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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16607-8.txt b/16607-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..85d06fd --- /dev/null +++ b/16607-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9665 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 54, +No. 337, November, 1843, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 54, No. 337, November, 1843 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: August 27, 2005 [EBook #16607] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by The Internet Library of Early Journals; Jon +Ingram, Brendan OConnor, Allen Siddle and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + +No. CCCXXXVII. NOVEMBER, 1843. VOL. LIV. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + ADVENTURES IN TEXAS. + TRAVELS OF KERIM KHAN. + THE BANKING-HOUSE. + THE WRONGS OF WOMEN. + MARSTON; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A STATESMAN. + CEYLON + COMMERCIAL POLICY. + A SPECULATION ON THE SENSES. + ON THE BEST MEANS OF ESTABLISHING A COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE + BETWEEN THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS. + TWO DREAMS. + THE GAME UP WITH REPEAL AGITATION. + + * * * * * + + + + +ADVENTURES IN TEXAS. + +NO. 1. + +A SCAMPER IN THE PRAIRIE OF JACINTO. + + +Reader! Were you ever in a Texian prairie? Probably not. _I_ have been; +and this was how it happened. When a very young man, I found myself one +fine morning possessor of a Texas land-scrip--that is to say, a +certificate of the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company, in which it was +stated, that in consideration of the sum of one thousand dollars, duly +paid and delivered by Mr Edward Rivers into the hands of the cashier of +the aforesaid company, he, the said Edward Rivers, was become entitled to +ten thousand acres of Texian land, to be selected by himself, or those he +should appoint, under the sole condition of not infringing on the property +or rights of the holders of previously given certificates. + +Ten thousand acres of the finest land in the world, and under a heaven +compared to which, our Maryland sky, bright as it is, appears dull and +foggy! It was a tempting bait; too good a one not to be caught at by many +in those times of speculation; and accordingly, our free and enlightened +citizens bought and sold their millions of Texian acres just as readily as +they did their thousands of towns and villages in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, +and Michigan, and their tens of thousands of shares in banks and railways. +It was a speculative fever, which has since, we may hope, been in some +degree cured. At any rate, the remedies applied have been tolerably severe. + +I had not escaped the contagion, and, having got the land on paper, I +thought I should like to see it in dirty acres; so, in company with a +friend who had a similar venture, I embarked at Baltimore on board the +Catcher schooner, and, after a three weeks' voyage, arrived in Galveston +Bay. + +The grassy shores of this bay, into which the river Brazos empties itself, +rise so little above the surface of the water, to which they bear a strong +resemblance in colour, that it would be difficult to discover them, were +it not for three stunted trees growing on the western extremity of a long +lizard-shaped island that stretches nearly sixty miles across the bay, and +conceals the mouth of the river. These trees are the only landmark for the +mariner; and, with their exception, not a single object--not a hill, a +house, nor so much as a bush, relieves the level sameness of the island +and adjacent continent. + +After we had, with some difficulty, got on the inner side of the island, a +pilot came on board and took charge of the vessel. The first thing he did +was to run us on a sandbank, off which we got with no small labour, and by +the united exertions of sailors and passengers, and at length entered the +river. In our impatience to land, I and my friend left the schooner in a +cockleshell of a boat, which upset in the surge, and we found ourselves +floundering in the water. Luckily it was not very deep, and we escaped +with a thorough drenching. + +When we had scrambled on shore, we gazed about us for some time before we +could persuade ourselves that we were actually upon land. It was, without +exception, the strangest coast we had ever seen, and there was scarcely a +possibility of distinguishing the boundary between earth and water. The +green grass grew down to the edge of the green sea, and there was only the +streak of white foam left by the latter upon the former to serve as a line +of demarcation. Before us was a plain, a hundred or more miles in extent, +covered with long, fine grass, rolling in waves before each puff of the +sea-breeze, with neither tree, nor house, nor hill, to vary the monotony +of the surface. Ten or twelve miles towards the north and north-west, we +distinguished some dark masses, which we afterwards discovered to be +groups of trees; but to our eyes they looked exactly like islands in a +green sea, and we subsequently learned that they were called islands by +the people of the country. It would have been difficult to have given them +a more appropriate name, or one better describing their appearance. + +Proceeding along the shore, we came to a blockhouse situated behind a +small tongue of land projecting into the river, and decorated with the +flag of the Mexican republic, waving in all its glory from the roof. At +that period, this was the only building of which Galveston harbour could +boast. It served as custom-house and as barracks for the garrison, also as +the residence of the director of customs, and of the civil and military +intendant, as headquarters of the officer commanding, and, moreover, as +hotel and wine and spirit store. Alongside the board, on which was +depicted a sort of hieroglyphic, intended for the Mexican eagle, hung a +bottle doing duty as a sign, and the republican banner threw its protecting +shadow over an announcement of--"Brandy, Whisky, and Accommodation for Man +and Beast." + +As we approached the house, we saw the whole garrison assembled before the +door. It consisted of a dozen dwarfish, spindle-shanked Mexican soldiers, +none of them so big or half so strong as American boys of fifteen, and +whom I would have backed a single Kentucky woodsman, armed with a +riding-whip, to have driven to the four winds of heaven. These heroes all +sported tremendous beards, whiskers, and mustaches, and had a habit of +knitting their brows, in the endeavour, as we supposed, to look fierce and +formidable. They were crowding round a table of rough planks, and playing +a game of cards, in which they were so deeply engrossed that they took no +notice of our approach. Their officer, however, came out of the house to +meet us. + +Captain Cotton, formerly editor of the _Mexican Gazette_, now civil and +military commandant at Galveston, customs-director, harbour-master, and +tavern-keeper, and a Yankee to boot, seemed to trouble himself very little +about his various dignities and titles. He produced some capital French +and Spanish wine, which, it is to be presumed, he got duty free, and +welcomed us to Texas. We were presently joined by some of our +fellow-passengers, who seemed as bewildered as we had been at the +billiard-table appearance of the country. Indeed the place looked so +desolate and uninviting, that there was little inducement to remain on +_terra firma_, and it was with a feeling of relief that we once more found +ourselves on board the schooner. + +We took three days to sail up the river Brazos to the town of Brazoria, a +distance of thirty miles. On the first day nothing but meadow land was +visible on either side of us; but, on the second, the monotonous +grass-covered surface was varied by islands of trees, and, about twenty +miles from the mouth of the river, we passed through a forest of +sycamores, and saw several herds of deer and flocks of wild turkeys. At +length we reached Brazoria, which at the time I speak of, namely, in the +year 1832, was an important city--for Texas, that is to say--consisting of +upwards of thirty houses, three of which were of brick, three of planks, +and the remainder of logs. All the inhabitants were Americans, and the +streets arranged in American fashion, in straight lines and at right +angles. The only objection to the place was, that in the wet season it +was all under water; but the Brazorians overlooked this little +inconvenience, in consideration of the inexhaustible fruitfulness of the +soil. It was the beginning of March when we arrived, and yet there was +already an abundance of new potatoes, beans, peas, and artichokes, all of +the finest sorts and most delicious flavour. + +At Brazoria, my friend and myself had the satisfaction of learning that +our land-certificates, for which we had each paid a thousand dollars, were +worth exactly nothing--just so much waste paper, in short--unless we chose +to conform to a condition to which our worthy friends, the Galveston Bay +and Texas Land Company, had never made the smallest allusion. + +It appeared that in the year 1824, the Mexican Congress had passed an act +for the encouragement of emigration from the United States to Texas. In +consequence of this act, an agreement was entered into with contractors, +or _empresarios_, as they call them in Mexico, who had bound themselves to +bring a certain number of settlers into Texas within a given time and +without any expense to the Mexican government. On the other hand, the +Mexican government had engaged to furnish land to these emigrants at the +rate of five square leagues to every hundred families; but to this +agreement one condition was attached, and it was, that all settlers should +be, or become, Roman Catholics. Failing this, the validity of their claims +to the land was not recognised, and they were liable to be turned out any +day at the point of the bayonet. + +This information threw us into no small perplexity. It was clear that we +had been duped, completely bubbled, by the rascally Land Company; that, as +heretics, the Mexican government would have nothing to say to us; and that, +unless we chose to become converts to the Romish Church, we might whistle +for our acres, and light our pipes with the certificate. Our Yankee +friends at Brazoria, however, laughed at our dilemma, and told us that we +were only in the same plight as hundreds of our countrymen, who had come +to Texas in total ignorance of this condition, but who had not the less +taken possession of their land and settled there; that they themselves +were amongst the number, and that, although it was just as likely they +would turn negroes as Roman Catholics, they had no idea of being turned +out of their houses and plantations; that, at any rate, if the Mexicans +tried it, they had their rifles with them, and should be apt, they +reckoned, to burn powder before they allowed themselves to be kicked off +such an almighty fine piece of soil. So, after a while, we began to think, +that as we had paid our money and come so far, we might do as others had +done before us--occupy our land and wait the course of events. The next +day we each bought a horse, or _mustang_, as they call them there, which +animals were selling at Brazoria for next to nothing, and rode out into +the prairie to look for a convenient spot to settle. + +These mustangs are small horses, rarely above fourteen hands high, and are +descended from the Spanish breed introduced by the original conquerors of +the country. During the three centuries that have elapsed since the +conquest of Mexico, they have increased and multiplied to an extraordinary +extent, and are to be found in vast droves in the Texian prairies, +although they are now beginning to become somewhat scarcer. They are taken +with the _lasso_, concerning which instrument or weapon I will here say a +word or two, notwithstanding that it has been often described. + +The lasso is usually from twenty to thirty feet long, very flexible, and +composed of strips of twisted ox hide. One end is fastened to the saddle, +and the other, which forms a running noose, held in the hand of the hunter, +who, thus equipped, rides out into the prairie. When he discovers a troop +of wild horses, he manoeuvres to get to windward of them, and then to +approach as near them as possible. If he is an experienced hand, the +horses seldom or never escape him, and as soon as he finds himself within +twenty or thirty feet of them, he throws the noose with unerring aim over +the neck of the one he has selected for his prey. This done, he turns his +own horse sharp round, gives him the spur, and gallops away, dragging his +unfortunate captive after him, breathless, and with his windpipe so +compressed by the noose, that he is unable to make the smallest resistance, +and after a few yards, falls headlong to the ground, and lies motionless +and almost lifeless, sometimes indeed badly hurt and disabled. From this +day forward, the horse which has been thus caught never forgets the lasso; +the mere sight of it makes him tremble in every limb; and, however wild he +may be, it is sufficient to show it to him, or lay it on his neck, to +render him as tame and docile as a lamb. + +The horse taken, next comes the breaking in, which is effected in a no +less brutal manner than his capture. The eyes of the unfortunate animal +are covered with a bandage, and a tremendous bit, a pound weight or more, +clapped into his mouth; the horsebreaker puts on a pair of spurs six +inches long, and with rowels like penknives, and jumping on his back, +urges him to his very utmost speed. If the horse tries to rear, or turns +restive, one pull, and not a very hard one either, at the instrument of +torture they call a bit, is sufficient to tear his mouth to shreds, and +cause the blood to flow in streams. I have myself seen horses' teeth +broken with these barbarous bits. The poor beast whinnies and groans with +pain and terror; but there is no help for him, the spurs are at his flanks, +and on he goes full gallop, till he is ready to sink from fatigue and +exhaustion. He then has a quarter of an hour's rest allowed him; but +scarcely does he begin to recover breath, which has been ridden and +spurred out of his body, when he is again mounted, and has to go through +the same violent process as before. If he breaks down during this rude +trial, he is either knocked on the head or driven away as useless; but if +he holds out, he is marked with a hot iron, and left to graze on the +prairie. Henceforward, there is no particular difficulty in catching him +when wanted; the wildness of the horse is completely punished out of him, +but for it is substituted the most confirmed vice and malice that it is +possible to conceive. These mustangs are unquestionably the most deceitful +and spiteful of all the equine race. They seem to be perpetually looking +out for an opportunity of playing their master a trick; and very soon +after I got possession of mine, I was nearly paying for him in a way that +I had certainly not calculated upon. + +We were going to Bolivar, and had to cross the river Brazos. I was the +last but one to get into the boat, and was leading my horse carelessly by +the bridle. Just as I was about to step in, a sudden jerk, and a cry of +'mind your beast!' made me jump on one side; and lucky it was that I did +so. My mustang had suddenly sprung back, reared up, and then thrown +himself forward upon me with such force and fury, that, as I got out of +his way, his fore feet went completely through the bottom of the boat. I +never in my life saw an animal in such a paroxysm of rage. He curled up +his lip till his whole range of teeth was visible, his eyes literally shot +fire, while the foam flew from his mouth, and he gave a wild screaming +neigh that had something quite diabolical in its sound. I was standing +perfectly thunderstruck at this scene, when one of the party took a lasso +and very quietly laid it over the animal's neck. The effect was really +magical. With closed mouth, drooping ears, and head low, there stood the +mustang, as meek and docile as any old jackass. The change was so sudden +and comical, that we all burst out laughing; although, when I came to +reflect on the danger I had run, it required all my love of horses to +prevent me from shooting the brute upon the spot. + +Mounted upon this ticklish steed and in company with my friend, I made +various excursions to Bolivar, Marion, Columbia, Anahuac, incipient cities +consisting of from five to twenty houses. We also visited numerous +plantations and clearings, to the owners of some of which we were known, +or had messages of introduction; but either with or without such +recommendations, we always found a hearty welcome and hospitable reception, +and it was rare that we were allowed to pay for our entertainment. + +We arrived one day at a clearing which lay a few miles off the way from +Harrisburg to San Felipe de Austin, and belonged to a Mr Neal. He had been +three years in the country, occupying himself with the breeding of cattle, +which is unquestionably the most agreeable, as well as profitable, +occupation that can be followed in Texas. He had between seven and eight +hundred head of cattle, and from fifty to sixty horses, all mustangs. His +plantation, like nearly all the plantations in Texas at that time, was as +yet in a very rough state, and his house, although roomy and comfortable +enough inside, was built of unhewn tree-trunks, in true back-woodsman +style. It was situated on the border of one of the islands, or groups of +trees, and stood between two gigantic sycamores, which sheltered it from +the sun and wind. In front, and as far as could be seen, lay the prairie, +covered with its waving grass and many-coloured flowers, behind the +dwelling arose the cluster of forest trees in all their primeval majesty, +laced and bound together by an infinity of wild vines, which shot their +tendrils and clinging branches hundreds of feet upwards to the very top of +the trees, embracing and covering the whole island with a green network, +and converting it into an immense bower of vine leaves, which would have +been no unsuitable abode for Bacchus and his train. + +These islands are one of the most enchanting features of Texian scenery. +Of infinite variety and beauty of form, and unrivalled in the growth and +magnitude of the trees that compose them, they are to be found of all +shapes--circular, parallelograms, hexagons, octagons--some again twisting +and winding like dark-green snakes over the brighter surface of the +prairie. In no park or artificially laid out grounds, would it be possible +to find any thing equalling these natural shrubberies in beauty and +symmetry. In the morning and evening especially, when surrounded by a sort +of veil of light-greyish mist, and with the horizontal beams of the rising +or setting sun gleaming through them, they offer pictures which it is +impossible to get weary of admiring. + +Mr Neal was a jovial Kentuckian, and he received us with the greatest +hospitality, only asking in return all the news we could give him from the +States. It is difficult to imagine, without having witnessed it, the +feverish eagerness and curiosity with which all intelligence from their +native country is sought after and listened to by these dwellers in the +desert. Men, women, and children, crowded round us; and though we had +arrived in the afternoon, it was near sunrise before we could escape from +the enquiries by which we were overwhelmed, and retire to the beds that +had been prepared for us. + +I had not slept very long when I was roused by our worthy host. He was +going out to catch twenty or thirty oxen, which were wanted for the market +at New Orleans. As the kind of chase which takes place after these animals +is very interesting, and rarely dangerous, we willingly accepted the +invitation to accompany him, and having dressed and breakfasted in all +haste, got upon our mustangs and rode of into the prairie. + +The party was half a dozen strong, consisting of Mr Neal, my friend and +myself, and three negroes. What we had to do was to drive the cattle, +which were grazing on the prairie in herds of from thirty to fifty head, +to the house, and then those which were selected for the market were to be +taken with the lasso and sent off to Brazoria. + +After riding four or five miles, we came in sight of a drove, splendid +animals, standing very high, and of most symmetrical form. The horns of +these cattle are of unusual length, and, in the distance, have more the +appearance of stag's antlers than bull's horns. We approached the herd +first to within a quarter of a mile. They remained quite quiet. We rode +round them, and in like manner got in rear of a second and third drove, +and then began to spread out, so as to form a half circle, and drive the +cattle towards the house. + +Hitherto my mustang had behaved exceedingly well, cantering freely along +and not attempting to play any tricks. I had scarcely, however, left the +remainder of the party a couple of hundred yards, when the devil by which +he was possessed began to wake up. The mustangs belonging to the +plantation were grazing some three quarters of a mile off; and no sooner +did my beast catch sight of them, than he commenced practising every +species of jump and leap that it is possible for a horse to execute, and +many of a nature so extraordinary, that I should have thought no brute +that ever went on four legs would have been able to accomplish them. He +shied, reared, pranced, leaped forwards, backwards, and sideways; in short, +played such infernal pranks, that, although a practised rider, I found it +no easy matter to keep my seat. I began heartily to regret that I had +brought no lasso with me, which would have tamed him at once, and that, +contrary to Mr Neal's advice, I had put on my American bit instead of a +Mexican one. Without these auxiliaries all my horsemanship was useless. +The brute galloped like a mad creature some five hundred yards, caring +nothing for my efforts to stop him; and then, finding himself close to the +troop of mustangs, he stopped suddenly short, threw his head between his +fore legs, and his hind feet into the air, with such vicious violence, +that I was pitched clean out of the saddle. Before I well knew where I was, +I had the satisfaction of seeing him put his fore feet on the bridle, pull +bit and bridoon out of his mouth, and then, with a neigh of exultation, +spring into the midst of the herd of mustangs. + +I got up out of the long grass in a towering passion. One of the negroes +who was nearest to me came galloping to my assistance, and begged me to +let the beast run for a while, and that when Anthony, the huntsman, came, +he would soon catch him. I was too angry to listen to reason, and I +ordered him to get off his horse, and let me mount. The black begged and +prayed of me not to ride after the brute; and Mr Neal, who was some +distance off, shouted to me, as loud as he could, for Heaven's sake, to +stop--that I did not know what it was to chase a wild horse in a Texian +prairie, and that I must not fancy myself in the meadows of Louisiana or +Florida. I paid no attention to all this--I was in too great a rage at the +trick the beast had played me, and, jumping on the negro's horse, I +galloped away like mad. + +My rebellious steed was grazing quietly with his companions, and he +allowed me to come within a couple of hundred paces of him; but just as I +had prepared the lasso, which was fastened to the negro's saddle-bow, he +gave a start, and galloped off some distance further, I after him. Again +he made a pause, and munched a mouthful of grass--then off again for +another half mile. This time I had great hopes of catching him, for he let +me come within a hundred yards; but, just as I was creeping up to him, +away he went with one of his shrill neighs. When I galloped fast he went +faster, when I rode slowly he slackened pace. At least ten times did he +let me approach him within a couple of hundred yards, without for that +being a bit nearer getting hold of him. It was certainly high time to +desist from such a mad chase, but I never dreamed of doing so; and indeed +the longer it lasted, the more obstinate I got. I rode on after the beast, +who kept letting me come nearer and nearer, and then darted off again with +his loud-laughing neigh. It was this infernal neigh that made me so +savage--there was something so spiteful and triumphant in it, as though +the animal knew he was making a fool of me, and exulted in so doing. At +last, however, I got so sick of my horse-hunt that I determined to make a +last trial, and, if that failed, to turn back. The runaway had stopped +near one of the islands of trees, and was grazing quite close to its edge. +I thought that if I were to creep round to the other side of the island, +and then steal across it, through the trees, I should be able to throw the +lasso over his head, or, at any rate, to drive him back to the house. This +plan I put in execution--rode round the island, then through it, lasso in +hand, and as softly as if I had been riding over eggs. To my consternation, +however, on arriving at the edge of the trees, and at the exact spot where, +only a few minutes before, I had seen the mustang grazing, no signs of him +were to be perceived. I made the circuit of the island, but in vain--the +animal had disappeared. With a hearty curse, I put spurs to my horse, and +started off to ride back to the plantation. + +Neither the plantation, the cattle, nor my companions, were visible, it is +true; but this gave me no uneasiness. I felt sure that I knew the +direction in which I had come, and that the island I had just left was one +which was visible from the house, while all around me were such numerous +tracks of horses, that the possibility of my having lost my way never +occurred to me, and I rode on quite unconcernedly. + +After riding for about an hour, however, I began to find the time rather +long. I looked at my watch. It was past one o'clock. We had started at +nine, and, allowing an hour and a half to have been spent in finding the +cattle, I had passed nearly three hours in my wild and unsuccessful hunt. +I began to think that I must have got further from the plantation than I +had as yet supposed. + +It was towards the end of March, the day clear and warm, just like a +May-day in the Southern States. The sun was now shining brightly out, but +the early part of the morning had been somewhat foggy; and, as I had only +arrived at the plantation the day before, and had passed the whole +afternoon and evening indoors, I had no opportunity of getting acquainted +with the bearings of the house. This reflection began to make me rather +uneasy, particularly when I remembered the entreaties of the negro, and +the loud exhortations Mr Neal addressed to me as I rode away. I said to +myself, however, that I could not be more than ten or fifteen miles from +the plantation, that I should soon come in sight of the herds of cattle, +and that then there would be no difficulty in finding my way. But when I +had ridden another hour without seeing the smallest sign either of man or +beast, I got seriously uneasy. In my impatience, I abused poor Neal for +not sending somebody to find me. His huntsman, I had heard, was gone to +Anahuac, and would not be back for two or three days; but he might have +sent a couple of his lazy negroes. Or, if he had only fired a shot or two +as a signal. I stopped and listened, in hopes of hearing the crack of a +rifle. But the deepest stillness reigned around, scarcely the chirp of a +bird was heard--all nature seemed to be taking the siesta. As far as the +eye could reach was a waving sea of grass, here and there an island of +trees, but not a trace of a human being. At last I thought I had made a +discovery. The nearest clump of trees was undoubtedly the same which I had +admired and pointed out to my companions soon after we had left the house. +It bore a fantastical resemblance to a snake coiled up and about to dart +upon its prey. About six or seven miles from the plantation we had passed +it on our right hand, and if I now kept it upon my left, I could not fail +to be going in a proper direction. So said, so done. I trotted on most +perseveringly towards the point of the horizon where I felt certain the +house must lie. One hour passed, then a second, then a third; every now +and then I stopped and listened, but nothing was audible, not a shot nor a +shout. But although I heard nothing, I saw something which gave me no +great pleasure. In the direction in which we had ridden out, the grass was +very abundant and the flowers scarce; whereas the part of the prairie in +which I now found myself presented the appearance of a perfect +flower-garden, with scarcely a square foot of green to be seen. The most +variegated carpet of flowers I ever beheld lay unrolled before me; red, +yellow, violet, blue, every colour, every tint was there; millions of the +most magnificent prairie roses, tuberoses, asters, dahlias, and fifty +other kinds of flowers. The finest artificial garden in the world would +sink into insignificance when compared with this parterre of nature's own +planting. My horse could hardly make his way through the wilderness of +flowers, and I for a time remained lost in admiration of this scene of +extraordinary beauty. The prairie in the distance looked as if clothed +with rainbows that waved to and fro over its surface. + +But the difficulties and anxieties of my situation soon banished all other +thoughts, and I rode on with perfect indifference through a scene, that, +under other circumstances, would have captivated my entire attention. All +the stories that I had heard of mishaps in these endless prairies, +recurred in vivid colouring to my memory, not mere backwoodsman's legends, +but facts well authenticated by persons of undoubted veracity, who had +warned me, before I came to Texas, against venturing without guide or +compass into these dangerous wilds. Even men who had been long in the +country, were often known to lose themselves, and to wander for days and +weeks over these oceans of grass, where no hill or variety of surface +offers a landmark to the traveller. In summer and autumn, such a position +would have one danger the less, that is, there would be no risk of dying +of hunger; for at those seasons the most delicious fruits, grapes, plums, +peaches, and others, are to be found in abundance. But we were now in +early spring, and although I saw numbers of peach and plum-trees, they +were only in blossom. Of game also there was plenty, both fur and feather, +but I had no gun, and nothing appeared more probable than that I should +die of hunger, although surrounded by food, and in one of the most +fruitful countries in the world. This thought flashed suddenly across me, +and for a moment my heart sunk within me as I first perceived the real +danger of my position. + +After a time, however, other ideas came to console me. I had been already +four weeks in the country, and had ridden over a large slice of it in +every direction, always through prairies, and I had never had any +difficulty in finding my way. True, but then I had always had a compass, +and been in company. It was this sort of over-confidence and feeling of +security, that had made me adventure so rashly, and spite of all warning, +in pursuit of the mustang. I had not waited to reflect, that a little more +than four weeks' experience was necessary to make one acquainted with the +bearings of a district three times as big as New York State. Still I +thought it impossible that I should have got so far out of the right track +as not to be able to find the house before nightfall, which was now, +however, rapidly approaching. Indeed, the first shades of evening, strange +as it may seem, gave this persuasion increased strength. Home bred and +gently nurtured as I was, my life before coming to Texas had been by no +means one of adventure, and I was so used to sleep with a roof over my +head, that when I saw it getting dusk I felt certain I could not be far +from the house. The idea fixed itself so strongly in my mind, that I +involuntarily spurred my mustang, and trotted on, peering out through the +now fast-gathering gloom, in expectation of seeing a light. Several times +I fancied I heard the barking of the dogs, the cattle lowing, or the merry +laugh of the children. + +"Hurrah! there is the house at last--I see the lights in the parlour +windows." + +I urged my horse on, but when I came near the house, it proved to be an +island of trees. What I had taken for candles were fire-flies, that now +issued in swarms from out of the darkness of the islands, and spread +themselves over the prairie, darting about in every direction, their small +blue flames literally lighting up the plain, and making it appear as if I +were surrounded by a sea of Bengal fire. It is impossible to conceive +anything more bewildering than such a ride as mine, on a warm March night, +through the interminable, never varying prairie. Overhead the deep blue +firmament, with its hosts of bright stars; at my feet, and all around, an +ocean of magical light, myriads of fire-flies floating upon the soft still +air. To me it was like a scene of enchantment. I could distinguish every +blade of grass, every flower, each leaf on the trees, but all in a strange +unnatural sort of light, and in altered colours. Tuberoses and asters, +prairie roses and geraniums, dahlias and vine branches, began to wave and +move, to range themselves in ranks and rows. The whole vegetable world +around me seemed to dance, as the swarms of living lights passed over it. + +Suddenly out of the sea of fire sounded a loud and long-drawn note. I +stopped, listened, and gazed around me. It was not repeated, and I rode on. +Again the same sound, but this time the cadence was sad and plaintive. +Again I made a halt, and listened. It was repeated a third time in a yet +more melancholy tone, and I recognised it as the cry of a whip-poor-will. +Presently it was answered from a neighbouring island by a Katydid. My +heart leaped for joy at hearing the note of this bird, the native minstrel +of my own dear Maryland. In an instant the house where I was born stood +before the eyesight of my imagination. There were the negro huts, the +garden, the plantation, every thing exactly as I had left it. So powerful +was the illusion, that I gave my horse the spur, persuaded that my +father's house lay before me. The island, too, I took for the grove that +surrounded our house. On reaching its border, I literally dismounted, and +shouted out for Charon Tommy. There was a stream running through our +plantation, which, for nine months out of the twelve, was only passable by +means of a ferry, and the old negro who officiated as ferryman was +indebted to me for the above classical cognomen. I believe I called twice, +nay, three times, but no Charon Tommy answered; and I awoke as from a +pleasant dream, somewhat ashamed of the length to which my excited +imagination had hurried me. + +I now felt so weary and exhausted, so hungry and thirsty, and, withal, my +mind was so anxious and harassed by my dangerous position, and the +uncertainty how I should get out of it, that I was really incapable of +going any further. I felt quite bewildered, and stood for some time gazing +before me, and scarcely even troubling myself to think. At length I +mechanically drew my clasp-knife from my pocket, and set to work to dig a +hole in the rich black soil of the prairie. Into this hole I put the +knotted end of my lasso, and then pushing it in the earth and stamping it +down with my foot, as I had seen others do since I had been in Texas, I +passed the noose over my mustang's neck, and left him to graze, while I +myself lay down outside the circle which the lasso would allow him to +describe. An odd manner, it may seem, of tying up a horse; but the most +convenient and natural one in a country where one may often find +one's-self fifty miles from any house, and five-and-twenty from a tree or +bush. + +I found it no easy matter to sleep, for on all sides I heard the howling +of wolves and jaguars, an unpleasant serenade at any time, but most of all +so in the prairie, unarmed and defenceless as I was. My nerves, too, were +all in commotion, and I felt so feverish, that I do not know what I should +have done, had I not fortunately remembered that I had my cigar-case and a +roll of tobacco, real Virginia _dulcissimus_, in my pocket--invaluable +treasures in my present situation, and which on this, as on many other +occasions, did not fail to soothe and calm my agitated thoughts. + +Luckily, too, being a tolerably confirmed smoker, I carried a flint and +steel with me; for otherwise, although surrounded by lights, I should have +been sadly at a loss for fire. A couple of Havannahs did me an infinite +deal of good, and after a while I sunk into the slumber of which I stood +so much in need. + +The day was hardly well broken when I awoke. The refreshing sleep I had +enjoyed had given me new energy and courage. I felt hungry enough, to be +sure, but light and cheerful, and I hastened to dig up the end of the +lasso, and saddled my horse. I trusted that, though I had been condemned +to wander over the prairie the whole of the preceding day, as a sort of +punishment for my rashness, I should now have better luck, and having +expiated my fault, be at length allowed to find my way. With this hope I +mounted my mustang, and resumed my ride. + +I passed several beautiful islands of pecan, plum, and peach trees. It is +a peculiarity worthy of remark, that these islands are nearly always of +one sort of tree. It is very rare to meet with one where there are two +sorts. Like the beasts of the forest, that herd together according to +their kind, so does this wild vegetation preserve itself distinct in its +different species. One island will be entirely composed of live oaks, +another of plum, and a third of pecan trees; the vine only is common to +them all, and embraces them all alike with its slender but tenacious +branches. I rode through several of these islands. They were perfectly +free from bushes and brushwood, and carpeted with the most beautiful +verdure it is possible to behold. I gazed at them in astonishment. It +seemed incredible that nature, abandoned to herself, should preserve +herself so beautifully clean and pure, and I involuntarily looked around +me for some trace of the hand of man. But none was there. I saw nothing +but herds of deer, that gazed wonderingly at me with their large clear +eyes, and when I approached too near, galloped off in alarm. What would I +not have given for an ounce of lead, a charge of powder, and a Kentucky +rifle? Nevertheless, the mere sight of the beasts gladdened me, and raised +my spirits. They were a sort of society. Something of the same feeling +seemed to be imparted to my horse, who bounded under me, and neighed +merrily as he cantered along in the fresh spring morning. + +I was now skirting the side of an island of trees of greater extent than +most of those I had hitherto seen. On reaching the end of it, I suddenly +came in sight of an object presenting so extraordinary an appearance as +far to surpass any of the natural wonders I had as yet beheld, either in +Texas or the United States. + +At the distance of about two miles rose a colossal mass, in shape somewhat +like a monumental mound or tumulus, and apparently of the brightest silver. +As I came in view of it, the sun was just covered by a passing cloud, from +the lower edge of which the bright rays shot down obliquely upon this +extraordinary phenomenon, lighting it up in the most brilliant manner. At +one moment it looked like a huge silver cone; then took the appearance of +an illuminated castle with pinnacles and towers, or the dome of some great +cathedral; then of a gigantic elephant, covered with trappings, but always +of solid silver, and indescribably magnificent. Had all the treasures of +the earth been offered me to say what it was, I should have been unable to +answer. Bewildered by my interminable wanderings in the prairie, and +weakened by fatigue and hunger, a superstitious feeling for a moment came +over me, and I half asked myself whether I had not reached some enchanted +region, into which the evil spirit of the prairie was luring me to +destruction by appearances of supernatural strangeness and beauty. + +Banishing these wild imaginings, I rode on in the direction of this +strange object; but it was only when I came within a very short distance +that I was able to distinguish its nature. It was a live oak of most +stupendous dimensions, the very patriarch of the prairie, grown grey in +the lapse of ages. Its lower limbs had shot out in an horizontal, or +rather a downward-slanting direction; and, reaching nearly to the ground, +formed a vast dome several hundred feet in diameter, and full a hundred +and thirty feet high. It had no appearance of a tree, for neither trunk +nor branches were visible. It seemed a mountain of whitish-green scales, +fringed with long silvery moss, that hung like innumerable beards from +every bough and twig. Nothing could better convey the idea of immense and +incalculable age than the hoary beard and venerable appearance of this +monarch of the woods. Spanish moss of a silvery grey covered the whole +mass of wood and foliage, from the topmost bough down to the very ground; +short near the top of the tree, but gradually increasing in length as it +descended, until it hung like a deep fringe from the lower branches. I +separated the vegetable curtain with my hands, and entered this august +temple with feelings of involuntary awe. The change from the bright +sunlight to the comparative darkness beneath the leafy vault, was so great, +that I at first could scarcely distinguish any thing. When my eyes got +accustomed to the gloom, however, nothing could be more beautiful than the +effect of the sun's rays, which, in forcing their way through the silvered +leaves and mosses, took as many varieties of colour as if they had passed +through a window of painted glass, and gave the rich, subdued, and solemn +light of some old cathedral. + +The trunk of the tree rose, free from all branches, full forty feet from +the ground, rough and knotted, and of such enormous size that it might +have been taken for a mass of rock, covered with moss and lichens, while +many of its boughs were nearly as thick as the trunk of any tree I had +ever previously seen. + +I was so absorbed in the contemplation of the vegetable giant, that for a +short space I almost forgot my troubles; but as I rode away from the tree +they returned to me in full force, and my reflections were certainly of no +very cheering or consolatory nature. I rode on, however, most +perseveringly. The morning slipped away; it was noon, the sun stood high +in the cloudless heavens. My hunger had now increased to an insupportable +degree, and I felt as if something were gnawing within me, something like +a crab tugging and riving at my stomach with his sharp claws. This feeling +left me after a time, and was replaced by a sort of squeamishness, a faint +sickly sensation. But if hunger was bad, thirst was worse. For some hours +I suffered martyrdom. At length, like the hunger, it died away, and was +succeeded by a feeling of sickness. The thirty hours' fatigue and fasting +I had endured were beginning to tell upon my naturally strong nerves: I +felt my reasoning powers growing weaker, and my presence of mind leaving +me. A feeling of despondency came over me--a thousand wild fancies passed +through my bewildered brain; while at times my head grew dizzy, and I +reeled in my saddle like a drunken man. These weak fits, as I may call +them, did not last long; and each time that I recovered I spurred my +mustang onwards, but it was all in vain--ride as far and as fast as I +would, nothing was visible but a boundless sea of grass. + +At length I gave up all hope, except in that God whose almighty hand was +so manifest in the beauteous works around me. I let the bridle fall on my +horse's neck, clasped my hands together, and prayed as I had never before +prayed, so heartily and earnestly. When I had finished my prayer I felt +greatly comforted. It seemed to me, that here in the wilderness, which man +had not as yet polluted, I was nearer to God, and that my petition would +assuredly be heard. I gazed cheerfully around, persuaded that I should yet +escape from the peril in which I stood. As I did so, with what +astonishment and inexpressible delight did I perceive, not ten paces off, +the track of a horse! + +The effect of this discovery was like an electric shock to me, and drew a +cry of joy from my lips that made my mustang start and prick his ears. +Tears of delight and gratitude to Heaven came into my eyes, and I could +scarcely refrain from leaping off my horse and kissing the welcome signs +that gave me assurance of succour. With renewed strength I galloped +onwards; and had I been a lover flying to rescue his mistress from an +Indian war party, I could not have displayed more eagerness than I did in +following up the trail of an unknown traveller. + +Never had I felt so thankful to Providence as at that moment. I uttered +thanksgivings as I rode on, and contemplated the wonderful evidences of +his skill and might that offered themselves to me on all sides. The aspect +of every thing seemed changed, and I gazed with renewed admiration at the +scenes through which I passed, and which I had previously been too +preoccupied by the danger of my position to notice. The beautiful +appearance of the islands struck me particularly as they lay in the +distance, seeming to swim in the bright golden beams of the noonday sun, +like dark spots of foliage in the midst of the waving grasses and +many-hued flowers of the prairie. Before me lay the eternal flower-carpet +with its innumerable asters, tuberoses, and mimosas, that delicate plant +which, when you approach it, lifts its head, seems to look at you, and +then droops and shrinks back in alarm. This I saw it do when I was two or +three paces from it, and without my horse's foot having touched it. Its +long roots stretch out horizontally in the ground, and the approaching +tread of a horse or man is communicated through them to the plant, and +produces this singular phenomenon. When the danger is gone by, and the +earth ceases to vibrate, the mimosa may be seen to raise its head again, +but quivering and trembling, as though not yet fully recovered from its +fears. + +I had ridden on for three or four hours, following the track I had so +fortunately discovered, when I came upon the trace of a second horseman, +who appeared to have here joined the first traveller. It ran in a parallel +direction to the one I was following. Had it been possible to increase my +joy, this discovery would have done so. I could now entertain no doubt +that I had hit upon the way out of this terrible prairie. It struck me as +being rather singular that two travellers should have met in this immense +plain, which so few persons traversed; but that they had done so was +certain, for there was the track of the two horses as plain as possible. +The trail was fresh, too, and it was evidently not long since the horsemen +had passed. It might still be possible to overtake them, and in this hope +I rode on faster than ever, as fast, at least, as my mustang could carry +me through the thick grass and flowers, which in many places were four or +five feet high. + +During the next three hours I passed over some ten or twelve miles of +ground, but although the trail still lay plainly and broadly marked before +me, I say nothing of those who had left it. Still I persevered. I must +overtake them sooner or later, provided I did not lose the track; and that +I was most careful not to do, keeping