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diff --git a/75515-0.txt b/75515-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab043ab --- /dev/null +++ b/75515-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9473 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75515 *** + + + + + + BLACKWOOD’S + EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + NO. CCCCXV. MAY, 1850. VOL. LXVII. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + FREE-TRADE FINANCE, 513 + GREECE AGAIN, 526 + THE MODERN ARGONAUTS, 539 + MY PENINSULAR MEDAL. BY AN OLD PENINSULAR. PART VI., 542 + GERMAN POPULAR PROPHECIES, 560 + THE HISTORY OF A REGIMENT DURING THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN, 573 + THE PENITENT FREE-TRADER, 585 + TENOR OF THE TRADE CIRCULARS, 589 + ALISON’S POLITICAL ESSAYS, 605 + OVID’S SPRING-TIME, 621 + DIES BOREALES NO. VII. CHRISTOPHER UNDER CANVASS, 622 + LETTER FROM MAJOR-GENERAL SIR WILLIAM NAPIER, 640 + + EDINBURGH: + WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET; + AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. + + _To whom all communications (post paid) must be addressed._ + + SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. + + PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH. + + + + + BLACKWOOD’S + + EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + + NO. CCCCXV. MAY, 1850. VOL. LXVII. + + + + + FREE-TRADE FINANCE. + + +The Chancellor of the Exchequer has brought forward the Budget, and the +Financial Measures of Government are before the public. It contains +matter worthy of the most serious consideration. It is hard to say +whether the admission it contains, or the measures it proposes, are most +condemnatory of the system of Class Government which the Reform Bill has +imposed on the country. + +The statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in a few words, is +this:—“Last year, I calculated upon a small surplus of L.104,000 for the +year ending 5th April 1850, but that surplus has swelled to L.2,250,000, +by rise in the produce of the taxes, and reductions of the expenditure. +Of this sum L.1,500,000 is to be regarded as the real surplus to be +relied upon for the measures of this year.” Assuming this as the surplus +to be dealt with, he proposes to apply L.750,000 in reduction of the +last contracted part of the debt, and L.750,000 in reduction of +taxation; L.400,000 a-year being applied to the reduction of the duty on +bricks, and L.350,000 to that of stamps on conveyances. It is thus that +he proposes to alleviate the agricultural distress which, he admits, +prevails in the country. + +Three things are especially worthy of observation in this statement. + +In the first place, it affords another illustration, if another was +needed, of the present deplorable subjection of Government to the +pressure from without, which has so often and painfully been exhibited +since the new system of government began. It is well known that, during +the three disastrous years that preceded the present one, debt to a +large amount was contracted. To mention two items only: eight millions +were borrowed in 1847 to relieve the Irish famine; L.2,000,000 in the +succeeding year, to carry on the current expenses of the year; and in +1841 the deficiency had been such, that no less than L.5,000,000 was +borrowed to meet the ordinary expenses of the year. One would suppose, +that when a surplus arose in the year 1849, the natural course would +have been to have applied it, in the first instance, to extinguish, so +far as it would go, the additional debt so recently contracted. Has this +been done? Not at all. Only L.750,000 out of a real surplus said to +amount to L.1,500,000, is to be applied in this way; and L.750,000 is to +be devoted to reduction of taxes. L.10,000,000 is borrowed during two +years of distress; L.750,000 only has been devoted to its reduction, in +a year, we are told, of unparalleled commercial prosperity. + +In the next place, to what object is the L.750,000 a-year of surplus +available to reduced taxation, discovered for the first time after three +years of deficit, to be applied? Is it to be devoted to remission of +taxes pressing upon the agricultural interest, whom the measures pursued +for behoof of towns have reduced to such a state of depression? Not at +all. It is to be applied to reduction of the duty on _stamps and +bricks_. The first may be admitted to be desirable, because, as so large +part of the landed property in the kingdom will soon, to all appearance, +change hands, it is an object to render the transfer as little costly as +possible. But of what use is the reduction of the duty on bricks to the +suffering cultivators? That it is a boon to the master-builders in +towns, may be conceded; though it may well be doubted whether it will +ever cause a reduction of price to the purchasers from them. But what +the better will the farmers and ploughmen, the landlords and yeomen, be +of the change? Additional houses are not wanted _in the country_; on the +contrary, there will in all probability not be inmates for those that +already are there, from the certain and experienced effect of Free-trade +in diminishing the demand for rural labour. It is in the towns and +villages that the building is going on; because Free-trade policy is +daily more and more forcing the rural inhabitants into the towns in +quest of employment or relief. In London, 200 miles of new streets, and +66,000 houses, are said to have been constructed, or to be in course of +construction, during the last two years. Is there any increase of houses +in the rural districts? Herein, then, lies the injustice of the present +measures of Government, that, though prefaced with professions of a +desire to relieve all parties, they in reality benefit one class only; +and that, introduced at a time when it is admitted the agriculturists +are in a state of extreme depression, and the manufacturers are asserted +to be in a state of unexampled prosperity, they are mainly calculated to +add to the prosperity of the latter, and take nothing from the +sufferings of the former. It is not difficult to see where the Reform +Bill has practically lodged the power of Government in the British +Empire. + +In the third place, and what is most material of all, the speech of the +Chancellor of the Exchequer contains an admission in regard to the +present state and past direction of our finances, since we have fallen +under Liberal direction, of such moment, that we regard it as the most +important statement that has ever yet been given in regard to the effect +of the new measures on the national fortunes. It must be given in his +own words, as reported in the _Times_ of March 16:— + + + “If honourable gentlemen will refer to what has taken place during the + last twenty years—the sums which have been borrowed on the one hand, + and the amounts which have been applied to the reduction of the debt + on the other—I think they will see that there is good reason for not + being indifferent on this subject. In 1835 and 1836, a sum of + L.20,000,000 was borrowed for the emancipation of the West Indian + slave population; to defray the deficiency, in the year 1841, + L.5,000,000 were borrowed; I was obliged to borrow L.8,000,000 to meet + the necessities of the sister country in 1847; and when the House + refused to increase the income-tax in 1848, I was obliged to borrow a + further sum of L.2,000,000, to meet the extraordinary expenditure. + Since the period I have mentioned, then, a sum of L.35,000,000 has + been added to the national debt. When I turn to the other side of the + account, I find that all the money which has been applied from surplus + income to the reduction of debt, in the course of the last twenty + years, amounts to only L.8,000,000; so that, _in a period of profound + peace, an increase of debt of no less than L.27,000,000 has taken + place_. (Hear, hear.) When, in 1848, the House refused to accede to + the proposal I made for an increased tax upon income, I certainly did + hope that, when a turn took place in our financial affairs, they would + not, the moment there was a surplus of income, instantly press that + the whole of that surplus should be devoted to the reduction of + taxation. What should we think of a private individual who acted in + such a manner (hear, hear)—a man who, whenever he found his income + fall short of his expenditure, borrowed the money necessary to meet + his liabilities, but who never thought of paying off that debt when, + by a fortunate turn of affairs, he happened to be in receipt of an + excess of income? (Hear, hear.) I must say that it will be hopeless + for us to maintain that character as a nation which we think + indispensable in an individual, if, in a time of profound peace, + instead of reducing our public debt, we go on adding to it from year + to year.” + + +Here it is admitted, by the Whig Chancellor of the Exchequer, that after +twenty years of profound peace and unbroken Liberal government, (Sir +Robert Peel was essentially Liberal,) not only has there been no +reduction of the public debt, but AN INCREASE OF IT TO THE EXTENT OF +TWENTY-SEVEN MILLIONS. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that, if the +noble sinking-fund of L.15,000,000 a-year, which Mr Pitt’s policy left +to the Administration at the close of the war in 1815, had been +preserved unimpaired by keeping up the indirect taxes from which it +arose, the whole national debt would have been extinguished in 1845. +When the ruinous monetary act of 1819, and the increasing concession of +successive Administrations to urban clamour had rendered that +impossible, the semi-Liberal semi-Tory Governments from 1815 to 1830 +still contrived to pay off L.82,000,000 of the public debt in fifteen +years; and when the Duke of Wellington resigned in November 1830, he +left, by the admission of all parties, a real sinking-fund, arising from +an excess of income above expenditure, of L.2,900,000 a-year to his +successors. But since that time, under his Liberal successors, not only +has that surplus on an average of years disappeared, but during twenty +years of profound peace L.27,000,000 has been _added_ to the total +amount of the debt. Well may Sir Charles Wood say, “What should we think +of a private individual who acted in such a manner?” Such is the rule of +the urban constituencies, to humour whose fancies, and appease whose +clamour, the whole efforts of Government for the last twenty years have +been directed. + +The important thing in the statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer +is, that it gives us the result of Whig government and Free-trade +finance during so long a period. Every successive quarter, during these +twenty years, we have been told by the Liberal press that the finances +were in the most flourishing condition; that any deficiency that +appeared was more apparent than real; and at any rate, in the most +unfavourable view, it was sufficiently explained by temporary causes, +and afforded no ground whatever for despondency in the future. Every +successive Session, the Ministers came down to Parliament with the most +flourishing accounts of the state of the country and of the public +finances, and demonstrated to the satisfaction of every reasonable man +in the nation that both never were in more hopeful and prosperous +circumstances. Even when a deficiency of one or two millions stared the +Chancellor of the Exchequer in the face, which was not unfrequently the +case, there was always some temporary or transient cause to which it was +to be referred. The China tribute had ceased, or some reduction of +duties had come into operation, or revolutions in Europe had diminished +our exports to the adjoining states. The Irish potato-rot was a perfect +godsend to the Liberal financiers. It constituted their stock in trade +for the next three years. The ruin of L.15,000,000 worth of agricultural +produce in Ireland, out of at least L.260,000,000 worth in the two +islands, explained the whole distress of the country and the exchequer +for the next three years; and, strange to say, the very men who paraded +so ostentatiously the ruinous effects of this comparatively trifling +deficiency in a single year, made a boast soon after of their having +destroyed L.90,000,000 of agricultural remuneration by the importations +they induced of foreign grain. + +But nothing is more certain than that error and delusion cannot, by any +human effort, be prolonged for a very long period. With the advent of +the time when the interest to deceive has ceased, or a new generation of +deceivers has succeeded, the whole fabric falls to pieces. As certainly +and mercilessly as the vices or follies of preceding monarchs are +portrayed by those who have succeeded to the inheritance of their +results, are the ruinous consequences of former delusions in democratic +Governments exposed by succeeding Administrations who find themselves +hampered by their effects. Many a popular Nero is cast down from his +pedestal, almost before the vital warmth has left his body; many a +republican Necker is exposed by a republican Bailly, when he finds the +public finances rendered desperate by the measures which had been +pursued with the cordial approbation of the whole Liberal party in the +state. It is the same with our present Chancellor of the Exchequer. He +finds the public finances, in the midst of boasted commercial and +manufacturing prosperity, in so deplorable a condition, that he is fain +to lay the whole blame upon his predecessors; and, after deploring the +extraordinary fact, that during twenty years of profound peace, Liberal +government, and retrenching Administrations, we have not only made no +reduction whatever in the public debt, but added twenty-seven millions +to its amount, he very naturally and justly observes, “What should we +say to a private individual who should conduct his affairs in this +manner?” + +We have been so accustomed, during twenty years of Liberal and popular +rule, to see every successive Administration live only from hand to +mouth, and to be content if they can get over present difficulties, +without bestowing a thought on the future, that the nation has almost +forgotten what it was to have a prudent and foreseeing Government at the +head of affairs: or rather, nearly the whole generations who have risen +to manhood have come to think that such a system of government is +impossible, and is to be ranked with the El Dorado of Sir Walter +Raleigh, or the Utopia of Sir Thomas More. To enlighten their minds on +this subject, we subjoin two Tables, showing what was done by the +corrupt old Tory Governments—even during the anxieties and expenditure +of a most protracted and costly war, or when the national finances were +slowly recovering from its effects—to put the finances on a good +footing, and lay, in present fortitude and sacrifice, a solid foundation +for future relief and prosperity. + + TABLE I., showing the growth of the Money + applied to the reduction of the Debt, and + the Sums paid off from 1792 to 1815, being + twenty-three years of war. + + 1792, £1,558,504 + 1793, 1,634,972 + 1794, 1,872,957 + 1795, 2,143,697 + 1796, 2,639,956 + 1797, 3,393,210 + 1798, 4,093,164 + 1799, 4,528,568 + 1800, 4,908,379 + 1801, 5,528,315 + 1802, 6,114,033 + 1803, 6,494,694 + 1804, 6,436,929 + 1805, 9,406,865 + 1806, 9,602,658 + 1807, 10,125,419 + 1808, 10,681,579 + 1809, 11,359,691 + 1810, 12,095,977 + 1811, 13,073,577 + 1812, 14,098,842 + 1813, 16,064,057 + 1814, 14,830,957 + 1815, 14,241,397 + ———————————— + £186,928,399 + + —PORTER’S _Parl. Tables_, i. 1. + +It is a total mistake to allege, as is often done, that this immense and +growing sinking-fund was obtained entirely by borrowing with the one +hand what was paid off with another. The _funds_ thus applied to the +reduction of debt were obtained from the _indirect_ taxes set apart on +the contraction of each loan, in amount adequate not only to defray its +annual interest, but also to extinguish, within forty-five years after +it was contracted, the principal of the loan itself. That part of the +loan was applied in each year, especially during the latter years of the +war, to keep up the sinking-fund, is true, but is immaterial. That was +only because the taxes set apart for its support were absorbed, in great +part, by the necessities of the contest; and when _the contest and loans +ceased_, these taxes were amply sufficient to keep up the sinking-fund +without any extraneous aid. This appears from the following Table, also +taken from Mr Porter, exhibiting what was actually paid off of the +public debt during the next fifteen years of Tory peace-government:— + + TABLE showing the Money applied to the + reduction of Debt, Funded and Unfunded, from + 1815 to 1832. + + 1816, £13,945,117 + 1817, 14,514,457 + 1818, 15,339,483 + 1819, 16,305,590 + 1820, 17,499,773 + 1821, 17,219,957 + 1822, 18,889,319 + 1823, 7,482,325 + 1824, 10,625,059 + 1825, 6,093,475 + 1826, 5,621,231 + 1827, 5,704,766 + 1828, 4,667,965 + 1829, 2,559,485 + 1830, 4,545,465 + 1831, 1,663,093 + 1832, 5,696 + ———————————— + £162,682,256 + + —PORTER’S _Parl. Tables_, i. 1. + +But the Reform Bill, passed in 1832, has entirely put an end to the +reduction of the debt. Since that time, as Sir Charles Wood tells us, +the debt, so far from having diminished, has increased £27,000,000. + +That there was a substantial reduction of debt going on during the +period included in the above table, and not a mere juggle, by +transferring debt from one denomination to another, though not to the +amount which these figures would indicate, is decisively proved by the +following Table, showing the general result of the financial operations +from 1816 to 1832, when the Whigs introduced the Reform Bill:— + + Funded Debt on 5th Jan. 1816, £816,311,940 + Unfunded do., 48,510,501 + ———————————— + Total, £860,822,441 + + Total Debt on 5th Jan. 1832— + Funded, £754,100,549 + Unfunded, 27,752,650 + ———————————— 781,853,199 + ———————————— + Paid off in sixteen years, £82,969,242 + + —PORTER’S _Parl. Tables_, ii. 6. + +In the next eighteen years, since the Reform Bill changed the +Constitution, it has been seen the debt was increased by £27,000,000. + +So prodigious and fatal a change in our financial system would be wholly +inexplicable, considering the many able and patriotic men who, since +that period, have been intrusted with its direction, if we did not +recollect the vital change made since that time in the constitution of +the country, and the new class which was brought up in overwhelming +numbers to return representatives to the House of Commons. That class is +the borough and shopkeeping interest, with whom the main object is to +buy cheap and sell dear. Not only has this principle, since that time, +formed the sole regulator of Government measures in general or +commercial policy, but it has operated decisively on our finances, and +is the main cause to which their present hopeless condition is to be +ascribed. To cheapen everything became the great object; and this was to +be done, it was thought, most effectually by taking taxes off articles +of consumption. Under the influence of this principle, indirect taxes to +the following enormous amount have been repealed since the peace, the +magnitude of which renders it noways surprising that the sinking-fund +has disappeared:— + + TABLE showing the Taxes, Direct and Indirect, Repealed and Imposed from + 1816 to 1847, both inclusive. + + REPEALED. IMPOSED. + Year. Direct. Indirect. Direct. Indirect. Year. + 1816, £15,000,000 £2,547,000 £320,058 1816 + 1817, 36,495 7,991 1817 + 1818, 9,564 1,336 1818 + 1819, 705,846 3,094,902 1819 + 1820, 4,000 119,602 1820 + 1821, 471,309 43,642 1821 + 1822, 2,139,101 1822 + 1823, 1,860,000 2,190,050 18,596 1823 + 1824, 1,704,724 45,605 1824 + 1825, 3,639,551 43,000 1825 + 1826, 1,973,812 188,000 1826 + 1827, 4,038 21,402 1827 + 1828, 51,998 1,966 1828 + 1829, 126,406 1829 + 1830, 4,093,955 696,004 1830 + 1831, 1,598,536 627,586 1831 + 1832, 747,264 44,526 1832 + 1833, 1,526,914 1833 + 1834, 1,200,000 891,516 198,394 1834 + 1835, 165,817 75 1835 + 1836, 989,786 1836 + 1837, 234 3,991 1837 + 1838, 289 100 1838 + 1839, 66,258 1,783 1839 + 1840, 18,959 2,155,673 1840 + 1841, 27,176 1841 + 1842, 1,596,366 £5,529,989 1842 + 1843, 1843 + 1844, 1844 + 1845, 4,535,561 23,720 1845 + 1846, 1846 + 1847, 1847 + ———————————— ———————————— ———————————— ———————————— + £18,060,000 £33,523,623 £5,529,989 £7,743,962 + Imposed, 5,529,989 7,743,962 + ———————————— ———————————— + Taxation reduced, £12,431,011 £25,779,661 + +Thus the balance of indirect taxation, reduced since the Peace, has been +above £25,000,000—of direct, above £12,000,000 annually; and till 1842, +it was £15,000,000 yearly. Had the sinking-fund been kept up at its +amount as it was in 1815—that is, at £15,000,000 sterling out of the +indirect taxes, there might have been repealed £15,000,000 of direct, +and £14,000,000 of indirect taxes, and still _every shilling of the +public debt would have been paid off by 1846_. Why has this most +desirable, most vital object for the national safety in future times, +not been gained? Simply because the mania of cheapening everything has +ruled the State. Successive Administrations, which have succeeded to the +helm of affairs, have endeavoured to gain a fleeting popularity, by +bidding against each other in the race for popularity, by the sacrifice +of the best interests of their country; and because Parliament—composed, +so far as its majority goes since 1832, of the members for boroughs—have +shut their eyes entirely to the ultimate consequences of their actions, +and looked only to the gratifying their buying and selling constituents +by the incessant reduction of the indirect taxes, and lowering the +remuneration of industry of every kind throughout the country. + +In truth, the chasm made in the finances of the country by this +incessant, uncalled for, and ruinous reduction of the indirect taxes, in +pursuance of the mania to cheapen everything, under which the nation has +been labouring during the last thirty years, has been far greater and +more disastrous than the preceding figures, formidable as they are, +would lead us to suppose. The taxes repealed are of course set down at +the amount they were _at the time of their repeal_. But that is very far +from what they would have produced if they had been kept up; because, in +that case, of course they would have shared in the vast increase of +wealth and population which has since taken place. At the time when a +large part of these taxes were repealed, the British isles did not +contain above from 20,000,000 to 24,000,000 of inhabitants—now they +contain 29,000,000. Our exports and imports have more than doubled in +amount since the income-tax was taken off in 1816. Beyond all doubt, at +its original rate of ten per cent, it would now have produced, at the +very least, £20,000,000 a-year. The duty on spirits, so fatally lowered +in 1826, would now have produced, not £2,000,000, but £3,000,000 or +£3,500,000 annually. There cannot be a shadow of doubt that the taxes, +which in 1815 produced £72,000,000 a-year, would, if continued at the +same rates, have been now producing 50 per cent more, or £110,000,000. +There is no man in his senses who would think that the nation either +could have borne, or ought to have borne, such a load of taxation. +Relief, on the return of peace, was indispensable. But it is one thing +to give relief in a reasonable and prudent degree; it is another, and a +very different thing, to throw away the public revenue with a reckless +prodigality, without either principle or foresight, and for no other +reason but to win a temporary popularity for wasteful Administrations. + +Indeed, the inevitable effect of the cheapening system, and especially +of the repeal of the Corn Laws, in rendering the taxes unproductive, and +payment of the interest even of the public debt ere long impossible, was +distinctly foreseen and foretold not only by ourselves in this Magazine, +but by the most decided apostles of the opposite set of opinions. Hear +Mr Cobbett on the subject, in Vol. LI. of his _Register_, No. 2, July +10, 1824—a quotation for which we are indebted to that able and +consistent journal, the _Standard_. + + + “‘The commercial world’ will, I believe, find it rather difficult to + persuade the landlords to ‘modify and alter the Corn-laws,’ much less + to ‘do away’ with those laws: but what now is to become of all the + pretty doctrine about the inseparable interests of manufacture and + agriculture? I trust we shall hear no more of that soft nonsense.... + + “Now mind, I do not say that the manufacturers ought not to be + permitted to get food from abroad; but I say—and what man in his + senses does not say, that in whatever degree this cotton body is + supplied with food from abroad, it must and will dispense with food + from our own lands.... + + “I would fain then see the two-legged animal who is quadruped enough + still to contend that the interests of the landlords and those of the + cotton-lords are inseparable. They are directly opposed to each other; + and opposed to each other they must be as long as this debt shall + last. + + “It will be curious enough to observe how ‘the manufacturing mind’ + will work upon ‘the agricultural mind.’ These two minds will now come + into direct contact with each other. It will be the business of the + cotton mind to convince the landlords that bringing in foreign corn + will not make their English corn sell cheaper; or, failing in this, to + convince them that wheat at 4s. a bushel will, ‘in the long run,’ be + better for the landlords than wheat at 8s. a bushel. A very long run, + I believe, indeed! In short, it is a question of rents or no rents. + With the present debt and taxes, and with wheat at 4s. a bushel, there + can be no rents; so that, when the cotton mind comes forward to get a + repeal of the Corn Bill, it comes in fact to pray that there shall no + longer be rents in England. + + “The cotton-lords, and indeed all the lords of the loom and anvil, are + bestirring themselves, and collecting all their forces for a desperate + assault upon the jolterheads (the landlords) who cry aloud for + national faith. I wish them success. I will not absolutely join them; + but I wish them success; because that success would destroy the _whole + system_ (the system of paper-money, national debt, and oppressive + taxation) root and branch. The Corn Bill, the Small-Note Bill, the + laying out of public money in Ireland, the lending of money + occasionally to manufacturers and merchants, the Bank advancing money + upon big estates—all these shifts and tricks just keep the thing + agoing; but come a war, or repeal the Corn Bill, and you will soon see + what is to become of the system. Everything seems strained to its + utmost: and when that is the case, something must soon give way.” + + +The alleged advantage which the Free-trade party oppose to the obviously +calamitous effects of this incessant surrender of the public revenue, +and the now admitted abandonment of all attempts to pay off the public +debt, is, that commodities have been cheapened thereby, and the weight +which oppressed them taken off the springs of industry. We utterly deny +this advantage. What is the good of this constant cheapening, when +confessedly you cannot cheapen our debts and obligations? Is it anything +else but diminishing the funds from which the interest of these debts +and obligations is to be discharged, and running the nation into the +most imminent hazard of incurring a general bankruptcy, public and +private? Do not salaries and incomes fall, from the highest to the +lowest, in consequence; and if so, what good does the fall of prices do, +even to the individuals who apparently profit by it? Suppose we gained +our object, and rendered everything as cheap here as it is in Poland or +Norway—what should we gain by it, but that we should speedily become _as +poor as them_, and that the realised wealth of this nation, now for the +most part invested in situations where its interest is paid by the +industry of the people, would be lost by that industry having ceased to +receive a sufficient remuneration? And is that an object for which the +national security should be endangered, and the means of maintaining our +independence destroyed? + +In truth,—with the exception of some manufactured articles, such as +cotton and calicoes, in which the fall of prices has been prodigious, +owing to the successive improvement of the machinery employed in their +formation,—we are at a loss to see that this immense remission of +indirect taxes, which has evidently been fatal to the national finances, +has been attended with the slightest benefit to the country generally. +We say the country generally—because there can be no doubt that it has +been a very great advantage to the _master-manufacturers engaged in the +trades affected by the taxes_, who have, in most cases, contrived to put +the whole tax lost to the public into their own pockets. That is the +real secret of the remission. Individual selfishness, the thirst for +gain, was in most cases the moving spring. The parties interested +besieged the Chancellor of the Exchequer with memorials, setting forth +the hardships they sustained from the tax affecting their branch of +industry, and the immense benefit the _public_ would derive from its +abolition; but the public was the very last thing they were really +thinking of. It was their own profits to which they were looking; and +but for that, they never would have stirred in the matter. The immense +fortunes made in many branches of manufactures, during the last quarter +of a century, have been in great part owing to the tax remitted having +been wholly gained to the master-manufacturers engaged in them. We pay +the same now for our shoes and beer as we did thirty years ago, though, +since its termination, the whole tax on leather and the war tax on malt +have been repealed. + +There is no doubt that prices have declined in most articles of +consumption to a great degree during the last twenty-five years, and in +some to a most extraordinary extent. But where the decline has been +great—as, for example, in cottons or calicoes, which are now selling for +a fifth of what they cost during the war—it is not owing to the +remission of taxation, so much as to the extraordinary perfection to +which machinery and the division of labour have been brought. The proof +of this is decisive. The fall of price has been fully as great in +branches of manufactures in regard to which no remission has taken +place, or in a very slight degree, as in those in which it has been most +considerable. And in regard to all commodities, the effect of the +monetary bills of 1819, 1826, and 1844, must be taken into +consideration. Those bills, by contracting the currency to _one half_ of +what it previously had been in proportion to the industry and population +of the country, have effected a revolution of prices so great, that +nearly the whole reduction of the cost of articles prior to the last +year is to be ascribed to it. The great organ of the money interest, the +_Times_, boasts that recent legislation has doubled the value of the +sovereign. Unquestionably it has; and of course it has also doubled the +whole debt of the country, public and private. It has turned the +national debt of £800,000,000 into £1,600,000,000; it has made the +annual taxation of £52,000,000 as burdensome as £100,000,000 would have +been during the war. Prices have generally fallen; but it is the +contraction of the currency which has done that. As to the remission of +taxation, with the exception of a few articles, such as salt and +spirits, in which the remission, being very large, was immediately felt +by the consumer, the reduction of prices has not been greater than +necessarily flowed from the artificial scarcity of money, and would have +been the same though no reduction of public duties had taken place. +Generally speaking, the tax, lost to the public, has been entirely +gained by the master-manufacturer. + +Had the system of cheapening, carried into effect by the contraction of +the currency on the one hand, and the extensive remission of duties on +the other, been attended by beneficial consequences to the people, and +resulted in general happiness and prosperity, there would at least have +been some set-off against the ruin of our financial prospects which it +has occasioned; and we might have consoled ourselves for the evident +imposition of the public debt as a hopeless burden upon the nation, by +the reflection that at least temporary wellbeing had resulted from the +change. Has this been the case? Alas! the fact is just the reverse; and +among the many mournful reflections which the present hopeless condition +of our finances awakens, it is perhaps the most mournful, that the price +paid for it has been, not public happiness, but general and +unprecedented misery. In the long and varied annals of English history, +there is beyond all question no period which has been marked by such +repeated and widespread suffering as the thirty years which have elapsed +since the cheapening system was begun, by the contraction of the +currency in 1819, and the present time, when it has been carried into +full effect by Sir R. Peel’s Free-trade policy in 1846. The three +dreadful monetary crises of 1825, 1839, and 1847, followed, as each of +them was, by several years of devastation and ruin to the trading +classes; the repeated recurrence of agricultural distress, especially +from 1832 to 1836, and in 1849; the unheard-of agonies of the Irish +famine of 1846, perpetuated by the fall of prices, which rendered +agriculture unremunerative over great part of that country,—are some of +the leading features of an epoch which will ever be regarded as at once +the most momentous and the most disastrous which the British Empire has +ever known. + +It has left its traces deeply furrowed and for ever marked in English +annals. It has produced consequences which will never be forgotten, and +to which the historians of future times will point as the turning-point +of British story, an eternal warning to future ages. It has produced the +Revolution of 1832; disfranchised our whole Colonies; displaced the +government of property, talent, and intelligence in the ruling island, +and installed that of buying and selling in its stead. It has severed +the public policy from the protection of the Land and Native Industry, +the real inheritance and only sure patrimony of the nation, and anchored +it instead on the shifting quicksands of Commercial Prosperity. It has +destroyed the West Indies beyond the possibility of redemption, and +spread discontent so widely through our other Colonies, that it is +universally known they are all only waiting for some serious disaster to +the parent state, or the advent of a protracted and hazardous war, to +declare themselves independent. It has rendered every seventh man in +Great Britain and Ireland, taken together, a pauper. It has driven from +250,000 to 300,000 industrious citizens, for the last three years, +annually into exile from their native land. It has raised the poor-rate +in both islands to an unprecedented height, and, when measured by its +true standard, the price of subsistence to double what it ever was +before. It has implanted the seeds of ruin in our Mercantile Navy, by +the rapid growth of foreign shipping as compared with British in +carrying on our own trade. It has rendered our shores defenceless as +they were in the days of the Saxon Heptarchy; and made one of our first +admirals, Sir Charles Napier, thankful when the winter frosts closed the +Baltic harbours, and secured our capital from the insulting visits of +the successors of the sea-kings of the north. It has rendered our means +of raising a revenue so hopeless, that the “greatest bill-broker in the +world,” Mr Gurney, has declared that we must end in national bankruptcy; +and the leader of the Free-traders himself, Mr Cobden, has publicly said +that there is no resource but to disband our troops, sell our ships of +war, and trust the national security to the justice and moderation of +our enemies, and the total absence of envy in our rivals. Such, and not +public and passing felicity, is the price which the nation has paid for +the ruin of its finances, the abandonment of the sinking-fund, and the +imposing of the public debt _for ever_, as a burden, hopeless of +redemption, on the country. + +The destruction of property which has taken place in the British Empire +during the thirty years that this cheapening process was going on, +exceeds probably anything recorded during a similar period in the annals +of mankind. It has much exceeded all that was produced by the +confiscations of the Convention, or the devastation of the wars of +Napoleon. Each of the three great monetary crises of 1825, 1839, and +1847, occasioned the destruction at once of two or three hundred +millions worth of mercantile property, and halved the fortunes of +persons to double that extent. The intervals between them were, with the +exception of a few brief gleams of perilous prosperity, periods of +anxiety, gloom, and depression, during which all persons engaged in +business, with the exception of the great capitalists, who were daily +getting richer, found their property melting away under the ceaseless +and progressive fall of prices. It was exactly the obverse of the vast +impulse given to industry over the whole world by the discovery of the +mines of Mexico and Peru, and the consequent rise of prices which +everywhere ensued. One class, and one only, flourished amidst the +general distress; but, unfortunately, in that class the government of +the nation for the time was vested, viz., the _moneyed interest_. So +immensely had this interest grown under the protective policy of the +preceding hundred and fifty years, that it was able to set all other +interests in the State at defiance, and to pursue the system of making +the sovereign worth two sovereigns, despite the evident ruin which that +system was bringing on all the industrious classes in the state. Future +ages will ask what were the devastating wars, the stunning calamities, +the loss of provinces, the severance of colonies, which inflicted such +deep and irremediable wounds on the British nation during these +memorable periods? and they will be answered, it was thirty years of +unbroken peace at home, a series of brilliant colonial conquests abroad, +and ONE SYSTEM. + +But that one system was amply sufficient to break down the most +wisely-conceived system of finance, to ruin the most flourishing +revenue, to render beggarly the richest nation, to destroy the greatest +empire. It is the system, originating with the Roman empire, as a +necessary and just consequence of its universal conquest, of universal +free-trade—a system which ruined the empire. It is the more dangerous +that it recommends itself to the people in the first instance by the +alluring prospect of cheapening everything, of making money daily go +farther, rendering every one apparently richer and more comfortable than +he was before. It is readily adopted by the shopkeeping and trading +class, because it enables them, in the first instance, to purchase the +goods at a less cost; forgetting that if they buy cheap they must also +sell cheap, and that their customers’ means of payment are melting away +from the effects of that very cheapness. It is long, however, before +this truth, how obvious soever, is generally understood. It is by slow +degrees, and after much suffering only, that it is discovered that this +system of general cheapening does not stop short with people’s +_expenditure_; that it speedily comes to affect their _incomes_ also, +and that in a still greater degree; that, if shopkeepers buy cheap, they +must sell little or sell cheap also; that wages must fall with the +decline in the price of commodities; and that the last condition of the +people is worse than the first. But while this great and eternal truth +is in the course of being brought home to the nation by suffering, the +national pre-eminence is lost, the national security is endangered, the +national spirit is weakened. Multitudes become desperate in regard to +their own and their country’s fortunes, from the scenes of suffering and +distress which they perpetually see around them; the selfish feelings +acquire a fatal preponderance, from the general experienced +impossibility of indulging in the generous. Meanwhile the national +income melts away under the effects of the general cheapening of the +remuneration of industry—all steady or foreseeing system of finance is +abandoned, and every successive Government, like a needy spendthrift, +deems itself happy if it can get through the year without a financial +crisis, never bestowing a thought on the future, either as regards the +national security, its finances, or its means of defence. + +One memorable instance of the way in which, under the cheapening system, +the public revenue has been recklessly and needlessly thrown away, is to +be found in the Penny Postage. It is well known that, prior to the +change, the Post-office income, after paying _the whole charges of the +Packet Service_, yielded a clear surplus revenue to the nation of +£1,500,000 or £1,600,000 a-year. The postage of letters, however, was +decidedly too high; a reduction was loudly called for by the public; +and, if cautiously and judiciously applied, the increase of letters +might have compensated the reduction of rates of postage, and a boon +have been conceded to the community, without any detriment to the public +service. A uniform 2d. or 3d., or even 4d., postage would have been +hailed with unmixed satisfaction by the people, who had been paying 10d. +or 1s. for their letters, and no material diminution of that important +branch of the revenue experienced. Instead of this, what did the +Government, urged on by the cheapening party, actually do? Why, they +reduced the postage at once to a penny for all letters, from all +distances within the two islands. We were told, that not only would +there be no loss, but a certain gain, after a few years had elapsed, +from the vast and certain increase in the number of letters that would +be transmitted. How have these expectations been realised? The revenue +set down as coming from the Post-office, immediately after the change, +was only £500,000 or £600,000 a-year; and, after having been nine years +in operation, it has only risen, in the year ending 5th April 1850, to +£803,000; much less than half of what it would have been under the +former system, when the increased population and transactions of the +country are taken into consideration, if either the old rates had been +continued, or a reasonable reduction to 2d. or 3d. had taken place. It +is to the embarrassment produced by this great defalcation that we are +mainly indebted for the renewal of the income-tax. + +But this defalcation, great and serious as it thus appears on the face +of the public accounts, was little more than _a half_ of what really +occurred in consequence of the change. To conceal the effects of this +great innovation, the Free-trading party, who had now got entire +possession of the Government, had the address both to get the expense of +the Packet Service, _previously borne by the Post-office, thrown upon +the Navy_, and to keep that important change a secret among the +Government officials. In this way a double object was gained. The +disastrous effect of the reduction was kept out of view, and the +increased charges of the Navy afforded a plausible ground for demagogues +to assail the Government for alleged extravagance in that department. +But that which one demagogue had done, another demagogue brought to +light. Mr Cobden made so violent a clamour about the increase of +expenditure in the Navy since 1835, when it had been reduced, under the +pressure of the Reform mania, to its lowest point, that the Admiralty, +in their own defence, let out the important fact, that, since the +penny-postage system began, they had been saddled with the whole cost of +the Packet Service, which they never had been before; and, in the debate +on the Estimates, Lord John Russell stated that this cost now amounted +to £737,000 a-year. Thus the real Post-office accounts stand thus:— + + Apparent surplus for year ending 5th April 1850, £803,000 + Deduct cost of Packet Service, thrown on Navy, 737,000 + ———————— + Real Post-office revenue, £66,000 + +And it has been raised to this level only during a year of extraordinary +manufacturing activity, when our exports turned £60,000,000. On the +whole, since the postage was reduced in 1841, the Post-office has not +yielded a farthing to the country, but, on the contrary, has occasioned +a loss of some hundred thousand pounds. + +We have heard enough from the Free-traders of the disasters which +accumulated on the year 1848, and commencement of 1849, when a monetary +crisis, the Irish famine, the European revolution, the Irish rebellion, +and the Chartist sedition, combined to reduce the revenue to an +unprecedented degree. We have heard enough, also, of the unexampled +prosperity of the year 1849, when these extraneous disasters had ceased, +and the blessings of Free-trade and the cheapening system were still in +undiminished lustre. Be it so. Let us compare the public revenue of this +year of unprecedented disaster with that obtained in the next year of +unexampled prosperity, as appearing from the finance accounts of April +5, 1850:— + + Year ending Year ending + 5th April 1849. 5th April 1850. + Ordinary revenue, £48,490,002 £48,643,042 + China money, 84,284 + Imprest and other monies, 665,293 656,855 + Repayment of advances, 427,761 553,349 + ——————————— ——————————— + £49,667,430 £49,853,246 + 49,853,246 + ——————————— + Increase in 1849, £185,816 + —_Times_, April 1850. + +So that the increase in a year of extraordinary and unprecedented +prosperity, as we are told, over one of unexampled and overwhelming +suffering, is _only_ £185,000, for £128,000 of which we are indebted to +an excess in the repayment of advances in 1849 over 1848. We care not to +what this extraordinary fact is to be ascribed, whether reduction of +duties, the continuance of distress, or any other cause. We rest on the +fact that Free-trade finance and the cheapening system have brought the +revenue of the country, _in a year of what the Free-traders call its +highest prosperity, to a level with what it had been in a year of its +greatest adversity_. History cannot, and will not, overlook these facts. +The leaders of the Free-traders say they live for posthumous fame. Let +them not be afraid. Posterity will do them full justice. + +The financial problem of the Free-traders is—“Given a cheapened nation, +to extract an adequate revenue out of their unremunerated industry.” We +recommend this problem to the study of the Free-trading Chancellor of +the Exchequer. If he solve it, we shall assign him a place superior to +Archimedes in physical—to Bacon in political science. + +What a contrast to this mournful decay of the national resources, and +ruin of the national strength, from the effects of a theory acted upon +by the Legislature under the influence of a class majority in +Parliament, would a truly catholic and national policy, protective alike +to all interests, have afforded! An adequate but not redundant currency, +cautiously administered, and relieved from the fatal liability to +abstraction from a great increase of imports in any particular year, +would at once have afforded free scope to national industry, and avoided +the frightful vicissitudes in the demand for labour, which the opposite +system of making the currency entirely dependent on the most evanescent +of earthly things—gold—of necessity occasioned. The terrible monetary +crises of 1825, 1839, and 1847, would have been unfelt. They would have +been surmounted, as that of 1810 had been, by an extended issue of paper +when the gold was for a time abstracted, without their existence being +known to the nation. Industry, protected in every department by adequate +but not oppressive fiscal duties, would have generally and steadily +flourished. Periods of extravagant speculation and exorbitant wages, +followed by commercial depression and general suffering, would have been +unknown. The national revenues, sustained by an adequate currency and +unbroken industry, would have afforded an ample surplus to Government, +both for the public service and the promotion of objects of general +utility, after providing for the maintenance of the sinking-fund. +Emigration, supported, so far as the destitute are concerned, by the +Government resources, and conducted in Government vessels, would have +poured a ceaseless and prolific stream into the Colonies, at once +vivifying their industry, and converting the paupers of England and +Ireland into consumers of our manufactures, at the rate of six or seven +pounds a-head per annum. Pauperism at home, relieved in the classes +where it originates by this wise and paternal policy, would have been +arrested. Crime itself would have been made to minister to the general +good: the jails of Great Britain would have been converted into +industrial academies for behoof of the Colonies. The industry of the +Colonies, encouraged by the protective policy of the mother country, and +supported by the ceaseless streams of its emigration, would have +advanced with rapid strides, and afforded a rising and inexhaustible +mart for domestic manufactures. The ocean would have become a British +lake: the navy of England, the floating bridge which at once united and +protected its distant dependencies. + +Colonial discontent would have been unknown. The West Indies, Canada, +and Australia, would have been the most loyal and contented, because the +most flourishing and justly governed parts of the Empire. The foreign +trade of the world would have been to the British Empire what Adam Smith +justly called the most profitable of all trades, a home trade. We should +have raised the raw material for all our staple branches of industry +within ourselves; wool from Australia, cotton from the East and West +Indies, grain from the British isles and Canada. Agriculture at home and +abroad would have advanced abreast of manufactures; commerce and +shipping would have risen with the increase of their productions; the +Navy, fed by an ample and protected commercial marine, and sustained at +an adequate amount by a well-filled treasury, would have secured our +independence, and enabled us to attend to the interests and anticipate +the wants of our remotest dependencies. We should have been alike +independent of foreign nations for the materials of pacific industry, +and superior to them in warlike resources. Great Britain, though grey in +years of renown, would have retained for centuries the vigour of youth, +because she would have been continually renovated by the energy of her +descendants. The paternal hall would have been constantly cheerful and +happy, because it would have been always filled with children and +grandchildren, or enlivened by their exploits. Amidst general prosperity +and unceasing progress, the National Debt—constantly encroached on by a +sustained sinking-fund—would have disappeared. Before this time it would +have been all extinguished; and the taxation of the Empire, reduced to +£30,000,000 or £35,000,000 a-year, would have enabled us for ever to +maintain the national armaments on such a scale as would have qualified +us to bid defiance alike to the covert encroachments of our rivals, or +the open hostility of our enemies. Under the opposite or cheapening +system, the public debt has, on the admission of its ablest supporters, +been virtually doubled; the sinking-fund has, amidst general and almost +constant distress, disappeared; Colonial discontent threatens the Empire +with dismemberment; agricultural distress will speedily render it +dependent for its daily bread on its enemies; and the maintenance of the +national independence, if the present system is persisted in, has been +rendered, for any length of time, impossible. + + + + + GREECE AGAIN. + + “If, Cassandra-like, amidst the din + Of conflict none will hear, or, hearing, heed + This voice from out the wilderness, the sin + Be theirs, and my own feelings be my meed.” + _Prophecy of Dante._ + + +Greece is a most unfortunate country. She has only escaped the Turks to +be plundered by her rulers and ruined by her protectors. Seventeen years +ago, Lord Palmerston placed King Otho on his throne; he has since been +occupied in making that throne an uneasy seat. King Otho refuses to +answer Lord Palmerston’s letters; in revenge, Great Britain ruins a +number of Greek shipowners, and leaves the Greek ministers unpunished. +The Duke of Wellington has said that he never bombarded a town, and +never saw the necessity for committing such an act of cruelty; and the +saying does him even more honour than his long career of victory. We had +hoped that no Englishman would ever have forgotten this saying; yet Lord +Palmerston bombards the merchants of Greece for the faults of King +Otho’s ministers. We are irresistibly reminded, by this last display of +our Foreign Secretary’s warlike propensities, of Mr Winkle’s fight with +the small boy. + +Though much has been written on the subject of this quarrel, both at +home and on the Continent, no clear statement of the exact relations +between England and Greece has been published; nor can it be gathered +even from the papers recently laid before Parliament.