clement, the Merciful: Behold what says the +Shekh, the judge, the learned man, the truthful, the noble, the devout, +the very benevolent, the guest of God; who has acquitted himself of the +visit to the holy places, to the honor of religion; who, in the course +of his travels, has placed his confidence in the Lord of all +creatures--Abou Abdallah Mohammed, son of Abdallah, son of Ibrahim +Allewatee Alhandjee, known under the name of Ibn Batuta: may God be +merciful to him, and be content with him, in his great bounty and +generosity! Amen. + +'Praise be to God, who has subjected the earth to those who serve him, +in order that they may march by spacious roads--who has placed them on +the earth, and there located the three vicissitudes of their destiny: +the creation, the return to the earth, and the resurrection from its +bowels. He has extended it by his power, and it has become a bed for his +servants. He has fixed it by means of inaccessible mountains, of +considerable elevation, and has raised over it the summit of heaven, +unsupported by a pillar. He has made the stars to appear as a guide in +the midst of the darkness of the land and the sea; he has made a lamp of +the moon, and a torch of the sun. From heaven he has caused waters to +descend, which vivified the ground when it was dried up. He has made all +varieties of fruits to grow, and has created diversified regions, giving +them all sorts of plants. He has caused the two seas to flow--one of +sweet and refreshing waters, the other salt and bitter. He has completed +his bounties towards his creatures, in subjecting to them the camels, +and in submitting to them the ships, similar to mountains, serving them +as vehicles, instead of the surface of the desert, or the back of the +sea.' + +After having, in like manner, pronounced a benediction on Mohammed, the +Prophet's friends, and all others in any way connected with him, he +greets the Sultan of Morocco with a panegyric so dazzling, so +unapproachable in the splendor of its assertions, that we must quote it +as a standard whereby all similar compositions may be measured, sure +that it will maintain its pre-eminence through all time. + +'It is his reign (that of Abou Inau Faris) which has cured Religion of +her sickness, which has caused the sword of Injustice to return into the +scabbard whence it had been drawn, which has corrected fortune, when it +had been corrupted, and which has procured custom for the markets of +Science, formerly given up to stagnation. He has rendered manifest the +rules of piety when they would have been obliterated; he has calmed the +regions of the earth when they were agitated; he has caused the +tradition of acts of generosity to revive after his death; he has +occasioned the death of tyrannic customs; he has abated the flame of +discord at the moment when it was most enkindled; he has destroyed the +commands of tyranny, when they exercised an absolute power; he has +elevated the edifices of equity on the pillars of the fear of God, and +has assured himself, by the strongest evidences, that he possesses +confidence in the Eternal. His reign possesses a glory, the crown +whereof is placed on the forehead of Orion, and an illumination which +covers the Milky Way with the skirts of his robe; a beneficence which +has given a new youth to the age; a justice which incloses the righteous +within its vast tent; a liberality similar to a cloud which waters at +once the leaves that have fallen from the trees and the trees +themselves; a courage which, even when the clouds shed torrents of rain, +causes a torrent of blood to flow; a patience which never tires of +hoping; a prudence which prevents his enemies from approaching his +pastures; a resolution which puts their troops to flight before the +action commences; a mildness which delights to pluck pardon from the +tree of crime; a goodness which gains him all hearts; a science, the +lustre whereof enlightens the darkest difficulties; a conduct +conformable to his sincerity, and acts conformable to his designs!' + +Let us here take a long breath, and rest a minute. O, Abou Inau Faris! +we envy the blessed people that were gathered under thy wing; we weep +for our degenerate age, wherein thy like is nowhere to be found. No +wonder that Ibn Batuta declares that he lays aside forever his pilgrim's +staff--that, after traversing the Orient, he sits down under the full +moon of the Occident, preferring it to all other regions, 'as one +prefers gold-dust to the sands of the highway.' We, too, had we found +such a ruler, would have laid aside our staff, and taken the oath of +allegiance. + +The traveler gives us the day of his departure from home: June 14, 1325. +'I was alone,' says he, 'without a companion with whom I could live +familiarly, without a caravan of which I could have made part; but I was +forced onward by a spirit firm in its resolution, and the desire of +visiting the Holy Places was implanted in my bosom. I therefore +determined to separate myself from my friends of both sexes, and I +abandoned my home as the birds abandon their nest. My father and mother +were still alive. I resigned myself, with grief, to separate from them, +and this was a common cause of sorrow. I was then in my twenty-second +year.' + +Having safely reached the town of Tlemeen, he found two ambassadors of +the king of Tunis, about to set out on their return, and attached +himself to their suite. On arriving at Bougie, he was attacked with a +violent fever, and was advised to remain behind. 'No,' said the +determined youth, 'if God wills that I should die, let me die on the +road to Mecca,' and pushed on, through Constantina and Bona, in such a +state of weakness that he was obliged to unwind his turban and bind +himself to his saddle, in order to avoid falling from the horse. He thus +reached Tunis, in a state of extreme exhaustion and despondency. 'No one +saluted me,' says he, 'for I was not acquainted with a single person +there. I was seized with such an emotion of sadness that I could not +suppress my sobs, and my tears flowed in abundance. One of the pilgrims, +remarking my condition, advanced towards me, saluting and comforting me. +He did not cease to cheer me up with his conversation, until I had +entered the city.' + +In a short time, he seems to have recovered both his health and spirits; +for, on reaching the town of Sefakos, he married the daughter of one of +the syndics of the corporation of Tunis. This proceeding strikes us as a +singular preparation for a long and dangerous journey, but it is a +preliminary which would immediately suggest itself to a Mussulman of +good character. In fact, it was equivalent in those days--and still +would be, in some parts of the Orient--to a proclamation of his +respectability. Ibn Batuta, however, was not fortunate in this +matrimonial adventure. Two months afterwards, he naïvely informs us: +'There arose such a disagreement between myself and my father-in-law, +that I was obliged to separate from my wife. I thereupon married the +daughter of an official of Fez. The marriage was consummated at the +castle of Zanah, and I celebrated it by a feast, for which I detained +the caravan for a whole day.' + +After this announcement, he is silent concerning his domestic relations. +Perhaps the number of his connubial changes was too great to be +recorded; perhaps no son was born to establish his honor among men; +perhaps, with increasing sanctity, he forswore the sex. The last +conjecture is probably correct, as it tallies with the reputation for +wisdom and purity which he gradually acquired. + +Finally, in April, 1326, our traveler reached Alexandria, the first +strange city which impressed him by its size and splendor. 'Alexandria,' +says he, 'is a jewel whereof the brilliancy is manifest--a virgin which +sparkles with her ornaments. She illumines the Occident with her +splendor: she unites the most diverse beauties, on account of her +situation midway between the Rising and the Setting.' At that time the +celebrated Pharos was still standing, and the following description of +it, though not very clear, will interest the reader: 'It is a square +edifice, which towers into the air. Its gate is raised above the surface +of the earth, and opposite to it there is an edifice of similar height, +which serves to support planks, across which one must wait to arrive at +the gate of the Pharos. When these planks are taken away, there is no +means of crossing. Inside of the entrance is a space where the guardian +of the edifice is stationed. The interior of the Pharos contains many +apartments. Each of its four sides is a hundred and forty spans in +length. The building is situated on a high hill, one parasang from the +city, and on a tongue of land which the sea surrounds on three sides. +One can therefore only reach the Pharos from the land side, by leaving +the city. I directed my course towards the Pharos a second time, on my +return to the West, in the year 1349, and I found that its ruin was +complete, so that one could neither enter, nor even reach the gate.' + +Commencing with Alexandria, Ibn Batuta is careful, in every city which +he visits, to give an account of the distinguished _shekhs_ or _imams_, +with characteristic anecdotes of their saintly or miraculous lives. The +value and interest of these sketches reconcile us to the brevity of his +descriptions. He tells us, for example, that the _kadi_ (judge) of +Alexandria, who was likewise a master of the art of eloquence, 'covered +his head with a turban which surpassed in volume all the turbans then to +be seen. I have never beheld, neither in the East nor the West, one so +voluminous. He was one day seated in a mosque, before the pulpit, and +his turban filled almost the entire space.' At the town of Fooah, in the +Delta, on his way to Cairo, occurred his first marvelous adventure. +'During the night,' says he, 'while I slept on the roof of the dwelling +of the shekh Abou Abdallah, I saw myself, in a dream, carried on the +wing of a great bird, which flew in the direction of Mecca, then in that +of Yemen; then it transported me to the East, after which it passed +towards the South; then it flew again far to the East, alighted upon a +dark and misty country, and there abandoned me. I was amazed at this +vision, and said to myself, "If the shekh can interpret my dream, he is +truly as holy as he is said to be." When I presented myself, in the +morning, to take part in the early prayer, he charged me to take the +lead, in the quality of _imam_. Afterwards he called me to him, and +explained my dream; in fact, when I had related it to him, he said: +"Thou wilt make the pilgrimage to Mecca, thou wilt visit the tomb of the +Prophet, thou wilt traverse Yemen, Irak, the country of the Turks, and +India; thou wilt remain a long time in the latter country, where thou +wilt see my brother Dilehad, who will extricate thee from an affliction +into which thou shalt fall." Having spoken, he provided me with money, +and small biscuits for the journey. I said my farewells and departed. +Since I left him, I have experienced nothing but good treatment in the +course of my travels, and his benedictions always came to my aid.' + +Passing over the traveler's visit to Damietta and the other towns of the +Delta, let us hear his enthusiastic description of Cairo, at the time of +its greatest prosperity: 'Finally, I reached the city of Cairo, the +metropolis of the country and the ancient residence of Pharaoh the +Impaler; mistress of rich and extended regions, attaining the utmost +limits of possibility in the multitude of its population, and exalting +itself on account of its beauty and splendor. It is the rendezvous of +travelers, the station of the weak and the powerful. Thou wilt there +find all that thou desirest--the wise and the ignorant, the industrious +and the trifling, the mild or the angry, men of low extraction or of +lofty birth, the illustrious and the obscure. The number of its +inhabitants is so considerable that their currents resemble those of an +agitated sea, and the city lacks very little of being too small to +contain them, notwithstanding its extent and capacity. Although founded +long since, it enjoys a youth forever renewed; the star of its horoscope +does not cease to inhabit a fortunate house. It is in speaking of Cairo +that Wasr ed-deen has written: + + "It is a paradise in truth; its gardens ever smile, + Adorned and fed so plenteously by all the waves of Kile, + Which, fretted by the blowing wind, from shore across to shore, + Mimic the armor's azure scales the prophet David wore; + Within its fluid element the naked fear to glide, + And ships, like winged heavenly spheres, go up and down the tide.'" + +Ibn Batuta's description of the pyramids is very curious, and we can +account for it on no other supposition than that he merely saw them in +the distance (probably from the citadel of Cairo), relying on hearsay +for further particulars. After stating that they were built by the +ancient _Hermes_, whom he supposes to be identical with Enoch, as a +repository for the antediluvian arts and sciences, he says: 'The +pyramids are built of hard, well-cut stone. They are of a very +considerable elevation, and of a circular form, capacious at the base +and narrow at the summit, _in the fashion of cones_. They have no doors, +and one is ignorant of the manner in which they have been constructed.' + +In his journey up the Nile, Ibn Batuta never fails to give an account of +every Moslem saint or theologian whom he meets, but only in one or two +instances does he mention the antiquities, which, in that age, must have +been still more conspicuous than now. He even passes over the plain of +Thebes without the slightest notice of the great temple of Karnak. +Disappointed in his plan of crossing the Red Sea to Jidda, he returned +to Cairo, and at once set out for Syria. Here, the first place of +interest which he visited was Hebron, where he performed his devotions +at the tombs of the patriarchs. We learn that there were archĉcological +writings in those days, for he quotes from a work entitled 'The Torch of +Hearts, on the Subject of the Authenticity of the Tombs of Abraham, +Isaac, and Jacob.' Unfortunately, the evidence adduced would not be very +satisfactory to us, for it rests entirely on the following statement +made by Mohammed to a certain Abou Horairah: 'When the angel Gabriel +took me on the noctural journey to Jerusalem, we passed above the tomb +of Abraham, and he said to me, "Descend, and make a prayer of two +genuflexions, for here is the sepulchre of thy father Abraham!" Then we +traversed Bethlehem, and he said also, "Descend, make a prayer of two +genuflexions, for here was born thy brother Jesus!"' + +Of Jerusalem, which he calls 'the noble, the holy--may God glorify it!' +he says: 'Among the sanctuaries on the borders of the valley known under +the name of Gehenna, east of the city and on an elevated hill (the Mount +of Olives), one sees an edifice which is said to stand on the spot +whence Jesus ascended to heaven. In the middle of the same valley there +is a church where the Christians worship: they affirm that it contains +the sepulchre of Mary. There is also another church, equally venerated, +to which the Christians make a pilgrimage. The reason whereof, however, +is a lie, for they pretend that it contains the tomb of Jesus. Each +person who goes thither as a pilgrim is obliged to pay a certain tribute +to the Mussulmans, and to undergo divers sorts of humiliations, which +the Christians perform very much against their will. They there see the +place where the cradle of Jesus stood, and come to implore his +intercession.' + +I have not space to follow our traveler through all the cities of the +Syrian coast, northward to Aleppo, but I can not omit offering one +flower from the garland of poetical quotations which Ibu Batuta (or +rather his amanuensis, Ibn Djozay) hangs on the citadel of the latter +capital. I presume the city then occupied the same position as at +present, on a plain surrounding the rocky acropolis, which is so +striking and picturesque a feature as to justify the enthusiasm of the +Oriental bards. Djemal ed-deen All, however, surpasses them all in the +splendor of his images. Hear him:-- + + 'So lofty soars this castle, so high its summit stands, + Immense and far uplifted above the lower lands, + It lacks but little, truly, that with the heavenly sphere + Around the earth revolving, its towers would interfere. + And they who dwell within it must seek the Milky Way; + There is no nearer cistern which win their thirst allay: + Their horses there go browsing, and crop the stars that pass, + As other beasts the blossoms that open in the grass!' + +After this flight, I think I can afford to omit the string of quotations +concerning Damascus, which is celebrated with an equal extravagance. Ibn +Batuta gives a very careful account of the great mosque, including its +priests and scholars. During his stay the plague raged with such +violence that the deaths at one time amounted to two thousand a day. He +relates one circumstance which shows that even religious intolerance +vanished in times of distress. 'All the inhabitants of the city, men, +women, large and small, took part in a procession to the Mosque of +El-Akdam, two miles south of Damascus. The Jews came forth with their +Pentateuch, and the Christians with their Gospel, followed by their +women and children. All wept, supplicated, and sought help from God, +through the means of his Word and his prophets. They repaired to the +mosque, where they remained, praying and invoking God, until three +o'clock in the afternoon. Then they returned to the city, made the +prayer of Friday, and the Lord consoled them.' + +On the 1st of September, 1326, he left Damascus, with the great caravan +of pilgrims, for Mecca. He enumerates all the stations on the route, and +his itinerary is almost identical with that which the caravan follows at +the present day. Much space is devoted to a description of the religious +observances which he followed; and, singularly enough, if any +confirmation of his fidelity as a narrator were needed, it is furnished +by the work of Captain Burton. The account of the sacred cities of +Medineh and Mecca corresponds in every important particular with that of +the modern traveler. Thus the integrity of Ibn Batuta, like that of +Marco Polo, is established, after the lapse of five hundred years. + +In speaking of the chair of Mohammed, which is preserved in the mosque +at Medineh, he relates the following beautiful tradition: 'It is said +that the ambassador of God at first preached near the trunk of a +palm-tree in the mosque, and that after he had constructed the chair and +transported it thither, the trunk of the palm-tree groaned, as the +female camel groans after her young. Mohammed thereupon went down to the +tree and embraced it; after which it remained silent. The Prophet said, +"If I had not embraced it, it would have continued to groan until the +day of the resurrection."' + +After faithfully performing all the observances prescribed for the +pilgrim to Mecca, Ibn Batuta left that city and returned to Medineh. He +then crossed the Arabian peninsula in a north-eastern direction, to the +city of Meshed Ali, near the Euphrates, and thence descended that river +to Bassora. Here he gives us two amusing anecdotes, which reflectively +illustrate his shrewdness and the sturdiness with which he maintained +his religious views. 'The inhabitants of Bassora,' says he, 'are gifted +with a generous character. They are familiar with strangers, rendering +them that which is their due, in such a manner that no one finds a +sojourn among them tiresome. They make their Sunday prayers in the +mosque of the Prince of Believers, Ali. I once attended the prayers in +this mosque; and when the preacher arose and began to recite the sermon, +he made numerous and evident faults. I was surprised thereat, and spoke +of it to the judge Hodjat-ed-deen, who answered, "In this city, there is +no longer an individual who has any knowledge of grammar." This is an +instruction for whoever reflects thereon, and let us praise God, who +changes things and reverses the face of affairs! In fact, this city of +Bassora, the inhabitants whereof had obtained preëminence in grammar, +which there had its origin and received its development,--this city, +which gave to the world the master of this noble science, whose priority +no one contests,--does not now possess a single preacher who pronounces +the Sunday sermon according to grammatical rules! + +'The mosque has seven minarets, one of which, according to the belief of +the inhabitants, shakes whenever the name of Ali, son of Abou Talib, is +invoked. I ascended to the terrace (roof) of this mosque, accompanied by +one of the men of Bassora. There I saw, at one of the corners, a piece +of wood nailed to the minaret, and resembling the handle of a mason's +trowel. He who was with me took hold of it, saying, "By the head of the +prince of believers, Ali, shake thyself!" Therewith he shook the handle, +and the minaret trembled. In turn, I placed my hand upon it, and I said +to the man, "And _I_ say, by the head of Abou Bekr, successor to the +Ambassador of God, shake thyself!" Therewith I shook the handle, and the +minaret trembled as before. The people were very much astonished.' The +amanuensis, Ibn Djozay, here interpolates the following remark: 'I have +seen, in a town in the valley of Almansura, in Spain,--which may God +defend!--a tower which shakes without the name of a caliph, or anybody +else, being mentioned.' + +At the city of Idhedj, in Irak, then the capital of one of the many +Mongol sultans who at that time reigned in southern Persia, Ibn Batuta +gives another proof of his boldness. Calling upon the Sultan Afrasiab, +who was notorious for his drunken and dissolute habits, the traveler +found him seated upon a divan, with two covered vases--one of gold and +one of silver--before him. A green carpet was brought and placed near +him, upon which the traveler was invited to take his seat, after which +the sultan asked him many questions concerning his travels. 'It seemed +to me, however,' says Ibn Batuta, 'that he was quite intoxicated, for I +had been previously apprized of his habit of giving himself up to drink. +Finally, he said to me in Arabic, which he spoke with elegance. "Speak!" +I said to him, "If thou wouldst listen to me, I would say to thee--Thou +art one of the children of Sultan Ahmed, celebrated for his piety and +devotion; there is no cause of reproach to thee, in thy manner of life, +except _that_!" and I pointed with my finger to the two vases. These +words covered him with shame, and he was silent. I wished to withdraw, +but he ordered me to keep my seat, and said, "It is a mark of the Divine +mercy to meet with such as thou!" Afterwards, seeing that he swayed from +side to side, and desired to sleep, I left him. I had placed my sandals +at the door, and could not find them again. The Fakir Fadhill sought for +them in the hall, and at last brought them to me. His kindness +embarrassed me, and I made apologies. Thereupon he kissed my sandals, +placed them upon his head, in token of respect, and said to me, "May God +bless thee! What thou hast said to our sultan, nobody else would have +dared to say. I hope it will make an impression on him!"' + +Continuing his journey to Ispahan and Shiraz, he gives us, as usual, +conscientious accounts of the mosques, priests, and holy men, but no +hint whatever as to his manner of travel, or the character of the +country through which he passed. This portion of his work, however, +contains many interesting historical fragments, relating to the reigns +of the Mongol sultans of Persia, and the dissensions between the two +Moslem sects. After a stay of some length at Shiraz, he returned through +Irak to the celebrated city of Cufa, and thence to Bagdad, which was +then the residence of a simple Mongol prince. Here he describes at +length the mosques, colleges, mausoleums and baths, while Ibn Djozay +takes occasion to introduce his favorite quotations from the poets. The +reader, we think, will find the following more picturesque than the +somewhat formal descriptions of Ibn Batuta:-- + + 'Yea, Bagdad is a spacious place for him who's gold, to spend, + But for the poor it is the house of suffering without end: + I wander idly through its streets, as lost us if I were + A Koran in an atheist's house, which hath no welcome there.' + 'A sigh, a sigh for Bagdad, a sigh for Irak's land! + For all its lovely peacocks, and the splendors they expand: + They walk beside the Tigris, and the looks they turn on me + Shine o'er the jeweled necklace, like moons above the sea!' + +Our traveler, also, was the forerunner of Layard. In visiting Mosul, he +writes: 'Near this place one sees the hill of Jonah, upon whom be +blessing! and a mile distant from it the fountain which bears his name. +It is said that he commanded the people to purify themselves there; that +afterwards they ascended the aforesaid hill; that he prayed, and they +also, in such manner that God turned the chastisement from their heads. +In the neighborhood is a great ruin, and the people pretend that it is +the remains of the city known under the name of Nineveh, the city of +Jonah. One perceives the vestiges of the wall which surrounded it, as +well as the situation of its gates. On the hill stands a large edifice, +and a monastery, which contains numerous cells, apartments, places of +purification, and fountains, all closed by a single gate. In the middle +of the monastery one sees a cell with a silken curtain, and a door +encrusted with gold and precious stones. This, they say, is the spot +where Jonah dwelt; and they add that the choir of the mosque attached to +the monastery covers the cell in which he prayed to God.' + +Returning to Bagdad, Ibn Batuta crossed the Arabian Desert a second +time, and took up his residence in Mecca for the space of three years. +His account of the voyage along the eastern coast of Africa, as far +south as Quiloa, is brief and uninteresting; but on his return he +visited Oman, of which province he gives us the first authentic account. +From the Pearl Islands in the Persian Gulf, he bent his way once more +across Arabia to Mecca, whence he crossed the Red Sea to the Nubian +coast, and descended the Nile to Cairo. I shall omit his subsequent +journeys through Syria and Asia Minor, although they contain many +amusing and picturesque incidents, and turn, instead, to his adventures +in Kipchak (Southern Russia), which was then governed by a sultan +descended in a direct line from Genghis Khan. Embarking at Sinope, he +crossed the Black Sea to Caffa, in the Crimea, which was at that time a +Genoese city. Here a singular circumstance occurred:-- + +'We lodged in the mosque of the Mussulmans. After we had been resting +there about an hour, we suddenly heard the sound of bells resounding on +all sides. I had then never heard such a sound; I was extremely +terrified, and ordered my companions to ascend the minaret, read the +Koran, praise God, and recite the call to prayer,--which they did. We +now perceived a man who had approached us: he was armed, and wore a +cuirass. He saluted us, and we begged him to inform us who he was. He +gave us to understand that he was the Kadi of the Mussulmans of the +place, and added: "When I heard the reading of the Koran and the call to +prayers, I trembled for your safety, and therefore came to seek you." +Then he departed; but, nevertheless, we received nothing but good +treatment.' + +From Caffa, Ibn Eatuta traveled in a chariot to Azof, near which place +he found the camp of the Sultan Mohammed Uzbek Khan, of whose court he +gives a very circumstantial description. He also devotes considerable +space to an account of their manner of keeping the fast of Ramadan. The +favorite wife of the sultan was a daughter of the Greek emperor, who at +the time of the traveler's visit was preparing to set out for +Constantinople, in order that her expected child might be born in the +palace of her fathers. 'I prayed the sultan,' says Ibn Batuta, 'to +permit me to journey in company with the princess, in order that I might +behold Constantinople the Great. He at first refused, out of fear for my +safety, but I solicited him, saying, "I will not enter Constantinople +except under thy protection and thy patronage, and therefore I will fear +no one." He then gave me permission to depart, making me a present of +fifteen hundred ducats, a robe of honor, and a great number of horses.' + +The journey to Constantinople was made entirely by land, and consumed +more than two months. It is rather difficult to locate the precise route +traversed by the caravan, except that it must have skirted the shore of +the Black Sea; for I find mention of three great canals, which must +refer to the three arms of the Danube. At the frontier of the Greek +empire, they were received by the brothers of the princess, with a +mounted guard. Ibn Batuta's chronology is a little confused, and we can +only guess that the reigning emperor at that time was Andronicus H. +Palĉologus. The description of the entry into Constantinople, and the +interview with the emperor, are among the most curious and interesting +passages in the work. + +'We encamped at the distance of ten miles from Constantinople, and on +the following morning the population of the city came forth--men, women, +and children, on foot and on horseback, in their most beautiful costumes +and most magnificent vestments. From daybreak the cymbals, clarions, and +trumpets sounded; the soldiers mounted their horses, and the emperor, +with his wife, the mother of the princess, the great men of the empire, +and the courtiers, issued from the city. Over the head of the emperor +there was a canopy, carried by a certain number of cavaliers and +foot-soldiers, holding in their hands long staves, terminated at the top +by a sort of leather ball, with which they upheld the canopy. In the +centre thereof was a dais, supported on staves by the cavaliers. When +the emperor had advanced, the troops mixed together, and the noise +became great. I was not able to penetrate into the middle of the crowd, +and remained near the baggage of the princess and her companions, +fearing for my safety. It was related to me that when the princess +approached her parents, she alighted and kissed the ground before them; +then she kissed their shoes, and her principal officers did the same. +Our entry into Constantinople the Great took place towards noon, or a +little after. Meanwhile the inhabitants caused the bells to sound, in +such measure that the heavens were shattered with the mixed uproar of +their noise. + +'When we had arrived at the outer gate of the palace, we there found +about a hundred men, accompanied by their chief, who was stationed on a +platform. I heard them saying, "The Saracens, the Saracens"--a term by +which they designate the Mussulmans,--and they prevented us from +entering. The companions of the princess said to them. "These people +belong to our suite;" but they answered, "They shall not enter here +without permission." We therefore waited at the gate, and one of the +officers sent some one to inform her of this incident. She was then with +her father, to whom she spoke concerning us. The emperor ordered us to +be admitted, and assigned us a house near that of the princess. +Furthermore, he wrote, in our favor, an order prohibiting any one from +interrupting us in whatever part of the city we might go, and this was +proclaimed in the markets. We remained three days in our residence, +whither they sent us provisions, namely, flour, bread, sheep, fowls, +butter, fish and fruits, also money and carpets. + +'On the fourth day after our arrival at Constantinople the princess sent +to me the eunuch Sunbul, the Indian, who took me by the hand and +conducted me into the palace. We passed four gates, near each one of +which were benches, with armed men, the captain occupying a raised +platform covered with carpets. When we had reached the fifth gate, the +eunuch Sunbul left me and entered; then he returned, accompanied by four +Greek eunuchs. These latter searched me, for fear lest I might have a +knife about me. The chief said to me, "Such is their custom; we can not +dispense with a minute examination of whoever approaches the emperor, +whether a high personage or one of the people, a stranger or a native." +This is also the custom in India. + +'After I had submitted to this examination, the guardian of the gate +arose, took my hand, and opened. Four individuals surrounded me, two of +whom took hold of my sleeves, while the other two held me from behind. +They conducted me into a grand audience-hall, the walls of which were in +mosaic; the figures of natural productions, whether animal or mineral, +were there represented. In the middle of the hall there was a brook, +both banks of which were bordered with trees; men stood on the right and +on the left, but no one spoke. In the centre of the hall of reception +stood three other men, to whom my four conductors confided me, and who +took me by the garments as the first had done. Another individual having +made a sign to them, they advanced with me. One of them, who was a Jew, +said to me in Arabic, "Fear not; it is their custom to act thus towards +strangers. I am the interpreter, and am a native of Syria." I demanded +of him what salutation I ought to make, and he replied, "Say--May +blessing be upon you!" + +'I arrived, finally, at the grand dais, where I beheld the emperor +seated on his throne, having before him his wife, the mother of the +princess. The latter, with her brothers, were stationed at the foot of +the throne. At the right of the sovereign there were six men, four at +his left, and as many behind him; all were armed. Before allowing me to +salute him, or to approach nearer to him, he made me a sign that I +should sit down for a moment, in order to recover from my fear. I did +so, after which I advanced nearer, and saluted him. He invited me, by a +gesture, to sit, but I did not comply. Then he questioned me on the +subject of Jerusalem, the blessed rock (of Jacob), the holy sepulchre, +and the cradle of Jesus, Bethlehem and Hebron, Damascus and Cairo, Irak +and Asia Minor. I replied to all his demands, the Jew performing the +office of interpreter between us. My words pleased him, and he said to +his children, "Treat this man with consideration, and protect him!" Then +he caused me to be clothed with a robe of honor, and assigned to me a +horse, saddled and bridled, as well as an umbrella from among those +which were carried over his own head--which was a mark of protection. I +prayed him to designate some one who should ride with me each day +through the city, in order that I might behold its rarities and marvels, +and speak of them in my own country. He granted my desire. One of the +customs of this people is, that the individual who receives a robe of +honor from the emperor, and mounts a horse from his stables, must be +conducted through the squares of the city, to the sound of trumpets, +clarions and cymbals, so that the population may behold him. This is +oftenest done with those Turks who come from the dominions of the Uzbek +sultan, in order that they may suffer no annoyance. I was conducted +through the markets in the same manner.' + +But the autumn night is closing in, and we must shut up the volume. We +can not, to-day, follow the brave old traveler through all the +vicissitudes of his long pilgrimage. He allows us to perceive much that +he does not tell us outright, and it is a satisfaction to learn, from +his pages, that if society were less ordered, secure, and externally +proper five hundred years ago, individual generosity and magnanimity +were more marked, and the good in the human race, as now, overbalanced +the evil. One more story Ibn Batuta must tell us, before we take leave +of him,--one story, which must warm every heart which can appreciate +that rarest of virtues, tolerance. The father of the Greek emperor was +still living, having abdicated the crown in favor of his son Andronicus, +and become a monk. The Moslem traveler thus describes his interview with +the old Christian monarch:-- + +'I was one day in company with the Greek who was appointed to ride with +me through the city, when we suddenly encountered the old emperor, +walking on foot, clothed in hair garments, and with a felt cap on his +head. He had a long white beard and a noble face, which presented traces +of the pious practices whereto his life was devoted. Before and behind +him walked a troop of monks. He held a staff in his hand, and had a +rosary about his neck. When the Greek beheld him, he alighted, and said +to me, "Dismount; it is the father of the emperor." When the Greek had +saluted him, he demanded who I was, then stopped, and summoned me to +him. I approached; he took my hand, and said to the Greek, who knew the +Arabic language,--"Say to this Saracen (that is to say, Mussulman), that +I press the hand which has entered Jerusalem, and the foot which has +walked by the Holy Rock, and the Holy Sepulchre, and in Bethlehem," +Having spoken, he placed his hand on my feet, and then passed it over +his own face. I was amazed at the respect which these people exhibit +towards an individual of another religion than their own, who has +visited the holy places. The old emperor then took me by the hand, and I +walked along with him. He questioned me on the subject of Jerusalem and +the Christians who dwell there. In his company I entered the consecrated +ground belonging to the church. As he approached the principal gate, a +crowd of priests and monks issued to salute him, for he was now one of +their chiefs. When he saw them, he let go of my hand, and I said to him, +"I desire to enter the church with thee." He said to the interpreter, +"Inform him that whoever enters is absolutely obliged to prostrate +himself before the principal crucifix. It is a thing prescribed by the +Fathers, and can not be transgressed." I then left him, he entered +alone, and I never saw him again.' + + * * * * * + +THE LATE LORD CHANCELLOR CAMPBELL. + + +It is worthy of note that the English statesmen of the present century +have mostly originated in two totally distinct ranks of society. They +have either been the scions of noble and powerful families; or they have +arisen, in spite of circumstance, from humble parents, by the sole +recommendation of personal worth. Of the great middle class, the class +which is certainly the most respectable of the English community, and +which is at present the controlling power in the state, but few have +recently attained great eminence. That the titled and wealthy should +advance to power and influence in a government peculiarly influenced by +such recommendations, is not strange. Any son of a great English house, +who has ambition, and a reasonable share of brains, may attain, with +comparative ease, eminence in the state. An apt example is Lord Russell, +who, with but little genius, with no oratorical force, and hardly more +than medium capacity as a statesman, has become the leader of the +predominant party, by dint of shrewdness, a persevering spirit, and +ambition, backed by the powerful influence of the noble house of +Bedford. And that the master-spirits born in poverty should shake off +the incubus of humble birth, and advance to a level with the noblest, is +not so unnatural or improbable but that the history of every nation +affords us abundant examples of such men; while the middle class, who +are neither stimulated by the calls of penury, nor pushed forward by +hereditary interest, naturally retain a contented mediocrity of renown +and honor. + +If any of our readers have visited the House of Lords within the past +two years, they doubtless had their attention directed to the venerable +statesman who for that period has occupied, with eminent dignity and +grace, the office of chairman to that body, and whose recent decease has +been noticed with such profound regret in British journals. On inquiry, +they doubtless learned that this was Lord Chancellor Campbell. He had +risen from the lowest drudgery to the highest eminence of the legal +profession. By the prolific arts of perseverance and industry, he had +scaled each successive round in the ladder of promotion, until now, in +his declining years, with accumulated honor and respect, he had thus +reached the summit, taking precedence after the Archbishop of +Canterbury, holding the great seal, and presiding over the peers of the +realm. + +He was one of those rare examples of unconquerable pluck, who have +mastered the prejudice of wealth and power, and to whom has been yielded +a position envied by the most worthy descendants of the most illustrious +nobles. In America, where public distinction is within the reach of all, +it is difficult to conceive of the restraints which beset the humble +aspirant in the old country. But notwithstanding such obstacles, the +examples of such men as Eldon, Stowell, Truro, St. Leonards, Ashburton, +Canning, and Campbell exhibit the gratifying fact, that hereditary power +or wealth can not bide the dignity of great genius; that greatness will +thrust aside the lesser privilege of worldly circumstance, whether it be +born in a palace or a cottage; and that you can no more control the +operation of a superior mind by the vanities of title and lucre, than +you can subordinate truth to error, or eternity to time. The glittering +train of peers and nabobs who followed in the path of the great +Elizabeth lie forgotten under the stately arches of the old cathedrals; +while the poverty-stricken player, William Shakspeare, has adorned every +library with his name, and reigns in every appreciative heart, as a +perfect master of nature and lofty thought. The names of the brilliant +court which welcomed George the Third to the throne of the Plantagenets +no longer linger on the lips of men; while every household boasts its +'Rasselas,' and the civilized world holds sacred the memory of the +illustrious 'Rambler.' + +John Campbell was born in 1781, and was the son of an obscure Scotch +clergyman. His father destined him for the clergy; in consequence of +which he was sent to the University of St. Andrews, where he met the +great Dr. Chalmers, then a student like himself. But young Campbell +became averse to the profession which had been chosen for him, and soon +turned his attention to the law. Soon after graduation, he betook +himself to London, where he studied with great zeal, meanwhile supplying +his wants by acting as the theatrical critic of the '_Morning +Chronicle_.' There, seated in an obscure corner of the pit or upper +gallery, we may imagine the Chancellor in embryo, jotting down the petty +excellences and failings of the players, to pamper the taste of the +frivolous on the morrow; while below him, in the decorated boxes and +circles, lolled the vain crowd of coroneted simpletons and courtly +beauties, now long forgotten, while he is honored as the benefactor of +his country's laws. He was called to the bar by the Society of Lincoln's +Inn, and then commenced a long life, replete with arduous study, with +untiring interest in duty, and stubborn perseverance. He early espoused +the liberal doctrines of Fox and Grey; and inasmuch as for many years +after the Tories monopolized the power, his politics were an effectual +bar to his professional preferment. He remained, however, through his +whole life, an earnest and consistent advocate of his early convictions. +Owing to the prejudice which Lord Chancellor Eldon entertained against +the Whigs, he did not obtain the silk gown of King's Counsel till the +venerable Jacobite gave place, in 1827, to the more courteous and +liberal Lyndhurst. + +He entered the House of Commons in the year 1830, and was soon +recognized as one of the leading members of the British bar. The period +of his debut in public life is one of peculiar significance in the party +history of England. The long dominion of the statesmen of the Pitt, and +Liverpool school was at last overthrown. The political dogmas which had +resisted Catholic toleration, which had sustained the continental powers +in their persecution of the French Emperor, which had resisted the right +of a neighboring people to choose their own rulers, which had held in +imprisonment the first genius of the century, which had opposed the +abolition of the test act, which had sustained the most licentious and +most obstinate sovereign of modern times, now yielded to the more +enlightened views of such statesmen as Russell and Lansdowne, Brougham +and Grey. Several causes operated to bring about this auspicious change. +George the Fourth, whose partiality for the Tories was only surpassed by +his animosity against the Whigs, had given place to a liberal and +enlightened prince, renowned for his zealous attachment to the popular +weal. Again, Canning's influence in moderating the maxims of Tory +theorists was greatly felt among the gentry. Finally, the rapid growth +of general intelligence, developments in the history of nations, and +juster conceptions of the true relations of sovereign and people, +prepared the public mind for extensive reforms in the constitution. Earl +Grey, a statesman eminent no less for his