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diff --git a/8091.txt b/8091.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..912b31f --- /dev/null +++ b/8091.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7410 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches and Studies, by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Sketches and Studies + +Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8091] +[This file was first posted on June 13, 2003] +[Last updated on December 17, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES AND STUDIES *** + + + + +Produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger + + + + + + + + +SKETCHES AND STUDIES + +by + +Nathaniel Hawthorne + + + +CONTENTS + + Life of Franklin Pierce + Chiefly about War Matters + Alice Doane's Appeal + The Ancestral Footstep + + + + + +LIFE OF FRANKLIN PIERCE. + + +PREFACE. + +The author of this memoir--being so little of a politician that he +scarcely feels entitled to call himself a member of any party--would not +voluntarily have undertaken the work here offered to the public. Neither +can he flatter himself that he has been remarkably successful in the +performance of his task, viewing it in the light of a political +biography, and as a representation of the principles and acts of a public +man, intended to operate upon the minds of multitudes during a +presidential canvass. This species of writing is too remote from his +customary occupations--and, he may add, from his tastes--to be very +satisfactorily done, without more time and practice than he would be +willing to expend for such a purpose. If this little biography have any +value, it is probably of another kind--as the narrative of one who knew +the individual of whom he treats, at a period of life when character +could be read with undoubting accuracy, and who, consequently, in judging +of the motives of his subsequent conduct, has an advantage over much more +competent observers, whose knowledge of the man may have commenced at a +later date. Nor can it be considered improper (at least, the author will +never feel it so, although some foolish delicacy be sacrificed in the +undertaking) that when a friend, dear to him almost from boyish days, +stands up before his country, misrepresented by indiscriminate abuse on +the one hand, and by aimless praise on the other, he should be sketched +by one who has had opportunities of knowing him well, and who is +certainly inclined to tell the truth. + +It is perhaps right to say, that while this biography is so far +sanctioned by General Pierce, as it comprises a generally correct +narrative of the principal events of his life, the author does not +understand him as thereby necessarily indorsing all the sentiments put +forth by himself in the progress of the work. These are the author's own +speculations upon the facts before him, and may, or may not, be in +accordance with the ideas of the individual whose life he writes. That +individual's opinions, however,--so far as it is necessary to know them, +--may be read, in his straightforward and consistent deeds, with more +certainty than those of almost any other man now before the public. + +The author, while collecting his materials, has received liberal aid from +all manner of people--Whigs and Democrats, congressmen, astute lawyers, +grim old generals of militia, and gallant young officers of the Mexican +war--most of whom, however, he must needs say, have rather abounded in +eulogy of General Pierce than in such anecdotical matter as is calculated +for a biography. Among the gentlemen to whom he is substantially +indebted, he would mention Hon. C. G. Atherton, Hon. S. H. Ayer, Hon. +Joseph Hall, Chief Justice Gilchrist, Isaac O. Barnes, Esq., Col. T. J. +Whipple, and Mr. C. J. Smith. He has likewise derived much assistance +from an able and accurate sketch, that originally appeared in the "Boston +Post," and was drawn up, as he believes, by the junior editor of that +journal. + +CONCORD, MASS., August 27, 1852. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +HIS PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE. + + +Franklin Pierce was born at Hillsborough, in the State of New Hampshire, +on the 23d of November, 1804. His native county, at the period of his +birth, covered a much more extensive territory than at present, and might +reckon among its children many memorable men, and some illustrious ones. +General Stark, the hero of Bennington, Daniel Webster, Levi Woodbury, +Jeremiah Smith, the eminent jurist, and governor of the state, General +James Miller, General McNeil, Senator Atherton, were natives of old +Hillsborough County. + +General Benjamin Pierce, the father of Franklin, was one of the earliest +settlers in the town of Hillsborough, and contributed as much as any +other man to the growth and prosperity of the county. He was born in +1757, at Chelmsford, now Lowell, in Massachusetts. Losing his parents +early, he grew up under the care of an uncle, amid such circumstances of +simple fare, hard labor, and scanty education, as usually fell to the lot +of a New England yeoman's family some eighty or a hundred years ago. On +the 19th of April, 1775, being then less than eighteen years of age, the +stripling was at the plough, when tidings reached him of the bloodshed at +Lexington and Concord. He immediately loosened the ox chain, left the +plough in the furrow, took his uncle's gun and equipments, and set forth +towards the scene of action. From that day, for more than seven years, +he never saw his native place. He enlisted in the army, was present at +the battle of Bunker Hill, and after serving through the whole +Revolutionary War, and fighting his way upward from the lowest grade, +returned, at last, a thorough soldier, and commander of a company. He +was retained in the army as long as that body of veterans had a united +existence; and, being finally disbanded, at West Point, in 1784, was left +with no other reward, for nine years of toil and danger, than the nominal +amount of his pay in the Continental currency--then so depreciated as to +be almost worthless. + +In 1780, being employed as agent to explore a tract of wild land, he +purchased a lot of fifty acres in what is now the town of Hillsborough. +In the spring of the succeeding year, he built himself a log hut, and +began the clearing and cultivation of his tract. Another year beheld him +married to his first wife, Elizabeth Andrews, who died within a +twelvemonth after their union, leaving a daughter, the present widow of +General John McNeil. In 1789, he married Anna Kendrick, with whom he +lived about half a century, and who bore him eight children, of whom +Franklin was the sixth. + +Although the Revolutionary soldier had thus betaken himself to the +wilderness for a subsistence, his professional merits were not forgotten +by those who had witnessed his military career. As early as 1786, he was +appointed brigade major of the militia of Hillsborough County, then first +organized and formed into a brigade. And it was a still stronger +testimonial to his character as a soldier, that, nearly fifteen years +afterwards, during the presidency of John Adams, he was offered a high +command in the northern division of the army which was proposed to be +levied in anticipation of a war with the French republic. Inflexibly +democratic in his political faith, however, Major Pierce refused to be +implicated in a policy which he could not approve. "No, gentlemen," said +he to the delegates who urged his acceptance of the commission, "poor as +I am, and acceptable as would be the position under other circumstances, +I would sooner go to yonder mountains, dig me a cave, and live on roast +potatoes, than be instrumental in promoting the objects for which that +army is to be raised!" This same fidelity to his principles marked every +public, as well as private, action of his life. + +In his own neighborhood, among those who knew him best he early gained an +influence that was never lost nor diminished, but continued to spread +wider during the whole of his long life. In 1789, he was elected to the +state legislature and retained that position for thirteen successive +years, until chosen a member of the council. During the same period he +was active in his military duties, as a field officer, and finally +general, of the militia of the county; and Miller, McNeil, and others +learned of him, in this capacity, the soldier-like discipline which was +afterwards displayed on the battle-fields of the northern frontier. + +The history, character, and circumstances of General Benjamin Pierce, +though here but briefly touched upon, are essential parts of the +biography of his son, both as indicating some of the native traits which +the latter has inherited, and as showing the influences amid which he +grew up. At Franklin Pierce's birth, and for many years subsequent, his +father was the most active and public-spirited man within his sphere; a +most decided Democrat, and supporter of Jefferson and Madison; a +practical farmer, moreover, not rich, but independent, exercising a +liberal hospitality, and noted for the kindness and generosity of his +character; a man of the people, but whose natural qualities inevitably +made him a leader among them. From infancy upward, the boy had before +his eyes, as the model on which he might instinctively form himself, one +of the best specimens of sterling New England character, developed in a +life of simple habits, yet of elevated action. Patriotism, such as it +had been in Revolutionary days, was taught him by his father, as early as +his mother taught him religion. He became early imbued, too, with the +military spirit which the old soldier had retained from his long service, +and which was kept active by the constant alarms and warlike preparations +of the first twelve years of the present century. If any man is bound by +birth and youthful training, to show himself a brave, faithful, and able +citizen of his native country, it is the son of such a father. + +At the commencement of the war of 1812, Franklin Pierce was a few months +under eight years of age. The old general, his father, sent two of his +sons into the army; and as his eldest daughter was soon afterwards +married to Major McNeil, there were few families that had so large a +personal stake in the war as that of General Benjamin Pierce. He +himself, both in his public capacity as a member of the council, and by +his great local influence in his own county, lent a strenuous support to +the national administration. It is attributable to his sagacity and +energy, that New Hampshire--then under a federal governor--was saved the +disgrace of participation in the questionable, if not treasonable, +projects of the Hartford Convention. He identified himself with the +cause of the country, and was doubtless as thoroughly alive with +patriotic zeal, at this eventful period, as in the old days of Bunker +Hill, and Saratoga, and Yorktown. The general not only took a prominent +part at all public meetings, but was ever ready for the informal +discussion of political affairs at all places of casual resort, where--in +accordance with the custom of the time and country--the minds of men were +made to operate effectually upon each other. Franklin Pierce was a +frequent auditor of these controversies. The intentness with which he +watched the old general, and listened to his arguments, is still +remembered; and, at this day, in his most earnest moods, there are +gesticulations and movements that bring up the image of his father to +those who recollect the latter on those occasions of the display of +homely, native eloquence. No mode of education could be conceived, +better adapted to imbue a youth with the principles and sentiment of +democratic institutions; it brought him into the most familiar contact +with the popular mind, and made his own mind a part of it. + +Franklin's father had felt, through life, the disadvantages of a +defective education; although, in his peculiar sphere of action, it might +be doubted whether he did not gain more than he lost, by being thrown on +his own resources, and compelled to study men and their actual affairs, +rather than books. But he determined to afford his son all the +opportunities of improvement which he himself had lacked. Franklin, +accordingly, was early sent to the academy at Hancock, and afterwards +to that of Francestown, where he was received into the family of +General Pierce's old and steadfast friend, Peter Woodbury, father of +the late eminent judge. It is scarcely more than a year ago, at the +semi-centennial celebration of the academy, that Franklin Pierce, the +mature and distinguished man, paid a beautiful tribute to the character +of Madam Woodbury, in affectionate remembrance of the motherly kindness +experienced at her hands by the school-boy. + +The old people of his neighborhood give a very delightful picture of +Franklin at this early age. They describe him as a beautiful boy, with +blue eyes, light curling hair, and a sweet expression of face. The +traits presented of him indicate moral symmetry, kindliness, and a +delicate texture of sentiment, rather than marked prominences of +character. His instructors testify to his propriety of conduct, his +fellow-pupils to his sweetness of disposition and cordial sympathy. One +of the latter, being older than most of his companions, and less advanced +in his studies, found it difficult to keep up with his class; and he +remembers how perseveringly, while the other boys were at play, Franklin +spent the noon recess, for many weeks together, in aiding him in his +lessons. These attributes, proper to a generous and affectionate nature, +have remained with him through life. Lending their color to his +deportment, and softening his manners, they are, perhaps, even now, the +characteristics by which most of those who casually meet him would be +inclined to identify the man. But there are other qualities, not then +developed, but which have subsequently attained a firm and manly growth, +and are recognized as his leading traits among those who really know him. +Franklin Pierce's development, indeed, has always been the reverse of +premature; the boy did not show the germ of all that was in the man, nor, +perhaps, did the young man adequately foreshow the mature one. + +In 1820, at the age of sixteen, he became a student of Bowdoin College, +at Brunswick, Maine. It was in the autumn of the next year that the +author of this memoir entered the class below him; but our college +reminiscences, however interesting to the parties concerned, are not +exactly the material for a biography. He was then a youth, with the boy +and man in him, vivacious, mirthful, slender, of a fair complexion, with +light hair that had a curl in it: his bright and cheerful aspect made a +kind of sunshine, both as regarded its radiance and its warmth; insomuch +that no shyness of disposition, in his associates, could well resist its +influence. We soon became acquainted, and were more especially drawn +together as members of the same college society. There were two of these +institutions, dividing the college between them, and typifying, +respectively, and with singular accuracy of feature, the respectable +conservative, and the progressive or democratic parties. Pierce's native +tendencies inevitably drew him to the latter. + +His chum was Zenas Caldwell, several years older than himself, a member +of the Methodist persuasion, a pure-minded, studious, devoutly religious +character; endowed thus early in life with the authority of a grave and +sagacious turn of mind. The friendship between Pierce and him appeared +to be mutually strong, and was of itself a pledge of correct deportment +in the former. His chief friend, I think, was a classmate named Little, +a young man of most estimable qualities and high intellectual promise; +one of those fortunate characters whom an early death so canonizes in the +remembrance of their companions, that the perfect fulfilment of a long +life would scarcely give them a higher place. Jonathan Cilley, of my own +class,--whose untimely fate is still mournfully remembered,--a person of +very marked ability and great social influence, was another of Pierce's +friends. All these have long been dead. There are others, still alive, +who would meet Franklin Pierce, at this day, with as warm a pressure of +the hand, and the same confidence in his kindly feelings as when they +parted from him nearly thirty years ago. + +Pierce's class was small, but composed of individuals seriously intent on +the duties and studies of their college life. They were not boys, but, +for the most part, well advanced towards maturity; and, having wrought +out their own means of education, were little inclined to neglect the +opportunities that had been won at so much cost. They knew the value of +time, and had a sense of the responsibilities of their position. Their +first scholar--the present Professor Stowe--has long since established +his rank among the first scholars of the country. It could have been no +easy task to hold successful rivalry with students so much in earnest as +these were. During the earlier part of his college course it may be +doubted whether Pierce was distinguished for scholarship. But, for the +last two years, he appeared to grow more intent on the business in hand, +and, without losing any of his vivacious qualities as a companion, was +evidently resolved to gain an honorable elevation in his class. His +habits of attention and obedience to college discipline were of the +strictest character; he rose progressively in scholarship, and took a +highly creditable degree. [See note at close of this Life.] + +The first civil office, I imagine, which Franklin Pierce ever held was +that of chairman of the standing committee of the Athenaean Society, of +which, as above hinted, we were both members; and, having myself held a +place on the committee, I can bear testimony to his having discharged +not only his own share of the duties, but that of his colleagues. I +remember, likewise, that the only military service of my life was as a +private soldier in a college company, of which Pierce was one of the +officers. He entered into this latter business, or pastime, with an +earnestness with which I could not pretend to compete, and at which, +perhaps, he would now be inclined to smile. His slender and youthful +figure rises before my mind's eye, at this moment, with the air and step +of a veteran of the school of Steuben; as well became the son of a +revolutionary hero, who had probably drilled under the old baron's +orders. Indeed, at this time, and for some years afterwards, Pierce's +ambition seemed to be of a military cast. Until reflection had tempered +his first predilections, and other varieties of success had rewarded his +efforts, he would have preferred, I believe, the honors of the +battle-field to any laurels more peacefully won. And it was remarkable +how, with all the invariable gentleness of his demeanor, he perfectly +gave, nevertheless, the impression of a high and fearless spirit. His +friends were as sure of his courage, while yet untried, as now, when it +has been displayed so brilliantly in famous battles. + +At this early period of his life, he was distinguished by the same +fascination of manner that has since proved so magical in winning him an +unbounded personal popularity. It is wronging him, however, to call this +peculiarity a mere effect of manner; its source lies deep in the +kindliness of his nature, and in the liberal, generous, catholic +sympathy, that embraces all who are worthy of it. Few men possess any +thing like it; so irresistible as it is, so sure to draw forth an +undoubting confidence, and so true to the promise which it gives. This +frankness, this democracy of good feeling, has not been chilled by the +society of politicians, nor polished down into mere courtesy by his +intercourse with the most refined men of the day. It belongs to him at +this moment, and will never leave him. A little while ago, after his +return from Mexico, he darted across the street to exchange a hearty +gripe of the hand with a rough countryman upon his cart--a man who used +to "live with his father," as the general explained the matter to his +companions. Other men assume this manner, more or less skilfully; but +with Frank Pierce it is an innate characteristic; nor will it ever lose +its charm, unless his heart should grow narrower and colder--a misfortune +not to be anticipated, even in the dangerous atmosphere of elevated rank, +whither he seems destined to ascend. + +There is little else that it is worth while to relate as regards his +college course, unless it be that, during one of his winter vacations, +Pierce taught a country school. So many of the statesmen of New England +have performed their first public service in the character of pedagogue, +that it seems almost a necessary step on the ladder of advancement. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +HIS SERVICES IN THE STATE AND NATIONAL LEGISLATURES. + + +After leaving college, in the year 1824, Franklin Pierce returned to +Hillsborough. His father, now in a green old age, continued to take a +prominent part in the affairs of the day, but likewise made his declining +years rich and picturesque with recollections of the heroic times through +which he had lived. On the 26th of December, 1825, it being his +sixty-seventh birthday, General Benjamin Pierce prepared a festival for +his comrades in arms, the survivors of the Revolution, eighteen of whom, +all inhabitants of Hillsborough, assembled at his house. The ages of +these veterans ranged from fifty-nine up to the patriarchal venerableness +of nearly ninety. They spent the day in festivity, in calling up +reminiscences of the great men whom they had known and the great deeds +which they had helped to do, and in reviving the old sentiments of the +era of 'seventy-six. At nightfall, after a manly and pathetic farewell +from their host, they separated--"prepared," as the old general expressed +it, "at the first tap of the shrouded drum, to move and join their +beloved Washington, and the rest of their beloved comrades, who fought +and bled at their sides." A scene like this must have been profitable +for a young man to witness, as being likely to give him a stronger sense +than most of us can attain of the value of that Union which these old +heroes had risked so much to consolidate--of that common country which +they had sacrificed everything to create; and patriotism must have been +communicated from their hearts to his, with somewhat of the warmth and +freshness of a new-born sentiment. No youth was ever more fortunate than +Franklin Pierce, through the whole of his early life, in this most +desirable species of moral education. + +Having chosen the law as a profession, Franklin became a student in the +office of Judge Woodbury, of Portsmouth. Allusion has already been made +to the friendship between General Benjamin Pierce and Peter Woodbury, the +father of the judge. The early progress of Levi Woodbury towards +eminence had been facilitated by the powerful influence of his father's +friend. It was a worthy and honorable kind of patronage, and bestowed +only as the great abilities of the recipient vindicated his claim to it. +Few young men have met with such early success in life, or have deserved +it so eminently, as did Judge Woodbury. At the age of twenty-seven, he +was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of the state, on the +earnest recommendation of old General Pierce. The opponents of the +measure ridiculed him as the "baby judge;" but his conduct in that high +office showed the prescient judgment of the friend who had known him from +a child, and had seen in his young manhood already the wisdom of ripened +age. It was some years afterwards when Franklin Pierce entered the +office of Judge Woodbury as a student. In the interval, the judge had +been elected governor, and, after a term of office that thoroughly tested +the integrity of his democratic principles, had lost his second election, +and returned to the profession of the law. + +The last two years of Pierce's preparatory studies were spent at the law +school of Northampton, in Massachusetts, and in the office of Judge +Parker at Amherst. In 1827, being admitted to the bar, he began the +practice of his profession at Hillsborough. It is an interesting fact, +considered in reference to his subsequent splendid career as an advocate, +that he did not, at the outset, give promise of distinguished success. +His first case was a failure, and perhaps a somewhat marked one. But it +is remembered that this defeat, however mortifying at the moment, did but +serve to make him aware of the latent resources of his mind, the full +command of which he was far from having yet attained. To a friend, an +older practitioner, who addressed him with some expression of condolence +and encouragement, Pierce replied,--and it was a kind of self-assertion +which no triumph would have drawn oat,--"I do not need that. I will try +nine hundred and ninety-nine cases, if clients will continue to trust me, +and, if I fail just as I have today, will try the thousandth. I shall +live to argue cases in this court house in a manner that will mortify +neither myself nor my friends." It is in such moments of defeat that +character and ability are mot fairly tested; they would irremediably +crush a youth devoid of real energy, and, being neither more nor less +than his just desert, would be accepted as such. But a failure of this +kind serves an opposite purpose to a mind in which the strongest and +richest qualities lie deep, and, from their very size and mass, cannot at +once be rendered available. It provokes an innate self-confidence, +while, at the same time, it sternly indicates the sedulous cultivation, +the earnest effort, the toil, the agony, which are the conditions of +ultimate success. It is, indeed, one of the best modes of discipline +that experience can administer, and may reasonably be counted a fortunate +event in the life of a young man vigorous enough to overcome the +momentary depression. + +Pierce's distinction at the bar, however, did not immediately follow; nor +did he acquire what we may designate as positive eminence until some +years after this period. The enticements of political life--so +especially fascinating to a young lawyer, but so irregular in its +tendencies, and so inimical to steady professional labor--had begun to +operate upon him. His father's prominent position in the politics of the +state made it almost impossible that the son should stand aloof. In +1827, the same year when Franklin began the practice of the law, General +Benjamin Pierce had been elected governor of New Hampshire. He was +defeated in the election of 1828, but was again successful in that of the +subsequent year. During these years, the contest for the presidency had +been fought with a fervor that drew almost everybody into it, on one side +or the other, and had terminated in the triumph of Andrew Jackson. +Franklin Pierce, in advance of his father's decision, though not in +opposition to it, had declared himself for the illustrious man whose +military renown was destined to be thrown into the shade by a civil +administration, the most splendid and powerful that ever adorned the +annals of our country, I love to record of the subject of this memoir +that his first political faith was pledged to that great leader of the +democracy. + +I remember meeting Pierce about this period, and catching from him some +faint reflection of the zeal with which he was now stepping into the +political arena. My sympathies and opinions, it is true,--so far as I +had any in public affairs,--had, from the first, been enlisted on the +same side with his own. But I was now made strongly sensible of an +increased development of my friend's mind, by means of which he possessed +a vastly greater power than heretofore over the minds with which he came +in contact. This progressive growth has continued to be one of his +remarkable characteristics. Of most men you early know the mental gauge +and measurement, and do not subsequently have much occasion to change it. +Not so with Pierce: his tendency was not merely high, but towards a point +which rose higher and higher as the aspirant tended upward. Since we +parted, studious days had educated him; life, too, and his own exertions +in it, and his native habit of close and accurate observation, had +likewise begun to educate him. + +The town of Hillsborough, in 1829, gave Franklin Pierce his first public +honor, by electing him its representative in the legislature of the +state. His whole service in that body comprised four years, in the two +latter of which he was elected Speaker by a vote of one hundred and +fifty-five against fifty-eight for other candidates. This overpowering +majority evinced the confidence which his character inspired, and which, +during his whole career, it has invariably commanded, in advance of what +might be termed positive proof, although the result has never failed to +justify it. I still recollect his description of the feelings with which +he entered on his arduous duties--the feverish night that preceded his +taking the chair--the doubt, the struggle with himself--all ending in +perfect calmness, full self-possession, and free power of action when the +crisis actually came. + +He had all the natural gifts that adapted him for the post; courtesy, +firmness, quickness and accuracy of judgment, and a clearness of mental +perception that brought its own regularity into the scene of confused and +entangled debate; and to these qualities he added whatever was to be +attained by laborious study of parliamentary rules. His merit as a +presiding officer was universally acknowledged. It is rare that a man +combines so much impulse with so great a power of regulating the impulses +of himself and others as Franklin Pierce. The faculty, here exercised +and improved, of controlling an assembly while agitated by tumultuous +controversy, was afterwards called into play upon a higher field; for, +during his congressional service, Pierce was often summoned to preside in +committee of the whole, when a turbulent debate was expected to demand +peculiar energy in the chair. + +He was elected a member of Congress in 1833, being young for the station, +as he has always been for every public station that he has filled. A +different kind of man--a man conscious that accident alone had elevated +him, and therefore nervously anxious to prove himself equal to his +fortunes--would thus have been impelled to spasmodic efforts. He would +have thrust himself forward in debate, taking the word out of the mouths +of renowned orators, and thereby winning notoriety, as at least the +glittering counterfeit of true celebrity. Had Pierce, with his genuine +ability, practised this course; had he possessed even an ordinary love of +display, and had he acted upon it with his inherent tact and skill, +taking advantage of fair occasions to prove the power and substance that +were in him, it would greatly have facilitated the task of his +biographer. + +To aim at personal distinction, however, as an object independent of the +public service, would have been contrary to all the foregone and +subsequent manifestations of his life. He was never wanting to the +occasion; but he waited for the occasion to bring him inevitably forward. +When he spoke, it was not only because he was fully master of the +subject, but because the exigency demanded him, and because no other and +older man could perform the same duty as well as himself. Of the copious +eloquence--and some of it, no doubt, of a high order--which Buncombe has +called forth, not a paragraph, nor a period, is attributable to Franklin +Pierce. He had no need of these devices to fortify his constituents in +their high opinion of him; nor did he fail to perceive that such was not +the method to acquire real weight in the body of which he was a member. +In truth, he has no fluency of words, except when an earnest meaning and +purpose supply their own expression. Every one of his speeches in +Congress, and, we may say, in every other hall of oratory, or on any +stump that he may have mounted, was drawn forth by the perception that it +was needed, was directed to a full exposition of the subject, and (rarest +of all) was limited by what he really had to say. Even the graces of the +orator were never elaborated, never assumed for their own sake, but were +legitimately derived from the force of his conceptions, and from the +impulsive warmth which accompanies the glow of thought. Owing to these +peculiarities,--for such, unfortunately, they may be termed, in reference +to what are usually the characteristics of a legislative career,--his +position before the country was less conspicuous than that of many men +who could claim nothing like Pierce's actual influence in the national +councils. His speeches, in their muscular texture and close grasp of +their subject, resembled the brief but pregnant arguments and expositions +of the sages of the Continental Congress, rather than the immeasurable +harangues which are now the order of the day. + +His congressional life, though it made comparatively so little show, was +full of labor, directed to substantial objects. He was a member of the +judiciary and other important committees; and the drudgery of the +committee room, where so much of the real public business of the country +is transacted, fell in large measure to his lot. Thus, even as a +legislator, he may be said to have been a man of deeds, not words; and +when he spoke upon any subject with which his duty, as chairman or member +of a committee, had brought him in relation, his words had the weight of +deeds, from the meaning, the directness, and the truth, that he conveyed +into them. His merits made themselves known and felt in the sphere where +they were exercised; and he was early appreciated by one who seldom erred +in his estimate of men, whether in their moral or intellectual aspect. +His intercourse with President Jackson was frequent and free, and marked +by friendly regard on the part of the latter. In the stormiest periods +of his administration, Pierce came frankly to his aid. The confidence +then established was never lost; and when Jackson was on his death-bed, +being visited by a gentleman from the North (himself formerly a +democratic member of Congress), the old hero spoke with energy of +Franklin Pierce's ability and patriotism, and remarked, as with prophetic +foresight of his young friend's destiny, that "the interests of the +country would be safe in such hands." + +One of President Jackson's measures, which had Pierce's approval and +support, was his veto of the Maysville Road Bill. This bill was part of +a system of vast public works, principally railroads and canals, which it +was proposed to undertake at the expense of the national treasury--a +policy not then of recent origin, but which had been fostered by John +Quincy Adams, and had attained a gigantic growth at the close of his +Presidency. The estimate of works undertaken or projected, at the +commencement of Jackson's administration, amounted to considerably more +than a hundred millions of dollars. The expenditure of this enormous +sum, and doubtless other incalculable amounts, in progressive increase, +was to be for purposes often of unascertained utility, and was to pass +through the agents and officers of the federal government--a means of +political corruption not safely to be trusted even in the purest hands. +The peril to the individuality of the states, from a system tending so +directly to consolidate the powers of government towards a common centre, +was obvious. The result might have been, with the lapse of time and the +increased activity of the disease, to place the capital of our federative +Union in a position resembling that of imperial Rome, where each once +independent state was a subject province, and all the highways of the +world were said to meet in her forum. It was against this system, so +dangerous to liberty and to public and private integrity, that Jackson +declared war, by the famous Maysville veto. + +It would be an absurd interpretation of Pierce's course, in regard to +this and similar measures, to suppose him hostile either to internal or +coastwise improvements, so far as they may legitimately be the business +of the general government. He was aware of the immense importance of our +internal commerce, and was ever ready to vote such appropriations as +might be necessary for promoting it, when asked for in an honest spirit, +and at points where they were really needed. He doubted, indeed, the +constitutional power of Congress to undertake, by building roads through +the wilderness, or opening unfrequented rivers, to create commerce where +it did not yet exist; but he never denied or questioned the right and +duty to remove obstructions in the way of inland trade, and to afford it +every facility, when the nature and necessity of things had brought it +into genuine existence. And he agreed with the best and wisest statesmen +in believing that this distinction involved the true principle on which +legislation, for the purpose here discussed, should proceed. + +While a member of the House of Representatives, he delivered a forcible +speech against the bill authorizing appropriations for the Military +Academy at West Point. He was decidedly opposed to that institution as +then, and at present organized. We allude to the subject in illustration +of the generous frankness with which, years afterwards, when the battle +smoke of Mexico had baptized him also a soldier, he acknowledged himself +in the wrong, and bore testimony to the brilliant services which the +graduates of the Academy, trained to soldiership from boyhood, had +rendered to their country. And if he has made no other such +acknowledgment of past error, committed in his legislative capacity, it +is but fair to believe that it is because his reason and conscience +accuse him of no other wrong. + +It was while in the lower house of Congress that Franklin Pierce took +that stand on the slavery question from which he has never since swerved +a hair's breadth. He fully recognized, by his votes and by his voice, +the rights pledged to the South by the Constitution. This, at the period +when he so declared himself, was comparatively an easy thing to do. But +when it became more difficult, when the first imperceptible movement of +agitation had grown to be almost a convulsion, his course was still the +same. Nor did he ever shun the obloquy that sometimes threatened to +pursue the northern man who dared to love that great and sacred reality-- +his whole, united, native country--better than the mistiness of a +philanthropic theory. + +He continued in the House of Representatives four years. If, at this +period of his life, he rendered unobtrusive, though not unimportant, +services to the public, it must also have been a time of vast +intellectual advantage to himself. Amidst great national affairs, he was +acquiring the best of all educations for future eminence and leadership. +In the midst of statesmen, he grew to be a statesman. Studious, as all +his speeches prove him to be, of history, he beheld it demonstrating +itself before his eyes. As regards this sort of training, much of its +good or ill effect depends on the natural force and depth of the man. +Many, no doubt, by early mixture with politics, become the mere +politicians of the moment,--a class of men sufficiently abundant among +us,--acquiring only a knack and cunning, which guide them tolerably well +through immediate difficulties, without instructing them in the great +rules of higher policy. But when the actual observation of public +measures goes hand in hand with study, when the mind is capable of +comparing the present with its analogies in the past, and of grasping the +principle that belongs to both, this is to have history for a living +tutor. If the student be fit for such instruction, he will be seen to +act afterwards with the elevation of a high ideal, and with the +expediency, the sagacity, the instinct of what is fit and practicable, +which make the advantage of the man of actual affairs over the mere +theorist. + +And it was another advantage of his being brought early into the sphere +of national interests, and continuing there for a series of years, that +it enabled him to overcome any narrow and sectional prejudices. Without +loving New England less, he loved the broad area of the country more. He +thus retained that equal sentiment of patriotism for the whole land with +which his father had imbued him, and which is perhaps apt to be impaired +in the hearts of those who come late to the national legislature, after +long training in the narrower fields of the separate states. His sense +of the value of the Union, which had been taught him at the fireside, +from earliest infancy, by the stories of patriotic valor that he there +heard, was now strengthened by friendly association with its +representatives from every quarter. It is this youthful sentiment of +Americanism, so happily developed by after circumstances, that we see +operating through all his public life, and making him as tender of what +he considers due to the South as of the rights of his own land of hills. + +Franklin Pierce had scarcely reached the legal age for such elevation, +when, in 1837, he was elected to the Senate of the United States. He +took his seat at the commencement of the presidency of Mr. Van Buren. +Never before nor since has the Senate been more venerable for the array +of veteran and celebrated statesmen than at that time. Calhoun, Webster, +and Clay had lost nothing of their intellectual might. Benton, Silas +Wright, Woodbury, Buchanan, and Walker were members; and many even of the +less eminent names were such as have gained historic place--men of +powerful eloquence, and worthy to be leaders of the respective parties +which they espoused. To this dignified body (composed of individuals +some of whom were older in political experience than he in his mortal +life) Pierce came as the youngest member of the Senate. With his usual +tact and exquisite sense of propriety, he saw that it was not the time +for him to step forward prominently on this highest theatre in the land. +He beheld these great combatants doing battle before the eyes of the +nation, and engrossing its whole regards. There was hardly an avenue to +reputation save what was occupied by one or another of those gigantic +figures. + +Modes of public service remained, however, requiring high ability, but +with which few men of competent endowments would have been content to +occupy themselves. Pierce had already demonstrated the possibility of +obtaining an enviable position among his associates, without the windy +notoriety which a member of Congress may readily manufacture for himself +by the lavish expenditure of breath that had been better spared. In the +more elevated field of the Senate, he pursued the same course as while a +representative, and with more than equal results. + +Among other committees, he was a member of that upon revolutionary +pensions. Of this subject he made himself thoroughly master, and was +recognized by the Senate as an unquestionable authority. In 1840, in +reference to several bills for the relief of claimants under the pension +law, he delivered a speech which finely illustrates as well the +sympathies as the justice of the man, showing how vividly he could feel, +and, at the same time, how powerless were his feelings to turn him aside +from the strict line of public integrity. The merits and sacrifices of +the people of the Revolution have never been stated with more earnest +gratitude than in the following passage:-- + +"I am not insensible, Mr. President, of the advantages with which claims +of this character always come before Congress. They are supposed to be +based on services for which no man entertains a higher estimate than +myself--services beyond all praise, and above all price. But, while warm +and glowing with the glorious recollections which a recurrence to that +period of our history can never fail to awaken; while we cherish with +emotions of pride, reverence, and affection the memory of those brave men +who are no longer with us; while we provide, with a liberal hand, for +such as survive, and for the widows of the deceased; while we would +accord to the heirs, whether in the second or third generation, every +dollar to which they can establish a just claim,--I trust we shall not, +in the strong current of our sympathies, forget what becomes us as the +descendants of such men. They would teach us to legislate upon our +judgment, upon our sober sense of right, and not upon our impulses or our +sympathies. No, sir; we may act in this way, if we choose, when +dispensing our own means, but we are not at liberty to do it when +dispensing the means of our constituents. + +"If we were to legislate upon our sympathies--yet more I will admit--if +we were to yield to that sense of just and grateful remuneration which +presses itself upon every man's heart, there would be scarcely a limit +for our bounty. The whole exchequer could not answer the demand. To the +patriotism, the courage, and the sacrifices of the people of that day, we +owe, under Providence, all that we now most highly prize, and what we +shall transmit to our children as the richest legacy they can inherit. +The War of the Revolution, it has been justly remarked, was not a war of +armies merely--it was the war of nearly a whole people, and such a people +as the world had never before seen, in a death struggle for liberty. + +"The losses, sacrifices, and sufferings of that period were common to all +classes and conditions of life. Those who remained at home suffered +hardly less than those who entered upon the active strife. The aged +father and another underwent not less than the son, who would have been +the comfort and stay of their declining years, now called to perform a +yet higher duty--to follow the standard of his bleeding country. The +young mother, with her helpless children, excites not less deeply our +sympathies, contending with want, and dragging out years of weary and +toilsome days and anxious nights, than the husband in the field, +following the fortunes of our arms without the proper habiliments to +protect his person, or the requisite sustenance to support his strength. +Sir, I never think of that patient, enduring, self-sacrificing army, +which crossed the Delaware in December, 1777, marching barefooted upon +frozen ground to encounter the foe, and leaving bloody footprints for +miles behind then--I never think of their sufferings during that terrible +winter without involuntarily inquiring, Where then were their families? +Who lit up the cheerful fire upon their hearths at home? Who spoke the +word of comfort and encouragement? Nay, sir, who furnished protection +from the rigors of winter, and brought them the necessary means of +subsistence?' + +"The true and simple answer to these questions would disclose an amount +of suffering and anguish, mental and physical, such as might not have +been found in the ranks of the armies--not even in the severest trial of +that fortitude which never faltered, and that power of endurance which +seemed to know no limit. All this no man feels more deeply than I do. +But they were common sacrifices in a common cause, ultimately crowned +with the reward of liberty. They have an everlasting claim upon our +gratitude, and are destined, as I trust, by their heroic example, to +exert an abiding influence upon our latest posterity." + +With this heartfelt recognition of the debt of gratitude due to those +excellent men, the senator enters into an analysis of the claims +presented, and proves them to be void of justice. The whole speech is a +good exponent of his character; full of the truest sympathy, but, above +all things, just, and not to be misled, on the public behalf, by those +impulses that would be most apt to sway the private man. The mere +pecuniary amount saved to the nation by his scrutiny into affairs of this +kind, though great, was, after all, but a minor consideration. The +danger lay in establishing a corrupt system, and placing a wrong +precedent upon the statute book. Instances might be adduced, on the +other hand, which show him not less scrupulous of the just rights of the +claimants than careful of the public interests. + +Another subject upon which he came forward was the military establishment +and the natural defences of the country. In looking through the columns +of the "Congressional Globe," we find abundant evidences of Senator +Pierce's laborious and unostentatious discharge of his duties--reports of +committees, brief remarks, and, here and there, a longer speech, always +full of matter, and evincing a thoroughly-digested knowledge of the +subject. Not having been written out by himself, however, these speeches +are no fair specimens of his oratory, except as regards the train of +argument and substantial thought; and adhering very closely to the +business in hand, they seldom present passages that could be quoted, +without tearing them forcibly, as it were, out of the context, and thus +mangling the fragments which we might offer to the reader. As we have +already remarked, he seems, as a debater, to revive the old type of the +Revolutionary Congress, or to bring back the noble days of the Long +Parliament of England, before eloquence had become what it is now, a +knack, and a thing valued for itself. Like those strenuous orators, he +speaks with the earnestness of honest conviction, and out of the fervor +of his heart, and because the occasion and his deep sense of it constrain +him. + +By the defeat of Mr. Van Buren, in the presidential election of 1840, the +administration of government was transferred, for the first time in +twelve years, to the Whigs. An extra session of Congress was summoned to +assemble in June, 1841, by President Harrison, who, however, died before +it came together. At this extra session, it was the purpose of the whig +party, under the leadership of Henry Clay, to overthrow all the great +measures which the successive democratic administrations had established. +The sub-treasury was to be demolished; a national bank was to be +incorporated; a high tariff of duties was to be imposed, for purposes of +protection and abundant revenue. The whig administration possessed a +majority, both in the Senate and the House. It was a dark period for the +Democracy, so long unaccustomed to defeat, and now beholding all that +they had won for the cause of national progress, after the arduous +struggle of so many years, apparently about to be swept away. + +The sterling influence which Franklin Pierce now exercised is well +described in the following remarks of the Hon. A. O. P. Nicholson:-- + +"The power of an organized minority was never more clearly exhibited than +in this contest. The democratic senators acted in strict concert, +meeting night after night for consultation, arranging their plan of +battle, selecting their champions for the coming day, assigning to each +man his proper duty, and looking carefully to the popular judgment for a +final victory. In these consultations, no man's voice was heard with +more profound respect than that of Franklin Pierce. His counsels were +characterized by so thorough a knowledge of human nature, by so much +solid common sense, by such devotion to democratic principles, that, +although among the youngest of the senators, it was deemed important that +all their conclusions should be submitted to his sanction. + +"Although known to be ardent in his temperament, he was also known to act +with prudence and caution. His impetuosity in debate was only the result +of the deep convictions which controlled his mind. He enjoyed the +unbounded confidence of Calhoun, Buchanan, Wright, Woodbury, Walker, +King, Benton, and indeed of the entire democratic portion of the Senate. +When he rose in the Senate or in the committee room, he was heard with +the profoundest attention; and again and again was he greeted by these +veteran Democrats as one of our ablest champions. His speeches, during +this session, will compare with those of any other senator. If it be +asked why he did not receive higher distinction, I answer, that such men +as Calhoun, Wright, Buchanan, and Woodbury were the acknowledged leaders +of the Democracy. The eyes of the nation were on them. The hopes of +their party were reposed in them. The brightness of these luminaries was +too great to allow the brilliancy of so young a man to attract especial +attention. But ask any one of these veterans how Franklin Pierce ranked +in the Senate, and he will tell you, that, to stand in the front rank for +talents, eloquence, and statesmanship, he only lacked a few more years." + +In the course of this session he made a very powerful speech in favor of +Mr. Buchanan's resolution, calling on the President to furnish the names +of persons removed from office since the 4th of March, 1841. The Whigs, +in 1840, as in the subsequent canvass of 1848, had professed a purpose to +abolish the system of official removals on account of political opinion, +but, immediately on coming into power, had commenced a proscription +infinitely beyond the example of the democratic party. This course, with +an army of office-seekers besieging the departments, was unquestionably +difficult to avoid, and perhaps, on the whole, not desirable to be +avoided. But it was rendered astounding by the sturdy effrontery with +which the gentlemen in power denied that their present practice had +falsified any of their past professions. A few of the closing paragraphs +of Senator Pierce's highly effective speech, being more easily separable +than the rest, may here be cited. + +"One word more, and I leave this subject,--a painful one to me, from the +beginning to the end. The senator from North Carolina, in the course of +his remarks the other day, asked, 'Do gentlemen expect that their friends +are to be retained in office against the will of the nation? Are they so +unreasonable as to expect what the circumstances and the necessity of the +case forbid?' What our expectations were is not the question now; but +what were your pledges and promises before the people. On a previous +occasion, the distinguished senator from Kentucky made a similar remark: +'An ungracious task, but the nation demands it!' Sir, this demand of the +nation,--this plea of STATE NECESSITY,--let me tell you, gentlemen, is as +old as the history of wrong and oppression. It has been the standing +plea, the never-failing resort of despotism. + +"The great Julius found it a convenient plea when he restored the dignity +of the Roman Senate, but destroyed its independence. It gave countenance +to and justified all the atrocities of the Inquisition in Spain. It +forced out the stifled groans that issued from the Black Hole of +Calcutta. It was written in tears upon the Bridge of Sighs in Venice, +and pointed to those dark recesses upon whose gloomy thresholds there was +never seen a returning footprint. + +"It was the plea of the austere and ambitious Strafford, in the days of +Charles I. It filled the Bastile of France, and lent its sanction to the +terrible atrocities perpetrated there. It was this plea that snatched +the mild, eloquent, and patriotic Camillo Desmoulins from his young and +beautiful wife, and hurried him to the guillotine with thousands of +others equally unoffending and innocent. It was upon this plea that the +greatest of generals, if not men,--you cannot mistake me,--I mean him, +the presence of whose very ashes within the last few months sufficed to +stir the hearts of a continent,--it was upon this plea that he abjured +the noble wife who had thrown light and gladness around his humbler days, +and, by her own lofty energies and high intellect, had encouraged his +aspirations. It was upon this plea that he committed that worst and most +fatal acts of his eventful life. Upon this, too, he drew around his +person the imperial purple. It has in all times, and in every age, been +the foe of liberty and the indispensable stay of usurpation. + +"Where were the chains of despotism ever thrown around the freedom of +speech and of the press but on this plea of STATE NECESSITY? Let the +spirit of Charles X. and of his ministers answer. + +"It is cold, selfish, heartless, and has always been regardless of age, +sex, condition, services, or any of the incidents of life that appeal to +patriotism or humanity. Wherever its authority has been acknowledged, it +has assailed men who stood by their country when she needed strong arms +and bold hearts, and has assailed them when, maimed and disabled in her +service, they could no longer brandish a weapon in her defence. It has +afflicted the feeble and dependent wife for the imaginary faults of the +husband. It has stricken down Innocence in its beauty, Youth in its +freshness, Manhood in its vigor, and Age in its feebleness and +decrepitude. Whatever other plea or apology may be set up for the +sweeping, ruthless exercise of this civil guillotine at the present day, +in the name of LIBERTY let us be spared this fearful one of STATE +NECESSITY, in this early age of the Republic, upon the floor of the +American Senate, in the face of a people yet free!" + +In June, 1842, he signified his purpose of retiring from the Senate. + +It was now more than sixteen years since the author of this sketch had +been accustomed to meet Frank Pierce (that familiar name, which the +nation is adopting as one of its household words) in habits of daily +intercourse. Our modes of life had since been as different as could well +be imagined; our culture and labor were entirely unlike; there was hardly +a single object or aspiration in common between us. Still we had +occasionally met, and always on the old ground of friendly confidence. +There were sympathies that had not been suffered to die out. Had we +lived more constantly together, it is not impossible that the relation +might have been changed by the various accidents and attritions of life; +but having no mutual events, and few mutual interests, the tie of early +friendship remained the same as when we parted. The modifications which +I saw in his character were those of growth and development; new +qualities came out, or displayed themselves more prominently, but always +in harmony with those heretofore known. Always I was sensible of +progress in him; a characteristic--as, I believe, has been said in the +foregoing pages--more perceptible in Franklin Pierce than in any other +person with whom I have been acquainted. He widened, deepened, rose to a +higher point, and thus ever made himself equal to the ever-heightening +occasion. This peculiarity of intellectual growth, continued beyond the +ordinary period, has its analogy in his physical constitution--it being a +fact that he continued to grow in stature between his twenty-first and +twenty-fifth years. + +He had not met with that misfortune, which, it is to be feared, befalls +many men who throw their ardor into politics. The pursuit had taken +nothing from the frankness of his nature; now, as ever, he used direct +means to gain honorable ends; and his subtlety--for, after all, his heart +and purpose were not such as he that runs may read--had the depth of +wisdom, and never any quality of cunning. In great part, this +undeteriorated manhood was due to his original nobility of nature. Yet +it may not be unjust to attribute it, in some degree, to the singular +good fortune of his life. He had never, in all his career, found it +necessary to stoop. Office had sought him; he had not begged it, nor +manoeuvred for it, nor crept towards it--arts which too frequently bring +a man, morally bowed and degraded, to a position which should be one of +dignity, but in which he will vainly essay to stand upright. + +In our earlier meetings, after Pierce had begun to come forward in public +life, I could discern that his ambition was aroused. He felt a young +man's enjoyment of success, so early and so distinguished. But as years +went on, such motives seemed to be less influential with him. He was +cured of ambition, as, one after another, its objects came to him +unsought. His domestic position, likewise, had contributed to direct his +tastes and wishes towards the pursuits of private life. In 1834 he had +married Jane Means, a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Appleton, a former +president of Bowdoin College. Three sons, the first of whom died in +early infancy, were born to him; and, having hitherto been kept poor by +his public service, he no doubt became sensible of the expediency of +making some provision for the future. Such, it may be presumed, were the +considerations that induced his resignation of the senatorship, greatly +to the regret of all parties. The senators gathered around him as he was +about to quit the chamber; political opponents took leave of him as of a +personal friend; and no departing member has ever retired from that +dignified body amid warmer wishes for his happiness than those that +attended Franklin Pierce. + +His father had died three years before, in 1839, at the mansion which he +built, after the original log-cabin grew too narrow for his rising family +and fortunes. The mansion was spacious, as the liberal hospitality of +the occupant required, and stood on a little eminence, surrounded by +verdure and abundance, and a happy population, where, half a century +before, the revolutionary soldier had come alone into the wilderness, and +levelled the primeval forest trees. After being spared to behold the +distinction of his son, he departed this life at the age of eighty-one +years, in perfect peace, and, until within a few hours of his death, in +the full possession of his intellectual powers. His last act was one of +charity to a poor neighbor--a fitting close to a life that had abounded +in such deeds. Governor Pierce was a man of admirable qualities--brave, +active, public-spirited, endowed with natural authority, courteous yet +simple in his manners; and in his son we may perceive these same +attributes, modified and softened by a finer texture of character, +illuminated by higher intellectual culture, and polished by a larger +intercourse with the world, but as substantial and sterling as in the +good old patriot. + +Franklin Pierce had removed from Hillsborough in 1838, and taken up his +residence at Concord, the capital of New Hampshire. On this occasion, +the citizens of his native town invited him to a public dinner, in token +of their affection and respect. In accordance with his usual taste, he +gratefully accepted the kindly sentiment, but declined the public +demonstration of it. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +HIS SUCCESS AT THE BAR. + + +Franklin Pierce's earliest effort at the bar, as we have already +observed, was an unsuccessful one; but instead of discouraging him, the +failure had only served to awaken the consciousness of latent power, and +the resolution to bring it out. Since those days, he had indeed gained +reputation as a lawyer. So much, however, was the tenor of his legal +life broken up by the months of public service subtracted from each year, +and such was the inevitable tendency of his thoughts towards political +subjects, that he could but very partially avail himself of the +opportunities of professional advancement. But on retiring from the +Senate he appears to have started immediately into full practice. Though +the people of New Hampshire already knew him well, yet his brilliant +achievements as an advocate brought him more into their view, and into +closer relations with them, than he had ever before been. He now met his +countrymen, as represented in the jury box, face to face, and made them +feel what manner of man he was. Their sentiment towards him soon grew to +be nothing short of enthusiasm; love, pride, the sense of brotherhood, +affectionate sympathy, and perfect trust, all mingled in it. It was the +influence of a great heart pervading the general heart, and throbbing +with it in the same pulsation. + +It has never been the writer's good fortune to listen to one of Franklin +Pierce's public speeches, whether at the bar or elsewhere; nor, by +diligent inquiry, has he been able to gain a very definite idea of the +mode in which he produces his effects. To me, therefore, his forensic +displays are in the same category with those of Patrick Henry, or any +other orator whose tongue, beyond the memory of man, has moulded into +dust. His power results, no doubt, in great measure, from the +earnestness with which he imbues himself with the conception of his +client's cause; insomuch that he makes it entirely his own, and, never +undertaking a case which he believes to be unjust, contends with his +whole heart and conscience, as well as intellectual force, for victory. +His labor in the preparation of his cases is said to be unremitting; and +he throws himself with such energy into a trial of importance as wholly +to exhaust his strength. + +Few lawyers, probably, have been interested in a wider variety of +business than he; its scope comprehends the great causes where immense +pecuniary interests are concerned--from which, however, he is always +ready to turn aside, to defend the humble rights of the poor man, or give +his protection to one unjustly accused. As one of my correspondents +observes, "When an applicant has interested him by a recital of fraud or +wrong, General Pierce never investigates the man's estate before engaging +in his business; neither does he calculate whose path he may cross. I +have been privy to several instances of the noblest independence on his +part, in pursuing, to the disrepute of those who stood well in the +community, the weal of an obscure client with a good cause." + +In the practice of the law, as Pierce pursued it, in one or another of +the court houses of New Hampshire, the rumor of each successive struggle +and success resounded over the rugged hills, and perished without a +record. Those mighty efforts, into which he put all his strength, before +a county court, and addressing a jury of yeomen, have necessarily been, +as regards the evanescent memory of any particular trial, like the +eloquence that is sometimes poured out in a dream. In other spheres of +action, with no greater expenditure of mental energy, words have been +spoken that endure from age to age--deeds done that harden into history. +But this, perhaps the most earnest portion of Franklin Pierce's life, has +left few materials from which it can be written. There is before me only +one report of a case in which he was engaged--the defence of the +Wentworths, at a preliminary examination, on a charge of murder. His +speech occupied four hours in the delivery, and handles a confused medley +of facts with masterly skill, bringing them to bear one upon another, and +making the entire mass, as it were, transparent, so that the truth may be +seen through it. The whole hangs together too closely to permit the +quotation of passages. + +The writer has been favored with communications from two individuals, who +have enjoyed the best of opportunities to become acquainted with General +Pierce's character as a lawyer. The following is the graceful and +generous tribute of a gentleman, who, of late, more frequently than any +other, has been opposed to him at the bar:-- + +"General Pierce cannot be said to have commenced his career at the bar in +earnest until after his resignation of the office of senator, in 1842. +And it is a convincing proof of his eminent powers that he at once placed +himself in the very first rank at a bar so distinguished for ability as +that of New Hampshire. It is confessed by all who have the means of +knowledge and judgment on this subject, that in no state of the Union are +causes tried with more industry of preparation, skill, perseverance, +energy, or vehement effort to succeed. + +"During much of this time, my practice in our courts was suspended; and +it is only within three or four years that I have had opportunities of +intimately knowing his powers as an advocate, by being associated with +him at the bar; and, most of all, of appreciating and feeling that power, +by being opposed to him in the trial of causes before juries. Far more +than any other man, whom it has been my fortune to meet, he makes himself +felt by one who tries a case against him. From the first, he impresses +on his opponent a consciousness of the necessity of a deadly struggle, +not only in order to win the victory, but to avoid defeat. + +"His vigilance and perseverance, omitting nothing in the preparation and +introduction of testimony, even to the minutest details, which can be +useful to his clients; his watchful attention, seizing on every weak +point in the opposite case; his quickness and readiness; his sound and +excellent judgment; his keen insight into character and motives, his +almost intuitive knowledge of men; his ingenious and powerful +cross-examinations; his adroitness in turning aside troublesome +testimony, and availing himself of every favorable point; his quick sense +of the ridiculous; his pathetic appeals to the feelings; his sustained +eloquence, and remarkably energetic declamation,--all mark him for a +'leader.' + +"From the beginning to the end of the trial of a case, nothing with him +is neglected which can by possibility honorably conduce to success. His +manner is always respectful and deferential to the court, captivating to +the jury, and calculated to conciliate the good will even of those who +would be otherwise indifferent spectators. In short, he plays the part +of a successful actor; successful, because he always identifies himself +with his part, and in him it is not acting. + +"Perhaps, as would be expected by those who know his generosity of heart, +and his scorn of everything like oppression or extortion, he is most +powerful in his indignant denunciations of fraud or injustice, and his +addresses to the feelings in behalf of the poor and lowly, and the +sufferers under wrong. I remember to have heard of his extraordinary +power on one occasion, when a person who had offered to procure arrears +of a pension for revolutionary services had appropriated to himself a +most unreasonable share of the money. General Pierce spoke of the +frequency of these instances, and, before the numerous audience, offered +his aid, freely and gratuitously, to redress the wrongs of any widow or +representative of a revolutionary officer or soldier who had been made +the subject of such extortion. + +"The reply of the poor man, in the anecdote related by Lord Campbell of +Harry Erskine, would be applicable, as exhibiting a feeling kindred to +that with which General Pierce is regarded: 'There's no a puir man in a' +Scotland need to want a friend or fear an enemy, sae lang as Harry +Erskine lives!'" + +We next give his aspect as seen from the bench, in the following +carefully prepared and discriminating article, from the chief justice of +New Hampshire:-- + +"In attempting to estimate the character and qualifications of Mr. Pierce +as a lawyer and an advocate, we undertake a delicate, but, at the same +time, an agreeable task. The profession of the law, practised by men of +liberal and enlightened minds, and unstained by the sordidness which more +or less affects all human pursuits, invariably confers honor upon and is +honored by its followers. An integrity above suspicion, an eloquence +alike vigorous and persuasive, and an intuitive sagacity have earned for +Mr. Pierce the reputation that always follows them. + +"The last case of paramount importance in which he was engaged as counsel +was that of Morrison v. Philbrick, tried in the month of February, 1852, +at the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Belknap. There was on +both sides an array of eminent professional talent, Messrs. Pierce, Bell, +and Bellows appearing for the defendant, and Messrs. Atherton and Whipple +for the plaintiff. The case was one of almost unequalled interest to the +public generally, and to the inhabitants of the country lying around the +lower part of Lake Winnipiscogee. A company, commonly called the Lake +Company, had become the owners of many of the outlets of the streams +supplying the lake, and by means of their works at such places, and at +Union Bridge, a few miles below, were enabled to keep back the waters of +the lake, and to use them as occasion should require to supply the mills +at Lowell. The plaintiff alleged that the dam at Union Bridge had caused +the water to rise higher than was done by the dam that existed in the +year 1828, and that he was essentially injured thereby. The case had +been on trial nearly seven weeks. Evidence equivalent to the testimony +of one hundred and eighty witnesses had been laid before the jury. Upon +this immense mass of facts, involving a great number of issues, Mr. +Pierce was to meet his most formidable opponent in the state, Mr. +Atherton. In that gentleman are united many of the rarest qualifications +of an advocate. Of inimitable self-possession; with a coolness and +clearness of intellect which no sudden emergencies can disturb; with that +confidence in his resources which nothing but native strength, aided by +the most thorough training, can bestow; with a felicity and fertility of +illustration, the result alike of an exquisite natural taste and a +cultivation of those studies which refine while they strengthen the mind +for forensic contests,--Mr. Atherton's argument was listened to with an +earnestness and interest which showed the conviction of his audience that +no ordinary man was addressing them. + +"No one who witnessed that memorable trial will soon forget the argument +of Mr. Pierce on that occasion. He was the counsel for the defendant, +and was therefore to precede Mr. Atherton. He was to analyze and unfold +to the jury this vast body of evidence under the watchful eyes of an +opponent at once enterprising and cautious, and before whom it was +necessary to be both bold and skilful. He was to place himself in the +position of the jury, to see the evidence as they would be likely to +regard it, to understand the character of their minds and what views +would be the most likely to impress them. He was not only to be familiar +with his own case, but to anticipate that of his opponent, and answer as +he best might the argument of the counsel. And most admirably did he +discharge the duties he had assumed on behalf of his client. Eminently +graceful and attractive in his manner at all times, his demeanor was then +precisely what it should have been, showing a manly confidence in himself +and his case, and a courteous deference to the tribunal he was +addressing. His erect and manly figure, his easy and unembarrassed air, +bespoke the favorable attention of his audience. His earnest devotion to +his cause, his deep emotion, evidently suppressed, but for that very +reason all the more interesting, diffused themselves like electricity +through his hearers. And when, as often happened, in the course of his +argument, his clear and musical accents fell upon the ear in eloquent and +pointed sentences, gratifying the taste while they satisfied the reason, +no man could avoid turning to his neighbor, and expressing by his looks +that pleasure which the very depth of his interest forbade him to express +in words. And when the long trial was over, every one remembered with +satisfaction that these two distinguished gentlemen had met each other +during a most exciting and exhausting trial of seven weeks, and that no +unkind words, or captious passages, had occurred between them to diminish +their mutual respect, or that in which they were held by their +fellow-citizens. + +"In the above remarks, we have indicated a few of Mr. Pierce's +characteristics as an advocate; but he possesses other endowments, to +which we have not alluded. In the first place, as he is a perfectly +fearless man, so he is a perfectly fearless advocate; and true courage is +as necessary to the civilian as to the soldier, and smiles and frowns Mr. +Pierce disregards alike in the undaunted discharge of his duty. He never +fears to uphold his client, however unpopular his cause may seem to be +for the moment. It is this courage which kindles his eloquence, inspires +his conduct, and gives direction and firmness to his skill. This it is +which impels him onward, at all risks, to lay bare every 'mystery of +iniquity' which he believes is threatening his case. He does not ask +himself whether his opponent be not a man of wealth and influence, of +whom it might be for his interest to speak with care and circumspection; +but he devotes himself with a ready zeal to his cause, careless of aught +but how he may best discharge his duty. His argumentative powers are of +the highest order. He never takes before the court a position which he +believes untenable. He has a quick and sure perception of his points, +and the power of enforcing them by apt and pertinent illustrations. He +sees the relative importance and weight of different views, and can +assign to each its proper place, and brings forward the main body of his +reasoning in prominent relief, without distracting the attention by +unimportant particulars. And above all, he has the good sense, so rarely +shown by many, to stop when he has said all that is necessary for the +elucidation of his subject. With a proper confidence in his own +perceptions, he states his views so pertinently and in such precise and +logical terms, that they cannot but be felt and appreciated. He never +mystifies; he never attempts to pervert words from their proper and +legitimate meaning to answer a temporary purpose. + +"His demeanor at the bar nay be pronounced faultless. His courtesy in +the court house, like his courtesy elsewhere, is that which springs from +self-respect and from a kindly heart, disposing its owner to say and do +kindly things. But he would be a courageous man who, presuming upon the +affability of Mr. Pierce's manner, would venture a second time to attack +him; for he would long remember the rebuke that followed his first +attack. There is a ready repartee and a quick and cutting sarcasm in his +manner when he chooses to display it, which it requires a man of +considerable nerve to withstand. He is peculiarly happy in the +examination of witnesses--that art in which so few excel. He never +browbeats, he never attempts to terrify. He is never rude or +discourteous. But the equivocating witness soon discovers that his +falsehood is hunted out of its recesses with an unsparing determination. +If he is dogged and surly, he is met by a spirit as resolute as his own. +If he is smooth and plausible, the veil is lifted from him by a firm but +graceful hand. If he is pompous and vain, no ridicule was ever more +perfect than that to which he listens with astonished and mortified ears. + +"The eloquence of Mr. Pierce is of a character not to be easily +forgotten. He understands men, their passions and their feelings. He +knows the way to their hearts, and can make them vibrate to his touch. +His language always attracts the hearer. A graceful and manly carriage, +bespeaking him at once the gentleman and the true man; a manner warmed by +the ardent glow of an earnest belief; an enunciation ringing, distinct, +and impressive beyond that of most men; a command of brilliant and +expressive language; and an accurate taste, together with a sagacious and +instinctive insight into the points of his case, are the secrets of his +success. It is thus that audiences are moved and truth ascertained; and +he will ever be the most successful advocate who can approach the nearest +to this lofty and difficult position. + +"Mr. Pierce's views as a constitutional lawyer are such as have been +advocated by the ablest minds of America. They are those which, taking +their rise in the heroic age of the country, were transmitted to him by a +noble father, worthy of the times in which he lived, worthy of that +Revolution which he assisted in bringing about. He believes that the +Constitution was made, not to be subverted, but to be sacredly preserved; +that a republic is perfectly consistent with the conservation of law, of +rational submission to right authority, and of true self-government. +Equally removed from that malignant hostility to order which +characterizes the demagogues who are eager to rise upon the ruins even of +freedom, and from that barren and bigoted narrowness which would oppose +all rational freedom of opinion, he is, in its loftiest and most +ennobling sense, a friend of that Union, without which the honored name +of American citizen would become a by-word among the nations. And if, as +we fervently pray and confidently expect he will, Mr. Pierce shall +display before the great tribunals of the nation the courage, the +consistency, the sagacity, and the sense of honor, which have already +secured for him so many thousands of devoted friends, and which have +signalized both his private and professional life, his administration +will long be held in grateful remembrance as one of which the sense of +right and the sagacity to perceive it, a clear insight into the true +destinies of the country and a determination to uphold them at whatever +sacrifice, were the predominant characteristics." + +It may appear singular that Franklin Pierce has not taken up his +residence in some metropolis, where his great forensic abilities would so +readily find a more conspicuous theatre, and a far richer remuneration +than heretofore. He himself, it is understood, has sometimes +contemplated a removal, and, two or three years since, had almost +determined on settling in Baltimore. But his native state, where he is +known so well, and regarded with so much familiar affection, which he has +served so faithfully, and which rewards him so generously with its +confidence, New Hampshire, with its granite hills, must always be his +home. He will dwell there, except when public duty for a season shall +summon him away; he will die there, and give his dust to its soil. + +It was at his option, in 1846, to accept the highest legal position in +the country, setting aside the bench, and the one which undoubtedly would +most have gratified his professional aspirations. President Polk, with +whom he had been associated on the most friendly terms in Congress, now +offered him the post of attorney general of the United States. "In +tendering to you this position in my cabinet," writes the President, "I +have been governed by the high estimate which I place upon your character +and eminent qualifications to fill it." The letter, in which this +proposal is declined, shows so much of the writer's real self that we +quote a portion of it. + +"Although the early years of my manhood were devoted to public life, it +was never really suited to my taste. I longed, as I am sure you must +often have done, for the quiet and independence that belong only to the +private citizen; and now, at forty, I feel that desire stronger than +ever. + +"Coming so unexpectedly as this offer does, it would be difficult, if not +impossible, to arrange the business of an extensive practice, between +this and the first of November, in a manner at all satisfactory to +myself, or to those who have committed their interests to my care, and +who rely on my services. Besides, you know that Mrs. Pierce's health, +while at Washington, was very delicate. It is, I fear, even more so now; +and the responsibilities which the proposed change would necessarily +impose upon her ought, probably, in themselves, to constitute an +insurmountable objection to leaving our quiet home for a public station +at Washington. + +"When I resigned my seat in the Senate in 1842, I did it with the fixed +purpose never again to be voluntarily separated from my family for any +considerable length of time, except at the call of my country in time of +war; and yet this consequence, for the reason before stated, and on +account of climate, would be very likely to result from my acceptance. + +"These are some of the considerations which have influenced my decision. +You will, I am sure, appreciate my motives. You will not believe that I +have weighed my personal convenience and case against the public +interest, especially as the office is one which, if not sought, would be +readily accepted by gentlemen who could bring to your aid attainments and +qualifications vastly superior to mine." + +Previous to the offer of the attorney-generalship, the appointment of +United States Senator had been tendered to Pierce by Governor Steele, and +declined. It is unquestionable that, at this period, he hoped and +expected to spend a life of professional toil in a private station, +undistinguished except by the exercise of his great talents in peaceful +pursuits. But such was not his destiny. The contingency to which he +referred in the above letter, as the sole exception to his purpose of +never being separated from his family, was now about to occur. Nor did +he fail to comport himself as not only that intimation, but the whole +tenor of his character, gave reason to anticipate. + +During the years embraced in this chapter,--between 1842 and 1847,--he +had constantly taken an efficient interest in the politics of the state, +but had uniformly declined the honors which New Hampshire was at all +times ready to confer upon him. A democratic convention nominated him +for governor, but could not obtain his acquiescence. One of the +occasions on which he most strenuously exerted himself was in holding the +democratic party loyal to its principles, in opposition to the course of +John P. Hale. This gentleman, then a representative in Congress, had +broken with his party on no less important a point than the annexation of +Texas. He has never since acted with the Democracy, and has long been a +leader of the free soil party. + +In 1844 died Frank Robert, son of Franklin Pierce, aged four years, a +little boy of rare beauty and promise, and whose death was the greatest +affliction that his father has experienced. His only surviving child is +a son, now eleven years old. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE MEXICAN WAR. + + +When Franklin Pierce declined the honorable offer of the +attorney-generalship of the United States, he intimated that there might +be one contingency in which he would feel it his duty to give up the +cherished purpose of spending the remainder of his life in a private +station. That exceptional case was brought about, in 1847, by the +Mexican War. He showed his readiness to redeem the pledge by enrolling +himself as the earliest volunteer of a company raised in Concord, and +went through the regular drill, with his fellow-soldiers, as a private in +the ranks. On the passage of the bill for the increase of the army, he +received the appointment of colonel of the Ninth Regiment, which was the +quota of New England towards the ten that were to be raised. And shortly +afterwards,--in March, 1847,--he was commissioned as brigadier-general in +the army; his brigade consisting of regiments from the extreme north, the +extreme west, and the extreme south of the Union. + +There is nothing in any other country similar to what we see in our own, +when the blast of the trumpet at once converts men of peaceful pursuits +into warriors. Every war in which America has been engaged has done +this; the valor that wins our battles is not the trained hardihood of +veterans, but a native and spontaneous fire; and there is surely a +chivalrous beauty in the devotion of the citizen soldier to his country's +cause, which the man who makes arms his profession, and is but doing his +regular business on the field of battle, cannot pretend to rival. Taking +the Mexican War as a specimen, this peculiar composition of an American +army, as well in respect to its officers as its private soldiers, seems +to create a spirit of romantic adventure which more than supplies the +place of disciplined courage. + +The author saw General Pierce in Boston, on the eve of his departure for +Vera Cruz. He had been intensely occupied, since his appointment, in +effecting the arrangements necessary on leaving his affairs, as well as +by the preparations, military and personal, demanded by the expedition. +The transports were waiting at Newport to receive the troops. He was now +in the midst of bustle, with some of the officers of his command about +him, mingled with the friends whom he was to leave behind. The severest +point of the crisis was over, for he had already bidden his family +farewell. His spirits appeared to have risen with the occasion. He was +evidently in his element; nor, to say the truth, dangerous as was the +path before him, could it be regretted that his life was now to have the +opportunity of that species of success which--in his youth, at least--he +had considered the best worth struggling for. He looked so fit to be a +soldier, that it was impossible to doubt--not merely his good conduct, +which was as certain before the event as afterwards, but--his good +fortune in the field, and his fortunate return. + +He sailed from Newport on the 27th of May, in the bark Kepler, having on +board three companies of the Ninth Regiment of Infantry, together with +Colonel Ransom, its commander, and the officers belonging to the +detachment. The passage was long and tedious, with protracted calms, and +so smooth a sea that a sail-boat might have performed the voyage in +safety. The Kepler arrived at Vera Cruz in precisely a month after her +departure from the United States, without speaking a single vessel from +the south during her passage, and, of course, receiving no intelligence +as to the position and state of the army which these reenforcements were +to join. + +From a journal kept by General Pierce, and intended only for the perusal +of his family and friends, we present some extracts. They are mere hasty +jottings-down in camp, and at the intervals of weary marches, but will +doubtless bring the reader closer to the man than any narrative which we +could substitute. [In this reprint it has been thought expedient to omit +the passages from General Pierce's journal.] + + * * * * * * + +General Pierce's journal here terminates. In its clear and simple +narrative the reader cannot fail to see--although it was written with no +purpose of displaying them--the native qualities of a born soldier, +together with the sagacity of an experienced one. He had proved himself, +moreover, physically apt for war, by his easy endurance of the fatigues +of the march; every step of which (as was the case with few other +officers) was performed either on horseback or on foot. Nature, indeed, +has endowed him with a rare elasticity both of mind and body; he springs +up from pressure like a well-tempered sword. After the severest toil, a +single night's rest does as much for him, in the way of refreshment, as a +week could do for most other men. + +His conduct on this adventurous march received the high encomiums of +military men, and was honored with the commendation of the great soldier +who is now his rival in the presidential contest. He reached the main +army at Puebla on the 7th of August, with twenty-four hundred men, in +fine order, and without the loss of a single wagon. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +HIS SERVICES IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. + + +General Scott, who was at Puebla with the main army awaiting this +reenforcement, began his march towards the city of Mexico on the day +after General Pierce's arrival. The battle of Contreras was fought on +the 19th of August. + +The enemy's force consisted of about seven thousand men, posted in a +strongly-intrenched camp, under General Valencia, one of the bravest and +ablest of the Mexican commanders. The object of the commanding general +appears to have been to cut off the communications of these detached +troops with Santa Anna's main army, and thus to have them entirely at his +mercy. For this purpose a portion of the American forces were ordered to +move against Valencia's left flank, and, by occupying strong positions in +the villages and on the roads towards the city, to prevent reenforcements +from reaching him. In the mean time, to draw the enemy's attention from +this movement, a vigorous onset was made upon his front; and as the +operations upon his flank were not immediately and fully carried out +according to the plan, this front demonstration assumed the character of +a fierce and desperate attack, upon which the fortunes of the day much +depended. General Pierce's brigade formed a part of the force engaged in +this latter movement, in which four thousand newly-recruited men, unable +to bring their artillery to bear, contended against seven thousand +disciplined soldiers, protected by intrenchments, and showering round +shot and shells against the assailing troops. + +The ground in front was of the rudest and roughest character. The troops +made their way with difficulty over a broken tract called the Pedregal, +bristling with sharp points of rocks, and which is represented as having +been the crater of a now exhausted and extinct volcano. The enemy had +thrown out skirmishers, who were posted in great force among the crevices +and inequalities of this broken ground, and vigorously resisted the +American advance; while the artillery of the intrenched camp played upon +our troops, and shattered the very rocks over which they were to pass. + +General Pierce's immediate command had never before been under such a +fire of artillery. The enemy's range was a little too high, or the havoc +in our ranks must have been dreadful. In the midst of this fire, General +Pierce, being the only officer mounted in the brigade, leaped his horse +upon an abrupt eminence, and addressed the colonels and captains of the +regiments, as they passed, in a few stirring words,--reminding them of +the honor of their country, of the victory their steady valor would +contribute to achieve. Pressing forward to the head of the column, he +had nearly reached the practicable ground that lay beyond, when his horse +slipped among the rocks, thrust his foot into a crevice, and fell, +breaking his own leg, and crushing his rider heavily beneath him. + +Pierce's mounted orderly soon came to his assistance. The general was +stunned, and almost insensible. When partially recovered, he found +himself suffering from severe bruises, and especially from a sprain of +the left knee, which was undermost when the horse came down. The orderly +assisted him to reach the shelter of a projecting rock; and as they made +their way thither, a shell fell close beside them and exploded, covering +them with earth. "That was a lucky miss," said Pierce calmly. Leaving +him in such shelter as the rock afforded, the orderly went in search of +aid, and was fortunate to meet with Dr. Ritchie, of Virginia, who was +attached to Pierce's brigade, and was following in close proximity to the +advancing column. The doctor administered to him as well as the +circumstances would admit. Immediately on recovering his full +consciousness, General Pierce had become anxious to rejoin his troops; +and now, in opposition to Dr. Ritchie's advice and remonstrances, he +determined to proceed to the front. + +With pain and difficulty, and leaning on his orderly's arm, he reached +the battery commanded by Captain McGruder, where he found the horse of +Lieutenant Johnson, who had just before received a mortal wound. In +compliance with his wishes, he was assisted into the saddle; and, in +answer to a remark that he would be unable to keep his seat, "Then," said +the general, "you must tie me on." Whether his precaution was actually +taken is a point upon which authorities differ; but at all events, with +injuries so severe as would have sent almost any other man to the +hospital, he rode forward into the battle. + +The contest was kept up until nightfall, without forcing Valencia's +intrenchment. General Pierce remained in the saddle until eleven o'clock +at night. Finding himself, at nine o'clock, the senior officer in the +field, he, in that capacity, withdrew the troops from their advanced +position, and concentrated them at the point where they were to pass the +night. At eleven, beneath a torrent of rain, destitute of a tent or +other protection, and without food or refreshment, he lay down on an +ammunition wagon, but was prevented by the pain of his injuries, +especially that of his wounded knee, from finding any repose. At one +o'clock came orders from General Scott to put the brigade into a new +position, in front of the enemy's works, preparatory to taking part in +the contemplated operations of the next morning. During the night, the +troops appointed for that service, under Riley, Shields, Smith, and +Cadwallader, had occupied the villages and roads between Valencia's +position and the city; so that, with daylight, the commanding general's +scheme of the battle was ready to be carried out, as it had originally +existed in his mind. + +At daylight, accordingly, Valencia's intrenched camp was assaulted. +General Pierce was soon in the saddle at the head of his brigade, which +retained its position in front, thus serving to attract the enemy's +attention, and divert him from the true point of attack. The camp was +stormed in the rear by the American troops, led on by Riley, Cadwallader, +and Dimmick; and in the short space of seventeen minutes it had fallen +into the hands of the assailants, together with a multitude of prisoners. +The remnant of the routed enemy fled towards Churubusco. As Pierce led +his brigade in pursuit, crossing the battle-field, and passing through +the works that had just been stormed, he found the road and adjacent +fields everywhere strewn with the dead and dying. The pursuit was +continued until one o'clock, when the foremost of the Americans arrived +in front of the strong Mexican positions at Churubusco and San Antonio, +where Santa Alma's army had been compelled to make a stand, and where the +great conflict of the day commenced. + +General Santa Anna entertained the design of withdrawing his forces +towards the city. In order to intercept this movement, Pierce's brigade, +with other troops, was ordered to pursue a route by which the enemy could +be attacked in the rear. Colonel Noah E. Smith (a patriotic American, +long resident in Mexico, whose local and topographical knowledge proved +eminently serviceable) had offered to point out the road, and was sent to +summon General Pierce to the presence of the commander-in-chief. When he +met Pierce, near Coyacan, at the head of his brigade, the heavy fire of +the batteries had commenced. "He was exceedingly thin," writes Colonel +Smith, "worn down by the fatigue and pain of the day and night before, +and then evidently suffering severely. Still there was a glow in his +eye, as the cannon boomed, that showed within him a spirit ready for the +conflict." He rode up to General Scott, who was at this time sitting on +horseback beneath a tree, near the church of Coyacan, issuing orders to +different individuals of his staff. Our account of this interview is +chiefly taken from the narrative of Colonel Smith, corroborated by other +testimony. + +The commander-in-chief had already heard of the accident that befell +Pierce the day before; and as the latter approached, General Scott could +not but notice the marks of pain and physical exhaustion against which +only the sturdiest constancy of will could have enabled him to bear up. +"Pierce, my dear fellow," said he,--and that epithet of familiar kindness +and friendship, upon the battle-field, was the highest of military +commendation from such a man,--"you are badly injured; you are not fit to +be in your saddle." "Yes, general, I am," replied Pierce, "in a case +like this." "You cannot touch your foot to the stirrup," said Scott. +"One of them I can," answered Pierce. The general looked again at +Pierce's almost disabled figure, and seemed on the point of taking his +irrevocable resolution. "You are rash, General Pierce," said he; "we +shall lose you, and we cannot spare you. It is my duty to order you back +to St. Augustine." "For God's sake, general," exclaimed Pierce, "don't +say that! This is the last great battle, and I must lead my brigade!" +The commander-in-chief made no further remonstrance, but gave the order +for Pierce to advance with his brigade. + +The way lay through thick standing corn, and over marshy ground +intersected with ditches, which were filled, or partially so, with water. +Over some of the narrower of these Pierce leaped his horse. When the +brigade had advanced about a mile, however, it found itself impeded by a +ditch ten or twelve feet wide, and six or eight feet deep. It being +impossible to leap it, General Pierce was lifted from his saddle, and in +some incomprehensible way, hurt as he was, contrived to wade or scramble +across this obstacle, leaving his horse on the hither side. The troops +were now under fire. In the excitement of the battle he forgot his +injury, and hurried forward, leading the brigade, a distance of two or +three hundred yards. But the exhaustion of his frame, and particularly +the anguish of his knee,--made more intolerable by such free use of it,-- +was greater than any strength of nerve, or any degree of mental energy, +could struggle against. He fell, faint and almost insensible, within +full range of the enemy's fire. It was proposed to bear him off the +field; but, as some of his soldiers approached to lift him, he became +aware of their purpose, and was partially revived by his determination to +resist it. "No," said he, with all the strength he had left, "don't +carry me off! Let me lie here!" And there he lay, under the tremendous +fire of Churubusco, until the enemy, in total rout, was driven from the +field. + +Immediately after the victory, when the city of Mexico lay at the mercy +of the American commander, and might have been entered that very night, +Santa Anna sent a flag of truce, proposing an armistice, with a view to +negotiation for peace. It cannot be considered in any other light than +as a very high and signal compliment to his gallantry in the field that +General Pierce was appointed, by the commander-in-chief, one of the +commissioners on our part, together with General Quitman and General +Persifer F. Smith, to arrange the terms of this armistice. Pierce was +unable to walk, or to mount his horse without assistance, when +intelligence of his appointment reached him. He had not taken off his +spurs nor slept an hour, for two nights; but he immediately obeyed the +summons, was assisted into the saddle, and rode to Tacubaya, where, at +the house of the British consul-general, the American and Mexican +commissioners were assembled. The conference began late in the +afternoon, and continued till four o'clock the next morning, when the +articles were signed. Pierce then proceeded to the quarters of General +Worth, in the village of Tacubaya, where he obtained an hour or two of +repose. + +The expectation of General Scott, that further bloodshed might be avoided +by means of the armistice, proved deceptive. Military operations, after +a temporary interruption, were actively renewed; and on the 8th of +September was fought the bloody battle of Molino del Rey, one of the +fiercest and most destructive of the war. + +In this conflict General Worth, with three thousand troops, attacked and +routed fourteen thousand Mexicans, driving them under the protection of +the Castle of Chepultepec. Perceiving the obstinacy with which the field +was contested, the commander-in-chief dispatched an order to General +Pierce to advance to the support of General Worth's division. He moved +forward with rapidity; and although the battle was won just as he reached +the field, he interposed his brigade between Worth and the retreating +enemy, and thus drew upon himself the fire of Chepultepec. A shell came +streaming from the castle, and, bursting within a few feet of him, +startled his horse, which was near plunging over an adjacent precipice. +Continuing a long time under fire, Pierce's brigade was engaged in +removing the wounded and the captured ammunition. While thus occupied, +he led a portion of his command to repel the attacks of the enemy's +skirmishers. + +There remained but one other battle,--that of Chepultepec,--which was +fought on the 13th of September. On the preceding day (although the +injuries and the over-exertion resulting from previous marches and +battles had greatly enfeebled him), General Pierce had acted with his +brigade. In obedience to orders, it had occupied the field of Molino del +Rey. Contrary to expectation, it was found that the enemy's force had +been withdrawn from this position. Pierce remained in the field until +noon, when, it being certain that the anticipated attack would not take +place before the following day, he returned to the quarters of General +Worth, which were near at hand. There he became extremely ill, and was +unable to leave his bed for the thirty-six hours next ensuing. In the +mean time, the Castle of Chepultepec was stormed by the troops under +Generals Pillow and Quitman. Pierce's brigade behaved itself gallantly, +and suffered severely; and that accomplished officer, Colonel Ransom, +leading the Ninth Regiment to the attack, was shot through the head, and +fell, with many other brave men, in that last battle of the war. + +The American troops, under Quitman and Worth, had established themselves +within the limits of the city, having possession of the gates of Belen +and of San Cosma, but, up till nightfall, had met with a vigorous +resistance from the Mexicans, led on by Santa Anna in person. They had +still, apparently, a desperate task before them. It was anticipated +that, with the next morning's light, our troops would be ordered to storm +the citadel, and the city of Mexico itself. When this was told to +Pierce, upon his sick-bed, he rose, and attempted to dress himself; but +Captain Hardcastle, who had brought the intelligence from Worth, +prevailed upon him to remain in bed, and not to exhaust his scanty +strength until the imminence of the occasion should require his presence. +Pierce acquiesced for the time, but again arose, in the course of the +night, and made his way to the trenches, where he reported himself to +General Quitman, with whose division was a part of his brigade. +Quitman's share in the anticipated assault, it was supposed, owing to the +position which his troops occupied, would be more perilous than that of +Worth. + +But the last great battle had been fought. In the morning, it was +discovered that the citadel had been abandoned, and that Santa Anna had +withdrawn his army from the city. + +There never was a more gallant body of officers than those who came from +civil life into the army on occasion of the Mexican War. All of them, +from the rank of general downward, appear to have been animated by the +spirit of young knights, in times of chivalry, when fighting for their +spurs. Hitherto known only as peaceful citizens, they felt it incumbent +on them, by daring and desperate valor, to prove their fitness to be +intrusted with the guardianship of their country's honor. The old and +trained soldier, already distinguished on former fields, was free to be +discreet as well as brave; but these untried warriors were in a different +position, and therefore rushed on perils with a recklessness that found +its penalty on every battle-field--not one of which was won without a +grievous sacrifice of the best blood of America. In this band of gallant +men, it is not too much to say, General Pierce was as distinguished for +what we must term his temerity in personal exposure, as for the higher +traits of leadership, wherever there was an opportunity for their +display. + +He had manifested, moreover, other and better qualities than these, and +such as it affords his biographer far greater pleasure to record. His +tenderness of heart, his sympathy, his brotherly or paternal care for his +men, had been displayed in a hundred instances, and had gained him the +enthusiastic affection of all who served under his command. During the +passage from America, under the tropics, he would go down into the +stifling air of the hold, with a lemon, a cup of tea, and, better and +more efficacious than all, a kind word for the sick. While encamped +before Vera Cruz, he gave up his own tent to a sick comrade, and went +himself to lodge in the pestilential city. On the march, and even on the +battle-field, he found occasion to exercise those feelings of humanity +which show most beautifully there. And, in the hospitals of Mexico, he +went among the diseased and wounded soldiers, cheering them with his +voice and the magic of his kindness, inquiring into their wants, and +relieving them to the utmost of his pecuniary means. There was not a man +of his brigade but loved him, and would have followed him to death, or +have sacrificed his own life in his general's defence. + +The officers of the old army, whose profession was war, and who well knew +what a soldier was and ought to be, fully recognized his merit. An +instance of their honorable testimony in his behalf may fitly be recorded +here. It was after General Pierce had returned to the United States. At +a dinner in the halls of Montezuma, at which forty or fifty of the brave +men above alluded to were present, a young officer of the New England +Regiment was called on for a toast. He made an address, in which he +spoke with irrepressible enthusiasm of General Pierce, and begged to +propose his health. One of the officers of the old line rose, and +observed that none of the recently appointed generals commanded more +unanimous and universal respect; that General Pierce had appreciated the +scientific knowledge of the regular military men, and had acquired their +respect by the independence, firmness, and promptitude with which he +exercised his own judgment, and acted on the intelligence derived from +them. In concluding this tribute of high, but well-considered praise, +the speaker very cordially acquiesced in the health of General Pierce, +and proposed that it should be drunk standing, with three times three. + +General Pierce remained in Mexico until December, when, as the warfare +was over, and peace on the point of being concluded, he set out on his +return. In nine months, crowded full of incident, he had seen far more +of actual service than many professional soldiers during their whole +lives. As soon as the treaty of peace was signed, he gave up his +commission, and returned to the practice of the law, again proposing to +spend the remainder of his days in the bosom of his family. All the +dreams of his youth were now fulfilled; the military ardor, that had +struck an hereditary root in his breast, had enjoyed its scope, and was +satisfied; and he flattered himself that no circumstances could hereafter +occur to draw him from the retirement of domestic peace. New Hampshire +received him with even more enthusiastic affection than ever. At his +departure, he had received a splendid sword at the hands of many of his +friends, in token of their confidence; he had shown himself well worthy +to wear and able to use a soldier's weapon; and his native state now gave +him another, the testimonial of approved valor and warlike conduct. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE COMPROMISE AND OTHER MATTERS. + + +The intervening years, since General Pierce's return from Mexico, and +until the present time, have been spent in the laborious exercise of the +legal profession,--an employment scarcely varied or interrupted, except +by those episodes of political activity which a man of public influence +finds it impossible to avoid, and in which, if his opinions are matter of +conscience with him, he feels it his duty to interest himself. + +In the presidential canvass of 1848 he used his best efforts (and with +success, so far as New Hampshire was concerned) in behalf of the +candidate of his party. A truer and better speech has never been uttered +on a similar occasion than one which he made (during a hurried half hour, +snatched from the court rooms) in October of the above year, before the +democratic state convention, then in session at Concord. It is an +invariable characteristic of General Pierce's popular addresses, that +they evince a genuine respect for the people; he makes his appeal to +their intelligence, their patriotism, and their integrity, and, never +doubtful of their upright purpose, proves his faith in the great mind +and heart of the country both by what he says and by what he refrains +from saying. He never yet was guilty of an effort to cajole his +fellow-citizens, to operate upon their credulity, or to trick them even +into what was right; and therefore all the victories which he has ever +won in popular assemblies have been triumphs doubly honored, being as +creditable to his audiences as to himself. + +When the series of measures known under the collective term of The +Compromise were passed by Congress in 1850, and put to so searching a +test here at the North the reverence of the people for the Constitution +and their attachment to the Union, General Pierce was true to the +principles which he had long ago avowed. At an early period of his +congressional service he had made known, with the perfect frankness of +his character, those opinions upon the slavery question which he has +never since seen occasion to change in the slightest degree. There is an +unbroken consistency in his action with regard to this matter. It is +entirely of a piece, from his first entrance upon public life until the +moment when he came forward, while many were faltering, to throw the +great weight of his character and influence into the scale in favor of +those measures through which it was intended to redeem the pledges of the +Constitution, and to preserve and renew the old love and harmony among +the sisterhood of States. His approval embraced the whole series of +these acts, as well those which bore hard upon northern views and +sentiments as those in which the South deemed itself to have made more +than reciprocal concessions. + +No friend nor enemy that know Franklin Pierce would have expected him to +act otherwise. With his view of the whole subject, whether looking at it +through the medium of his conscience, his feelings, or his intellect, it +was impossible for him not to take his stand as the unshaken advocate of +Union, and of the mutual steps of compromise which that great object +unquestionably demanded. The fiercest, the least scrupulous, and the +most consistent of those who battle against slavery recognize the same +fact that he does. They see that merely human wisdom and human efforts +cannot subvert it, except by tearing to pieces the Constitution, breaking +the pledges which it sanctions, and severing into distracted fragments +that common country which Providence brought into one nation, through a +continued miracle of almost two hundred years, from the first settlement +of the American wilderness until the Revolution. In the days when, a +young member of Congress, he first raised his voice against agitation, +Pierce saw these perils and their consequences. He considered, too, that +the evil would be certain, while the good was, at best, a contingency, +and (to the clear, practical foresight with which he looked into the +future) scarcely so much as that, attended as the movement was and must +be during its progress, with the aggravated injury of those whose +condition it aimed to ameliorate, and terminating, in its possible +triumph,--if such possibility there were,--with the ruin of two races +which now dwelt together in greater peace and affection, it is not too +much to say, than had ever elsewhere existed between the taskmaster and +the serf. + +Of course, there is another view of all these matters. The theorist may +take that view in his closet; the philanthropist by profession may strive +to act upon it uncompromisingly, amid the tumult and warfare of his life. +But the statesman of practical sagacity--who loves his country as it is, +and evolves good from things as they exist, and who demands to feel his +firm grasp upon a better reality before he quits the one already gained-- +will be likely here, with all the greatest statesmen of America, to stand +in the attitude of a conservative. Such, at all events, will be the +attitude of Franklin Pierce. We have sketched some of the influences +amid which he grew up, inheriting his father's love of country, mindful +of the old patriot's valor in so many conflicts of the Revolution, and +having close before his eyes the example of brothers and relatives, more +than one of whom have bled for America, both at the extremest north and +farthest south; himself, too, in early manhood, serving the Union in its +legislative halls, and, at a maturer age, leading his fellow-citizens, +his brethren, from the widest-sundered states, to redden the same +battle-fields with their kindred blood, to unite their breath into one +shout of victory, and perhaps to sleep, side by side, with the same sod +over them. Such a man, with such hereditary recollections, and such a +personal experience, must not narrow himself to adopt the cause of one +section of his native country against another. He will stand up, as he +has always stood, among the patriots of the whole land. And if the work +of antislavery agitation, which it is undeniable leaves most men who +earnestly engage in it with only half a country in their affections,--if +this work must be done, let others do it. + +Those northern men, therefore, who deem the great causes of human welfare +as represented and involved in this present hostility against southern +institutions, and who conceive that the world stands still except so far +as that goes forward,--these, it may be allowed, can scarcely give their +sympathy or their confidence to the subject of this memoir. But there is +still another view, and probably as wise a one. It looks upon slavery as +one of those evils which divine Providence does not leave to be remedied +by human contrivances, but which, in its own good time, by some means +impossible to be anticipated, but of the simplest and easiest operation, +when all its uses shall have been fulfilled, it causes to vanish like a +dream. There is no instance, in all history, of the human will and +intellect having perfected any great moral reform by methods which it +adapted to that end; but the progress of the world, at every step, leaves +some evil or wrong on the path behind it, which the wisest of mankind, of +their own set purpose, could never have found the way to rectify. +Whatever contributes to the great cause of good, contributes to all its +subdivisions and varieties; and, on this score, the lover of his race, +the enthusiast, the philanthropist of whatever theory, might lend his aid +to put a man, like the one before us, into the leadership of the world's +affairs. + +How firm and conscientious was General Pierce's support of The Compromise +may be estimated from his conduct in reference to the Reverend John +Atwood. In the foregoing pages it has come oftener in our way to +illustrate the bland and prepossessing features of General Pierce's +character, than the sterner ones which must necessarily form the bones, +so to speak, the massive skeleton, of any man who retains an upright +attitude amidst the sinister influences of public life. The transaction +now alluded to affords a favorable opportunity for indicating some of +these latter traits. + +In October, 1850, a democratic convention, held at Concord, nominated Mr. +Atwood as the party's regular candidate for governor. The Compromise, +then recent, was inevitably a prominent element in the discussions of the +convention; and a series of resolutions were adopted, bearing reference +to this great subject, fully and unreservedly indorsing the measures +comprehended under it, and declaring the principles on which the +Democracy of the state was about to engage in the gubernatorial contest. +Mr. Atwood accepted the nomination, acceding to the platform thus +tendered him, taking exceptions to none of the individual resolutions, +and, of course, pledging himself to the whole by the very act of assuming +the candidacy, which was predicated upon them. + +The reverend candidate, we should conceive, is a well-meaning, and +probably an amiable man. In ordinary circumstances, he would, doubtless, +have gone through the canvass triumphantly, and have administered the +high office to which he aspired with no discredit to the party that had +placed him at its head. But the disturbed state of the public mind on +the Compromise question rendered the season a very critical one; and Mr. +Atwood, unfortunately, had that fatal weakness of character, which, +however respectably it may pass in quiet times, is always bound to make +itself pitiably manifest under the pressure of a crisis. A letter was +addressed to him by a committee, representing the party opposed to The +Compromise, and with whom, it may be supposed, were included those who +held the more thorough-going degrees of antislavery sentiment. The +purpose of the letter was to draw out an expression of Mr. Atwood's +opinion on the abolition movement generally, and with an especial +reference to the Fugitive Slave Law, and whether, as chief magistrate of +the state, he would favor any attempt for its repeal. In an answer of +considerable length the candidate expressed sentiments that brought him +unquestionably within the free soil pale, and favored his correspondents, +moreover, with a pretty decided judgment as to the unconstitutional, +unjust, and oppressive character of the Fugitive Slave Law. + +During a space of about two months, this very important document was kept +from the public eye. Rumors of its existence, however, became gradually +noised abroad, and necessarily attracted the attention of Mr. Atwood's +democratic friends. Inquiries being made, he acknowledged the existence +of the letter, but averred that it had never been delivered, that it was +merely a rough draught, and that he had hitherto kept it within his own +control, with a view to more careful consideration. In accordance with +the advice of friends, he expressed a determination, and apparently in +good faith, to suppress the letter, and thus to sever all connection with +the antislavery party. This, however, was now beyond his power. A copy +of the letter had been taken; it was published, with high commendations, +in the antislavery newspapers; and Mr. Atwood was exhibited in the +awkward predicament of directly avowing sentiments on the one hand which +he had implicitly disavowed on the other, of accepting a nomination based +on principles diametrically opposite. + +The candidate appears to have apprehended this disclosure, and he hurried +to Concord, and sought counsel of General Pierce, with whom he was on +terms of personal kindness, and between whom and himself, heretofore, +there had never been a shade of political difference. An interview with +the general and one or two other gentlemen ensued. Mr. Atwood was +cautioned against saying or writing a word that might be repugnant to his +feelings or his principles; but, voluntarily, and at his own suggestion, +he now wrote for publication a second letter, in which he retracted every +objectionable feature of his former one, and took decided ground in favor +of The Compromise, including all its individual measures. Had he adhered +to this latter position, he might have come out of the affair, if not +with the credit of consistency, yet, at least, as a successful candidate +in the impending election. But his evil fate, or, rather, the natural +infirmity of his character, was not so to be thrown off. The very next +day, unhappily, he fell into the hands of some of his antislavery +friends, to whom he avowed a constant adherence to the principles of his +first letter, describing the second as having been drawn from him by +importunity, in an excited state of his mind, and without a full +realization of its purport. + +It would be needlessly cruel to Mr. Atwood to trace with minuteness the +further details of this affair. It is impossible to withhold from him a +certain sympathy, or to avoid feeling that a very worthy man, as the +world goes, had entangled himself in an inextricable knot of duplicity +and tergiversation, by an ill-advised effort to be two opposite things at +once. For the sake of true manhood, we gladly turn to consider the +course adopted by General Pierce. + +The election for governor was now at a distance of only a few weeks; and +it could not be otherwise than a most hazardous movement for the +democratic party, at so late a period, to discard a candidate with whom +the people had become familiar. It involved nothing less than the +imminent peril of that political supremacy which the party had so long +enjoyed. With Mr. Atwood as candidate, success might be considered as +certain. To a short-sighted and a weak man, it would have appeared the +obvious policy to patch up the difficulty, and, at all events, to +conquer, under whatever leadership, and with whatever allies. But it was +one of those junctures which test the difference between the man of +principle and the mere politician--the man of moral courage and him who +yields to temporary expediency. General Pierce could not consent that +his party should gain a nominal triumph, at the expense of what he looked +upon as its real integrity and life. With this view of the matter, he +had no hesitation in his course; nor could the motives which otherwise +would have been strongest with him--pity for the situation of an +unfortunate individual, a personal friend, a Democrat, as Mr. Atwood +describes himself, of nearly fifty years' standing--incline him to mercy +where it would have been fatal to his sense of right. He took decided +ground against Mr. Atwood. The convention met again, and satisfactory to +all parties; and one of his political opponents (Professor Sanborn, of +Dartmouth College) has ably sketched him, both in that aspect and as a +debater. + +"In drawing the portraits of the distinguished members of the +constitutional convention," writes the professor, "to pass Frank Pierce +unnoticed would be as absurd as to enact one of Shakespeare's dramas +without its principal hero. I give my impressions of the man as I saw +him in the convention; for I would not undertake to vouch for the truth +or falsehood of those veracious organs of public sentiment, at the +capital, which have loaded him in turn with indiscriminate praise and +abuse. As a presiding officer, it would be difficult to find his equal. +In proposing questions to the house, he never hesitates or blunders. In +deciding points of order, he is both prompt and impartial. His treatment +of every member of the convention was characterized by uniform courtesy +and kindness. The deportment of the presiding officer of a deliberative +body usually gives tone to the debates. If he is harsh, morose, or +abrupt in his manner, the speakers are apt to catch his spirit by the +force of involuntary sympathy. The same is true, to some extent, of the +principal debaters in such a body. When a man of strong prejudices and +harsh temper rises to address a public assembly, his indwelling +antipathies speak from every feature of his face and from every motion of +his person. The audience at once brace themselves against his assaults, +and condemn his opinions before they are heard. The well-known character +of an orator persuades or dissuades quite as forcibly as the language he +utters. Some men never rise to address a deliberative assembly without +conciliating good will in advance. The smile that plays upon the +speaker's face awakens emotions of complacency in those who hear, even +before he speaks. So does that weight of character, which is the matured +fruit of long public services and acknowledged worth, soothe, in advance, +the irritated and angry crowd. + +"Mr. Pierce possesses unquestionable ability as a public speaker. Few +men, in our country, better understand the means of swaying a popular +assembly, or employ them with greater success. His forte lies in moving +the passions of those whom he addresses. He knows how to call into +vigorous action both the sympathies and antipathies of those who listen +to him. I do not mean to imply by these remarks that his oratory is +deficient in argument or sound reasoning. On the contrary, he seizes +with great power upon the strong points of his subject, and presents them +clearly, forcibly, and eloquently. As a prompt and ready debater, always +prepared for assault or defence, he has few equals. In these encounters, +he appears to great advantage, from his happy faculty of turning little +incidents, unexpectedly occurring, to his own account. A word carelessly +dropped, or an unguarded allusion to individuals or parties by an +opponent, is frequently converted into a powerful weapon of assault, by +this skilful advocate. He has been so much in office that he may be said +to have been educated in public life. He is most thoroughly versed in +all the tactics of debate. He is not only remarkably fluent in his +elocution, but remarkably correct. He seldom miscalls or repeats a word. +His style is not overloaded with ornament, and yet he draws liberally +upon the treasury of rhetoric. His figures are often beautiful and +striking, never incongruous. He is always listened to with respectful +attention, if he does not always command conviction. From his whole +course in the convention, a disinterested spectator could not fail to +form a very favorable opinion, not only of his talent and eloquence, but +of his generosity and magnanimity." + +Among other antiquated relics of the past, and mouldy types of prejudices +that ought now to be forgotten, and of which it was the object of the +present convention to purge the Constitution of New Hampshire, there is a +provision that certain state offices should be held only by Protestants. +Since General Pierce's nomination for the presidency, the existence of +this religious test has been brought as a charge against him, as if, in +spite of his continued efforts to remove it, he were personally +responsible for its remaining on the statute book. + +General Pierce has naturally a strong endowment of religious feeling. At +no period of his life, as is well known to his friends, have the sacred +relations of the human soul been a matter of indifference with him; and, +of more recent years, whatever circumstances of good or evil fortune may +have befallen him, they have alike served to deepen this powerful +sentiment. Whether in sorrow or success, he has learned, in his own +behalf, the great lesson, that religious faith is the most valuable and +most sacred of human possessions; but, with this sense, there has come no +narrowness or illiberality, but a wide-embracing sympathy for the modes +of Christian worship, and a reverence for individual belief, as a matter +between the Deity and man's soul, and with which no other has a right to +interfere. With the feeling here described, and with his acute +intellectual perception of the abortive character of all intolerant +measures, as defeating their own ends, it strikes one as nothing less +than ludicrous that he should be charged with desiring to retain this +obsolete enactment, standing, as it does, as a merely gratuitous and +otherwise inoperative stigma upon the fair reputation of his native +state. Even supposing no higher motives to have influenced him, it would +have sufficed to secure his best efforts for the repeal of the religious +test that so many of the Catholics have always been found in the +advance-guard of freedom, marching onward with the progressive party; and +that, whether in peace or war, they have performed for their adopted +country the hard toil and the gallant services which she has a right to +expect from her most faithful citizens. + +The truth is that, ever since his entrance upon public life, on all +occasions,--and often making the occasion where he found none,--General +Pierce has done his utmost to obliterate this obnoxious feature from the +Constitution. He has repeatedly advocated the calling of a convention +mainly for this purpose. In that of 1850, he both spoke and voted in +favor of the abolition of the test, and, with the aid of Judge Woodbury +and other democratic members, attained his purpose, so far as the +convention possessed any power or responsibility in the matter. That the +measure was ultimately defeated is due to other causes, either temporary +or of long continuance; and to some of them it is attributable that the +enlightened public sentiment of New Hampshire was not, long since, made +to operate upon this enactment, so anomalous in the fundamental law of a +free state. + +In order to the validity of the amendments passed by the convention, it +was necessary that the people should subsequently act upon them, and pass +a vote of two thirds in favor of their adoption. The amendments proposed +by the convention of 1850 were numerous. The Constitution had been +modified in many and very important particulars, in respect to which the +popular mind had not previously been made familiar, and on which it had +not anticipated the necessity of passing judgment. In March, 1851, when +the vote of the people was taken upon these measures, the Atwood +controversy was at its height, and threw all matters of less immediate +interest into the background. During the interval since the adjournment +of the convention, the whig newspapers had been indefatigable in their +attempts to put its proceedings in an odious light before the people. +There had been no period, for many years, in which sinister influences +rendered it so difficult to draw out an efficient expression of the will +of the Democracy as on this occasion. It was the result of all these +obstacles that the doings of the constitutional convention were rejected +in the mass. + +In the ensuing April, the convention reassembled, in order to receive the +unfavorable verdict of the people upon its proposed amendments. At the +suggestion of General Pierce, the amendment abolishing the religious test +was again brought forward, and, in spite of the opposition of the leading +whig members, was a second time submitted to the people. Nor did the +struggle in behalf of this enlightened movement terminate here. + +At the democratic caucus, in Concord, preliminary to the town meeting, he +urged upon his political friends the repeal of the test, as a party +measure; and again, at the town meeting itself, while the balloting was +going forward, he advocated it on the higher ground of religious freedom, +and of reverence for what is inviolable in the human soul. Had the +amendment passed, the credit would have belonged to no man more than to +General Pierce; and that it failed, and that the free Constitution of New +Hampshire is still disgraced by a provision which even monarchical +England has cast off, is a responsibility which must rest elsewhere than +on his head. + +In September, 1851, died that eminent statesman and jurist, Levi +Woodbury, then occupying the elevated post of judge of the Supreme Court +of the United States. The connection between him and General Pierce, +beginning in the early youth of the latter, had been sustained through +all the subsequent years. They sat together, with but one intervening +chair between, in the national Senate; they were always advocates of the +same great measures, and held, through life, a harmony of opinion and +action, which was never more conspicuous than in the few months that +preceded Judge Woodbury's death. At a meeting of the bar, after his +decease, General Pierce uttered some remarks, full of sensibility, in +which he referred to the circumstances that had made this friendship an +inheritance on his part. Had Judge Woodbury survived, it is not +improbable that his more advanced age, his great public services, and +equally distinguished zeal in behalf of the Union might have placed him +in the position now occupied by the subject of this memoir. Fortunate +the state which, after losing such a son, can still point to another, not +less worthy to take upon him the charge of the nation's welfare. + +We have now finished our record of Franklin Pierce's life, and have only +to describe the posture of affairs which, without his own purpose and +against his wish, has placed him before the people of the United States +as a candidate for the presidency. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HIS NOMINATION FOR THE PRESIDENCY. + + +On the 12th of June, 1852, the democratic national convention assembled +at Baltimore, in order to select a candidate for the presidency of the +United States. Many names, eminently distinguished in peace and war, had +been brought before the public, during several months previous; and among +them, though by no means occupying a very prominent place, was the name +of Franklin Pierce. In January of this year, the Democracy of New +Hampshire had signified its preference of General Pierce as a +presidential candidate in the approaching canvass--a demonstration which +drew from him the following response, addressed to his friend, Mr. +Atherton:-- + +"I am far from being insensible to the generous confidence so often +manifested towards me by the people of this state; and although the +object indicated in the resolution, having particular reference to +myself, be not one of desire on my part, the expression is not on that +account less gratifying. + +"Doubtless the spontaneous and just appreciation of an intelligent people +is the best earthly reward for earnest and cheerful services rendered to +one's state and country; and while it is a matter of unfeigned regret +that my life has been so barren of usefulness, I shall ever hold this and +similar tributes among my most cherished recollections. + +"To these, my sincere and grateful acknowledgments, I desire to add that +the same motives which induced me, several years ago, to retire from +public life, and which since that time controlled my judgment in this +respect, now impel me to say that the use of my name in any event, before +the democratic national convention at Baltimore, to which you are a +delegate, would be utterly repugnant to my taste and wishes." + +The sentiments expressed in the above letter were genuine, and from his +heart. He had looked long and closely at the effects of high public +station on the character and happiness, and on what is the innermost and +dearest part of a man's possessions--his independence; and he had +satisfied himself that office, however elevated, should be avoided for +one's own sake, or accepted only as a good citizen would make any other +sacrifice, at the call and at the need of his country. + +As the time for the assembling of the national convention drew near, +there were other sufficient indications of his sincerity in declining a +stake in the great game. A circular letter was addressed, by Major +Scott, of Virginia, to the distinguished Democrats whose claims had +heretofore been publicly discussed, requesting a statement of their +opinions on several points, and inquiring what would be the course of +each of these gentlemen, in certain contingencies, in case of his +attaining the presidency. These queries, it may be presumed, were of +such a nature that General Pierce might have answered them, had he seen +fit to do so, to the satisfaction of Major Scott himself, or to that of +the southern democratic party, whom it seemed his purpose to represent. +With not more than one exception, the other statesmen and soldiers, to +whom the circular had been sent, made a response. General Pierce +preserved an unbroken silence. It was equivalent to the withdrawal of +all claims which he might be supposed to possess, in reference to the +contemplated office; and he thereby repeated, to the delegates of the +national party, the same avowal of distaste for public life which he had +already made known to the Democracy of his native state. He had thus +done everything in his power, actively or passively,--everything that he +could have done, without showing such an estimate of his position before +the country as was inconsistent with the modesty of his character,--to +avoid the perilous and burdensome honor of the candidacy. + +The convention met, at the date above mentioned, and continued its +sessions during four days. Thirty-five ballotings were held, with a +continually decreasing prospect that the friends of any one of the +gentlemen hitherto prominent before the people would succeed in obtaining +the two-thirds vote that was requisite for a nomination. Thus far, not a +vote had been thrown for General Pierce; but, at the thirty-sixth ballot, +the delegation of old Virginia brought forward his name. In the course +of several more trials, his strength increased, very gradually at first, +but afterwards with a growing impetus, until, at the forty-ninth ballot, +the votes were for Franklin Pierce two hundred and eighty-two, and eleven +for all other candidates. Thus Franklin Pierce became the nominee of the +convention; and as quickly as the lightning flash could blazon it abroad +his name was on every tongue, from end to end of this vast country. +Within an hour he grew to be illustrious. + +It would be a pretension, which we do not mean to put forward, to assert +that, whether considering the length and amount of his public services, +or his prominence before the country, General Pierce stood on equal +ground with several of the distinguished men whose claims, to use the +customary phrase, had been rejected in favor of his own. But no man, be +his public services or sacrifices what they might, ever did or ever could +possess, in the slightest degree, what we may term a legitimate claim to +be elevated to the rulership of a free people. The nation would degrade +itself, and violate every principle upon which its institutions are +founded, by offering its majestic obedience to one of its citizens as a +reward for whatever splendor of achievement. The conqueror may assert a +claim, such as it is, to the sovereignty of the people whom he +subjugates; but, with us Americans, when a statesman comes to the chief +direction of affairs, it is at the summons of the nation, addressed to +the servant whom it deems best fitted to spend his wisdom, his strength, +and his life in its behalf. On this principle, which is obviously the +correct one, a candidate's previous services are entitled to +consideration only as they indicate the qualities which may enable him to +render higher services in the position which his countrymen choose that +he shall occupy. What he has done is of no importance, except as proving +what he can do. And it is on this score, because they see in his public +course the irrefragable evidences of patriotism, integrity, and courage, +and because they recognize in him the noble gift of natural authority, +and have a prescience of the stately endowment of administrative genius, +that his fellow-citizens are about to summon Franklin Pierce to the +presidency. To those who know him well, the event comes, not like +accident, but as a consummation which might have been anticipated, from +its innate fitness, and as the final step of a career which, all along, +has tended thitherward. + +It is not as a reward that he will take upon him the mighty burden of +this office, of which the toil and awful responsibility whiten the +statesman's head, and in which, as in more than one instance we have +seen, the warrior encounters a deadlier risk than in the battle-field. +When General Pierce received the news of his nomination, it affected him +with no thrill of joy, but a sadness, which, for many days, was +perceptible in his deportment. It awoke in his heart the sense of +religious dependence--a sentiment that has been growing continually +stronger, through all the trials and experiences of his life; and there +was nothing feigned in that passage of his beautiful letter, accepting +the nomination, in which he expresses his reliance upon heavenly support. + +The committee, appointed by the Baltimore convention, conveyed to him the +intelligence of his nomination in the following terms:-- + +"A national convention of the democratic republican party, which met at +Baltimore on the first Tuesday in June, unanimously nominated you as a +candidate for the high trust of the President of the United States. We +have been delegated to acquaint you with the nomination, and earnestly to +request that you will accept it. Persuaded as we are that this office +should never be pursued by an unchastened ambition, it cannot be refused +by a dutiful patriotism. + +"The circumstances under which you will be presented for the canvass of +your countrymen seem to be propitious to the interests which the +Constitution intrusts to our Federal Union, and must be auspicious to +your own name. You come before the people without the impulse of +personal wishes, and free from selfish expectations. You are identified +with none of the distractions which have recently disturbed our country, +whilst you are known to be faithful to the Constitution--to all its +guaranties and compromises. You will be free to exercise your tried +abilities, within the path of duty, in protecting that repose we happily +enjoy, and in giving efficacy and control to those cardinal principles +that have already illustrated the party which has now selected you as its +leader--principles that regard the security and prosperity of the whole +country, and the paramount power of its laws, as indissolubly associated +with the perpetuity of our civil and religious liberties. + +"The convention did not pretermit the duty of reiterating those +principles, and you will find them prominently set forth in the +resolutions it adopted. To these we respectfully invite your attention. + +"It is firmly believed that to your talents and patriotism the security +of our holy Union, with its expanded and expanding interests, may be +wisely trusted, and that, amid all the perils which may assail the +Constitution, you will have the heart to love and the arm to defend it." + +We quote likewise General Pierce's reply:-- + +"I have the honor to acknowledge your personal kindness in presenting me, +this day, your letter, officially informing me of my nomination, by the +democratic national convention, as a candidate for the presidency of the +United States. The surprise with which I received the intelligence of my +nomination was not unmingled with painful solicitude; and yet it is +proper for me to say that the manner in which it was conferred was +peculiarly gratifying. + +"The delegation from New Hampshire, with all the glow of state pride, and +with all the warmth of personal regard, would not have submitted my name +to the convention, nor would they have cast a vote for me, under +circumstances other than those which occurred. + +"I shall always cherish with pride and gratitude the recollection of the +fact that the voice which first pronounced, and pronounced alone, came +from the Mother of States--a pride and gratitude rising above any +consequences that can betide me personally. May I not regard it as a +fact pointing to the overthrow of sectional jealousies, and looking to +the permanent life and vigor of the Union, cemented by the blood of those +who have passed to their reward?--a Union wonderful in its formation, +boundless in its hopes, amazing in its destiny. + +"I accept the nomination, relying upon an abiding devotion to the +interests, honor, and glory of the whole country, but, above and beyond +all, upon a Power superior to all human might--a Power which, from the +first gun of the Revolution, in every crisis through which we have +passed, in every hour of acknowledged peril, when the dark clouds had +shut down over us, has interposed as if to baffle human wisdom, outmarch +human forecast, and bring out of darkness the rainbow of promise. Weak +myself, faith and hope repose there in security. + +"I accept the nomination upon the platform adopted by the convention, not +because this is expected of me as a candidate, but because the principles +it embraces command the approbation of my judgment; and with them, I +believe I can safely say, there has been no word or act of my life in +conflict." + +The news of his nomination went abroad over the Union, and, far and wide, +there came a response, in which was distinguishable a truer appreciation +of some of General Pierce's leading traits than could have been +anticipated, considering the unobtrusive tenor of his legislative life, +and the lapse of time since he had entirely withdrawn himself from the +nation's eye. It was the marvellous and mystic influence of character, +in regard to which the judgment of the people is so seldom found +erroneous, and which conveys the perception of itself through some medium +higher and deeper than the intellect. Everywhere the country knows that +a man of steadfast will, true heart, and generous qualities has been +brought forward, to receive the suffrages of his fellow-citizens. + +He comes before the people of the United States at a remarkable era in +the history of this country and of the world. The two great parties of +the nation appear--at least to an observer somewhat removed from both--to +have nearly merged into one another; for they preserve the attitude of +political antagonism rather through the effect of their old organizations +than because any great and radical principles are at present in dispute +between them. The measures advocated by the one party, and resisted by +the other, through a long series of years, have now ceased to be the +pivots on which the election turns. The prominent statesmen, so long +identified with those measures, will henceforth relinquish their +controlling influence over public affairs. Both parties, it may likewise +be said, are united in one common purpose,--that of preserving our sacred +Union, as the immovable basis from which the destinies, not of America +alone, but of mankind at large, may be carried upward and consummated. +And thus men stand together, in unwonted quiet and harmony, awaiting the +new movement in advance which all these tokens indicate. + +It remains for the citizens of this great country to decide, within the +next few weeks, whether they will retard the steps of human progress by +placing at its head an illustrious soldier, indeed, a patriot, and one +indelibly stamped into the history of the past, but who has already done +his work, and has not in him the spirit of the present or of the coming +time; or whether they will put their trust in a new man, whom a life of +energy and various activity has tested, but not worn out, and advance +with him into the auspicious epoch upon which we are about to enter. + + +NOTE. + +We have done far less than justice to Franklin Pierce's college standing, +in our statement in Chapter I. Some circumstances connected with this +matter are too characteristic not to be reported. + +During the first two years, Pierce was extremely inattentive to his +college duties, bestowing only such modicum of time upon them as was +requisite to supply the merest superficial acquaintance with the course +of study for the recitation room. The consequence was that when the +relative standing of the members of the class was first authoritatively +ascertained, in the junior year, he found himself occupying precisely the +lowest position in point of scholarship. In the first mortification of +wounded pride, he resolved never to attend another recitation, and +accordingly absented himself from college exercises of all kinds for +several days, expecting and desiring that some form of punishment, such +as suspension or expulsion, would be the result. The faculty of the +college, however, with a wise lenity, took no notice of this behavior; +and at last, having had time to grow cool, and moved by the grief of his +friend Little and another classmate, Pierce determined to resume the +routine of college duties. "But," said he to his friends, "if I do so, +you shall see a change!" + +Accordingly, from that time forward, he devoted himself to study. His +mind, having run wild for so long a period, could be reclaimed only by +the severest efforts of an iron resolution; and for three months +afterwards, he rose at four in the morning, toiled all day over his +books, and retired only at midnight, allowing himself but four hours for +sleep. With habit and exercise, he acquired command over his +intellectual powers, and was no longer under the necessity of application +so intense. But from the moment when he made his resolve until the close +of his college life, he never incurred a censure, never was absent (and +then unavoidably) but from two college exercises, never went into the +recitation room without a thorough acquaintance with the subject to be +recited, and finally graduated as the third scholar of his class. +Nothing save the low standard of his previous scholarship prevented his +taking a yet higher rank. + +The moral of this little story lies in the stern and continued exercise +of self-controlling will, which redeemed him from indolence, completely +changed the aspect of his character, and made this the turning point of +his life. + + + + + +CHIEFLY ABOUT WAR MATTERS. + +By a Peaceable Man. + + +[This article appeared in the "Atlantic Monthly" for July, 1862, and is +now first reprinted among Hawthorne's collected writings. The editor of +the magazine objected to sundry paragraphs in the manuscript, and these +were cancelled with the consent of the author, who himself supplied all +the foot-notes that accompanied the article when it was published. It +has seemed best to retain them in the present reproduction. One of the +suppressed passages, in which President Lincoln is described, has since +been printed, and is therefore restored to its proper place in the +following pages.--G. P. L.] + + +Here is no remoteness of life and thought, no hermetically sealed +seclusion, except possibly, that of the grave, into which the disturbing +influences of this war do not penetrate. Of course, the general +heart-quake of the country long ago knocked at my cottage-door, and +compelled me, reluctantly, to suspend the contemplation of certain +fantasies, to which, according to my harmless custom, I was endeavoring +to give a sufficiently life-like aspect to admit of their figuring in a +romance. As I make no pretensions to state-craft or soldiership, and +could promote the common weal neither by valor nor counsel, it seemed, at +first, a pity that I should be debarred from such unsubstantial business +as I had contrived for myself, since nothing more genuine was to be +substituted for it. But I magnanimously considered that there is a kind +of treason in insulating one's self from the universal fear and sorrow, +and thinking one's idle thoughts in the dread time of civil war; and +could a man be so cold and hardhearted, he would better deserve to be +sent to Fort Warren than many who have found their way thither on the +score of violent, but misdirected sympathies. I remembered the touching +rebuke administered by King Charles to that rural squire the echo of +whose hunting-horn came to the poor monarch's ear on the morning before a +battle, where the sovereignty and constitution of England were to be set +at a stake. So I gave myself up to reading newspapers and listening to +the click of the telegraph, like other people; until, after a great many +months of such pastime, it grew so abominably irksome that I determined +to look a little more closely at matters with my own eyes. + +Accordingly we set out--a friend and myself--towards Washington, while it +was still the long, dreary January of our Northern year, though March in +name; nor were we unwilling to clip a little margin off the five months' +winter, during which there is nothing genial in New England save the +fireside. It was a clear, frosty morning, when we started. The sun +shone brightly on snow-covered hills in the neighborhood of Boston, and +burnished the surface of frozen ponds; and the wintry weather kept along +with us while we trundled through Worcester and Springfield, and all +those old, familiar towns, and through the village-cities of Connecticut. +In New York the streets were afloat with liquid mud and slosh. Over New +Jersey there was still a thin covering of snow, with the face of Nature +visible through the rents in her white shroud, though with little or no +symptom of reviving life. But when we reached Philadelphia, the air was +mild and balmy; there was but a patch or two of dingy winter here and +there, and the bare, brown fields about the city were ready to be green. +We had met the Spring half-way, in her slow progress from the South; and +if we kept onward at the same pace, and could get through the Rebel +lines, we should soon come to fresh grass, fruit-blossoms, green peas, +strawberries, and all such delights of early summer. + +On our way, we heard many rumors of the war, but saw few signs of it. +The people were staid and decorous, according to their ordinary fashion; +and business seemed about as brisk as usual,--though, I suppose, it was +considerably diverted from its customary channels into warlike ones. In +the cities, especially in New York, there was a rather prominent display +of military goods at the shop windows,--such as swords with gilded +scabbards and trappings, epaulets, carabines, revolvers, and sometimes a +great iron cannon at the edge of the pavement, as if Mars had dropped +one of his pocket-pistols there, while hurrying to the field. As +railway-companions, we had now and then a volunteer in his French-gray +great-coat, returning from furlough, or a new-made officer travelling to +join his regiment, in his new-made uniform, which was perhaps all of the +military character that he had about him,--but proud of his eagle-buttons +and likely enough to do them honor before the gilt should be wholly +dimmed. The country, in short, so far as bustle and movement went, was +more quiet than in ordinary times, because so large a proportion of its +restless elements had been drawn towards the seat of the conflict. But +the air was full of a vague disturbance. To me, at least, it seemed so, +emerging from such a solitude as has been hinted at, and the more +impressible by rumors and indefinable presentiments, since I had not +lived, like other men, in an atmosphere of continual talk about the war. +A battle was momentarily expected on the Potomac; for, though our army +was still on the hither side of the river, all of us were looking towards +the mysterious and terrible Manassas, with the idea that somewhere in its +neighborhood lay a ghastly battle-field, yet to be fought, but foredoomed +of old to be bloodier than the one where we had reaped such shame. Of +all haunted places, methinks such a destined field should be thickest +thronged with ugly phantoms, ominous of mischief through ages beforehand. + +Beyond Philadelphia there was a much greater abundance of military +people. Between Baltimore and Washington a guard seemed to hold every +station along the railroad; and frequently, on the hill-sides, we saw a +collection of weather-beaten tents, the peaks of which, blackened with +smoke, indicated that they had been made comfortable by stove-heat +throughout the winter. At several commanding positions we saw +fortifications, with the muzzles of cannon protruding from the ramparts, +the slopes of which were made of the yellow earth of that region, and +still unsodded; whereas, till these troublous times, there have been no +forts but what were grass-grown with the lapse of at least a lifetime of +peace. Our stopping-places were thronged with soldiers, some of whom +came through the cars asking for newspapers that contained accounts of +the battle between the Merrimack and Monitor, which had been fought the +day before. A railway-train met us, conveying a regiment out of +Washington to some unknown point; and reaching the capital, we filed out +of the station between lines of soldiers, with shouldered muskets, +putting us in mind of similar spectacles at the gates of European cities. +It was not without sorrow that we saw the free circulation of the +nation's life-blood (at the very heart, moreover) clogged with such +strictures as these, which have caused chronic diseases in almost all +countries save our own. Will the time ever come again, in America, when +we may live half a score of years without once seeing the likeness of a +soldier, except it be in the festal march of a company on its summer +tour? Not in this generation, I fear, nor in the next, nor till the +Millennium; and even that blessed epoch, as the prophecies seem to +intimate, will advance to the sound of the trumpet. + +One terrible idea occurs in reference to this matter. Even supposing the +war should end to-morrow, and the army melt into the mass of the +population within the year, what an incalculable preponderance will there +be of military titles and pretensions for at least half a century to +come! Every country-neighborhood will have its general or two, its three +or four colonels, half a dozen majors, and captains without end,--besides +non-commissioned officers and privates, more than the recruiting offices +ever knew of,--all with their campaign-stories, which will become the +staple of fireside talk forevermore. Military merit, or rather, since +that is not so readily estimated, military notoriety, will be the measure +of all claims to civil distinction.