[1] We believe, +therefore, that our readers will thank us for devoting a few pages to a +serious examination of the political relations between the two +countries, which will tend to place the recent coercive measures in +their true light. This is the more necessary, because Ministers, both in +debates and Parliamentary papers, have it in their power to conceal +everything relating to the past; and the Opposition must hunt long +before they can spring a single truth in the thickets of official +deception. A view of the subject, under the guidance of truth and common +sense, free both from party views and national prejudices, has been +rendered necessary by the speech of Mr Piscatory, the late French +Minister in Greece. The spoken pamphlet of Mr Piscatory was prepared +with considerable skill; but it communicates hardly a single fact that +has not been perverted by being removed from its true context, or by +having only half its concomitant circumstances narrated. Indeed, Mr +Piscatory having been bellows-blower in the disputes between Sir E. +Lyons, the English envoy at Athens, and King Otho’s ministers, for four +years, is not a famous witness; he has his own secrets to conceal. His +oratorical display did not impose on the good sense of General +Cavaignac, who parodied Sylla’s speech to a wordy Athenian ambassador, +by hinting to the French ex-minister plenipotentiary, “that it seemed +France had sent him to Athens to study rhetoric, not to collect +information.” + +The papers laid before Parliament prove the worthlessness of Mr +Piscatory’s diplomacy; but the conduct of Lord Palmerston cannot be +correctly appreciated, unless we trace the connexion of England and +Greece since the convention of 1832, appointing Prince Otho of Bavaria +King of Greece, under the protection and guarantee of England, France, +and Russia. That treaty, it must be recollected, was the work of Lord +Palmerston. King Otho was selected by Lord Palmerston; he was conveyed +to Greece by Lord Palmerston’s favourite diplomatist, Sir E. Lyons; and +it was under Lord Palmerston’s special protection that the +Anglo-Bavarian Regency was furnished with £2,400,000, and allowed to +destroy the institutions of the Greek nation. These facts embrace the +history of British connexion with Greece from 1832 to 1837. Great +Britain, or, to speak more correctly, our Foreign Secretary, is morally +responsible for the government of the Greek kingdom by Count Armansperg, +who ruled far more absolutely than King Otho has ever done, for the +simple reason that he had a better filled purse. Sir E. Lyons supported +him with vigour alike against Russian and French opposition, Greek +patriotism, and constitutional principles, as may be seen by a reference +to the papers laid before Parliament in July 1836. + +In 1837, Armansperg was dismissed from office; but Greece is still +suffering from the loss of the institutions he destroyed, and the +political corruption he introduced. Coletti, it is true, imitated his +political system in the internal government with singular aptitude, but +with diminished funds and resources for corruption. Where Armansperg +could appoint an amnestied brigand a captain of infantry, Coletti could +only make some old friend a policeman, or peradventure a consul. + +In 1837 the Government of Greece broke off its intimate connexion with +England, and the English Minister at Athens became involved in a +succession of quarrels with the court. It is not necessary for us to +prove that the Bavarian Administration from 1837 to 1843 was bad. All +parties agree that it was intolerable; and the Greeks were universally +applauded when they expelled the whole tribe of Bavarian officials. King +Otho had fallen into an error that might have been expected from a +Whig-created king; he had neglected all the real duties of royalty, and +transacted the business of his under-secretaries of state. + +The circumstances that have determined the position of our relations +with Greece, since the Constitution of 1844, occurred in the preceding +period. Lord Palmerston’s first quarrel with the Greek court dates from +1837, and originated in the dissatisfaction then felt, because the +British Minister at Athens did not possess as much influence with King +Otho’s Government as he had possessed with Count Armansperg’s. The +avowed object of British diplomacy, at that period, was to force the +adherents of the English party into office; and King Otho incurred the +enmity of England for preferring the counsels of France and Russia. The +first pitched battle between Greece and England was fought about the +waistcoat of the British Minister’s groom. The question was, whether the +waistcoat worn by Sir E. Lyons’ groom in his stable dress, and in which +he had been carried off to prison for squirting water on a policeman, +was or was not a livery waistcoat. After several weeks’ deliberation, +the Greek court decided, that, although they did not consider the +waistcoat in question to be a livery waistcoat, yet, in consideration of +the fact that the British Minister called it his livery, the Government +of Greece was ready to make every concession that could be required to +heal the wounded honour of Great Britain. Parliament had a narrow escape +of seeing the waistcoat laid before both Houses. Now this is very silly. +Yet there is no doubt that the arrest of the groom was an intentional +insult. + +This affair was enacted to lower the English minister in the eyes of the +populace, and compel the English Government to change him. Everybody in +Greece knew that the groom was sent to prison; few Greeks believed that +the Government had apologised for the insult; indeed, nothing but the +sight of a policeman chained before the British legation for twenty-four +hours could have reintegrated the name of England at Athens, so stoutly +did all Government officials declare that no apology was ever made. +Another scene was exhibited for the satisfaction of the court and the +_corps diplomatique_. At a private theatrical representation in King +Otho’s palace, the British minister was left without a chair in the +circle, and remained standing during a long comedy. Some ambassadors +would have been sorely distressed by this species of physical torture; +but the ambassador in question is said to have consoled himself, during +this public exhibition of the feelings of protected Greece to protecting +England, by the reflection that his turn came next. + +A blow was shortly after inflicted on the royalty of Greece, from which +it can never recover; but Lord Palmerston is accused of tolerating the +use of forbidden weapons by some of his adherents, in his eagerness to +make the Greek monarch sensible of the impolicy of the conduct of the +Hellenic court. Attacks on the person of King Otho, more bold and +unsparing than the most malignant vituperation of Junius, appeared in a +London morning paper, then supposed to be allowed to imbibe some of its +inspiration from Downing Street. These communications pretended to come +from an anonymous correspondent in Athens, but it was evident the +unknown writer was aware of many things that could hardly be known +beyond the Bavarian court and the sanctuaries of Downing Street. At +least, King Otho drew this conclusion, and apparently on good grounds. +This correspondent informed the world, that his Hellenic Majesty, who +had been selected by Lord Palmerston, and supported with a loan of +£2,400,000, was nevertheless unfit to govern his kingdom; and that a +certificate to this effect had been signed by several officers, civil, +military, and medical, who were then at Athens in the service of King +Otho, and that this certificate had been placed in the hands of King +Louis of Bavaria. This strange communication would have passed unnoticed +in Greece, had it not been made the subject of conversation by all the +English officials, and the attention of Greek statesmen called to it by +the British legation and consulates. At last, it was publicly noticed by +the Greek press, and an outcry produced. Three of the Bavarians named as +having signed the certificate, published a declaration contradicting the +statement, in a document bearing date the 11th-23d June 1839, which was +printed in the Greek newspapers. The medical and military officers who +signed this counter-certificate were dismissed from all their places, +and immediately quitted Greece. Very little has been said on this +subject since. All parties seem heartily ashamed of their share in the +transaction, and the public never discovered the key of the mystery. It +is certain, however, that King Otho has given Lord Palmerston and Sir E. +Lyons good proof of the falsity of the certificate, if they were ever +led into the belief that such a document really existed; for, during ten +years, he baffled them both in every diplomatic move, and made their +vaunted constitutional policy tend more to the injury of their own +reputation than to the diminution of his power. + +This episode of the certificate, whether its existence be a fact or a +fable, placed an impassable barrier between Lord Palmerston and King +Otho. Right or wrong, his Hellenic Majesty held the English foreign +secretary responsible for the publication, for he believed that the +English Government possessed the power of dragging the calumniator to +light, and that it would have used the power had the anonymous +correspondent not been protected by a powerful patron. Besides, the King +of Greece might well ask, who in England could have acquired the +knowledge which enabled this correspondent to attack the person of a +monarch under the special protection of Great Britain, without fear of +investigation or reply, unless the information came directly from some +high diplomatic authority. We need not wonder, therefore, when we find +that, from June 1839, hatred to England was the prominent feeling +displayed by the Greek court in all its relations with the British +cabinet. Lord Palmerston, finding all hope of acquiring influence in the +Greek court vain, changed his policy, and became the advocate of +constitutional government. + +The revolution in 1843 afforded the British cabinet an opportunity of +putting our relations with Greece on a proper footing; but the +opportunity was lost. Instead of English influence being employed to +restore the national institutions destroyed by the Bavarians, it +supported the establishment of what is called the constitutional form of +government. One of those compilations of political commonplace which the +lawgivers of our age are ready, at a week’s notice, to prepare either +for Greenland or China, was translated from French pamphlets, and +entitled the _Constitution of Greece_. Lord Aberdeen, who was then +foreign secretary, committed as great a blunder in engaging Great +Britain to stand godfather to this constitution, as Lord Palmerston had +done in making Old England guardian to King Otho. The following are the +words in which the British Government thought fit to record its +approbation of this inane waste of time and paper,—“Her Majesty’s +Government have viewed with no less satisfaction the admirable temper +which appears to have generally prevailed in the Constituent Assembly, +throughout the whole of her deliberations on the deeply interesting and +important act on which they have been engaged. Such self-command in a +popular Assembly, convoked under very exciting and critical +circumstances, is highly creditable to the Greek nation. Nor is the +result of their labours, as a whole, less entitled to credit for the +general soundness of the constitutional principles therein established.” + +This, being the deliberate opinion of a British statesman of high +character, not supposed to be infatuated by a blind love of +revolutionary doctrines, demands serious examination. Let us see, +therefore, what are the principles which received the sanction of the +British Government on this occasion. In our opinion, they are precisely +those principles that lead with certainty to political anarchy and +national demoralisation. This vaunted constitution revived no local +habits of business, re-established no parochial usages, improved no +provincial institutions, corrected no political immoralities, restored +no religious authority, and insured no education to the clergy. It +proclaimed universal suffrage to an armed people, and vote by ballot to +a mob that cannot write; and these are the principles held up to public +approbation for their _general soundness_! While, as to the proofs of +admirable temper and self-command displayed by this assembly, these +feelings were surely not expressed in the decree by which this +good-tempered assembly excluded all their countrymen, who had immigrated +to the Greek territory since the year 1828, from official employments. +There are, perhaps, some who may feel inclined to observe to us, as Rob +Roy did to his kinsman, Bailie Nicol Jarvie, when they met in the +Tolbooth of Glasgow, “Hout, tout! man, let that flee stick in the wa’; +when the dirt’s dry it will rub out.” Be it so; but there are political +blunders that leave a stain, which neither time nor repentance can +efface. + +We believe that the source of Lord Aberdeen’s error arose from his wish +to treat Greece as an independent state. But Greece under the protection +of the three powers, and loaded with debt, could not be an independent +power. False appearances always produce evil consequences. Lord +Palmerston had been in too great a hurry to make the bantling monarchy +of the treaty of 1832 walk without a baby-jumper, and his rivalry with +Warwick the king-maker was not more glorious than his emulation of Mr +Winkle. He ought to have perceived that sundry Klephtopiratic +excrescences, like the protuberances on the body of a young bear, +required to be carefully licked into shape. Our Foreign Secretary +delayed the operation too long; and, when he perceived the dangers that +had resulted from his negligence, he erroneously fancied that a licking +of a different kind, applied by Admiral Parker to King Otho’s +Government, would set all right. + +When the Greek monarchy was founded in 1832, it was the duty of Lord +Palmerston to have laid before Parliament detailed answers to the +following questions, as a justification of the course he had pursued in +engaging Great Britain to protect the new state, and furnish it with a +loan of £2,400,000. The questions, in perfect ignorance of which the +character of England was compromised, and the money wasted, were:— + +1. What were the actual means of government in the country, and the +nature of the parochial, communal, borough, provincial and central +administrative institutions, which had enabled the Greeks to maintain a +war against Sultaun Mahmoud and Mahommed Ali for seven years? Enthusiasm +and patriotism are good words in a debate, and may explain the events of +a single campaign; but common sense tells every one that a people must +possess some administrative institutions, in order to persist in a +desperate struggle for many successive years. If Greece had no +institutions in 1832, she was clearly unfit to receive a king; and the +duty of the Three Protecting Powers was to frame a system of +administration, not to choose a monarch. But on the other hand, if the +foundations of political government already existed, it was especially +the duty of Great Britain to see that these foundations or local +institutions were improved, and not destroyed, by the new Government. + +2. What were the land and sea forces necessary to maintain order on +shore, and guard the Grecian seas from piracy; and how could these +forces be immediately subjected to the system of discipline, which the +protecting powers might consider indispensable? + +3. What measures were requisite, in order to enable the mass of the +population to turn their attention to profitable branches of industry +without loss of time? + +And 4. What were the financial resources of the country? What was the +amount of the debts contracted by the Government during the +revolutionary war? What sum would be required to supply the deficit in +the annual expenditure for the first year of the new monarch’s reign; +and what sum would be required to be set apart annually for paying the +interest of the debts of the Greek state, now converted into a European +kingdom? + +Strange as it may seem, there is not the slightest information on these +important questions in the papers laid before Parliament in 1832; and we +believe that, had Lord Palmerston taken the trouble to collect even the +limited information we have specified, before he involved Great Britain +in a guarantee of King Otho’s throne, he would have perceived that it +was not necessary to burden Greece either with a new debt or the +presence of a foreign army. Great Britain would then have prevented the +regency from destroying the existing institutions, and saved the country +from the administrative corruption that ruined the despotic royalty of +King Otho, and promises very soon to annihilate his constitutional +monarchy. + +One advantage might have been obtained for Greece by the constitution of +1844, if either the Greeks or their sovereign had known how to profit by +it. The direct influence of the protecting powers in the internal +affairs of the country was greatly diminished. Unfortunately, Mr Coletti +did not avail himself of this circumstance to lead the Greeks to make +one single improvement in the interior. Not a road was made, or a packet +established. Coletti was, nevertheless, a favourite minister with King +Otho, for he fomented the King’s aversion to England, and carried on an +active warfare with Sir E. Lyons. + +When Mr Wyse arrived at Athens last year, as British minister, he found +the train laid to the mine Lord Palmerston was about to spring. He tried +in vain to persuade the Greek ministers to make such concessions as +would prevent an open rupture. His conciliatory conduct misled the Greek +court into a belief that Lord Palmerston was afraid to come to blows, +and, in an evil hour, it deemed itself secure of victory. The only +alternative left to Great Britain, in King Otho’s opinion, was to +withdraw the English minister from Athens. But, even if Lord +Palmerston’s disposition had made him inclined to take this course, King +Otho ought to have remembered that the convention of 1832, which created +the Greek kingdom, bound England to watch over it. So infatuated was the +court of Athens at this time, that the modifications which it would be +possible to make in the Greek constitution, after the departure of the +English minister, became a subject of conversation. Yet when the hour +arrived, and Lord Palmerston’s demands were communicated, the Greek +ministers felt the folly of resistance; and they would have capitulated, +had the minister of the French Republic not availed himself of the +conjuncture to flatter King Otho’s private prejudices, and assumed the +direction of affairs. The Greek minister of foreign affairs, Mr Londos, +was a man utterly unfit for the place. His communications to the +Chambers, on the subject of the quarrel, are a tissue of erroneous +statements. M. Thouvenel persuaded this unlucky minister to brave Lord +Palmerston, and trust to the protection of France and the European +press. The French minister knew that he would gain for himself the star +and the broad blue ribbon of King Otho’s Order of the Redeemer, and he +knew equally well that he would inflict a serious injury on the commerce +and revenues of Greece, and that he would cause the ruin of many Greek +merchants. There can be no doubt, that ambassadors ought never to be +allowed to receive Orders from the sovereigns to whose court they are +accredited. The interests of nations are often sacrificed by honourable +men for stars and ribbons. In finally coming to an open rupture with +Greece, Lord Palmerston probably only did what any other minister who +had placed himself in a similar position must have done. But though we +believe that it was King Otho who made the cup run over, we have shown +our readers that Lord Palmerston had already filled it pretty full; and +we are far from approving of the measures he adopted for the coercion of +the Greek Government. In our opinion, it was cruel to punish the Greek +people for the faults of their rulers, since those rulers were selected +and protected by the Three Powers, of which England is one. The coercion +ought to have been confined to measures that would have directly +affected the King and the Government. + +We have now laid before our readers the history of all the causes, +supposed and real, of Lord Palmerston’s war with Greece. It was neither +the livery waistcoat of Sir E. Lyon’s groom, the missing chair at the +royal comedy, Mr Pacifico’s furniture, Mr Finlay’s garden, no, nor the +constitutional policy of the English Government, that brought our fleet +to Salamis. It was the anonymous correspondent of the _Morning +Chronicle_ in 1839, be that individual who he may. Lord Palmerston’s +conduct to Greece since that period, it is true, has been generally +unwise, and often unjust; but that correspondence having been once +placed to the account of the British Cabinet by the King of Greece, he +consequently acted in such a spirit towards England, that we acknowledge +a collision became unavoidable, without a sacrifice of the dignity of +the British Crown. The papers laid before Parliament show, that the +communications of the English Government were left unanswered for years. + +We are bound also to observe, that the conduct of King Otho has so +completely disorganised the finances of Greece, that his throne is in +imminent danger, and a great change in the government of Greece must +take place in the present year. In the year 1848, a serious rebellion +took place in Greece. The diplomacy of England was accused of +encouraging the insurgents, and, for some days, the flight of King Otho +from Athens was an event hourly expected. When the full extent of the +evil, and the anarchy which threatened the country in consequence of the +insane conduct of the Greek Opposition, was known in England, Lord +Palmerston frankly changed his policy, and sent our ablest and best +English diplomatist, Sir Stratford Canning, to save King Otho’s throne. +If a throne be of any value, the King of Greece owed some thanks to +England for the great services of Sir Stratford Canning, who had to +encounter a virulent and unfair opposition from the English officials at +Athens during his exertions to save Greece from anarchy. + +We have no time to point out the connexion of the events we have noticed +with the general movement of European diplomacy since 1833. Our space +compels us to confine our observations to Greece; and we must now +hastily examine the state of society in the country, in order to enable +our readers to judge of the manner in which the civilisation of the +people affects the administration of public affairs. The Greeks +themselves think that their great political want is a good systematic +central administration. We believe, on the contrary, that their great +political deficiency is the want of municipal institutions, that would +admit of their making some exertions to improve their own condition. +Every one who has travelled much in Greece must have seen, that every +little town and island contains two or three individuals capable of +fulfilling the duties of a local magistracy with honour to their +country; while everybody who has had anything to do with the ministers +of King Otho, or with the members of his council of state, knows that +there is not a statesman in Greece capable of filling a ministerial +post, in a period of political difficulty, without disgracing his +country. It would be invidious to name respectable men as instances of +incapacity; but every one, who has followed the political history of +Greece, is aware that every Greek statesman has had opportunities of +disgracing it, and repeating the same blunders several times. The +despotic government of King Otho failed from the utter incapacity of his +ministers; the constitutional monarchy is hastening to ruin from the +same cause. In the present state of Greece, it is not possible to find +men capable of conducting the King’s Government with the necessary +ability. The people are greatly in advance of their rulers. + +The conclusion of the revolutionary war left the nation divided into +several classes of society, as different in their ideas and habits of +life as if they had formed parts of different nations. These classes +were, first, the peasantry—for so the cultivators of the soil are +generally called, though a large portion of them are landed proprietors, +and often the only persons of substance in the provinces. Second, the +primates, or proprietors, who did not cultivate their own lands. These +men managed public business, and acted as collectors of the revenue +under the Turks: they frequent coffee-houses, and form political +societies under the centralised constitutional system of government. +This class, however, possesses some education, but its moral character +is vitiated by a firm conviction that it is entitled to be maintained in +a state of idleness at the public expense. It has gained considerable +political influence by means of the election law of 1844. Coletti, by +intimidating the weak, bribing the active, and creating innumerable +places, purchased this class wholesale, and rendered himself master of +nearly all the electoral districts in Greece. The third class is +composed of that numerous body of Greeks who have emigrated to the +Hellenic territory from different provinces of Turkey. This class +includes the greater part of the ablest and best educated men in the +country; but the abject principles of the Phanariotes, or Greeks +educated for the public service in Turkey, and the base avidity +displayed by this class in place-hunting, which is their principal means +of life, rendered them very unpopular, and enabled their rivals, the +primates, to exclude them from official employments by a decree of the +national assembly of 1844. The fourth class is the military. This class +is very numerous, as its ranks are swelled by crowds of individuals who +never served in a military capacity, but who have received military rank +as a payment for political services. King Otho makes generals of +secretaries, and colonels of commissaries; while farmers of the revenue, +muleteers, and officers’ servants, form about one half of the unattached +officers of an army which counts an officer for every two privates and a +quarter, if we can trust the Greek Budget and the Greek newspapers. + +There is also a remarkable difference between the social condition of +the inhabitants of the country and of the towns; and this difference +must be taken into consideration in estimating the political state of +Greece. The principal towns contain as many persons of education, and as +high a degree of mental cultivation, as can be found in any towns of a +similar size in other countries; but in the rural districts, on the +contrary, there is a want of material civilisation, a degree of rudeness +in every process of industry, which places the agricultural population +far below the people of every other European country, even including the +Greek population in Turkey. The Hellenic peasant cultivates his +_zevgari_, or yoke of land, in a manner that only enables him to live, +to rear a family to replace his own, and to pay his taxes. No +improvements take place on his farm—nor, indeed, can any take place +under the system of taxation and administration actually in force. Fruit +trees are annually destroyed, and forests are burnt down, but none are +ever planted. The depopulation caused by the war of the revolution may +still admit of the location of some additional families on uncultivated +land; but no improvement has yet been commenced in agricultural industry +or transport, that will give one family the means or the time to +cultivate more land than its predecessors have cultivated, or that will +make the same extent of land to yield any additional produce. + +Here, then, we find precisely the state of things which produced the +stationary condition of European society during the middle ages, and +which still keeps the greater part of the East in its immutable +condition. The land under the windows of King Otho’s palace, and the +fields around the university of Athens, are more rudely cultivated than +any other portion of the soil of Europe; yet neither king, senators, +deputies, nor professors, appear to have perceived that the turning +point of national civilisation is not marked by the splendour of court +balls, the regularity of the payment of official salaries, or the number +and quality of scholastic lectures, but by the creation of a state of +things in which capital is advantageously employed in augmenting the +produce of the soil. When this is not the case, generations of +agriculturists succeed one another for ages, treading in the footsteps +of their predecessors in the same numbers, and in the same state of +barbarism. + +Coexistent with this rude peasantry, there is an educated class whose +numbers are also limited by the fixed amount of rent and taxes, on which +they depend for their support, and by means of which they perpetuate +themselves by the side of the rude agriculturists, giving the towns all +the appearance of civilisation. This unfortunate state of society is not +new in the history of the Greek nation: it has now existed for more than +1000 years, and it forms the prominent feature in the internal +organisation of the Byzantine empire. Judging from the records of that +government, it is a state of society that presents greater obstacles to +change than any social combinations which the history of the human race +reveals to the west of China. The cultivators of the soil cannot improve +their condition or increase in number; the educated classes are +interested in opposing change, and have influence enough to prevent it: +poverty in the country, and meanness in the towns, render the universal +moral degradation an element of stability in the political condition of +a nation whose social state is such as we have described. + +There remains an important class of society in Greece, which we have not +yet mentioned, because it has been excluded from all political influence +since the formation of the Hellenic monarchy. This is the mercantile +class. Before the revolutionary war, and during the contest with the +Turks, it was the Greek merchants and shipowners who formed the +aristocracy of the nation; but this class is now almost null in the +movement of political affairs at Athens. The greater part of the able, +respectable, and wealthy merchants have quitted the country, and are to +be found at Odessa, Trieste, Marseilles, London, and Manchester, not in +King Otho’s dominions. A small fraction of shipowners remain, but the +small schooners that now compose the mercantile navy of Greece cannot be +compared with the fine ships that Hydra, Spetzia, and Psara formerly +sent out to engage the Turkish fleet; and the comparative increase of +the tonnage of the trading vessels of large size in Greece and Turkey, +since 1840, shows that the trade of the Levant is extending more rapidly +under the Turkish than under the Greek flag. + +We have now described the state of society with sufficient accuracy to +enable us to examine the value of the measures adopted for founding a +monarchy in Greece. From what we have said, it must be evident that +constitutional government, as the Continental liberals and English +political lecturers understand the term, could not be an object of much +interest to those classes that were called upon to exercise universal +suffrage. It probably never engaged their attention more seriously than +the laws of gravitation or the number of the fixed stars. They felt that +they wanted permanent and systematic administration, in place of the +inconstant and arbitrary measures from which they suffered; they +demanded security of property, liquidation of the public debt, and +employment for labour, but they knew not how to arrive at the +consummation of their wishes. Instead of attending to these commonplace +matters, the British Government and its allies gave the Greeks a king, a +court, a regency less united than their own Capitani, civil wars, +additional debts, and an order of knighthood to corrupt foreign +diplomatists; but not a road, a bridge, or a ferry-boat, was introduced +into a country full of mountains and dangerous torrent-beds, and +consisting, in great part, of peninsulas and islands. King Otho, who has +spent £3,000,000 sterling on civil wars, and £1,000,000 on palaces, does +not possess fifty miles of road practicable for a donkey-cart, in his +whole dominions. There is not a carriage-road from Athens to Corinth, +nor a ferry-boat to the islands of the Archipelago. Need we wonder, +then, if the Greeks despise their own Government, and suspect the +intentions of the three protecting powers that support it in its evil +conduct? The consequence is, that fifteen thousand military and police +officials fail to preserve order in a population of nine hundred and +twenty thousand souls. The result of this political experiment, in the +foundation of monarchies, certainly reflects little credit on the +statesmen of England, France, and Russia. + +We must examine the error that was committed, in giving the countenance +of Great Britain, as a protecting power, to the absurd constitution +established in 1844; and while we blame what was then badly done, we +shall point out what common sense, when not warped by party interests, +dictated ought to have been done. Of course, we can only offer the +suggestions urged by a wise minority at Athens. The nation, in making +the revolution in 1843, did not want a constitution, for they possessed +institutions which a written constitution is only valuable as a means of +attaining. The Greeks, as we have said before, sought to reform the +system of administration. The method of carrying on the executive +government, under the hourly control of an elective chamber, called +constitutional government, was forced upon them by accident, as France +lately became a republic. Without the assistance of this _pons asinorum_ +of French politicians, the Greeks had saved the liberty of the press +from the attacks of Count Armansperg, and established trial by jury in +spite of Austria and Russia. + +The constitutional system of government, as it has laid hold of the +public mind on the Continent, is a very imperfect political contrivance: +practically, it has proved a delusion—a mere form, figured in empty +space by a mass of thick clouds, impelled hither and thither by unseen +currents of wind, the precursor of an approaching storm, not the source +of beneficial showers. When examined in detail, with its tribunes; its +orators, pamphlet in hand; its galleries, and its ministers playing at +see-saw between social democracy and court corruption, what hope does it +hold out of establishing a sense of moral responsibility and firmness of +purpose in individual statesmen, or the deep conviction that creates +patriotic feeling, and the power of self-sacrifice, in a whole people? +What collection of men, chosen by a mob which can never hear the names +of the wisest and best in their immediate vicinity, can, in the actual +state of education, morality, and religion, either possess the +qualifications necessary to make laws, or the experience required to +control and direct the executive government? English institutions, or +what we call, in conversation, the English constitution, is even now +something totally different from this spawn of modern political +quackery. Yet even among men of education, at home as well as among +demagogues and itinerant orators, we now find some who pretend that our +political system would be improved by allowing Gregory the poacher, and +Herman the tinker, to take an active share in legislation, by the +adoption of universal suffrage, annual Parliaments, and the vote by +ballot. We doubt whether a British _Codex Gregorianus_ or +_Hermogenianus_, so framed, would do our country much honour. Things are +bad enough as they are. We already make laws faster than lawyers can +read them; and the electors care very little about the legislative +labours of the elected. They seem contented to know that the work has +been done in such a hurry, that half of it must be done over again next +year. The people of England, like the Continental constitutionalists, +are beginning to fancy that the proper function of our legislators is to +make themselves the real executive. A true constitutional chamber, +according to the modern theory of government, ought to use the king’s +ministers as its own head-clerks. The evil is manifest. Ministers know +that their masters, the chambers, have no administrative plans, and a +very defective memory, so they themselves remain without any settled +policy. This state of things is a vice of our age. It is as apparent in +the embryo constitutionalism of Greece, as in the premature decrepitude +of Liberalism in France. + +Constitutional government, where no educated and independent class +exists in the provinces, must always turn out, as it has done in Greece, +to be injurious to the cause of liberty, unless it be neutralised by +powerful municipal institutions, and an able and disinterested monarch. +The prominent vices of the Greek constitution are, universal suffrage, +vote by ballot, and a servile, ignorant, and useless Senate, as a satire +on a House of Peers. Without entering into any general examination of +the value of similar measures in other countries, we shall show that +they are unsuited to the actual state of society in Greece. Universal +suffrage evidently supposes that the people intrusted with it is +entitled to self-government; yet the constitution of Greece, which gives +the people universal suffrage, does not allow them any practical +influence even in the affairs of their smallest towns and rural +districts. Every person in Greece is supposed to be capable of choosing +legislators, but not mayors, aldermen, and provincial councillors. The +Greeks possessed great power in the local administration under the +Turks. This power contributed in a high degree to the preservation of +their national existence, but it alarmed the weak-minded Bavarians; and, +under the shield of the three protecting powers, the Greeks were robbed +of their municipal institutions by the Regency. A system of local +oligarchies was introduced, which prevails at present. + +The election of the mayor and aldermen is vested in an electoral +college, one half of which is composed of the persons who pay the +greatest amount of taxes. Here is an element of respectability; but in +order to dilute it with one of servility, a certain number of +individuals, decorated with crosses, is admitted. Even this respectably +servile body is not allowed to elect the mayor; it is only empowered to +name three candidates, from which the King chooses the individual who is +to direct the interests of the little community. The mayor so chosen +enjoys his office for three years, and receives a good salary from the +municipal funds. Let us now examine how this system is worked, in +conformity with constitutional principles, in the capital of the +Hellenic kingdom. Attica, it must be observed, sends four deputies to +the Legislative Chamber; and as these deputies receive two hundred and +fifty drachmas a-month, and have succeeded in making the sittings of the +Greek Chambers perpetual, the place of deputy is worth as much as the +best estates in Greece. Now, as these interminable sitters are chosen by +universal suffrage, but are required to support the minister, it became +absolutely necessary to job the elections, by means of the oligarchy +holding office in the municipalities. This was not very difficult, for +the number of persons who can read and write among the Albanian +population of Attica, which outnumbers the Greek, is very small. Even +among the Greek population of the city of Athens, the proportion of +government officials and street porters, who pay no taxes, exceeds the +number of the independent citizens. The middle classes, and the friends +of order, are excluded from all local influence, by being excluded from +any share in the municipal government. A town-council party is formed, +and this party is allowed to employ the whole local revenues of Attica, +amounting to between three and four hundred thousand drachmas annually, +in jobbing, on condition that they support the ministerial candidates at +the elections. + +The constitutional system of political corruption, to make universal +suffrage profitable to the court, runs thus: The mayors are selected +from men without character or local influence. This is brought about by +naming the third candidate mayor, he being generally some insignificant +person, whom both the leading parties agree to admit on the list. This +individual, when appointed, is nothing more than a creature of the +prefect or of the court, which alone possesses the power of protecting +him in office, and in the receipt of a good salary for three years. The +duty of the mayor is to bribe the aldermen, by allowing them to arrange +with the municipal councillors how to divert the revenues of the city +into their own pockets, or that of their relations, by the creation of +places. The extent to which the court have brought jobbing, is testified +by the shifts and tergiversation employed to prevent the publication of +any regular accounts of the receipts and expenditure of the +municipalities; and the municipal revenues exceed the sum of two +millions of drachmas. Athens, with a revenue of three hundred thousand +drachmas a-year, would be the filthiest town in Europe, were nature not +kinder to it than its magistrates. + +A single instance of how matters are carried on in the provinces, is +sufficient to describe the whole system. A rural commune, placed on an +important line of communication, wished to make a good mule road over a +mountain pass. It voted the sum of six hundred drachmas in its budget, +hoping, by its example, to produce similar votes in the neighbouring +communes. The central government was then invited to send an engineer, +to trace the best line of road. The deputy of the province was a +creature of the court; he and the minister of the interior put their +heads together, and sent down an inspector of the road, before it was +surveyed or commenced, with an order on the commune which had put six +hundred drachmas in its budget, to pay him a salary of fifty drachmas +monthly for a year. This ministerial exploit put an end to all projects +of road-making on the part of the municipalities. + +The vote by ballot is converted into a constitutional method of +counteracting any evil effects that might otherwise arise to ministerial +candidates from the use of universal suffrage; for man is fallible, and +the Greeks felt inclined, in some places, to oppose the system of +Coletti. We recommend the plan adopted to the attention of an eminent +historian of ancient Greece, who has more faith in the wood of the +ballot-box than in the moral responsibility of the elector. When the +number of electors in a district was about five thousand, and it was +feared that three thousand might vote against the government candidates, +and only two thousand in their favour, the ballot-boxes were doctored +beforehand, by having one thousand votes placed in them before the +process of the public ballot commenced. Intimidation was resorted to, to +prevent at least one thousand of the real voters from attending, and it +was generally successful with the middle classes; but, in one unlucky +district, which contained only about four thousand voters, six thousand +tickets were found in the ballot-box. At times, the success of the +opposition was so great, that nothing could be done at the time of +voting. The persons charged to convey the ballot-box to the place +appointed for the scrutiny, were, in such cases, waylaid by armed bands, +and the ballot-boxes were destroyed. These scenes were enacted even in +Attica. We believe that, in order to secure free institutions to any +people, it is more necessary to create a feeling of moral +responsibility, than to protect the electors from the effects of +intimidation and fraud merely when they exercise the franchise. National +liberty cannot be protected by a wooden box; it must be fought for +boldly before the face of all mankind. The vote by ballot injures the +nation more than it protects the individual; and it can only cease to do +harm in a state of society where perfect equality reigns among the +electors themselves, and between the electors and the elected. + +With regard to the Greek Senate, we have little to say. In a country +where not one single element of an aristocracy exists, and where it was +impossible to secure superior education in the members of a chamber +appointed for life, it was evident that one chamber would afford a +better guarantee against bribery and corruption than two. No nobles, no +independent gentlemen, no dignified clergy, no learned lawyers, can +enter the Greek Senate. The qualification of a senator is a certain +period of service in official appointments, which have been generally +held by men who can neither read nor write. The consequence is, that the +Senate is utterly useless as a legislative body, from the ignorance of +its members; while the nature of the materials from which it is +composed, render it a more servile instrument, in the hands of every +minister, than the elective chamber. It was yesterday a tool in the +hands of Coletti—to-morrow it may become one in those of Mavrocordatos. +It would be an object of contempt, were it not an expensive instrument +of oppression. + +We have now shown what the constitution has effected; let us turn to +consider what measures Great Britain ought to have recommended to the +attention of the national assembly, when it was occupied in framing this +constitution. The first great national question was municipal reform. +Unless the people could be intrusted with the direction of the affairs +of their own districts, it was unwise to entrust them with a direct +control over the national legislation and expenditure. Men take a more +lively interest in the trifling details of their own households, and in +affairs that pass under their own eyes, and with which they are +perfectly cognisant, than they do about more distant though more +important matters. Had the people in Greece been allowed to administer +their local affairs, they would have drawn much of their attention from +party struggles about which they knew very little, to devote it to +business they perfectly understood. No guarantee for the permanent +existence of Greece, as an independent and free state, can exist, until +the present oligarchical constitution of the municipalities throughout +the country is destroyed. The mayors must be annually elected by the +people, and not removable by the minister of the interior. The accounts +of the municipal expenditure must be published quarterly. + +The next step towards giving Greece some practical liberty is to abolish +universal suffrage. In a country where the election of provincial +councillors is regulated by a census, surely the same guarantee ought to +be required in the election of legislators. In Greece, everybody is +expected to know how to read and write except the national legislators +and the King’s ministers. Oligarchy prevails in the municipal +institutions, aristocracy in the provincial, democracy in the +legislative, and ignorance in the executive; and British statesmen, +under whose protection matters have arrived at this condition, express +surprise at the anarchy they have themselves nourished, instead of +blushing at their own negligence or political incapacity. The vote by +ballot had better be abolished, and the senate replaced by a +deliberative council of state, composed of men of education capable of +preparing laws. The actual representative chamber must only be allowed +to sit for two months annually, in order to put an end to the jobbing in +which its members have acquired an alarming degree of experience. + +The question arises, How are the changes necessary to save Greece to be +effected? We believe that there is not moral force in the country to +produce the necessary reforms. Greece is now very much in the situation +in which England was during the reign of Charles II.; she is exhausted +with civil war and party struggles. Besides, she does not possess a body +of statesmen, or any statesman, of superior abilities or commanding +character. In the present state of things, any ministry that attempted +to clean the Augean stable of the administration, would create a degree +of opposition, on the part of the court and of the officials in Athens, +that would drive him or them from office in less than six months. + +If Lord Palmerston desire to save Greece, and secure her a place among +independent states, he must lose no time in convoking a conference of +England, France, and Russia; and this conference must decide on a +practical scheme of administration for the Greek government, and impose +a budget on the ministers. The army must be reduced; a navy of packets +must be created; roads must be made; the taxes in kind must be gradually +commuted; and a field must be opened for the improvement of agriculture. +If this is not done, the first great convulsion in the East will put an +end to the monarchy created by Lord Palmerston in 1832, and Greece will +separate into a number of small cantons, like ancient Hellas and modern +Switzerland, or fall under the domination, direct or indirect, of some +foreign power. The reputation of Great Britain for political wisdom is, +throughout the East, connected with the growth and prosperity of the +monarchy she founded: hitherto she has gained very little honour by the +share she has taken in the affairs of Greece. + +We cannot conclude without making a few observations on Lord +Palmerston’s attempt to conquer the islets of Cervi and Sapienza for the +Ionian republic. We never knew Lord Palmerston undertake a worse case, +nor conduct one in a worse manner. Whether the islands in question +belong to King Otho or Sir H. Ward, is a matter about which neither can +feel very positive, as it turns on the interpretation of obscure +treaties that make no mention of the thing in dispute; and these +treaties were in part framed before either of the states now appearing +as claimants had an existence. + +The facts are, Greece is in possession of two islands. The Ionian +republic advances a claim to them. Greece takes no notice of this claim, +even when backed by the powerful intervention of England. Lord +Palmerston, considering the British Government is not treated with +proper courtesy by King Otho, gives orders to seize the islands and +deliver them to Sir H. Ward; but, before these orders are executed, he +receives an answer from the Greek Government, and recalls his orders. +Still he boldly tells the world that he had given these orders, as may +be seen in the last despatch printed in the Parliamentary papers. Now +this announcement was quite uncalled for, and has very naturally given +great offence to the Russian Government, for it was a gratuitous +violation of the diplomatic courtesy due to our allies, the joint +protectors of Greece. When England found that Greece was withholding +property supposed to belong to the Ionian republic, it was clearly her +duty, as protector of the Ionian republic, to lay the case before +Russia, France, and England, the three protectors of Greece. No want of +courtesy on the part of Greece, in leaving the communications of England +unanswered, could ever warrant England forgetting what was due to Russia +and France, and even to herself. England alone could not pretend to +decide whether Cervi and Sapienza belong to Greece or to the Ionian +republic. Russia, from her earlier connexion with the Ionian islands, +and her more intimate knowledge of Greek and Turkish affairs, was the +power best qualified to decide the question; and both Russia and France +had a right to take part in deciding it. Had the imprudent order of Lord +Palmerston been unfortunately carried into execution, it might have +seriously troubled our relations with Russia; even as it is, the +unnecessary publicity given to the fact that such an order had been +issued, has been viewed as an intentional slight. + +These two islands, it must be remembered, have been in the possession of +the Greek Government ever since its formation. King Otho found them a +part of the Greek territory when it was delivered over to him by the +protecting powers in 1833; and as they are within cannon-shot of the +shores of Greece, he could hardly doubt that he was their lawful +sovereign. But, at all events, we cannot understand what object could be +gained by Great Britain taking forcible possession of these paltry +little islands, when it was evident that the final decision concerning +their property could only be given by Russia and France. + +We hope Lord Palmerston has some better argument to plead before these +two powers than he has communicated to Greece in his despatch of the 9th +February last, as given in the correspondence presented to Parliament. +If not, his case is lost. The geography and the logic of this document +are equally defective. As a proof that these islands belong to the +Ionian state, he cites an act of the Ionian legislature dated in the +year 1804, in which they are enumerated as portions of the territory of +the republic. This act, however, does not even prove that they were ever +occupied by the Ionian government. The legislature of Great Britain, +when Lord Palmerston was a young man, was in the habit of enumerating +France as an appendage of the crown of England; the King of France used +to boast of himself as King of Navarre, without Europe attaching much +importance to the enumeration of territory in the possession of others. +The Sultan does not trouble his head about the pretensions of the Kings +of Sardinia and Naples to the kingdom of Jerusalem; so that King Otho +may be excused for not paying more attention to the Ionian claim to +Cervi and Sapienza, than he does to the Spanish claim to the Duchy of +Athens and New Patras. + +Nor does Lord Palmerston strengthen his argument when he declares, that +no island belongs to Greece except those expressly enumerated in the +protocol of the 3d of February 1830. If this dictum of his lordship be +correct, neither Hydra, Spetzia, Poros, Ægina, nor Salamis, would belong +to Greece, which is manifestly absurd; unless, indeed, Lord Palmerston +supposes these islands are included under the name of Cyclades, which +would be still more absurd, for it is wiser to quarrel with King Otho +than with Strabo. + +This imprudent attack on Greece lays the despatch open to reply; for +though Lord Palmerston is proved to be wrong when he says that no +island, except those expressly enumerated in the protocol of 3d February +1830, can belong to Greece, he is right in maintaining that the +legislative act of the Ionian republic in 1804 cannot advance a claim to +any island not enumerated in it. Now only one island of Cervi is +mentioned in that act, and that island will be found laid down on the +west side of Cerigo, with the Greek name of Elaphonisi, which is +identical with the Italian name Cervi, in the map of Greece published by +Arrowsmith, which we believe was the one used at the conference on the +3d February 1830. It corresponds in size, form, and value, with the +island of Dragonera, situated on the east side of Cerigo, which is +enumerated immediately before it in the legislative act of 1804. The +island of Cervi on the coast of Greece does not, therefore, belong to +the Ionian republic. + + + + + THE MODERN ARGONAUTS. + + + I. + + You have heard the ancient story, + How the gallant sons of Greece, + Long ago, with Jason ventured + For the fated Golden Fleece; + How they traversed distant regions, + How they trod on hostile shores; + How they vexed the hoary Ocean + With the smiting of their oars;— + Listen, then, and you shall hear another wondrous tale, + Of a second Argo steering before a prosperous gale! + + + II. + + From the southward came a rumour, + Over sea and over land; + From the blue Ionian islands, + And the old Hellenic strand; + That the sons of Agamemnon, + To their faith no longer true, + Had confiscated the carpets + Of a black and bearded Jew! + Helen’s rape, compared to this, was but an idle toy, + Deeper guilt was that of Athens than the crime of haughty Troy. + + + III. + + And the rumour, winged by Ate, + To the lofty chamber ran, + Where great Palmerston was sitting + In the midst of his Divan: + Like Saturnius triumphant, + In his high Olympian hall, + Unregarded by the mighty, + But detested by the small; + Overturning constitutions—setting nations by the ears, + With divers sapient plenipos, like Minto and his peers. + + + + IV. + + With his fist the proud dictator + Smote the table that it rang— + From the crystal vase before him + The blood-red wine upsprang! + “Is my sword a wreath of rushes, + Or an idle plume my pen, + That they dare to lay a finger + On the meanest of my men? + No amount of circumcision can annul the Briton’s right— + Are they mad, these lords of Athens, for I know they cannot fight? + + + V. + + “Had the wrong been done by others, + By the cold and haughty Czar, + I had trembled ere I opened + All the thunders of my war. + But I care not for the yelping + Of these fangless curs of Greece— + Soon and sorely will I tax them + For the merchant’s plundered Fleece. + From the earth his furniture for wrath and vengeance cries— + Ho, Eddisbury! take thy pen, and straightway write to Wyse!” + + + VI. + + Joyfully the bells are ringing + In the old Athenian town, + Gaily to Piræus harbour + Stream the merry people down; + For they see the fleet of Britain + Proudly steering to their shore, + Underneath the Christian banner + That they knew so well of yore, + When the guns at Navarino thundered o’er the sea, + And the Angel of the North proclaimed that Greece again was free. + + + VII. + + Hark!—a signal gun—another! + On the deck a man appears + Stately as the Ocean-shaker— + “Ye Athenians, lend your ears! + Thomas Wyse am I, a herald + Come to parley with the Greek; + Palmerston hath sent me hither, + In his awful name I speak— + Ye have done a deed of folly—one that ye shall sorely rue! + Wherefore did ye lay a finger on the carpets of the Jew? + + + VIII. + + “Don Pacifico of Malta! + Dull, indeed, were Britain’s ear, + If the wrongs of such a hero + Tamely she could choose to hear! + Don Pacifico of Malta! + Knight-commander of the Fleece— + For his sake I hurl defiance + At the haughty towns of Greece. + Look to it—For by my head! since Xerxes crossed the strait, + Ye never saw an enemy so vengeful at your gate. + + + IX. + + “Therefore now, restore the carpets, + With a forfeit twenty-fold; + And a goodly tribute offer + Of your treasure and your gold: + Sapienza, and the islet + Cervi, ye shall likewise cede; + So the mighty gods have spoken, + Thus hath Palmerston decreed! + Ere the sunset, let an answer issue from your monarch’s lips; + In the meantime, I have orders to arrest your merchant ships.” + + + X. + + Thus he spake, and snatched a trumpet + Swiftly from a soldier’s hand, + And therein he blew so shrilly, + That along the rocky strand + Rang the war-note, till the echoes + From the distant hills replied; + Hundred trumpets wildly wailing, + Poured their blast on every side; + And the loud and hearty shout of Britain rent the skies, + “Three cheers for noble Palmerston!—another cheer for Wyse!” + + + XI. + + Gentles! I am very sorry + That I cannot yet relate, + Of this gallant expedition, + What has been the final fate. + Whether Athens was bombarded + For her Jew-coercing crimes, + Hath not been as yet reported + In the columns of the _Times_. + But the last accounts assure us of some valuable spoil: + Various coasting vessels, laden with tobacco, fruit, and oil. + + + XII. + + Ancient chiefs! that sailed with Jason + O’er the wild and stormy waves— + Let not sounds of later triumphs + Stir you in your quiet graves! + Other Argonauts have ventured + To your old Hellenic shore, + But they will not live in story, + Like the valiant men of yore. + O! ’tis more than shame and sorrow thus to jest upon a theme + That, for Britain’s fame and glory, all would wish to be a dream! + + + + + MY PENINSULAR MEDAL. + BY AN OLD PENINSULAR. + + + PART VI.—CHAPTER XV. + +Early in the morning I was surprised by a visit from Mr Chesterfield. He +had received information, which he wished to communicate. From other +British officers, then in the town, he had learned that the state of the +country through which we had to pass was far from satisfactory; and one +or two had even told him that, in the course of this day’s march, we +should certainly be attacked. Mr Chesterfield added that he had +attempted, under the circumstances, to obtain an addition to our escort, +but without success; there were but few troops in the place, and none +could be spared. He wished, therefore, to know what course I thought +preferable; whether to wait till fresh parties bound to headquarters +came up, or to proceed at once. + +I was quite for proceeding. Begged to ask, Did he know what was the +character of the road we should have to travel? + +Mr Chesterfield had inquired. It was for the most part through an open +country. “Any villages?”—If there were, no doubt parties of troops were +stationed in them, and their presence would be a check on the +population. + +These replies confirmed my previous views; and, as my orders were to +conform to the written route, not only with regard to places, but with +regard to time, I gave my voice decidedly in favour of going on. If +plans against us were in process of concoction, delay on our part would +both give encouragement, and afford time for the mischief to come to a +head. With a convoy like ours, holding out so many temptations to +irregular enterprise, it seemed far better to pass quickly on, ere +reports could spread, and an attack be organised. Admitting that there +was danger if we proceeded, there was also danger if we remained +stationary. If we incurred any disaster by remaining, we incurred it by +a breach of orders; if by proceeding, we met it in the path of duty. + +Fully concurring in these views, and agreeing that we should proceed, Mr +Chesterfield then suggested—might it not be proper to adopt some +precautions? He thought, as soon as we were out of the town, the men +should load. + +This I fully concurred in, not only as a defence, but as likely to keep +the men steadier, by letting them see that we were preparing for +business in earnest. Here were two inexperienced youths, the one raw +from college, the other from school, thrown on their own resources, and +laying their heads together to meet an emergency, by the most prudent +measures their united stock of wisdom could suggest. Suffice it to say, +we both spoke with oracular gravity; and gave dignified evidence of our +perfect self-possession, by blowing copious puffs of fragrant smoke. + +The conference between our two high mightinesses, though, was suddenly +interrupted. Enter Corporal Fraser, evidently in a little bit of a +flurry. The sight of Mr Chesterfield brought him at once to a halt. He +saluted, and seemed to check himself in something that he was going to +say. In short, he looked flushed and anxious—not altogether +himself—breathed hard between his clenched teeth—stood silent. The visit +being to me, Mr Chesterfield gave me a look; so I asked the corporal +what he wanted. + +“I am sorry, sir,” said he, “to be the bearer of disagreeable +intelligence.” + +“Well, corporal, out with it.” + +“The men, sir, I regret to say, are in a state of beastly intoxication.” + +The corporal, it was clear, wishing to shield the men, had come to my +billet, intending the information for my ears only. But finding Mr +Chesterfield with me, and not being at the time in the absolute +possession of his faculties, (for, though quite unconscious of the fact, +he was himself partially under the influence of liquor,) he had no +resource but to tell out all, though not by any means one of those petty +officers “as likes to get poor fellers into trouble.” + +Beastly intoxication? What! at this early hour of the day? It was a +strange circumstance, and excited ugly apprehensions. How could they +have become so? Who made them drunk? Under other circumstances, I should +have applied to the corporal for an explanation forthwith; but I saw +indications, in the corporal’s eye, that it would not be kind to +question him at the moment before an officer—so proposed, instead, that +we should go and look for ourselves. We went. The case was much as +Fraser had stated it. We reached a large old house with a _porte +cochère_, within which was a court. On entering this court we found the +men—happily the infantry only, for the cavalry had quarters just by—all, +with one exception, more or less in a state of intoxication. Some were +laughing; others were wrangling; one or two were crying—maudlin drunk. +Some were making a show of cleaning arms and accoutrements, with +profound bows and sagacious nods. All tried, on our arrival, to look as +sober as they could. On any morning this would have been a serious state +of things, at the hour of mustering to start; but now, when we expected +hostility, it was worse than ever. Neither did I like the look of the +inhabitants. There was no exact throng, indeed; but parties were +standing near in groups, evidently cognisant of our present fix, +watching, and making their remarks among themselves. In that old house, +guarded by those drunken soldiers, were sixty mule-loads of silver and +gold! Things looked still worse, though, when we entered the quarters. +Three or four men, who were most overcome, had deliberately laid +themselves down again for a snooze. There they were, wrapped up in their +blankets, stretched and snoring on the floor; while Corporal Fraser, +himself a little “disguised,” flushed in the face, and in a high state +of indignation and excitement, was storming and kicking them up; and a +fellow, who found it easier to lean against the wainscot than to stand +upright, was expostulating—“You haven’t no business to kick a poor soger +in that ’ere way.” + +To this general boskiness, I have said, there was one exception. It was +Jones. In fact, with all his faults, I never, on any one occasion, saw +Jones overcome with liquor; which was the more remarkable, because he +got more than any other soldier of the detachment. His own ration—all +that he could appropriate of mine—occasional contributions from +Coosey—all he could get from every quarter, (and he never missed an +opportunity,) all went down his throat without visible effect. In short, +he seemed brandy-proof. I never saw him affected, nor had he the +appearance of a hard drinker. Observing that he looked much as usual, +while all around were looking so different, I applied to him for an +explanation. “Why, Jones, what’s the cause of this disgraceful scene? +How did the men get it?” + +“Please, sir, the fellers is very sorry for it, sir. Hadn’t no +intentions to get drunk _now_, sir.” + +“Well, but how did it happen, man?” + +“Please, sir, the jeddleham stood treat, sir; treated ’em all, sir.” + +“What gentleman?” + +“Please, sir, the same as treated me the night before last, sir: give me +a tumbler of hot punch what was all a-fire, sir; brought it out into the +inn-yard all of a blaze, sir. Told me the French soldiers got that twice +a day, sir. Said, if the Hinglish soldiers had their rights, they’d get +the same, sir.” + +“The night before last? What gentleman treated you the night before +last?” + +“Please, sir, it was the same jeddleham as aast to speak to you, sir; +the jeddleham what you went into the house to speak to him, sir.” + +“Oh, that fellow! Why, you might have seen him again yesterday. Didn’t +you notice him among the people at the ferry?” + +“Please, sir, when we come to the ferry, I was in the rear, sir; halted +there, and remained till we turned the hinnimy over the ford, sir. +Didn’t git a sight on him, sir. Only wish I had, sir.” + +“Well, but how comes it some of the other men didn’t know him again? +They must have seen him yesterday, if you didn’t.” + +“Please, sir, I s’pose it’s ’cause this morning he was dressed +different, sir. Had a large hat pulled over his eyes, sir; and muffled +up in a long cloak, sir. Shouldn’t not have knowed him myself, sir, only +if it hadn’t not a-been for his nose, sir.” + +“Stood treat, though? How?—did he treat the whole party?” + +“Please, sir, I won’t tell you no lie, sir. Jest after the fellers +turned out in the morning, sir—jest as I was a-washing my face in this +’ere horse trough, sir—there come along a man with a couple of barrils, +sir; which the barrils was slung on a-top of a donkey, sir. So he took +and stopped the donkey close to that ’ere gateway, sir, which some of +the fellers was standing at it, sir. So they knowed at once it was wine, +sir—in course they did, by the look on it, sir—so they got a-bargaining +with him for a drink, sir. So, jest as they was a-bargaining come along +that ’ere Nosey, sir; which, as soon as he see the fellers a-talking to +the man what belonged to the donkey, sir, he looked very pleasant, and +stopped and spoke to him, sir. Then he spoke to the fellers, sir, and +told ’em they might drink as much as they pleased, sir; might drink it +all, if they liked, sir; and he’d stand it, sir.” + +“Did he speak English, then?” + +“Yes, he did, sir; sitch Hinglish as they speaks here, sir; not sitch as +you and I speaks, sir. I won’t tell you no lie, sir.” + +The case was too clear. Hookey was still on our traces. Disappointed in +his two previous attempts to turn us from our route, he meant to keep +near us, watch his opportunity, and act accordingly. Making the men +drunk just when we were about to start on a dangerous part of the road, +was as unquestionably part of some more extensive plot as it was +palpably Hookey’s doing. I briefly stated the matter to Mr Chesterfield, +adding, “We shall see that fellow again to-day.” + +“If he comes once more within the range of a firelock,” said Mr +Chesterfield, “we must not let him get off so easily.” + +Meanwhile, the immediate question was a practical one: What course was +best, under existing circumstances? In spite of the state of the men, I +was still for proceeding. + +“Very well,” said Mr Chesterfield; “then let the packing commence. We +will take all the infantry who are fit to march when the mules are +loaded, and go on with them and the cavalry. Such as are too bad must +remain behind, and come up afterwards with other parties, as they can.” + +Mr Chesterfield then went to see after his own men; the mules arrived, +and the muleteers began loading. Jones stepped up to me: he had +apparently overheard our conversation. + +“Please, sir, none of the fellers won’t not stay behind, sir.” + +“How do you know?” + +“’Cause, sir, when the mules is ready, they’ll be ready, sir.” + +“Ready? How ready, if they ’re beastly drunk?” + +“Please, sir, they won’t be beastly by that time, sir.” + +“How can you tell that?” + +“Please, sir, ’cause I knows they won’t, sir; ’cause it’s only that ’ere +wine, sir. Please, sir, that ’ere hasn’t not got no varchy in it, like +the sperrits has, sir. ’Cause, please, sir, when a feller gets drunk on +sperrits, sir, they makes him rale drunk, sir; but that ’ere wine only +jest makes him drunkish-like, sir; ’cause it’s only jest for a time, +sir, and then it goes off again, sir; ’cause there’s no good in it, sir, +if you drink a butt of it, sir. Hope no offence, sir.” + +“Common country wine, was it?” + +“Please, sir, it was new wine, sweetish-like, sir. That’s what did it, +sir. Sitch new wine gits into a feller’s headpiece at once, sir; makes +him silly drunk directly instant, sir; but then he soon gits sober agin, +sir. Consickvent, I considers the fellers will all be sober agin in an +hour or two, sir; and then they’ll be able to fall in, sir. ’Cause I +knowed it was new, sir; ’cause it sparkled like cider do when it’s +drawed frish from the barril, sir.” + +Jones’s prognosis, though not very clearly expressed, was verified by +the result. Ere the loading was completed, all the men had become either +sober or nearly so. Even those who had been most affected fell in, and +mustered with the rest; and though our rank and file displayed some set +and gummy eyes, only two or three of the worst betrayed the disaster by +their gait. Hookey had thus outwitted himself. By dosing the men with +new wine, (which, as all persons acquainted with the wine countries are +well aware, flies at once to the head, even if taken moderately,) he +had, indeed, succeeded in making them drunk at once; but not in making +them drunk for a continuance. “Let alone it’s new,” said Jones, “it +isn’t no wine, sitch as the fellers gits, as would make ’em rale drunk; +nayther Spanish wine, nor yit Frinch wine, except it’s the jinny-wine.” + +The men having somehow discovered that they were likely to be put on +their mettle during the day’s march, were all, in appearance, truly +sorry for what had occurred. They became aware, through Jones, of +Hookey’s real character; saw through his contrivance to make them all +drunk; and, feeling that they had been in a measure his dupes, were +savage at the artifice, and burned for an opportunity to retrieve their +character in the course of the day. Mr Chesterfield now returned: he +glanced at the men, and afterwards took an opportunity of speaking to +me. + +“That fellow with the nose,” said he, “according to your account of him, +must be a dangerous character. Should not steps be taken for his +apprehension?” + +“If you like, I will go to the Mairie, and make inquiries about him.” + +“I fear,” said he, “you will not be very cordially seconded in that +quarter, judging, at least, from my own last night’s experience, when I +applied for billets. However, it can do no harm.” + +“Well, then, the sooner I go the better. I will take with me the Spanish +Capataz. As soon as we have gone in, be so kind as to keep an eye on the +entrance. If Señor Roque puts his head out, send me three or four +dismounted dragoons. We must see if we can’t teach those fellows good +manners.” + +I took with me Señor Roque, and explained to him, by the way, what I +wished him to do. If, after we entered the bureau of the Mairie, I gave +him a look, he was to go down to the door, and bring up the dragoons. + +We entered; and, as at a previous interview the night before, found +three gentlemen busily employed in writing, each at his desk. The +interval had wrought no improvement in their manners. When I saluted +them, neither of the three took the least notice—all went on writing. I +addressed the head man of the party. + +“I have the honour of waiting on you, Monsieur, for the purpose of +soliciting your co-operation.”