my eyes fixed upon the ground as I +rode along, and never deviating from the line which the travellers had +followed. + +In this manner the day passed away, and evening approached. I still felt +hope and courage; but my physical strength began to give way. The gnawing +sensation of hunger increased. I was sick and faint; my limbs became heavy, +my blood seemed chilled in my veins, and all my senses appeared to grow +duller under the influence of exhaustion, thirst, and hunger. My eyesight +became misty, my hearing less acute, the bridle felt cold and heavy in my +fingers. + +Still I rode on. Sooner or later I must find an outlet; the prairie must +have an end somewhere. It is true the whole of Southern Texas is one vast +prairie; but then there are rivers flowing through it, and if I could +reach one of those, I should not be far from the abodes of men. By +following the streams five or six miles up or down, I should be sure to +find a plantation. + +As I was thus reasoning with, and encouraging myself, I suddenly perceived +the traces of a third horse, running parallel to the two which I had been +so long following. This was indeed encouragement. It was certain that +three travellers, arriving from different points of the prairie, and all +going in the same direction, must have some object, must be repairing to +some village or clearing, and where or what this was had now become +indifferent to me, so long as I once more found myself amongst my +fellow-men. I spurred on my mustang, who was beginning to flag a little in +his pace with the fatigue of our long ride. + +The sun set behind the high trees of an island that bounded my view +westward, and there being little or no twilight in those southerly +latitudes, the broad day was almost instantaneously replaced by the +darkness of night. I could proceed no further without losing the track of +the three horsemen; and as I happened to be close to an island, I fastened +my mustang to a branch with the lasso, and threw myself on the grass under +the trees. + +This night, however, I had no fancy for tobacco. Neither the cigars nor +the _dulcissimus_ tempted me. I tried to sleep, but in vain. Once or twice +I began to doze, but was roused again by violent cramps and twitchings in +all my limbs. There is nothing more horrible than a night passed in the +way I passed that one, faint and weak, enduring torture from hunger and +thirst, striving after sleep and never finding it. I can only compare the +sensation of hunger I experienced to that of twenty pairs of pincers +tearing at my stomach. + +With the first grey light of morning I got up and prepared for departure. +It was a long business, however, to get my horse ready. The saddle, which +at other times I could throw upon his back with two fingers, now seemed +made of lead, and it was as much as I could do to lift it. I had still +more difficulty to draw the girths tight; but at last I accomplished this, +and scrambling upon my beast, rode off. Luckily my mustang's spirit was +pretty well taken out of him by the last two days' work; for if he had +been fresh, the smallest spring on one side would have sufficed to throw +me out of the saddle. As it was, I sat upon him like an automaton, hanging +forward over his neck, some times grasping the mane, and almost unable to +use either rein or spur. + +I had ridden on for some hours in this helpless manner, when I came to a +place where the three horsemen whose track I was following had apparently +made a halt, perhaps passed the previous night. The grass was trampled and +beaten down in a circumference of some fifty or sixty feet, and there was +a confusion in the horse tracks as if they had ridden backwards and +forwards. Fearful of losing the right trace, I was looking carefully about +me to see in what direction they had recommenced their journey, when I +noticed something white amongst the long grass. I got off my horse to pick +it up. It was a piece of paper with my own name written upon it; and I +recognized it as the back of a letter in which my tobacco had been wrapped, +and which I had thrown away at my halting-place of the preceding night. I +looked around, and recognized the island and the very tree under which I +had slept or endeavoured to sleep. The horrible truth instantly flashed +across me--the horse tracks I had been following were my own: since the +preceding morning I had been riding in _a circle_! + +I stood for a few seconds thunderstruck by this discovery, and then sank +upon the ground in utter despair. At that moment I should have been +thankful to any one who would have knocked me on the head as I lay. All I +wished for was to die as speedily as possible. + +I remained I know not how long lying in a desponding, half insensible, +state upon the grass. Several hours must have elapsed; for when I got up, +the sun was low in the western heavens. My head was so weak and wandering, +that I could not well explain to myself how it was that I had been thus +riding after my own shadow. Yet the thing was clear enough. Without +landmarks, and in the monotonous scenery of the prairie, I might have gone +on for ever following my horses track, and going back when I thought I was +going forwards, had it not been for the discovery of the tobacco paper. I +was, as I subsequently learned, in the Jacinto prairie, one of the most +beautiful in Texas, full sixty miles long and broad, but in which the most +experienced hunters never risked themselves without a compass. It was +little wonder then that I, a mere boy of two and twenty, just escaped from +college, should have gone astray in it. + +I now gave myself up for lost, and with the bridle twisted round my hand, +and holding on as well as I could by the saddle and mane, I let my horse +choose his own road. It would perhaps have been better if I had done this +sooner. The beast's instinct would probably have led him to some +plantation. When he found himself left to his own guidance he threw up his +head, snuffed the air three or four times, and then turning round, set off +in a contrary direction to that he was before going, and at such a brisk +pace that it was as much as I could do to keep upon him. Every jolt caused +me so much pain that I was more than once tempted to let myself fall off +his back. + +At last night came, and thanks to the lasso, which kept my horse in awe, I +managed to dismount and secure him. The whole night through I suffered +from racking pains in head, limbs, and body. I felt as if I had been +broken on the wheel; not an inch of my whole person but ached and smarted. +My hands were grown thin and transparent, my cheeks fallen in, my eyes +deep sunk in their sockets. When I touched my face I could feel the change +that had taken place, and as I did so I caught myself once or twice +laughing like a child--I was becoming delirious. + +In the morning I could scarcely rise from the ground, so utterly weakened +and exhausted was I by my three days' fasting, anxiety, and fatigue. I +have heard say that a man in good health can live nine days without food. +It may be so in a room, or a prison; but assuredly not in a Texian prairie. +I am quite certain that the fifth day would have seen the last of me. + +I should never have been able to mount my mustang, but he had fortunately +lain down, so I got into the saddle, and he rose up with me and started +off of his own accord. As I rode along, the strangest visions seemed to +pass before me. I saw the most beautiful cities that a painter's fancy +ever conceived, with towers, cupolas, and columns, of which the summits +lost themselves in the clouds; marble basins and fountains of bright +sparkling water, rivers flowing with liquid gold and silver, and gardens +in which the trees were bowed down with the most magnificent fruit--fruit +that I had not strength enough to raise my hand and pluck. My limbs were +heavy as lead, my tongue, lips, and gums, dry and parched. I breathed with +the greatest difficulty, and within me was a burning sensation, as if I +had swallowed hot coals; while my extremities, both hands and feet, did +not appear to form a part of myself, but to be instruments of torture +affixed to me, and causing me the most intense suffering. + +I have a confused recollection of a sort of rushing noise, the nature of +which I was unable to determine, so nearly had all consciousness left me; +then of finding myself amongst trees, the leaves and boughs of which +scratched and beat against my face as I passed through them; then of a +sudden and rapid descent, with the broad bright surface of a river below +me. I clutched at a branch, but my fingers had no strength to retain their +grasp--there was a hissing, splashing noise, and the waters closed over my +head. + +I soon rose, and endeavoured to strike out with my arms and legs, but in +vain; I was too weak to swim and again I went down. A thousand lights +seemed to dance before my eyes: there was a noise in my brain as if a +four-and-twenty pounder had been fired close to my ear. Just then a hard +hand was wrung into my neck-cloth, and I felt myself dragged out of the +water. The next instant my senses left me. + + * * * * * + + + + +TRAVELS OF KERIM KHAN. + +NO. II. + + +We left our friend the Khan, at length comfortably established in London, +and pursuing his observations on the various novel objects of interest +which every where presented themselves to his gaze. The streets lighted by +gas (which the Persian princes call "the spirit of coals") are described +in terms of the highest admiration--"On each side, as far as the eye could +see, were two interminable lines of extremely brilliant light, produced by +a peculiar kind of vapour here called gas, which made the city infinitely +more interesting to look at by night than by day; but the most +extraordinary thing in reference to the flame in the lamps was, that this +appeared to be produced without the medium of either oil or wick, nor +could I discern the cause of the lighting. The houses have from three to +seven stages or stories, one of which is underground--each stage +containing at least two rooms. The walls fronting the streets are of brick +or stone, and the interior of woodwork; but the wood of the rooms inside +is covered with a peculiar sort of paper of various colours and curious +devices, highly elaborate and ingenious. The balconies outside were +generally filled with flowers of various hues: but notwithstanding the +wonders which surrounded me, and made me fancy myself in a world of +talismanic creation, my spirits were for some time depressed, and this +immense city seemed to me worse than the tomb; for I had not yet recovered +from the bewilderment into which all that I had seen had thrown me." + +The feeling of loneliness, resulting from this oppressive sense of +novelty, wore off, however, as the Khan began to find out his friends, and +accustom himself to the fashions of the country; and he was one day +agreeably surprised by a visit from one of the suite of Moulavi Afzul Ali, +an envoy to the Court of Directors from the Rajah of Sattarah;[1] "I need +not say how delighted I felt, not having the least idea of meeting any of +my countrymen so far from Hindustan." The 11th of August, the day fixed +for the prorogation of Parliament by the Queen, now arrived; and the khan +"accompanied some gentlemen in a carriage to see the procession, but it +was with extreme difficulty that we got a place where we could see her +Majesty pass; at last, however, through the kindness of a mounted officer, +we succeeded. First came the Shahzadehs, or princes of the blood, in +carriages drawn by six horses, and then the wazirs (viziers) and nobles, +and the ambassadors from foreign states, in vehicles, some with six, and +some with four horses. When all these had passed, there came the Queen +herself in a golden carriage, drawn by eight magnificent steeds; on her +right was Prince Arleta, and opposite her was Lord Melbourne, the grand +wazir, (prime minister.) The carriage was preceded by men who, I was +surprised to observe, were dressed in the Hindustani fashion, in red and +gold, with broad sleeves.[2] But those nearest her Majesty, strange to +say, wore almost exactly the costume of Hindustan, and to these my eyes +were immediately directed; and I felt so delighted to see my own +countrymen advanced to the honour of forming the body-guard of the +sovereign, that I could scarcely believe the evidence of my senses, when I +perceived on closer inspection, by their complexions, that they were +English. Still I could not (nor can I even now) understand the reason of +their adopting the Hindustani dress--though I was told on enquiry, that it +was the ancient costume of the guard called _yeomen_." ... "As the Queen +approached the people took off their hats, nor was I less astonished[3] +when I heard them begin to shout _hurra! hurra_! as she passed; which in +their language seems to imply approbation. When her Majesty turned towards +our carriage, I immediately made a _salaam_ after the manner of my own +country, which she graciously acknowledged, seeing, no doubt, that I was a +native of a strange land!" + + [1] This must have been one of the _vakeels_ or envoys, whose + departure from Bombay, in March 1839, is mentioned in the _Asiatic + Journal_, (xxix. 178;) the party is there said, on the authority + of the _Durpun_, (a native newspaper,) to have consisted of + eleven, Mahrattas and Purbhoos, no mention being made of Moulavi + Afzul Ali. We have been unable to trace the further proceedings of + the deputation in this country; but they probably found on their + arrival, that the fate of their master was already decided, as he + was dethroned by the Company, in favour of his cousin Appa Sahib, + in September of the same year, on the charge of having + participated in a conspiracy against the English power. The + justice, as well as policy of this measure, was, however, strongly + canvassed, and gave rise to repeated and violent debates in the + Court of Proprietors. + + [2] The native servants of the Governor-General at Calcutta, on + state occasions, wear splendid scarlet and gold caftans.--_See_ + Bishop Heber's Journal. + + [3] The Khan nowhere exactly explains the surprise which he + expresses, here and at other times, at the shouts of + _hurra_!--perhaps his ear was wounded by the resemblance of the + sound to certain Hindustani epithets, by no means refined or + complimentary. + +This fancied metamorphosis of the sturdy beef-eaters with their partisans, +whose costume has never been altered since the days of Henry VII., into +Hindustani _peons_ and _chuprassees_, seems to show that the enthusiasm of +the Khan must have been considerably excited--and after this cruel +disappointment he dismisses the remainder of the procession in a few words. +To a native of India, indeed, accustomed to see every petty rajah or nawab +holding a few square miles of territory as the tenant of the Company, +surrounded on state occasions by a crowd of the picturesque irregular +cavalry of the East, and with a _Suwarree_ or cavalcade of led horses, +gayly caparisoned elephants, flaunting banners, and martial music, the +amount of military display in attendance on the Queen of Great Britain +must naturally have appeared inconsiderable--"The escort consisted of only +some two hundred horsemen, but these were cased in steel and leather from +head to foot, and their black horses were by far the finest I have yet +seen in this country. But though the multitudes of people were immense, +yet the procession tell much short of what I had expected from the monarch +of so great and powerful a nation! I returned home, however, much +gratified by the sights I had seen to-day." + +The sight of this ceremony naturally leads to a digression on the origin +and constitution of the English parliament, and its division into the two +houses of Lords and Commons. The events leading to these institutions, and +the antecedent civil wars between the king and the barons, in the reign of +Henry III. and Edward I., are given by the Khan, on the whole, with great +accuracy--probably from the information of his English friends since the +knowledge of the ancient history and institutions of the country, which he +displays both here and in other parts of his narrative, can scarcely have +been acquired through the medium of a native education in Hindustan. The +deductions which he draws, however, from this historical summary, are +somewhat curious; since he assumes that the power of the crown, though +limited in appearance by the concessions then made, and the legislative +functions vested in parliament, was in truth only strengthened, and +rendered more securely despotic:--"But this is entirely lost sight of by +the people, who, even at the present day, imagine that the parliament is +all-powerful, and the sovereign powerless. But I must be allowed to say, +that those ancient monarchs acted wisely, and the result of their policy +has not been sufficiently perceived.... For when parliament was +constituted, the power of retaining armed vassals and servants, which the +barons had enjoyed for so long a period, was abolished, and has never been +resumed even by princes of the blood; so that they could no longer resist +the authority of the king, who alone had the privilege of raising and +maintaining troops--a right never conceded to parliament. Besides this the +powers of life and death, and of declaring war, were identified with the +person of the sovereign; and with respect to the latter, it is never, +until it has been decided upon, even intimated to the parliament, which +possesses _only_ the power of collecting the taxes, from which the +expenses of the war the king may enter into must be paid. The possession, +therefore, of these two rights by the king, is equivalent to the tenure of +absolute power." The possibility of the supplies being refused by a +refractory House of Commons, seems either not to have occurred to the khan, +or to have escaped his recollection at the moment of his penning this +sentence; and though he subsequently alludes to the responsibility of +ministers, he never seems to have comprehended the nature and extent of +the control exercised by parliament over the finances of the nation, so +fully as the Persian princes, who tell us, in their quaint phraseology, +that "if the expenses that were made should be agreeable to the Commons, +well and good--if not, the vizirs must stand the consequences; and every +person who has given ten _tomâns_ of the revenue, has a right to rise up +in the House of Commons, and seize the vizir of the treasury by the collar, +saying, 'What have you done with my money?'"--a mode of _putting to the +question_ which, if now and then practically adopted by some hard-fisted +son of the soil, we have no doubt would operate as a most salutary check +on the vagaries of Chancellors of the Exchequer. + +It is strange that the Khan should not, in this case, perceive the fallacy +of his own argument, or see that the power of the sword must always +virtually rest with the holder of the purse; since immediately afterwards, +after enlarging on the enormous amount of taxes levied in England, the +oppressive nature of some of them, especially the window-tax, "for the +light of heaven is God's gift to mankind," he proceeds--"In other +countries it would perhaps cost the king, who imposed such taxes, his head; +but here the blame is laid on the House of Commons, without any one +dreaming of censuring the sovereign, in whose name they are levied, and +for whose use they are applied;" citing as a proof of this the ease with +which the insurrection of Wat Tyler and his followers, against the +capitation tax, was suppressed by the promise of the king to redress their +grievances. The subject of English taxation, indeed, both from the amount +levied, and the acquiescence of the people in such unheard-of burdens, +seems to have utterly bewildered the khan's comprehension.[4] "All classes, +from the noble to the peasant, are alike oppressed; yet it is amusing to +hear them expatiate on the institutions of their country, fancying it the +freest and themselves the least oppressed of any people on earth! They are +constantly talking of the tyranny and despotism of Oriental governments, +without having set foot in any of those regions, or knowing any thing +about the matter, except what they have gleaned from the imperfect +accounts of superficial travellers--deploring the state of Turkey, Persia, +and other Mahommedan countries, and calling their inhabitants slaves, when, +if the truth were known, there is not a single kingdom of Islam, the +people of which would submit to what the English suffer, or pay one-tenth +of the taxes exacted from them." + + [4] The views of Mirza Abu-Talib on this important subject, are + far more enlightened and correct than those of Kerim Khan. "The + public revenue of England," he observes, "is not, as in India, + raised merely from the land, or by duties levied on a few kinds of + merchandise, but almost every article of consumption pays its + portion. The taxes are levied by the authority and decree of + parliament; and are in general so framed _as to bear lightly on + the poor_, and that _every person should pay in proportion to his + income_. Thus bread, meat, and coals, being articles of + indispensable use, are exempt; but spirits, wines, &c., are taxed + very high; and the rich are obliged to pay for every horse, dog, + and man-servant they keep; also for the privilege of throwing + _flour_ on their heads, and having their _arms_ (insignia of the + antiquity and rank of their family) painted on their carriages, + &c. Since the commencement of the present war, a new law has been + passed, compelling every person to pay annually a tenth of his + whole income. Most of the taxes are permanent, but some of them + are changed at the pleasure of parliament. Abu-Talib visited the + country in the first years of the present century, when the + capability of taxation was strained to the utmost, but the words + which we have given in italics, contain the secret which Kerim + failed to detect." + +Relieved, it is to be hoped, by this tirade against the ignominious +submission of the Franks to taxation, the Khan resumes the enumeration of +the endless catalogue of wonders which the sights of London presented to +him. On visiting the Polytechnic Institution--"which means, I understand, +a place in which specimens of every science and art are to be seen in some +mode or other, there being no science or art of any other country unknown +here"--he briefly enumerates the oxyhydrogen microscope, "by which water +was shown so full of little animals, nay, even monsters, as to make one +shudder at the thought of swallowing a drop"--the orrery, the +daguerreotype, and the diving-bell, (in which he had the courage to +descend,) as the objects principally deserving notice, "since it would +require several months, if not years, to give that attention to each +specimen of human industry which it demands, in order thoroughly to +understand it." The effects of the electrical machine, indeed, "by which +fire was made to pass through the body of a man, and out of the +finger-ends of his right hand, without his being in any way affected by it, +though a piece of cloth, placed close to this right hand, was actually +ignited," seem to have excited considerable astonishment in his mind; but +it does not appear that his curiosity led him to make any attempt in +investigating the hidden causes of these mysterious phenomena. His apathy +in this respect presents a strong contrast with the minute and elaborate +description of the same objects, the mode of their construction, and the +uses to which they may be applied, given in the journal of the two Parsees, +Nowrojee and Merwanjee. "To us," say they, "brought up in India for +scientific pursuits, and longing ardently to acquire practical information +connected with modern improvements, more particularly with naval +architecture, steam-engines, steam-boats, and steam navigation, these two +galleries of practical science (the Adelaide and Polytechnic) seemed to +embrace all that we had come over to England to make ourselves acquainted +with; and it was with gratitude to the original projectors of these +institutions that we gazed on the soul-exciting scene before us. We +thought of the enchantments related in the _Arabian Nights' +Entertainments_, and they faded away into nothingness compared with what +we then saw." + +But however widely apart the nonchalance of the Moslem, and the +matter-of-fact diligence of the Parsee,[5] may have placed them +respectively in their appreciation of the scientific marvels of the +Polytechnic Institution, they meet on common ground in their admiration of +the wax-work exhibition of Madame Tussaud; though the Khan, who was not +sufficiently acquainted with the features of our public characters to +judge of the likenesses, expresses his commendation only in general terms. +But the Parsees, with the naïveté of children, break out into absolute +raptures at recognising the features of Lord Melbourne, "a good-humoured +looking, kind English gentleman, with a countenance, perhaps, representing +frankness and candour more than dignity"--William IV., "looking the very +picture of good-nature"--the Duke of Wellington, Lord Brougham, &c.; +"indeed, we know of no exhibition (where a person has read about people) +that will afford him so much pleasure, always recollecting that it is only +_one_ shilling, and for this you may stop just as long as you are +inclined." Their remarks, on seeing the effigy of Voltaire, are too +curious to be omitted. "He is an extraordinary-looking man, dressed so +oddly too, with little pinched-up features, and his hair so curiously +arranged. We looked much at him, thinking he must have had much courage, +and have thought himself quite right in his belief, to have stood opposed +to all the existing religious systems of his native land. He, however, and +those who thought differently from him, have long since in another world +experienced, that if men only act up to what they believe to be right, the +Maker of the Deist, the Christian, and the Parsee, will receive them into +his presence; and that it is the _professor of religion_, who is _nothing +but a professor_, let his creed be what it may, that will meet with the +greatest punishment from Him that ruleth all things." But before we quit +the subject of this attractive exhibition, we must not omit to mention an +adventure of the Persian princes, two of whom, having paid a previous +visit, persuaded the third brother, on his accompanying them thither, that +he was in truth in the royal palace, (whither he had been invited for one +of the Queen's parties on the same evening.) and in the presence of the +court and royal family! The embarrassment of poor Najef-Kooli at the +_morne silence_ preserved, which he interpreted as a sign of displeasure, +is amusingly described, till, on touching one of the figures, "he fell +down, and I observed that he was dead; and my brothers and Fraser Sahib +laughed loudly, and said, 'These people are not dead but are all of them +artificial figures of white wax.' Verily, no one would ever have thought +that they were manufactured by men!" + + [5] "The Parsees," says Mirza Abu-Talib, describing those whom he + saw at Bombay on his return to India, "are not possessed of a + spark of liberality or gentility.... The only Parsee I was ever + acquainted with who had received a liberal education, was Moula + Firoz, whom I met at the house of a friend; he was a sensible and + well-informed man, who had travelled into Persia, and there + studied mathematics, astronomy, and the sciences of Zoroaster." If + this account be correct, a marvellous improvement must have taken + place during the last forty years. Many of the Parsees of the + present day are almost on a level with Europeans in education and + acquirements; and in their adoption of our manners and customs, + they stand alone among the various nations of our Oriental + subjects--but their exclusive addiction to mercantile pursuits, + and their pacific habits, (in both which points they are hardly + exceeded by the Quakers of Europe,) make them objects of contempt + to the haughty Moslems. + +A few days after his visit to Madame Tussaud, we find the Khan making an +excursion by the railroad to Southampton, in order to be present at a +banquet given on board the Oriental steamer, by the directors of the +Oriental Steam Navigation Company, from whom he had received a special +invitation. With the exception of the brief transit from Blackwall to +London on his arrival, this was his first trip by rail, but, as his place +was in one of the close first-class carriages, he saw nothing of the +machinery by which the motion was effected, "though such was the rapidity +of the vehicles, that I could distinguish nothing but an expanse of green +all round, nor could I perceive even the trunks of the trees. Every now +and then we were carried through dark caverns, where we could not see each +others' faces; and sometimes we met other vehicles coming in the opposite +direction, which occasioned me no small alarm, as I certainly thought we +should have been dashed to pieces, from the fearful velocity with which +both were running. We reached Southampton, a distance of seventy-eight +miles, in three hours; and what most surprised me was, being seriously +told on our arrival, that we had been unusually long on our way. I was +told that this iron road, from London to Southampton, cost six crores of +rupees, (L.6,000,000.)" The town of Southampton is only briefly noticed as +well built, populous, and flourishing; but he had no time to visit the +beautiful scenery of the environs, as the entertainment took place the +following afternoon in the cabin of the Oriental, "which is a very large +vessel, well constructed, and in admirable order, and is intended to carry +the _dak_ (mail) to India, which is sent by the way of Sikanderîyah, +(Alexandria.)" Our friend the khan, however, must have been always rather +out of his element at a feast; unlike his countryman, Abu-Talib--who +speedily became reconciled to the forbidden viands and wines of the Franks, +and even carried his laxity so far as to express a _hope_, rather than a +_belief_, that the brushes which he used were made of horsehair, and not +of the bristles of the unclean beast--Kerim Khan appears (as we have seen +on a previous occasion) never to have relaxed the austerity of the +religious scruples which the _Indian_ Moslems have borrowed from the +Hindus, so far as to partake of food not prepared by his own people; and +on the present occasion, in spite of the instances of his hosts, his +simple repast consisted wholly of fruit. The cheers which followed on the +health of the Queen being given, appeared to him, like those which hailed +her passage at the prorogation of Parliament, a most incomprehensible and +somewhat indecorous proceeding; his own health was also drunk as a _lion_, +but "not being able to reply from my ignorance of the language, a +gentleman of my acquaintance thanked them in my name; while I also stood +up and made a _salaam_, as much as to say that I highly appreciated the +honour done me." While the festivities were proceeding in the cabin, the +steamer was got underway and making the circuit of the Isle of Wight; and +on landing again at Southampton, "I was surrounded by a concourse of +people, who had collected to look at me, imagining, no doubt, that I was +some strange creature, the like of which they had never seen before." +Whether from want of time or of curiosity, he left Portsmouth, and all the +wonders of its arsenal and dockyard, unvisited, and after again going on +board the Oriental the next day, to take leave of the captain and officers, +returned in the afternoon by the railway to London. + +He was next shown over the Bank of England, his remarks on which are +devoid of interest, and he visited the Paddington terminus of the Great +Western Railway, in the hope of gaining a more accurate idea of the nature +of the locomotive machinery, the astonishing powers of which he had +witnessed in his journey to Southampton. But mechanics were not the Khan's +forte; and, dismissing the subject with the remark, that "it is so +extremely complicated and difficult that a stranger cannot possibly +understand it,"[6] he returns at once to the haunts of fashion, Hyde Park +and the Opera. Hitherto the khan had been unaccountably silent on the +subject of the "Frank moons, brilliant as the sun," (as the English ladies +are called by the Persian princes, who, from the first, lose no +opportunity of commemorating their beauty in the most rapturous strains of +Oriental hyperbole;) but his enthusiasm is effectually kindled by the +blaze of charms which meets his eye in the "bazar of beauty and garden of +pleasure," as he terms the Park, his account of which he sums up by +declaring, that, "were the inhabitants of the celestial regions to descend, +they would at one glance forget the wonders of the heavens at the sight of +so many bright eyes and beautiful faces! what, therefore, remains for +mortals to do?" The Opera is, he says, "the principal _tomashagah_" +(place of show or entertainment) in London, and best decorated and +lighted;" though he does not go the length of affirming, as stated in the +account given by the Persian princes, that "before each box are forty +chandeliers of cut glass, and each has fifty lights!"--"I could not," +continues the khan, "understand the subject of the performances--it was +all singing, accompanied with various action, as if some story were meant +to be related; but I was also told that the language was different from +English, and that the majority of those present understood it no more than +myself." The scanty drapery and liberal displays of the figurantes at +first startled him a little; but "the beauty of those _peris_ was such as +might have enslaved the heart of Ferhad himself;" and he soon learned to +view all their _pirouettes_ and _tours-de-force_ with the well-bred +nonchalance of a man who had witnessed in his own country exhibitions +nearly as singular in their way "though the style of dancing here was of +course entirely different from what we see in India." The impression made +by the sight of the ballet on the Parsees, who invariably reduce every +thing to pounds, shillings, and pence, took a different form; and they +express unbounded astonishment, on being told that Taglioni was paid a +hundred and fifty guineas a-night, "that such a sum should be paid to a +woman to stand a long time like a goose on one leg, then to throw one leg +straight out, twirl round three or four times with the leg thus extended, +curtsy so low as nearly to seat herself on the stage, and spring from one +side of the stage to another, all which jumping about did not occupy an +hour!" + + [6] The Persian princes go more into detail; but we doubt whether + their description will much facilitate the construction of a + railway from Ispahan to Shiraz. "The roads on which the coaches + are placed and fixed, are made of iron bars; all that seems to + draw them is a box of iron, in which they put water to boil; + underneath, this iron box is like an urn, and from it rises the + steam which gives the wonderful force; when the steam rises up, + the wheels take their motion, the coach spreads its wings, and the + travellers become like birds." + +Astley's (which the Persian princes call the "opera of the horse") was the +Khan's next resort; and as the feats of horsemanship there exhibited did +not require any great proficiency in the English language to render them +intelligible, he appears to have been highly amused and gratified, and +gives a long description of all he saw there, which would not present much +of novelty to our readers. He was also taken by some of his acquaintance +to see the industrious fleas in the Strand; but this exhibition, which +accorded unbounded gratification to the grandsons of Futteh Ali Shah, +seems to have been looked upon by the khan rather with contempt, as a +marvellous piece of absurdity. "Would any one believe that such a sight as +this could possibly be witnessed any where in the world? but, having +personally seen it, I cannot altogether pass it over." But the then +unfinished Thames Tunnel, which he had the advantage of visiting in +company with Mr Brunel, appears to have impressed his mind more than any +other public work which he had seen; and his remarks upon it show, that he +was at pains to make himself accurately acquainted with the nature and +extent of the undertaking, the details of which he gives with great +exactness. "But," he concludes, "it is impossible to convey in words an +adequate idea of the labour that must have been spent upon this work, the +like of which was never before attempted in any country. The emperors of +Hindustan, who were monarchs of so many extensive provinces, and possessed +such unlimited power and countless treasures, desired a bridge to be +thrown across the Jumna to connect Delhi with the city of Shahdarah--yet +an architect could not be found in all India who could carry this design +into execution. Yet here a few merchants formed a company, and have +executed a work infinitely transcending that of the most elaborate bridge +ever built. In the first instance, as I was given to understand, they +applied to Government for leave to construct a bridge at the same spot, +but as it was objected that this would impede the navigation of the river, +they formed the design, at the suggestion of the talented engineer above +mentioned, of actually making their way across the river underground, and +commenced this great work in spite of the general opinion of the +improbability of success."[7] + + [7] The Parsees, in their account of the Tunnel, mention a fact + now not generally remembered, that the attempt was far from a new + one:--"In 1802, a Cornish miner having been selected for the + purpose, operations were commenced 330 feet from the Thames, on + the Rotherhithe side. Two or three different engineers were + engaged, and the affair was nearly abandoned, till in 1809 it was + quite given up." + +"Some days after this," continues the khan, "I paid a visit to the Tower, +which is the fortress of London, placed close to the Thames on its left +bank. Within the ramparts is another fort of white stone, which in past +times was frequently occupied by the sovereigns of the country. It is said +to have been constructed by King William, surnamed _Muzuffer_, or the +Conqueror; others are of opinion that it was founded by Keesar the Roman +emperor; but God alone can solve this doubt. In times past it was also +used as a state prison for persons of rank, and was the scene of the +execution of most of the princes and nobles whose fate is recorded in the +chronicles of England. They still show the block on which the +decapitations took place." Among the trophies in the armoury, he +particularizes the gun and girdle of Tippoo Sultan, "which seemed to be +taken great care of, and were preserved under a glass case;" but the horse +armoury and the regalia, usually the most attractive part of the +exhibition to strangers, are passed over with but slight notice, though, +from the Parsees, the sight of the equestrian figures in the former, draws +the only allusion which escapes them throughout their narrative to the +fallen glories of their race. "The representations of some of these +monarchs was in the very armour they wore; and we were here very forcibly +put in mind of Persia, once our own country, where this iron clothing was +anciently used; but, alas! we have no remains of these things; all we know +of them is from historical works." The crown jewels might have been +supposed to present to a native of India an object of peculiar interest; +but the khan remarks only the great ruby, "which is so brilliant that (it +is said) one would be able to read by its light by placing it on a book in +the dark. I made some enquiries respecting its value, but could not get no +satisfactory answer, as they said no jeweller could ascertain it." + +It would appear that the Khan must now have been for several months +resident in London, (for he takes no note of the lapse of time,) since we +next find him a spectator of the pomps and pageants of Lord Mayor's day. +He gives no account, however, of the procession, but contents himself with +informing his readers that the Lord Mayor (except in his tenure of office +being annual instead of for life) is the same as a "patel" or "mukaddam" +in the East: adding that "he is the only person in England, except the +sovereign, who is allowed to have a train of armed followers in attendance +on him." It is not very evident whether the idea of civic army was +suggested to the mind of the khan simply by the sight of the men in armour +in the procession, or whether dark rumours had reached his ear touching +the prowess of the Lumber troopers, and other warlike bodies which march +under the standard of the Lord Mayor; but certain it is that this most +pacific of potentates cannot fairly be charged with abusing the formidable +privilege thus attributed to him--the city sword never having been +unsheathed in mortal fray, as far as our researches extend, since Wat +Tyler fell before the doughty arm of Sir William of Walworth. On returning +from the show, the khan was taken to see Newgate, with the gloomy aspect +of which, and the silent and strict discipline enforced among the +prisoners, he was deeply impressed; "to these poor wretches the gate of +mercy is indeed shut, and that of hardship and oppression thrown open." +His sympathies were still more strongly awakened on discovering among +those unfortunate creatures an Indian Moslem, who proved, on enquiry, to +be a Lascar sailor, imprisoned for selling smuggled cigars--"and, in my +ignorance of the laws and customs of the country, I was anxious to procure +his liberation by paying the fine; but my friends told me that this was +absolutely impossible, and that he must remain the full time in prison. So +we could only thank the governor for his attention, and then took our +departure." + +Following the steps of the Khan from grave to gay, in his desultory course +through the endless varieties of "Life in London," we are at once +transported from the dismal cells of Newgate to the fancy-dress ball at +Guildhall for the aid of the refugee Poles. This seems to have been the +first scene of the kind at which Kerim Khan had been present since his +arrival in England; and though he was somewhat scandalized at perceiving +that some of those in male attire were evidently ladies, he describes with +considerable effect "the infinite variety of costumes, all very different +from those of England, as if each country had contributed its peculiar +garb," the brilliant lighting and costly decoration of the rooms, and the +picturesque grouping of the vast assemblage. But his first impressions on +English dancing are perfectly unique in their way, and we can only do +justice to them by quoting them at length. "It is so entirely unlike any +thing we ever heard of in Hindustan, that I cannot refrain from giving a +slight sketch of what I saw. In the first place, the company could not +have been fewer than 1500 or 2000, of the highest classes of society, the +ministers, the nobles, and the wealthy, with their wives and daughters. +Several hundreds stood up, every gentleman with a lady; and they advanced +and retired several times, holding each other by the hand, to the sound of +the music: at last the circle they had formed broke up, some running off +to the right, and some to the left--then a gentleman, leaving his lady, +would strike out obliquely across the room, sometimes making direct for +another lady at a distance, and sometimes stooping and flourishing with +his legs as he went along: when he approached her, he made a sort of +salaam, and then retreated. Another would go softly up to a lady, and then +suddenly seizing her by the waist, would turn and twist her round and +round some fifty times till both were evidently giddy with the motion: +this was sometimes performed by a few chosen dancers, and sometimes by +several hundreds at once--all embracing each other in what, to our notions, +would seem rather an odd sort of way, and whirling round and round; and +though their feet appeared constantly coming in contact with each other, a +collision never took place. And those who met in this affectionate manner +were, as I was told, for the most part perfect strangers to each other, +which to me was incomprehensible! Several ladies asked me to dance with +them, but I excused myself by saying that their dancing was so +superlatively beautiful that it was sufficient to admire it, and that I +was afraid to try--'besides,' said I, 'it is contrary to our customs in +Hindustan.' To which they replied that India was far off, and no one could +see me. 'But,' said I 'there are people who put every thing in the +newspapers, and if my friends heard of it I should lose caste.' The ladies +smiled; and after this I was not asked to dance." The Persian princes, +when in a similar dilemma, evaded the request by "taking oath that we did +not know how, and that our mother did not care to teach us; and thank +God," concludes Najef-Kooli with heartfelt gratitude, "we never did dance. +God protect the faithful from it!" Independent of the above recorded +opinions on the singularity of quadrilles and waltzes, the khan takes this +occasion to enter into a disquisition on the inconsistency (doubly +incongruous to an Oriental eye) of the ladies having their necks, arms, +and shoulders uncovered, while the men are clothed up to the chin, "and +not even their hands are allowed to be seen bare," and returned from the +ball, no doubt, more lost than ever in wonder at the strange extravagances +of the Feringhis. + +These opinions are repeated, shortly after, on the occasion of the Khan's +being present at an evening party at Clapham, which, as the invitation was +_for the country_, he seems to have expected to find quite a different +sort of affair from the entertainments at which he had already assisted in +London. He was greatly surprised, therefore, to find the assemblage, on +his arrival, engaged in the everlasting toil of dancing, "the men, as +usual in this country, clad all in dismal black, and the ladies sparkling +in handsome costumes of bright and variegated colours--another singular +custom, of which I never could learn or guess the reason." But, however +great a bore the sight of quadrilles may have been to the khan, ample +amends were made to him on this occasion by the musical performances, with +which several of the ladies ("though they all at first refused, evidently +from modesty") gratified the company in the intervals of the dance, and at +which he expresses unbounded delight; but this does not prevent his again +launching out into a tirade against the unseemly methods, as they appear +to him, used by the English to signify applause or approbation. "The +strangest custom is, that the audience _clapped their hands_ in token of +satisfaction whenever any of the ladies concluded their performance.... +The only occasion on which such an exhibition of feeling is to be +witnessed in Hindustan, is when some offender is put upon a donkey, with a +string of old shoes round his neck, and his face blackened and turned to +the tail, and in this plight expelled from the city. Then only do the +boys--men never--clap their hands and cry hurra! hurra! Thus, that which +in one country implies shame and disgrace, is resorted to in another to +express the highest degree of approbation!" + +Passing over the Khan's visits to the Athenæum Club-house, to Buckingham +Palace, &c., his remarks on which contain nothing noticeable, except his +mistaking some of the ancient portraits in the palace, from their long +beards and rosaries, for the representations of Moslem divines, we find +him at last fairly in the midst of an English winter, and an eyewitness of +a spectacle of all others the most marvellous and incredible to a +Hindustani, and which Mirza Abu-Talib, while describing it, frankly +confesses he cannot expect his countrymen to believe--the ice and the +skaters in the Regent's Park.