--One bullet-headed general will +succeed another in the Presidential chair; and veterans will hold the +offices at home and abroad, and sit in Congress and the state +legislatures, and fill all the avenues of public life. And yet I do not +speak of this deprecatingly, since, very likely, it may substitute +something more real and genuine, instead of the many shams on which men +have heretofore founded their claims to public regard; but it behooves +civilians to consider their wretched prospects in the future, and assume +the military button before it is too late. + +We were not in time to see Washington as a camp. On the very day of our +arrival sixty thousand men had crossed the Potomac on their march towards +Manassas; and almost with their first step into the Virginia mud, the +phantasmagory of a countless host and impregnable ramparts, before which +they had so long remained quiescent, dissolved quite away. It was as if +General McClellan had thrust his sword into a gigantic enemy, and, +beholding him suddenly collapse, had discovered to himself and the world +that he had merely punctured an enormously swollen bladder. There are +instances of a similar character in old romances, where great armies are +long kept at bay by the arts of necromancers, who build airy towers and +battlements, and muster warriors of terrible aspect, and thus feign a +defence of seeming impregnability, until some bolder champion of the +besiegers dashes forward to try an encounter with the foremost foeman, +and finds him melt away in the death grapple. With such heroic +adventures let the march upon Manassas be hereafter reckoned. The whole +business, though connected with the destinies of a nation, takes +inevitably a tinge of the ludicrous. The vast preparation of men and +warlike material,--the majestic patience and docility with which the +people waited through those weary and dreary months,--the martial skill, +courage, and caution, with which our movement was ultimately made,--and, +at last, the tremendous shock with which we were brought suddenly up +against nothing at all! The Southerners show little sense of humor +nowadays, but I think they must have meant to provoke a laugh at our +expense, when they planted those Quaker guns. At all events, no other +Rebel artillery has played upon us with such overwhelming effect. + +The troops being gone, we had the better leisure and opportunity to look +into other matters. It is natural enough to suppose that the centre and +heart of Washington is the Capitol; and certainly, in its outward aspect, +the world has not many statelier or more beautiful edifices, nor any, I +should suppose, more skilfully adapted to legislative purposes, and to +all accompanying needs. But, etc., etc. [We omit several paragraphs +here, in which the author speaks of some prominent Members of Congress +with a freedom that seems to have been not unkindly meant, but might be +liable to misconstruction. As he admits that he never listened to an +important debate, we can hardly recognize his qualifications to estimate +these gentlemen, in their legislative and oratorical capacities.] + + * * * * * * + +We found one man, however, at the Capitol, who was satisfactorily +adequate to the business which brought him thither. In quest of him, we +went through halls, galleries, and corridors, and ascended a noble +staircase, balustraded with a dark and beautifully variegated marble from +Tennessee, the richness of which is quite a sufficient cause for +objecting to the secession of that State. At last we came to a barrier +of pine boards, built right across the stairs. Knocking at a rough, +temporary door, we thrust a card beneath; and in a minute or two it was +opened by a person in his shirt-sleeves, a middle-aged figure, neither +tall nor short, of Teutonic build and aspect, with an ample beard of a +ruddy tinge and chestnut hair. He looked at us, in the first place, with +keen and somewhat guarded eyes, as if it were not his practice to +vouchsafe any great warmth of greeting, except upon sure ground of +observation. Soon, however, his look grew kindly and genial (not that it +had ever been in the least degree repulsive, but only reserved), and +Leutze allowed us to gaze at the cartoon of his great fresco, and talked +about it unaffectedly, as only a man of true genius can speak of his own +works. Meanwhile the noble design spoke for itself upon the wall. A +sketch in color, which we saw afterwards, helped us to form some distant +and flickering notion of what the picture will be, a few months hence, +when these bare outlines, already so rich in thought and suggestiveness, +shall glow with a fire of their own,--a fire which, I truly believe, will +consume every other pictorial decoration of the Capitol, or, at least, +will compel us to banish those stiff and respectable productions to some +less conspicuous gallery. The work will be emphatically original and +American, embracing characteristics that neither art nor literature have +yet dealt with, and producing new forms of artistic beauty from the +natural features of the Rocky-Mountain region, which Leutze seems to have +studied broadly and minutely. The garb of the hunters and wanderers of +those deserts, too, under his free and natural management, is shown as +the most picturesque of costumes. But it would be doing this admirable +painter no kind office to overlay his picture with any more of my +colorless and uncertain words; so I shall merely add that it looked full +of energy, hope, progress, irrepressible movement onward, all represented +in a momentary pause of triumph; and it was most cheering to feel its +good augury at this dismal time, when our country might seem to have +arrived at such a deadly stand-still. + +It was an absolute comfort, indeed, to find Leutze so quietly busy at +this great national work, which is destined to glow for centuries on the +walls of the Capitol, if that edifice shall stand, or must share its +fate, if treason shall succeed in subverting it with the Union which it +represents. It was delightful to see him so calmly elaborating his +design, while other men doubted and feared, or hoped treacherously, and +whispered to one another that the nation would exist only a little +longer, or that, if a remnant still held together, its centre and seat of +government would be far northward and westward of Washington. But the +artist keeps right on, firm of heart and hand, drawing his outlines with +an unwavering pencil, beautifying and idealizing our rude, material life, +and thus manifesting that we have an indefeasible claim to a more +enduring national existence. In honest truth, what with the +hope-inspiring influence of the design, and what with Leutze's +undisturbed evolvement of it, I was exceedingly encouraged, and allowed +these cheerful auguries to weigh against a sinister omen that was pointed +out to me in another part of the Capitol. The freestone walls of the +central edifice are pervaded with great cracks, and threaten to come +thundering down, under the immense weight of the iron dome,--an +appropriate catastrophe enough if it should occur on the day when we drop +the Southern stars out of our flag. + +Everybody seems to be at Washington, and yet there is a singular dearth +of imperatively noticeable people there. I question whether there are +half a dozen individuals, in all kinds of eminence, at whom a stranger, +wearied with the contact of a hundred moderate celebrities, would turn +round to snatch a second glance. Secretary Seward, to be sure,--a pale, +large-nosed, elderly man, of moderate stature, with a decided originality +of gait and aspect, and a cigar in his mouth,--etc., etc. +[We are again compelled to interfere with our friend's license of +personal description and criticism. Even Cabinet Ministers (to whom the +next few pages of the article were devoted) had their private immunities, +which ought to be conscientiously observed,--unless, indeed, the writer +chanced to have some very piquant motives for violating them.] + + * * * * * * + +Of course, there was one other personage, in the class of statesmen, whom +I should have been truly mortified to leave Washington without seeing; +since (temporarily, at least, and by force of circumstances) he was the +man of men. But a private grief had built up a barrier about him, +impeding the customary free intercourse of Americans with their chief +magistrate; so that I might have come away without a glimpse of his very +remarkable physiognomy, save for a semi-official opportunity of which I +was glad to take advantage. The fact is, we were invited to annex +ourselves, as supernumeraries, to a deputation that was about to wait +upon the President, from a Massachusetts whip-factory, with a present of +a splendid whip. + +Our immediate party consisted only of four or five (including Major Ben +Perley Poore, with his note-book and pencil), but we were joined by +several other persons, who seemed to have been lounging about the +precincts of the White House, under the spacious porch, or within the +hall, and who swarmed in with us to take the chances of a presentation. +Nine o'clock had been appointed as the time for receiving the deputation, +and we were punctual to the moment; but not so the President, who sent us +word that he was eating his breakfast, and would come as soon as he +could. His appetite, we were glad to think, must have been a pretty fair +one; for we waited about half an hour in one of the antechambers, and +then were ushered into a reception-room, in one corner of which sat the +Secretaries of War and of the Treasury, expecting, like ourselves, the +termination of the Presidential breakfast. During this interval there +were several new additions to our group, one or two of whom were in a +working-garb, so that we formed a very miscellaneous collection of +people, mostly unknown to each other, and without any common sponsor, but +all with an equal right to look our head-servant in the face. + +By and by there was a little stir on the staircase and in the +passage-way, and in lounged a tall, loose-jointed figure, of an +exaggerated Yankee port and demeanor, whom (as being about the homeliest +man I ever saw, yet by no means repulsive or disagreeable) it was +impossible not to recognize as Uncle Abe. + +Unquestionably, Western man though he be, and Kentuckian by birth, +President Lincoln is the essential representative of all Yankees, and the +veritable specimen, physically, of what the world seems determined to +regard as our characteristic qualities. It is the strangest and yet the +fittest thing in the jumble of human vicissitudes, that he, out of so +many millions, unlooked for, unselected by any intelligible process that +could be based upon his genuine qualities, unknown to those who chose +him, and unsuspected of what endowments may adapt him for his tremendous +responsibility, should have found the way open for him to fling his lank +personality into the chair of state,--where, I presume, it was his first +impulse to throw his legs on the council-table, and tell the Cabinet +Ministers a story. There is no describing his lengthy awkwardness, nor +the uncouthness of his movement; and yet it seemed as if I had been in +the habit of seeing him daily, and had shaken hands with him a thousand +times in some village street; so true was he to the aspect of the pattern +American, though with a certain extravagance which, possibly, I +exaggerated still further by the delighted eagerness with which I took it +in. If put to guess his calling and livelihood, I should have taken him +for a country schoolmaster as soon as anything else. He was dressed in a +rusty black frock-coat and pantaloons, unbrushed, and worn so faithfully +that the suit had adapted itself to the curves and angularities of his +figure, and had grown to be an outer skin of the man. He had shabby +slippers on his feet. His hair was black, still unmixed with gray, +stiff, somewhat bushy, and had apparently been acquainted with neither +brush nor comb that morning, after the disarrangement of the pillow; and +as to a night-cap, Uncle Abe probably knows nothing of such effeminacies. +His complexion is dark and sallow, betokening, I fear, an insalubrious +atmosphere around the White House; he has thick black eyebrows and an +impending brow; his nose is large, and the lines about his mouth are very +strongly defined. + +The whole physiognomy is as coarse a one as you would meet anywhere in +the length and breadth of the States; but, withal, it is redeemed, +illuminated, softened, and brightened by a kindly though serious look out +of his eyes, and an expression of homely sagacity, that seems weighted +with rich results of village experience. A great deal of native sense; +no bookish cultivation, no refinement; honest at heart, and thoroughly +so, and yet, in some sort, sly,--at least, endowed with a sort of tact +and wisdom that are akin to craft, and would impel him, I think, to take +an antagonist in flank, rather than to make a bull-run at him right in +front. But, on the whole, I like this sallow, queer, sagacious visage, +with the homely human sympathies that warmed it; and, for my small share +in the matter, would as lief have Uncle Abe for a ruler as any man whom +it would have been practicable to put in his place. + +Immediately on his entrance the President accosted our member of +Congress, who had us in charge, and, with a comical twist of his face, +made some jocular remark about the length of his breakfast. He then +greeted us all round, not waiting for an introduction, but shaking and +squeezing everybody's hand with the utmost cordiality, whether the +individual's name was announced to him or not. His manner towards us was +wholly without pretence, but yet had a kind of natural dignity, quite +sufficient to keep the forwardest of us from clapping him on the shoulder +and asking him for a story. A mutual acquaintance being established, our +leader took the whip out of its case, and began to read the address of +presentation. The whip was an exceedingly long one, its handle wrought +in ivory (by some artist in the Massachusetts State Prison, I believe), +and ornamented with a medallion of the President, and other equally +beautiful devices; and along its whole length there was a succession of +golden bands and ferrules. The address was shorter than the whip, but +equally well made, consisting chiefly of an explanatory description of +these artistic designs, and closing with a hint that the gift was a +suggestive and emblematic one, and that the President would recognize the +use to which such an instrument should be put. + +This suggestion gave Uncle Abe rather a delicate task in his reply, +because, slight as the matter seemed, it apparently called for some +declaration, or intimation, or faint foreshadowing of policy in reference +to the conduct of the war, and the final treatment of the Rebels. But +the President's Yankee aptness and not-to-be-caughtness stood him in good +stead, and he jerked or wiggled himself out of the dilemma with an +uncouth dexterity that was entirely in character; although, without his +gesticulation of eye and month,--and especially the flourish of the whip, +with which he imagined himself touching up a pair of fat horses,--I doubt +whether his words would be worth recording, even if I could remember +them. The gist of the reply was, that he accepted the whip as an emblem +of peace; not punishment; and, this great affair over, we retired out of +the presence in high good-humor, only regretting that we could not have +seen the President sit down and fold up his legs (which is said to be a +most extraordinary spectacle), or have heard him tell one of those +delectable stories for which he is so celebrated. A good many of them +are afloat upon the common talk of Washington, and are certainly the +aptest, pithiest, and funniest little things imaginable; though, to be +sure, they smack of the frontier freedom, and would not always bear +repetition in a drawing-room, or on the immaculate page of the Atlantic. + + +[The above passage relating to President Lincoln was one of those omitted +from the article as originally published, and the following note was +appended to explain the omission, which had been indicated by a line of +points:-- + +We are compelled to omit two or three pages, in which the author +describes the interview, and gives his idea of the personal appearance +and deportment of the President. The sketch appears to have been written +in a benign spirit, and perhaps conveys a not inaccurate impression of +its august subject; but it lacks reverence, and it pains us to see a +gentleman of ripe age, and who has spent years under the corrective +influence of foreign institutions, falling into the characteristic and +most ominous fault of Young America.] + + +Good Heavens! what liberties have I been taking with one of the +potentates of the earth, and the man on whose conduct more important +consequences depend than on that of any other historical personage of the +century! But with whom is an American citizen entitled to take a +liberty, if not with his own chief magistrate? However, lest the above +allusions to President Lincoln's little peculiarities (already well known +to the country and to the world) should be misinterpreted, I deem it +proper to say a word or two in regard to him, of unfeigned respect and +measurable confidence. He is evidently a man of keen faculties, and, +what is still more to the purpose, of powerful character. As to his +integrity, the people have that intuition of it which is never deceived. +Before he actually entered upon his great office, and for a considerable +time afterwards, there is no reason to suppose that he adequately +estimated the gigantic task about to be imposed on him, or, at least, had +any distinct idea how it was to be managed; and I presume there may have +been more than one veteran politician who proposed to himself to take the +power out of President Lincoln's hands into his own, leaving our honest +friend only the public responsibility for the good or ill success of the +career. The extremely imperfect development of his statesmanly +qualities, at that period, may have justified such designs. But the +President is teachable by events, and has now spent a year in a very +arduous course of education; he has a flexible mind, capable of much +expansion, and convertible towards far loftier studies and activities +than those of his early life; and if he came to Washington a backwoods +humorist, he has already transformed himself into as good a statesman (to +speak moderately) as his prime-minister. + +Among other excursions to camps and places of interest in the +neighborhood of Washington, we went, one day, to Alexandria. It is a +little port on the Potomac, with one or two shabby wharves and docks, +resembling those of a fishing-village in New England, and the respectable +old brick town rising gently behind. In peaceful times it no doubt bore +an aspect of decorous quietude and dulness; but it was now thronged with +the Northern soldiery, whose stir and bustle contrasted strikingly with +the many closed warehouses, the absence of citizens from their customary +haunts, and the lack of any symptom of healthy activity, while +army-wagons trundled heavily over the pavements, and sentinels paced the +sidewalks, and mounted dragoons dashed to and fro on military errands. I +tried to imagine how very disagreeable the presence of a Southern army +would be in a sober town of Massachusetts; and the thought considerably +lessened my wonder at the cold and shy regards that are cast upon our +troops, the gloom, the sullen demeanor, the declared or scarcely hidden +sympathy with rebellion, which are so frequent here. It is a strange +thing in human life, that the greatest errors both of men and women often +spring from their sweetest and most generous qualities; and so, +undoubtedly, thousands of warm-hearted, sympathetic, and impulsive +persons have joined the Rebels, not from any real zeal for the cause, but +because, between two conflicting loyalties, they chose that which +necessarily lay nearest the heart. There never existed any other +government against which treason was so easy, and could defend itself by +such plausible arguments, as against that of the United States. The +anomaly of two allegiances (of which that of the State comes nearest home +to a man's feelings, and includes the altar and the hearth, while the +General Government claims his devotion only to an airy mode of law, and +has no symbol but a flag) is exceedingly mischievous in this point of +view; for it has converted crowds of honest people into traitors, who +seem to themselves not merely innocent but patriotic, and who die for a +bad cause with as quiet a conscience as if it were the best. In the vast +extent of our country,--too vast by far to be taken into one small human +heart,--we inevitably limit to our own State, or, at farthest, to our own +section, that sentiment of physical love for the soil which renders an +Englishman, for example, so intensely sensitive to the dignity and +well-being of his little island, that one hostile foot, treading anywhere +upon it, would make a bruise on each individual breast. If a man loves +his individual State, therefore, and is content to be ruined with her, +let us shoot him if we can, but allow him an honorable burial in the soil +he fights for. + +[We do not thoroughly comprehend the author's drift in the foregoing +paragraph, but are inclined to think its tone reprehensible, and its +tendency impolitic in the present stage of our national difficulties.] + +In Alexandria we visited the tavern in which Colonel Ellsworth was +killed, and saw the spot where he fell, and saw the stairs below, whence +Jackson fired the fatal shot, and where he himself was slain a moment +afterwards; so that the assassin and his victim must have met on the +threshold of the spirit-world, and perhaps came to a better understanding +before they had taken many steps on the other side. Ellsworth was too +generous to bear an immortal grudge for a deed like that, done in hot +blood, and by no skulking enemy. The memorial-hunters have completely +cut away the original wood-work around the spot, with their +pocket-knives; and the staircase, balustrade, and floor, as well as the +adjacent doors and door-frames, have recently been renewed; the walls, +moreover, are covered with new paper-hangings, the former having been +torn off in tatters; and thus it becomes something like a metaphysical +question whether the place of the murder actually exists. + +Driving out of Alexandria, we stopped on the edge of the city to inspect +an old slave-pen, which is one of the lions of the place, but a very poor +one; and a little farther on, we came to a brick church, where Washington +used sometimes to attend service,--a pre-Revolutionary edifice, with ivy +growing over its walls, though not very luxuriantly. Reaching the open +country, we saw forts and camps on all sides; some of the tents being +placed immediately on the ground, while others were raised over a +basement of logs, laid lengthwise, like those of a log-hut, or driven +vertically into the soil in a circle,--thus forming a solid wall, the +chinks closed up with Virginia mud, and above it the pyramidal shelter of +the tent. Here were in progress all the occupations, and all the +idleness, of the soldier in the tented field: some were cooking the +company-rations in pots hung over fires in the open air; some played at +ball, or developed their muscular power by gymnastic exercise; some read +newspapers; some smoked cigars or pipes; and many were cleaning their +arms or accoutrements,--the more carefully, perhaps, because their +division was to be reviewed by the Commander-in-Chief that afternoon; +others sat on the ground, while their comrades cut their hair,--it being +a soldierly fashion (and for excellent reasons) to crop it within an inch +of the skull; others, finally, lay asleep in breast-high tents, with +their legs protruding into the open air. + +We paid a visit to Fort Ellsworth, and from its ramparts (which have been +heaped up out of the muddy soil within the last few months, and will +require still a year or two to make them verdant) we had a beautiful view +of the Potomac, a truly majestic river, and the surrounding country. The +fortifications, so numerous in all this region, and now so unsightly with +their bare, precipitous sides, will remain as historic monuments, +grass-grown and picturesque memorials of an epoch of terror and +suffering: they will serve to make our country dearer and more +interesting to us, and afford fit soil for poetry to root itself in: for +this is a plant which thrives best in spots where blood has been spilt +long ago, and grows in abundant clusters in old ditches, such as the moat +around Fort Ellsworth will be a century hence. It may seem to be paying +dear for what many will reckon but a worthless weed; but the more +historical associations we can link with our localities, the richer will +be the daily life that feeds upon the past, and the more valuable the +things that have been long established: so that our children will be less +prodigal than their fathers in sacrificing good institutions to +passionate impulses and impracticable theories. This herb of grace, let +us hope, will be found in the old footprints of the war. + +Even in an aesthetic point of view, however, the war has done a great +deal of enduring mischief, by causing the devastation of great tracts of +woodland scenery, in which this part of Virginia would appear to be very +rich. Around all the encampments, and everywhere along the road, we saw +the bare sites of what had evidently been tracts of hard-wood forest, +indicated by the unsightly stumps of well-grown trees, not smoothly +felled by regular axe-men, but hacked, haggled, and unevenly amputated, +as by a sword or other miserable tool, in an unskilful hand. Fifty years +will not repair this desolation. An army destroys everything before and +around it, even to the very grass; for the sites of the encampments are +converted into barren esplanades, like those of the squares in French +cities, where not a blade of grass is allowed to grow. As to the other +symptoms of devastation and obstruction, such as deserted houses, +unfenced fields, and a general aspect of nakedness and ruin, I know not +how much may be due to a normal lack of neatness in the rural life of +Virginia, which puts a squalid face even upon a prosperous state of +things; but undoubtedly the war must have spoilt what was good, and made +the bad a great deal worse. The carcasses of horses were scattered along +the wayside. + +One very pregnant token of a social system thoroughly disturbed was +presented by a party of contrabands, escaping out of the mysterious +depths of Secessia; and its strangeness consisted in the leisurely delay +with which they trudged forward, as dreading no pursuer, and encountering +nobody to turn them back. They were unlike the specimens of their race +whom we are accustomed to see at the North, and, in my judgment, were far +more agreeable. So rudely were they attired,--as if their garb had grown +upon them spontaneously,--so picturesquely natural in manners, and +wearing such a crust of primeval simplicity (which is quite polished away +from the Northern black man), that they seemed a kind of creature by +themselves, not altogether human, but perhaps quite as good, and akin to +the fawns and rustic deities of olden times. I wonder whether I shall +excite anybody's wrath by saying this. It is no great matter. At all +events, I felt most kindly towards these poor fugitives, but knew not +precisely what to wish in their behalf, nor in the least how to help +them. For the sake of the manhood which is latent in them, I would not +have turned them back; but I should have felt almost as reluctant, on +their own account, to hasten them forward to the stranger's land; and I +think my prevalent idea was, that, whoever may be benefited by the +results of this war, it will not be the present generation of negroes, +the childhood of whose race is now gone forever, and who must henceforth +fight a hard battle with the world, on very unequal terms. On behalf of +my own race, I am glad and can only hope that an inscrutable Providence +means good to both parties. + +There is an historical circumstance, known to few, that connects the +children of the Puritans with these Africans of Virginia in a very +singular way. They are our brethren, as being lineal descendants from +the Mayflower, the fated womb of which, in her first voyage, sent forth a +brood of Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock, and, in a subsequent one, spawned +slaves upon the Southern soil,--a monstrous birth, but with which we have +an instinctive sense of kindred, and so are stirred by an irresistible +impulse to attempt their rescue, even at the cost of blood and ruin. The +character of our sacred ship, I fear, may suffer a little by this +revelation; but we must let her white progeny offset her dark one,--and +two such portents never sprang from an identical source before. + +While we drove onward, a young officer on horseback looked earnestly into +the carriage, and recognized some faces that he had seen before; so he +rode along by our side, and we pestered him with queries and +observations, to which he responded more civilly than they deserved. He +was on General McClellan's staff; and a gallant cavalier, high-booted, +with a revolver in his belt, and mounted on a noble horse, which trotted +hard and high without disturbing the rider in his accustomed seat. His +face had a healthy hue of exposure and an expression of careless +hardihood; and, as I looked at him, it seemed to me that the war had +brought good fortune to the youth of this epoch, if to none beside; since +they now make it their daily business to ride a horse and handle a sword, +instead of lounging listlessly through the duties, occupations, +pleasures--all tedious alike--to which the artificial state of society +limits a peaceful generation. The atmosphere of the camp and the smoke +of the battle-field are morally invigorating; the hardy virtues flourish +in them, the nonsense dies like a wilted weed. The enervating effects of +centuries of civilization vanish at once, and leave these young men to +enjoy a life of hardship, and the exhilarating sense of danger,--to kill +men blamelessly, or to be killed gloriously,--and to be happy in +following out their native instincts of destruction, precisely in the +spirit of Homer's heroes, only with some considerable change of mode. +One touch of Nature makes not only the whole world, but all time, akin. +Set men face to face, with weapons in their hands, and they are as ready +to slaughter one another now, after playing at peace and good-will for so +many years, as in the rudest ages, that never heard of peace-societies, +and thought no wine so delicious as what they quaffed from an enemy's +skull. Indeed, if the report of a Congressional committee may be +trusted, that old-fashioned kind of goblet has again come into use at the +expense of our Northern head-pieces,--a costly drinking-cup to him that +furnishes it! Heaven forgive me for seeming to jest upon such a +subject!--only, it is so odd, when we measure our advances from +barbarism, and find ourselves just here! [We hardly expected this +outbreak in favor of war from the Peaceable Man; but the justness of our +cause makes us all soldiers at heart, however quiet in our outward life. +We have heard of twenty Quakers in a single company of a Pennsylvania +regiment.] + +We now approached General McClellan's head-quarters, which, at that time, +were established at Fairfield Seminary. The edifice was situated on a +gentle elevation, amid very agreeable scenery, and, at a distance, looked +like a gentleman's seat. Preparations were going forward for reviewing a +division of ten or twelve thousand men, the various regiments composing +which had begun to array themselves on an extensive plain, where, +methought, there was a more convenient place for a battle than is usually +found in this broken and difficult country. Two thousand cavalry made a +portion of the troops to be reviewed. By and by we saw a pretty numerous +troop of mounted officers, who were congregated on a distant part of the +plain, and whom we finally ascertained to be the Commander-in-Chief's +staff, with McClellan himself at their head. Our party managed to +establish itself in a position conveniently close to the General, to +whom, moreover, we had the honor of an introduction; and he bowed, on his +horseback, with a good deal of dignity and martial courtesy, but no airs +nor fuss nor pretension beyond what his character and rank inevitably +gave him. + +Now, at that juncture, and in fact, up to the present moment, there was, +and is, a most fierce and bitter outcry, and detraction loud and low, +against General McClellan, accusing him of sloth, imbecility, cowardice, +treasonable purposes, and, in short, utterly denying his ability as a +soldier, and questioning his integrity as a man. Nor was this to be +wondered at; for when before, in all history, do we find a general in +command of half a million of men, and in presence of an enemy inferior in +numbers and no better disciplined than his own troops, leaving it still +debatable, after the better part of a year, whether he is a soldier or +no? The question would seem to answer itself in the very asking. +Nevertheless, being most profoundly ignorant of the art of war, like the +majority of the General's critics, and, on the other hand, having some +considerable impressibility by men's characters, I was glad of the +opportunity to look him in the face, and to feel whatever influence might +reach me from his sphere. So I stared at him, as the phrase goes, with +all the eyes I had; and the reader shall have the benefit of what I saw, +--to which he is the more welcome, because, in writing this article, I +feel disposed to be singularly frank, and can scarcely restrain myself +from telling truths the utterance of which I should get slender thanks +for. + +The General was dressed in a simple, dark-blue uniform, without epaulets, +booted to the knee, and with a cloth cap upon his head; and, at first +sight, you might have taken him for a corporal of dragoons, of +particularly neat and soldier-like aspect, and in the prime of his age +and strength. He is only of middling stature, but his build is very +compact and sturdy, with broad shoulders and a look of great physical +vigor, which, in fact, he is said to possess,--he and Beauregard having +been rivals in that particular, and both distinguished above other men. +His complexion is dark and sanguine, with dark hair. He has a strong, +bold, soldierly face, full of decision; a Roman nose, by no means a thin +prominence, but very thick and firm; and if he follows it (which I should +think likely), it may be pretty confidently trusted to guide him aright. +His profile would make a more effective likeness than the full face, +which, however, is much better in the real man than in any photograph +that I have seen. His forehead is not remarkably large, but comes +forward at the eyebrows; it is not the brow nor countenance of a +prominently intellectual man (not a natural student, I mean, or abstract +thinker), but of one whose office it is to handle things practically and +to bring about tangible results. His face looked capable of being very +stern, but wore, in its repose, when I saw it, an aspect pleasant and +dignified; it is not, in its character, an American face, nor an English +one. The man on whom he fixes his eye is conscious of him. In his +natural disposition, he seems calm and self-possessed, sustaining his +great responsibilities cheerfully, without shrinking, or weariness, or +spasmodic effort, or damage to his health, but all with quiet, deep-drawn +breaths; just as his broad shoulders would bear up a heavy burden without +aching beneath it. + +After we had had sufficient time to peruse the man (so far as it could be +done with one pair of very attentive eyes), the General rode off, +followed by his cavalcade, and was lost to sight among the troops. They +received him with loud shouts, by the eager uproar of which--now near, +now in the centre, now on the outskirts of the division, and now sweeping +back towards us in a great volume of sound--we could trace his progress +through the ranks. If he is a coward, or a traitor, or a humbug, or +anything less than a brave, true, and able man, that mass of intelligent +soldiers, whose lives and honor he had in charge, were utterly deceived, +and so was this present writer; for they believed in him, and so did I; +and had I stood in the ranks, should have shouted with the lustiest of +them. Of course I may be mistaken; my opinion on such a point is worth +nothing, although my impression may be worth a little more; neither do I +consider the General's antecedents as bearing very decided testimony to +his practical soldiership. A thorough knowledge of the science of war +seems to be conceded to him; he is allowed to be a good military critic; +but all this is possible without his possessing any positive qualities of +a great general, just as a literary critic may show the profoundest +acquaintance with the principles of epic poetry without being able to +produce a single stanza of an epic poem. Nevertheless, I shall not give +up my faith in General McClellan's soldiership until he is defeated, nor +in his courage and integrity even then. + +Another of our excursions was to Harper's Ferry,--the Directors of the +Baltimore and Ohio Railroad having kindly invited us to accompany them on +the first trip over the newly laid track, after its breaking up by the +Rebels. It began to rain, in the early morning, pretty soon after we +left Washington, and continued to pour a cataract throughout the day; so +that the aspect of the country was dreary, where it would otherwise have +been delightful, as we entered among the hill-scenery that is formed by +the subsiding swells of the Alleghanies. The latter part of our journey +lay along the shore of the Potomac, in its upper course, where the margin +of that noble river is bordered by gray, over-hanging crags, beneath +which--and sometimes right through them--the railroad takes its way. In +one place the Rebels had attempted to arrest a train by precipitating an +immense mass of rock down upon the track, by the side of which it still +lay, deeply imbedded in the ground, and looking as if it might have lain +there since the Deluge. The scenery grew even more picturesque as we +proceeded, the bluffs becoming very bold in their descent upon the river, +which, at Harper's Ferry, presents as striking a vista among the hills as +a painter could desire to see. But a beautiful landscape is a luxury, +and luxuries are thrown away amid discomfort; and when we alighted in the +tenacious mud and almost fathomless puddle, on the hither side of the +Ferry (the ultimate point to which the cars proceeded, since the railroad +bridge had been destroyed by the Rebels), I cannot remember that any very +rapturous emotions were awakened by the scenery. + +We paddled and floundered over the ruins of the track, and, scrambling +down an embankment, crossed the Potomac by a pontoon-bridge, a thousand +feet in length, over the narrow line of which--level with the river, and +rising and subsiding with it--General Banks had recently led his whole +army, with its ponderous artillery and heavy laden wagons. Yet our own +tread made it vibrate. The broken bridge of the railroad was a little +below us, and at the base of one of its massive piers, in the rocky bed +of the river, lay a locomotive, which the Rebels had precipitated there. + +As we passed over, we looked towards the Virginia shore, and beheld the +little town of Harper's Ferry, gathered about the base of a round hill +and climbing up its steep acclivity; so that it somewhat resembled the +Etruscan cities which I have seen among the Apennines, rushing, as it +were, down an apparently breakneck height. About midway of the ascent +stood a shabby brick church, towards which a difficult path went +scrambling up the precipice, indicating, one would say; a very fervent +aspiration on the part of the worshippers, unless there was some easier +mode of access in another direction. Immediately on the shore of the +Potomac, and extending back towards the town, lay the dismal ruins of the +United States arsenal and armory, consisting of piles of broken bricks +and a waste of shapeless demolition, amid which we saw gun-barrels in +heaps of hundreds together. They were the relics of the conflagration, +bent with the heat of the fire, and rusted with the wintry rain to which +they had since been exposed. The brightest sunshine could not have made +the scene cheerful, nor have taken away the gloom from the dilapidated +town; for, besides the natural shabbiness, and decayed, unthrifty look of +a Virginian village, it has an inexpressible forlornness resulting from +the devastations of war and its occupation by both armies alternately. +Yet there would be a less striking contrast between Southern and New +England villages, if the former were as much in the habit of using white +paint as we are. It is prodigiously efficacious in putting a bright face +upon a bad matter. + +There was one small shop which appeared to have nothing for sale. A +single man and one or two boys were all the inhabitants in view, except +the Yankee sentinels and soldiers, belonging to Massachusetts regiments, +who were scattered about pretty numerously. A guard-house stood on the +slope of the hill; and in the level street at its base were the offices +of the Provost-Marshal and other military authorities, to whom we +forthwith reported ourselves. The Provost-Marshal kindly sent a corporal +to guide us to the little building which John Brown seized upon as his +fortress, and which, after it was stormed by the United States marines, +became his temporary prison. It is an old engine-house, rusty and +shabby, like every other work of man's hands in this God-forsaken town, +and stands fronting upon the river, only a short distance from the bank, +nearly at the point where the pontoon-bridge touches the Virginia shore. +In its front wall, on each side of the door, are two or three ragged +loop-holes, which John Brown perforated for his defence, knocking out +merely a brick or two, so as to give himself and his garrison a sight +over their rifles. Through these orifices the sturdy old man dealt a +good deal of deadly mischief among his assailants, until they broke down +the door by thrusting against it with a ladder, and tumbled headlong in +upon him. I shall not pretend to be an admirer of old John Brown, any +farther than sympathy with Whittier's excellent ballad about him may go; +nor did I expect ever to shrink so unutterably from any apophthegm of a +sage, whose happy lips have uttered a hundred golden sentences, as from +that saying (perhaps falsely attributed to so honored a source), that the +death of this blood-stained fanatic has "made the Gallows as venerable as +the Cross!" Nobody was ever more justly hanged. He won his martyrdom +fairly, and took it firmly. He himself, I am persuaded (such was his +natural integrity), would have acknowledged that Virginia had a right to +take the life which he had staked and lost; although it would have been +better for her, in the hour that is fast coming, if she could generously +have forgotten the criminality of his attempt in its enormous folly. On +the other hand, any common-sensible man, looking at the matter +unsentimentally, must have felt a certain intellectual satisfaction in +seeing him hanged, if it were only in requittal of his preposterous +miscalculation of possibilities. [Can it be a son of old Massachusetts +who utters this abominable sentiment? For shame.] + +But, coolly as I seem to say these things, my Yankee heart stirred +triumphantly when I saw the use to which John Brown's fortress and +prison-house has now been put. What right have I to complain of any +other man's foolish impulses, when I cannot possibly control my own? The +engine-house is now a place of confinement for Rebel prisoners. + +A Massachusetts soldier stood on guard, but readily permitted our whole +party to enter. It was a wretched place. A room of perhaps twenty-five +feet square occupied the whole interior of the building, having an iron +stove in its centre, whence a rusty funnel ascended towards a hole in the +roof, which served the purposes of ventilation, as well as for the exit +of smoke. We found ourselves right in the midst of the Rebels, some of +whom lay on heaps of straw, asleep, or, at all events, giving no sign of +consciousness; others sat in the corners of the room, huddled close +together, and staring with a lazy kind of interest at the visitors; two +were astride of some planks, playing with the dirtiest pack of cards that +I ever happened to see. There was only one figure in the least military +among all these twenty prisoners of war,--a man with a dark, intelligent, +moustached face, wearing a shabby cotton uniform, which he had contrived +to arrange with a degree of soldierly smartness, though it had evidently +borne the brunt of a very filthy campaign. He stood erect, and talked +freely with those who addressed him, telling them his place of residence, +the number of his regiment, the circumstances of his capture, and such +other particulars as their Northern inquisitiveness prompted them to ask. +I liked the manliness of his deportment; he was neither ashamed, nor +afraid, nor in the slightest degree sullen, peppery, or contumacious, but +bore himself as if whatever animosity he had felt towards his enemies was +left upon the battle-field, and would not be resumed till he had again a +weapon in his hand. + +Neither could I detect a trace of hostile feeling in the countenance, +words, or manner of any prisoner there. Almost to a man, they were +simple, bumpkin-like fellows, dressed in homespun clothes, with faces +singularly vacant of meaning, but sufficiently good-humored: a breed of +men, in short, such as I did not suppose to exist in this country, +although I have seen their like in some other parts of the world. They +were peasants, and of a very low order; a class of people with whom our +Northern rural population has not a single trait in common. They were +exceedingly respectful,--more so than a rustic New-Englander ever dreams +of being towards anybody, except perhaps his minister; and had they worn +any hats they would probably have been self-constrained to take them off, +under the unusual circumstance of being permitted to hold conversation +with well-dressed persons. It is my belief that not a single bumpkin of +them all (the moustached soldier always excepted) had the remotest +comprehension of what they had been fighting for, or how they had +deserved to be shut up in that dreary hole; nor, possibly, did they care +to inquire into this latter mystery, but took it as a godsend to be +suffered to lie here in a heap of unwashed human bodies, well warmed and +well foddered to-day, and without the necessity of bothering themselves +about the possible hunger and cold of to-morrow. Their dark prison-life +may have seemed to them the sunshine of all their lifetime. + +There was one poor wretch, a wild-beast of a man, at whom I gazed with +greater interest than at his fellows; although I know not that each one +of them, in their semi-barbarous moral state, might not have been capable +of the same savage impulse that had made this particular individual a +horror to all beholders. At the close of some battle or skirmish, a +wounded Union soldier had crept on hands and knees to his feet, and +besought his assistance,--not dreaming that any creature in human shape, +in the Christian land where they had so recently been brethren, could +refuse it. But this man (this fiend, if you prefer to call him so, +though I would not advise it) flung a bitter curse at the poor +Northerner, and absolutely trampled the soul out of his body, as he lay +writhing beneath his feet. The fellow's face was horribly ugly; but I am +not quite sure that I should have noticed it if I had not known his +story. He spoke not a word, and met nobody's eye, but kept staring +upward into the smoky vacancy towards the ceiling, where, it might be, he +beheld a continual portraiture of his victim's horror-stricken agonies. +I rather fancy, however, that his moral sense was yet too torpid to +trouble him with such remorseful visions, and that, for his own part, he +might have had very agreeable reminiscences of the soldier's death, if +other eyes had not been bent reproachfully upon him and warned him that +something was amiss. It was this reproach in other men's eyes that made +him look aside. He was a wild-beast, as I began with saying,--an +unsophisticated wild-beast,--while the rest of us are partially tamed, +though still the scent of blood excites some of the savage instincts of +our nature. What this wretch needed, in order to make him capable of the +degree of mercy and benevolence that exists in us, was simply such a +measure of moral and intellectual development as we have received; and, +in my mind, the present war is so well justified by no other +consideration as by the probability that it will free this class of +Southern whites from a thraldom in which they scarcely begin to be +responsible beings. So far as the education of the heart is concerned, +the negroes have apparently the advantage of them; and as to other +schooling, it is practically unattainable by black or white. + +Looking round at these poor prisoners, therefore, it struck me as an +immense absurdity that they should fancy us their enemies; since, whether +we intend it so or no, they have a far greater stake on our success than +we can possibly have. For ourselves, the balance of advantages between +defeat and triumph may admit of question. For them, all truly valuable +things are dependent on our complete success; for thence would come the +regeneration of a people,--the removal of a foul scurf that has overgrown +their life, and keeps then in a state of disease and decrepitude, one of +the chief symptoms of which is, that, the more they suffer and are +debased, the more they imagine themselves strong and beautiful. No human +effort, on a grand scale, has ever yet resulted according to the purpose, +of its projectors. The advantages are always incidental. Man's +accidents are God's purposes. We miss the good we sought, and do the +good we little cared for. [The author seems to imagine that he has +compressed a great deal of meaning into these little, hard, dry pellets +of aphoristic wisdom. We disagree with him. The counsels of wise and +good men are often coincident with the purposes of Providence; and the +present war promises to illustrate our remark.] + +Our Government evidently knows when and where to lay its finger upon its +most available citizens; for, quite unexpectedly, we were joined by some +other gentlemen, scarcely less competent than ourselves, in a commission +to proceed to Fortress Monroe and examine into things in general. Of +course, official propriety compels us to be extremely guarded in our +description of the interesting objects which this expedition opened to +our view. There can be no harm, however, in stating that we were +received by the commander of the fortress with a kind of acid +good-nature, or mild cynicism, that indicated him to be a humorist, +characterized by certain rather pungent peculiarities, yet of no +unamiable cast. He is a small, thin, old gentleman, set off by a large +pair of brilliant epaulets,--the only pair, so far as my observation +went, that adorn the shoulders of any officer in the Union army. Either +for our inspection, or because the matter had already been arranged, he +drew out a regiment of Zouaves that formed the principal part of his +garrison, and appeared at their head, sitting on horseback with rigid +perpendicularity, and affording us a vivid idea of the disciplinarian of +Baron Steuben's school. + +There can be no question of the General's military qualities; he must +have been especially useful in converting raw recruits into trained and +efficient soldiers. But valor and martial skill are of so evanescent a +character (hardly less fleeting than a woman's beauty), that Government +has perhaps taken the safer course in assigning to this gallant officer, +though distinguished in former wars, no more active duty than the +guardianship of an apparently impregnable fortress. The ideas of +military men solidify and fossilize so fast, while military science makes +such rapid advances, that even here there might be a difficulty. An +active, diversified, and therefore a youthful, ingenuity is required by +the quick exigencies of this singular war. Fortress Monroe, for example, +in spite of the massive solidity of its ramparts, its broad and deep +moat, and all the contrivances of defence that were known at the not very +remote epoch of its construction, is now pronounced absolutely incapable +of resisting the novel modes of assault which may be brought to bear upon +it. It can only be the flexible talent of a young man that will evolve a +new efficiency out of its obsolete strength. + +It is a pity that old men grow unfit for war, not only by their +incapacity for new ideas, but by the peaceful and unadventurous +tendencies that gradually possess themselves of the once turbulent +disposition, which used to snuff the battle-smoke as its congenial +atmosphere. It is a pity; because it would be such an economy of human +existence, if time-stricken people (whose value I have the better right +to estimate, as reckoning myself one of them) could snatch from their +juniors the exclusive privilege of carrying on the war. In case of death +upon the battle-field, how unequal would be the comparative sacrifice! +On one part, a few unenjoyable years, the little remnant of a life grown +torpid; on the other, the many fervent summers of manhood in its spring +and prime, with all that they include of possible benefit to mankind. +Then, too, a bullet offers such a brief and easy way, such a pretty +little orifice, through which the weary spirit might seize the +opportunity to be exhaled! If I had the ordering of these matters, fifty +should be the tenderest age at which a recruit might be accepted for +training; at fifty-five or sixty, I would consider him eligible for most +kinds of military duty and exposure, excluding that of a forlorn hope, +which no soldier should be permitted to volunteer upon, short of the ripe +age of seventy. As a general rule, these venerable combatants should +have the preference for all dangerous and honorable service in the order +of their seniority, with a distinction in favor of those whose +infirmities might render their lives less worth the keeping. Methinks +there would be no more Bull Runs; a warrior with gout in his toe, or +rheumatism in his joints, or with one foot in the grave, would make a +sorry fugitive! + +On this admirable system, the productive part of the population would be +undisturbed even by the bloodiest war; and, best of all, those thousands +upon thousands of our Northern girls, whose proper mates will perish in +camp-hospitals or on Southern battle-fields, would avoid their doom of +forlorn old-maidenhood. But, no doubt, the plan will be pooh-poohed down +by the War Department; though it could scarcely be more disastrous than +the one on which we began the war, when a young army was struck with +paralysis through the age of its commander. + +The waters around Fortress Monroe were thronged with a gallant array of +ships of war and transports, wearing the Union flag,--"Old Glory," as I +hear it called in these days. A little withdrawn from our national fleet +lay two French frigates, and, in another direction, an English sloop, +under that banner which always makes itself visible, like a red portent +in the air, wherever there is strife. In pursuance of our official duty +(which had no ascertainable limits), we went on board the flag-ship, and +were shown over every part of her, and down into her depths, inspecting +her gallant crew, her powerful armament, her mighty engines, and her +furnaces, where the fires are always kept burning, as well at midnight as +at noon, so that it would require only five minutes to put the vessel +under full steam. This vigilance has been felt necessary ever since the +Merrimack made that terrible dash from Norfolk. Splendid as she is, +however, and provided with all but the very latest improvements in naval +armament, the Minnesota belongs to a class of vessels that will be built +no more, nor ever fight another battle,--being as much a thing of the +past as any of the ships of Queen Elizabeth's time, which grappled with +the galleons of the Spanish Armada. + +On her quarter-deck, an elderly flag-officer was pacing to and fro, with +a self-conscious dignity to which a touch of the gout or rheumatism +perhaps contributed a little additional stiffness. He seemed to be a +gallant gentleman, but of the old, slow, and pompous school of naval +worthies, who have grown up amid rules, forms, and etiquette which were +adopted full-blown from the British navy into ours, and are somewhat too +cumbrous for the quick spirit of to-day. This order of nautical heroes +will probably go down, along with the ships in which they fought +valorously and strutted most intolerably. How can an admiral condescend +to go to sea in an iron pot? What space and elbow-room can be found for +quarter-deck dignity in the cramped lookout of the Monitor, or even in +the twenty-feet diameter of her cheese-box? All the pomp and splendor of +naval warfare are gone by. Henceforth there must come up a race of +enginemen and smoke-blackened cannoneers, who will hammer away at their +enemies under the direction of a single pair of eyes; and even heroism-- +so deadly a gripe is Science laying on our noble possibilities--will +become a quality of very minor importance, when its possessor cannot +break through the iron crust of his own armament and give the world a +glimpse of it. + +At no great distance from the Minnesota lay the strangest-looking craft I +ever saw. It was a platform of iron, so nearly on a level with the water +that the swash of the waves broke over it, under the impulse of a very +moderate breeze; and on this platform was raised a circular structure, +likewise of iron, and rather broad and capacious, but of no great height. +It could not be called a vessel at all; it was a machine,--and I have +seen one of somewhat similar appearance employed in cleaning out the +docks; or, for lack of a better similitude, it looked like a gigantic +rat-trap. It was