—Still he writes. Wait awhile. Try again. + +“I must soon be leaving this place, Monsieur, and have duties which will +occupy me in the interval. May I claim a moment’s attention?”—Scribble, +scribble, scribble. + +One or two similar attempts were similarly met. I then gave friend Roque +the concerted look; and he, nothing loath, went off to fetch the +dragoons. Meanwhile, no seat having been offered me, I took one, and +remained quiet. The three official gentlemen, though so dreadfully busy, +just before, that they could not notice my application, now began +jabbering amongst themselves upon some indifferent topic, as if no one +else had been in the room. When a Frenchman really wishes to treat you +with insolence, I must say he has a neat, quiet way of doing it, which +no other people on earth can equal. An Englishman, I admit, can beat him +in vulgarity; but for _elegance_ of execution, there is no intentional +rudeness like the rudeness of a Frenchman. + +Presently was heard on the stairs a stumping—ha!—a hoof-like tread!—the +tramp of heavy feet! With it ascended the clatter of accoutrements! Four +scabbards were mounting the stairs, each scabbard marking each step by a +bang! The three officials started—exchanged looks—wrote on in silence +with redoubled energy, while their faces twitched. + +The door opened! Four big fellows entered the bureau, with clattering +accoutrements and resounding steps. Señor Roque, his face burnished with +exultation—for he hated the French—followed, and closed the door. The +bold dragoons ranged themselves in line, with their backs to the wall. +Nay, more: their four right hands, probably by a hint from the Capataz, +moved simultaneously towards their left sides; four enormous swords +leaped from their scabbards, flashed in the air, and slumbered on the +bearers’ shoulders. The writing was now intense. + +The display of arms in such a place, though, might compromise us with +our own authorities. I made a sign, and the swords were sheathed. + +Having so often spoken in vain, I was determined that the civic +dignities should speak first. I therefore quietly took out a cigar. +Quick as lightning, my friend the Capataz whipped out his smoking gear, +and went to work with flint, steel, and junk. At the first click, my +three polite entertainers almost jumped from their stools. The twinkle +of the jolly old Spaniard’s eye, as he handed me a light, was worth a +dollar any day. The four dragoons, much to their credit, maintained the +most perfect gravity throughout. I lit, and blew a cloud. + +The panic of the three writers increased. They were evidently +telegraphing. At length the chief turned round on his seat, and, with +alarm and courtesy comically mingled in his visage, begged to be +informed in what way he could be of service to me. + +“I interrupt you, Monsieur. Pray, finish the business you have in hand.” + +“Monsieur, I have no business so cherished as to expedite yours.” + +I then told my object—that there had been in the place a suspicious +_sujet_, whom I described. Should he again make his appearance, he must +be apprehended _tout-de-suite_, and kept in safe custody, till he was +surrendered to the normal authorities. “Messieurs, has he presented +himself here?” + +Three voices answered simultaneously—“Yes”—“No”—“Yes.” + +“Do you know anything of him?” + +“He is an Englishman—a courier from Madrid.”—“He bears despatches to the +British headquarters.”—“Nothing whatever.” + +“He is neither an Englishman nor a courier; consequently, he must be +provided with a passport. Has he presented it HERE?” + +“Viewing him as attached to the British service, we did not consider it +our affair.” + +“Where is he now?” + +“He is not here.”—“He didn’t state his intended route.”—“He has left +this place.” + +“By what route?” + +“We don’t know.”—“He went, within the last hour, towards St Sever.” + +“Is that an ascertained fact?” + +“Yes, Monsieur, yes,” they all answered; “he is gone in the direction of +St Sever.” + +“If, Messieurs, what you have now stated should prove correct, and if I +find that you have told me all you know, I trust I shall not feel it +necessary to report the matter to our commander-in-chief.” + +These gentlemen, I felt, could have told me more, had they chosen; and +I, with time at my command, could have extracted more. But in our case +it was touch and go. We could not, with such a charge, stop to pursue +investigations. So I took my leave, deeming it, at any rate, something +to have ascertained that friend Hookey, in accordance with my +anticipations, though not in accordance with his own statements, had +preceded us by the route which we were so soon to follow. + +The civic trio were as courteous at my departure as they were rude at my +entry. First stumped out the cavalry—who had really done the business; +then followed the old unctuous Capataz; and I, with a horizontal +tripartite bow, closed up the rear. Ere I had fairly quitted the room, +the three were all at work again, intently scribbling. The “dressing” of +a _procèsverbal_, with formal and full details of the whole transaction, +was probably their occupation for the rest of the morning. I was sorry +that we had compromised ourselves by the exhibition of cold steel. But, +under all the circumstances, I felt little apprehension, to borrow an +expression from Jones, of their “telling that ’ere to my Lord +Valentine.” + +The mules were loaded, the men fell in; and, though some of them were +still a little the worse for the disaster of the morning, we were quite +in a condition to lick any Frenchmen that might come across us, and made +a very respectable march of it to the outskirts of the town. There we +were again joined by Pledget and Gingham; and shortly after, Fraser, by +Mr Chesterfield’s direction, made the infantry load, and saw that each +had a supply of cartridges—a process which caused the muleteers to look +a little queer. We then proceeded on our march. + +Passing through an open country, Mr Pledget and Mr Chesterfield rode on +side by side in conversation, at the head of the line; while Gingham and +I followed close, in similar guise. Suddenly was heard, in the rear, the +crack of a musket! A ball whistled close over our heads, and struck the +road, a few yards before us. Mr Chesterfield immediately called a halt +of the whole party; and he and I proceeded to the rear. As we were +riding back, Corporal Fraser came running forward to meet us, and soon +explained. Our Yorkshire lad, it appeared, had been larking with another +soldier, one of those whose early sobriety the wine had most disturbed, +and had got him into a scrape. The result was, that the musket of the +half-tipsy soldier had gone off, and had so nearly done execution +amongst us in front. It was evident our infantry were not yet in a state +to be trusted with loaded arms; it wouldn’t do. Mr Chesterfield gave +directions at once, that they should all draw their charges. And as our +route for some distance appeared perfectly level and open, so as to +afford no cover for a sudden attack, (it was that sort of country so +common in France, cultivated to the road-side, but totally bare of +hedges, copse, or trees,) it was settled that they should not load again +till circumstances rendered it necessary. The man whose musket had +caused the alarm looked stupid and bewildered—could give no explanation, +but that “it went off.” I observed, however, that Mr Chesterfield +quietly spoke a few words to the Yorkshireman. What they were, I did not +hear; but they certainly had the effect of making that worthy a +better-behaved, though not a merrier man, during the rest of our march. + + + CHAPTER XVI. + +Finding no foe to fight withal, we began to suspect that Mr +Chesterfield, as a new-comer, had been hoaxed, in our last +halting-place, by some military wag; and Gingham and I fell into a long +conversation, which he commenced by reminding me of our arrangement to +campaign together, entered into a year before, at Falmouth. All +obstacles, he said, were removed; he hoped, therefore, the plan would +now be carried out. To this I readily consented; the advantages, indeed, +were all on my side. Gingham then, in his own way, introduced a +discussion respecting his plans and mine. Be it however premised, we had +dined together the night before; and I had shown him some methods—more +expeditious than those in common use, which were the only ones he +knew—of reducing one denomination of coin to another: _e. g._, dollars +to pounds sterling, pounds sterling to francs, &c. He expressed, as +before, his high gratification; and begged my MS. calculations “in the +strictest confidence,” depositing them in the recesses of his +writing-desk. He now, as we were riding along, commenced an important, +and, on his part, highly diplomatic conference, by a friendly +examination as to the nature of my official duties at Lisbon. I +described them, as I have described them to the reader a few chapters +back. + +“Then, in fact,” said Gingham, “your last year has been employed to as +good purpose as it could have been in any London counting-house.” (That +was Gingham’s standard.) “You have had the keeping of a distinct +account, and that in all its parts, from the items to the account +current. Of course, it occupied your whole time.” + +“Not the whole,” said I. “There was some to spare, for which I had other +employment.” + +“Indeed!” said Gingham, with interest. “Will you, Mr Y—, as a particular +favour, permit me—confidentially of course—to make an inquiry?” + +“Make any inquiry you like: I shall feel pleasure in answering it.” + +“Would you, then,” said Gingham, “have the kindness to inform me—that +is, unless you feel it a violation of official confidence—what were your +other duties?” + +“No violation whatever. I kept the letter-books; managed the +correspondence: not the whole correspondence of the department, but that +of the branch I belonged to—the account office.” + +“Your duty, then,” said he, “was to arrange and enter all letters +received, and to keep copies of all letters sent?” + +“Sometimes to copy, sometimes to make the draughts. A man soon gets into +the way, you know.” + +“One entire account,” said Gingham, speaking to himself, “and one whole +branch of correspondence! What an excellent introduction!” + +Not understanding in what sense he used the word “introduction,” I made +no reply. + +“Of course,” he proceeded, “the correspondence was in English?” + +“Almost exclusively. I should scarcely feel equal to any other, except +perhaps Portuguese.” + +“Might I not,” said Gingham, “add Spanish and French?” + +“Well, if I get a little polishing, perhaps you might. Italian I hope to +be able to add ere long; and, in due time, German.” + +Gingham now turned half round in his saddle, and addressed me with great +gravity. “Mr Y—, my dear sir, I venture, as a friend, to offer one +suggestion. If a person, not older than yourself, applied for an +engagement in the corresponding line, I would say to him—that is, in the +strictest confidence, speaking as a friend—‘Say only three languages; +wouldn’t advise you to say more.’ The principal, however unjustly, might +suspect—excuse me, I speak candidly—might suspect a little romancing. In +short, if a person under eight-and-twenty or thirty said five languages, +it might prevent an engagement.” + +Gingham, I should observe, talked just as he always did. There was still +the touch of mannerism, the quiet earnestness blended with courtesy. I +never viewed any man with more unfeigned respect and esteem; and yet +there were moments, in the course of our present conversation, when I +could scarcely refrain from laughing in his face. True, I was one year +farther removed from boyhood than when our acquaintance commenced; and +more than one incident had taught me, in the interval, the necessity of +respecting “time, place, and circumstances.” But the trial was great; a +gravity that even Liston could not shake, would have been shaken by +Gingham. Still there was his comical solemnity. Still there was his +politeness, touched off with formality. Still there were his green +barnacles, and his two little winky-pinky eyes. Still, still there was +his irresistible nose. Stand everything else, I would defy you to stand +that. Great, please to observe, was the difference between Gingham’s +nose and Hookey’s, though both arrested the beholder. When Hookey and +Gingham met on board the packet, each observed of the other that he had +a very odd nose. The first meeting of the two noses, and the look +exchanged by the two wearers, beat anything in Molière—so much more +comical is nature than fancy. Hookey’s, unquestionably the most marked +feature of a very marked countenance, did nevertheless so far maintain +the unities, that it perfectly harmonised with the rest of his +physiognomy. It was an eagle’s beak, and his whole face was aquiline. +Gingham’s, on the contrary, was conspicuous by contrast. It had no +appearance of belonging to his face. You might fancy him one of the +triumphs of Talicotius—a man (on which subject see Lavater) with a false +nose. Neither broad nor massive, yet prominent and conspicuous, it was +slightly crooked, flattened on one side; as if, when a baby, he had +slept too much on his right cheek, and his nose, from its thinness, had +got bent towards his left. This nose, I say, from its peculiar +expression, or rather want of expression, appeared no part or parcel of +the face in which it stood. And, what was unfortunate, its extraneous +appearance was most marked when Gingham was most in earnest; so that it +provoked you to laugh just at the time when a man is least disposed to +be laughed at. + +Well, Gingham having thus accomplished his first object, by ascertaining +all that he wished to ascertain concerning myself, now went on, in the +second place, to develop his own plans. + +“You are, I believe,” said he, “to a certain extent aware of the scheme +which brought me out from England. By the public prints, and still more +by my private correspondence, I am now led to conclude that Napoleon’s +day is near its close, and that the war will soon be terminated. In that +event, my plan falls to the ground. But should we carry on the war here +another twelvemonth, I shall have time to try it; and, if we go on +permanently, I mean to carry it out.” + +“I have some general idea of your plan, and that is all. You wish to +meet the monetary difficulties connected with the operations of our +army, by a method which you have concocted; and which you intend to +start, for self and friends, as a private speculation. Don’t see how you +can make a beginning: where’s the opening?” + +“An opening is afforded by the necessity of the case,” replied he; +“which necessity my plan will meet.” + +“Don’t see how. Look here; the difficulty is just this: Here are certain +headquarters transactions, which require ready money; and that ready +money must be current coin. Credit will not do; bank notes will not +answer the purpose; no, nor yet bills, nor any kind of available +security. It must be specie, minted gold and silver, hard cash. For +example, the troops have hitherto been usually paid in dollars. When we +have got dollars in the military chest, the troops can be paid; when our +dollars are gone, they must wait till we get more. And though we had +power to draw at will on the British treasury, for three months’ pay to +the whole army, not a stiver can the army receive till we have more +dollars.” + +“That’s just it,” said Gingham; “and I beg to ask, is such a state of +things desirable? The efficiency of our army depends, not on the +solvency of our Government, but upon the activity of money-dealers in +raking up specie in the four quarters of the globe. That is the state of +things which my plan proposes to remedy.” + +“Do that, and you will effect a great object. The mode, though, is quite +beyond me.” + +“I mean to do it, sir,” said Gingham, almost sternly, (for the little +man, as he sat on his splendid horse, swelled with the grandeur of his +conceptions)—“I mean to do it, sir, by a twofold method: not by two +independent methods, operating simultaneously; but by the united +operation of two systems combined in one.” His eyes looked full in mine; +but his nose pointed at Pledget, who was riding before. I didn’t +laugh—in face at least I didn’t—though suddenly seized with a dreadful +twitching of the intercostal muscles. “I shall effect my object, sir, +partly by paper, partly by hard cash. I shall issue notes payable at +sight; and I shall get all the dollars I can into my own keeping. You, +when you want dollars to pay the troops, come to me. I, on receiving +what I deem an equivalent, let you have them. What will be the result? +Instead of requiring a fresh supply of dollars from the coast every time +you give the soldiers their pay, you will pay them with the same dollars +twice over, nay, over and over again.” + +“Why, that’s a bank! You will be banker to the British army!” + +“Exactly,” said Gingham, subsiding all at once into his ordinary style +of speech: “I mean to establish a headquarters bank. Suggest a title.” + +“Suppose,” said I, “as of course you will move with the army, you borrow +a suggestion from the military hospitals of the French, and call it “The +Ambulatory Bank.” No, that title doesn’t go well. Let me see. A good +title requires time and consideration.” + +“To be candid, sir,” said Gingham, “you need not trouble yourself: the +title is already decided. I won’t tell it, I’ll show it you. Have the +kindness to draw up by the road-side.” + +We halted, the convoy passed, the cart came on in the rear, and was +stopped by Gingham. He then dismounted, gave the bridle to Coosey, +stepped up into the cart, opened the tarpaulin at its back, raised a +lid, and exhibited a green baize frame fitting into the top of a box, +which frame contained a large and splendid brass plate. + +“It wouldn’t exactly do,” said Gingham, “to borrow this title at home. +Here, though, I mean to make free with it.” + +In bold, broad letters, excavated in the burnished brass, I read + + “THE BANK OF ENGLAND.” + +Really the largeness of Gingham’s plans was too much for my limited +capacities. We rode forward again to the head of the column; and I, for +a while, rode on in silence, digesting. At length, one idea leading to +another, I ventured to say something about “authority—concurrence.” + +Gingham, big with his scheme, was now like a gladiator prepared for +every thrust. “At home,” said he, “I have all the concurrence, all the +authority I need, with many good wishes to boot; and, as to pecuniary +support, I can have whatever amount is required. All that I settled +before I left Falmouth, or have since arranged by correspondence. Here I +ask for countenance only so far as my plan is found, on trial, to aid +the public service. Let that once become manifest, and I doubt not we +shall find all the favour we want.” + +“Only sorry your plan was not thought of before. It might have spared +our Commander much anxiety, and our soldiers many privations.” + +Swelling with the plenitude of his anticipations, Gingham began to +dogmatise. “In London,” said he, “credit is equivalent to cash. Here, at +headquarters, the case is different. In London, so long as my banker +will honour my cheques, I have cash at command. Here, I may possess +unlimited power to draw bills, yet not be able to raise a rap. What +makes the difference?” + +“Here, your resource is at a distance; there, your banker is close at +hand.” I was more disposed, though, to chew upon Gingham’s ideas than to +discuss them, and we again rode on in silence. At length I bolted out a +difficulty. + +“Well, we make an issue in cash—say a hundred thousand dollars, for the +pay of the troops. These dollars are distributed, and spent; the whole +sum evaporates. How do you get them together again, for a second +payment?” + +“I don’t expect to get them all,” said Gingham, scornfully. “But suppose +I can get a part of them, say half. That, I think, I shall manage; for, +observe, ten dollars are quite as many as you can carry about your +person without annoyance. Undoubtedly, then, many individuals, receiving +a payment in dollars, will be glad enough to lodge them in a bank, when +there’s a bank at hand. And when I have issued my paper, payable at +demand, many, I make no question, will much rather take it, than burden +themselves with a load of specie.” + +The reasonableness of Gingham’s expectations was fully borne out, by +scenes which I afterwards witnessed, when accompanying the military +chest, as it moved from place to place with the headquarters of the +British army. A gentleman, say a Frenchman or a Spaniard, has a claim +for payment, on account of provisions, forage, or other necessaries, +supplied for the service of the troops—the amount, suppose, ten thousand +dollars. After long following headquarters from place to place, till he +is far distant from his own home, he has at length established his +claim: it’s all right, he has got a written order for payment, and +enters our office elated, bearing it between his finger and thumb, eager +to receive the cash. The cashier takes the bill, points to five deal +boxes, each containing two thousand dollars, and tells him, “There’s the +money.” I have seen a man, under such circumstances, knocked down in a +moment, perfectly dumfounded. He has not brought a horse and cart, and +every available conveyance has been impressed by the troops. One of the +five boxes is as much as a man can carry; two are a load for a mule. If +he has a lodging in the place, he possesses no means even of taken them +there; but probably he has none—the whole town is full of soldiers. But +to-morrow it will be worse: the army will have swept on; headquarters +will be three or four leagues in advance; and the troops will be +succeeded by stragglers, camp-followers, marauders, and all the lawless +tribe that close up the rear of an advancing host. Poor man! what an +alteration in his looks! He sees, in an instant, the full amount of his +difficulties. Two minutes ago, he was dying to realise; now, he has got +the cash, and doesn’t know what to do with it. I remember an instance +when an acquaintance of mine, a Frenchman, came to receive five thousand +dollars, which, with the aid of an attendant, he removed from the +office. Presently he reappeared at the door, caught my eye, intimated by +bows and simpers his request for a private interview. It was easy to +guess the subject of his communication, but I followed him out. He had +got his five bags in a cowhouse. His home was distant a two days’ +journey. How was he to get them there? Could he have gold instead of +silver? Would gladly make any sacrifice in the way of _agio_. Couldn’t I +_arrange_ it?—How he managed at last, I never learned—whether he got his +dollars to a place of safety, or was robbed and murdered on the road. +Sometimes the claimants would come eagerly demanding their money, and, +the next moment, would most earnestly entreat permission to leave it in +our keeping. If a man so circumstanced, instead of hard dollars, could +have had paper securing him cash at demand, at a time more convenient +for receiving it—in short, Gingham’s plan just meets a case like this. +And Gingham, who knew headquarters well, especially in respect to +financial details and the attendant difficulties, had devised his scheme +as a practical remedy. The claimant gives his bill to Gingham, and takes +Gingham’s bank notes, or, if he prefers it, part notes and part specie. +Gingham, at his own convenience, gets the official dollars on the bill. +Then comes the other advantage. So much hard cash as has not been paid +away to the claimant remains at headquarters, available, by monetary +arrangements with the authorities, for the payment of the troops, or for +any other headquarters purposes. What an improvement from the state of +things when cash was so low, that, the commander-in-chief wishing to +communicate with a distant point, it was necessary to raise a private +loan for the expenses of the courier! + +In short, twenty practical difficulties occurred to my mind, all which +Gingham took off, as fast as I started them. “After all,” said he, “the +only real difficulty will be this: that whereas now, at headquarters, +there sometimes is not a dollar disposable for public purposes, we shall +then, especially if the army is on the move, have more dollars than we +know what to do with.” His plan, indeed, contemplated a large concern, +for the cash transactions of headquarters were immense; but it was clear +he had viewed the scheme in every light, and was prepared to carry it +out. No question, Gingham would have made a good thing of it, both for +himself and for his backers in London. Yet it was a concern which +Government could not undertake; and which, if Government had undertaken +it, would have infallibly broken down. Private enterprise alone could +prosperously conduct the scheme. + +Gingham had laid out our conference in three parts, and two were now +disposed of. First, he had ascertained the progress of my financial +education in the past year; secondly, he had developed his own plans; +but there yet remained the third topic of discussion, into which he now +led with all his usual elegance, straightforwardness, and good feeling. +The long and the short of it was this,—he had two gentlemen in London, +ready to come out to Bordeaux whenever he commenced operations; they +would arrive, like a letter, by return of post; but there was a question +respecting myself. Did I feel so far interested in his plan that I might +be willing, on due reflection, to relinquish my actual appointment, and +work with him? He asked it “in the strictest confidence,” and begged me +to consider all that now passed “as merely conversation.” + +“Have the kindness to excuse me for a few moments. I’ll presently tell +you just exactly my own prospects and plans, and then we’ll talk the +matter over. In the mean time, accept my best thanks for this proof of +confidence.” + +While listening with the profoundest attention to Gingham, I had, it +must be confessed, been taking a look, from time to time, at the country +round. Hitherto our route had been across an open level, and we had +always seen the road before us. Now, first, we reached a spot were we +could not discern what was in front. The table-land, over which we had +been marching, terminated in a brow or declivity. The road dipped, and +disappeared; where it led us there was no perceiving. The road itself +also became hollow—that is, it descended between two high banks, and +these were covered with underwood. This was the part of our way on which +we were now about to enter. + +Just at this moment, while I was debating with myself whether we ought +to go on without a little exploration, Jones stepped up to me rather +hastily. “Please, sir,” said he, “I’m a-thinking Nanny siz something +as we doesn’t see.” I should mention that, in the course of our march, +when we approached any eminence that afforded a view of the road and +country in front, Nanny would trot off from the party, run to the +summit, and make her observations—in short, see all that was to be +seen. Goats, if you observe, never, unless compelled, venture on new +ground, till they have first halted, and taken a view of it. Even +sheep, if not over-driven, will not turn down a lane, till they have +stopped and turned their heads, for the purpose of taking a look with +_both_ eyes. Cows, on the contrary, look and advance at the same time; +and your nag, contenting himself with a _one-eyed_ view, appears to +advance without looking at all. Your dog, who has more sense than all +the others put together, when you come to a place where the road +forks—dear old Burruff!—_looks up in your face_. Well, Nanny, in the +present instance, had done as she always did. The ground rose to our +left, and the elevation _commanded_ the valley in front. On that +elevation Nanny was now standing, and Jones’s observation was +evidently correct. She saw something, or somebody, unseen by us. There +she stood—not, though, as on previous occasions, quietly taking a +survey of the road before us: her tail, the “upward curl” of which was +more than perpendicular—_retroussé_—from time to time vibrated +rapidly. She uttered, at intervals, a sharp, anxious bleat, and ever +and anon stamped with a movement so quick, the eye could scarce +discern it. “What d’ye think, then, she sees down there?” said I to +Jones—“other goats?” + +“Please, sir,” said Jones, “I’m a-thinking it’s not goats, sir; ’cause +then she wouldn’t stop up there, sir. Please, sir, she’d come back at +once, and keep close, sir; ’cause she knows as how I’d protect her +varchy, sir; ’cause for fear the Billies should make too free, sir; +’cause, when the Nannies is in milk, sir, they doesn’t not pemit +hinnersint libbities, sir.” + +Nanny now adopted a new style of attitude—rearing, as when at play, with +arched neck and combative front, still, at times, subsiding into the +quadruped; now bleating, now stamping, now wagging her tail with intense +vivacity; then walking back, stamping again, advancing; gazing all the +while on the low ground in front. “If Nanny takes a view, why shouldn’t +Sancho?” I cantered up, and speedily cantered down again. “Mr +Chesterfield, I think, sir, we had better halt.” + +Indeed there was reason. In front was the enemy, drawn up to receive us, +in military array. The road, I must explain, led down to a lower level. +Just at the bottom, another road crossed it; and, where the two roads +cut, they spread out round a large pond. About this pond, but +principally in advance of it, appeared a large concourse of the rural +population. “_Tout Français est soldat._” I never felt the force of the +phrase as I did at that moment. They were armed, and stood in line; +their number formidable, their aspect decidedly pugnacious. Oh, you +plucky villains! won’t we be down upon you presently? I stated to Mr +Chesterfield what I had seen, and he immediately halted our whole party. +“If you will ride up with me,” said I, “you may see the whole lot of +them.” + +I returned to Nanny’s look-out post, but Mr Chesterfield did not follow. +Had I known what he was about to do, I should certainly have +remonstrated. He chose to take a nearer look at the enemy, and for that +purpose rode forward alone. On the eminence on which I stood, I heard +the rattle of his horse’s hoofs in the hollow way; and presently I saw +him emerge below, at its further extremity. He then reined in his horse, +and sat viewing the foe, who greeted his appearance with shouts and +yells. Having quietly made his observations, he turned, and began to +come back at a walk. As he withdrew, three or four shots were fired +after him from below, but without effect. After he again disappeared in +the hollow road, though, on his way to rejoin us, I heard, with great +uneasiness, other shots fired—the report much nearer. They were +evidently from rascals ambushed in the underwood of the two banks, +between which he was passing. I rejoined the convoy just as he rode up. +His look was perfectly calm and self-possessed, but pale as ashes. He +held the bridle in his right hand, while his left hung helpless at his +side. Pledget at once tumbled off his mule, stepped up, and addressed +him with a tone and aspect of unfeigned concern—“Not serious, sir, I +hope?” + +“Oh, nothing,” said he, his manner a little hurried; “a mere +graze—nothing. Corporal Fraser, the infantry must load immediately. Let +them fix bayonets, though. We must begin by clearing those two banks.” + +Scarcely were the words out of his lips, when his face became ghastly +like death, his eyes half closed, his mouth half opened. His head +drooped; and speechless, almost fainting, he sank down gradually from +his saddle into Fraser’s arms. The corporal carried him to the +road-side—why, he was but a boy—and seated, or rather laid him upon the +bank. Pledget was promptly in attendance, got off the patient’s coat, +and examined the wounded arm, amidst the clatter of fixing bayonets and +ramming down cartridges. “Oh, ain’t we going at it in yarnest, though?” +said Jones. + +“The system,” said Pledget, with all his usual deliberation—“the system +has received a severe shock; that is the cause of these alarming +symptoms—they will not last. So it often happens with gunshot wounds. +The wound itself is not dangerous. The ball has gone clean through the +arm, and at short distance too, but without fracturing the bone or +injuring any important vessel.” + +Oh, had you seen that lad languishing on the sod, with the black blood +trickling from two holes at once, and joining in a sluggish stream which +went rippling down his arm, and dripped into the grass! I don’t know +what he thought of; I thought of his mother. Enough: the foe is in +front. + +But affairs now assumed a new phase. While I was anxiously surveying our +wounded commander, Corporal Eraser stepped up to me, saluting in due +form, _à la militaire_! He stood waiting and looking at me, as if he +expected to receive directions. + +The nature of the position in which I was so unexpectedly placed, broke +upon me in a moment. I’ll tell you just everything, exactly as it +occurred. Mr Chesterfield was _hors de combat_. Pledget, in discharge of +his professional duty, was wholly occupied in attending upon him. The +corporal, and, it was clear, the men also, looked to me for direction in +our present fix. Gingham, when the corporal approached me, backed his +horse. From many persons such an action might have gone for nothing. But +Gingham had a reason for all he did; and, from him, it seemed to say, +“Now, Mr Y—, take the management of this little business, and go through +with it. Don’t you see, my dear sir? It has devolved upon you.” + +“The men are ready, sir,” said Corporal Fraser; “shall we now proceed to +clear the banks?” + +It was evident I must direct, or nothing could be done. “Wait a minute, +Fraser.” + +I beckoned to the cavalry sergeant, and desired him to place a few of +his men, with swords drawn, in the rear of the convoy, giving them +strict directions to suffer no one to fall behind, mule or muleteer. He +was then to divide the rest of our mounted force into two equal parties, +under his two corporals, who, when the infantry advanced, were to +descend along the top of the banks, and halt at its extremity. I then +gave the word to Corporal Fraser to move forward at once with the +infantry, and clear the underwood, but to halt where the cavalry halted, +and by no means to go beyond. + +“Then, to prevent that,” said the corporal, “I will go first myself, +sir.” + +He dashed forward, and the infantry followed, with a shout. Thus we +moved down to the extremity of the hollow road. The infantry led the +way, gallantly headed by General Fraser, and dislodged some ten or a +dozen fellows from the banks, who bolted successively, and cut away, +making good their retreat to their own party below. This movement was +not effected without some firing on both sides, but nobody was hurt on +either. The cavalry, supporting the infantry, walked quietly down the +two edges of the cutting: and I put the convoy in motion to follow. Mr +Chesterfield now rallied for a few moments, and was eager to remount. +But the faintness returned; it was evident he could neither ride nor +walk; so he was brought down in Gingham’s cart, with every attention +both from Gingham and Pledget. + +While we were thus moving down through the hollow, I heard, close +behind, an angry shout from our dragoons on the banks above. Then +followed three shots in quick succession, one from the underwood, on the +side, two from the summit. A bullet whizzed by my head, and spat into +the opposite bank. A rustling was then distinguishable among the bushes, +and presently a peasant, in a blue gabardine, slid down stiff into the +road, and there doubled up. Eluding Fraser and the foot soldiers, he had +remained in ambush till we came along, when he had selected me for a +passing compliment, as the head of the party, intending no doubt to +climb up the bank, if pursued, and escape above. Just as he was taking +aim, though, he was seen by the dragoons, who, unheard by him, were +quietly moving down at a walk over the ploughed ground. Two of them +fired their carbines, and one or both of their shots taking effect, +prevented the effect of his. + +Too green to know that it was unmilitary, I returned a few paces to take +a view of the dying foe. A Frenchman to the last, he must needs find +something to say, though life was now ebbing apace. Slowly, and with +apparent difficulty, he raised his eyes till they were fixed full on +mine; and then, with quivering features, and a strange snapping of the +jaw, began to speak. “_Ah, Monsieur —— j’ai pensé—vous._”——He was dead! + +We now gained the extremity of the hollow way, and stood looking down on +the enemy ranged in order of battle at the pond. Fraser had drawn up the +infantry across the road, and the cavalry, with the exception of the +rearguard, formed on our two flanks. Our first movement was thus +effected. All our men were perfectly steady, but burning to fall to, and +savage on account of Mr Chesterfield’s casualty. + +Gingham now suggested, as the enemy were so numerous—two hundred and +fifty at least, if not three hundred—that it might be prudent to wait a +while, in the hope that other parties, bound to headquarters, might come +up. But I happened to know that none were coming that day; and Gingham, +on hearing this, withdrew his motion. What, then, was our course? How +were we to deal with these Mounseers? No doubt we could lick them; and, +had fighting been our object, nothing would have given our men greater +satisfaction. But we had dollars in charge, and our first care must be +to get safe through, and deliver them safe at headquarters. My decision, +then, was taken. We must advance—we must continue our march—and we +mustn’t let those fellows hinder us; but we must, if possible, effect +our purpose, without coming to close quarters. A mêlée we must shun; +for, though the issue would be glorious—no doubt of that—yet, if once +mixed up with our convoy, the enemy, when they took to flight, might +persuade some of our mules to go with them. Our object, then, reduced +itself to this: we must disperse the foe, without coming to close +quarters with them. Gingham quite adopted this view of the subject, and +now prepared for further operations by drawing his pistols from the +holsters, and examining their priming. He next called to Coosey to get +him his sword out of the cart, girded it on, and drew it forth from the +scabbard—a formidable Andrea Ferrara, equally available for cut and +thrust. He bore it bolt upright, with great gravity, and with an air +half military, half civic, which, on his showy Spanish horse, would have +rendered him a highly ornamental addition to a Lord Mayor’s procession. + +We were now immediately in front of the enemy; and I rode a few yards +forward, to take a full view of their position, previous to our advance. +They favoured me with a great deal of noise, and, on my turning, with a +few shots, which I acknowledged by taking off my hat. Many of them +returned the compliment; while others expressed their civility by a +courteous gesture, vernacular in most civilised countries. + +The enemy, it was clear, had no idea that we marched with a Nanny-goat +in company, and had intended that we should walk into them unawares. In +that case, we should probably have come off second best. As matters +stood, our position was far more favourable: and theirs, less +advantageous in the same degree. The worst of it was, though, that to +the left of the main road—that is, on the enemy’s right—a wood came down +to within two hundred yards of them; which same wood, further on, +extended close up to the road we were to proceed by, and seemed to skirt +it for some distance. The danger was that, when we attacked the enemy, +and drove them before us, some of them, perhaps the greater number, +might escape into this wood; in which case we might afterwards find it +difficult to get rid of their agreeable company. These considerations, +then, indicated the plan of our attack. I desired the sergeant of +cavalry to select seven or eight of his steadiest men, and gain at once +the skirts of the wood, at the point nearest the enemy. He was to +advance at first as if intending to attack their right; but, when he got +nearer, was to quicken his pace, and make at once for the wood. +Immediately after, when he saw the general attack commence, his party, +also, were to advance and fire; but not to advance so far that +fugitives, escaping from the enemy’s rear, might be able to enter the +wood. The infantry were to advance, firing, down the road; and the +remainder of the cavalry was to spread out on our flanks, and act in +concert with us: our whole party pressing more on the enemy’s right than +left, in order that their retreat might be from the wood, not to it. +These matters I explained distinctly. One other point remained. + +“Corporal Fraser, step this way. Your duty is the most responsible of +any.” I knew it would be a bitter pill for the corporal, so endeavoured +to gild it. + +“I am ready for any duty you may assign me, sir,” said the corporal, +whose blood was up. + +“You must take two or three of the infantry to the rear—we shall want +all the cavalry—and see that no muleteer loiters behind, or falls +out—bring all up.” + +“As you please, sir,” said Fraser; “but in action, the rear is not the +place to which I have been most accustomed.” The poor fellow looked so +dismally blank, I really felt for him. + +“Never mind that, corporal. Remember you have had your turn already, and +have done well. Depend upon this,” I added, with a consolatory wink, +“should there be any real business in front, though I don’t expect it, +you, if possible, shall have your share.” The clouds were now dispelled +from the corporal’s face, and he retired to his station in the rear. + +Our preparations being thus completed, I forthwith sent forward the +cavalry sergeant with his party, to gain the wood. The movement was well +executed. They advanced steadily down upon the enemy’s right, without +answering his fire; then turned suddenly to the left, and trotted off to +the trees. Having reached the point assigned them, they pulled up, faced +round, and formed in line. Immediately upon this commenced our general +movement in advance, Fraser following the train of mules and muleteers, +and “keeping them up behind.” Infantry and cavalry marched down to the +attack; while both the contending armies maintained a brisk fusillade. +As far as I then discovered, none of the enemy’s shots took effect, +while some of ours appeared to tell. The foe stood his ground manfully +at first; but, as we got closer, some of them began to run from the +rear, and all soon joined in the flight. The retreat was as rapid as it +was general; and we, as the convoy could not be left, abstained from +pursuit. The cavalry advancing from the wood, though, got a little too +forward. The consequence was that a few of the fugitives, running down +the main road, attempted to escape into the wood. But a few carbine +shots soon turned them back on the main body; and the whole mass then +made their escape down the road to our right, which was just what I +wanted. Long after we had ceased to fire, they continued to run, without +stopping to look behind, alarmed probably by the apprehension of a +cavalry pursuit. Half a mile off, in remarkably short time for the +distance, I saw some of them, like a scattered flock of sheep, +scampering up a hill, and disappearing over its summit. What execution +was done by our fire, did not immediately appear. Some decamped slower +than others; one or two were carried. Some made their escape through the +pond; and of these, some fell over in the water, as if they had been +hit. One fell, the men said, and didn’t get up again. A few of the enemy +halted awhile to take a look, in their run down the cross-road, as if +they would like to make an attempt on the extremity of our convoy, which +probably appeared to them unprotected. But, receiving the fire of our +rearguard, they again took to flight. We assembled at the pond, and +there halted in a body, convoy and escort. + +Mr Chesterfield had not yet recovered from the first shock of his wound; +and was obliged to remain in the cart, unable to sit up. Gingham +administered some brandy, with good effect. We had, however, one other +wounded man. I noticed several of our fellows, horse and foot, assembled +in a group, from which proceeded loud jeers, and shouts of laughter. +There was something in the midst of them, the occasion of their mirth, +which I could not see. Presently, however, I caught a sight of poor +Jones, the picture of woe. He was standing in a posture very far from +upright, and leaning with his elbows on the back of a spare mule—his +aspect cadaverous. Advancing, I heard the talk. + +“Why, Taffy, old feller, how come ye to get hit there?” A roar of +laughter drowned Jones’s indignant reply. + +“Taffy, my lad, why, I didn’t think you vos the chap as vould turn +tail.” + +“It’s a lie,” roared Jones, in a voice of extreme agony and +exasperation. “I didn’t turn tail; nor I haven’t not never turned tail. +Only jest turned round to load, and felt all at wance jest as if +somebody had bin and give me a kick——” A universal roar drowned the +conclusion of the sentence. + +“Mr Pledget,” said I, “there seems to be here another case, soliciting +your attention.” + +The men made way. Pledget advanced with great seriousness; and the +laughter, though less vociferous, became tenfold in intensity, at the +rich idea of Pledget’s investigating and doctoring Jones’s wound. Jones, +at the sight of the doctor, in his alarm and anguish set up a regular +hullabaloo, almost running into a cry. The doctor, regardless of Jones’s +fears and lacerated feelings, began gravely to question him—made serious +attempts and approaches to ascertain particulars. Two or three of the +fellows, positively overcome with the scene, threw themselves down by +the road-side in an agony. One, I really thought, would have laughed +himself into a fit. He turned red, crimson, purple, almost black in the +face; still, in his bursts, casting his eyes, from time to time, towards +Jones and the doctor. Jones, leaning on the mule’s back, screwing and +twisting first this way then that, evaded and defeated all the doctor’s +approaches; while the men, taking a little extra freedom after our +glorious victory, renewed their vociferous merriment. Pledget, at +length, began to lose his patience. “Come, my good fellow,” said he; +“this won’t do, you know.” + +He then looked round at the soldiers, and made a sign. Four of them +stepped forward, seized Jones by the arms and legs, and bore him off to +the road-side—struggling, fighting, kicking, roaring, screeching, his +agony increasing as he saw the moment at hand when he must be doctored. +Pledget humanely pointed to some bushes close by, and the men carried +Jones behind them. There the bullet was extracted at once. But how +Pledget proceeded, or what was the precise character of the wound, of +course we, who remained in the road, had no opportunity of perceiving. +The progress of the operation, however, was marked by occasional shouts +and yells from Jones; and in five minutes he hobbled forth with a rueful +aspect, but looking “as well as could be expected.” Pledget almost +immediately followed, and handed the bullet to Jones. “There, my man,” +said he; “put that in your pocket.” + +There still was something, though, upon Jones’s mind. He limped down to +the edge of the pond with an eager, anxious look; and began prowling +about, examining among the reeds and bushes, right and left. + +“Jones, hadn’t you better keep yourself quiet? Sit down, man.” + +“Please, sir, if you’ve no objections, sir, I’m noways inclined to sit +down jest at present, sir, ’cause it would be rayther ill-colvelielt, +sir; rayther be excused, sir. Hope no offence, sir.” He continued on the +prowl. + +“What are you looking for, Jones? Lost any part of your kit?” + +“Please, sir, I’m a-looking for that ’ere Nosey, sir.” + +“What! the man that stood treat this morning? You don’t expect to find +him here.” + +“Please, sir, I see him here, sir; and I marked him too, sir. See him +drop somewhere hereabouts, sir.” + +This intelligence was “important, if true;” and I also began to look. + +There was nothing, however, on this part of the field of combat, to +indicate that a wounded man had fallen. Jones, though, was positive. + +“Sure you were not mistaken, Jones?” + +“No, sir; it wasn’t no mistake, I’m sartain, sir. I’m sartain as I see +him, and I’m sartain as I marked him, sir. Knowed him by his——Oh, there +he is, sir.” + +Jones pointed to something in the pond that looked like a package or +bundle, half immersed in the water, at the edge of the reeds, a little +out from the side. + +A soldier stepped in, and examined more closely. “It’s a dead man, sir.” + +“Dead! Get him out, that’s a good fellow. Perhaps he’s only wounded, and +not past recovery.” + +“He’s past that, sir,” said the soldier, as he turned him, face upwards, +on the bank. + +The face had a mask of mud. The soldier knelt down, felt in the dead +man’s pockets, brought out a white handkerchief of French cambric—wiped +away the mud. Yes, it was Hookey! The features retained their general +expression—harsh by temperament, but composed to blandness. Oh, what a +look was that! Hookey shot through the neck! The brow was slightly knit; +the lips were parted; the teeth clenched. His perpetual smile had set +his face, at last, in a fixed, unmeaning smirk—the dead man’s simper! +The two corners of his semicircular mouth, drawn up high on the cheeks, +were flanked by two furrows, rigid and profound! It was the sort of look +which, seen but for a moment, stamps on the memory an impression that we +can recall at will, and that sometimes comes unbidden! + +“Just hold up that handkerchief, my man. Spread it out, will you? Oh, +there’s the mark—_Christophe_.” + +“Any papers?” said I to Jones, who was rummaging in the dead man’s +pockets. + +“Only this here, sir,” said Jones, holding up an envelope, which had +been emptied of its contents. It was the cover of my letter, which +Hookey had undertaken to deliver at headquarters. The letter itself he +had probably sent in a different direction. + +Jones, meanwhile, had found a leathern purse, which, without any +remarks, he was quietly secreting about his own person. The soldier, +though, who had landed the dead man, detected this act of conveyance, +and demanded “snacks.” A discussion arose, and a squabble seemed +inevitable. “Corporal Fraser,” said I, “just see all fair here.” I then +turned Sancho’s head, and withdrew from the scene. Sancho had more than +once brought down his nose, slowly and cautiously, into close proximity +with the object that lay stretched out before him. He now, ere he obeyed +the bridle, pawed, tossed his head, and snorted; as though fain to get +rid of the very air that he had just been inhaling, and to blow out of +his nostrils the smell of blood! + +Mr Chesterfield, now considerably recovered, stood by the cart, with his +arm slung in a silk handkerchief. He thought he was able to sit his +horse—at any rate, wished to try. Pledget objected—wanted him to come on +in the cart. A discussion arose; and it was settled at last, that +Pledget should mount the horse, while Mr Chesterfield rode Pledget’s +mule. Gingham then gave directions to Coosey and Joaquim, who helped +Jones into the cart. Coosey had already been won upon by Jones. But now, +when Jones came out fresh from the field, with a memorial of the combat +that would follow him to the day of his death, Coosey’s admiration knew +no bounds. I saw him pass something to Joaquim, who took an early +opportunity of passing it to Jones. “You don’t think,” said I to +Gingham, “Coosey will give him more than will do him good?”—“No, no,” +said Gingham; “you may depend on Coosey’s discretion.” + +It was time to be getting on again. First, however, Mr Chesterfield +deemed it advisable to see all right respecting the wood. For this +purpose, he sent forward Corporal Fraser with part of the infantry. +After they entered the wood, we heard a single shot. In about ten +minutes the whole party returned, the Corporal riding a clumsy French +cart-horse, with a rope bridle. They had found a horse and cart. The +shot was fired to bring up the driver, who had, however, got off. The +object of the horse and cart was pretty evident. It no doubt had +occurred to Hookey that, in case of his making a successful foray, and +securing part of our dollars, such a conveyance might do good service in +carrying off the “swag.” There was no convenient way of getting the cart +to us out of the wood; it appeared to have been brought from another +direction; so Fraser had taken out the horse, which he considered his +own lawful prize. All being now arranged, we proceeded on our march. + +Jones rode on in the cart. He lay along at full length; not on his back, +though, but in the opposite position, which he preferred under existing +circumstances. I observed him—like a recumbent bull-terrier, with muzzle +protruding from his kennel—keenly watching as we proceeded—now forwards, +now right, now left, looking out for the _hinnimy_, and eager to have +another slap at a Frenchman. + +With regard to the enemy’s position, it will probably occur to the +military reader, that they might have chosen a better. A more skilful +opponent, probably, would have concealed himself in the forest, and +attacked us in flank; and a bolder one might have ventured to occupy the +hollow way with all his forces—a plan which, if detected, would have +been attended with greater risk to himself, but, if successful, with +greater damage to us. As it was, the ambuscade was too far in front of +the main body, and we were able to deal with it before we were further +engaged. Still, I think, it must be admitted, on the whole, the +arrangements of the enemy were not badly made. Had we not kept a good +look-out—or rather, had not our four-legged attendant providentially put +us on our guard—we might not have discovered our opponents till it was +too late to avoid a conflict at close quarters, the probable consequence +of which would have been the loss of some of our mules; while the +crossroads afforded facilities for driving them off, with the choice of +four directions. And, some of their party being concealed in the two +banks between which we had to pass, we might have discovered an enemy at +hand only by finding ourselves under fire. On the whole, we had reason +to be thankful that our loss was so small. + +With regard to our fallen opponent, Hookey or Christophe, in lately +turning over Colonel Gurwood’s volumes, I met with something which +appears, curiously enough, to identify him. In a letter from our +Commander-in-Chief, bearing date 2d January 1814, that is, two or three +months before our rencontre, I find that a person, calling himself +Christophe, had been arrested and sent to General Freyre, to be +forwarded to Madrid; that, in the November previous, this Christophe was +at Bilbao; that he had letters from King Ferdinand; that he showed a +draft or order on the Biscayan Provinces to pay him seventy thousand +dollars; that he was advised to present himself to the Government; and +that, as the opinion entertained of him was not very favourable, and he +remained at St Jean de Luz, he was at length arrested, and sent off. + +Now, I am not prepared to assert that this was the same individual with +my Christophe or Hookey; but, supposing it so, we may give some such +sketch of his services as the following. In the early part of 1813, the +period of my voyage from Falmouth to Lisbon, the French authorities in +Spain, civil and military, were not a little perplexed as to our +Commander’s plans for the ensuing campaign. This mystery he solved ere +long, by breaking forth from the north of Portugal, advancing on the +line of the Douro, marching across the north of Spain, winning the +battle of Vittoria, investing San Sebastian and Pampeluna, liberating +the Peninsula, crowning the Pyrenees, completing the great circle that +was closing round Napoleon, and menacing the south of France. Precisely +when we may suppose the curiosity of the Gallic leaders to have been +most intense, that is, in the early spring of 1813, just previous to +Lord Wellington’s advance, Hookey—Christophe, said his cambric +handkerchief—came off to us in the Oporto boat, and, under the assumed +character of a courier, obtained a passage by the Falmouth packet from +Oporto to Lisbon—in other words, from the left to the right of the +position then occupied by the British troops. Subsequently, a Christophe +makes his appearance at Bilbao, in the November of the same year; and, +on account of his suspicious conduct there, and afterwards at +headquarters, is arrested, and delivered over to the Spaniards, for +transmission to Madrid. The Spaniards, of course, let him escape; and he +then returns to his old trade. He cannot, however, appear again at +headquarters, therefore hangs about the line of march on the look-out +for a job; falls in with a greenhorn in charge of treasure; gets out of +him all the information he can; tries to divert him from his route; +tampers with his personal attendant; opposes his passage of a river; +makes his escort drunk; and musters a rural force, with the aid of which +he hopes to realise more by ready cash, than he did by his cheque on the +“Biscayan provinces.” Thus he went on, prying, plotting, and meddling, +till he found his end. + +We proceeded quietly on our march, Gingham and I riding side by side, +while Pledget and Mr Chesterfield preceded us. + +“Yes,” said Gingham, resuming the thread of our conversation where our +rencontre with the enemy had broken it off; “I know that you have formed +schemes connected with military service; and those, I presume, are the +plans you allude to.” + +I really did not understand, at the moment, what Gingham meant; and, +fancying he referred to our recent operations in the presence of the +foe, answered wide of the mark. + +“No, no,” said he; “I was not speaking, sir, with regard to the little +affair which has just come off; though, give me leave to say, Mr Y—, you +acquitted yourself in a way that does you credit. I allude to what fell +from you within the last hour, when you mentioned some plans that you +had formed, and which, you were kind enough to say, you would +communicate for my information.” + +We now resumed the conversation, which the “little affair” had +interrupted. I stated my plans, hopes, difficulties, without reserve; +and Gingham, in reply, from his own knowledge and observations, drew, +with equal force and feeling, a not very agreeable picture of the +discouragements, disappointments, toils, hardships, sufferings, +privations, wrongs, and snubbings, incidental to the life of a marching +officer on actual service. He was still eloquently descanting on these +topics, when we reached the termination of our day’s journey. + + + + + GERMAN POPULAR PROPHECIES. + + +LETTER FROM PROFESSOR GREGORY TO THE EDITOR. + + + DEAR SIR,—The following notice of certain popular prophetic + traditions, widely current in the country to which they refer, may + perhaps prove interesting to your numerous readers. + + All widely-spread opinions, however apparently absurd, have, or have + had at some time, a foundation in nature or in historical fact; and it + cannot be uninteresting, with a view to the history of popular + traditions, to place on record those which I have here collected, even + although we cannot at present trace them satisfactorily to their + origin. The whole subject of trances, and the various phenomena + connected with them, including the second sight, is one hitherto very + imperfectly studied, and for that reason I have not entered into + detail on that part of the question; but I may possibly do so at a + future period.