[8] "What I had previously seen in the +summer as water, with birds swimming and boats rowing upon it, was now +transformed into an immense sheet of ice as hard as rock, on which +thousands of persons, men, women, and children, were actually walking, +running, and figuring in the most extraordinary manner. I saw men pass +with the rapidity of an arrow, turning, wheeling, retrograding, and +describing figures with surprising agility, sometimes on both, but more +frequently on only one leg; they had all a piece of steel, turned up in +front somewhat in the manner of our slippers, fastened to their shoes, by +means of which they propelled themselves as I have described. After much +persuasion, I went on the ice myself; though not without considerable fear; +yet such a favourite sport is this with the English, and so infatuated are +some of these _ice players_, that nothing will deter them from venturing +on those places which are marked as dangerous; and thus many perish, like +moths that sacrifice themselves in the candle flame. They have, therefore, +parties of men, with their dresses stuffed with air-cushions, whose duty +it is to watch on the ice, ready to plunge in whenever it breaks and any +one is immersed." + + [8] Bishop Heber, in his journal, also mentions the wonder of his + Bengali servants on their first sight of a piece of ice in + Himalaya, and their regret on finding that they could not carry it + home to Calcutta as a curiosity. + +The national theatres were now open for the winter, and the Khan paid a +visit to Covent-Garden; but he gives no particulars of the performances +which he witnessed, though he was greatly struck by the splendour of the +lighting and decoration, and still more by the almost magical celerity +with which the changes of scenery were effected. The scanty notice taken +of these matters, may perhaps be partly accounted for by the extraordinary +fascination produced in the mind of the khan by the charms of one of the +houris on the stage--whose name, though he does not mention it, our +readers will probably have no difficulty in supplying; and it may be +doubted whether the warmest panegyrics of the most ardent of her +innumerable admirers ever soared quite so high a pitch into the regions of +hyperbole as the Oriental flights of the khan, who exhausts, in the praise +of her attractions, all the imagery of the eastern poets. She is described +as "cypress-waisted, rose-cheeked, fragrant as amber, and sweet as sugar, +a stealer of hearts, who unites the magic of talismans with loveliness +transcending that of the _peris!_ When she bent the soft arch of her +eyebrows, she pierced the heart through and through with the arrows of her +eyelashes; and when she smiled, the heart of the most rigid ascetic was +intoxicated! She was gorgeously arrayed, and covered all over with +jewels--and the _tout-ensemble_ of her appearance was such as would have +riveted the gaze of the inhabitants of the spheres--what, then, more can a +mere mortal say?"[9] + + [9] The sober prose of the Parsees presents, as usual, an amusing + contrast with the highflown rhapsodies of the Moslem; their + remarks on the same lady are comprised in the pithy + observation--"We should not have taken her for more than + twenty-six years of age; but we are told she is near fifty." + +At Rundell and Bridge's, to a view of the glittering treasures of whose +establishment the Khan was next introduced, he was not less astonished at +the incalculable value of the articles he saw exhibited, "where the +precious metals and magnificent jewellery of all sorts were scattered +about as profusely as so many sorts of fruit in our Delhi bazars"--as +surprised at being informed that many of the nobles, and even of the royal +family, here deposited their plate and jewels for safe custody; and that, +"though all these valuables were left without a guard of soldiers, this +shop has never been known to be attacked and plundered by robbers and +thieves, who not unfrequently break into other houses.' Among the models +of celebrated gems here shown him, he particularizes a jewel which, for +ages, has been the wonder of the East--"the famous _Koh-in-Noor_, +(Mountain of Light,) now in the possession of the ruler of Lahore and well +known to have been forcibly seized by him from Shah-Shoojah, king of Cabul, +when a fugitive in the Panjab;" as well as another, (the Pigot diamond,) +"now belonging to Mohammed Ali of Egypt." The Adelaide Gallery of Science +is passed over with the remark, that it is, on the whole, inferior to the +Polytechnic, which he had previously visited. But the Diorama, with the +views of Damascus, Acre, &c., seems to have afforded him great +gratification, as well as to have perplexed him not a little, by the +apparent accuracy of its perspective. "Some objects delineated actually +appeared to be several _kos_ (a measure of about two miles) from us, +others nearer, and some quite close. I marvelled how such things could be +brought together before me; yet, on stretching out the hand, the canvass +on which all this was represented might be touched." But all the wonders +of the pictorial art, "which the Europeans have brought to unheard of +perfection," fade before the amazement of the khan, on being informed that +it was possible for him to have a transcript of his countenance taken, +without the use of pencil or brush, by the mere agency of the sun's rays; +and even after having verified the truth of this apparently incredible +statement by actual experiment in his own person, he still seems to have +entertained considerable misgivings as to the legitimacy of the +process--"How it was effected was indeed incomprehensible! Here is an art, +which, if it be not magic, it is difficult to conceive what else it can +be!" + +The spring was now advancing; "and one day," says the Khan, "not being +Sunday, I was surprised to observe all the shops shut, and the courts of +justice, as well as the merchants' and public offices, all closed. On +enquiry, I was told this was a great day, being the day on which the Jews +crucified the Lord Aysa, (Jesus,) and that a general fast is, on this day, +observed in Europe, when the people abstain from flesh, eating only fish, +and a particular kind of bread marked with a cross. This custom is, +however, now confined to the ancient sect of Christians called Catholics +for the real English never _observe fasts of any kind on any occasion +whatever_; they eat, nevertheless, both the crossed bread and the fish. +This fast is to the Europeans what the _Mohurrum_[10] is to us; only here +no particular signs of sorrow are to be seen on account of the death of +Aysa;--all eat, drink, and enjoy themselves on this day as much as any +other; or, from what I saw, I should say they rather indulged themselves a +little more than usual. Another remarkable thing is, that this fast does +not always happen at the same date, being regulated by the appearance of +the moon; while, in every thing else, the English reckon by the solar +year." + + [10] The ten days' lamentation for the martyred imams, Hassan and + Hussein, the grandsons of the Prophet, who were murdered by the + Ommiyades. Some notice of this ceremonial is given at the + beginning of his narrative by the Khan, who attended it just + before he sailed from Calcutta. + +We shall offer no comment, as we fear we can offer no contradiction, on +the Khan's account of the singular method of fasting observed in England, +by eating salt fish and cross-buns in addition to the usual viands--but +digressing without an interval from fasts to feasts, we next find him a +guest at a splendid banquet, given by the Lord Mayor. Though Mirza +Abu-Talib, at the beginning of the present century, was present at the +feast given to Lord Nelson during the mayoralty of Alderman Coombe, the +description of a civic entertainment, as it appeared to an Oriental, must +always be a curious _morceau_; and doubly so in the present instance, as +given by a spectator to whom it was as the feast of the Barmecide--since +Kerim Khan, unlike his countryman, the Mirza, religiously abstained +throughout from the forbidden dainties of the Franks, and sat like an +anchorite at the board of plenty. To this concentration of his faculties +in the task of observing, we probably owe the minute detail he has given +us of the festive scene before him, which we must quote, as a companion +sketch of Feringhi manners to the previously cited account of the ball at +Guildhall:--"At length dinner was announced: and all rose, and led by the +queen of the city, (the lady mayoress,) withdrew to another room, where +the table was laid out in the most costly manner, being loaded with dishes, +principally of silver and gold, and covered with _sar-poshes_, (lids or +covers,) some of which were of immense size, like little boats. When the +servants removed the _sar-poshes_, fishes and soup of every sort were +presented to view: some of the former, I was told, brought as rarities +from distant seas, and at great expense. Before every man of rank there +was an immense dish, which it is his duty to cut up and distribute, +putting on each plate about sufficient for a baby to eat. I turned to a +friend and enquired why the guests were helped so sparingly? 'It is +customary,' said he, 'to serve guests in this way.' 'But why not give them +enough?' rejoined I. 'You will soon see,' replied he, 'that they will all +have enough.'[11] + + [11] To explain the Khan's ignorance of the form of an English + entertainment, it should be remembered that his religious scruples + excluded him from dinner parties--and that, except on occasions of + form like the present, or the party on hoard the Oriental at + Southampton, he had probably never witnessed a banquet in England. + +"Soon after, all the dishes, spoons, &c., were removed by the servants. I +thought the dinner was over, and was preparing to go, not a little +astonished at such scanty hospitality, when other dishes were brought in, +filled with choice viands of every kind--bears from Russia and +Germany--hogs from Ireland--fowls and geese from France--turtle from the +Mediterranean(?)--venison from the parks of the nobility--some in joints, +some quite whole, with their limbs and feet entire. Operations now +recommenced, the carvers doling out the same small quantities as before: +but though many of the gentlemen present were anxious to prevail on me to +partake, and recommended particular dishes, one as being 'a favourite of +the King of the French'--another as particularly rare and exquisite, I +could not be prevailed upon to partake of any. Thus did innumerable dishes +pour and disappear again, the servants constantly changing the plates of +the guests: till I began to form quite a different idea of the appetites +of the guests, and the hospitality of the Lord Mayor, on which I had +thought that a reflection was thrown by the small portions sent to them. I +now saw that many of them, besides being served pretty often, helped +themselves freely to the dishes before them--indeed, their appetite was +wonderfully good: some, doubtless, thinking that such an opportunity would +not often recur. Nor did they forget the juice of the grape--the bottles +which were opened would have filled a ship, and the noise of the champagne +completely drowned the music. One would have thought that, after all this, +no men could eat more: but now the fruits, sweetmeats ices, and jellies +made their appearance, pine-apples, grapes, oranges, apples, pears, +mulberries, and confectionaries of such strange shapes that I can give no +name to them--and before each guest were placed small plates, with +peculiarly shaped knives of gold and silver. Of this part of the banquet I +had the pleasure of partaking, in common with the selfsame gentlemen who +had done such honour to the thousand dishes above mentioned, and who now +distinguished themselves in the same manner on the dessert. The price of +some of the fruit was almost incredible; the reason of which is, that in +this country it can only be reared in glass-houses artificially heated ... +thus the pine-apples, which are by no means fine, cost each twenty rupees, +(L.2,) which in India would be bought for two pice--thus being 640 times +dearer than in our country. Thus in England the poorer classes cannot +afford to eat fruit, whereas in all other countries they can get fruit +when grain is too dear. + +"The guests continued at table till late, during which time several +gentlemen rose and spoke: but, from my imperfect knowledge of the language, +I could not comprehend their purports beyond the compliments which they +passed on each other, and the evident attacks which they made on their +political opponents. I at last retired with some others to another room, +where many of the guests were dancing--coffee and tea were here taken +about, just as sherbets are with us in the Mohurrum. I must remark that +the servants were gorgeously dressed, being covered with gold like the +generals of the army; but the most extraordinary thing about them was, +there having their heads covered with ashes, like the Hindoo fakirs-a +custom indicative with us of sorrow and repentance. I hardly could help +laughing when I looked at them; but a friend kindly explained to me that, +in England, none but the servants of the great are _privileged_ to have +ashes strewed on their heads, and that for this distinction their masters +actually pay a tax to government! 'Is this enjoined by their religion?' +said I. 'Oh no!' he replied. 'Then,' said I, 'since your religion does not +require it, and it appears, to our notions at least, rather a mark of +grief and mourning, where is the use of paying a tax for it?' '_it is the +custom of the country_.' said he again. After this I returned hone, musing +deeply on what I had seen." + +With this inimitable sketch, we take leave of the Khan for the present, +shortly to return to his ideas of men and manners in _Feringhistan_. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE BANKING-HOUSE. + +A HISTORY IN THREE PARTS. PART I. + + +CHAPTER I. + +PROSPECTIVE. + + +If, as Wordsworth, that arch-priest of poesy, expresses it, I could place +the gentle reader "_atween the downy wings_" of some beneficent and +willing angel, in one brief instant of time should he be deposited on the +little hill that first discovers the smiling, quiet village of Ellendale. +He would imbibe of beauty more in a breath, a glance, than I can pour into +his soul in pages of spiritless delineation. I cannot charm the eye with +that great stream of liquid light, which, during the long and lingering +summer's day, issues from the valley like an eternal joy; I cannot +fascinate his ear, and soothe his spirit with nature's deep mysterious +sounds, so delicately slender and so soft, that silence fails to be +disturbed, but rather grows more mellow and profound; I cannot with a +stroke present the teeming hills, flushed with their weight of corn, that +now stands stately in the suspended air--now, touched by the lightest wind +that ever blew, flows like a golden river. As difficult is it to convey a +just impression of a peaceful spot, whose praise consists--so to +speak--rather in privatives than positives; whose privilege it is to be +still free, tranquil, and unmolested, in a land and in an age of ceaseless +agitation, in which the rigorous virtues of our fathers are forgotten, and +the land's integrity threatens to give way. If Ellendale be not the most +populous and active village, it is certainly the most rustic and winning +that I have ever beheld in our once _merry_ England. It is secreted from +the world, and lies snugly and closely at the foot of massive hills, which +nature seems to have erected solely for its covert and protection. It is +situated about four miles from the high-road, whence you obtain at +intervals short glimpses as it rears its tiny head into the open day. If +the traveller be fresh from an overworked and overworking city, he looks +upon what he deems a sheer impossibility--the residence of men living +cheerfully and happily in solitude intense. The employment of the +villagers is in the silent fields, from day to day, from year to year. +Their life has no variety, the general heart has no desire for change. It +was so with their fathers--so shall it be with their own children, if the +too selfish world will let them. The inhabitants are almost to a man poor, +humble, and contented. The cottages are clean and neat, but lowly, like +the owners. One house, and one alone, is distinguished from the rest; it +is aged, and ivy as venerable as itself clings closer there as years roll +over it. It has a lawn, an antique door and porch, narrow windows with the +smallest diamond panes, and has been called since its first stone was laid, +_the Vicarage_. Forget the village, courteous reader, and cross with me +the hospitable threshold, for here our history begins--and ends. + +The season is summer--the time evening--the hour that of sunset. The big +sun goes down like a ball of fire, crimson-red, leaving at the horizon's +verge his splendid escort--a host of clouds glittering with a hundred hues, +the gorgeous livery of him they have attended. A borrowed glory steals +from them into an open casement, and, passing over, illumines for a time a +face pale even to sadness. It is a woman's. She is dressed in deepest +mourning, and is--Heaven be with her in her solitariness!--a recent widow. +She is thirty years of age at least, and is still adorned with half the +beauty of her youth, not injured by the hand of suffering and time. The +expression of the countenance is one of calmness, or, it may be, +resignation--for the tranquility has evidently been taught and learnt as +the world's lesson, and is not native there. Near her sits a man benign of +aspect, advanced in years; his hair and eyebrows white from the winter's +fall; his eye and mien telling of decline, easy and placid as the close of +softest music, and nothing harsher. Care and trouble he has never known; +he is too old to learn them now. His dress is very plain. The room in +which he sits is devoid of ornament, and furnished like the study of a +simple scholar. Books take up the walls. A table and two chairs are the +amount of furniture. The Vicar has a letter in his hand, which he peruses +with attention; and having finished, he turns with a bright smile towards +his guest, and tells her she is welcome. + +"You are very welcome, madam, for your own sake, and for the sake of him +whose signature is here; although, I fear, you will scarcely find amongst +us the happiness you look for. There will be time, however, to consider"-- + +"I _have_ considered, sir;" answered the lady, somewhat mournfully. "My +resolution has not been formed in haste, believe me." + +The vicar paused, and reperused the letter. + +"You are probably aware, madam, that my brother has communicated"-- + +"Every thing. Your people are poor and ignorant. I can be useful to them. +Reduced as I am, I may afford them help. I may instruct the +children--attend the sick--relieve the hungry. Can I do this?" + +"Pardon me, dear lady. I am loth to repress the noble impulses by which +you are actuated. It would be very wrong to deny the value and importance +of such aid; but I must entreat you to remember your former life and +habits. I fear this place is not what you expect it. In the midst of my +people, and withdrawn from all society, I have accustomed myself to seek +for consolation in the faithful discharge of my duties, and in communion +with the chosen friends of my youth whom you see around me. You are not +aware of what you undertake. There will be no companionship for you--no +female friend--no friend but myself. Our villagers are labouring men and +women--our population consists of such alone. Think what you have been, +and what you must resign." + +The lady sighed deeply, and answered-- + +"It is, Mr Littleton, just because I cannot forget what I have been, that +I come here to make amends for past neglect and sinfulness. I have a debt +_there_, sir"--and she pointed solemnly towards the sky--"which must be +paid. I have been an unfaithful steward, and must be reconciled to my good +master ere I die. You may trust me. You know my income and my means. It is +trifling; comparatively speaking--nothing. Yet, less than half of it must +suffice for my support. The rest is for your flock. You shall distribute +it, and you shall teach me how to minister to their temporal +necessities--how to labour for their eternal glory. The world and I have +parted, and for ever." + +"I will not oppose you further madam. You shall make the trial if you +please, and yet"--the vicar hesitated. + +"Pray speak, sir," said the lady. + +"I was thinking of your accommodation. Here I could not well receive +you--and I know no other house becoming"-- + +"Do not mock me, Mr Littleton. A room in the cot of your poorest +parishioner is more than I deserve--more than the good fishermen of +Galilee could sometimes find. Think of me, I beg, as I am--not as I have +been." + +As the lady spoke, a servant-maid entered the apartment with the +supper-tray, which the good vicar had ordered shortly after the arrival of +his guest. During the repast, it was arranged that the lady should pass +the night in the cottage of John Humphrys, a man acknowledged to be the +most industrious in the village, and who had become the especial favourite +of the vicar, by marrying, as the latter jocosely termed it, into his +family. John Humphrys' wife had been the vicar's housekeeper. The Reverend +Hugh Littleton was a bachelor, and had always been most cautious and +discreet. Although he had a bed to spare, he did not think of offering it +to his handsome visitor; nor, and this is more remarkable, did he again +that evening resume the subject of their previous conversation. He spoke +of matters connected with the world, from which he had been separated for +half a century, but from whose turmoil the lady had only a few weeks +before disentangled herself. To a good churchman, the condition of the +Church is always a subject of the deepest interest, as her prosperity is a +source of gratitude and joy. Tidings of the movement which had recently +taken place in the very heart of the Establishment had already reached his +secluded parish, filling him with doubt and apprehension. He was glad +to gain what further information his friendly visitor could afford him. We +may conclude, from the observations of the vicar, that her communication +was unsatisfactory. + +"It is a cowardly thing, madam," said he, "to withdraw from a scene of +contest in the hour of danger, and when all our dearest interests are at +stake; and yet I do thank my God, from the bottom of my heart, that I am +not an eyewitness to the dishonour and the shame which men are heaping on +our blessed faith. Are we Christians? Do we come before the world as the +messengers of glad tidings--of _unity_ and _peace_? We profess to do it, +whilst discord, enmity, hatred, and persecution are in our hearts and on +our tongue. The atheist and the worldling live in harmony, whilst the +children of Christ carry on their unholy warfare one against the other. +Strange anomaly! Can we not call upon our people to love their God with +all their hearts--and their neighbours as themselves? Can we not strive by +our own good example to teach them how to do this? Would it not be more +profitable and humane, than to disturb them with formalities that have no +virtue in themselves--to distress them with useless controversies, that +settle no one point, teach no one doctrine, but unsettle and unfix all the +good that our simple creed had previously built up and made secure?" + +"It is very true, sir;--and it is sweet to hear you talk so." + +If the lady desired to hear more, it was unwise of her to speak so plainly. +The vicar was unused to praise, and these few words effectually stopped +him. He said no more. The lady remained silent for a minute or two, then +rose and took her leave. The night was very fine, and the vicar's servant +maid accompanied her to John Humphrys' door. Here she found a wholesome +bed, but her pillow did not become a resting-place until she moistened it +with tears--the bitterest that ever wrung a penitent and broken heart. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +RETROSPECTIVE + + +James Mildred was a noble-hearted gentleman. At the age of eighteen he +quitted England to undertake an appointment in India, which he had +obtained through the interest of his uncle, an East Indian Director. He +remained abroad thirty years, and then returned, a stranger, to his native +land, the owner of a noble fortune. His manners were simple and +unassuming--his mind was masculine and well-informed--his generous soul +manifest in every expression of his manly countenance. He had honourably +acquired his wealth, and whilst he amassed, had been by no means greedy of +his gains. He dealt out liberally. There were many reasons why James +Mildred at the age of forty-eight returned to England. I shall state but +one. He was still a bachelor. The historian at once absolves the gentler +sex from any share of blame. It was not, in truth, their fault that he +continued single. Many had done their utmost to remove this stigma from +James Mildred's character; had they done less they might, possibly, have +been more successful. Mildred had a full share of sensibility, and +recoiled at the bare idea of being snared into a state of blessedness. The +woman was not for him, who was willing to accept him only because his gold +and he could not be separated. Neither was he ambitious to purchase the +easy affection of the live commodity as it arrives in ships from England, +with other articles of luxury and merchandize. After years of successful +exertion, he yearned for the enjoyments of the domestic hearth, and for +the home-happiness which an Englishman deserves, because he understands +so well its value. Failing to obtain his wish in India, he journeyed +homeward, sound in mind and body, and determined to improve the comfort +and condition of both, by a union with amiability, loveliness, and virtue, +if in one individual he could find them all combined, and finding, could +secure them for himself. It might have been a year after his appearance in +London, that he became acquainted with the family of Mr Graham, a +lieutenant in the navy on half-pay, and the father of two children. He was +a widower, and not affluent. His offspring were both daughters, and, at +the time to which I allude, full grown, lovely women. Their mother had +been a governess previously to her marriage, and her subsequent days had +been profitably employed in the education of her daughters; in preparing +them, in fact, for the condition of life into which they would inevitably +fall, if they were still unmarried at the dissolution of their father. +They were from infancy taught to expect their future means of living from +their own honourable exertions, and they grew happier and better for the +knowledge. Mildred had retired to a town on the sea-coast, in which this +family resided; and, shortly after his arrival, he first beheld the elder +of the lieutenant's children. She was then in her nineteenth year, a +lovely, graceful, and accomplished creature. I cannot say that he was +smitten at first sight, but it must have been soon afterwards; for the day +succeeding that on which he met her, found him walking and chatting with +her father, as familiarly as though they had been friends from infancy. +Before a week was over, the lieutenant had dined three times with Mildred +at his hotel, and had taken six pipes, and as many glasses of grog, in +token of his fidelity and good fellowship. From being the host of +Lieutenant Graham, it was an easy transition to become his guest. Mildred +was taken to the mariner's cot, and from that hour his destiny was fixed. +In Margaret Graham he found, or he believed he had, the being whom he had +sought so long--the vision which had not, until now, been realized. Six +months elapsed, and found the lover a constant visitor at the lieutenant's +fireside. He had never spoken of his passion, nor did any of the household +dream of what was passing in his heart, save Margaret, who could not fail +to see that she possessed it wholly. His wealth was likewise still a +secret, his position in society unknown. His liberal sentiments and +unaffected demeanour had gained him the regard of the unsophisticated +parent--his modest bearing and politeness were not less grateful to the +sisters. Mildred had resolved a hundred times to reveal to Margaret the +depth and earnestness of his attachment, and to place his heart and +fortune at her feet, but he dared not do it when time and opportunity +arrived. Day by day his ardent love increased--stronger and stronger grew +the impression which had first been stamped upon his noble mind; new +graces were discovered; virtues were developed that had escaped his early +notice, enhancing the maiden's loveliness and worth. Still he continued +silent. He was a shy, retiring man, and entertained a meek opinion of his +merits. The difference of age was very great. He dwelt upon the fact, +until it seemed a barrier fatal to his success. Young, accomplished, and +exceeding beautiful, would she not expect, did she not deserve, a union +with youth and virtues equal to her own? Was it not madness to suppose +that she would shower such happiness on him? Was he not over bold and +arrogant to hope it? Aware of his disadvantage, and rendered miserable by +the thought of losing her in consequence, he had been tempted once or +twice to communicate to Margaret the amount of wealth that he possessed; +but here, too, his reluctant tongue grew ever dumb as he approached the +dangerous topic. No; his soul would pine in disappointment and despair, +before it could consent to _purchase_ love--love which transcends all +price when it becomes the heart's free offering, but is not worth a rush +to buy or bargain for. Could he but be sure that for himself alone she +would receive his hand--could he but once be satisfied of this, how paltry +the return, how poor would be the best that he could offer for her virgin +trust? What was his wealth compared with that? But _how_ be sure and +satisfied? Ask and be refused? Refused, and then denied the privilege to +gaze upon her face, and to linger hour after hour upon the melody which, +flowing from her fair lips, had so long charmed, bewildered him! To be +shut out for ever from the joy that had become a part of him, with which, +already in his dreams, he had connected all that remained to him as yet of +life!--It is true, James Mildred was old enough to be sweet Margaret's +father; but for his _heart_, with all its throbbings and anxieties, it +might have been the young girl's younger brother's. A lucky moment was it +for Mildred, when he thought of seeking counsel from the straightforward +and plain-speaking officer. A hint sufficed to make the parent wise, and +to draw from him the blunt assurance, that Mildred was a son-in-law to +make a father proud and happy. "I never liked, my friend, superfluous +words," said he; "you have my consent, mind that, when you have settled +matters with the lass." + +It was a very few hours after the above words were spoken, that, either by +design or chance, Mildred and Margaret found themselves together. The +lieutenant and his younger daughter were from home, and Margaret was +seated in the family parlour, engaged in profitable work, as usual. Upon +entering the room, the lover saw immediately that Graham had committed him. +His easy and accustomed step had never called a blush into the maiden's +cheek. Wherefore should it now? He felt the coming and the dreaded crisis +already near, and that his fate was hanging on her lips. His heart +fluttered, and he became slightly perturbed; but he sat down manfully; +determined to await the issue. Margaret welcomed him with more restraint +than was her wont, but not--he thought and hoped--less cordially. Maidens +are wilful and perverse. Why should she hold her head down, as she had +never done before? Why strain her eyes upon her work, and ply her needle +as though her life depended on the haste with which she wrought? Thus +might she receive a foe; better treatment surely merited so good a friend? + +"Miss Graham," said at length the resolute yet timid man, "do I judge +rightly? Your father has communicated to you our morning's conversation?" + +"He has, sir," answered Margaret too softly for any but a lover's ear. + +"Then, pardon me, dear lady," continued Mildred, gaining confidence, as he +was bound to do, "if I presume to add all that a simple and an honest man +can proffer to the woman he adores. I am too old--that is to say, I have +seen too much of life, perhaps, to be able to address you now in language +that is fitting. But, believe me, dear Miss Graham, I am sensible of your +charms, I esteem your character, I love you ardently. I am aware of my +presumption. I am bold to approach you as a suitor; but my happiness +depends upon your word and I beg you to pronounce it. Dismiss me, and I +will trouble you no longer. I will endeavour to forget you--to forget that +I beheld you--that I ever nourished a passion which has made life sweeter +to me than I believed it could become; but if, on the other hand"-- + +How strange it is, that we will still create troubles in a world that +already abounds with them! Here had Mildred lived in a perpetual fever for +months together, teazing and fretting himself with anxieties and doubts; +whilst, as a reasonable being, he ought to have been as cheerful and as +merry as a lark singing at the gate of heaven. In the midst of his oration, +the gentle Margaret resigned her work, and wept. I say no more. I will not +even add that she had been prepared to weep for months before--that she +had grown half fearful and half angry at the long delay--that she was +woman, and ambitious--that she had heard of Mildred's mine of wealth, and +longed to share it with him. Such secrets, gentle reader, might, if +revealed, attaint the lady's character. I therefore choose to keep them to +myself. It is very certain that Mildred was forthwith accepted, and that, +after a courtship of three months, he led to the altar a woman of whose +beauty and talents a monarch might justly have been proud. It is not to +the purpose of this narrative to describe the wedding guests and +garments--the sumptuous breakfast--the continental tour. It was a fair +scene to look at, that auspicious bridal morn. The lieutenant's unaffected +joy--the bridegroom's blissful pride--the lady's modesty, and--shall I +call it?--triumph, struggling through it; these and other matters might +employ an idle or a dallying pen, but must not now arrest one busy with +more serious work. Far different are the circumstance and season which +call for our regard. We leave the lovers in their bridal bower, and +pensively approach the chamber of sickness and of death. + +It is ten years since Mildred wedded. He is on the verge of sixty, and +seems more aged, for he is bowed down with bodily disease and pain. His +wife, not thirty yet, looks not an hour older than when we saw her last, +dressed like a queen for her espousal. She is more beautiful, as the full +developed rose in grace surpasses the delicate and still expanding bud; +but there she is, the same young Margaret. How they have passed the +married decade, how both fulfilled their several duties, may be gathered +from a description of Mildred's latest moments. He lies almost exhausted +on his bed of suffering, and only at short intervals can find strength to +make his wishes known to one who, since he was a boy, has been a faithful +and a constant friend. He is his comforter and physician now. + +"You have not told me, Wilford," said Mildred in a moment of physical +repose, "you have not told me yet how long. Let me, I implore you, hear +the truth. I am not afraid to die. Is there any hope at all?" + +The physician's lip quivered with affectionate grief; but did not move in +answer. + +"There is _no_ hope then," continued the wasting invalid. "I believe it--I +believe it. But tell me, dearest friend, how long may this endure?" + +"I cannot say," replied the doctor; "a day or two, perhaps: I fear not +longer, Mildred." + +"Fear _not_, old friend," said Mildred. "I do not fear. I thank my God +there is an end of it." + +"Is your mind happy, Mildred?" asked the physician. + +"You shall judge yourself. I die at peace with all men. I repent me +heartily of my sins. I place my hope in my Redeemer. I feel that he will +not desert me. I did never fear death, Wilford. I can smile upon him now." + +"You will see a clergyman?" + +"Yes, Wilford, an hour hence; not now. I have sent _her_ away, that I +might hear the worst from you. She must be recalled, and know that all is +fixed, and over. We will pray together--dear, faithful Margaret--sweet, +patient nurse! Heaven bless her!" + +"She is to be pitied, Mildred. To die is the common lot. We are not all +doomed to mourn the loss of our beloved ones!" + +"But, Wilford, you will be good and kind to her, and console her for my +loss. You are my executor and dearest friend. You will have regard to my +dying words, and watch over her. Be a father and a brother to her. You +will--will you not?" + +"I will," answered the physician solemnly. + +"Thank you, brother--thank you," replied the patient, pressing his +friend's hand warmly. "We are brothers now, Wilford--we were children, +schoolboys together. Do you remember the birds'-nesting--and the +apple-tree in the orchard? Oh, the happy scenes of my boyhood are fresher +in my memory to day than the occurrences of yesterday!" + +"You were nearer heaven in your boyhood, Mildred, than you have been since, +until this hour. We are travelling daily further from the East, until we +are summoned home again. The light of heaven is about us at the beginning +and the close of life. We lose it in middle age, when it is hid by the +world's false and unsubstantial glare." + +"I understand something of what you say. I never dreaded this hour. I have +relied for grace, and it has come--but, Wilford"-- + +"What would you say?" + +"Margaret." + +"What of her?" + +"If you could but know what she has done for me--how, for the last two +years, she has attended me--how she has sacrificed all things for me, and +for my comfort--how she has been, against my will, my servant and my +slave--you would revere her character as I do. Night after night has she +spent at my bedside; no murmur--no dull, complaining look--all +cheerfullness! I have been peevish and impatient--no return for the harsh +word, and harsher look. So young--so beautiful--so self devoted. I have +not deserved such love--and now it is snatched from me, as it should be"-- + +"You are excited, Mildred," said the good doctor. "You have said too much. +Rest now--rest." + +"Let me see her," answered Mildred. "I cannot part with her an instant +now." + +And in a few minutes the angel of light--for such she was to the declining +man--glided to the dying bed. When she approached it his eyes were shut, +and his lips moved as if in prayer. At his side she stood, the faithful +tears pouring down her cheek, her voice suspended, lest a breath should +fall upon the sufferer and awaken him to pain. Quietly at last, as if from +sweetest sleep, his eyes unclosed, and, with a fond expression, fixed +themselves on _her_. Faster and faster streamed the unchecked tears adown +the lovely cheek, louder and louder grew the agonizing sobs that would not +be controlled. He took her drooping palm, pressed it as he might between +his bony hands, and covered it with kisses. Doctor Wilford silently +withdrew. + +"Dear, good Margaret," the sick man faltered, "I shall lose you soon. +Heaven will bless you for your loving care." + +"Take courage, dearest," was Margaret's reply; "all will yet be well." + +"It will, beloved--but not here," he answered. "We shall meet again--be +sure of it. God is merciful, not cruel, and our happiness on earth has +been a foretaste of the diviner bliss hereafter. We are separated but for +an hour. Do not weep, my sweet one, but listen to me. It was my duty to +reward you, Margaret, for all that you have done for the infirm old man. I +have performed this duty. Every thing that I possess is yours! My will is +with my private papers in the desk. It will do you justice. Could I have +given you the wealth of India, you would have deserved it all." + +Tears, tears were the heart's intense acknowledgment. What could she say +at such a time? + +"I have thought fit, my Margaret, to burden you with no restrictions. I +could not be so wicked and so selfish as to wish you not to wed again"-- + +"Speak not of it, James--speak not of it," almost screamed the lovely wife, +intercepting the generous speaker's words. "Do not overwhelm me with my +grief." + +"It is best, my Margaret, to name these things whilst power is still left +me. Understand me, dearest. I do not bid you wed again. You are free to do +it if it will make you happier." + +"Never--never, dearest and best of men! I am yours in life and +death--yours for ever. Before Heaven I vow"-- + +Mildred touched the upraised hand, held it in his own, and in a feeble, +worn-out voice, said gravely-- + +"I implore you to desist--spare me the pain--make not a vow so rash. You +are young and beautiful, my Margaret--a time may come--let there be no vow. +Where is Wilford? I wish to have you both about me." + +The following morning Margaret was weeping on her husband's corpse. Ten +years before, she had wept when he proposed for her, and ten years +afterwards, almost to a day, she was weeping on John Humphrys' pillow, +distressed with recollections that would not let her rest. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER III + +THE BEGINNING OF THE END + + +Doctor Chalmers was right. The discovery of the telescope was very fine in +its way; but the invention of the microscope was, after all, a much more +sensible affair. We may look at the mountains of the moon, and the spots +on the sun, until we have rendered our eyes, for all practical purposes, +useless for a month, and yet not bring to light one secret worth knowing, +one fact that, as inhabitants of the earth, we care to be acquainted with. +Not so with one microscopic peep at a particle of water or an atom of +cheese. Here we arrive at once at the disclosure of what modern +philosophers call "a beautiful law"--a law affecting the entirety of +animal creation--invisible and visible; a law which proclaims that the +inferior as well as the superior animals, the lowest as well as the +highest, the smallest as well as the largest, live upon one another, +derive their strength and substance from attacking and devouring those of +their neighbours. Shakspeare, whom few things escaped, has not failed to +tell us, that "there be land rats and water rats, water thieves and land +thieves;" he knew not, however, that there be likewise water devils as +well as land devils--water lawyers as well as land lawyers--water +swindlers as well as land swindlers. In one small liquid drop you shall +behold them all--indeed a commonwealth of Christians but for their forms, +and for the atmosphere in which they live and fight. I have often found +great instruction in noting the hypocritical antics of a certain watery +rascal, whose trick it is to lie in one snug corner of the globule, +feigning repose, indifference, or sleep. Nothing disturbs him, until some +weak, innocent animalcule ventures unsuspiciously within his reach, and +then with one muscular exertion, the monster darts, gripes, gulps him +down--goes to his sleep or prayers again, and waits a fresh arrival. The +creature has no joy but in the pangs of others--no life but in their +sufferings and death. Even worse than this thing is the worm, its earthly +prototype, with whom, rather than with himself, this chapter has to deal. +Whilst the last most precious drops of Mildred's breath were leaving him, +whilst his cleansed soul prepared itself for solemn flight, whilst all +around his bed were still and silent as the grave already digging for +him--one human eye, secreted from the world and unobserved, peered into +the lonely chamber, watching for the dissolution, impatient at delay, and +greedy for the sight. I speak of an old, grey-headed man, a small, thin +creature of skin and bone, sordid and avaricious in spirit--one who had +never known Mildred, had not once spoken to or seen him, but who had heard +of his possessions, of his funded gold, and whose grasping soul was sick +to handle and secure them. Abraham Allcraft, hunks as he was, was reputed +wealthy. For years he had retained a high position as the opulent banker +of the mercantile city of ----. His business was extensive--his habits +mean, penurious; his credit was unlimited, as his character was +unimpeachable. There are some men who cannot gain the world's favour, do +what they will to purchase it. There are others, on the other hand, who, +having no fair claim at all to it, are warmed and nourished throughout +life by the good opinion of mankind. No man lived with fewer virtues than +Abraham Allcraft; no man was reputed richer in all the virtues that adorn +humanity. He was an honest man, because he starved upon a crust. He was +industrious, because from morn till night he laboured at the bank. He was +a moral man, because his word was sacred, and no one knew him guilty of a +serious fault. He was the pattern of a father--witness the education of +his son. He was the pattern of a banker--witness the house's regularity, +and steady prosperous course. He lived within view of the mansion in which +Mildred breathed his last; he knew the history of the deceased, as well as +he knew the secrets of his own bad heart. He had seen the widow in her +solitary walks; he had made his plans, and he was not the man to give them +up without a struggle. + +It was perhaps on the tenth day after Mildred had been deposited in the +earth, that Margaret permitted the sun once more to lighten her abode. +Since the death of her husband the house had been shut up--no visitor had +been admitted--there had been no witness to her agony and tears. It should +be so. There are calamities too great for human sympathy; seasons too +awful for any presence save that of the Eternal. Time, reason, and +religion--not the hollow mockery of solemn words and looks--must heal the +heart lacerated by the tremendous deathblow. Abraham Allcraft had waited +for this day. He saw the gloomy curtains drawn aside--he beheld life +stirring in the house again. He dressed himself more carefully than he had +ever done before, and straightaway hobbled to the door, before another and +less hasty foot could reach it. A painter, wishing to arrest the look of +one who smiles, and smiles, and murders whilst he smiles, would have been +glad to dwell upon the face of Abraham, as he addressed the servant-man +who gave him entrance. Below the superficial grin, there was, as clear as +day, the natural expression of the soul that would not blend with any show +of pleasantry. Abraham wished to give the attendant half-a-crown as soon +as possible. He dared not offer it without a reason, so he dropped his +umbrella, and, like a generous man, rewarded the honest fellow who stooped +to pick it up. This preliminary over, and, as it were, so much of dirt +swept from the very threshold, he gave his card, announced himself as Mr +Allcraft, banker, and desired to see the lady on especial business. He was +admitted. The ugliest of dresses did not detract from the perfect beauty +of the widowed Margaret; the bitterest of griefs had not removed the bloom +still ripening on her cheek. Time and sorrow were most merciful. The wife +and widow looked yet a girl blushing in her teens. Abraham Allcraft gazed +upon the lady, as he bowed his artful head, with admiration and delight, +and then he threw one hurried and involuntary glance around the gorgeous +room in which she sat, and then he made his own conclusions, and assumed +an air of condolence and affectionate regard, as the wolf is said to do in +fables, just before he pounces on the lamb and strangles it. + +The villain sighed. + +"Sad time, madam," he said, in a lugubrious tone--"sad time. _Strangers_ +feel it." + +Margaret held down her face. + +"I should have come before, madam, if propriety had not restrained me. I +have only a few hours which I can take from business, but these belong to +the afflicted and the poor." + +"You are very kind, sir." + +"I beg you, Mrs Mildred, not to mention it. It was a great shock to me to +hear of Mr Mildred's death--a man in the prime of life. So very good--so +much respected." + +"He was too good for this world, sir." + +"Much, madam--very much; and what a consolation for you, that he is gone +to a better--one more deserving of him. You will feel this more as you +find your duties recalling you to active usefulness again." + +The lady shook her head despairingly. + +"I hope, madam, we may be permitted to do all we can to alleviate your +forlorn condition. I am one of many who regard you with the deepest +sympathy. You may have heard my name, perhaps." + +The lady bowed. + +"You _must_ be very dull here," exclaimed the wily Abraham, gazing round +him with the internal consciousness that the death of every soul he knew +would not make _him_ dull in such a paradise--"very dull, I am sure!" + +"It was a cheerful home while _he_ lived, sir," answered Margaret, most +ruefully. + +"Ah--yes," sighed Abraham; "but now, too true--too true." + +"I was thinking, Mr Allcraft"-- + +"Before you name your thought, dear madam, let me explain at once the +object of my visit. I am an old man--a father, and a widower--but I am +also" (oh, crafty Allcraft!) "a simple and an artless man. My words are +few, but they express my meaning faithfully. There was a time when, placed +in similar circumstances to your own, I would have given the world had a +friend stepped forward to remove me for a season from the scene of all my +misery. I remembered this whilst dwelling on your solitariness. Within a +few miles of this place, I have a little box untenanted at present. Let me +entreat you to retire to it, if only for a week. I place it at your +command, and shall be honoured if you will accept the offer. The house is +sweetly situated--the prospect charming; a temporary change cannot but +soothe your grief. I am a father, madam--the father of a noble youth--and +I know what you must suffer." + +"You anticipate my wish, sir, and I am grateful for your kindness. I was +about to move many miles away; but it is advisable, perhaps, that for the +present I should continue in this neighbourhood. I will see your cottage, +and, if it pleases me, you will permit me to become your tenant for a +time." + +"My guest rather, dear Mrs Mildred. The old should not be thwarted in +their wishes. Let me for the time imagine you my daughter, and act a +father's part." + +The lady smiled in gratitude, and said that "she would see"--and then the +following day was fixed for a short visit to the cottage and then the +virtuous Allcraft took his leave, and went immediately to Mr Final, house +agent and appraiser. This gentleman was empowered to let a handsome +furnished villa, just three miles distant from poor Margaret's residence. +Allcraft hired it at once for one month certain, reserving to himself the +option of continuing it for any further period. He signed the +agreement--paid the rent--received possession. This over, he hurried back +to business, and by the post dispatched a letter to his absent son, +conjuring him, as he loved his father, and valued his regard, to return +to ---- without an instant's hesitation or delay. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +"MICHING MALLECHO; IT MEANS MISCHIEF." + + +Reader, I have no heart to proceed; I am sorry that I began at all--that I +have got thus far. I love Margaret, the beautiful and gentle--Margaret, +the heart-broken penitent. I love her as a brother; and what brother but +yearns to conceal his erring sister's frailty? The faithful historian, +however, is denied the privileges of fiction. He may not, if he would, +divert the natural course of things; he cannot, though he pines to do it, +expunge the written acts of Providence Let us go or in charity. + +Michael Allcraft, in obedience to his father's wish, came home. He was in +his twenty-fourth year, stood six feet high, was handsome and +well-proportioned. He was a youth of ardent temperament, liberal and +high-spirited. How he became the son of such a sire is to me a mystery. It +was not in the affections that the defects of Michael's character were +found. These were warm, full of the flowing milk of human kindness. +Weakness, however, was apparent in the more solid portions of the edifice. +His morals, it must be confessed, were very lax--his principles unsteady +and insecure--and how could it be otherwise? Deprived of his mother at his +birth, and from that hour brought up under the eye and tutelage of a man +who had spent a life in the education of one idea--who regarded +money-making as the business, the duty, the pleasure, the very soul and +end of our existence--who judged of the worth of mankind--of men, women, +and children--according to their incomes, and accounted all men virtuous +who were rich--all guilty who were poor--whose spirit was so intent upon +accumulation, that it did not stop to choose the straight and open roads +that led to it, but often crept through many crooked and unclean--brought +up, I say, under such a father and a guide, was it a wonder that Michael +was imperfect in many qualities of mind--that reason with him was no tutor, +that his understanding failed to be, as South expresses it, "the soul's +upper region, lofty and serene, free from the vapours and disturbances of +the inferior affections?" In truth there was no upper region at all, and +very little serenity in Michael's composition. He had been a wayward and +passionate boy. He was a restless and excitable man--full of generous +impulses, as I have hinted, but sudden and hasty in action--swift in +anger--impatient of restraint and government. His religious views were +somewhat dim and undistinguishable even to himself. He believed--as who +does not--in the great First Cause, and in the usefulness of religion as +an instrument of good in the hands of government. I do not think he +troubled himself any further with the subject. He sometimes on the Sabbath +went to church, but oftener stayed at home, or sought excitement with a +chosen friend or two abroad. He hated professing people, as they are +called, and would rather shake hands with a housebreaker than a saint. It +has been necessary to state these particulars, in order to show how +thoroughly he lived uninfluenced by the high motives which are at once the +inspiration and the happiness of all good men--how madly he rested on the +conviction that religion is an abstract matter, and has nothing more to do +with life and conduct than any other abstruse branch of metaphysics. But +in spite of this unsound state of things, the gentleman possessed all the +showy surface-virtues that go so very far towards eliciting the favourable +verdict of mankind. He prided himself upon a delicate, a surprising sense +of honour. He professed himself ready to part with his life rather than +permit a falsehood to escape his lips; he would have blushed to think +dishonestly--to _act_ so was impossible. Pride stood him here in the stead +of holiness; for the command which he refused to regard at the bidding of +the Almighty, he implicitly obeyed at the solicitation of the most ignoble +of his passions. It is difficult to imagine a more dangerous companion for +a young widow than Michael Allcraft was likely to prove. Manliness of +demeanour, and a handsome face and figure, have always their intrinsic +value. If you add to these a cultivated mind, a most expressive and +intellectual countenance, rich hazel eyes, as full of love as fire, a warm +impulsive nature, shrinking from oppression, active in kindness and deeds +of real benevolence--you will not fail to tremble for my Margaret. Abraham +Allcraft was too shrewd a man to allude even most remotely to the actual +reason of his son's recall. He knew very well that to hint at it was in +the very outset to defeat his purpose. He acted far more cautiously. +Michael had received a first rate education--he had been to the +university--he had travelled through Italy and Germany; and when he +received his father's letter was acquiring business habits in a +banking-house in London. It was high time to settle seriously to work, so +thought Allcraft senior, and suddenly determined to constitute his son a +partner in his bank. "He himself was getting old," he said. "Who knew what +would happen? Delays were dangerous. He would delay no longer. Now he was +well, and Michael might learn and profit by his long experience." Michael +consented--why should he not?--to be the junior partner in the prosperous +house of Allcraft senior and Son. Three months passed speedily, and +Margaret still continued Abraham's tenant. She had lost the sting of her +sorrow in the scenes of natural beauty by which she was surrounded. She +had lived in strict retirement, and a gentle tide of peace was flowing +gradually and softly to her soul again. She thought of quitting the +tranquil cot with pain, and still fixed day after day for a departure that +she could not take. The large house, associated as it was with all her +grief, looked dismal at a distance. How would it be when she returned to +it, and revisited the well-known rooms? Every article of furniture was in +one way or another connected with the departed. She never--no never could +be happy there again. The seclusion to which she doomed herself had not +prevented Abraham Allcraft from being her daily visitor. His age and +character protected her from calumny. His sympathy and great attention had +merited and won her unaffected gratitude. She received his visits with +thankfulness, and courted them. The wealth which it was known he possessed +acquitted him of all sinister designs; and it was easy and natural to +attribute his regard and tenderness to the pity which a good man feels for +a bereavement such as she had undergone. The close of six months found her +still residing at the cottage, and Abraham still a constant and untiring +friend. He had been fortunate enough to give her able and important +counsel. In the disposition of a portion of her property, he had evinced +so great a respect for her interest, had regarded his own profit and +advantages so little, that had Margaret not been satisfied before of his +probity and good faith, she would have been the most ungrateful of women +not to acknowledge them now. But, in fact, poor Margaret did acknowledge +them, and in the simplicity of her nature had mingled in her daily prayers +tears of gratitude to Heaven for the blessing which had come to her in the +form of one so fatherly and good. In the meanwhile where was Michael? At +home--at work--under the _surveillance_ of a parent who had power to check +and keep in awe even his turbulent and outbreaking spirit. He had taken +kindly to the occupation which had been provided for him, and promised, +under good tuition, to become in time a proper man of business. He had +heard of the Widow Mildred--her unbounded wealth--her unrivalled beauty. +He knew of his father's daily visit to the favoured cottage, but he knew +no more; nor more would he have _cared_ to know had not his father, with a +devil's cunning, and with much mysteriousness, forbidden him to speak +about the lady, or to think of visiting her so long as she remained +amongst them. Such being the interdict, Michael was, of course, impatient +to seek out the hidden treasure, and determined to behold her. Delay +increased desire, and desire with him was equal to attainment. Whilst he +was busy in contriving a method for the production of the lovely widow, +his father, who had watched and waited for the moment that had come, +suddenly requested him to accompany him to Mrs Mildred's house--to dine +with that good lady, and to take leave of her before she departed from the +neighbourhood for ever. Michael did not need a second invitation. The +eagerness with which he listened to the first was a true joy for Abraham. +Margaret, be it understood, had not invited Michael. The first year of her +widowhood was drawing to a close, and she had resolved at length to remove +from the retreat in which she had been so long hidden from mankind. Her +youthful spirits had rebounded--were once more buoyant--solitude had done +its work--the physician was no longer needed. That she might gradually +approach the busy world again, she proposed to visit, for a time, a small +and pretty town, well known to her, on the eastern coast. The day was +fixed for her removal, and, just one week before, she invited Mr Allcraft +senior to a farewell dinner. She had not thought it necessary to include +in the invitation the younger gentleman, whom she had never seen, albeit +his father's constant and unlimited encomiums had made the _woman_ less +unwilling to receive than to invite the youth, in whom the graces and the +virtues of humanity were said to have their residence. And Allcraft was +aware of this too. For his head he would not have incurred the risk of +giving her offence. With half an eye he saw the danger was not worth the +speaking of. When I say that Michael never eat less food at a meal in his +life--never talked more volubly or better--never had been so thoroughly +entranced and happy--so lost to every thing but the consciousness of _her_ +presence, of the hot blood tingling in his cheek--of the mad delight that +had leapt into his eyes and sparkled there, it will scarcely be requisite +to describe more particularly the effect of this precious dinner party +upon _him_. As for the lady, she would not have been woman had she failed +to admire the generous sentiments--the witty repartees--the brilliant +passages with which the young man's taste and memory enabled him to +entertain and charm his lovely hostess. As for his handsome face and manly +bearing--but, as we have said already, these have their price and value +always. Allcraft senior had the remarkable faculty of observing every +thing either with or without the assistance of his eyes. During the whole +of dinner he did not once withdraw his devil's vision from his plate, and +yet he knew more of what was going on above it than both the individuals +together, whose eyes it seemed had nothing better to do than just to take +full notes of what was passing in the countenance of either. Against this +happy talent we must set off a serious failing in the character of Abraham. +He always had a nap, he said, the moment after dinner. Accordingly, though +he retired with the young people to the drawing-room, he placed himself +immediately in an easy-chair, and quickly passed into a deep and +long-enduring sleep. Margaret then played sacred airs on the piano, which +Michael listened to with most unsacred feelings. Fathers and mothers! put +out your children's eyes--remove their toes--cut off their fingers. Whilst +with a lightning look, a hair-breadth touch, they can declare, make known +the love, that, having grown too big for the young heart, is panting for a +vent--you do but lose your pains whilst you stand by to seal their +tremulous lips. Speech! Fond lovers did never need it yet--and never shall. +What Margaret thought when the impassioned youth turned her pages over one +by one, (and sometimes two and three together,) and with a hand quivering +as if it had committed murder--what she felt when his full liquid eye +gazed on her, thanking her for her sweet voice, and imploring one strain +more, I cannot tell, though Abraham Allcraft guessed exactly, bobbing and +nodding, though he was, in slumber most profound. + +Your talking and susceptible men are either at summer heat or zero. +Michael, who had been all animation and garrulity from the moment he +beheld the widow until he looked his last unutterable adieus, became +silent and morose as soon as he turned his back upon the cottage, and lost +sight, as he believed, of the divinity for ever. He screwed himself into a +corner of the coach, and there he sat until the short homeward journey was +completed, mentally chewing, with the best appetite he could, the cud of +that day's delicious feast. Judging from his frequent sighs, and the +uneasy shiftings in his seat, the repast was any thing but savoury. +Abraham said nothing. He had but a few words to utter, and these were +reserved for the quiet half hour which preceded the usual time of rest. + +"Michael," said the sire as they sat together in the evening. + +"Father," said the junior partner. + +"Two hundred thousand clear. She'll be a duchess!" + +A sigh, like a current of air, flowed through the room. + +"She deserves it, Michael--a sweet creature--a coronet might be proud of +her. Why don't you answer, Mike?" + +"Father, she is an angel!" + +"Pooh, pooh!" + +"A heavenly creature!" + +"I tell you what, Mike, if I were a royal duke, and you a prince, I should +be proud to have her for a daughter. But it is useless talking so. I sadly +fear that some designing rascal, without a shilling in his pocket, will +get her in his clutches, and, who knows, perhaps ruin the poor creature. +What rosy lips she has! You cunning dog, I saw you ogle them." + +"Father!" + +"You did, sir--don't deny it; and do you think I wonder at you, Mike? +Ain't I your father, and don't I know the blood? Come, go to bed, sir, +and forget it all." + +"Do you, father, really think it possible that--do you think she is in +danger? I do confess she is loveliest, the most accomplished woman in the +world. If she were to come to any harm--if--if"-- + +"Now look you, Mike. There are one or two trifling business matters to be +arranged between the widow and myself before she leaves us. You shall +transact them with her. I am too busy at the bank at present. You are my +junior partner, but you are a hot-headed fellow, and I can hardly trust +you with accounts. All I ask and bargain for is, _that you be cautious +and discreet_--mark me, cautious and discreet. Let me feel satisfied of +this, and you shall settle all the matters as you please. Business, sir, +is business. I must acknowledge, Mike, that such a pair of eyes would +have been too much for old Abraham forty years ago; and what a neck and +bust! Come, go to bed, sir, and get up early in the morning." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MATTERS OF COURSE. + + +Margaret Mildred had not failed to note the impression which had been made +upon the warm and youthful heart of Michael; she was not displeased to +note it; and from her couch she rose, the following morning, delighted +with her dreams, and benevolently disposed towards mankind in general. She +lingered at her toilet, grew hypercritical in articles of taste, and found +defects in beauty without the shadow of a blemish. Had some wicked sprite +but whispered in her ear one thought injurious to the memory of her +departed husband, Margaret would have shrunk from its reception, and would +have scorned to acknowledge it as her own. Time, she felt and owned with +gratitude, had assuaged her sorrows--had removed the sting from her +calamity, but had not rendered her one jot less sensible to the great +claims _he_ held, even now, on her affection. From the hour of Mildred's +decease up to the present moment, the widow had considered herself +strictly bound by the vow which she had proposed to take, and would have +taken, but for the dying man's earnest prohibition. Her conscience told +her that that prohibition, so far from setting her free from the +engagement, did but render her more liable to fulfill it. Her feelings +coincided with the judgment of her understanding. Both pronounced upon her +the self-inflicted verdict of eternal widowhood. How long this sentence +would have been respected, had Michael never interfered to argue its +repeal, it is impossible to say; as a general remark it may be stated, +that nothing is so delusive as the heroic declarations we make in seasons +of excitement--no resolution is in such danger of becoming forfeited as +that which Nature never sanctioned and which depends for its existence +only upon a state of feeling which every passing hour serves to enfeeble +and suppress. + +When Margaret reached her breakfast-room, she found a nosegay on the table, +and Mr Michael Allcraft's card. He had called to make enquiries at a very +early hour of the morning, and had signified his intention of returning on +affairs of business later in the day. Margaret blushed deeper than the +rose on which her eyes were bent, and took alarm; her first determination +was to be denied to him; the second--far more rational--to receive him as +the partner in the banking-house, to transact the necessary business, and +then dismiss him as a stranger, distantly, but most politely. This was as +it should be. Michael came. He was more bashful than he had been the night +before, and he stammered an apology for his father's absence without +venturing to look towards the individual he addressed. He drew two chairs +to the table--one for Margaret, another for himself. He placed them at a +distance from each other, and, taking some papers from his pocket with a +nervous hand, he sat down without a minute's loss of time to look over and +arrange them. Margaret was pleased with his behaviour; she took her seat +composedly, and waited for his statement. There were a few select and +favourite volumes on the table, and one of these the lady involuntarily +took up and ran through, whilst Michael still continued busy with his +documents, and apparently perplexed by them. Nothing can be more ill +advised than to disturb a man immersed in business with literary or any +other observations foreign to his subject. + +"You were speaking of Wordsworth yesterday evening, Mr Allcraft," said +Margaret suddenly--Allcraft pushed every paper from him in a paroxysm of +delight, and looked up--"and I think we were agreed in our opinion of that +great poet. What a sweet thing is this! Did you ever read it? It is the +sonnet on the Sonnet." + +"A gem, madam. None but he could have written it. The finest writer of +sonnets in the world has spoken the poem's praise with a tenderness and +pathos that are inimitable. There is the true philosophy of the heart in +all he says--a reconciliation of suffering humanity to its hard but +necessary lot. How exquisite and full of meaning are those lines-- + + 'Bees that soar for bloom, + High as the highest peak of Furness fells, + Will murmur by the hour in foxglove bells;' + +and then the touching close-- + + 'In truth, the prison unto which we doom + Ourselves, no prison is; and hence to me, + In sundry moods, 'twas pastime to be bound + Within the sonnets scanty plot of ground; + Pleased if some souls, for such there needs must be, + Who have felt the weight of too much liberty, + Should find brief solace there as I have found.' + +_The weight of too much liberty_. Ah, who has not experienced this!"--Mr +Michael Allcraft sighed profoundly. A slight pause ensued after this +sudden outbreak on the part of the junior partner, and then he proceeded, +his animated and handsome countenance glowing with expression as he spoke. + +"You are really to be envied, Mrs Mildred, with your cultivated tastes and +many acquirements. You can comply with every wish of your elegant and +well-informed mind. There is no barrier between you and a life of high +mental enjoyment. The source of half my happiness was cut off when I +exchanged my study for the desk. Men cease to live when what is falsely +called life begins with them." + +"We have all our work to do, and we should do it cheerfully. It is a +lesson taught me by my mother, and experience has shown it to be just." + +"Yes, madam, I grant you when your mother spoke. But it is not so now. +Mercantile occupation in England is not as it has been. I question whether +it will ever be again. It is not closely and essentially associated, as it +was of yore, with high principle and strict notions of honour. The simple +word of the English merchant has ceased to pass current through the world, +sacred as his oath--more binding than his bond; fair, manly dealing is at +an end; and he who would mount the ladder of fortune, must be prepared to +soil his hands if he hope to reach the top. Legitimate trading is no +longer profitable. Selfishness is arrayed against selfishness--cunning +against cunning--lying against lying--deception against deception. The +great rogue prospers--the honest man starves with his innate sense of +honour and integrity. Is it possible to enter cheerfully upon employment +which demands the sacrifice of soul even at the outset?" + +"You draw a dark picture, Mr Allcraft, slightly tinged, I trust, with the +poetic pencil. But be it as gloomy as you paint it, we have still religion +amongst us, and individuals who adapt their conduct to its principles"-- + +"Ay, madam," said Michael, quickly interrupting her, "I grant you all you +wish. If we did but adapt our conduct to the doctrines of the +Testament--to that unequalled humanizing moral code--if we were taught to +do this, and how to do it, we might hope for some amendment. But look at +the actual state of things. The religious world is but a portion of the +whole--a world within a world. Preachers of peace--men who arrogate to +themselves the divine right of inculcating truth, and who, if any, should +be free from the corruption that taints the social atmosphere,--such men +come before mankind already sick with warfare, widening the breaches, +subdividing our divisions. Are these men pure and single-minded? Are these +men free from the grasping itch that distinguishes our age? Is there no +such thing as trafficking with souls? Are chapels bought and sold only +with a spiritual view, or sometimes as men bargain for their theatres? Are +these men really messengers of peace, living in amity and union, acting +Christianity as well as preaching it? Ask the Papist, the Protestant, the +Independent, and the thousand sects who dwell apart as foes, and, whilst +they talk of love, are teaching mankind how to hate beneath the garb of +sanctimoniousness and hollow forms!" + +"You are eloquent, Mr Allcraft, in a bad cause." + +"Pardon me, Mrs Mildred," answered the passionate youth immediately, and +with much bitterness, "but in the next street you shall find one eloquent +in a worse. There is what some of us are pleased to call a popular +preacher there. I speak the plain and simple truth, and say he is a +hireling--a paid actor, without the credit that attaches to the open +exercise of an honourable profession. The owner of the chapel is a usurer, +or money-lender--no speculation answers so well as this snug property. The +ranter exhibits to his audience once a-week--the place is crowded when he +appears upon the stage--deserted when he is absent, and his place is +occupied by one who fears, perhaps, to tamper with his God--is humble, +honest, quiet. The crowds who throng to listen to the one, and will not +hear the other, profess to worship God in what they dare to call _his_ +sanctuary, and look with pity on such as have not courage to unite in all +their hideous mockery." + +Right or wrong, it was evident that Michael was in earnest. He spoke +warmly, but with a natural vehemence that by no means disfigured his +good-looking visage, now illuminated with unusual fire. In these days of +hollowness and hypocrisy, an ingenuous straightforward character is a +refreshing spectacle, and commands our admiration, be the principles it +represents just what they may. Hence, possibly, the unaffected pleasure +with which Margaret listened to her visitor whilst he declaimed against +men and things previously regarded by her with reverence and awe. He +certainly was winning on her esteem. Women are the strangest beings! Let +them guard against these natural and impetuous characters, say I. The +business papers lay very quietly on the table, whilst the conversation +flowed as easily into another channel. Poets and poetry were again the +subject of discourse; and here our Michael was certainly at home. The +displeasure which he had formerly exhibited passed like a cloud from his +brow; he grew elated, criticized writer after writer, recited compositions, +illustrated them with verses from the French and German; repeated his own +modest attempts at translation, gave his hearer an idea of Goethe, Uhland, +Wieland, and the smaller fry of German poets, and pursued his theme, in +short, until listener and reciter both were charmed and gratified beyond +expression--she, with his talents and his manners--he, with her patience +and attention, and, perhaps, her face and figure. + +Mr Allcraft, junior, after having proceeded in the above fashion for about +three hours, suddenly recollected that he had made a few appointments at +the banking-house. He looked at his watch, and discovered that he was just +two hours behind the latest. Both blushed, and looked ridiculous. He rose, +however, and took his leave, asking and receiving her permission to pay +another visit on the following day for the purpose of arranging their +eternal "business matters." Things take ugly shapes in the dark; a tree, +an object of grace add beauty in the meridian sun, is a giant spectre in +the gloom of night. Thoughts of death are bolder and more startling on the +midnight pillow than in the noonday walk. Our vices, which are the pastime +of the drawing-room, become the bugbears of the silent bedchamber. +Margaret, when she would have slept, was haunted by reproaches, which +waited until then to agitate and frighten her. A sense of impropriety and +sinfulness started in her bosom, and convicted her of an +offence--unpardonable in her sight--against the blessed memory of Mildred. +She could not deny it, Michael Allcraft had created on her heart a +favourable impression--one that must be obliterated at once and for ever, +if she hoped for happiness, for spiritual repose. She had listened to his +impassioned tones with real delight; had gazed upon his bright and beaming +countenance, until her eyes had stolen away the image, and fixed it on her +heart. Not a year had elapsed since the generous Mildred had been +committed to the earth, and could she so soon rebel--so easily forget his +princely conduct, and permit his picture to be supplanted in her breast? +Oh, impossible! It was a grievous fault. She acknowledged it with her warm +tears, and vowed (Margaret was disposed to vow--too readily on most +occasions) that she would rise reproved; repentant, and faithful to her +duty. Yes, and the earnest creature leapt from her couch, and prayed for +strength and help to resist the sore temptation; nor did she visit it +again until she felt the strong assurance that her victory was gained, and +her future peace secured. It is greatly to be feared that the majority of +persons who make resolutions, imagine that all their work is done the +instant the virtuous determination is formed. Now, the fact is, that the +real work is not even begun; and if exertion be suspended at the point at +which it is most needed, the resolute individual is in greater danger of +miscarriage than if he had not resolved at all, but had permitted things +to take their own course and natural direction. I do believe that Margaret +received Michael on the following day without deeming it in the slightest +degree incumbent upon her to act upon the offensive. She established +herself behind her decision and her prayers, and, relying upon such +fortifications, would not permit the idea of danger. A child might have +prophesied the result. Michael was always at her side--Margaret's +departure from the cottage was postponed day after day. The youth, who in +truth ardently and truly loved the gentle widow, had no joy away from her. +He supplied her with books, the choice of which did credit to his +refinement and good taste. Sometimes she perused them alone--sometimes he +read aloud to her. His own hand culled her flowers, and placed the +offering on her table. He met her in her walks--he taught her botany--he +sketched her favourite views--he was devoted to her, heart and soul. And +_she_--but they are sitting now together after a month's acquaintance, and +the reader shall judge of Margaret by what he sees. It is a day for lovers. +The earth is bathed in light, and southerly breezes, such as revive the +dying and cheer their heavy hours with promises of amendment and recovery, +temper the fire that streams from the unclouded sun. In the garden of the +cottage, in a secluded part of it, there is a summer-house--call it +beauty's bower--with Margaret within--and honeysuckle, clematis, and the +passion flower, twining and intertwining, kissing and embracing, around, +above, below, on every side. There they are sitting. He reads a book--and +a paragraph has touched a chord in one of the young hearts, to which the +other has responded. She moves her foot unconsciously along the floor, her +downcast eye as unconsciously following it. He dares to raise his look, +and with a palpitating heart, observes the colour in her cheek, which +tells him that the heart is vanquished, and the prize is won. He tries to +read again, but eyesight fails him, and his hand is shaking like a leaf. +His spirit expands, his heart grows confident and rash--he knows not what +he does--he cannot be held back, though death be punishment if he goes +on--he touches the soft hand, and in an instant, the drooping, almost +lifeless Margaret--drawn to his breast--fastens there, and sobs. She +whispers to him to be gone--her clammy hand is pressing him to stay. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A DEATH AND A DISCOVERY. + + +I am really inclined to believe, after all, that the best mode of finally +extinguishing sorrow for a dead husband, is to listen quietly to the +reasonable pleas of a live lover. After the scene to which it has been my +painful task to allude in the last chapter, it would have been the very +height of prudery on the part of the lady and gentleman, had they avoided +speaking on the subject in which they had both become so deeply interested. +They did not attempt it. The first excitement over, Margaret entreated her +lover to be gone. He did not move. She conjured him, as he valued her +esteem, to flee from that spot, and to return to it no more. He pressed +her hand to his devoted lips. "What would become of her?" she emphatically +exclaimed, clasping her taper fingers in distrust and doubt. "You will be +mine, dear Margaret," was the wild reply, and the taper fingers easily +relaxed--gave way--and got confounded with his own. After the lapse of +four-and-twenty hours, reason returned to both; not the cold and +calculating capacity that stands aloof from every suggestion of feeling, +but that more sensible and temporizing reason, that with the _will_ goes +hand-in-hand, and serves the blind one as a careful guide. They met--for +they had parted suddenly, abruptly--in the summer-house, by previous +appointment. Michael pleaded his affection--his absorbing and devoted love. +She has objections numerous--insuperable; they dwindle down to one or two, +and these as weak and easily overcome as woman's melting heart itself. +They meet to argue, and he stays to woo. They bandy words and arguments +for hours together, but all their logic fails in proof; whilst one long, +passionate, parting kiss, does more by way of demonstration than the art +and science ever yet effected. + +Abraham Allcraft, who had been busily engaged behind the scenes pulling +the wires and exhibiting the puppets, appeared upon the stage as soon as +the first act of the performance was at an end. His son had said nothing +to him, but Abraham had many eyes and ears, and saw and heard enough to +make him mad with villainous delight. The second year of widowhood had +commenced. Margaret had doffed her weeds. She openly received the man on +whom she had bestowed her heart. They were betrothed. The public voice +proclaimed young Allcraft the luckiest of men; the public soul envied and +hated him for his good fortune. Abraham could never leave the presence of +his future daughter--and in her presence could never cease to flatter her, +and to grow disgusting in his lavish praises of his son. + +"When I first saw you, my dear lady," said the greedy banker, "I had but +one thought on my mind that livelong day. 'What would I give,' said I, +'for such a daughter? what would I give if for my noble son I could secure +so sweet a wife? I never met his equal--I say it, madam--who, being his +father, should perhaps not say it; but a stranger can admire his lusty +form and figure, and his mind is just as vigorous and sprightly. A rare +youth, madam, I assure you--too disinterested, perhaps--too generous, too +confiding--too regardless of the value of that necessary evil--money; but +as he gets older he will be wiser. I do believe he would rather have died, +though he loved you so much--than asked you for your hand, if he had not +been thoroughly independent without it.'" + +"I can believe it, sir," sighed Margaret. + +"I know you can--bless you! You were born for one another. You are a sweet +pair. I know not which is prettiest--which I love the best. I love you +both better than any thing in the world--that is at present; for by-and-by, +you know, I may love something quite as well. Grandfathers are fond and +foolish creatures. But, as I was saying--his independence is so fine--so +like himself. Every thing I have will be his. He is my partner now--the +bank will be his own at my death, madam. A prosperous concern. Many of our +neighbours would like to have a finger in the pie; but Abraham Allcraft +knows what he is about. I'll not burden him with partners. He shall have +it all--every thing--he is worthy of it, if it were ten tines as much--he +can do as he likes--when I am cold and mouldering in the grave; but he +must not owe any thing to the lady of his heart, but his attention, and +his kindness, and his dear love. I know my spirited and high-minded boy." + +Yes, and he knew human nature generally--knew its weaknesses and +faults--and lived upon them. His words require but little explanation. The +wedding-day had not been fixed. The ceremony once over, and his mind +would be at rest. "It was a consummation devoutly to be wished." Why? He +knew well enough. Michael had proposed the day, but she asked for time, +and he refrained from further importunity. His love and delicacy forbade +his giving her one moment's pain. Abraham was less squeamish. His long +experience told him that some good reason must exist for such a wish to +dwell in the young bosom of the blooming widow. It was unnatural and +foreign to young blood. It could be nothing else than the fear of parting +with her wealth--of placing all at the command of one, whom, though she +loved, she did not know that she might trust. Satisfied of this, he +resolved immediately to calm her apprehensions, and to assure her that not +one farthing of her fortune should pass from her control. He spoke of his +son as a man of wealth already, too proud to accept another's gold, even +were he poor. Perhaps he was. Margaret at least believed so. Abraham did +not quit her till the marriage day was settled. + +He returned from the widow in ecstasy, and called his son to his own snug +private room. + +"I have done it for you, Michael," said the father, rubbing his grasping +hands--it's done--it's settled, lad. Two months' patience, and the jewel +is your own. Thank your father, on your knees--oh, lucky Mike! But mark me, +boy. I have had enough to do. My guess was right. She was afraid of us, +but her fears are over. Till I told her that the bank would make you rich +without her, there was no relenting, I assure you. + +"You said so, father, did you?" asked the son. + +"Yes--I did. Remember that Mike when I am dead--remember what I have done +for you--put a fortune in your pocket, and given you an angel--remember +that, Mike, and respect my memory. Don't let the world laugh at your +father, and call him ugly names. You can prevent it if you like. A son is +bound to assert his father's honour, living or dead, at any price." + +"He is, sir," answered Michael. + +"I knew, Mike, that would be your answer. You are a noble fellow--don't +forget me when I am under ground; not that I mean to die yet no--no--I +feel a score of years hanging about me still. I shall dandle a dozen of +your young ones before these arms are withered. I shall live to see you--a +peer of the realm. That money--with your talents, Mike, will command a +dukedom." + +"I am not ambitious, father." + +"You lie--you are, Mike. You have got your father's blood in you. You +would risk a great deal to be at the top of the tree; so would I. _Would_ +I? Haven't I? We shall see, Mike--we shall see. But it isn't wishing that +will do it. The clearest head--the best exertions must sometimes give in +to circumstances; but then, my boy, there is one comfort, those who come +after us can repair our faults, and profit by our experience. That thought +gives us courage, and makes us go forward. Don't forget, Mike, I say, what +I have done for you, when you are a rich and titled man!" + +"I hope, father, I shall never forget my duty." + +"I am sure you won't, Mike--and there's an end of it. Let us speak of +something else. Now, when you are married, boy, I shall often come to see +you. You'll be glad to have me, sha'n't you?" + +"Is it necessary to ask the question?" + +"No, it isn't, but I am happy to-night, and I am in a humour to talk and +dream. You must let me have my own room--and call it Abraham's _sanctum_. +A good name, eh? I will come when I like, and go when I like--eat, drink, +and be merry, Mike. How white with envy Old Varley will get, when he sees +me driving to business in my boy's carriage. A pretty match he made of +it--that son of his married the cook, and sent her to a boarding-school. +Stupid fool!" + +"Young Varley is a worthy fellow, father." + +"Can't be--can't be--worthy fellows don't marry cooks. But don't stop me +in my plans. I said you should give me my own room, Mike--and so you +shall--and every Wednesday shall be a holiday. We'll be in the country +together, and shoot and fish, and hunt, and do what every body else does. +We'll be great men, Mike, and we'll enjoy ourselves." + +And so the man went on, elevated by the circumstances of the day, and by +the prospects of the future, until he became intoxicated with his pleasure. +On the following morning he rose just as elated, and went to business like +a boy to play. About noon, he was talking to a farmer in his quiet back +room, endeavouring to drive a hard bargain with the man, whom a bad season +had already rendered poor. He spoke loud and fast--until, suddenly, a +spasm at the heart caught and stopped him. His eyes bolted from their +sockets--the parchment skin of his face grew livid and blue. He staggered +for an instant, and then dropped dead at the farmer's foot. The doctors +were not wrong when they pronounced the banker's heart diseased. A week +after this sudden and awful visitation, all that remained of Abraham +Allcraft was committed to the dust, and Michael discovered, to his +surprise and horror, that his father had died an insolvent and a beggar. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE END OF THE BEGINNING. + + +Abraham Allcraft, with all his base and sordid habits, was a beggar. His +gluttony had been too powerful for his judgment, and he had speculated +beyond all computation. His first hit had been received in connexion with +some extensive mines. At the outset they had promised to realize a +princely fortune. All the calculations had been made with care. The most +wary and experienced were eager for a share in the hoped for _el dorado_, +and Abraham was the greediest of any. In due time the bubble burst, +carrying with it into air poor Abraham's hard-earned fifty thousand pounds, +and his hearty execrations. Such a loss was not to be repaired by the +slow-healing process of legitimate business. Information reached him +respecting an extensive manufactory in Glasgow. Capabilities of turning +half a million per annum existed in the house, and were unfortunately +dormant simply because the moving principle was wanting. With a +comparatively moderate capital, what could not be effected? Ah, what? Had +you listened to the sanguine manufacturer your head would have grown giddy +with his magnificent proposals, as Allcraft's had, to the cost of his +unhappy self, and still unhappier clients. As acting is said to be not a +bare servile exhibition of nature, but rather an exalted and poetic +imitation of the same, so likewise are the pictures of houses, the +portraits of geniuses, _the representations of business facts_, and other +works of art which undertake to copy truth, but only embellish it and +render it most grateful to the eye. Nothing could _look_ more substantial +than the Glasgow manufactory on paper. A prettier painting never charmed +the eye of speculating amateur. Allcraft was caught. Ten thousand pounds, +which had been sent out to bring the fifty thousand back, never were seen +again. The manufacturer decamped--the rickety house gave way, and failed. +From this period Allcraft entangled himself more and more in schemes for +making money rapidly and by great strokes, and deeper he fell into the +slough of difficulty and danger. His troubles were commencing when he +heard of Mildred's serious illness, and the certainty of his speedy death. +With an affectionate solicitude, he mentally disposed of the splendid +fortune which the sick man could not possibly take with him, and contrived +a plan for making it fill up the gaps which misfortune had opened in the +banking-house. This was a new speculation, and promised more than all the +rest. Every energy was called forth--every faculty. His plans we already +know--his success has yet to be discovered. Abraham did not die intestate. +He left a will, bequeathing to Michael, his son and heir, a rotten firm, a +dishonourable name, a history of dishonesty, a nest of troubles. +Accompanying his will, there was a letter written in Allcraft's hand to +Michael, imploring the young man to act a child's part by his unhappy +parent. The elder one urged him by his love and gratitude to save his name +from the discredit which an exposure of his affairs must entail upon it; +and not only upon _it_, he added, but upon the living also. He had +procured for him, he said, an alliance which he would never have aspired +to--never would have obtained, had not his father laboured so hardly for +his boy's happiness and welfare. With management and care, and a gift from +his intended wife, nothing need be said--no exposure would take place--the +house would retain its high character, and in the course of a very few +years recover its solvency and prosperity. A fearful list of the +engagements was appended, and an account of every transaction in which the +deceased had been concerned. Michael read and read again every line and +word, and he stood thunderstruck at the disclosure. He raved against his +father, swore he would do nothing for the man who had so shamefully +involved himself; and, not content with his own ruin, had so wickedly +implicated him. This was the outbreak of the excited youth, but he sobered +down, and, in a few hours, the creature of impulse and impetuosity had +argued himself into the expediency of adapting his conduct to existing +circumstances--of stooping, in short, to all the selfishness and meanness +that actuate the most unfeeling and the least uncalculating of mortals. If +there were wanting, as, thank Heaven, there is not, one proof to +substantiate the fact, that no rule of life is safe and certain save that +made known in the translucent precepts of our God--no species of thought +free from hurt or danger--no action secure from ill or mischief, except +all thoughts and actions that have their origin in humble, loving, +_strict_ obedience to the pleasure and the will of Heaven; if any one +proof, I say, were wanting, it would be easy to discover it in the natural +perverse and inconsistent heart of man. A voice louder than the +preacher's--the voice of daily, hourly experience--proclaims the +melancholy fact, that no amount of high-wrought feeling, no loftiness of +speech, no intensity of expression, is a guarantee for purity of soul and +conduct, when obedience, simple, childlike obedience, has ceased to be the +spring of every motion and every aim. Reader, let us grapple with this +truth! We are servants here on earth, not masters! subjects, and not +legislators! Infants are we all in the arms of a just father! The command +is from elsewhere--_obedience_ is with us. If you would be happy, I charge +you, fling away the hope of finding security or rest in laws of your own +making in a system which you are pleased to call a code of +_honour_--honour that grows cowardlike and pale in the time of trial--that +shrinks in the path of duty--that slinks away unarmed and powerless, when +it should be nerved and ready for the righteous battle. Where are the +generous sentiments--the splendid outbursts--the fervid eloquence with +which Michael Allcraft was wont to greet the recital of any one short +history of oppression and dishonesty? Where are they now, in the first +moments of real danger, whilst his own soul is busy with designs as base +as they are cowardly? Nothing is easier for a loquacious person than to +talk. How glibly Michael could declaim against mankind before the +fascinating Margaret, we have seen; how feelingly against the degenerate +spirit of commerce, and the back-slidings of all professors of religion. +Surely, he who saw and so well depicted the vices of the age, was prepared +for adversity and its temptations! Not he, nor any man who prefers to be +the slave of impulse rather than the child of reason. After a day's +deliberation, he had resolved upon two things--first, not to expose +himself to the pity or derision of men, as it might chance to be, by +proclaiming the insolvency of his deceased father and secondly, not to +risk the loss of Margaret, by acknowledging himself to be a beggar. His +father had told him--he remembered the words well that she was induced to +name the wedding-day, only upon receiving the assurance of his +independence. Not to undeceive her now, would be to wed her under false +pretences; but to free her from deception, would be to free her from her +plighted word, and this his sense of honour would not let him do. I will +not say that Michael grossly and unfeelingly proposed to circumvent--to +cheat and rob the luckless Margaret; or that his conscience, that mighty +law unto itself, did not wince before it held its peace. There were +strugglings and entreaties, and patchings up, and excuses, and all the +appliances which precede the commission of a sinful act. Reasons for +honesty and disinterestedness were converted for the occasion into +justifications of falsehood and artifice. A paltry regard for himself and +his own interests was bribed to take the shape of filial duty and +affection. The result of all his cogitation and contrivances was one great +plan. He would not take from his Margaret's fortune. No, under existing +circumstances it would be wrong, unpardonable; but at the same time he was +bound to protect his father's reputation. The engagement with the widow +must go on. He could not yield the prize; life without her would not be +worth the having. What was to be done, then? Why, to wed, and to secure +the maintenance of the firm by means which were at his command. Once +married to the opulent Mrs Mildred, and nothing would be easier than to +obtain men of the first consideration in the county to take a share of his +responsibilities. Twenty, whom he could name, would jump at the +opportunity and the offer. The house stood already high in the opinion of +the world. What would it be with the superadded wealth of the magnificent +widow? The private debts of his father were a secret. His parsimonious +habits had left upon the minds of people a vague and shadowy notion of +surpassing riches; Had he not been rich beyond men's calculation, he would +not have ventured to live so meanly. Michael derived support from the +general belief, and resolved most secularly to take a full advantage of it. +If he could but procure one or two monied men as partners in the house, +the thing was settled. Matters would be snug--the property secured. The +business must increase. The profits would enable him in time to pay off +his father's liabilities, and if, in the meanwhile, it should be deemed +expedient to borrow from his wife, he might do so safely, satisfied that +he could repay the loan, at length, with interest. Such was the outline of +Michael Allcraft's scheme. His spirit was quiet as soon as it was +concocted, and he reposed upon it for a season as tired men sleep soundly +on a bed of straw. + +Whilst the bridegroom was distressed with his peculiar grievances, the +lovely bride was doomed to submit to annoyances scarcely less painful. Her +late husband's friend, Doctor Wilford, who had been abroad for many months, +suddenly returned home, and, in fulfilment of Mildred's dying wish, +repaired without delay to the residence of his widow. Wilford had seen a +great deal of the world. He did not expect to find the bereaved one +inconsolable, but he was certainly staggered to behold her busy in +preparations for a second marriage. Indignant at what he conceived to be +an affront upon the memory of his friend, he argued and remonstrated +against her indecent haste, and besought her to postpone the unseemly +union. Roused by all he saw, the faithful friend spoke warmly on the +deceased's behalf, and painted in the strongest colours he could employ, +the enormity of her transgression. Now Margaret loved Michael as she had +never loved before. Slander could not open its lying lips to speak one +word against the esteem and gratitude she had ever entertained for Mildred +but esteem and gratitude--I appeal to the best, the most virtuous and +moral of my readers--cannot put out the fire that nature kindles in the +adoring heart of woman. Her error was not that she loved Michael more, but +that she had loved Mildred less. Ambition, if it usurp the rights of love, +must look for all the punishment that love inflicts. Sooner or later it +must come. "Who are you?" enquires the little god of the greater god, +ambition, "that you should march into my realms, and create rebellion +there? Wait but a little." Short was the interval between ambition's crime +and love's revenge with our poor Margaret. Wilford might never know how +cruelly his bitter words wrung her smitten soul. She did not answer him. +Paler she grew with every reproach--deeper was the self-conviction with +every angry syllable. She wept until he left her, and then she wrote to +Michael. As matters stood, and with their present understanding--he was +perhaps her best adviser. Wilford called to see her on the following +day--but Margaret's door was shut against him, and she beheld her +husband's friend no more. + +And the blissful day came on--slowly, at last, to the happy lovers--for +happy they were in each other's sight, and in their passionate attachment. +And the blissful day arrived. Michael led her to the altar. A hundred +curious eyes looked on, admired, and praised, and envied. He might be +proud of his possession, were she unendowed with any thing but that +incomparable, unfading loveliness. And he, with his young and vigorous +form, was he not made for that rare plant to clasp and hang upon? "Heaven +bless them both!" So said the multitude, and so say I, although I scarce +can hope it; for who shall dare to think that Heaven will grant its +benediction on a compact steeped in earthliness, and formed without one +heavenward view! + + * * * * * + + + + +THE WRONGS OF WOMEN. + + +I knew, my dear Eusebius, how delighted you would be with that paper in +Maga on "Woman's Rights." It was balm to your Quixotic spirit. Though your +limbs are a little rheumatic, and you do not so often as you were wont, +when your hair was black as raven's wing, raise your hands to take down +the armour that you have long since hung up, you know and feel with pride +that it has been charmed by due night-watchings, and will yet serve many a +good turn, should occasion require your service for woman in danger. Then, +indeed, would you buckle on in defence of all or any that ever did, or did +not, "buckle to." Then would come a happy cure to aching bones--made whole +with honourable bruises, oblivious of pain, the "_bruchia livida_," +lithesome and triumphant. Your devotion to the sex has been seasoned under +burning sun and winter frost, and has yet vital heat against icy age, come +on fast as it will. You would not chill, Eusebius, though you were hours +under a pump in a November night, and lusty arms at work watering your +tender passion. + +I know you. Rebecca and her daughters had a good word, a soft word from +you, till you found out their beards. No mercy with them after that with +you--the cowardly disguise--pike for pike was the cry. It was laughable to +see you, and to hear you, as you brought a battery that could never reach +them--fired upon them the reproach of Diogenes to an effeminate--"If he +was offended with nature for making him a man, and not a woman;" and the +affirmation of the Pedasians, from your friend Herodotus, that, whenever +any calamity befell them, a prodigious beard grew on the chin of the +priestess of Minerva. You ever thought a man in woman's disguise a +profanation--a woman in man's a horror. The fair sex were never, in your +eyes, the weaker and the worse; how oft have you delighted in their +outward grace and moral purity, contrasting them with gross man, +gloriously turning the argument in their favour by your new +emphasis--"Give every _man_ his deserts, and who shall escape +whipping"--satisfying yourself, and every one else, that good, true, +woman-loving Shakspeare must have meant the passage so to be read. And do +you remember a whole afternoon maintaining, that the well-known song of +"Billy Taylor" was a serious, true, good, epic poem, in eulogy of the +exploits of a glorious woman, and in no way ridiculous to those whose +language it spoke; and when we all gave it against you, how you turned +round upon the poor author, and said he ought to have the bastinado at the +soles of his feet? + +And if an occasional disappointment, a small delinquency in some feminine +character did now and then happen, and a little sly satire would force its +way, quietly too, out of the sides of your mouth, how happily would you +instantly disown it, fling it from you as a thing not yours, then catch at +it, and sport with it as if you could afford to sport with it, and thereby +show it was no serious truth, and pass it off with the passage from +Dryden-- + + "Madam, these words are chanticleer's, not mine; + I honour dames, and think their sex divine!" + +No human being ever collected so many of the good sayings and doings of +women as you, Eusebius. I am not, then, surprised that, having read the +"Rights of Women," you are come to the determination to take up "The +Wrongs of Women." The wrongs of women, alas! + + ----"Adeo sunt multa loquacem + Delassare valent Fabium." + +And so you write to me, to supply you with some sketches from nature, +instances of the "Wrongs of Woman." Ah me! Does not this earth teem with +them--the autumnal winds moan with them? The miseries want a good hurricane +to sweep them off the land, and the dwellings the "foul fiend" hath +contaminated. Man's doing, and woman's suffering, and thence even arises +the beauty of loveliness--woman's patience. In the very palpable darkness +besetting the ways of domestic life, woman's virtue walks forth loveliest-- + + "Virtue gives herself light, through darkness for to wade." + +The gentle Spenser, did he not love woman's virtue, and weep for her +wrongs? You, Eusebius, were wont ever to quote his tender lament:-- + + "Naught is there under heaven's wide hollowness + That moves more clear compassion of mind + Than beauty brought to unworthy wretchedness + By envy's frowns or fortune's freaks unkind. + I, whether lately through her brightness blind, + Or through allegiance and fast fealty, + Which _I do owe unto all womankind_, + Feel my heart pierced with so great agony, + When such I see, that all for pity I could die." + +This melting mood will not long suit your mercurial spirit. You used to +say that the fairies were all, in common belief, creatures feminine, hence +deservedly called "good people,"--that they made the country merry, and +kept clowns in awe, and were better for the people's morals than a justice +of the peace. They tamed the savage, and made him yield, and bow before +feminine feet. Sweet were they that hallowed the brown hills, and left +tokens of their visits, blessing all seasons to the rustic's ear, +whispering therein softly at nightfall-- + + "Go, take a wife unto thy arms, and see + Winter and brownie-hills shall have a charm for thee." + +Such was your talk, Eusebius, passing off your discontent of things that +are, into your inward ideal, rejoicing in things unreal, breaking out into +your wildest paradox--"What is the world the better for all its boasted +truth! It has belied man's better nature. Faith, trust, belief, is the +better part of him, the spiritual of man; and who shall dare to say that +its creations, visible, or invisible, all felt, acknowledged as vital +things, are not realities?" All this--in your contempt for beadles and +tip-staves, even overseers and churchwardens, and all subdividing +machinery of country government, that, when it came in and fairly +established itself, drove away the "good people," and with them merriment +and love, and sweet fear, from off the earth--that twenty wheedling, +flattering Autolycuses did not do half the hurt to morals or manners that +one grim-visaged justice did--the curmudgeon, you called him, Eusebius, +that would, were they now on earth, and sleeping all lovely with their +pearly arms together, locked in leafy bower, have Cupid and Psychè taken +up under the Vagrant Act, or have them lodged in a "Union House" to be +disunited. You thought the superstition of the world as it was, far above +the knowledge it now brags of. You admired the Saxons and Danes in their +veneration of the predictions of old women, whom the after ungallantry of +a hard age would have burned for witches. Marriage act and poor act have, +as you believe, extinguished the holy light of Hymen's torch, and +re-lighted it with Lucifer matches in Register offices; and out it soon +goes, leaving worse than Egyptian darkness in the dwellings of the +poor--the smell of its brimstone indicative of its origin, and ominous of +its ending. + +I verily believe, Eusebius, you would have spared Don Quixote's whole +library, and have preferred committing the curate to the flames. Your +dreams, even your day-dreams, have hurried you ever far off and away from +the beaten turnpike-road of life, through forests of enchantment, to +rescue beauty which you never saw, from knight-begirt and dragon-guarded +castles; and little thankful have you been when you have opened your eyes +awake in peace to the cold light of our misnamed utilitarian day, and +found all your enchantment broken, the knights discomfited, the dragon +killed, the drawbridge broken down, and the ladies free--all without your +help; and then, when you have gone forth, and in lieu of some rescued +paragon of her sex, you have met but the squire's daughter, in her trim +bonnet, tripping with her trumpery to set up her fancy-shop in Vanity-Fair, +for fops to stare at through their glasses, your imagination has felt the +shock, and incredulous of the improvement in manners and morals, and +overlooking all advancement of knowledge, all the advantages of their real +liberty, momentarily have you wished them all shut up in castles, or in +nunneries, to be the more adored till they may chance to be rescued. But +soon would the fit go off--and the first sweet, innocent, lovely smile +that greeted you, restored your gentleness, and added to your stock of +love. And once, when some parish shame was talked of, you never would +believe it common, and blamed the Overseer for bringing it to light--and +vindicated the sex by quoting from Pennant, how St Werberg lived +immaculate with her husband Astardus, copying her aunt, the great +Ethelreda, who lived for three years with not less purity with her good man +Tonberetus, and for twelve with her second husband the pious Prince Egfrid: +and the churchwarden left the vestry, lifting up his hands, and +saying--"Poor gentleman!"--and you laughed as if you had never laughed +before, when you heard it, and heartily shook him by the hand to convince +him you were in your senses; which action he nevertheless put to the +credit of the soundness of your heart, and not a bit to that of your head. +You saw it--and immediately, with a trifling flaw in the application quite +worthy yourself, reminded me of a passage in a letter from Lord +Bolingbroke to Swift, that "The truest reflection, and at the same time +the bitterest satire, which can be made on the present age, is this, that +to think as you think, will make a man pass for romantic. Sincerity, +constancy, tenderness, are rarely to be found. They are so much out of use, +that the man of mode imagines them to be out of nature." So insane and +romantic, you added, are synonymous terms to this incredulous, this +matter-of-fact world, that, like the unbelieving Thomas, trusts in, +believes in nothing that it does not touch and handle. Your partiality for +days of chivalry blinds you a little. The men were splendid--women shone +with their reflected splendour--you see them through an illuminated haze, +and, as you were not behind the curtain, imagine their minds as cultivated +as their beauty was believed to be great. The mantle of chivalry hid all +the wrongs, but the particular ones from which they rescued them. If the +men are worse, our women are far better--more like those noble Roman +ladies, intellectual and high-minded, whom you have ever esteemed the +worthiest of history. Then women were valued. Valerius Maximus gives the +reason why women had the upper-hand. After the mother of Coriolanus and +other Roman women had preserved their country, how could the senate reward +them?--"Sanxit uti foeminis semitâ viri cederent--permisit quoque his +purpureâ veste et aureis uti segmentis." It was sanctioned by the senate, +you perceive, that men should yield the wall to the sex, in honour, and +that they should be allowed the distinction of purple vests and golden +borders--privileges the female world still enjoy. Yet in times you love to +applaud, the paltry interference of men would have curtailed one of these +privileges. For a mandate was issued by the papal legate in Germany in the +14th century, decreeing, that "the apparel of women, which ought to be +consistent with modesty, but now, through their foolishness, is +degenerated into wantonness and extravagance, more particularly the +immoderate length of their petticoats, with which they sweep the ground, +be restrained to a moderate fashion, agreeably to the decency of the sex, +under pain of the sentence of excommunication." "Velamina etiam mulierum, +quæ ad verecundiam designandam eis sunt concessa, sed nunc, per +insipientiam earum, in lasciviam et luxuriam excreverunt, it immoderata +longitudo superpelliccorum quibus pulverem trahunt, ad moderatum usum, +sicut decet verecundiam sexus, per excommunicationis sententiam +cohibeantur." + +Excommunication, indeed! Not even the church could have carried on that +war long. Every word of this marks the degradation to which those monkish +times would have made the sex submit, "velamina _concessa_ insipientiam +earum!" and pretty well for men of the cloth of that day's make, to speak +of women's "lasciviam et luxuriam," when, perhaps, the hypocritical +mandate arose from nothing but a desire in the coelibatists themselves to +get a sly peep at the neatly turned feet and ankles of the women. One +would almost think the old nursery song of + + --"The beggar whose name was Stout, + He cut her petticoats all round about, + He cut her petticoats far above her knee, &c.," + +was written to perpetuate the mandate. Certainly a "Stout beggar was the +Papal church." "Consistent with modesty," "sicut decet verecundiam sexus;" +nothing can beat that bare-faced hypocrisy. So when afterwards the sex +shortened their petticoats, other Simon Pures start up and put them in the +stocks for immodesty. Poor women! Here was a wrong, Eusebius. Long or +short, they were equally immodest. Immodest, indeed! Nature has clad them +with modesty and temperance--their natural habit--other garment is +conventional. I admire what Oelian says of Phocion's wife. + + "[Greek: Êmpeicheto de prôtê tê sôphrosunê, + deuterois ge mên tois parousi.]" + +"She first arrayed herself in temperance, and then put on what was +necessary." Every seed of beauty is sown by modesty. It is woman's glory, +"[Greek: hê gar aidôs anthos epispeirei]" says Clearchus in his first +book of Erotics, quoting from Lycophronides. The appointment of +magistrates at Athens, [Greek: gunaikokosmoi], to regulate the dress of +women, was a great infringement on their rights--the origin of +men-milliners. You are one, Eusebius, who + + "Had rather hear the tedious tales + Of Hollingshed, than any thing that trenches + On love." + +I remember how, in contempt of the story of the Ephesian matron, you had +your Petronius interleaved, and filled it with anecdotes of noble virtue, +till the comment far exceeded the text--then, finding your excellent women +in but bad company, you tore out the text of Petronius, and committed it +to the flames. Preserve your precious catalogue of female worthies--often +have you lamented that of Hesiod was lost, of all the [Greek: Hoiai +megalai] Alcmena alone remaining, and you will not make much boast of her. +How far back would you go for the wrongs of women--do you intend to write +a library--a library in a series of novels in three volumes--what are all +that are published but "wrongs of women?" Could but the Lion have written! +Books have been written by men, and be sure they have spared +themselves--and yet what a catalogue of wrongs we have from the earliest +date! Even the capture of Helen was not with her consent; and how lovely +she is! and how indicative is that wondrous history of a high chivalrous +spirit and admiration of woman in those days! Old Priam and all his aged +council pay her reverence. Menelaus is the only one of the Grecian heroes +that had no other wife or mistress--here was devotion and constancy! +Andromache has been, and ever will be, the pride of the world. Yet the +less refined dramatist has told of her wrongs; for he puts into her mouth +a dutiful acquiescence in the gallantries of Hector. Little can be said +for the men. Poor old Priam we must pardon, if Hecuba could and did; for +Priam told her that he had nineteen children by her, and many others by +the concubines in his palace. He had enough, too, upon his hands--yet +found time for all things--"[Greek: hôrê eran, hôrê de gamein, hôrê de +pepausthai]." How lovely is Penelope, and how great her wrongs!--and the +lovely Nausicaa complains of scandal. But great must have been the +deference paid to women; for Nausicaa plainly tells Ulysses, that her +mother is every thing and every body. People have drawn a very absurd +inference to the contrary, from the fact of the princess washing the +clothes. That operation may have been as fashionable then as worsted work +now, and clothes then were not what clothes are now--there were no +Manchesters, and those things were rare and precious, handed down to +generations, and given as presents of honour. You have shed tears over the +beautiful, noble-hearted Iphigenia--wronged even to death. Glorious was +the age that could find an Alcestis to suffer her great wrong! Such women +honour human nature, and make man himself better. Oh, how infinitely less +selfish are they than we are--confiding, trusting--with a fortitude for +every sacrifice! We have no trust like theirs, no confidence--are jealous, +suspicious, even on the wedding-day. You quite roared with delight when +you heard of a fool, who, mistrusting himself and his bride, tried his +fortune after the fashion of the Sortes Virgilianæ, by dipping into +Shakspeare on his wedding-day and finding + + "Not poppy nor mandragora, + Nor all the drowsy syrups of the East, + Shall ever med'cine to thee that sweet sleep + Which thou ow'dst yesterday." + +You have rather puzzled me, Eusebius, by giving me so wide a field of +enquiry--woman's wrongs; of what kind--of ancient or modern times--general +or particular? You should have arranged your objects. It is you that are +going to write this "Family Library," not I. For my own part, I should +have been contented in walking into the next village, an unexpected guest, +to the houses of rich and poor--do you think you would have wanted +materials? But forewarned is forearmed--and few will "tell the secrets of +their prison-house," if you take them with a purpose. On your account, in +this matter, I have written to six ladies of my acquaintance, three +married and three single. Two of the married have replied that they have +nothing to complain of--not a wrong. The third bids me ask her husband. So +I put her down as ambiguous--perhaps she wishes to give him a hint through +me; I am wise, and shall hold my tongue. Of the unmarried, one says she +has received no wrong, but fears she may have inflicted some--another, +that as she is going to be married on Monday, she cannot conceive a wrong, +and cannot possibly reply till after the honeymoon. The third replies, +that it is _very wrong_ in me to ask her. But stay a moment--here is a +quarrel going on--two women and a man--we may pick up something. "Rat +thee, Jahn," says a stout jade, with her arm out and her fist almost in +Jahn's face, "I wish I were a man--I'd gie it to thee!" She evidently +thinks it a wrong that she was born a woman--and upon my word, by that +brawny arm, and those masculine features, there does appear to have been a +mistake in it. If you go to books--I know your learning--you will revert +to your favourite classical authorities. Helen of Troy calls herself by a +sad name, "[Greek: kuôn hôs eimi]," dog (feminine) as I am--her wrongs +must, therefore, go to no account. I know but of one who really takes it +in hand to catalogue them, and she is Medea. "We women," says she, "are +the most wretched of living creatures." For first--of women--she must buy +her husband, pay for him with all she has--secondly, when she has bought +him, she has bought a master, one to lord it over her very +person--thirdly, the danger of buying a bad one--fourthly, that divorce is +not creditable--fifthly, that she ought to be a prophetess, and is not to +know what sort of a man he is to whose house she is to go, where all is +strange to her--sixthly, that if she does not like her home, she must not +leave it, nor look out for sympathising friends--seventhly, that she must +have the pains and troubles of bearing children--eighthly, she gives up +country, home, parents, friends, for one husband--and perhaps a bad one. +So much for Medea and her list; had she lived in modern times it might +have been longer; but she was of too bold a spirit to enter into minutiæ. +Hers, too, are the wrongs of married life. Nor on this point the wise son +of Sophroniscus makes the man the sufferer. "Neither," he says, "can he +who marries a wife tell if he shall have cause to rejoice thereat." He had +most probably at that moment Xantippe in his eye. You remember how +pleasantly Addison, in the _Spectator_, tells the story of a colony of +women, who, disgusted with their wrongs, had separated themselves from the +men, and set up a government of their own. That there was a fierce war +between them and the men--that there was a truce to bury the dead on +either side--that the prudent male general contrived that the truce should +be prolonged; and during the truce both armies had friendly +intercourse--on some pretence or other the truce was still lengthened, +till there was not one woman in a condition, or with an inclination, to +take up her wrongs--not one woman was any longer a fighting man--they saw +their errors--they did not, as the fable says we all do, cast the burden +of their own faults behind them, but bravely carried them before +them--made peace, and were righted. + +We would not, Eusebius, have all their wrongs righted--so lovely is the +moral beauty of their wonderful patience in enduring them. What--if they +were in a condition to legislate and impose upon us some of their burdens, +or divide them with us? What man of your acquaintance could turn +dry-nurse--tend even his own babes twelve hours out of the twenty-four? + +A pretty head-nurse would my Eusebius make in an orphan asylum. I should +like to see you with twins in your arms, both crying into your sensitive +ears, and you utterly ignorant of their wants and language. And I do think +your condition will be almost as bad, if you publish your catalogue of +wrongs in your own name. By all means preserve an incognito. You will be +besieged with wrongs--will be the only "Defender of the Faithful"--not +knight-_errant_, for you may stay at home, and all will come to you for +redress. You will be like the author, or rather translator, of the Arabian +Tales, whose window was nightly assailed, and slumber broken in upon, by +successive troops of children, crying "Monsieur Galland if you are not +asleep, get up--come and tell us one of those pretty stories." Keep your +secret. Now, the mention of the Arabian Tales reminds me of +Sinbad--_there_ is a true picture of man's cowardice; what loathsome holes +did he not creep into to make his escape when the wife of his bosom was +sick, and he understood the law that he was to be buried with her. It is +all very well, in the sick chamber, for the husband to say to his +departing partner for life--"Wait, my dearest--I will go with you." She is +sure, as La Fontaine says in his satire, reversing the case, "to take the +journey alone." This is all talk on the man's side--but see what the +master of the slave woman has actually imposed upon her as a law. The +Hindoo widow ascends the funeral pile, and is burnt rejoicing. What male +creature ever thought of enduring this for his wife?--this wrong, for it +is a grievous wrong thus to tempt her superior fortitude. It was not +without reason that, in the heathen mythology, (and it shows the great +advancement of civilization when and wherever it was conceived,) were +deified all great and noble qualities in the image of the sex. What are +Juno, Minerva, and Venus, but acknowledgments of the strength, wisdom, +fortitude, beauty, and love, of woman, while their male deities have but +borrowed attributes and ambiguous characters? It is a deference--perhaps +unintentionally, unconsciously--paid to the sex, that in every language +the soul itself, and all its noblest virtues, and the personification of +all virtue, are feminine. + +I supposed woman the legislatrix--what reason have we to say she would +enact a wrong? The story of the mother of Papirius is not against her; for +in that case there was only a choice of evils. It is from Aulus Gellius, +as having been told and written by M. Cato in the oration which he made to +the soldiers against Galba. The mother of young Papirius, who had +accompanied his father into the senate-house, as was usual formerly for +sons to do who had taken the _toga prætexta_, enquired of her son what +the senate had been doing; the youth replied, that he had been enjoined +silence. This answer made her the more importunate and he adopted this +humorous fallacy--that it had been discussed in the senate which would be +most beneficial to the state, for one man to have two wives, or for one +woman to have two husbands? Hearing this, she left the house in no small +trepidation, and went to tell other matrons what she had heard. The next +day a troop of matrons went to the senate-house, and implored, with tears +in their eyes, that one woman might be suffered to have two husbands, +rather than one man have two wives. The senate honoured the young Papirius +with a special law in his favour; they should rather have conferred honour +upon his mother and the other matrons for their disinterested virtue, who +were content to submit themselves to so great an evil, I may say _wrong_, +as to have imposed upon them two masters instead of one. Not that you, +Eusebius, ever entertained an idea that women are wronged by not being +admitted to a share of legislation. I will not suppose you to be that +liberal fool. But you are aware that such a scheme has been, and is still +entertained. I believe there is a Miss Somebody now going about our towns, +lecturing on the subject, and she is probably worthy to be one of the +company of the "Ecclesiagusæ." This idea is not new. The other day I hit +upon a letter in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for the year 1740 on the +subject, by which you will see there was some amusement about it a century +ago:-- + + "TO CALEB D'ANVERS, Esq. + +"Sir,--I am a mournful relict of _five husbands_, and the happy mother of +_twenty-seven_ children, the tender pledges of our chaste embraces. Had +_old Rome_, instead of _England_, been the place of my nativity and abode, +what honours might I not have expected to my person, and immunities to my +fortune? But I need not tell you that virtue of this sort meets with no +encouragement in our northern climate. _Children_, instead of freeing us +from _taxes_ increase the weight of them, and matrimony is become the jest +of every coxcomb. Nor could I allow, till very lately, that an old +bachelor, as you profess yourself to be, had any just pretence to be +called a patriot. Don't think that I mean to offer myself to you; for I +assure you that I have refused very advantageous proposals since the +decease of my _last poor spouse_, who hath been dead near _five months_. I +have no design at present of altering my condition again. Few women are so +happy as to meet with _five good husbands_, and therefore I should be glad +to devote the remaining part of my life to the good of my country and +family, in a more public and active station than that of a _wife_, +according to your late scheme for _a septennial administration of women_. +But I think you ought to have enforced your project with some instances of +_illustrious females_, who have appeared in the foremost classes of life, +not only for heroic valour, but likewise for several branches of learning, +wisdom, and policy--such as _Joan of Naples_, the _Maid of Orleans, +Catherine de Medicis, Margaret of Mountfort, Madame Dacier, Mrs Behn, Mrs +Manly, Mrs Stephens_, Doctor of Physic, _Mrs Mapp_, Surgeon, the valiant +_Mrs Ross_, Dragoon, and the learned _Mrs Osborne_, Politician. I had +almost forgot the present Queen of _Spain_, who hath not only an absolute +ascendant over the counsels of her _husband_, but hath often outwitted the +_greatest statesmen_, as they fancy themselves, of _another kingdom_, +which hath already felt the effects of her _petticoat government_. + +"If we look back into history, a thousand more instances might be brought +of the same kind; but I think those already mentioned sufficient to prove, +that the best capacities of _our sex_ are by no means inferior to the best +capacities _of yours_; and the triflers of _either sex_ are not designed +to be the subject of this letter. But much as _our sex_ are obliged to you, +in general, for your proposal, I have one material objection against it; +for I think you have carried the point a little too far, by excluding _all +males_ from the enjoyment of any office, dignity, or employment; for as +they have long engrossed the public administration of the government to +themselves, (a few women only excepted,) I am apprehensive that they will +be loth to part with it, and that if they give us power for _seven years_, +it will be very difficult to get it out of our hands again. I have, +therefore, thought of the following expedient, which will almost answer +the same purpose--viz. that all power, both _legislative and executive, +ecclesiastical and civil_, may be divided among _both sexes_; and that +they may be equally capable of sitting in Parliament. Is it not absurd +that _women_ in _England_ should be capable of inheriting _the crown_, and +yet not intrusted with the representation of a _little borough_, or so +much as allowed to vote for a representative? Is this consistent with the +rights of a _people_, which certainly includes both _men and women_, +though the latter have been generally deprived of their privileges in all +countries? I don't mean that the people should be obliged to choose +_women_ only, as I said before, for that would be equally hard upon the +_men_--but that the _electors_ should be left at their own liberty; for it +is certainly a restraint upon the _freedom of elections_, that whatever +regard a _corporation_ may have for a _man of quality's family_, if he +happened to have no _sons_ or _brothers_, they cannot testify their esteem +for it by choosing his _daughters_ or _sisters_. I am for no restraint +upon the _members of either sex_; for if the honour, integrity, or great +capacity of a _fine lady_ should recommend her to the intimacy or +confidence of a _Prime Minister_, in consequence of which he should get +her a _place_--would it not be very hard that this very act of mutual +friendship must render her incapable of doing either _him_ or _her +country_ any real service in the _senate-house_? Is _freedom_ consistent +with _restraint_? or can we propose to serve our country by obstructing +the natural operations of _love and gratitude_? I would not be understood +to propose increasing the number of members. Let every county or +corporation choose _a man or a woman_, as they think proper; and if either +of the members should be married, let it be in the power of the +_constituents_ to return both _husband and wife as one member_, but not to +sit at the same time; from whence would accrue great strength to our +constitution, by having the _house_ well attended, without the present +disagreeable method of _frequent calls_, and putting several _members_ to +the expense and disgrace of being brought up to town in the custody of +_messengers_; for if a _country gentleman_ should like _fox-hunting_, or +any other _rural diversion_, better than attending his _duty in +Parliament_, let him send up his _wife_. Or if an _officer in the army_ +should be obliged to be at his post in _Ireland_, the _Mediterranean_, the +_West Indies_, or aboard the _fleet_, a thousand leagues off, or upon any +_public embassy_, if his _wife_ should happen to be chosen, never fear +that she would do the _nation's business_, full as well. Besides, in +several affairs of great consequence, the resolutions might perhaps be +much more agreeable to the tenderness of _our sex_ than the roughness of +_yours_. As, for instance, it hath often been thought unnatural for +_soldiers_ to promote _peace_. When a debate, therefore, of that sort +should be to come on, if the _soldiers_ staid at home, and their _wives_ +attended, it would very well become the softness of _the female sex_ to +show a regard for their _husbands_; especially if they should be such +_pretty, smart, young fellows_, as make a most considerable figure at a +review." The lady writer goes on at some length, that she has a borough of +her own, and will be certainly returned whether she marries or not, and +will act with inflexible zeal, naïvely adding--"If, therefore, I should +hereafter be put into a _considerable employment_, and _fourteen of my +sons_ be advanced in the _army_; should _the ministry_ provide for the +_other seven_ in the _Church_, _Excise Office_, or _Exchequer_; and my +poor _girls_, who are but tender infants at the boarding-school, should +have places given to them in the _Customs_, which they might officiate by +_deputy_--don't imagine that I am under any _undue influence_ if I should +happen always to vote with the _Ministry_." We do not quote further. The +letter is signed "MARGERY WELDONE." + +It is needless to tell you the wrong done to the sex by the rigour of +modern law. You have stamped the foot at it often enough. I mean, not so +much the separation in the whimsically-called _union_ houses, for, as +husbands go, they may have little to complain of on that score; but that +dire injustice which throws upon woman the whole penalty of a mutual crime, +of which the instigator is always man. Then, is she not injured by the +legislative removal of the sanctity of marriage, by which the man is less +bound to her--thinks less of the bond--the _vinculum matrimoniæ_ being, +in his mind, one of straw, to her one of iron. And here, Eusebius, a +difficulty presents itself which I do not remember ever to have seen met, +no, nor even noticed. How can a court _ecclesiastical_, which from its +very constitution and formula of marriage which it receives and +sanctions--that marriage is a Divine institution, that man shall not put +asunder those by this matrimony made one--I ask, how can such a court deal +with cases where the people have not been put together by the only bond of +matrimony which the church can allow? But these are painful subjects, and +I feel myself wading in deeper water than will be good for one who can't +swim without corks, though he be _levior cortice_; and lighter than cork, +too, will be the obligation on the man's side, who has taken trusting +woman to one of these registry houses, leaped over a broomstick and called +it a marriage. It will soon come to the truth of the old saying, "The +first month is the honeymoon or smick-smack, the second is hither and +thither; the third is thwick-thwack; the fourth, the devil take them that +brought thee and I together." + + "Love, light as air, at sight of _human_ ties, + Spreads his light wings, and in a moment flies." + +The great walking monster that does the great wrong to women is, depend +upon it, Eusebius, the "brute of a husband," called, by courtesy, in +higher life, "_Sir_ John Brute." Horace says wittily, that Venus puts +together discordant persons and minds with a bitter joke, "sævo mittere +cum joco;" it begins a jest, and ends a _crying_ evil. We name the thing +that should be good, with an ambiguous sound that gives disagreement to +the sense. It is marry-age, or matter o' money. And let any man who is a +euphonist, and takes omens from names, attend the publication of banns, he +will be quite shocked at the unharmonious combination. Now, you will laugh +when I tell you positively, that within a twelvemonth I have heard called +the banns of "John Smasher and Mary Smallbones;" no doubt, by this time +they are "marrow bones and cleaver," what else could be expected? Did you +never note how it has puzzled curates to read the ill-assorted names? + + "Serpentes avibus geminantur, tigribus agni." + +Then to look at the couples as they come to be bound for life. One would +think they had been shaken together hap-hazard, each in a sack. I have met +with a quotation from Hermippus who says--"There was at Lacedæmon a very +retired hall or dwelling, in which the unmarried girls and young bachelors +were confined, till each of the latter, in that obscurity which precluded +the possibility of choice, fixed on one, which he was obliged to take as a +wife, without portion. Lysander having abandoned that which fell to his +lot, to marry another of greater beauty, was condemned to pay a heavy +fine." Is there not in the _Spectator_ a story or dream, where every man +is obliged to choose a wife unseen, tied up in a sack? At this said +Lacedæmon, by the by, women seem to have somewhat ruled the roast, and +taken the law, at least before marriage, into their own hands; for +Clearchus Solensis, in his adages, reports, that "at Lacedæmon, on a +certain festival, the women dragged the unmarried men about the altar, and +beat them with their hands, in order that a sense of shame at the +indignity of this injury might excite in them a desire to have children of +their own to educate, and to choose wives at a proper season for this +purpose." Mr Stephens, in his _Travels in Yucatan_, shows how wives are +taken and treated in the New World. "When the Indian grows up to manhood, +he requires a woman to make him tortillas, and to provide him warm water +for his bath at night. He procures one sometimes by the providence of the +master, without much regard to similarity of tastes or parity of age; and +though a young man is mated to an old woman, they live comfortably +together. If he finds her guilty of any great offence, he brings her up +before the master or the alcalde, gets her a whipping, and then takes her +under his arm, and goes quietly home with her." This "whipping" the +unromantic author considers not at all derogatory to the character of a +kind husband, for he adds--"The Indian husband is rarely harsh to his wife, +and the devotion of the wife to her husband is always a subject of remark." +Some have made it a grave question whether marriages should not be made by +the magistrate, and be proclaimed by the town-crier. To imagine which is a +wrong and tyranny, and arises from the barbarous custom that no woman +shall be the first to tell her mind in matters of affection. Men have set +aside the privilege of Leap year; it is as great a nickname as the +church's "convocation." We tie her tongue upon the first subject on which +she would speak, then impudently call woman a babbler. There is no end, +Eusebius, to the _wrongs_ our tongues do the sex. We take up all old, and +invent new, proverbs against them. Ungenerous as we are, we learn other +languages out of spite, as it were, to abuse them with, and cry out, "One +tongue is enough for a woman." We _rate_ them for every thing and at +nothing--thus: "He that loseth his wife and a farthing, hath a great loss +of his farthing." There's not a natural evil but we contrive to couple +them with it. "Wedding and ill-wintering tame both man and beast." I heard +a witty invention the other day--it was by a lady, and a wife, and perhaps +in her pride. It was asked whence came the saying, that "March comes in +like a lion, and goes out like a lamb." "Because," said she, "he meets +with Lady Day, and gets his quietus." Whatever we say against them, +however, lacks the great essential--truth, and that is why we go on saying, +thinking we shall come to it at last. We show more malice than matter. +Birds ever peck at the fairest fruit; nay, cast it to the ground, and a +man picks it up, tastes it, and says how good is it. He enjoys all good in +a good wife, and yet too often complains. He rides a fast mare home to a +smiling wife, pats them both in his delight, and calls them both jades--he +unbridles the one, and bridles the other. There is no end to it; when one +begins with the injustice we do the sex, we may go on for ever, and stick +our rhapsodies together "with a hot needle, and a burnt thread," and no +good will come of it. It is envy, jealousy--we don't like to see them so +much better than ourselves. We dare not tell them what we really think of +them, lest they should think less of us. So we speak with a disguise. Sir +Walter Scott forgot himself when he spoke of them:-- + + "Oh woman, in our hours of ease, + Uncertain, coy, and hard to please;" + +as if they were stormy peterals, whose appearance indicated shipwreck and +troubled waters on the sea of life. Woman's bard, and such he deserves to +be entitled, should only have thought of her as the "fair and gentle maid," +or the "pleasing wife," _placens uxor_--the perfectness of man's nature, +by whom he is united to goodness, gentleness, the two, man and woman +united, making the complete one--as "_Mulier est hominis +confusio_"--malevolent would he be that would mistranslate it "man's +confusion," for-- + + "Madam, the meaning of this Latin is, + That womankind to man is sovereign bliss."