ugly, questionable, suspicious, evidently mischievous, +--nay, I will allow myself to call it devilish; for this was the new +war-fiend, destined, along with others of the same breed, to annihilate +whole navies and batter down old supremacies. The wooden walls of Old +England cease to exist, and a whole history of naval renown reaches its +period, now that the Monitor comes smoking into view; while the billows +dash over what seems her deck, and storms bury even her turret in green +water, as she burrows and snorts along, oftener under the surface than +above. The singularity of the object has betrayed me into a more +ambitious vein of description than I often indulge; and, after all, I +might as well have contented myself with simply saying that she looked +very queer. + +Going on board, we were surprised at the extent and convenience of her +interior accommodations. There is a spacious ward-room, nine or ten feet +in height, besides a private cabin for the commander, and sleeping +accommodations on an ample scale; the whole well lighted and ventilated, +though beneath the surface of the water. Forward, or aft (for it is +impossible to tell stem from stern), the crew are relatively quite as +well provided for as the officers. It was like finding a palace, with +all its conveniences, under the sea. The inaccessibility, the apparent +impregnability, of this submerged iron fortress are most satisfactory; +the officers and crew get down through a little hole in the deck, +hermetically seal themselves, and go below; and until they see fit to +reappear, there would seem to be no power given to man whereby they can +be brought to light. A storm of cannon-shot damages them no more than a +handful of dried peas. We saw the shot-marks made by the great artillery +of the Merrimack on the outer casing of the iron tower; they were about +the breadth and depth of shallow saucers, almost imperceptible dents, +with no corresponding bulge on the interior surface. In fact, the thing +looked altogether too safe; though it may not prove quite an agreeable +predicament to be thus boxed up in impenetrable iron, with the +possibility, one would imagine, of being sent to the bottom of the sea, +and, even there, not drowned, but stifled. Nothing, however, can exceed +the confidence of the officers in this new craft. It was pleasant to see +their benign exultation in her powers of mischief, and the delight with +which they exhibited the circumvolutory movement of the tower, the quick +thrusting forth of the immense guns to deliver their ponderous missiles, +and then the immediate recoil, and the security behind the closed +port-holes. Yet even this will not long be the last and most terrible +improvement in the science of war. Already we hear of vessels the +armament of which is to act entirely beneath the surface of the water; so +that, with no other external symptoms than a great bubbling and foaming, +and gush of smoke, and belch of smothered thunder out of the yeasty +waves, there shall be a deadly fight going on below,--and, by and by, a +sucking whirlpool, as one of the ships goes down. + +The Monitor was certainly an object of great interest; but on our way to +Newport News, whither we next went, we saw a spectacle that affected us +with far profounder emotion. It was the sight of the few sticks that are +left of the frigate Congress, stranded near the shore,--and still more, +the masts of the Cumberland rising midway out of the water, with a +tattered rag of a pennant fluttering from one of them. The invisible +hull of the latter ship seems to be careened over, so that the three +masts stand slantwise; the rigging looks quite unimpaired, except that a +few ropes dangle loosely from the yards. The flag (which never was +struck, thank Heaven!) is entirely hidden under the waters of the bay, +but is still doubtless waving in its old place, although it floats to and +fro with the swell and reflex of the tide, instead of rustling on the +breeze. A remnant of the dead crew still man the sunken ship, and +sometimes a drowned body floats up to the surface. + +That was a noble fight. When was ever a better word spoken than that of +Commodore Smith, the father of the commander of the Congress, when he +heard that his son's ship was surrendered? "Then Joe's dead!" said he; +and so it proved. Nor can any warrior be more certain of enduring renown +than the gallant Morris, who fought so well the final battle of the old +system of naval warfare, and won glory for his country and himself out of +inevitable disaster and defeat. That last gun from the Cumberland, when +her deck was half submerged, sounded the requiem of many sinking ships. +Then went down all the navies of Europe and our own, Old Ironsides and +all, and Trafalgar and a thousand other fights became only a memory, +never to be acted over again; and thus our brave countrymen come last in +the long procession of heroic sailors that includes Blake and Nelson, and +so many mariners of England, and other mariners as brave as they, whose +renown is our native inheritance. There will be other battles, but no +more such tests of seamanship and manhood as the battles of the past; +and, moreover, the Millennium is certainly approaching, because human +strife is to be transferred from the heart and personality of man into +cunning contrivances of machinery, which by and by will fight out our +wars with only the clank and smash of iron, strewing the field with +broken engines, but damaging nobody's little finger except by accident. +Such is obviously the tendency of modern improvement. But, in the mean +while, so long as manhood retains any part of its pristine value, no +country can afford to let gallantry like that of Morris and his crew, any +more than that of the brave Worden, pass unhonored and unrewarded. If +the Government do nothing, let the people take the matter into their own +hands, and cities give him swords, gold boxes, festivals of triumph, and, +if he needs it, heaps of gold. Let poets brood upon the theme, and make +themselves sensible how much of the past and future is contained within +its compass, till its spirit shall flash forth in the lightning of a +song! + +From these various excursions, and a good many others (including one to +Manassas), we gained a pretty lively idea of what was going on; but, +after all, if compelled to pass a rainy day in the hall and parlors of +Willard's Hotel, it proved about as profitably spent as if we had +floundered through miles of Virginia mud, in quest of interesting matter. +This hotel, in fact, may be much more justly called the centre of +Washington and the Union than either the Capitol, the White House, or the +State Department. Everybody may be seen there. It is the meeting-place +of the true representatives of the country,--not such as are chosen +blindly and amiss by electors who take a folded ballot from the hand of a +local politician, and thrust it into the ballot-box unread, but men who +gravitate or are attracted hither by real business, or a native impulse +to breathe the intensest atmosphere of the nation's life, or a genuine +anxiety to see how this life-and-death struggle is going to deal with us. +Nor these only, but all manner of loafers. Never, in any other spot, was +there such a miscellany of people. You exchange nods with governors of +sovereign States; you elbow illustrious men, and tread on the toes of +generals; you hear statesmen and orators speaking in their familiar +tones. You are mixed up with office-seekers, wire-pullers, inventors, +artists, poets, prosers (including editors, army-correspondents, attaches +of foreign journals, and long-winded talkers), clerks, diplomatists, +mail-contractors, railway-directors, until your own identity is lost +among them. Occasionally you talk with a man whom you have never before +heard of, and are struck with the brightness of a thought, and fancy that +there is more wisdom hidden among the obscure than is anywhere revealed +among the famous. You adopt the universal habit of the place, and call +for mint-julep, a whiskey-skin, a gin-cocktail, a brandy smash, or a +glass of pure Old Rye; for the conviviality of Washington sets in at an +early hour, and, so far as I had opportunity of observing, never +terminates at any hour, and all these drinks are continually in request +by almost all these people. A constant atmosphere of cigar-smoke, too, +envelops the motley crowd, and forms a sympathetic medium, in which men +meet more closely and talk more frankly than in any other kind of air. +If legislators would smoke in session, they might speak truer words, and +fewer of them, and bring about more valuable results. + +It is curious to observe what antiquated figures and costumes sometimes +make their appearance at Willard's. You meet elderly men with frilled +shirt-fronts, for example, the fashion of which adornment passed away +from among the people of this world half a century ago. It is as if one +of Stuart's portraits were walking abroad. I see no way of accounting +for this, except that the trouble of the times, the impiety of traitors, +and the peril of our sacred Union and Constitution have disturbed, in +their honored graves, some of the venerable fathers of the country, +and summoned them forth to protest against the meditated and +half-accomplished sacrilege. If it be so, their wonted fires are not +altogether extinguished in their ashes,--in their throats, I might rather +say,--for I beheld one of these excellent old men quaffing such a horn of +Bourbon whiskey as a toper of the present century would be loath to +venture upon. But, really, one would be glad to know where these strange +figures come from. It shows, at any rate, how many remote, decaying +villages and country-neighborhoods of the North, and forest-nooks of the +West, and old mansion-houses in cities, are shaken by the tremor of our +native soil, so that men long hidden in retirement put on the garments of +their youth and hurry out to inquire what is the matter. The old men +whom we see here have generally more marked faces than the young ones, +and naturally enough; since it must be an extraordinary vigor and +renewability of life that can overcome the rusty sloth of age, and keep +the senior flexible enough to take an interest in new things; whereas +hundreds of commonplace young men come hither to stare with eyes of +vacant wonder, and with vague hopes of finding out what they are fit for. +And this war (we may say so much in its favor) has been the means of +discovering that important secret to not a few. + +We saw at Willard's many who had thus found out for themselves, that, +when Nature gives a young man no other utilizable faculty, she must be +understood as intending him for a soldier. The bulk of the army had +moved out of Washington before we reached the city; yet it seemed to me +that at least two thirds of the guests and idlers at the hotel were one +or another token of the military profession. Many of them, no doubt, +were self-commissioned officers, and had put on the buttons and the +shoulder-straps, and booted themselves to the knees, merely because +captain, in these days, is so good a travelling-name. The majority, +however, had been duly appointed by the President, but might be none the +better warriors for that. It was pleasant, occasionally, to distinguish +a grizzly veteran among this crowd of carpet-knights,--the trained +soldier of a lifetime, long ago from West Point, who had spent his prime +upon the frontier, and very likely could show an Indian bullet-mark on +his breast,--if such decorations, won in an obscure warfare, were worth +the showing now. + +The question often occurred to me,--and, to say the truth, it added an +indefinable piquancy to the scene,--what proportion of all these people, +whether soldiers or civilians, were true at heart to the Union, and what +part were tainted, more or less, with treasonable sympathies and wishes, +even if such had never blossomed into purpose. Traitors there were among +them,--no doubt of that,--civil servants of the public, very reputable +persons, who yet deserved to dangle from a cord; or men who buttoned +military coats over their breasts, hiding perilous secrets there, which +might bring the gallant officer to stand pale-faced before a file of +musketeers, with his open grave behind him. But, without insisting upon +such picturesque criminality and punishment as this, an observer, who +kept both his eyes and heart open, would find it by no means difficult to +discern that many residents and visitors of Washington so far sided with +the South as to desire nothing more nor better than to see everything +reestablished a little worse than its former basis. If the cabinet of +Richmond were transferred to the Federal city, and the North awfully +snubbed, at least, and driven back within its old political limits, they +would deem it a happy day. It is no wonder, and, if we look at the +matter generously, no unpardonable crime. Very excellent people +hereabouts remember the many dynasties in which the Southern character +has been predominant, and contrast the genial courtesy, the warm and +graceful freedom of that region, with what they call (though I utterly +disagree with them) the frigidity of our Northern manners, and the +Western plainness of the President. They have a conscientious, though +mistaken belief, that the South was driven out of the Union by +intolerable wrong on our part, and that we are responsible for having +compelled true patriots to love only half their country instead of the +whole, and brave soldiers to draw their swords against the Constitution +which they would once have died for,--to draw them, too, with a +bitterness of animosity which is the only symptom of brotherhood (since +brothers hate each other best) that any longer exists. They whisper +these things with tears in their eyes, and shake their heads, and stoop +their poor old shoulders, at the tidings of another and another Northern +victory, which, in their opinion, puts farther off the remote, the +already impossible, chance of a reunion. + +I am sorry for them, though it is by no means a sorrow without hope. +Since the matter has gone so far, there seems to be no way but to go on +winning victories, and establishing peace and a truer union in another +generation, at the expense, probably, of greater trouble, in the present +one, than any other people ever voluntarily suffered. We woo the South +"as the Lion wooes his bride;" it is a rough courtship, but perhaps love +and a quiet household may come of it at last. Or, if we stop short of +that blessed consummation, heaven was heaven still, as Milton sings, +after Lucifer and a third part of the angels had seceded from its golden +palaces,--and perhaps all the more heavenly, because so many gloomy +brows, and soured, vindictive hearts, had gone to plot ineffectual +schemes of mischief elsewhere. + + +[We regret the innuendo in the concluding sentence. The war can never be +allowed to terminate, except in the complete triumph of Northern +principles. We hold the event in our own hands, and may choose whether +to terminate it by the methods already so successfully used, or by other +means equally within our control, and calculated to be still more +speedily efficacious. In truth, the work is already done. + +We should be sorry to cast a doubt on the Peaceable Man's loyalty, but he +will allow us to say that we consider him premature in his kindly +feelings towards traitors and sympathizers with treason. As the author +himself says of John Brown (and, so applied, we thought it an atrociously +cold-blooded dictum), "any common-sensible man would feel an intellectual +satisfaction in seeing them hanged, were it only for their preposterous +miscalculation of possibilities." There are some degrees of absurdity +that put Reason herself into a rage, and affect us like an intolerable +crime,--which this Rebellion is, into the bargain.] + + + + + +ALICE DOANE'S APPEAL. + + +On a pleasant afternoon of June, it was my good fortune to be the +companion of two young ladies in a walk. The direction of our course +being left to me, I led them neither to Legge's Hill, nor to the Cold +Spring, nor to the rude shores and old batteries of the Neck, nor yet to +Paradise; though if the latter place were rightly named, my fair friends +would have been at home there. We reached the outskirts of the town, and +turning aside from a street of tanners and curriers, began to ascend a +hill, which at a distance, by its dark slope and the even line of its +summit, resembled a green rampart along the road. It was less steep than +its aspect threatened. The eminence formed part of an extensive tract of +pasture land, and was traversed by cow paths in various directions; but, +strange to tell, though the whole slope and summit were of a peculiar +deep green, scarce a blade of grass was visible from the base upward. +This deceitful verdure was occasioned by a plentiful crop of "wood-wax," +which wears the same dark and glossy green throughout the summer, except +at one short period, when it puts forth a profusion of yellow blossoms. +At that season, to a distant spectator, the hill appears absolutely +overlaid with gold, or covered with a glory of sunshine, even beneath a +clouded sky. But the curious wanderer on the hill will perceive that all +the grass, and everything that should nourish man or beast, has been +destroyed by this vile and ineradicable weed: its tufted roots make the +soil their own, and permit nothing else to vegetate among them; so that a +physical curse may be said to have blasted the spot, where guilt and +frenzy consummated the most execrable scene that our history blushes to +record. For this was the field where superstition won her darkest +triumph; the high place where our fathers set up their shame, to the +mournful gaze of generations far remote. The dust of martyrs was beneath +our feet. We stood on Gallows Hill. + +For my own part, I have often courted the historic influence of the spot. +But it is singular how few come on pilgrimage to this famous hill; how +many spend their lives almost at its base, and never once obey the +summons of the shadowy past, as it beckons them to the summit. Till a +year or two since, this portion of our history had been very imperfectly +written, and, as we are not a people of legend or tradition, it was not +every citizen of our ancient town that could tell, within half a century, +so much as the date of the witchcraft delusion. Recently, indeed, an +historian has treated the subject in a manner that will keep his name +alive, in the only desirable connection with the errors of our ancestry, +by converting the hill of their disgrace into an honorable monument of +his own antiquarian lore, and of that better wisdom, which draws the +moral while it tells the tale. But we are a people of the present, and +have no heartfelt interest in the olden time. Every fifth of November, +in commemoration of they know not what, or rather without an idea beyond +the momentary blaze, the young men scare the town with bonfires on this +haunted height, but never dream of paying funeral honors to those who +died so wrongfully, and, without a coffin or a prayer, were buried here. + +Though with feminine susceptibility, my companions caught all the +melancholy associations of the scene, yet these could but imperfectly +overcome the gayety of girlish spirits. Their emotions came and went +with quick vicissitude, and sometimes combined to form a peculiar and +delicious excitement, the mirth brightening the gloom into a sunny shower +of feeling, and a rainbow in the mind. My own more sombre mood was +tinged by theirs. With now a merry word and next a sad one, we trod +among the tangled weeds, and almost hoped that our feet would sink into +the hollow of a witch's grave. Such vestiges were to be found within the +memory of man, but have vanished now, and with them, I believe, all +traces of the precise spot of the executions. On the long and broad +ridge of the eminence, there is no very decided elevation of any one +point, nor other prominent marks, except the decayed stumps of two trees, +standing near each other, and here and there the rocky substance of the +hill, peeping just above the wood-wax. + +There are few such prospects of town and village, woodland and cultivated +field, steeples and country seats, as we beheld from this unhappy spot. +No blight had fallen on old Essex; all was prosperity and riches, +healthfully distributed. Before us lay our native town, extending from +the foot of the hill to the harbor, level as a chess board, embraced by +two arms of the sea, and filling the whole peninsula with a close +assemblage of wooden roofs, overtopped by many a spire, and intermixed +with frequent heaps of verdure, where trees threw up their shade from +unseen trunks. Beyond was the bay and its islands, almost the only +objects, in a country unmarked by strong natural features, on which time +and human toil had produced no change. Retaining these portions of the +scene, and also the peaceful glory and tender gloom of the declining sun, +we threw, in imagination, a veil of deep forest over the land, and +pictured a few scattered villages, and this old town itself a village, as +when the prince of hell bore sway there. The idea thus gained of its +former aspect, its quaint edifices standing far apart, with peaked roofs +and projecting stories, and its single meeting-house pointing up a tall +spire in the midst; the vision, in short, of the town in 1692, served to +introduce a wondrous tale of those old times. + +I had brought the manuscript in my pocket. It was one of a series +written years ago, when my pen, now sluggish and perhaps feeble, because +I have not munch to hope or fear, was driven by stronger external motives +and a more passionate impulse within, than I am fated to feel again. +Three or four of these tales had appeared in the "Token," after a long +time and various adventures, but had encumbered me with no troublesome +notoriety, even in my birthplace. One great heap had met a brighter +destiny: they had fed the flames; thoughts meant to delight the world and +endure for ages had perished in a moment, and stirred not a single heart +but mine. The story now to be introduced, and another, chanced to be in +kinder custody at the time, and thus, by no conspicuous merits of their +own, escaped destruction. + +The ladies, in consideration that I had never before intruded my +performances on them, by any but the legitimate medium, through the +press, consented to hear me read. I made them sit down on a moss-grown +rock, close by the spot where we chose to believe that the death tree had +stood. After a little hesitation on my part, caused by a dread of +renewing my acquaintance with fantasies that had lost their charm in the +ceaseless flux of mind, I began the tale, which opened darkly with the +discovery of a murder. + + + +A hundred years, and nearly half that time, have elapsed since the body +of a murdered man was found, at about the distance of three miles, on the +old road to Boston. He lay in a solitary spot, on the bank of a small +lake, which the severe frost of December had covered with a sheet of ice. +Beneath this, it seemed to have been the intention of the murderer to +conceal his victim in a chill and watery grave, the ice being deeply +hacked, perhaps with the weapon that had slain him, though its solidity +was too stubborn for the patience of a man with blood upon his hand. The +corpse therefore reclined on the earth, but was separated from the road +by a thick growth of dwarf pines. There had been a slight fall of snow +during the night, and as if nature were shocked at the deed, and strove +to hide it with her frozen tears, a little drifted heap had partly buried +the body, and lay deepest over the pale dead face. An early traveller, +whose dog had led him to the spot, ventured to uncover the features, but +was affrighted by their expression. A look of evil and scornful triumph +had hardened on them, and made death so life-like and so terrible, that +the beholder at once took flight, as swiftly as if the stiffened corpse +would rise up and follow. + +I read on, and identified the body as that of a young man, a stranger in +the country, but resident during several preceding months in the town +which lay at our feet. The story described, at some length, the +excitement caused by the murder, the unavailing quest after the +perpetrator, the funeral ceremonies, and other commonplace matters, in +the course of which, I brought forward the personages who were to move +among the succeeding events. They were but three. A young man and his +sister; the former characterized by a diseased imagination and morbid +feelings; the latter, beautiful and virtuous, and instilling something of +her own excellence into the wild heart of her brother, but not enough to +cure the deep taint of his nature. The third person was a wizard; a +small, gray, withered man, with fiendish ingenuity in devising evil, and +superhuman power to execute it, but senseless as an idiot and feebler +than a child to all better purposes. The central scene of the story was +an interview between this wretch and Leonard Doane, in the wizard's hut, +situated beneath a range of rocks at some distance from the town. They +sat beside a smouldering fire, while a tempest of wintry rain was beating +on the roof. + +The young man spoke of the closeness of the tie which united him and +Alice, the consecrated fervor of their affection from childhood upwards, +their sense of lonely sufficiency to each other, because they only of +their race had escaped death, in a night attack by the Indians. He +related his discovery or suspicion of a secret sympathy between his +sister and Walter Brome, and told how a distempered jealousy had maddened +him. In the following passage, I threw a glimmering light on the mystery +of the tale. + +"Searching," continued Leonard, "into the breast of Walter Brome, I at +length found a cause why Alice must inevitably love him. For he was my +very counterpart! I compared his mind by each individual portion, and as +a whole, with mine. There was a resemblance from which I shrunk with +sickness, and loathing, and horror, as if my own features had come and +stared upon me in a solitary place, or had met me in struggling through a +crowd. Nay! the very same thoughts would often express themselves in the +same words from our lips, proving a hateful sympathy in our secret souls. +His education, indeed, in the cities of the old world, and mine in the +rude wilderness, had wrought a superficial difference. The evil of his +character, also, had been strengthened and rendered prominent by a +reckless and ungoverned life, while mine had been softened and purified +by the gentle and holy nature of Alice. But my soul had been conscious +of the germ of all the fierce and deep passions, and of all the many +varieties of wickedness, which accident had brought to their full +maturity in him. Nor will I deny that, in the accursed one, I could see +the withered blossom of every virtue, which, by a happier culture, had +been made to bring forth fruit in me. Now, here was a man whom Alice +might love with all the strength of sisterly affection, added to that +impure passion which alone engrosses all the heart. The stranger would +have more than the love which had been gathered to me from the many +graves of our household--and I be desolate!" + + +Leonard Doane went on to describe the insane hatred that had kindled his +heart into a volume of hellish flame. It appeared, indeed, that his +jealousy had grounds, so far as that Walter Brome had actually sought the +love of Alice, who also had betrayed an undefinable, but powerful +interest in the unknown youth. The latter, in spite of his passion for +Alice, seemed to return the loathful antipathy of her brother; the +similarity of their dispositions made them like joint possessors of an +individual nature, which could not become wholly the property of one, +unless by the extinction of the other. At last, with the sane devil in +each bosom, they chanced to meet, they two, on a lonely road. While +Leonard spoke, the wizard had sat listening to what he already knew, yet +with tokens of pleasurable interest, manifested by flashes of expression +across his vacant features, by grisly smiles, and by a word here and +there, mysteriously filling up some void in the narrative. But when the +young man told how Walter Brome had taunted him with indubitable proofs +of the shame of Alice, and, before the triumphant sneer could vanish from +his face, had died by her brother's hand, the wizard laughed aloud. +Leonard started, but just then a gust of wind came down the chimney, +forming itself into a close resemblance of the slow, unvaried laughter, +by which he had been interrupted. "I was deceived," thought he; and thus +pursued his fearful story. + + +"I trod out his accursed soul, and knew that he was dead; for my spirit +bounded as if a chain had fallen from it and left me free. But the burst +of exulting certainty soon fled, and was succeeded by a torpor over my +brain and a dimness before my eyes, with the sensation of one who +struggles through a dream. So I bent down over the body of Walter Brome, +gazing into his face, and striving to make my soul glad with the thought, +that he, in very truth, lay dead before me. I know not what space of +time I had thus stood, nor how the vision came. But it seemed to me that +the irrevocable years since childhood had rolled back, and a scene, that +had long been confused and broken in my memory, arrayed itself with all +its first distinctness. Methought I stood a weeping infant by my +father's hearth; by the cold and blood-stained hearth where he lay dead. +I heard the childish wail of Alice, and my own cry arose with hers, as we +beheld the features of our parent, fierce with the strife and distorted +with the pain, in which his spirit had passed away. As I gazed, a cold +wind whistled by, and waved my father's hair. Immediately I stood again +in the lonesome road, no more a sinless child, but a man of blood, whose +tears were falling fast over the face of his dead enemy. But the +delusion was not wholly gone; that face still wore a likeness of my +father; and because my soul shrank from the fixed glare of the eyes, I +bore the body to the lake, and would have buried it there. But before +his icy sepulchre was hewn, I heard the voices of two travellers and +fled." + + +Such was the dreadful confession of Leonard Doane. And now tortured by +the idea of his sister's guilt, yet sometimes yielding to a conviction of +her purity; stung with remorse for the death of Walter Brome, and +shuddering with a deeper sense of some unutterable crime, perpetrated, as +he imagined, in madness or a dream; moved also by dark impulses, as if a +fiend were whispering him to meditate violence against the life of Alice; +he had sought this interview with the wizard, who, on certain conditions, +had no power to withhold his aid in unravelling the mystery. The tale +drew near its close. + + +The moon was bright on high; the blue firmament appeared to glow with an +inherent brightness; the greater stars were burning in their spheres; the +northern lights threw their mysterious glare far over the horizon; the +few small clouds aloft were burdened with radiance; but the sky, with all +its variety of light, was scarcely so brilliant as the earth. The rain +of the preceding night had frozen as it fell, and, by that simple magic, +had wrought wonders. The trees were hung with diamonds and many-colored +gems; the houses were overlaid with silver, and the streets paved with +slippery brightness; a frigid glory was flung over all familiar things, +from the cottage chimney to the steeple of the meeting-house, that +gleamed upward to the sky. This living world, where we sit by our +firesides, or go forth to meet beings like ourselves, seemed rather the +creation of wizard power, with so much of resemblance to known objects +that a man might shudder at the ghostly shape of his old beloved +dwelling, and the shadow of a ghostly tree before his door. One looked +to behold inhabitants suited to such a town, glittering in icy garments, +with motionless features, cold, sparkling eyes, and just sensation enough +in their frozen hearts to shiver at each other's presence. + + +By this fantastic piece of description, and more in the same style, I +intended to throw a ghostly glimmer round the reader, so that his +imagination might view the town through a medium that should take off its +every-day aspect, and make it a proper theatre for so wild a scene as the +final one. Amid this unearthly show, the wretched brother and sister +were represented as setting forth, at midnight, through the gleaming +streets, and directing their steps to a graveyard, where all the dead had +been laid from the first corpse in that ancient town, to the murdered man +who was buried three days before. As they went, they seemed to see the +wizard gliding by their sides, or walking dimly on the path before them. +But here I paused, and gazed into the faces of my two fair auditors, to +judge whether, even on the hill where so many had been brought to death +by wilder tales than this, I might venture to proceed. Their bright eyes +were fixed on me; their lips apart. I took courage, and led the fated +pair to a new made grave, where for a few moments, in the bright and +silent midnight, they stood alone. But suddenly there was a multitude of +people among the graves. + + +Each family tomb had given up its inhabitants, who, one by one, through +distant years, had been borne to its dark chamber, but now came forth and +stood in a pale group together. There was the gray ancestor, the aged +mother, and all their descendants, some withered and full of years, like +themselves, and others in their prime; there, too, were the children who +went prattling to the tomb, and there the maiden who yielded her early +beauty to death's embrace, before passion had polluted it. Husbands and +wives arose, who had lain many years side by side, and young mothers who +had forgotten to kiss their first babes, though pillowed so long on their +bosoms. Many had been buried in the habiliments of life, and still wore +their ancient garb; some were old defenders of the infant colony, and +gleamed forth in their steel-caps and bright breastplates, as if starting +up at an Indian war-cry; other venerable shapes had been pastors of the +church, famous among the New England clergy, and now leaned with hands +clasped over their gravestones, ready to call the congregation to prayer. +There stood the early settlers, those old illustrious ones, the heroes of +tradition and fireside legends, the men of history whose features had +been so long beneath the sod that few alive could have remembered them. +There, too, were faces of former townspeople, dimly recollected from +childhood, and others, whom Leonard and Alice had wept in later years, +but who now were most terrible of all, by their ghastly smile of +recognition. All, in short, were there; the dead of other generations, +whose moss-grown names could scarce be read upon their tombstones, and +their successors, whose graves were not yet green; all whom black +funerals had followed slowly thither now reappeared where the mourners +left them. Yet none but souls accursed were there, and fiends +counterfeiting the likeness of departed saints. + +The countenances of those venerable men, whose very features had been +hallowed by lives of piety, were contorted now by intolerable pain or +hellish passion, and now by an unearthly and derisive merriment. Had the +pastors prayed, all saintlike as they seemed, it had been blasphemy. The +chaste matrons, too, and the maidens with untasted lips, who had slept in +their virgin graves apart from all other dust, now wore a look from which +the two trembling mortals shrank, as if the unimaginable sin of twenty +worlds were collected there. The faces of fond lovers, even of such as +had pined into the tomb, because there their treasure was, were bent on +one another with glances of hatred and smiles of bitter scorn, passions +that are to devils what love is to the blest. At times, the features of +those who had passed from a holy life to heaven would vary to and fro, +between their assumed aspect and the fiendish lineaments whence they had +been transformed. The whole miserable multitude, both sinful souls and +false spectres of good men, groaned horribly and gnashed their teeth, as +they looked upward to the calm loveliness of the midnight sky, and beheld +those homes of bliss where they must never dwell. Such was the +apparition, though too shadowy for language to portray; for here would be +the moonbeams on the ice, glittering through a warrior's breastplate, and +there the letters of a tombstone, on the form that stood before it; and +whenever a breeze went by, it swept the old men's hoary heads, the +women's fearful beauty, and all the unreal throng, into one +indistinguishable cloud together. + + +I dare not give the remainder of the scene, except in a very brief +epitome. This company of devils and condemned souls had come on a +holiday, to revel in the discovery of a complicated crime; as foul a one +as ever was imagined in their dreadful abode. In the course of the tale, +the reader had been permitted to discover that all the incidents were +results of the machinations of the wizard, who had cunningly devised that +Walter Brome should tempt his unknown sister to guilt and shame, and +himself perish by the hand of his twin-brother. I described the glee of +the fiends at this hideous conception, and their eagerness to know if it +were consummated. The story concluded with the Appeal of Alice to the +spectre of Walter Brome; his reply, absolving her from every stain; and +the trembling awe with which ghost and devil fled as from the sinless +presence of an angel. + +The sun had gone down. While I held my page of wonders in the fading +light, and read how Alice and her brother were left alone among the +graves, my voice mingled with the sigh of a summer wind, which passed +over the hill-top, with the broad and hollow sound as of the flight of +unseen spirits. Not a word was spoken till I added that the wizard's +grave was close beside us, and that the wood-wax had sprouted originally +from his unhallowed bones. The ladies started; perhaps their cheeks +might have grown pale had not the crimson west been blushing on them; but +after a moment they began to laugh, while the breeze took a livelier +motion, as if responsive to their mirth. I kept an awful solemnity of +visage, being, indeed, a little piqued that a narrative which had good +authority in our ancient superstitions, and would have brought even a +church deacon to Gallows Hill, in old witch times, should now be +considered too grotesque and extravagant for timid maids to tremble at. +Though it was past supper time, I detained them a while longer on the +hill, and made a trial whether truth were more powerful than fiction. + +We looked again towards the town, no longer arrayed in that icy splendor +of earth, tree, and edifice, beneath the glow of a wintry midnight, which +shining afar through the gloom of a century had made it appear the very +home of visions in visionary streets. An indistinctness had begun to +creep over the mass of buildings and blend them with the intermingled +tree-tops, except where the roof of a statelier mansion, and the steeples +and brick towers of churches, caught the brightness of some cloud that +yet floated in the sunshine. Twilight over the landscape was congenial +to the obscurity of time. With such eloquence as my share of feeling and +fancy could supply, I called back hoar antiquity, and bade my companions +imagine an ancient multitude of people, congregated on the hillside, +spreading far below, clustering on the steep old roofs, and climbing the +adjacent heights, wherever a glimpse of this spot might be obtained. I +strove to realize and faintly communicate the deep, unutterable loathing +and horror, the indignation, the affrighted wonder, that wrinkled on +every brow, and filled the universal heart. See! the whole crowd turns +pale and shrinks within itself, as the virtuous emerge from yonder +street. Keeping pace with that devoted company, I described them one by +one; here tottered a woman in her dotage, knowing neither the crime +imputed her, nor its punishment; there another, distracted by the +universal madness, till feverish dreams were remembered as realities, and +she almost believed her guilt. One, a proud man once, was so broken down +by the intolerable hatred heaped upon him, that he seemed to hasten his +steps, eager to hide himself in the grave hastily dug at the foot of the +gallows. As they went slowly on, a mother looked behind, and beheld her +peaceful dwelling; she cast her eyes elsewhere, and groaned inwardly yet +with bitterest anguish, for there was her little son among the accusers. +I watched the face of an ordained pastor, who walked onward to the same +death; his lips moved in prayer; no narrow petition for himself alone, +but embracing all his fellow-sufferers and the frenzied multitude; he +looked to Heaven and trod lightly up the hill. + +Behind their victims came the afflicted, a guilty and miserable band; +villains who had thus avenged themselves on their enemies, and viler +wretches, whose cowardice had destroyed their friends; lunatics, whose +ravings had chimed in with the madness of the land; and children, who had +played a game that the imps of darkness might have envied them, since it +disgraced an age, and dipped a people's hands in blood. In the rear of +the procession rode a figure on horseback, so darkly conspicuous, so +sternly triumphant, that my hearers mistook him for the visible presence +of the fiend himself; but it was only his good friend, Cotton Mather, +proud of his well-won dignity, as the representative of all the hateful +features of his time: the one blood-thirsty man, in whom were +concentrated those vices of spirit and errors of opinion that sufficed to +madden the whole surrounding multitude. And thus I marshalled them +onward, the innocent who were to die, and the guilty who were to grow old +in long remorse--tracing their every step, by rock, and shrub, and broken +track, till their shadowy visages had circled round the hilltop, where we +stood. I plunged into my imagination for a blacker horror, and a deeper +woe, and pictured the scaffold---- + +But here my companions seized an arm on each side; their nerves were +trembling; and, sweeter victory still, I had reached the seldom trodden +places of their hearts, and found the well-spring of their tears. And +now the past had done all it could. We slowly descended, watching the +lights as they twinkled gradually through the town, and listening to the +distant mirth of boys at play, and to the voice of a young girl warbling +somewhere in the dusk, a pleasant sound to wanderers from old witch +times. Yet, ere we left the hill, we could not but regret that there is +nothing on its barren summit, no relic of old, nor lettered stone of +later days, to assist the imagination in appealing to the heart. We +build the memorial column on the height which our fathers made sacred +with their blood, poured out in a holy cause. And here, in dark, +funereal stone, should rise another monument, sadly commemorative of the +errors of an earlier race, and not to be cast down while the human heart +has one infirmity that may result in crime. + + + + + +THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP + +Outlines of an English Romance. + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE. + +"Septimius Felton" was the outgrowth of a project, formed by Hawthorne +during his residence in England, of writing a romance, the scene of which +should be laid in that country; but this project was afterwards +abandoned, giving place to a new conception in which the visionary search +for means to secure an earthly immortality was to form the principal +interest. The new conception took shape in the uncompleted "Dolliver +Romance." The two themes, of course, were distinct, but, by a curious +process of thought, one grew directly out of the other: the whole history +constitutes, in fact, a chapter in what may be called the genealogy of a +romance. There remained, after "Septimius Felton" had been published, +certain manuscripts connected with the scheme of an English story. One +of these manuscripts was written in the form of a journalized narrative; +the author merely noting the date of what he wrote, as he went along. +The other was a more extended sketch of much greater bulk, and without +date, but probably produced several years later. It was not originally +intended by those who at the time had charge of Hawthorne's papers that +either of these incomplete writings should be laid before the public; +because they manifestly had not been left by him in a form which he would +have considered as warranting such a course. But since the second and +larger manuscript has been published under the title of "Dr. Grimshawe's +Secret," it has been thought best to issue the present sketch, so that +the two documents may be examined together. Their appearance places in +the hands of readers the entire process of development leading to the +"Septimius" and "The Dolliver Romance." They speak for themselves much +more efficiently than any commentator can expect to do; and little, +therefore, remains to be said beyond a few words of explanation in regard +to the following pages. + +The Note-Books show that the plan of an English romance, turning upon the +fact that an emigrant to America had carried away a family secret which +should give his descendant the power to ruin the family in the mother +country, had occurred to Hawthorne as early as April, 1855. In August of +the same year he visited Smithell's Hall, in Bolton le Moors, concerning +which he had already heard its legend of "The Bloody Footstep," and from +that time on, the idea of this footprint on the threshold-stone of the +ancestral mansion seems to have associated itself inextricably with the +dreamy substance of his yet unshaped romance. Indeed, it leaves its mark +broadly upon Sibyl Dacy's wild legend in "Septimius Felton," and +reappears in the last paragraph of that story. But, so far as we can +know at this day, nothing definite was done until after his departure for +Italy. It was then, while staying in Rome, that he began to put upon +paper that plot which had first occupied his thoughts three years before, +in the scant leisure allowed him by his duties at the Liverpool +consulate. Of leisure there was not a great deal at Rome, either; for, +as the "French and Italian Note-Books" show, sight-seeing and social +intercourse took up a good deal of his time, and the daily record in his +journal likewise had to be kept up. But he set to work resolutely to +embody, so far as he might, his stray imaginings upon the haunting +English theme, and to give them connected form. April 1, 1858, he began; +and then nearly two weeks passed before he found an opportunity to +resume; April 13th being the date of the next passage. By May he gets +fully into swing, so that day after day, with but slight breaks, he +carries on the story, always increasing in interest for as who read as +for him who improvised. Thus it continues until May 19th, by which time +he has made a tolerably complete outline, filled in with a good deal of +detail here and there. Although the sketch is cast in the form of a +regular narrative, one or two gaps occur, indicating that the author had +thought out certain points which he then took for granted without making +note of them. Brief scenes, passages of conversation and of narration, +follow one another after the manner of a finished story, alternating with +synopses of the plot, and queries concerning particulars that needed +further study; confidences of the romancer to himself which form +certainly a valuable contribution to literary history. The manuscript +closes with a rapid sketch of the conclusion, and the way in which it is +to be executed. Succinctly, what we have is a romance in embryo; one, +moreover, that never attained to a viable stature and constitution. +During his lifetime it naturally would not have been put forward as +demanding public attention; and, in consideration of that fact, it has +since been withheld from the press by the decision of his daughter, in +whom the title to it vests. Students of literary art, however, and many +more general readers will, I think, be likely to discover in it a charm +all the greater for its being in parts only indicated; since, as it +stands, it presents the precise condition of a work of fiction in its +first stage. The unfinished "Grimshawe" was another development of the +same theme, and the "Septimius" a later sketch, with a new element +introduced. But the present experimental fragment, to which it has been +decided to give the title of "The Ancestral Footstep," possesses a +freshness and spontaneity recalling the peculiar fascination of those +chalk or pencil outlines with which great masters in the graphic art have +been wont to arrest their fleeting glimpses of a composition still +unwrought. + +It would not be safe to conclude, from the large amount of preliminary +writing done with a view to that romance, that Hawthorne always adopted +this laborious mode of making several drafts of a book. On the contrary, +it is understood that his habit was to mature a design so thoroughly in +his mind before attempting to give it actual existence on paper that but +little rewriting was needed. The circumstance that he was obliged to +write so much that did not satisfy him in this case may account partly +for his relinquishing the theme, as one which for him had lost its +seductiveness through too much recasting. + +It need be added only that the original manuscript, from which the +following pages are printed through the medium of an exact copy, is +singularly clear and fluent. Not a single correction occurs throughout; +but here and there a word is omitted obviously by mere accident, and +these omissions have been supplied. The correction in each case is +marked by brackets in this printed reproduction. The sketch begins +abruptly; but there is no reason to suppose that anything preceded it +except the unrecorded musings in the author's mind, and one or two +memoranda in the "English Note-Books." We must therefore imagine the +central figure, Middleton, who is the American descendant of an old +English family, as having been properly introduced, and then pass at once +to the opening sentences. The rest will explain itself. G. P. L. + + + + +THE ANCESTRAL FOOTSTEP. + +Outlines of an English Romance. + + +I. + +April 1, 1858. Thursday.--He had now been travelling long in those rich +portions of England where he would most have wished to find the object of +his pursuit; and many had been the scenes which he would willingly have +identified with that mentioned in the ancient, time-yellowed record which +he bore about with him. It is to be observed that, undertaken at first +half as the amusement, the unreal object of a grown man's play-day, it +had become more and more real to him with every step of the way that he +followed it up; along those green English lanes it seemed as if +everything would bring him close to the mansion that he sought; every +morning he went on with renewed hopes, nor did the evening, though it +brought with it no success, bring with it the gloom and heaviness of a +real disappointment. In all his life, including its earliest and +happiest days, he had never known such a spring and zest as now filled +his veins, and gave lightsomeness to his limbs; this spirit gave to the +beautiful country which he trod a still richer beauty than it had ever +borne, and he sought his ancient home as if he had found his way into +Paradise and were there endeavoring to trace out the sight [site] of +Eve's bridal bower, the birthplace of the human race and its glorious +possibilities of happiness and high performance. + +In these sweet and delightful moods of mind, varying from one dream to +another, he loved indeed the solitude of his way; but likewise he loved +the facility which his pursuit afforded him, of coming in contact with +many varieties of men, and he took advantage of this facility to an +extent which it was not usually his impulse to do. But now he came forth +from all reserves, and offered himself to whomever the chances of the way +offered to him, with a ready sensibility that made its way through every +barrier that even English exclusiveness, in whatever rank of life, could +set up. The plastic character of Middleton was perhaps a variety of +American nature only presenting itself under an individual form; he could +throw off the man of our day, and put on a ruder nature, but then it was +with a certain fineness, that made this only [a] distinction between it +and the central truth. He found less variety of form in the English +character than he had been accustomed to see at home; but perhaps this +was in consequence of the external nature of his acquaintance with it; +for the view of one well accustomed to a people, and of a stranger to +them, differs in this--that the latter sees the homogeneity, the one +universal character, the ground work of the whole, while the former sees +a thousand little differences, which distinguish the individual men apart +to such a degree that they seem hardly to have any resemblance among +themselves. + +But just at the period of his journey when we take him up, Middleton had +been for two or three days the companion of an old man who interested him +more than most of his wayside companions; the more especially as he +seemed to be wandering without an object, or with such a dreamy object as +that which led Middleton's own steps onward. He was a plain old man +enough, but with a pale, strong-featured face and white hair, a certain +picturesqueness and venerableness, which Middleton fancied might have +befitted a richer garb than he now wore. In much of their conversation, +too, he was sensible that, though the stranger betrayed no acquaintance +with literature, nor seemed to have conversed with cultivated minds, yet +the results of such acquaintance and converse were here. Middleton was +inclined to think him, however, an old man, one of those itinerants, such +as Wordsworth represented in the "Excursion," who smooth themselves by +the attrition of the world and gain a knowledge equivalent to or better +than that of books from the actual intellect of man awake and active +around them. + +Often, during the short period since their companionship originated, +Middleton had felt impelled to disclose to the old man the object of his +journey, and the wild tale by which, after two hundred years, he had been +blown as it were across the ocean, and drawn onward to commence this +search. The old man's ordinary conversation was of a nature to draw +forth such a confidence as this; frequently turning on the traditions of +the wayside; the reminiscences that lingered on the battle-fields of the +Roses, or of the Parliament, like flowers nurtured by the blood of the +slain, and prolonging their race through the centuries for the wayfarer +to pluck them; or the family histories of the castles, manor-houses, and +seats which, of various epochs, had their park-gates along the roadside +and would be seen with dark gray towers or ancient gables, or more modern +forms of architecture, rising up among clouds of ancient oaks. Middleton +watched earnestly to see if, in any of these tales, there were +circumstances resembling those striking and singular ones which he had +borne so long in his memory, and on which he was now acting in so strange +a manner; but [though] there was a good deal of variety of incident in +them, there never was any combination of incidents having the peculiarity +of this. + +"I suppose," said he to the old man, "the settlers in my country may have +carried away with them traditions long since forgotten in this country, +but which might have an interest and connection, and might even piece out +the broken relics of family history, which have remained perhaps a +mystery for hundreds of years. I can conceive, even, that this might be +of importance in settling the heirships of estates; but which now, only +the two insulated parts of the story being known, remain a riddle, +although the solution of it is actually in the world, if only these two +parts could be united across the sea, like the wires of an electric +telegraph." + +"It is an impressive idea," said the old man. "Do you know any such +tradition as you have hinted at?" + +April 13th.