—Believe me, very truly yours, + + WILLIAM GREGORY. + + EDINBURGH, _April 16, 1850_. + + +It is well known that in all ages, and in most countries, prophetic +traditions have been said to exist; and although it may often have +happened that such traditions have arisen from spurious prophecies, +written after the event, and falsely said to have existed before it, yet +it would also appear that genuine prophecies have from time to time +appeared, and become traditions before the events took place. Of course, +we do not here allude to the Scriptural prophecies, but to such as have +no pretensions to a divine origin. There can be little doubt that the +Sybilline Books contained prophecies of the future fate of Rome; and +although we cannot now ascertain, even if this were the case, whether +they were accurate predictions, or merely sagacious guesses, nor whether +the event confirmed them, yet the tradition of their existence is in +itself curious. We cannot here enter into an enumeration of the various +prophecies which are said to have existed, in ancient or modern times, +before the events occurred, but on some future occasion we may return to +that subject: in the mean time we may allude, as a modern example of +popular prophecy in our own country, to the prediction of the extinction +of the male line of the house of Seaforth, in the person of a deaf +Caberfae—a prediction which Mr Morritt of Rokeby, the friend of Scott, +heard quoted in Ross-shire at a time when the last Lord Seaforth, who +became quite deaf, had several sons in perfect health. We have no doubt +our Highland readers are acquainted with many analogous cases. + +Our present object is to direct attention to the fact, that in Germany, +more especially on the Rhine and in Westphalia, there exist many +remarkable popular prophecies concerning public events, of various +dates, and originating in various quarters, but exhibiting a remarkable +coincidence in many of the chief points. Many of these have been printed +at various times; others exist as traditions among the peasantry; +others, again, are said upon good evidence to have been in modern times +taken down from the lips of the prophets themselves, all or most of whom +are now dead. Yet they generally predict, and often with strange +minuteness of detail, events which were to occur about this time,—viz. +in 1848, 1849, and 1850. Political and religious convulsions, wars, and +finally peace and prosperity, form the burden of them; and we shall see +that the events of 1848 and 1849 supply apparently strong confirmation +of their truth, their previous existence being admitted. + +Having spent some months in Rhenish Prussia during the summer of 1849, +we made many inquiries on the subject, and found everywhere, and among +all classes, a firm conviction of the _genuineness_ of many of the +popular prophecies; while it was admitted that they had long been known +and believed by the people. As the matter, considered under any point of +view, is a curious and interesting one, we procured the latest work on +the subject, which in fact appeared while we were in Germany. It is +entitled, “Prophetic Voices, with Explanations. A collection as perfect +as possible, of all Prophecies, of Ancient and Modern date, concerning +the Present and Future Times, with an explanation of the obscure parts,” +by Th. Beykirch, licentiate in Theology, and (R.C.) curate in Dortmund. +The worthy Curate is often too brief in his accounts of the prophecies +themselves, and very diffuse in his explanations, which, for the most +part, tend to extract from the predictions the comfortable assurance of +the complete reestablishment of the Roman Catholic religion, and the +utter discomfiture of Protestantism. He even treats his readers to a +disquisition, altogether out of place, on Scriptural prophecies, and an +interpretation, by Holzhaüser, of the Apocalypse, in which he applies to +Protestantism the same passages which Protestants apply to the Papacy, +and does so, apparently, very much to his own satisfaction. We shall not +touch on these parts of his work, but use it as a storehouse, from which +we may draw the predictions themselves, without regarding them through +the theological medium of the reverend author. + +The first we shall mention is of an ancient date. It is the vaticination +of Brother Herrmann, a monk of the monastery of Lehnin, who flourished +circa A.D. 1270, and died in the odour of sanctity. It is written in a +hundred leonine hexameters, rhyming in the middle and end of each verse, +and was printed in 1723 by Professor Lilienthal, from what was said to +be an old MS. His prophecies chiefly concerned the future fate of his +own monastery of Lehnin in Brandenburg, and of the monastery of Chorin +in the Uckermark, a part of Brandenburg. But as that fate depended on +public events, more especially on the history of the princes of that +country, his vaticination assumes the form of a brief prophetic history +of the house of Hohenzollern, that is, the now royal house of Prussia. +Our readers will probably readily dispense with the whole of the +original hexameters of the good monk, but we shall give a few specimens: +he begins— + + + 1. “Nunc tibi, cum cura, Lehnin! cano fata futura, + + 2. Quæ mihi monstravit Dominus, qui cuncta creavit,” &c. + + “Now, oh Lehnin! I sing with sorrow to thee thy future fates, + + Which the Lord, the creator of all, has shown to me.” + + +He proceeds to describe the prosperity of Lehnin under the race of Otto +I., and its decay after the extinction of this family, which took place +in the person of Henry III., 1320. These princes were from Anhalt, of +the race called the Askanier in German history. + +At verses 14 _et seq._, he describes Brandenburg as becoming a den of +lions, while the true heir is excluded. After Margrave Henry III., the +Dukes of Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Brunswick, Anhalt, Electoral Saxony, +and Bohemia attacked the Mark, (Brandenburg,) and committed horrible +devastations. The Emperor Louis of Bavaria seized it for himself, +excluding the princes of Saxony, the nearest heirs to the former +princes. + +After various details concerning the fate of Brandenburg, plundered by +robber knights and barons, who were to be put down by a strong emperor, +as happened under Charles IV. who died in 1378,—he comes to the +accession of the Hohenzollerns, and describes the first prince of that +family as rising to distinction by holding two castles or Burgen. The +Emperor Sigismund sold Brandenburg to Frederick, Burggraf of Nuremberg, +of the house of Hohenzollern. He belonged to the lower nobility, but now +became more important by the possession of two castles—those of +Nuremberg and Brandenburg. These examples are sufficient to give an idea +of that part of Brother Herrmann’s prophecy, concerning events which +preceded the printing of it in 1723, and in which he describes +_seriatim_, without giving the names, and very briefly, but in striking +language, the fate and character of the successive Margraves, Electors, +and Kings, till he comes to Frederick William I., who died in 1740, +seventeen years after the prophecy was printed, and whose character and +death he describes. Then follows Frederick the Great, whose career, with +its vicissitudes, is indicated with tolerable clearness. One line is +curious, + + + 84. “Flantibus hinc Austris, vitam vult credere claustris.” + + “When the south wind blows, he trusts his life to the cloisters.” + + +In fact, Frederick, when hard pressed by the Austrians, was once +compelled to conceal himself in a monastery. + +_Auster_ signifies south wind, but is probably here used for Austria. + +After his successor, Frederick William II., whom the good monk truly +describes as vicious, sensual, and oppressive, but not warlike, comes +this line— + + + 89. “Natus florebit; quod non sperasset habebit.” + + “The son shall flourish; he shall possess what he did not hope for.” + + +The application of this to the late king, Frederick William III., is +obvious. Under him, Prussia, after having been reduced to the lowest ebb +by Napoleon, became, unexpectedly, far more powerful than it had ever +been. + + + 90. “Sed populus tristis flebit temporibus istis. + + 92. “Et princeps nescit quod nova potentia crescit.” + + “But the sad people shall mourn in these times; + + “And the King knows not that a new power is arising.” + + +These lines also apply well to Frederick William III. + + + 93. “Tandem sceptra gerit, qui ultimus stemmatis erit.” + + “At length he bears the sceptres, who shall be the last of his race.” + + +Now this is very remarkable. In line 49, he had said— + + + 49. “Hoc ad undenum durabit stemma venenum.” + + “This poison[2] shall last to the eleventh generation.” + + +The present king, Frederick William IV., is the eleventh from Joachim +III., the first Protestant prince of Brandenburg, in reference to whom +the above line is written. But why did the writer (even supposing the +prophecy not to have existed earlier than 1723, when it was printed) +stop at this point? We shall see that other prophecies coincide with +this one in predicting that the present will be the last King of +Prussia. + +Then comes the remarkable line— + + + 95. “Et pastor gregem recipit, Germania regem.” + + “And the shepherd receives his flock, Germany a king.” + + +The worthy curate of Dortmund explains this as pointing out the +submission of Europe to the Pope, and of Germany to one sovereign. +Brother Herrmann goes on to predict peaceful times, and the restoration +of Chorin and Lehnin to their pristine splendour. + +We have omitted many curious lines, but the reader will probably feel +satisfied that the brief and obscure vaticinations of Brother Herrmann +are worthy of notice, especially that part of them relating to the last +hundred and twenty years, bearing in mind that they were printed in +1723. + +The next prophet mentioned by our author is Joseph von Görres, who died +in January 1848—that is, before the last revolution in France, which +shook the thrones of Europe. On his deathbed he lamented the misfortunes +about to come on Poland, described Hungary as appearing to him one huge +field of carnage, and wept over the approaching downfall of the European +monarchies. The events of February and March 1848, the insurrection in +Posen, the devastations committed by the Prussians in suppressing it, +and the war in Hungary, would appear to be the events to which he +referred. But he was a man deeply read in history, and there are some of +those prophetic hints which may possibly have occurred to him as +reflections on probable events, and have assumed a certain degree of +vividness in his mind. + +We now come to a peasant prophet, namely Jaspers, a Westphalian +shepherd, of Deininghausen, near the ancestral seat of the Lord of +Bodelschwing. He was a simple-minded pious man. In 1830, soon after +which time he died, he publicly predicted as follows:— + + + “A great road (said he) will be carried through our country, from west + to east, which will pass through the forests of Bodelschwing. On this + road, carriages will run _without horses_, and cause a dreadful noise. + At the commencement of this work, a great scarcity will here prevail; + pigs will become very dear, and a new religion will arise, in which + wickedness will be regarded as prudence and politeness. Before this + road is quite completed, a frightful war will break out.” + + +These words, to the astonishment of the natives, have nearly all been +fulfilled. The railway from Cologne to Minden has, since his death, been +carried through the very district he mentioned in 1830, before the first +English railway had been opened, and when the primitive shepherds of +Westphalia were little likely to know anything about railways. The +scarcity took place at the time specified; and his remark as to a new +religion is supposed to apply to a deterioration of manners among the +simple natives, consequent on the opening up of their district. A +personal friend of Jaspers collected the following sayings, which the +author, after minute inquiry on the spot, considers as genuine. + + + 1. “Before the great road is _quite finished_, a dreadful war will + break out.” + + +The railway has for a year or two been in operation; but, up to the end +of 1849, as we saw by advertisements, the second line of rails was not +laid down. It is probably still only in progress. Now in 1848 and 1849, +we have seen war in Schleswig-Holstein, Hungary, Italy, Posen, and +Baden. + + + 2. “A small northern power will be conqueror.” + + +Probably the Danish war, and the success of Denmark, is here meant. + + + 3. “After this another war will break out—not a religious war among + Christians, but between those who believe in Christ and those who do + not believe.” + + +Here we must remember that the simple and ignorant peasants of +Westphalia have strong religious feelings and prejudices, and are apt, +like some nearer home, to apply the term Infidel somewhat rashly. +Possibly Russia and the Greek church may be here alluded to. + + + 4. “This war comes from the East. I dread the East. + + 5. “This war will break out very suddenly. In the evening they will + cry ‘Peace, peace!’ and yet peace is not; and in the morning the enemy + will be at the door. Yet it shall soon pass, and he who knows of a + good hiding-place, for a a few days only, is secure.” + + +The probability of a war, in which Russia shall take an active share, +cannot escape any observer of the signs of the times; and, with the aid +of railways, which were not known at the date of Jaspers’ death, the +sudden outbreak is quite possible, even in Westphalia. + + + 6. “The defeated enemy will have to fly in extreme haste. Let the + people cast cart and wheels into the water, otherwise the flying foe + will take all carriages with them. + + 7. “Before this war, a general faithlessness will prevail. Men will + give out vice for virtue and honour, deceit for politeness. + + 8. “In the year in which the great war shall break out, there shall be + so fine a spring, that in April the cows will be feeding in the + meadows on luxuriant grass. In the same year, wheat may be harvested, + (in his district,) but not oats.” (This appears to be likely to apply + to 1850.—W. G.) + + +He seems here to hint that the harvest of oats will be interrupted by +the war; if so, the war occurs in autumn. + + + 9. “The great battle will be fought _at the birch-tree_, between Unna, + Hamm, and Werl. The people of half the world will there be opposed to + each other. God will terrify the enemy by a dreadful storm. Of the + _Russians_, but few shall return home to tell of their defeat. Jaspers + described this battle as terrific.” + + +We shall by and by hear more of this birch-tree. + + + 10. “The war will be over in 1850, and in 1852 all will be again in + order. + + 11. “The Poles are at first put down; but they will, along with other + nations, fight against their oppressors, and at last obtain a king of + their own. + + 12. “France will be divided internally into three parts.” + + +It is curious to notice, that at present, although the state of matters +in 1830 was very different, there are three parties in France, all of +them powerful: namely, the Buonapartists, (with at least a part of the +Orleanists,) and the moderate as well as the _pro tempore_ Republicans, +headed by Louis Napoleon; the party of the old Bourbons and the priests, +led by Falloux and the old nobility, such as Larochejaquelein and +Montalembert; and lastly the Red Republicans, Socialists, and +Communists. These three parties hold each other in check, and no one of +them can at this moment do much. + + + 13. “Spain will not join in the war. But the Spaniards shall come + after it is over, and take possession of the churches. + + 14. “Austria will be fortunate, provided she do not wait too long. + + 15. “The papal chair will be vacant for a time. + + 16. “The nobility is much depressed, but in 1852 again rises to some + extent. + + 17. “When asked as to the future of Prussia, he maintained an + obstinate silence, saying only that King Frederick William IV. would + be the last.” + + +This agrees with Brother Herrmann, as formerly stated. A man named +Pottgiesser, in Dortmund, long since dead, drew up a genealogical tree +of the royal house, in which he says of the present king—to whom he +gives no successor—“He disappears.” + + + 18. “There will be one religion. On the Rhine stands a church which + all people shall aid in building. From thence, after the war, shall + proceed the rule of faith. All sects shall be united; only the Jews + shall retain their old obstinacy.” + + +The dome at Cologne is obviously alluded to. We shall see, hereafter, +that Cologne is expected to become the seat of ecclesiastical rule by +other prophets. + + + 19. “In our district priests shall become so rare, that, after the + war, people will have to walk seven leagues in order to attend divine + service. + + 20. “Our country will be so much depopulated, that women will have to + cultivate the soil; and seven girls shall fight for a pair of + inexpressibles. + + 21. “The house of Ikern shall be set on fire by shells. + + 22. “The soldiers shall march to battle (or to war) first, then + return, decked with the cherry blossoms. And only after that shall the + great war break out.” + + +In spring 1848, troops marched to Baden, at the time of the first +insurrection there, in which war General von Gagern was killed; and they +returned home decked with cherry blossoms. + + + 23. “Germany shall have one king, and then shall come happy times. + + 24. “He spoke also of an approaching religious change, and warned his + children, when that time should come, to go to Mengede.” + + +When jeered on his prophetic powers, Jaspers often said— + + + “When I have long been in the grave, you will then often remember what + I have said.” + + +There is a prophet in Dortmund, who, among other curious things, said, +in 1840, “When the Prussian soldiers shall be dressed like those who +crucified our Lord, then war shall break out with great violence.” It is +worthy of notice that, since that time, the whole Prussian army, with +the exception of the Hussars, have been armed with helmets of Roman +form. Their new Waffenrock, or military coat, is also a short plain +surtout, buttoned to the throat, and probably not unlike a Roman tunic. + +The predictions of Jaspers are curious—first, on account of their +minuteness; secondly, because they specify dates yet future. We shall +see that they coincide, in many of the chief points, with other popular +prophecies. + +The next prophet is Spielbähn, a Rhenish peasant. “Spielbähn” signifies, +in the dialect of his countrymen, “the fiddler;” and this name was given +to him on account of his skill as a rustic performer on the violin. He +was employed as messenger and servant in the convents of Siegburg and +Heisterbach. His predictions have been published by Schrattenholz, and +widely circulated; but, as we could not procure this work, we can only +give such extracts as our author has selected. + +Spielbähn died in 1783 in Cologne. He is said to have been rather +addicted to the wine-flask, and to have occasionally indulged in +predictions of doubtful authenticity, possibly from interested motives. +But he is thought, in the main, to have uttered what he really believed +to be true predictions, and he gave them out as visions. He predicted +the imprisonment of the Archbishop of Cologne, which took place a few +years ago, with many less interesting local occurrences, which our +author passes over. Speaking of the present time, (1848–50,) and of what +should follow, he said— + + + 1. “In that time it will be hardly possible to distinguish the peasant + from the noble.” + + +In Rhenish Prussia, where the Code Napoleon prevails, there is hardly a +trace of the splendour of the old aristocracy to be found. The nobles of +old family who remain have lost all exclusive privileges, and are poor. + + + 2. “Courtly manners and worldly vanity will reach to a height hitherto + unequalled. Yea, things will go so far, that men will no longer thank + God for their daily bread. + + 3. “Human intellect will do wonders, (or miracles,) and on this + account men will more and more forget God. They will mock at God, + thinking themselves omnipotent, because of the carriages, which shall + run through the whole world, (or everywhere,) without being drawn by + animals. + + 4. “And because courtly vices, sensuality, and sumptuousness of + apparel, are then so great, God will punish the world. A poison shall + fall on the fields, and a great famine shall afflict the country.” + + +In Nos. 3 and 4, railways and the potato blight seem meant. + + + 5. “When a bridge shall be thrown across the Rhine at Mondorf, then it + will be advisable to cross, as soon as possible, to the opposite + shore. But it will only be necessary to remain there so long as a man + will take to consume a 7 lb. loaf of bread; after which (that is, in + less than a week,) it will be time to return.” + + +This coincides with Jaspers’ prediction of the shortness of the last +great struggle. + + + 6. “Thousands shall conceal themselves in a meadow among the seven + mountains, (opposite Bonn.) + + 7. “I see the destruction of the heretics, with dreadful punishments; + of those who dared to think their puny minds could penetrate the + councils of God. But the long-suffering of God is at an end, and a + limit is put to their wickedness.” + + +The worthy curate dwells with peculiar satisfaction on this prediction. + + + 8. “Observe well, thou land of Berg! Thy reigning family, which + proceeds from a Margraviate, shall suddenly fall from its high + station, and become less than the smallest Margraviate.” + + +The grand-duchy of Berg, on the Lower Rhine, of which Düsseldorf is the +chief town, was given by Napoleon to Murat, and was afterwards part of +the kingdom of Westphalia, but, since the peace, has formed part of +Prussia, the royal family of which, as we have seen, descends from the +Margraves of Brandenburg; but in 1783 all this was as yet in the womb of +time. See also Jaspers, No. 17, and Brother Herrmann, verse 93. + + + 9. “The false prophets (heretic clergy?) shall be killed with wife and + child. + + 10. “The holy city of Cologne shall then see a fearful battle. Many, + of foreign nations, shall here be killed, and men and women shall + fight for their faith. And it will be impossible to avert from + Cologne, up to that time spared by war, all the cruel extremities of + war. Men will then wade in blood to the ankles. + + 11. “But at last a foreign king shall arise, and gain the victory for + the good cause. The survivors of the defeated enemy fly to the + _birch-tree_; and here shall the last battle be fought for the good + cause.” + + +See Nos. 9 and 33 of Jaspers’ sayings, as to the birch-tree and the +German king; also verse 95 of Brother Herrmann. + + + 12. “The foreign armies have brought the ‘black death’ into the land. + What the sword spares the pestilence shall devour. Berg shall be + depopulated, and the fields without owners; so that one may plough + from the river Sieg up to the hills without being (Scoticè) + challenged. Those who have hid themselves among the hills shall again + cultivate the land.” + + +See No. 20 of Jaspers’ predictions. + + + 13. “About this time France will be divided internally.” + + +See Jaspers, No. 12. + + + 14. “The German Empire shall choose a peasant for Emperor. He shall + govern Germany a year and a day.” + + +The Archduke John, late regent of the empire, had long lived, banished +from court, as a Styrian peasant, adopting the costume and manners of +the peasantry. He also married a peasant girl. His regency lasted little +more than a year, and, indeed, after the year had expired, he only +returned to Frankfort in order to resign his power to the present +commission. + + + 15. “But he who after him shall wear the imperial crown, he will be + the man for whom the world has long looked with hope. He shall be + called Roman Emperor, and shall give peace to the world. He shall + restore Siegburg and Heisterbach, (two convents, above mentioned.) + + 16. “Then shall there be no more Jews in Germany, and the heretics + shall beat their own breasts. + + 17. “And after that shall be a good happy time. The praise of God + shall dwell on earth; and there shall be no war, except beyond the + seas. Then shall the fugitive brethren return, and dwell in their + homes in peace for ever and ever. + + “Men should heed well what I have said, for much evil may be averted + by prayer; and although people jeer me, saying I am a simple fiddler, + yet the time will come when they shall find my words true.” + + +See Jaspers’ predictions, Nos. 18 and 23. Brother Herrman, also, in +verses 96–100, prophesies happy times, and the restoration of the +convents of Chorin and Lehnin. + +The next seer is Anton (Anthony), called the Youth of Elsen, a village +near Paderborn, in Westphalia. He had the gift of the “second +sight”—that is, he saw visions—and has a great reputation in that +country as a true seer. His predictions were first collected by Dr +Kutscheit, from whose work the author extracts as follows. The date is +not given by our curate. + + + 1. “When the convent of Abdinghof is occupied by soldiers, armed with + long poles, to which little flags are attached, and when these troops + leave the convent, then is the time near.” + + +At this time (1849) Prussian lancers occupy the convent, which has been +converted into a barrack. This was not the case when the prediction was +made. + + + 2. “From Neuhaus, houses may be seen on the Bock, (Buck,) and a + village is founded between Paderborn and Elsen. Then is the time + near.” + + +The Bock is a wooded eminence near Paderborn, where an inn was built. To +obtain a fine view from the inn, the wood was lately cut through, and +thus the buildings have become visible from Neuhaus. The village or +_dorf_ is a newly-founded country house, or rather farm-house, with its +appurtenances—_Scoticè_, a town. + + + 3. “When people see, in the Roman field, houses with large windows; + when a broad road is made through that field, which shall not be + finished till the good times come, then shall come heavy times.” + + +In the Roman field, on the high road to Erwitte, the Thuringian Railway +was begun in 1847, and a terminus, the buildings of which have very +large windows, has been laid down on the spot. The works have been, from +the necessity of the times, suspended for the present. See Jaspers, No. +1, and Spielbähn, No. 3. + + + 4. “When barley is sown on the Bock, then is the time close at hand. + Then shall the enemy be in the land, and kill and devastate + everything. Men will have to go seven leagues to find an acquaintance. + The town of Paderborn shall have eight heavy days, during which the + enemy lies there. On the last day, the enemy shall give up the town to + plunder. But let every man carry his most valuable property from the + ground floor to the garret; for the enemy will not have time, even to + untie his shoestrings, so near will succour be.” + + +In the summer of 1848, the first attempt was made to grow barley on the +Bock, a cold, high-lying district. + + + 5. “The enemy will try to bombard the town from the Liboriberg, (a + hill close to Paderborn); but only one ball (or shell) shall hit, and + set on fire a house in the Kampe. The fire, however, shall soon be + extinguished. + + 6. “The French shall come as friends. French cavalry with shining + breastplates (cuirassiers) shall ride in at the Westergate, and tie + their horses to the trees in the Cathedral close. At the Giersthor, + (another gate) soldiers with gray uniforms, faced with light blue, + shall come in. But they will only look into the town, and then + immediately withdraw. On the Bock stands a great army, with double + insignia, (or marks—possibly the two cockades, Imperial German and + Prussian, now worn by the Prussians,) whose muskets are piled in + heaps. + + 7. “The enemy shall fly towards Salzkotten, and towards the heath. In + both places a great battle shall be fought, so that people shall wade + in blood to the ankles. The pursuers from the town must take care not + to cross the Alme bridge; for not one of those who cross it shall + return alive. + + 8. “The victorious prince shall enter, in solemn procession, the + castle of Neuhaus, which shall be repaired (for the occasion?) + accompanied by many people with green boughs in their hats. On the + Johannes Bridge, before Neuhaus, there shall be such a crowd that a + child shall be crushed to death. While this goes on a great assembly + shall be held in and before the Rathhaus (Town House.) They shall + hurry (or drag) a man down from the Rathhaus, and hang him on a + lamp-post before it. + + 9. “When all these things shall have come to pass, then shall there be + a good time in the land. The convent (of Abdinghof) shall be restored; + and it will be better to be a swineherd here, in our land, than a + noble yonder in Prussia (proper).” + + +Next comes an old traditionary prophecy concerning Münster. + + + “Woe to thee, Münster! Woe to you, priests, doctors, and lawyers! How + shall it be with you in the days of sorrow? + + “For three days they shall go up and down thy streets. Three times + shall the city be taken and lost. + + “Let every man keep in the garret; thus shall he be safe. A dreadful + fire shall break out in and destroy Ueberwasser, so that it may be + seen from the cathedral place to the castle. + + “The enemy shall be beaten, and shall fly through Kinderhaus so fast + that they leave their cannon on the street. All this shall happen in + the same year in which an illustrious person dies in the castle. + + “The conquering prince shall make his entry through the Servatii-Thor, + (a gate).” + + +Part of this prophecy has been spread over the district of Münster for +sixty years; part of it comes from the tailor at Kinderhaus, who also +prophesied much to Blucher. He was one of the seers, or, as they are +called in that country, “Spoikenkikers.” “Spoikenkikers,” in high +German, signifies ghost or spirit; “Spoikenkikers” is our Scotch word +“Keeker,”—in high German, “Spoikenkikers.” + +The next is an old prophecy concerning Osnabrück. + + + “Osnabrück shall suffer much for fourteen days, and see a bloody + contest in her streets. + + “Even the service of the Greek Church shall be performed in the + churches of Osnabrück.” + + +This is quite possible, should Russians enter Westphalia. See Jaspers, +No. 9. + + + “A violent contest shall arise between Catholics and Protestants. All + the churches shall be again taken possession of by the Catholics. + + “A priest, in the act of carrying the most Holy (the Host) into the + Lutheran Church, shall be killed by a ball at the church door.” + + +The three preceding prophecies are very remarkable, from the minute +details which they contain, and which seem to indicate that the seers +described _what they saw_ in visions or in dreams. Of course, most of +these visions, referring to events yet future, cannot be at present +verified. But the signs given by Anton, to know when the time +approaches, have come to pass. + +The following traditionary prophecy about Cologne, was found by Magister +Heinrich von Judden, pastor of the small church of St Martin, in the +convent of the brethren of the Holy Virgin of Carmel, (in Cologne?):— + + + “O happy Cologne! when thou art well paved, thou shalt perish in thine + own blood. O, Cologne! thou shalt perish like Sodom and Gomorrha; thy + streets shall flow with blood, and thy relics shall be taken away. Woe + to thee, Cologne! because strangers suck thy breasts and the breasts + of thy poor,—of thy poor, who therefore languish in poverty and + misery.” + + +Old tradition concerning Coblenz:— + + + “Woe! woe! Where Rhine and Moselle meet, a battle shall be fought + against Turks and Baschkirs, (Russians?) so bloody, that the Rhine + shall be dyed red for twenty-five leagues.” + + +Traditions of battles in Westphalia:— + + + “A prodigious number of people shall come from the east towards the + west. + + “The whole west and south shall rise against them. + + “The armies shall meet in the middle of Westphalia. + + “A dreadful battle shall take place on the Strönheide, (a heath,) near + Ahaus. + + “At Riesenbeck, a bloody combat shall be fought. + + “At Lüdinghausen,” said a seer, “I saw whole hosts of white-clad + soldiers. (Austrians?) + + “Ottmarsbocholt will have much to suffer. + + “On the Lipperheide (a heath) a bloody battle is fought. + + “Also in Rittberg, and the whole country round, a battle shall be + fought. + + “But the chief engagement shall be _at the Birch-Tree_.” + + +Every one, says the author, who takes the trouble, can hear all this +from the mouths of the peasantry. In many places, the seers have even +described the positions of the troops, and the direction in which the +cannon are pointed. + +Prophecy of a Capuchin monk in Düsseldorf, of date 1672:— + + + “After a dreadful war (Napoleon’s wars?) shall there be peace; yet + there shall be no peace, because the contest of the poor against the + rich, and of the rich against the poor, shall break out. + + “After this peace shall come a heavy time. The people shall have no + longer truth nor faith. + + “When women know not, from pride and luxuriousness, what clothes they + shall wear—sometimes short, sometimes long, sometimes narrow, + sometimes wide; when men also change their dress, and wear everywhere + the beards of the Capuchins,[3] then will God chastise the world. A + dreadful war shall break out in the south (Hungary?) and spread + eastward and northward. The kings shall be killed. Savage hordes shall + overflow Germany, and come to the Rhine. They shall take delight in + murdering and burning, so that mothers, in despair, seeing death + everywhere before their eyes, shall cast themselves and their + sucklings into the water. When the need is greatest, a preserver shall + come from the south. He shall defeat the hordes of the enemy, and make + Germany prosperous. But, in those days, many parts shall be so + depopulated, that it will be necessary to climb a tree to look for + people afar off.” + + +An old prophecy concerning the battle of the _Birch-Tree_:— + + + “A time shall come when the world shall be godless. The people will + strive to be independent of king or magistrate, subjects will be + unfaithful to their princes. Neither truth nor faith prevails more. It + will then come to a general insurrection, in which father shall fight + against son, and son against father. In that time, men shall try to + pervert the articles of faith, and shall introduce new books. The + Catholic religion shall be hard pressed, and men will try with cunning + to abolish it. Men shall love play and jest, and pleasure of all + kinds, at that time. But then it shall not be long before a change + occurs. A frightful war shall break out. On one side shall stand + Russia, Sweden, and the whole north; on the other, France, Spain, + Italy, and the whole south, under a powerful prince. This prince shall + come from the south. He wears a white coat, with buttons all the way + down. He has a cross on his breast, rides a gray horse, which he + mounts from his left side, because he is lame of one foot. He will + bring peace. Great is his severity, for he will put down all + dance-music and rich attire. He will hear morning mass in the church + at Bremen. (According to some traditions, he will read mass.) From + Bremen he rides to the Haar, (a height near Werl;) from thence he + looks with his spyglass towards the country of the Birch-Tree, and + observes the enemy. Next, he rides past Holtum, (a village near Werl.) + At Holtum stands a crucifix between two lime-trees; before this, he + kneels and prays with outstretched arms, for some time. Then he leads + his soldiers, clad in white, into the battle, and, after a bloody + contest, he remains victorious. + + “The chief slaughter will take place at a brook which runs from west + to east. Woe! woe! to Budberg and Söndern in those days! The + victorious leader shall assemble the people after the battle, and + address to them a speech in the church.” + + +So runs the above prophecy, according to the concurring testimony of +many peasants of that country. It was long ago printed in a small +pamphlet, in the convent at Werl. But, at the removal of the convent, +all its books were lost or destroyed. The tradition, however, remained +among the peasantry, and has even penetrated into France; for when +French (troops?) came to Werl, they inquired for the Birch-Tree. In +Pomerania also, natives of Westphalia, when quartered there, have been +questioned about its position. It stood long between Holtum and +Kirch-Hemmerde, villages lying between Unna and Werl. When it withered, +a new one was, by royal order, planted on the spot. This proves that the +Government knew of the prophecy or tradition, and felt an interest in +it. The people believe so firmly in the prophecy, that the peasantry +near Werl even opposed the introduction of new hymn-books, under the +impression that they were the predicted _new books_. Bremen, Holtum, +Budberg, and Söndern are villages near Werl. A crucifix stands at Holtum +between two young lime-trees; and a brook there flows from west to east. + +Another old prophecy of the battle of the Birch-Tree. This prophecy was +printed at Cologne in 1701, in Latin. The title, translated, is as +follows:— + + + “A prophecy concerning the frightful contest between South and North, + and a terrific battle on the borders of the duchy of Westphalia, near + Bodberg, (Budberg.) From a book, entitled, A treatise on the heavenly + regeneration (or restoration,) by an anonymous author, illuminated (or + enlightened,) by visions. With permission of the Officialate at Werl. + Cologne, 1701.” + + +It was translated and printed in German by the monks of Werl, but, as +already stated, their library was destroyed or dispersed. + + + “After these days shall dawn the sad unhappy time, predicted by our + Lord. Men, in terror on the earth, shall faint for expectation of the + coming events. The father shall be against the son and the brother + against the brother. Truth and faith shall no longer be found. After + the nations, singly, have long warred against each other, after + thrones have crumbled, and kingdoms been overthrown, shall the entire + South take arms against the North. (Auster contra Aquilonem.) Then + country, language, and faith shall not be contended for, but they + shall fight for the rule of the world.” + + “They shall meet in the middle of Germany, destroy towns and villages, + after the inhabitants have been compelled to fly to the hills and the + woods. This dreadful contest shall be decided in Lower Germany. There + the armies shall pitch camps, such as the world has not yet seen. This + fearful engagement shall begin _at the Birch-Tree_ near Bodberg. Woe! + woe! poor Fatherland! They shall fight three whole days. Even when + covered with wounds, they shall mangle each other, and wade in blood + to the ankles. The bearded people of the seven stars (?) shall finally + conquer, and their enemies shall fly; they shall turn at the bank of + the river, and again fight with the extremity of despair. But there + shall that power be annihilated, and its strength broken, so that + hardly a few will be left, to tell of this unheard-of defeat. The + inhabitants of the allied places shall mourn, but the Lord shall + comfort them, and they shall say, It is the Lord’s doing.” + + +The two preceding prophecies, both old, and printed long since, have +probably a common origin, whatever that may be. The tradition has +probably come to the people from the monks of Werl. + +Some predictions or visions, connected with the prophecy of Werl:— + +A seer, named Rölink, of Steinen, who has been dead some time, +prophesied of three processions in Kirch-Hemmerde. + + + “The first shall be a funeral procession. The names of several men + shall be hung up on the church.” + + +This happened when, in the war of 1813–15, some brave men of this +district fell in battle. + + + “The second procession shall go from the old church to the new one.” + + +This took place when the Catholics of Kirch-Hemmerde built a new church; +and the Host was carried from the Simultankirche into the new edifice. + + + “The third shall be after a dreadful war. Then shall Catholics and + Protestants again go together in procession into the old church, and + have one religion.” + + +He said further,— + + + “When two towers are built between Söndern and Werl, then shall a + frightful war soon break out.” + + +The towers are now there, having been lately built. One is a chimney for +the Salt-Works; the other a Bohrthurm, (a tower over the pit whence the +salt spring is pumped up.) + +Another seer, named Ludolf, saw the whole order of battle of both +armies, and pointed out in a corn-field near Kirch-Hemmerde the spot, +near the _Birch-Tree_, where he saw in his vision a colonel fall from +his horse, struck by a ball. The horse, he said, would run to a sheaf of +oats, (therefore late in autumn,) snap at it, and in the same moment +fall, also pierced by a shot. + +A third seer, Hermann Kappelmann, of Scheidingen, near Werl, prophesied +as follows, thirty years ago (1819,) before a whole company. + + + “The times are yet good, but they shall change much. After many years + a frightful war shall break out. The signs shall be: When in Spring + the cowslips appear early in the hedges, and disturbances prevail + everywhere; in that year the explosion does not take place. But when, + after a short winter, the cowslips bloom very early, and all appears + quiet, let no man believe in peace. + + “When great wisps of straw stand on the Bärenwiese, (Bear’s meadow,) + then shall the war break out.” + + +The Bärenwiese is a large common meadow at Scheidingen. Soon after the +French and Polish revolutions of 1830 it was divided, and on that +account wisps of straw were set up. The people believed the great war +was then at hand. Now there are once more wisps of straw set up, to mark +the line of the railway to Cassel, which is in progress. + + + “When you then hear cannon from the side of Münster, then hasten to + cross the Ruhr, and take bread (a loaf) with you sufficient for three + days. He who only puts his foot in the water shall be safe from harm. + Then you may return, but whether you shall find your posts (or poles) + again, I cannot say. (Probably marks of agricultural subdivisions.) + After a short contest shall follow peace and quiet. The peace shall be + announced at Christmas from all the pulpits.” + + +Numberless traditions speak of the burning of the town of Unna, round +which, and not through it, the armies will march, on account of the +conflagration. Others speak of the burning of Dortmund, on the east +side. Others, again, describe how the remains of the enemy fly to +Erwitte and Salzkotten, and are there totally cut to pieces. All the +towns and villages from Paderborn to the Rhine have similar traditions. +There is a very old one concerning the Marienheide, (a heath,)—namely, +that there the Whites shall drive the Blues before them, and through the +Lippe, in which many shall be drowned. + +Traditions concerning the years 1846–1850:— + + + “1846, I would not be a vine.” + + “1847, I would not be an apple-tree.” + + “1848, I would not be a king.” + + “1849, I would not be a hare, a soldier, or a gravedigger.” + + “1850, I would not be a priest.” + + +In 1846, the crop of grapes was too heavy for the vines. + +In 1847, the apple-trees broke under the weight of their fruit. + +In 1848, as we know, kings were at a discount. + +In 1849, the hares suffered from the suspension or abolition of the game +laws in Germany; the soldiers had much to suffer; and the gravediggers, +in consequence of war and cholera, were overwhelmed with work in many +places. + +As to the priests in 1850, we heard from several quarters, of an old +prophecy that there shall be a fearful massacre of priests, against whom +the people shall be much embittered. One seer declares, that such will +be the hatred of the peasantry towards the priests, that a peasant, +sitting down to dinner with his family, and having just stuck a fork +into the fowl, shall, on seeing a priest pass by the house, lay down his +fork, rush out, beat out the priest’s brains with his club, and then +return to his meal with satisfaction. + +Another tradition, of which we heard from several well-informed persons, +states that a pope shall come as a fugitive to reside at Cologne, with +four cardinals, and there exercise his ecclesiastical functions. + +A prophecy, of date 1622, concerning certain months of a year not named. + + + “The month of May shall earnestly prepare for war. But it is not yet + time. June shall also invite to war, but still it is not time. July + will prove so cruel, that many must part from wife and child. In + August, men shall everywhere hear of war. September and October shall + bring great bloodshed. Wonders shall be seen in November. At this time + the child is twenty-eight years old, (the powerful monarch) whose wet + nurse shall be from the east. He shall do great things.” + + +Prophecies of the “Powerful Monarch:”— + + + One prophet says,—“He shall be of an ancient noble house, and descend + from the top of the rocks. His mother shall be a twin. He will be + Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, (the German Empire.) Holzhaüser + says, ‘He shall be born in the bosom of the Catholic Church;’ his name + shall be, ‘The Help of God.’” + + +See the preceding prophecies, _passim_. + +We have now given a sufficient sketch of some of the more curious and +definite popular German prophecies. The curate of Dortmund adds a +considerable number of others, more vague, mystical, and in some cases +theological, which we omit, as not adapted to our present purpose; and +others not bearing on Germany, of some interest—especially a long one +concerning Italy, by the Franciscan monk, Bartolomeo da Saluzzi—which +want of space prevents us from discussing at this time. + +Let us now consider the foregoing prophecies in general. We must admit, +as it seems to us, that there exist in Germany unfulfilled popular +prophecies, the authenticity of which is respectably attested and +generally admitted. + +We further observe, that, taking the whole of them, as far as known to +us, we can trace the following points pervading the entire series, more +or less:— + +1. A great war after a peace, about this time. + +2. It is preceded by political convulsions, and lesser wars. + +3. The East and North fight against the South and West. + +4. The latter finally prevail, under a powerful prince, who unexpectedly +rises up. + +5. The great struggle is short, and occurs late in the year. + +6. It is decided by the battle of the Birch-Tree, near Werl. + +7. After horrible devastations, and murders, and burnings, caused by +this war, peace and prosperity return. + +8. Priests are massacred and become very rare; but + +9. One religion unites all men. + +10. All this takes place soon after the introduction of railways into +Germany. + +11. The present King of Prussia is the last. + +12. The “powerful prince” from the South becomes Emperor of Germany. + +13. France is, about this time, inwardly divided. + +14. The Russians come as enemies to the Rhine, the French enter Germany +as friends—without entering into further details. + +We see moreover, that, admitting the genuineness of the prophecies, +partial fulfilment has in several cases taken place. Here it must be +noted, that our curate has chiefly confined himself to the unfulfilled +parts, and has avowedly omitted many fulfilled predictions. While we +attach considerable importance to the general impression among the +people of the truth of these prophecies, which in part depends on their +partial fulfilment in past times, our chief object has been to put on +record the more remarkable of the unfulfilled predictions, in order that +they may be compared with future events. + +If we seek to form any idea of the origin of these prophecies, we find +that there are three sources, from which the people may have derived the +traditions. + +1. They may possibly be, in some cases at least, derived from the +reflections of sagacious men. Even Napoleon predicted dreadful wars, and +that Europe must become either Cossack or Republican. But although some +things may thus be explained, we do not see how the minute details, in +other cases, can be thus accounted for. + +2. Scriptural prophecies may have been applied to modern events, which, +indeed, are no doubt foretold in them, in a general way. We cannot avoid +observing the tolerably frequent occurrence of Scripture language in the +predictions; but this also does not account for all the details. + +3. The seers or prophets may have had genuine visions, or dreams, in +which they saw what they describe; it has been seen that various +prophets use language implying this. And, while the general resemblance +of the different visions naturally leads us to suspect that the popular +traditions have a common origin; we can at most conclude from this, that +the original seer or seers lived long ago, which only increases the +difficulty. They were probably, like Brother Herrmann, monks and +ascetics, their imaginations exalted by religious fervour: in other +words they were nervous and excitable, and predisposed to visions. +Supposing their visions known to the people, the feeling of the +marvellous, if excited along with religious sentiments, may have led to +visions or second sight among the peasantry, and thus visions may have +been multiplied and expanded in details. + +If we reflect on the many known instances of prophetic dreams, and on +the alleged and respectably attested cases of somnambulistic prevision, +we shall see reason to hesitate before we deny the possibility of the +occurrence, in certain individuals, of prophetic visions. We are far +from imagining that, if such have been the case with our German seers, +they have enjoyed direct communications from Heaven; on the contrary, +were we satisfied of the fact, we should regard it as a phenomenon +depending on some obscure physical cause, which may in time be +discovered and traced; and which, at all events, exists by Divine +permission. + +Here we may allude to the remarkable prophecy of Monsieur de Cazotte, +who, some years previous to 1787, predicted to a large company of +persons of rank, science, and literature, with much detail, the +atrocities of the Reign of Terror. He likewise told many of those +present, both male and female, that they should perish on the +guillotine. To Condorcet he said, that he should die in prison, of the +effects of a poison which he should long, with the view of escaping a +public execution, have carried about his person—which happened. He also +predicted the fate of Louis XVI. and his Queen. This prophecy caused +much amazement, and soon became known. Persons are yet alive, both in +France and England, who heard it detailed before 1789. We have seen one +of them. Now, it might be said, that Cazotte merely exercised a rare +sagacity, in judging of the course of events, at a time when all France +was enthusiastically looking forward to the blessings of liberty, and +while yet no one dreamed of violence or bloodshed. But this would hardly +account for the details he gave. On the other hand, he often uttered +predictions; and it is very remarkable, although it has been too much +overlooked, that those who report his prophecies, including the above +one, always state that, when about to predict, he fell into a peculiar +state, _as if asleep_—yet not ordinary sleep. It can hardly be doubted +that this was a trance, in which he saw visions. That they were +fulfilled to the letter is surely, if only a coincidence, a most +wonderful one. If, again, it was merely the result of sagacious +reflection, how came it that Cazotte alone, of all the able thinkers +then in Paris, made these reflections, and was laughed at for his pains? + +The laborious, minute, and conscientious researches of the Baron von +Reichenbach have proved, beyond a doubt, that we are far from being +acquainted with all the physical influences which surround us; and he +has even referred to a physical cause—_one_ source of the belief in +ghosts—by proving that luminous appearances are visible, to sensitive +persons, over recent graves. No one can fail to see the resemblance +between the Sensitives of Baron von Reichenbach, who are far from rare, +and the Spoikenkiker, or ghost seers, of the curate of Dortmund. + +We consider it probable, therefore, that at different periods seers have +had visions, more or less distinct and detailed, of what appeared to +their minds likely to happen; that these visions have occurred in a +state of trance; that among ascetic monks, who may be regarded as liable +to such trances, it may often have happened that extensive knowledge of +history and of mankind has enabled them to foresee the probable course +of events; that their predictions, becoming known to the peasantry, have +given a tone to _their_ visions, in which the events are generally +localised in the immediate vicinity of the seer; and that thus, by +degrees, more detailed predictions have arisen. Considering the general +ignorance and superstition of the peasantry in all countries, it is not +wonderful that such predictions, generally bearing on violent political +convulsions, war, and religion, the subjects most interesting to their +minds, should acquire a hold over them such as is found to exist in many +parts of Germany, in reference to the prophecies above described. It is +even probable that the existence of the predictions may have had a +considerable influence in preparing the people for such sudden outbreaks +as those of 1848, and may thus, in some measure, have contributed to +their own fulfilment. + +We must admit that these remarks do not much assist in explaining the +occurrence of minute details in these predictions, many of which are +said, on good authority, to have been fulfilled. But we do not feel +ourselves in possession of sufficient evidence to justify us in arguing +on the alleged fulfilment as certain; and we have therefore satisfied +ourselves with laying before the reader a brief sketch of these +predictions, the existence of which, as an article of belief with many +thousands of people at this day, is, under whatever point of view it may +be considered, very interesting. + + W. G. + + + + + THE HISTORY OF A REGIMENT DURING THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN.[4] + + +The Russian Campaign of Napoleon is unquestionably the most wonderful +episode in the history of war. We are not only interested, but +astounded, by its study. It comprises a series of events gigantic and +unparalleled in the annals of human strife. From the note of preparation +to the final wail of despair, the reader’s imagination is continually on +the stretch to realise and comprehend the prodigious scale of its +circumstances. At the word of the great military magician, +half-a-million of men, levied from half Europe, mustered in arms for +aggression. From France they came, from Italy and Poland: Austria and +Prussia dared not refuse their contingents; Illyria and Dalmatia sent +forth their infantry; to their astonishment and dismay, Spanish and +Portuguese battalions were marched into the dreary north under the +banners of the man against whose generals their brothers and fathers +were at that moment contending on the mountains of their native +peninsula. The West was arrayed against the East. Since the birth of +discipline and civilisation, such an army had never been seen. The +events of its first and only campaign were in proportion to its +unprecedented magnitude. In six months the mighty armament returned, a +shattered wreck, having fought the most desperate battle the world ever +saw, having witnessed the self-destruction of a vast and wealthy +capital—suicide for the country’s salvation—and having endured +sufferings which may have been equalled on a smaller scale, but which +certainly never before or since fell to the lot of so numerous and +powerful a host. + +After reading that delightful work of Count Ségur, which combines the +fascination of a romance with the value of history, few persons much +care to consult any other French account of the great campaign. It was +with something of this feeling, and with slender expectation of +interest, that we opened General de Fezensac’s recently-published +Journal. But its perusal agreeably disappointed us. Narratives of +personal adventure have a peculiar charm; and the unadorned tale of a +soldier’s hazards will often rivet the attention of those who would not +persevere through the more copious and important history of a great war. +M. de Fezensac has not attempted the history of the campaign. He +confines himself to his own adventures and those of the regiment he +commanded. At most does he include in his delineations the exploits of +the 3d (Ney’s) corps, (to which his regiment belonged,) at the time when +cold, famine, fatigue, and the sword had reduced it to little more than +the ordinary strength of a brigade, and, subsequently, to a mere handful +of jaded, frost-bitten warriors. By a few lines here and there, he +supplies, with true military brevity, that outline of the operations +necessary to connect and complete the interest of his journal. He avoids +controversy; he is slow to censure acts or impute motives; his style is +remarkably free from that fanfarronade into which many French writers +unconsciously run when recording the military achievements of their +countrymen. He tells only what he himself saw, and he tells it modestly +and well, without attempt at rhetorical adornment; rightly believing +that the events he witnessed and shared in are sufficiently remarkable +to need no factitious colouring. + +M. de Fezensac commenced the campaign upon the staff. In the capacity of +aide-de-camp to Berthier, he joined the headquarters of the Grand Army +at Posen, and marched with them to Wilna. It was in the month of June. +Already, although the campaign had been opened but a few days, during +which the Russians had everywhere receded before the invaders, certain +ominous circumstances contradicted, to observant eyes and reflecting +minds, those anticipations of triumphant success so confidently and +universally entertained, a few short weeks before, at Dresden. The +fervent heat was succeeded by torrents of rain; mortality amongst the +horses commenced; the army, living upon the country, suffered from want +of food and forage; already the number of stragglers was great, and acts +of pillage and violence were frequent. As an instance of these, when the +Poles, with Napoleon’s approval, organised a civil government of +Lithuania, one of the sub-prefects, repairing to his post, was plundered +by the French soldiers, and arrived almost naked in the town he was sent +to preside over. The French Emperor’s seventeen days’ halt at Wilna, so +severely censured by historians, gave M. de Fezensac opportunity to +observe the details and composition of the monstrous staff and retinue +that attended Napoleon, of which he furnishes the following curious +account:— + +“The Emperor had around him the grand marshal, (Duroc,) the master +of the horse, (Caulaincourt,) his aides-de-camp, his orderly +officers, the aides-de-camp of his aides-de-camp, and several +secretaries attached to his cabinet. The major-general (Berthier) +had eight or ten aides-de-camp, and the number of clerks necessary +for the great amount of work occasioned by such an army; the general +staff, composed of a vast number of officers of all grades, was +commanded by General Monthion. The administration, directed by Count +Dumas, intendant-general, was subdivided into the administrative +service properly so called, comprising directors, inspectors of +reviews, and commissaries; the service of health, including +physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries; the service of provisions in +all its branches, and workmen of every kind. When the Prince of +Neuchatel passed it in review at Wilna, it looked, from a distance, +like a body of troops ranged in order of battle, and, by an +unfortunate fatality, notwithstanding the zeal and talents of the +intendant-general, this immense administration was almost useless +from the very commencement of the campaign, and became noxious at +its close. Let the reader now picture to himself the assemblage, at +one point, of the whole of this staff; let him fancy the prodigious +number of servants, of led horses, of baggage of all kinds that it +dragged along with it, and he will have some idea of the spectacle +presented by the headquarters of the army. Also, when a movement was +made, the Emperor took with him but a very small number of officers; +all the rest set out beforehand, or followed behind. At a bivouac, +the only tents were for the Emperor and the Prince of Neuchatel; the +generals and other officers slept in the open air, like the rest of +the army. + +“There was nothing irksome in our duty as aides-de-camp to the +major-general.... In his personal intercourse with us, the Prince of +Neuchatel exhibited that mixture of goodness and roughness which +composed his character. Often he appeared to pay no attention to us, +but, upon occasion, we were sure to find his sympathy; and during the +whole of his long military career, he neglected the advancement of none +of the officers employed under his orders. The best house in the town, +after that taken for the Emperor, was allotted for his accommodation; +and as he himself always lodged with the Emperor, the house belonged to +his aides-de-camp. One of these was charged with the household details, +whose regularity was a pattern; the Prince of Neuchatel himself, in the +midst of all his occupations, found time to give his thoughts to these +matters; he wished his aides-de-camp to want for nothing, and had often +the goodness to inquire whether such was the case.... We saw little of +him, having no duty to do under his immediate eye; he passed almost the +whole day in his cabinet, dispatching orders agreeably with the +Emperor’s instructions. Never was there seen greater exactness, more +complete submission, more absolute devotion. It was by writing during +the night that he reposed from the fatigues of the day; often he was +roused from his sleep to alter all that he had done on the previous day, +and sometimes his sole recompense was an unjust, or, at least, a very +severe reprimand. But nothing slackened his zeal; no amount of bodily +fatigue, or of assiduity in the cabinet, exceeded his powers; no trials +wearied his patience. In short, if the Prince of Neuchatel’s position +never gave him an opportunity to develop the talents essential to the +commander-in-chief of great armies, it is at least impossible to unite, +in a higher degree, the physical and moral qualities adapted to the post +he filled near such a man as the Emperor.” + +The peculiar talents of Berthier, his patience, industry, and wonderful +habit of order, have been often admitted, but we do not remember to have +seen his character placed in so amiable a light as here by his former +aide-de-camp. M. de Fezensac continued upon his staff until after the +battle of Borodino, when he was promoted by the Emperor, on Berthier’s +recommendation, to the command of the 4th regiment of the line, vacant +by its colonel’s death in that murderous fight. He was doubly grateful +for this promotion, because it placed him under the orders of Marshal +Ney, with whom he had served some years previously. As to the regiment +itself, it was in no very flourishing state. Of 2800 men who had crossed +the Rhine, 900 remained, so that the four battalions formed but two upon +parade. The equipments, and especially the shoes, were in bad repair; +supplies of provisions were irregular; and constant change of place was +indispensable, for the troops ravaged within twenty-four hours the +country they traversed. The majority of the officers were raw youths +from the military schools, or old sergeants, whose want of education +should have retained them in the ranks, but who had been promoted to +sustain emulation, and to fill the enormous gaps occasioned by +destructive campaigns. For the 4th was an old regiment, formed in the +first years of the Revolution, and had fought through all the German +wars, and numbered Joseph Buonaparte amongst its colonels. Its present +shattered and unprosperous condition extended to the whole of Ney’s +corps, which was reduced to a third of its original numbers. The losses +were unparalleled, and so was the depression of the soldiers. Their +gaiety had disappeared; a mournful silence replaced the songs and +pleasant tales with which they formerly beguiled the fatigues of the +march. The officers themselves were uneasy; they served for duty and for +honour’s sake, but without ardour or pleasure. After a victory that +opened the road to Moscow, this universal discouragement was strangely +ominous. + +With his regimental command commences the interesting portion of M. de +Fezensac’s journal, of which his staff experience occupies but a couple +of chapters. Often as it has been described, he yet contrives to give +freshness to his details of Moscow’s appearance after the terrible +conflagration, at whose flame was sealed the doom of the Grand Army. + +“It was both a strange and a horrible spectacle. Some houses appeared to +have been razed; of others, fragments of smoke-blackened walls remained; +ruins of all kinds encumbered the streets; everywhere was a horrible +smell of burning. Here and there a cottage, a church, a palace, stood +erect amidst the general destruction. The churches especially, by their +many-coloured domes, by the richness and variety of their construction, +recalled the former opulence of Moscow. In them had taken refuge most of +the inhabitants, driven by our soldiers from the houses the fire had +spared. The unhappy wretches, clothed in rags, and wandering like ghosts +amid the ruins, had recourse to the saddest expedients to prolong their +miserable existence. They sought and devoured the scanty vegetables +remaining in the gardens; they tore the flesh from the animals that lay +dead in the streets; some even plunged into the river for corn the +Russians had thrown there, and which was now in a state of +fermentation.... It was with the greatest difficulty we procured black +bread and beer; meat began to be very scarce. We had to send strong +detachments to seize oxen in the woods where the peasants had taken +refuge, and often the detachments returned empty-handed. Such was the +pretended abundance procured us by the pillage of the city. We had +liquors, sugar, sweatmeats, and we wanted for meat and bread. We covered +ourselves with furs, but were almost without clothes and shoes. With +great store of diamonds, jewels, and every possible object of luxury, we +were on the eve of dying of hunger. A large number of Russian soldiers +wandered in the streets of Moscow. I had fifty of them seized; and a +general, to whom I reported the capture, told me I might have had them +shot, and that on all future occasions he authorised me to do so. I did +not abuse the authorisation. It will be easily understood how many +mishaps, how much disorder, characterised our stay in Moscow. Not an +officer, not a soldier, but could tell strange anecdotes on this head. +One of the most striking is that of a Russian whom a French officer +found concealed in the ruins of a house; by signs he assured him of +protection, and the Russian accompanied him. Soon, being obliged to +carry an order, and seeing another officer pass at the head of a +detachment, he transferred the individual to his charge, saying +hastily—‘I recommend this gentleman to you.’ The second officer, +misunderstanding the intention of the words and the tone in which they +were pronounced, took the unfortunate Russian for an incendiary, and had +him shot.” + +The retreat commenced. After the affair of Wiazma, Ney’s corps relieved +the 1st corps as rearguard, and the 4th regiment, rearmost of Ney’s +corps, had to repel the repeated attacks of the Russian van and of the +swarming Cossacks. They were hard pressed; but still the Emperor’s order +was to march slowly and preserve the baggage. In vain Ney wrote to him +there was no time to lose, and that he risked being anticipated by the +Russians at Smolensko or Orcha. At Dorogobuje the marshal formed the +design of arresting the progress of the Russians for a whole day; but +the attempt was unsuccessful, and the French rearguard was driven +onwards. The cold had set in, and the sufferings of the troops were +terrible. Famine was superadded to their other miseries. The road +resembled a battle-field. Some, with frozen limbs, lay dying on the +snow; others fell asleep in the villages, and perished in the flames +lighted by their comrades. + +“At Dorogobuje I saw a soldier of my regiment, in whom hunger had +produced the effect of intoxication. He stood close to us without +recognising us, inquiring for his regiment, naming the soldiers of his +company, and at the same time speaking to them as to strangers; his gait +was tottering, his look wild. He disappeared at the commencement of the +affair, and I saw him no more. In two days from Dorogobuje, we reached +Slobpnowa, on the bank of the Dnieper. The road was so slippery that the +ill-shod horses could hardly keep their legs. At night we bivouacked +amidst the snow in the woods. Each regiment in turn formed the extreme +rearguard, which the enemy unceasingly followed and harassed. The army +continued to march so slowly, that we were on the point of overtaking +the 1st corps, which immediately preceded us. The encumbrance on the +bridge over the Dnieper was extreme: for a quarter of a league beyond, +the road was still covered with abandoned carriages and +ammunition-waggons. On the morning of the 10th November, before crossing +the river, measures were taken to clear the bridge and burn all these +vehicles. In them were found a few bottles of rum, which were of great +service. I was on the rearguard, and during the whole morning my +regiment defended the road leading to the bridge. The wood through which +this road passes was full of wounded whom we were obliged to leave to +their fate, and whom the Cossacks massacred almost by our sides. M. +Rouchat, sub-lieutenant, having imprudently approached an +ammunition-cart that was to be blown up, was shattered to pieces by the +explosion. Towards night the troops passed the Dnieper; the bridge was +destroyed.” + +It was important to delay the enemy’s passage of the river, and Ney +prepared to do so. + +“That night he walked for a long time in front of my regiment with +General Joubert and myself. He pointed out to us the unfortunate results +of the failure at Dorogobuje. The enemy had gained a day’s march; had +forced us to abandon ammunition, baggage, wounded: all these misfortunes +would have been avoided had we held Dorogobuje for twenty-four hours. +General Joubert spoke of the weakness of the troops, of their +discouragement. The marshal replied quickly, that the worst that could +have happened was to be killed, and that a glorious death was too fine a +thing to be shunned. For my part, I contented myself with remarking that +I had not left the heights of Dorogobuje till I had twice received the +order.” + +The “bravest of the brave” could see no terrors in death. His own +insensibility to it made him slow to sympathise with others. A few days +later, M. de Fezensac learned the death of M. Alfred de Noailles, who +had been one of his brother aides-de-camp to Berthier. + +“He was the first friend I had lost in this campaign, and it caused me +very deep sorrow. Marshal Ney, to whom I spoke on the subject, told me, +for sole consolation, _that apparently it was his turn; and that at any +rate it was better we should have to regret him than if he had to regret +us_. In similar circumstances he always showed the same insensibility: +on another occasion I heard him reply to an unfortunate wounded man, who +begged to be carried away—‘_What would you have me do? You are a victim +of war_;’ and he passed on. Most assuredly he was neither cruel nor +devoid of feeling; but the frequency of the misfortunes of war had +hardened his heart. Penetrated with the idea that the fate of all +soldiers is to die upon the field of battle, he thought it quite natural +they should fulfil their destiny; and it has been seen in this narrative +that he prized not his own life more highly than the lives of others.” + +The passage of the river was defended for twenty-four hours. Two days +later, those of the weary rearguard who were not prevented by frozen +limbs or the cold hand of death from rising from their ice-bound +bivouac, joyfully beheld, at half a league’s distance, the towers of +Smolensko. Joyfully, because they had long looked for that town as the +term of their misery. Repose and food, so greatly needed, were there +anticipated. But there, as on every occasion during the retreat where +alleviation was hoped for, disappointment ensued. Wittgenstein was +pressing southwards from the Dwina, Tchitchagoff northwards to Minsk, +the Austrians had retreated behind the Bug, and the French were in +imminent danger of being intercepted at the Beresina. A halt at +Smolensko was impossible, and orders were given to continue the march. +Smolensko contained large stores of provisions; but these availed little +to the famished troops, for the general disorganisation had extended to +the commissariat, and waste was the result. The Guard, which arrived +first with Napoleon, received abundant supplies of all kinds; but then +came pouring in stragglers and undisciplined bodies; the warehouses were +broken open and plundered, and rations for several months were +squandered in a day. When the 3d corps, after defending the approaches +to the town, entered in its turn, the work of destruction was at an end, +and Colonel de Fezensac could find nothing either for his regiment or +himself. But though they had nothing to eat, they were expected to +fight; for Ney, the indefatigable, prepared obstinately to defend the +town. On the 15th November, a severe combat occurred in the suburb, in +which the 4th regiment was alone engaged, and during which its colonel +received from Ney the order that daring leader was most rarely known to +give—namely, not to advance too far. M. de Fezensac records this order +with as much honest pride as he does the warm eulogium which his +regiment’s conduct elicited from the marshal. For three days Smolensko +was held, and then the 3d corps resumed its march. Meanwhile the +Emperor, Eugene, and Davoust, with the Guard, the 4th and 1st corps, +were hard pressed at Krasnoi, the two latter, especially, suffering most +severely. + +“The Emperor, having not a moment to lose to reach the Beresina, saw +himself compelled to abandon the 3d corps, and precipitated his march to +Orcha. During the three days’ fighting (at and near Krasnoi,) no +information was sent to Marshal Ney of the danger about to menace +him.... On the morning of the 18th November, we set out from Koritnya, +and marched upon Krasnoi: on approaching that town, a few squadrons of +Cossacks harassed the 2d division, which headed the column. We attached +no importance to this; we were accustomed to the Cossacks, and a few +musket-shots sufficed to drive them away. But soon the advanced guard +fell in with General Ricard’s division, belonging to the 1st corps, +which had remained behind, and had just been routed. The marshal rallied +the remains of this division, and under cover of a fog, which favoured +our march by concealing the smallness of our numbers, he approached the +enemy until their cannon compelled him to pause. The Russian army, drawn +up in order of battle, barred our further passage; then only did we +learn that we were cut off from the rest of the army, and that our sole +chance of salvation was in our despair.” + +We know not whence M. de Fezensac derives his statements of numbers, but +they frequently require correction. At Borodino, for instance, he gives, +as an exact detail of the French loss, 6547 killed, and 21,453 +wounded—making a total of about 28,000. Alison and other historians rate +it nearly twenty thousand higher; and certainly nothing in the events of +the battle argues it as much less than that of the Russians, which M. de +Fezensac estimates at about 50,000—figures confirmed by other +authorities. In like manner, he states the entire strength of the 3d +corps, when it first entered the fire of the Russian batteries at +Krasnoi, as barely 6000 combatants, with six guns, and a mere picket of +cavalry. This is extraordinarily discrepant with other accounts, which +make Ney’s loss, in the immediately ensuing engagement, to be nearly as +great as the whole number of bayonets allotted to him by M. de Fezensac. +Doubtless it was most difficult to ascertain numbers correctly during +that confused retreat, where there can have been little question of +muster-rolls and morning-states, and many seeming contradictions may be +explained, by some writers estimating only the effective fighting men, +and others including the unarmed and stragglers who dragged themselves +along with the columns. But we attach no importance to differences of +this kind as regards the _Journal_, which we here notice, not as a work +of historical value—a character to which it makes no pretensions—but as +the interesting memoir of a brave gentleman and soldier, who has written +down, modestly and unaffectedly, his own and his regiment’s share in a +most extraordinary campaign. + +“Hardly had Marshal Ney withdrawn his advanced guard from under the +enemy’s guns, when a flag of truce, sent by General Miloradowitsch, +summoned him to lay down his arms. All who ever knew him will understand +with what disdain the proposal was received.... For sole reply, the +marshal made the messenger prisoner; a few cannon-shot, fired during +this species of negotiation, serving as a pretext; and then, without +considering the masses of the enemy and the small number of his own +followers, he ordered the attack. The 2d division, formed in columns by +regiments, marched straight to the enemy. Let me here be allowed to pay +homage to the devotedness of those brave soldiers, and to congratulate +myself on the honour of having marched at their head. The Russians +beheld them, with admiration, marching towards them in the most perfect +order, and with a steady step. Every cannon-ball carried away whole +files—every step rendered death more inevitable; but the pace was not +for an instant slackened. At last we got so near to the enemy’s line, +that the first division of my regiment, crushed by the grape-shot, was +thrown back upon that which followed, and disordered its array. Then the +Russian infantry charged us in its turn, and the cavalry, falling on our +flanks, completely routed us. Some sharpshooters, advantageously posted, +checked for an instant the enemy’s pursuit; the division of Ledru +deployed into line, and six guns replied to the numerous artillery of +the Russians. During this time, I rallied the remains of my regiment +upon the high road, where the cannon still reached us. Our attack had +not lasted a quarter of an hour, but the 2d division no longer existed: +my regiment lost several officers, and was reduced to two hundred men; +the regiment of Illyria, and the 18th, which lost its eagle, were still +worse treated; General Razout was wounded, and General Lenchantain made +prisoner. The marshal now made the 2d division retire on Smolensko; at +the end of half a league, he turned it to the left, across country, at +right angles with the road. The first division, having long exhausted +its strength by sustaining the shock of the whole hostile army, followed +this movement with the guns and some of the baggage; those of the +wounded who could still walk dragged themselves after us. The Russians +cantoned themselves in the villages, sending a column of cavalry to +observe us. + +“The day declined: the 3d corps marched in silence; none knew what was +to become of us. But Marshal Ney’s presence sufficed to reassure us. +Without knowing what he would or could do, we knew he would do +something. His self-confidence equalled his courage. The greater the +danger, the more prompt was his determination; and when once he had made +up his mind, he never doubted of success. Thus, in that terrible hour, +his countenance expressed neither indecision nor uneasiness; all eyes +were fixed upon him, but none dared question him. At last, seeing near +him an officer of his staff, he said to him in a low voice: _We are not +well._—_What shall you do?_ replied the officer.—_Pass the +Dnieper._—_Where is the road?_—_We shall find it._—_And if the river is +not frozen?_—_It will be._—_So be it_, said the officer. This singular +dialogue, which I here set down word for word, revealed the marshal’s +project of reaching Orcha by the right bank of the river, and so rapidly +as still to find there the army, which was making its movement by the +left bank. The plan was bold and ably conceived; it will be seen with +what vigour it was executed. + +“We marched across the fields, without a guide, and the inexactness of +the maps contributed to mislead us. Marshal Ney, endowed with that +peculiar talent of the great soldier which teaches how to take advantage +of the slightest indications, observed some ice in the direction we were +following, and had it broken, thinking it must be a rivulet that would +lead us to the Dnieper. It really was a rivulet; we followed it, and +reached a village, where the Marshal feigned to establish himself for +the night. Fires were lighted and pickets thrown out. The enemy left us +quiet, expecting to have us cheap the next day. Under cover of this +stratagem, the Marshal followed up his plan. A guide was wanted, and the +village was deserted; at last the soldiers discovered a lame peasant; +they asked him where was the Dnieper, and if frozen. He replied, that at +a league off was the village of Sirokowietz, and that the Dnieper must +there be frozen. We set out, conducted by this peasant, and soon reached +the village. The Dnieper was sufficiently frozen to be traversed on +foot. Whilst they sought a place to cross, the houses rapidly filled +with officers and soldiers, wounded that morning, who had dragged +themselves thus far, and to whose hurts the surgeons could hardly apply +the first dressings; those who were not wounded busied themselves in +seeking provisions. Marshal Ney, forgetful alike of the day’s and the +morrow’s dangers, was buried in a profound sleep. + +“Towards the middle of the night we crossed the Dnieper, abandoning to +the enemy artillery, baggage, vehicles of every kind, and those wounded +who could not walk. M. de Briqueville, (aide-de-camp of the Duke of +Placentia,) dangerously wounded the day before, passed the river on his +hands and knees; I gave him in charge to two sappers, who succeeded in +saving him. The ice was so thin that very few horses could pass; the +troops re-formed on the other side of the stream. Thus far success had +attended the marshal’s plan; the Dnieper was crossed, but we were still +fifteen leagues from Orcha. It was essential to reach it before the +French army left; we had to traverse a strange country, and to repel the +attacks of the enemy with a handful of exhausted infantry, unsupported +by cavalry or artillery. The march began under favourable auspices, with +the capture of some Cossacks, surprised asleep in a village. At dawn on +the 19th we were following the road to Liubavitschi. We were scarcely +delayed for a moment by the passage of a torrent, and by some Cossack +detachments which retired on our approach. At noon we reached two +villages situated on a height, and whose inhabitants had scarcely time +to escape, leaving us their provisions. The soldiers were giving +themselves up to the joy occasioned by a moment of abundance, when there +was a sudden call to arms. The enemy was advancing, and had already +driven in our pickets. We left the villages, formed column, and resumed +our march. But we had no longer to deal, as heretofore, with detached +parties of Cossacks; here were whole squadrons, manœuvring in regular +order, and commanded by General Platow himself. Our skirmishers made +head against them; the columns accelerated their march, making their +arrangements to receive cavalry. Numerous as these horsemen were, we +feared them little, for the Cossacks never ventured to charge home a +square of infantry; but soon a battery of several guns opened fire upon +us. This artillery followed the movements of the cavalry, upon sledges, +wherever it could be of use. Until nightfall, Marshal Ney never ceased +to struggle against all these obstacles, skilfully availing himself of +the least advantages the nature of the ground afforded. Amidst the balls +which fell in our ranks, and in spite of the Cossacks’ yells and feigned +attacks, we marched at the same pace. Darkness approached; the enemy +redoubled his efforts. We had to quit the road, and to throw ourselves +to the left into the woods fringing the Dnieper. But the Cossacks +already held these woods; the 4th and 18th regiments, under command of +General d’Henin, were directed to drive them thence. Meanwhile the +hostile artillery took position on the further brink of a ravine we had +to pass. There General Platow reckoned on exterminating us. + +“I entered the wood with my regiment. The Cossacks retired; but the wood +was deep, and tolerably dense, and we had to face every way to guard +against surprise. Night came, we no longer heard anything around us; it +was more than probable that Marshal Ney was continuing his advance. I +advised General d’Henin to follow his movement; he refused, lest he +should incur reproach from the marshal for quitting, without orders, the +post assigned to him. At this moment loud shouts, announcing a charge, +were heard at some distance in our front; giving us the certainty that +the column was continuing its march, and that we were about to be cut +off from it. I redoubled my entreaties, assuring General d’Henin that +the marshal, with whose way of serving I was well acquainted, would send +him no order, because he expected commanding officers, thus detached, to +act according to circumstances; besides which, he was too far off to be +able to communicate with us, and the 18th regiment had assuredly moved +on long ago. The general persisted in his refusal; all I obtained from +him was to move us on to the place where the 18th ought to be, and unite +the two regiments. The 18th had marched, and in its place we found a +squadron of Cossacks. Tardily convinced of the justice of my remarks, +General d’Henin determined to rejoin the column; but we had traversed +the wood in so many directions, that we no longer knew our way. The +officers of my regiment were consulted, and we took the direction the +majority thought the right one. I will not undertake to describe all we +had to endure during that cruel night. I had but one hundred men left, +and we were more than a league in rear of our main body, which we must +overtake through a host of enemies. It was necessary to march quick +enough to make up for lost time, and in sufficient order to resist the +attacks of the Cossacks. The darkness, the uncertainty of our road, the +difficulty of making way through the wood, all augmented our +embarrassment. The Cossacks called to us to surrender, and fired +pointblank into the midst of us: those who were hit remained behind. A +sergeant had his leg broken by a carbine ball. He fell at my side, +saying coolly to his comrades—_Another man done for; take my havresack, +you will profit by it._ They took his havresack, and we moved on in +silence. Two wounded officers had the same fate. I observed with +uneasiness the impression our position made upon the soldiers, and even +upon the officers, of my regiment. Men who had shown themselves heroes +in the battle-field, now appeared anxious and troubled; so true is it +that the circumstances of danger have often greater terrors than the +danger itself. Very few preserved the presence of mind that was then +more necessary than ever. I needed all my authority to maintain order +and prevent straggling. An officer even ventured to say, that we should +perhaps be obliged to surrender. I reprimanded him aloud, and the more +severely that he was an officer of merit, which made the lesson more +striking. At last, after more than an hour, we emerged from the wood and +found the Dnieper on our left. We were in the right track, therefore; +and this discovery gave the men a moment’s joy, of which I took +advantage to cheer them up, and inculcate coolness, which alone could +save us. General d’Henin moved us along the river’s bank to prevent the +enemy from turning us. We were far from out of our difficulties; we knew +our way, but the plain over which we marched permitted the enemy to fall +on us in a large body, and to use their artillery. Fortunately it was +dark, and the guns were fired rather at random. From time to time the +Cossacks approached with loud cries; we stopped to drive them away with +musketry, and then set off again. This march lasted two hours over the +most difficult ground, across ravines so abrupt, that it required the +utmost efforts to ascend the opposite side, and through half-frozen +rivulets, where we had water to our knees. Nothing could shake the +constancy of the soldiers; the utmost order was preserved; not a man +left his rank. General d’Henin, wounded by a fragment of shell, +concealed his hurt in order not to discourage the soldiers, and +continued to command with unabated zeal. Doubtless he may be reproached +with too obstinate a defence of the wood, but in such difficult +circumstances error is pardonable; and what cannot be disputed, is the +bravery and intelligence with which he led us during the whole of this +perilous march. At last the enemy’s pursuit slackened, and on an +eminence in our front fires were seen. It was Marshal Ney’s rearguard, +which had halted there, and was now resuming its march: we joined it, +and learned that upon the previous evening the marshal had advanced +against the Cossack artillery, and forced it to yield him passage. + +“Thus did the 4th regiment extricate itself from a position seemingly +desperate. The march lasted another hour. The exhausted soldiers +required repose, and we halted in a village where we found some +provisions. But we were still eight leagues from Orcha, and General +Platow would doubtless redouble his efforts for our destruction. The +moments were precious; at one in the morning the assembly sounded, and +we set out.... We marched unmolested till the dawn. With the first +sunrays came the Cossacks, and soon our road led us over a plain. +General Platow, desirous of profiting by this advantage, advanced that +sledge-artillery which we could neither avoid nor overtake; and when he +thought he had disordered our ranks, he commanded a charge. Marshal Ney +rapidly formed each of his two divisions into a square; the 2d, under +General d’Henin, being the rearmost, was first exposed. We forced all +stragglers who still had a musket to join our ranks; severe threats were +required to do this. The Cossacks, but feebly restrained by our +skirmishers, and driving before them a crowd of unarmed fugitives, +strove to reach the square. On their approach, and under fire of the +artillery, our soldiers hastened their march. Twenty times I beheld them +on the point of disbanding and flying in all directions, leaving us at +the mercy of the Cossacks; but the presence of Marshal Ney, the +confidence he inspired, his calmness in the moment of such great danger, +kept them to their duty. We reached an eminence. The marshal ordered +General d’Henin to hold it; adding, that we must know how to die there +for the honour of France. Meanwhile, General Ledru marched to Jokubow, a +village on the edge of a wood. When he had established himself there, we +marched to join him: the two divisions took up a position, mutually +flanking each other. It was not yet noon, and Marshal Ney declared he +would defend this village till nine at night. General Platow made twenty +attempts to take it from us; his attacks were constantly repulsed, and +at last, fatigued by such a tenacious resistance, he himself took +position opposite to us. + +“Early in the morning the marshal had sent off a Polish officer, who +reached Orcha and described our condition. The Emperor had left the town +the day before: the Viceroy and Marshal Davoust still occupied it. At +nine that night we resumed our march in profound silence. The Cossack +pickets, distributed along the road, retired at our approach. The march +continued with much order. At a league from Orcha, our vanguard fell in +with an advanced post, which challenged in French. It was a division of +the 4th corps coming to our assistance with the Viceroy. One must have +passed three days between life and death to judge of the joy this +meeting gave us. The Viceroy received us with lively emotion, and warmly +expressed to Marshal Ney his admiration of his conduct. He congratulated +the generals and the two remaining colonels. His aides-de-camp +surrounded us, and overwhelmed us with questions on the details of this +great drama, and the part that each of us had played in it. But time +pressed; after a few minutes we again moved on. The Viceroy formed our +rearguard: at three in the morning we entered Orcha. Thus terminated +this bold march, one of the most curious episodes of the campaign. It +covered Marshal Ney with glory, and to him the 3d corps owed its +salvation; if, indeed, the term of _corps d’ armée_ may be applied to +the 800 or 900 men who reached Orcha, remnant of the 6000 who had fought +at Krasnoi.” + +For eighteen days, over a distance of sixty leagues, the 3d corps had +formed the rearguard. Diminished as its numbers now were, it was no +longer available for that dangerous duty, and it joined the main body. +Scarcely had it taken three hours’ repose in some wretched houses of the +faubourg of Orcha, when the Russians, from the other side of the +Dnieper, set fire to the town with shells, which were more particularly +aimed at some conspicuous buildings, serving as provision-stores. It was +impossible to serve out rations; at the risk of their lives, a few +soldiers brought off some brandy and flour; but Davoust, now in command +of the rearguard, hurried the troops’ departure, and by eight o’clock +the unfortunate 3d corps was on the march to Borisow. A broad, good road +facilitated their progress, and Colonel de Fezensac, no longer occupied +in repelling the enemy, was able to investigate the state of his +regiment. Eighty men remained, out of the 2800 that began the campaign; +eighty tattered, famine-stricken, desponding wretches. They lived from +hand to mouth, almost by a miracle; sometimes on flour steeped in water; +at others, with a morsel of honeycomb or fragment of horseflesh; their +sole drink the melted snow. “At some distance from Orcha, I fell in with +M. Lanusse, a captain of my regiment, who had lost his sight by a shot, +at the taking of Smolensko; a sutler belonging to his company was +leading and taking the greatest care of him. He told me that after +having been taken and plundered by the Cossacks at Krasnoi, he had +contrived to escape, and that he and his guide would do their utmost to +keep up with us. Soon afterwards they were found dead and stripped upon +the road.” + +Bad as the state of things already was, it became worse after the +passage of the Beresina; for the cold, abated for a while, resumed all +its severity, and heavy snow almost stifled the scanty fires kindled by +the unhappy fugitives. “I myself was at the end of my resources. I had +but a horse left; my last portmanteau had been lost at the Beresina; I +had nothing but what I stood in, and we were still fifty leagues from +Wilna, eighty from the Niemen; but, amidst so many misfortunes, I took +little account of my personal sufferings and privations. Like us, +Marshal Ney had lost everything; his aides-de-camp were dying of hunger, +and I gratefully remember that more than once they shared with me the +scanty food they managed to procure.” On the 29th November, during a +brief halt of the 3d corps, a confused stream of stragglers poured by, +all of whom had to tell of a miraculous escape at the Beresina. “I +remarked an Italian officer, who scarcely breathed, borne by two +soldiers, and accompanied by his wife. Greatly touched by this woman’s +grief, and by the care she lavished on her husband, I yielded her my +place at a fire the men had lighted. It needed all the illusion of her +affection to blind her to the inutility of her care. Her husband had +ceased to live, and still she called and spoke to him; until at last, no +longer able to doubt her misfortune, she fell fainting upon his corpse.” + +“There would be no end to the task,” continues M. de Fezensac, “if one +attempted to relate all the horrible, affecting, and often incredible +anecdotes that signalised that terrible time. A general, exhausted with +fatigue, had fallen upon the road. A passing soldier began to pull off +his boots; the general, raising himself with difficulty, begged him to +wait till he was dead before stripping him. ‘General,’ replied the +soldier, ‘I would willingly do so; but another would take them; I may as +well have the benefit.’ And he continued to take off the boots. + +“One soldier was being plundered by another; he entreated to be allowed +to die in peace. ‘Pardon me, comrade,’ was the reply, ‘I thought you +were dead;’ and he passed on. For the consolation of humanity, a few +traits of sublime devotion contrasted with the innumerable ones of +egotism and insensibility. That of a drummer of the 7th regiment of +light infantry has been particularly cited. His wife, sutler to the +regiment, fell ill at the beginning of the retreat. The drummer brought +her to Smolensko in her cart. At Smolensko the horse died; then the +husband harnessed himself to the cart, and dragged his wife to Wilna. At +that town she was too ill to go any farther, and her husband remained +prisoner with her. + +“A sutler of the 33d regiment had been brought to bed in Prussia, before +the beginning of the campaign. She followed her regiment to Moscow, with +her little daughter, who was six months old when the army left that +city. During the retreat this child lived by a miracle: her sole +nourishment was black pudding made of horses’ blood: she was wrapped in +a fur taken at Moscow, and often her head was bare. Twice she was lost; +and they found her again, first in a field, then in a burnt village, +lying on a mattress. Her mother crossed the Beresina on horseback, with +water to her neck, holding the bridle in one hand, and with the other +her child upon her head. Thus, by a succession of marvellous +circumstances, this little girl got through the retreat without +accident, and did not even take cold.” + +For many many leagues before reaching the Niemen, the harassed remnant +of the great French army had looked forward to that river as the term of +pursuit. The idea that the Russians would not pass the Niemen had taken +a strong hold of the imaginations of both officers and soldiers. At +Kowno, a stand was made by the rearguard; no very steadfast one, +certainly; but then, as ever, Ney proved equal to the emergency. An +earthen work, hastily thrown up, seemed to him sufficient to check the +foe for a whole day. Here were posted two pieces of cannon, and some +Bavarian infantry; and the marshal sought a moment’s repose in his +quarters. But the very first discharge of the Russian artillery +dismounted a French gun; the infantry took to flight—the gunners were +about to follow. Another minute, and the Cossacks might enter the +streets unopposed. Just then Ney appeared upon the ramparts, musket in +hand. His absence had been nearly fatal; his presence restored the +fight. The troops rallied, and the position was held till night, when +the retreat recommenced. The bridge was crossed, and each man, as he set +foot south of the Niemen, deemed himself safe. Great then was the +consternation of all, when, at the foot of a lofty hill, over which +winds the road to Königsberg, an alarm was given, and, at the same +moment, a cannon-ball plunged into their ranks. The Cossacks had crossed +the river on the ice, and had established themselves on the summit of +the mountain. This fresh danger, so totally unexpected, completed the +demoralisation of the troops. Brave spirits, which, till then, had +steadfastly held out, lost their firmness in face of this new calamity. +There is something very affecting in the following passage:— + +“Generals Marchand and Ledru succeeded in forming a sort of battalion by +uniting the stragglers to the 3d corps, (again on rearguard.) But it was +in vain to attempt to force a passage; the muskets were unserviceable, +and the soldiers dared not advance. There was nothing for it but to +remain under fire of the artillery, without daring to take a step +backwards, for that would have exposed us to a charge, and our +destruction was then certain. This position drove to despair two +officers, who had been a pattern to my regiment during the whole +retreat, but whose courage at last gave way under long physical +exhaustion. They came to me and said, that as they were no longer able +either to march or to fight, they should fall into the hands of the +Cossacks, who would massacre them, and that, to avoid this, they must +return to Kowno and yield themselves prisoners. I made useless efforts +to dissuade them, appealing to their feelings of honour, to the courage +of which they had given so many proofs, to their attachment to the +regiment they now proposed abandoning; and I conjured them, if death was +inevitable, at least to die in our company. For sole reply they embraced +me with tears, and returned into Kowno. Two other officers had the same +fate; one was intoxicated with rum, and could not follow us; the other, +whom I particularly loved, disappeared soon afterwards. My heart was +torn: I waited for death to come and reunite me to my unhappy comrades, +and I should perhaps have wished for it but for all the ties which, at +that time, still bound me to life.” + +Once more Ney came to the rescue. No accumulation of difficulties could +cloud his brow with uneasiness. Once more his promptness and energy +saved his shattered corps. A flank march was the means resorted to. On +the 20th December, the 3d corps reached Königsberg. It then consisted of +about one hundred men on foot, about as many cripples on sledges, and a +handful of officers. + +“Monsieur le duc,” wrote Marshal Ney to the Duke of Feltre, Minister of +War, from Berlin, on the 23d January 1813, “I avail myself of the moment +when the campaign is, if not terminated, at least suspended, to express +to you all the satisfaction I have received from M. de Fezensac’s manner +of serving. That young man has been placed in very critical +circumstances, and has always shown himself superior to them. I commend +him to you as a true French chevalier, (_veritable chevalier Français_,) +whom you may henceforth consider as a veteran colonel.” + +M. de Fezensac almost apologises for subjoining to his journal this +extract from a letter now in his possession. He has no need to do so. He +may well and honestly exult in such a testimonial from such a man. + + + + + THE PENITENT FREE-TRADER. + + + Tufnell! For the love of mercy, + Let me go for half an hour— + I’ll be back before that proser + Hath discussed the price of flour. + Don’t you hear, he’s just beginning + To investigate the rate + Of the Mecklenburg quotations, + Metage, lighterage, and freight? + Next, I know, he’ll pass to Dantzic, + With a glimpse at Rostock wheat— + I have seen the whole already + In his Economic sheet. + See! upon the backward benches + There reposes stealthy Peel— + Dreaming, doubtless, that he’s smothered + In an atmosphere of meal. + Palmerston’s recumbent yonder— + Hawes is sleeping by the door; + Even Russell’s tiny nostril + Quivers with a nascent snore. + Let me go—nay, do not hold me + So intensely by the coat; + I assure you, on my honour, + I’ll be back in time to vote. + + Oh, the night-winds wander sweetly + O’er my hot and throbbing brow! + What a contrast is the moonlight + To the scene I left just now! + Let me walk a little onward + Underneath the budding trees, + Where the faint perfume is wafted + On the pinions of the breeze: + Overhead a thousand starlets + Glisten in the robe of night, + And the earth is wrapped in slumber + With a pure and calm delight. + By your leave, good Master Tufnell, + I shall stay a little here; + You have plenty noodles yonder + Who are safe enough to cheer + Wilson’s dunderhead discourses, + Or the cant of Labouchere! + + What a dolt was I to credit + All these wild free-trading schemes! + Cobden’s calico predictions, + Porter’s importation dreams! + For I loathed the mean alliance, + Even when I chose to wheel + In the wake of him who led us, + Pinning foolish faith to Peel. + Was I mad, to place my honour + In this most disgusting fix? + Half the world was rather crazy + In the days of Forty-six. + O the happy times of premiums! + O the balmy touch of scrip! + Would that I had sold my bargains + Ere they had me on the hip! + Every day a new allotment + Promised shining heaps of gold; + Every day the mounting market + Swelled my hopes a hundredfold. + I remember old Sir Robert, + With his shirt-sleeves rolled on high, + Lust of speculation gleaming + In his gray and greedy eye; + Turning sods with silver shovel, + Celebrating that event + With a speech on competition + At the opening of the Trent. + I have dined with royal Hudson, + And may dine again, perhaps, + Should another exaltation + Follow on this drear collapse. + All had drunk the wine of gambling, + All had quaffed the share champagne, + Wisdom’s warnings were rejected, + Prudence preached to us in vain. + Madness, frenzy, lust of riches, + Reigned within the minds of all, + That, we thought, must answer Peter + Which had served the turn of Paul. + If, by scorning honest labour, + Men made fortunes in a trice, + What might be the luck of Britain, + Casting with Free-traders’ dice? + + I am strongly of opinion— + Looking to my country’s good— + That I’ve stuck by him of Tamworth + Rather longer than I should. + As concerning next election, + I’ve received some pregnant hints, + Both from country correspondents, + And the leading public prints. + Cultivation’s at a discount, + Rents are very slowly paid: + Some aver that sly Sir Robert + Has contrived to coin his spade; + Neither is there much progression + In the wool and cotton trade. + + What the deuce would men be after? + If those fellows had their will, + England would be straight converted + To a monstrous cotton-mill. + Everywhere would ghastly chimneys + Vomit forth their odious mist, + Settling, like the breath of Satan, + O’er this island of the blest; + When the only occupation + Would be spinning yarn and twist! + Spin away, my brave compatriots! + Spin as largely as you can; + Who shall dare to set a limit + To the sale of shirts for man? + Whilst the raw material’s granted, + Spin away with might and main; + Use the time that’s still vouchsafed you, + For it may not come again. + There’s a smartish kind of notion + Running in the Yankees’ head, + That they need not be indebted + To your kindness for their thread. + In the meanwhile go for cheapness, + Smite the farmers hip and thigh— + Making honest people bankrupt + Is the way to make them buy. + Starve the masses of the nation, + Drive them all into the mills; + Clear the plains and sweep the valleys, + Desolate the Highland hills. + Let the rough hard-fisted yeoman, + All too clumsy for the loom, + Migrate to the western prairies, + Where for labour still there’s room. + Let the peasant and the cottar + Quit the useless plough and spade— + Built for them are costly mansions, + Raised for them are rates in aid. + To the workhouse let them gather, + Or by theft attain the jail; + Honesty has bread and water, + Crime is fed on beef and ale. + O the glorious consummation + Of this truly Christian scheme, + Such as never saint or prophet + Witnessed in ecstatic dream! + Wasted fields and crowded cities, + Swarming streets and desert downs, + All the light of life concentred + In the focus of the towns! + Yea, exult, ye foes of England! + In the downfall of the race + That of yore, in fiery combat, + Met your fathers face to face: + For the pride of lusty manhood, + And the giant Saxon frame, + Never more shall be embattled + In the coming fields of fame; + Shrunken sinews, sallow faces, + Twisted limbs, and factory scars— + These shall mark your next opponents + In the European wars. + Not such yeomen as with Alfred + Won their freedom long ago— + Such as on the plain of Crecy + Triumphed o’er a worthy foe— + Such as drove invasion backward, + Have their homes in Britain now! + + This at least our sons may utter, + Blushing for their fathers’ shame— + Brain me with a billy-roller, + If I longer play this game, + Either for the crimp of Tamworth, + Or his first lieutenant, Graham! + No, by Jove! I will not suffer + Degradation of the kind— + What care I for Johnny Russell, + With his hungry host behind? + Let them blunder on insanely, + Digging holes within the sand, + Thinking, like the stupid ostrich, + To escape the hunter’s hand. + Let them shirk the facts before them, + Comforting themselves the while, + That their Economic asses + Can the public ear beguile. + Lord! to hear the blockheads braying, + Spite of proof before their eyes— + “I assure the house,” quoth Wilson, + “Wheat must very shortly rise. + It was so-and-so at Dantzic + More than twenty years ago; + Therefore wait a little longer— + ’Twill be up again, I know.” + Jolly Villiers, on the other + Hand, with exultation vows, + More than one-and-ninety millions + Have been plundered from the ploughs; + And he hopes before another + Year shall run its destined course, + To congratulate the public + That affairs are worse and worse. + I, for one, am sick and weary + Of these everlasting prigs; + Quite disgusted with the shuffling + Of the miserable Whigs; + With their impudent averments, + And their flagrant thimblerigs! + + Hark, the midnight chimes! I fancy + The palaver’s nearly over: + For to-night let Johnny Russell + And his colleagues rest in clover. + But, upon the next occasion, + When there’s talk about a tax, + Whether it shall weigh on foreign + Or on native British backs, + Master Tufnell must excuse me, + If I seek another lobby + Than the one that’s now frequented + By my former chief, Sir Bobby! + + + + + TENOR OF THE TRADE CIRCULARS. + + + _Liverpool, April 19, 1850._ + + TO THE EDITOR OF BLACKWOOD’S MAGAZINE. + +Sir,—That a period of severe commercial suffering is approaching us, in +which the ruinous condition of the agricultural classes will recoil +disastrously, not only upon the selfish Free-trade agitators in the +manufacturing districts, but also upon the importers of foreign produce, +the broker, the factor, the shopkeeper, and the labourers in our towns, +has for some months been patent to all who have dispassionately watched +the current of events, and been able to draw correct conclusions from +what is going on before their eyes. It is not to official tables of +exports and imports that such men look as the indices of the nation’s +prosperity. They turn rather to _the results_ of these operations, as +disclosed in our commercial circulars; to the degree of confidence +displayed by bankers in their dealings with their customers, and by +merchants in their transactions with each other; to the movements of +produce in our leading markets, and to the amount of activity which +characterises the internal trade and the consumption of the country. +They are guided, too, very materially, by the general feeling of +merchants and traders, expressed in their daily communications with each +other, on ‘Change, or in the intercourse of private life. Such a mode I +propose to employ, in investigating the real condition of the cotton +manufacturing districts of the north of England; and the result of this +investigation, which I shall now proceed to lay before your readers, +will, I fear, dissipate somewhat rudely the dream of prosperity in which +her Majesty’s Ministers, and their supporters in Parliament and +throughout the country, are just now indulging. + +In pursuing such an inquiry, the condition of the port of Liverpool, the +great mart of this portion of the kingdom, naturally suggests itself as +of prominent interest. In this port, by the result of our vast +operations in imported foreign and colonial produce, the actual results +of our export trade in manufactures, and the consuming power of the +large population which draw their supplies from it, can be tested with +considerable fairness. In an article in your last Number, I find a +quotation from the monthly circular of Messrs T. and H. Littledale & +Co., whom you truly designate as perhaps the greatest brokers in the +world. A portion of this I must re-quote, in order to enable your +readers the better to appreciate some later observations of these +gentlemen. On the 4th of March, Messrs Littledale wrote:— + + + “_Great complaints are made of the bad state of the country + shopkeepers in the agricultural districts. We have closely questioned + some of our wholesale grocers and tea-dealers, who assure us that + there is no disguising the fact, that such is the case, and that the + general answer received from their travellers is, that ‘they can get + neither money nor orders.’_ The serious falling off in the deliveries + of sugar, coffee, tea, and cocoa, for the two months of this year, + compared with those of the last, but too truly confirms these + complaints, and are perhaps the most alarming features in our present + prospects. As given in Prince’s public prices current of the 1st + inst., they stand as follows:— + + + 1850. 1849. 1848. + Sugar, 37,006 43,408 42,368 tons + Coffee, 3,795,712 4,907,691 pounds + Cocoa, 450,774 558,888 + Tea, 5,375,648 5,502,931 + +The circular of this house, dated the 4th of April, has since been +published, in which they confirm their previous statement; and indeed +show that the condition of the country, as tested by its consumption of +imported produce, is retrograding. We quote the following as their +summary:— + + + “_General Remarks._—Another month of dull spiritless trade, as well in + our produce markets as in the manufacturing districts of Lancashire. + The demand for consumption has somewhat improved from exhaustion of + stocks in the hands of dealers; but we regret to find the deficiency + in deliveries of the principal articles noticed in our circular of + last month (tea excepted) has still further increased, which speaks + ill for the internal state of the country; in fact, _we believe the + small tradesmen and shopkeepers in the rural districts were seldom or + never in a worse position than at the present_. + + “Corn has fallen so low in value, that _the farmers, anxious to secure + their rents, are not in a position to pay their tradesmen’s bills; and + we have been assured that, in numberless instances, their Christmas + accounts for last year are still unpaid_. This falls immediately on + the wholesale dealers, from them on the importing merchants, and + eventually, if no revival take place, must act with double force on + the manufacturers in a diminished home trade and in crippled exports, + which latter must ever depend on our power to take the products of + other countries as returns for our manufactures. To what class, then, + are the present ruinous low prices of grain a blessing? We + emphatically say _to none_; indeed it is quite impossible for so large + a portion of the community as that connected with agriculture to be + depressed, and the other portions long to continue prosperous; and + probably the best impulse we could receive, in the present inactive + state of our colonial markets, would be an advance of 5s., to 10s. per + qr., in the price of wheat. There is no doubt, also, that the fearful + depreciation of railway property, which appears a bottomless abyss of + mismanagement and ruin, tells cruelly on the available resources of a + very large proportion of the people, and adds seriously to the + embarrassment of trade.” + + +In glancing over this circular in detail, we find opposite nearly every +important item the words, “has moved off at easier prices,” “is less +inquired for,” “is dull,” or some other phrase significant of commercial +depression; yet, during the preceding month, the stocks on hand, owing +to the prevalence of easterly winds, which had kept a large number of +vessels windbound outside the Channel, had received very little +augmentation. It must be borne in mind that the dealings of this firm +extend over nearly every description of foreign produce—certainly every +large one, timber and iron excepted;—and that the money amount of their +annual transactions may be reckoned by many millions sterling. Further +inquiries amongst other houses enable me to state confidently that, with +the exception of a few trifling articles, the mass of the produce, which +is pouring into Liverpool, arrives at an unprofitable market. In cotton +alone, amongst the leading imports, a small margin of profit may at +present be secured, the abundance of unemployed money in the hands of +the banks allowing the speculators, for a short crop, to inflate prices. +Such a case, however, tells nothing in favour of a sound state of +things. The question of most material import is, whether either the +foreign demand, or the home consumption, is so urgently requiring +supply, as to enable the manufacturer of cotton goods to concede the +advanced rates demanded for the staple, by the American grower, or the +speculator at home. Present appearances scarcely warrant such an +expectation. The following opinion upon the subject, given by a leading +firm in the trade, Messrs George Holt & Co., in their circular of the +12th April, expresses the opinion of all except the most sanguine:— + + + “We can hardly account for this tendency of prices,”—(they had + slightly advanced during the week)—“or lay before our readers any new + circumstances affecting the value of the staple. No doubt confidence + in the shortness of the American crop remains, and probably is on the + increase. We may add also that stocks in spinners’ hands are at a low + ebb. Still _we have, from day to day, discouraging reports from + Manchester as to the state and prospects of a very large part of the + spinning and manufacturing trade. This depression, which has been so + long in existence, must be got rid of, or modified, before we can have + any permanent well-doing in the raw material._” + + +“Depression so long in existence!” A great majority of the public, with +the speech from the Throne, and the prosperity-speeches of movers and +seconders of the Address before them, imagined that the cotton +districts, at all events, were flourishing! + +A later circular of the produce market, published upon the authority of +the entire brokers of the port, exhibits the state of the general +produce market in even a worse light than that of Messrs Littledale, +quoted above. I append it here:— + + + “LIVERPOOL PRICES CURRENT, IMPORTS, &c. for the week ending _April + 12, 1850_. Arranged by a Committee of Brokers.—T. M. MYERS, + _Secretary_. + + “SUGAR.—Holders continuing to offer freely, there has been a fair + amount of business, but at rather lower prices; 450 hhds. B. P., of + which 300 were new Barbadoes, sold at 34s. 6d. to 41s., 3500 bags + Bengal at 34s. to 40s., 1600 bags Khaur at 28s. 6d., and 3500 bags + Mauritius at 36s. to 36s. 6d., being a decline of 6d. to 1s. per + cwt.—_Foreign._—180 hhds. Porto Rico, of the new crop, sold at 40s. + per cwt. duty paid; the export demand continues slack, and sales are + only 24 cases, 150 bags and brls. Brazil and 100 boxes + Havanna.—MOLASSES.—The new arrivals coming in have induced holders of + last year’s crop to take much lower prices than have been hitherto + accepted; the sales are 500 puns. Porto Rico at 15s. 6d., 400 Cuba at + 15s. 6d. to 16s., and 300 Barbadoes at 15s. per cwt.; the two cargoes + of new Porto Rico, just arrived, have been sent to store, the + importers not being willing to accept the low price offered by the + Trade; the quotations are reduced accordingly.—COFFEE.—The recent + import of Jamaica has been freely offered, and the slight improvement + that existed ten days ago is entirely lost, prices being now as low as + ever. 80 tierces have been sold, at 46s. 9d. to 54s. for low to fine + ordinary, and 62s. to 100s. for low to fine middling—the latter + quotation being 15s. below the rates of January. 100 bags native + Ceylon were sold early in the week at 52s. 6d., but that price is not + now obtainable, the nominal value being about 48s. per cwt.—A small + parcel of Bahia Cocoa sold at 33s. per cwt.—Nothing done in GINGER or + PEPPER, but a small lot of PIMENTO brought 6⅛d. per lb., being an + extreme price.—RICE.—No sales of Carolina; 13,000 bags East brought + 7s. 6d. for broken, and 8s. 6d. to 9s. 9d. for low to good white, + being a decline of fully 6d. per cwt.—RUM is difficult of sale, except + at lower prices; the business consists of 200 puns. Demerara, 32 to 37 + per cent O. P. at 2s. 2d. to 2s. 4½d. per gallon.” + + +There is a further decline, it will be seen, in every important article; +and the most experienced houses, I find, are at a loss to tell at what +point it will stop. It is generally admitted that, but for the +accommodation which the large holders can command, there must have been +a general crash long ere this, which would have overwhelmed half the +mercantile community in ruin. This would have reacted fearfully upon the +shopkeepers in the interior of the country, whose credits would have +been suddenly stopped, whilst their overdue accounts would necessarily +have been sternly exacted. In fact the bulk of this class at present +stand upon the verge of an abyss, into which a sudden panic may hurry +them at any moment. + +It will doubtless be urged that this state of the produce market is only +temporary; that importations, having become profitless, will be +discontinued, and the supply thus become equal to the demand. This would +be the natural course of things under a sound system; but no sign of +cessation of imports is at present to be seen; and it is much to be +questioned whether any such cessation can take place, without throwing a +large portion of our manufacturing population into very serious +distress, if not into anarchy and outbreak. If importation of produce is +restricted, exportation must be restricted in proportion. The +manufacturer has thrown himself into almost total dependence upon the +foreign buyer of his wares. With a flourishing home market for +manufactures, a glut of produce might be got rid of without difficulty. +But the same cause—an inability of the masses to consume—which depresses +the prices of produce, now exists equally with respect to the home +market for manufactured goods; and to stop production and exports, with +a view to enhance the value of the stocks of produce already received in +remittance from the foreigner, would add another element to the +perplexity in which the nation is plunged. This portion of the subject, +however, it is not for me to discuss here. I only refer to it in order +to express the opinions which are beginning to be mooted in influential +commercial circles. + +In order to be enabled to state, as much as possible upon my own +knowledge, the extent to which the internal markets of the country are +depressed, and the consumption of produce is declining, I have +instituted inquiries among some of the leading houses in Liverpool, who +send travellers into the country, and the reports given are fully as +discouraging as those given by Messrs Littledale, as to the difficulty +both of making sales and collecting accounts. From a gentleman connected +with a leading firm in the tea trade, I learn that in the country over +which their travellers prosecute their business, the orders which they +receive are for very limited quantities, and are, in fact, demonstrative +of what, in mercantile parlance, is styled “a hand to mouth” business. +Excessive caution and want of spirit characterise the feelings of the +retail trade everywhere. + +Some of these parties, he suggests, may have locked up a portion of +their capital in railway investments, or perhaps lost it. Still, hand to +mouth orders—orders for a week’s instead of a month’s consumption, would +tell in the long run, if they served to make up the aggregate of past +years. But they do not. The consumption of this necessary article is +found to be declining; and the objection of the retail dealer to order +as largely as usual is accounted for, in the majority of cases, by the +inability of the farming and middle classes to pay their accounts as +punctually as heretofore. It must be borne in mind, in treating of the +consumption of such an article as tea—and I may include coffee, sugar, +&c.