eloquence and sagacity than +for the worth of his private character, succeeded to the premiership in +1830, being the first Whig who held that office since the cabinet of +'all the talents,' in 1806. + +It was at such a juncture that Campbell entered the House of Commons. +The sanguine dreams of his youth were dawning into reality; and he was +gratified to see his cherished principles fully adopted by the country, +and to know that he was a participant in the glories of the great +reform. + +In 1832, when he had been a member of the House but two years, and a +King's Counsel but five years, and in the same year that the reform of +Russell and Grey received the royal sign-manual, he was elevated to the +dignity of Solicitor General. No one of the long line of his illustrious +predecessors brought to the discharge of this eminent trust greater +learning and acuteness than Lord Campbell evinced; who, at the same time +of this appointment, was honored with the order of Knighthood. In 1834, +after serving as solicitor with the marked approbation of the +government, he was promoted to the Attorney Generalship. + +He now re-entered Parliament as the representative of the capital of his +native Scotland, and became a leader in debate and the transaction of +the public business. He continued Attorney General through the +conservative ministry of Sir Robert Peel, and the subsequent Whig +government of Lord Melbourne. In 1841, he held for a brief period the +Chancellorship of Ireland; being at the same time elevated to the rank +of a peer of England, with the title of John, first Lord Campbell. He +retired from office when Sir Robert Peel returned to power in the autumn +of 1841, and turned his thoughts to the gentle and graceful pursuit of +literature. The first production of his pen was the 'Lives of the Lord +Chancellors,' from the earliest times to the close of Lord Eldon's +Chancellorship, in 1827. For the spirited interest of its style, the +clear and precise detail of fact, and the simple yet elegant course of +its manner, it is surpassed by no work of the present century. It is +regarded by eminent critics as a masterpiece of biography, and may +justly rank with the first books of that character in the English +tongue. It has probably been as serviceable to perpetuate the name of +the author, if not more so, than the numerous profound and equitable +decisions which he has left on the records of the Courts of King's Bench +and Chancery. + +It was soon followed by 'The Lives of the Chief Justices of England,' +which only enhanced the reputation of the former work; and we would +heartily recommend both of these books to the perusal of all who are +interested, either professionally or as a matter of taste, in this +branch of literature, as a deeply interesting as well as instructive +entertainment. + +In 1846, Lord John Russell assumed office, and Lord Campbell was +recalled from the occupation which had proved so congenial to his mind, +to take a seat in the ministry as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. +While he held this position, he was a frequent and popular debater in +the House of Peers, where he zealously defended the policy of the +government. In 1850, Lord Chief Justice Denman retired from the King's +Bench, ripe in years and in honorable renown, and Lord Campbell was at +once designated as his successor. In this exalted place, he was removed +from the harassing uncertainties of political life; and he continued for +nine years to administer justice with promptitude, skill, and equity. + +It was while Chief Justice that he became eminent for the great light he +brought to bear upon many important and intricate questions of law; and +his fame may be said to rest mainly upon the profound ability with which +he exercised the functions of this trust. In 1859, when Lord Palmerston +succeeded to the brief administration of Lord Derby, Lord Campbell was +finally raised to the summit of his profession. He was the fourth +Scotchman who has been Lord Chancellor within the century, and is a +worthy compeer of such men as Loughborough, Erskine, and Brougham. The +long years of unremitting toil were at length crowned with glorious +success; and the great man died in the midst of duty, affluence, honor +and power, while enjoying the prerogatives of the highest judicial +trust, during the summer of the past year. + +Whether we consider him as a lawyer, statesman, author, or man, his +character appears in a most amiable light. Profound without pedantry, +subtle without craft, zealous without bigotry, and humane without +effeminacy, he lived a philanthropic, pure, and consistent life. His +highest eulogium is that he lived and died in the service of his +country; that through every vicissitude his chief care was the national +weal; that his chief fame rests in the love and veneration which he +awakened in his countrymen; and that few Englishmen of the present +century have left more enduring monuments of public wisdom and private +example. + + 'O, civic music, to such a name, + To such a name for ages long, + To such a name, + Preserve the broad approach of fame, + And ever ringing avenues of song.' + + * * * * * + +CHILD'S CALL AT EVENTIDE. + + + Bright and fair,-- + Golden hair, + Still white hands and face; + Not a plea + Moveth thee; + Nor the wind's wild chase, + As yesterday, calling thee, + Even as I, in vain. + Come--wake up, Gerda! + Come out and play in the lane! + + See! the wind, + From behind, + Sporteth with thy locks, + From the land's + Desert sands + And the sea-beat rocks + Cometh and claspeth thy hands, + Even as I, in vain. + Come--wake up, Gerda! + Come out and play in the lane! + + Closed thine eyes, + Gently wise, + Dost thou dream the while? + Falls my kiss + All amiss, + Waketh not a smile! + Sweet mouth, is't feigning this? + Then do not longer feign. + Come--wake up, Gerda! + Come out and play in the lane! + + Forehead Bold, + White and cold; + Sealed thy lips and all; + I am made + Half afraid + In this lonely hall. + Night cometh quick through the glade! + I fear it is all in vain,-- + All too late, Gerda,-- + Too late to play in the lane! + + * * * * * + +THE GOOD WIFE: A NORWEGIAN STORY. + + +PART I. + +NOTHING LOST BY GOOD HUMOR. + + +For more than a month I had been ransacking my memory in search of some +story or narrative to offer our readers, but with rather poor success. I +thought of all the good things I had ever heard, and tumbled and tossed +my books in vain--nothing could I find that was suitable for either +children or parents. So I was, very reluctantly, about to abandon the +enterprise, when it chanced that, being unable to compose myself to +sleep, a few nights since, I took up, according to my custom on such +occasions, an old copy of Montaigne, the usual companion of my vigils, +the fellow-occupant of my pillow, and the only moralist whose musings +one can read with pleasure on the wrong side of forty. + +I opened the _Essays_ carelessly, for each and every page of them is +precious and replete with themes for meditation. In so doing, I alighted +upon the chapter entitled, 'Of three Good Women,'--which commences thus: +'They are not to be found by the dozen, as every one knows, and +especially not in the duties of married life, for that is a market full +of such thorny circumstances that it is no easy matter for a woman's +will to keep whole and sound in it for any length of time.' + +'Montaigne is an impertinent fellow!' I exclaimed, slamming to the book. +'What? this close reader of antiquity, this fine analyst of the human +heart, has been able to find only three good women, only three devoted +wives, in all the Greek and Roman annals! This is playing the joker out +of season. Goodness is the special attribute of woman. Every married +woman is good, or supposed to be such. I bethink me, too, that our old +jurists always make the law presume this goodness to exist, at the +outset,' + +Thus meditating, I wandered into my library, and there took up a fine +old volume, bound in red morocco, and entitled 'The Dream of Vergier;' a +book full of wisdom and logic, and written by some venerable clerk, +during the reign of Charles V., king of France. I looked for the page +that had struck my fancy, but--alas! how oddly one's memory changes with +the lapse of years--instead of finding, in that grave old book, the just +panegyric of woman's goodness, I discovered, to my great surprise, only +a violent satire all spiced with texts borrowed from St. Augustine, the +Roman laws and the ancient canons, with this sage conclusion, full +worthy of the exordium:-- + +'I do not say, however, that there is no good woman at all, but the +species is rare; and hence an old law says that no _law concerning good +women_ should be made, for that laws are to be made concerning things of +usual occurrence, as it is written in _Auth. sinc prohib_., etc., _quia +vero_ and L. _Nam ad ca_, Dig. _De Leffibus_.' + +These juridical epigrams, these cool pleasantries, in a serious book, +shocked me more than even the hard hits of the Gascon philosopher. 'Good +women,' I thought to myself, 'are found everywhere. In history? No; +history is written by men who love and admire heroes only, that is to +say, those who rob, subjugate, or slay them. In theology? No; it has not +yet forgiven the daughters of Eve the fault which ruined us,--a sin of +which they have retained at least a little share. In the records of the +law, then? No, again; for men make the laws. Woman is, in their eyes, +nothing but a minor, legally incapable of governing herself. God only +knows what is, here, as in all things, the difference between the fact +and the law. Are these good women to be found in plays, romances, or +novels? No, still; for they are but the perpetual recital of feminine +artfulness. Where, then, shall we look for good women?--In the realm of +fable and fiction, in the kingdom of fancy--the dominion of the ideal. + +These are the only regions in which merit holds the place it is entitled +to or justice is done to the claims of virtue. What is the tenderness of +Baucis, or the long fidelity of Penelope? Fiction only. And the +resignation of the gentle Griseldis--what is it? An old tale of other +days. In order to find the good woman we are looking for, this is the +ivory portal at which we must knock. + +Acting upon this conviction, I reperused all the old traditions, I +called to my aid that peculiar lore of nations which is embodied in +their legends, and which is so vividly, so amiably, and so ingenuously +expressed. I interrogated the story-tellers of every country, Indian, +Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, French, German, +English, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Russian, Lithuanian, and +even the hoary old wayside narrators of the far Thibet. I plunged into +this ocean of fancy with the recklessness of an accomplished diver, +but,--must I acknowledge it?--less fortunate than even Montaigne with +his history, I have succeeded in bringing back only one woman that I can +call really good, and her I have had to disinter from under the ice and +snows of the North, in a wild country, too, and among a people who are +not so delicate and refined as though Paris were in Norway. From Cadiz +to Stockholm, from London to Cairo and Delhi, from Paris to Teheran and +Samarcand, if the stories are to be believed, there are artful girls and +scheming mothers, in any quantity; but the _good woman_!--where does she +lie hid, and why do they never tell us anything about her? Here is a +hiatus to which I specially call the attention of the learned. In +observing it myself, I feel the more emboldened to relate the story of +the only good woman and wife I have unearthed. It is a simple narrative, +and not thoroughly in accordance with every-day experience, and, indeed, +there may be some squeamish people who will say that it is ridiculous. +No matter--it has one good quality which no one can dispute--it is not +in the ordinary style of either adventure or narration. Novelty is all +the rage at the present day, and what imparts value to things is not +their intrinsic merit, but their strangeness. + +Here, then, is my story presented to you, kind reader, just as Messrs. +Asbjoernsen and Moe give it, in their curious collection of Norwegian +tales and legends. + + +PART II. + +GUDBRAND AND HIS WIFE. + + +There was once a man called Gudbrand, who lived in a lonely little +farm-house on a remote hillside. From this circumstance he got the name +among his neighbors of Gudbrand of the Hill. + +Now, you must know that Gudbrand had an excellent wife, as sometimes +happens to a man. But the rarest thing about it was, that Gudbrand knew +the value of such a treasure; and so the two lived in perfect harmony, +enjoying their own happiness, and giving themselves no concern about +either wealth or the lapse of years. No matter what Gudbrand might do, +his wife had foreseen and desired that very thing; so that her good man +could not touch or change or move anything about the house without her +coming forward to thank him for having divined and forestalled her +wishes. + +Besides, it was easy for them to get along, since the farm belonged to +them, and they had a hundred solid crowns in a drawer of their closet +and two excellent cows in their stable. They lacked nothing, and could +quietly pass their old age without fear of poverty or toil, and without +having to look to the friendship or the commiseration of any of their +fellow-creatures. + +One evening, while they were talking over their various little tasks and +projects, says the wife of Gudbrand to her husband,-- + +'Husband, I've got a new notion in my head: you must take one of our +cows to town and sell her. We'll keep the other, and she'll be quite +enough to furnish us with all the milk and butter we can use. Why +should we toil for other people? We've money lying in the drawer, and +have no children to look after. So, wouldn't it be better to spare these +arms of ours, now that they are growing old? You will always find +something to occupy your time about the house;--there'll be no lack of +furniture and things to mend, and I'll be more than ever beside you with +my distaff and my knitting-needles.' + +Gudbrand bethought him that his wife was right, as usual, and so, as the +next morning was a beautiful one, he set off for the town, at an early +hour, with the cow he wanted to sell. But it was not market day, and he +found no purchaser to take the animal off his hands. + +'Well! well!' said Gudbrand, 'at all events, I can take Sukey back to +the place I brought her from; I've got hay and litter in plenty, there, +for the poor brute, and it's no farther returning than it was coming +hither.' Whereupon, he very quietly started again on the road to his +home. + +After walking on for a few hours, and just as he was beginning to feel a +little tired, he met a man leading a horse by the bridle toward the +town. The horse was in fine condition, and was all saddled and ready for +a rider. 'The way is long and night rapidly coming on,' thought +Gudbrand. 'I can hardly drag my cow along, and to-morrow I'll have to +take this same walk over again. Now, here's an animal that would suit me +a great deal better, and I'd go back home with him, as proud as a lord. +Who would be delighted to see her husband returning in triumph, like a +Roman general? Why, the wife of Gudbrand!' + +Upon this happy thought, Gudbrand stopped the trader and exchanged his +cow for the horse. + +Once mounted on the charger's back, our hero felt some qualms of regret, +for he was old and heavy, while the horse was young, frisky, and +headstrong, so that, in less than half an hour, behold, our would-be +cavalier was on foot again, vainly striving to drag along by the bridle +a creature that cocked up his head at every puff of wind, and capered +and pranced at every stone that lay in his path. + +'This is a poor bargain I've made,' thought Gudbrand, when, just at that +moment, he descried a peasant driving along a hog so fine and fat that +its stomach touched the ground. + +'A nail that is useful is better than a diamond that glitters and can be +turned to nothing, as my wife often says,' reflected Gudbrand; and, with +that, he traded off his horse for the hog. + +It was a bright idea to be sure, but our good man had counted without +his host. Don Porker was tired, and wouldn't budge an inch. Gudbrand +talked to him, coaxed him, swore at him, but all in vain; he dragged him +by the snout, he pushed him from behind, he whacked him on both his fat +sides with a cudgel, but it was only labor lost, and Mr. Hog remained +there in the middle of the dusty road like a stranded whale. The poor +farmer was yielding to despair, when, at the very nick of time, there +came along a country lad leading a she-goat, that, with an udder all +swollen with milk, skipped, ran, and played about, in a manner charming +to behold. + +'There! that's the very thing I want!' exclaimed Gudbrand. 'I'd far +rather have that gay, sprightly creature than this huge, stupid brute.' +Whereupon, without an instant's hesitation, he exchanged the hog for the +she-goat. + +All went well for another half-hour. The young madam with her long horns +greatly amused Gudbrand, who laughed at her pranks till his sides ached. +In fact, too, the goat pulled him along; but, when one is on the wrong +side of forty, one soon gets tired of scrambling over the rocks; and so +the farmer, happening to meet a shepherd feeding his flock, traded his +she-goat for a ewe. 'I'll have just as much milk,' mused he, 'from that +animal as from the other, and, at least, she will keep quiet, and not +worry either my wife or me.' + +Gudbrand was right, in one respect, for there is nothing more gentle +than a ewe. This one had no tricks; she neither capered nor butted with +her head, but she stood perfectly still and bleated all the time. +Finding herself separated from her companions, she wanted to rejoin +them, and the more Gudbrand tugged at her tether, the more piteously she +baaed. + +'Deuce take the silly brute!' shouted Gudbrand; 'she's as obstinate and +whimpering as my neighbor's wife. Who'll rid me of this bawling, +bellowing little beast? I must get clear of her, at any price.' + +'It's a bargain, if you choose, neighbor,' said a country fellow who was +just passing, with a fat goose under his arm. 'Here, take this fine +bird, instead; she's worth two of that ugly sheep that's going to split +its throat in less than an hour, anyhow.' + +'Done!' said Gudbrand; 'a live goose is as good as a dead ewe, any day;' +and so he took the goose in exchange. + +But it was no easy matter to manage his new bargain. The goose turned +out to be a very disagreeable companion; for, finding itself no longer +on the ground, it fought with its bill, its feet, and its wings, so that +Gudbrand was soon tired of struggling to hold it. + +'Pah!' growled he; 'the goose is an ugly, ill-grained creature, and my +wife never would have one about the house.' With this reflection, he +changed the goose, at the first farm-house he came to, for a fine +rooster of rich plumage and furnished with a grand pair of spurs. + +This time, he was thoroughly satisfied. The rooster, it is true, +squawked from time to time, in a voice rather too hoarse to gratify most +delicate ears; but as his claws had been tied together with twine and he +was carried head downwards, he finally gave up and resigned himself to +his fate. The only unpleasant circumstance now remaining was that the +day was rapidly drawing to a close. Gudbrand, who had started before +dawn, now found himself fasting, at sundown, without a farthing in his +pocket. He still had a long walk before him, and the good man felt that +his legs were giving out and that his stomach craved refreshment. Some +bold step must be taken; and so, at the first wayside tavern, Gudbrand +sold his rooster for a shilling, and as he had a raging appetite, he +spent the last doit of it for his supper. + +'After all,' said he, the while, 'what use would a rooster be to me, if +I had to die of hunger?' + +As he, at length, drew near his own dwelling, however, Gudbrand began to +meditate seriously on the curious turn things had taken with him, and, +before entering his home, he stopped at the door of Peter the Gray +beard, as a neighbor of his was called in the surrounding country. + +'Well, neighbor,' said Peter, 'how have you prospered in the town?' + +'Oh! so, so,' answered Gudbrand; 'I can't say that I've been very lucky, +nor have I much to complain of either;' and he went on to tell all that +had happened. + +'Neighbor, you've made a pretty mess of it!' said Peter the Graybeard; +'you'll have a nice time of it when you get home. Heaven protect you +from your dame! I wouldn't be in your shoes for ten crowns.' + +'Good!' rejoined Gudbrand of the Hill; 'things might have turned out +still worse for me; but, now, I'm quiet in my mind about it, for my wife +is so clever that, right or wrong, no matter what I've done, well or +ill, she'll not say one word about it.' + +'I hear and admire your statement, neighbor,' retorted Peter, 'but, with +all respect for you, I do not believe a word of it.' + +'Will you lay a wager on it?' said Gudbrand. 'I have a hundred crowns in +my drawer at home, and I'll bet twenty of them against as many from +you.' + +'Done, on the spot!' replied Peter. So, joining hands on it, the two +friends entered Gudbrand's house. Peter stood back at the door to hear +what the husband and wife would have to say. + +'Good evening, wife!' said Gudbrand. 'Good evening, husband,' said the +good woman; 'you've come back, then, God be praised! How did you fare +all day?' + +'Neither well nor ill,' replied Gudbrand. When I got to the town, I +could find no one there to buy our cow, and so I traded her off for a +horse.' + +'For a horse!' said the wife. 'An excellent idea, and I thank you with +all my heart. We can go to church, then, in a wagon, like plenty of +other folks who look down upon us, but are no better than we. If we +choose to keep a horse and can feed him, we have a right to do it, I +suppose, for we ask no odds of anybody. Where is the horse? We must put +him into the stable.' + +'I did not bring him all the way home,' answered Gudbrand, 'for, on the +road, I changed my mind; I exchanged the horse for a hog.' + +'Come, now,' said the wife, 'that's just what I'd have done, in your +place! Thanks, a hundred times over! Now, when my neighbors come to see +me, I'll have, like everybody else, a bite of ham to offer them. What +need had we of a horse? The folks around us would have said, "See the +saucy things! they think it beneath them to walk to church." Let us put +the hog in a pen!' + +'I didn't bring him with me,' said Gudbrand, 'for on the way I exchanged +him for a she-goat.' + +'Bravo!' said the good wife. 'What a sensible man you are! When I come +to think of it, what could I have done with a hog? The neighbors would +have pointed us out and have said, "Look at those people--all they make +they eat! But, with a she-goat, I shall have milk and cheese, not to +speak of the little kids. Come, let us put her into the stable." + +'I didn't bring the she-goat with me, either,' said Gudbrand; 'I traded +her again, for a ewe.' + +'There! That's just like you,' exclaimed the wife, with evident +satisfaction. 'It was for my sake that you did that. Am I young enough +to scamper, over hill and dale, after a she-goat? No, indeed. But, a ewe +will yield me her wool as well as her milk; so let us get her housed at +once.' + +'I didn't bring the ewe home, either,' stammered Gudbrand, once more, +'but swapped her for a goose.' + +'What? a goose! oh! thanks, thanks a thousand times, with all my +heart--for, after all, how could I have got along with the ewe? I have +neither card nor comb, and spinning is a heavy job, at best. When you've +spun, too, you have to cut and fit and sew. It's far easier to buy our +clothes ready-made, as we've always done. But a goose--a fat one, too, +no doubt--why, that's the very thing I want! I've need of down for our +quilt, and my mouth has watered this many a day for a bit of roast +goose. Put the bird in the poultry-coop.' + +'Ah! I've not brought the goose, for I took a rooster in his stead.' + +'Good husband!' said the wife, 'you're wiser than I would have been. A +rooster! splendid!--why, a rooster's better than an eight-day clock. The +rooster will crow every morning, at four, and tell us when it is time to +pray to God and set about our work. What would we have done with a +goose? I don't know how to cook one, and as for the quilt, Heaven be +praised, there's no lack of moss a great deal softer than down. So, let +us put the rooster in the corn-yard!' + +'I have not brought even the rooster,' murmured Gudbrand, 'for, at +sundown, I felt very hungry, and had to sell my rooster for a shilling +to buy something to eat. If it hadn't been for that I must have starved +to death.' + +'God be thanked for giving you that lucky thought,' replied the wife. +'All that you do, Gudbrand, is just after my own heart. What need we of +a rooster? We are our own masters, I think; there is no one to give us +orders, and we can stay in bed just as long as we please. Here you are, +my dear husband, safe and sound. I am perfectly satisfied, and have need +of nothing more than your presence to make me happy.' + +Upon this, Gudbrand opened the door;--'Well! neighbor Peter, what do you +say to that? Go, now, and bring me your twenty crowns!' So saying, +Gudbrand hugged and kissed his wife with as much fervor and heartiness +as though he and she had just been wedded, in the bloom of youth. + + +PART III. + +But the narrative does not end with the events described in the last +chapter. There is a reverse to every medal, and even daylight would not +be so charming were it not followed by night. However good and perfect +woman may, generally, be, there are some who by no means share the easy +disposition of Gudbrand's better half. Need I say that the fault is, +usually, in the husband? If he were only to yield, on all occasions, +would he be troubled? Yield? exclaim some fierce moustachioed +individuals. Yes, indeed, yield, or hear the penalty that awaits you. + + +PART IV. + +PETER THE GRAYBEARD. + + +Peter the Graybeard did not at all resemble Gudbrand. He was +self-willed, imperious, passionate, and had no more patience than a dog +when you snatch away his bone or a cat when you're trying to strangle +her. He would have been insufferable, had not Heaven, in its mercy, +given him a wife who was a match for him. She was headstrong, +quarrelsome, discontented and morose--always ready to keep quiet when +her husband preserved silence, and just as ready to scream at the top of +her voice the moment he opened his mouth. + +It was great good fortune for Peter to have such a spouse. Without her, +would he ever have known that patience is not the merit of fools? + +One day, in the mowing Season, when he came home, after a fifteen hours' +spell of hard work, in worse humor than usual, and was swearing, cursing +and execrating all women and their laziness, because his soup was not +yet ready for him, his wife exclaimed,-- + +'Good Lord! Peter, you talk away at a fine rate. Would you like to +change places? To-morrow, I will mow, instead of you, and you stay at +home here and play housekeeper. Then, we'll see which of us will have +the hardest task and come out of it the best.' + +'Agreed!' thundered Peter; 'you'll have a chance to find out, once for +all, what a poor husband has to suffer. The trial will teach you a +lesson of respect--something you greatly need.' + +So, the next morning, at day-break, the wife set out afield with the +rake over her shoulder and the sickle by her side, all joyous at the +sight of the bright sunshine, and singing like a lark. + +Now, who felt not a little surprised, and a little foolish too, to find +himself shut up at home? Our friend Peter the Graybeard. Still, he +wasn't going to own himself beaten, but fell to work churning butter, as +though he had never done anything else all the days of his life. + +It's no hard matter to get over-heated when one takes up a new trade, +and Peter soon, feeling very dry, went down into the cellar to draw a +mug of beer from the cask. He had just knocked out the bung and was +applying the spigot, when he heard an ominous crunching and grunting +overhead. It was the sow, devastating the kitchen. + +'Oh Lord! my butter's lost!' yelled Peter the Graybeard, as he rushed +pell-mell up the steps, with the spigot in his hand. What a spectacle +was there! the churn upset, the cream spilt all over the floor, and the +huge sow fairly wallowing in the rich and savory tide. + +Now even a wiser man would have lost all patience; as for Peter, he +rushed upon the brute, who, with piercing screams, strove to escape; but +it was a hapless day to the thief, for her master caught her in the +doorway and dealt her so well applied and vigorous a blow on the side of +her skull with the spigot that the sow fell dead on the spot. + +As he drew back his novel weapon, now covered with blood, Peter +recollected that he had not closed the bung-hole of his cask, and that +all this time his beer was running to waste. So down he rushed again to +the cellar. Fortunately, the beer had ceased to run, but then that was +because not a drop remained in the cask. + +He had now to begin his morning's work again, and churn some more butter +if he expected to see any dinner that day. So Peter visited the +dairy-house, and there found enough cream to replaced what he had just +lost. At it he goes again, and churns and churns away, more vigorously +than ever. But, in the midst of his churning, he remembers--a little +late to be sure, but better late than never--that the cow was still in +the stable, and that she had neither food nor water, although the sun +was now high above the horizon. Away he runs then to the stable. But +experience has made him wise: 'I've my little child there rolling on the +floor; now, if I leave the churn, the greedy scamp will turn it over, +and something worse might easily happen!' Whereupon, he takes up the +churn on his back and hastens to the well to draw water for the cow. The +well was deep, and the buckets did not go down far enough. So Peter +leans with all his might, in hot haste, on the rope, and away goes the +cream out of the churn, over his head and shoulders, into the well! + +'Confound it!' said Peter between his teeth, 'it's clear that I'm to +have no butter to-day. Let's attend to the cow; it's too late to take +her out to pasture, but there's a fine lot of hay on the house-thatch +that hasn't been cut, and so she'll lose nothing by staying at home.' To +get the cow out of the stable and to put her on the house-roof was no +great trouble, for the dwelling was set in a hollow in the hill-side, so +that the thatch was almost on a level with the ground. A plank served +the purpose of a bridge, and behold the cow comfortably installed in her +elevated pasture! Peter, of course, could not remain upon the roof to +watch the animal; he had to make the mid-day porridge and take it to the +mowers. But he was a prudent man, and did not want to leave his cow +exposed to the risk of breaking her bones; so he tied a small rope +around her neck, and this rope he passed carefully down the chimney of +the cottage into the kitchen below. Having effected this, he descended +himself, and, entering the kitchen, attached the other end of the rope +to his own leg. + +'In this way,' said he, 'I make sure that the cow will keep quiet, and +that nothing bad can happen to her.' + +He now filled the kettle, dropped into it a good 'lump' of lard, the +necessary vegetables and condiments, placed it on the well-piled fagots, +struck fire with flint and steel, and was applying the match to the +wood, blowing it well the while, when, all at once, crish--crash! away +goes the cow, slipping down over the roof, and dragging our good man, +with one leg in the air and head downwards, clear up the chimney. What +would have become of him, no one could tell, had not a thick bar of iron +arrested his upward flight. And now there they are, both together, +dangling in the air, the cow outside and Peter within; both, too, +uttering the most frightful cries of distress. + +As good luck would have it, the wife was just as impatient as her +husband, and, when she had waited just three seconds to see whether +Peter would bring her porridge at the stated time, she darted off for +the house as though it were on fire. When she saw the cow swinging +between heaven and earth, she drew her sickle and cut the rope, greatly +to the delight of the poor brute, who now found herself safe again, on +the only sort of floor she liked. It was a chance no less fortunate for +Peter, who was not accustomed to gazing at the sky with his feet in the +air. But he fell smack into the kettle, head foremost. It had been +decreed, however, that all should come out right with him, that day; the +fire had died out, the water was cold, and the kettle awry, so that he +got off with nothing worse than a scratched forehead, a peeled nose, and +two well scraped cheeks, and, thank Heaven! nothing was broken but the +saucepan. + +When his better half entered the kitchen, she found Master Graybeard +looking very sheepish and bloody. + +'Well! well!' said she, planting her arms akimbo and her two fists on +her haunches: 'who's the best housekeeper, pray? I have mowed and +reaped, and here I am as good as I was yesterday, while you, _you_, +Mister Cook, Mister Stay-at-home, Mr. Nurse, where is the butter, +where's the sow, where's the cow, and where's our dinner? If our little +one's alive yet, no thanks to you. Poor little fellow!--what would +become of it without kind and careful mamma?' + +Whereupon, Mrs. Peter begins to snivel and sob. Indeed, she has need to, +for is not sensibility woman's field of triumph, and are not tears the +triumph of sensibility? + +Peter bore the storm in silence, and did well, for resignation is the +virtue of great souls! + + +PART V. + +There, you have my story exactly as it is related, on winter evenings, +to impress ideas of wisdom on the minds of the young Norwegians. Between +the wife of Gudbrand and the wife of Peter the Graybeard they must +choose, at their own risk and peril. + +'The choice is an easy one,' says an amiable lady-friend of mine, who +has just become a grandmother. 'Gudbrand's wife is the one to imitate, +not only on account of her prudence, but for her worth. You men are much +more amusing than you fancy: when your own self-esteem is at stake, you +love truth and justice about as much as bats love a glare of light. The +greatest enjoyment these gentlemen experience is in pardoning us when +they are guilty, and in generously offering to overlook our errors when +they alone are in the wrong. The wisest thing we can do is to let them +talk, and to pretend to believe them. That is the way to tame these +proud, magnificent creatures, and, by pursuing the plan perseveringly, +one may lead them about by the nose, like Italian oxen. + +'But, aunty,' says a fair young thing beside us, 'one can't keep quiet +all the time. Not to yield when you're not in the wrong, is a right.' + +'And when you're wrong, my dear niece, to yield is a royal pleasure. +What woman ever abandoned this exalted privilege? We are all somewhat +akin to that amiable lady who, when all other arguments had been +exhausted, crushed her husband with a magnificent look, as she said,-- + +'"Sir, I give you my word of honor that I am in the right." + +'What could he reply? Can one contradict the veracity of one's own wife? +And what is strength fit for if not to yield to weakness? The poor +husband hung his head, and did not utter another word. But to keep still +is not to acknowledge defeat, and _silence is not peace_!' + +'Madame,' says a young married woman, 'it seems to me that there is no +choice left; when a woman loves her husband all is easy; it is a +pleasure to think and act as he does.' + +'Yes, my child, that is the secret of the comedy. Every one knows it, +but no one avails herself of it. So long as even the last glow of the +honey-moon illuminates the chamber of a young couple, all goes along of +itself. So long as the husband hastens to anticipate every wish, we have +merit and sense enough to let him do it. But at a later moment, the +scene changes. How, then, are we to retain our sway? Youth and beauty +decay, and the charm of wit and intelligence is not sufficient. In order +to remain mistresses of our homes, we must practice the most divine of +all the virtues--gentleness--a blind, dumb, deaf gentleness of demeanor, +that pardons everything for the sake of pardoning.' + +To love a great deal,--to love unconditionally, so as to be loved a +little in return,--that is the whole moral of the story of Gudbrand. + + * * * * * + +THE HUGUENOT FAMILIES IN AMERICA. + +II. + + +The brave Admiral Coligny first conceived the plan of a colony in +America for the safety of his persecuted Huguenot brethren of France. +Such an enterprise was undertaken as early as the year 1555, with two +vessels, having on board mechanics, laborers, and gentlemen, and a few +ministers of the Reformed faith. They entered the great river which the +Portuguese had already named _Rio Janeiro_, and built a fort, calling it +'Coligny.' Here they sought a new country, where they might adore God in +freedom. Unforeseen difficulties, however, discouraged these bold +Frenchmen, and the pious expedition failed, some dispersing in different +directions, while others regained the shores of France with great +difficulty. A second attempt was also unsuccessful. Coligny, in 1562, +obtained permission from Charles IX. to found a Protestant colony in +Florida. Two ships left Dieppe with emigrants, and, reaching the +American shores, entered a large, deep river called _Port Royal_, which +name it still retains, and is, by coincidence, the spot recently +captured by the United States forces.[F] Fort Charles, in honor of the +reigning king of France, was built near by, and in a fertile land of +flowers, fruits, and singing birds. The country itself was called +_Carolina_. Reduced to the most cruel extremities of famine and death, +the remaining colonists returned to Europe. + +Still undismayed by these two disastrous attempts, Coligny, the Huguenot +leader, dispatched a third expedition of three vessels to our shores, +making another attempt near the mouth of the St. John's River (Fort +Caroline). Philip II. was then on the throne, and would not brook the +heresy of the Huguenots, or Calvinism, in his American provinces. +Priests, soldiers, and Jesuits were dispatched to Florida, where the new +settlers, 'Frenchmen and Lutherans,' were destroyed in blood. Such was +the melancholy issue of the earliest attempts to establish a Huguenot or +Protestant settlement in North America. And nearly one hundred years +before it was occupied by the English, Carolina, for an instant, as it +were, was occupied by a band of Christian colonists, but, through the +remorseless spirit of religious persecution, again fell under the +dominion of the uncivilized savages. We refer to these earliest efforts +as proper to the general historical connection of our subject, although +not absolutely necessary to its investigation. + +At the commencement of the seventeenth century, England, on her own +behalf, took up the generous plans of Coligny. Possessing twelve +colonies in America, when the edict of Nantes was revoked, that nation +resolved here to offer peaceful homes to persecuted Huguenots from +France. This mercy she had extended to them in England and Ireland; now +her inviting American colonies were thrown open for the same generous +purpose. Even before that insane and fatal measure of Louis XIV., the +Revocation, and especially after the fall of brave La Rochelle, numerous +Protestant fugitives, mostly from the western provinces of France, had +already emigrated, for safety, to British America. In 1662 the French +government made it a crime for the ship-owners of Rochelle to convey +emigrants to any country or dependency of Great Britain. The fine for +such an offence was ten livres to the king, nine hundred for charitable +objects, three hundred to the palace chapel, one hundred for prisoners, +and five hundred to the mendicant monks. One sea-captain, Brunet, was +accused of having favored the escape of thirty-six young men, and +condemned to return them within a year, or to furnish a legal +certificate of their death, on pain of one thousand livres, with +exemplary punishment.[G] It is imagined that these young voluntary +Huguenot exiles emigrated to Massachusetts, from the fact that the same +year when this strange cause was tried in France, Jean Touton, a French +doctor, requested from the authorities of that colony the privilege of +sojourning there. This favor was immediately granted; and from that +period _Boston_ possessed establishments formed by Huguenots, which +attracted new emigrants. + +In 1679, Elie Nean, the head of an eminent family from the principality +of Soubise, in Saintonge, reached that city. This refugee, sailing +afterwards in his own merchant vessel for the island of Jamaica, was +captured by a privateer, carried back to France, confined in the +galleys, and only restored to his liberty through the intercession of +Lord Portland. + +One of the first acts of the Boston Huguenots was to settle a minister, +giving him forty pounds a year, and increasing his salary afterwards. +Surrounded by the savages on every side, they erected a fort, the traces +of which, it is said, can still be seen, and now overgrown with roses, +currant bushes, and other shrubbery. Mrs. Sigourney, herself the wife of +a Huguenot descendant, during a visit to this time-honored spot, wrote +the beautiful lines,-- + + 'Green vine, that mantlest in thy fresh embrace + Yon old gray rock, I hear that thou with them + Didst brave the ocean surge. + Say, drank thus from + The dews of Languedoc? or slow uncoiled + An infant fibre 'mid the faithful mold + Of smiling Roussillon? Didst thou shrink + From the fierce footsteps of fighting unto death + At fair Rochelle? + Hast thou no tale for me?' + +Their fort did not render the French settlers safe from the murderous +assaults of savage enemies. A.W. Johnson, with his three children, were +massacred here by them; his wife was a sister of Mr. Andrew Sigourney, +one of the earliest Huguenots. After this murderous attack the French +Protestants deserted their forest home, repairing to Boston in 1696, +where vestiges of their industry and agricultural taste long remained; +to this day many of the pears retain their French names, and the region +is celebrated for its excellence and variety of this delicious fruit. +The Huguenots erected a church at Boston in 1686, and ten years +afterwards received as pastor a refugee minister from France, named +Diaillé.[H] The Rev. M. Lawrie is also mentioned as one of their +pastors. But from official records we learn more of the Rev. Daniel +Boudet, A.M. He was a native of France, born in 1652, and studied +theology at Geneva. On the revocation, he fled to England, receiving +holy orders from the Lord Bishop of London. In the summer of 1686 he +accompanied the Huguenot emigrants to Massachusetts; and Cotton Mather +speaks of him as a faithful minister 'to the French congregation at New +Oxford, in the _Nipmog_ (Indian) counties.' This was New Oxford, near +Boston. He labored for eight years, 'propagating the Christian faith,' +both among the French and the Indians. He complains, as we do in our +day, of the progress of the sale of rum among the savages,'_without +order or measure_' (July 6, 1691). We shall learn more of him at New +Rochelle, where he removed, probably, in 1695, and could preach to both +English and French emigrants. Soon after the revocation of the Edict of +Nantes, Joseph Dudley, with other proprietors, introduced into +Massachusetts thirty French Protestant families, settling them on the +easternmost part of the 'Oxford tract.'