--Middleton could not but wonder at the singular chance that +had established him in such a place, and in such society, so strangely +adapted to the purposes with which he had been wandering through England. +He had come hither, hoping as it were to find the past still alive and in +action; and here it was so in this one only spot, and these few persons +into the midst of whom he had suddenly been cast. With these reflections +he looked forth from his window into the old-fashioned garden, and at the +stone sun-dial, which had numbered all the hours--all the daylight and +serene ones, at least--since his mysterious ancestor left the country. +And [is] this, then, he thought to himself, the establishment of which +some rumor had been preserved? Was it here that the secret had its +hiding-place in the old coffer, in the cupboard, in the secret chamber, +or whatever was indicated by the apparently idle words of the document +which he had preserved? He still smiled at the idea, but it was with a +pleasant, mysterious sense that his life had at last got out of the dusty +real, and that strangeness had mixed itself up with his daily experience. + +With such feelings he prepared himself to go down to dinner with his +host. He found him alone at table, which was placed in a dark old room +modernized with every English comfort and the pleasant spectacle of a +table set with the whitest of napery and the brightest of glass and +china. The friendly old gentleman, as he had found him from the first, +became doubly and trebly so in that position which brings out whatever +warmth of heart an Englishman has, and gives it to him if he has none. +The impressionable and sympathetic character of Middleton answered to the +kindness of his host; and by the time the meal was concluded, the two +were conversing with almost as much zest and friendship as if they were +similar in age, even fellow-countrymen, and had known one another all +their lifetime. Middleton's secret, it may be supposed, came often to +the tip of his tongue; but still he kept it within, from a natural +repugnance to bring out the one romance of his life. The talk, however, +necessarily ran much upon topics among which this one would have come in +without any extra attempt to introduce it. + +"This decay of old families," said the Master, "is much greater than +would appear on the surface of things. We have such a reluctance to part +with them, that we are content to see them continued by any fiction, +through any indirections, rather than to dispense with old names. In +your country, I suppose, there is no such reluctance; you are willing +that one generation should blot out all that preceded it, and be itself +the newest and only age of the world." + +"Not quite so," answered Middleton; "at any rate, if there be such a +feeling in the people at large, I doubt whether, even in England, those +who fancy themselves possessed of claims to birth, cherish them more as a +treasure than we do. It is, of course, a thousand times more difficult +for us to keep alive a name amid a thousand difficulties sedulously +thrown around it by our institutions, than for you to do, where your +institutions are anxiously calculated to promote the contrary purpose. +It has occasionally struck me, however, that the ancient lineage might +often be found in America, for a family which has been compelled to +prolong itself here through the female line, and through alien stocks." + +"Indeed, my young friend," said the Master, "if that be the case, I +should like to [speak?] further with you upon it; for, I can assure you, +there are sometimes vicissitudes in old families that make me grieve to +think that a man cannot be made for the occasion." + +All this while, the young lady at table had remained almost silent; and +Middleton had only occasionally been reminded of her by the necessity of +performing some of those offices which put people at table under a +Christian necessity of recognizing one another. He was, to say the +truth, somewhat interested in her, yet not strongly attracted by the +neutral tint of her dress, and the neutral character of her manners. She +did not seem to be handsome, although, with her face full before him, he +had not quite made up his mind on this point. + +April 14th.--So here was Middleton, now at length seeing indistinctly a +thread, to which the thread that he had so long held in his hand--the +hereditary thread that ancestor after ancestor had handed down--might +seem ready to join on. He felt as if they were the two points of an +electric chain, which being joined, an instantaneous effect must follow. +Earnestly, as he would have looked forward to this moment (had he in +sober reason ever put any real weight on the fantasy in pursuit of which +he had wandered so far) he now, that it actually appeared to be realizing +itself, paused with a vague sensation of alarm. The mystery was +evidently one of sorrow, if not of crime, and he felt as if that sorrow +and crime might not have been annihilated even by being buried out of +human sight and remembrance so long. He remembered to have heard or +read, how that once an old pit had been dug open, in which were found the +remains of persons that, as the shuddering by-standers traditionally +remembered, had died of an ancient pestilence; and out of that old grave +had come a new plague, that slew the far-off progeny of those who had +first died by it. Might not some fatal treasure like this, in a moral +view, be brought to light by the secret into which he had so strangely +been drawn? Such were the fantasies with which he awaited the return of +Alice, whose light footsteps sounded afar along the passages of the old +mansion; and then all was silent. + +At length he heard the sound, a great way off, as he concluded, of her +returning footstep, approaching from chamber to chamber, and along the +staircases, closing the doors behind her. At first, he paid no great +attention to the character of these sounds, but as they drew nearer, he +became aware that the footstep was unlike those of Alice; indeed, as +unlike as could be, very regular, slow, yet not firm, so that it seemed +to be that of an aged person, sauntering listlessly through the rooms. +We have often alluded to Middleton's sensitiveness, and the quick +vibrations of his sympathies; and there was something in this slow +approach that produced a strange feeling within him; so that he stood +breathlessly, looking towards the door by which these slow footsteps were +to enter. At last, there appeared in the doorway a venerable figure, +clad in a rich, faded dressing-gown, and standing on the threshold looked +fixedly at Middleton, at the same time holding up a light in his left +hand. In his right was some object that Middleton did not distinctly +see. But he knew the figure, and recognized the face. It was the old +man, his long since companion on the journey hitherward. + +"So," said the old man, smiling gravely, "you have thought fit, at last, +to accept the hospitality which I offered you so long ago. It might have +been better for both of us--for all parties--if you had accepted it +then!" + +"You here!" exclaimed Middleton. "And what can be your connection with +all the error and trouble, and involuntary wrong, through which I have +wandered since our last meeting? And is it possible that you even then +held the clue which I was seeking?" + +"No,--no," replied Rothermel. "I was not conscious, at least, of so +doing. And yet had we two sat down there by the wayside, or on that +English stile, which attracted your attention so much; had we sat down +there and thrown forth each his own dream, each his own knowledge, it +would have saved much that we must now forever regret. Are you even now +ready to confide wholly in me?" + +"Alas," said Middleton, with a darkening brow, "there are many reasons, +at this moment, which did not exist then, to incline me to hold my peace. +And why has not Alice returned?--and what is your connection with her?" + +"Let her answer for herself," said Rothermel; and he called her, shouting +through the silent house as if she were at the furthest chamber, and he +were in instant need: "Alice!--Alice!--Alice!--here is one who would know +what is the link between a maiden and her father!" + +Amid the strange uproar which he made Alice came flying back, not in +alarm but only in haste, and put her hand within his own. "Hush, +father," said she. "It is not time." + +Here is an abstract of the plot of this story. The Middleton who +emigrated to America, more than two hundred years ago, had been a dark +and moody man; he came with a beautiful though not young woman for his +wife, and left a family behind him. In this family a certain heirloom +had been preserved, and with it a tradition that grew wilder and stranger +with the passing generations. The tradition had lost, if it ever had, +some of its connecting links; but it referred to a murder, to the +expulsion of a brother from the hereditary house, in some strange way, +and to a Bloody Footstep which he had left impressed into the threshold, +as he turned about to make a last remonstrance. It was rumored, however, +or vaguely understood, that the expelled brother was not altogether an +innocent man; but that there had been wrong done as well as crime +committed, insomuch that his reasons were strong that led him, +subsequently, to imbibe the most gloomy religious views, and to bury +himself in the Western wilderness. These reasons he had never fully +imparted to his family; but had necessarily made allusions to them, which +had been treasured up and doubtless enlarged upon. At last, one +descendant of the family determines to go to England, with the purpose of +searching out whatever ground there may be for these traditions, carrying +with him certain ancient documents, and other relics; and goes about the +country, half in earnest, and half in sport of fancy, in quest of the old +family mansion. He makes singular discoveries, all of which bring the +book to an end unexpected by everybody, and not satisfactory to the +natural yearnings of novel readers. In the traditions that he brought +over, there was a key to some family secrets that were still unsolved, +and that controlled the descent of estates and titles. His influence +upon these matters involves [him] in divers strange and perilous +adventures; and at last it turns out that he himself is the rightful heir +to the titles and estate, that had passed into another name within the +last half-century. But he respects both, feeling that it is better to +make a virgin soil than to try to make the old name grow in a soil that +had been darkened with so much blood and misfortune as this. + +April 27th, Tuesday.--It was with a delightful feeling of release from +ordinary rules, that Middleton found himself brought into this connection +with Alice; and he only hoped that this play-day of his life might last +long enough to rest him from all that he had suffered. In the enjoyment +of his position he almost forgot the pursuit that occupied him, nor might +he have remembered for a long space if, one evening, Alice herself had +not alluded to it. "You are wasting precious days," she suddenly said. +"Why do you not renew your quest?" + +"To what do you allude?" said Middleton in surprise. "What object do you +suppose me to have?" + +Alice smiled; nay, laughed outright. "You suppose yourself to be a +perfect mystery, no doubt," she replied. "But do not I know you--have +not I known you long--as the holder of the talisman, the owner of the +mysterious cabinet that contains the blood-stained secret?" + +"Nay, Alice, this is certainly a strange coincidence, that you should +know even thus much of a foolish secret that makes me employ this little +holiday time, which I have stolen out of a weary life, in a wild-goose +chase. But, believe me, you allude to matters that are more a mystery to +me than my affairs appear to be to you. Will you explain what you would +suggest by this badinage?" + +Alice shook her head. "You have no claim to know what I know, even if it +would be any addition to your own knowledge. I shall not, and must not +enlighten you. You must burrow for the secret with your own tools, in +your own manner, and in a place of your own choosing. I am bound not to +assist you." + +"Alice, this is wilful, wayward, unjust," cried Middleton, with a flushed +cheek. "I have not told you--yet you know well--the deep and real +importance which this subject has for me. We have been together as +friends, yet, the instant when there comes up an occasion when the +slightest friendly feeling would induce you to do me a good office, you +assume this altered tone." + +"My tone is not in the least altered in respect to you," said Alice. +"All along, as you know, I have reserved myself on this very point; it +being, I candidly tell you, impossible for me to act in your interest in +the matter alluded to. If you choose to consider this unfriendly, as +being less than the terms on which you conceive us to have stood give you +a right to demand of me--you must resent it as you please. I shall not +the less retain for you the regard due to one who has certainly +befriended me in very untoward circumstances." + +This conversation confirmed the previous idea of Middleton, that some +mystery of a peculiarly dark and evil character was connected with the +family secret with which he was himself entangled; but it perplexed him +to imagine in what way this, after the lapse of so many years, should +continue to be a matter of real importance at the present day. All the +actors in the original guilt--if guilt it were--must have been long ago +in their graves; some in the churchyard of the village, with those +moss-grown letters embossing their names; some in the church itself, with +mural tablets recording their names over the family-pew, and one, it +might be, far over the sea, where his grave was first made under the +forest leaves, though now a city had grown up around it. Yet here was +he, the remote descendant of that family, setting his foot at last in the +country, and as secretly as might be; and all at once his mere presence +seemed to revive the buried secret, almost to awake the dead who partook +of that secret and had acted it. There was a vibration from the other +world, continued and prolonged into this, the instant that he stepped +upon the mysterious and haunted ground. + +He knew not in what way to proceed. He could not but feel that there was +something not exactly within the limits of propriety in being here, +disguised--at least, not known in his true character--prying into the +secrets of a proud and secluded Englishman. But then, as he said to +himself on his own side of the question, the secret belonged to himself +by exactly as ancient a tenure and by precisely as strong a claim, as to +the Englishman. His rights here were just as powerful and well-founded +as those of his ancestor had been, nearly three centuries ago; and here +the same feeling came over him that he was that very personage, returned +after all these ages, to see if his foot would fit this bloody footstep +left of old upon the threshold. The result of all his cogitation was, as +the reader will have foreseen, that he decided to continue his +researches, and, his proceedings being pretty defensible, let the result +take care of itself. + +For this purpose he went next day to the hospital, and ringing at the +Master's door, was ushered into the old-fashioned, comfortable library, +where he had spent that well-remembered evening which threw the first ray +of light on the pursuit that now seemed developing into such strange and +unexpected consequences. Being admitted, he was desired by the domestic +to wait, as his Reverence was at that moment engaged with a gentleman on +business. Glancing through the ivy that mantled over the window, +Middleton saw that this interview was taking place in the garden, where +the Master and his visitor were walking to and fro in the avenue of box, +discussing some matter, as it seemed to him, with considerable +earnestness on both sides. He observed, too, that there was warmth, +passion, a disturbed feeling on the stranger's part; while, on that of +the Master, it was a calm, serious, earnest representation of whatever +view he was endeavoring to impress on the other. At last, the interview +appeared to come toward a climax, the Master addressing some words to his +guest, still with undisturbed calmness, to which the latter replied by a +violent and even fierce gesture, as it should seem of menace, not towards +the Master, but some unknown party; and then hastily turning, he left the +garden and was soon heard riding away. The Master looked after him +awhile, and then, shaking his white head, returned into the house and +soon entered the parlor. + +He looked somewhat surprised, and, as it struck Middleton, a little +startled, at finding him there; yet he welcomed him with all his former +cordiality--indeed, with a friendship that thoroughly warmed Middleton's +heart even to its coldest corner. + +"This is strange!" said the old gentleman. "Do you remember our +conversation on that evening when I first had the unlooked-for pleasure +of receiving you as a guest into my house? At that time I spoke to you +of a strange family story, of which there was no denouement, such as a +novel-writer would desire, and which had remained in that unfinished +posture for more than two hundred years! Well; perhaps it will gratify +you to know that there seems a prospect of that wanting termination being +supplied!" + +"Indeed!" said Middleton. + +"Yes," replied the Master. "A gentleman has just parted with me who was +indeed the representative of the family concerned in the story. He is +the descendant of a younger son of that family, to whom the estate +devolved about a century ago, although at that time there was search for +the heirs of the elder son, who had disappeared after the bloody incident +which I related to you. Now, singular as it may appear, at this late +day, a person claiming to be the descendant and heir of that eldest son +has appeared, and if I may credit my friend's account, is disposed not +only to claim the estate, but the dormant title which Eldredge himself +has been so long preparing to claim for himself. Singularly enough, too, +the heir is an American." + +May 2d, Sunday.--"I believe," said Middleton, "that many English secrets +might find their solution in America, if the two threads of a story could +be brought together, disjoined as they have been by time and the ocean. +But are you at liberty to tell me the nature of the incidents to which +you allude?" + +"I do not see any reason to the contrary," answered the Master; "for the +story has already come in an imperfect way before the public, and the +full and authentic particulars are likely soon to follow. It seems that +the younger brother was ejected from the house on account of a love +affair; the elder having married a young woman with whom the younger was +in love, and, it is said, the wife disappeared on the bridal night, and +was never heard of more. The elder brother remained single during the +rest of his life; and dying childless, and there being still no news of +the second brother, the inheritance and representation of the family +devolved upon the third brother and his posterity. This branch of the +family has ever since remained in possession; and latterly the +representation has become of more importance, on account of a claim to an +old title, which, by the failure of another branch of this ancient +family, has devolved upon the branch here settled. Now, just at this +juncture, comes another heir from America, pretending that he is the +descendant of a marriage between the second son, supposed to have been +murdered on the threshold of the manor-house, and the missing bride! Is +it not a singular story?" + +"It would seem to require very strong evidence to prove it," said +Middleton. "And methinks a Republican should care little for the title, +however he might value the estate." + +"Both--both," said the Master, smiling, "would be equally attractive to +your countryman. But there are further curious particulars in connection +with this claim. You must know, they are a family of singular +characteristics, humorists, sometimes developing their queer traits into +something like insanity; though oftener, I must say, spending stupid +hereditary lives here on their estates, rusting out and dying without +leaving any biography whatever about them. And yet there has always been +one very queer thing about this generally very commonplace family. It is +that each father, on his death-bed, has had an interview with his son, at +which he has imparted some secret that has evidently had an influence on +the character and after life of the son, making him ever after a +discontented man, aspiring for something he has never been able to find. +Now the American, I am told, pretends that he has the clue which has +always been needed to make the secret available; the key whereby the lock +may be opened; the something that the lost son of the family carried away +with him, and by which through these centuries he has impeded the +progress of the race. And, wild as the story seems, he does certainly +seem to bring something that looks very like the proof of what he says." + +"And what are those proofs?" inquired Middleton, wonder-stricken at the +strange reduplication of his own position and pursuits. + +"In the first place," said the Master, "the English marriage-certificate +by a clergyman of that day in London, after publication of the banns, +with a reference to the register of the parish church where the marriage +is recorded. Then, a certified genealogy of the family in New England, +where such matters can be ascertained from town and church records, with +at least as much certainty, it would appear, as in this country. He has +likewise a manuscript in his ancestor's autograph, containing a brief +account of the events which banished him from his own country; the +circumstances which favored the idea that he had been slain, and which he +himself was willing should be received as a belief; the fortune that led +him to America, where he wished to found a new race wholly disconnected +with the past; and this manuscript he sealed up, with directions that it +should not be opened till two hundred years after his death, by which +time, as it was probable to conjecture, it would matter little to any +mortal whether the story was told or not. A whole generation has passed +since the time when the paper was at last unsealed and read, so long it +had no operation; yet now, at last, here comes the American, to disturb +the succession of an ancient family!" + +"There is something very strange in all this," said Middleton. + +And indeed there was something stranger in his view of the matter than he +had yet communicated to the Master. For, taking into consideration the +relation in which he found himself with the present recognized +representative of the family, the thought struck him that his coming +hither had dug up, as it were, a buried secret that immediately assumed +life and activity the moment that it was above ground again. For seven +generations the family had vegetated in the quietude of English country +gentility, doing nothing to make itself known, passing from the cradle to +the tomb amid the same old woods that had waved over it before his +ancestor had impressed the bloody footstep; and yet the instant that he +came back, an influence seemed to be at work that was likely to renew the +old history of the family. He questioned with himself whether it were +not better to leave all as it was; to withdraw himself into the secrecy +from which he had but half emerged, and leave the family to keep on, to +the end of time perhaps, in its rusty innocence, rather than to interfere +with his wild American character to disturb it. The smell of that dark +crime--that brotherly hatred and attempted murder--seemed to breathe out +of the ground as he dug it up. Was it not better that it should remain +forever buried, for what to him was this old English title--what this +estate, so far from his own native land, located amidst feelings and +manners which would never be his own? It was late, to be sure--yet not +too late for him to turn back: the vibration, the fear, which his +footsteps had caused, would subside into peace! Meditating in this way, +he took a hasty leave of the kind old Master, promising to see him again +at an early opportunity. By chance, or however it was, his footsteps +turned to the woods of ------ Chace, and there he wandered through its +glades, deep in thought, yet always with a strange sense that he was +treading on the soil where his ancestors had trodden, and where he +himself had best right of all men to be. It was just in this state of +feeling that he found his course arrested by a hand upon his shoulder. + +"What business have you here?" was the question sounded in his ear; and, +starting, he found himself in the grasp, as his blood tingled to know, of +a gentleman in a shooting-dress, who looked at him with a wrathful brow. +"Are you a poacher, or what?" + +Be the case what it might, Middleton's blood boiled at the grasp of that +hand, as it never before had done in the coarse of his impulsive life. +He shook himself free, and stood fiercely before his antagonist, +confronting him, with his uplifted stick, while the other, likewise, +appeared to be shaken by a strange wrath. + +"Fellow," muttered he--"Yankee blackguard!--imposter--take yourself off +these grounds. Quick, or it will be the worse for you!" + +Middleton restrained himself. "Mr. Eldredge," said he, "for I believe I +speak to the man who calls himself owner of this land on which we stand, +--Mr. Eldredge, you are acting under a strange misapprehension of my +character. I have come hither with no sinister purpose, and am entitled, +at the hands of a gentleman, to the consideration of an honorable +antagonist, even if you deem me one at all. And perhaps, if you think +upon the blue chamber and the ebony cabinet, and the secret connected. +with it,"-- + +"Villain, no more!" said Eldredge; and utterly mad with rage, he +presented his gun at Middleton; but even at the moment of doing so, he +partly restrained himself, so far as, instead of shooting him, to raise +the butt of his gun, and strike a blow at him. It came down heavily on +Middleton's shoulder, though aimed at his head; and the blow was terribly +avenged, even by itself, for the jar caused the hammer to come down; the +gun went off, sending the bullet downwards through the heart of the +unfortunate man, who fell dead upon the ground. Eldredge [Evidently a +slip of the pen; Middleton being intended.] stood stupefied, looking at +the catastrophe which had so suddenly occurred. + +May 3d, Monday.--So here was the secret suddenly made safe in this so +terrible way; its keepers reduced from two parties to one interest; the +other who alone knew of this age-long mystery and trouble now carrying it +into eternity, where a long line of those who partook of the knowledge, +in each successive generation, might now be waiting to inquire of him how +he had held his trust. He had kept it well, there was no doubt of it; +for there he lay dead upon the ground, having betrayed it to no one, +though by a method which none could have foreseen, the whole had come +into the possession of him who had brought hither but half of it. +Middleton looked down in horror upon the form that had just been so full +of life and wrathful vigor--and now lay so quietly. Being wholly +unconscious of any purpose to bring about the catastrophe, it had not at +first struck him that his own position was in any manner affected by the +violent death, under such circumstances, of the unfortunate man. But now +it suddenly occurred to him, that there had been a train of incidents all +calculated to make him the object of suspicion; and he felt that he could +not, under the English administration of law, be suffered to go at large +without rendering a strict account of himself and his relations with the +deceased. He might, indeed, fly; he might still remain in the vicinity, +and possibly escape notice. But was not the risk too great? Was it just +even to be aware of this event, and not relate fully the manner of it, +lest a suspicion of blood-guiltiness should rest upon some innocent head? +But while he was thus cogitating, he heard footsteps approaching along +the wood-path; and half-impulsively, half on purpose, he stept aside into +the shrubbery, but still where he could see the dead body, and what +passed near it. + +The footsteps came on, and at the turning of the path, just where +Middleton had met Eldredge, the new-comer appeared in sight. It was +Hoper, in his usual dress of velveteen, looking now seedy, +poverty-stricken, and altogether in ill-case, trudging moodily along, +with his hat pulled over his brows, so that he did not see the ghastly +object before him till his foot absolutely trod upon the dead man's hand. +Being thus made aware of the proximity of the corpse, he started back a +little, yet evincing such small emotion as did credit to his English +reserve; then uttering a low exclamation,--cautiously low, indeed,--he +stood looking at the corpse a moment or two, apparently in deep +meditation. He then drew near, bent down, and without evincing any +horror at the touch of death in this horrid shape, he opened the dead +man's vest, inspected the wound, satisfied himself that life was extinct, +and then nodded his head and smiled gravely. He next proceeded to +examine seriatim the dead man's pockets, turning each of them inside out +and taking the contents, where they appeared adapted to his needs: for +instance, a silken purse, through the interstices of which some gold was +visible; a watch, which however had been injured by the explosion, and +had stopt just at the moment--twenty-one minutes past five--when the +catastrophe took place. Hoper ascertained, by putting the watch to his +ear, that this was the case; then pocketing it, he continued his +researches. He likewise secured a note-book, on examining which he found +several bank-notes, and some other papers. And having done this, the +thief stood considering what to do next; nothing better occurring to him, +he thrust the pockets back, gave the corpse as nearly as he could the +same appearance that it had worn before he found it, and hastened away, +leaving the horror there on the wood-path. + +He had been gone only a few minutes when another step, a light woman's +step, [was heard] coming along the pathway, and Alice appeared, having on +her usual white mantle, straying along with that fearlessness which +characterized her so strangely, and made her seem like one of the +denizens of nature. She was singing in a low tone some one of those airs +which have become so popular in England, as negro melodies; when +suddenly, looking before her, she saw the blood-stained body on the +grass, the face looking ghastly upward. Alice pressed her hand upon her +heart; it was not her habit to scream, not the habit of that strong, +wild, self-dependent nature; and the exclamation which broke from her was +not for help, but the voice of her heart crying out to herself. For an +instant she hesitated, as [if] not knowing what to do; then approached, +and with her white, maiden hand felt the brow of the dead man, +tremblingly, but yet firm, and satisfied herself that life had wholly +departed. She pressed her hand, that had just touched the dead man's, on +her forehead, and gave a moment to thought. + +What her decision might have been, we cannot say, for while she stood in +this attitude, Middleton stept from his seclusion, and at the noise of +his approach she turned suddenly round, looking more frightened and +agitated than at the moment when she had first seen the dead body. She +faced Middleton, however, and looked him quietly in the eye. "You see +this!" said she, gazing fixedly at him. "It is not at this moment that +you first discover it." + +"No," said Middleton, frankly. "It is not. I was present at the +catastrophe. In one sense, indeed, I was the cause of it; but, Alice, I +need not tell you that I am no murderer." + +"A murderer?--no," said Alice, still looking at him with the same fixed +gaze. "But you and this man were at deadly variance. He would have +rejoiced at any chance that would have laid you cold and bloody on the +earth, as he is now; nay, he would most eagerly have seized on any +fair-looking pretext that would have given him a chance to stretch you +there. The world will scarcely believe, when it knows all about your +relations with him, that his blood is not on your hand. Indeed," said +she, with a strange smile, "I see some of it there now!" + +And, in very truth, so there was; a broad blood-stain that had dried on +Middleton's hand. He shuddered at it, but essayed vainly to rub it off. + +"You see," said she. "It was foreordained that you should shed this +man's blood; foreordained that, by digging into that old pit of +pestilence, you should set the contagion loose again. You should have +left it buried forever. But now what do you mean to do?" + +"To proclaim this catastrophe," replied Middleton. "It is the only +honest and manly way. What else can I do?" + +"You can and ought to leave him on the wood-path, where he has fallen," +said Alice, "and go yourself to take advantage of the state of things +which Providence has brought about. Enter the old house, the hereditary +house, where--now, at least--you alone have a right to tread. Now is the +hour. All is within your grasp. Let the wrong of three hundred years be +righted, and come back thus to your own, to these hereditary fields, this +quiet, long-descended home; to title, to honor." + +Yet as the wild maiden spoke thus, there was a sort of mockery in her +eyes; on her brow; gleaming through all her face, as if she scorned what +she thus pressed upon him, the spoils of the dead man who lay at their +feet. Middleton, with his susceptibility, could not [but] be sensible of +a wild and strange charm, as well as horror, in the situation; it seemed +such a wonder that here, in formal, orderly, well-governed England, so +wild a scene as this should have occurred; that they too [two?] should +stand here, deciding on the descent of an estate, and the inheritance of +a title, holding a court of their own. + +"Come, then," said he, at length. "Let us leave this poor fallen +antagonist in his blood, and go whither you will lead me. I will judge +for myself. At all events, I will not leave my hereditary home without +knowing what my power is." + +"Come," responded Alice; and she turned back; but then returned and threw +a handkerchief over the dead man's face, which while they spoke had +assumed that quiet, ecstatic expression of joy which often is observed to +overspread the faces of those who die of gunshot wounds, however fierce +the passion in which their spirits took their flight. With this strange, +grand, awful joy did the dead man gaze upward into the very eyes and +hearts, as it were, of the two that now bent over him. They looked at +one another. + +"Whence comes this expression?" said Middleton, thoughtfully. "Alice, +methinks he is reconciled to us now; and that we are members of one +reconciled family, all of whom are in heaven but me." + +Tuesday, May 4th.--"How strange is this whole situation between you and +me," said Middleton, as they went up the winding pathway that led towards +the house. "Shall I ever understand it? Do you mean ever to explain it +to me? That I should find you here with that old man [The allusion here +is apparently to the old man who proclaims himself Alice's father, in the +portion dated April 14th. He figures hereafter as the old Hospitaller, +Hammond. The reader must not take this present passage as referring to +the death of Eldredge, which has just taken place in he preceding +section. The author is now beginning to elaborate the relation of +Middleton and Alice. As will be seen, farther on, the death of Eldredge +is ignored and abandoned; Eldredge is revived, and the story proceeds in +another way.--G. P. L.], so mysterious, apparently so poor, yet so +powerful! What [is] his relation to you?" + +"A close one," replied Alice sadly. "He was my father!" + +"Your father!" repeated Middleton, starting back. "It does but heighten +the wonder! Your father! And yet, by all the tokens that birth and +breeding, and habits of thought and native character can show, you are my +countrywoman. That wild, free spirit was never born in the breast of an +Englishwoman; that slight frame, that slender beauty, that frail +envelopment of a quick, piercing, yet stubborn and patient spirit,--are +those the properties of an English maiden?" + +"Perhaps not," replied Alice quietly. "I am your countrywoman. My +father was an American, and one of whom you have heard--and no good, +alas!--for many a year." + +"And who then was he?" asked Middleton. + +"I know not whether you will hate me for telling you," replied Alice, +looking him sadly though firmly in the face. "There was a man--long +years since, in your childhood--whose plotting brain proved the ruin of +himself and many another; a man whose great designs made him a sort of +potentate, whose schemes became of national importance, and produced +results even upon the history of the country in which he acted. That man +was my father; a man who sought to do great things, and, like many who +have had similar aims, disregarded many small rights, strode over them, +on his way to effect a gigantic purpose. Among other men, your father +was trampled under foot, ruined, done to death, even, by the effects of +his ambition." + +"How is it possible!" exclaimed Middleton. "Was it Wentworth?" + +"Even so," said Alice, still with the same sad calmness and not +withdrawing her steady eyes from his face. "After his ruin; after the +catastrophe that overwhelmed him and hundreds more, he took to flight; +guilty, perhaps, but guilty as a fallen conqueror is; guilty to such an +extent that he ceased to be a cheat, as a conqueror ceases to be a +murderer. He came to England. My father had an original nobility of +nature; and his life had not been such as to debase it, but rather such +as to cherish and heighten that self-esteem which at least keeps the +possessor of it from many meaner vices. He took nothing with him; +nothing beyond the bare means of flight, with the world before him, +although thousands of gold would not have been missed out of the +scattered fragments of ruin that lay around him. He found his way +hither, led, as you were, by a desire to reconnect himself with the place +whence his family had originated; for he, too, was of a race which had +something to do with the ancient story which has now been brought to a +close. Arrived here, there were circumstances that chanced to make his +talents and habits of business available to this Mr. Eldredge, a man +ignorant and indolent, unknowing how to make the best of the property +that was in his hands. By degrees, he took the estate into his +management, acquiring necessarily a preponderating influence over such a +man." + +"And you," said Middleton. "Have you been all along in England? For you +must have been little more than an infant at the time." + +"A mere infant," said Alice, "and I remained in our own country under the +care of a relative who left me much to my own keeping; much to the +influences of that wild culture which the freedom of our country gives to +its youth. It is only two years that I have been in England." + +"This, then," said Middleton thoughtfully, "accounts for much that has +seemed so strange in the events through which we have passed; for the +knowledge of my identity and my half-defined purpose which has always +glided before me, and thrown so many strange shapes of difficulty in my +path. But whence,--whence came that malevolence which your father's +conduct has so unmistakably shown? I had done him no injury, though I +had suffered much." + +"I have often thought," replied Alice, "that my father, though retaining +a preternatural strength and acuteness of intellect, was really not +altogether sane. And, besides, he had made it his business to keep this +estate, and all the complicated advantages of the representation of this +old family, secure to the person who was deemed to have inherited them. +A succession of ages and generations might be supposed to have blotted +out your claims from existence; for it is not just that there should be +no term of time which can make security for lack of fact and a few +formalities. At all events, he had satisfied himself that his duty was +to act as he has done." + +"Be it so! I do not seek to throw blame on him," said Middleton. +"Besides, Alice, he was your father!" + +"Yes," said she, sadly smiling; "let him [have] what protection that +thought may give him, even though I lose what he may gain. And now here +we are at the house. At last, come in! It is your own; there is none +that can longer forbid you!" + +They entered the door of the old mansion, now a farm-house, and there +were its old hall, its old chambers, all before them. They ascended the +staircase, and stood on the landing-place above; while Middleton had +again that feeling that had so often made him dizzy,--that sense of being +in one dream and recognizing the scenery and events of a former dream. +So overpowering was this feeling, that he laid his hand on the slender +arm of Alice, to steady himself; and she comprehended the emotion that +agitated him, and looked into his eyes with a tender sympathy, which she +had never before permitted to be visible,--perhaps never before felt. He +steadied himself and followed her till they had entered an ancient +chamber, but one that was finished with all the comfortable luxury +customary to be seen in English homes. + +"Whither have you led me now?" inquired Middleton. + +"Look round," said Alice. "Is there nothing here that you ought to +recognize?--nothing that you kept the memory of, long ago?" + +He looked around the room again and again, and at last, in a somewhat +shadowy corner, he espied an old cabinet made of ebony and inlaid with +pearl; one of those tall, stately, and elaborate pieces of furniture that +are rather articles of architecture than upholstery; and on which a +higher skill, feeling, and genius than now is ever employed on such +things, was expended. Alice drew near the stately cabinet and threw wide +the doors, which, like the portals of a palace, stood between two +pillars; it all seemed to be unlocked, showing within some beautiful old +pictures in the panel of the doors, and a mirror, that opened a long +succession of mimic halls, reflection upon reflection, extending to an +interminable nowhere. + +"And what is this?" said Middleton,--"a cabinet? Why do you draw my +attention so strongly to it?" + +"Look at it well," said she. "Do you recognize nothing there? Have you +forgotten your description? The stately palace with its architecture, +each pillar with its architecture, those pilasters, that frieze; you +ought to know them all. Somewhat less than you imagined in size, +perhaps; a fairy reality, inches for yards; that is the only difference. +And you have the key?" + +And there then was that palace, to which tradition, so false at once and +true, had given such magnitude and magnificence in the traditions of the +Middleton family, around their shifting fireside in America. Looming +afar through the mists of time, the little fact had become a gigantic +vision. Yes, here it was in miniature, all that he had dreamed of; a +palace of four feet high! + +"You have the key of this palace," said Alice; "it has waited--that is, +its secret and precious chamber has, for you to open it, these three +hundred years. Do you know how to find that secret chamber?" + +Middleton, still in that dreamy mood, threw open an inner door of the +cabinet, and applying the old-fashioned key at his watch-chain to a hole +in the mimic pavement within, pressed one of the mosaics, and immediately +the whole floor of the apartment sank, and revealed a receptacle withal. +Alice had come forward eagerly, and they both looked into the +hiding-place, expecting what should be there. It was empty! They looked +into each other's faces with blank astonishment. Everything had been so +strangely true, and so strangely false, up to this moment, that they +could not comprehend this failure at the last moment. It was the +strangest, saddest jest! It brought Middleton up with such a sudden +revulsion that he grew dizzy, and the room swam round him and the cabinet +dazzled before his eyes. It had been magnified to a palace; it had +dwindled down to Liliputian size; and yet, up till now, it had seemed to +contain in its diminutiveness all the riches which he had attributed to +its magnitude. This last moment had utterly subverted it; the whole +great structure seemed to vanish. + +"See; here are the dust and ashes of it," observed Alice, taking +something that was indeed only a pinch of dust out of the secret +compartment. "There is nothing else." + + +II. + +May 5th, Wednesday.--The father of these two sons, an aged man at the +time, took much to heart their enmity; and after the catastrophe, he +never held up his head again. He was not told that his son had perished, +though such was the belief of the family; but imbibed the opinion that he +had left his home and native land to become a wanderer on the face of the +earth, and that some time or other he might return. In this idea he +spent the remainder of his days; in this idea he died. It may be that +the influence of this idea might be traced in the way in which he spent +some of the latter years of his life, and a portion of the wealth which +had become of little value in his eyes, since it had caused dissension +and bloodshed between the sons of one household. It was a common mode of +charity in those days--a common thing for rich men to do--to found an +almshouse or a hospital, and endow it, for the support of a certain +number of old and destitute men or women, generally such as had some +claim of blood upon the founder, or at least were natives of the parish, +the district, the county, where he dwelt. The Eldredge Hospital was +founded for the benefit of twelve old men, who should have been wanderers +upon the face of the earth; men, they should be, of some education, but +defeated and hopeless, cast off by the world for misfortune, but not for +crime. And this charity had subsisted, on terms varying little or +nothing from the original ones, from that day to this; and, at this very +time, twelve old men were not wanting, of various countries, of various +fortunes, but all ending finally in ruin, who had centred here, to live +on the poor pittance that had been assigned to them, three hundred years +ago. What a series of chronicles it would have been if each of the +beneficiaries of this charity, since its foundation, had left a record of +the events which finally led him hither. Middleton often, as he talked +with these old men, regretted that he himself had no turn for authorship, +so rich a volume might he have compiled from the experience, sometimes +sunny and triumphant, though always ending in shadow, which he gathered +here. They were glad to talk to him, and would have been glad and +grateful for any auditor, as they sat on one or another of the stone +benches, in the sunshine of the garden; or at evening, around the great +fireside, or within the chimney-corner, with their pipes and ale. + +There was one old man who attracted much of his attention, by the +venerableness of his aspect; by something dignified, almost haughty and +commanding, in his air. Whatever might have been the intentions and +expectations of the founder, it certainly had happened in these latter +days that there was a difficulty in finding persons of education, of good +manners, of evident respectability, to put into the places made vacant by +deaths of members; whether that the paths of life are surer now than they +used to be, and that men so arrange their lives as not to be left, in any +event, quite without resources as they draw near its close; at any rate, +there was a little tincture of the vagabond running through these twelve +quasi gentlemen,--through several of them, at least. But this old man +could not well be mistaken; in his manners, in his tones, in all his +natural language and deportment, there was evidence that he had been more +than respectable; and, viewing him, Middleton could not help wondering +what statesman had suddenly vanished out of public life and taken refuge +here, for his head was of the statesman-class, and his demeanor that of +one who had exercised influence over large numbers of men. He sometimes +endeavored to set on foot a familiar relation with this old man, but +there was even a sternness in the manner in which he repelled these +advances, that gave little encouragement for their renewal. Nor did it +seem that his companions of the Hospital were more in his confidence than +Middleton himself. They regarded him with a kind of awe, a shyness, and +in most cases with a certain dislike, which denoted an imperfect +understanding of him. To say the truth, there was not generally much +love lost between any of the members of this family; they had met with +too much disappointment in the world to take kindly, now, to one another +or to anything or anybody. I rather suspect that they really had more +pleasure in burying one another, when the time came, than in any other +office of mutual kindness and brotherly love which it was their part to +do; not out of hardness of heart, but merely from soured temper, and +because, when people have met disappointment and have settled down into +final unhappiness, with no more gush and spring of good spirits, there is +nothing any more to create amiability out of. + +So the old people were unamiable and cross to one another, and unamiable +and cross to old Hammond, yet always with a certain respect; and the +result seemed to be such as treated the old man well enough. And thus he +moved about among them, a mystery; the histories of the others, in the +general outline, were well enough known, and perhaps not very uncommon; +this old man's history was known to none, except, of course, to the +trustees of the charity, and to the Master of the Hospital, to whom it +had necessarily been revealed, before the beneficiary could be admitted +as an inmate. It was judged, by the deportment of the Master, that the +old man had once held some eminent position in society; for, though bound +to treat them all as gentlemen, he was thought to show an especial and +solemn courtesy to Hammond. + +Yet by the attraction which two strong and cultivated minds inevitably +have for one another, there did spring up an acquaintanceship, an +intercourse, between Middleton and this old man, which was followed up in +many a conversation which they held together on all subjects that were +supplied by the news of the day, or the history of the past. Middleton +used to make the newspaper the opening for much discussion; and it seemed +to him that the talk of his companion had much of the character of that +of a retired statesman, on matters which, perhaps, he would look at all +the more wisely, because it was impossible he could ever more have a +personal agency in them. Their discussions sometimes turned upon the +affairs of his own country, and its relations with the rest of the world, +especially with England; and Middleton could not help being struck with +the accuracy of the old man's knowledge respecting that country, which so +few Englishmen know anything about; his shrewd appreciation of the +American character,--shrewd and caustic, yet not without a good degree of +justice; the sagacity of his remarks on the past, and prophecies of what +was likely to happen,--prophecies which, in one instance, were singularly +verified, in regard to a complexity which was then arresting the +attention of both countries. + +"You must have been in the United States," said he, one day. + +"Certainly; my remarks imply personal knowledge," was the reply. "But it +was before the days of steam." + +"And not, I should imagine, for a brief visit," said Middleton. "I only +wish the administration of this government had the benefit to-day of your +knowledge of my countrymen. It might be better for both of these kindred +nations." + +"Not a whit," said the old man. "England will never understand America; +for England never does understand a foreign country; and whatever you may +say about kindred, America is as much a foreign country as France itself. +These two hundred years of a different climate and circumstances--of life +on a broad continent instead of in an island, to say nothing of the +endless intermixture of nationalities in every part of the United States, +except New England--have created a new and decidedly original type of +national character. It is as well for both parties that they should not +aim at any very intimate connection. It will never do." + +"I should be very sorry to think so," said Middleton; "they are at all +events two noble breeds of men, and ought to appreciate one another. And +America has the breadth of idea to do this for England, whether +reciprocated or not." + +Thursday, May 6th.