—that they frequently form the substitute for the poor man’s meal. +When the consumption of tea declines, in times acknowledged to be bad, +it is the worst sign of the condition of the community. + +Another gentleman connected with an extensive firm in the grocery trade, +gives still more discouraging accounts. The travellers of this firm +extend their operations over the whole of the Midland Counties and the +North of England. Their reports to their employers are most lugubrious. +For example, one of them, a few weeks ago, remitted home £120, whereas +his accounts due were about £1500. As to sales, these are most difficult +to make. Consumption is gradually and rapidly declining. Retail dealers +in the country towns complain that the farmers no longer expend the +money they have been accustomed to do, when visiting markets; but +confine their consumption of food more and more to the products raised +upon their own lands. One of the travellers of this firm journeys +through the counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland, in which for many +years an extensive trade has been carried on in the curing of bacon and +hams. This trade he represents as now almost extinct, or rapidly +becoming so—the parties engaged in it being unable to compete with the +importers of the low-priced hams and bacon of America. Of this class are +the farmers of the country which owns Sir James Graham as their feudal +lord, and of whom that distinguished statesman asserted, in the debate +on the Address, that they must be in a state of plethoric prosperity, +inasmuch as he had never had his rents better paid than at his last +rent-day. The worthy baronet forgot to say that rent is the last debt +that a tenant farmer will omit to pay, the landlord having a power which +overrides the claims of all other creditors. If he could have added that +his farmers’ tradesmen’s bills had been equally well paid, he would have +imparted some information most gratifying to the community. Neither this +house, nor any other that I have conversed with, can see any termination +to the present declining state of things. It is becoming admitted, +amongst the circles with which their travellers mix, that reductions of +rent are wholly unequal to meet the emergency of the present crisis. + +It is proper that I should refer to one trade in Liverpool which is most +prosperous—in fact, the only prosperous one. This is the trade of the +merchants engaged in, and others connected with, the emigration of our +fellow-countrymen, to seek a home in foreign lands. The following are +the statistics of this trade, kindly furnished me by a gentleman +officially connected with the shipping of emigrants from Liverpool:— + + Ships. Emigrants. + Emigration in 1847 514 128,447 + Do. 1848 519 124,522 + Do. 1849 565 146,162 + +During the present year the emigration has been— + + January, 6943 Persons. + February, 8779 „ + March, 16,783 „ + Cabin emigrants, 705 „ + +At the present moment, notwithstanding the large increase in the +shipping—principally American—provided for the trade, berths, and these +at very high prices, are most difficult to be got, unless detention is +submitted to. Moreover, a great change has taken place in the kind of +persons emigrating. Last year, the same gentleman informs me, +four-fifths of the parties emigrating consisted of substantial small +farmers from Ireland and elsewhere, and skilled artisans from this +country. This year, a very superior class of English farmers are leaving +a land which no longer affords them a living in exchange for their +honest industry. The quays of Liverpool daily present a scene, which few +thinking men can rejoice in, and which the country will have to regret. +The aged as well as the mature, mothers with infants at the breast, and +stalwart youths and maidens, going from vessel to vessel, to select that +particular one whose departure from our shores will cut for ever their +connexion with the country which they have loved, and in which they +leave behind the graves of their fathers. It is melancholy to think upon +the misery there must be amidst all this activity, with the momentary +absence of regret for old scenes, and enjoyment of the new ones, into +which these poor people find themselves thrown. Yet we cannot but feel +satisfied that they are about to be bettered in condition by the change. + +The depression complained of, as existing in Liverpool, is by no means +confined to the classes immediately connected with the staple commerce +of the port, but pervades all classes of the community without +exception. The produce of half a world is stored in the warehouses of +Liverpool, or floating in her magnificent docks. The capital of her +merchants is embarked in every clime, and her shipping crowds every +foreign port; yet her industrious population are plunged in suffering +and embarrassment, and a portion of them—her labouring classes, pressed +down by the influx of pauper competition from the hordes of immigrants +from ruined Ireland—are continually upon the verge of actual starvation. +It is distressing to witness the shifts to which tradesmen are compelled +to resort, from time to time, in order to meet engagements, and to stave +off, by sacrifices of their goods, the day of ruin. “Selling off” +announcements, under all kinds of pretexts, meet the eye in every +direction, and yet tempt in vain. The whole community appear to be +economising; and tardily paid bills, and reduced expenditure in the +comforts, and even in some of the necessities of life, is the rule, not +the exception. The extent to which this is carried, and the suffering +existing amongst the middle classes, may be judged of by the fact that +it has already affected the incomes of many of the clergy of the town, +by diminishing the numbers of their congregations and the yield of +pew-rents. In one instance which has been mentioned to me, the income of +a clergyman, universally beloved, has been thus cut down from £600 +a-year, to little more than half; and this is far from being a solitary +case. + +The result of this state of things is already being felt in a strong +reaction, amongst those once the loudest in its advocacy, against the +system of Free Trade. Doubts are freely hazarded with respect to the +soundness of a policy which has produced such fruit; and the question is +upon the lips of numbers,—“Where is the prosperity which was promised to +us?” If Mr Cobden or Sir Robert Peel were to present themselves in +Liverpool at the present moment, they would have to answer this +question, not to the uninquiring crowds who would have cheered their +fallacies three years ago, but to men who have reflected deeply, and had +deep cause for such reflection. The Right Hon. Baronet, in particular, +would perhaps have to reply to another question, and to go a little back +in the history of his political life. He would be asked not only, Who +had benefited by his Free-trade measures?—a difficult one enough to +answer—but what class of the community had been aggrandised _by his +currency measures of 1819 and 1844_. To this vital subject the minds of +the intelligent mercantile community of Liverpool, of all shades of +politics, are being rapidly directed. The Free-trader sees, in the +operation of our monetary laws, one leading source of the evil brought +upon the country by the carrying out of his favourite measure. He is +prepared to acknowledge that Free-trade and a Restricted Currency are +incompatible things. And the mercantile body of all political parties +still remember the disasters of 1847 and 1848; and the insulting manner +in which their prayer, in the October of the previous year, for relief +from the unexampled money pressure, which was then prostrating the most +extensive and solvent firms, was denied by a flippant and shallow +Chancellor of the Exchequer, although at that moment the nation was +within a few days of bankruptcy. These things are not forgotten; and, +from the impressions which I have been able to form, from a close +examination of popular opinion, I should not be surprised to see the +influential community of Liverpool throwing politics and party to the +winds, and uniting their efforts to procure a relief from the monstrous +system which at present withers and strangles in its grasp the industry +of England—which tempts us one day, by its lavish kindness, to erect +vast structures of commercial enterprise and usefulness; and the next +day dashes them into wrecks before our eyes, to be scrambled for by +greedy extortioners and selfish usurers. + +It is the fear of this power which, to a great extent, is at the present +moment paralysing the enterprise of the commercial communities, which +would otherwise have succeeded in neutralising a portion at least, but +certainly only a portion, of the ruinous effects of Free-trade. A few +years ago, no community embarked more largely in those railway +investments, so strongly recommended to them by the fosterer of the +system, Sir Robert Peel, than the mercantile people of Liverpool. The +extent to which such investments were encouraged by the lavish offer of +banking facilities to merchants and others, may be judged of by the +fact, that the Directors of one Liverpool Bank were, a few weeks ago, +compelled to acknowledge to their shareholders, that nearly the whole of +their subscribed capital was advanced upon railway stock; and that their +Rest, amounting to £100,000, had entirely disappeared. This species of +security is now, by the caution with which capitalists act, rendered +totally unavailable for the purpose of raising money, when required for +legitimate commercial purposes. Hence the timid apprehension with which +men, thus situated, regard the accumulation of stocks of produce, for +which no remunerative market at present offers itself; and the +consumption of which is so obviously on the decline. Hence also the +pressure to sell, when they see cargo after cargo pouring in to augment +those stocks; the unwillingness to part with funds, for which the +shopkeeper and the tradesman are eagerly longing, to enable them to +sustain their tottering credit; and that total suspension of all +internal enterprise and improvement, which is driving so many thousands +of our skilled workmen to other countries, and the labourer to that +desolate resort for the very poor—the Union Workhouse. To the attempt to +carry out a Free-trade, involving the holding of large stocks of produce +and extended operations in foreign markets, with a currency artificially +restricted by the last Banking Act of Sir Robert Peel, and further +restricted by the caution with which bankers are now conducting their +business, since the severe warning inflicted upon them in 1847, is +attributable not only the commercial depression already noticed, but +also that fearful sacrifice of realised capital, which has taken place +from the decline in the saleable value of railway shares, and which, in +Liverpool alone, has rendered hundreds of once wealthy men comparatively +poor ones, and brought many, in the decline of their days, to a +condition lower than that even in which they began the world. + +Such is the condition generally of the mercantile community of +Liverpool—that port of all others in the kingdom which was most largely +to be benefited by the advent of the Free-trade system. From the apex to +the base of the social fabric all is uncertainty, fear, and suffering, +too intense any longer to be concealed from the most superficial +observer; and the crisis has not yet been reached. The reaction has +still to come from the manufacturing districts, which, up to within the +past few months, in the enjoyment of a moderate amount of activity, +caused by a temporary revival of the export demand, are only now +beginning to feel the results of the system which, in their selfishness, +they invented for their own aggrandisement, at the expense of the +industry of the whole empire. + +The avowed object of the Free-trader was to stimulate the export trade +in cotton goods, which it was always boasted was the most valuable to +the manufacturer. So far as regards the quantity of the raw material +consumed for the export trade, this is an undisputed fact; but that the +amount of skill and labour employed in it is equal to that expended upon +goods consumed in the home market is not true. In order to arrive at an +idea of the relative value of the two trades, it will be necessary for +me to bring before the reader a few figures and authorities. In the +excellent _Commercial Glance_, compiled for many years by the late Mr +John Burn of Manchester, and now continued by his son, the following +statement was given, as the mode in which the cotton spun in 1845 was +disposed of. I take that year as being one of great prosperity in the +home market, and as showing the state of things antecedent to the +introduction of free trade in corn. + + STATEMENT OF THE COTTON SPUN IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND IN 1845, AND OF + THE QUANTITY OF YARN PRODUCED, SHOWING ALSO HOW THE QUANTITY SPUN IN + ENGLAND WAS DISPOSED OF. + Lbs. + Total cotton consumed, in lbs., 555,527,283 + Allowed for loss in spinning, 1¾ oz. per lb., 60,760,796 + ——————————— + Total yarn produced in England and Scotland, 494,766,487 + Deduct spun in Scotland in 1845, 27,737,022 + ——————————— + Total spun in England in 1845, 467,029,465 + + Lbs. + Exported in yarn during the year, 131,937,935 + Exported in thread do., 2,567,705 + Exported in manufactured cotton goods, 302,360,687 + Estimated quantity of yarn sent to Scotland and + Ireland, 10,734,859 + Exported in mixed manufactures, consumed in + cotton banding, healds, candle and lamp wick, + waddings, socks, calender bowls, paper, + umbrellas, hats, and loss in manufacturing + goods, 31,655,230 + Balance left for home consumption and stock, + 1st January 87,773,049 + ———————————— + 467,029,465 + =========== + +I have the most perfect confidence in the correctness of Mr Burn’s +calculations, being personally acquainted with that gentleman, and +knowing the excellent sources from which he derives his information, and +the care which he devotes to the accuracy of all his facts. The result +to which the above statement leads is, that the consumption of raw +cotton in goods sold in our home markets is 18·36 per cent only, upon +the total quantity of yarn spun in England. This, a superficial observer +will say, is a very trivial quantity for our boasted home consumption. +Let us see, however, in what stage of manufacture, and in what +description of goods, the cotton taken off by foreign markets +principally consists. In the first place, 131,937,935 lbs., or 28 per +cent of the total cotton spun, was exported, as shown in the table +above, in the shape of yarn, an article but one remove from the raw +material, and the manufacture of which employs machinery principally, +and leaves only a small margin of profit to the country. With respect to +the description of goods, in the manufacture of which for the foreign +market the remainder of the raw material is consumed, little difficulty +is felt by persons acquainted practically with the subject. Mr +M‘Culloch, in his _Dictionary of Commerce_, page 456 of the edition of +1847—the latest I have before me—remarks upon the facts as striking, +that, notwithstanding the superiority of our machinery, and this branch +thus being one in which we most greatly excel our foreign rivals, the +proportion of fine to coarse yarns spun has materially decreased; and +that, in fact, the actual quantity of fine yarns has decreased, whilst +the total consumption of cotton has quadrupled during the last +twenty-five years. That the quantity has decreased to this extreme +extent may well be doubted, although the cheapening which has taken +place in silk and other fabrics during this period has, we know, to a +great extent caused the disuse, for home consumption, of many once +highly prized articles of the cotton manufacture. We may accept, +however, the admission of Mr M‘Culloch, as bearing upon the quality of +those goods which are taken off by the foreign trade, and of which the +great increase in the manufacture must consist. These are, confessedly, +the coarse, heavy fabrics, into the manufacture of which the _minimum_ +amount of skill and labour enters. We approach then, from this point, to +a view of the comparative value to the country of the home and the +export trade in cotton goods. In the same work, Mr M‘Culloch estimates +the total annual value of the cotton manufacture of the kingdom at +£36,000,000 sterling, of which £10,000,000 is put down for the cost of +the raw material, £17,000,000 for wages, and £9,000,000 for profits, +wages of superintendence, and cost of machinery, coals, &c. I am a +little inclined to believe that this calculation is underdrawn, the +leaning of the author being to exaggerate the importance of the export +trade, the declared value of which in 1845 was £26,119,231, leaving a +little under £10,000,000 as the consumption of the home market, or about +two-fifths of the consumption of the foreign. In estimating the value to +the country, however, of the home trade, we have a right to take into +consideration the fact that the great component material of the goods +which we consume at home consists of labour; for, whilst the proportion +of the raw material consumed in the home trade was little over one-fifth +of that consumed in the foreign, the value of the goods was two-fifths. + +Admitting, however, Mr M‘Culloch’s version of the case to be correct, +but at the same time bearing in mind the fact of his being a somewhat +prejudiced authority, let us apply the figures given to the present +condition of the manufacturing interest. The average quantity of cotton +taken weekly from Liverpool for consumers’ use, was, from 1st of January +to 12th of April 1849, 29,475 bales. It has been this year, up to the +same date, 23,176 bales—a falling off of 6299 bales weekly, or a little +above a fifth of the preceding year’s importations. Perhaps a portion of +this decline in apparent consumption may be accounted for by the fact +that the stock in the hands of spinners has, to a considerable extent, +been allowed by them to become exhausted, through their unwillingness to +pay the advanced prices recently demanded for the raw material. With +respect to the prudence of this policy, and its probable effect in still +further increasing the embarrassment of affairs, I shall have something +to say by and by; at present, the question which presses is—In what +market has this decreased consumption occurred? The answer must be—In +that market which pays for the greatest amount of labour expended upon +the manufacture of cotton goods—in the home market. I have not within my +reach the most authentic record of the Cotton Trade, for the period up +to which I should desire to extend my inquiries—viz., _Burn’s Commercial +Glance_, which is only made up half yearly. I have, however, before me +this gentleman’s _Monthly Colonial Circular_, dated March the 18th, in +which I observe a considerable increase in the exports of plain +calicoes, printed and dyed calicoes, and cotton yarn to the following +markets, with a few exceptions, for the first two months of the present +year:—Calcutta, Bombay (increase in printed and dyed and in yarn, and +small decrease in plain only); Madras (considerable increase in plain +and printed and dyed, and small decrease in yarn); Singapore and Manilla +(small decrease in printed and dyed and in yarn only); Batavia (large +increase in all kinds); Hong Kong and Canton (large increase in plain, +and small decline in printed); Shanghae (trade removed to other Chinese +ports in which there is a large increase): Australian Colonies (increase +in all kinds); Mauritius (stationary); Cape of Good Hope (increase in +all); Coast of Africa (decline in all); Jamaica (decrease in plain and +increase in printed); Honduras (increase); other West Indian ports +(decrease); Cuba and St Thomas (both increase); French West Indies +(increase in printed and small decline in plain); Brazils (large +increase); Chili and Peru (large decrease); Colombia (decrease); River +Plata (considerable decrease); Mexico (increase in plain, and decrease +in printed); British North America (season for shipments not commenced); +and United States (increase in both printed and plain, and a large +business done, the shipments for the two months being upwards of half of +the entire quantity exported in 1849.) Compared with the average of the +same period of the preceding three years, there is an increase to nearly +every market. With respect to the shipments to European markets, I +cannot speak with precision as to quantities, from the circumstance, +which I have named, of the accounts not having been yet made up. From +the monthly return from the Board of Trade, however, it appears that a +general increase has taken place in the declared value of cotton +manufactures to all markets, the amount being in 1850, £3,264,350 for +the two months, against £2,837,300 last year. There is a very trifling +decline in the export of yarns. From my own observation, I should augur +that the increase has extended over March, to the United States and the +markets of the Pacific especially—an unusual stimulus having been given +to the consumption of these markets by the Californian discoveries. By +the bye, I ought to mention, in connexion with the increase in the +declared value of our exports this year, the fact that, owing to the +advance in the price of the raw material, the value of goods exported +will be rated higher than last year. To some extent, however, the severe +winter of this year preventing the early opening of the navigation of +the rivers of the north of Europe, as compared with the mild season last +year, may be a set-off. The Mediterranean trade, and the operations of +the Greek houses, have also been limited by our petty quarrel in this +part of Europe. + +Assuming, however, the actual quantity of cotton consumed by the Export +Trade to have been equal to that consumed last year up to this period, +and allowing for 40,000 bales, alleged by spinners to have been drawn +from their own stocks instead of the Liverpool market, _there will +remain a deficiency, as compared with last year, of 5000 bales per week, +or 70,000 bales, in the consumption of the raw material manufactured +into goods for the Home market_. When it is considered that these goods +consist of the finer fabrics, in which the greatest amount of labour is +employed, and upon which the largest percentage of profit is realised, +whilst those consumed in the foreign markets are sold at the lowest +margin of profit, and when exported frequently result in heavy losses to +the shipper, the extent of the sacrifice made by the manufacturing +community, in their mad adoption of a policy which has destroyed the +Home market, may readily be seen. + +The correctness of these calculations has been borne out by the general +character of the Home Trade during the past four months, in which +stagnation, and difficulty in accomplishing sales to consumers and +retailers throughout the country, early manifested themselves. In the +month of January, strong hopes were entertained, by the majority of the +houses engaged in this branch of the business, that the worst of the +embarrassment which had so long hung over the cotton manufacturing +districts had passed over; and that a wholesome and active trade was +before them. The circulars of the month of February, and the reports +given week by week in the local journals published in the manufacturing +districts, resumed their gloomy statements; and the home demand, it +became clear, had returned to its previous lethargic state. From +communications entered into with some of the country houses, I have +derived intelligence respecting the result of their operations, almost +precisely similar to those sent home by the representatives of produce +houses as given above. The country buyers who come to the market display +an entire want of their accustomed spirit, and buy sparingly an inferior +class of goods to those which they have been, in former years, in the +habit of consuming. The universal complaint of these parties, and of +commercial travellers engaged in the Home Trade, is of declining +consumption and ill-paid accounts, especially throughout the purely +agricultural districts. One circumstance has tended in some measure to +prevent the trade becoming absolutely ruinous—viz., the fact that cotton +fabrics are now resorted to by many classes from motives of economy. The +farmer’s and the tradesman’s wife and daughters make a fashion of +necessity, and substitute printed cotton dresses for more expensive +articles. A cotton shirt supplies moderately well the place of a linen +one. Articles of elegance and luxury, however, even of this material, +are complained of as most difficult of sale. In some of the large towns, +a few houses are doing a fair business in heavy fabrics, such as +fustians, moleskins, and other articles worn by the artisans and other +working classes; and in some fancy goods of the same description for the +middle classes. This fact, however, is in a great measure an _exemplar_ +of the declining condition of the country generally, the articles in +question being worn, in a majority of cases, as substitutes for the more +costly woollen fabrics. Moreover, no profit accrues to the manufacturer +from these goods, their production at existing rates of the raw material +being, on the contrary, attended with absolute loss. + +The retail trade in the manufacturing towns themselves, represented as +being in such a satisfactory condition, is anything but good, a +considerable portion of the population being employed only two or three +days in the week, and the whole having been compelled during the past +two or three years to submit to reduction of wages, as the price of +their boasted boon of Free-trade. This is particularly the case in the +districts of Rochdale, (John Bright’s district,) Heywood, Bury, +Middleton, &c. The effect of preceding years’ short-time working is +still severely felt, last year having been the only one since 1846—when +we had the boasted measure of Sir Robert Peel, and the “heavy blow and +great discouragement” was inflicted upon British agriculture and our +sugar-growing colonies—that the manufacturing population have been fully +employed. + +Such being the acknowledged condition of the home market for +manufactured goods, the question naturally presents itself—what has been +the result, so far as profit is concerned, of the operations generally +of the manufacturing community during the past four months? In reply to +this question, it will be very easy to prove that thus far, in the +present year, they have been the reverse of remunerative. The following +extract from the circular of Messrs M‘Nair, Greenhow, and Irving, of +Manchester—one of the best published, although putting rather the best +face upon things—dated the 31st of December last year, will show the +prospects with which manufacturers entered upon the present year:— + + + “MANCHESTER, _Dec. 31, 1849_. + + “Exactly twelve months ago we represented the transactions of the + closing month as having been almost unprecedented in extent, + considering the season of the year; and to-day we are happy to have in + our power to communicate a pretty similar statement with regard to the + present month, repeating what we have often remarked, that _December_ + in ordinary years is generally marked by dulness and inactivity. + + “The position of the market, as indicated in our last (monthly) + circular, continued for about ten days afterwards gradually acquiring + greater force and depression, and accompanied with a decline in the + value of many descriptions of cloth and twist. At that period, from a + very prevalent belief that the commencement of the new year would be + characterised by improvement, an active and vigorous demand for export + and the home trade ensued, which has, notwithstanding the interruption + of the holiday season, continued up to the present time, rendering the + stocks of all kinds of light goods, as well as of some numbers of mule + twist, exceedingly light, and placing many manufacturers and spinners + under contract for some time hence.” + + +Another authority, Messrs Hollinshead, Tetley, & Co., an old-established +cotton firm of Liverpool, who are generally in the possession of the +best information, remarked upon the prospects of the district in their +circular of the first of January as follows:— + + + “Prospects for the general trade of the country, at least as regards + the principal articles of export, more particularly cotton fabrics, + were perhaps never more promising; and it is evident that the late + disturbing causes, political and social, in Europe and India, with the + effects produced upon other countries, reducing the consumption of + cotton to 22,230 weekly in 1847, and 27,602 in 1848, (previously + upwards of 30,000 bales weekly,) created a vacuum which has not been + filled up by the increased consumption of 30,512 bales weekly in the + present year; indeed it would seem that this large quantity (and it + has been proportionately great in other cotton manufacturing + countries) has only been sufficient to supply the increasing wants of + the world, as we no longer hear of glutted markets, but the report is + of light stocks almost everywhere. And when we take into consideration + the low price of all articles of food, corn particularly, (a + questionable advantage, perhaps, when unnaturally low, if the home + market is to be considered of any value,) the great abundance of + money, its low value, not exceeding, perhaps, 2½ per cent per annum in + the London market, with a larger amount of gold, &c. (£17,000,000) in + the Bank of England than was ever known before, it is evident that a + great stimulus may be given to the trade of the country, and that with + the disfavour shown to railway property it is most likely the usual + effects will follow—viz., extensive speculation and greatly enhanced + prices of all articles of import, and of cotton in particular.” + + +The whole of the trade circulars, indeed, both from Liverpool and +Manchester houses, expressed similar views with respect to the prospects +of the present year; and seemed to expect an increase in the aggregate +manufactures of the country. In reviewing the actual state of things +which has taken place, I would direct your attention particularly to the +fact of spinners and manufacturers being “under contract” at this +period, as stated in the first circular from which I have quoted. Such +contracts could only have been entered upon, consistently with prudence +at least, in the anticipation of a continuance of the then existing +prices of the raw material, or upon the assurance of a stock already in +hand. To a considerable extent spinners did hold stock sufficient for +the fulfilment, profitably, of a portion of their contracts, as is shown +by the circumstance that they have, since the commencement of the year, +worked up about 40,000 bales of cotton more than they have drawn from +the Liverpool market. That in the majority of cases, however, the stocks +held were only sufficient to complete a portion of the contracts entered +into is a fact which is quite beyond dispute; and these parties have +consequently been driven into the market to purchase the raw material at +the ruling prices of the day. In order to ascertain their position, it +will be necessary to trace the relative prices of cotton and of goods +during the interval between December 1849 and the present time. Up to +the commencement of that month, the prices of the raw material had been +gradually rising; and the almost universal complaint of spinners and +manufacturers had been of the unwillingness of buyers to pay a +proportionate advance upon goods. Thus, on the 1st of June last year, +the price of fair bowed cotton was 4¼d. per lb., from which it advanced +gradually, owing to reports of a short yield of the crop in America, +until on the 1st of January this year it stood at 6⅜d., being an advance +of 2⅛d. per lb. The price of best seconds water twist, No. 20 was on the +1st of June 6¾d., and on the 1st of January 8¼d. The price of best +second mule, No. 40, was at the same dates respectively 8½d. and 10½d. +We had therefore— + + Advance upon cotton, . 2⅛d. per lb. + Do. upon yarn, No. 20, 1½d. „ + Do. upon yarn, No. 40, 2d. „ + +This was obviously a losing trade; and it is acknowledged that, during +the whole of this period business was only profitably carried on by the +fortunate few who had laid in stocks at the low prices. On the 1st of +February the highest price was attained, fair bowed cotton being quoted +at 6⅞d., with No. 20 yarn at 8¾d., and No. 40 at 11¼d.—being an advance +of ½ on the raw material, ½d. on the No. 20 yarn, and ¾d. on No. 40. To +counteract the upward tendency of the market, a resort to the working of +short time was resolved upon, principally by the spinners of coarse +numbers; and the consumption was thus materially reduced, spinners and +manufacturers drawing upon their stocks on hand, and thus keeping out of +the markets for the raw material. A gradual decline in the price of +cotton was the result—goods, however, sharing in the depression; and on +the 1st of April fair bowed was quoted at 6⅛d., or ¾d. per lb. lower +than in February. No. 20 yarn, the stocks having been reduced by +short-time working, had declined only ½d. per lb.; No. 40, however, had +fallen to the same extent as cotton. There was therefore no increase of +prosperity brought about thus far by the short-time movement, the price +of goods remaining at the same unsatisfactory point as compared with the +raw material. + +At this date, Messrs Robert Barbour and Brother of Manchester, in their +monthly circular, speak as follows with respect to the general trade of +the cotton manufacturing districts:— + + + “We have to report a very dull and unsatisfactory state of business in + this district during the month. There has been a gradual decline in + prices varying from 2½ to 7½ per cent, so that some kinds of goods can + now be bought fully 10 to 12 per cent under the rates which were + demanded in January. These reduced quotations have induced some + parties to enter the market, but still the demand has been much under + the average of what is usually experienced at this season of the year. + The working of ‘short time’ is now generally adopted by the producers + of coarse yarn and heavy goods, and several large mills continue + closed. The drooping tendency of some descriptions of the finer + fabrics has been slightly counteracted during the last week by more + favourable intelligence from Calcutta and China; still, however, our + market is unsteady, and it is more than usually difficult to form any + idea of what is likely to be the future course of prices. + + “In the goods market a general quietness has prevailed throughout the + month, buyers acting with extreme caution, purchasing only in small + parcels for the supply of their more pressing wants: prices, + consequently, have been irregular, and some considerable sales have + been made by needy manufacturers at very low rates.” + + +The dulness here spoken of is particularly observable in the staple +articles consumed by the home trade. Messrs Barbour and Brother state +that— + + + “36-inch shirtings have participated in the general depression, and + stocks are beginning to accumulate. 66-reeds, 7¾ lb., have receded in + value 6d. to 9d. per piece, having been sold in February at 8s. to 8s. + 4½d., whilst now they are worth only 7s. 6d. to 7s. 9d.” + + +Again:— + + + “Domestics T cloths and stout long cloths continue neglected, + notwithstanding the curtailed production, and can now be bought on + easier terms. Average qualities of domestics have been sold at 9d. per + lb., which is by no means remunerative to the maker.” + + +The concluding paragraph of the circular is very decisive as to the +comparatively profitless nature of the manufacture:— + + + “Cotton has now declined about 1d. per lb. during the last three + months. It is still, however, much higher than is warranted by the + prices which can be obtained for the manufactured article. Indeed, _at + several periods during the last few years, prices of yarns and goods + have been quite as high as those now current, with cotton at 1d. to + 2d. per lb. lower than at present_.” + + +Since the date of the circular containing these gloomy accounts, an +important change has taken place, and the tide has set in strongly +against the manufacturing community. Immediately subsequent to its +publication, the arrival of the American mail-steamer brought news +confirmatory of the anticipations of a short crop of cotton, and prices +immediately advanced, leaving the spinners and manufacturers to recruit +their exhausted stocks at a further loss, as compared with the prices of +goods. On the 5th of April, the receipts of cotton at the ports of +America were shown to be 310,000 bales less than at the same period of +the preceding year; whilst the stock computed to be held in Liverpool +was 511,000 bales, as compared with 447,300 bales held at the same date +in 1849, or only 63,700 bales more than last year, although spinners had +decreased their consumption by 6300 bales per week, and taken 40,000 +bales from their own stocks. The total crop of the United States, which +had been estimated in the beginning of the year at from 2,250,000 to +2,300,000 bales, was only estimated in the advices by the steamer at +2,100,000 bales. + +I fear that, to some readers, these statistics may be rather tedious. +They are necessary, however, to enable us fully to understand the +position in which this important branch of the manufactures of the +country, and the large population dependent upon it, have been placed by +the intelligence brought by another later mail from the United States, +which arrived in the Mersey on the morning of the 16th ult. I have +stated that the estimates formed of the probable crop in America, at the +beginning of the year, varied from 2,250,000 to 2,300,000 bales. These +had been reduced, up to the arrival of the steamer in the first week of +April, to 2,100,000 bales. With this progressive decline going on in the +amount of the crop, as estimated by competent judges upon the spot, and +with the fact of decreased receipts at the American ports before their +eyes, the spinners of this country have, with few exceptions, resolutely +refused to give credit to the representations made to them, and kept +further exhausting their stocks on hand, or buying only to supply their +immediate wants. The arrival of the Niagara, however, has put the +question at rest, and not only confirmed the statements as to the crop +being a short one, but established the fact that it is likely to be much +shorter than was by anybody anticipated. The following is the startling +disclosure made by Mr T. J. Stewart of New York, one of the best +authorities in the United States, upon the subject, in his circular of +the 2d ult.:— + + + “The crop proves to be a short one—and if measured by the ability of + the world to consume, the shortest one since ’41–’42. The falling off + in the receipts regularly exceeds the progressive estimate I made some + time since, and on which I made up my table of 2,100,000 bales. It + will close _under two millions of bales_. How far below, I cannot at + present say, but the interior of the country is exhausted of supplies + to so great a degree, that it is evident that such a figure is totally + impracticable.” + + +The decrease in the stocks arrived at the ports of America is put down +by him now at 470,000 bales. Of this very insufficient crop of less than +2,000,000 bales—that of the preceding year, I may remark, was +2,728,000—Mr Stewart reminds us that _America will require above 600,000 +bales to supply her own mills, or nearly two-fifths of the total +quantity consumed in Great Britain last year_. This, of itself, is a +somewhat startling fact, and proves the rapid strides which America is +making toward depriving this country of its manufacturing pre-eminence. + +It is obvious, from the above circumstances, that the American planters, +and the holders of cotton in that country and in Liverpool, have the +manufacturer at this moment within their grasp, and will be enabled to +extort from his necessities still higher prices than those which have +for months past rendered his business a losing one. The stocks of cotton +held in the manufacturing districts are unprecedentedly light, and those +of goods have been of late considerably reduced. But can an advance be +secured on the manufactured article, corresponding with that demanded +for the raw material? Few people believe this to be practicable. With +the exception of a little temporary activity in the demand of goods for +the East Indian market, towards the middle of last month, the gloomy +feeling existing in every branch of the trade had deepened, and the +demand for nearly every article perceptibly lessened. The accounts +received by export houses from foreign markets are not of a character to +encourage further operations; and the demand for the home trade remains +very limited. In broad terms, _the leading foreign markets are glutted +for months to come, and the population throughout the agricultural +districts, and in the large towns of the kingdom as well, are +diminishing their consumption of cotton and other fabrics to the lowest +possible point_. With respect to the foreign trade, the worst feature is +the falling off in the demand from the United States, to which I showed +that, in the first two months of this year, we had shipped goods equal +to the one half of last year’s exports. The returns for these shipments +may be expected to be very unsatisfactory. On this subject, the last +steamer (the Niagara) brought the following report:— + + + “The spring trade of New York _had disappointed all classes_. Early in + January there was an unusually active demand. High prices were + obtained, and large sales were made; since then business had fallen + off, and _the month of March, which ought to have been the best, had + been extremely dull—more so than had been known for many years_. The + stock of British and other foreign dry goods was not large, but the + demand was small.” + + +From this market, expectations of the most sanguine character had been +previously indulged in, which are thus rudely dashed to the ground. + +As yet the manufacturing community, stunned by the conviction which has +been forced upon them of their desperate position, have formed no +definite resolution as to the course to be pursued. For a week or two +longer, it is possible that a portion of them may make further fruitless +efforts to keep down the market for the raw material, which will now be +held by speculators, aided by the abundant funds in the hands of +bankers, with the certainty of ultimately realising higher rates. In the +opinion of parties acquainted intimately with the whole circumstances of +the trade, the only available course for spinners is to decrease +consumption still further, by an extension of the system of working +short time, or by closing a considerable portion of the mills +altogether. Profitable working, even without an increase in the price of +the raw material, is out of the question, with markets in their present +depressed condition. But with such an advance as must be paid, if even +the present reduced rate of consumption is to go on, the business would +be perfectly ruinous. + +It is painful to reflect upon the severe suffering which must be +entailed upon the operative and middle classes, throughout the +manufacturing districts, by a general suspension of operations, or even +by an increase of short-time working. These classes, greatly reduced as +their wages have been during the past two years, have not, I may repeat, +recovered as yet from the effect of the suspension of manufacturing +activity to which they were forced in 1847 and 1848; and are +consequently in a much worse position to be thrown again upon their own +resources. The neatly furnished cottage no longer remains to be +dismantled for the purpose of providing food for their families. The +little savings’ bank hoards disappeared in those years, and have not +since been replaced. A few employers, no doubt, may be disposed to allow +to their hands a pittance sufficient to provide against actual +deprivation; but it is to be feared that the mass will act with no such +humane considerateness. Another result of such a course must be still +farther to decrease the consumption, and depress the prices, of our +large stocks of imported produce, and thus to inflict heavy losses upon +their holders. + +It is to me perfectly clear, and the fact is tacitly admitted by a large +portion of the community engaged in mercantile and manufacturing +pursuits, that a most trying and fearful crisis is at hand; and that the +present summer will not end without her Majesty’s Ministers, and the +Free Trade party, being compelled to acknowledge that the speech from +the Throne, and the representations of prosperity made by them at the +opening of Parliament, were, if not deliberate perversions of the truth, +at all events most ill-considered and hasty. We had in February last, it +is now evident, no such thing as even prosperous manufactures, or a +healthy state of commerce. Whilst these representations were being made, +and agricultural pursuits alone pointed to as being in a state of +temporary depression, the leading manufacture of the country was being +carried on without profit, and our merchants and traders were feeling +the ground shake beneath their feet. It is of no use, however, to refer +to the past. The questions for the nation now to consider are—first, +What is it which has brought about this general prostration of the +country? and next, Where is the remedy to be applied? It is idle for the +Free-traders to point any longer to potato rots, to railway manias, or +to high prices of cotton, as the cause of the failure of their +predictions of coming general prosperity. The truth is palpably before +the world that the foreign trade, stimulate it as we may, will not +employ the industry of the country; and that a prosperous home trade is +indispensably necessary to render the foreign trade a profitable one. It +is equally idle to tell us that the present state of things is only +temporary, and that a different result of our recent policy will be +attained by and by. In what direction are we to look for the change? Is +any new world about to be discovered? Is there a single outlet to be +found for our manufactures, which we cannot close up in a month? I +confess that I cannot discern a gleam of hope for the future, or a +prospect of the restoration of this great nation to its wonted +prosperity, except in a total reversal of the legislation of the past +few years, by which, and by which alone, has been caused that +prostration of its industry and enterprise, which we are now witnessing +on every side—in our own once happy land, and throughout the length and +breadth of that vast colonial empire, once the pride of Great Britain, +and the envy of the world, but now her shame, ruined and robbed as it +has been by the legislation of designing or incapable statesmen. With +our agricultural population fast sinking into pauperism and insolvency, +or taking flight from our shores, as from those of an infected land, to +fertilise with their capital and enterprise other soils, which own +protective governments and a kindred people; with the landed aristocracy +of the kingdom, and squirearchy and the yeomen, stripped of half their +possessions—the baronial hall no longer distributing its hospitality to +thousands, and pinching poverty and thrift marking the household +arrangements, where of old there was plenty, a cup for the needy, and +consolation and succour for the afflicted; with the middle classes in +our towns forced down in the social scale, and hovering over the gulf of +insolvency and ruin, and the labourer turned out, a desperate man, to +wrest with the strong hand the food which we deny him the means to +purchase, whilst we mock him with its cheapness—the manufacturing body +will strive in vain for the consummation of that object which, in their +selfishness, they proposed to themselves as the result of the boasted +Free-trade policy—viz. the setting up of their houses over those of the +time-honoured names of the land. Blindly and madly they have detached +the handful of snow from the summit of the mountain; with mocking jeers +of hideous and idiotic glee, they have seen its gathering bulk, and +watched its progress as it rolled, prostrating the cottage and the +farmstead, and spreading devastation over the vineyard and the waving +corn; and they stand now shuddering at the mighty avalanche which is +thundering above the tall chimney and the smoky town, and will shortly +involve themselves in the general calamity and devastation. Yes, the +fears of these men are at length beginning to be effectively roused by +the contemplation of the work of their own hands. I say _beginning_, +because the day of retribution is only now coming upon them, and making +itself felt. The philosophers of the loom and spindle talk now “with +bated breath” of the efficacy of their universal specific. There are +doubting anxious faces on ‘Change, gloomy greetings as they meet in the +streets, and idle hands in the once busy salerooms and warehouses. Many, +whose voices were lately loud in cheering the flattering tales and +sophistries of their Cobdens and Brights—some of those even whose +subscriptions enabled the former to buy his Woodland farm, and whose +votes and influence hoisted the blustering Quaker into a seat in the +Legislature, are now ready to acknowledge, in private, that “there is +some mistake;” that they have, perhaps, gone too far; and that, after +all, Free Trade is “only an experiment.” Alas! it is one whose fatal +effects will have to be deeply deplored, and from which the country will +not recover for years to come. A quarter of a century of toil will +scarcely replace the capital which has been swept away, up to the +present period. More remains to be swept away; but now it will be the +capital of the authors of the calamity. + +And this portion of these philosophers are busily and eagerly striving +to persuade the farmer that he is foolishly nervous under the +apprehension of permanent low prices; and that these have now reached +the level at which the foreigner can no longer supply us profitably. +Unfortunately, whilst they are sagely assuring the world of this fact, +grain and flour keeps steadily pouring into our ports, at still further +reduced prices; and additional evidence is daily being afforded of the +total ignorance of the subject displayed in their statistics and +calculations: supplies are reaching us daily from countries which were +left altogether out of the catalogue of those from whose growers we were +led to anticipate competition. Thus from France, a country which it was +always said was not able to grow sufficient for its own consumption, the +receipts at the port of Liverpool during two weeks, in which alone the +quantity is quoted separately, were as follows:— + + French flour. + Week ending March 19, 6000 barrels. + April 9, 6166 + and 2419 American. + +And from that country, and the whole of the ports of the North of +Europe, distant from us by only a few days’ sail—by a voyage made in +less time than the average consumed in those made from port to port on +our own coasts—supplies will continue to come, at rates with which the +British grower can never hope to compete. In fact, the farmer of the +North of Europe may in future be treated as a British subject—enjoying +all the immunities of one, without contributing towards his burthens. He +is nearer the London or the Liverpool markets than a Norfolk or a +Lincolnshire farmer; and that he frequently pays less for the conveyance +of his produce than it will be seen from the following table, which +contains the rates actually paid in Liverpool by importing houses during +the years beginning in 1847 to this year, such farmer pays:— + + COASTING and FOREIGN FREIGHTS of WHEAT to LIVERPOOL. + + ┌─────────────────┬──────────────────┬──────────────────┐ + │ │ 1847. │ 1848. │ + ├─────────────────┼──────────────────┼──────────────────┤ + │ │ Per quarter. │ Per quarter. │ + │ │_s. d._ _s. d._│_s. d._ _s. d._│ + │From Stettin, │5 0 │ │ + │ „ Dantzig, │4 6 │4 0 │ + │ „ Rostock, │6 0 │4 0 │ + │ „ Hamburg, │4 0 to 3 6 │4 0 to 3 0 │ + │ „ Rotterdam, │ │2 6 │ + │ „ Antwerp, │ │3 0 to 2 6 │ + │ „ Bremen, │ │3 3 to 3 0 │ + │ „ Bruges, │ │ │ + │ „ Ghent, │ │ │ + │ „ New York, │ │ │ + │ (last │ │ │ + │ rates,) │ │ │ + │ │ │ │ + │_From Coasts of │ │ │ + │ England to │ │ │ + │ Liverpool._ │ │ │ + │ Colchester, │2 0 │2 0 │ + │ Woodbridge, │2 6 │2 6 │ + │ Salcombe, │2 6 │2 6 │ + │ Kingsbridge,│2 6 │2 6 │ + │ Lynn, │2 6 │2 1 │ + │ Ipswich, │2 3 │1 9 │ + │ Yarmouth, │2 1 │ │ + └─────────────────┴──────────────────┴──────────────────┘ + + ┌─────────────────┬──────────────────┬──────────────────┐ + │ │ 1849. │ 1850. │ + ├─────────────────┼──────────────────┼──────────────────┤ + │ │ Per quarter. │ Per quarter. │ + │ │_s. d._ _s. d._│_s. d._ _s. d._│ + │From Stettin, │4 0 to 2 9 │3 0 │ + │ „ Dantzig, │4 0 │3 0 │ + │ „ Rostock, │4 0 │ │ + │ „ Hamburg, │3 0 │1 9 │ + │ „ Rotterdam, │2 0 to 1 9 │1 9 │ + │ „ Antwerp, │2 6 to 1 6 │1 3 to 1 0!│ + │ „ Bremen, │ │1 6 │ + │ „ Bruges, │1 6 │1 6 │ + │ „ Ghent, │1 6 │1 6 │ + │ „ New York, │ │3 0 │ + │ (last │ │ │ + │ rates,) │ │ │ + │ │ │ │ + │_From Coasts of │ │ │ + │ England to │ │ │ + │ Liverpool._ │ │ │ + │ Colchester, │ │1 6 │ + │ Woodbridge, │1 9 │1 6 │ + │ Salcombe, │ │2 0 │ + │ Kingsbridge,│2 0 │ │ + │ Lynn, │ │ │ + │ Ipswich, │1 9 to 1 6 │1 6 │ + │ Yarmouth, │1 10 │ │ + └─────────────────┴──────────────────┴──────────────────┘ + +Yet the freight on wheat was to be a sufficient protection for the +farmer! + +I must here, sir, leave the subject to your own powerful pen. I have +given you the facts as I have collated them from the most authentic +sources, and the observations which I have made personally; and they +have more than confirmed the impressions with which I entered upon this +inquiry.— have the honour to be, &c. + + + + + ALISON’S POLITICAL ESSAYS.[5] + + +The collection of scattered periodical essays, especially such as are of +a strictly political character, is an adventure far more perilous to the +reputation of an author than the issue of any single work deliberately +planned, and laboriously executed in the closet. The historian, dealing +solely with the records of the past, reviving or recreating pictures +which have long ago appeared upon the ancient canvass, may without +difficulty arrange his scattered portraits and groups in such an order, +that they shall impress the public mind with a feeling of absolute +novelty. A historical paradox, if ingeniously conceived and plausibly +conveyed, is sure to command attention. The fickleness of the Athenians +was by no means idiosyncratic to that volatile nation. All men weary of +hearing the same phrase and the same judgment invariably repeated. They +suspect the justice of Aristides, or the perfidy of Crookback Richard, +on account of the unanimous verdict, and are by no means displeased when +any daring casuist steps forward, armed with a tolerable array of proof, +to detract from the rigid virtue of the one, or to palliate the vices of +the other. In truth, the materials of all history are so various and +conflicting in their character, that an artist of consummate skill, who +is withal not over-scrupulous, may easily pass off fictions under the +disguise of broad reality. Historical sketches, therefore, which relate +to past events, may be viewed in the light either of lively episodes or +of profound commentaries; and their republication, after a term of +years, can in no way affect the soundness of the author’s judgment. + +To republish criticisms, especially such as relate to the works of +cotemporaries, is certainly a more delicate task. It is easy to comment +upon an author whose works have been long before the public, and +frequently and diligently scanned. High criticism may discover beauties +or detect faults which have escaped the notice of less keen and +scrutinising observers; but, in the aggregate, certainly in the majority +of cases, the broad opinion which has been expressed by others is +allowed to remain unchallenged. The influence of previous judgment +invariably sways the critic. None are rash enough to deny the genius of +Shakspeare; at the same time, nothing is more certain than that, were +another Shakspeare to arise amongst us at this moment, there would be no +kind of unanimity as to his deserts. In all ages and in all countries +this has been the rule. Personal spite, unacknowledged and possibly +unperceived envy, party difference of opinion, disparity of station, +prejudice of education—all these, in their turn, have passed, like so +many clouds, between the sun of living genius and the critics who +surveyed its orbit. Nor ought we to overlook the fact that, in many +instances, meteors have been mistaken for suns, and the eyes of the +critic been dazzled by a glare, to which his own willing imagination +lent at least one half its brilliancy. Therefore it is that contemporary +criticism, when republished in an abiding form, rarely satisfies the +expectation of the reader. His own judgment has been formed, apart from +the considerations and prejudices which are so apt to beset the critic; +and he conceives an unfavourable impression of the literary acuteness of +the writer, when he finds a gross discrepancy between the older and the +later estimate. + +But far more trying to an author is the republication of political +essays, composed during the progress of great national events. This +branch of composition is peculiar to our own age, in which periodical +literature is so marked and eminent a feature. Pamphleteering is of +venerable date. Sir Thomas More, Milton, Marvell, Swift, and Defoe, were +all notable pamphleteers; but periodical writing, in the highest sense +of the term, is the invention of the present century. That great and +influential organs of public opinion, ranking among their contributors +the men of the highest intellect and the most laborious acquirements, +should have been established in our time, marks not only the development +of the influence of the press, but the importance of the events which +such men are imperatively summoned to discuss. It marks even more, for +it has established a power beyond the boundaries of the old +constitution, which, as it is used or misused, cannot fail to affect +materially the destinies of Great Britain. + +Every political treatise referring to events which have engrossed the +attention of the day, either as modifications or as changes of our +social system, must be valuable in later years. It must necessarily +recommend or condemn measures on account of their probable operation in +the time to come; it must in some degree be a prophecy, or else it is +practically worthless. The politician studies the past merely as his +guide for the future. If he is learned, wise, and at all an adept in the +science which he professes—than which no other is of so momentous an +import—he will consider past history as the barometer which must guide +him in predicating the approach either of a tempest or a calm. Temporary +clamour or occasional obstruction will not lead him to forsake clear +principles of action, or to recommend a grand constitutional remedy in +the case of a trifling local disease. He must look forward beyond the +sphere of immediate action—resolute in this belief, that one false step, +however small, may upset the equilibrium of the State. Expediency, the +modern idol, finds little favour in the eyes of the true and sagacious +statesman. He tests measures by their intrinsic value, regardless of the +“pressure from without;” and he looks upon Parliamentary majorities as +of less moment than the maintenance of the real interests of his +country. + +If we apply these remarks to our later political history, and to the +conduct of those men whom circumstances have elevated to the highest +stations in Government, we shall at once perceive that the first great +principles of practical statesmanship have been abandoned. The welfare +and integrity of the Empire has been made a subsidiary object to the +triumph of party ambition; and accordingly, CONSISTENCY, that grand test +of a politician’s sincerity and soundness, is the very quality which is +wanting. To consistency, indeed, neither Lord John Russell nor Sir +Robert Peel, for many years the rival chiefs of party, can lay the +slightest claim. They have been playing a long, and, doubtless, an +interesting game, with the map of Britain and its dependencies before +them as a chess-board: they have directed the whole of their energies to +giving checkmate to one another; and with this view they have again and +again altered the relative positions of king and queen, bishops, +knights, castles, and pawns. To counteract the last move of his +adversary was the great object of each of these ingenious players. It +was a pretty trial of dexterity and finesse; but we trust, for the sake +of the chessmen, that the match is finally concluded. Talent of this +kind may, indeed, be available when it is necessary to contend with a +foreign adversary; but it is worse than mischievous when practised +systematically at home. + +To have surveyed the political events of the last twenty years with a +calm and dispassionate eye—to estimate the consequences of each +concession to popular clamour, and each move for party purposes—to form +inductions as to the future from the indelible history of the past—to +trace the causes of social misery and disquiet to their remote and +recondite source—to discern the coming cloud of adversity in the midst +of apparent abundance—required more than common thought, learning, +sagacity, and prescience; and the man who has done all this, cannot fail +to be ranked, in the estimation of those whose judgment is of real +value, among the first masters of political and economic science. Many +brilliant commentaries upon passing events, which at the first blush +were received as absolute oracles of wisdom, have utterly failed in +their predictions, and are now consigned to oblivion. They failed—if +from no other cause, at least assuredly from this—that they flowed from +the pens of partisans, whose whole energies were devoted to the +advancement of themselves and their faction. Party spirit, indeed, has +of late years almost entirely overshadowed that patriotism which was +once our highest boast. Truth may be spoken of an opponent—and very +often more than truth; but it is seldom expressed with regard to the +political conduct of those whom men are accustomed to regard as their +friends. Private motives are allowed to interfere with the more rigorous +functions of the censor; the moralist is changed into the apologetic +rhetorician; the judge becomes the interested advocate. + +Were the present crisis of our political history less momentous than it +truly is—were not the great and final struggle for a return to the +principles, by means of which our national greatness was achieved, so +near at hand—we might, from motives and considerations easily +appreciable, have left this volume of Mr Alison’s collected political +essays without any special notice. For a long period of years, embracing +the most important changes which have been made in the institutions and +relations of this country, Mr Alison has been a constant contributor to +the Magazine, adopting his own views, enforcing his own opinions, +without reference to the distinctions of party or the position of +individual