--_Dryden_. + +By this "mystical union," man is made "Paterfamilias," that name of truest +dignity. See him in that best position, in the old monuments of James's +time, kneeling with his spouse opposite at the same table, with their +seven sons and seven daughters, sons behind the father, and daughters +behind the mother. It is worth looking a day or two beyond the turmoil or +even joys of our life, and to contemplate in the mind's eye, one's own +_post mortem_ and monumental honour. Such a sight, with all the loving +thoughts of loving life, ere this maturity of family repose--is it not +enough to make old bachelors gaze with envy, and go and advertise for +wives?--each one sighing as he goes, that he has no happy home to receive +him--no best of womankind his spouse--no children to run to meet him and +devour him with kisses, while secret sweetness is overflowing at his heart +and so he beats it like a poor player, and says, that is, if he be a +Latinist-- + + "At non domus accipiet te læta, neque uxor + Optima, nec dulces occurrent oscula nati + Præripère, et tacitâ pectus dulcedine tangent."--_Lucret_. + +But leaving the "gentle bachelor" to settle the matter with himself as he +may, I will not be hurried beyond bounds--not bounds of the subject, or +what is due to it, but of your patience, Eusebius, who know and feel, more +sensibly than I can express, woman's worth. You want to know her +wrongs--and you say that I am a sketcher from life. Well, that being the +case, though it is painful to dwell upon any case, accept the following +sketch from nature; it is a recent event--you may not question the +truth--the names I conceal. A sour, sulky, cantankerous fellow, of some +fortune, lean, wizened, and little, with one of those parchment +complexions that indicate a cold antipathy to aught but self, married a +fine generous creature, fair and large in person; neither bride nor +bridegroom were in the flower of youth--a flower which, it is hard to say +why, is supposed to shed "a purple light of love." After the wedding, the +"happy couple" departed to spend the honeymoon among their relations. In +such company, the ill-tempered husband is obliged to behave his best--he +coldly puts on the polite hypocrite in the presence of others--but, every +moment of _tête-à-tête_, vents maliciously his ill-temper upon his spouse. +It happened, that after one day of more remarkably well-acted sweetness, +he retired in more than common disgust at the fatigue he had been obliged +to endure, to make himself appear properly agreeable. He gets into bed, +and instantly tucks up his legs with his knees nigh to his chin, +and--detestable little wretch!--throws out a kick with his utmost power +against his fair, fat, substantial partner. What is the result? He did not +calculate the "_vis inertiæ_," that a little body kicking against the +greater is wont to come off second best--so he kicks himself out of bed, +and here ends the comedy of the affair; the rest is tragic enough. Some +how or other, in his fall, he broke his neck upon the spot. This was a +very awkward affair. The bell is rung, up come the friends; the story is +told, nor is it other than they had suspected. It does not end here, for, +of course, there must be an inquest. It is an Irish jury. All said it +served him right--and so what is the verdict?--Justifiable _felo-de-se_." +Here, Eusebius, you have something remarkable;--one happier at the +termination than the commencement of the honeymoon--a widow happier than a +bride. She might go forth to the world again, with the sweet reputation of +having smothered him with kisses, and killed him with kindness--if the +verdict can be concealed; if not, while the husband is buried with the +ignominy of "felonious intent," the widow will be but little disconsolate, +and universally applauded. To those of any experience, it will not be a +cause of wonder how such parties should come together. It is but an +instance of the too common "bitter jokes" of Love, or rather Hymen. I only +wish, that if ever man try that experiment again, he may meet with +precisely the same success; and that if any man marries, determined to +_fall out_ with his bride, he may _fall out_ in that very way, and at the +very first opportunity. + +The next little incident from married life which I mean to give you, will +show you the wonderful wit and ingenuity of the sex. Here the parties had +been much longer wedded. The poor woman had borne much. The husband +thought he had a second Griselda. The case of his tyranny was pretty well +known; indeed, the poor wife too often bore marks, that could not be +concealed, of the "purple light" of his love--his passion. The gentleman, +for such was, I regret to say, his grade of life, invited a number of +friends to dine with him, giving directions to his lady that the dinner +should be a good one. Behold the guests assembled--grace said--and hear +the dialogue:--Husband--"My dear, what is that dish before you?" Wife--"Oh, +my dear, it is a favourite dish of yours--stewed eels." Husband--"Then, my +dear, I will trouble you." After a pause, during which the husband +endeavours in vain to cut through what is before him--Then--Husband--"Why, +my dear, what _is_ this--it is quite hard, I cannot get through it." +Wife--"Yes, my dear, it is _very_ hard, and I rather wished you to know +_how_ hard--it is the horse whip you gave me for breakfast this morning." +I will not add a word to it. You, Eusebius, will not read a line more; you +are in antics of delight--you cannot keep yourself quiet for joy--you walk +up and down--you sit--you rise--you laugh--you roar out. Oh! this is +better than the "taming of a shrew." And do you think "a brute of a +husband" is so easily tamed? The lion was a gentle beast, and made himself +submissive to sweet Una; but the brute of a husband, he is indeed a very +hideous and untameable wild-fowl. Poor, good, loving woman is happily +content at some thing far under perfection. In a lower grade of life, good +wife once told me, that she had had an excellent husband, for that he had +never kicked her but twice. On enquiry, I found he died young.--My dear +Eusebius, yours ever, and as ever, + + ------ + + * * * * * + + + + +MARSTON; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A STATESMAN. + +PART V. + + + "Have I not in my time heard lions roar? + Have I not heard the sea, puft up with wind, + Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat? + Have I not heard great ordinance in the field, + And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies? + Have I not in the pitched battle heard + Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets clang?" + + SHAKESPEARE. + +I found the Jew in his den as usual, and communicated my object, like a +man of business, in as few words as possible, and in that tone which +showed that I had made up my mind. To my surprise, and, I must own, a +little to the chagrin of my vanity, he made no opposition to it whatever. +I afterwards ascertained that, on the day before, he had received a +proposal of marriage for his daughter from a German _millionaire_ of his +own line; and that, as there could be no comparison between a penniless +son-in-law, if he came of the blood of all the Paleologi, and one of the +tribe of Issachar with his panniers loaded with guineas, the sooner I took +my flight the better. + +"You are perfectly right," said he, "in desiring to see the Continent; and +in Paris you will find the Continent all gathered into a glance, as a +French cook gives you a dozen sauces in compounding one fricassee. It +happens, curiously enough, that I can just now furnish you with some +opportunities for seeing it in the most convenient manner. A person with +whom I have had occasional business in Downing Street, has applied to me +to name an individual in my confidence, as an _attaché_ to our embassy in +France, though, be it understood, without an actual appointment." + +I started at this dubious diplomacy. + +"This," said he, "only shows that you have still to learn the trade. Let +me then tell you, that it is by such persons that all the real work of +diplomacy is carried on. Can you suppose that the perfumed and polished +young gentlemen who, under the name of secretaries and sub secretaries, +superior and inferior _attachés_, and so forth, haunt the hotels of the +embassy, are the real instruments? It is true, they are necessary to the +dinners and balls of the embassy. They are useful to drive out the +ambassador's horses to air, escort his wife, and dance with his daughters. +But the business is uniformly done by somebody of whom nobody knows any +thing, but that he is never seen loitering about the ambassador's +drawing-room though he has the _entrée_ of his closet; and that he never +makes charades, though he corresponds from day to day with the government +at home. Of course you will accept the appointment--and now, let me give +you your credentials." + +He unlocked a cabinet, which, except for its dust and the coating of +cobwebs which time had wrought upon it, might have figured in the saloons +of the Medici. The succession of springs which he touched, and of secret +drawers which started at the touch, might have supplied a little history +of Italian intrigue. At last he found the roll of papers which he sought, +and having first thrown a glance round the room, as if a spy sat on every +chair, he began to unroll them; with a rapid criticism on each as the few +first lines met his eye. Every nerve of his countenance was in full play +as he looked over those specimens of the wisdom of the wise; It would have +been an invaluable study to a Laveter. He had evidently almost forgotten +that I was present; and the alternate ridicule and disdain of his powerful +physiognomy were assisted, in my comprehension, by notes from time to +time--certainly the antipodes of flattery--"paltry knave"--"pompous +fool"--"specious swindler." "Ambassador! ay, if we were to send one to a +nation of baboons." "Here," said he, throwing, the bundle on the table, +"if I did not despise mankind enough already, I have sufficient evidence +to throng the pillory. I deal in gold; well, it is only such that can know +the world. Hate, ambition, religion--all have their hypocrisies; but money +applies the thumbscrew to them all. Want, sir, want, is the master of +mankind. There have been men--ay, and women too--within this dungeon, as +you think it, whose names would astonish you. Oh! Father Abraham"-- + +I finished the quotation.--"What fools these Christians are!" He burst +into grim laughter. "Here you have the paper," said he, "and I must +therefore send you back to the secretary's office. But there you must not +be known. Secrecy is essential even to your life. Stabbing in Paris is +growing common, and the knowledge that you had any other purpose than +gambling, might be repaid by a poniard." + +He now prepared his note, and as he wrote, continued his conversation in +fragments. "Three-fourths of mankind are mere blunderers, and the more you +know of them the more you will be of my opinion. I am by no means sure +that we have not some of them in Whitehall itself. Pitt is a powerful man, +and he alone keeps them together; without him they would be +potsherds.--Pitt thinks that we can go on without a war: he is mistaken. +How is it possible to keep Europe in peace, when the Continent is as +rotten as thatch, and France as combustible as gunpowder?--The minister is +a man of wonders, but he cannot prevent thirty millions of maniacs from +playing their antics until they are cooled by blood-letting; or a hundred +millions of Germans, Spaniards, Dutch, and Italians from being pilfered to +their last coin!--Old Frederick, the greatest genius that ever sat upon a +German throne, saw this fifty years ago. I have him at this moment before +my eyes, as he walked with his hands behind his bent back in the little +parterre of Sans Souci. I myself heard him utter the words--'If I were +King of France, a cannon-shot should not be fired in Europe without my +permission.'--France is now governed by fools, and is nothing. But if +ever she shall have an able man at her head, she will realize old +Frederick's opinion." + +As no time was to be lost, I hurried with my note of introduction to +Whitehall, was ushered through a succession of dingy offices into a small +chamber, where I found, busily employed at an escrutoire, a young man of a +heavy and yet not unintelligent countenance. He read my note, asked me +whether I had ever been in Paris, from which he had just returned; uttered +a sentence or two in the worst possible French, congratulated me on the +fluency of my answer, rang his bell, and handed me a small packet, +endorsed--_most secret and confidential_. He then made the most awkward of +bows; and our interview was at an end. I saw this man afterwards prime +minister. + +Till now, the novelty and interest of any new purpose had kept me in a +state of excitement; but I now found, to my surprise, my spirits suddenly +flag, and a dejection wholly unaccountable seize upon me. Perhaps +something like this occurs after all strong excitement; but a cloud seemed +actually to draw over my mind. My thoughts sometimes even fell into +confusion--I deeply repented having involved myself in a rash design, +which required qualities so much more experienced than mine; and in which, +if I failed, the consequences might be so ruinous, not merely to my own +character, but to noble and even royal lives. I now felt the whole truth +of Hamlet's description--the ways of the world "flat, stale, and +unprofitable;" the face of nature gloomy; the sky a "congregation of +pestilent vapours." It was not the hazard of life; exposed, as it might be, +in the midst of scenes of which the horrors were daily deepening; it was a +general undefined feeling, of having undertaken a task too difficult for +my powers, and of having engaged in a service in which I could neither +advance with hope nor retreat with honour. + +After a week of this painful fluctuation, I received a note, saying that I +had but six hours before me, and that I must leave London at midnight. + +I strayed involuntarily towards Devonshire House. It was one of its state +dinner-days, and the street rang with the incessant setting down of the +guests. As I stood gazing on the crowd, to prevent more uneasy thoughts, +Lafontaine stood before me. He was in uniform, and looked showily. He was +to be one of the party, and his manner had all the animation which scenes +of this order naturally excite in those with whom the world goes well. But +my countenance evidently startled him, and he attempted to offer such +consolation as was to be found in telling me that if La Comtesse was +visible, he should not fail to tell her of the noble manner in which I had +volunteered; and the happiness which I had thus secured to him and +Mariamne. "You may rely on it," said he, "that I shall make her sick of +Monsieur le Marquis and his sulky physiognomy. I shall dance with her, +shall talk to her, and you shall be the subject, as you so well deserve." + +"But her marriage is inevitable," was my sole answer. + +"Oh, true; inevitable! But that makes no possible difference. You cannot +marry all the women you may admire, nor they you. So, the only imaginable +resource is, to obtain their friendship, to be their _pastor fido_, their +hero, their Amadis. You then have the _entrée_ of their houses, the honour +of their confidence, and the favoured seat in their boxes, till you prefer +the favoured seat at their firesides, and all grow old together." + +The sound of a neighbouring church clock broke off our dialogue. He took +out his diamond watch, compared it with the time, found that to delay a +moment longer would be a solecism which might lose him a smile or be +punished with a frown; repeated a couplet on the pangs of parting with +friends; and with an embrace, in the most glowing style of Paris, bounded +across the street, and was lost in the crowd which blocked up her grace's +portal. + +Thus parted the gay lieutenant and myself; he to float along the stream of +fashion in its most sparkling current--I to tread the twilight paths of +the green park in helplessness and heaviness of soul. + +This interview had not the more reconciled me to life. I was vexed with +what I regarded the nonchalance of my friend, and began to wish that I had +left him to go through his own affairs as he might. But reflection did +justice to his gallant spirit, and I mentally thanked him for having +relieved me from the life of an idler. At this moment my name was +pronounced by a familiar voice; it was Mordecai's. He had brought me some +additional letters to the leaders of the party in Paris. We returned to +the hotel, and sat down to our final meal together. When the lights were +brought in, I saw that he looked at me with some degree of surprise, and +even of alarm. "You are ill," said he; "the life of London is too much for +you. There are but three things that constitute health in this world--air, +exercise, and employment." I acknowledged to him my misgivings as to my +fitness for the mission. But he was a man of the world. He asked me, "Do +you desire to resign? If so, I have the power to revoke it at this moment. +And you can do this without loss of honour, for it is known to but two +persons in England--Lafontaine and myself. I have not concealed its danger +from you, and I have ascertained that even the personal danger is greater +than I thought. In fact, one of my objects in coming to you at this hour +was, to apprise you of the state of things, if not to recommend your +giving up the mission altogether." + +The alternative was now plainly before me; and, stern as was the nature of +the Israelite, I saw evidently that he would be gratified by my abandoning +the project. But this was suddenly out of the question. The mission, to +escape which in the half hour before I should have gladly given up every +shilling I ever hoped to possess, was at once fixed in my mind as a +peculiar bounty of fortune. There are periods in the human heart like +those which we observe in nature--the atmosphere clears up after the +tempest. The struggle which had shaken me so long had now passed away, and +things assumed as new and distinct an aspect as a hill or a forest in the +distance might on the passing away of a cloud. Mordecai argued against my +enthusiasm; but when was enthusiasm ever out-argued? I drove him horse and +foot from the field. I did more, enthusiasm is contagious--I made him my +convert. The feverish fire of my heart lent itself to my tongue, and I +talked so loftily of revolutions and counter-revolutions; of the +opportunity of seeing humankind pouring, like metal from the forge, into +new shapes of society, of millions acting on a new scale of power, of +nations summoned to a new order of existence, that I began to melt even +the rigid prepossessions of that mass of granite, or iron, or whatever is +most intractable--the Jew. I could perceive his countenance changing from +a smile to seriousness; and, as I declaimed, I could see his hollow eye +sparkle, and his sallow lip quiver, with impressions not unlike my own. + +"Whether you are fit for a politician," said he, "I cannot tell; for the +trade is of a mingled web, and has its rough side as well as its smooth +one. But, young as you are, and old as I am, there are some notions in +which we do not differ so much as in our years. I have long seen that the +world was about to undergo some extraordinary change. That it should ever +come from the rabble of Paris, I must confess, had not entered into my +mind; a rope of sand, or a mountain of feathers, would have been as fully +within my comprehension. I might have understood it, if it had come from +John Bull. But I have lived in France, and I never expected any thing from +the people; more than I should expect to see the waterworks of Versailles +turned into a canal, or irrigating the thirsty acres round the palace." + +"Yes," I observed; "but their sporting and sparkling answers their purpose. +They amuse the holiday multitude for a day." + +"And are dry for a week.--If France shall have a revolution, it will be as +much a matter of mechanism, of show, and of holiday, as the '_grand +jet-d'eau_.'" He was mistaken. We ended with a parting health to Mariamne, +and his promise to attend to my interests at the Horse-guards, on which I +was still strongly bent. The Jew was clearly no sentimentalist; but the +glass of wine, and the few words of civility and recollection with which I +had devoted it to his pretty daughter, evidently touched the father's +heart. He lingered on the steps of the hotel, and still held my hand. "You +shall not," said he, "be the worse for your good wishes, nor for that +glass of wine. I shall attend to your business at Whitehall when you are +gone; and you might have worse friends than Mordecai even there." He +seemed big with some disclosure of his influence, but suddenly checked +himself. "At all events," he added, "your services on the present occasion +shall not be forgotten. You have a bold, ay, and a broad career before you. +One thing I shall tell you. We shall certainly have war. The government +here are blind to it. Even the prime minister--and there is not a more +sagacious mind on the face of the earth--is inclined to think that it may +be averted. But I tell you, as the first secret which you may insert in +your despatches, that it will come--will be sudden, desperate, and +universal." + +"May I not ask from what source you have your information; it will at +least strengthen mine?" + +"Undoubtedly. You may tell the minister, or the world, that you had it +from Mordecai. I lay on you only one condition--that you shall not mention +it within a week. I have received it from our brethren on the Continent, +as a matter of business. I give it to you here as a flourish for your +first essay in diplomacy." + +We had now reached the door of the post-chaise. He drew out another letter. +"This," said he, "is from my daughter. Before you come among us again, she +will probably be the wife of one of our nation, and the richest among us. +But she still values you as the preserver of her life, and sends you a +letter to one of our most intimate friends in Paris. If he shall not be +frightened out of it by the violence of the mob, you will find him and his +family hospitable. Now, farewell!" He turned away. + +I sprang into the post-chaise, in which was already seated a French +courier, with despatches from his minister; whose attendance the Jew had +secured, to lighten the first inconveniences to a young traveller. The +word was given--we dashed along the Dover road, and I soon gave my last +gaze to London, with its fiery haze hanging over it, like the flame of a +conflagration. + +My mind was still in a whirl as rapid as my wheels. Hope, doubt, and +determination passed through my brain in quick succession, yet there was +one thought that came, like Shakspeare's "delicate spirit," in all the +tumult of soul, of which, like Ariel in the storm, it was the chief cause, +to soothe and subdue me. Hastily as I had driven from the door of my hotel, +I had time to cast my eye along the front of Devonshire House. All the +windows of its principal apartments shone with almost noonday +brightness--uniforms glittered, and plumes waved in the momentary view. +But in the range above, all was dark; except one window--the window of +the boudoir--and there the light was of the dim and melancholy hue that +instinctively gives the impression of the sick-chamber. Was Clotilde still +there, feebly counting the hours of pain, while all within her hearing was +festivity? The answers which I had received to my daily enquiries were +cheerless. "She had not quitted the apartment where she had been first +conveyed."--"The duchess insisted on her not being removed."--"Madame was +inconsolable, but the doctor had hopes." Those, and other commonplaces of +information, were all that I could glean from either the complacent +chamberlains or the formal physician. And now I was to give up even this +meagre knowledge, and plunge into scenes which might separate us for ever. +But were we not separated already? If she recovered, must she not be in +the power of a task-master? If she sank under her feebleness, what was +earth to me? + +In those reveries I passed the hours until daybreak, when the sun and the +sea rose together on my wearied eyes. + + * * * * * + +The bustle of Dover aroused me to a sense of the world. All was animation +on sea and shore. The emigration was now in full flow, and France was +pouring down her terrified thousands on the nearest shore. The harbour was +crowded with vessels of every kind, which had just disgorged themselves of +their living cargoes; the streets were blocked up with foreign carriages; +the foreign population had completely overpowered the native, and the town +swarmed with strangers of every rank and dress, with the hurried look of +escaped fugitives. As I drove to the harbour, my ear rang with foreign +accents, and my eyes were filled with foreign physiognomies. From time to +time the band of a regiment, which had furnished a guard to one of the +French blood-royal, mingled its drums and trumpets with the swell of sea +and shore; and, as I gazed on the moving multitude from my window, the +thunder of the guns from the castle, for the arrival of some ambassador, +grandly completed the general mass and power of the uproar. + + * * * * * + +Three hours carried me to the French shore. Free from all the vulgar +vexations of the road, I had the full enjoyment of one of the most +pleasant of all enjoyments--moving at one's ease through a new and +interesting country. The road to Paris is now like the road to Windsor, to +all the higher portions of my countrymen; but then it was much less known +even to them than in later days, and the circumstances of the time gave it +a totally new character. It was the difference between travelling through +a country in a state of peace and in a state of war; between going to +visit some superb palace for the purpose of viewing its paintings and +curiosities, and hurrying to see what part of its magnificence had escaped +an earthquake. The landscape had literally the look of war; troops were +seen encamped in the neighbourhood of the principal towns; the national +guards were exercising in the fields; mimic processions of children were +beating drums and displaying banners in the streets, and the popular songs +were all for the conquest of every thing beneath the moon. + +But I was to have a higher spectacle. And I shall never forget the mixture +of wonder and awe which I felt at the first distant sight of the capital. + +It was at the close of a long day's journey, while the twilight gave a +mysterious hue to a scene in itself singular and stately.--Glistening +spire on spire; massive piles, which in the deepening haze might be either +prisons or palaces; vast ranges of buildings, gloomy or glittering as the +partial ray fell on them; with the solemn beauty of the Invalides on one +wing, the light and lovely elegance of the St Genevieve on the other, and +the frowning majesty of Notre-Dame in the midst, filled the plain with a +vision such as I had imaged only in an Arabian tale. Yet the moral reality +was even greater than the visible. I felt that I was within reach of the +chief seat of all the leading events of the Continent since the birth of +monarchy; every step which I might tread among those piles was historical; +within that clouded circumference, like the circle of a necromancer, had +been raised all the dazzling and all the disturbing spirits of the world. +There was the grand display of statesmanship, pomp, ambition, pleasure, +and each the most subtle, splendid, daring, and prodigal ever seen among +men. And, was it not now to assume even a more powerful influence on the +fates of mankind? Was not the falling of the monarchical forest of so many +centuries, about to lay the land open to a new, and perhaps a more +powerful produce; where the free blasts of nature were to rear new forms, +and demand new arts of cultivation? The monarchy was falling--but was not +the space, cleared of its ruins, to be filled with some new structure, +statelier still? Or, if the government of the Bourbons were to sink for +ever from the eyes of men, were there to be no discoveries made in the +gulf itself in which it went down; were there to be no treasures found in +the recesses thus thrown open to the eye for the first time; no mines in +the dissevered strata--no founts of inexhaustible freshness and flow +opened by thus piercing into the bowels of the land? + +There are moments on which the destiny of a nation, perhaps of an age, +turns. I had reached Paris at one of those moments. As my calèche wound +its slow way round the base of Montmartre, I perceived, through the +deepening twilight, a long train of flame, spreading from the horizon to +the gates of the city. Shouts were heard, with now and then the heavy +sounds of cannon. This produced a dead stop in my progress. My postilion +stoutly protested against venturing his calèche, his horses, and, what he +probably regarded much more than either, himself, into the very heart of +what he pronounced a counter-revolution. My courier, freighted with +despatches, which might have been high treason to the majesty of the mob, +and who saw nothing less than suspension from the first lamp-post in their +discovery, protested, with about the same number of _sacres_; and my +diplomatic beams seemed in a fair way to be shorn. + +But this was the actual thing which I had come to see: Paris in its new +existence; the capital of the populace; the headquarters of the grand army +of insurgency; the living centre of all those flashes of fantasy, fury, +and fire, which were already darting out towards every throne of Europe. I +determined to have a voice on the occasion, and I exerted it with such +vigour, that I roused the inmates of a blockhouse, a party of the National +Guard, who, early as it was, had been as fast asleep as if they had been a +_posse_ of city watchmen. They clustered round us, applauded my resolve, +to see what was to be seen, as perfectly national, _vraiment Français_; +kicked my postilion till he mounted his horse, beat my sulky courier with +the flats of their little swords, and would have bastinadoed, or probably +hanged him, if I had not interposed; and, finally, hoisting me into the +calèche, which they loaded with half a dozen of their number before and +behind, commenced our march into Paris. This was evidently not the age of +discipline. + +It may have been owing to this curious escort that I got in at all; for at +the gate I found a strong guard of the regular troops, who drove back a +long succession of carriages which had preceded me. But my cortège were so +thoroughly in the new fashion, they danced the "_carmagnole_" so +boisterously, and sang patriotic rhymes with such strength of lungs, that +it was impossible to refuse admission to patriots of such sonorousness. +The popular conjectures, too, which fell to my share, vastly increased my +importance. In the course of the five minutes spent in wading through the +crowd of the rejected, I bore fifty different characters--I was a state +prisoner--a deputy from Marseilles, a part of the kingdom then in peculiar +favour; an ex-general; a captain of banditti, and an ambassador from +England or America; in either case, an especially honoured missionary, for +England was then pronounced by all the Parisian authorities to be on the +verge of a revolution. Though, I believe, Jonathan had the preference, for +the double reason, that the love of Jean Français for John Bull is of a +rather precarious order, and that the American Revolution was an egg +hatched by the warmth of the Gallic bird itself; a secondary sort of +parentage. + +As we advanced through the streets, my noisy "compagnons de voyage" +dropped off one by one, some to the lowest places of entertainment, and +some tired of the jest; and I proceeded to the Place de Vendome, where was +my hotel, at my leisure. The streets were now solitary; to a degree that +was almost startling. As I wound my way through long lines of houses, +tortuous, narrow, and dark as Erebus, I saw the cause of the singular +success which had attended all Parisian insurrections. A chain across one +of these dismal streets, an overturned cart, a pile of stones, would +convert it at once into an impassable defile. Walls and windows, massive, +lofty, and nearly touching each other from above afforded a perpetual +fortification; lanes innumerable, and extending from one depth of darkness +and intricacy into another, a network of attack and ambush, obviously gave +an extraordinary advantage to the irregular daring of men accustomed to +thread those wretched and dismal dens, crowded with one of the fiercest +and most capricious populations in the world. Times have strikingly +changed since. The "fifteen fortresses" are but so many strong bars of the +great cage, and they are neither too strong nor too many. Paris is now the +only city on earth which is defended against itself, garrisoned on its +outside, and protected by a perpetual Praetorian band against a national +mania of insurrection. + +But, on turning into the Boulevards, the scene changed with the rapidity +of magic. Before me were raging thousands, the multitude which I had seen +advancing to the gates. The houses, as far as the eye could reach, were +lighted up with lamps, torches, and every kind of hurried illumination. +Banners of all hues were waving from the casements, and borne along by the +people; and in the midst of the wild procession were seen at a distance a +train of travelling carriages, loaded on the roofs with the basest of the +rabble. A mixed crowd of National Guards, covered with dust, and drooping +under the fatigue of the road, poissardes drunk, dancing, screaming the +most horrid blasphemies, and a still wider circle, which seemed to me +recruited from all the jails of Paris, surrounded the carriages, which I +at length understood to be those of the royal family. They had attempted +to escape to the frontier, had been arrested, and were now returning as +prisoners. I caught a glimpse, by the torchlight, of the illustrious +sufferers, as they passed the spot where I stood. The Queen was pale, but +exhibited that stateliness of countenance for which she was memorable to +the last; she sat with the Dauphiness pressed in her arms. The King looked +overcome with exhaustion; the Dauphin gazed at the populace with a child's +curiosity. + +At the moment when the carriages were passing, an incident occurred +terribly characteristic of the time. A man of a noble presence, and with +an order of St Louis at his breast, who had been giving me a hurried and +anxious explanation of the scene, excited by sudden feeling, rushed +forward through the escort, and laying one hand on the royal carriage, +with the other waved his hat, and shouted, "Vive le Roi!" In another +instant I saw him stagger; a pike was darted into his bosom, and he fell +dead under the wheel. Before the confusion of this frightful catastrophe +had subsided, a casement was opened immediately above my head, and a woman, +superbly dressed, rushed out on the balcony waving a white scarf, and +crying, "Vive Marie Antoinette!" The muskets of the escort were turned +upon her, and a volley was fired at the balcony. She started back at the +shock, and a long gush of blood down her white robe showed that she had +been wounded. But she again waved the scarf, and again uttered the loyal +cry. Successive shots were fired at her by the monsters beneath; but she +still stood. At length she received the mortal blow; she tottered and fell; +yet, still clinging to the front of the balcony, she waved the scarf, and +constantly attempted to pronounce the words of her generous and devoted +heart, until she expired. I saw this scene with an emotion beyond my power +to describe; all the enthusiasm of popular change was chilled within me; +my boyish imaginations of republicanism were extinguished by this plunge +into innocent blood; and I never felt more relieved, than when the whole +fearful procession at length moved on, and I was left to make my way once +more, through dim and silent streets, to my dwelling. + + * * * * * + +I pass by a considerable portion of the time which followed. The +Revolution was like the tiger, it advanced couching; though, when it +sprang, its bound was sudden and irresistible. My time was occupied in my +official functions, which became constantly more important, and of which I +received flattering opinions from Downing Street. I mingled extensively in +general society, and it was never more animated, or more characteristic, +than at that period in Paris. The leaders of faction and the leaders of +fashion, classes so different in every other part of the world, were there +often the same. The woman who dazzled the ball-room, was frequently the +_confidente_ of the deepest designs of party. The coterie in a _salon_, +covered with gilding, and filled with _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of the arts, was +often as subtle as a conspiracy in the cells of the Jacobins; and the +dance or the masquerade only the preliminary to an outbreak which +shattered a ministry into fragments All the remarkable men of France +passed before me, and I acknowledge that I was frequently delighted and +surprised by their extra ordinary attainments. The age of the +_Encyclopédie_ was in its wane, but some of its brilliant names still +illustrated the Parisian _salons_. I recognised the style of Buffon and +Rousseau in a crowd of their successors; and the most important knowledge +was frequently communicated in language the most eloquent and captivating. +Even the mixture of society which had been created by the Revolution, gave +an original force and freshness to these assemblies, infinitely more +attractive than the most elaborate polish of the old _régime_. Brissot, +the common printer, but a man of singular strength of thought, there +figured by Condorcet, the noble and the man of profound science. St +Etienne, the little bustling partizan, yet the man of talent, mingled with +the chief advocates of the Parisian courts; or Servan fenced with his +subtle knowledge of the world against Vergniaud, the romantic Girondist, +but the most Ciceronian of orators. Talleyrand, already known as the most +sarcastic of men, and Maury, by far the most powerful debater of France +since Mirabeau--figured among the chief ornaments of the _salons_ of De +Staël. Roland, and the showy and witty Theresa Cabarrus, and even the +flutter of La Fayette, the most tinsel of heroes, and the sullen +sententiousness of Robespierre, then known only as a provincial deputy, +furnished a background which increased the prominence of the grouping. + +But the greatest wonder of France still escaped the general eye. At a ball +at the Hotel de Staël, I remember to have been struck with the energetic +denunciation of some rabble insult to the Royal family, by an officer whom +nobody knew. As a circle were standing in conversation on the topic of the +day, the little officer started from his seat, pushed into the group, and +expressed his utter contempt for the supineness of the Government on those +occasions, so strongly, as to turn all eyes upon him. "Where were the +troops, where the guns?" he exclaimed. "If such things are suffered, all +is over with royalty; a squadron of horse, and a couple of six pounders, +would have swept away the whole swarm of scoundrels like so many flies." +Having thus discharged his soul, he started back again, flung himself into +a chair, and did not utter another word through the evening. I little +dreamed that in that meagre frame, and long, thin physiognomy, I saw +Napoleon. + +I must hasten to other things. Yet I still cast many a lingering glance +over these times. The vividness of the collision was incomparable. The wit, +the eccentricity, the anecdote, the eloquence of those assemblages, were +of a character wholly their own. They had, too, a substantial nutriment, +the want of which had made the conversation of the preceding age vapid, +with all its elegance.--Public events of the most powerful order fed the +flame. It was the creation of a vast national excitement; the rush of +sparks from the great electrical machine, turned by the hands of thirty +millions. The flashes were still but matters of sport and surprise. The +time was nigh when those flashes were to be fatal, and that gay lustre was +to do the work of conflagration. + +I had now been a year in Paris, without returning, or wishing to return, +to London. A letter now and then informed me of the state of those who +still drew my feelings towards England. But I was in the centre of all +that awoke, agitated, or alarmed Europe; and, compared with the glow and +rapidity of events in France, the rest of Europe appeared asleep, or to +open its eyes solely when some new explosion shook it from its slumber. + +My position, too, was a matchless school for the learner in diplomacy. +France shaped the politics of the Continent; and I was present in the +furnace where the casting was performed. France was the stage to which +every eye in Europe was turned, whether for comedy or tragedy; and I was +behind the scenes. But the change was at hand. + +One night I found an individual, of a very marked appearance, waiting for +me at my hotel. His countenance was evidently Jewish, and he introduced +himself as one of the secret police of the ministry. The man handed me a +letter--it was from Mordecai, and directed to be given with the utmost +secrecy. It was in his usual succinct and rapid style. + +"I write this in the midst of a tumult of business. My friend Mendoza will +give you such knowledge and assistance as may be necessary. France is on +the point of an explosion. Every thing is prepared. It is impossible that +it can be delayed above a week or two, and the only origin of the delay is +in the determination to make the overthrow final. Acquaint your English +officials with this. The monarchy of the Bourbons has signed its +death-warrant. By suffering a legislature to be formed by the votes of the +mere multitude, it has put property within the power of all beggars; rank +has been left at the mercy of the rabble; and the church has been +sacrificed to please a faction. Thus the true pillars of society have been +cut away; and the throne is left in the air. Mendoza will tell you more. +The train is already laid. A letter from a confidential agent tells us +that the day is fixed. At all events, avoid the mine. There is no pleasure +in being blown up, even in company with kings." + +A postscript briefly told me--that his daughter sent her recollections; +that Clotilde was still indisposed; La Fontaine giddier than ever; and, as +the proof of his own confidence in his views, that he had just sold out +100,000 three per cent consols. + +My first visit next morning was to the British embassy. But the ambassador +was absent in the country, and the functionary who had been left in charge +was taking lessons on the guitar, and extremely unwilling to be disturbed +by matters comparatively so trifling as the fate of dynasties. I explained, +but explained in vain. The hour was at hand when his horses were to be at +the door for a ride in the Bois de Boulogne. I recommended a ride after +the ambassador. It was impossible. He was to be the escort of a duchess; +then to go to a dinner at the Russian embassy, and was under engagements +to three balls in the course of the evening. Nothing could be clearer than +that such duties must supersede the slight concerns of office. I left him +under the hands of his valet, curling his ringlets, and preparing him to +be the admiration of mankind. + +I saw Mendoza secretly again; received from him additional intelligence; +and, as I was not inclined to make a second experiment on the "elegant +extract" of diplomacy, and escort of duchesses, I went, as soon as the +nightfall concealed my visit, to the hotel of the Foreign Minister. This +was my first interview with the celebrated Dumourier. + +He received me with the courtesy of a man accustomed to high life; and I +entered on the purport of my visit at once. He was perfectly astonished at +my tidings. He had known that strong resolutions had been adopted by the +party opposed to the Cabinet; but was startled by the distinct avowal of +its intention to overthrow the monarchy. I was struck with his appearance, +his quickness of conception, and that mixture of sportiveness and depth, +which I had found characteristic of the higher orders of French society. +He was short in stature, but proportioned for activity; his countenance +bold, but with smiling lips and a most penetrating grey eye. His name as a +soldier was at this period wholly unknown, but I could imagine in him a +leader equally subtle and daring;--he soon realized my conjecture. + +We sat together until midnight; and over the supper-table, and cheered by +all the good things which French taste provides and enjoys more than any +other on earth, he gave full flow to his spirit of communication. The +Frenchman's sentences are like sabre-cuts--they have succession, but no +connexion. + +"I shall always converse with you, M. Marston," said he, "with ease; for +you are of the noblesse of your own great country, and I am tired of +_roturiers_ already.--The government has committed dangerous faults. The +king is an excellent man, but his heart is where his head ought to be, and +his head where his heart.--His flight was a terrible affair, but it was a +blunder on both sides; _he_ ought never to have gone, or the government +ought never to have brought him back.--However, I have no cause to +complain of its epitaph. The blunder dissolved that government. I have to +thank it for bringing me and my colleagues into power. Our business now is +to preserve the monarchy, but this becomes more difficult from day to day." + +I adverted to the personal character of the royal family. + +"Nothing can be better. But chance has placed them in false position.--If +the king were but the first prince of the blood, his benevolence without +his responsibility would make him the most popular man in France.--If the +queen were still but the dauphiness, she would be, as she was then, all +but worshipped. As the leader of fashion in France, she would be the +leader of taste in Europe.--Elegant, animated, and high-minded, she would +have charmed every one, without power. If she could but continue to move +along the ground, all would admire the grace of her steps; but, sitting on +a throne, she loses the spell of motion." + +"Yet, can France ever forget her old allegiance, and adopt the fierce +follies of a republic?" + +"I think not. And yet we are dealing with agencies of which we know +nothing but the tremendous force. We are breathing a new atmosphere, which +may at first excite only to kill.--We have let out the waters of a new +river-head, which continues pouring from hour to hour, with a fulness +sufficient to terrify us already, and threatening to swell over the +ancient landmarks of the soil.