[I] + +Massachusetts, peopled in part by the rigid Protestant Dissenters, +naturally favored these new victims, persecuted by a church still more +odious to them than that of England. Their sympathies were deeply +excited by the arrival of the French exiles. The destitute were +liberally relieved, the towns of Massachusetts making collections for +this purpose, and also furnishing them with large tracts of land to +cultivate. In 1686 the colony at Oxford thus received a noble grant of +11,000 acres; and other provinces followed the liberal example. Every +traveler through New England has seen 'Faneuil Hall,' which has been +called the 'Cradle of Liberty,' and where so many assemblages for the +general good have been held. This noble edifice was presented to Boston, +for patriotic purposes, by the son of a Huguenot. + +Much of our knowledge concerning the Huguenots of New York has been +obtained from the documentary papers at Albany. Some of the families, +before the revocation, as early as the year 1625, reached the spot where +the great metropolis now stands, then a Dutch settlement. The first +birth in New Amsterdam, of European parents, was a daughter of George +Jansen de Rapelje, of a Huguenot family which fled to Holland after the +St. Bartholomew's massacre, and thence sailed for America. Her name was +Sarah. Her father was a Walloon from the confines of France and Belgium, +and settling on Long Island, at the _Waal-bogt_, or Walloon's Bay, +became the father of that settlement. In 1639 his brother, Antonie +Jansen de Rapelje, obtained a grant of one hundred 'morgens,' or nearly +two hundred acres of land, opposite Coney Island, and commenced the +settlement of Gravesend. Here most numerous and respectable descendants +of this Walloon are met with to this day. Jansen de Rapelje, as he was +called, was a man of gigantic strength and stature, and reputed to be a +Moor by birth. This report, probably, arose from his adjunct of _De +Salee_, the name under which his patent was granted; but it was a +mistake; he was a native Walloon, and this suffix to his name, we doubt +not, was derived from the river Saale, in France, and not Salee, or Fez, +the old piratical town of Morocco. For many years after the Dutch +dynasty, his farm at Gravesend continued to be known as Anthony Jansen's +Bowery. The third brother of this family, William Jansen de Rapelje, was +among the earliest settlers of Long Island and founders of Brooklyn. +Singularly, the descendants of _Antonie_ have dropped the Rapelje, and +retained the name of Jansen, or Johnson, as they are more commonly +called. On the contrary, George's family have left off Jansen, and are +now known as Rapelje or Rapelyea. + +Most of the Huguenots who went to Ulster, N.Y., at first sought +deliverance from persecutions among the Germans, and thence sailed for +America. Ascending the Hudson, these emigrants landed at Wiltonyck, now +Kingston, and were welcomed by the Hollanders, who had prepared the way +in this wilderness for the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty. +Here was a Reformed Dutch church, and Hermanus Blomm, its pastor, +commissioned by the Classis of Amsterdam to preach 'both on water and on +the land, and in all the neighborhood, but principally in _Esopus_.' +This region, selected by the French Protestants for their future land, +was like their own delightful native France for great natural beauties. +Towards the east and west flowed the waters of the noble ever-rolling +Hudson, while on the north the Shamangunk Mountains, the loftiest of our +Fishkill monarchs, looked like pillars upon which the arch of heaven +there rested. No streams can charm the eye more than those which enrich +this region,--the Rosendale, far from the interior, the Walkill, with +its rapid little falls, 'the foaming, rushing, warsteed-like' Esopus +Creek, with the dashing, romantic Saugerties, fresh from the +mountain-side. Both the Dutch and the French emigrants followed these +beautiful rivers towards the south, and made their earliest settlements +there. On these quiet and retired banks their ashes repose. Hallowed be +their memories, virtues, and piety! In those regions thousands of their +descendants now enjoy the rich and glorious patrimony which have +followed their industry and frugality. + +In the year 1663, the savages attacked Kingston and massacred a part of +its inhabitants, slaying twenty-four, and took forty-five prisoners. +The dominie, Blomin, escaped, and has left a description of the tragical +event.[J] 'There lay,' he writes, 'the burnt and slaughtered bodies, +together with those wounded by bullets and axes. The last agonies and +the moans and lamentations were dreadful to hear.... The houses were +converted into heaps of stones, so that I might say with Micah, "We are +made desolate;" and with Jeremiah, "A piteous wail may go forth in his +distress." With Paul I say, "Brothers, pray for us." I have every +evening, during a whole month, offered up prayers with the congregation, +on the four points of our fort, under the blue sky.... Many heathen have +been slain, and full twenty-two of our people have been delivered out of +their hands by our arms. The Lord our God will again bless our arms, and +grant that the foxes who have endeavored to lay waste the vineyard of +the Lord shall be destroyed.' + +Among the prisoners were Catharine Le Fever, the wife of Louis Dubois, +with three of their children. These were Huguenots; and a friendly +Indian gave information where they could be found. The pursuers were +directed to follow the Rondout, the Walkill, and then a third stream; +and a small, bold band, with their knapsacks, rifles, and dogs, +undertook the perilous journey. Towards evening, Dubois, in advance of +the party, discovered the Indians within a few feet of him, and one was +in the act of drawing his bow, but, missing its string, from fear or +surprise, the Huguenot sprang forward and killed him with his sword, but +without any alarm. The party then resolved to delay the attack until +dark; at which hour the savages were preparing for slaughter one of +their unfortunate captives, which was none other than the missing wife +of Dubois himself. She had already been placed upon the funeral pile, +and at this trying moment was singing a martyr's psalm, the strains of +which had often cheered the pious Huguenots in days of the rack and +bloody trials. The sacred notes moved the Indians, and they made signs +to continue them, which she did, fortunately, until the approach of her +deliverers. 'White man's dogs! white man's dogs!' was the first cry +which alarmed the cruel foes. They fled instantly, taking their +prisoners with them. Dubois calling his wife by name, she was soon +restored to her anxious friends, with the other captives. At the moment +of their rescue, the prisoners were preparing for the bloody sacrifice +to savage cruelty, and singing the beautiful psalm of the 'Babylonish +Captives.' Heaven heard those strains, and the deliverance came. During +this fearful expedition the Ulster Huguenots first discovered the rich +lowlands of Paltz. + +This was the section which they selected for their homes, distant some +eighty-five miles from New York, along the west shores of the Hudson, +and extending from six to ten miles in the interior. It was called _New +Paltz_, and its patent obtained from Gov. Andreas; twelve of their +brethren were religiously selected by the emigrants as the _Patentees_, +and known by the appellation of the '_Duzine_,' or the twelve patentees, +and these were regarded as the patriarchs in this little Christian +community. A list of the original purchasers has been preserved, and +were as follows: Louis Dubois, Christian Dian, since Walter Deyo, +Abraham Asbroucq, now spelt Hasbrouck, Andros Le Fever, often Le Febre +and Le Febore, John Brook, said to have been changed into Hasbrouck, +Peter Dian, or Deyo, Louis Bevier, Anthony Cuspell, Abraham Du Bois, +Hugo Freir, Isaac Dubois, Simon Le Fever. + +A copy of this agreement with the Indians still exists, and the +antiquarian may find it among the State records at Albany. It is a +curious document, with the signatures of both parties, the patentees' +written in the antique French character, with the hieroglyphic marks of +the Indians. A few Indian goods--kettles, axes, beads, bars of lead, +powder, casks of wine, blankets, needles, awls, and a 'clean +pipe'--were the insignificant articles given, about two centuries ago, +for these lands, now proverbially rich, and worth millions of dollars. +The treaty was mutually executed, according to the records from which we +quote, on the 20th of May, 1677. + +The patentees immediately took possession of their newly-acquired +property, their first conveyances being three wagons, which would be +rare curiosities in our day. The wheels were very low, shaped like +old-fashioned spinning-wheels, with short spokes, wide rim, and without +any iron. The settlers were three days on their way from Kingston to New +Paltz, a distance of only sixteen miles. The place of their first +encampment is still known by the name of '_Tri Cor_,' or three cars, in +honor of these earliest conveyances. Soon, however, they selected a more +elevated site, on the banks of the beautiful Walkill, where the village +now stands. Log houses were erected not far apart, for mutual defence, +and afterwards stone edifices, with port-holes, some of which still +remain. + + * * * * * + +MACCARONI AND CANVAS. + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Rome is the cradle of art,--which accounts for its sleeping there. + +Nature, however, is nowhere more wide awake than it is in and around +this city: therefore, Mr. James Caper, animal painter, determined to +repose there for several months. + +The following sketches correctly describe his Roman life. + + +ARRIVAL IN ROME. + +It was on an Autumn night that the traveling carriage in which sat James +Caper arrived in Rome; and as he drove through that fine street, the +Corso, he saw coming towards him a two-horse open carriage, filled with +Roman girls of the working class (_minenti_). Dressed in their +picturesque costumes, bonnetless, their black hair tressed with flowers, +they stood up, waving torches, and singing in full voice one of those +songs in which you can go but few feet, metrically speaking, without +meeting _amore_. And then another and another carriage, with flashing +torches and sparkling-eyed girls. It was one of the turnouts of the +_minenti_; they had been to Monte Testaccio, had drank all the wine they +could pay for; and, with a prudence our friend Caper could not +sufficiently admire, he noticed that the women were in separate +carriages from the men. It was the Feast Day of Saint Crispin, and all +the cobblers, or artists in leather, as they call themselves, were +keeping it up bravely. + +'Eight days to make a pair of shoes?' he once asked a shoemaker. 'Si, +Signore, there are three holidays in that time.' Argument unanswerable. + +As the carriages rolled by, Caper determined to observe the festivals. + +The next day our artist entered his name in his banker's register, and +had the horror of seeing it mangled to 'Jams Scraper' in the list of +arrivals published in the _Giornale di Roma_. For some time after his +arrival in Rome, he was pained to receive cards, circulars, notices, +letters, advertisements, etc., from divers tradesmen, all directed to +the above name. In revenge, he here gives them a public airing. One firm +announces,-- + +'Manafactury of Remain Seltings, Mosaïques, Cameas, Medalls, Erasofines, +&c.' (Erasofines is the Roman-English for crucifixes.) And on a slip of +paper, handsomely printed, is an announcement that they make 'Romain +Perles of all Couloueurs'--there's color for you! + +A tailor, under the head of '_Ici un parle Français_,' prints, 'Merchant +_and_ tailor. Cloths (clothes?) Reddy maid, Mercery Roman; Scarfs, etc.' + +Another, 'Roman Artickles Manofactorer'--hopes to be 'honnoured with our +Custom, (American?), and flaters himsself we will find things to our +likings.' Everything but the English, you know--that is not exactly to +our liking. Another, from a lady, reads,-- + +_A VENTRE!_ + +_une Galérie decomposée de 300 d'Anciens Maitres, et de l'école romaine +peintres sur bois, sur cuivre et sur toit, &c._ + +_Ventre_ for _Vendre_ is bad enough, but a 'gallery of decomposed old +masters and of Roman school painters on wood and on the roof,' when it +was intended to say 'A gallery composed of 300 of the old masters--' But +let us leave it untranslated; it is already _decomposée_. + + +A SHORT WALK. + +Mr. Caper having indignantly rejected the services of all professors of +the guiding art or 'commissionaires,' slowly sauntered out of his hotel +the morning after his arrival, and, map in hand, made his way to the +tower on the Capitoline Hill. Threading several narrow, dirty streets, +he at last went through one where in one spot there was such a heap of +garbage and broccoli stumps that he raised his eyes to see how high up +it reached against the walls of a palace; and there read, in black +letters, + +_Immondezzaio_; + +literally translated, A Place for Dirt. On the opposite wall, which was +the side of a church, he saw a number of black placards on which were +large white skulls and crossbones, and while examining these, a +bare-headed, brown-bearded, stout Franciscan monk passed him. From a +passing glance, Caper saw he looked good-natured, and so, hailing him, +asked why the skulls and bones were pasted there. + +'Who knows?' answered the monk. 'I came this morning from the Campagna; +this is the first time in all my life I have been in this magnificent +city.' + +'Can you tell me what that word means up there?' said Caper, pointing to +_immondezzaio_. + +'Signore, I can not read.' + +'Perhaps it is the name of the street, maybe of the city?' + +'It must be so,' answered the priest, 'unless it's a sign of a lottery +office, or a caution against blasphemy up and down the pavement. Those +are the only signs we have in the country, except the government salt +and cigar shops.' ... He took a snuff-box from a pocket in his sleeve, +and with a bow offered a pinch to Mr. Caper. This accepted, they bid +each other profoundly farewell. + +'There goes a brick!' remarked the traveler. + +Arrived at the entrance-door to the tower of the Capitoline Hill, James +Caper first felt in one pocket for a silver piece and in the other for a +match-box, and finding them both there, rang the bell, and then mounted +to the top of the tower. Lighting a _zigarro scelto_ or papal cigar, he +leaned on both elbows on the parapet, and gazed long and fixedly over +the seven-hilled city. + +'And this,' soliloquized he, _is_ Rome. Many a day have I been kept in +school without my dinner because I was not able to parse thee idly by, +_Roma_--Rome--noun of the first declension, feminine gender, that a +quarter of a century ago caused me punishment, I have thee now literally +under foot, and (knocking his cigar) throw ashes on thy head. + +'My mission in this great city is not that of a picture-peddler or art +student. I come to investigate the eating, drinking, sleeping +arrangements of the Eternal City--its wine more than its vinegar, its +pretty girls more than its galleries, its _cafés_ more than its +churches. I see from here that I have a fine field to work in. Down +there, clambering over the fallen ruins of the Palace of the Cĉsars, is +a donkey. Could one have a finer opportunity to see in this a moral and +twist a tail? From those fallen stones, Memory-glorious old +architect--rears a fabric wondrously beautiful; peoples it with eidolons +white and purple-robed, and gleaming jewel-gemmed; or, iron armed, +glistening with flashing light from polished steel--heroes and slaves, +conquerors and conquered; my blood no longer flows to the slow, jerking +measure of a nineteenth-century piece of mechanism, but freely, fully, +and completely. Hurrah, my blood is up! dark, liquid eyes; black, +flowing locks; strange, pleasing perfumes are around me. There is a rush +as of a strong south wind through a myriad of floating banners, and I am +borne onward through triumphal arches, past pillared temples, under the +walls of shining palaces, into the Coliseum.... + +'Pray, and can you tell me--if that pile of d----d old rubbish--down +there, you know--is the Forum--for I do not--see it in Murray--though +I'm sure--I have looked very clearly--and Murray you know--has +everything down in him--that a traveler.... + +'A commercial traveler?' ... interrupted Mr. Caper, speaking slowly, and +looking coolly into the eyes of the blackguard Bagman.... 'The ruins you +see there are those of the Forum. Good morning.' + + +MODERN ART. + +'Lucrezia Borgia at the Tomb of Don Giovanni! You see,' said the artist, +'I have chosen a good name for my painting, ... and it's a great point +gained. Forty or fifty years ago, some of those fluffy old painters +would have had Venus worshiping at the shrine of Bacchus.' + +'Whereas, you think it would be more appropriate for her to worship +Giove?' ... asked Capar. + +'No _sir_!... I run dead against classic art: it's a drug. I tried my +hand at it when I first came to Rome. Will you believe me, I never sold +a picture. Why that very painting'--pointing to the Borgia--'is on a +canvas on which I commenced The Subjugation of Adonis.' + +'H'm! You find the class of Middle Age subjects most salable then?' + +'I should think I did. Something with brilliant colors, stained glass +windows, armor, and all that, sells well. The only trouble is, +ultramarine costs dear, although Dovizzelli's is good and goes a great +ways. I sold a picture to an Ohio man last week for two hundred dollars, +and it is a positive fact there was twenty _scudi_ (dollars) worth of +blue in it. But the infernal Italians spoil trade here. Why, that fellow +who paints Guide's Speranzas up there at San Pietro in Vineulo is as +smart as a Yankee. He has found out that Americans from Rhode Island +take to the Speranza, because Hope is the motto of their State, and he +turns out copies hand over fist. He has a stencil plate of the face, and +three or four fellows to paint for him; one does the features of the +face, another the hand, and another rushes in the background. Why, sir, +those paintings can be sold for five _scudi_, and money made on them at +that. But then what are they? Wretched daubs not worth house-room. Have +you any thoughts of purchasing paintings?' + +Caper smiled gently.... 'I had not when I first came to Rome, but how +long I may continue to think so is doubtful. The temptations' (glancing +at the Borgia) 'are very great.' ... + +'Rome,' ... interrupted the artist, ... 'is the cradle of art.' + + +A ROOM HUNT. + +Caper, on his first arrival in Home, went to the Hotel Europe, in the +Piazza di Spagna. There for two weeks he lived like a _milordo_. He +formed many acquaintances among the resident colony of American artists, +and was received by them with much kindness. Some of the mercenary ones +of their number, having formed the opinion that he came there to buy +paintings, ignorant of his profession, were excessively polite;--but +their offers of services were declined. When Caper finally moved to +private lodgings in Babuino Street and opened a studio, hope for a +season bade these salesmen all farewell; they groaned, and owned that +they had tried but could not sell. + +Among the acquaintances formed by Caper, was a French artist named +Rocjean. Born in France, he had passed eight or ten years in the United +States, learned to speak English very well, and was residing in Rome 'to +perfect himself as an artist.' He had, when Caper first met him, been +there two years. In all this time he had never entered the Vatican, and +having been told that Michael Angelo's Last Judgment was found to have a +flaw in it, he had been waiting for repairs before passing his opinion +thereon. On the other hand, he had studied the Roman _plebe_, the +people, with all his might. He knew how they slept, eat, drank, loved, +made their little economies, clothed themselves, and, above all, how +they blackguarded each other. When Caper mentioned to him that he wished +to leave his hotel, take a studio and private lodgings, then Rocjean +expanded from an old owl into a spread eagle. Hurriedly taking Caper by +the arm, he rushed him from one end of Rome to the other, up one +staircase and down another; until, at last, finding out that Rocjean +invariably presented him to fat, fair, jolly-looking landladies +(_padrone_), with the remark, 'Signora, the Signor is an Englishman and +very wealthy,' he began to believe that something was wrong. But Rocjean +assured him that it was not--that, as in Paris, it was Madame who +attended to renting rooms, so it was the _padrona_ in Rome, and that the +remark, 'he is an Englishman, and very wealthy,' were synonymous, and +always went together. 'If I were to tell them you were an American it +would do just as well--in fact, better, but for one thing, and that is, +you would be swindled twice as much. The expression "and very wealthy," +attached to the name of an Englishman, is only a delicate piece of +flattery, for the majority of the present race of traveling English are +by no means lavish in their expenditures or very wealthy. In taking you +to see all these pretty women, I have undoubtedly given you pleasure, at +the same time I have gratified a little innocent curiosity of mine:--but +then the chance is such a good one! We will now visit the Countess ----, +for she has a very desirable apartment to let; after which we will +proceed seriously to take rooms with a home-ly view.' + +The Countess ---- was a very lovely woman, consequently Caper was +fascinated with the apartment, and told her he would reflect over it. + +'Right,' said Rocjean, after they had left; 'better reflect over it than +in it--as the enormous draught up chimney would in a short time compel +you to.' + +'How so?' + +'I have a German friend who has rooms there. He tells me that a cord of +firewood lasts about long enough to warm one side of him; when he turns +to warm the other it is gone. He has lived there three years reflecting +over this; the Countess occasionally condoles with him over the draught +of that chimney.' + +'H'm! Let us go to the homely: better a drawn sword than a draught.' + +They found a homely landlady with neat rooms in the via Babuino, and +having bargained for them for twelve _scudi_ a month, their labors were +over. + + +MACCARONICAL. + +There was, when Caper first came to Rome, an eating-house, nearly +opposite the fountain Trevi, called the Gabioni. It was underground,--in +fact, a series of cellars, popularly conjectured to have been part of +the catacombs. In one of these cellars, resembling with its arched roof +a tunnel, the ceiling so low that you could touch the apex of the round +arch with your hand, every afternoon in autumn and winter, between the +hours of five and six, there assembled, by mutual consent, eight or ten +artists. The table at which they sat would hold no more, and they did +not want it to. Two waiters attended them, Giovanni for food, Santi for +wine and cigars. The long-stemmed Roman lamps of burnished brass, the +bowl that held the oil and wicks resembling the united prows of four +vessels, shedding their light on the white cloth and white walls, made +the old place cheerful. The white and red wine in the thin glass flasks +gleamed brightly, and the food was well cooked and wholesome. Here in +early winter came the sellers of 'sweet olives,' as they called them, +and for two or three cents (_baiocchi_) you could buy a plateful. These +olives were green, and, having been soaked in lime-water, the bitter +taste was taken from them, and they had the flavor of almonds. + +But the maccaroni was the great dish in the Gabioni; a four-cent plate +of it would take the sharp edge from a fierce appetite, assisted as it +was by a large one-cent roll of bread. There was the white pipe-stem and +the dark ribbon (_fettucia_) species; and it was cooked with sauce (_al +sugo_), with cheese, Neapolitan, Roman and Milan fashion, +and--otherways. Wild boar steaks came in winter, and were cheap. Veal +never being sold in Rome until the calf is a two-year-old heifer, was no +longer veal, but tender beef, and was eatable. Sardines fried in oil and +batter were good. Game was plenty, and very reasonable in price, except +venison, which was scarce. The average cost of a substantial dinner was +from thirty to forty baiocchi, and said Rocjean, 'I can live like a +prince--like the Prince B----, who dines here occasionally--for half +that sum.' + +The first day Caper dined in the Gabioni, what with a dog-fight under +the table, cats jumping upon the table, a distressed marchioness (fact) +begging him for a small sum, a beautiful girl from the Trastevere, +shining like a patent-leather boot, with gold ear-rings, and brooch, and +necklace, and coral beads, who sat at another table with a French +soldier--these and those other little _piquante_ things, that the +traveler learns to smile at and endure, worried him. But the dinner was +good, his companions at table were companionable, and as he finished an +extra _foglietta_ (pint) of wine, price eight cents, with Rocjean, he +concluded to give it another trial. He kept at giving it trials until +the old Gabioni was closed, and from it arose the Four Nations or +Quattre Nazione in Turkey Cock Alley (_viccolo Gallmaccio_), which, as +any one knows, is near Two Murderers' Street. (_Via Due Macelli_) + +'Now that we have finished dinner,' spoke Rocjean, 'we will smoke: then +to the Caffe or Café Greco and have our cup of black coffee.' + + +AMERICA IN ROME. + +It may be a good thing to have the conceit taken out of us--but not by +the corkscrew of ignorance; the operation is too painful. Caper, proud +of his country, and believing her in the front rank of nations, was +destined to learn, while in Rome and the Papal States, that America was +geographically unknown. + +He consoled himself for this with the fact that geography is not taught +in the 'Elementary Schools' there;--and for the people there are no +others. + +The following translation of a notice advertising for a schoolmaster, +copied from the walls of a palace where it was posted, shows the sum +total taught in the common schools:-- + + The duties of the Master are to teach Reading, Writing, the First + Four Rules of Arithmetic; to observe the duties prescribed in the + law '_Quod divina sapientia_;' and to be subject to the biennial + committee like other salaried officers of the department; as an + equivalent for which he shall enjoy (_godrá_) an annual salary of + $60, payable in monthly shares. + + (Signed) + + IL GONFALONIERE ---- ----. + +But what can you expect when one of the rulers of the land asserted to +Caper that he knew that 'pop-corn grew in America on the banks of the +Nile, after the water went down,--for it never rains in America'? + +It was a handsome man, an advocate for Prince Doria, who, once traveling +in a _vetturo_ with Caper, asked him why he did not go to America by +land, since he knew that it was in the south of England; and gently +corrected a companion of his, who told Caper he had read and thought it +strange that all Americans lived in holes in the ground, by saying to +him that if such houses were agreeable to the _Signori Americani_ they +had every right to inhabit them. + +The landlord of a hotel in a town about thirty miles from Rome asked +Caper if, when he returned to New York, he would not some morning call +and see his cousin--in Peru! + +This same landlord once drew his knife on a man, when, accompanied by +Caper, he went to observe a saint's day in a neighboring town. The cause +of the quarrel was this--the landlord, having been asked by a man who +Caper was, told him he was an American. The man asserted that Americans +always wore long feathers in their hair, and that he did not see any on +Caper's head. The landlord, determined to stand by Caper, swore by all +the saints that they were under his hat. The man disbelieved it. Out +came the 'hardware' with that jarring cr-r-r-rick the blade makes when +the notched knife-back catches in the spring, but Caper jumped between +them, and they put off stabbing one another--until the next saint's day. + +It was with pleasure that Caper, passing down the Corso one morning, saw +there was an Universal Panorama, including views of America, advertised +to be exhibited in the Piazza Colonna. 'Here is an opportunity,' thought +he, 'for the Romans to acquire some knowledge of a land touching which +they are very much at sea. The views undoubtedly will do for them what +the tabooed geographies are not allowed to do--give them a little +education to slow music.' + +Accompanied by Rocjean, he went one evening to see it, and found it on +wheels in a traveling van, drawn up at one side of the Colonna Square. + +'Hawks inspected it the other evening,' said Rocjean; 'and he describes +it as well worth seeing. The explainer of the Universal Panorama +resembles the wandering Jew, exactly, with perhaps a difference about +the change in his pockets; and the paintings, comical enough in +themselves, considering that they are supposed to be serious likenesses +of the places represented, are made still funnier by the explanations of +the manager.' + +Securing tickets from a stout, showy ticket-seller, adorned with a +stunning silk dress, crushing bracelets, and an overpowering bonnet, +they subduedly entered a room twenty feet long by six or eight wide, +illuminated with the mellow glow of what appeared to be about thirty +moons. The first things that caught their eye were several French +soldiers who were acting as inspection guard over several rooms, having +stacked their muskets in one corner. Their exclamations of delight or +sorrow, their criticisms of the art panoramic, in short, were full of +humor and trenchant fun. But 'the explanator' was before them; where he +came from they could not see, for his footsteps were light as velvet, +evidently having 'gums' on his feet; his milk-white hair, parted in the +middle of his forehead, hung down his back for a couple of feet, while +his milk-white beard, hanging equally low in front, gave him the +appearance of a venerable billy goat. He was an Albino, and his eyes +kept blinking like a white owl's at mid-day. He had a voice slightly +tremulous, and mild as a cat's in a dairy. + +'Gen-till-men, do me the playshure to gaze within this first hole. 'Tis +the be-yu-ti-fool land of Sweet-sir-land. Vi-yew from the some-mut of +the Riggy Cool'm. Day break-in' in the dis-tant yeast. He has a blan-kit +round him, sir; for it is cold upon the moun-tin tops at break of day. +[Madame, the stupen-doss irrup-tion of Ve-soov-yus is two holes from the +corner.] + +'Gen-till-men, do me the play-zure to gaze upon the second hole. 'Tis +Flor-renz the be-yu-ti-fool, be the bangs off the flowin' Arno. 'Twas +here that--' + +'No matter about all that,' said Caper; 'show off America to us.' He +slipped a couple of _pauls_ into his hand, and instantly the Venerable +skipped four moons. + +'Gen-till-men, do me the play-zure to gaze upon this hole. 'Tis the +be-yu-ti-fool city of Nuova Jorck in Ay-mer-i-kay, with the +flour-ish-ing cities of Brook-lyn, Nuova Jer-sais, and Long Is-lad. The +impo-sing struc-ture of rotund form is the Gr-rand Coun-cill Hall +con-tain-ing the coun-cill chamber of the Amer-i-can nations.... [You +say it is the Bat-tai-ree? It may be the Bat-tai-ree.] _What is that +road in Broo-klin_? that is the ra'l-road to Nuova Or-lins di-rect. +_What is that wash-tub_? "Tis not a wash-tub--'tis a stim-boat. They +make the stim out of coal, which is found on the ground. _Is that the +Ay-mer-i-cain eagill_? 'Tis not; 'tis a hoarse-fly which has +in-tro-doo-ced hisself behind the glass. _Are those savages in Nuova +Jer-sais_? (New Jersey.) Those are trees.' + +'Pass on, illustrious gen-till-men, to the next hole. 'Tis the +be-yu-ti-fool city of Filadelfia. The houses here are all built of +woo-ood. The two rivaires that cir-cum-vent the city are the Lavar +(Delaware?) and the Hud-soon. I do not know what is "a pum-king cart," +but the car-riage which you see before you is a fi-ah engine, be-cause +the city is all built of woo-ood. The tall stee-ple belongs to the +kay-ker (Quaker) temple of San Cristo.' + +Rocjean now gave the Venerable a _paul_, requesting him to dwell at +length upon these scenes, as he was a Frenchman in search of a little of +geography. + +'Excellencies, I will do my en-dea-vors. The gran-diose ship as lies in +the Lavar (Delaware) riv-aire is fool of em-i-gr-rants. The signora +de-scen-din' the side of the ship is in a dreadful sit-u-a-tion tru-ly. +[Per-haps the artist was in a boat and de-scri-bed the scene as he saw +it.] The elephant you see de-scen-din' the street is a nay-tive of this +tropi-cal re-gion, and the cock-a-toos infest the sur-round-in' air. The +Moors you see along the wharves are the spon-ta-ne-ous born of the soil. +Those are kay-kers (Quakers?) on mules with broad-brimmed hats onto +their heads; the sticks in their hands are to beat the Moors who live on +their su-gar plan-tay-tions.... Music? did you ask, Madame? We have none +in this establish-ment. Kone. + +'Excellencies, the next hole. 'Tis the be-yu-ti-fool city of +Bal-ti-mory. You behold in the be-fore ground a gr-rand feast day of +Amer-i-cain peas-ants; they are be-hold-ing their noble Count +re-pair-ring to the chase with a serf on a white hoarse-bag +(horse-back?). The little joke of the cattle is a play-fool fan-cy of +the jocose artiste as did the panorama. I am un-ac-count-able for +veg-garies such as them. The riv-aire in the bag-ground is the +Signora-pippi'.... + +'The what?' asked Caper, shaking with laughter. + +'A gen-till-man the other day told me that only the peasants in Americay +say Missus or Mis-triss, and that the riv-aire con-se-kwen-tilly was not +Missus-pippi, but, as I have had the honor of saying, the Signora-pippi +rivaire. The next hole, Excel-len-cies!--'Tis the be-yu-ti-fool city of +Vaskmenton (Washington), also on the Signora-pippi riv-aire. The white +balls on the trees is cot-ton. Those are not white balls on the ground, +those are ship;--ships as have woolen growin' onto their sides (sheep?). +'Tis not a white bar-racks: 'tis the Palazzo di Vaskmenton, a nobil +gen-e-ral woo lives there, and was for-mer-ly king of the A-mer-i-cain +nations. What does that Moor, with the white lady in his arms? it is a +negro peas-sant taking his mis-triss out to air,--'tis the customs in +those land.... That negress or fe-mail Moor with some childs is also +airring, and, the white 'ooman tyin' up her stockings is a sportive of +the artiste. He is much for the hum-or-ous. + +'Excellencies, the last hole A-mer-i-cain. 'Tis the stoo-pen-doss +Signora-pippi rivaire in all its mag-gnif-fi-cent booty. What is that +cockatoo doing there? He is taking a fly. _You do not see the fly_? I +mean a flight. _What is that bust to flin-ders_? That is a stim-boat was +carryin' on too much stim, and the stim, which is made of coal, goes, +off like gun-pow-dair if you put lights onto it. This is a fir-ful and +awe-fool sight. The other stim-boat is not bustin', it is sailin'. What +is that man behind the whil-house with the cards while another signer +kicks into him on his coat-tails, I do not know. It is steel the +sportifs of the artiste.' + +'Excel-len-cies, the last hole. 'Tis the be-yu-ti-fool bustin'--no, not +bustin', but ex-plo-sion of Vee-soov-yus. You can see the sublime sight, +un-terrupt-ted be me ex-play-nations. I thank you for your attentions +auri-cu-lar and pe-coo-niar-ry. _Adio_, until I have the play-shure of +seein' you oncet more.' + +'I tell you what, Rocjean,' said Caper, as he came out from the +panorama, 'America has but a POOR SHOW in the Papal dominions.' + + * * * * * + +JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY. + + +Grand with all that the young earth had of vigorous and queenly to adorn +her, rich with the spoils of victories not all bought with battle-axe +and sword, stately with a pride that had won its just and inalienable +majesty from elastic centuries of progress and culture, History, the +muse to whom fewest songs were sung, yet whose march was music's +sublimest voice, trembled upon the brink of the Dark Ages, and leaped, +in her armor, into the abyss of ignorance before her. A poetry the +purest, an art the noblest, a religion deeply symbolical, a freedom bold +and magnificent, had given to the world-histories of those early days a +melody varied and faultless, a form flowing yet well-defined, an +earnestness that was sacred, a truth that was divine. A philosophy rich +and largely suggestive had made the great men of Greece and Rome alert, +vigilant, penetrating, before luxury and oppression had dragged them +down to ruin and ignorance; and at last Ambition, splendid but +destructive, becoming the world's artist, blended the midnight tints of +decline and suffering with the carnation of triumph and liberty, and +cast over the pictures of History the Rembrandt-like shadows, heavy and +wavering, that add a fearful intensity to their charms. + +To these eras, once splendid and promising, succeeded a night, long, +hopeless, disastrous. Its hours were counted by contentions, its +darkness was deepened by crime. The sun had set upon a mighty empire, +regnant upon her seven hills, glorious with conquest, drunken with +power: when the day dawned upon the thousandth year of the Christian +era, its crumbled arches and moss-grown walls alone testified to the +truth of History that had survived the universal destruction. + +And now came the age of knight and paladin, of crusades and talismans. +The rough, vigorous life that had been developing at the North, +exuberant with a strength not yet so mature that it could be employed in +the wise and practical pursuits of civilized life, burst forth into an +enthusiasm half military, half religious, that pervaded all ranks, but +was 'mightiest in the mighty.' The Saxons, fair-haired, with wild blue +eyes, whence looked an inflexible perseverance, the dark-browed Normans, +and the men of fair Bretagne, swooped down falcon-like from their nests +among the rocks and by the seas of Northern Europe upon the impetuous +Saracens, and fought brave poems that were written on sacred soil with +their blood. From the strife of years the heroes returned, their flowing +locks whitened by years and suffering, the fair Saxon faces browned by +the fervent suns of the distant East. From hardship and imprisonment +they marched with gay songs amid acclamations and welcome to their homes +upon the Northern shores. Their once shining armor was dimmed and +rusted with their own blood; but they bore upon their 'spears the light' +of a culture more refined, a knowledge more subtle, than those high +latitudes had ever before known. + +From this marriage of the barbaric vigor of the North with the delicate +and infinitely pliable sensuousness of the South, the classic union of +Strength and Desire, Chivalry was born. Leaping forth to light and +power, a majestic creation, glittering in the knightly panoply, noble by +its knightly vows, it stood resplendent against the dark background of +the past ages, the inevitable and legitimate offspring of the times and +circumstances that gave it birth. The courtly baptism was eagerly +sought, its requirements rigidly obeyed. The lands bristled with the +lances of their valiant sons, and Quixotic expeditions were the order of +the age. But not alone with sword and spear were gallant contests +decided; the gauntlet thrown at the feet of a proud foe was not always +of iron. _El gai saber_, the _gaye science_, held its august courts, +where princesses entered the lists and vanquished gallant troubadours +with the concord of their sweet measures. Slowly, yet with resistless +strength, a new social world was rising upon the splendid ruins of the +old. Its principles were just, if their garb was fantastical. It began +with that almost superstitious reverence for woman, which had borrowed +its religion from the Teuton, its romance from the Minnesinger and the +Trouveur: it will end in the honesty and freedom of a world mature for +its enjoyment. + +Thus, while the kingdoms of Europe were rising to a height where to +oppress, to torture, to fight, were to seem their sole aim and purpose, +in a hitherto obscure corner of the great theatre of modern life an +unknown element was developing itself, which was in time to shake the +greatest nations with its power, to inflame all Europe with jealousy and +cupidity, and to dictate to empires the very terms of their existence. +And this element was LABOR. The rich lowlands of the 'double-armed' +Rhine teemed with a busy life, that, king-like, demanded a tribute of +the sea, and wrenched from the greedy waves a treasure that its industry +made priceless. Each man became a prince in his own divine right, and +every occupation had its lords and its lore, its 'mysteries,' and its +social rights. The seamen, merchants, and artisans of the Netherlands +had made their country the richest in Europe. They ranged the seas and +learned the value of the land; and while they fed the great despot of +the Middle Ages, the light of intelligence, born of energy and nurtured +by activity, cast its benignant gleams from the central island of the +Rhine, and drove from their mountain nooks the owls and bats of tyranny +and superstition. They fought first, these lords of the soil, among +themselves, for local privileges, advancing in their continuous +struggles upon the very threshold of the church. By strong alliances +they kept at bay their feudal lords, and fettered the ecclesiastical +power with the yoke of a justice, meagre, indeed, and sadly unfruitful, +but still ominous of a better day. Within the alabaster vase of +despotism, frail, yet old as ambition, the lamp of freedom had long +burned dimly: now its flames were licking, with serpent-like tongues, +the enclosure so long deemed sacred, and threatened, as they dyed the +air with their amber flood of light, to shiver their temple to +fragments. The theory of the divine right of kings was but another 'Luck +of Edenhall.' Its slender stem trembled now within the rough grasp of +the sacrilegious and burly Netherlanders, who hesitated not long ere +they dashed it with the old superstition to the ground, shaking the +civilized world to its centre by the shock. But out of the ruins a +statelier edifice was to rise, whose windows, like those of the old +legend, were stained by the lifeblood of its architect. + +The historian who would worthily depict such an age, such a people, such +principles, must be an artist, but one in whom the creative faculty does +not blind the moral obligations. He must bring to the work a republican +sympathy, must be governed by a republican justice, and wear a character +as noble as the struggle that he paints. And such an artist, such a +historian, such a man, we have in JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY. + +The honors of Harvard, early and nobly earned, had given to the boy at +seventeen the privileges and dignity of manhood. He was destined to +become a scholar, eminent, even among the rarely and richly cultured +minds of his own New England, for his universal knowledge, clearness of +intellect, prompt energy, and indomitable perseverance. Inspired by +these gifts and attainments, it was only natural, almost inevitable, +that his first appearance upon the literary stage should have been in +the _rôle_ of a novelist. The active young intellect was pliant and +strong, but had not yet learned its power. Before him lay the broad +fields of romance, fascinating with their royal _fleurs de lis_, rich +with the contributions of every age, some quaint and laughter-moving, +some pompous and exaggerated, some soul-stirring and grand. Impelled, +perhaps, less by a thirst for fame than a desire to satisfy the +resistless impulses of an energetic nature, and lay those fair ghosts of +enterprises dimly recognized that beckoned him onward, he followed the +first path that lay before him, and became a romance writer. His first +work, _Morton's Hope, or the Memoirs of a Provincial_, was published in +1839, and subsequently appeared _Merry Mount, a Romance of +Massachusetts_. It is curious to trace in these first flights of a +genius that has since learned its legitimate field, a tendency to the +breadth of Motley's later efforts, an instinctive and evidently +unconscious passion for the descriptive, an admirably curbed yet still +powerful impatience of the light fetters, the toy regulations of the +realm of Fiction, and an earnestness that has since bloomed in the world +of Fact and History. The very imperfections of the novelist have become +the charms of the historian. His student-life in Germany, his after-plot +in the stirring Revolutionary times, strongly as they are drawn, +animated as they are with dashes of that vivid power that stamps every +page of the histories of their author, yet lack the proof of that +unquestioned yet unobtrusive consciousness of genius that harden the +telling sentences of the _Rise of the Dutch Republic_ and the _United +Netherlands_ into blocks of adamant, polished by friction with each +other to a diamond brightness, and reflecting only the noblest +sentiments, the most profound principles. The dice had been thrown a +second time, and Motley had not won a victory. The applause of the press +was insufficient to the man, who felt that he had not yet struck the +key-note of his destiny. To be counted the follower of Cooper was not +the meet guerdon of an intellect to which the shapely monuments of +ancient literature yielded the clue to their hieroglyphic labyrinths of +knowledge, and that pierced with lightning swiftness the shell of +events, and possessed the latent principles of life in their warm +hearts. He returned, therefore, to Europe, leaving behind him a +reputation which at no distant day was destined to spring from a new and +more noble foundation into a lasting and more stately pile. + +To a mind like Motley's, the department of history presented the most +attractive features. There could honestly be no dabbling with the +specious and seductive alchemy of Fiction. Truth had molded every period +of the world's life. Truth defied had tripped up nations in their +headlong race after dominion and unrighteous power. Truth victorious had +smiled upon their steady growth to greatness and honor. To write history +was to write poetry, art, philosophy, religion, life. The