statesmen. We believe that, in some respects, the attitude of +the Magazine has differed from that assumed by any periodical +publication in the country. It has never been the organ of a Party, and +never subservient to a Government. Many times we have been compelled to +differ from those whose political opinions have been thought most +closely to approximate to our own; and never have we hesitated to +express that difference in clear and unambiguous terms, knowing that a +true and honourable conviction never ought to be concealed, or can be +without affecting the integrity of those who entertain it. + +The present publication sufficiently discloses the part which Mr Alison +has taken in the political discussions which have arisen during that +eventful period. They are valuable to the rising generation for two +especial reasons. In the first place, they are a faithful record of the +impressions which passing events made upon the mind of a highly-gifted, +generous, and independent man, the object of whose life was apart from +those pursuits which inflame the passions, whilst they warp the +judgment, of the mere partisan. In the second place, they will enable +the reader to trace, step by step, the innovations which modern +Liberalism has made upon the older limits of the constitution; and to +estimate the consistency of those who at one time affected to be the +opponents of that Liberalism, and at another, whether through weakness, +or treachery, or ambition, came forward to assist in its blind and +infatuated progress. + +Perhaps the most interesting papers in the present volume are those +which refer to the memorable and exciting era of the Reform Bill. They +are not only interesting, but highly instructive in a constitutional +point of view, as showing the utter disregard of the Whig faction to the +maintenance of that political framework which, when in power, they +affect to worship with almost superstitious veneration. Never, probably, +was there a period in our history when the passions of the populace were +more dexterously and deliberately excited by men of high station, and by +no means contemptible intellect. Treason was then in vogue: sedition +openly encouraged. Most of us can recollect the ugly and ominous emblems +which were paraded through the streets of the larger towns, and the +violence with which every one supposed to be hostile to the popular +measure was assailed. Haughty aristocrats, like the late Earl Grey, +condescended to treat with Jacobin clubs and political unions; the +physical power of the masses was appealed to as an argument of +irresistible weight, and Whig officials were privy to the plan of a +projected Birmingham insurrection. The voice of reason was entirely +stifled amidst the general democratic howl, and all suggestions as to a +modification of the grand electoral scheme were treated with fierce +hostility. The framers of the measure had no wish that its details +should be narrowly sifted, or submitted to the test of principle. There +was a deep meaning in the phrase, which at that time passed into a +proverb, “The Bill—the whole Bill—and nothing but the Bill!” No other +method of reform, however large and comprehensive, would have suited the +junta who then deemed themselves secure of an interminable lease of +power. And why? Because any other measure which might have embraced the +claim of the Colonies to a share in the Imperial representation, would +have interfered with their special project of lowering the landed +interest, and giving a decided preponderance in Parliament to the votes +of the urban population. + +We are far from wishing to maintain that the spirit which animated the +councils of the Conservative leaders of the day was in all respects the +most prudent; or that they did not to a certain extent accelerate the +movement by withholding minor concessions, which might have been +gracefully and advantageously given. But in justice to them it must be +remembered, that they had a great principle to contend for—a principle +too little understood then, and perhaps only now becoming generally +appreciated on account of the pernicious effects which have resulted +from its violation. The older Representative system of Great Britain +might appear to the casual eye artificial, unequal, and therefore +unjust; but it had this grand and wholesome advantage, which we look for +in vain in its successor, that, by means of it, not only were the great +classes of the community at home adequately represented, but our +fellow-subjects of the Colonies could, and did, exercise a direct +influence within the walls of St Stephen’s. To allow this influence to +be encroached on, however covertly or plausibly, seemed tantamount to an +abandonment of the principle by which the Conservative party had been +guided throughout; and subsequent events have shown that no exaggerated +estimate was formed of the tendencies of democratic rule. This +conviction of the prospective danger of the Reform measure to the +integrity of the British Empire was, we know, the main cause of that +early, though perhaps injudicious, resistance to the extension of the +electoral suffrage, which finally gave way before the impulse added to +popular excitement by the example of foreign revolution. As regarded the +welfare of our Colonies, the Reform Bill was virtually a death-blow. It +laid the foundation for a rapid succession of measures, selfish in their +tendency and grossly impolitic, which have already gone far to pervert +the loyal feelings of the Colonists, by teaching them that the mother +country has decided upon a policy altogether injurious to their +interests as subjects of the British Crown. They have had no voice, no +direction in the legislative enactments which have since that time so +deeply affected their prosperity; they have been governed rather as +tributaries than as portions of the Empire; and their complaints have +been too often treated with undisguised contumely, or, at best, with +haughty indifference. Our opinion as to the importance of the +maintenance of our Colonial dominions, and the imminent necessity which +exists of securing that maintenance by giving them some effective voice +in the legislative councils of Great Britain, has been repeatedly +expressed. No other step will suffice to stay the tide of disaffection; +and happy will it be for all of us, if the practical refutation of the +Free-trade delusion, now becoming every day more obvious and +acknowledged, shall lead to such prudent measures, with regard to our +dependencies, as may again consolidate into one great and united mass, +inspired by the same feelings and actuated by the same interests, the +scattered elements of British greatness and renown. + +But apart altogether from Colonial considerations, the Reform Bill has +been productive of the most serious consequences to the internal economy +of this country. Under its benign operation the National Debt, instead +of being diminished, is augmented; whilst, at the same time, by a system +of ruinous cheapness, induced by the free admission of foreign produce +to compete in the home market with our own, incomes have been lowered by +nearly a half, and the means of paying the increased taxation have been +proportionably curtailed. We do not believe that the Whigs, while +straining every energy to carry the Reform Bill, meditated the +possibility of any such results. We have their own statements—at least +those of Lords Melbourne and John Russell—to the contrary; and even were +it otherwise, we are not disposed to attribute to that party so great a +share of political prescience, as to assume that they foresaw the +consequences of their own deliberate act. + +It was, however, foreseen by others. In 1831, Mr Alison, arguing from +historical precedents, predicted that the natural effect of the passing +of the Reform Bill would be the repeal of the Corn Laws. + + + “When it is recollected,” wrote he, “that 300 English members of the + Reformed house are to be for the boroughs, and only 150 for the + counties, it may easily be anticipated that this effect is certain. + And in vain will the House of Peers strive to resist such a result: + their power must have been so completely extinguished before the + Reform Bill is past, that any resistance on their part would be + speedily overcome. + + “This first and unavoidable consequence of this great change will at + once set the manufacturing classes at variance with the agricultural + interest; and then will commence that fatal war between the different + classes of society, which has hitherto been only repressed by the + weight and authority of a stable, and, in a certain degree, hereditary + government, composed of an intermixture of the representatives of + _all_ interests. When it is recollected that wheat can be raised with + ease in Poland at prices varying from 17s. to 20s. a quarter, and that + it can be laid down on the quay of any harbour in Britain at from 33s. + to 40s., it may easily be anticipated what a revolution in prices + will, in the _first instance_, be effected by this measure. We say in + the _first_ instance—for nothing seems clearer than that the + _ultimate_ effect will be, by throwing a large portion of British land + out of cultivation, and in its stead producing a more extensive growth + of grain on the shores of the Vistula, to restore the equilibrium + between the supply of corn and its consumption, and, by means of + destroying a large portion of British agriculture, raise the prices + again to their former standard.” + + We have lately been favoured, from certain quarters, with ingenious + disquisitions touching the probable future price of grain in this + country—disquisitions to which we by no means object, as, apart + altogether from their truth or their falsity, they manifest a growing + uneasiness as to the possibility of maintaining the Free-trade system + for many months longer. We may perhaps be allowed to take some credit + to ourselves for having effected this change in the tone and + sentiments of gentlemen who, not long ago, were clamorous in their + praise of cheap food and diminished agricultural prices. In our + January Number, by the aid of the most intelligent, skilful, and + experienced agriculturists of Scotland, we proved, beyond the power of + refutation, that no British farmer could stand his ground against the + present influx of foreign corn, and that no possible reduction of + rent, short of its annihilation, would enable him to meet the + deficiency. We were met, as might naturally be expected, by the double + weapons of rancorous abuse and deliberate falsification.[6] But these + having utterly failed in their purpose, our antagonists have since + changed their ground altogether, and are now attempting to argue, + against the experience of each successive week, that the present fall + of prices is merely temporary, and that wheat must again rise to + something like its former level. How long they may continue in their + endeavours to propagate this fresh delusion we know not. They cannot + mislead the farmers, at whose door ruin is at present knocking with an + unmistakeable sound. The only men they can mislead are their unhappy + dupes, who have been taught to believe that the prosperity of Britain + depends solely upon one of the weakest, most unstable, and most + precarious of its manufactures. + + +In the same article from which we have just quoted, Mr Alison wrote as +follows:— + + + “Now, the misery arising from the reduction of the resources of the + farmer could not be confined to his own class in society; it would + immediately and seriously affect the manufacturing and commercial + interests. The great trade of every country, as Adam Smith long ago + remarked, is between the town and the country: by far the greatest + part of the produce of our looms is consumed by those who, directly or + indirectly, are fed by the British plough. Not the haughty aristocrat + only, who spends his life in luxurious indolence among his hereditary + trees, but the innumerable classes who are maintained by his rents and + fed by his expenditure—the numerous creditors who draw large parts of + his rents through their mortgages, and live in affluence in distant + towns upon the produce of his land—the farmers, who subsist in + comparative comfort on the industry which they exert on his + estates—the tradesmen and artisans, who are fed by his expenditure or + the wants of his tenantry—all would suffer alike by such a change of + prices as should seriously affect the industry of the cultivators. + Every shopkeeper knows how much he is dependent on the expenditure of + those who directly or indirectly are maintained by the land, and what + liberal purchasers landlords are, compared to those who subsist by + manufactures; and it is probable that the first and greatest sufferers + by the repeal of the Corn Laws would be many of those very persons + whose blind cry for Reform had rendered it unavoidable. + + “Now, the discouragement of British agriculture consequent on a + free-trade in corn would be _permanent_, although the benefit to the + inhabitants of towns could only be temporary. After the destruction of + a large portion of British agriculture had been effected, by the + immense inundation of foreign grain, prices would rise again to their + former level, because the monopoly would then be vested in the hands + of the foreign growers; and the bulky nature of grain renders it + _physically_ impossible to introduce an _unlimited_ supply of that + article by sea transport. But the condition of British agriculture + would not be materially benefited by the change; because prices would + rise _solely_ in consequence of the British grower being, for the most + part, driven out of the field; and could be maintained at a high level + only by his being _kept_ from an extensive competition with the + foreign cultivator. Should the British farmers, recovering from their + consternation, recommence the active agriculture which at present + maintains our vast and increasing population, the consequence would + be, that prices would immediately fall to such a degree, as speedily + to reduce them to their natural and unavoidable state of inferiority + to the farmers of the Continent. + + “In considering this subject, there are two important circumstances to + be kept in view, proved abundantly by experience, but which have not + hitherto met with the general attention which they deserve. + + “The first of these is, that, in agriculture—differing in this respect + from manufactures—the introduction of machinery, or the division of + labour, can effect _no reduction whatever_ in the price of its + produce, or the facility of its production; and perhaps the best mode + of cultivation yet known is that which is carried on by the greatest + possible application of human labour, in the form of spade + cultivation. The proof of this is decisive. Great Britain, with the + aid of the steam-engine, can undersell the weavers of Hindostan with + muslins manufactured out of cotton grown on the banks of the Ganges; + but it is undersold in its own markets by the wheat-grower on the + banks of the Vistula, or in the basin of the Mississippi. It is in + vain, therefore, for a state like England, burdened with high prices + and an excessive taxation—the natural consequence of commercial + opulence—to hope that its industry can, in agriculture as in + manufactures, withstand the competition of the foreign grower. + Machinery, skill, and capital can easily counteract high prices in all + other articles of human consumption: in agriculture, they can produce + no such effect. This is a law of nature which will subsist to the end + of the world. + + “The second is, that a comparatively small importation of grain + produces a prodigious effect on the prices at which it is sold. The + importation of a tenth part of the annual consumption does not, it is + calculated, lower prices a tenth, but _a half_—and so on with the + importation of smaller quantities. This has always been observed, and + is universally acknowledged by political economists. Although, + therefore, the greatest possible importation of foreign grain must + always be a part only of that required for the consumption of the + whole people, yet still the effect upon the current rate of prices + would be most disastrous. The greatest importation ever known was in + 1801, when it amounted, in consequence of the scarcity, to an + _eighteenth_ part of the annual consumption; but the free introduction + of much less than that quantity would reduce the price of wheat in the + first instance, in an ordinary year, to 45s. the quarter. + + “The repeal of the Corn Laws, therefore, is calculated to inflict a + _permanent_ wound on the agricultural resources of the empire, and + permanently injure all the numerous classes who depend on that branch + of industry, and confer only a _temporary_ benefit, by the reduction + of prices, on the manufacturing labourers. The benefit is temporary, + and mixed up, even at first, with a most bitter portion of alloy; the + evil lasting, unmitigated by any benefit whatever.” + + +We are now in the course of enduring that precise phase of suffering, +arising from the repeal of the Corn Laws, which was predicted by Mr +Alison more than eighteen years ago; and it is solely from the extent of +that suffering that we are inclined to form a better augury for the +future than we could have ventured to have done in the course of the +bygone year. Three months have not passed since, at the opening of +Parliament, the Whig Ministry with unparalleled audacity ventured to +congratulate the country on its general prosperous condition! Themselves +indeed they might congratulate, that, by means of an income and property +tax, imposed under false pretences by a former Premier, the public +revenue was still sufficient to meet its ordinary engagements; but what +other ground of congratulation there was, no host of witnesses could +tell. Could they venture to congratulate the country _now_ on the state +of the manufacturing districts? Has this little interval of three +months, at a time of universal peace and unparalleled cheapness, +sufficed to change universal prosperity into widespread and acknowledged +depression? Not so. The depression had begun long before—it commenced so +soon as falling prices warned the agricultural consumers of the fate +which was in store for them; and if Ministers did not know this, they +are utterly unfit to retain their places longer. The continuance of that +depression can be only measured by the existence of the Free-trade +system. If that is allowed to go on, and if there be indeed, as is now +the common cant of the Liberal journalists, no possibility of retracing +our steps, the next move will be one of plunder. No foreign trade can +compensate for the tithe of the loss sustained by the depreciation of +property at home. That cheapness which means nothing else than +curtailment of individual profits, from the highest to the lowest, +cannot possibly coexist with expensive government and enormous taxation. +The public creditor will be marked for the next blow; and his situation +is the more precarious from the peculiar monetary history of the +country, and the first important measure—pity also that it had not been +the last!—which Sir Robert Peel was instrumental in carrying through the +House of Commons. + +We are not only hopeful but sanguine as to the power of Great Britain in +extricating herself from a difficulty, not transient as before, but +settled in its character, because we believe that the downfal of a +wretched, presuming, and ignorant faction cannot be much longer delayed. +We have been cursed, for many years back, by the predominance of a race +of quacks, impostors, sham economists, and political adventurers, who, +through favour of the Reform Bill, have forced their way into +Parliament, after having failed in the ordinary occupations of trade, +and have succeeded in palming their crude and pestilential doctrines +upon Ministers too occupied with individual ambition to care much for +the public welfare. Does any one believe that such men have any interest +in maintaining the public credit, or that they would not, did an +opportunity occur, attempt to defraud the creditor, as they have already +succeeded in diminishing the means of the debtor? Surely a thoughtful +review of the political events which have occurred within the last five +years is enough to remove any lingering credulity on this point. We do +not ask any one to adopt our views, or to accept our construction. Let +him deliberately reflect upon the language of these men in 1845, when +the political and commercial fever was at its height—when private +individuals were persuaded that they might rear fortunes without the +drudgery of industry, and when statesmen were preparing to recommend the +same false principle for the general guidance of the nation. How the +upstart economists swaggered, strutted, and cackled then! Not a whit +less incompetent and treacherous, as guides in their own path, than were +the mushroom clerks and pimpled adventurers of the Stock Exchanges in +another, they stood forth like so many political John Laws, proclaiming +that unbounded wealth, increased demand for labour, and endless influx +of capital would be the immediate result of their magnificent +free-trading schemes. They had figures and blue-books, returns, +calculations and balance-sheets, painfully concocted by plodding +theorists, ready at hand to back up their asseverations, and to satisfy +the doubts of the most sceptical. This is peculiarly an age in which men +are befooled by figures. A century ago, it was enough that a statement +should pass from writing into print, and be included in the columns of a +journal, in order to secure its currency as a point of popular belief. +The increase of journalism has in some respects remedied this, most men +being now alive to the fact that typography possesses no peculiar +immunity from falsehood. But figures are—or at least were a few years +ago—untainted in their reputation. Few people were cautious enough to +resist a tempting calculation. It never entered into their heads to +suppose that there lay gross error, radical fallacy, and often +deliberate fraud, in the imposing array of cyphers which were +ostentatiously paraded for their inspection. If half-a-dozen +unscrupulous swindlers determined to start a railway, nothing more was +required to secure a rush for the scrip, than a summary of phantom +traffic, exhibiting a clear return of some fifteen or twenty per cent +after deduction of the working expenses. We all know what has been the +result of that widespread infatuation. In precisely the same manner did +the economists concoct their accounts, when they issued their Free-trade +prospectus. Less honest, or perhaps more daringly fraudulent than the +railway projectors, they did not propose to grant any compensation for +the land at all, but their traffic tables were undoubtedly an +arithmetical _chef-d’œuvre_! Two millions per week of clear gain was +about the smallest estimate; and to this result various persons, whose +previous biography, now that they have emerged as public characters, +might be interesting, pledged their valuable reputations! + +That they imposed upon the leaders of party, as well as upon a large +section of the nation, is no matter of marvel. Statesmen are not exempt +from folly, imprudence, or delusion, any more than private persons. One +may be cold, selfish, and greedy; another rash, unscrupulous, and +obstinate; but, as there are few fish which will not take a bait, so +there seem to be few modern statesmen proof against the temptation of +altering their policy, if, by doing so, they believe that they can +secure possession of an unlimited lease of power. In the present case +the bait was dexterously spun between the two rivals, and the anxiety of +both to secure it was so great, that neither took the precaution of +examining curiously into the nature of its actual texture. + +There is hardly a man in the country, from the peer to the artisan, who +is not asking himself at this moment, what he has gained by Free-trade. +So far as the agricultural interest is concerned, there is no dubiety on +the point. The landlord is dunned for reduction of rent, is +discontinuing his improvements, reducing his establishment, and setting +his house in order for an altered style of living. The tenant is +wellnigh ruined, furious that he has been betrayed, economising labour +as he best can, or seriously meditating emigration. The labourer finds +his wages reduced, his small comforts curtailed or abolished, work +scarce, and the workhouse at no great distance. Let them all take +comfort. According to our hopeful economists, this is a mere “transition +state of suffering.” What the next state is to be, no prophet of them +all can foretell. Meantime certain Solons advocate a wholesale +emigration—rather a strange panacea for a nation about to be so +prosperous! + +Go to the towns or the manufacturing districts, and ask how they are +prospering. The cotton trade is threatening to shut up. The travellers +are returning disconsolate to their employers with the news that orders +are every day becoming more scarce, and money payments even scarcer. +There is no joy or exultation now in Leeds or Bradford. The journeymen +operatives are combining against the slop system. The _Morning +Chronicle_ harrows up the feelings of its readers, by tearful tales of +the misery and destitution which prevails throughout the large towns of +the empire, and no human being can deny the truth of the appalling +statements. Scottish philanthropists, on their midnight visits to the +wynds of Edinburgh, are struck with amazement at the squalor and vice +which they encounter, and not less with the shoals of destitute +creatures who are hurrying, with perverse infatuation, from the free +open country to the fated atmosphere of a loathsome city garret. They +want to check the stream, and drive the current back again. But whither? +In the country there is no work for these people. Machinery has forced +the hand-loom from the villages; Free Trade is reducing the wages of the +spade to nothing. From the Western Highlands, and from Ireland, those +who have money enough left to secure a passage on ship-board are +emigrating by thousands—it is, we are told by a correspondent, the +briskest trade in Liverpool. Those who have no money left are trooping +to the towns, with the prospect before them of a fate which might rend +the heart of the most callous. Who would wish to be a statesman, if for +the consequences of all his deeds he must be held accountable hereafter? + +Ask the master-manufacturers themselves how they are getting on, now +that they have succeeded in their darling scheme of securing cheap food, +and paralysing the home trade? You may ask if you will, but you will +hardly obtain an answer, save through the medium of the trade circulars, +all filled with dismal forebodings. Were another Cobden testimonial to +be proposed just now, the subscriptions would scarcely purchase many +shares in the most depreciated of the lines. + +Ask the gentlemen of the railway interest, what cause is in operation to +crush down their traffic and annihilate their dividends? They will tell +you to a man that it is the universal agricultural depression. Ask the +iron-masters how they are thriving? At this moment they are trembling +for the stability of their colossal fortunes. + +It is utterly impossible that this state of matters can continue much +longer. If we do not reverse our mad and desperate policy—and that +soon—the pressure of taxation, still retaining its former money-level, +whilst the production which contributes to it is depreciated by a half, +will become so unendurable, that any remedy, however desperate, will +find numerous advocates; and amongst the foremost and most clamorous of +these will be the leading sham economists. The stateliest ship, when the +water is gaining upon her hold, must perforce part with her guns—the +parallel case is being practically exhibited just now, by the efforts of +the financial reformers to get rid of our warlike establishments. If we +cannot part with our defences, we must do without something else. There +is in the mean time a talk of reducing salaries, paring down judicial +emoluments, and retrenching diplomatic expenses. Lord John Russell, with +no very good grace, has been forced to refer these matters to a +committee, for the evident purpose of securing the longest possible +period of delay. But the tax-gatherer will not be idle in his function, +and still the clamour will increase. Superfluities will go first—but no +surrender of superfluities will meet the exigency. Men, when pressed to +the last extremity, become reckless of their personal obligations; and +we have already heard from various quarters intimations that, if the +land is to be permanently depreciated, the creditor who has lent his +money on the security of that land must be prepared to share the burden +of the loss with the owner. There is a smack of wild justice in this, +not at all unpalatable to the taste of a burdened debtor. Sir Robert +Peel’s favourite question, “What is a pound?” will be argued afresh, +after a fashion little likely to secure the approval of the original +propounder of the query. We shall be told, truly enough, that the pound +is the mere conventional representation of a certain amount of produce; +and a very large body of men will begin to talk of paying off their +debts, both private and public, upon a principle which, if once adopted, +would destroy the whole credit of the country. Three years ago, Mr +Doubleday demonstrated that, if the repeal of the Corn Laws should have +the effect of reducing the price of wheat on the average to 4s. or 4s. +6d. per bushel, only two courses are left—either to repeal the taxes +down to five-and-twenty millions at most; or to alter the currency law +of 1819, and reduce the value of money to half the present value. We +have now almost touched the mark. + +All this was clearly foreseen and foreshadowed by Mr Alison, in his +memorable paper of 1831; and we beg of our readers to peruse with +attention the following extract, as of primary importance at the present +juncture of affairs:— + + + “Such a change of prices might be innocuous, if individuals and the + public could begin on a new basis, and there were no subsisting _money + engagements_, which must be provided for at a reduced rate of incomes. + But how is such a state of things to go on, when individuals and the + State are under so many engagements, which cannot be averted without + private or public bankruptcy? This is the question which, in a + complicated state of society such as we live in, where industry is so + dependent on credit, is the vital one to every interest. + + “There is hardly an individual possessed of property in the country + who is not immediately or ultimately involved in money engagements. + The landlords are notoriously and proverbially drowned in debt, and it + is calculated that _two-thirds_ of the produce of the soil finds its + way ultimately into the pocket of the public or the private creditor. + Farmers are all more or less involved in engagements either to their + landlords or to the banks who have advanced their money; merchants and + manufacturers have their bills or cash-accounts standing against them, + which must be provided for, whatever ensues with regard to the prices + of the articles in which they deal; and private individuals, even of + wealthy fortunes, have provisions to their wives, sisters, brothers, + or children, which must be made up to a certain money amount, if they + would avert the evils of bankruptcy. Now, if the views of the + Reformers are well founded, and a great reduction is effected in the + price of grain, and consequently in the money-income of every man in + the kingdom, through the free trade in corn, how are these + undiminished money-obligations to be made good out of the diminished + pecuniary resources of the debtors in them? Mr Baring has estimated + that the change in the value of money, consequent on the resumption of + cash-payments, altered prices about 25 per cent; and everybody knows + what widespread, still existing, and irremediable private distress + _that_ change produced. What, then, may be anticipated from the far + greater change which is contemplated as likely to arise from a + free-trade in grain? + + “But, serious as these evils are, they are nothing in comparison with + the dreadful consequences which would result to _public credit_ from + the change, and the widespread desolation which must follow a serious + blow to the national faith. + + “It is well known with what difficulty the payment of the annual + charge of the National Debt is provided for, even under the present + scale of prices; and how much those difficulties were increased by the + change of prices, and the general diminution of incomes, consequent on + the resumption of cash-payments. Indeed, such was the effect of that + change that, had it not been counterbalanced by a very great increase, + both of our agricultural and manufacturing produce at the same time, + it would have rendered the maintenance of faith with the public + creditor impossible. Now, if such be the present state of the public + debt, even under the unexampled general prosperity which has pervaded + the empire since the peace, and with all the security to the public + faith which arises from the stable, consistent, and uniform rule of + the British aristocracy, how is the charge of the debt to be provided + for under the diminished national income arising from the much + hoped-for change of prices consequent on the Reform Bill and repeal of + the Corn Laws, and the increased national impatience, arising from the + consciousness of the power to cast off the burden for ever?—Great and + reasonable fear may be felt, whether, under any circumstances, the + maintenance of the national faith inviolate is practicable for any + considerable length of time: no doubt can be entertained that, under a + Reform Parliament, and a free trade in grain, it will be impossible.” + + +We forbear quoting the picture which our author has drawn of the awful +consequences which must instantly follow on a crash of the national +credit—not because we consider it in any degree overcharged, but because +we are now satisfied that the country is alive to its danger. We are too +well accustomed to the braggadocio of modern journalism to attach much +weight to the expiring vociferations of men who have done their utmost +to lead us into the present dilemma; and who now, finding themselves +powerless to advise, are vainly attempting to keep up a delusion which +the experience of each succeeding week is dissipating with extraordinary +rapidity. The most talented of the Free-trading journals virtually +confess that the experiment has altogether failed. They are not able to +point out one single iota of advantage which has resulted from it, +beyond the purely supposititious one that, for a time, it secured the +tranquillity of Great Britain. This is at best an ignoble argument in +behalf of a bad measure; but we believe it to be utterly without +foundation, inasmuch as there probably never was a great question +agitated in which less interest was evinced by the masses of the nation +than in that of the Corn Laws. But we should be sorry, indeed, to rank +the loyalty of the British people so low, or to suppose that the crown +of these realms rested upon so weak a foundation, as the adoption of +such a view as this must necessarily infer. The journals to which we +allude are by no means unconscious of the loss which we have incurred, +or of the danger in which we presently stand. The insane boast of Mr +Villiers, at the opening of the session, that a depreciation of +ninety-one millions had taken place in the annual produce of British +labour, found no echo in the columns of our more sharp-sighted +contemporaries. They are now attempting to show that this calculation +was an utter mistake; that importations are gradually diminishing; and +that prices must necessarily rise. Most glad should we be if their views +upon this subject were sound; but, unfortunately, stern experience +points to a different result. We complain, and that with perfect +justice, that they will not face the difficulty, and tell us what is to +be done, supposing prices remain as they are. Agricultural quackery has +done its utmost, and has been extinguished by the shout of general +derision. No man in his senses believes that production can be +artificially stimulated, or the earth so manured as to yield double +crops to supply the frightful deficiency in the annual balance-sheet of +the farmer. Both arms of husbandry are shattered. Cattle-feeding has +been made, by Sir Robert Peel’s tariff, as profitless as tillage; and +all countries have been invited, and are availing themselves of the +invitation, to inundate our markets with their produce. Under such a +state of things, what hope is there of recovery—what chance of +manufactures reviving, so long as the best customers for manufactures +are borne down? Are they not borne down? Let us see. The depreciation of +food was stated by Mr Villiers at £91,000,000. The whole land rental of +the United Kingdom is, according to a late statistical authority, +£58,753,615. Let us suppose that rents are reduced by one-third—a +reduction which, considering that mortgages and public burdens still +remain undiminished, will cripple the means of most of the proprietors +in the kingdom—and the rental will fall to about £39,169,000. Still +there will remain a loss of nearly £52,000,000 annually, to be borne by +the tenantry; in other words, low prices will have to that extent +affected their power of purchase. The real case is even stronger than +the hypothetical one, because the farmers, who constitute the larger +consuming body, are at present receiving no such remission of rent. Of +£178,000,000, the estimated amount of British manufactures, we export +£58,000,000, and there remain for home consumption goods to the value of +£120,000,000. Upon the sale of these depends not only the prosperity, +but the existence of the manufacturers; and yet people are astonished +that their wares do not go off as formerly! How, in the name of common +sense, can they be expected to go off, when no margin of profit is left, +in his own trade, to the great consumer? What these reasonable gentlemen +anticipate is this—that the proprietor shall have no surplus from his +rent, or the farmer any remuneration from his toil and capital; and yet +that they shall continue to purchase all articles of manufacture as +before! + +We observe that a contemporary journal, which naturally feels rather +sore on the subject of the Corn Laws, has twitted Mr Alison with a +failure of prophecy, in not having allowed for a sufficient lapse +between the passing of the Reform Bill and the notable era when the lion +and the lamb coalesced—when Sir Robert Peel finally became a convert to +the dazzling discoveries of Mr Cobden. Our respected brother seems to +think that Mr Alison must feel disappointed that the march of democracy +has been so slow; that the avatar of Free-trade was so long in coming; +and that our fields were not, several years ago, abandoned by the +disappointed husbandman. For the satisfaction of the kindly critic, we +shall quote the following passage, penned in 1832, immediately after the +passing of the Reform Bill, and then, perhaps, refresh his memory as to +the manner in which the later measure was carried:— + + + “Dark and disastrous, however, as is the future prospect of the + British empire, we do not think its case hopeless, or that, after + having gone through the degradation, distraction, and suffering which + must follow the destruction of the Constitution, it may not yet + witness in the decline of its days some gleams of sunshine and + prosperity. The laws of nature have now come to aid the cause of + order; its usual suffering will attend the march of revolution; + experience will soon dispel the fumes of democracy; the reign of + Political Unions, of Jacobin Clubs, and tricolor flags, must ere long + come to an end; the suffering, anxiety, and distress consequent on + their despotic rule, the suspension of all confidence, and the ruin of + all credit, must consign them to the dust, amidst the execrations of + their country, if they are not subverted by the ruder shock of civil + warfare and military power. The distress, misery, and stagnation, in + every branch of industry, already consequent on the Reform Bill, have + been so extreme, that they must long ago have led to its overthrow, + not only without the resistance, but with the concurrence, of all the + Reformers who are not revolutionists, had it not been for the delusion + universally spread by the revolutionary journals, that the existing + distress was not owing to Reform, but to the resistance which it had + experienced, and that the danger of revolution, great in the event of + the measure being thrown out, was absolutely nugatory in the event of + its being passed. These two sophisms have alone carried the bill + through the resistance it experienced from the property, education, + and talent of the country, and blinded men’s eyes to the enormous + evils which not only threatened to follow its triumph, but attended + its progress. But these delusions cannot much longer be maintained. + Reform is now victorious: the bill is passed unmutilated and + unimpaired; and its whole consequences _now rest on the heads of its + authors, and its authors alone_. When it is discovered that all the + benefits promised from it are a mere delusion; that stagnation, + distress, and misery have signalised its triumph; that trade does not + revive with the contracted expenditure of the rich, nor confidence + return with the increased audacity of the poor; that the ancient and + kindly relations of life have been torn asunder in the struggle, and + the vehemence of democracy has provided no substitute in their stead; + that interest after interest, class after class, is successively + exposed to the attacks of the revolutionists, and the ancient barrier + which restrained them is removed: the eyes of the nation must be + opened to the gross fraud which has been practised upon it. Then it + will be discovered that the aristocratic interest, and the nomination + boroughs, which supported their influence in the Lower House, were the + real bulwark which protected all the varied interests of the country + from the revolutionary tempest, and that every branch of industry is + less secure, every species of property is less valuable, every + enterprise is more hazardous, every disaster is more irretrievable, + when its surges roll unbroken and unresisted into the legislature. + + “It is upon this very circumstance, however, that our chief, and + indeed our only hope of the country is founded. Hitherto the great + body of the middle classes have stood aloof from the contest, or they + have openly joined the reforming party. They were carried away by the + prospect of the importance which they would acquire under the new + Constitution, and did not perceive that it was their own interests + which were defended, their own battle which was fought, their own + existence which was at stake, in the contest maintained by the + Conservative party. Now the case is changed. The old rampart is + demolished, and, unless these middle ranks can create a new one, they + must be speedily themselves destroyed. From the sole of their feet to + the crown of their head, the middle classes of England at present + stand exposed to the revolutionary fire; every shot will now carry + away flesh and blood. Deeply as we deplore the misery and suffering + which the exposure of these unprotected classes to the attacks of + revolution must produce, it is in the intensity of that suffering, in + the poignancy of that distress, that the only chance of ultimate + deliverance is to be found. Periods of suffering are seldom, in the + end, lost to nations, any more than to individuals; and it is years of + anguish that expiate the sin, and tame the passions, of days of riot + and licentiousness. + + “The Constitution, indeed, is destroyed, but the men whom the + Constitution formed are not destroyed. The institutions which + protected all the classes of the state, the permanent interests which + coerced the feverish throes of democracy, the conservative weight + which steadied all the movements of the people, are at an end; the + peril arising from this sudden removal of the pressure which hitherto + regulated all the movements of the machine is extreme, but the case is + not utterly hopeless. It is impossible at once to change the habits of + many hundred years’ growth; it is difficult in a few years to root out + the affections and interests which have sprung from centuries of + obligation; it is not in a single generation that the virtues and + happiness, fostered by ages of prosperity, are to be destroyed. As + long as the British character remains unchanged; as long as religion + and moral virtue sway the feelings of the majority of the people; as + long as tranquil industry forms the employment of her inhabitants, and + domestic enjoyments constitute the reward of their exertion,—the cause + of order and civilisation is not hopeless. Revolutions, it is true, + are always effected by reckless and desperate minorities in opposition + to opulent and indolent majorities; but it is the ennobling effect of + civil liberty to nourish a spirit of resistance to oppression, which + outstrips all the calculations of those who ground their views upon + what has occurred in despotic monarchies.” + + +And so it happened. The reaction throughout the country was complete. +The Conservative party rallied; and rallied so effectively, that, with +many converts in its ranks, and the rising youth of the new generation +to back it, a great majority in the House of Commons was secured, and +the leadership intrusted to the hands of one who, in despite of previous +lapses, appeared at that time to have earned the distinction by his +zeal, and who gained it by the force of his protestations. Had the +leader been true to the cause which he then professed, we should have +been spared the ungracious duty of commenting upon a solemn treachery, +to which history affords no parallel, and the memory of which will live +long after the grave has closed above the head of the principal +delinquent. How was it possible that such an event could fail again, for +a time, to disunite a party, formed out of the ruins of the old one by a +rapid and indiscriminate conscription? That dependence and faith which +high and chivalrous spirits are so ready to place in one beneath whose +colours they have fought—the ready trustingness of youth—the great +prestige which surrounds the name of a veteran and successful +statesman—the belief in his superior sagacity—the recollection of +blandishments and flattery, so prized by the young when proceeding from +the lips of honoured age,—all these things combined to break up the +Conservative party, and to place the reins of government once more in +the hands of the eager Whigs. Perhaps it is better so. There is no risk +now of a second betrayal, whatever may be the future fortunes of the +Country Party; and on the head of him who caused the social change let +the whole consequences rest. England’s political annals have at least +gained one character more by the act. The future historian who shall +chronicle the transactions of the last five years, whatever be his creed +or his politics, will speak with veneration and honour of LORD GEORGE +BENTINCK, for whose early fate more honest tears were shed, than have +often been paid as a tribute to the patriot who has fallen in battle, +the defender of his country’s cause. + +We have not left ourselves much room to glance at the three interesting +papers in this volume, on the subject of the two French Revolutions of +1830 and 1848. They will be read with profound attention by thousands +who may have passed them over cursorily in their anonymous original +form; because Mr Alison’s profound and intimate knowledge of the working +of French diplomacy, of the turbulent and dangerous element which lies, +like molten lava, beneath the surface of French society, and of the +secret causes of those outrages which, from time to time, have shaken +that unhappy country, must needs give an additional assurance of their +value. It is curious to observe how entirely the speculations of the +author, as to the consequences which might arise from the first of those +sudden revolutions, are borne out by the marvellous issue of the second. +The falsity of the system which made the stability of a government and +the existence of a dynasty mainly depend upon the doubtful adherence, +and still more doubtful valour, of a civic National Guard, was clearly +pointed out and exposed at the time when the Liberal press of England +was loud in its approbation of the citizen soldiers who had violated +their oaths, and the citizen king, who, more fortunate than his +worthless father, had succeeded in supplanting his kinsman and rightful +sovereign. + + + “Of the numerous delusions,” wrote Mr Alison in 1831, “which have + overspread the world in such profusion during the last nine months, + there is none so extraordinary and so dangerous as the opinion + incessantly inculcated by the revolutionary press, that the noblest + virtue in regular soldiers is to prove themselves traitors to their + oaths; and that a _national guard_ is the only safe and constitutional + force to which arms can be intrusted. The troops of the line, whose + revolt decided the three days in July in favour of the revolutionary + party, have been the subject of the most extravagant eulogium from the + Liberal press throughout Europe; and even in this country, the + Government journals have not hesitated to condemn, in no measured + terms, the Royal Guard, merely because they adhered, amidst a nation’s + treason, to their honour and their oaths. + + “Hitherto it has been held the first duty of soldiers to adhere, with + implicit devotion, to that _fidelity_ which is the foundation of + military duties. Treason to his colours has been considered as foul a + blot on the soldier’s scutcheon as cowardice in the field. Even in the + most republican states, this principle of military subordination has + been felt to be the vital principle of national strength. It was + during the rigorous days of Roman discipline, that their legions + conquered the world; and the decline of the empire began at the time + that the Prætorian Guards veered with the mutable populace, and sold + the empire for a gratuity to themselves. Albeit placed in power by the + insurrection of the people, no men knew better than the French + Republican leaders that their salvation depended on crushing the + military insubordination to which they had owed their elevation. When + the Parisian levies began to evince the mutinous spirit in the camp at + St Menehould in Champagne, which they had imbibed during the license + of the capital, Dumourier drew them up in the centre of his + intrenchments, and, showing them a powerful line of cavalry in front, + with their sabres drawn, ready to charge, and a stern array of + artillery and cannoneers in rear, with their matches in their hands, + soon convinced the most licentious that the boasted independence of + the soldier must yield to the dangers of actual warfare. ‘The armed + force,’ said Carnot, ‘is essentially obedient;’ and in all his + commands, that great man incessantly inculcated upon his soldiers the + absolute necessity of implicit submission to the power which employed + them. When the recreant Constable de Bourbon, at the head of a + victorious squadron of Spanish cavalry, approached the spot where the + rearguard, under the Chevalier Bayard, was covering the retreat of the + French army in the valley of Aosta, he found him seated, mortally + wounded, under a tree, with his eyes fixed on the cross which formed + the hilt of his sword. Bourbon began to express pity for his fate. + ‘Pity not me,’ said the high-minded Chevalier; ‘pity those who fight + against their king, their country, and their oath!’ + + “These generous feelings, common alike to republican antiquity and + modern chivalry, have disappeared during the fumes of the French + Revolution. The soldier who is now honoured is not he who keeps, but + he who violates his oath; the rewards of valour are showered, not upon + those who defend, but on those who overturn the government; the + incense of popular applause is offered, not at the altar of fidelity, + but at that of treason. Honours, rewards, promotion, and adulation, + have been lavished on the troops of the line, who overthrew the + government of Charles X. in July last; while the Royal Guard, who + adhered to the fortune of the fallen monarch with exemplary fidelity, + have been reduced to _beg their bread_ from the bounty of strangers in + a foreign land. A subscription has recently been opened in London for + the most destitute of these defenders of royalty; but the Government + journals have stigmatised, as ‘highly dangerous,’ any indication of + sympathy with their fidelity or their misfortunes. + + + “If these ancient ideas of honour, however, are to be exploded, they + have at least gone out of fashion in good company. The National Guard + who took up arms to overthrow the throne, have not been long of + destroying the altar. During the revolt of February 1831, _the Cross_, + the emblem of salvation, was taken down from all the steeples in Paris + by the citizen soldiers, and the image of our Saviour effaced, by + their orders, from every church within its bounds! The two principles + stand and fall together. The Chevalier ‘without fear and without + reproach’ died in obedience to his oath, with his eyes fixed on the + Cross; the National Guard lived in triumph, while their comrades bore + down the venerated emblem from the towers of Notre Dame.” + + +Singular was the retribution which awaited France. The “Ulysses” of +Europe, as he has been styled—the old, crafty, insincere, penurious, yet +plausible and half-sagacious man, sate in apparent peace upon his throne +for wellnigh eighteen years, negotiating alliances, maintaining a fair +outward character, pandering to popularity, identifying himself with the +_bourgeoisie_, and identifying his sons with the army—and all this to +fall at last before the worst planned and most poorly contrived +insurrection which was ever attempted in the streets of a European +capital. Surrounded by his citizens, the citizen king went down. We know +now, from the revelations of De la Hodde and others, what was the true +nature and commencement of that beggarly conspiracy. We know that a few +hundred suspected and ill-organised Socialists, along with a handful of +newspaper editors, not two of whom possessed sufficient personal courage +to lay hand on a loaded musket, contrived to overawe Paris, to bully the +redoubted National Guard, and to send poor old Ulysses again upon his +travels, without much chance of finding a second imperial Ithaca. Farce +and tragedy are here so closely interwoven that it is wellnigh +impossible to separate their texture. The dethronement of such a king +may be a grand European disaster, but it militates nothing against the +principle or the sanctity of royalty. It was but a simple Presidency +gone a-begging. The King of the Bourse or the Railway Monarch had about +them nearly as much of that divinity which should surround the royal +character as Louis Philippe, the chosen of the shopkeepers, and the +veteran dabbler in the funds. No true greatness, no high nobility of +soul, elevated him to the throne of France—ignoble beyond all precedent +was the manner in which he was compelled to leave it. The retreat of +Charles X. was a triumph compared with his panic-stricken and unfollowed +flight. + +The following are Mr Alison’s remarks upon the last of these +Revolutions. The reader will not fail to observe the extreme similarity +between the two astounding Revolutions, and the precise nature of the +cause which enabled both of them to be successfully carried through by +an otherwise contemptible rabble. + + + “Who is answerable for this calamitous Revolution, which has thus + arrested the internal prosperity of France, involved its finances in + apparently hopeless embarrassment, thrown back for probably half a + century the progress of real freedom in that country, and perhaps + consigned it to a series of internal convulsions, and Europe to the + horrors of general war for a very long period? We answer without + hesitation, that the responsibility rests with two parties, and two + parties only—the King and the National Guard. + + “The King is most of all to blame, for having engaged in a conflict, + and, when victory was within his grasp, allowing it to slip from his + hands from want of resolution at the decisive moment. It is too soon + after these great and astonishing events to be able to form a decided + opinion on the whole details connected with them; but the concurring + statements from all parties go to prove that on the _first_ day the + troops of the line were perfectly steady; and history will record that + the heroic firmness of the Municipal Guard has rivalled all that is + most honourable in French history. The military force was immense; not + less than eighty thousand men, backed by strong forts, and amply + provided with all the muniments of war. Their success on the first day + was unbroken; they had carried above a hundred barricades, and were in + possession of all the military positions of the capital. But at this + moment the indecision of the King ruined everything. Age seems to have + extinguished the vigour for which he was once so celebrated. He shrank + from a contest with the insurgents, paralysed the troops by orders not + to fire on the people, and openly receded before the insurgent + populace, by abandoning Guizot and the firm policy which he himself + had adopted, and striving to conciliate revolution by the _mezzo + termini_ of Count Molé, and a more liberal cabinet. It is with retreat + in the presence of an insurrection, as in the case of an invading + army; the first move towards the rear is a certain step to ruin. The + moment it was seen that the King was giving way, all was paralysed, + because all foresaw to which side the victory would incline. The + soldiers threw away their muskets, the officers broke their swords, + and the vast array, equal to the army which fought at Austerlitz, was + dissolved like a rope of sand. Louis Philippe fell without either the + intrepidity of the royal martyr in 1793, or the dignity of the elder + house of Bourbon in 1830; and if it be true, as is generally said, + that the Queen urged the King to mount on horseback and die as ‘became + a King’ in front of the Tuileries, and he declined, preferring to + escape in disguise to this country, history must record, with shame, + that royalty perished in France without the virtues it was entitled to + expect in the meanest of its supporters. + + “The second cause which appears to have occasioned the overthrow of + the monarchy in France, is the general, it may be said universal, + defection of the National Guard. It had been openly announced that + 20,000 of that body were to line the Champs Elysées _in their uniform_ + on occasion of the banquet; it was perfectly known that that banquet + was a mere pretext for getting the forces of this Revolution together; + and that the intention of the conspirators was to march in a body to + the Tuileries after it was over, and compel the King to accede to + their demands. When they were called out in the afternoon, they + declined to act against the people, and by their treachery occasioned + the defection of the troops of the line, and rendered farther + resistance hopeless. They expected, by this declaration against the + King of their choice, the monarch of the barricades, to secure a + larger share in the government for themselves. They went to the + Chamber of Deputies, intending to put up the Duchess of Orleans as + Regent, and the Count of Paris as King, and to procure a large measure + of reform for the constitution. What was the result? Why, that they + were speedily supplanted by the rabble who followed in their + footsteps, and who, deriding the eloquence of Odillon Barrot, and + insensible to the heroism of the Duchess of Orleans, by force and + violence expelled the majority of the deputies from their seats, + seized on the President’s chair, and, amidst an unparalleled scene of + riot and confusion, subverted the Orleans dynasty, proclaimed a + Republic, and adjourned to the Hotel de Ville to name a Provisional + Government!... + + “Here, then, is the whole affair clearly revealed. It was the timidity + of Government, and the defection of the National Guard, which ruined + everything,—which paralysed the troops of the line, encouraged the + insurgents, left the brave Municipal Guards to their fate, and caused + the surrender of the Tuileries. And what has been the result of this + shameful treachery on the part of the sworn defenders of order—this + ‘_civic_’ prætorian guard of France? Nothing but this, that they have + destroyed the monarchy, ruined industry, banished capital, rendered + freedom hopeless, and made bankrupt the State! Such are the effects of + armed men forgetting the first of social duties, that of fidelity to + their oaths.” + + +Of the other papers contained in this volume, that on the subject of +“the British Peerage,” written at a time when certain worthy fellows out +of doors seemed to be determined that crown, mitre, and coronet should +go together into one blazing bonfire, similar to that which lately +received the state chair of Louis Philippe—and when certain peers within +testified their respect for the dignity and privileges of their order, +by doing their best to have it swamped by new creations—will especially +challenge notice as a stately, dignified, and elaborate composition. +Other essays, such as those on Crime and Transportation, Ireland, the +Navigation Laws, and the Commercial Crisis of 1837, evince the care and +attention which Mr Alison has bestowed on the leading topics of economy +and government with which modern statesmen are inevitably compelled to +grapple. Of their intrinsic merit we shall say nothing. They have often +been cited as the ablest expositions of the peculiar views which they +advocate, and all of them bear the impress of a mind earnest in its +convictions, and thoroughly practical in its tendency. Mr Alison does +not, like too many writers of the day, content himself with finding out +what is faulty, or defective, or radically vicious in any branch of our +social economy—he indulges in no vague and pointless declamation; but +while he lays bare the wound, distinctly and emphatically inculcates the +proper remedy. Many persons there are, of course, who will not subscribe +to his doctrines, but we believe there are very few who will question +the sincerity or deny the philanthropy of his views. And when it is +considered that the three massive volumes, of which this is the first, +were composed at intervals of short respite from the toil of an +engrossing profession, and form but a small portion of the literary +labours of the author, it may be questionable which is most to be +wondered at—the largeness of his information, or the unwearied energy of +his mind. + +These certainly are not the columns in which this work of Mr Alison can +be discussed with absolute impartiality, nor is the writer of this +article free from a pardonable bias. Where affection, veneration, and +gratitude for many wholesome lessons, conveyed with a kindliness which +has made those lessons still more valuable, are warm at the heart, +criticism is impossible; and it would be absurd and false to feign that +we approach this book with any idea of fulfilling the critical function. +Yet thus much may we be allowed to say, that for integrity of purpose, +honesty of design, clear and unvarying adherence to principles, +laboriously sought for and conscientiously adopted—for the virtue and +total absence of selfishness which distinguish the patriot, and for the +grace and accomplishment which adorn the scholar and the gentleman, it +would be difficult to find within the four seas that encircle Britain a +superior to the author of these Essays, and of the famous History of +Europe. + + + + + OVID’S SPRING-TIME + FROM THE TRISTIA. + + + For once the zephyrs have removed the cold: + One year is over, and a new begun. + So short a winter, I am daily told, + Never yet yielded to this northern sun. + I see the children skipping o’er the green, + Plucking the faint unodorous violet, + A gentle stranger, rarely ever seen. + With other flowers the mead is sparsely set— + Brown birds are twittering with the joy of spring: + The universal swallow, ne’er at rest, + Aye chirping, glances past on purple wing, + And builds beneath the humble eaves her nest. + The plant, which yester-year the share o’erthrew, + Looks up again from out the opening mould; + And the poor vines, though here but weak and few, + Some scantling buds, like ill-set gems, unfold. + W. E. A. + + + + + =Dies Boreales.