--It is even now a torrent--what can prevent +it from being a lake? what hand of man can prevent that lake from being an +ocean? or what power of human council can say to that ocean in its +rage--Thus far shalt thou go?" + +"But the great institutions of France, will they not form a barrier? Is +not their ancient firmness proof against the loose and desultory assaults +of a populace like that of Paris?" + +"I shall answer by an image which occurred to me on my late tour of +inspection to the ports in the west. At Cherbourg, millions of francs have +been spent in attempting to make a harbour. When I was there one stormy +day, the ocean rose, and the first thing swept away was the great +_caisson_ which formed the principal defence against the tide,--its wrecks +were carried up the harbour, heaped against the piers, which they swept +away; hurled against the fortifications, which they broke down; and +finally working ten times more damage than if the affair had been left to +the surges alone. The thought struck me at the moment, that this _caisson_ +was the emblem of a government assailed by an irresistible force. The +firmer the foundations, and the loftier the superstructure, the surer it +was to be ultimately carried away, and to carry away with it all that the +mere popular outburst would have spared.--The massiveness of the obstacle +increased the spread of the ruin. Few Asiatic kingdoms would be overthrown +with less effort, and perish with less public injury, than the monarchy of +the Bourbons, if it is to fall. Yet, your monarchy is firmer. It is less a +vast building than a mighty tree, not fixed on foundations which can never +widen, but growing from roots which continually extend. But, if that tree +perish, it will not be thrown down, but torn up; it will not leave a space +clear to receive a new work of man, but a pit, which no successor can fill +for a thousand years." + +"But the insurrection; I fear the attack on the palace." + +"It will not take place. Your information shall be forwarded to the court; +where, however, I doubt whether it will be received with much credence. +The Austrian declaration of war has put the flatterers of royalty into +such spirits, that if the tocsin were sounding at this instant, they would +not believe in the danger. We have been unfortunately forced to send the +chief part of the garrison of Paris towards the frontier. But we have +three battalions of the Swiss guard within call at Courbevoie, and they +can be ready on the first emergency. Rely upon it, all will go well." + +With this assurance I was forced to be content; but I relied much more +upon Mordecai and his Jewish intelligence. A despatch to London gave a +minute of this conversation before I laid my head on my pillow; and I +flung myself down, not without a glance at the tall roofs of the Tuileries, +and a reflection on how much the man escapes whose forehead has no wrinkle +from the diadem. + +Within twenty four hours of this interview the ministry was dissolved! +Dumourier was gone posthaste to the command of one of the armies on the +frontier, merely to save his life from the mob, and I went to bed, in the +Place Vendôme, by the light of Lafayette burned in effigy in the centre of +the square. So much for popularity. + +At dusk, on the memorable ninth of August, as I was sitting in a café of +the Palais Royal, listening to the mountain songs of a party of Swiss +minstrels in front of the door, Mendoza, passing through the crowd, made +me a signal; I immediately followed him to an obscure corner of one of the +galleries. + +"The insurrection is fixed for to-night," was his startling announcement. +"At twelve by the clock of Notre-Dame, all the sections will be under +arms. The Jacobin club, the club of the Cordeliers, and the Faubourg St +Antoine, are the alarm posts. The Marseillais are posted at the Cordeliers, +and are to head the attack. Danton is already among them, and has +published this address. + +He gave me the placard. It was brief and bold. + +"Citizens--The country is betrayed. France is in the hands of her enemies. +The Austrians are advancing. Our troops are retreating, and Paris must be +defended by her brave sons alone. But we have traitors in the camp. Our +legislators are their accomplices: Lafayette, the slave of kings, has been +suffered to escape; but the nation must be avenged. The perfidious Louis +is about to follow his example and fly, after having devoted the capital +to conflagration. Delay a moment, and you will have to fight by the flame +of your houses, and to bleed over the ashes of your wives and children. +March, and victory is yours. To arms! To arms!! To arms!!!" + +"Does Danton lead the insurrection?" + +"No--for two reasons: he is an incendiary but no soldier; and they cannot +trust him in case of success. A secret meeting of the heads of the party +was held two days since, to decide on a leader of the sections. It was +difficult, and had nearly been finished by the dagger. Billaud de Varennes, +Vanquelin, St Angely, and Danton, were successively proposed. Robespierre +objected to them all. At length an old German refugee, a beggar, but a +soldier, was fixed on; and Westerman is to take the command. By one +o'clock the tocsin is to be rung, and the insurgents are instantly to move +from all points on the Tuileries." + +"What is the object?" + +"The seizure, or death, of the King and Royal Family!" + +"And the result of that object?" + +"The proclamation of a Republic!" + +"Is this known at the palace?" + +"Not a syllable. All there are in perfect security; to communicate +intelligence there is not in my department." + +As I looked at the keen eye and dark physiognomy of my informant, there +was an expression of surprise in mine at this extraordinary coolness, +which saved me the trouble of asking the question. + +"You doubt me," said he, "you feel distrust of information unpaid and +voluntary. But I have been ordered by Mordecai, the chief of our tribe in +England, to watch over you; and this information is a part of my obedience +to the command." He suddenly darted away. + +Notwithstanding the steadiness of his assertions I still doubted their +probability, and, to examine the point for myself, I strayed towards the +palace. All there was tranquil; a few lights were scattered through the +galleries, but every sound of life, much less of watchfulness and +preparation, was still. The only human beings in sight were some +dismounted cavalry, and a battalion of the national guard, lounging: about +the square. As I found it impossible to think of rest until the truth or +falsehood of my information was settled, I next wandered along the +Boulevarde, in the direction of the Faubourg St Antoine, the focus of all +the tumults of Paris; but all along this fine avenue was hushed as if a +general slumber had fallen over the city. The night was calm, and the air +was a delicious substitute for the hot and reeking atmosphere of this +populous quarter in the day. I saw no gathering of the populace; no +hurrying torches. I heard no clash of arms, nor tramp of marching men; all +lay beneath the young moon, which, near her setting, touched the whole +scene with a look of soft and almost melancholy quietude. The character of +my Israelite friend began to fall rapidly in the scale, and I had made up +my mind that insurrection had gone to its slumbers for that night; when, +as I was returning by the _Place de Bastile_, and was passing under the +shadow of one of the huge old houses that then surrounded that scene of +hereditary terror, two men, who had been loitering beside the parapet of +the fosse, suddenly started forward and planted themselves in my way. I +flung one of them aside, but the other grasped my arm, and, drawing a +dagger, told me that my life was at his mercy. His companion giving a +signal, a group of fierce-looking fellows started from their +lurking-places; and of course further resistance was out of the question. +I was ordered to follow them, and regarding myself as having nothing to +fear, yet uneasy at the idea of compulsion, I remonstrated, but in vain; +and was finally led through a labyrinth of horrid alleys, to what I now +found to be the headquarters of the insurrection. It was an immense +building, which had probably been a manufactory, but was now filled with +the leaders of the mob. The few torches which were its only light, and +which scarcely showed the roof and extremity of the building, were, +however, enough to show heaps of weapons of every kind--muskets, sabres, +pikes, and even pitchforks and scythes, thrown on the floor. On one side, +raised on a sort of desk, was a ruffianly figure flinging placards to the +crowd below, and often adding some savage comment on their meaning, which +produced a general laugh. Flags inscribed with "Liberty Bread or +Blood--Down with the Tyrant"--and that comprehensive and peculiarly +favourite motto of the mob--"May the last of the kings be strangled with +the entrails of the last of the priests," were hung from the walls in all +quarters; and in the centre of the floor were ranged three pieces of +artillery surrounded by their gunners. I now fully acknowledged the +exactness of Mendoza's information; and began to feel considerable +uncertainty about my own fate in the midst of a horde of armed ruffians, +who came pouring in more thickly every moment, and seemed continually more +ferocious. At length I was ordered to go forward to a sort of platform at +the head of the hall, where some candles were still burning, and the +remnants of a supper gave signs that there had been gathered the chief +persons of this tremendous assemblage. A brief interrogatory from one of +them armed to the teeth, and with a red cap so low down on his bushy brows +as almost wholly to disguise his physiognomy, enquired my name, my +business in Paris, and especially what I had to allege against my being +shot as a spy in the pay of the Tuileries. My answers were drowned in the +roar of the multitude. Still, I protested firmly against this summary +trial, and at length threatened them with the vengeance of my country. +This might be heroic, but it was injudicious. Patriotism is a fiery affair, +and a circle of pistols and daggers ready prepared for action, and roused +by the word to execute popular justice on me, waited but the signal from +the platform. Their leader rose with some solemnity, and taking off his +cap, to give the ceremonial a more authentic aspect, declared me to have +forfeited the right to live, by acting the part of an _espion_, and +ordered me to be shot in "front of the leading battalion of the army of +vengeance." The decree was so unexpected, that for the instant I felt +absolutely paralyzed. The sight left my eyes, my ears tingled with strange +sounds, and I almost felt as if I had received the shots of the ruffians, +who now, incontrollable in their first triumph, were firing their pistols +in all directions in the air. But at the moment, so formidable to my +future career, I heard the sound of the clock of Notre Dame. I felt a +sudden return of my powers and recollections, but the hands of my +assassins were already upon me. The sound of the general signal for their +march produced a rush of the crowd towards the gate, I took advantage of +the confusion, struck down one of my captors, shook off the other, and +plunged into the living torrent that was now pouring and struggling before +me. + +But even when I reached the open air--and never did I feel its freshness +with a stronger sense of revival--I was still in the midst of the +multitude, and any attempt to make my way alone would have obviously been +death. Thus was I carried on along the Boulevarde, in the heart of a +column of a hundred thousand maniacs, trampled, driven, bruised by the +rabble, and deafened with shouts, yells, and cries of vengeance, until my +frame was a fever and my brain scarcely less than a frenzy. + +That terrible morning gave the deathblow to the mighty monarchy of the +Bourbons. The throne was so shaken by the popular arm, that though it +preserved a semblance of its original shape, a breath was sufficient to +cast it to the ground. I have no heart for the recital. Even now I can +scarcely think of that tremendous pageant of popular fantasy, fury, and +the very passion of crime; or bring to my mind's eye that column, which +seemed then to be boundless and endless, with the glare of its torches, +the rattle of its drums, the grinding of its cannon-wheels, as we rushed +along the causeway, from time to time stopping to fire, as a summons to +the other districts, and as a note of exultation; or the perpetual, sullen, +and deep roar of the populace--without a thrilling sense of perplexity and +pain. + +Long before daybreak we had swept all minor resistance before us, +plundered the arsenal of its arms, and taken possession of the Hotel de +Ville. The few troops who had kept guard at the different posts on our way, +had been captured without an effort, or joined the insurgents. But +intelligence now came that the palace was roused at last, that troops were +ordered from the country for its defence, and that the noblesse remaining +in the capital were crowding to the Tuileries. I stood beside Danton when +those tidings were brought to him. He flung up his cap in the air, with a +burst of laughter. "So much the better!" he exclaimed; "the closer the +preserve, the thicker the game." I had now a complete view of this hero of +democracy. His figure was herculean; his countenance, which possibly, in +his younger days, had been handsome, was now marked with the lines of +every passion and profligacy, but it was still commanding. His costume was +one which he had chosen for himself, and which was worn by his peculiar +troop; a short brown mantle, an under-robe with the arms naked to the +shoulder, a broad leathern belt loaded with pistols, a huge sabre in hand, +rusted from hilt to point, which he declared to have been stained with the +blood of aristocrats, and the republican red cap, which he frequently +waved in the air, or lifted on the point of his sabre as a standard. Yet, +in the midst of all this savage disorder of costume, I observed every hair +of his enormous whiskers to be curled with the care of a Parisian +_merveilleux_. It was the most curious specimen of the ruling passion that +I remember to have seen. + +At the Hotel de Ville, Danton entered the hall with several of the +insurgents; and the crowd, unwilling to waste time, began to fire at the +little statues and insignia of the French kings, which ornamented this old +building. When this amusement palled--the French are easily +_ennuied_--they formed circles, and danced the Carmagnole. Rum and brandy, +largely introduced among them, gave them animation after their night's +watching, and they were fit for any atrocity. But the beating of drums, +and a rush to the balconies of the Hotel de Ville, told us that something +of importance was at hand; and, in the midst of a group of municipal +officers, Petion, the mayor of Paris, arrived. No man in France wore a +milder visage, or hid a blacker heart under it. He was received with +shouts, and after a show of resistance, just sufficient to confirm his +character for hypocrisy, suffered himself to be led to the front of the +grand balcony, bowing as the man of the people. Another followed, a +prodigious patriot, who had been placed at the head of the National Guard +for his popular sycophancy, but who, on being called on by the mob to +swear "death to the King;" and hesitating, felt the penalty of being +unprepared to go all lengths on the spot. I saw his throat cut, and his +body flung from the balcony. A cannon-shot gave the signal for the march, +and we advanced to the grand prize of the day. I can describe but little +more of the assault on the Tuileries, than that it was a scene of +desperate confusion on both sides. The front of the palace continually +covered with the smoke of fire-arms of all kinds, from all the casements; +and the front of the mob a similar cloud of smoke, under which men fired, +fled, fell, got drunk, and danced. Nothing could be more ferocious, or +more feeble. Some of the Sections utterly ran away on the first fire; but, +as they were unpursued, they returned by degrees, and joined the fray. It +may be presumed that I made many an effort to escape; but I was in the +midst of a battalion of the Faubourg St Antoine. I had already been +suspected, from having dropped several muskets in succession, which had +been thrust into my hands by the zeal of my begrimed comrades; and a +sabre-cut, which I had received from one of our mounted ruffians as he saw +me stepping to the rear, warned me that my time was not yet come to get +rid of the scene of revolt and bloodshed. + +At length the struggle drew to a close. A rumour spread that the King had +left the palace, and gone to the Assembly. The cry was now on all +sides--"Advance, the day is our own!" The whole multitude rushed forward, +clashing their pikes and muskets, and firing their cannon, which were +worked by deserters from the royal troops; the Marseillais, a band of the +most desperate-looking ruffians that eye was ever set upon, chiefly +galley-slaves and the profligate banditti of a sea-port, led the column of +assault; and the sudden and extraordinary cessation of the fire from the +palace windows, seemed to promise a sure conquest. But, as the smoke +subsided, I saw a long line of troops, three deep, drawn up in front of +the chief entrance. Their scarlet uniforms showed that they were the Swiss. +The gendarmerie, the National Guard, the regular battalions, had abandoned +them, and their fate seemed inevitable. But there they stood, firm as iron. +Their assailants evidently recoiled; but the discharge of some +cannon-shots, which told upon the ranks of those brave and unfortunate men, +gave them new courage, and they poured onward. The voice of the Swiss +commandant giving the word to fire was heard, and it was followed by a +rolling discharge, from flank to flank, of the whole battalion. It was my +first experience of the effect of fire; and I was astonished at its +precision, rapidity, and deadly power. In an instant, almost the whole +troop of the Marseillais, in our front, were stretched upon the ground, +and every third man in the first line of the Sections was killed or +wounded. Before this shock could be recovered, we heard the word "fire" +again from the Swiss officer, and a second shower of bullets burst upon +our ranks. The Sections turned and fled in all directions, some by the +Pont Neuf, some by the Place Carrousel. The rout was complete; the terror, +the confusion, and the yelling of the wounded were horrible. The havoc was +increased by a party of the defenders of the palace, who descended into +the court and fell with desperation on the fugitives. I felt that now was +my time to escape, and darted behind one of the buttresses of a royal +_porte cachere_, to let the crowd pass me. The skirmishing continued at +intervals, and an officer in the uniform of the Royal Guard was struck +down by a shot close to my feet. As he rolled over, I recognised his +features. He was my young friend Lafontaine! With an inconceivable shudder +I looked on his pale countenance, and with the thought that he was killed +was mingled the thought of the misery which the tidings would bring to +fond ears in England. But as I drew the body within the shelter of the +gate, I found that he still breathed; he opened his eyes, and I had the +happiness, after waiting in suspense till the dusk covered our movements, +of conveying him to my hotel. + +Of the remaining events of this most calamitous day, I know but what all +the world knows. It broke down the monarchy. It was the last struggle in +which a possibility existed of saving the throne. The gentlest of the +Bourbons was within sight of the scaffold. He had now only to retrieve his +character for personal virtue by laying down his head patiently under the +blade of the guillotine. His royal character was gone beyond hope, and all +henceforth was to be the trial of the legislature and the nation. Even +that trial was to be immediate, comprehensive, and condign. No people in +the history of rebellion ever suffered, so keenly or so rapidly, the +vengeance which belongs to national crimes. The saturnalia was followed by +massacre. A new and darker spirit of ferocity displayed itself, in a +darker and more degraded form, from hour to hour, until the democracy was +extinguished. Like the Scripture miracle of the demoniac--the spirits +which had once exhibited the shape of man, were transmitted into the shape +of the brute; and even the swine ran down by instinct, and perished in the +waters. + + * * * * * + + + + +CEYLON[12] + + [12] CEYLON, AND ITS CAPABILITIES. BY J.W. Bennett, Esq. F.L.S. + London Allen: 1843. With Plain and Coloured Illustrations. 4to. + + +There is in the science and process of colonization, as in every complex +act of man, a secret philosophy--which is first suspected through results, +and first expounded by experience. Here, almost more than any where else, +nature works in fellowship with man. Yet all nature is not alike suited to +the purposes of the early colonist; and all men are not alike qualified +for giving effect to the hidden capacities of nature. One system of +natural advantages is designed to have a long precedency of others; and +one race of men is selected and sealed for an eternal preference in this +function of colonizing to the very noblest of their brethren. As +colonization advances, that ground becomes eligible for culture--that +nature becomes full of promise--which in earlier stages of the science was +_not_ so; because the dreadful solitude becomes continually narrower under +the accelerated diffusion of men, which shortens the _space_ of +distance--under the strides of nautical science, which shortens the _time_ +of distance--and under the eternal discoveries of civilization, which +combat with elementary nature. Again, in the other element of colonization, +races of men become known for what they are; the furnace has tried them +all; the truth has justified itself; and if, as at some great memorial +review of armies, some solemn _armilustrum_, the colonizing nations, since +1500, were now by name called up--France would answer not at all; Portugal +and Holland would stand apart with dejected eyes--dimly revealing the +legend of _Fuit Ilium_; Spain would be seen sitting in the distance, and, +like Judæa on the Roman coins, weeping under her palm-tree in the vast +regions of the Orellana; whilst the British race would be heard upon every +wind, coming on with mighty hurrahs, full of power and tumult, as some +"hail-stone chorus,"[13] and crying aloud to the five hundred millions of +Burmah, China, Japan, and the infinite islands, to make ready their paths +before them. Already a ground-plan, or ichnography, has been laid down of +the future colonial empire. In three centuries, already some outline has +been sketched, rudely adumbrating the future settlement destined for the +planet, some infant castrametation has been marked out for the future +encampment of nations. Enough has been already done to show the course by +which the tide is to flow, to prefigure for languages their proportions, +and for nations to trace their distribution. + + [13] "Hailstone chorus:"--Handel's Israel in Egypt. + +In this movement, so far as it regards man, in this machinery for sifting +and winnowing the merits of races, there is a system of marvellous means, +which by its very simplicity masks and hides from us the wise profundity +of its purpose. Often-times, in wandering amongst the inanimate world, the +philosopher is disposed to say--this plant, this mineral, this fruit, is +met with so often, not because it is better than others of the same family, +perhaps it is worse, but because its resources for spreading and +naturalizing itself, are, by accident, greater than theirs. That same +analogy he finds repeated in the great drama of colonization. It is not, +says he pensively to himself, the success which measures the merit. It is +not that nature, or that providence, has any final cause at work in +disseminating these British children over every zone and climate of the +earth. Oh, no! far from it! But it is the unfair advantages of these +islanders, which carry them thus potently a-head. Is it so, indeed? +Philosopher, you are wrong. Philosopher, you are envious. You speak +Spanish, philosopher, or even French. Those advantages, which you suppose +to disturb the equities of the case--were they not products of British +energy? Those twenty-five thousand of ships, whose graceful shadows darken +the blue waters in every climate--did they build themselves? That myriad +of acres, laid out in the watery cities of docks--were they sown by the +rain, as the fungus or the daisy? Britain _has_ advantages at this stage +of the race, which make the competition no longer equal--henceforwards it +has become gloriously "unfair"--but at starting we were all equal. Take +this truth from us, philosopher; that in such contests the power +constitutes the title, the man that has the ability to go a-head, is the +man entitled to go a-head; and the nation that _can_ win the place of +leader, is the nation that ought to do so. + +This colonizing genius of the British people appears upon a grand scale in +Australia, Canada, and, as we may remind the else forgetful world, in the +United States of America; which States are our children, prosper by our +blood, and have ascended to an overshadowing altitude from an infancy +tended by ourselves. But on the fields of India it is, that our aptitudes +for colonization have displayed themselves most illustriously, because +they were strengthened by violent resistance. We found many kingdoms +established, and to these we have given unity; and in process of doing so, +by the necessities of the general welfare, or the mere instincts of +self-preservation, we have transformed them to an empire, rising like an +exhalation, of our own--a mighty monument of our own superior civilization. + +Ceylon, as a virtual dependency of India, ranks in the same category. +There also we have prospered by resistance; there also we have succeeded +memorably where other nations memorably failed. Of Ceylon, therefore, now +rising annually into importance, let us now (on occasion of this splendid +book, the work of one officially connected with the island, bound to it +also by affectionate ties of services rendered, not less than of unmerited +persecutions suffered) offer a brief, but rememberable account; of Ceylon +in itself, and of Ceylon in its relations historical or economic, to +ourselves. + +Mr Bennett says of it, with more and less of doubt, three things--of which +any one would be sufficient to detain a reader's attention; viz., 1. That +it is the Taprobane of the Romans; 2. That it was, or has been thought to +be, the Paradise of Scripture; 3. That it is "the most magnificent of the +British _insular_ possessions," or in yet wider language, that it is an +"incomparable colony." This last count in the pretensions of Ceylon is +quite indisputable; Ceylon is in fact already, Ceylon is at this moment, a +gorgeous jewel in the imperial crown; and yet, compared with what it may +be, with what it will be, with what it ought to be, Ceylon is but that +grain of mustard-seed which hereafter is destined to become the stately +tree,[14] where the fowls of heaven will lodge for generations. Great are +the promises of Ceylon; great already her performances. Great are the +possessions of Ceylon, far greater her reversions. Rich she is by her +developments, richer by her endowments. She combines the luxury of the +tropics with the sterner gifts of our own climate. She is hot; she is cold. +She is civilized; she is barbarous. She has the resources of the rich; and +she has the energies of the poor. + + [14] St Mark, iv. 31, 32. + +But for Taprobane, but for Paradise, we have a word of dissent. Mr Bennett +is well aware that many men in many ages have protested against the +possibility that Ceylon could realize _all_ the conditions involved in the +ancient Taprobane. Milton, it is true, with other excellent scholars, has +_insinuated_ his belief that probably Taprobane is Ceylon; when our +Saviour in the wilderness sees the great vision of Roman power, expressed, +_inter alia_, by high officers of the Republic flocking to, or from, the +gates of Rome, and "embassies from regions far remote," crowding the +Appian or the Emilian roads, some + + "From the Asian kings, and Parthian amongst these; + From India and the golden Chersonese, + And utmost Indian isle Taprobane + * * * * * + Dusk faces with white silken turbans wreathed;" + +it is probable, from the mention of this island Taprobane following so +closely after that of the Malabar peninsula, that Milton held it to be the +island of Ceylon, and not of Sumatra. In this he does but follow the +stream of geographical critics; and, upon the whole, if any one island +exclusively is to be received for the Roman Taprobane, doubt there can be +none that Ceylon has the superior title. But, as we know that, in regions +less remote from Rome, _Mona_ did not always mean the Isle of Man, nor +_Ultima Thule_ uniformly the Isle of Skye or of St Kilda--so it is pretty +evident that features belonging to Sumatra, and probably to other oriental +islands, blended (through mutual misconceptions of the parties, questioned +and questioning) into one semi-fabulous object not entirely realized in +any locality whatever. The case is precisely as if Cosmas Indicopleustes, +visiting Scotland in the sixth century, should have placed the scene of +any adventure in a town distant six miles from Glasgow and eight miles +from Edinburgh. These we know to be irreconcilable conditions, such as +cannot meet in any town whatever, past or present. But in such a case many +circumstances might, notwithstanding, combine to throw a current of very +strong suspicion upon Hamilton as the town concerned. On the same +principle, it is easy to see that most of those Romans who spoke of +Taprobane had Ceylon in their eye. But that all had not, and of those who +really _had_, that some indicated by their facts very different islands, +whilst designing to indicate Ceylon, is undeniable; since, amongst other +imaginary characteristics of Taprobane, they make it extend considerably +to the south of the line. Now, with respect to Ceylon, this is notoriously +false; that island lies entirely in the northern tropic, and does not come +within five (hardly more than six) degrees of the equator. Plain it is, +therefore, that Taprobane, it construed very strictly, is an _ens +rationis_, made up by fanciful composition from various sources, and much +like our own mediæval conceit of Prester John's country, or the fancies +(which have but recently vanished) of the African river Niger, and the +golden city Tombuctoo. These were lies; and yet also, in a limited sense, +they were truths. They were expansions, often fabulous and impossible, +engrafted upon some basis of fact by the credulity of the traveller, or +subsequently by misconception of the scholar. For instance, as to +Tombuctoo, Leo Africanus had authorized men to believe in some vast +African city, central to that great continent, and a focus to some mighty +system of civilization. Others, improving on that chimera, asserted, that +this glorious city represented an inheritance derived from ancient +Carthage; here, it was said, survived the arts and arms of that injured +state; hither, across Bilidulgerid, had the children of Phoenicia fled +from the wrath of Rome; and the mighty phantom of him whose uplifted +truncheon had pointed its path to the carnage of Cannæ, was still the +tutelary genius watching over a vast posterity worthy of himself. Here was +a wilderness of lies; yet, after all, the lies were but so many voluminous +_fasciæ_, enveloping the mummy of an original truth. Mungo Park came, and +the city of Tombuctoo was shown to be a real existence. Seeing was +believing. And yet, if, before the time of Park, you had avowed a belief +in Tombuctoo, you would have made yourself an indorser of that huge +forgery which had so long circulated through the forum of Europe, and, in +fact, a party to the total fraud. + +We have thought it right to direct the reader's eye upon this correction +of the common problem as to this or that place--Ceylon for +example--answering to this or that classical name--because, in fact, the +problem is more subtle than it appears to be. If you are asked whether you +believe in the unicorn, undoubtedly you are within the _letter_ of the +truth in replying that you do; for there are several varieties of large +animals which carry a single horn in the forehead.[15] But, _virtually_, by +such an answer you would countenance a falsehood or a doubtful legend, +since you are well aware that, in the idea of an unicorn, your questioner +included the whole traditionary character of the unicorn, as an antagonist +and emulator of the lion, &c.; under which fanciful description, this +animal is properly ranked with the griffin, the mermaid, the basilisk, the +dragon--and sometimes discussed in a supplementary chapter by the current +zoologies, under the idea of heraldic and apocryphal natural history. When +asked, therefore, whether Ceylon is Taprobane, the true answer is, not by +affirmation simply, nor by negation simply, but by both at once; it is, +and it is not. Taprobane includes much of what belongs to Ceylon, but also +more, and also less. And this case is a type of many others standing in +the same logical circumstances. + + [15] _Unicorn_: and strange it is, that, in ancient dilapidated + monuments of the Ceylonese, religious sculptures, &c., the unicorn + of Scotland frequently appears according to its true heraldic + (_i.e._ fabulous) type. + +But, secondly, as to Ceylon being the local representative of Paradise, we +may say, as the courteous Frenchman did to Dr Moore, upon the Doctor's +apologetically remarking of a word which he had used, that he feared it +was not good French--"Non, Monsieur, il n'est pas; mais il mérite bien +l'être." Certainly, if Ceylon was not, at least it ought to have been, +Paradise; for at this day there is no place on earth which better supports +the paradisiacal character (always excepting Lapland, as an Upsal +professor observes, and Wapping, as an old seaman reminds us) than this +Pandora of islands, which the Hindoos call Lanka, and Europe calls Ceylon. +We style it the "Pandora" of islands, because, as all the gods of the +heathen clubbed their powers in creating that ideal woman--clothing her +with perfections, and each separate deity subscribing to her dowery some +separate gift--not less conspicuous, and not less comprehensive, has been +the bounty of Providence, running through the whole diapason of +possibilities, to this all-gorgeous island. Whatsoever it is that God has +given by separate allotment and partition to other sections of the planet, +all this he has given cumulatively and redundantly to Ceylon. Was she +therefore happy, was Ceylon happier than other regions, through this +hyper-tropical munificence of her Creator? No, she was not; and the reason +was, because idolatrous darkness had planted curses where Heaven had +planted blessings; because the insanity of man had defeated the +graciousness of God. But another era is dawning for Ceylon; God will now +countersign his other blessings, and ripen his possibilities into great +harvests of realization, by superadding the one blessing of a dovelike +religion; light is thickening apace, the horrid altars of Moloch are +growing dim; woman will no more consent to forego her birthright as the +daughter of God; man will cease to be the tiger-cat that, in the _noblest_ +chamber of Ceylon, he has ever been; and with the new hopes that will now +blossom amidst the ancient beauties of this lovely island, Ceylon will but +too deeply fulfill the functions of a paradise. Too subtly she will lay +fascinations upon man; and it will need all the anguish of disease, and +the stings of death, to unloose the ties which, in coming ages, must bind +the hearts of her children to this Eden of the terraqueous globe. + +Yet if, apart from all bravuras of rhetoric, Mr Bennett seriously presses +the question regarding Paradise as a question in geography, we are sorry +that we must vote against Ceylon, for the reason that heretofore we have +pledged ourselves in print to vote in favour of Cashmeer; which beautiful +vale, by the way, is omitted in Mr Bennett's list of the candidates for +that distinction already entered upon the roll. Supposing the Paradise of +Scripture to have had a local settlement upon our earth, and not in some +extra-terrene orb, even in that case we cannot imagine that any thing +could now survive, even so much as an angle or a curve, of its original +outline. All rivers have altered their channels; many are altering them +for ever.[16] Longitude and latitude might be assigned, at the most, if +even those are not substantially defeated by the Miltonic "pushing askance" +of the poles with regard to the equinoctial. But, finally, we remark, that +whereas human nature has ever been prone to the superstition of local +consecrations and personal idolatries, by means of memorial relics, +apparently it is the usage of God to hallow such remembrances by removing, +abolishing, and confounding all traces of their punctual identities. +_That_ raises them to shadowy powers. By that process such remembrances +pass from the state of base sensual signs, ministering only to a sensual +servitude, into the state of great ideas--mysterious as spirituality is +mysterious, and permanent as truth is permanent. Thus it is, and therefore +it is, that Paradise has vanished; Luz is gone; Jacob's ladder is found +only as an apparition in the clouds; the true cross survives no more among +the Roman Catholics than the true ark is mouldering upon Ararat; no +scholar can lay his hand upon Gethsemane; and for the grave of Moses the +son of Amram, mightiest of lawgivers, though it is somewhere near Mount +Nebo, and in a valley of Moab, yet eye has not been suffered to behold it, +and "no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day."[17] + + [16] See Dr Robison on _Rivers_. + + [17] Deut. xxxiv. 6. + +If, however as to Paradise in connexion with Ceylon we are forced to say +"_No_," if as to Taprobane in connexion with Ceylon we say both "_Yes_" +and "_No_,"--not the less we come back with a reiterated "_Yes, yes, yes_," +upon Ceylon as the crest and eagle's plume of the Indies, as the priceless +pearl, the ruby without a flaw, and (once again we say it) as the Pandora +of oriental islands. + +Yet ends so glorious imply means of corresponding power; and advantages so +comprehensive cannot be sustained unless by a machinery proportionately +elaborate. Part of this machinery lies in the miraculous climate of Ceylon. +Climate? She has all climates. Like some rare human favourite of nature, +scattered at intervals along the line of a thousand years, who has been +gifted so variously as to seem + + "Not one, but all mankind's epitome," + +Ceylon, in order that she might become capable of products without end, +has been made an abstract of the whole earth, and fitted up as a +_panorganon_ for modulating through the whole diatonic scale of climates. +This is accomplished in part by her mountains. No island has mountains so +high. It was the hideous oversight of a famous infidel in the last century, +that, in supposing an Eastern prince _of necessity_ to deny frost and ice +as things impossible to _his_ experience, he betrayed too palpably his own +non-acquaintance with the grand economies of nature. To make acquaintance +with cold, and the products of cold, obviously he fancied it requisite to +travel northwards; to taste of polar power, he supposed it indispensable +to have advanced towards the pole. Narrow was the knowledge in those days, +when a master in Israel might have leave to err thus grossly. Whereas, at +present, few are the people, amongst those not openly making profession of +illiteracy, who do not know that a sultan of the tropics--ay, though his +throne were screwed down by exquisite geometry to the very centre of the +equator--might as surely become familiar with winter by ascending three +miles in altitude, as by travelling three thousand horizontally. In that +way of ascent, it is that Ceylon has her regions of winter and her Arctic +districts. She has her Alps, and she has her alpine tracts for supporting +human life and useful vegetation. Adam's Peak, which of itself is more +than seven thousand feet high, (and by repute the highest range within her +shores,) has been found to rank only fifth in the mountain scale. The +highest is a thousand feet higher. The maritime district, which runs round +the island for a course of nine hundred miles, fanned by the sea-breezes, +makes, with these varying elevations, a vast cycle of secondary +combinations for altering the temperature and for _adapting_ the weather. +The central region has a separate climate of its own. And an inner belt of +country, neither central nor maritime, which from the sea belt is regarded +as inland, but from the centre is regarded as maritime, composes another +chamber of climates: whilst these again, each individually within its +class, are modified into minor varieties by local circumstances as to wind, +by local accidents of position, and by shifting stages of altitude. + +With all this compass of power, however, (obtained from its hills and its +varying scale of hills,) Ceylon has not much of waste ground, in the sense +of being irreclaimable--for of waste ground, in the sense of being +unoccupied, she has an infinity. What are the dimensions of Ceylon? Of all +islands in this world which we know, in respect of size it most resembles +Ireland, being about one-sixth part less. But, for a particular reason, we +choose to compare it with Scotland, which is very little different in +dimensions from Ireland, having (by some hundred or two of square miles) a +trifling advantage in extent. Now, say that Scotland contains a trifle more +than thirty thousand square miles, the relation of Ceylon to Scotland will +become apparent when we mention that this Indian island contains about +twenty-four thousand five hundred of similar square miles. Twenty-four and +a half to thirty--or forty-nine to sixty--there lies the ratio of Ceylon to +Scotland. The ratio in population is not less easily remembered: Scotland +has _now_ (October 1843) hard upon three millions of people: Ceylon, by a +late census, has just three _half_ millions. But strange indeed, where +every thing seems strange, is the arrangement of this Ceylonese territory +and people. Take a peach: what you call the flesh of the peach, the +substance which you eat, is massed orbicularly around a central +stone--often as large as a pretty large strawberry. Now in Ceylon, the +central district, answering to this peach-stone, constitutes a fierce +little Liliputian kingdom, quite independent, through many centuries, of +the lazy belt, the peach-flesh, which swathes and enfolds it, and perfectly +distinct by the character and origin of its population. The peach-stone is +called Kandy, and the people Kandyans. These are a desperate variety of the +tiger-man, agile and fierce as he is, though smooth, insinuating, and full +of subtlety as a snake, even to the moment of crouching for their last +fatal spring. On the other hand the people of the engirdling zone are +called the Cinghalese, spelled according to fancy of us authors and +compositors, who legislate for the spelling of the British empire, with an +S or a C. As to moral virtue, in the sense of integrity or fixed principle, +there is not much lost upon either race: in that point they are "much of a +muchness." They are also both respectable for their attainments in +cowardice; but with this difference, that the Cinghalese are soft, inert, +passive cowards: but your Kandyan is a ferocious little bloody coward, full +of mischief as a monkey, grinning with desperation, laughing like a hyena, +or chattering if you vex him, and never to be trusted for a moment. The +reader now understands why we described the Ceylonese man as a tiger-cat in +his noblest division: for, after all, these dangerous gentlemen in the +peach-stone are a more promising race than the silky and nerveless +population surrounding them. You can strike no fire out of the Cinghalese: +but the Kandyans show fight continually, and would even persist in +fighting, if there were in this world no gunpowder, (which exceedingly they +dislike,) and if their allowance of arrack were greater. + +Surely this is the very strangest spectacle exhibited on earth: a kingdom +within a kingdom, an _imperium in imperio_, settled and maintaining itself +for centuries in defiance of all that Pagan, that Mahommedan, that Jew, or +that Christian, could do. The reader will remember the case of the British +envoy to Geneva, who being ordered in great wrath to "quit the territories +of the republic in twenty-four hours," replied, "By all means: in ten +minutes." And here was a little bantam kingdom, not much bigger than the +irate republic, having its separate sultan, with full-mounted +establishment of peacock's feathers, white elephants, Moorish eunuchs, +armies, cymbals, dulcimers, and all kinds of music, tormentors, and +executioners; whilst his majesty crowed defiance across the ocean to all +other kings, rajahs, soldans, kesars, "flowery" emperors, and +"golden-feet," east or west, be the same more or less; and really with +some reason. For though it certainly _is_ amusing to hear of a kingdom no +bigger than Stirlingshire with the half of Perthshire, standing erect and +maintaining perpetual war with all the rest of Scotland, a little nucleus +of pugnacity, sixty miles by twenty-four, rather more than a match for the +lazy lubber, nine hundred miles long, that dandled it in its arms; yet, as +the trick was done, we cease to find it ridiculous. + +For the trick _was_ done: and that reminds us to give the history of +Ceylon in its two sections, which will not prove much longer than the +history of Tom Thumb. Precisely three centuries before Waterloo, viz. +_Anno Domini_ 1515, a Portuguese admiral hoisted his sovereign's flag, and +formed a durable settlement at Columbo, which was, and is, considered the +maritime capital of the island. Very nearly halfway on the interval of +time between this event and Waterloo, viz. in 1656 (ante-penultimate year +of Cromwell,) the Portuguese nation made over, by treaty, this settlement +to the Dutch; which, of itself, seems to mark that the sun of the former +people was now declining to the west. In 1796, now forty-seven years ago, +it arose out of the French revolutionary war--so disastrous for +Holland--that the Dutch surrendered it per force to the British, who are +not very likely to surrender it in _their_ turn on any terms, or at any +gentleman's request. Up to this time, when Ceylon passed under our flag, +it is to be observed that no progress whatever, not the least, had been +made in mastering the peach-stone, that old central nuisance of the island. +The little monster still crowed, and flapped his wings on his dunghill, as +had been his custom always in the afternoon for certain centuries. But +nothing on earth is immortal: even mighty bantams must have their decline +and fall; and omens began to show out that soon there would be a dust with +the new master at Columbo. Seven years after our _debut_ on that stage, +the dust began. By the way, it is perhaps an impertinence to remark it, +but there certainly _is_ a sympathy between the motions of the Kandyan +potentate and our European enemy Napoleon. Both pitched into _us_ in 1803, +and we pitched into both in 1815. That we call a coincidence. How the row +began was thus: some incomprehensible intrigues had been proceeding for a +time between the British governor or