pen that +sketched the rise, the progress, and the fate of nations, was in fact +the chisel of a sculptor, whose theme was humanity. + +And what work so fitting for the American author as the record of a +nation struggling away from the oppression of feudal institutions, which +stifled all growth either towards knowledge or civil greatness, +throwing off the trammels of religious intolerance, defying the most +powerful nation of Christendom, which had breathed an air of bigotry in +its long contest with the Moors, and waging an exhaustive war of nearly +a century's duration against fearful odds, only to win an independent +existence? We had treasured as rare heirlooms the Mechlin laces of our +grandmothers, had our favorite sets of Tournay porcelain, awaited with +curious and enthusiastic patience our shares in the floral exportations +of Harlem, trodden daily the carpetings of Brussels, and esteemed +ourselves rich with a fragment of its tapestry, or a rifle of Namur; we +had honored the vast manufacturing interest of the Netherlands, their +commercial prosperity and noble enterprise; but here all thought of them +had ended. Schiller had not taught us that the ancestors of the miners +of Mons, the artisans of Brussels, the seamen of Antwerp, the professors +of Leyden, were heroes, worthy to stand beside Leonidas and Bozzaris; +Strâda had failed to rouse us to enthusiasm at the thought of their +long, noble battle for life. Grotius had indeed painted for us with a +very Flemish nicety of detail their manners and customs, but had +forgotten to round his skeleton of a nation with the passions that +animated every stage of its development. It remained for Motley, with +all the quick sympathies of an American heart, to rouse our affections +and to command our reverence for a people so unfortunate and so brave. +It was reserved for him to teach us that William of Orange was not less +a martyr to the truth than Huss or Latimer. + +It was no common scholar who so worthily finished this task. It was not +enough that the intellectual integrity of oar historian was +unquestioned, his judgment mature, his knowledge vast and comprehensive. +During the years of preparation he had become thoroughly cosmopolite; +all the _petty_ prejudices of country and blood had been swept away +before the advancing dignity of a reason that became daily more truly +and completely the master of itself. All the thousand minute refinements +of an extensive and intimate association with the commanding and courtly +minds of the age fitted him to cope more successfully with the spirit of +subtle intrigue, the fox-like sagacity, the wolfish rapacity, the cruel +lack of diplomatic honor, and the illimitable and terrible intolerance +that distinguished in so wonderful a degree the historical era of +Motley's choice. He came with all the zeal of a true lover of liberty, +himself republican, as earth's most cultured sons have been in every +age, in thought, habit, and sentiment, to trace for the future and for +us the records of a people who were willing to suffer a master, but who +revolted from a tyrant; who, with a rare but unappreciated and too nice +honor, strove to keep to the yoke that their forefathers had worn, only +asking from their ruler the respect and consideration due the faithful +servants of his crown, who were no longer the abject slaves of a +monarchy, and yet, through an inveterate habit of servitude, were +scarcely prepared for the independence of a republic. How nobly he has +fulfilled his mission, the hearty applause of two nations sufficiently +testifies. + +To the wide, comprehensive vision of Motley, history appears in its true +light as a science, demanding the assistance of other sciences to the +due and harmonious development of all its parts. It relies not more upon +the correctness of the recorder's authorities and the profoundness of +his researches in the mere region of the events and mutual relation of +nations, than upon his universal acquaintance with general literature +and the sister arts of politics and philosophy. It was for the +treacherous and elegant Bolingbroke to reduce the noble art of +Thucydides from the height of sublimity and grandeur to the parlor level +of the conversations of the Hotel de Rambouillet, to introduce into the +most serious political disquisitions, concerning perhaps the welfare of +society, an imperceptible yet carefully elaborated and most effective +tone of levity that speedily proved disastrous to their object. It was +be who forced the vapid but imposing ceremonial of the _bon ton_ into +the records of church and state; who clothed his empty but pompous +periods with the ermine of royalty, to ensure them the reverence of a +deluded multitude; who stripped Virtue of her ancient prerogatives, and +fed her with the crumbs from his table. His polished diction, undeniable +talent and fine acquisitions served most unhappily to disguise his real +poverty of sentiment, and for a time, at least, diverted the current of +popular feeling from the true, beautiful, and reliable in early +literature and art, no less than in history. With what success his +faulty and imperfect theories were engrafted upon the literature of his +nation, the learned and sagacious Schlosser conclusively proves in his +_History of the Eighteenth Century_. Says this ripe scholar and deep +thinker, 'All that Bolingbroke ridicules as tedious and without talent, +all that he laughs at as useless and without taste, all that which, +urged by his labors and those of his like-minded associates, had for +eighty years disappeared from ancient history, is again brought back in +our day. So short is the triumph of falsehood.' Well may we pervert the +verses of Horace,-- + + 'Nullĉ placere diu, nec vivere _historiĉ_ possunt + Quĉ scribuntur aquĉ potoribus.' + +That was an ungenerous fountain whence Bolingbroke drank even his +chilling draughts of inspiration. Splendid, in sooth, as the great +_Brunnen_ of the luckless Abderites of Wieland, with its sea-god of +marble surrounded by a stately train of nymphs, tritons, and dolphins, +from whose jets the water only dripped like tears, because, says the +writer, with grave naïveté, 'there was scarcely enough to moisten the +lips of a single nymph.' Truly the purple wine of inspiration is as +necessary to the historian as to the poet; and if the laughing Bacchus +that holds the beaker to the student's eager lips be not clothed in the +classic robes of the senate-chamber or the flowing garments of the +professor, he wears at least the fawn's dappled hide, and in his hand + + 'His thyrsus holds--an ivy-crowned spear.' + +Does not the gentle Euripides show us the god, 'his horned head with +dragon wreath entwined?' And those two sacred horns point back to the +dread mysteries of the Ogdoad sublime, + + 'The great Cabiri of earth's dawning prime.' + +They trace with lines that never swerve from truth the history of the +primeval world, the early days of Noah and his ark. They recall to us +the old story of life and suffering, of deluge and salvation; on their +crescent points hangs the eternal principle of the efficacy of +sacrifice. They float with the moon-ark of Astarté Mylitta on +hyacinthine seas of night-clouds, and their high import, dimmed and lost +in the great stream of Time, rises again in the ages, uncrowned with the +early luxuriance of symbol and mystery. The mystic horns appear over the +brow of the queenly Sappho of Grillparzer, upon whose hair + + 'Rested the diadem, _like the pale moon_ + Upon the brow of night, a silver crest;' + +and the white-robed Madonna, with child-like face upraised, and deep, +tender eyes uplifted, yet rests her slender, sandaled foot upon the +horned moon, floating below her in misty clouds. + +A hiatus for which we crave indulgence; a dream, and yet not all a +dream, for each of these old types encloses a living truth, and unfolds +into a history, tangled, perhaps, and imperfect, but suggestive and +reliable, of races and religions that had else passed away into +oblivion. And the earnest student of the present, or the historian of +the past, can never disregard these dim old treasures, but must draw +from them a fresher faith in his own humanity and in the eternal laws of +God, that are unchangeable as he is immortal. + +The art of history advances with the art of poetry; both, and indeed all +literature, correspond aesthetically with the manners, customs, +theology, and politics of the nation of their birth. The severe +grandeur of Thucydides, the invariable sweetness of Xenophon, and the +cheerful elegance of Herodotus, recall, with their just conceptions of +harmony, their noble and sustained flow of thought, and their freedom +from the adventitious ornaments of an exaggerated rhetoric or a +sentimental morality, the golden age of Greece. We seem to stand within +the Parthenon, to gaze upon the Venus of Cnidus, to be jostled by the +gay crowd at the Olympic games. It was indeed a golden age, when all +that was beautiful in nature was reverently and assiduously nurtured, +and all that was noble and natural in art was magnificently encouraged; +an age in which refinement and nobility were not accidents, but +necessities; when politics had reached the high grade of an art, and +oratory attained a beauty and power beyond which no Pitt, Canning, or +Brougham has ever yet aspired; an age when the gifted Aspasia held her +splendid court, and Alcibiades and Socrates were proud to sit at the +Milesian's feet; when Pericles, who 'well deserved the lofty title of +Olympian,' lived and ruled: the golden age when Socrates thought and +taught, bearing in its bosom the guilty day when Socrates died. + +Not less faithful portraitures of the influences that formed them are +the histories of Livy, of Sallust, and of Tacitus. They wrote in a +language that had been sublimated into electric clouds by the warm and +splendid diffuseness of Cicero, and reduced to a granite-like strength +by the cold and exquisite simplicity of Terence. The amiable fustian, +the Falstaffian bombast of Lucan and Ovid's brilliant imagination, all +stamp their indelible seal upon the vivid coloring of Livy, the somewhat +affected severity of Sallust, and the elegant morality of Tacitus. The +banner of the monarchy flaunts across every page of these writers. They +even bear the impress of an architecture whose splendor and strength did +not atone for its disregard of the old Hellenic lines and rules. They +bear the same relation to Thucydides and Herodotus that a pillar of the +Roman Ionic order, with its angularly turned volutes and arbitrary +perpendicularity of outline, does to its graceful Greek mother, with her +primitive and expressive scrolls, and the slightly convex profile of her +shaft. In more modern times, a black-letter, quaint sentence of +Froissart or Monstrelet is like a knight in full armor, bristling with +quaint, beautiful devices, golden dragons inlaid on Milan cuirasses, +golden vines on broad Venetian blades, apes on the hilts of +grooved-bladed, firm stilettoes, or the illuminated margins of old +metrical romances. The pages of Strada are darkened by the stormy +passions of a battling age, crossed with the lurid light of Moorish +tragedies; an _ay de mi Alhama_ moans under his pride and bigotry. +Torquemadas grind each sentence into dullness and inquisitorial +harmlessness, yet now and then sweeps by a trace of Lope de Vega, a word +that reminds us of Calderon, while still oftener the euphuism of Gongora +pervades the writer's mind and flows in platitudes from his guarded pen. + +As we near our own day, history is invested with new dignities; its arms +float, sea-weed like, on the raging waves of political life, as if to +grasp from some fragment of shipwrecked treaties or some passing argosy +of government a precious jewel to light its deep researches. It takes in +with nervous grasp the tendencies of literature; its keen gaze drinks in +the features of popular belief and searches out the fountains of popular +error. Fully equal to the requirements of the exacting age, Motley has +produced a work whose lightest merit is its equal conformity to the new +rules of his art. He possesses in an eminent degree the first +qualification which the old Abbé de Mably, in his _Manière d'ecrire +l'histoire_, insists upon for the historian. He recognizes the natural +rights of man, those rights which are the same in every age, and as +powerful in their demands in the sixteenth century as in the nineteenth. +His well-balanced mind acknowledges and respects the duties of man as +citizen and magistrate, and the mutual rights of nations. No splendor, +no power, no prejudice, has been able to seduce him from his high +principles, neither does a warm and manifest sympathy with his subject +delude him even into the passing extravagance of an undue praise. If he +comprehends the greatness of the national character he almost flings +upon the canvas before us, he appreciates as profoundly its weaknesses +too. Strada's history is a poison, which strikes at the very roots of +society, and would wither all the fresh young leaves of its vigorous +spring. Motley's is its powerful antidote, which restores the juices of +life to the brittle fibres, smooths out the shriveled leaves, and +clothes them again with the fresh green of hope and promise. Strada is +the slave of the victor; Motley is the champion of the vanquished. +Strada bends the dignity of Justice before the painted sceptre of +Despotism; Motley exalts the honest title of the man above the will of +the perjured monarch. Strada gilds with the false gold of sophistry the +very chains that gall his soul; Motley sharpens on the clear crystal of +his unobtrusive logic, the two-handed sword of power, and cuts his way +through an army of protocols and pacts to the fortress of Liberty. + +It is, we believe, an exploded theory that the characters of modern +times are inferior to those of antiquity. 'Under the toga as under the +modern dress,' says Guizot, 'in the senate as in our councils, men were +what they still are;' and the old Jesuit takes a narrow view of the +progress of mankind, who asserts that the masculine and vigorous +treatment that was necessary to Thucydides and Livy is not required by +the historians of our puny and degenerate day. Even the Count Gobineau, +who so ably and, to his followers, conclusively proves the fallacy of +the dearest hope of every learned philanthropist and patriot, does not, +in his most earnest antagonism to the doctrine of human progress, +insinuate the existence of a principle urging the systematic and +inevitable decline of individual power from age to age. So far from +exacting less of the historian, the present age demands even a firmer +handling. Our era has its Alexanders and Cĉsars; its Hannibals and +Hectors; and if these men of antiquity rise before us with an +unapproachable air of grandeur, it is because the light shining from our +distant stand-point surrounds them with deeper shadows, and throws them +in bolder relief against the background of their vanished ages. It is a +simple triumph of _chiaro-scuro_, and by no means the proof of the truth +of an absurd theory. + +It is mournful enough to see the dead nations that were once young and +glorious pacing onward through an inferno like so many headless Bertrand +de Borns, bearing by the hair + + 'The severed member, lantern-wise + Pendent in hand.' + +For ourselves, we have no fear of lighting our own spirit thus through +any Malabolge of purification. And this bold faith animates Motley; it +invigorates all his work with a firmness that inspires full confidence +in his readers. Free as he is from every puerile superstition, his +mastery of his subject is complete. He exercises over it a sort of +magistracy which extends even to his own flashing impulses. Never +pausing to display his moral learning, he avoids the tedious diffuseness +of Rollin; steering adroitly around the quicksands of political +dissertation, he escapes the pragmatical essayism of Guiccardini. Not +easily fascinated by the trifles that swim like vapid foam upon the tide +of history,--petty domestic details, the Königsmark intrigues of +royalty, the wines and flowers of the banquet table, the laces and +jewels of the court,--he leaves far in the distance the entertaining +Davila, who, says the sarcastic Schlosser, 'wrote memoirs after the +French fashion for good society,' yet whom the arbitrary and adventurous +Bolingbroke does not scruple to declare 'in many respects the equal of +Livy!' And yet no single stroke is omitted which is needed to preserve +the unity of the work. Tacitus himself did not embellish with more +commanding morality his histories. The jots and tittles of the _Groot +Privilegie_, the terms of the famous 'Pacification of Ghent,' the +solemn import of the _Act of Adjuration_, and the political ambition of +the church, are as faithfully drawn as the Siege of Leyden, or the +'Spanish Fury' of Antwerp. + +Hume, in the narrowness of a so-called philosophical indifference to the +appeals of domestic life and the details of national theology and art, +gives us only a running commentary upon mere chronological events, +galvanized by the touch of his keen intellect and fine rhetoric into a +deceitful vigor, and ornamented with the poisonous night-shade blossoms +of a spurious philosophy. We may more justly seek some analogy between +Gibbon and Motley, even if the search but discover points of difference +so radical that a comparison is impossible. The solemn, measured, and +splendid rhetoric of Gibbon is met by the animated, impetuous, and +brilliant flow of Motley's thought. Neither leans to the ideal; with +both the actual prevails. The policy of a government is summoned by +neither before the partial tribunal of a sentiment, or the intricate +scheme of some Machiavelli subjected to the imperfect analysis of a +headstrong imagination. But Gibbon, though he writes in the vernacular, +has lost all the honest nationality that should give an air of sincerity +to his work; his brilliant antithesis belongs to the ornate school of +the French literature of the day; and, fascinating as is the pomp and +commanding march of his sentences, we are rather dazzled by his +eloquence than convinced by his argument. He is picturesque, rich; but +it is the picturesqueness and richness of the truly bewildering Roman +architecture of the Renaissance--half Byzantine, three-eighths Gothic, +and the remainder Greek. But Motley, with all his varied learning and +association, is still perfectly and nobly Anglo-Saxon. His short, +epigrammatic sentences ring like the click of musketry before the +charge, and swell into length and grandeur with the progress of his +theme. The simplicity, not of ignorance but of genius, characterizes +him. He does not cater to our hungry fancy, he appeals grandly to our +noblest impulses. In Motley a spirit of the most refined humanity is +everywhere visible; he is guilty of no Voltairean satiric stabs at +purity, no petulant Voltairean flings at the faith he does not share. +All is manly, terse, frank, undisguised. Honorable himself, he does not, +like Gibbon, distrust all mankind, and question with a sarcasm the very +sincerity of a martyr at the stake. + +Among Americans, Motley is what Botta is to the historians of Southern +Europe. The same grand principles actuate both writers; the same +tendency to philosophical generalization is evident in the structure of +their works, the same inflexible pursuit of a fixed and visible aim, the +same enthusiastic love for freedom. But with Botta the poetical element, +which is only secondary with Motley, predominates. He holds the nervous +pen of a true Italian--more than that, of a true Italian patriot. All +the hitherto suppressed fire of his nation flames out on his pages in an +indignation as natural as it is superb. His lines vibrate with passion, +his words are tremulous with a noble pain. His very pathos is impatient, +stern, and proud; it cleaves our hearts like a battle-axe, rather than +meets them as with summer showers. His sarcasm is as keen and effective, +but far more startling; it hisses its way from some iron-cold comment, +and stabs the monarch whom it crowns. His fertility of imagination is +not weakened by contact with the details of government. The same pen +that draws in such inimitably graceful lines the sugar-plums of starving +Genoa, lingering about flower-wreathed baskets of bonbons sold in the +public squares to famishing men and women, sketches in a style as +nervous and appropriate the complex detail of governmental policy. He +unfolds his subject with the skill of an epic poet; its general effect +is sublime, and its petty details arranged with a rarely careless skill. +If he is sometimes diverted by a burst of enthusiasm, of indignation, or +of horror, into an inequality, the rough island thrown up in the sea of +his fancy is speedily verdured over with the wonderful luxuriance of his +genius. If he bends sometimes to amuse, to revel among his sonorous +Italian adjectives in the description of a coronation at Milan, or an +opera of Valetta, it is part of his purpose, giving to his picture the +rich and glowing tints that bring out, by violence of contrast, the more +elaborate tinting in of dark upon dark behind them. + +Something of this we recognize in Motley; but none of Botta's tendency +to proverbial sayings, bitter with a sarcasm that wounds most deeply its +creator; as, 'To believe that abstract principle will prevail over full +purses is the folly of a madman.' Neither do we find in Motley the +occasional terse conciseness of Botta,--little epics enclosed in a short +sentence. 'Napoleon had redeemed France; but he had created Italy.' But +the Italian can not be impartial. Just he is, but it is the accident of +his political position, not the deference paid by the historian to his +art. He writes of an age from whose injustice he has suffered, of a +country whose miseries he has shared, of a people whose brother he is. +And here Motley stands second only to Thucydides among historians. In +the Greek, impartiality was almost divine, for he wrote in the very +smoke of the conflict, wrote as if with his dripping lance upon rocks +dyed with the blood of his countrymen. With Motley impartiality is the +product of a nature strictly noble, that aims through its art not only +to delight the present, but to instruct the future, and which bases its +doctrines of right and wrong upon the principles that govern universal +nature. The temper of Thucydides is lofty and even; though never genial, +he is always calm and accessible; though often sublime, he is never +pathetic; too grand to be sarcastic, he is also too proud to be selfish. + +Motley, if lacking the great and admirable element of sublimity, which +Longinus extols, compensates for it by the animation and variety of his +style, which changes, as does his mood, with his subject. He enters with +all the vigor of his manhood into the spirit of the scenes which he +sketches. He describes a character, and his strokes are bold, quick, +decided; he follows the intricacies of political intrigue, and his +movement is slow, continuous, wary, while it still remains firm, +confident, and successful. He can administer the finances with Escovedo, +while his wide, keen intelligence, undismayed, masters at a glance the +wily policy of Alexander of the '_fel Gesicht_.' No modern historian has +given more comprehensive sketches of character. No quality escapes his +vigilance; he yields every faculty the consideration which is its due. +The portraits of Alva, of Navarre, of Farnese, of Orange, of Don John of +Austria, are so many colossal statues, that seem to unite in themselves +all the possible features and characteristics of humanity. He is indeed +rather a sculptor than a painter. His figures are round, perfect, +throbbing with life, and their hard and striking outlines, springing +sharply from the background of despotism and persecution, are more +imposing than any Rubens-like vividness of coloring which could warm +them. He treats of diplomacy as a diplomat, unwinds the reel of protocol +and treaty, and binds up with the inflexible cord the rich sheaves of +his deep researches. His reflections are suggestive but short, and his +details never weary. + +He loves, too, to mark the sympathies of nature with event--the rain +falling upon the black-hung scaffold, or the laughter of gay sunshine +mingling with the shouts of a great victory. And here he differs, as +indeed he does in almost every other respect, with Macaulay. The +Englishman thinks little of nature; as he himself says of Dante, 'He +leaves to others the earth, the ocean, and the sky; his business is with +man.' Indeed, the absence of a true and universal sympathy is the one +vast defect of Macaulay. No position is so high that it may not be +overshadowed by the giant form of his violent partisanship, no character +so small that it may not be raised to the semblance of greatness by the +mere force of his political preferences. His scholarship was splendid, +his genius commanding, the beauty of his style unsurpassed; but he +perverted his knowledge to subserve certain public ends, and wielded his +magnificent powers too often in the defence of an undeserving cause. +Fascinated by his dazzling rhetoric, borne along by its rapid and +tumultuous current to the most brilliant conclusions, we forget the +narrowness of the stream. His scope of vision was indeed great, but it +had its limits, and these were not imposed by time or necessity, but by +the unyielding will of his own prejudices. As his virtues were massive, +so were his errors grievous. He ventured to grasp the great speculative +themes of existence with a mind that was neither profound nor +suggestive. He swam with all the wondrous ease of an athlete through the +billows and across the currents and counter-currents of elegant +literature, of politics, of theology, yet possessed not the diver's +power to win their sunken but priceless jewels. Rich he was with the +accumulated intellectual spoil of centuries, but the power of exhaustive +generalization was denied him. His perceptions were vigorous and acute, +and none knew more perfectly to exhaust a subject, if its requirements +were of the actual and tangible rather than of the ideal and spiritual +order. He was a thorough logician, but a superficial philosopher; a +master of style, but oblivious of those great religious truths of which +the events of his great history were but the natural outgrowth and +product. But nothing can exceed the power of his rhetoric, that is +uncontrolled by any laws, yet offends none, unless it be the +arbitrariness of his dogmatism, that concedes no favors and asks no +gifts. + +Less vehement, less ornate, possibly less learned than Macaulay, with +frequent though trifling inequalities of style, Motley goes far beyond +him in real practical insight into the heart of affairs. There is a +unity in all visible life, whether of nation, of individual, of church, +or of inarticulate nature, that escaped Macaulay and impresses Motley. +The one would govern the universe with the arbitrary rules of a +political clique; the other applies to all the infallible test of a +universal philosophy. Both writers are thoroughly incorporated with +their subject; but where Macaulay was the captive of a mighty and often +just prejudice, Motley is the exponent of a living principle. Everywhere +Macaulay was a Whig and an Englishman; everywhere Motley is a Republican +and a cosmopolite. + +Motley is indeed inferior to his English contemporary in many striking +points whose value every reader will determine for himself; but his +occasional and rare inaccuracies of expression and inelegances of +language are on the surface, and may be removed by the stroke of a pen +without marring the general effect of his work. He possesses, among many +charms, an unfailing geniality, which, united with his fine dramatic +powers, fascinates us completely. He abounds also in fine poetical +touches, that give us glimpses of a mind cultured to the last degree of +literary refinement. His 'rows of whispering limes and poplars' are like +arabesques of gold straying over the margins of some old _romanceros_. +His descriptions glow with the fresh and ever-varying delight of the +observant traveler, who seems to see before him for the first time the +cities which, with a few vigorous and simple strokes, he transfers to +big pages. His pictures have the charm of naturalness and a simplicity +that is more effective than the most ornate diffuseness. Thus he says of +the picturesque little city of Namur: 'Seated at the confluence of the +Sambre with the Meuse, and throwing over each river a bridge of solid +but graceful structure, it lay in the lap of a most fruitful valley. A +broad, crescent-shaped plain, fringed by the rapid Meuse, and enclosed +by gently-rolling hills, cultivated to their crests, or by abrupt +precipices of limestone crowned with verdure, was divided by numerous +hedgerows, and dotted all over with corn-fields, vine-yards, and +flower-gardens. Many eyes have gazed with delight upon that well-known +and most lovely valley, and many torrents of blood have mingled with +those glancing waters since that long-buried and most sanguinary age +which forms our theme; and still, placid as ever is the valley, brightly +as ever flows the stream. Even now, as in that banished but +never-forgotten time, nestles the little city in the angle of the two +rivers; still directly over its head seems to hang in mid-air the +massive and frowning fortress, like the gigantic helmet in the fiction, +as if ready to crush the pigmy town below.' How like the _Ueberfahrt_ of +Uhland:-- + + 'Ueber diesen Strohm, vor Jahren, + Bin ich einmal schon gefahren, + Hier die Burg, im Abendschimmer, + Drüben rauscht das Wehr, wie immer.' + +We may quote his description of the great square of Brussels, the scene +of the double execution of Montmorency, of Horn, and the gallant and +unfortunate 'Count d'Egmont,' not only as an example of his dignified +and sustained style, but also as an evidence of his sensitiveness to +those minor refinements of association and place that bespeaks the +talented artist. 'The great square of Brussels had always a striking and +theatrical aspect. Its architectural effects, suggesting in some degree +the meretricious union between Oriental and a corrupt Grecian art, +accomplished in the mediaeval midnight, have amazed the eyes of many +generations. The splendid Hotel de Ville, with its daring spire and +elaborate front, ornamented one side of the place; directly opposite was +the graceful but incoherent façade of the Brood-huis, now the last +earthly resting place of the two distinguished victims; while grouped +around these principal buildings rose the fantastic palaces of the +Archers, Mariners, and other guilds, with their festooned walls and +toppling gables bedizened profusely with emblems, statues, and quaint +decorations. The place had been alike the scene of many a brilliant +tournament and of many a bloody execution. Gallant knights had contended +within its precincts, while bright eyes rained influences from all those +picturesque balconies and decorated windows. Martyrs to religious and to +political liberty had upon the same spot endured agonies which might +have roused every stone of its pavement to mutiny or softened them to +pity. Here Egmont himself, in happier days, had often borne away the +prize of skill or of valor, the cynosure of every eye; and hence, almost +in the noon of a life illustrated by many brilliant actions, he was to +be sent, by the hand of tyranny, to his great account.' + +There are, too, dashes of a healthy sarcasm among these records, not, +however, of such frequent occurrence as to darken the flow of the +narrative, but sufficiently indicative of the strength and energy of the +writer. Never attacking the honest faith of any man, his satires are +levelled at hypocrisy, never error, as when he says of the venerable +tyrant, the master of the Invincible Armada, when he had received from +the trembling secretary the assurance of the failure of the hope of +Spain: 'So the king, as fortune flew away from him, wrapped himself in +his virtue, and his counsellors, imitating their sovereign, arrayed +themselves in the same garment;' a scanty mantle, in truth, but, no +doubt, amply sufficient for the denizens of that torrid atmosphere of +bigotry in which Spain has lived for centuries. + +Of what earnest stuff Motley's dreams of religious freedom are made, we +read in his terse comments upon the declaration of the principles of +liberty of conscience by the States General. 'Such words shine through +the prevailing darkness of the religious atmosphere at that epoch like +characters of light. They are beacons in the upward path of mankind. +Never before had so bold and wise a tribute to the genius of the +Reformation been paid by an organized community. Individuals walking in +advance of their age had enunciated such truths, and their voices had +seemed to die away, but at last, a little, struggling, half-developed +commonwealth had proclaimed the rights of conscience for all mankind.' + +Thus we have no longer a wearisome compilation of events strung upon the +thread of chronology, but a practical history of the most momentous +epoch of modern times. No hand has before pointed out so faithfully its +great motive power or adjusted so nicely its apparent contradictions. +The structure is grand; it is the expression of a glorious faith. In the +accomplishment of so vast a design, Motley has won our warmest +gratitude, while he has awakened our deepest sympathies. Not alone to +the learned, the scholarly, and the elegant, are these volumes +addressed; their high-toned thought has met response in the people's +heart, and children bend with flushed faces over the high romance of the +struggle that cost the lives of thousands, and recognize, perhaps dimly, +the import of that great advance from the darkness of intolerance to the +light of freedom, that was so well worth the treasure of blood with +which it was bought. + +And here we part with Motley the historian, only to clasp hands with +Motley the patriot. In the present tremendous struggle of people against +progress, this fierce contest between labor and the lords, these last +convulsions of the expiring giant of feudal aristocracy, whose monstrous +conception dates far back among the Middle Ages, Motley has shown +himself the true champion of the doctrines advocated in his histories. +His platform is still the same, but how changed the theatre of his +action! His letter to the London _Times_ on the 'Causes of the American +Civil War' is a masterly exposition of facts, whose naked power is +obscured by no useless displays of rhetoric. Its tone is calm, +dignified, confident; its statements are strongly maintained, its logic +convincing. All honor to the man who from his quiet researches in royal +archives and busy deciphering of dusty MSS. turned to his country in her +hour of need, and defended her where defence should have been +superfluous, but was, unhappily, of small avail. And still he works +nobly for the dear old flag, and, intimately _lié_ as he is with the +first literati and politicians of Europe, it is not easy to measure his +influence. His purely literary habits forbid all suspicion of his +disinterestedness, and will go far to commend him to the sympathies of +the commanding intellects of the age. Let us hope for the time when, +with renewed faith in his mighty theories and still renewing love for +his motherland, he shall return to the retirement which has already +produced such noble fruits, and add works as worthy to our American +classics. Meanwhile, _vive qui vince!_ + + * * * * * + +THE LESSON OF THE HOUR. + + + Thou who for years hast watched the course of nature, + What time the changing seasons swept their round, + And, 'mid the play of every varying feature, + New founts of pleasure for thyself hast found; + Who, when dark clouds upon the mountain glooming, + Threaten destruction to the smiling plain, + Canst pierce the shadow and foresee the blooming + Of budding blossoms brighter for the rain: + + To whom, when the dread winter's icy fingers + Have chilled to silence the gay babbling stream, + A memory of its summer music lingers, + Or April violets in the future beam; + To whom the darkness whispers of the dawning, + And sorrow's night tells of the coming day; + And even death is but the twilight morning + Of glory which shall never fade away;-- + + _Teach us thy lesson_. Unto us be given + The trusting faith the April flowers display; + Looking in their meek confidence to heaven,-- + Trusting to God the future of the day. + Our night is dark, and perils vast surround us, + But, firm in truth and right, what shall we fear? + Has danger ever yet base cravens found us? + Who has sustained thus far will guide us here. + + Ye countless legions, where each man is holding + Himself a bulwark for the cause of right, + In war's fierce furnace, where our God is molding + Each soul for his own ends in Freedom's fight, + March on to victory in overwhelming number, + Singing the peans of the noble free; + Our Liberty has just awaked from slumber, + To carry out the world's great destiny. + + O mighty nation! all thy early glory + Shall be as nothing to the great renown + Which in the future ages shall come o'er thee, + For thine is Liberty's immortal crown. + Heed not the jealousies forever thronging,-- + The petty envyings which gird thee round; + 'Tis thine to carry out the world's great longing, + To find that liberty none else has found. + + What though across the swelling, broad Atlantic + Comes scornful menace? it is naught to thee-- + 'Tis but the jealous raving, wild and frantic, + Of those who would, but never can, be free;-- + Who, slaves to selfish passions bold ambition, + Hold up their shackled arms in heaven's broad light, + And prate of freedom, boast their high position, + And strive to turn to interest Truth and Right. + + _We need more faith!_ What though the means be weakness? + With God supreme, the victory must be ours! + From imperfection he works out completeness; + From feeble means makes overwhelming powers. + How shall this be? The knowledge is not given; + Each to his duty in the field of Right; + Sure as th' Almighty ruleth earth and heaven, + His arm will do it in resistless might. + + * * * * * + +AMONG THE PINES. + + +'Dee ye tink Massa Davy wud broke his word, sar?' said the old negress, +bridling up her bent form, and speaking in a tone in which indignation +mingled with wounded dignity; 'p'raps gemmen do dat at de Norf--dey +neber does it har.' + +'Excuse me, Aunty; I know your master is a man of honor; but he's very +much excited, and very angry with Scip.' + +'No matter for dat, sar; Massa Davy neber done a mean ting sense he war +born.' + +'Massa K---- tinks a heap ob de Gunnel, Aunty; but he reckons he'm sort +o' crazy now; dat make him afeard,' said Scip, in an apologetic tone. + +'What ef he am crazy? You'se safe _har_,' rejoined the old woman, +dropping her aged limbs into a chair, and rocking away with much the +same air which ancient white ladies occasionally assume. + +'Won't you ax Massa K---- to a cheer?' said Scip; 'he hab ben bery kine +to me.' + +The negress then offered me a seat; but it was some minutes before I +rendered myself sufficiently agreeable to thaw out the icy dignity of +her manner. Meanwhile I glanced around the apartment. + +Though the exterior of the cabin was like the others on the plantation, +the interior had a rude, grotesque elegance about it far in advance of +any negro hut I had ever seen. The logs were chinked with clay, and the +one window, though destitute of glass, and ornamented with the +inevitable board-shutter, had a green moreen curtain, which kept out the +wind and the rain. A worn but neat and well-swept carpet partly covered +the floor, and on the low bed was spread a patch-work counterpane. +Against the side of the room opposite the door stood an antique, +brass-handled bureau, and an old-fashioned table, covered with a faded +woolen cloth, occupied the centre of the apartment. In the corner near +the fire was a curiously-contrived side-board, made of narrow strips of +yellow pine, tongued and grooved together, and oiled so as to bring out +the beautiful grain of the wood. On it were several broken and cracked +glasses, and an array of irregular crockery. The rocking-chair, in which +the old negress passed the most of her time, was of mahogany, wadded and +covered with chintz, and the arm-seat I occupied, though old and patched +in many places, had evidently moved in good society. + +The mistress of this second-hand furniture establishment was arrayed in +a mass of cast-off finery, whose gay colors were in striking contrast +with her jet-black skin and bent, decrepit form. Her gown, which was +very short, was of flaming red and yellow worsted stuff, and the +enormous turban that graced her head and hid all but a few tufts of her +frizzled, 'pepper-and-salt' locks, was evidently a contribution from the +family stock of worn-out pillow-cases. She was very aged,--upwards of +seventy,--and so thin that, had she not been endowed with speech and +motion, she might have passed for a bundle of whalebone thrown into +human shape, and covered with a coating of gutta-percha. It was evident +she had been a valued house-servant, whose few remaining years were +being soothed and solaced by the kind and indulgent care of a grateful +master. + +Scip, I soon saw, was a favorite with the old-negress, and the marked +respect he showed me quickly dispelled the angry feeling excited by my +doubts of 'Massa Davy,' and opened her heart and her mouth at the same +moment. She was terribly garrulous; her tongue, as soon as it got under +way, ran on as if propelled by machinery and acquainted with the secret +of perpetual motion; but she was an interesting study. The +single-hearted attachment she showed for her master and his family gave +me a new insight into the practical working of 'the peculiar +institution,' and convinced me that even slavery, in some of its +aspects, is not so black as it is painted. + +When we were seated, I said to Scip, 'What induced you to lay hands on +the Colonel? It is death, you know, if he enforces the law.' + +'I knows dat, massa; I knows dat; but I had to do it. Dat Moye am de ole +debil, but de folks round har wud hab turned on de Cunnel, shore, ef +he'd killed him. Dey don't like de Cunnel; dey say he'm a stuck-up +seshener.' + +'The Colonel, then, has befriended you at some time?' + +'No, no, sar; 'twarn't dat; dough I'se know'd him a long w'ile,--eber +sense my ole massa fotched me from de Habana,--but 'twarn't dat.' + +'Then _why_ did you do it?' + +The black hesitated a moment, and glanced at the old negress, then +said,-- + +'You see, massa, w'en I fuss come to Charles'n, a pore little ting, wid +no friend in all de worle, dis ole aunty war a mudder to me. She nussed +de Cunnel; he am jess like her own chile, and I know'd 'twud kill her ef +he got hisself enter trubble.' + +I noticed certain convulsive twitchings about the corners of the old +woman's mouth as she rose from her seat, threw her arms around Scip, +and, in words broken by sobs, faltered out,-- + +'_You_ am my chile; I loves you better dan Massa Davy--better dan all de +worle.' + +The scene, had they not been black, would have been one for a painter. + +'You were the Colonel's nurse, Aunty,' I said, when she had regained her +composure. 'Have you always lived with him?' + +'Yas, sar, allers; I nussed him, and den de chil'ren--all ob 'em.' + +'All the children? I thought the Colonel had but one--Miss Clara.' + +'Wal, he habn't, massa, only de boys.' + +'What boys? I never heard he had sons.' + +'Neber heerd of young Massa Davy, nor Massa Tommy! Hain't you _seed_ +Massa Tommy, sar?' + +'Tommy! I was told he was Madam P----'s son.' + +'So he am; Massa Davy had _her_ long afore he had missus.' + +The truth flashed upon me; but could it be possible? Was I in South +Carolina or in Utah? + +'Who is Madam P----?' I asked. + +The old woman hesitated a moment, as if in doubt whether she had not +said too much; but Scip quietly replied,-- + +'She'm jess what aunty am--_de Cunnel's slave!