= + + +No. VII. + +CHRISTOPHER UNDER CANVASS. + +_Camp at Cladich._ + +SCENE—_The Wren’s Nest._ TIME—_Three o’clock_ A.M. + +NORTH—TALBOYS. + + NORTH. + +Perturbed Spirit! why won’t you rest? What brings thee here? + + TALBOYS. + +Seward snores. + + NORTH. + +Why select Seward? + + TALBOYS. + +I do not select him—he selects himself—singles himself out from the +whole host; so that you hear his Snore loud over that of the Camp—say +rather his Snore alone—like Lablache singing a Solo in a chorus. + + NORTH. + +It must be Buller. + + TALBOYS. + +Buller began it—— + + NORTH. + +List! How harmonious in the hush the blended Snore of Camp and Village! +How tuned to unison—as if by pitch-pipe—with the dreamy din of our +lapsing friend here, who by and by will awake into a positive Waterfall. + + TALBOYS. + +The Snore of either army stilly sounds. At this distance, the Snore +disposes to sleep. Seward must have awakened himself—there goes Buller—— + + NORTH. + +Where? + + TALBOYS. + +Shriller than Seward—quite a childish treble—liker the Snore of a +female— + + NORTH. + +Females never snore. + + TALBOYS. + +How do you know? I won’t answer for some of them. Lionesses do—not +perhaps in their wild state—but in Zoological Gardens. + + NORTH. + +Not quite so loud, Chanticleer—you will disturb my people. + + TALBOYS. + +Disturb your people! Why, he has already stirred up the Solar System. + + “The Cock that is the Trumpet of the Morn, + Doth, with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat, + Awake the God of Day.” + +Taking the distance of the Earth from the Sun, in round numbers, at +Ninety-Five Millions of Miles, pretty well for a bird probably weighing +some six pounds not merely to make himself heard by the God of Day, but +by one single crow to startle Dan Phœbus from his sleep, and force him +_nolens volens_ to show his shining morning face at Cladich. + + NORTH. + +Out of Science, we seldom think of the vastness of the System of the +Universe. Our hearts and imaginations diminish it for the delight of +love. In our usual moods we are all Children with respect to Nature; and +gather up Stars as if they were flowers of the field—to form a coronet +for Neæra’s hair. + + TALBOYS. + +What ailed poor dear Doctor Beattie at Cocks in general? I never could +understand the Curse. + + “Proud harbinger of Day, + Who scarest my visions with thy clarion shrill, + Fell Chanticleer! who oft hath reft away + My fancied good, and brought substantial ill! + Oh, to thy cursed scream discordant still + Let Harmony aye shut her gentle ear; + Thy boastful mirth let jealous rivals spill, + Insult thy crest, and glossy pinions tear, + And ever in thy dreams the ruthless fox appear.” + +You Poets, in your own persons, are a savage set. + + NORTH. + +I am not a Poet, sir; nor will I allow any man with impunity to call me +so. + + TALBOYS. + +But Doctor Beattie was, and a Professor of Moral Philosophy to boot, at +Aberdeen or St Andrews, or some other one of our ancient +Universities—for every stone-and-lime building in Scotland is ancient; +and. goodness me! hear him cursing cocks, and dooming the whole Gallic +race to every variety of cruel and ignominious deaths, in revenge for +having been disturbed from his morning dreams by a Gentleman with Comb +and Wattles crowing on his own Dunghill, in red jacket, speckled +waistcoat, and grey breeks, the admiration of Earochs and How-Towdies. + + NORTH. + +Doctor Beattie was a true Poet—and had an eye and an ear for Nature. Yet +now and then he shut both— + + “Hence the scared owl on pinions grey + _Breaks from the rustling boughs_; + And down the lone vale sails away + To more profound repose.” + +I have seen that Stanza quoted many thousand times as exquisite. It is +criminal. An owl was never heard, scared or unscared, to “break from the +rustling boughs.” Silently as a leaf he leaves his perch; you hear no +rustle, for he makes none—any more than a ghost. + + TALBOYS. + +Nor are the other lines good—for they present the image of a long +rectilinear flight, which that of an owl in no circumstances is; and, in +a fright, he would take the first blind shelter. + + NORTH. + +Poets seldom err so—yet I remember a mistake of Coleridge’s about that +commonest of all birds, the Rook. + + “My gentle-hearted Charles! when the last Rook + Bent its straight path along the dusky air + Homewards, I blest it! deeming its black wing + (Now a dim speck, now vanishing in light) + Had crossed the mighty orb’s dilated glory, + When thou stood’st gazing; or, when all was still, + _Flew creaking o’er thy head_; and had a charm + For thee, my gentle-hearted Charles, to whom + No sound is dissonant which tells of life!” + + TALBOYS. + +There is much silliness in the Sibylline Leaves. For Charles read +Charlotte. ’Tis more like Love than Friendship—effeminate exceedingly; +and, “no sound is dissonant which tells of life,” reminds one of the +Sunday Jackasses on Blackheath. + + NORTH. + +“‘_Flew creaking._’ Some months after I had written this line,” says +Coleridge in a note, “it gave me pleasure to find that Bartram had +observed the same circumstance of the Savanna Crane. ‘When these birds +move their wings in flight, their strokes are slow, moderate, and +regular; and even when at a considerable distance, or high above us, we +plainly hear the quill-feathers; their shafts and webs, upon one +another, creak as _the joints or working of a vessel in a tempestuous +sea_.’” That a Rook may fly “creaking” when moulting, or otherwise out +of feather, I shall not take upon me to deny; but in ordinary condition, +he does not fly “creaking.” Coleridge was wont, in his younger days, to +mistake exceptions for general rules. In such a case as this, a moment’s +reflection would have sufficed to tell him that there could not have +been “creaking” without let or hindrance to flight—and that the flight +of a rook is easy and equable—“The blackening train o’ craws to their +repose.” What creaking must have been there! But Burns never heard it. + + TALBOYS. + +One Burns, as an observer of nature, is worth fifty Coleridges. + + NORTH. + +Not an arithmetical question. Why, even dear Sir Walter himself +occasionally makes a slip in this way. + + “Beneath the broad and ample bone, + That buckled heart to fear unknown, + A feeble and a tim’rous guest + The field-fare framed her lowly nest!” + +The Field-fare is migratory—and does not build here; in Norway, where it +is native, it builds in trees—often high up on lofty trees—and in +crowds. + + TALBOYS. + +I believe, sir, they have been known to breed in this country—and +perhaps here they build on the ground. + + NORTH. + +Don’t be nonsensical. Our Great Minstrel knew wood-craft well; and +hill-craft and river-craft; yet in his fine picture of Coriskin and +Coolin, + + “The wildest glen but this can show + Some touch of nature’s genial glow: + On high Benmore green mosses grow, + And heath-bells bud in deep Glencroe, + And copse on Cruachan Ben; + But here, above, around, below, + In mountain or in glen, + Nor tree, nor shrub, nor plant, nor flower, + Nor aught of vegetative power + The weary eye may ken. + For all is rocks at random strewn, + Black waves, bare crags, and banks of stone, + As if were here denied + The summer’s sun, the spring’s sweet dew, + That clothe with many a varied hue + The bleakest mountain’s head;” + +would you believe it, that he introduces Deer—_fallow_ Deer! + + TALBOYS. + + “Call it not vain, they do not err + Who say that, when the Poet dies, + Mute nature mourns her worshipper, + And celebrates his obsequies; + Who say tall cliff and cavern lone + For the departed bard make moan; + That mountains meet in crystal rill, + That flowers in tears of balm distil; + Through his loved groves that breezes sigh, + And oaks in deeper groan reply, + And rivers teach their rushing wave + To murmur dirges round his grave.” + + NORTH. + +And there the Last Minstrel should have ceased. What follows spoils +all—fanciful, fantastic—not imaginative, poetical. The Minstrel is at +pains to let us know that + + “Mute nature does _not_ mourn her worshipper!” + +that not + + “O’er mortal urn + These things inanimate can mourn.” + +What, then, is the truth? To explain the mystery of flowers distilling +tears of balm, we are told that + + “The maid’s pale shade, who wails her lot, + That love, true love, should be forgot, + From rose and heather shakes the tear + Upon the gentle Minstrel’s bier—” + +The Phantom Knight shrieks upon the wild blast—and the Chief, from his +misty throne on the mountains, fills the lonely caverns with his +groans—while his + + “Tears of rage impel the rill! + All mourn the minstrel’s harp unstrung, + Their name unknown, their praise unsung!” + +Had Sir Walter been speaking in his own person he never would have +written thus—nor thus contradicted and extinguished the Passion in the +stanzas you so feelingly recited. But he puts the words into the lips of +an old Harper improvising at a Feast—on which occasion anything will +pass for poetry—even to the mind of the true Poet himself—but, believe +me, it is sheer nonsense—and by power of contrast recalls Wordsworth’s +profound saying— + + “The Poets, in their elegies and lays + Lamenting the departed, call the groves— + They call upon the hills and streams to mourn + And senseless rocks; nor idly; for they speak + In these their invocation, with a voice + Obedient to the strong creative power + Of human passion. Sympathies there are + More tranquil, yet perhaps of kindred birth, + That steal upon the meditative mind, + And grow with thought. Beside yon spring I stood, + And eyed its waters till we seemed to feel + One sadness, they and I. For them a bond + Of brotherhood is broken; time has been + When, every day, the touch of human hand + Dislodged the natural sleep that binds them up + In mortal stillness; and they ministered + To human comfort.” + + TALBOYS. + +Are all these the Cladich Cock and his echoes? No, surely. Farm +crows to Farm, from Auchlian to Sonnachan. You might almost believe +them bagpipes. And so it is—that is a bagpipe. On which side of the +Loch? Why, on neither—beg pardon—on both; forgive me—on the +Water;—incredible—in the Camp! No snore can long outlive that—the +People are up and doing. + +In my mind’s eye I see women slipping easily into petticoats—men +laboriously into breeches—— + + NORTH. + +My more Celtic imagination sees chiefly kilts. But pray, may I ask +again, Talboys, what brought you here at this untimeous hour of the +Morn? + + TALBOYS. + +I feel that I ought to apologise for my unwelcome intrusion on your +privacy, sir; but on my honour I believed you were in the Van. Yesterday +I was so engrossed by you and Shakspeare, that during our colloquy I had +not a moment to look at the Wren’s Nest. + + NORTH. + +Its existence is believed in by few of the natives. I know no such place +for a murder. There would be no need to bury the body—here at this Table +he might be left sitting for centuries—a dead secret in a Safe. + + TALBOYS. + +No need to bury the body! You have no antipathy, I trust, sir, to me? + + NORTH. + +We are not responsible for our antipathies—— + + TALBOYS. + +I allow that—but we are for every single murder we commit; and though +there may be no need to bury the body, murder will spunk out—— + + NORTH. + +We are willing to run the risk. What infatuation to seek the Lion in his +Den—the Wren in his Nest! Sit down, sir, and let us have, in the form of +dialogue, your last speech and dying words on Othello. + + TALBOYS. + +Hamlet, sir? + + NORTH. + +Othello. + + TALBOYS. + +Romeo and Juliet? + + NORTH. + +Othello. + + TALBOYS. + +Well—Lear let it be. + + NORTH. + +Mind what you are about, Talboys. There are limits to human forbearance. +Swear that after this morning’s breakfast you will never again utter the +words Othello—Iago—Cassio—Desdemona—— + + TALBOYS. + +I swear. Meanwhile, let us recur to the Question of Short and Long Time. + + NORTH. + +When Shakspeare was inditing the Scenes of the “Decline and Fall”—“The +Temptation”—“The Seduction”—or whatsoever else you choose to call it—the +Sequence of Cause and Effect—the bringing out into prominence and power +the successive ESSENTIAL MOVEMENTS of the proceeding transformation were +intents possessing his whole spirit. We can easily conceive that they +might occupy it absolutely and exclusively—that is to say, excluding the +computation and all consideration of actual time. If this be an +excessive example, yet I believe that a huddling up of time is a part of +the poetical state; that you must, and, what is more, may, crowd into a +Theatrical or Epic Day, far more of transaction between parties, and of +changes psychological, than a natural day will hold—ay, ten times over. +The time on the Stage and in Verse is not literal time. Not it, indeed; +and if it be thus with time, which is so palpable, so selfevidencing an +entity, what must be the law, and how wide-ranging, for everything else, +when we have once got fairly into the Region of Poetry? + + TALBOYS. + +The usefulness of the Two Times is palpable from first to last—of the +Short Time for maintaining the tension of the passion—of the long for a +thousand general needs. Thus Bianca must be used for convincing Othello +very potently, positively, unanswerably. But she cannot be used without +supposing a protracted intercourse between her and Cassio. Iago’s +dialogue with him falls to the ground, if the acquaintance began +yesterday. But superincumbent over all is the _necessity of our not +knowing_ that Iago begins the Temptation, and that Othello extinguishes +the Light of his Life all in one day. + + NORTH. + +And observe, Talboys, how this concatenation of the passionate scenes +operates. Marvellously! Let the Entrances of Othello be four—A, B, C, D. +You feel the close connexion of A with B, of B with C, of C with D. You +feel the coherence, the nextness; and all the force of the impetuous +Action and Passion resulting. But the logically-consequent near +connexion of A with C, and much more with D, as again of B with D, you +_do not feel_. Why? When you are at C, and feeling the pressure of B +upon C, you have lost sight of the pressure of A upon B. At each +entrance you go back one step—you do not go back two. The suggested +intervals continually keep displacing to distances in your memory the +formerly felt connexions. This could not so well happen in real life, +where the relations of time are strictly bound upon your memory. Though +something of it happens when passion devours memory. But in fiction, the +conception being loosely held, and shadowy, the feat becomes easily +practicable. Thus the Short Time tells for the support of the Passion, +along with the Long Time, by means of virtuous instillations from the +hand or wing of Oblivion. From one to two you feel no intermission—from +two to three you feel none—from three to four you feel none; but I defy +any man to say that from one to four he has felt none. I defy any man to +say honestly, that “sitting at the Play” he has kept count from one to +four. + + TALBOYS. + +If you come to that, nobody keeps watch over the time in listening to +Shakspeare. I much doubt if anybody knows at the theatre that Iago’s +first suggestion of doubt occurs the day after the landing. I never knew +it till you made me look for it— + + NORTH. + +For which boon I trust you are duly grateful. + + TALBOYS. + +’Tis folly to be wise. + + NORTH. + +Why, Heaven help us! if we did not go to bed, and did not dine, which of +us could ever keep count from Monday to Saturday! As it is, we have some +of us hard work to know what happened yesterday, and what the day +before. On Tuesday I killed that Salmo Ferox? + + TALBOYS. + +No—but on Wednesday I did. You forget yourself, my dear sir, just like +Shakspeare. + + NORTH. + +Ay, Willy forgets himself. He is not withheld by the chain of time he is +linking, for he has lost sight of the previous links. Put yourself into +the transport of composition, and answer. But besides, every past +scene—or to speak more suitably to the technical distribution of the +Scenes, in our Editions—every past _changed occupation of the Stage by +one coming in or one going out_, (which different occupation, according +to the technicality of the French Stage, of the Italian, of the Attic, +of Plautus, of Terence, constitutes a Scene)—every such past marked +moment in the progress of the Play has the effect for the Poet, as well +as for you, of protracting the time in retrospect—throwing everything +that has passed further back. As if, in travelling fifty miles, you +passed fifty Castles, fifty Churches, fifty Villages, fifty Towns, fifty +Mountains, fifty Valleys, and fifty Cataracts—fifty Camels, fifty +Elephants, fifty Caravans, fifty Processions, and fifty Armies—the said +fifty miles would seem a good stretch larger to your recollection, and +the five hours of travelling a pretty considerable deal longer, than +another fifty miles and another five hours in which you had passed only +three Old Women. + + TALBOYS. + +My persuasion is, sir, that nobody alive knows—of the auditors—that the +first suggestion of doubt and the conclusion to kill are in one Scene of +the Play. I do, indeed, believe, with you, sir, that the goings-out and +re-enterings of Othello have a strangely deluding effect—that they +disconnect the time more than you can think—and that all the changes of +persons on the stage—all shiftings of scenes and droppings of curtains, +break and dislocate and dilate the time to your imagination, till you do +not in the least know where you are. In this laxity of your conception, +all hints of extended time sink in and spring up, like that fungus +which, on an apt soil, in a night grows to a foot diameter. + + NORTH. + +You have hit it there, Talboys. Shakspeare, we have seen, in his calmer +constructions, shows, in a score of ways, weeks, months; that is +therefore the true time, or call it the historical time. Hurried +himself, and hurrying you on the torrent of passion, he forgets time, +and a false show of time, to the utmost contracted, arises. I do not +know whether he did not perceive this false exhibition of time, or +perceiving, he did not care. But we all must see a reason, and a cogent +one, why he should not let in the markings of protraction upon his +dialogues of the Seduced and the Seducer. You can conceive nothing +better than that the Poet, in the moment of composition, seizes the +views which at that moment offer themselves as effective—unconscious or +regardless of incompatibility. He is whole to the present; and as all is +feigned, he does not remember how the foregone makes the ongoing +impracticable. Have you ever before, Talboys, examined time in a Play of +Shakspeare? Much more, have you ever examined the treatment of time on +the Stage to which Shakspeare came, upon which he lived, and which he +left? + + TALBOYS. + +A good deal. + + NORTH. + +Not much, I suspect. + + TALBOYS. + +Why, not at all—except t’other day along with you—in Macbeth. + + NORTH. + +He came to a Stage which certainly had not cultivated the logic of time +as a branch of the Dramatic Art. It appears to me that those old people, +when they were enwrapt in the transport of their creative power, totally +forgot all regard, lost all consciousness of time. Passion does not know +the clock or the calendar. Intimations of time, now vague, now positive, +will continually occur; but also the Scenes float, like the Cyclades in +a Sea of Time, at distances utterly indeterminate—Most near? Most +remote? That is a Stage of Power, and not of Rules—Dynamic, not Formal. +I say again at last as at first, that the time of Othello, tried by the +notions of time in _our Art_, or tried, if you will, by the type of +prosaic and literal time, is—INSOLUBLE. + + TALBOYS. + +To the first question, therefore, being What is the truth of the matter? +the answer stands, I conceive without a shadow of doubt or difficulty, +“The time of Othello is—as real time—INSOLUBLE.” + + NORTH. + +By heavens, he echoes me! + + TALBOYS. + +Or, it is proposed incongruously, impossibly. Then arises the question, +How stood the time in the mind of Shakspeare? + + NORTH. + +I answer, I do not know. The question splits itself into two—first, “How +did he _project_ the time?” Second, “How did he conceive it in the +progress of the Play?” My impression is, that he projected extended +time. If so, did he or did he not know that in managing the Seduction he +departed from that design by contracting into a Day? Did he deliberately +entertain a double design? If he did, how did he excuse this to himself? +Did he say, “A stage necessity, or a theatrical or dramatic +necessity”—namely, that of sustaining at the utmost possible reach of +altitude the tragical passion and interest—“requires the precipitation +of the passion from the first breathing of suspicion—the ‘Ha! Ha! I like +not that,’ of the suggesting Fiend to the consecrated ‘killing myself, +to die upon a kiss!’—all in the course of fifteen hours—and this +tragical vehemency, this impetuous energy, this torrent of power I will +have; at the same time I have many reasons—amongst them the general +probability of the action—for a dilated time; and I, being a magician of +the first water, will so dazzle, blind, and bewilder my auditors, that +they shall accept the double time with a double belief—shall feel the +unstayed rushing on of action and passion, from the first suggestion to +the cloud of deaths—and yet shall remain with a conviction that Othello +was for months Governor of Cyprus—they being on the whole unreflective +and uncritical persons?” + + TALBOYS. + +And, after all, who willingly criticises his dreams or his pleasures? + + NORTH. + +And the Audience of the Globe Theatre shall not—for “I hurl my dazzling +spells into the spungy air,” and “the spell shall sit when the curtain +has fallen.” Shakspeare might, in the consciousness of power, say this. +For this is that which he has—knowingly or unknowingly—done. +Unknowingly? Perhaps—himself borne on by the successively rising waves +of his work. For you see, Talboys, with what prolonged and severe labour +we two have arrived at knowing the reality of the case which now lies +open to us in broad light. We have needed time and pains, and the slow +settling of our understandings, to unwind the threads of delusion in +which we were encoiled and entoiled. If a strange and unexplained power +could undeniably so beguile us—a possibility of which, previously to +this examination, we never have dreamt, how do we warrant that the same +dark, nameless, mysterious power shall not equally blind the “Artificer +of Fraud?” This is matter of proposed investigation and divination, +which let whoever has will, wit, and time, presently undertake. + + TALBOYS. + +Why, we are doing it, sir. He will be a bold man who treats of +Othello—after Us. + + NORTH. + +Another question is—What is the Censure of Art on the demonstrated +inconsistency in Othello? I propose, but now deal not with it. Observe +that we have laid open a new and startling inquiry. We have demonstrated +the double time of Othello—the Chronological Fact. That is the first +step set in light—the first required piece of the work—_done_. Beyond +this, we have ploughed a furrow or two, to show and lead further +direction of the work in the wide field. We have touched on the gain to +the work by means of the duplicity—we have proposed to the +self-consciousness of all hearers and readers the psychological fact of +their own unconsciousness of the guile used towards them, or of the +success of the fallacy; and we have asked the solution of the +psychological fact. We have also asked the Criticism of Art on the +government of the time in Othello—supposing the Poet in pride and +audacity of power to have designed that which he has done. Was it High +Art? + + TALBOYS. + +Ay—was it High Art? + + NORTH. + +I dare hardly opine. Effect of high and most defying art it has surely; +but you ask again—did he know? I seem to see often that the spirit of +the Scene possessed Shakspeare, and that he fairly forgot the logical +ties which he had encoiled about him. We know the written Play, and we +may, if we are capable, know its power upon ourselves. There _are_ the +Two Times, the Long and the Short; and each exerts upon you its especial +virtue. I can believe that Shakspeare unconsciously did what Necessity +claimed—the impetuous motion on, on, on of the Passion—the long time +asked by the successive events; the forces that swayed him, each in its +turn, its own way. + + TALBOYS. + +Unconsciously? + + NORTH. + +Oh heavens! Yes—yes—no—no. Yes—no. No—yes. What you will. + + “Willingly my jaws I close, + Leave! oh! leave me to repose.” + + TALBOYS. + +Consciously or unconsciously? + + NORTH. + +Talboys, Longfellow, Perpetual Præses of the Seven Feet Club, we want +Troy, Priam, Achilles, Hector, to have been. Perhaps they were—perhaps +they were not. We must be ready for two states of mind—simple belief, +which, is the temper of childhood and youth—recognition of illusion with +self-surrender, which is the attained state of criticism wise and +childlike. At last we voluntarily take on the faith which was in the +goldener age. The child believed; and the man believes. But the child +believes _this_; and the man who perceives how _this_ is a shadow, +believes _that_ beyond. _This_ he believes in play—_that_ in earnest. +The child mixed the two—the tale of the fairies and the hope of +hereafter. Union, my dear Boys, is the faculty of the young, but +division of the old. I speak of Shakspeare at five years of age; not of +Us, whom, ere we can polysyllable men’s names, dominies instruct how to +do old men’s work and to distinguish. + + TALBOYS. + +My dear sir, I do so love to hear your talkee talkee; but be just ever +so little a little more intelligible to ordinary mortals— + + NORTH. + +You ask what really happened? The Play bewilders you from +answering—accept it as it rushes along through your soul, reading or +sitting to hear and see. The main and strange fact is, that these +questions of Time, which, reading the Play backwards, force themselves +on us, never occur to us reading straight forwards. Two Necessities lie +upon your soul. + + TALBOYS. + +Two Necessities, sir? + + NORTH. + +Two Necessities lie upon your soul. You cannot believe that Othello, +suspecting his Wife, folds his arms night after night about her disrobed +bosom. As little can you believe that in the course of twelve hours the +spirit of infinite love has changed into a dagger-armed slayer. The Two +Times—marvellous as it is to say—take you into alternate possession. The +impetuous motion forwards, in the scenes and in the tenor of action, +which belong to the same Day, you feel; and you ask no questions. When +Othello and Iago speak together, you lose the knowledge of time. You see +power and not form. You feel the aroused Spirit of Jealousy: you see, in +the field of belief, a thought sown and sprung—a thought changed into a +doubt—a doubt into a dread—a dread into the cloud of death. Evidences +press, one after the other—the spirit endures change—you feel +succession—as cause and effect must succeed—you do not compute hours, +days, weeks, months;—yet confess I must, and confess you must, and +confess all the world and his wife must, that the condition is +altogether anomalous—that a time which is at once a day of the Calendar +and a month of the Calendar, does not happen anywhere out of Cyprus. + + TALBOYS. + +It has arisen just as you say, sir—because Two Necessities pressed. The +Passion must have its torrent, else _you_ will never endure that Othello +shall kill Desdemona. Events must have their concatenation, else—but I +stop at this the incredible anomaly, that for _Othello_ himself you +require the double time! You cannot imagine him embracing his wife, +misdoubted false; as little can you his Love measureless, between +sunrise and sunset turned into Murder. + + NORTH. + +Even so. + + TALBOYS. + +My dear sir, what really happened? + + NORTH. + +Oh! Talboys, Talboys. Well then—_not_ that Othello killed her upon the +first night after the arrival at Cyprus. The Cycle could not have been +so run through. + + TALBOYS. + +How then in reality did the Weeks pass? + + NORTH. + +That’s a good one! Why, I was just about to ask you—and ’tis your +indisputable duty to tell me and the anxious world—how. + + TALBOYS. + +I do not choose to commit myself in such a serious affair. + + NORTH. + +Suppose the framing of the tale into a Prose Romance. Surely, surely, +surely, no human romancer, compounding the unhappy transactions into a +prose narrative, could, could, could have put the first sowing of doubt, +and the smothering under the pillows, for incidents of one day. He would +have made Othello for a time laugh at the doubt, toss it to the winds. +Iago would have wormed about him a deal slowlier. The course of the +transactions in the Novel would have been much nearer the course of +reality. + + TALBOYS. + +In Cinthio’s Novel— + + NORTH. + +Curse Cinthio. + + TALBOYS. + +My Lord, I bow to your superior politeness. + + NORTH. + +Confound Chesterfield. My dear friend, Reality has its own reasons—a +Novel its own—and its own a Drama. Every work of art brings its own +conditions, which divide you from the literal representation of human +experience. Ask Painter, Sculptor, and Architect. Every fine art +exercises its own sleights. + + TALBOYS. + +In the Novel, I guess or admit that they would have been a month at +Cyprus ere Iago had stirred. What hurry? He would have watched his +time—ever and anon would have thrown in a hundred suggestions of which +we know nothing. Let any man, romancer or other, set himself to conceive +the Prose Novel. He cannot, by any possibility, conceive that he should +have been led to make but a day of it. Ergo, the Drama proceeds upon its +own Laws. No representation in art is the literal transcript of +experience. + + NORTH. + +The question is, what deviations—to what extent—does the particular Art +need? And why? The talked Attic Unity of Time instructs us. But +Sophocles and Shakspeare must have one view of the Stage, in essence. +You must sit out your three or four hours. You must listen and see with +expectation _intended_, like a bow drawn. To which intent Action and +Passion must press on. + + TALBOYS. + +Compare, sir, the One Day of Othello to the Sixteen Years of Hermione! +There, intensest Passion sustained; here, the unrolling of a romantic +adventure. Each true to the temper imposed on the hearing spectator. + + NORTH. + +Good. The Novel is not a Transcript—the Play is not a Transcript. Ask +not for a Transcript, for not one of those who could give it you, will. +A _conditioned imitation we desire_ and demand—and we have it in +Othello. + + TALBOYS. + +And put up we must with Two Times—one for your sympathy with his tempest +of heart—one for the verisimilitude of the transaction. + + NORTH. + +Think on the facility with which, in the Novel, Iago could have strewn +an atom of arsenic a day on Othello’s platter, to use him to the taste; +and how, in the Play, this representation is impossible. Then, the +original remaining the same, each manner of portraiture _leaves it_, and +each, after _its own Laws_. + + TALBOYS. + +Did not Shakspeare know as much about the Time which he was himself +making _as we do_, as much and more? + + NORTH. + +I doubt it. I see no necessity for believing it. We judge him as we +judge ourselves. He came to his Art as it was, and created—improving +it—from that point. An Art grows in all its constituents. The management +of the Time is a constituent in the Art of “feigned history,” as Poetry +is called by Lord Bacon. But I contend that on our Stage, to which +Shakspeare came, the management of Time was in utter neglect—an +undreamed entity; and I claim for the first foundation of any Canon +respective to this matter, acute sifting of all Plays _previous_. + + TALBOYS. + +Not so very many— + + NORTH. + +Nor so very few. Shakspeare took up the sprawling, forlorn infant, +dramatic Time. He cradled, rocked, and fed it. The bantling throve, and +crawled vigorously about on all-fours. But since then, thou Tallometer, +imagine the study that _we_ have made. Count not our Epic Poems—not our +Metrical Romances—not our Tragedies. Count our Comedies, and count above +all our Novels. I do not say that you can settle Time in these by the +almanac. They are the less poetical when you can do so; but I say that +we have with wonderful and immense diligence studied the working out of +a Story. Time being here an essential constituent, it cannot be but +that, in our more exact and critical layings-out of the chain of +occurrences, we have arrived at a tutored and jealous respect of Time—to +say nothing of our Aristotelian lessons—totally unlike anything that +existed under Eliza and James, as a general proficiency of the Art—as a +step gained in the National Criticism. + + TALBOYS. + +Ay, it must be difficult in the extreme for us so to divest ourselves of +our own intellectual habits and proficiency as to take up, and into our +own, the mind of that Age. But, unless we do so, we are unable to judge +what might or might not happen to any one mind of that age; and when we +affirm that Shakspeare must have known what he was doing in regard to +the Time of Othello, we are suffering under the described difficulty or +disability— + + NORTH. + +Why, Talboys, you are coming, day after day, to talk better and better +sense—take care you do not get too sensible— + + TALBOYS. + +We must never forget, sir, that the management of the Time was on that +Stage a slighted and trampled element—that what Willy gives us of it is +gratuitous, and what we must be thankful for—and finally, that he did +not distinctly scheme out, in his own conception, the Time of +Othello—very far from it. + + NORTH. + +I verily believe that if you or I had shown him the Time, tied up as it +is, he would have said, “Let it go hang. They won’t find it out; and, if +they do, let them make the best, the worst, and the most of it. The Play +is a good Play, and I shall spoil it with mending it.” Why, Talboys, if +Queen Elizabeth had required that the Time should be set straight, it +could not have been done. One—two—six changes would not have done it. +The Time is an entangled skein that can only be disentangled by breaking +it. For the fervour of action on the Stage, Iago could not have delayed +the beginning beyond the next day. And yet think of the Moral +Absurdity—to begin—really as if the day after Marriage, to sow Jealousy! +The thing is out of nature the whole diameter of the globe. His project +was “after a time t’ abuse Othello’s ear,” which is according to nature, +and is _de facto_ the impression made—strange to say—from beginning to +end. But the truth is, that the Stage three hours are so soon gone, that +you submit yourself to everything to come within compass. Your +Imagination is bound to the wheels of the Theatre Clock. + + TALBOYS. + +Yet, in our conversation on Macbeth, you called your discovery an +“astounding discovery”—and it is so. The Duplicity of Time in Othello is +a hundred times more astounding— + + NORTH. + +And the discovery of it will immortalise my name. I grieve to think that +the Pensive Public is sadly deficient in Imagination. I remember or +invent that she once resisted me, when I said that “Illusion” is one +constituent of Poetry. Illusion, the Pensive Public must be made to +know, is WHEN THE SAME THING IS, AND IS NOT. Pa—God bless him!—makes +believe to be a Lion. He roars, and springs upon his prey. He at once +believes himself to be a Lion, and knows himself to be Pa. Just so with +the Shakspeare Club—many millions strong. The two times at Cyprus _are +there_; the reason for the two times—to wit, probability of the Action, +storm of the Passion—_is there_; and if any wiseacre should ask, “How do +we manage to stand the _known_ together-proceeding of two times?” The +wiseacre is answered—“We don’t stand it—for we know nothing about it. We +are held in a confusion and a delusion about the time.” We have effect +of both—distinct knowledge of neither. We have suggestions to our +Understanding of extended time—we have movements of our Will by +precipitated time. + + TALBOYS. + +We have—we have—we have. Oh! sir! sir! sir! + + NORTH. + +Does any man by possibility ask for a scheme and an exposition, by which +it shall be made luminous to the smallest capacity, _how_ we are able +distinctly all along to know, and bear in mind, that the preceding +transactions are accomplished in a day, and at the same time and +therewithal, distinctly all along to know and bear in mind that the same +transactions proceeding before our eyes take about three months to +accomplish? Then, I am obliged—like the musicians, when they are told +that, if they have any music that may not be heard, Othello desires them +to play it—to make answer, “Sir, we have none such.” It is to ask that a +deception shall be not only seemingly but really a truth! Jedediah +Buxton, and Blair the Chronologist, would, “sitting at _this_ play,” +have broken their hearts. You need not. If you ask me—which judiciously +you may—what or how much did the Swan of Avon intend and know of all +this astonishing legerdemain, when he sang thus astonishingly? Was he +the juggler juggled by aërial spirits—as Puck and Ariel? I put my finger +to my lip, and nod on him to do the same; and if I am asked, “Shall a +modern artificer of the Drama, having the same pressure from within and +from without, adopt this resource of evasion?” I can answer, with great +confidence, “He had better look before he leap.” If any spectator, upon +the mere persuasion and power of the Representation, ends with believing +that the seed sown and the harvest reaped are of one day, I believe that +he may yet have the belief of extended time at Cyprus. I should say by +_carrying the one day with him on forwards from day to day_! Or if you +wish this more intelligibly said, that he shall continually _forget_ the +past notices. Once for all, he shall _forget_ that the _first suggestion +was on the day after the arrival_. + + TALBOYS. + +Inquire, sir, what intelligent auditors, who have not gone into the +study, have thought; for that, after all, is the only testimony that +means anything. + + NORTH. + +Well, Talboys, suppose that one of them should actually say, “Why, upon +my word, if I am to tell the truth, I did take note that Iago began +‘abusing Othello’s ear’ the day after the arrival. I did, in the course +of the Play, gather up an impression that some good space of time was +passing at Cyprus—and I did, when the murder came, put it down upon the +same day with the sowing of the suspicion, and I was not aware of the +contradiction. In short, now that you put me upon it, I see that I did +that which thousands of us do in thousands of subjects—keep in different +corners of the brain two beliefs—of which, if they had come upon the +same ground, the one must have annihilated the other. But I did not at +the time bring the data together. _I suppose that I had something else +to think of._” + + TALBOYS. + +Assume, sir, for simplicity’s sake, that Shakspeare knew what he was +doing. + + NORTH. + +Then the Double Time is to be called—an Imposture. + + TALBOYS. + +Oh, my dear sir—oh, oh! + + NORTH. + +A good-natured Juggler, my dear Talboys, has cheated your eyes. You ask +him to show you how he did it. He does the trick slowly—and you see. +“Now, good Conjuror, _do it slowly, and cheat us_.” “I can’t. I cheat +you by doing it quickly. To be cheated, you must _not_ see what I do; +but you must _think_ that you see.” When we inspect the Play in our +closets, the Juggler does his trick slowly. We sit at the Play, and he +does it quick. When you see the trick again done the right way—that is +quick—you cannot conceive how it is that you no longer see that which +you saw when it was done slowly! Again the impression returns of a +magical feat. + + TALBOYS. + +I doubt, if we saw Othello perfectly acted, whether all our study would +preserve us from the returning imposture. + + NORTH. + +I will defy any one most skilful theatrical connoisseur, even at the +tenth, or twentieth, or fiftieth Representation, so to have followed the +comings-in and the goings-out, as to satisfy himself to demonstration, +that interval into which a month or a week or a day can be +dropped—_there is none_. + + TALBOYS. + +When do you purpose publishing this your “astounding Discovery?” + + NORTH. + +Not till after my death. + + TALBOYS. + +I shall attend to it. + + NORTH. + +In comparing Shakspeare and the Attic Three, we seem to ourselves, but +really do not, to exhaust the Criticism of the Drama. Is Mr Sheriff +Alison right, when he said that the method of Shakspeare is justified +only by the genius of Shakspeare? That less genius needs the art of +antiquity? Our own art inclines to a method between the two; and we +should have to account for the theatrical success, during a century or +more, of such Plays as the Fair Penitent, Jane Shore, &c. + + TALBOYS. + +Why, sir, does Tragedy displace often from our contemplation, Comedy? +Not when we are contemplating Shakspeare. To me his method, in reading +him, appears justified by the omnipotent Art, which, despite +refractoriness, binds together the most refractory times, things, +persons, events _in Unity_. + + NORTH. + +Most true. We feel, in reading, the self-compactness and +self-completeness of each Play. Thus in Lear— + + TALBOYS. + +In Lear the ethical ground is the Relation of Parent to Child, +specifically Father and Daughter. If the treatment of that Relation is +full to your satisfaction, that may affect you as a Unity. Full is not +exhaustive; but one part of treatment demands another. Thus the violated +relation requires for its complement the consecrated relation. + + NORTH. + +In Hamlet? + + TALBOYS. + +The ethical ground in Hamlet, sir, is the relation of Father and Son, +very peculiarly determined, or specialtied. Observe, sir, how the _like_ +relation between Father and Daughter, the _same_ between Father and Son +occurs in Polonius’s House. Here, too, a slain Father—a part of the +specialty. Compare, particularly, the dilatory revenge of Hamlet, and +the dispatchful of Laertes. Again, the relation of Gertrude the Mother +and Hamlet the Son—so many differences! And the strange discords upon +the same relation—my Uncle-Father and Aunt-Mother—the tragic grotesque. + + NORTH. + +Eh? + + TALBOYS. + +Then in Lear the House of Gloster counterparts Lear’s. And compare the +ill-disposed Son-in-law Cornwall, and the well-disposed Son-in-law +Albany. The very Fool has a sort of _filial_ relation to +Lear—“Nuncle”—and “come on, my Boy.” At least the relation is in the +same direction—old to young—protecting to dependent—spontaneous love to +grateful, requiting love, and an intimate, fondling familiarity. Compare +in Hamlet, Ophelia’s way of taking her father’s death—madness and +unconscious suicide—the susceptible girl,—and the brother’s to kill the +slayer, “to cut his throat i’ the church”—the energetic youthy man, +_ferox juvenis_—fiery—full of exuberant strength;—all variations of the +grounding thought—relation of Parent and Child. + + NORTH. + +Of Othello? + + TALBOYS. + +The moral Unity of Othello can be nothing but the Connubial Relation. +How is this dealt with? Othello and Desdemona deserve one another—both +are excellent—both impassioned, but very differently—both frank, simple, +confiding—both unbounded in love. But they have married against the +father’s wish—privily, and—he dies—so here is from another sacred +quarter an influence thwarting—a law violated, and of which the +violation shall be made good to the uttermost. So somebody remarks that +Brabantio involves the fact in the Nemesis, “She has deceived her +Father, and may thee.” Then the pretended corrupt love of her and Cassio +is a reflection in divers ways of the prevailing relation—for a corrupt +union of man and woman images _ex opposito_ the true union—and then it +comes as the wounding to the death. Again, Rodrigo’s wicked pursuit of +her is an imperfect, false reflection. And then there is the false +relation—in Cassio and Bianca—woven in essentially when Iago, talking to +Cassio of Bianca, makes Othello believe that they are speaking of +Desdemona. Then the married estate of Iago and Emilia is another +image—an actual marriage, and so far the same thing, but an inwardly +unbound wedlock—between heart and heart no tie—and so far not the same +thing—the same with a difference, exactly what Poetry requires. Note +that this image is also participant in the Action, essentially, +penetratively to the core; since hereby Iago gets the handkerchief, and +hereby, too, the knot is resolved by Emilia’s final disclosures and +asseverations sealed by her death. Observe that each husband kills, and +indeed stabs his wife—motives a little different—as heaven and hell. + + NORTH. + +The method of Shakspeare makes his Drama the more absolute reflection of +our own Life, wherein are to be considered two things—— + + TALBOYS. + +First—if the innermost grounding feeling of all our other feelings is +and must be that of Self—the next, or in close proximity, Sympathy with +our life—then by the overpowering similitude of those Plays to our +lives—of the method of the Plays to the method of our life—that Sympathy +is by Shakspeare seized and possessed as by no other dramatist—the +persuasion of reality being immense and stupendous. Elements of the +method are, the mixture of comic and tragic—the crossing presentment of +different interests—presentment of the same interests from divided +places and times—multiplying of agents, that is number and variety—being +of all ranks, ages, qualities, offices—coming in contact—immixt in +Action and Passion. This frank, liberal, unreserved, spontaneous and +natural method of imitation must ravish our sympathy—and we know that +the Plays of Shakspeare are to us like another world of our own in its +exuberant plenitude—a full second humanity. + + NORTH. + +Opposed to this is the severe method of the Greek Stage—selecting and +simplifying. + + TALBOYS. + +Of the modern craftsmen, to my thinking Alfieri has carried the Attic +severity to the utmost; and I am obliged to say, sir, that in them +all—those Greeks and this Italian—the severity oppresses me—I feel the +rule of art—not the free movement of human existence. That I feel +overpoweringly, only in Shakspeare. + + NORTH. + +Ay. + + TALBOYS. + +Alfieri says that the constituent Element of Tragedy is Conflict—as of +Duty and Passion—as of conscious Election in the breast of Man and Fate. + + NORTH. + +He does—does he? + + TALBOYS. + +There is Conflict—or Contrast—or Antithesis—the Jar of two Opposites—a +Discord—a Rending—in Lear; between his misplaced confidence and its +requital—between his misplaced displeasure and the true love that is +working towards his weal. And, again, between the Desert and the Reward +of Cordelia—with more in the same Play. + + NORTH. + +Schiller says of Tragic Fate, + + “The great gigantic Destiny + That exalts Man in crushing him.” + +Welcker has, I believe, written on the Fate of the Greek Tragedy, which +I desire to see. + + TALBOYS. + +Are Waves breaking against a Rock the true image of Tragedy? + + NORTH. + +Hardly; any more than a man running his head against a post, or stone +wall is. The two antagonistic Forces, Talboys, must each of them have, +or seem to have, the possibility of yielding; the Conflict or Strife +must have a certain play. Therefore I inquire—Is the Greek Fate the most +excellent of Dramatic means? and is the Greek Fate inflexible? And, +granting that the Hellenic Fate is thoroughly sublime and fitting to +Greek Tragedy, and withal inflexible—does it follow that Modern Tragedy +must have a like overhanging tyrannical Necessity? + + TALBOYS. + +No. + + NORTH. + +No. The Greek Tragedy representing a received religious Mythology, we +may conceive the poetical, or esthetical _hardness_ of a Fate known for +unalterable, to have been tempered by the inherent Awe—the Holiness. +There is a certain swallowing-up of human interests, hopes, +passions—this turmoiling, struggling life—in a revealed Infinitude. Our +Stage is human—built on the Moral Nature of Man, and on his terrestrial +Manner of Being. It stands _under_ the Heavens—_upon_ the Earth. In +Hamlet, the Ghost, with his command of Revenge, represents the +Impassive, Inflexible—with a breath freezing the movable human blood +into stillness—everything else is in agitation. + + TALBOYS. + +Say it again, sir. + + NORTH. + +Beg my pardon and your own, fully and unconditionally, Talboys, this +very instant, for talking slightingly of the Greek Drama. + + TALBOYS. + +Not guilty, my Lord. Of all Dramas that ever were dramatised on the +Stage of this unintelligible world, the Greek Drama is the most +dramatic, saving and excepting Shakspeare’s. + + NORTH. + +Ay, wonderful, my dear Talboys, to see the holy affections demonstrated +mighty on the heathen Proscenium. Antigone! Daughter and Sister. Or in +another House, Orestes, Electra. + + TALBOYS. + +Macbeth murders a King, who happens to be his kinsman; but Clytemnestra +murders her husband, who happens to be a King—the profounder and more +interior crime. + + NORTH. + +We see how grave are the undertakings of Poetry, which engages itself to +please, that it may accomplish sublimer aims. By pleasure she wins you +to your greater good—to Love and Intelligence. The heathen Legislator, +the heathen Philosopher, the heathen Poet, looks upon Man with love and +awe. He desires and conceives his welfare—his wellbeing—HIS HAPPINESS. + + TALBOYS. + +And the Poet, you believe, sir, with intenser love—with more solemn +awe—with more penetrant intuition. + + NORTH. + +I do. And he has his way clearer before him. + + TALBOYS. + +The Legislator, sir, will alchemise the most refractory of all +substances—Man. His materials are in truth the lowest and grossest, and +most external relations of Man’s life. + + NORTH. + +They are. + + TALBOYS. + +And these he would, with instrumentality of low, gross, outward means, +subjugate or subdue under his own most spiritual intuitions. + + NORTH. + +A vain task, my dear Talboys, for an impossible. He must lower his +intuition—his aim—to his means and materials. The Philosopher walks in a +more etherial region. Compared to the Legislator, he is at advantage. +But he has his own difficulties. He must _think Feelings_! + + TALBOYS. + +He might as well try, sir, to trace outline, and measure capacity of a +mist which varies its form momently, and, without determinate boundary +loses itself in the contiguous air. His work is to define the +indefinite. + + NORTH. + +And then he comes from the Schools, which in qualifying disqualify +also—from the Schools of the Senses—of the Physical Arts—of Natural +Philosophy—of Logical, Metaphysical, Mathematical Science. These have +quickened, strengthened, and sharpened his wit; they have lifted him at +last from emotions to notions; but—Love is understood by loving—Hate by +hating—and only so! Sensations—notions—EMOTIONS! I say, Talboys, that in +all these inferior schools you may understand a part by itself, and +ascend by items to the Sum, the All. But in the Philosophy of the Will, +you must from the centre look along the radii, and with a sweep command +the circumference. You must know as it were Nothing, or All. + + TALBOYS. + +Ay, indeed, sir; looking at the Doctrines of the Moral Philosophers, you +are always dissatisfied—and why? + + NORTH. + +Because they contradict your self-experience. Sometimes they speak as +you feel. Your self-intelligence answers, and from time to time, +acknowledges and avouches a strain or two; but then comes discord. The +Sage stands on a radius. If he looks along the radius towards the +circumference, he sees in the same direction with him who stands at the +centre; but in every other direction, inversely or transversely. Every +work of a Philosopher gives you the notion of glimpses caught, snatched +in the midst of clouds and of rolling darknesses. The truth is, Talboys, +that the Moral Philosopher is in the Moral Universe a schoolboy; he is +gaining, from time to time, information by which, if he shall persevere +and prosper, he shall at last understand. Hitherto he but prepares to +understand. If he knows this, good; but if the schoolboy who has +mastered his Greek Alphabet, will forthwith proceed to expound Homer and +Plato, what sort of an _ex cathedrâ_ may we not expect? Rather, what +expectation can approach the burlesque that is in store! + + TALBOYS. + +All are not such. + + NORTH. + +The Moral Sage may be the Schoolboy in the Magisterial Chair. With only +this difference, that he of the beard has been installed in form, and +the Doctor’s hat set on his head by the hand of authority. But the +ground of confusion is the same. He will from initial glimpses of +information expound the world. He will—and the worst of it is that—he +must. + + TALBOYS. + +A Legislator, a Philosopher, a Poet, all know that the stability and +welfare of a man—of a fellowship of men—is Virtue. But see how they deal +with it. + + NORTH. + +Don’t look to me, Talboys; go on of yourself and for yourself—I am a +pupil. + + TALBOYS. + +The Legislator, sir, can hardly do more than reward Valour in war; and +punish overt crime. The Philosopher will have Good either tangible, like +an ox, or a tree, or a tower, or a piece of land; or a rigorous and +precise rational abstraction, like the quantities of a mathematician. +For Good, _substantial and impalpable_, go to the Poet. For Good—for +Virtue—_concrete_, go to the Poet. + + NORTH. + +The Philosopher separates Virtue from all other motions and states of +the human will. The Poet loses or hides Virtue in the other motions and +states of the human will. Orestes, obeying the Command of Apollo, +avenges his Father, by slaying his Mother, and her murderous and +adulterous Paramour. So awfully, solemnly, terribly—with such +implication and involution in human affections and passions, works and +interests and sufferings, the Poet demonstrates Virtue. + + TALBOYS. + +And we go along with Orestes, sir; the Greeks did—if our feebler soul +cannot. + + NORTH. + +Yes, Talboys, we do go along with Orestes. He does that which he _must_ +do—which he is under a moral obligation to do—under a moral necessity of +doing. Necessity! ay, an Αναγκη—stern, strong, adamantine as that which +links the Chain of Causes and Events in the natural universe—which +compels the equable and unalterable celestial motions beheld by our +eyes—such a bounden, irresistible agency sends on the son of the +murdered, with hidden sword, against the bosom that has lulled, fed, +_made_ him!—HE MUST. + + TALBOYS. + +Love, hate, horror—the furies of kinned shed blood ready to spring up +from the black inscrutable earth wetted by the red drops, and to dog the +heels of the new Slayer—of the divinely-appointed Parricide! So a Poet +teaches Virtue. + + NORTH. + +Ay, even so; convulsing your soul—convulsing the worlds, he shows you +LAW—the archaic, the primal, sprung, ere Time, from the bosom of +Jupiter—LAW the bond of the worlds, LAW the inviolate violated, and +avenging her Violation, vindicating her own everlasting stability, +purity, divinity. + + TALBOYS. + +Divine Law and humble, faithful, acquiescent human Obedience! Obedience +self-sacrificing, blind to the consequences, hearing the God, hearing +the Ghost, deaf to all other Voices—deaf to fear, deaf to pity! + + NORTH. + +Now call in the Philosopher, and hear what he has to preach. Something +exquisite and unintelligible about the Middle between two Extremes! + + TALBOYS. + +Shade of the Stagyrite! + + NORTH. + +The pure Earth shakes crime from herself, and the pure stars follow +their eternal courses. The Mother slays the children of a brother for +the father’s repast. And the sun, stopt in the heavens, veils his +resplendent face. So a Poet inculcates Law—Law running through all +things, and binding all things in Unity and in Sympathy—Law entwined in +the primal relations of Man with Man. To reconcile Man with Law—to make +him its “willing bondsman”—is the great Moral and Political Problem—the +first Social need of the day—the innermost craving need of all time +since the Fall. The Poet is its greatest teacher—a wily preceptor, who +lessons you, unaware, unsuspecting of the supreme benefit purposed +you—done you—by him, the Hierophant of Harmonia. + + TALBOYS. + +You ordered me, sir, some few or many hours ago—some Short or Long Time +since—to swear that after this Morning’s Breakfast I would never more so +much as confidentially whisper into a friend’s ear the words—Othello! +Desdemona! And I swore it. I am now eager to swear it over again; but I +begin, sir, to entertain the most serious apprehensions that that time +will never arrive. + + NORTH. + +What time? + + TALBOYS. + +_After_ Breakfast. We have been sitting here, sir, _before_ Breakfast +for ages, in the Wren’s Nest. During our incubation, what a succession +of changes may there not have been in Europe! Revolution on +Revolution—blood poured out like water——Hark, the Tocsin! + + NORTH. + +The Gong. + + TALBOYS. + +The _Breakfast_ Gong! The tremulous thunder meets an answering chord +within me. Six o’Clock in the Morning—and no victuals have I gorged +since Eleven Yestreen. Good-by to the Wren’s Nest—the very Cave of +Famine. This is Turkey-egg—Goose-egg—Swan-egg—Ostrich-egg day. I see +Buller eyeing open-mouthed, with premeditating mastication, my pile of +muffins. Gormandising sans Grace. Take care you don’t trip, sir, over +the precipice—’twould be an ugly fall—into the basin. Now we are out of +danger. But don’t skip, sir—don’t skip—till we emerge—on the open +ground—then we may dance among the daisies. + + + + + LETTER FROM MAJOR-GENERAL SIR WILLIAM NAPIER. + + + CLAPHAM, LONDON, _April 11, 1850_. + +SIR,—The writer of the article headed “_The Ministerial Measures_,” in +your Magazine, has been so complimentary to me that I feel ashamed of +pointing out an error. + +He says I wrote my History on _Whig principles_. Had he said _Radical +principles_, I should not have winced, though I really endeavoured to +write it on the principles of truth and knowledge of the subject. But +for Whig principles! God save the mark!—I never thought of them save to +censure; and really my History is throughout, by implication, and in +many places directly, condemnatory of the Whigs’ policy, and of their +extreme arrogance, and presumptuous, erroneous views of the Peninsular +War. + +I trust the writer will, therefore, acquit me of any such foolish, +factious design as writing a history upon Whig principles. + +I remain, Sir, your obedient Servant, + + W. NAPIER, _Major-General_. + + + _To the Editor of Blackwood’s Magazine._ + + + [We gladly give place to the gallant General’s communication. The + writer of the article in question meant simply to convey his + impression, that the able and eloquent History of Sir William Napier + was not constructed on _Tory_ principles; and consequently, that the + letter which he embodied in his paper was to be regarded as the + testimony of a political opponent.] + + + _Printed by William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh._ + +----- + +Footnote 1: + + _Correspondence respecting the demands made upon the Greek Government, + and respecting the Islands of Cervi and Sapienza._ Presented to both + Houses of Parliament, by command of Her Majesty. February 1850. + +Footnote 2: + + Protestant heresy. + +Footnote 3: + + This is now the case in Germany. + +Footnote 4: + + _Journal de la Campagne de Russie en 1812._ Par M. DE FEZENSAC, + Lieutenant-General. Librairie Militaire, Paris 1850. + +Footnote 5: + + _Essays; Political, Historical, and Miscellaneous._ By ARCHIBALD + ALISON, LL.D. Author of “The History of Europe,” &c. Three vols. 8vo. + William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh and London. + +Footnote 6: + + Vide the _Economist_ newspaper of January 19, 1850. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES + + + Page Changed from Changed to + + 600 declined only ½ per lb.; No. 40, declined only ½d. per lb.; No. + however, 40, however, + + 638 of doing. Necessity! ay, an of doing. Necessity! ay, an + Αναζκη—stern, strong, adamantine Αναγκη—stern, strong, adamantine + as that as that + + ● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + ● Used numbers for footnotes, placing them all at the end of the last + chapter. + ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. + ● Enclosed blackletter font in =equals=. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75515 *** |