--Thus Middleton was established in a singular way +among these old men, in one of the surroundings most unlike anything in +his own country. So old it was that it seemed to him the freshest and +newest thing that he had ever met with. The residence was made +infinitely the more interesting to him by the sense that he was near the +place--as all the indications warned him--which he sought, whither his +dreams had tended from his childhood; that he could wander each day round +the park within which were the old gables of what he believed was his +hereditary home. He had never known anything like the dreamy enjoyment +of these days; so quiet, such a contrast to the turbulent life from which +he had escaped across the sea. And here he set himself, still with that +sense of shadowiness in what he saw and in what he did, in making all the +researches possible to him, about the neighborhood; visiting every little +church that raised its square battlemented Norman tower of gray stone, +for several miles round about; making himself acquainted with each little +village and hamlet that surrounded these churches, clustering about the +graves of those who had dwelt in the same cottages aforetime. He visited +all the towns within a dozen miles; and probably there were few of the +inhabitants who had so good an acquaintance with the neighborhood as this +native American attained within a few weeks after his coming thither. + +In course of these excursions he had several times met with a young +woman,--a young lady, one might term her, but in fact he was in some +doubt what rank she might hold, in England,--who happened to be wandering +about the country with a singular freedom. She was always alone, always +on foot; he would see her sketching some picturesque old church, some +ivied ruin, some fine drooping elm. She was a slight figure, much more +so than Englishwomen generally are; and, though healthy of aspect, had +not the ruddy complexion, which he was irreverently inclined to call the +coarse tint, that is believed the great charm of English beauty. There +was a freedom in her step and whole little womanhood, an elasticity, an +irregularity, so to speak, that made her memorable from first sight; and +when he had encountered her three or four times, he felt in a certain way +acquainted with her. She was very simply dressed, and quite as simple in +her deportment; there had been one or two occasions, when they had both +smiled at the same thing; soon afterwards a little conversation had taken +place between them; and thus, without any introduction, and in a way that +somewhat puzzled Middleton himself, they had become acquainted. It was +so unusual that a young English girl should be wandering about the +country entirely alone--so much less usual that she should speak to a +stranger--that Middleton scarcely knew how to account for it, but +meanwhile accepted the fact readily and willingly, for in truth he found +this mysterious personage a very likely and entertaining companion. +There was a strange quality of boldness in her remarks, almost of +brusqueness, that he might have expected to find in a young countrywoman +of his own, if bred up among the strong-minded, but was astonished to +find in a young Englishwoman. Somehow or other she made him think more +of home than any other person or thing he met with; and he could not but +feel that she was in strange contrast with everything about her. She was +no beauty; very piquant; very pleasing; in some points of view and at +some moments pretty; always good-humored, but somewhat too self-possessed +for Middleton's taste. It struck him that she had talked with him as if +she had some knowledge of him and of the purposes with which he was +there; not that this was expressed, but only implied by the fact that, on +looking back to what had passed, he found many strange coincidences in +what she had said with what he was thinking about. + +He perplexed himself much with thinking whence this young woman had come, +where she belonged, and what might be her history; when, the next day, he +again saw her, not this time rambling on foot, but seated in an open +barouche with a young lady. Middleton lifted his hat to her, and she +nodded and smiled to him; and it appeared to Middleton that a +conversation ensued about him with the young lady, her companion. Now, +what still more interested him was the fact that, on the panel of the +barouche were the arms of the family now in possession of the estate of +Smithell's; so that the young lady, his new acquaintance, or the young +lady, her seeming friend, one or the other, was the sister of the present +owner of that estate. He was inclined to think that his acquaintance +could not be the Miss Eldredge, of whose beauty he had heard many tales +among the people of the neighborhood. The other young lady, a tall, +reserved, fair-haired maiden, answered the description considerably +better. He concluded, therefore, that his acquaintance must be a +visitor, perhaps a dependent and companion; though the freedom of her +thought, action, and way of life seemed hardly consistent with this idea. +However, this slight incident served to give him a sort of connection +with the family, and he could but hope that some further chance would +introduce him within what he fondly called his hereditary walls. He had +come to think of this as a dreamland; and it seemed even more a dreamland +now than before it rendered itself into actual substance, an old house of +stone and timber standing within its park, shaded about with its +ancestral trees. + +But thus, at all events, he was getting himself a little wrought into the +net-work of human life around him, secluded as his position had at first +seemed to be, in the farm-house where he had taken up his lodgings. For, +there was the Hospital and its old inhabitants, in whose monotonous +existence he soon came to pass for something, with his liveliness of +mind, his experience, his good sense, his patience as a listener, his +comparative youth even--his power of adapting himself to these stiff and +crusty characters, a power learned among other things in his political +life, where he had acquired something of the faculty (good or bad as +might be) of making himself all things to all men. But though he amused +himself with them all, there was in truth but one man among them in whom +he really felt much interest; and that one, we need hardly say, was +Hammond. It was not often that he found the old gentleman in a +conversible mood; always courteous, indeed, but generally cool and +reserved; often engaged in his one room, to which Middleton had never yet +been admitted, though he had more than once sent in his name, when +Hammond was not apparent upon the bench which, by common consent of the +Hospital, was appropriated to him. + +One day, however, notwithstanding that the old gentleman was confined to +his room by indisposition, he ventured to inquire at the door, and, +considerably to his surprise, was admitted. He found Hammond in his +easy-chair, at a table, with writing-materials before him: and as +Middleton entered, the old gentleman looked at him with a stern, fixed +regard, which, however, did not seem to imply any particular displeasure +towards this visitor, but rather a severe way of regarding mankind in +general. Middleton looked curiously around the small apartment, to see +what modification the character of the man had had upon the customary +furniture of the Hospital, and how much of individuality he had given to +that general type. There was a shelf of books, and a row of them on the +mantel-piece; works of political economy, they appeared to be, statistics +and things of that sort; very dry reading, with which, however, +Middleton's experience as a politician had made him acquainted. Besides +there were a few works on local antiquities, a county-history borrowed +from the Master's library, in which Hammond appeared to have been lately +reading. + +"They are delightful reading," observed Middleton, "these old +county-histories, with their great folio volumes and their minute account +of the affairs of families and the genealogies, and descents of estates, +bestowing as much blessed space on a few hundred acres as other +historians give to a principality. I fear that in my own country we +shall never have anything of this kind. Our space is so vast that we +shall never come to know and love it, inch by inch, as the English +antiquarians do the tracts of country with which they deal; and besides, +our land is always likely to lack the interest that belongs to English +estates; for where land changes its ownership every few years, it does +not become imbued with the personalities of the people who live on it. +It is but so much grass; so much dirt, where a succession of people have +dwelt too little to make it really their own. But I have found a +pleasure that I had no conception of before, in reading some of the +English local histories." + +"It is not a usual course of reading for a transitory visitor," said +Hammond. "What could induce you to undertake it?" + +"Simply the wish, so common and natural with Americans," said Middleton-- +"the wish to find out something about my kindred--the local origin of my +own family." + +"You do not show your wisdom in this," said his visitor. "America had +better recognize the fact that it has nothing to do with England, and +look upon itself as other nations and people do, as existing on its own +hook. I never heard of any people looking back to the country of their +remote origin in the way the Anglo-Americans do. For instance, England +is made up of many alien races, German, Danish, Norman, and what not: it +has received large, accessions of population at a later date than the +settlement of the United States. Yet these families melt into the great +homogeneous mass of Englishmen, and look back no more to any other +country. There are in this vicinity many descendants of the French +Huguenots; but they care no more for France than for Timbuctoo, reckoning +themselves only Englishmen, as if they were descendants of the aboriginal +Britons. Let it be so with you." + +"So it might be," replied Middleton, "only that our relations with +England remain far more numerous than our disconnections, through the +bonds of history, of literature, of all that makes up the memories, and +much that makes up the present interests of a people. And therefore I +must still continue to pore over these old folios, and hunt around these +precincts, spending thus the little idle time I am likely to have in a +busy life. Possibly finding little to my purpose; but that is quite a +secondary consideration." + +"If you choose to tell me precisely what your aims are," said Hammond, +"it is possible I might give you some little assistance." + +May 7th, Friday.--Middleton was in fact more than half ashamed of the +dreams which he had cherished before coming to England, and which since, +at times, had been very potent with him, assuming as strong a tinge of +reality as those [scenes?] into which he had strayed. He could not +prevail with himself to disclose fully to this severe, and, as he +thought, cynical old man how strong within him was the sentiment that +impelled him to connect himself with the old life of England, to join on +the broken thread of ancestry and descent, and feel every link well +established. But it seemed to him that he ought not to lose this fair +opportunity of gaining some light on the abstruse field of his +researches; and he therefore explained to Hammond that he had reason, +from old family traditions, to believe that he brought with him a +fragment of a history that, if followed out, might lead to curious +results. He told him, in a tone half serious, what he had heard +respecting the quarrel of the two brothers, and the Bloody Footstep, the +impress of which was said to remain, as a lasting memorial of the tragic +termination of that enmity. At this point, Hammond interrupted him. He +had indeed, at various points of the narrative, nodded and smiled +mysteriously, as if looking into his mind and seeing something there +analogous to what he was listening to. He now spoke. + +"This is curious," said he. "Did you know that there is a manor-house in +this neighborhood, the family of which prides itself on having such a +blood-stained threshold as you have now described?" + +"No, indeed!" exclaimed Middleton, greatly interested. "Where?" + +"It is the old manor-house of Smithell's," replied Hammond, "one of those +old wood and timber [plaster?] mansions, which are among the most ancient +specimens of domestic architecture in England. The house has now passed +into the female line, and by marriage has been for two or three +generations in possession of another family. But the blood of the old +inheritors is still in the family. The house itself, or portions of it, +are thought to date back quite as far as the Conquest." + +"Smithell's?" said Middleton. "Why, I have seen that old house from a +distance, and have felt no little interest in its antique aspect. And it +has a Bloody Footstep! Would it be possible for a stranger to get an +opportunity to inspect it?" + +"Unquestionably," said Hammond; "nothing easier. It is but a moderate +distance from here, and if you can moderate your young footsteps, and +your American quick walk, to an old man's pace, I would go there with you +some day. In this languor and ennui of my life, I spend some time in +local antiquarianism, and perhaps I might assist you in tracing out how +far these traditions of yours may have any connection with reality. It +would be curious, would it not, if you had come, after two hundred years, +to piece out a story which may have been as much a mystery in England as +there in America?" + +An engagement was made for a walk to Smithell's the ensuing day; and +meanwhile Middleton entered more fully into what he had received from +family traditions and what he had thought out for himself on the matter +in question. + +"Are you aware," asked Hammond, "that there was formerly a title in this +family, now in abeyance, and which the heirs have at various times +claimed, and are at this moment claiming? Do you know, too,--but you can +scarcely know it,--that it has been surmised by some that there is an +insecurity in the title to the estate, and has always been; so that the +possessors have lived in some apprehension, from time immemorial, that +another heir would appear and take from them the fair inheritance? It is +a singular coincidence." + +"Very strange," exclaimed Middleton. "No; I was not aware of it; and, to +say the truth, I should not altogether like to come forward in the light +of a claimant. But this is a dream, surely!" + +"I assure you, sir," continued the old man, "that you come here in a very +critical moment; and singularly enough there is a perplexity, a +difficulty, that has endured for as long a time as when your ancestors +emigrated, that is still rampant within the bowels, as I may say, of the +family. Of course, it is too like a romance that you should be able to +establish any such claim as would have a valid influence on this matter; +but still, being here on the spot, it may be worth while, if merely as a +matter of amusement, to make some researches into this matter." + +"Surely I will," said Middleton, with a smile, which concealed more +earnestness than he liked to show; "as to the title, a Republican cannot +be supposed to think twice about such a bagatelle. The estate!--that +might be a more serious consideration." + +They continued to talk on the subject; and Middleton learned that the +present possessor of the estates was a gentleman nowise distinguished +from hundreds of other English gentlemen; a country squire modified in +accordance with the type of to-day, a frank, free, friendly sort of a +person enough, who had travelled on the Continent, who employed himself +much in field-sports, who was unmarried, and had a sister who was +reckoned among the beauties of the county. + +While the conversation was thus going on, to Middleton's astonishment +there came a knock at the door of the room, and, without waiting for a +response, it was opened, and there appeared at it the same young woman +whom he had already met. She came in with perfect freedom and +familiarity, and was received quietly by the old gentleman; who, however, +by his manner towards Middleton, indicated that he was now to take his +leave. He did so, after settling the hour at which the excursion of the +next day was to take place. This arranged, he departed, with much to +think of, and a light glimmering through the confused labyrinth of +thoughts which had been unilluminated hitherto. + +To say the truth, he questioned within himself whether it were not better +to get as quickly as he could out of the vicinity; and, at any rate, not +to put anything of earnest in what had hitherto been nothing more than a +romance to him. There was something very dark and sinister in the events +of family history, which now assumed a reality that they had never before +worn; so much tragedy, so much hatred, had been thrown into that deep +pit, and buried under the accumulated debris, the fallen leaves, the rust +and dust of more than two centuries, that it seemed not worth while to +dig it up; for perhaps the deadly influences, which it had taken so much +time to hide, might still be lurking there, and become potent if he now +uncovered them. There was something that startled him, in the strange, +wild light, which gleamed from the old man's eyes, as he threw out the +suggestions which had opened this prospect to him. What right had he--an +American, Republican, disconnected with this country so long, alien from +its habits of thought and life, reverencing none of the things which +Englishmen reverenced--what right had he to come with these musty claims +from the dim past, to disturb them in the life that belonged to them? +There was a higher and a deeper law than any connected with ancestral +claims which he could assert; and he had an idea that the law bade him +keep to the country which his ancestor had chosen and to its +institutions, and not meddle nor make with England. The roots of his +family tree could not reach under the ocean; he was at most but a +seedling from the parent tree. While thus meditating he found that his +footsteps had brought him unawares within sight of the old manor-house of +Smithell's; and that he was wandering in a path which, if he followed it +further, would bring him to an entrance in one of the wings of the +mansion. With a sort of shame upon him, he went forward, and, leaning +against a tree, looked at what he considered the home of his ancestors. + +May 9th, Sunday.--At the time appointed, the two companions set out on +their little expedition, the old man in his Hospital uniform, the long +black mantle, with the bear and ragged staff engraved in silver on the +breast, and Middleton in the plain costume which he had adopted in these +wanderings about the country. On their way, Hammond was not very +communicative, occasionally dropping some shrewd remark with a good deal +of acidity in it; now and then, too, favoring his companion with some +reminiscence of local antiquity; but oftenest silent. Thus they went on, +and entered the park of Pemberton Manor by a by-path, over a stile and +one of those footways, which are always so well worth threading out in +England, leading the pedestrian into picturesque and characteristic +scenes, when the high-road would show him nothing except what was +commonplace and uninteresting. Now the gables of the old manor-house +appeared before them, rising amidst the hereditary woods, which doubtless +dated from a time beyond the days which Middleton fondly recalled, when +his ancestors had walked beneath their shade. On each side of them were +thickets and copses of fern, amidst which they saw the hares peeping out +to gaze upon them, occasionally running across the path, and comporting +themselves like creatures that felt themselves under some sort of +protection from the outrages of man, though they knew too much of his +destructive character to trust him too far. Pheasants, too, rose close +beside them, and winged but a little way before they alighted; they +likewise knew, or seemed to know, that their hour was not yet come. On +all sides in these woods, these wastes, these beasts and birds, there was +a character that was neither wild nor tame. Man had laid his grasp on +them all, and done enough to redeem them from barbarism, but had stopped +short of domesticating them; although Nature, in the wildest thing there, +acknowledged the powerful and pervading influence of cultivation. + +Arriving at a side door of the mansion, Hammond rang the bell, and a +servant soon appeared. He seemed to know the old man, and immediately +acceded to his request to be permitted to show his companion the house; +although it was not precisely a show-house, nor was this the hour when +strangers were usually admitted. They entered; and the servant did not +give himself the trouble to act as a cicerone to the two visitants, but +carelessly said to the old gentleman that he knew the rooms, and that he +would leave him to discourse to his friend about them. Accordingly, they +went into the old hall, a dark oaken-panelled room, of no great height, +with many doors opening into it. There was a fire burning on the hearth; +indeed, it was the custom of the house to keep it up from morning to +night; and in the damp, chill climate of England, there is seldom a day +in some part of which a fire is not pleasant to feel. Hammond here +pointed out a stuffed fox, to which some story of a famous chase was +attached; a pair of antlers of enormous size; and some old family +pictures, so blackened with time and neglect that Middleton could not +well distinguish their features, though curious to do so, as hoping to +see there the lineaments of some with whom he might claim kindred. It +was a venerable apartment, and gave a good foretaste of what they might +hope to find in the rest of the mansion. + +But when they had inspected it pretty thoroughly, and were ready to +proceed, an elderly gentleman entered the hall, and, seeing Hammond, +addressed him in a kindly, familiar way; not indeed as an equal friend, +but with a pleasant and not irksome conversation. "I am glad to see you +here again," said he. "What? I have an hour of leisure; for, to say the +truth, the day hangs rather heavy till the shooting season begins. Come; +as you have a friend with you, I will be your cicerone myself about the +house, and show you whatever mouldy objects of interest it contains." + +He then graciously noticed the old man's companion, but without asking or +seeming to expect an introduction; for, after a careless glance at him, +he had evidently set him down as a person without social claims, a young +man in the rank of life fitted to associate with an inmate of Pemberton's +Hospital. And it must be noticed that his treatment of Middleton was not +on that account the less kind, though far from being so elaborately +courteous as if he had met him as an equal. "You have had something of a +walk," said he, "and it is a rather hot day. The beer of Pemberton Manor +has been reckoned good these hundred years; will you taste it?" + +Hammond accepted the offer, and the beer was brought in a foaming +tankard; but Middleton declined it, for in truth there was a singular +emotion in his breast, as if the old enmity, the ancient injuries, were +not yet atoned for, and as if he must not accept the hospitality of one +who represented his hereditary foe. He felt, too, as if there were +something unworthy, a certain want of fairness, in entering clandestinely +the house, and talking with its occupant under a veil, as it were; and +had he seen clearly how to do it, he would perhaps at that moment have +fairly told Mr. Eldredge that he brought with him the character of +kinsman, and must be received in that grade or none. But it was not easy +to do this; and after all, there was no clear reason why he should do it; +so he let the matter pass, merely declining to take the refreshment, and +keeping himself quiet and retired. + +Squire Eldredge seemed to be a good, ordinary sort of gentleman, +reasonably well educated, and with few ideas beyond his estate and +neighborhood, though he had once held a seat in Parliament for part of a +term. Middleton could not but contrast him, with an inward smile, with +the shrewd, alert politicians, their faculties all sharpened to the +utmost, whom he had known and consorted with in the American Congress. +Hammond had slightly informed him that his companion was an American; and +Mr. Eldredge immediately gave proof of the extent of his knowledge of +that country, by inquiring whether he came from the State of New England, +and whether Mr. Webster was still President of the United States; +questions to which Middleton returned answers that led to no further +conversation. + +These little preliminaries over, they continued their ramble through the +house, going through tortuous passages, up and down little flights of +steps, and entering chambers that had all the charm of discoveries of +hidden regions; loitering about, in short, in a labyrinth calculated to +put the head into a delightful confusion. Some of these rooms contained +their time-honored furniture, all in the best possible repair, heavy, +dark, polished; beds that had been marriage beds and dying beds over and +over again; chairs with carved backs; and all manner of old world +curiosities; family pictures, and samplers, and embroidery; fragments of +tapestry; an inlaid floor; everything having a story to it, though, to +say the truth, the possessor of these curiosities made but a bungling +piece of work in telling the legends connected with them. In one or two +instances Hammond corrected him. + +By and by they came to what had once been the principal bed-room of the +house; though its gloom, and some circumstances of family misfortune that +had happened long ago, had caused it to fall into disrepute, in latter +times; and it was now called the Haunted Chamber, or the Ghost's Chamber. +The furniture of this room, however, was particularly rich in its antique +magnificence; and one of the principal objects was a great black cabinet +of ebony and ivory, such as may often be seen in old English houses, and +perhaps often in the palaces of Italy, in which country they perhaps +originated. This present cabinet was known to have been in the house as +long ago as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and how much longer neither +tradition nor record told. Hammond particularly directed Middleton's +attention to it. + +"There is nothing in this house," said he, "better worth your attention +than that cabinet. Consider its plan; it represents a stately mansion, +with pillars, an entrance, with a lofty flight of steps, windows, and +everything perfect. Examine it well." + +There was such an emphasis in the old man's way of speaking that +Middleton turned suddenly round from all that he had been looking at, and +fixed his whole attention on the cabinet; and strangely enough, it seemed +to be the representative, in small, of something that he had seen in a +dream. To say the truth, if some cunning workman had been employed to +copy his idea of the old family mansion, on a scale of half an inch to a +yard, and in ebony and ivory instead of stone, he could not have produced +a closer imitation. Everything was there. + +"This is miraculous!" exclaimed he. "I do not understand it." + +"Your friend seems to be curious in these matters," said Mr. Eldredge +graciously. "Perhaps he is of some trade that makes this sort of +manufacture particularly interesting to him. You are quite at liberty, +my friend, to open the cabinet and inspect it as minutely as you wish. +It is an article that has a good deal to do with an obscure portion of +our family history. Look, here is the key, and the mode of opening the +outer door of the palace, as we may well call it." So saying, he threw +open the outer door, and disclosed within the mimic likeness of a stately +entrance hall, with a floor chequered of ebony and ivory. There were +other doors that seemed to open into apartments in the interior of the +palace; but when Mr. Eldredge threw them likewise wide, they proved to be +drawers and secret receptacles, where papers, jewels, money, anything +that it was desirable to store away secretly, might be kept. + +"You said, sir," said Middleton, thoughtfully, "that your family history +contained matter of interest in reference to this cabinet. Might I +inquire what those legends are?" + +"Why, yes," said Mr. Eldredge, musing a little. "I see no reason why I +should have any idle concealment about the matter, especially to a +foreigner and a man whom I am never likely to see again. You must know, +then, my friend, that there was once a time when this cabinet was known +to contain the fate of the estate and its possessors; and if it had held +all that it was supposed to hold, I should not now be the lord of +Pemberton Manor, nor the claimant of an ancient title. But my father, +and his father before him, and his father besides, have held the estate +and prospered on it; and I think we may fairly conclude now that the +cabinet contains nothing except what we see." + +And he rapidly again threw open one after another all the numerous +drawers and receptacles of the cabinet. + +"It is an interesting object," said Middleton, after looking very closely +and with great attention at it, being pressed thereto, indeed, by the +owner's good-natured satisfaction in possessing this rare article of +vertu. "It is admirable work," repeated he, drawing back. "That mosaic +floor, especially, is done with an art and skill that I never saw +equalled." + +There was something strange and altered in Middleton's tones, that +attracted the notice of Mr. Eldredge. Looking at him, he saw that he had +grown pale, and had a rather bewildered air. + +"Is your friend ill?" said he. "He has not our English ruggedness of +look. He would have done better to take a sip of the cool tankard, and a +slice of the cold beef. He finds no such food and drink as that in his +own country, I warrant." + +"His color has come back," responded Hammond, briefly. "He does not need +any refreshment, I think, except, perhaps, the open air." + +In fact, Middleton, recovering himself, apologized to Mr. Hammond. +[Eldredge?]; and as they had now seen nearly the whole of the house, the +two visitants took their leave, with many kindly offers on Mr. Eldredge's +part to permit the young man to view the cabinet whenever he wished. As +they went out of the house (it was by another door than that which gave +them entrance), Hammond laid his hand on Middleton's shoulder and pointed +to a stone on the threshold, on which he was about to set his foot. +"Take care!" said he. "It is the Bloody Footstep." + +Middleton looked down and saw something, indeed, very like the shape of a +footprint, with a hue very like that of blood. It was a twilight sort of +a place, beneath a porch, which was much overshadowed by trees and +shrubbery. It might have been blood; but he rather thought, in his +wicked skepticism, that it was a natural, reddish stain in the stone. He +measured his own foot, however, in the Bloody Footstep. + +May 10th, Monday.--This is the present aspect of the story: Middleton is +the descendant of a family long settled in the United States; his +ancestor having emigrated to New England with the Pilgrims; or, perhaps, +at a still earlier date, to Virginia with Raleigh's colonists. There had +been a family dissension,--a bitter hostility between two brothers in +England; on account, probably, of a love affair, the two both being +attached to the same lady. By the influence of the family on both sides, +the young lady had formed an engagement with the elder brother, although +her affections had settled on the younger. The marriage was about to +take place when the younger brother and the bride both disappeared, and +were never heard of with any certainty afterwards; but it was believed at +the time that he had been killed, and in proof of it a bloody footstep +remained on the threshold of the ancestral mansion. There were rumors, +afterwards, traditionally continued to the present day, that the younger +brother and the bride were seen, and together, in England; and that some +voyager across the sea had found them living together, husband and wife, +on the other side of the Atlantic. But the elder brother became a moody +and reserved man, never married, and left the inheritance to the children +of a third brother, who then became the representative of the family in +England; and the better authenticated story was that the second brother +had really been slain, and that the young lady (for all the parties may +have been Catholic) had gone to the Continent and taken the veil there. +Such was the family history as known or surmised in England, and in the +neighborhood of the manor-house, where the Bloody Footstep still remained +on the threshold; and the posterity of the third brother still held the +estate, and perhaps were claimants of an ancient baronage, long in +abeyance. + +Now, on the other side of the Atlantic, the second brother and the young +lady had really been married, and became the parents of a posterity, +still extant, of which the Middleton of the romance is the surviving +male. Perhaps he had changed his name, being so much tortured with the +evil and wrong that had sprung up in his family, so remorseful, so +outraged, that he wished to disconnect himself with all the past, and +begin life quite anew in a new world. But both he and his wife, though +happy in one another, had been remorsefully and sadly so; and, with such +feelings, they had never again communicated with their respective +families, nor had given their children the means of doing so. There +must, I think, have been something nearly approaching to guilt on the +second brother's part, and the bride should have broken a solemnly +plighted troth to the elder brother, breaking away from him when almost +his wife. The elder brother had been known to have been wounded at the +time of the second brother's disappearance; and it had been the surmise +that he had received this hurt in the personal conflict in which the +latter was slain. But in truth the second brother had stabbed him in the +emergency of being discovered in the act of escaping with the bride; and +this was what weighed upon his conscience throughout life in America. +The American family had prolonged itself through various fortunes, and +all the ups and downs incident to our institutions, until the present +day. They had some old family documents, which had been rather +carelessly kept; but the present representative, being an educated man, +had looked over them, and found one which interested him strongly. It +was--what was it?--perhaps a copy of a letter written by his ancestor on +his deathbed, telling his real name, and relating the above incidents. +These incidents had come down in a vague wild way, traditionally, in the +American family, forming a wondrous and incredible legend, which +Middleton had often laughed at, yet been greatly interested in; and the +discovery of this document seemed to give a certain aspect of veracity +and reality to the tradition. Perhaps, however, the document only +related to the change of name, and made reference to certain evidences by +which, if any descendant of the family should deem it expedient, he might +prove his hereditary identity. The legend must be accounted for by +having been gathered from the talk of the first ancestor and his wife. +There must be in existence, in the early records of the colony, an +authenticated statement of this change of name, and satisfactory proofs +that the American family, long known as Middleton, were really a branch +of the English family of Eldredge, or whatever. And in the legend, +though not in the written document, there must be an account of a certain +magnificent, almost palatial residence, which Middleton shall presume to +be the ancestral house; and in this palace there shall be said to be a +certain secret chamber, or receptacle, where is reposited a document that +shall complete the evidence of the genealogical descent. + +Middleton is still a young man, but already a distinguished one in his +own country; he has entered early into politics, been sent to Congress, +but having met with some disappointments in his ambitious hopes, and +being disgusted with the fierceness of political contests in our country, +he has come abroad for recreation and rest. His imagination has dwelt +much, in his boyhood, on the legendary story of his family; and the +discovery of the document has revived these dreams. He determines to +search out the family mansion; and thus he arrives, bringing half of a +story, being the only part known in America, to join it on to the other +half, which is the only part known in England. In an introduction I must +do the best I can to state his side of the matter to the reader, he +having communicated it to me in a friendly way, at the Consulate; as many +people have communicated quite as wild pretensions to English +genealogies. + +He comes to the midland counties of England, where he conceives his +claims to lie, and seeks for his ancestral home; but there are +difficulties in the way of finding it, the estates having passed into the +female line, though still remaining in the blood. By and by, however, he +comes to an old town where there is one of the charitable institutions +bearing the name of his family, by whose beneficence it had indeed been +founded, in Queen Elizabeth's time. He of course becomes interested in +this Hospital; he finds it still going on, precisely as it did in the old +days; and all the character and life of the establishment must be +picturesquely described. Here he gets acquainted with an old man, an +inmate of the Hospital, who (if the uncontrollable fatality of the story +will permit) must have an active influence on the ensuing events. I +suppose him to have been an American, but to have fled his country and +taken refuge in England; he shall have been a man of the Nicholas Biddle +stamp, a mighty speculator, the ruin of whose schemes had crushed +hundreds of people, and Middleton's father among the rest. Here he had +quitted the activity of his mind, as well as he could, becoming a local +antiquary, etc., and he has made himself acquainted with the family +history of the Eldredges, knowing more about it than the members of the +family themselves do. He had known in America (from Middleton's father, +who was his friend) the legends preserved in this branch of the family, +and perhaps had been struck by the way in which they fit into the English +legends; at any rate, this strikes him when Middleton tells him his story +and shows him the document respecting the change of name. After various +conversations together (in which, however, the old man keeps the secret +of his own identity, and indeed acts as mysteriously as possible) they go +together to visit the ancestral mansion. Perhaps it should not be in +their first visit that the cabinet, representing the stately mansion, +shall be seen. But the Bloody Footstep may; which shall interest +Middleton much, both because Hammond has told him the English tradition +respecting it, and because too the legends of the American family made +some obscure allusions to his ancestor having left blood--a bloody +footstep--on the ancestral threshold. This is the point to which the +story has now been sketched out. Middleton finds a commonplace old +English country gentleman in possession of the estate, where his +forefathers had lived in peace for many generations; but there must be +circumstances contrived which shall cause Middleton's conduct to be +attended by no end of turmoil and trouble. The old Hospitaller, I +suppose, must be the malicious agent in this; and his malice must be +motived in some satisfactory way. The more serious question, what shall +be the nature of this tragic trouble, and how can it be brought about? + +May 11th, Tuesday.--How much better would it have been if this secret, +which seemed so golden, had remained in the obscurity in which two +hundred years had buried it! That deep, old, grass-grown grave being +opened, out from it streamed into the sunshine the old fatalities, the +old crimes, the old misfortunes, the sorrows, that seemed to have +departed from the family forever. But it was too late now to close it +up; he must follow out the thread that led him on,--the thread of fate, +if you choose to call it so; but rather the impulse of an evil will, a +stubborn self-interest, a desire for certain objects of ambition which +were preferred to what yet were recognized as real goods. Thus reasoned, +thus raved, Eldredge, as he considered the things that he had done, and +still intended to do; nor did these perceptions make the slightest +difference in his plans, nor in the activity with which he set about +their performance. For this purpose he sent for his lawyer, and +consulted him on the feasibility of the design which he had already +communicated to him respecting Middleton. But the man of law shook his +head, and, though deferentially, declined to have any active concern with +the matter that threatened to lead him beyond the bounds which he allowed +himself, into a seductive but perilous region. + +"My dear sir," said he, with some earnestness, "you had much better +content yourself with such assistance as I can professionally and +consistently give you. Believe [me], I am willing to do a lawyer's +utmost, and to do more would be as unsafe for the client as for the legal +adviser." + +Thus left without an agent and an instrument, this unfortunate man had to +meditate on what means he would use to gain his ends through his own +unassisted efforts. In the struggle with himself through which he had +passed, he had exhausted pretty much all the feelings that he had to +bestow on this matter; and now he was ready to take hold of almost any +temptation that might present itself, so long as it showed a good +prospect of success and a plausible chance of impunity. While he was +thus musing, he heard a female voice chanting some song, like a bird's +among the pleasant foliage of the trees, and soon he saw at the end of a +wood-walk Alice, with her basket on her arm, passing on toward the +village. She looked towards him as she passed, but made no pause nor yet +hastened her steps; not seeming to think it worth her while to be +influenced by him. He hurried forward and overtook her. + +So there was this poor old gentleman, his comfort utterly overthrown, +decking his white hair and wrinkled brow with the semblance of a coronet, +and only hoping that the reality might crown and bless him before he was +laid in the ancestral tomb. It was a real calamity; though by no means +the greatest that had been fished up out of the pit of domestic discord +that had been opened anew by the advent of the American; and by the use +which had been made of it by the cantankerous old man of the Hospital. +Middleton, as he looked at these evil consequences, sometimes regretted +that he had not listened to those forebodings which had warned him back +on the eve of his enterprise; yet such was the strange entanglement and +interest which had wound about him, that often he rejoiced that for once +he was engaged in something that absorbed him fully, and the zeal for the +development of which made him careless for the result in respect to its +good or evil, but only desirous that it show itself. As for Alice, she +seemed to skim lightly through all these matters, whether as a spirit of +good or ill he could not satisfactorily judge. He could not think her +wicked; yet her actions seemed unaccountable on the plea that she was +otherwise. It was another characteristic thread in the wild web of +madness that had spun itself about all the prominent characters of our +story. And when Middleton thought of these things, he felt as if it +might be his duty (supposing he had the power) to shovel the earth again +into the pit that he had been the means of opening; but also felt that, +whether duty or not, he would never perform it. + +For, you see, on the American's arrival he had found the estate in the +hands of one of the descendants; but some disclosures consequent on his +arrival had thrown it into the hands of another; or, at all events, had +seemed to make it apparent that justice required that it should be so +disposed of. No sooner was the discovery made than the possessor put on +a coronet; the new heir had commenced legal proceedings; the sons of the +respective branches had come to blows and blood; and the devil knows what +other devilish consequences had ensued. Besides this, there was much +falling in love at cross-purposes, and a general animosity of every body +against everybody else, in proportion to the closeness of the natural +ties and their obligation to love one another. + +The moral, if any moral were to be gathered from these petty and wretched +circumstances, was, "Let the past alone: do not seek to renew it; press +on to higher and better things,--at all events, to other things; and be +assured that the right way can never be that which leads you back to the +identical shapes that you long ago left behind. Onward, onward, onward!" + +"What have you to do here?" said Alice. "Your lot is in another land. +You have seen the birthplace of your forefathers, and have gratified your +natural yearning for it; now return, and cast in your lot with your own +people, let it be what it will. I fully believe that it is such a lot as +the world has never yet seen, and that the faults, the weaknesses, the +errors, of your countrymen will vanish away like morning mists before the +rising sun. You can do nothing better than to go back." + +"This is strange advice, Alice," said Middleton, gazing at her and +smiling. "Go back, with such a fair prospect before me; that were +strange indeed! It is enough to keep me here, that here only I shall see +you,--enough to make me rejoice to have come, that I have found you +here." + +"Do not speak in this foolish way," cried Alice, panting. "I am giving +you the best advice, and speaking in the wisest way I am capable of,-- +speaking on good grounds too,--and you turn me aside with a silly +compliment. I tell you that this is no comedy in which we are +performers, but a deep, sad tragedy; and that it depends most upon you +whether or no it shall be pressed to a catastrophe. Think well of it." + +"I have thought, Alice," responded the young man, "and I must let things +take their course; if, indeed, it depends at all upon me, which I see no +present reason to suppose. Yet I wish you would explain to me what you +mean." + +To take up the story from the point where we left it: by the aid of the +American's revelations, some light is thrown upon points of family +history, which induce the English possessor of the estate to suppose that +the time has come for asserting his claim to a title which has long been +in abeyance. He therefore sets about it, and engages in great expenses, +besides contracting the enmity of many persons, with whose interests he +interferes. A further complication is brought about by the secret +interference of the old Hospitaller, and Alice goes singing and dancing +through the whole, in a way that makes her seem like a beautiful devil, +though finally it will be recognized that she is an angel of light. +Middleton, half bewildered, can scarcely tell how much of this is due to +his own agency; how much is independent of him and would have happened +had he stayed on his own side of the water. By and by a further and +unexpected development presents the singular fact that he himself is the +heir to whatever claims there are, whether of property or rank,--all +centring in him as the representative of the eldest brother. On this +discovery there ensues a tragedy in the death of the present possessor of +the estate, who has staked everything upon the issue; and Middleton, +standing amid the ruin and desolation of which he has been the innocent +cause, resigns all the claims which he might now assert, and retires, arm +in arm with Alice, who has encouraged him to take this course, and to act +up to his character. The estate takes a passage into the female line, +and the old name becomes extinct, nor does Middleton seek to continue it +by resuming it in place of the one long ago assumed by his ancestor. +Thus he and his wife become the Adam and Eve of a new epoch, and the +fitting missionaries of a new social faith, of which there must be +continual hints through the book. + +A knot of characters may be introduced as gathering around Middleton, +comprising expatriated Americans of all sorts: the wandering printer who +came to me so often at the Consulate, who said he was a native of +Philadelphia, and could not go home in the thirty years that he had been +trying to do so, for lack of the money to pay his passage; the large +banker; the consul of Leeds; the woman asserting her claims to half +Liverpool; the gifted literary lady, maddened by Shakespeare, etc., etc. +The Yankee who had been driven insane by the Queen's notice, slight as it +was, of the photographs of his two children which he had sent her. I +have not yet struck the true key-note of this Romance, and until I do, +and unless I do, I shall write nothing but tediousness and nonsense. I +do not wish it to be a picture of life, but a Romance, grim, grotesque, +quaint, of which the Hospital might be the fitting scene. It might have +so much of the hues of life that the reader should sometimes think it was +intended for a picture, yet the atmosphere should be such as to excuse +all wildness. In the Introduction, I might disclaim all intention to +draw a real picture, but say that the continual meetings I had with +Americans bent on such errands had suggested this wild story. The +descriptions of scenery, etc., and of the Hospital, might be correct, but +there should be a tinge of the grotesque given to all the characters and +events. The tragic and the gentler pathetic need not be excluded by the +tone and treatment. If I could but write one central scene in this vein, +all the rest of the Romance would readily arrange itself around that +nucleus. The begging-girl would be another American character; the +actress too; the caravan people. It must be humorous work, or nothing. + + +III. + +May 12th, Wednesday.