_' + +'His _slave_! it can't be possible; she is white!' + +'No, massa; she am brack, and de Cunnel's slave!' + +Not to weary the reader with a long repetition of negro-English, I will +tell in brief what I gleaned from an hour's conversation with the two +blacks. + +Madam P---- was the daughter of Ex-Gov. ----, of Virginia, by a +quarteron woman. She was born a slave, but was acknowledged as her +father's child, and reared in his family with his legitimate children. +When she was ten years of age her father died, and his estate proving +insolvent, the land and negroes were brought under the hammer. His +daughter, never having been manumitted, was inventoried and sold with +the other property. The Colonel, then just of age, and a young man of +fortune, bought her and took her to the residence of his mother in +Charleston. A governess was provided for her, and a year or two +afterwards she was taken to the North to be educated. There she was +frequently visited by the Colonel; and when fifteen her condition became +such that she was obliged to return home. He conveyed her to the +plantation, where her elder son, David, was soon afterwards born, 'Aunt +Lucy' officiating on the occasion. When the child was two years old, +leaving it in charge of the aged negress, she accompanied the Colonel to +Europe, where they remained for a year. Subsequently she passed another +year at a Northern seminary; and then, returning to the plantation, was +duly installed as its mistress, and had ever since presided over its +domestic affairs. She was kind and good to the negroes, who were greatly +attached to her, and much of the Colonel's wealth was due to her +excellent management of the estate. + +Six years after the birth of 'young Massa Davy,' the Colonel married his +present wife, that lady having full knowledge of his left-handed +connection with Madam P----, and consenting that the 'bond-woman' should +remain on the plantation, as its mistress. The legitimate wife resided, +during most of the year, in Charleston, and when at the homestead took +little interest in domestic matters. On one of her visits to the +plantation, twelve years before, her daughter, Miss Clara, was born, and +within a week, and under the same roof, Madam P---- presented the +Colonel with a son,--the lad Thomas, of whom I have spoken. As the +mother was a slave, the children were so also at their birth, but _they_ +had been manumitted by their father. One of them was being educated in +Germany; and it was intended that both should spend their lives in that +country, the taint in their blood being an insuperable bar to their ever +acquiring social position at the South. + +As she finished the story, the old woman said, 'Massa Davy am bery kind +to de missus, sar, but he _love_ de ma'am; an' he can't help it, 'cause +she'm jess so good as de angels.'[K] + +I looked at my watch,--it was nearly ten o'clock, and I rose to go. As I +did so the old negress said,-- + +'Don't yer gwo, massa, 'fore you hab sum ob aunty's wine; you'm good +friends wid Scip, and I knows _you'se_ not too proud to drink wid brack +folks, ef you am from de Norf.' + +Being curious to know what quality of wine a plantation slave indulged +in, I accepted the invitation. She went to the side-board, and brought +out a cut-glass decanter, and three cracked tumblers, which she placed +on the table. Filling the glasses to the brim, she passed one to Scip, +and one to me, and, with the other in her hand, resumed her seat. +Wishing her a good many happy years, and Scip a pleasant journey home, I +emptied the glass. It was Scuppernong, and the pure juice of the grape! + +'Aunty,' I said, 'this wine is as fine as I ever tasted.' + +'Oh yas, massa, it am de raal stuff. I growed de grapes myseff.' + +'You grew them?' + +'Yas, sar, an' Massa Davy make de wine. He do it ebery yar for de ole +nuss.' + +'The Colonel is very good. Do you raise anything else?' + +'Yas, I hab collards and taters, a little corn, and most ebery ting.' + +'But who does your work? _You_ certainly can't do it?' + +'Oh, de ma'am looks arter dat, sar; she'm bery good to de ole aunty.' + +Shaking hands with both the negroes, I left the cabin, fully convinced +that all the happiness in this world is not found within plastered +apartments. + +The door of the mansion was bolted and barred; but, rapping for +admission, I soon heard the Colonel's voice asking, 'Who is there?' +Giving a satisfactory answer, I was admitted. Explaining that he +supposed I had retired to my room, he led the way to the library. + +That apartment was much more elegantly furnished than the drawing-rooms. +Three of its sides were lined with books, and on the centre-table, +papers, pamphlets, and manuscripts were scattered in promiscuous +confusion. In an armchair near the fire, Madam P---- was seated, +reading. The Colonel's manner was as composed as if nothing had +disturbed the usual routine of the plantation; no trace of the recent +terrible excitement was visible; in fact, had I not been a witness to +the late tragedy, I should have thought it incredible that he, within +two hours, had been an actor in a scene which had cost a human being his +life. + +'Where in creation have you been, my dear fellow?' he asked, as we took +our seats. + +'At old Lucy's cabin, with Scip,' I replied. + +'Indeed. I supposed the darky had gone.' + +'No, he doesn't go till the morning.' + +'I told you he wouldn't, David,' said Madam P----; 'now, send for +him,--do make friends with him before he goes.' + +'No, Alice, it won't do. I bear him no ill-will, but it won't do. It +would be all over the plantation in an hour.' + +'No matter for that; our people would like you the better for it.' + +'No, no. I can't do it. I mean him no harm, but I can't do that.' + +'He told me _why_ he interfered between you and Moye,' I remarked. + +'Why did he?' + +'He says old Lucy, years ago, was a mother to him; that she is greatly +attached to you, and it would kill her if any harm happened to you; and +that your neighbors bear you no good-will, and would have enforced the +law had you killed Moye.' + +'It is true, David; you would have had to answer for it.' + +'Nonsense! what influence could this North County scum have against +_me_?' + +'Perhaps none. But that makes no difference; Scipio did right, and you +should tell him you forgive him.' + +The Colonel then rang a small bell, and a negro woman soon appeared. +'Sue,' he said, 'go to Aunt Lucy's and ask Scip to come here. Bring him +in at the front door, and, mind, let no one know he comes.' + +The woman in a short time returned with Scip. There was not a trace of +fear or embarrassment in the negro's manner as he entered the room. +Making a respectful bow, he bade us 'good evening.' + +'Good evening, Scip,' said the Colonel, rising and giving the black his +hand; 'let us be friends. Madam tells me I should forgive you, and I +do.' + +'Aunt Lucy say ma'am am an angel, sar, and it am tru,--it am tru, sar,' +replied the negro, with considerable feeling. + +The lady rose, also, and took Scip's hand, saying, '_I_ not only forgive +you, Scipio, but I _thank_ you for what you have done. I shall never +forget it.' + +'You'se too good, ma'am; you'se too good to say dat,' replied the darky, +the moisture coming to his eyes; 'but I meant nuffin' wrong,--I meant +nuffin' dis'specful to de Cunnel.' + +'I know you didn't, Scip; but we'll say no more about it;--good-by,' +said the Colonel. + +Shaking hands with each one of us, the darky left the apartment. + +One who does not know that the high-bred Southern gentleman considers +the black as far below him as the horse he drives, or the dog he kicks, +can not realize the amazing sacrifice of pride which the Colonel made in +seeking a reconciliation with Scip. It was the cutting off of his right +hand. The circumstance showed the powerful influence held over him by +the octoroon woman. Strange that she, his slave, cast out from society +by her blood and her life, despised, no doubt, by all the world, save by +him and a few ignorant blacks, should thus control a proud, self-willed, +passionate man, and control him, too, only for good. + +After the black had gone, I said to the Colonel, 'I was much interested +in old Lucy. A few more such instances of cheerful and contented old +age might lead me to think better of slavery.' + +'Such cases are not rare, sir. They show the paternal character of our +"institution." We are _forced_ to care for our servants in their old +age.' + +'But have your other aged slaves the same comforts that Aunt Lucy has?' + +'No; they don't need them. She has been accustomed to live in my house, +and to fare better than the plantation hands; she therefore requires +better treatment.' + +'Is not the support of that class a heavy tax upon you?' + +'Yes, it _is_ heavy. We have, of course, to deduct it from the labor of +the able-bodied hands.' + +'What is the usual proportion of sick and infirm on your plantation?' + +'Counting in the child-bearing women, I reckon about twenty per cent.' + +'And what does it cost you to support each hand?' + +'Well, it costs _me_, for children and all, about seventy-five dollars a +year. In some places it costs less. _I_ have to buy all my provisions.' + +'What proportion of your slaves are able-bodied hands?' + +'Somewhere about sixty per cent. I have, all told, old and young,--men, +women, and children,--two hundred and seventy. Out of that number I have +now equal to a hundred and fifty-four _full_ hands. You understand that +we classify them: some do only half tasks, some three-quarters. I have +_more_ than a hundred and fifty-four working men and women, but they do +only that number of full tasks.' + +'What does the labor of a _full_ hand yield?' + +'At the present price of turpentine, my calculation is about two hundred +dollars a year.' + +'Then your crop brings you about thirty-one thousand dollars, and the +support of your negroes costs you twenty thousand.' + +'Yes.' + +'If that's the case, my friend, let me advise you to sell your +plantation, free your niggers, and go North.' + +'Why so, my dear fellow?' asked the Colonel, laughing. + +'Because you'd make money by the operation.' + +'I never was good at arithmetic; go into the figures,' he replied, still +laughing, while Madam P----, who had laid aside her book, listened very +attentively. + +'Well, you have two hundred and seventy negroes, whom you value, we'll +say, with your mules, "stills," and movable property, at two hundred +thousand dollars; and twenty thousand acres of land, worth about three +dollars and a half an acre; all told, two hundred and seventy thousand +dollars. A hundred and fifty-four able-bodied hands produce you a yearly +profit of eleven thousand dollars, which, saying nothing about the cost +of keeping your live stock, the wear and tear of your mules and +machinery, and the yearly loss of your slaves by death, is only four per +cent. on your capital. Now, with only the price of your land, say +seventy thousand dollars, invested in safe stocks at the North, you +could realize eight per cent.--five thousand six hundred dollars,--and +live at your ease; and that, I judge, if you have many runaways, or many +die on your hands, is as much as you really _clear_ now. Besides, if you +should invest seventy thousand dollars in almost any legitimate business +at the North, and should add to it, _as you now do_, your _time_ and +_labor_, you would realize far more than you do at present from your +entire capital.' + +'I never looked at the matter in that light. But I have given you my +profits as they _now_ are; some years I make more; six years ago I made +twenty-five thousand dollars.' + +'Yes; and six years hence you may make nothing.' + +'That's true. But it would cost me more to live at the North.' + +'There you are mistaken. What do you pay for your corn, your pork, and +your hay, for instance?' + +'Well, my corn I have to bring round by vessel from Washington (North +Carolina), and it costs me high when it gets here,--about ten bits (a +dollar and twenty-five cents), I think.' + +'And in New York you could buy it now at sixty to seventy cents. What +does your hay cost?' + +'Thirty-five dollars. I pay twenty for it in New York,--the balance is +freight and hauling.' + +'Your pork costs you two or three dollars, I suppose, for freight and +hauling.' + +'Yes; about that.' + +'Then in those items you might save nearly a hundred per cent.; and they +are the principal articles you consume.' + +'Yes; there's no denying that. But another thing is just as certain: it +costs less to support one of my niggers than one of your laboring men.' + +'That may be true. But it only shows that our laborers fare better than +your slaves.' + +'I'm not sure of that. I _am_ sure, however, that our slaves are more +contented than the run of laboring men at the North.' + +'That proves nothing. Your blacks have no hope, no chance to rise; and +they submit--though I judge not cheerfully--to an iron necessity. The +Northern laborer, if very poor, may be discontented; but discontent +urges him to effort, and leads to the bettering of his condition. I tell +you, my friend, slavery is an expensive luxury. You Southern nabobs +_will_ have it; and you have to _pay for it_.' + +'Well, we don't complain. But, seriously, my good fellow, I feel that +I'm carrying out the design of the Almighty in holding my niggers. I +think he made the black to serve the white.' + +'_I_ think,' I replied, 'that whatever He designs works perfectly. Your +institution certainly does not. It keeps the producer, who, in every +society, is the really valuable citizen, in the lowest poverty, while it +allows those who do nothing to be "clad in fine linen, and to fare +sumptuously every day."' + +'It does more than that, sir,' said Madam P----, with animation; 'it +brutalizes and degrades the _master_ and the _slave_; it separates +husband and wife, parent and child; it sacrifices virtuous women to the +lust of brutal men; and it shuts millions out from the knowledge of +their duty and their destiny. A good and just God could not have +designed it; and it must come to an end.' + +If lightning had struck in the room I could not have been more startled +than I was by the abrupt utterance of such language in a planter's +house, in his very presence, and _by his slave_. The Colonel, however, +expressed no surprise and no disapprobation. It was evidently no new +thing to him. + +'It is rare, madam,' I said, 'to hear such sentiments from a Southern +lady--one reared among slaves.' + +Before she could reply, the Colonel laughingly said,-- + +'Bless you, Mr. K----, madam is an out-and-out abolitionist, worse by +fifty per cent. than Garrison or Wendell Phillips. If she were at the +North she would take to pantaloons, and "stump" the entire Free States; +wouldn't you, Alice?' + +'I've no doubt of it,' rejoined the lady, smiling. 'But I fear I should +have poor success. I've tried for ten years to convert _you_, and Mr. +K---- can see the result.' + +It had grown late; and, with my head full of working niggers and white +slave-women, I went to my apartment. + +The next day was Sunday. It was near the close of December, yet the air +was as mild and the sun as warm as in our Northern October. It was +arranged at the breakfast-table that we all should attend service at +'the meeting-house,' a church of the Methodist persuasion, located some +eight miles away; but as it wanted some hours of the time for religious +exercises to commence, I strolled out after breakfast, with the Colonel, +to inspect the stables of the plantation. 'Massa Tommy' accompanied us, +without invitation; and in the Colonel's intercourse with him I observed +as much freedom and familiarity as he would have shown to an +acknowledged son. The youth's manners and conversation showed that great +attention had been given to his education and training, and made it +evident that the mother whose influence was forming his character, +whatever a false system of society had made her life, possessed some of +the best traits of her sex. + +The stables, a collection of one-story framed buildings, about a hundred +rods from the house, were well lighted and ventilated, and contained all +'the modern improvements.' They were better built, warmer, more +commodious, and in every way more comfortable than the shanties occupied +by the human cattle of the plantation. I remarked as much to the +Colonel, adding that one who did not know would infer that he valued his +horses more than his slaves. + +'That may be true,' he replied, laughing. 'Two of my horses here are +worth more than any eight of my slaves;' at the same time calling my +attention to two magnificent thorough-breds, one of which had made +'2.32' on the Charleston course. The establishment of a Southern +gentleman is not complete until it includes one or two of these useless +appendages. I had an argument with my host as to their value compared +with that of the steam-engine, in which I forced him to admit that the +iron horse is the better of the two, because it performs more work, eats +less, has greater speed, and is not liable to the spavin or the heaves; +but he wound up by saying, 'After all, I go for the thorough-breds. You +Yankees have but one test of value--use.' + +A ramble through the negro-quarters, which followed our visit to the +stables, gave me some further glimpses of plantation life. Many of the +hands were still away in pursuit of Moye, but enough remained to make it +evident that Sunday is the happiest day in the darky calendar. Groups of +all ages and colors were gathered in front of several of the cabins, +some singing, some dancing, and others chatting quietly together, but +all enjoying themselves as heartily as so many young animals let loose, +in a pasture. They saluted the Colonel and me respectfully, but each one +had a free, good-natured word for 'Massa Tommy,' who seemed an especial +favorite with them. The lad took their greetings in good part, but +preserved an easy, unconscious dignity of manner that plainly showed he +did not know that _he_ too was of their despised, degraded race. + +The Colonel, in a rapid way, gave me the character and peculiarities of +nearly every one we met. The titles of some of them amused me greatly. +At every step we encountered individuals whose names have become +household words in every civilized country.[L] Julius Cĉsar, slightly +stouter than when he swam the Tiber, and somewhat tanned from long +exposure to a Southern sun, was seated on a wood-pile, quietly smoking a +pipe; while near him, Washington, divested of regimentals, and clad in a +modest suit of reddish-gray, his thin locks frosted by time, and his +fleshless visage showing great age, was gazing, in rapt admiration, at a +group of dancers in front of old Lucy's cabin. + +In this group about thirty men and women were making the ground quake +and the woods ring with their unrestrained jollity. Marc Antony was +rattling away at the bones, Nero fiddling as if Rome were burning, and +Hannibal clawing at a banjo as if the fate of Carthage hung on its +strings. Napoleon, as young and as lean as when he mounted the bridge of +Lodi, with the battle-smoke still on his face, was moving his legs even +faster than in the Russian retreat; and John Wesley was using his heels +in a way that showed _they_ didn't belong to the Methodist church. But +the central figures of the group were Cato and Victoria. The lady had a +face like a thunder-cloud, and a form that, if whitewashed, would have +outsold the 'Greek Slave.' She was built on springs, and 'floated in +the dance' like a feather in a high wind. Cato's mouth was like an +alligator's, but when it opened, it issued notes that would draw the +specie even in this time of general suspension. As we approached he was +singing a song, but he paused on perceiving us, when the Colonel, +tossing a handful of coin among them, called out, 'Go on, boys; let the +gentleman have some music; and you, Vic, show your heels like a beauty.' + +A general scramble followed, in which 'Vic's' sense of decorum forbade +her to join, and she consequently got nothing. Seeing that, I tossed her +a silver piece, which she caught. Grinning her thanks, she shouted, +'Now, clar de track, you nigs; start de music. I'se gwine to gib de +gemman de breakdown.' + +And she did; and such a breakdown! 'We w'ite folks,' though it was no +new thing to the Colonel or Tommy, almost burst with laughter. + +In a few minutes nearly every negro on the plantation, attracted by the +presence of the Colonel and myself, gathered around the performers; and +a shrill voice at my elbow called out, 'Look har, ye lazy, +good-for-nuffin' niggers, carn't ye fotch a cheer for Massa Davy and de +strange gemman?' + +'Is that you, Aunty?' said the Colonel. 'How d'ye do?' + +'Sort o' smart, Massa Davy; sort o' smart; how is ye?' + +'Pretty well, Aunty; pretty well. Have a seat.' And the Colonel helped +her to one of the chairs that were brought for us, with as much +tenderness as he would have shown to an aged white lady. + +The 'exercises,' which had been suspended for a moment, recommenced, and +the old negress entered into them as heartily as the youngest present. A +song from Cato followed the dance, and then about twenty 'gentleman and +lady' darkies joined, two at a time, in a half 'walk-round' half +breakdown, which the Colonel told me was what suggested the well-known +'white-nigger' dance and song of Lucy Long. Other performances +succeeded, and the whole formed a scene impossible to describe. Such +uproarious jollity, such full and perfect enjoyment, I had never seen in +humanity, black or white. The little nigs, only four or five years old, +would rush into the ring and shuffle away at the breakdowns till I +feared their short legs would come off; while all the darkies joined in +the songs, till the branches of the old pines above shook as if they too +had caught the spirit of the music. In the midst of it, the Colonel said +to me, in an exultant tone,-- + +'Well, my friend, what do you think of slavery _now_?' + +'About the same that I thought yesterday. I see nothing to change my +views.' + +'Why, are not these people happy? Is not this perfect enjoyment?' + +'Yes; just the same enjoyment that aunty's pigs are having; don't you +hear them singing to the music? I'll wager they are the happier of the +two.' + +'No; you are wrong. The higher faculties of the darkies are being +brought out here.' + +'I don't know that,' I replied. 'Within the sound of their voices, two +of their fellows--victims to the inhumanity of slavery--are lying dead, +and yet they make _Sunday_ 'hideous' with wild jollity, while they do +not know but Sam's fate may be theirs to-morrow.' + +Spite of his genuine courtesy and high breeding, a shade of displeasure +passed over the Colonel's face as I made this remark. Rising to go, he +said, a little impatiently, 'Ah, I see how it is; that d---- Garrison's +sentiments have impregnated even you. How can the North and the South +hold together when even moderate men like you and me are so far apart?' + +'But you,' I rejoined, good-humoredly, 'are not a moderate man. You and +Garrison are of the same stripe, both extremists. You have mounted one +hobby, _he_ another; that is all the difference.' + +'I should be sorry,' he replied, recovering his good-nature, 'to think +myself like Garrison. I consider him the ---- scoundrel unhung.' + +'No; I think he means well. But you are both fanatics, both 'bricks' of +the same material; we conservatives, like mortar, will hold you together +and yet keep you apart.' + +'I, for one, _won't_ be held. If I can't get out of this cursed Union in +any other way, I'll emigrate to Cuba.' + +I laughed, and just then, looking up, caught a glimpse of Jim, who +stood, hat in hand, waiting to speak to the Colonel, but not daring to +interrupt a white conversation. + +'Hallo, Jim,' I said; 'have you got back?' + +'Yas, sar,' replied Jim, grinning all over as if he had some agreeable +thing to communicate. + +'Where is Moye?' asked the Colonel. + +'Kotched, massa; I'se got de padlocks on him.' + +'Kotched,' echoed half a dozen darkies, who stood near enough to hear; +'Ole Moye is kotched,' ran through the crowd, till the music ceased, and +a shout went up from two hundred black throats that made the old trees +tremble. + +'Now gib him de lashes, Massa Davy,' cried the old nurse. 'Gib him what +he gabe pore Sam; but mine dat you keeps widin de law.' + +'Never fear, Aunty,' said the Colonel; 'I'll give him ----.' + +How the Colonel kept his word will be told in another number. + + * * * * * + + +ACTIVE SERVICE; OR, CAMPAIGNING IN WESTERN VIRGINIA. + + +I have been to the war; I have seen armed secessionists, and I have seen +them run; but, more than that, I have seen _Active Service_. It was +_active_, and no mistake. + +In April last, my country needed my services; I had been playing +soldier, and I felt it my duty to respond to the call of the President. +I did respond. I uncovered my head, raised my right hand, and solemnly +swore to obey the President of the United States for three months. The +three months have expired, and I am once more a free American citizen, +and for the first time in my life I know what it is to be _free_. + +ACTIVE SERVICE! That's what the military men call it. I have often read +of it; I have heard men talk about it; but now I have seen it. I meet +people every day who congratulate me on my safe return, and say, 'I +suppose you are going again?' Perhaps I am. + +It was a beautiful day when our company left home, and what a crowd of +people assembled to see us off! What a waving of banners and +handkerchiefs; what shouting and cheering; what an endless amount of +hand-shaking; how many 'farewells,' 'good-bys,' and +'take-care-of-yourselves,' were spoken; all of this had to be gone +through with, and our company run the gauntlet and nobody was hurt. + +Going to war is no child's play, as many seem to suppose. Once sworn in +as a _private_, you become a tool, a mere thing, to do another's +bidding. I do not say this to discourage enlistments,--far from it. I am +only speaking the truth. 'Forewarned, forearmed.' If there is a hard +life upon earth, it is that of a common soldier; he may be the bravest +man in the army, he may perform an endless amount of daring deeds, but +it is seldom that he gains a tangible reward. He does all the fighting, +he performs all the drudgery, he is plundered by the sutler, he lives +on pork and hard-bread, but he gets none of the honors of a victory. As +Biglow says,-- + + 'Lieutenants are the lowest grade that help pick up the coppers.' + +I belonged to an artillery company. I joined this because somebody told +me I could ride. I wish I had that _somebody_ by the throat. The idea of +a man's _riding_ over the mountains of Western Virginia! I won't call it +ridiculous, for that's no name for it. + +I will pass over the uninteresting part of the campaign, that of lying +in camp, as everybody now-a-days has ample opportunity to judge of camp +life, in the cities, and take the reader at once into 'active service,' +and show the hardships and trials, together with the fun (for soldiers +_do_ have their good times) of campaigning. + +On the 29th day of May, 1861, we arrived at Parkersburgh, Va. It was my +first visit to the Old Dominion. We had been taught when youngsters at +school to regard Virginia as a sort of Holy Land, 'flowing with milk and +honey,' and the mother of all that is great and noble in the United +States, if not in the world. We were 'going South.' + +It was at the close of a warm spring day that we landed there; the sun +was just sinking in the west as the boat rounded-to at the wharf. We +jumped ashore, and for the first time in our lives inhaled the 'sacred +atmosphere' of the so-called Southern Confederacy. All was bustle and +confusion; but we soon had our traps, _i.e._, guns, caissons and horses, +unloaded, and a little after dark were on the march. We proceeded a few +miles out of town, and at midnight halted, pitched our tents, stationed +guards, and all who were so fortunate as not to be detailed for duty +were soon sound asleep. + +At Grafton, one hundred miles east of Parkersburgh, we were told there +was a party of some two thousand rebels. This then was the object of our +visit to Western Virginia, to drive these men east of the +mountains,--from whence most of them came,--and to protect the honor of +our flag in that portion of Virginia now known by the name of Kanawha. + +At sunrise on the 30th, we marched to the depot of the north-western +branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and, after a hard half-day's +work in loading our guns, horses and wagons, stowed ourselves away in +cattle cars, and were once more ready for a start. As we rattled along +over the railroad, the scenery for the first few miles was beautiful, +and we began to think that Old Virginny was really the flower of the +Union. But a 'change soon came over the spirit of our dreams.' + +After passing a small shanty, called Petroleum,--from the numerous +oil-wells in the vicinity,--we met with the first really hard work we +had seen since we began the life of a soldier. Here the rebels had burnt +one of the railroad bridges, and all hands had to 'fall in' and repair +damages. Never did men work with a better will. Slender youths, who, if +they had been told one month before, that on the 30th day of May, 1861, +they would be laying rails and cutting timber for Uncle Sam, for eleven +dollars a month, would have pitied their informant as insane, were here +working with a will that showed what a man can do if he only sets +himself about it. For two days and a night we toiled and ceased not, and +when, on the evening of the second day, we passed over the 'soldiers' +bridge' in safety, such a shout rent the air as I never heard before. + +A few miles beyond the burnt bridge, the scenery began to change. In the +clear starlight, instead of beautiful streams and fine farms, we beheld +hills and mountains covered with an almost impenetrable growth of +underbrush, and large rocks hanging over our heads, ready to be hurled +down upon us by some unseen hand, and to crush our little handful of +men. On we went, at a snail's pace, till about ten o'clock, P.M., when +our joy was again turned to woe, for here too the dogs of Jeff Davis had +been doing their work, and had burnt another bridge. We waited until +morning, and then, after some hard swearing, were once more transformed +into 'greasy mechanics,' and before the sun went down had passed to the +'other side of Jordan' in safety. + +Here began our first experience of the hospitality of the sons, or +rather daughters, of Virginia. + +A small farm-house stood near the bridge, numerous cows were grazing in +the pasture close by, and everything denoted a home of comfort and +plenty. This, I thought, must be the home of some F.F.V., and I will +take a pail--or rather camp kettle--and 'sarah forth' to buy a few +quarts of milk. Wending my way to the house, I knocked at the door, and +instantly six female heads protruded from the window. Presently one of +them, an elderly woman, opened the door, and inquired what I wanted. + +'Have you any milk to spare?' I said. + +'I reckon,' replied the woman. + +'I would like to get a few quarts,' I said, handing her my kettle. I +took a seat on the door-step, and wondered what these six women were +doing in this lonely spot. They evidently lived alone, for not a man was +to be seen around. The table was spread for dinner, six cups, six +plates, six spoons, and no more. I was about to ask for the man of the +house, when the old woman returned with my kettle of milk. + +'How much?' I asked, as I thrust my hand deep into my pocket, and drew +forth one of the few coins it was my fortune to possess. + +'Only four bits,' said the ancient female. + +I thought milk must have 'riz' lately, but I paid the money and left. + +From observations since taken, I infer these six women were 'grass +widows,' whose husbands had enlisted in the rebel army, and left them +behind to plunder the Union troops by selling corn-bread and milk for +ten times its value. + +I took a seat on a log, and congratulated myself on the prospect of a +good dinner. By the aid of a stone I managed to crumble 'two shingles' +of hard bread into a cup of the milk, and then, with an appetite such as +I never enjoyed in _America_, sat to work. I took one mouthful, when, +lo! the milk was sour! Hurling cup and contents toward the hospitable +mansion, I fell back upon my regular diet of salt pork. + +Leaving the Virginia damsels to plunder the next regiment of Federals +that came along, we were soon once more on our way, and on Saturday, the +1st of June, arrived at Clarksburgh. Here we learned that the rebels had +left Grafton and gone to Phillippi, some twenty miles back in the +country. We remained at Clarksburgh until Sunday morning, when, once +more stowing ourselves 'three deep' on flats and stock cars, we +proceeded as far as Webster. Here we left the railroad, and pursued the +rebels afoot. + +Webster is a big name, and there we flattered ourselves we could get +some of the comforts of life. But once again we were doomed to +disappointment. Two stores, a dozen or so of shanties, and a secession +pole, make up this mighty town. Parkersburgh is a 'right smart place;' +Clarksburgh 'isn't much to speak of;' the only thing of interest about +it is the home of Senator Carlisle; but Webster is a little the worst +place I have ever seen. I am sorry to say, in the language of the great +man whose name it bears, 'It still lives.' + +Observing a shanty on the summit of a small hill, with the words, 'Meals +at all hours,' over the door, I wended my way over sundry cow-paths and +through by-lanes towards it, until at last, fatigued, and with hands +torn and bleeding from catching hold of roots and bushes to keep myself +from falling, I arrived at the summit of the hill. A young woman stood +in the door-way of the shanty, and I asked her if I could obtain a +dinner. + +'Yes,' she said. 'Walk in and take a cheer.' She shoved a three-legged +stool towards me, and I took it. + +She was about eighteen years of age, and had a very pretty +face,--though it was thickly covered with a coating of the sacred +soil,--a musical voice, and a small hand. Her eyes sparkled like +fire-flies on a June night, and her hair hung in wavy ringlets over what +would have been an 'alabaster brow,' had it not been for the +superabundance of _dirt_ above mentioned. She was the only good-looking +woman I saw in Western Virginia. + +I took a seat at the table, and from a broken cup drank a few swallows +of tolerable coffee. As for the edibles, 'twas the same old story,--corn +bread and maple molasses, fried pork and onions. I staid there perhaps +fifteen minutes, and learned from my hostess that Webster was, previous +to the war 'a right smart village,' but that the male inhabitants had +mostly joined the rebel army, then at Phillippi. She, different from +most women I met in Virginia, expressed sympathy for the Union cause. It +seemed so strange to find a _Union_ woman in that part of the country, I +was induced to ask if Webster had the honor of being her birth-place. + +'Oh no,' she said; 'I was born in 'Hio.' + +That solved the whole mystery. I willingly paid the 'four bits' for my +dinner; and, as a storm was coming on, made all haste back to the +railroad, where we were getting ready to march on Phillippi, distance +thirteen Virginian, or about twenty _American_, miles. + +'Fall in, Company Q!' shouted the orderly. 'Numbers one, two, three, and +four, do so and so; five, six, seven, and eight, do this, that, and the +other!' So at it we went; and never in my life did I perform a harder +afternoon's work than on Sunday, the 2d of June, 1861. It was a warm, +sultry day, and our morning's ride in the cars had been dusty and +fatiguing; and when, about dusk, a heavy rain-storm set in and drenched +us to the skin, we were sorry-looking objects indeed. + +Although we had been in service six weeks, we had but just received our +uniforms that morning. My pants, when I put them on, were about six +inches too long, and the sleeves of my blouse ditto. After marching all +night in the rain, my trowsers only came down as far as my knees; they +shrank two feet in twelve hours. Many of the men threw away their shoddy +uniforms after wearing them one day, as they were totally unfit for use. +They tore as easily as so much paper, and were no protection whatever +from the weather. Somebody, I don't pretend to say who, made a good +thing when he furnished them to the government. No doubt they were +supplied by some _loyal_ and _respectable_ citizen, who would not +knowingly cheat his country out of a penny! We have reaped a bountiful +harvest of such patriots during the past year. May the Lord love them! + +At eleven o'clock on the night of the 2d of June we started for +Phillippi. It commenced raining about seven o'clock in the evening, and +we were all wet to the skin. The night was very dark, and the road, +though they called it a 'pike,' was one of the worst imaginable; it +wound 'round and round,'-- + + 'It turned in and turned out, + Leaving beholders still in doubt + Whether the wretched muddy track + Were going South or coming back,'-- + +and seemed to run in every direction but the right one. It was a road +such as can be found only in Virginia. The mud was almost up to the hubs +of the wagon-wheels; the horses pulled, the drivers laid on the lash and +a string of oaths at the same time; the wind blew, and the rain came +down in torrents. More than once on that awful march did we lend a +helping hand to get the horses out of some 'slough of Despond.' Over the +mountains and through the woods we went, at the rate of about two miles +an hour. Many gave out and lay down by the wayside; and when at last +morning dawned, a more pitiable set of beings never were seen upon +earth. The men looked haggard and wan, the horses could hardly stand, +and we were in anything but a good condition for invading an enemy's +country. + +At daylight we were within two miles of Phillippi. Col. (now General) +Lander was with the advance, and had discovered that the enemy were +ready for a retreat. Their baggage was loaded, and if we did not make +the last two miles at 'double-quick,' he was fearful we would be too +late to accomplish the object of the expedition. So the order was given, +'Double-quick!' and jaded horses and almost lifeless men rushed forward, +buoyed up with the prospect of having a brush with the rascals who had +given us so much trouble. + +We had gone about a mile and a half, when, at a turn in the road, an old +woman rushed out from a log cabin, and, in a loud and commanding voice, +exclaimed,-- + +'Halt, artillery, or I'll shoot every one of you!' + +Not obeying the order, she fired three shots at us, none of which took +effect. At the same time three men rushed from the back of the house +toward the rebel camp at the foot of the hill, shouting at the top of +their voices to give warning of our approach. A squad of our fellows +took after them, and soon overtook them in a corn-field, when they +denied coming from the house, and said they were out planting corn! A +likely story, as it was hardly daylight, and the rain was falling in +torrents. However, during the forenoon they took _oath_, and were set +free! + +Past the log house we went at 'double-quick,' and in less time than it +takes to tell it, the artillery took position in a small piece of wood +on the summit of a hill overlooking the town. At once the order was +given, 'Action front!' and the first the rebels knew of our approach was +the rattling of canister among their tents. Out they swarmed, like bees +from a molested hive. This way and that the chivalry flew, and yet +scarcely knew which way to run. 'Bould sojer boys,' with nothing but +their underclothes on, mounted their nags bareback, and fled 'over the +hills and far away' towards Beverley, firing as they ran a few random +shots. Before the infantry reached the town most of them had made good +their escape, leaving behind, however, nearly all their baggage, a large +number of horses, wagons, tents, and about eight hundred stand of arms, +together with a nicely-cooked breakfast, which they had no idea they +were preparing for 'Lincoln's hirelings.' + +We took about fifty prisoners, among them the man who wounded Col. (now +General) Kelley. They were retained until the next day, when the oath +was administered, and they were let loose to rejoin their companions in +arms. About four weeks after this, we had the pleasure of retaking, +several of these fellows; some of them, in fact, were taken three or +four times, each time taking the oath, and being set at liberty, and +each time, true to their nature--and Jeff Davis--immediately taking up +arms again against the government. + +Phillippi, from any of the neighboring hills, or rather mountains, +presents a rather picturesque appearance. It was, previous to the war, a +place of about one thousand inhabitants. It boasts a good court-house, a +bank, and two hotels, and was by far the most civilized-looking town we +had then seen in Virginia. But, alas! what a change had come over its +once happy populace. When we entered it, not a dozen inhabitants were +left. We were told that Phillippi was the head-quarters of rebellion in +Western Virginia. Here was published the Barbour County _Jeffersonian_, +a rabid secession newspaper, now no more, for the press was demolished, +and the types thrown into a well. The editor had joined the rebel army a +few days before our arrival, and was among the loudest denunciators of +our government. He boasted he would shed the last drop of his blood (he +was very careful as to shedding the first) before he would retreat one +inch before the _Abolitionists_. We afterwards learned from some of his +men that he was among the first to mount his horse and run to the +mountains; the last that was seen of him he was going at lightning speed +toward Richmond, and in all probability _il court encore_,--he is +running yet. + +We had taken possession of the town and most of the enemy's baggage and +equipments; still our commanding officer was not satisfied, neither were +the men. We had intended to completely surround the enemy and to cut off +every possible chance of his retreat. The attack was to have been made +at five o'clock, A.M.; but one column, that which marched from Grafton, +was about twenty minutes too late, and when at last it did make its +appearance, it entered town by the wrong road, having been misled by the +guide. The consequence was, the enemy retreated on the Beverley road, +where they met with little or no resistance. Our men were too much +fatigued to follow the fast-fleeing traitors, and most of them made good +their escape. + +After the excitement of the attack, the men dropped down wherever they +stood, in the streets, in the fields, or in the woods, and slept soundly +until noon, the rain continuing to fall in torrents. But what was that +to men worn out with marching? I never slept better than when lying in a +newly-plowed corn-field, with the mud over my ankles, the rain pelting +me in the face, and not a blanket to cover me. + +_Bang! bang! bang!_ and up I jumped from my bed of mud, thinking the +fight had again commenced. Somewhat bewildered, I rubbed the 'sacred +soil' from my eyes and looked about me. It was noon; the rain had +ceased, and from the constant sound of musketry, I supposed a battle was +then raging. But instead of fighting the 'secesh,' I soon found the +Indiana boys were making havoc among the fowls of the chivalry. They +fired too much at random to suit my taste, and I made tracks for a safer +abode. Beating a hasty retreat to the hill where my company was +stationed, I found a large crowd gathered around some of the captured +wagons, overhauling the plunder. And what a mixed-up mess! Old guns, +sabres, bowie-knives, pistols made in Richmond in 1808, old uniforms +that looked like the property of some strolling actor, and love-letters +which the bold chivalry had received from fair damsels, who all +expressed the desire that, their 'lovyers' would bring home, Old Abe's +scalp. These letters afforded great amusement to our boys, though it was +hard to read many of them, and were they put into print, Artemus Ward +would have to look to his 'lorrels.' + +Bang! bang! bang! they kept on shooting till dark. It is useless to say +we had chickens for supper that night; and I would not be surprised if +the chicken crop of Phillippi and vicinity should be rather small for a +few years to come. + +Wild rumors were running through the camp all day that the 'secesh' had +been reinforced, were ten thousand strong, and, with forty pieces of +cannon, would attack us that night. Some said they were commanded by +Gov. Wise, the lunatic, others by Beauregard, and some positively +asserted that Jeff Davis led the rebel forces himself. At all events, it +was pretty well settled that we were to be attacked forthwith. Our men +slept on their arms, but not a secesh appeared. + +I, as usual, was on guard that night, and, feeling that a great +responsibility rested on my shoulders, was 'doubly armed.' A well-known +professor, a member of the same company as myself, was on the first +relief; I was on the second. I went on duty at ten o'clock, P.M., and +the professor kindly loaned me his revolver, and, in addition, soon +returned with an extra musket, a secession sabre, and one of the +captured pistols. Thus loaded down with swords, pistols, and muskets, +and guarding a six-pounder, I felt _tolerably_ safe. After walking up +and down my beat a few times, I found the two muskets began to feel +rather heavy, and the two sabres to be rather uncomfortable dangling +about my legs; and thinking that two revolvers and a _secesh_ pistol +would be all that I could use to advantage, I divested myself of the +extra equipments, and passed the residue of my 'two-hours' watch' in +committing to memory 'my last dying words,' for use in case the secesh +put an end to my existence. + +Our colonel's name was Barnett; the countersign for the night was Buena +Vista. About eleven o'clock I observed a man coming towards me. 'Halt!' +I exclaimed; 'who goes there?' + +'A _friendt_,' was the reply. + +'Advance, friend, and give the countersign.' + +The man walked towards me, and whispered in my ear 'Barnett's Sister!' +at the same time attempting to pass. Placing my bayonet close against +his breast, I ordered him to 'halt!' and called for the corporal of the +guard. The Dutchman--for such he was--begged and plead, but it was of no +use; I told him he was trying to 'run the guard,' and he must go to the +guard-house. + +'Barnett's Sister! Barnett's Sister! Barnett's Sister!' shouted the +Dutchman. 'I know nothing about Barnett's Sister,' said I; 'stop your +noise, or you will rouse the camp.' + +Just then, the officer of the guard came round. I stated the case to +him, and the man was taken to the guard-house. The next morning he was +released, and on inquiry at head-quarters it was found that he had the +password, but had confounded 'Buena Vista' with 'Barnett's Sister.' We +all enjoyed a good laugh over it, and ever after 'Barnett's Sister' was +the password for all who attempted to 'run the guard.' + +We lay at Phillippi nearly six weeks. Every day or two an alarm would +occur, the long roll would beat, and the men would form in line of +battle. It is needless to say the alarms were all false. There are +always hundreds of rumors in every camp, and ours was not an exception. +But after the first week we paid little attention to the many wild +reports which were in circulation. Although Gov. Wise had said he would +take dinner in Phillippi or in ---- on the fourth of July; +notwithstanding Gov. Letcher had issued a proclamation warning us to +leave the State in twenty-four hours or he would hang every one of us; +although a proclamation dated Staunton, Va., June 7th, 1861, stated to +the people of Western Virginia that their little band of _volunture (?)_ +had been forced from Phillippi by the ruthless Northern foe, led on by +traitors and tories, and that Jeff Davis and John Letcher had sent to +their aid a force of cavalry, artillery and rifles; and although the +proclamation wound up by saying To-morrow an ARMY will follow! we felt +tolerably safe at Phillippi. We had determined, if the aforesaid army +did appear, it should have a warm reception. + +Every day or two scouting parties went out and captured a few stray +'Bush-Whackers,' to whom the oath was administered, and they were +released. Days and weeks passed, but the army of Davis, Beauregard, and +Co., failed to appear. They had, however, congregated and entrenched +themselves at Laurel Hill, about thirteen miles east of Phillippi. + +We were reinforced from time to time, until our force numbered some +forty-five hundred men, when Gen. McClellan determined to rout the enemy +from Laurel Hill and Rich Mountain. How well he succeeded, history will +tell. + +On the night of the 6th of July, we left Phillippi for Laurel Hill, +starting at midnight. The road was rather rough, but much better than we +expected to find it. When we were within about five miles of the enemy's +camps; we passed a toll-gate, where an old woman came to the door to +'collect toll.' Some of our boys stopped at the house to get a drink of +water, and asked the old lady how far it was to camp,--meaning the rebel +camp. 'About four miles,' she said, 'but you can't get in without a +pass.' + +The artillery was just then passing her door; the boys pointed to that, +and told her 'they thought they had a pass that would take them in.' + +'Oh!' she exclaimed, as the thought struck her that we were Federals, +'you won't find it as easy work as you did at Phillippi; they're going +to fight this time.' + +On our return home this same woman was at the door, but she didn't +demand _toll_ this time. 'Well, old lady,' said one of our fellows, +'what do you think _now_ about the fighting qualities of your men?' + + 'They who fight and run away, + Will live to fight another day,' + +she exclaimed, and, slamming the door, vanished from sight, I trust +forever. + +At daylight we drove in the rebel pickets at Laurel Hill. We were within +a mile and a half of their main camp, and halted there to await orders +from Gen. McClellan, before beginning the attack. He was advancing on +the enemy at Rich Mountain and Beverley. + +We threw a few shells into the rebel camp, producing great consternation +among their men and horses. For four days we kept up skirmishing, but on +the fifth day it rained, and little was done. All were anxious to +commence the attack, but, as we had heard nothing from Gen. McClellan, +all had to 'wait for orders.' That night the enemy, hearing of the +Federal victory at Rich Mountain, and the occupation of Beverley by +McClellan, and evidently thinking himself in a 'bad fix,' retreated from +Laurel Hill toward St. George. In the morning our forces took possession +of his camp and fortifications, and part of our column pursued the +flying forces, overtaking them at Cornick's Ford, where a sharp +engagement ensued, which resulted in a total rout of the rebels, and the +death of Gen. Garnett. Only a portion of his army escaped over the +mountains to Eastern Virginia. + +So hasty was the retreat from Laurel Hill, that the enemy left behind +all the sick and wounded, telling them the Union troops would kill them +as soon as they took possession of their camp. A large number of tents, +a quantity of flour, and a few muskets, fell into our hands. The +fortifications at Laurel Hill were strong, and evidently planned and +constructed by men who understood their business. + +Among the numerous letters which we found in the rebel camp, was one +written to one of the Richmond papers, during the _siege_ of Laurel +Hill. In that part of the letter which was intended for publication, the +writer said:-- + +'The Yankees have at last arrived, about ten thousand strong. For the +past two days we have had some sharp skirmishing, during which time we +have killed one hundred of the Hessians. We have, as yet, lost but one +man.' + +In a _private note_ to the editor, the writer adds:-- + +'I guess the Yankees have got us this time. There is a regiment here who +call themselves the Indiana Ninth, but they lie,--they are regulars. +They have got good rifles, and they take good aim. If it wasn't for +this, we would attack them.' + +This little item shows how the masses of the Southern people are +deceived. Through the medium of the press they are made to believe they +are gaining great victories, and repulsing the 'abolitionists' at every +step, killing hundreds of our men, and losing none of their own. Our +total loss at Laurel Hill was six men. The rebel loss, as near as could +be ascertained, was forty. The rebel leaders know they are playing a +game for life or death, and so long as they can keep in power by +deceiving the people, just so long will this rebellion continue. Could +the _truth_ be forced upon the people of the South, the rebellion would +go down as quickly as it rose. + +Many laughable incidents occurred while we were skirmishing with the +enemy at Laurel Hill. We received a newspaper containing the message of +President Lincoln. One of the Indiana boys, thinking it might do the +secesh good to hear a few loyal sentiments, mounted a stump, paper in +hand, and exclaimed, 'I say, secesh, don't you want to hear old Abe's +message?' He then commenced reading, but had proceeded only a short way, +before 'ping, ping' came the rifle balls around the stump; down jumped +Indiana, convinced that reading even a President's message amidst a +shower of bullets isn't so agreeable, after all. + +We staid at Laurel Hill about two weeks. The enemy had been completely +routed from that part of Virginia, and our term of enlistment having +expired, our thoughts began to turn homeward. That ninety days' +soldiering was the longest three months we ever experienced. It seemed +an age since we had tasted a good meal, and all were anxious to once +more cross the Ohio, and see a civilized country. The long looked-for +order came at last, ''Bout face!' and we were on our homeward march. A +more jovial, ragged, dirty, and hungry set of men, were never mustered +out of service. We reached Camp Chase at Columbus, Ohio, about the last +of July, and as each man delivered up his knapsack and etceteras, he +felt as if a 'great weight' had been taken from his shoulders. We were +once more free men; no one could order us about, tell us where we should +or where we should not go. There was no more touching of hats to upstart +lieutenants and half-witted captains or colonels. We could go where we +liked, and do as we pleased, and not be reported, or sent to the +guard-house. If my memory serves me aright, we _did_ do pretty much as +we pleased; in other words, for two days, 'we made Rome howl!' + +What we saw of Western Virginia and its inhabitants left anything but a +favorable impression on our minds. The country is wild and romantic, but +good for little or nothing for farming purposes. The houses are mostly +built of logs, being little more than mere huts, and around each of +these 'mansions' may be seen at least a dozen young 'tow-heads,' who are +brought up in ignorance and filth. The inhabitants are lazy and +ignorant, raising hardly enough to keep starvation from their doors. +School houses are almost unknown; we did not see one in the whole course +of our march; the consequence is, not more than one in ten of the +population can read or write. And the few who 'can just make out to +spell' are worse off than their more ignorant brethren. + + 'A little learning is a dangerous thing.' + +And these people know just enough to make them _dangerous_. They have +read in some of their county newspapers that Vice-President Hamlin is a +negro, and that Lincoln is waging this war for the purpose of liberating +the slaves and killing their masters. This they believe, and any amount +of reasoning cannot convince them to the contrary. It seems to be enough +for them to know that they are _Virginians_; upon this, and this alone, +they live and have their being. They are by far the most wretched and +degraded people in America,--I had almost said in the world. The women, +if possible, are worse than the men; they go dressed in a loose, uncouth +manner, barefooted and bareheaded; their principal occupation is chewing +tobacco and plundering Union troops by getting ten prices for their +eggs, butter, and corn bread. And these are the people our children--and +their fathers before them--have been taught to regard as the true +_chivalry_ of America! The people of the United States are beginning to +see that Virginia and her sons have been greatly over-estimated. That +Virginia has produced true and great men, no one will deny. There are a +few such still within her borders; but, taking her as a whole, the +picture I have drawn is a true one. + +By my soldiering experience I learned some things which it would have +been impossible to learn had I never 'gone for a soger.' First, I +ascertained--shall I say from my _personal_ experience?--that a man +dressed in soldier-clothes can stand twice as much bad liquor as one +clothed in the garb of a citizen. Secondly, that to be a good soldier a +man should be able to go at least forty-eight hours without eating, +drinking, or sleeping, and then endure guard-duty all night in a +drenching rain, without grumbling or fault-finding. Thirdly, I _think_ I +have discovered that the martial road to glory '_is a hard road to +travel_.' + + * * * * * + +A CABINET SESSION. + + +_The President: Secretaries Seward, Chase, Bates, Smith, Blair and +Welles. Enter Mr. Stanton._ + +_Mr. Lincoln._ Gentlemen, I officially present Mr. Stanton! + +[_Mr. Stanton, bowing with graceful dignity, seats himself at the +table._] + +_Mr. Seward (breaking the momentary pause in his jocular way)._ +Remember, Mr. Secretary of War, you are now in the old chair of Floyd +and Davis: and sit thee down as if on nettles. + +_Mr. Chase._ Aye; but out of the 'nettle danger' pluck thou 'the flower +safety.' + +_Mr. Stanton (with emphasis)._ Believe me, I appreciate not so much the +honor as the responsibilities of my new position. I claim a good omen, +for, as I turned just now towards the gate, a little boy, seated upon +one of the granite blocks for the new building hereabout, trolled out as +my salutation the lines of the national air,-- + + 'Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just, + And this be our motto, In God is our trust.' + +_Mr. Welles._ Amen! + +_Mr. Bates._ I suppose you passed not a few interesting hours in this +room at the twilight of Mr. Buchanan's day, whilst holding _my_ +portfolio? + +_Mr. Stanton._ Too momentous to be called by _me_ interesting. +Posterity, reading, will say _that_. And those twilight hours, as you +felicitously term them, were followed by anxious vigils. But these +belong to confidences. + +_Mr. Lincoln (abruptly and familiarly)._ Talking of confidences, what do +you think of the news about Zollicoffer? + +_Mr. Stanton._ It appears reliable, and is a most providential success. +Eastern Tennessee was tending to the position which Lucknow sustained +towards the Indian rebellion. It is now relieved, and a fortnight or so +will bring intelligence that the whole of it has practically joined +forces to Western Virginia. I regard it as of the highest importance to +prove, by industrious acts, that we recognize and reward the sufferings +of these American Albigenses in their Cumberland fastnesses. How grandly +would swell the old Miltonian hymn, properly paraphrased, when a brigade +of the loyal Tennessians may sing + + 'Avenge, Columbia, thy slaughtered hosts, whose bones + Lie scattered on the Western mountains cold,' + +and so forth! + +_Mr. Lincoln._ Now, you are stepping into Seward's province. _He_ is the +poet of my cabinet! + +_Mr. Seward._ Granted for the argument: but there is more truth than +poetry in what our new brother has just said. Throughout how many weary +months have those brave thousands who voted against secession awaited +the crack of our rifles and our cannon-smoke--true music and sacred +incense to them. + +_Mr. Blair (practically)._ Next to the border States we must take care +of the newspapers. + +_Mr. Welles._ Ah, those newspapers: bothersome as urchins in a nursery, +and yet as necessary to the perfect development of life's enjoyment. + +_Mr. Chase._ Well said for the navy. But what do you say of the +magnificent Neckars, whose monied articles from Boston to Chicago would +swamp the treasury in a week, if they were believed in? + +_Mr. Lincoln._ Being born and raised so far from the great metropolitan +centres, I don't seem to take to newspapers so kindly as the rest of you +do. + +_Mr. Stanton._ With great respect to your Honor (as we say in court), I +deem it a great mistake to neglect newspaper suggestions, however +provincial. 'Do you hear (as Hamlet says), let them be well used; for +they are the abstract and brief chronicles of the time.' And your +metropolitan editor, after all, follows the bent of the public opinion +of the provinces as he scissors it from his thousand and one exchanges. +The village or country editor has time to mix among the people, and +hears them talk to reproduce it artistically. The city editor finds +little time for this. Besides, there _is_ very little of reliable public +opinion amid cities. The American mind is styled fickle; so it may be in +the great marts. From _them_ come your sensations and spasms. The +interior is more stable, and less swayed by impulses. Aggregate a +hundred county editorials all over the North, then strike an average, +and you will find the product in the last big journal. The misfortune of +Washington social life is that we walk in it over a circle. Hither come +'needy knife-grinders,' and axe-sharpeners, and place-hunters, who say +what they think will be agreeable to the ears of power. But the other +kind of mails, presided over by Mr. Blair, bring us wholesome, although +sometimes disagreeable, truths. They are worth attending to, Mr. +President. Let us 'strike,' but let us 'hear.' + +_Mr. Seward._ In the matter of newspapers, my son Fred and I divide +reading. He distils the metropolitan gazettes, and I those of England +and France. Then we exchange commodities at breakfast time. Fred, having +been an editor, can boil down the news very rapidly, and so put its +essence into our coffee-pot. The foreign journals, however, have so much +in them that is dissimulative and latent, they require more care and +discernment. Mr. Hunter aids me in dissecting them. + +_Mr. Lincoln._ You are the son of an editor, Montgomery; how do you +stand on this subject of Colfax's bill to carry all the papers in your +mails? The rebel postmaster-general, in _his_ report, made, you +remember, an elaborate argument to justify the Jeff Davis law, which +forbids the sending of newspapers and periodicals by expressmen. + +_Mr. Blair._ When Colfax will accept as an amendment a prohibition of +telegrams, and the obliging our mails to transmit _all_ intelligence, +then I will consider of his views. + +_Mr. Smith._ Well said; as good an extract that from the last edition of +Blair's rhetoric as could be wished for. + +_Mr. Chase._ Or in the Tribune satires of Horace! But let me ask Mr. +Blair what he thinks of a newspaper tax. + +_Mr. Blair._ Very favorably. I am for a mill stamp on every paper, +obliging every ten readers to pay the government one cent. + +_Mr. Stanton._ Mr. Secretary of the Interior, what is the average +circulation of newspapers in the loyal section? + +_Mr. Smith._ A thousand million. + +_Mr. Chase_ (rapidly computing). Which on Mr. Blair's proposition would +yield a million dollars revenue. + +_Mr. Welles._ And support the government at our present rate of +expenditure _for one day!_ + +_Mr. Seward._ The public would bear half a cent on each paper. The +publisher could make his readers insensibly pay the tax, and improve +both paper and issue by receiving another half cent: and so add one cent +of charge per copy. + +_Mr. Chase._ Which would yield a revenue of five millions per year. + +_Mr. Lincoln._ Would the people stand such a charge? + +_Mr. Stanton (good humoredly)._ Will our friend the Secretary of State +smoke fewer cigars when you come to tax tobacco? + +_Mr. Welles (naïvely)._ But newspaper reading is not a vice. + +_Mr. Bates._ Be not so sure of that. The passion for newspapers excites +the minds of the whole republic. Now-a-days your servant reads the news +as he works. The clergy peruse the Sunday extras, and the +crossing-sweeper begs your worn-out copy instead of a cigar-stump. + +_Mr. Blair._ Yet Gen. McClellan has not read a newspaper in three +months. + +_Mr. Lincoln._ The subject brings to my mind a good old parson in +Springfield who used to complain that the _Weekly Republican_ was as bad +as himself. He was preaching his old sermons over and over again with +new texts. Come to find out, he had a waggish grandson who for three +previous weeks had neatly gummed the fresh date over the old one, and +the dear divine had been perusing the same paper as many times. + +_(Omnes laughing heartily.)_ + +_Mr. Stanton._ Talking of General McClellan,--I had my first engagement +with him last night at one o'clock. + +_Mr. Welles (startled)._ One o'clock! No wonder he has had typhoid +fever. + +_Mr. Lincoln._ I think he is napping it now. He has a wonderful facility +at the sleep business. Forty winks seem to refresh him as much as four +hours do other people. At my last levee, according to the newspapers, he +and his wife retired early. _He_ went up stairs and napped for two +hours, desiring to see me for half an hour alone afterward. Then he +spent several hours at the topographical bureau, hunting for some old +maps which he insisted had been there since the Creek campaign. He was +rewarded for his industry by finding also an admirable map and survey of +the situation around New Orleans. + +_Mr. Seward._ The General is a believer in Robert Bruce's spider. The +American spider's-web didn't reach Richmond in July, nor Columbus in +November, but McClellan has kept on busily spinning. + +_Mr. Blair._ Can any one tell me what is the General's platform? + +_Mr. Stanton._ I can. Long before I dreamed of being here, he told me. +It is in three words. + +_Mr. Lincoln._ That's the shortest I ever heard of next to that of the +English parson--'What _I_ say is orthodox, what I don't believe is +heterodox.' + +_Mr. Smith._ But the three words? + +_Mr. Seward._ Cĉsar's was in these words: _Veni, vidi, vici_. + +_Mr. Stanton._ It is to be fervently hoped _they_ will become the Latin +translation of his own platform. McClellan's is, 'TO RETRIEVE BULL RUN!' + +_Mr. Lincoln (laughing)._ Then, if the General told you that, he is a +plagiarist: for that is _my_ platform. When he was made commander here, +he asked me what I wanted done. Said I, 'Retrieve Bull Run.' He said he +would, and turned to go. I jocularly added, 'But can't you tell us how +you are going to do it?' He mused a moment, and then said, 'I must work +it out algebraically, and from unknown quantities produce the certain +result. "Drill" shall be my "_x_" and "Transportation" my "_y_" and +"Patience" my "_z_." Then _x_ + _y_ + _z_ = success.' And now that Mr. +Stanton is here, I doubt not the slate is ready for the figuring. + +_Mr. Stanton._ Thank you, Mr. President, for the compliment. May it +prove a simple equation. + +_Mr. Chase (with energy)._ Now we call for your platform, Mr. Secretary +of War. + +_Mr. Stanton (gracefully bowing)._ The President's--yours--_ours +(looking all around)_. + +_Mr. Seward._ But the allusion is a proper personal one, nevertheless. +Remember court-martial law--the youngest always speaks first! + +(_Omnes compose themselves in a listening attitude._) + +_Mr. Stanton._ First and foremost, I believe slavery to be the _casus +belli_. To treat the _casus belli_ above and beyond all other +considerations I hold to be the duty of the true commander-in-chief: as +the surgeon disregards secondary symptoms and probes the wound. I would +treat this _casus belli_ as the Constitution allows us to treat it--not +one hair's breadth from the grand old safeguard would I step. Under the +Constitution I believe slavery to be a purely local institution. In +Louisiana and Texas, a slave is an immovable by statute, and is annexed +to the realty as hop-poles are in the law of New York. In Alabama and +Mississippi, the slave is a chattel. In the first-named States he passes +by deed of national act and registration; in the other, by simple +receipt or delivery. Thus even among slave States there is no uniform +system respecting the slave property. To the Northern States the slave +is a person in his ballot relation to congressional quota and +constituency, and also an apprentice to labor, to be delivered up on +demand. The slave escaping from Maryland to Pennsylvania is not to be +delivered up, nor cared about, nor thought about, until he is demanded. +Liberty is the law of nature. Every man is presumed free in choice, and +not even to be trammeled by apprenticeship, until the contrary is made +clearly to appear. One man may be a New York discharged convict, for +instance--an unpardoned convict. He emigrates southward, he obtains +property, according to local law, in a slave. The slave escapes to New +York. The convict--unpardoned--master enters the tribunal there on his +demand. Quoth the escaped apprentice, producing the record of the +conviction, 'Mr. Claimant, you have no standing in court. Your civil +rights are suspended in this State until you are pardoned. You are _not_ +pardoned, therefore I will not answer aye or no to your claim, until you +are legitimately in court, and recognized by the judges.' I take it that +plea would avail. And if the crier wanted to employ a person to sweep +the court-room the next moment, he could employ that defendant to do it. +There is not a man in the rebel States (_whom we publicly know of_) who +has a standing under the Constitution regarding this slavery question. +By his own argument he lives in a foreign country; by our own argument +he is not _rectus in curia_. Were I an invading general and wanted +horses, I would decoy them from the rebels with hay and stable +enticements. If I wanted trench-diggers, camp scullions, or +artillerists, or pilots, or oarsmen, or guides, and, being that general, +saw negroes about me, I should press them into my service. Time enough +to talk about the rights of some one to possess the negroes by better +claim of title to service when that somebody, with the Constitution in +one hand and stipulation of allegiance in the other, demands legal +possession. Even the fugitive slave is emancipated practically whilst in +Ohio, and whilst not yet demanded. Rebel soldiers daily leave their +plantations and abandon their negroes. _Pro tem_, at least, the latter +are then emancipated. Let them, when within Our lines, continue +emancipated. + +_Mr. Welles._ Would you arm them? + +_Mr. Stanton._ Yes, if exigencies of situation so demanded. The +beleaguered garrison at Lucknow armed every one about the place--natives +or not, servants or masters. Did General Washington spare the whisky +stills in the time of the insurrection in Western Virginia when they +were in his way? Yet the stills were universally agreed to be property, +and were not taken by due process of law. Shall we fight a rebel in +Charleston streets, and at the same time protect his negro by a guard in +the Charleston jail? + +_Mr. Blair._ But what instructions would you give to the soldiers about +this _casus belli_? + +_Mr. Stanton._ None at all. The soldier should know nothing about _casus +belli_. General Buell answered the correspondent well when he said, 'I +know nothing about the cause of this war. I am to fight the rebels and +obey orders.' Cries a general to a subaltern--'Yonder smokes a +battery--go and take it.' Do we issue specific instructions to the +troops about the women, the children, the chickens, the forage, the +mules-persons or property--whom they encounter? The circumstances and +the exigencies of the situation determine their conduct. A household +mastiff who will pin a rebel by the throat when he passes his kennel, +flying from pursuit, is just as serviceable as would prove a loyal +bullet sped to the rebel's brain. I believe that the acknowledged fact, +the necessary fact, that wherever our army advances, emancipation +practically ensues, will carry more terror to the slave-owner than any +other warlike incident. But I would have them understand that this +result is not our design, but a necessity of _their_ rebellion. + +_Mr. Bates._ You are like the last witness upon the stand--subjected to +a vigorous cross-examination upon everything gone before. Have you ever +thought what is to be the upshot of the contention? + +_Mr. Stanton._ Restoration of the Union! + +_Mr. Bates._ Aye, but how to be brought about? Are not the pride and the +obstinacy growing stronger every day at the South? + +_Mr. Stanton._ 'Men are but children of a larger growth.' Who of us has +not conquered pride and obstinacy in the nursery? I have seen the boy of +a mild-tempered father fairly admire the parent when he broke the truce +of affection and vigorously thrashed him. The large majority of the +Southern people have been educated to believe the men of the North +cowardly, mean, and avaricious. Cowardly, because they persistently +refused the duel. Mean, because all classes worked, and there seemed +among them no arrogance of birth. Avaricious, because they crouched to +the planters with calico and manufactures, or admired their bullying for +the sake of their cotton. + +And the great masses of the South have been and are learning how the +present leaders have duped them upon all these points. They have +discovered we are not cowards. Every prisoner, from the chivalric +Corcoran to the urchin drummer-boy at Richmond who spat on the sentinel, +has afforded proof of courage and fortitude, whilst thousands and +thousands of people have secretly admired it. The very death vacancies +at family boards throughout the plantations perpetually remind the +Southrons that _we are not_ cowards in fight. They have learned, too, +that we are neither mean nor avaricious, when the millionaire merchant, +whom they knew two years ago, cheerfully accepts the poor man's lot of +to-day; or when they behold all classes without one murmur hear of a +million dollars per day being spent on the war, and then _clamor to be +taxed_! If they perceive the negroes leaving them, they at once also +perceive that in loyal Maryland, loyal Virginia, loyal Kentucky and +loyal Missouri,--in Baltimore, St. Louis, and Louisville,--the slaves +under local laws are protected to their owners. Thus the most stupid +will reason, It is our own act which has placed in jeopardy this our +property. With a restored Union, Georgia and Louisiana must be as +Maryland and Kentucky continued even in the midst of camps. Who, during +the acme of the French revolution, could have believed that the people +of Paris would so soon and so readily accept even despotism as the +panacea of turmoil? Show a real grievance, and I grant you that +rebellion achieves the dignity of revolution. Provide an imaginary or a +colored evil as the basis of insurrection, and even pride and obstinacy +will eventually comprehend the sophistry of the leaders. + +_Mr. Lincoln._ Seward's secret correspondence with Southern loyalists +proves these things. Mr. Stanton must read that last letter from.... + +_Mr. Stanton._ Indeed! You surprise me. Pray how could you receive +intelligence from him? + +_Mr. Lincoln (opening a drawer)._ Do you see this button? I unscrew this +eye. The two discs now separate. Between them you can put a sheet of +French letter paper. When the troops advanced to Bull Run, certain of +the soldiers were provided with such buttons. Various deserters have had +them. + +_Mr. Seward (laughing.)_ Who knows but General Scott's coachman had one +or two?[M] + +_Mr. Stanton._ This practically corroborates my theories. If we in +Washington find it so difficult to repress communication and spies, is +it not fair to presume that in Richmond, Savannah, New Orleans and +Memphis (where there is _real_ incentive from suffering and +persecution), it is equally impossible to stop information? It was +impossible to procure it when the three rifled cannon at the Richmond +foundry were found spiked. It would prove serviceable to the patience of +the nation, could it only step behind the scenes and learn much--known +to us--which it must ere long understand. + + * * * * * + +_Mr. Lincoln._ I have just received by our secret mail a very affecting +letter from Col. Corcoran. I will read an extract. [_Reads._] + +'Of my physical suffering I will not speak. If restored to friends and +home I shall, however, be a memorable example of the victory of mind +over body. I determined to lay down my life for my country when I left +that home; and if it will serve the cause, as I have repeatedly told the +people here, to hang, or draw, or quarter me, I am ready for the +sacrifice. But there are hundreds among the prisoners whose minds are +not so buoyant as mine, who do suffer terribly. Can not some means be +devised to clothe and feed _them_, or to exchange for them?' + +_Mr. Blair._ A patriot soul. The clerkship left in the New York +post-office when the Colonel departed for the war has been retained for +him. + +_Mr. Lincoln (quickly)._ Ah! _that_ heroic sufferer shall have something +better than a clerkship if he ever returns. + +_Mr. Stanton._ I have thought much of this exchange of prisoners and +captivity amelioration. When the insurrection was inchoate, we could +afford to be punctilious. But its present gigantic proportions surely +affect the question (so to term it) of ransom. When our countrymen were +in the Algerine prisons we took means to treat for them. What say you, +gentlemen, against sending commissioners to Richmond for the purpose of +supervising the medicines, clothing, food and exchange of our prisoners? + +_Mr. Seward._ That may only be conceded by accepting commissioners for a +similar purpose from the rebel government. + +_Mr. Chase._ Our plans are now so perfectly matured that even the danger +of spies recedes. I am in favor of Mr. Stanton's proposition. + +_Mr. Lincoln._ I think you can try it. There are so many prisoners, from +all parts of the country, that public sentiment must uphold the measure. + +_Mr. Smith._ Mr. Secretary of State, you were taking notes whilst Mr. +Stanton was giving his views upon the restoration question. Were they on +that subject? + +_Mr. Seward._ Yes. Some fleeting thoughts occurred to me which I was +desirous of preserving for to-morrow. _I_ have a great deal of faith in +establishing Southern 'doughfacery.' + +_Mr. Welles._ Doughfacery? + +_Mr. Seward._ Yes: that supremacy of pocket over pride which so long +afflicted the North. Above and beyond the slave-owners must rise the +great class of manufacturers and merchants,--almost every third man of +Northern origin, too,--whose pocket is the great sufferer, and without +whose property, hereafter, plantations can not prosper. Given a decent +pretext for adjustment, when pride will go to the wall. Once allow the +masses to grasp the reins, and the slave-owners will be driven to the +wall-side of the political highway also. This I call Southern +doughfacery for the sake of a phrase well understood. + +_Mr. Blair._ Then your old plan of the great national convention comes +in vogue? + +_Mr. Lincoln._ _My_ plan! (_Good humoredly._) You must not _all_ steal +my thunder. By the way, Seward, your pleasant friend Judge D----, who +came from New York about Col. Corcoran, told me the meaning of that +phrase. It seems a Dublin stage manager got up a scenic play with +thunder in it perfectly imitated by a diapason of bass drums. A rival +got up another scenic play, to which, out of jealous _pique_, the +inventor repaired as a spectator. To his surprise he heard his own +invention from behind the scenes. He instantly exclaimed aloud, 'The +rascal, he's stolen my thunder!' + +_Mr. Seward (jocularly)._ The President finds a parallel between a +national convention and thunder. Well, well, the clearest atmosphere is +breathed after the clouds culminate in thunder and lightning. I accept +the application. + +_Mr. Chase._ But if the South is to surrender pride, what are _we_ to +surrender? + +_Mr. Seward (quickly)._ _Political_ pride. The battle of freedom was +fought and won when the Inaugural was pronounced. The South can not +recover from the present stagnation in a quarter-century, by which time +it will again have accepted contentedly the original belief that +slavery, like one of the lotteries of Georgia, or one of the red-dog +banks of Arkansas, is a purely local institution. + +_Mr. Stanton._ I heartily accept the project of a national convention. +But I am against any agitation or committal to leading ideas which are +to control it. One convention ruined France, and another saved it. We +can better obtain consent of North and South to holding a convention by +forbearance from discussing its probable platform. Let it meet. No fear +but it will elucidate _some_ satisfactory result. + +_Mr. Welles._ You have just discussed this question of war. I wish +something could be done to settle this affair of privateering. To my +reflection it appears to embrace a very important consideration of +'policy' as well as of law. A man does not always punish his embezzling +clerk because the law gives him authority to do so. The ocean rebel who +to-day captures our transports laden with soldiers, may to-morrow put +off twenty boats in the Potomac, and capture our men on the river +schooner. The Attorney General's opinion and the law of Judge Kelson in +New York hang the former; but military law will exchange the latter +whenever a satisfactory opportunity presents itself. + +_Mr. Lincoln._ The policy question has become a grave one. I have been +much struck by the letter of Judge Daly, of New York, to Senator +Harris--a most opportune, learned, and temperate paper. + +[_Enter an attendant._] + +_Mr. Lincoln._ Gen. McClellan is at the door. Invite him in. + +_Mr. Stanton._ By all means. He is 'the very head and front of our +offending.' + +[_Enter Gen. McClellan._] + +_Gen. McC._ Good evening, Mr. President and Cabinet. (_Speaking rapidly +and brusquely._) The bridge equipages are now entirely complete. Here is +a dispatch acknowledging the receipt of the last supply. With February +is ushered in the Southern spring, which, as you all know, _must_ end +'this winter of our discontent.' The Western V now is perfect from Cairo +and Harper's Ferry at the top to Cumberland Gap at the bottom. It is the +first letter in Victory. + +_Mr. Lincoln._ When the General becomes oratorical, then indeed has he +good news. + +_Gen. McC._ I have, sir; but, with great respect to all these our +friends, it must be for your own ears, to-night at least. + +_Mr. Lincoln (rising)._ We will withdraw to the library. Gentlemen, pray +come to some understanding during our absence respecting the reply to be +sent to M. Thouvenel's extraordinary secret dispatch. I will rejoin you +in-- + +_Gen, McC._ Seven minutes, Mr. President--those are all I can spare. +Good evening, gentlemen. + + * * * * * + +LITERARY NOTICES. + + +BORDER LINES OF KNOWLEDGE IN SOME PROVINCES OF MEDICAL SCIENCE. An +Introductory Lecture delivered before the Medical Class of Harvard +University, Nov. 6, 1861. By Oliver Wendell Holmes, M.D., Parkman +Professor of Anatomy and Physiology. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1861. + +It is a pleasant thing to realize, in reading a work like this, how +perfectly GENIUS is capable of rendering deeply interesting to the most +general reader topics which in the hands of mere _talent_ become +intolerably 'professional' and dry. The mind which has once flowed +through the golden land of poetry becomes, indeed, like the brook of +Scottish story, more or less alchemizing,--communicating an aureate hue +even to the wool of the sheep which it washes, and turning all its fish +into 'John Dorées.' And in doing this, far from injuring the practical +and market value of either, it positively improves them. For genius is +always general and human, and rises intuitively above conventional +poetry and conventional science, to that higher region where fact and +fancy become identified in truth. And such is the characteristic of the +lecture before us, in which solid, nutritive learning loses none of its +alimentary value for being cooked with all the skill of a _Ude_ or of a +_Francatelli_. Many passages in the work illustrate this power of +ĉsthetic illustration in a truly striking manner. + + In certain points of view, human anatomy may be considered an + almost exhausted science. From time to time some small organ, + which had escaped earlier observers, has been pointed out,--such + parts as the _tensor tarsi_, the otic ganglion, or the Pacinian + bodies; but some of the best anatomical works are those which have + been classic for many generations. The plates of the bones of + Vesalius, three centuries old, are still masterpieces of accuracy, + as of art. The magnificent work of Albinus on the muscles, + published in 1747, is still supreme in its department, as the + constant references of the most thorough recent treatise on the + subject--that of Theile--sufficiently show. More has been done in + unravelling the mysteries of the faciĉ, but there has been a + tendency to overdo this kind of material analysis. Alexander + Thompson split them up into cobwebs, as you may see in the plates + to Velpeau's Surgical Anatomy. I well remember how he used to + shake his head over the coarse work of Scarpa and Astley + Cooper;--_as if Denner, who painted the separate hairs of the head + and pores of the skin, in his portraits, had spoken lightly of the + pictures of Rubens and Vandyck_. + +Laymen can not decide, where doctors disagree; but there are few who +will not at least read this lecture with pleasure. + + +JOHN BRENT. By Major Theodore Winthrop. +Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1862. + +It is strange that so soon after the appearance of _Tom Tiddler's +Ground_, with its one good story of a wild gallop over the Plains, a +novel should have appeared in which the same scenes are reproduced,--the +whole full of wild-fire and gallop.--American life-fever and +prairie-dust,--uneasy contrasts of the feelings of gentlemen and +memories of _salons_ with pork-frying, hickory shirts, and whisky. The +excitement and movement of _John Brent_ are wonderful. Had the author +been an artist, we should have had in him an American Correggio,--with +strong lights and shadows, bright colors, figures of desperadoes +inspired with the air of gentlemen, and gentlemen, real or false, who +play their parts in no mild scenes. It is the first good novel which has +given us a picture of the West since California and Mormondom added to +it such vivid and extraordinary coloring, and since the 'ungodly +Pike'--that 'rough' of the wilderness--has taken the place of the +well-nigh traditional frontiersman. It is entertaining and exciting, and +will attain a very great popularity, having in it all the elements to +secure such success. Those who recognized in _Cecil Dreeme_ the +vividly-photographed scenes and characters of New York, will be pleased +to find the same talent employed on a wider field, among more vigorous +natures, and assuming a far more active development. Never have we felt +more keenly regret at the untimely decease of an author than for +WINTHROP, while perusing the pages of _John Brent_. There went out a +light which _might_ have shown, in Rembrandt shadows and gleams, the +most striking scenes of this country and this age. + + +MEMOIR, LETTERS AND REMAINS OF ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE. Translated from +the French, by the Translator of Napoleon's Correspondence with King +Joseph. In two volumes. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1862. + +No French writer enjoys a more truly enviable popularity in America than +M. DE TOCQUEVILLE. That he should have discussed the vital principles of +our political and social life, in a manner which not only made him no +enemies among us, but established his 'Democracy' as a classic +reference, is as wonderful as it was well deserved. The present work is, +however, a delightful one by itself, and will be read with a relish. We +sympathize with the translator (a most capable one by the way) when he +declares that he leaves his task with regret, fearing lest he never +again may have an opportunity of associating so long and so intimately +with such a mind. The typography and paper are of superior quality. + + +POEMS BY WILLIAM ALLINGHAM. ('Blue and gold.') First American Edition. +Boston: Ticknor & Fields. + +'Fresh, beautiful, and winsome.'--Among the living poets of England +there may be many who are popularly regarded as 'greater,' but certainly +there is none more unaffectedly natural or simply delightful than +WILLIAM ALLINGHAM. We are pleased at his probably unconscious Irish-isms +in his humbler lyrics, which have deservedly attained the proud eminence +of veritable 'Folk-songs' in the mouths of the people, and are touched +by the exquisite music, the tender feeling, and the beautiful picturing +which we find inspiring his lays. It requires but little knowledge of +them to be impressed with the evident love of his art with which our +Irish bard is filled. It would be difficult to find in the same number +of songs by any contemporary so little evident effort allied to such +success. + + +THE CHURCH MONTHLY. Edited by Rev. George M. Randall, D.D., and Rev. +F.D. Huntington, D.D. Vol. II. No. 6. Boston: E.P. Dutton & Co. 1861. + +This beautiful and scholarly magazine, which abounds in 'the elegant +expression of sound learning,' contains, in the present number, a noble +article on _Loyalty in the United States_, by Rev. B.B. BABBITT, which +we would gladly have read by every one. Almost amusing, and yet really +beautiful, is the following Latin version of 'Now I lay me down to +sleep,' by Rev. EDWARD BALLARD. + + _In Canabulis_. + + 'Nunc recline ut dormirem, + Precor te, O Domine, + Ut defendas animam; + Ante diem si obirem, + Precor te, O Domine, + Us servares animam. + Hoc que precor pro Iesu!' + + +WORKS OF BAYARD TAYLOR. Vols. I. & II. +New York: G.P. Putnam. + +BAYARD TAYLOR has the pleasant art of communicating personal experiences +in a personal way. It is not an unknown X, an invisible essence of +criticism, which travels for us in his sketches, but a veritable +traveler, speaking, Irving-like, of what he sees, so that we see and +feel with him. In these volumes, the ups and downs, the poverties and +even the ignorances of the young traveler are set forth--not +paraded--with great vividness, and we come to the end of each chapter as +if it were the scene of a good old-fashioned comedy. CORYATT without his +crudities, if we can imagine such a thing, suggests himself, with +alternations of 'HERODOTUS his gossip' without his craving credulity. +Perhaps these volumes explain more than any of their predecessors the +causes of TAYLOR'S popularity, and like them will do good work in +stimulating that love of travel which with many becomes the absorbing +passion sung by MULLER,--'_Wandern! ach! Wandern!_' + + +THOMAS HOOD'S WORKS. Edited by Epes +Sargent. New York: G.P. Putnam. 