--Middleton found his abode here becoming daily more +interesting; and he sometimes thought that it was the sympathies with the +place and people, buried under the supergrowth of so many ages, but now +coming forth with the life and vigor of a fountain, that, long hidden +beneath earth and ruins, gushes out singing into the sunshine, as soon as +these are removed. He wandered about the neighborhood with insatiable +interest; sometimes, and often, lying on a hill-side and gazing at the +gray tower of the church; sometimes coming into the village clustered +round that same church, and looking at the old timber and plaster houses, +the same, except that the thatch had probably been often renewed, that +they used to be in his ancestor's days. In those old cottages still +dwelt the families, the ------s, the Prices, the Hopnorts, the Copleys, +that had dwelt there when America was a scattered progeny of infant +colonies; and in the churchyard were the graves of all the generations +since--including the dust of those who had seen his ancestor's face +before his departure. + +The graves, outside the church walls indeed, bore no marks of this +antiquity; for it seems not to have been an early practice in England to +put stones over such graves; and where it has been done, the climate +causes the inscriptions soon to become obliterated and unintelligible. +But, within the church, there were rich words of the personages and times +with whom Middleton's musings held so much converse. + +But one of his greatest employments and pastimes was to ramble through +the grounds of Smithell's, making himself as well acquainted with its +wood paths, its glens, its woods, its venerable trees, as if he had been +bred up there from infancy. Some of those old oaks his ancestor might +have been acquainted with, while they were already sturdy and well-grown +trees; might have climbed them in boyhood; might have mused beneath them +as a lover; might have flung himself at full length on the turf beneath +them, in the bitter anguish that must have preceded his departure forever +from the home of his forefathers. In order to secure an uninterrupted +enjoyment of his rambles here, Middleton had secured the good-will of the +game-keepers and other underlings whom he was likely to meet about the +grounds, by giving them a shilling or a half-crown; and he was now free +to wander where he would, with only the advice rather than the caution, +to keep out of the way of their old master,--for there might be trouble, +if he should meet a stranger on the grounds, in any of his tantrums. +But, in fact, Mr. Eldredge was not much in the habit of walking about the +grounds; and there were hours of every day, during which it was +altogether improbable that he would have emerged from his own apartments +in the manor-house. These were the hours, therefore, when Middleton most +frequented the estate; although, to say the truth, he would gladly have +so timed his visits as to meet and form an acquaintance with the lonely +lord of this beautiful property, his own kinsman, though with so many +ages of dark oblivion between. For Middleton had not that feeling of +infinite distance in the relationship, which he would have had if his +branch of the family had continued in England, and had not intermarried +with the other branch, through such a long waste of years; he rather felt +as if he were the original emigrant who, long resident on a foreign +shore, had now returned, with a heart brimful of tenderness, to revisit +the scenes of his youth, and renew his tender relations with those who +shared his own blood. + +There was not, however, much in what he heard of the character of the +present possessor of the estate--or indeed in the strong family +characteristic that had become hereditary--to encourage him to attempt +any advances. It is very probable that the religion of Mr. Eldredge, as +a Catholic, may have excited a prejudice against him, as it certainly had +insulated the family, in a great degree, from the sympathies of the +neighborhood. Mr. Eldredge, moreover, had resided long on the Continent; +long in Italy; and had come back with habits that little accorded with +those of the gentry of the neighborhood; so that, in fact, he was almost +as much of a stranger, and perhaps quite as little of a real Englishman, +as Middleton himself. Be that as it might, Middleton, when he sought to +learn something about him, heard the strangest stories of his habits of +life, of his temper, and of his employments, from the people with whom he +conversed. The old legend, turning upon the monomania of the family, was +revived in full force in reference to this poor gentleman; and many a +time Middleton's interlocutors shook their wise heads, saying with a +knowing look and under their breath that the old gentleman was looking +for the track of the Bloody Footstep. They fabled--or said, for it might +not have been a false story--that every descendant of this house had a +certain portion of his life, during which he sought the track of that +footstep which was left on the threshold of the mansion; that he sought +it far and wide, over every foot of the estate; not only on the estate, +but throughout the neighborhood; not only in the neighborhood but all +over England; not only throughout England but all about the world. It +was the belief of the neighborhood--at least of some old men and women in +it--that the long period of Mr. Eldredge's absence from England had been +spent in the search for some trace of those departing footsteps that had +never returned. It is very possible--probable, indeed--that there may +have been some ground for this remarkable legend; not that it is to be +credited that the family of Eldredge, being reckoned among sane men, +would seriously have sought, years and generations after the fact, for +the first track of those bloody footsteps which the first rain of drippy +England must have washed away; to say nothing of the leaves that had +fallen and the growth and decay of so many seasons, that covered all +traces of them since. But nothing is more probable than that the +continual recurrence to the family genealogy, which had been necessitated +by the matter of the dormant peerage, had caused the Eldredges, from +father to son, to keep alive an interest in that ancestor who had +disappeared, and who had been supposed to carry some of the most +important family papers with him. But yet it gave Middleton a strange +thrill of pleasure, that had something fearful in it, to think that all +through these ages he had been waited for, sought for, anxiously +expected, as it were; it seemed as if the very ghosts of his kindred, a +long shadowy line, held forth their dim arms to welcome him; a line +stretching back to the ghosts of those who had flourished in the old, old +times; the doubletted and beruffled knightly shades of Queen Elizabeth's +time; a long line, stretching from the mediaeval ages, and their +duskiness, downward, downward, with only one vacant space, that of him +who had left the Bloody Footstep. There was an inexpressible pleasure +(airy and evanescent, gone in a moment if he dwelt upon it too +thoughtfully, but very sweet) to Middleton's imagination, in this idea. +When he reflected, however, that his revelations, if they had any effect +at all, might serve only to quench the hopes of these long expectants, it +of course made him hesitate to declare himself. + +One afternoon, when he was in the midst of musings such as this, he saw +at a distance through the park, in the direction of the manor-house, a +person who seemed to be walking slowly and seeking for something upon the +ground. He was a long way off when Middleton first perceived him; and +there were two clumps of trees and underbrush, with interspersed tracts +of sunny lawn, between them. The person, whoever he was, kept on, and +plunged into the first clump of shrubbery, still keeping his eyes on the +ground, as if intensely searching for something. When he emerged from +the concealment of the first clump of shrubbery, Middleton saw that he +was a tall, thin person, in a dark dress; and this was the chief +observation that the distance enabled him to make, as the figure kept +slowly onward, in a somewhat wavering line, and plunged into the second +clump of shrubbery. From that, too, he emerged; and soon appeared to be +a thin elderly figure, of a dark man with gray hair, bent, as it seemed +to Middleton, with infirmity, for his figure still stooped even in the +intervals when he did not appear to be tracking the ground. But +Middleton could not but be surprised at the singular appearance the +figure had of setting its foot, at every step, just where a previous +footstep had been made, as if he wanted to measure his whole pathway in +the track of somebody who had recently gone over the ground in advance of +him. Middleton was sitting at the foot of an oak; and he began to feel +some awkwardness in the consideration of what he would do if Mr. +Eldredge--for he could not doubt that it was he--were to be led just to +this spot, in pursuit of his singular occupation. And even so it proved. + +Middleton could not feel it manly to fly and hide himself, like a guilty +thing; and indeed the hospitality of the English country gentleman in +many cases gives the neighborhood and the stranger a certain degree of +freedom in the use of the broad expanse of ground in which they and their +forefathers have loved to sequester their residences. The figure kept +on, showing more and more distinctly the tall, meagre, not unvenerable +features of a gentleman in the decline of life, apparently in ill-health; +with a dark face, that might once have been full of energy, but now +seemed enfeebled by time, passion, and perhaps sorrow. But it was +strange to see the earnestness with which he looked on the ground, and +the accuracy with which he at last set his foot, apparently adjusting it +exactly to some footprint before him; and Middleton doubted not that, +having studied and restudied the family records and the judicial +examinations which described exactly the track that was seen the day +after the memorable disappearance of his ancestor, Mr. Eldredge was now, +in some freak, or for some purpose best known to himself, practically +following it out. And follow it out he did, until at last he lifted up +his eyes, muttering to himself: "At this point the footsteps wholly +disappear." + +Lifting his eyes, as we have said, while thus regretfully and +despairingly muttering these words, he saw Middleton against the oak, +within three paces of him. + +May 13th, Thursday.--Mr. Eldredge (for it was he) first kept his eyes +fixed full on Middleton's face, with an expression as if he saw him not; +but gradually--slowly, at first--he seemed to become aware of his +presence; then, with a sudden flush, he took in the idea that he was +encountered by a stranger in his secret mood. A flush of anger or shame, +perhaps both, reddened over his face; his eyes gleamed; and he spoke +hastily and roughly. + +"Who are you?" he said. "How come you here? I allow no intruders in my +park. Begone, fellow!" + +"Really, sir, I did not mean to intrude upon you," said Middleton +blandly. "I am aware that I owe you an apology; but the beauties of your +park must plead my excuse; and the constant kindness of [the] English +gentleman, which admits a stranger to the privilege of enjoying so much +of the beauty in which he himself dwells as the stranger's taste permits +him to enjoy." + +"An artist, perhaps," said Mr. Eldredge, somewhat less uncourteously. "I +am told that they love to come here and sketch those old oaks and their +vistas, and the old mansion yonder. But you are an obtrusive set, you +artists, and think that a pencil and a sheet of paper may be your +passport anywhere. You are mistaken, sir. My park is not open to +strangers." + +"I am sorry, then, to have intruded upon you," said Middleton, still in +good humor; for in truth he felt a sort of kindness, a sentiment, +ridiculous as it may appear, of kindred towards the old gentleman, and +besides was not unwilling in any way to prolong a conversation in which +he found a singular interest. "I am sorry, especially as I have not even +the excuse you kindly suggest for me. I am not an artist, only an +American, who have strayed hither to enjoy this gentle, cultivated, tamed +nature which I find in English parks, so contrasting with the wild, +rugged nature of my native land. I beg your pardon, and will retire." + +"An American," repeated Mr. Eldredge, looking curiously at him. "Ah, you +are wild men in that country, I suppose, and cannot conceive that an +English gentleman encloses his grounds--or that his ancestors have done +so before him--for his own pleasure and convenience, and does not +calculate on having it infringed upon by everybody, like your own +forests, as you say. It is a curious country, that of yours: and in +Italy I have seen curious people from it." + +"True, sir," said Middleton, smiling. "We send queer specimens abroad; +but Englishmen should consider that we spring from them, and that we +present after all only a picture of their own characteristics, a little +varied by climate and in situation." + +Mr. Eldredge looked at him with a certain kind of interest, and it seemed +to Middleton that he was not unwilling to continue the conversation, if a +fair way to do so could only be afforded to him. A secluded man often +grasps at any opportunity of communicating with his kind, when it is +casually offered to him, and for the nonce is surprisingly familiar, +running out towards his chance-companion with the gush of a dammed-up +torrent, suddenly unlocked. As Middleton made a motion to retire, he put +out his hand with an air of authority to restrain him. + +"Stay," said he. "Now that you are here, the mischief is done, and you +cannot repair it by hastening away. You have interrupted me in my mood +of thought, and must pay the penalty by suggesting other thoughts. I am +a lonely man here, having spent most of my life abroad, and am separated +from my neighbors by various circumstances. You seem to be an +intelligent man. I should like to ask you a few questions about your +country." + +He looked at Middleton as he spoke, and seemed to be considering in what +rank of life he should place him; his dress being such as suited a humble +rank. He seemed not to have come to any very certain decision on this +point. + +"I remember," said he, "you have no distinctions of rank in your country; +a convenient thing enough, in some respects. When there are no +gentlemen, all are gentlemen. So let it be. You speak of being +Englishmen; and it has often occurred to me that Englishmen have left +this country and been much missed and sought after, who might perhaps be +sought there successfully." + +"It is certainly so, Mr. Eldredge," said Middleton, lifting his eyes to +his face as he spoke, and then turning them aside. "Many footsteps, the +track of which is lost in England, might be found reappearing on the +other side of the Atlantic; ay, though it be hundreds of years since the +track was lost here." + +Middleton, though he had refrained from looking full at Mr. Eldredge as +he spoke, was conscious that he gave a great start; and he remained +silent for a moment or two, and when he spoke there was the tremor in his +voice of a nerve that had been struck and still vibrated. + +"That is a singular idea of yours," he at length said; "not singular in +itself, but strangely coincident with something that happened to be +occupying my mind. Have you ever heard any such instances as you speak +of?" + +"Yes," replied Middleton, "I have had pointed out to me the rightful heir +to a Scottish earldom, in the person of an American farmer, in his +shirt-sleeves. There are many Americans who believe themselves to hold +similar claims. And I have known one family, at least, who had in their +possession, and had had for two centuries, a secret that might have been +worth wealth and honors if known in England. Indeed, being kindred as we +are, it cannot but be the case." + +Mr. Eldredge appeared to be much struck by these last words, and gazed +wistfully, almost wildly, at Middleton, as if debating with himself +whether to say more. He made a step or two aside; then returned +abruptly, and spoke. + +"Can you tell me the name of the family in which this secret was kept?" +said he; "and the nature of the secret?" + +"The nature of the secret," said Middleton, smiling, "was not likely to +be extended to any one out of the family. The name borne by the family +was Middleton. There is no member of it, so far as I am aware, at this +moment remaining in America." + +"And has the secret died with them?" asked Mr. Eldredge. + +"They communicated it to none," said Middleton. + +"It is a pity! It was a villainous wrong," said Mr. Eldredge. "And so, +it may be, some ancient line, in the old country, is defrauded of its +rights for want of what might have been obtained from this Yankee, whose +democracy has demoralized them to the perception of what is due to the +antiquity of descent, and of the bounden duty that there is, in all +ranks, to keep up the honor of a family that has had potence enough to +preserve itself in distinction for a thousand years." + +"Yes," said Middleton, quietly, "we have sympathy with what is strong and +vivacious to-day; none with what was so yesterday." + +The remark seemed not to please Mr. Eldredge; he frowned, and muttered +something to himself; but recovering himself, addressed Middleton with +more courtesy than at the commencement of their interview; and, with this +graciousness, his face and manner grew very agreeable, almost +fascinating: he [was] still haughty, however. + +"Well, sir," said he, "I am not sorry to have met you. I am a solitary +man, as I have said, and a little communication with a stranger is a +refreshment, which I enjoy seldom enough to be sensible of it. Pray, are +you staying hereabouts?" + +Middleton signified to him that he might probably spend some little time +in the village. + +"Then, during your stay," maid Mr. Eldredge, "make free use of the walks +in these grounds; and though it is not probable that you will meet me in +them again, you need apprehend no second questioning of your right to be +here. My house has many points of curiosity that may be of interest to a +stranger from a new country. Perhaps you have heard of some of them." + +"I have heard some wild legend about a Bloody Footstep," answered +Middleton; "indeed, I think I remember hearing something about it in my +own country; and having a fanciful sort of interest in such things, I +took advantage of the hospitable custom which opens the doors of curious +old houses to strangers, to go to see it. It seemed to me, I confess, +only a natural stain in the old stone that forms the doorstep." + +"There, sir," said Mr. Eldredge, "let me say that you came to a very +foolish conclusion; and so, good-by, sir." + +And without further ceremony, he cast an angry glance at Middleton, who +perceived that the old gentleman reckoned the Bloody Footstep among his +ancestral honors, and would probably have parted with his claim to the +peerage almost as soon as have given up the legend. + +Present aspect of the story: Middleton on his arrival becomes acquainted +with the old Hospitaller, and is familiarized at the Hospital. He pays a +visit in his company to the manor-house, but merely glimpses at its +remarkable things, at this visit, among others at the old cabinet, which +does not, at first view, strike him very strongly. But, on musing about +his visit afterwards, he finds the recollection of the cabinet strangely +identifying itself with his previous imaginary picture of the palatial +mansion; so that at last he begins to conceive the mistake he has made. +At this first [visit], he does not have a personal interview with the +possessor of the estate; but, as the Hospitaller and himself go from room +to room, he finds that the owner is preceding them, shyly flitting like a +ghost, so as to avoid them. Then there is a chapter about the character +of the Eldredge of the day, a Catholic, a morbid, shy man, representing +all the peculiarities of an old family, and generally thought to be +insane. And then comes the interview between him and Middleton, where +the latter excites such an interest that he dwells upon the old man's +mind, and the latter probably takes pains to obtain further intercourse +with him, and perhaps invites him to dinner, and [to] spend a night in +his house. If so, this second meeting must lead to the examination of +the cabinet, and the discovery of some family documents in it. Perhaps +the cabinet may be in Middleton's sleeping-chamber, and he examines it by +himself, before going to bed; and finds out a secret which will perplex +him how to deal with it. + +May 14th, Friday.--We have spoken several times already of a young girl, +who was seen at this period about the little antiquated village of +Smithells; a girl in manners and in aspect unlike those of the cottages +amid which she dwelt. Middleton had now so often met her, and in +solitary places, that an acquaintance had inevitably established itself +between them. He had ascertained that she had lodgings at a farm-house +near by, and that she was connected in some way with the old Hospitaller, +whose acquaintance had proved of such interest to him; but more than this +he could not learn either from her or others. But he was greatly +attracted and interested by the free spirit and fearlessness of this +young woman; nor could he conceive where, in staid and formal England, +she had grown up to be such as she was, so without manner, so without +art, yet so capable of doing and thinking for herself. She had no +reserve, apparently, yet never seemed to sin against decorum; it never +appeared to restrain her that anything she might wish to do was contrary +to custom; she had nothing of what could be called shyness in her +intercourse with him; and yet he was conscious of an unapproachableness +in Alice. Often, in the old man's presence, she mingled in the +conversation that went on between him and Middleton, and with an +acuteness that betokened a sphere of thought much beyond what could be +customary with young English maidens; and Middleton was often reminded of +the theories of those in our own country, who believe that the +amelioration of society depends greatly on the part that women shall +hereafter take, according to their individual capacity, in all the +various pursuits of life. These deeper thoughts, these higher qualities, +surprised him as they showed themselves, whenever occasion called them +forth, under the light, gay, and frivolous exterior which she had at +first seemed to present. Middleton often amused himself with surmises in +what rank of life Alice could have been bred, being so free of all +conventional rule, yet so nice and delicate in her perception of the true +proprieties that she never shocked him. + +One morning, when they had met in one of Middleton's rambles about the +neighborhood, they began to talk of America; and Middleton described to +Alice the stir that was being made in behalf of women's rights; and he +said that whatever cause was generous and disinterested always, in that +country, derived much of its power from the sympathy of women, and that +the advocates of every such cause were in favor of yielding the whole +field of human effort to be shared with women. + +"I have been surprised," said he, "in the little I have seen and heard of +Englishwomen, to discover what a difference there is between them and my +own countrywomen." + +"I have heard," said Alice, with a smile, "that your countrywomen are a +far more delicate and fragile race than Englishwomen; pale, feeble +hot-house plants, unfit for the wear and tear of life, without energy of +character, or any slightest degree of physical strength to base it upon. +If, now, you had these large-framed Englishwomen, you might, I should +imagine, with better hopes, set about changing the system of society, so +as to allow them to struggle in the strife of politics, or any other +strife, hand to hand, or side by side, with men." + +"If any countryman of mine has said this of our women," exclaimed +Middleton, indignantly, "he is a slanderous villain, unworthy to have +been borne by an American mother; if an Englishman has said it--as I know +many of them have and do--let it pass as one of the many prejudices only +half believed, with which they strive to console themselves for the +inevitable sense that the American race is destined to higher purposes +than their own. But pardon me; I forgot that I was speaking to an +Englishwoman, for indeed you do not remind me of them. But, I assure +you, the world has not seen such women as make up, I had almost said the +mass of womanhood in my own country; slight in aspect, slender in frame, +as you suggest, but yet capable of bringing forth stalwart men; they +themselves being of inexhaustible courage, patience, energy; soft and +tender, deep of heart, but high of purpose. Gentle, refined, but bold in +every good cause." + +"Oh, you have said quite enough," replied Alice, who had seemed ready to +laugh outright, during this encomium. "I think I see one of those +paragons now, in a Bloomer, I think you call it, swaggering along with a +Bowie knife at her girdle, smoking a cigar, no doubt, and tippling +sherry-cobblers and mint-juleps. It must be a pleasant life." + +"I should think you, at least, might form a more just idea of what women +become," said Middleton, considerably piqued, "in a country where the +roles of conventionalism are somewhat relaxed; where woman, whatever you +may think, is far more profoundly educated than in England, where a few +ill-taught accomplishments, a little geography, a catechism of science, +make up the sum, under the superintendence of a governess; the mind being +kept entirely inert as to any capacity for thought. They are cowards, +except within certain rules and forms; they spend a life of old +proprieties, and die, and if their souls do not die with them, it is +Heaven's mercy." + +Alice did not appear in the least moved to anger, though considerably to +mirth, by this description of the character of English females. She +laughed as she replied, "I see there is little danger of your leaving +your heart in England." She added more seriously, "And permit me to say, +I trust, Mr. Middleton, that you remain as much American in other +respects as in your preference of your own race of women. The American +who comes hither and persuades himself that he is one with Englishmen, it +seems to me, makes a great mistake; at least, if he is correct in such an +idea he is not worthy of his own country, and the high development that +awaits it. There is much that is seductive in our life, but I think it +is not upon the higher impulses of our nature that such seductions act. +I should think ill of the American who, for any causes of ambition,--any +hope of wealth or rank,--or even for the sake of any of those old, +delightful ideas of the past, the associations of ancestry, the +loveliness of an age-long home,--the old poetry and romance that haunt +these ancient villages and estates of England,--would give up the chance +of acting upon the unmoulded future of America." + +"And you, an Englishwoman, speak thus!" exclaimed Middleton. "You +perhaps speak truly; and it may be that your words go to a point where +they are especially applicable at this moment. But where have you +learned these ideas? And how is it that you know how to awake these +sympathies, that have slept perhaps too long?" + +"Think only if what I have said be the truth," replied Alice. "It is no +matter who or what I am that speak it." + +"Do you speak," asked Middleton, from a sudden impulse, "with any secret +knowledge affecting a matter now in my mind?" + +Alice shook her head, as she turned away; but Middleton could not +determine whether the gesture was meant as a negative to his question, or +merely as declining to answer it. She left him; and he found himself +strangely disturbed with thoughts of his own country, of the life that he +ought to be leading there, the struggles in which he ought to be taking +part; and, with these motives in his impressible mind, the motives that +had hitherto kept him in England seemed unworthy to influence him. + +May 15th, Saturday.--It was not long after Middleton's meeting with Mr. +Eldredge in the park of Smithell's, that he received--what it is +precisely the most common thing to receive--an invitation to dine at the +manor-house and spend the night. The note was written with much +appearance of cordiality, as well as in a respectful style; and Middleton +could not but perceive that Mr. Eldredge must have been making some +inquiries as to his social status, in order to feel him justified in +putting him on this footing of equality. He had no hesitation in +accepting the invitation, and on the appointed day was received in the +old house of his forefathers as a guest. The owner met him, not quite on +the frank and friendly footing expressed in his note, but still with a +perfect and polished courtesy, which however could not hide from the +sensitive Middleton a certain coldness, a something that seemed to him +Italian rather than English; a symbol of a condition of things between +them, undecided, suspicious, doubtful very likely. Middleton's own +manner corresponded to that of his host, and they made few advances +towards more intimate acquaintance. Middleton was however recompensed +for his host's unapproachableness by the society of his daughter, a young +lady born indeed in Italy, but who had been educated in a Catholic family +in England; so that here was another relation--the first female one--to +whoa he had been introduced. She was a quiet, shy, undemonstrative young +woman, with a fine bloom and other charms which she kept as much in the +background as possible, with maiden reserve. (There is a Catholic priest +at table.) + +Mr. Eldredge talked chiefly, during dinner, of art, with which his long +residence in Italy had made him thoroughly acquainted, and for which he +seemed to have a genuine taste and enjoyment. It was a subject on which +Middleton knew little; but he felt the interest in it which appears to be +not uncharacteristic of Americans, among the earliest of their +developments of cultivation; nor had he failed to use such few +opportunities as the English public or private galleries offered him to +acquire the rudiments of a taste. He was surprised at the depth of some +of Mr. Eldredge's remarks on the topics thus brought up, and at the +sensibility which appeared to be disclosed by his delicate appreciation +of some of the excellencies of those great masters who wrote their epics, +their tender sonnets, or their simple ballads, upon canvas; and Middleton +conceived a respect for him which he had not hitherto felt, and which +possibly Mr. Eldredge did not quite deserve. Taste seems to be a +department of moral sense; and yet it is so little identical with it, and +so little implies conscience, that some of the worst men in the world +have been the most refined. + +After Miss Eldredge had retired, the host appeared to desire to make the +dinner a little more social than it had hitherto been; he called for a +peculiar species of wine from Southern Italy, which he said was the most +delicious production of the grape, and had very seldom, if ever before, +been imported pure into England. A delicious perfume came from the +cradled bottle, and bore an ethereal, evanescent testimony to the truth +of what he said: and the taste, though too delicate for wine quaffed in +England, was nevertheless delicious, when minutely dwelt upon. + +"It gives me pleasure to drink your health, Mr. Middleton," said the +host. "We might well meet as friends in England, for I am hardly more an +Englishman than yourself; bred up, as I have been, in Italy, and coming +back hither at my age, unaccustomed to the manners of the country, with +few friends, and insulated from society by a faith which makes most +people regard me as an enemy. I seldom welcome people here, Mr. +Middleton; but you are welcome." + +"I thank you, Mr. Eldredge, and may fairly say that the circumstances to +which you allude make me accept your hospitality with a warmer feeling +than I otherwise might. Strangers, meeting in a strange land, have a +sort of tie in their foreignness to those around them, though there be no +positive relation between themselves." + +"We are friends, then?" said Mr. Eldredge, looking keenly at Middleton, +as if to discover exactly how much was meant by the compact. He +continued, "You know, I suppose, Mr. Middleton, the situation in which I +find myself on returning to my hereditary estate; which has devolved to +me somewhat unexpectedly by the death of a younger man than myself. +There is an old flaw here, as perhaps you have been told, which keeps me +out of a property long kept in the guardianship of the crown, and of a +barony, one of the oldest in England. There is an idea--a tradition--a +legend, founded, however, on evidence of some weight, that there is still +in existence the possibility of finding the proof which we need, to +confirm our cause." + +"I am most happy to hear it, Mr. Eldredge," said Middleton. + +"But," continued his host, "I am bound to remember and to consider that +for several generations there seems to have been the same idea, and the +same expectation; whereas nothing has ever come of it. Now, among other +suppositions--perhaps wild ones--it has occurred to me that this +testimony, the desirable proof, may exist on your side of the Atlantic; +for it has long enough been sought here in vain." + +"As I said in our meeting in your park, Mr. Eldredge," replied Middleton, +"such a suggestion may very possibly be true; yet let me point out that +the long lapse of years, and the continual melting and dissolving of +family institutions--the consequent scattering of family documents, and +the annihilation of traditions from memory, all conspire against its +probability." + +"And yet, Mr. Middleton," said his host, "when we talked together at our +first singular interview, you made use of an expression--of one +remarkable phrase--which dwelt upon my memory and now recurs to it." + +"And what was that, Mr. Eldredge?" asked Middleton. + +"You spoke," replied his host, "of the Bloody Footstep reappearing on the +threshold of the old palace of S------. Now where, let me ask you, did +you ever hear this strange name, which you then spoke, and which I have +since spoken?" + +"From my father's lips, when a child, in America," responded Middleton. + +"It is very strange," said Mr. Eldredge, in a hasty, dissatisfied tone. +"I do not see my way through this." + +May 16th, Sunday.--Middleton had been put into a chamber in the oldest +part of the house, the furniture of which was of antique splendor, well +befitting to have come down for ages, well befitting the hospitality +shown to noble and even royal guests. It was the same room in which, at +his first visit to the house, Middleton's attention had been drawn to the +cabinet, which he had subsequently remembered as the palatial residence +in which he had harbored so many dreams. It still stood in the chamber, +making the principal object in it, indeed; and when Middleton was left +alone, he contemplated it not without a certain awe, which at the same +time he felt to be ridiculous. He advanced towards it, and stood +contemplating the mimic facade, wondering at the singular fact of this +piece of furniture having been preserved in traditionary history, when so +much had been forgotten,--when even the features and architectural +characteristics of the mansion in which it was merely a piece of +furniture had been forgotten. And, as he gazed at it, he half thought +himself an actor in a fairy portal [tale?]; and would not have been +surprised--at least, he would have taken it with the composure of a +dream--if the mimic portal had unclosed, and a form of pigmy majesty had +appeared within, beckoning him to enter and find the revelation of what +had so long perplexed him. The key of the cabinet was in the lock, and +knowing that it was not now the receptacle of anything in the shape of +family papers, he threw it open; and there appeared the mosaic floor, the +representation of a stately, pillared hall, with the doors on either side +opening, as would seem, into various apartments. And here should have +stood the visionary figures of his ancestry, waiting to welcome the +descendant of their race, who had so long delayed his coming. After +looking and musing a considerable time,--even till the old clock from the +turret of the house told twelve, he turned away with a sigh, and went to +bed. The wind moaned through the ancestral trees; the old house creaked +as with ghostly footsteps; the curtains of his bed seemed to waver. He +was now at home; yes, he had found his home, and was sheltered at last +under the ancestral roof after all those long, long wanderings,--after +the little log-built hut of the early settlement, after the straight roof +of the American house, after all the many roofs of two hundred years, +here he was at last under the one which he had left, on that fatal night, +when the Bloody Footstep was so mysteriously impressed on the threshold. +As he drew nearer and nearer towards sleep, it seemed more and more to +him as if he were the very individual--the self-same one throughout the +whole--who had done, seen, suffered, all these long toils and +vicissitudes, and were now come back to rest, and found his weariness so +great that there could be no rest. + +Nevertheless, he did sleep; and it may be that his dreams went on, and +grew vivid, and perhaps became truer in proportion to their vividness. +When he awoke he had a perception, an intuition, that he had been +dreaming about the cabinet, which, in his sleeping imagination, had again +assumed the magnitude and proportions of a stately mansion, even as he +had seen it afar from the other side of the Atlantic. Some dim +associations remained lingering behind, the dying shadows of very vivid +ones which had just filled his mind; but as he looked at the cabinet, +there was some idea that still seemed to come so near his consciousness +that, every moment, he felt on the point of grasping it. During the +process of dressing, he still kept his eyes turned involuntarily towards +the cabinet, and at last he approached it, and looked within the mimic +portal, still endeavoring to recollect what it was that he had heard or +dreamed about it,--what half obliterated remembrance from childhood, what +fragmentary last night's dream it was, that thus haunted him. It must +have been some association of one or the other nature that led him to +press his finger on one particular square of the mosaic pavement; and as +he did so, the thin plate of polished marble slipt aside. It disclosed, +indeed, no hollow receptacle, but only another leaf of marble, in the +midst of which appeared to be a key-hole: to this Middleton applied the +little antique key to which we have several times alluded, and found it +fit precisely. The instant it was turned, the whole mimic floor of the +hall rose, by the action of a secret spring, and discovered a shallow +recess beneath. Middleton looked eagerly in, and saw that it contained +documents, with antique seals of wax appended; he took but one glance at +them, and closed the receptacle as it was before. + +Why did he do so? He felt that there would be a meanness and wrong in +inspecting these family papers, coming to the knowledge of them, as he +had, through the opportunities offered by the hospitality of the owner of +the estate; nor, on the other hand, did he feel such confidence in his +host, as to make him willing to trust these papers in his hands, with any +certainty that they would be put to an honorable use. The case was one +demanding consideration, and he put a strong curb upon his impatient +curiosity, conscious that, at all events, his first impulsive feeling was +that he ought not to examine these papers without the presence of his +host or some other authorized witness. Had he exercised any casuistry +about the point, however, he might have argued that these papers, +according to all appearance, dated from a period to which his own +hereditary claims ascended, and to circumstances in which his own +rightful interest was as strong as that of Mr. Eldredge. But he had +acted on his first impulse, closed the secret receptacle, and hastening +his toilet descended from his room; and, it being still too early for +breakfast, resolved to ramble about the immediate vicinity of the house. +As he passed the little chapel, he heard within the voice of the priest +performing mass, and felt how strange was this sign of mediaeval religion +and foreign manners in homely England. + +As the story looks now: Eldredge, bred, and perhaps born, in Italy, and a +Catholic, with views to the church before he inherited the estate, has +not the English moral sense and simple honor; can scarcely be called an +Englishman at all. Dark suspicions of past crime, and of the possibility +of future crime, may be thrown around him; an atmosphere of doubt shall +envelop him, though, as regards manners, he may be highly refined. +Middleton shall find in the house a priest; and at his first visit he +shall have seen a small chapel, adorned with the richness, as to marbles, +pictures, and frescoes, of those that we see in the churches at Rome; and +here the Catholic forms of worship shall be kept up. Eldredge shall have +had an Italian mother, and shall have the personal characteristics of an +Italian. There shall be something sinister about him, the more apparent +when Middleton's visit draws to a conclusion; and the latter shall feel +convinced that they part in enmity, so far as Eldredge is concerned. He +shall not speak of his discovery in the cabinet. + +May 17th, Monday.--Unquestionably, the appointment of Middleton as +minister to one of the minor Continental courts must take place in the +interval between Eldredge's meeting him in the park, and his inviting him +to his house. After Middleton's appointment, the two encounter each +other at the Mayor's dinner in St. Mary's Hall, and Eldredge, startled at +meeting the vagrant, as he deemed him, under such a character, remembers +the hints of some secret knowledge of the family history, which Middleton +had thrown out. He endeavors, both in person and by the priest, to make +out what Middleton really is, and what he knows, and what he intends; but +Middleton is on his guard, yet cannot help arousing Eldredge's suspicions +that he has views upon the estate and title. It is possible, too, that +Middleton may have come to the knowledge--may have had some knowledge--of +some shameful or criminal fact connected with Mr. Eldredge's life on the +Continent; the old Hospitaller, possibly, may have told him this, from +some secret malignity hereafter to be accounted for. Supposing Eldredge +to attempt his murder, by poison for instance, bringing back into modern +life his old hereditary Italian plots; and into English life a sort of +crime which does not belong to it,--which did not, at least, although at +this very period there have been fresh and numerous instances of it. +There might be a scene in which Middleton and Eldredge come to a fierce +and bitter explanation; for in Eldredge's character there must be the +English surly boldness as well as the Italian subtlety; and here, +Middleton shall tell him what he knows of his past character and life, +and also what he knows of his own hereditary claims. Eldredge might have +committed a murder in Italy; might have been a patriot and betrayed his +friends to death for a bribe, bearing another name than his own in Italy; +indeed, he might have joined them only as an informer. All this he had +tried to sink, when he came to England in the character of a gentleman of +ancient name and large estate. But this infamy of his previous character +must be foreboded from the first by the manner in which Eldredge is +introduced; and it must make his evil designs on Middleton appear natural +and probable. It may be, that Middleton has learned Eldredge's previous +character through some Italian patriot who had taken refuge in America, +and there become intimate with him; and it should be a piece of secret +history, not known to the world in general, so that Middleton might seem +to Eldredge the sole depositary of the secret then in England. He feels +a necessity of getting rid of him; and thenceforth Middleton's path lies +always among pitfalls; indeed, the first attempt should follow promptly +and immediately on his rupture with Eldredge. The utmost pains must be +taken with this incident to give it an air of reality; or else it must be +quite removed out of the sphere of reality by an intensified atmosphere +of romance. I think the old Hospitaller must interfere to prevent the +success of this attempt, perhaps through the means of Alice. + +The result of Eldredge's criminal and treacherous designs is, somehow or +other, that he comes to his death; and Middleton and Alice are left to +administer on the remains of the story; perhaps, the Mayor being his +friend, he may be brought into play here. The foreign ecclesiastic shall +likewise come forward, and he shall prove to be a man of subtile policy +perhaps, yet a man of religion and honor; with a Jesuit's principles, but +a Jesuit's devotion and self-sacrifice. The old Hospitaller must die in +his bed, or some other how; or perhaps not--we shall see. He may just as +well be left in the Hospital. Eldredge's attempt on Middleton must be in +some way peculiar to Italy, and which he shall have learned there; and, +by the way, at his dinner-table there shall be a Venice glass, one of the +kind that were supposed to be shattered when poison was put into them. +When Eldredge produces his rare wine, he shall pour it into this, with a +jesting allusion to the legend. Perhaps the mode of Eldredge's attempt +on Middleton's life shall be a reproduction of the attempt made two +hundred years before; and Middleton's knowledge of that incident shall be +the means of his salvation. That would be a good idea; in fact, I think +it must be done so and no otherwise. It is not to be forgotten that +there is a taint of insanity in Eldredge's blood, accounting for much +that is wild and absurd, at the same time that it must be subtile, in his +conduct; one of those perplexing mad people, whose lunacy you are +continually mistaking for wickedness or vice versa. This shall be the +priest's explanation and apology for him, after his death. I wish I +could get hold of the Newgate Calendar, the older volumes, or any other +book of murders--the Causes Celebres, for instance. The legendary +murder, or attempt at it, will bring its own imaginative probability with +it, when repeated by Eldredge; and at the same time it will have a +dreamlike effect; so that Middleton shall hardly know whether he is awake +or not. This incident is very essential towards bringing together the +past time and the present, and the two ends of the story. + +May 18th, Tuesday.--All down through the ages since Edward had +disappeared from home, leaving that bloody footstep on the threshold, +there had been legends and strange stories of the murder and the manner +of it. These legends differed very much among themselves. According to +some, his brother had awaited him there, and stabbed him on the +threshold. According to others, he had been murdered in his chamber, and +dragged out. A third story told, that he was escaping with his lady +love, when they were overtaken on the threshold, and the young man slain. +It was impossible at this distance of time to ascertain which of these +legends was the true one, or whether either of them had any portion of +truth, further than that the young man had actually disappeared from that +night, and that it never was certainly known to the public that any +intelligence had ever afterwards been received from him. Now, Middleton +may have communicated to Eldredge the truth in regard to the matter; as, +for instance, that he had stabbed him with a certain dagger that was +still kept among the curiosities of the manor-house. Of course, that +will not do. It must be some very ingenious and artificially natural +thing, an artistic affair in its way, that should strike the fancy of +such a man as Eldredge, and appear to him altogether fit, mutatis +mutandis, to be applied to his own requirements and purposes. I do not +at present see in the least how this is to be wrought out. There shall +be everything to make Eldredge look with the utmost horror and alarm at +any chance that he may be superseded and ousted from his possession of +the estate; for he shall only recently have established his claim to it, +tracing out his pedigree, when the family was supposed to be extinct. +And he is come to these comfortable quarters after a life of poverty, +uncertainty, difficulty, hanging loose on society; and therefore he shall +be willing to risk soul and body both, rather than return to his former +state. Perhaps his daughter shall be introduced as a young Italian girl, +to whom Middleton shall decide to leave the estate. + +On the failure of his design, Eldredge may commit suicide, and be found +dead in the wood; at any rate, some suitable end shall be contrived, +adapted to his wants. This character must not be so represented as to +shut him out completely from the reader's sympathies; he shall have +taste, sentiment, even a capacity for affection, nor, I think, ought he +to have any hatred or bitter feeling against the man whom he resolves to +murder. In the closing scenes, when he thinks the fate of Middleton +approaching, there might even be a certain tenderness towards him, a +desire to make the last drops of life delightful; if well done, this +would produce a certain sort of horror, that I do not remember to have +seen effected in literature. Possibly the ancient emigrant might be +supposed to have fallen into an ancient mine, down a precipice, into some +pitfall; no, not so. Into a river; into a moat. As Middleton's +pretensions to birth are not publicly known, there will be no reason why, +at his sudden death, suspicion should fix on Eldredge as the murderer; +and it shall be his object so to contrive his death as that it shall +appear the result of accident. Having failed in effecting Middleton's +death by this excellent way, he shall perhaps think that he cannot do +better them to make his own exit in precisely the same manner. It might +be easy, and as delightful as any death could be; no ugliness in it, no +blood; for the Bloody Footstep of old times might be the result of the +failure of the old plot, not of its success. Poison seems to be the only +elegant method; but poison is vulgar, and in many respects unfit for my +purpose. It won't do. Whatever it may be, it must not come upon the +reader as a sudden and new thing, but as one that might have been +foreseen from afar, though he shall not actually have foreseen it until +it is about to happen. It must be prevented through the agency of Alice. +Alice may have been an artist in Rome, and there have known Eldredge and +his daughter, and thus she may have become their guest in England; or he +may be patronizing her now--at all events she shall be the friend of the +daughter, and shall have a just appreciation of the father's character. +It shall be partly due to her high counsel that Middleton foregoes his +claim to the estate, and prefers the life of an American, with its lofty +possibilities for himself and his race, to the position of an Englishman +of property and title; and she, for her part, shall choose the condition +and prospects of woman in America, to the emptiness of the life of a +woman of rank in England. So they shall depart, lofty and poor, out of +the home which might be their own, if they would stoop to make it so. +Possibly the daughter of Eldredge may be a girl not yet in her teens, for +whom Alice has the affection of an elder sister. + +It should be a very carefully and highly wrought scene, occurring just +before Eldredge's actual attempt on Middleton's life, in which all the +brilliancy of his character--which shall before have gleamed upon the +reader--shall come out, with pathos, with wit, with insight, with +knowledge of life. Middleton shall be inspired by this, and shall vie +with him in exhilaration of spirits; but the ecclesiastic shall look on +with singular attention, and some appearance of alarm; and the suspicion +of Alice shall likewise be aroused. The old Hospitaller may have gained +his situation partly by proving himself a man of the neighborhood, by +right of descent; so that he, too, shall have a hereditary claim to be in +the Romance. + +Eldredge's own position as a foreigner in the midst of English home life, +insulated and dreary, shall represent to Middleton, in some degree, what +his own would be, were he to accept the estate. But Middleton shall not +come to the decision to resign it, without having to repress a deep +yearning for that sense of long, long rest in an age-consecrated home, +which he had felt so deeply to be the happy lot of Englishmen. But this +ought to be rejected, as not belonging to his country, nor to the age, +nor any longer possible. + +May 19th, Wednesday.--The connection of the old Hospitaller with the +story is not at all clear. He is an American by birth, but deriving his +English origin from the neighborhood of the Hospital, where he has +finally established himself. Some one of his ancestors may have been +somehow connected with the ancient portion of the story. He has been a +friend of Middleton's father, who reposed entire confidence in him, +trusting him with all his fortune, which the Hospitaller risked in his +enormous speculations, and lost it all. His fame had been great in the +financial world. There were circumstances that made it dangerous for his +whereabouts to be known, and so he had come hither and found refuge in +this institution, where Middleton finds him, but does not know who he is. +In the vacancy of a mind formerly so active, he has taken to the study of +local antiquities; and from his former intimacy with Middleton's father, +he has a knowledge of the American part of the story, which he connects +with the English portion, disclosed by his researches here; so that he is +quite aware that Middleton has claims to the estate, which might be urged +successfully against the present possessor. He is kindly disposed +towards the son of his friend, whom he had so greatly injured; but he is +now very old, and ------. Middleton has been directed to this old man, +by a friend in America, as one likely to afford him all possible +assistance in his researches; and so he seeks him out and forms an +acquaintance with him, which the old man encourages to a certain extent, +taking an evident interest in him, but does not disclose himself; nor +does Middleton suspect him to be an American. The characteristic life of +the Hospital is brought out, and the individual character of this old +man, vegetating here after an active career, melancholy and miserable; +sometimes torpid with the slow approach of utmost age; sometimes feeble, +peevish, wavering; sometimes shining out with a wisdom resulting from +originally bright faculties, ripened by experience. The character must +not be allowed to get vague, but, with gleams of romance, must yet be +kept homely and natural by little touches of his daily life. + +As for Alice, I see no necessity for her being anywise related to or +connected with the old Hospitaller. As originally conceived, I think she +may be an artist--a sculptress--whom Eldredge had known in Rome. No; she +might be a granddaughter of the old Hospitaller, born and bred in +America, but who had resided two or three years in Rome in the study of +her art, and have there acquired a knowledge of the Eldredges and have +become fond of the little Italian girl his daughter. She has lodgings in +the village, and of course is often at the Hospital, and often at the +Hall; she makes busts and little statues, and is free, wild, tender, +proud, domestic, strange, natural, artistic; and has at bottom the +characteristics of the American woman, with the principles of the +strong-minded sect; and Middleton shall be continually puzzled at meeting +such a phenomenon in England. By and by, the internal influence +[evidence?] of her sentiments (though there shall be nothing to confirm +it in her manner) shall lead him to charge her with being an American. + +Now, as to the arrangement of the Romance;--it begins as an integral and +essential part, with my introduction, giving a pleasant and familiar +summary of my life in the Consulate at Liverpool; the strange species of +Americans, with strange purposes, in England, whom I used to meet there; +and, especially, how my countrymen used to be put out of their senses by +the idea of inheritances of English property. Then I shall particularly +instance one gentleman who called on me on first coming over; a +description of him must be given, with touches that shall puzzle the +reader to decide whether it is not an actual portrait. And then this +Romance shall be offered, half seriously, as the account of the fortunes +that he met with in his search for his hereditary home. Enough of his +ancestral story may be given to explain what is to follow in the Romance; +or perhaps this may be left to the scenes of his intercourse with the old +Hospitaller. + +The Romance proper opens with Middleton's arrival at what he has reason +to think is the neighborhood of his ancestral home, and here he makes +application to the old Hospitaller. Middleton shall be described as +approaching the Hospital, which shall be pretty literally copied after +Leicester's, although the surrounding village must be on a much smaller +scale of course. Much elaborateness may be given to this portion of the +book. Middleton shall have assumed a plain dress, and shall seek to make +no acquaintances except that of the old Hospitaller; the acquaintance of +Alice naturally following. The old Hospitaller and he go together to the +old Hall, where, as they pass through the rooms, they find that the +proprietor is flitting like a ghost before them from chamber to chamber; +they catch his reflection in a glass, etc., etc. When these have been +wrought up sufficiently, shall come the scene in the wood, where Eldredge +is seen yielding to the superstition that he has inherited, respecting +the old secret of the family, on the discovery of which depends the +enforcement of his claim to a title. All this while, Middleton has +appeared in the character of a man of no note; and now, through some +political change, not necessarily told, he receives a packet addressed to +him as an ambassador, and containing a notice of his appointment to that +dignity. A paragraph in the "Times" confirms the fact, and makes it +known in the neighborhood. Middleton immediately becomes an object of +attention; the gentry call upon him; the Mayor of the neighboring +county-town invites him to dinner, which shall be described with all its +antique formalities. Here he meets Eldredge, who is surprised, +remembering the encounter in the wood; but passes it all off, like a man +of the world, makes his acquaintance, and invites him to the Hall. +Perhaps he may make a visit of some time here, and become intimate, to a +certain degree, with all parties; and here things shall ripen themselves +for Eldredge's attempt upon his life. + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Sketches and Studies, by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES AND STUDIES *** + +***** This file should be named 8091.txt or 8091.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/0/9/8091/ + +Produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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