1862. + +A beautifully printed and bound volume, on the best paper, with two fine +illustrations,--one by HOPPIN, setting forth Miss Kilmansegg and her +golden leg with truly Teutonic grotesquerie. It contains Hood's Poems, +never made more attractively readable than in this edition. As a gift it +would be difficult to find a work which would be more generally +acceptable to either old or young. + + +NATIONAL MILITARY SERIES. Part First. +By Captain W.W. Van Ness. New York: +Carleton, 413 Broadway. + +A neat little work on military tactics, conforming to the army +regulations adopted and approved by the War Department of the United +States. It is thoroughly practical, 'being arranged on the plainest +possible principle of question and answer,' and being within the reach +of the dullest capacity, and thoroughly comprehensive of all required of +the soldier, will probably become, as its author trusts, 'a standard +military work.' + + +FORT LAFAYETTE; OR, LOVE AND SECESSION. +By Benjamin Wood. New York: +Carleton, 413 Broadway. 1862. + +Even while a tree is being blown down by the hurricane, small fungi or +other minute vegetation spring up in its rifts; every social shock of +the day is promptly scened and 'tagged' at the minor theatres; and shall +this war escape its novels? Mr. WOOD votes in the negative, and supplies +us with a somewhat sensational yet not badly manufactured article, +which, like the melo-dramas referred to, will be received with delight +by a certain line of patrons, and, we presume, be also relished. It is a +first-rate specimen of a second-rate romance. + + +HEROES AND MARTYRS: Notable Men of the Time. With Portraits on Steel. +New York: G.P. Putnam, 532 Broadway. C.T. Evans, General Agent. 1862. +Price 25 cents. + +The first number of a large quarto, exquisitely printed, biographical +series of sketches of the military and naval heroes, statesmen, and +orators, distinguished in the American crisis of 1861-62, and edited by +FRANK MOORE. The portraits of Commodore S.F. DUPONT and Major THEODORE +WINTHROP, in this first number, are excellent; while the literary +portion, devoted to WINFIELD SCOTT, deserves praise. The cheapness of +the publication is truly remarkable. + + +TRANSACTIONS of THE MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, FOR THE YEAR +1861. Boston: Henry W. Dutton & Son, Printers, Transcript Building. +1862. + +A work testifying to the great extent and efficacy of the labors of the +society, and one which, among a mass of merely business detail, contains +much interesting information. An article on the first discovery of the +heather in America, by EDWARD S. RAND, is well worth reading. Can any of +our wise men re-discover the lost Pictish art of making good beer from +that plant? + + * * * * * + +BOOKS RECEIVED. + + +DINAH. New York: Charles Scribner, 124 Grand Street. Boston: Brown & +Taggard. 1861. + +THE REBELLION RECORD. A Diary of American Events, with Documents, +Narratives, Illustrative Incidents, and Poetry. Edited by Frank Moore. +New York: G.P. Putnam. + +THE BROKEN ENGAGEMENT; OR, SPEAKING THE TRUTH FOR A DAY. By Mrs. Emma +D.E.N. Southworth. Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson. Price 25 cents. 1861. + +THE AMERICAN CRISIS: Its Cause, Significance, and Solution. By Americus. +Chicago, Illinois: Joshua R. Walsh, 1861. + + * * * * * + +EDITOR'S TABLE. + +Step by step the vast net is closing in on the enemy,--little by little +the vice is tightening,--and if no incalculable calamity overtake the +armies of the Union, it is but fair to assume that at no distant day the +rebel South will find itself in the last extremity, overwhelmed by +masses from without and demoralized by want of means within. Government +at present holds the winning cards,--if they are only skillfully played +the game is its own. It is impossible to study the map and the present +position of our forces with our resources, and not realize this. 'Hemmed +in!' is the despairing cry from Southern journals, which but the other +day insolently threatened to transfer the war to Northern soil, and to +sack New York and Philadelphia; and, with their proverbial fickleness +and fire, we find many of them half rebelling against the management of +Mr. JEFFERSON DAVIS and his coadjutors. + +This is all encouraging. On the other hand, we are beginning to feel +more acutely the miseries of war, and its enormous cost. The time is at +hand when the whole country will be called on to show its heroism by +patient endurance of many trials, and by _living_ as well as dying for +the great cause of liberty and Union. Let it all be done patiently and +without a murmur. Every suffering will be repaid tenfold in the hour of +triumph. Let it be remembered that as we suffer our chances of victory +increase, and that every pain felt by us is a death-pang to the foe. +Now, if ever, the Northern quality of stubborn endurance must show +itself. We, too, can suffer as heroically as the South boasts of doing. +It is this which in the course of events must inevitably give us the +victory, for no spirit of chivalry, no enthusiasm, can ultimately resist +sturdy Saxon pluck. The South, foolishly enough, has vaunted that it is +inspired by the blood and temper of the Latin races of Southern Europe, +and it can not be denied that their climate has given them the +impulsiveness of their ideal heroes. In this fiery impatience lies the +element which renders them incapable of sustaining defeat, and which, +after any disaster, must stimulate dissension among them. + +It should also be borne in mind that the most direct causes of our +sufferings all involve very practical benefits. The Southern press +taunts our soldiers with enlisting for pay. Let us admit that vast +numbers have truly been partially induced by the want of employment at +home to enter the army. It is a peculiar characteristic of all Northern +blood that it can and does combine intelligence and interest with the +strongest enthusiasm. No man was ever made a worse soldier by being +prudent, any more than by being a religious Christian. Taunts and jeers +can not affect the truth. The Protestant mechanic soldiery of Germany +during the wars of the Reformation, the men of Holland, and the Puritans +of England, were all reviled for the same cause--but they conquered. God +never punishes men for common-sense, nor did it ever yet blind zeal, +though it may prevent zeal from degenerating into sheer madness. The +war, while it has crippled industry, has also kept it alive,--it has +become a great industrial central force, giving work to millions. Again, +in the creation of a debt we shall find such a stimulus to industry as +we never before knew. Taxation, which kills a weak country crippled by +feudal laws and nightmared by an extravagant court and nobility, simply +induces fresh and vigorous effort to make additional profits in a land +of endless resources and of vast territory, where every man is free to +work at what he chooses. Taxation may come before us like a raging lion, +but, in the words of BEECHER, we shall find honey in the carcass. Let us +only cheerfully make the best of everything, and uphold the +administration and the war with a right good will, and we shall learn as +we never did before the extent of the incredible elasticity and +recuperative power of the American. + +It is evident that the present war will have a beneficial result in +making us acquainted with the real nature of this arrogant and peculiar +South-land. It was said that the Crimean struggle did much good by +dispelling the cloudy hobgoblin mystery which hung over Russia, and, +while it destroyed its prestige as a bugbear, more than compensated for +this, by giving it a proper place abreast of civilized nations in the +great march of industry and progress. Just so we are learning that the +South is perfectly capable of receiving white labor, that it is not +strangely and peculiarly different from the rest of the cis-tropical +regions, that the negro is no more its necessity than he is to Spain or +Italy, and that, in short, white labor may march in, undisturbed, so +soon as industry ceases to be regarded as disgraceful in it. We have +learned the vital necessity of union and identity of feeling between all +the States, and found out the folly of suffering petty local state +attachments to blind us to the glory of citizenship in a nation, which +should cover a continent. We have learned what the boasted philanthropy +of England is worth when put to the test of sacrifice, and also how the +British lion can put forth the sharpest and most venomous of feline +claws when an opportunity presents itself of ruining a possible rival. +More than this, we have learned to be self-reliant, to take greater and +more elevated views of political duty, and to be heroic without being +extravagant. Since we were a republic no one year has witnessed such +national and social progress among us as the past. We have had severe +struggles, and we have surmounted them; we have had hard lessons, and we +have learned them; we have had trials of pride, and we have profited by +them. And as we contend for principles based in reason and humanity and +confirmed by history, it follows that we must inevitably come forth +gloriously triumphant, if we but bravely persevere in enforcing those +principles. + +The large amount of political information regarding the South and its +resources which has been of late widely disseminated in the North, is a +striking proof that, disguise the question as we will, the extension of +free labor is, from a politico-economical point of view (which is, in +fact, the only sound one), the real, or at least ultimate basis of this +struggle. The matter in hand is the restitution of the Union, laying +everything else aside; but the great fact, which will not step aside, is +the consideration whether ten white men or one negro are to occupy a +certain amount of soil. There is no evading this finality, there is no +impropriety in its discussion, and it SHALL be discussed, so long as +free speech or a free pen is left in the North. So far from interfering +with the war, it is a stimulus to the thousands of soldiers who hope +eventually to settle in the South in districts where their labor will +not be compared with that of 'slaves,' and it is right and fit that they +should anticipate the great and inevitable truth in all its relations to +their own welfare and that of the country. + +We cheerfully agree with those who try with so much energy that +Emancipation is not the matter in hand, and quite as cheerfully assent +when they insist that the enemy, and not the negro, demands all our +present energy. But this has nothing to do with the great question, +whether slavery is or is not to ultimately remain as a great barrier to +free labor in regions where free labor is clamoring for admission. That +is all we ask, nothing more. The instant the North and West are assured +that at some time, though remote, and by any means or encouragements +whatever, which expediency may dictate, the great cause of secession and +sedition--will be removed from our land, then there will be witnessed an +enthusiasm compared to which that of the South will be but lukewarm. +That this will be done, no rational person now doubts, or that +government will cheerfully act on it so soon as the fortunes of war or +the united voice of the people strengthen it in the good work. And until +it _is_ done, let every intelligent freeman bear it in mind, thinking +intelligently and acting earnestly, so that the great work may be +advanced rapidly and carried out profitably and triumphantly. + +The leading minds of the South, shrewder than our Northern +anti-emancipation half traitors and whole dough-faces, foreseeing the +inevitable success of ultimate emancipation, have given many signs of +willingness to employ even it, if needs must be, as a means of +effectually achieving their 'independence.' They have baited their hooks +with it to fish for European aid--they have threatened it armed, as a +last resort of desperation, if conquered by the North. Knowing as well +as we that the days of slavery are numbered, they have used it as a +pretense for separation, they would just as willingly destroy it to +maintain that separation. Since the war began, projects of home +manufactures, and other schemes involving the encouragement of free +labor, have been largely discussed in the South,--and yet in spite of +this, thousands among us violently oppose Emancipation. In plain, +truthful words they uphold the ostensible platform of the enemy, and yet +avow themselves friends of the Union. + +We have said it before, we repeat it: we ask for no undue haste, no +unwise measures, nothing calculated to irritate or disorganize or impede +the measures which government may now have in hand. But we hold firmly +that Emancipation be calmly regarded as a measure which _must_ at some +time be fully carried out. Be it limited for the time, or for years, to +the Border States, be it assumed partially or entirely under the +modified form of apprenticeship, be it proclaimed only in Texas or South +Carolina, it has in some way a claim to recognition, and _must_ be +recognized. Its friends are too many to be ignored in the day of +settlement. + + * * * * * + +It is proper that every detail of contract corruption should be brought +fully to light, and the country owes a debt of gratitude to Mr. DAWES +for his manly attack on the wretches who have crippled the war, robbed +the soldier, swindled the tax-payers, and aided the enemy by their +wicked rapacity. Let it be remembered that whatever his sentiments may +have been, every man who has been instrumental, directly or indirectly, +in cheating the treasury and the my during this period of distress, has +been one of its enemies, and far more deadly than if he had been openly +enlisted under the banners of JEFFERSON DAVIS. Were we anything but the +best-natured and most enduring public in the world, such revelations as +have by the been made would long since have driven these rapacious +traitors beyond sea or into the congenial Dixie for which they have +indirectly labored. + +We have been accustomed to read much since infancy of the sufferings of +our army during the Revolution,--how they were hatless, ragged, starved, +and badly armed. We have shuddered at the pictures of the snow at Valley +Forge, tracked by the blood from the feet of shoeless soldiers. Yet, in +the year 1861, with abundant means and with all the sympathy and aid of +a wealthy country, there has been more suffering in the army than the +Revolution witnessed, and it was due in a great measure to men who +hastened to the spoil like vultures to their prey. If the army has not +in advanced, if proper weapons are not even yet ready, let the reader +reflect how much the army is still crippled owing to imperfect supplies, +and have patience. + +It is not the soldier alone who has been robbed by the contractor. The +manufacturer who sees only a government order between himself and +failure, and who is willing to do anything to keep his operatives +employed, is asked to supply inferior goods at a low price. He may take +the order or leave it,--if he will not, another will,--and with it is +expected to take the risk of a return. When a man sees ruin before him, +he will often yield to such temptations. The contractor takes the goods, +sells them if he can, and pockets the profits, sometimes ten times over +what the manufacturer gains. He thereby robs outright, not only the +soldier, but also the operatives who make the goods, since the +manufacturer must reduce their wages to the lowest living point, in +order to save himself. + +It will all come to light. There is a discovery of all evil, and there +is a grace which money cannot remove, neither from the thief nor from +his children. And we rejoice to see that so much is being made known, +and that in all probability the public will be fully informed as to who +were principally guilty in these enormous and treasonable corruptions. + + * * * * * + +It is stated, on good authority, that the only objection urged by the +President to adopting the policy of Emancipation, is the danger which +would be thereby incurred of effectually losing the allegiance of the +loyal slave-holders in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri. + +The obvious answer to this is, that by paying these loyal slave-holders +for their chattels they could not fail to become firmer friends than +ever. When we reflect on the extremely precarious tenure of all such +property on the Border it becomes apparent that the man must be a +lunatic indeed to hope for the permanency of the institution in the +tobacco States. Since the war began nearly the two-thirds of the slaves +in Missouri have changed their _habitat_,--about one-half of the number +having been 'sold South,' while the other moiety have traveled North, +without reference to ownership. + +The administration need be under no apprehension as to the popularity of +this measure. It would be hailed with joy by millions. The capitalists +of our Northern cities, who now await with impatience some indications +of A REGULAR POLICY, will welcome with enthusiasm a proposition which +would at once render the debatable land no longer debatable, and which +would effectually disorganize the entire South, by rendering numbers +desirous of selling their slaves in order to secure what must sooner or +later be irrecoverably lost. If government has a policy in this matter, +it is time that the public were informed of it. The public is ready to +be taxed to any extent, it is making tremendous sacrifices; all that it +asks in return is some nucleus around which it may gather,--a settled +principle by which its victories in war may be made to form the basis of +a permanent peace. + + * * * * * + +The English press, statesmen and orators have been pleased to regard our +democratic government as a failure. + +But we have at least one advantage. When an enormous wrong is +perpetrated on the people by a secretary, _he can be hustled out of the +way_, and the accomplices be punished. + +In England we have seen of late the most enormous political and social +outrage of the century coolly committed, without the slightest regard to +consequences, and without the slightest fear of any punishment whatever. + +The truth has come to light, and every investigation, in the opinion of +the ablest and most sagacious men, confirms the assertion that the late +MASON and SLIDELL difficulty was simply an immense stock-jobbing +swindle, played in the most heartless manner on this country and on +England, without heed as to the terrible consequences. + +The London _Times_, as is well known, is the organ of the ROTHSCHILDS. +During the late iniquitous war-flurry it acted perfectly in concert with +Lord PALMERSTON. While that gentleman kept back _for three weeks_ +dispatches, which, if published, would have had the immediate effect of +establishing a peaceful feeling, his Hebrew accomplices bought literally +right and left of securities of every kind. Grand pickings they had; +everything had tumbled down. England was roused by the _Times_ to a +fury; a feeling of fierce injury was excited in this country, which an +age will not now allay; and right in the midst of this, when one word +might have changed the whole, the official ministerial organ _explicitly +denied the existence of those 'peace' dispatches_ which have since come +to light! + +Let us anticipate some of the results of this precious +Palmerston-Hebrew-_Times_ swindle. + +It has cost England twenty millions of dollars. + +It has aroused such a feeling in this country against England as no one +can remember. + +It has effectually killed the American market for English goods, and put +the tariff up to prohibition _en permanence_. + +It has, by doing this, struck the most deadly blow at English prosperity +which history has ever witnessed; for all that was needed to stimulate +American industry up to the pitch of competing with England in foreign +markets was such a prohibitory tariff as would compel us to manufacture +for ourselves what we formerly bought. + +Who will say now that a republic does not work as well as a monarchy? + + * * * * * + +We have read with pleasure a recently written and extensively +republished article by SINCLAIR TOUSEY, of New York, condemnatory of the +proposed stamp tax, and in which we most cordially concur; not because +it is a tax materially affecting the interests of publishers, but +because, as Mr. TOUSEY asserts, the diffusion of knowledge among the +people is a powerful element of strength _in government itself_. In +these times, it is essential, far more than during peace, that the +newspaper should circulate very freely, stimulating the public, aiding +government and the war, and keeping the mind of the country in living +union. Nothing would more rapidly produce a torpor--and there is too +much torpor now--than a measure which would have the effect of killing +off perhaps one half of the country press, the great mass of which is +barely able to live as it is. 'Let the press be as free as possible. Let +it be free from onerous taxation, and left unfettered by special duties +to do its just work.' This is a war for freedom, and the test of freedom +is a free press. + + * * * * * + +We are indebted to a valued correspondent in Illinois for the following +communication, setting forth the state of affairs in Southern Missouri +during the past summer. Few of our readers are ignorant that since that +time the region in question has been 'harried and shorn' even to +desolation by the brigands of Secessia. + + In conversing lately with Dr. R., who fled for his life, last + July, from Ripley County, Southern Missouri, I collected some + information which may not be unacceptable to your readers. + + Dr. R. states that early last summer the citizens of Southern + Missouri began gathering into companies of armed men opposed to + the general government, and that it was a fear that the general + government would not protect their lives and property which + induced great numbers of really Union men to take sides with the + rebels. They saw their country thronging with secession soldiers; + were told it was the will of the State government that they enlist + for the protection of the State: if they did not do this + voluntarily, they would be drafted; and all drafted ones would in + camp take a subordinate position, have to perform the cooking and + washing, in short, all the drudgery for those who volunteered. + This falsehood drove hundreds of the ignorant Missourians into the + rebel ranks. Captain LOWE, afterwards Col. LOWE, who was killed at + the battle of Fredericktown, was the recruiting officer in Ripley + and its adjoining counties. He arrested Dr. R. on the 4th of July, + on a charge of expressing sentiments 'dangerous to the welfare of + the community.' Dr. R. was tried by a court-martial, in presence + of the three hundred soldiers then assembled. Witnesses against + the Doctor were produced, but he was not allowed time to summon + witnesses in his behalf, nor to procure counsel. One novel + circumstance in the trial was occasioned by the absence of any + justice of the peace to administer the usual oath to the + witnesses. None were procurable, from the fact that all had + resigned, refusing to act officially under a government they had + repudiated. In this dilemma the prisoner came to their relief. + 'Gentlemen, I am a justice of the peace, as most of you already + know, and, as I have not yet resigned, I will swear in the + witnesses for you.' 'Wall, I reckon he kin act as justice afore + he's convicted,' suggested one of the crowd. So the Doctor + administered the oath in the usual solemn manner. This + self-possession and fearlessness seemed to have an effect on his + judges, for, after the testimony, he was permitted to + cross-question the witnesses and plead his own cause. He was able + to neutralize some of the charges against him. The jury, after an + absence of fifteen minutes, returned verdict that 'as there was + nothing proved against the prisoner which would make him dangerous + to the community, he was permitted to be discharged. But,' added + the foreman, 'I am instructed by the committee to say they believe + Dr. R. to be a Black Republican, and to tell him that if he wants + to utter Black Republican sentiments, he has got to go somewhere + else to do it.' It was well known the Doctor had voted for + DOUGLAS. But here followed an animated conversation between the + prisoner and LOWE'S men as to what constituted Black + Republicanism; the result of which was, as the Doctor turned to + depart, Captain LOWE informed him he was re-arrested! + + By the influence of some of the soldiers, the prisoner succeeded + next day in effecting his escape. Traveling by night and + concealing himself by day, he finally reached the federal lines in + safety. His family were not permitted to follow him, and did not + succeed in eluding the vigilance of their enemies and joining him + until the middle of January. When a Union man escapes them, the + rebels are always opposed to the removal of his wife and children, + as, by retaining them, they hope to get the husband and father + again into their hands. And, as all communication by letter is cut + off, many a man, during the last six months, has stolen back to + see his family at the risk of his life, and lost it. + + Dr. R. was the first man arrested in Ripley County; but LOWE + immediately began a lively persecution of suspected Unionists. + Some escaped with life, their enemies being satisfied with + scourging and plundering them, but scores were hung. LOWE'S + soldiers furnished and equipped themselves by robbing Union houses + and the country stores. + + Many suspected Union men shielded themselves by denouncing others, + giving information of the property of others, and being forward in + insulting and quartering lawless soldiers upon defenceless + families. So that, Dr. R. states, there are created between + neighbors, all through that section, feuds which will never cease + to exist. Many a man has suffered family wrongs from his neighbor + which he thirsts to go back to revenge, which he swears yet to + revenge, and which he feels nothing but the blood of the offender + can revenge! And should peace be declared to-morrow, a social war + would still exist in Missouri! + + People dwelling in the free States, where the schoolhouse is not + abolished, where the laws still live and restrain, can have no + conception of the state of society where the whole community has + returned suddenly to savage life; a life wherein the reaction from + a former restraint renders the viciously disposed far more + intensely barbarous than his red brother of the plain. + + LOWE'S men, and all similarly recruited by order of ex-Governor + JACKSON, remained in service six months, and were to be paid in + State scrip. But as that was worthless, they never received + anything in rations, clothing, or money, but what they plundered + from their fellow-citizens. Many of these state rights soldiers + have since enlisted in the Confederate army; but Confederate paper + being fifty per cent. below par, and not rising, the legitimate + pay of the Southern soldier is likely to be small. + + In Northern Arkansas, all males between fifteen and forty-five + years of age have been ordered to be ready for the Confederate + service when called upon. This has caused a fear of failure in + next year's crops from scarcity of men in that section. There is + great suffering among them now. Salt rose to $25 a sack. The + authorities prohibited the holders from charging more than $12, + the present price. Pins are $1.50 per paper; jeans $5 per yard; + and everything else in proportion. + + One word in comment. Every additional fact of the deplorable + condition of things in the slave States is an additional reason + why the North should firmly meet the cause of this misery. If the + North should have the manhood to strike a blow at slavery _now_, + still a generation must pass before harmony would ensue; but if + the North _evades and dallies_, scores of generations must live + and die before America sees unbroken peace again. + + * * * * * + +While the war goes on, the contrabands go off. A writer in the Norfolk +_Day Book_ complains that slaves are escaping from that city in great +numbers, asserting that they get away through the instrumentality of +_secret societies_ in Norfolk, which hold their meetings weekly, and in +open day. No one can doubt that this war is clearing the Border of its +black chattels in double-quick time. Why not strike boldly, and secure +it by offering to pay all its loyal slave-holders for their property? Of +one thing, let the country rest assured--the friends of Emancipation +will not brook much longer delay. It MUST and SHALL be carried +through,--_and we are strong enough to do it_. + + * * * * * + +Thurlow Weed grows apace, and occasionally writes a good thing from +London--as, for instance, in the following:-- + + At breakfast, a few days since, a distinguished member of + Parliament, who has been much in America, remarked, with emphasis, + that he had formerly entertained a high opinion of 'JUDGE LYNCH,' + looking with much favor upon that species of impromptu + jurisprudence known as 'Lynch law,' but since it failed to hang + FLOYD, COBB and THOMPSON, of BUCHANAN'S cabinet, he had ignored + and was disgusted with the system. + +What would the distinguished member have said had he been familiar with +the Catiline steamer case, the mysteries of shoddy contracts, the +outfitting of the Burnside expedition, and innumerable other +rascalities? The gentleman was right,--Lynch law has proved a failure; +and, if we err not, another kind of law has of late months been not very +far behind it in inefficiency. Our Southern foes have at least one noble +trait--they hang their rascals. + + * * * * * + +'_Non dum_,' 'not yet,' was the motto of a great king, who, when the +time came, shook Europe with his victories. 'Not yet,' says the +Christian, struggling through trial and temptation towards the peace +which passeth understanding and a heavenly crown. 'Not yet,' says the +brave reformer, fighting through lies and petty malice, and all the +meanness of foes lying in wait, ere he can convince the world that he is +in the right. 'Not yet,' says the soldier, as he marches his weary +round, waiting to be relieved, and musing on the battle and the war for +which he has pledged his life and his honor--and they are a world to +_him_. 'Not yet,' says every great man and woman, laying hands to every +noble task in time, which is to roll onward in result into eternity. +Wait, wait, thou active soul,--even in thy most vigorous activity let +thy work be one of waiting, and of great patience in thy fiercest toil. +There will come a day of triumph, when the fresh wind will banish the +heat, and fan the laurel on thy brow. Such is the true moral of the +following lyric:-- + + FALLEN. + + BY EDWARD S. RAND. + + Blow gently, Oh ye winter winds, + Along the ferny reaches, + Nor whirl the yellow leaves which cling + Upon the saddened beeches; + And gently breathe upon the hills + Where spring's first violets perished,-- + Died like the budding summer hopes + Our hearts too fondly cherished. + + Oh memory, bring not back the past, + To brim our cup of sorrow; + The drear to-day creeps on to bring + A drearier to-morrow. + Can streaming eyes and aching hearts + Glow at the battle's story, + Or they who stake their all and lose + Exult in fame and glory? + + Oh, lay them tenderly to rest, + Those for their country dying,-- + Let breaking hearts and trembling lips + Pour the sad dirge of sighing. + Yet louder than the requiem raise + The song of exultation, + That the great heritage is ours + _To die to save the nation_. + + In patience wait, nor think that yet + Shall Right and Freedom perish, + Nor yet Oppression trample down + The heritage we cherish! + For still remember, precious things + Are won by stern endeavor,-- + Though in the strife our heart-strings break, + The Right lives on forever. + + * * * * * + +When you write let your chirography be legible. Strive not overmuch +after beauty of finish, make not your _a_'s like unto _u_'s or your +_o_'s like _v_'s; let not your heart be seduced by the loveliness of +flourishes, and be not tempted of long-tailed letters. Above all, write +your own name distinctly,--which is more than many do, and much more +than was done by the gentleman described in the following letter from a +kindly correspondent:-- + + MADISON, WIS. + + DEAR CONTINENTAL: + + The holder of any considerable quantity of Wisconsin currency is + liable not only to the occasional loss consequent upon the + absquatulation of a tricksy wild-cat, but also to great perplexity + as to the name of the gentleman who countersigns the bills. These + inscrutable counter-signatures are accomplished by ROBERT MENZIES, + our excellent Deputy Bank Comptroller. His cabalistic 'R. Menzies' + does not greatly resemble a well-executed specimen of copperplate + engraving. The initial 'R' is always plain enough, but the + 'Menzies' is sometimes read Moses, and sometimes Muggins, and is + always liable to be translated Meazles. + + Mr. MENZIES is a Scotchman, brimful of Caledonian lore and + enthusiasm. His penmanship is not always so sublimely obscure as + his performances on bank-paper would indicate; but in its best + estate it is capable of sometimes more than one reading. Witness + the following instance: In the winter of 1858 and '9, Mr. MENZIES + delivered a very interesting lecture, before a literary society, + in Prairie du Chien; subject, THE SONG-WRITERS OF SCOTLAND. Mr. M. + not residing at Prairie du Chien, the lecture was, of course, the + subject of a preliminary correspondence. At the meeting of the + society next previous to the one when the lecture was delivered, + Elder BRUNSON, the president, announced that he had received a + letter from Mr. MENZIES, accepting the invitation to lecture + before the society, and naming as the subject of his lecture 'THE + LONG WINTERS or SCOTLAND.' + + * * * * * + +Readers who are afflicted with the isothermal doctrine may experience +some benefit from the perusal of a letter for which we are indebted to a +friend not very far 'out West:'-- + + SPRINGFIELD, MASS. + + DEAR CONTINENTAL: + + I have a friend who would be sound on the goose, as I verily + believe, and a patriotic anti-Jeff Davis platform Emancipator, if + he hadn't unfortunately picked up a fine learned word. That word + is + + ISOTHERMAL. + + And that word he carries about as a hen carries a boiled + potato--something too big to swallow but nice to peck at. And he + pecks at it continually. + + 'I could admit that the slaves should be free,' he says, 'but then + nature, you know, has fixed an isothermal line. She has + isothermally deemed that south of that line the black is + isothermally fitted to isothermalize or labor according to the + climate as a slave.' + + 'Good,' I replied. 'So you admit that all anthropological + characteristics as developed by climate are quite right?' + + [He liked that word 'anthropological,' and assented.] + + 'Good again. Well, then, you must admit that to judge by + statistics there is an isothermal line of unchastity, or "what + gods call gallantry," and further north, one of drunkenness? How + much morality is there in a tropical climate? How many temperate + men to the dozen in Scandinavia or Russia?' + + My isothermalist attempted a weak parry, but failed. When he + recovers I will inform you. + + YOURS TRULY. + + P.S. I am preparing a series of tables by which I hope to prove + the existence of the following isothermalities: + + A Lager-beer line. + A Tobacco-chewing line. + A reading of TUPPER and COVENTRY PATMORE line. + A CREAM CHEESE line. + A Doughface line. + And a Clothes line. + + * * * * * + +We are indebted to R. WOLCOTT for the following sketch of War Life:-- + + 'TAKEN PRISONER.' + + It was a terrible battle. Amid the rattle of musketry and + whistling of bullets, the clashing of sabres, the unearthly cries + of wounded horses and the wild shouting of men, the clear voice of + Lieutenant Hugh Gregory rang out: 'Rally! my brave boys, rally, + and avenge the Captain's death!' + + 'Not quite so fast, sir,' quietly remarked a rebel officer, + bringing his sword to a salute; 'you observe that your men are + retreating and you are my prisoner.' + + Hugh saw that it was so, and with a heavy heart gave himself up. + + 'Hurrah for the stars and stripes!' shouted a brave young soldier, + attempting to raise himself upon his elbow, but falling back, + exhausted from the loss of blood. + + 'Damn you, I'll stripe you!' exclaimed a brutal fellow, rising in + his stirrups and aiming a blow at the wounded man. + + 'Dare to strike a helpless man!' shouted his commander; and he + warded off the blow with a stroke that sent the fellow's sabre + spinning into the air. 'Now dismount, and help him if you can.' + But it was too late; the brave soul had gone out with those last + words. + + 'Lieutenant,' said the rebel officer, whom we will know as Captain + Dumars, 'I see that you are wounded. Let me assist you upon this + horse, and one of my sergeants will show you the surgeon's + quarters.' And he bound up the wounded arm as well as he could, + helped him upon the horse, and, with a playful _Au revoir_, rode + on. + + Hugh's wound was too painful, and he was too weak and tired, to + wonder or to think clearly of anything; he only felt grateful that + his captor was a gentleman, and quietly submitted himself to the + sergeant's guidance. + + The battle was ended,--in whose favor it does not matter, so far + as this story is concerned,--and Captain Dumars obtained + permission to take Lieutenant Gregory to his mother's house until + he should recover from his wound or be exchanged. + + When Hugh found himself established in a pleasant little chamber + with windows looking out upon the flower-garden and the woods + beyond, fading away into his own loved North land, he thought + that, after all, it was not so terrible to be a prisoner of war. + He was decidedly confirmed in this opinion when he occasionally + caught a glimpse of the lithe form of Annie Dumars flitting about + among the flowers; and being somewhat of a philosopher, in his + way, he determined to take it easy. + + The presence of one of the 'Hessians' at Mrs. Dumars' house gave + it much the same attraction that is attached to a menagerie. + Feminine curiosity is an article that the blockade can not keep + out of Dixie, and many were the morning calls that Annie received, + and many and various were the methods of pumping adopted to learn + something of the prisoner,--how he looked, how he acted, how he + was dressed, and so forth. + + 'Impertinence!' he heard Annie exclaim, as one of these gossips + passed through the gate, after putting her through a more minute + inquisition than usual. And he heard dainty shoe-heels impatiently + tapping along the hall, and when she brought in a bouquet of fresh + flowers he saw in her face traces of vexation. + + 'I seem to be quite a "What-is-it?"' + + 'Shame!'--and she broke off a stem and threw it out of the window + with altogether unnecessary vehemence. + + 'Splendid girl!' thought Hugh; 'where have I seen her?' + + And he turned his thoughts back through the years that were past, + calling up the old scenes; the balls, with their mazy, passionate + waltzes, and their promenades on the balcony in the moonlight's + mild glow, when sweet lips recited choice selections from Moore, + and white hands swayed dainty sandal-wood fans with the potency of + the most despotic sceptres; the sleigh-rides, with their wild + rollicking fun, keeping time to the merry music of the bells and + culminating in the inevitable upset; the closing exercises of the + seminary, when blooming girls, in the full efflorescence of + hot-house culture, make a brief but brilliant display before + retiring to the domestic sphere--Oh, yes-- + + 'Miss Dumars, were you not at the ---- Institute last year?' + + 'Yes.' + + 'Then you know my cousin,--Jennie Gregory?' + + 'Yes, indeed:--and you are her cousin. How stupid in me not to + recollect it.' + + And she told him how that 'Jennie' was her dearest friend, and + how in their intimacy of confidence she had told her all about + him, and shown her his picture, and--in short, Hugh and Annie + began to feel much better acquainted. + + It was a few days after this that Hugh sat by the open window, + listening to Annie reading from the virtuous and veracious + _Richmond Enquirer_. Distressed by what he heard, not knowing + whether it was true or not, he begged her to cease torturing him. + She laid aside the paper with an emphatic 'I don't believe it!' + that could not but attract his attention, and he looked up in + surprise. + + 'I must tell you, Mr. Gregory--I have been tortured long enough by + this forced secrecy--_I am a rebel!_' + + 'That is the name we know you by,' he replied, smiling. + + 'But I am a _rebellious_ rebel. Yes,' she added, rising, 'I detest + with all my heart this wicked, causeless rebellion. I detest the + very names of the leaders of it. And yet I am compelled to go + about with lies upon my lips, and to act lies, till I detest + myself more than all else! I have consoled myself somewhat by + making a flag and worshiping it in secret. I will get it and show + it to you.' + + 'This,' she continued, returning with a miniature specimen of the + dear old flag, 'a _real_ flag, the emblem of a real living nation, + must be kept hidden, its glorious lustre fading away in the dark, + while that,' pointing to where the 'stars and bars' were + fluttering in the breeze, 'that miserable abortion is insolently + flaunted before our eyes, nothing about it original or + suggestive--except its stolen colors, reminding us of the + financial operations of Floyd! Oh, if hope could be prophecy--if a + life that is an unceasing prayer for the success of the federal + arms could avail, it would not be long before this bright banner + would wave in triumph over all the land, its starry folds gleaming + with a purer, more glorious light than ever!' + + And as she stood there, with eyes uplifted as in mute prayer, and + fervently kissed the silken folds of the flag, Hugh wished that + his station in life had been that of an American flag. + + Time passed on, and the prisoner was to be exchanged for a rebel + officer of equal rank. Captain Dumars brought him the + intelligence, and was surprised at the seeming indifference with + which he received it. + + 'You don't seern particularly elated by the prospect of getting + among the Yankees again.' + + 'I am eager to take my sword again; but my stay here has been far + from unpleasant. You, Captain, have been away so much that I have + not been able to thank you for making my imprisonment so pleasant. + I am at a loss to know why you have shown such favor to me + especially.' + + 'This is the cause,' replied the Captain, laying his finger upon a + breast-pin that Hugh always wore upon his coat, at the same time + unbuttoning his own; 'you see that I wear the same.' + + It was a simple jewel, embellished only by a few Greek characters, + but it was the emblem of one of those college societies, in which + secrecy and mystery add a charm to the ties of brotherhood. And it + was this fraternal tie, stronger than that of Free-Masonry, + because more exclusive, that made Hugh's a pleasant imprisonment, + and made him happy in the love of one faithful among the + faithless, loyal among many traitors. For of course the reader has + surmised--for poetic justice demands it--that Hugh fell + desperately in love with Annie, and Annie _ditto_ Hugh. How he + told the tender tale, and how she answered him,--whether with the + conventional quantity of blushes and sighs, or not,--is none of + your business, reader, or mine; so don't ask me any questions. + + It was the evening of the day before Hugh's departure. They, Annie + and Hugh, sat in the little porch, silent and sad, watching the + shadows slowly creeping up the mountain side towards its + sun-kissed summit, like a sombre pall of sorrow shrouding a bright + hope. + + 'And to-morrow you are free.' + + 'No, Annie, not free. My sword will be free, but my heart will + still linger here, a prisoner. But when the war is over, and the + old flag restored--' + + 'Then,' and here her eyes were filled with the glorious light of + prophetic hope, '_I_ will be _your_ prisoner.' + + And still Hugh is fighting for the dear old flag; and still Annie + is praying for it, and waiting for the sweet imprisonment. + +There has been many as sweet a romance as this, reader, acted ere this, +during the war. Would that all captivity were as pleasant! + + * * * * * + +'I would not live alway,' says the hymn, and the sentiment has, like +every great truth, been set forth in a thousand forms. One of the most +truly beautiful which we have ever met is that of + + THE CITY OF THE LIVING. + + In a long-vanished age, whose varied story + No record has to-day, + So long ago expired its grief and glory-- + There flourished, far away, + + In a broad realm, whose beauty passed all measure + A city fair and wide, + Wherein the dwellers lived in peace and pleasure + And never any died. + + Disease and pain and death, those stern marauders, + Which mar our world's fair face, + Never encroached upon the pleasant borders + Of that bright dwelling-place. + + No fear of parting and no dread of dying + Could ever enter there-- + No mourning for the lost, no anguished crying + Made any face less fair. + + Without the city's walls, death reigned as ever, + And graves rose side by side-- + Within, the dwellers laughed at his endeavor, + And never any died. + + O, happiest of all earth's favored places! + O, bliss, to dwell therein-- + To live in the sweet light of loving faces + And fear no grave between! + + To feel no death-damp, gathering cold and colder, + Disputing life's warm truth-- + To live on, never lonelier or older, + Radiant in deathless youth! + + And hurrying from the world's remotest quarters + A tide of pilgrims flowed + Across broad plains and over mighty waters, + To find that blest abode, + + Where never death should come between, and sever + Them from their loved apart-- + Where they might work, and will, and live forever, + Still holding heart to heart. + + And so they lived, in happiness and pleasure, + And grew in power and pride, + And did great deeds, and laid up stores of treasure, + And never any died. + + And many yers rolled on, and saw them striving + With unabated breath, + And other years still found and left them living, + And gave no hope of death. + + Yet listen, hapless soul whom angels pity, + Craving a boon like this-- + Mark how the dwellers in the wondrous city + Grew weary of their bliss. + + One and another, who had been concealing + The pain of life's long thrall, + Forsook their pleasant places, and came stealing + Outside the city wall, + + Craving, with wish that brooked no more denying, + So long had it been crossed, + The blessed possibility of dying,-- + The treasure they had lost. + + Daily the current of rest-seeking mortals + Swelled to a broader tide, + Till none were left within the city's portals, + And graves grew green outside. + + Would it be worth the having or the giving, + The boon of endless breath? + Ah, for the weariness that comes of living + There is no cure but death! + + Ours were indeed a fate deserving pity, + Were that sweet rest denied; + And few, methinks, would care to find the city + Where never any died! + + * * * * * + +Does the reader recall DEAN SWIFT'S account of the immortal Strudlbrugs +and their undying miseries--it is in the City of Laputu, we believe. +Their life was passed as if in such a city. Ah, death! it is, after all, +only birth in another form. And to step to the ridiculous, we are +reminded of an + + EPITAPH IN A DEDHAM CHURCHYARD. + + I've paid the debt which all must pay, + Though awful to my view, + On frightful rocks where billows poured, + And broken buildings flew. + The cruel Death has conquered me; + The victory is but small, + For I shall rise and live again,-- + And Death himself shall fall. + + * * * * * + +There are not many of those who 'read the papers,' who have not met from +time to time with the quaint experiences of THE FAT CONTRIBUTOR,--a +gentleman who, in the columns of the _Buffalo Republican_, and more +recently in the spicy _Cleveland Plain Dealer_, has often wished that +his too, too solid flesh would melt. It is with pleasure that we welcome +him to our pages in the following original sketch:-- + +THE 'FAT CONTRIBUTOR' AS A GYMNAST. + + 'But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks.' + + RICHARD III. + + Says the cardinal in the play--'In the bright lexicon of youth + there's no such word as fail.' Without stopping to discuss the + reliability of a lexicon that omits words in that careless manner, + I must say that in the dictionary of fat men who aspire to + gymnastics that word distinctly occurs. I had my misgivings, but + was over-persuaded by my friends. They said gymnastics would + develop muscular strength, thus enabling me to _hold_ my flesh in + case it attempted to run away. They added, as an additional + incentive, that the spectacle of a man who weighs nearly three + hundred pounds, doing the horizontal ladder, climbing a slack-rope + hand over hand, or suspending his weight by his little finger, + would be a 'big thing.' I asked them how I was to attain that end. + 'By practice,' was the reply; 'practice makes perfect.' It + did;--it made a perfect fool of me, as you shall see. + + I never had much taste for feats requiring physical effort, except + lifting--lifting with my teeth. The amount of beef, pork, mutton + and vegetables that I have lifted in that way is immense. After + hearing Dr. WINSHIP lecture, I practiced lifting a flour barrel + with a man inside of it, and finally succeeded in holding it out + at arm's length. [I may remark incidentally that the barrel _had + no heads in it_.] + + To return to the case in hand (and a case in hand is worth two in + the bush): I was deluded into purchasing a season ticket in the + gymnasium, and one afternoon I sought the locality. A number were + exercising in various ways, and I laid off my coat preparatory to + 'going in.' As I bent down to adjust a pair of slippers, I heard + some rapid steps behind me, and the next instant a pair, of hands + and a man's head fell squarely on my back, a pair of heels smote + together in the air, and with a somersault the gymnast regained + the ground several feet in advance of me. I assumed an indignant + perpendicular, when the fellow turned with well-feigned amazement + and stammered forth an apology. Bent over as I was, he had + mistaken me for a heavily padded 'wooden horse,' which formed a + portion of the apparatus. + + Desiring to be weighed from time to time, in order that I might + note the effect of gymnastics upon my tonnage, I asked one, who + was resting after prodigious efforts to wrench his arms off at a + lifting machine, if there were scales convenient. He surveyed me + for a moment--looked puzzled--and finally replied + hesitatingly,--'Y-e-s, I think we can manage it.' He led the way + to a window overlooking the Ohio canal. 'Do you see that + building?' said he, pointing to a low structure on the heel path + side, extending partly over the canal. I intimated that the fabric + in question produced a distinct impression on the optic nerves, + and inquired its use. '_Weigh-lock_' he shrieked; '_go and be + weighed!_' + + '_Go and be d----d!_' I yelled, furious at being thus victimized; + but my angry and profane rejoinder was lost in the shout of + laughter that went up from the assembled athletes. + + Natural abhorrence of jokes, practical or otherwise, is a trait + among my people; it runs in the family, like wooden legs. I + immediately sought the boss gymnaster and related the manner in + which I had been introduced to his elevating establishment. I told + him I had come there neither to be made a horse of by one nor an + ass of by another. He pledged his word that the like should not + occur again, and I was appeased. + + I first attempted the parallel bars, but they were never intended + for men of my breadth. My hands giving way, I became so firmly + wedged between the bars that it was necessary to cut one of them + away in order to release me. A wag pronounced it a feat without a + parallel. + + The horizontal bar next claimed my attention. I had seen others + hang with their heads down, suspended by their legs alone, and the + trick appeared quite easy of execution. I succeeded in suspending + myself in the manner indicated, but--_revocare gradum_--when I + attempted to regain the bar with my hands, it was no go. I was in + a perspiration of alarm at once; my legs grew weak; my head swam + from the rush of blood; twist and squirm as I would, I couldn't + reach the bar with the tip end of a finger even. My head was four + or five feet from the ground, so that a fall was likely to break + my neck, and when my frantic efforts to clutch the bar with my + hands failed, I shrieked in very desperation. Men came running to + my aid. They raked the tan bark, with which the ground was strewn, + in a pile beneath me, to break my fall as much as possible, and, + relaxing my hold of the bar, I came down in a heap, rolled up like + a gigantic caterpillar, and dived head and shoulders into the tan + bark, where I was nearly smothered before I could be extracted. It + was a terrible fright, but I escaped with a few bruises. + + My brief career as a gymnast terminated with the 'ladder act.' I + felt unequal to the task of drawing myself up the ladder (which + was slightly inclined from the perpendicular), as I had seen + others do, but once at the top I believed I could lower myself + down. A purchase was rigged in the roof, by which I was hoisted to + the top of the ladder, some thirty feet from the ground, when, + grasping a round firmly with my hands, the purchase was + disconnected from my waist belt, and I began the descent. It was + very severe on the arms, and I desired to rest myself by placing + my feet on a round, but my protuberant paunch would not permit it. + When I had accomplished about half the distance in safety, a round + snapped suddenly with the unusual weight. I remember clutching + frantically at the next, which broke as did the other; then + followed a sensation of falling, succeeded by a collision as + between two express trains at full speed, and I knew no more. When + I recovered consciousness, I was in my own bed, and four surgeons + were endeavoring to set my broken leg with a stump extractor. + Gymnastics are a little out of my line. + + FAT CONTRIBUTOR. + +Unlike BRUMMEL, _we_ know who our fat friend is, and shall be happy to +see him again. + + * * * * * + +'Talbot,' of Washington, one of those who keep the many chronicles of +government, gives us the following from his repertoire:-- + + Shortly after the inauguration of President Lincoln, and during + the period in which the throng of office-seekers was greatest, an + applicant for a clerkship in one of the departments received + notification to appear before the 'examining committee' for + examination as to qualifications. In due time he appeared, and + announced himself 'ready.' The aforesaid 'committee,' supposing + that they had before them a decidedly 'soft one,' determined to + enjoy a little 'sport' at the poor fellow's expense. After having + put a great many questions to him, none of which in the least + applied to the duties he would be expected to perform, he was + asked how he would ascertain the number of square feet occupied by + the Patent Office building. This question aroused in him + suspicions that 'all was not right,' and, with a promptness and + emphasis that effectually dampened the hopes of his questioners, + he replied, '_Well, gentlemen, I should employ an experienced + surveyor._' + +The same correspondent tells us that-- + + In one of the rural towns of Illinois lived, a few years agone, a + very eccentric individual known as 'DICKEY BULARD,' whose original + sayings afforded no little amusement to his neighbors. + + DICKEY had his troubles, the saddest of which was the loss of his + only son. Shortly after this event, in speaking of it to some + friends, he broke out in the following pathetic expression of + feeling: + + 'I'd rather a' lost the best cow I have, and ten dollars besides, + than that boy. If it had been a gal, it wouldn't a' made so much + difference; but it was the only boy I had.' + + On another occasion, in referring to the death of his grandmother, + who had been fatally injured by a butt from a pet ram, DICKEY gave + vent to his feelings as follows: + + 'I never felt so bad in all my life as I did when grandmother + died. She had got so old, and we had kept her so long, _we wanted + to see how long we could keep her_. + + * * * * * + +It is the 'turn of the tune' which gives point to the far-famed legend +of 'The Arkansaw Traveler,'--which legend, in brief, is to the effect +that a certain fiddling 'Rackensackian,' who could never learn more than +the first half of a certain tune, once bluntly refused all manner of +hospitality to a weary wayfarer, avowing with many an oath that his +house boasted neither meat nor whisky, bed nor hay. But being taught by +the stranger the 'balance' of the tune,--'the turn,' as he called +it,--he at once overwhelmed his musical guest with all manner of +dainties and kindnesses. And it is the 'turn of the tune,' in the +following lyric, from the soft tinkle of the guitar to the harsh notes +of the 'beaten parchment,' which gives it a peculiar charm. + + THE GUITAR AND THE DRUM. + + BY R. WOLCOTT, CO. B., TENTH ILLINOIS + + + Evening draws nigh, and the daylight + In golden splendor dies; + And the stars look down through the gloaming + With soft and tender eyes. + + I sit alone in the twilight, + And lazily whiff my cigar, + Watching the blue wreaths curling, + And thrumming my old guitar: + + Old, and battered, and dusty,-- + A veteran covered with scars; + Yet to me the most precious of treasures, + The sweetest of all guitars. + + For a gentle spirit dwells in it, + That speaks through the trembling strings, + And in echo to my thrumming + A wonderful melody sings. + + As I softly strike the measures, + The spirit murmurs low + A song of departed pleasures, + A dream of the long ago. + + And like a weird enchanter + It paints in the star-lit sky + Pictures from memory's record, + Scenes of the days gone by. + + And as the ripples of music + Float out on the evening air, + There comes to me a vision + Of the girl with the golden hair. + + Kindly she turns upon me. + Those lustrous, violet eyes, + And my heart with passionate yearnings + To meet her eagerly flies. + + Nearer she comes, and yet nearer, + At the beck of the spirit's wand, + And I feel the gentle pressure + On my brow of her warm, white hand-- + + _Tr-r-r-rum-ti-tum-tum, tr-r-r-rum-ti-tum-tum!_ + 'Tis the warning voice of the rolling drum. + Through the awakened night air come + The stern command and the busy hum + Of hurried preparation. + 'Tis no time now for idle strumming + Of light guitars: in that loud drumming + Is fearful meaning; the hour is coming + That for some of us will be the summing + Of all life's preparation. + + Quick, quick, my boys: fall in! fall in! + Now is the hour when we begin + The battle with this monstrous sin. + Onward to victory!--or to win + A patriot's martyrdom! + Stay no longer to bandy words; + Trust we now to our gleaming swords; + For foul rebellion's dastardly hordes + A terrible hour has come. + + By all that you love beneath the skies; + By the world of cherished memories; + By your hopes for the coming years; + By the tender light of your loved one's eyes; + By the warm, white hands you so highly prize; + By your mothers' parting tears, + Swear the horrible wrong to crush! + What though you fall in the battle's rush, + And the velvet leaves of the greensward blush + With your young life's crimson tide? + The angels look down with pitying love, + And your tale will be told in the record above: + 'For his country's honor he died.' + + The gentle strings of the light guitar, + Waking soft echoes from memory's chords, + And tender dreams of home-- + The noise, and the pomp, and the glitter of war; + The furious charge, and the clashing swords; + The song of the rolling drum. + +How many a young heart has, in these later days, been turned from soft +guitar-tones of idleness, to the brave, rattling measures of drum-life! +It will do good, this war of ours; and many a brave fellow will, in +after years, look back upon it as the school in which he first learned +to be a thoroughly practical and sensible MAN. + + * * * * * + +We are indebted to a gossiping and ever most welcome New Haven friend +for the following anecdote of one of the men who, clothed in a little +brief authority, 'go about 'restin' people:' + + Our village we consider one of the most pleasant in the country; + our boys full of life and activity, and our officers men of energy + and perseverance, and men who understand their importance. In + proof of these assertions, I offer the following sketch of an + occurrence a few years ago. + + DICK BARNES was a blacksmith, and a man of considerable notoriety + in those days, and from the peculiar prominence of his front upper + teeth he had derived, from the boys of the village, the singular + nick-name of 'Tushy.' For two or three successive years he had + been elected constable, and the duties of this great public office + appeared to demand that he should neglect his legitimate private + business, so that it was said that the safest place for him to + secrete himself--the most unlikely place where he would be + sought--would be behind his own anvil. Like many others 'clothed + with a little brief authority' he was not overmodest in showing + his importance. + + The boys were then, as they are now, fond of skating, and there + was a large pond near the centre of the village on which they used + to have fine times on moonlight evenings, and especially Sunday + evenings, and, as a natural consequence, when large numbers of + boys are engaged in sport, they were somewhat noisy. + + One Sunday evening, when the ice was very smooth and the boys were + enjoying themselves, BARNES made his appearance on the ice and + ordered them off, in tones, and exclamations of authority. The + boys did not like this interference in their sports and couldn't + see the justice of his demand. 'That's old Tushy,' says one, and + the cry of 'Tushy,' 'Tushy,' soon passed among the crowd of + skaters, till BARNES began to think it personal, and was + determined to catch one of them and make of him an example. The + ice was 'glib,' as they termed it, and as they all had skates + except 'Tushy,' they were rather rude in their behavior towards + him,--a not very uncommon circumstance,--and though they were + careful to keep out of harm's way, they kept near enough to him to + annoy him. Finding all efforts to catch one of them fruitless, + with the advantage they had,--for 'the wicked _stand_ on slippery + places,'--he announced his determination to catch one of them + anyhow, and started for the shore. + + Boys are usually quicker in arriving at conclusions than older + people, and one of them suggested that he had gone for his skates. + 'Good! now we'll have some fun, boys,' says Phil Clark, who was a + good skater, and withal a good leader in a frolic. 'You follow me + and do as I tell you, and I don't believe old "Tushy" will follow + us far.' By general consent he led them to the dry, sandy shore, + and such as had them filled their handkerchiefs, and such as could + not boast of that superfluity filled their caps, with sand. 'Now,' + says Phil, 'when he comes back, and it won't be long, we'll form a + line and wait till he gets his skates on, when he'll put chase for + some of us. If he gets near any of us, some one sing out "Bully," + and every boy drop his sand, and if he catches any one we'll all + pitch in.' + + 'Tushy' in a little while made his appearance, and soon had his + skates strapped to his feet, and after a few stamps upon the ice, + to see that they were properly secured, glided a few strokes and + started off for the boys. The moon was shining 'as bright as day,' + and old Tushy's movements were perfectly apparent. The pond was + huge, and afforded a good opportunity for a trial of speed, and, + though many of the boys were good skaters, 'Tushy' perseveringly + determined to capture one of them, and started for the one + nearest. This was 'Phil,' who was the master spirit of the frolic, + and as 'Tushy' approached with almost the certainty of capturing + him, he would glide gracefully aside and let him pass on. He had + almost caught up with a group of the smaller boys who were going + at full speed, when 'Phil' shouted out the word 'Bully.' In an + instant the contents of handkerchiefs and caps was deposited on + the glaring ice, the boys continuing their flying course. 'Tushy,' + elated with the prospect of capturing at least one of the urchins, + increased his speed with lunger strides, and was in the act of + grasping one, when the sparks from his steel runners, the sudden + arrest of his feet and the onward movement of his body, convinced + him that _he_ was caught. The impetus he had acquired with the few + last strokes on the smooth ice, and the sudden check his feet had + received from the sand, sent him sliding headlong many yards + towards an air-hole,--one of those dangerous places on ponds + suddenly frozen,--and soon the ice began to crack around him. The + water in the pond was not deep, but the ice continued to break + with his efforts to extricate himself. He found that the boys had + successfully entrapped him, and it was not until he had made a + promise not again to interfere with their sport that they + consented to assist him out. He kept his promise, and the boys + ever after, when they designed any extra sport on the ice, had his + nick-name for a by-word. + + JAY G. BEE. + + * * * * * + +'Salt,' according to MORESINUS, 'is sacred to the infernal +deities,'--for which reason, we presume, those who were seated 'below +the salt' at the banquets of the Middle Ages were always 'poor devils.' +Attic salt is always held to be more pungent when there is a touch of +the diabolical and caustic in it,--and therefore caustic itself is known +as _lapis infernalis_. 'Poor Mr. N----,' said a country dame, of a +recently deceased neighbor who was over-thrifty, 'he always saved his +salt and lost his pork.' 'Yes,' replied a friend, 'and now the salt has +lost its Saver.' The reader has doubtless heard of the lively young +lady, named Sarah, whom her friends rechristened Sal Volatile. +Apropos--a New Haven friend writes us that-- + + My chum, Dr. B., is not a little of a wag. At a social gathering, + shortly after he had received his diploma, the young ladies were + very anxious to put his knowledge of medicine to the test. + 'Doctor,' queried one of the fair, 'what will cure a man who has + been hanged?' 'Salt is the best thing I know of,' replied the + tormented, with great solemnity. + + * * * * * + +According to a cotemporary--the Boston _Herald_--the best Christians may +be known by the pavements before their houses being cleaned of ice and +snow. This reminds us of a spiritual anecdote. A deceased friend having +been summoned through a medium and asked where he had spent the first +month after his decease, rapped out,-- + +'I-n--p-u-r-g-a-t-o-r-y.' + +'Did you find it uncomfortable?' + +'Not very. While I lived I always had my pavements cleared in winter, +and all the ice and snow shoveled away was given back to me in +orange-water ices, Roman punch, vanilla and pistachio creams, frozen +fruits, cobblers, juleps, and smashes.' + +Somebody has spoken in an Arctic voyage of the musical vibrations of the +ice. There is certainly music in the article. 'Take care,' said a Boston +girl to her companion, as they were navigating the treacherously +slippery pavement of our city a few days since; 'it's See sharp or Be +flat.' + + * * * * * + +Somebody once wrote a book on visiting-cards. There is a great variety +of that article; an English ambassador once papered his entire suit of +rooms with that with which a Chinese mandarin honored him. MICHAEL +ANGELO left a straight line as a card, and was recognized by it. Our +friend H---- once distributed blank pasteboards in Philadelphia, and +everybody said, 'Why, H---- has been here!' Not long since, a lady +dwelling in New York asked her seven-year-old GEORGY where he had been. + +'Out visiting.' + +'Did you leave your card?' + +'No; I hadn't any, so I left a marble!' + +GEORGY'S idea was that cards were playthings. And _cartes de visite_ are +most assuredly the playthings for children of an older growth, most in +vogue at the present day. Go where you will, the albums are examined, +nay, some collectors have even one or two devoted solely to children, or +officers, or literary men, or young ladies. The following anecdote +records, however, as we believe, 'an entirely new style' of +visiting-card:-- + + Madam X. was busy the other morning. Miss Fanny Z. 'just ran in to + see her' _en amie_, without visiting-cards. + + The waiter carried her name to Madam X. Meanwhile Miss Fannie, + circulating through the parlors, saw that there was dust on the + lower shelf of an étagére, so she delicately traced the letters + + _Smut_ + + thereon and therefore. Waiter enters, and regrets that Madam X. is + so very much engaged that she is invisible. Miss Fanny flies home. + + In the evening she meets Madam X., who is 'perfectly enchanted' to + see her. 'Ah, Fanny, dear, I am charmed to see you; the waiter + forgot your name this morning, but I was delighted to see your + ingenuity. Would you believe it, the first thing I saw on entering + the parlor was your card on the étagére!' + + * * * * * + +The Naugatuck railroad, according to a friend of the CONTINENTAL, + + Is in many places cut through a rugged country, and the rocks + thereabout have an ugly trick of rolling down upon the track when + they get tired of lying still. So the company employ sentinels + who traverse the dangerous territory before the morning train goes + through. One of these,--Pat K. by name,--while on his beat, met + Dennis, whose hand he had last shaken on the 'Green Isle.' After + mutual inquiries and congratulations, says Dennis, 'What are you + doin' these days, Pat?' 'Oh, I'm consarned in this railroad + company. I go up the road fur the likes o' four miles ivry mornin' + to see is there ony rocks on the thrack.' 'And if there is?' 'Why, + I stops the trains, sure.' 'Faith,' said Dennis, 'what the divil's + the good o' that--_wouldn't the rocks stop 'em?_' + + * * * * * + +The Hibernian idea of a meeting is, we should judge, peculiar, and not, +as a rule, amicable. 'What are ye doing here, Pat?' inquired one of the +Green Islanders who found a friend one morning in a lonely spot. 'Troth, +Dinnis, and it's waiting to mate a gintleman here I'm doing.' 'Waiting +for a frind is it?' replied Dennis; 'but where is yer shillaly thin?' +This was indeed a misapprehension, and of the kind which, as a +benevolent clergyman complained, who was actively engaged in home +mission work, was one of the most constant sources of his frequent +annoyances. 'Why,' he remarked, 'it was only the other morning that I +heard of a poor girl who was dying near the Five Points, and went to +administer to her such comfort as it might be in my power to render. I +met an impudent miss leaving the room, who, when I inquired for the +sufferer by name, replied, "It's no use; you're too late, old +fellow,--she's give me her pocket-book and all her things."' + + * * * * * + +A friend has called our attention to the following extract from an +advertisement in a New York evening paper, and requests an +explanation:-- + + STRABISMUS, OR CROSS-EYE, IN ITS WORST STAGES, CURED IN ONE + MINUTE. READ! + + NEWARK, August 14th, 1861. + + Dear Doctor: I write to express my thanks for the great difference + you have made in my appearance by your operation on my eye. I have + had a _squint_, or _cross-eye_, since birth, and in less than one + minute, and with VERY LITTLE PAIN, you have made my eyes perfectly + straight and natural. Having consulted in Europe the greatest + _Aurists_, I, therefore, can testify that your system of restoring + the _hearing_ to the deaf is at once scientific, safe and sure; + and I confidently recommend all deaf to place themselves under + your care. W.T. + +There's a nut to crack. Having had a cross-eye cured in one minute, Mr. +T. can _therefore_ testify that the system by which he was enabled to +see is just the thing to enable the deaf to hear! But an instant's +reflection convinced us of the true state of the case. There is an old +German song which translated saith: + + 'I am the Doctor Iron-beer, + The one who makes the blind to hear, + The man who makes the deaf to see:-- + Come with your invalids to me.' + +We evidently have a Doctor Iron-beer among us. 'He still lives,' and +enables people to outdo the clairvoyants, who read with their fingers, +by qualifying his patients to peruse the papers with their auricular +organs. + + * * * * * + +Walter will receive our thanks for the following ĉsthetic +communication:-- + + DEAR CONTINENTAL: + + Do you know the superb picture of Judith and Holofernes, by + ALLORI? Of course. But the legend? + + The painter ALLORI was blessed and cursed with a mistress, one of + the most beautiful women in an age of beauty. He loved her, and + she tormented him, until, to set forth his sufferings, he painted + _la belle dame sans mercy_ as Judith, holding his own decapitated + head by the hair. + + 'She was more than a match for her lover,' said a young lady, + who--between us--I think is more beautiful than the 'Judith.' + + 'Yes,' was the answer; 'the engraving proves that she got a-head + of him.' + + Of course it was Holofernally bad. I once heard a better one on + the same subject, of scriptural be-head-edness. Where is a centaur + first mentioned? John's head on a charger. The postage stamp on + your lawyer's bill--mine especially--represents the same thing, + with the substitution of General Washington for John. Rarey tamed + Cruiser--I wonder if he could do anything by way of 'taking down' + this legal 'charger' of mine. + + Yours truly, + WALTER + + * * * * * + +Much has been written on oysters. There was a time when England sent +nothing else abroad. 'The poor Britons--they are good for something,' +says SALLUST, in 'The Last Days of Pompeii;' 'they produce an oyster.' +In these days, they export no oysters, but in lieu thereof give us +plenty of pepper-sauce. But to the point,--we mean to the poem,--for +which we are indebted to a Philadelphia contributor:-- + + OYSTERS! + + He stood beside the oysters. Near him lay + A dozen raw upon the half-shell: he + With fork stood ready to engulf them all, + When to his side a reverend gray-beard came. + Pointing his index finger to the Natives, + Slowly he spoke, with measured voice and low:-- + 'They are the same, THE SAME! I've eaten them + In London, small and coppery; at Ostend, + A little better; and in the Condotti, + Yea, in the Lepré--'tis an eating-house + Frequented by the many-languaged artists + Of great imperial Rome. At Baiĉ: also + I've tasted that nice kind described by MARTIAL, + Who calls them ears of Venus;--there I've had 'em. + Also at Memphis--now I'm coming to it: + I've seen amid the desert sands of Egypt, + Exposed among the hieroglyphs, these Natives. + (The hieroglyphs, you know, are outward forms + Of things or creatures which unfold strange myths, + Read by the common eye in vulgar way, + But to the learned are types of truths gigantic.) + Thus unto you those oysters are but bivalves; + But unto me they're--P'raps you'll stand a dozen?' + 'Well, I will, old hoss; it seems to me you need 'em!' + 'Good! Then to me they are as hieroglyphs + Of our poor human state; as PLATO says, + "The soul of man, a substance different from + The body as the oyster from the shell, + Does stick to it, and is imprisoned in it. + Its weight of shell doth keep it down and force it + To stay upon its muddy bottom. So does + Man's body hold his soul in these dark regions, + Keeping it ever steadily from rising + To those superior heights where are abodes + More fitting its serene and noble nature." + Good as a quarter-dollar lecture. Boy! fork over.' + 'Another "doz." to this old gentleman; + For I perceive he plainly hath it in him + To swallow down two dozen oysters' souls. + See what it is to be a philosopher!' + +This is indeed finding sermons in 'shells.' + + * * * * * + +'Punning is a power,' according to somebody, and, like most power, is +sadly abused. Take, for illustration, the following specimen of the +'narrative pun:' + + The reader knows that BYRON once punned on the word Bullet-in, and + was proud of it; distinctly proud, be it remembered. After which + comes the following:-- + + Some years ago it was summer time, and in the office of the + Philadelphia _Evening Bulletin_, one, as the French say, was + preparing the daily paper. Along Third Street streamed Shinners, + Bulls, Bears, and Newsboys,--in the sanctum, Editors wrote and + clipped,--proof rose up and down in the dumb waiter,--there was + the shrill scream of the whistle calling to the foreman far on + high,-- + + Suddenly there was a tremendous run in the front office. + + A maddened cow,--an infuriate, delirious, over-driven + animal,--breaking loose from the cow-herdly creature who had her + in charge,--careered wildly past the _Ledger_ building. + + One would have thought that the straw paper on which that sheet + was then printed might have tempted her to repose. + + It didn't. + + Past FORNEY'S paper:--he was proprietor of the _Pennsylvanian_ in + those days. Those days!--when he was Warwick, the king-maker, and + carried Pennsylvania for Old Buck. Bitter were the changes in + aftertimes, and bitterly did Forney give fits where he had before + bestowed benefits. On went the cow. + + Right smack into the office of the evening paper, then engineered + by ALEXANDER CUMMINGS, now held by GIBSON PEACOCK. + + Rush! went the cow. Right into the next door--turn to the left, + oh, infuriate--charge into the newsboys! By Santa Maria, little + DUCKEY is down--ha! Saint Joseph! the beast gains the front + office--she faceth streetwards--she jaculates herself + outwards--she is gone. + + By the door stood a Philadelphia punster. + + The cow switched him with her tail; he heeded it not. His soul + felt the morning gleam of a revelation,--the flash of a Boehmic + Aurora,-- + + Far, far above the world, oh dreamer!--in the pure land of + Pun-light, where the silent Calembergs rise in the sunset sea. + + And he spake,-- + + '_I see you have_ A COW LET OUT _there, and a_ BULL LET IN HERE!' + + This is going through a great deal to get at a pun, says some + over-heated and perspiring disciple. + + Well--and why not? + + Have you never heard of the clergyman who preached an entire + sermon on the slave-trade, and gave a detailed account of its + head-quarters, the kingdom of Abomi? + + And why? + + Merely that he might ring it into them bitterly, fiercely, with + this conclusion: + + 'My hearers, let us pray that this Abomi-Nation may be rooted out + from the face of the earth.' + + That was so. _Consummatum est_. + +No wonder we hear so much of the sufferings and sorrows of the Third +Estate--which is the editorial. + + * * * * * + +'Wine is _sometimes_ wine, but not very often in these days:' what it +very often is not when labelled 'Heidsick' and 'Rheims.' 'But then the +_cork_ proves it, you know,'--for, by a strange superstition, it is +assumed that when the cork is correct the wine is not less so; a theory +which is exploded by a revelation in the following by no means +Bacchanalian lyric:-- + + BOGUS CHAMPAGNE. + + Fill up your glass with turnip-juice, + And let us swindled be; + Except in England's cloudy clime + Such trash you may not see. + With marble-dust and vitriol, + 'Twill sparkle bright and foam,-- + Who will not pledge me in a cup + Of champagne--made at home? + + We do not heed the label fair + That's stuck upon the glass; + It's counterfeit,--an ugly cheat, + That takes in many an ass. + The cork is branded right, and we + Know that it once corked wine; + They give the hotel-waiters tin + To save the genuine! + +Think of this when you next 'wish you had given the price of that last +bottle of champagne to the Tract Society,' as _Cecil Dreeme_ hath it. + + * * * * * + +One of the best repartees on record is that of WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, +who, having been reproached with inconsistency for having taken from his +journal the old motto, 'The Constitution is a league with Death and a +covenant with Hell,' replied that 'when he hoisted that motto, he had no +idea _that either death or hell intended to secede_. Circumstances alter +cases, and definitions modify both. Slavery, it now appears, is death, +as every political economist claims, while the South is--the other +place. + + * * * * * + +The following is from one who was not 'well off for soap:'-- + + DEAR CONTINENTAL: + + It was my fortune, some time ago, while traveling through the New + England States, to lose my trunk, on my way to a very thriving + manufacturing village. Arrived at the principal hotel a few + minutes before the dinner hour, I was shown up to my room, every + article of furniture in which sparkled with newness,--its carpet + shining like fireworks, curtains painfully stiff, and the air + redolent of novelty. + + One article of furniture, which I took to be a cottage piano or + melodeon, turned out, on raising the lid, to be a wash-stand, + amply munitioned with water, towels, and a new piece of soap. + Having noticed that the article had never been used, and my own + being lost with my trunk, I determined to put it to its legitimate + destination. + + I commenced rubbing it between my hands, immersing it in water, + passing it quickly from one hand to the other, and using all other + persuasive attempts to solve it into lather. Useless; it was + _un-lather-able_, and hearing the gong sound for dinner, I gave it + up as a hopeless job. + + After dinner, in conversation with the landlord, he asked me how I + liked my room. I told him that it pleased me very well, and that I + had but one fault to find,--that was, that the soap in the + wash-stand was the hardest I had ever seen, and I believed it was + made of iron. + + 'Well,' said he, with a diabolical smile, 'it _is_ hard soap, and + it ort to be--it's iron-y--for it's Cast-Steel!' + + * * * * * + +The annexed may be read with profit by the charitable:-- + + H---- has never yet been known to give one cent in charity. A + Christian called on him, the other day, and begged him to give + something to a soup society. + + 'Ah-h-h!' said H., 'war times, now. Can't give anything.' + + 'The soup society is very poor, and would be thankful for the + _smallest sum_.' + + 'Would it?' said H., cheerfully. 'Why, then, twice one are two. + Good-morning.' + +This, we presume, may be called figuring as a benefactor. + + * * * * * + +Our Arabic-studying friend has supplied us with a fresh batch of +oriental proverbs:-- + + 'A monkey solicited hospitality from devils. "Young gentleman," + they replied, "the house is quite empty of provisions."' + + 'Eat whatever thou likest, but dress as others do.' + + 'Like a needle, that clothes people, and is itself naked.' + + 'He who makes chaff of himself the cows will eat.' + + 'Give me wool to-day, and take sheep to-morrow.' + + 'He is high-minded but empty-bellied.' + + 'Easier to be broken than the house of a spider.' + + 'He descends like the foot of a crow, and ascends (like) the hoof + of a camel.' + +But all yield in grim drollery to the last given:-- + + 'There are no fans in hell.' + +Which, as our friend declares, 'sounds as Western as Eastern.' Verily, +extremes meet. + + * * * * * + +Many of our exchanges have spoken of the series entitled 'Among the +Pines,' now publishing in this Magazine, as being written by FREDERICK +LAW OLMSTED. In justice to Mr. OLMSTED we would state that he is not the +author of the articles in question, and regret that the unauthorized +statement should have obtained such general credence. + +A statement has also appeared in many journals declaring that the +literary matter of the CONTINENTAL MONTHLY is the same with that +published in the KNICKERBOCKER Magazine. We need not say that it is +_entirely false_, as any reader may ascertain for himself who will take +the pains to compare the two publications. Not one line has ever +appeared in common in the Magazines. The _Knickerbocker_ is printed and +PUBLISHED in New York, at No. 532 Broadway, the CONTINENTAL in Boston, +at No. 110 Tremont Street. + + * * * * * + +The editor of the CONTINENTAL begs leave to repeat that as the principal +object of the Magazine is to draw forth such views as may be practically +useful in the present crisis, its pages will always be open to +contributions even of a widely varying character, the only condition +being that they shall be written by friends of the Union. And we call +special attention to the fact that 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, but shall leave the reader to make +his own comments on these. + + * * * * * + +Readers will confer a favor by forwarding to us any pamphlets, secession +or Union, on the war, which they may be disposed to spare. + + + + +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 raised 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 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. + +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, 532 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 a volcano, or the +bursting of a storm on the ocean. These crimes 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 all classes 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 force at its 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 this +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. 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 have promised 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 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. + + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] _Journey in the Back Country_. By Frederick Law Olmsted. + +[B] The Milwaukee, Wisconsin, _Sentinel_, of June 3, contained a +confirmation of these statements in regard to Northern Alabama. A +gentleman returned from 'a prolonged tour through the cotton States' +communicated a narrative, which demonstrated that the people of +Huntsville and vicinity were very hostile to secession in January, that +'at Athens the stars and stripes floated over the court house long after +the State had enacted the farce of secession,' and that, even in May, +open opposition to secession existed '_in the mountain portion of +Alabama, a large tract of country, embracing about one-third of the +State, lying adjacent to and south of the Tennessee valley_.' The writer +added, 'IN THEIR MOUNTAIN FASTNESSES THEY DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THE +SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY, OR THE POWER OF ITS RULERS.' + +[C] It is proved, by the great increase of the cotton crop during this +period, that the surplus increase of slaves was mainly composed of field +hands purchased in the border States. + +[D] 'The Edwards Family;' page 11. + +[E] 'If some learned philosopher who had been abroad, in giving an +account of the curious observations he had made in his travels, should +say he had been in _Terra del Fuego_, and there had seen an animal, +which he calls by a certain name, that begat and brought forth itself, +and yet had a sire and dam distinct from itself; that it had an appetite +and was hungry before it had a being; that his master, who led him and +governed by him, and driven by him where he pleased; that when he moved +he always took a step before the first step; that he went with his head +first, and yet always went tail foremost, and this though he had neither +head nor tail,' etc. etc.--_Freedom of the Will_, part 4. + +[F] Sismondi's History of the French. + +[G] Benôit, Hist. Rev. Edict of Nantes, book 7. + +[H] Dr. Baird, vol. I. p. 174. + +[I] Oxford town records. + +[J] Vandenkemp's Alb. Rec. viii. + +[K] Instances are frequent where Southern gentlemen form these +left-handed connections, and rear two sets of differently colored +children; but it is not often that the two families occupy the same +domicil. The only other case within my _personal_ knowledge was that of +the well-known President of the Bank of St. M----, at Columbia, Ga. That +gentleman, whose note ranked in Wall Street, when the writer was +acquainted with that locality, as 'A No. 1,' lived for fifteen years +with two 'wives' under one roof. One--an accomplished white woman, and +the mother of several children--did the honors of his table, and moved +with him in 'the best society;' the other--a beautiful quadroon, also +the mother of several children--filled the humbler office of nurse to +her own and the other's offspring. + +In conversation with a well-known Southern gentleman, not long since, I +mentioned these two cases, and commented on them as a man educated with +New England ideas might be supposed to do. The gentleman admitted that +he knew of twenty such instances, and gravely defended the practice as +being infinitely more moral and respectable than _the more relation_ +existing between masters and slaves. + +[L] Among the things of which slavery has deprived the black is a +_name_. A slave has no family designation. It may be for that reason +that a high-sounding appellation is usually selected for the single one +he is allowed to appropriate. + +[M] It is not now improper to broach this button ruse, because it was +recently discovered at the South and is guarded against. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Continental Monthly - Volume 1 - Issue +3, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTINENTAL MONTHLY VOL.1 ISS.3 *** + +***** This file should be named 14583-8.txt or 14583-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/5/8/14583/ + +Produced by Cornell University, Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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