commandant, or whatever he might be, +and the Kandyan prime minister. This minister, who was a noticeable man, +with large grey eyes, was called _Pilamé Tilawé_. We write his name after +Mr Bennett: but it is quite useless to study the pronunciation of it, +seeing that he was hanged in 1812 (the year of Moscow)--a fact for which +we are thankful as often as we think of it. _Pil_. (surely _Tilawé_ cannot +be pronounced Garlic?) managed to get the king's head into Chancery, and +then fibbed him. Why Major-General M'Dowall (then commanding our forces) +should collude with Pil Garlic, is past our understanding. But so it was. +_Pil_. said that a certain prince, collaterally connected with the royal +house, by name Mootto Sawmé, who had fled to our protection, was, or might +be thought to be, the lawful king. Upon which the British general +proclaimed him. What followed is too shocking to dwell upon. Scarcely had +Mootto, apparently a good creature, been inaugurated, when _Pil_. proposed +his deposition, to which General M'Dowall consented, and his own (_Pil.'s_) +elevation to the throne. It is like a dream to say, that this also was +agreed to. King Pil. the First, and, God be thanked! the last, was raised +to the--_musnud_, we suppose, or whatsoever they call it in Pil.'s jargon. +So far there was little but farce; now comes the tragedy. A certain Major +Davie was placed with a very inconsiderable garrison in the capital of the +Kandyan empire, called by name Kandy. This officer, whom Mr Bennett +somewhere calls the "gallant," capitulated upon terms, and had the +inconceivable folly to imagine that a base Kandyan chief would think +himself bound by these terms. One of them was--that he (Major Davie) and +his troops should be allowed to retreat unmolested upon Columbo. +Accordingly, fully armed and accoutred, the British troops began their +march. At Wattépolowa a proposal was made to Major Davie, that Mootto +Sawmé (our _protégé_ and instrument) should be delivered up to the Kandyan +tiger. Oh! sorrow for the British name! he _was_ delivered. Soon after a +second proposal came, that the British soldiers should deliver up their +arms, and should march back to Kandy. It makes an Englishman shiver with +indignation to hear that even this demand was complied with. Let us pause +for one moment. Wherefore is it, that in all similar cases, in this +Ceylonese case, in Major Baillie's Mysore case, in the Cabool case, +uniformly the privates are wiser than their officers? In a case of +delicacy or doubtful policy, certainly the officers would have been the +party best able to solve the difficulties; but in a case of elementary +danger, where manners disappear, and great passions come upon the stage, +strange it is that poor men, labouring men, men without education, always +judge more truly of the crisis than men of high refinement. But this was +seen by Wordsworth--thus spoke he, thirty-six years ago, of Germany, +contrasted with the Tyrol:-- + + "Her haughty schools + Shall blush; and may not we with sorrow say-- + A few strong instincts, and a few plain rules, + Among the herdsmen of the Alps, have wrought + More for mankind at this unhappy day + Than all the pride of intellect and thought." + +The regiment chiefly concerned was the 19th, (for which regiment the word +_Wattépolowa_, the scene of their martyrdom, became afterwards a memorial +war-cry.) Still, to this hour, it forces tears of wrath into our eyes when +we read the recital of the case. A dozen years ago we first read it in a +very interesting book, published by the late Mr Blackwood--the Life of +Alexander. This Alexander was not personally present at the +bloody catastrophe; but he was in Ceylon at the time, and knew the one +sole fugitive[18] from that fatal day. The soldiers of the 19th, not even +in that hour of horror, forgot their discipline, or their duty, or their +respectful attachment to their officers. When they were ordered to ground +their arms, (oh, base idiot that could issue such an order!) they +remonstrated most earnestly, but most respectfully. Major Davie, agitated +and distracted by the scene, himself recalled the order. The men resumed +their arms. Alas! again the fatal order was issued; again it was recalled; +but finally, it was issued peremptorily. The men sorrowfully obeyed. We +hurry to the odious conclusion. In parties of twos and of threes, our +brave countrymen were called out by the horrid Kandyan tiger cats. +Disarmed by the frenzy of their moonstruck commander, what resistance +could they make? One after one the parties, called out to suffer, were +decapitated by the executioner. The officers, who had refused to give up +their pistols, finding what was going on, blew out their brains with their +own hands, now too bitterly feeling how much wiser had been the poor +privates than themselves. At length there was stillness on the field. +Night had come on. All were gone-- + + "And darkness was the buryer of the dead." + + [18] _Fugitive_, observe. There were some others, and amongst them + Major Davie, who, for private reasons, were suffered to survive as + prisoners. + +The reader may recollect a most picturesque murder near Manchester, about +thirteen or fourteen years ago, perpetrated by two brothers named McKean, +where a servant woman, whose throat had been effectually cut, rose up, +after an interval, from the ground at a most critical moment, (so critical, +that, by that act, and at that second of time, she drew off the murderer's +hand from the throat of a second victim,) staggered, in her delirium, to +the door of a room where sometime a club had been held, doubtless under +some idea of obtaining aid, and at the door, after walking some fifty feet, +dropped down dead. Not less astonishing was the resurrection, as it might +be called, of an English corporal, cut, mangled, remangled, and left +without sign of life. Suddenly he rose up, stiff and gory; dying and +delirious, as he felt himself, with misery from exhaustion and wounds, he +swam rivers, threaded enemies, and moving day and night, came suddenly +upon an army of Kandyans; here he prepared himself with pleasure for the +death that now seemed inevitable, when, by a fortunate accident, for want +of a fitter man, he was selected as an ambassador to the English officer +commanding a Kandyan garrison--and thus once more escaped miraculously. + +Sometimes, when we are thinking over the great scenes of tragedy through +which Europe passed from 1805 to 1815, suddenly, from the bosom of utter +darkness, a blaze of light arises; a curtain is drawn up; a saloon is +revealed. We see a man sitting there alone, in an attitude of alarm and +expectation. What does he expect? What is it that he fears? He is +listening for the chariot-wheels of a fugitive army. At intervals he +raises his head--and we know him now for the Abbé de Pradt--the place, +Warsaw--the time, early in December 1812. All at once the rushing of +cavalry is heard; the door is thrown open; a stranger enters. We see, as +in Cornelius Agrippa's mirror, his haggard features; it is a momentary +king, having the sign of a felon's death written secretly on his brow; it +is Murat; he raises his hands with a gesture of horror as he advances to M. +l'Abbé. We hear his words--_"L'Abbé, all is lost!"_ + +Even so, when the English soldier, reeling from his anguish and weariness, +was admitted into the beleaguered fortress, his first words, more homely +in expression than Murat's, were to the same dreadful purpose--"Your +honour," he said, "all is dished;" and this being uttered by way of +prologue, he then delivered himself of the message with which he had been +charged, and _that_ was a challenge from the Kandyan general to come out +and fight without aid from his artillery. The dismal report was just in +time; darkness was then coming on. The English officer spiked his guns; +and, with his garrison, fled by night from a fort in which else he would +have perished by starvation or by storm, had Kandyan forces been equal to +such an effort. This corporal was, strictly speaking, the only man who +_escaped_, one or two other survivors having been reserved as captives, +for some special reasons. Of this captive party was Major Davie, the +commander, whom Mr Bennett salutes by the title of "gallant," and regrets +that "the strong arm of death" had intercepted his apology. + +He could have made no apology. Plea or palliation he had none. To have +polluted the British honour in treacherously yielding up to murder (and +absolutely for nothing in return) a prince, whom we ourselves had seduced +into rebellion--to have forced his men and officers into laying down their +arms, and sueing for the mercy of wretches the most perfidious on earth; +these were acts as to which atonement or explanation was hopeless for +_him_, forgiveness impossible for England. So this man is to be called +"the gallant"--is he? We will thank Mr Bennett to tell us, who was that +officer subsequently seen walking about in Ceylon, no matter whether in +Western Columbo, or in Eastern Trincomalé, long enough for reaping his +dishonour, though, by accident, not for a court-martial? Behold, what a +curse rests in this British island upon those men, who, when the clock of +honour has sounded the hour for their departure, cannot turn their dying +eyes nobly to the land of their nativity--stretch out their hands to the +glorious island in farewell homage, and say with military pride--as even +the poor gladiators (who were but slaves) said to Cæsar, when they passed +his chair to their death "Morituri te salutamus!" This man and Mr Bennett +knows it, because he was incrusted with the leprosy of cowardice, and +because upon him lay the blood of those to whom he should have been _in +loco parentis_, made a solitude wherever he appeared, men ran from him as +from an incarnation of pestilence; and between him and free intercourse +with his countrymen, from the hour of his dishonour in the field, to the +hour of his death, there flowed a river of separation--there were +stretched lines of interdict heavier than ever Pope ordained--there +brooded a schism like that of death, a silence like that of the grave; +making known for ever the deep damnation of the infamy, which on this +earth settles upon the troubled resting-place of him, who, through +cowardice, has shrunk away from his duty, and, on the day of trial, has +broken the bond which bound him to his country. + +Surely there needed no arrear of sorrow to consummate this disaster. Yet +two aggravations there were, which afterwards transpired, irritating the +British soldiers to madness. One was soon reported, viz. that 120 sick or +wounded men, lying in an hospital, had been massacred without a motive, by +the children of hell with whom we were contending. The other was not +discovered until 1815. Then first it became known, that in the whole +stores of the Kandyan government, (_à fortiori_ then in the particular +section of the Kandyan forces which we faced,) there had not been more +gunpowder remaining at the hour of Major Davie's infamous capitulation +than 750 lbs. avoirdupois; other munitions of war having been in the same +state of bankruptcy. Five minutes more of resistance, one inspiration of +English pluck, would have placed the Kandyan army in our power--would have +saved the honour of the country--would have redeemed our noble +soldiers--and to Major Davie, would have made the total difference between +lying in a traitor's grave, and lying in Westminster Abbey. + +Was there no vengeance, no retribution, for these things? Vengeance there +was, but by accident. Retribution there was, but partial and remote. +Infamous it was for the English government at Columbo, as Mr Bennett +insinuates, that having a large fund disposable annually for secret +service, between 1796 and 1803, such a rupture _could_ have happened and +have found us unprepared. Equally infamous it was, that summary +chastisement was not inflicted upon the perfidious court of Kandy. What +_real_ power it had, when unaided by villainy amongst ourselves, was shown +in 1804, in the course of which year, one brave officer, Lieutenant +Johnstone of the 19th, with no more than 150 men, including officers, +marched right through the country, in the teeth of all opposition from the +king, and resolutely took[19] Kandy in his route. However, for the present, +without a shadow of a reason, since all reasons ran in the other direction, +we ate our leek in silence; once again, but now for the last time, the +bloody little bantam crowed defiance from his dunghill, and tore the +British flag with his spurs. What caused his ruin at last, was literally +the profundity of our own British humiliation; had _that_ been less, had +it not been for the natural reaction of that spectacle, equally hateful +and incredible, upon barbarian chief, as ignorant as he was fiendish, he +would have returned a civil answer to our subsequent remonstrances. In +that case, our government would have been conciliated; and the monster's +son, who yet lives in Malabar, would now be reigning in his stead. But +_Diis aliter visum est_--earth was weary of this Kandyan nuisance, and the +infatuation, which precipitated its doom, took the following shape. In +1814, certain traders, ten in number, not British but Cinghalese, and +therefore British subjects, entitled to British protection, were wantonly +molested in their peaceable occupations by this Kandyan king. Three of +these traders one day returned to our frontier wearing upon necklaces, +inextricably attached to their throats, their own ears, noses, and other +parts of their own persons, torn away by the pincers of the Kandyan +executioners. The seven others had sunk under their sufferings. Observe +that there had been no charge or imputation against these men, more or +less: _stet proratione voluntas_. This was too much even for our +all-suffering[20] English administration. They sent off a kind of +expostulation, which amounted to this--"How now, my good sir? What are you +up to?" Fortunately for his miserable subjects, (and, as this case showed, +by possibility for many who were _not_ such,) the vain-glorious animal +returned no answer; not because he found any diplomatic difficulty to +surmount, but in mere self glorification, and in pure disdain of _us_. +What a commentary was _that_ upon our unspeakable folly up to that hour! + + [19] "_Took_ Kandy in his route." This phrase is equivocal, it + bears two senses--the traveller's sense, and the soldier's. But + _we_ rarely make such errors in the use of words; the error is + original in the Government documents themselves. + + [20] Why were they "all-suffering?" will be the demand of the + reader, and he will doubt the fact simply because he will not + apprehend any sufficient motive. That motive we believe to have + been this: war, even just or necessary war, is costly; now, the + governor and his council knew that their own individual chances of + promotion were in the exact ratio of the economy which they could + exhibit. + +We are anxious that the reader should go along with the short remainder of +this story, because it bears strongly upon the true moral of our Eastern +policy, of which, hereafter, we shall attempt to unfold the casuistry, in +a way that will be little agreeable to the calumniators of Clive and +Hastings. We do not intend that these men shall have it all their own way +in times to come. Our Eastern rulers have erred always, and erred deeply, +by doing too little rather than too much. They have been _too_ +long-suffering; and have tolerated many nuisances, and many miscreants, +when their duty was--when their power was--to have destroyed them for ever. +And the capital fault of the East India Company--that greatest benefactor +for the East that ever yet has arisen--has been in not publishing to the +world the grounds and details of their policy. Let this one chapter in +that policy, this Kandyan chapter, proclaim how great must have been the +evils from which our "usurpations" (as they are called) have liberated the +earth. For let no man dwell on the rarity, or on the limited sphere, of +such atrocities, even in Eastern despotisms. If the act be rare, is not +the anxiety eternal? If the personal suffering be transitory, is not the +outrage upon human sensibilities, upon the majesty of human nature, upon +the possibilities of light, order, commerce, civilization, of a duration +and a compass to make the total difference between man viler than the +brutes, and man a little lower than the angels? + +It happened that the first noble, or "Adikar," of the Kandyan king, being +charged with treason at this time, had fled to our protection. That was +enough. Vengeance on _him_, in his proper person, had become impossible: +and the following was the vicarious vengeance adopted by God's vicegerent +upon earth, whose pastime it had long been to study the ingenuities of +malice, and the possible refinements in the arts of tormenting. Here +follows the published report on this one case:--"The ferocious miscreant +determined to be fully revenged, and immediately sentenced the Adikar's +wife and children, together with his brother and the brother's wife, to +death after the following fashion. The children were ordered to be +decapitated before their mother's face, and their heads to be pounded in a +rice-mortar by their mother's hands; which, to save herself from a +diabolical torture and exposure," (concealments are here properly +practised in the report, for the sake of mere human decency,) "she +submitted to attempt. The eldest boy shrunk (shrank) from the dread ordeal, +and clung to his agonized parent for safety; but his younger brother +stepped forward, and encouraged him to submit to his fate, placing himself +before the executioner by way of setting an example. The last of the +children to be beheaded was an infant at the breast, from which it was +forcibly torn away, and its mother's milk was dripping from its innocent +mouth as it was put into the hands of the grim executioner." Finally, the +Adikar's brother was executed, having no connexion (so much as alleged) +with his brother's flight; and then the two sisters-in-law, having stones +attached to their feet, were thrown into a tank. These be thy gods, O +Egypt! such are the processes of Kandyan law, such is its horrid religion, +and such the morality which it generates! And let it not be said, these +were the excesses of a tyrant. Man does not brutalize, by possibility, in +pure insulation. He gives, and he receives. It is by sympathy, by the +contagion of example, by reverberation of feelings, that every man's heart +is moulded. A prince, to have been such as this monster, must been bred +amongst a cruel people: a cruel people, as by other experience we know +them to be, naturally produce an inhuman prince, and such a prince +reproduces his own corrupters. + +Vengeance, however, was now at hand: a better and more martial governor, +Sir Robert Brownrigg, was in the field since 1812. On finding that no +answer was forthcoming, he marched with all his forces. But again these +were inadequate to the service; and once again, as in 1803, we were on the +brink of being sacrificed to the very lunacies of retrenchment. By a mere +godsend, more troops happened to arrive from the Indian continent. We +marched in triumphal ease to the capital city of Kandy. The wicked prince +fled: Major Kelly pursued him--to pursue was to overtake--to overtake was +to conquer. Thirty-seven ladies of his _zenana_, and his mother, were +captured elsewhere: and finally the whole kingdom capitulated by a solemn +act, in which we secured to it what we had no true liberty to secure, viz. +the _inviolability_ of their horrid idolatries. Render unto Cæsar the +things which are Cæsar's--but this was _not_ Cæsar's. Whether in some +other concessions, whether in volunteering certain civil privilages of +which the conquered had never dreamed, and which, for many a long year +they will not understand, our policy were right or wrong--may admit of +much debate. Often-times, but not always, it is wise and long-sighted +policy to presume in nations higher qualities than they have, and +developments beyond what really exist. But as to religion, there can be no +doubt, and no debate at all. To exterminate their filthy and bloody +abominations of creed and of ritual practice, is the first step to any +serious improvement of the Kandyan people: it is the _conditio sine quâ +non_ of all regeneration for this demoralized race. And what we ought to +have promised, all that in mere civil equity we had the right to promise; +was--that we would _tolerate_ such follies, would make no war upon such +superstitions as should not be openly immoral. One word more than this +covenant was equally beyond the powers of one party to that covenant, and +the highest interests of all parties. + +Philosophically speaking, this great revolution may not close perhaps for +centuries: historically, it closed about the opening of the Hundred Days +in the _annus mirabilis_ of Waterloo. On the 13th of February 1815, Kandy, +the town, was occupied by the British troops, never again to be resigned. +In March, followed the solemn treaty by which all parties assumed their +constitutional stations. In April, occurred the ceremonial part of the +revolution, its public notification and celebration, by means of a grand +processional entry into the capital, stretching for upwards of a mile; and +in January 1816, the late king, now formally deposed, "a stout, +good-looking Malabar, with a peculiarly keen and roving eye, and a +restlessness of manner, marking unbridled passions," was conveyed in the +governor's carriage to the jetty at Trincomalee, from which port H.M.S. +Mexico conveyed him to the Indian continent: he was there confined in the +fortress of Vellore, famous for the bloody mutiny amongst the Company's +sepoy troops, so bloodily suppressed. In Vellore, this cruel prince, whose +name was Sree Wickremé Rajah Singha, died some years after; and one son +whom he left behind him, born during his father's captivity, may still be +living. But his ambitious instincts, if any such are working within him, +are likely to be seriously baffled in the very outset by the precautions +of our diplomacy; for one article of the treaty proscribes the descendants +of this prince as enemies of Ceylon, if found within its precincts. In +this exclusion, pointed against a single family, we are reminded of the +Stuart dynasty in England, and the Bonaparte dynasty in France. We cannot, +however, agree with Mr Bennett's view of this parallelism--either in so +far as it points our pity towards Napoleon, or in so far as it points the +regrets of disappointed vengeance to the similar transportation of Sree. + +Pity is misplaced upon Napoleon, and anger is wasted upon Sree. He ought +to have been hanged, says Mr Bennett; and so said many of Napoleon. But it +was not our mission to punish either. The Malabar prince had broken no +faith with _us_: he acted under the cursed usages of a cruel people and a +bloody religion. These influences had trained a bad heart to corresponding +atrocities. Courtesy we did right to pay him, for our own sakes as a high +and noble nation. What we could not punish judicially, it did not become +us to revile. And finally, we much doubt whether hanging upon a tree, +either in Napoleon's case or Sree's, would not practically have been found +by both a happy liberation from that bitter cup of mortification which +both drank off in their latter years. + +At length, then, the entire island of Ceylon, about a hundred days before +Waterloo, had become ours for ever. Hereafter Ceylon must inseparably +attend the fortunes of India. Whosoever in the East commands the sea, must +command the southern empires of Asia; and he who commands those empires, +must for ever command the Oriental islands. One thing only remains to be +explained; and the explanation, we fear, will be harder to understand than +the problem: it is--how the Portuguese and Dutch failed, through nearly +three centuries, to master this little obstinate _nucleus_ of the peach. +It seems like a fairy tale to hear the answer: Sinbad has nothing wilder. +"They were," says Mr Bennett, "repeatedly masters of the capital." What +was it, then, that stopped them from going on? "At one period, the former +(_i.e._ the Portuguese) had conquered all but the impregnable position +called _Kandi Udda_." And what was it then that lived at Kandi Udda? The +dragon of Wantley? or the dun cow of Warwick? or the classical Hydra? No; +it was thus:--_Kandi_ was "in the centre of the mountainous region, +surrounded by impervious jungles, with secret approaches for only one man +at a time." Such tricks might have answered in the time of Ali Baba and +the forty thieves; but we suspect that, even then, an "_open sesame_" +would have been found for this pestilent defile. Smoking a cigar through +it, and dropping the sparks, might have done the business in the dry +season. But, in very truth, we imagine that political arrangements were +answerable for this long failure in checkmating the king, and not at all +the cunning passage which carried only one inside passenger. The +Portuguese permitted the Kandyan natives to enter their army; and that one +fact gives us a short solution of the case. For, as Mr Bennett observes, +the principal features of these Kandyans are merely "human imitations of +their own indigenous leopards--treachery and ferocity," as the +circumstances may allow them to profit by one or the other. Sugarcandy, +however, appears to have given very little trouble to _us_; and, at all +events, it is ours now, together with all that is within its gates. It is +proper, however, to add, that since the conquest of this country in 1815, +there have been three rebellions, viz. in 1817-18, in 1834, and finally in +1842. This last comes pretty well home to our own times and concerns; so +that we naturally become curious as to the causes of such troubles. The +two last are said to have been inconsiderable in their extent. But the +earlier of the three, which broke out so soon after the conquest as 1817, +must, we conceive, have owed something to intrigues promoted on behalf of +the exiled king. His direct lineal descendants are excluded, as we have +said, from the island for ever; but his relatives, by whom we presume to +be meant his _cognati_ or kinspeople in the female line, not his _agnati_, +are allowed to live in Kandy, suffering only the slight restriction of +confinement to one street out of five, which compose this ancient +metropolis. Meantime, it is most instructive to hear the secret account of +those causes which set in motion this unprincipled rebellion. For it will +thus be seen how hopeless it is, under the present idolatrous superstition +of Ceylon, to think of any attachment in the people, by means of good +government, just laws, agriculture promoted, or commerce created. More +stress will be laid, by the Ceylonese, on our worshipping a carious tooth +two inches long, ascribed to the god Buddha, (but by some to an +ourang-outang,) than to every mode of equity, good faith, or kindness. It +seems that the Kandyans and we reciprocally misunderstood the ranks, +orders, precedencies, titular distinctions, and external honours attached +to them in our several nations. But none are so deaf as those that have no +mind to hear. And we suspect that our honest fellows of the 19th Regiment, +whose comrades had been murdered in their beds by the cursed Kandyan +"nobles," neither did nor would understand the claim of such assassins to +military salutes, to the presenting of arms, or to the turning out of the +guard. Here, it is said, began the ill-blood, and also on the claim of the +Buddhist priests to similar honours. To say the simple truth, these +soldiers ought not to have been expected to show respect towards the +murderers of their brethren. The priests, with their shaven crowns and +yellow robes, were objects of mere mockery to the British soldier. "Not to +have been kicked," it should have been said, "is gain; not to have been +cudgeled, is for you a ground of endless gratitude. Look not for salutes; +dream not of honours." For our own part--again we say it--let the +government look a-head for endless insurrections. We tax not the rulers of +Ceylon with having caused the insurrections. We hold them blameless on +that head; for a people so fickle and so unprincipled will never want such +matter for rebellion as would be suspected, least of all, by a wise and +benevolent man. But we _do_ tax the local government with having +ministered to the possibility of rebellion. We British have not sowed the +ends and objects of conspiracies; but undoubtedly, by our lax +administration, we have sowed the _means_ of conspiracies. We must not +transfer to a Pagan island our own mild code of penal laws: the subtle +savage will first become capable of these, when he becomes capable of +Christianity. And to this we must now bend our attention. Government must +make no more offerings of musical clocks to the Pagan temples; for such +propitiations are understood by the people to mean--that we admit their +god to be naturally stronger than ours. Any mode or measure of excellence +but that of power, they understand not, as applying to a deity. Neither +must our government any longer wink at such monstrous practices as that of +children ejecting their dying parents, in their last struggles, from the +shelter of their own roofs, on the plea that death would pollute their +dwellings. Such compliances with Paganism, make Pagans of ourselves. Nor, +again, ought the professed worship of devils to be tolerated, more than +the Fetish worship, or the African witchcraft, was tolerated in the West +Indies. Having, at last, obtained secure possession of the entire island, +with no reversionary fear over our heads, (as, up to Waterloo, we always +had,) that possibly at a general peace we might find it diplomatically +prudent to let it return under Dutch possession, we have no excuse for any +longer neglecting the jewel in our power. We gave up to Holland, through +unwise generosity, already one splendid island, viz. Java. Let one such +folly suffice for one century. + +For the same reason--namely, the absolute and undivided possession which +we now hold of the island--it is at length time that our home government +should more distinctly invite colonists, and make known the unrivaled +capabilities of this region. So vast are our colonial territories, that +for every class in our huge framework of society we have separate and +characteristic attractions. In some it is chiefly labour that is wanted, +capital being in excess. In others these proportions are reversed. In some +it is great capitalists that are wanted for the present; in others almost +exclusively small ones. Now, in Ceylon, either class will be welcome. It +ought also to be published every where, that immediately after the +conquest of Kandy, the government entered upon the Roman career of +civilization, and upon that also which may be considered peculiarly +British. Military roads were so carried as to pierce and traverse all the +guilty fastnesses of disease, and of rebellion by means of disease. +Bridges, firmly built of satin-wood, were planted over every important +stream. The Kirimé canal was completed in the most eligible situation. The +English institution of mail-coaches was perfected in all parts of the +island. At this moment there are three separate modes of itinerating +through the island--viz., by mail-coach, by buggy, or by palanquin; to say +nothing of the opportunities offered at intervals, along the maritime +provinces, for coasting by ships or boats. To the botanist, the +mineralogist, the naturalist, the sportsman, Ceylon offers almost a +virgin Eldorado. To a man wishing to combine the lucrative pursuits of the +colonist with the elegances of life, and with the comforts of compatriot +society, not (as in Australia, or in American back settlements) to weather +the hardships of Robinson Crusoe, the invitations from the infinite +resources of Ceylon are past all count or estimate. "For my own part," +says Mr Bennett, who is _now_ a party absolutely disinterested, "having +visited all but the northern regions of the globe, I have seen nothing to +equal this incomparable country." Here a man may purchase land, with +secure title, and of a good tenure, at five shillings the acre; this, at +least, is the upset price, though in some privileged situations it is +known to have reached seventeen shillings. A house may be furnished in the +Morotto style, and with luxurious contrivances for moderating the heat in +the hotter levels of the island, at fifty pounds sterling. The native +furniture is both cheap and excellent in quality, every way superior, +intrinsically, to that which, at five times the cost, is imported from +abroad. Labour is pretty uniformly at the rate of six-pence English for +twelve hours. Provisions of every sort and variety are poured out in +Ceylon from an American _cornucopia_ of some Saturnian age. Wheat, +potatoes, and many esculent plants, or fruits, were introduced by the +British in the great year, (and for this island, in the most literal sense, +the era of a new earth and new heavens)--the year of Waterloo. From that +year dates, for the Ceylonese, the day of equal laws for rich and poor, +the day of development out of infant and yet unimproved advantages; +finally--if we are wise, and they are docile--the day of a heavenly +religion displacing the _avowed_ worship of devils, and giving to the +people a new nature, a new heart, and hopes as yet not dawning upon their +dreams. How often has it been said by the vile domestic calumniators of +British policy, by our own anti-national deceivers, that if tomorrow we +should leave India, no memorial would attest that ever we had been there. +Infamous falsehood! damnable slander! Speak, Ceylon, to _that_. True it is, +that the best of our gifts--peace, freedom, security, and a new standard +of public morality--these blessings are like sleep, like health, like +innocence, like the eternal revolutions of day and night, which sink +inaudibly into human hearts, leaving behind (as sweet vernal rains) no +flaunting records of ostentation and parade; we are not the nation of +triumphal arches and memorial obelisks; but the sleep, the health, the +innocence, the grateful vicissitudes of seasons, reproduce themselves in +fruits and products enduring for generations, and overlooked by the +slanderer only because they are too diffusive to be noticed as +extraordinary, and benefiting by no light of contrast, simply because our +own beneficence has swept away the ancient wretchedness that could have +furnished that contrast. Ceylon, of itself, can reply victoriously to such +falsehoods. Not yet fifty years have we held this island; not yet thirty +have we had the _entire_ possession of the island; and (what is more +important to a point of this nature) not yet thirty have we had that +secure possession which results from the consciousness that our government +is not meditating to resign it. Previously to Waterloo, our tenure of +Ceylon was a provisional tenure. With the era of our Kandyan conquest +coincides the era of our absolute appropriation, signed and countersigned +for ever. The arrangements, of that day at Paris, and by a few subsequent +Congresses of revision, are like the arrangements of Westphalia in +1648--valid until Christendom shall be again convulsed to her foundations. +From that date is, therefore, justly to be inaugurated our English career +of improvement. Of the roads laid open through the island, we have spoken. +The attempts at improvement of the agriculture and horticulture furnish +matter already for a romance, if told of any other than this wonderful +labyrinth of climates. The openings for commercial improvement are not +less splendid. It is a fact infamous to the Ceylonese, that an island, +which might easily support twenty millions of people, has been liable to +famine, not unfrequently, with a population of fifteen hundred thousand. +This has already ceased to be a possibility: is _that_ a blessing of +British rule? Not only many new varieties of rice have been introduced, +and are now being introduced, adapted to opposite extremes of weather: and +soil--some to the low grounds warm and abundantly irrigated, some to the +dry grounds demanding far less of moisture--but also other and various +substitutes have been presented to Ceylon. Manioc, maize, the potato, the +turnip, have all been cultivated. Mr Bennett himself would, in ancient +Greece, have had many statues raised to his honour for his exemplary +bounties of innovation. The food of the people is now secure. And, as +regard their clothing or their exports, there is absolutely no end to the +new prospects opened before them by the English. Is _cotton_ a British +gift? Is sugar? Is coffee? We are not the men lazily and avariciously to +anchor our hopes on a pearl fishery; we rouse the natives to cultivate +their salt fish and shark fisheries. Tea will soon be cultivated more +hopefully than in Assam. Sugar, coffee, cinnamon, pepper, are all +cultivated already. Silk worms and mulberry-trees were tried with success, +and opium with _virtual_ success, (though in that instance defeated by an +accident,) under the auspices of Mr Bennett. Hemp (and surely it is +wanted?) will be introduced abundantly: indigo is not only grown in plenty, +but it appears that a beautiful variety of indigo, a violet-coloured +indigo, exists as a weed in Ceylon. Finally, in the running over hastily +the _summa genera_ of products by which Ceylon will soon make her name +known to the ends of the earth, we may add, that salt provisions in every +kind, of which hitherto Ceylon did not furnish an ounce, will now be +supplied redundantly; the great mart for this will be in the vast bosom of +the Indian ocean; and at the same time we shall see the scandal wiped +away--that Ceylon, the headquarters of the British navy in the East, could +not supply a cock-boat in distress with a week's salt provisions, from her +own myriads of cattle, zebus, buffaloes, or cows. + +Ceylon has this one disadvantage for purposes of theatrical effect; she is +like a star rising heliacally, and hidden in the blaze of the sun: any +island, however magnificent, becomes lost in the blaze of India. But +_that_ does not affect the realities of the case. She has _that_ within +which passes show. Her one calamity is in the laziness of her native +population; though in this respect the Kandyans are a more hopeful race +than the Cinghalese. But the evil for both is, that they want the +_motives_ to exertion. These will be created by a new and higher +civilization. Foreign labourers will also be called for; a mixed race will +succeed in the following generations; and a mixed breed in man is always +an improved breed. Witness every where the people of colour contrasted +with the blacks. Then will come the great race between man indefinitely +exalted, and glorious tropical nature indefinitely developed. Ceylon will +be born again, in our hands she will first answer to the great summons of +nature; and will become, in fact, what by Providential destiny, she +is--the queen lotus of the Indian seas, and the Pandora of islands. + + * * * * * + + + + +COMMERCIAL POLICY. + +SHIPS, COLONIES, AND COMMERCE. + + +In our September number, we succeeded in establishing the fact, upon the +best official records which could be accessible either to ourselves or to +Mr Cobden, that the renowned Leaguer had magnified that portion of the +army estimates, or expenditure, falling properly under the lead of +colonial charge, by about thirty-five per cent beyond its real amount, as +tested _seriatim_ and starting upon his own arithmetical elements of gross +numbers and values. We arrived at the truth by the careful process of +dissecting, analysing, and classifying, under each colonial head, the +various items of which his gross sum of aggregates must necessarily be +composed; and the result was, that of the _four millions and a-half +sterling_, with such dauntless assurance set down as the proportion of +army charge incurred for the colonies by the parent state, it was found, +and proved in detail by official returns, colony by colony, and summed up +in tabular array at the close, that the very conscientiously calculating +Leaguer had made no scruple, under his lumping system, of overlaying +colonial trade with upwards of one million and a half of army expenditure, +one million and a quarter of which, in all probability, appertaining to, +and forming part of the cost nationally at which foreign trade was carried +on. The cunning feat was bravely accomplished by ranging Gibraltar, Malta, +&c. &c., as trading and producing colonies, for the purpose of swelling +out the colonial army cost; whilst, to complete the cheat cleverly, they +were again turned to account in his comparative statistics of foreign and +colonial trade, to the detriment of the latter, by carrying all the +commerce with, or through them, to the credit of foreign trade. This was +ringing the changes to one tune with some effect, for the time being--and +so astutely timed and intended, that no discussion could be taken in the +House of Commons upon the informal motion, serving as the peg on which to +hang the prepared speech of deceptive figures and assertions inflicted on +the House the 22d of June last; whilst thus, as the Leaguer shrewdly +anticipated, it might run uncontroverted for months to come until another +session, and, through _Anti-Corn-Law circulars_ and tracts of the League, +do the dirty work of the time for which concocted, when no matter how +consigned and forgotten afterwards among the numberless other lies of the +day, fabricated by the League. Unluckily for the crafty combination, +_Blackwood_ was neither slow to detect, nor tardy in unmasking, the +premeditated imposture, the crowning and final points of which we now +propose to deal with and demolish. Betwixt the relative importance in the +cost, and in the profit and loss sense, of foreign and colonial trade, on +which the question of the advantages or disadvantages attending the +possession or retention of colonies is made exclusively to hinge, with a +narrow-mindedness incapable of appreciating the other high political and +social interests, the moral and religious considerations, moreover, +involved--we shall now proceed with the task of arbitrating and striking +the balance. If that balance should little correspond with the bold and +unscrupulous allegations of Mr Cobden--if it should be found to derogate +from the assumed super-eminence of the foreign trading interest over the +colonial, let it be remembered that the invidious discussion was not +raised by us, nor by any member of the Legislature who can rightfully be +classed as the representative of great national and constitutional +principles; that the distinction and disjunction of interests, both +national, with the absurd attempt unduly to elevate the one by unjustly +depreciating the other, is the work of the League alone, which, having +originated the senseless cry of "class interests," would seem doggedly +determined to establish the fact, _per fas et nefas_, as the means of +funding and perpetuating class divisions. + + In our last number, we left Mr Cobden's sum + total of army expenditure for colonial + account charged by him, at L.4,500,000 + + Reduced by deductions for military and other + stations, maintained for the protection + and promotion of foreign trade, for the + suppression of slave dealing, and as penal + colonies, in the total amount of-- 1,550,000 + ---------- + To apparent colonial charge, -- L.2,950,000 + +We have, however, to reform this statement, so far as Mr Cobden's basis +upon which founded. Accustomed to his blunders undesigned and mistatements +intentional as we are, it is not always easy to ascertain their extent at +the moment. Thus, the army estimates for 1843, amounting to L.6,225,000 in +the whole, as he states, include a charge of, say about L.2,300,000 for +"half-pay, pensions, superannuations, &c.," for upwards of 80,000 officers +and men. This fact it suited his convenience to overlook. Now, of this +number of men it is not perhaps too much to assume, that more than +one-half consists of the noble wreck and remainder of those magnificent +armies led to victory by the illustrious Wellington, but certainly not in +the colonies, and the present cost of half-pay and invaliding not +therefore chargeable to colonial account. It may be taken for granted, +that at least to the amount of L.1,300,000 should be placed against +ancient foreign service, separate from colonial; whilst, for the balance, +home, foreign, and colonial service since the war may be admitted to enter +in certain proportions each. Deducting, in the first place, from the total +estimates of, say + + L.6,225,000 + + The "dead-weight" of pensions, &c., 2,300,000 + ---------- + + We have, as expenditure for military force on + foot, L.3,925,000, but say-- L.4,000,000 + + Taking the Cobden dictum of three-fourths of + this charge for the colonies, we have in + round numbers, say-- 3,000,000 + ---------- + + And the incredibly absurd sum left for home + and foreign service of L.1,000,000 + +As we have, in our last number, established deductions from the gross sum +of L.4,500,000 put down to the colonies by Mr Cobden, to the amount of +L.1,550,000, we shall now remodel our table thus:-- + + + To colonial account, as per Mr Cobden, of + active force,-- L.3,000,000 + + Add colonial proportion of half-pay, + pensions, &c., as per id., three-fourths + of L.1,000,000 750,000 + ---------- L.3,750,000 + + Deduct military and other stations, falsely + called colonial, as per former account,-- L.1,550,000 + + Deduct again charges for the Chinese war, + exact amount unknown, deceptively included + in colonial account--say for only 250,000 + --------- 1,800,000 + ---------- + + Approximate, but still surcharged proportion of + army estimates for colonial service, on Mr + Cobden's absurd basis of three-fourths, L.1,950,000 + +This is a woful falling off from Mr Cobden's wholesale colonial invoice of +_four and a half millions sterling_! It amounts to a discount or rebate +upon his statistical ware of L.2,550,000, or say, not far short of sixty +per cent. Had the Leaguer been in the habit of dealing cotton wares to his +customers, so damaged in texture or colours as are his wares political and +economical, we are inclined to conceit, that he would long since have +arrived at the _finiquito de todas cuentas_. + +We now come to his naval cost of colonies, with a margin for ordnance as +well. On this head, Mr Cobden remarks, with much sagacity--and, for once, +Mr Cobden states one fact in which we may agree with him:--"But the +colonies had no ships to form a navy. The mother country had to send them +ships to guard their territories, which were not paid for by the colonies, +but out of the taxation of this country. The navy estimates for this year +amounted to L.6,322,000. He had no means of ascertaining what proportion +of this large amount was required for their colonies; but a very large +proportion of it was taken for the navy in their colonies. The ordnance +estimate was L.1,849,142, a large share of which was required for their +colonial expenditure. The House would find, that from the lowest estimate, +from L.5,000,000 to L.6,000,000 out of the taxes of this country were +required for maintaining their colonial army and navy." True it is, the +colonies have no ships of war; true, the navy expenses count for the +gigantic sum stated--in the estimates at least, and estimates seldom fall +short, however budgets may; true, also, that ordnance is the heavy item +represented. And we also are without the means for any, not to say +accurate, but fair approximative estimate of the proportion of this +expenditure which may be incurred for, and duly chargeable against the +colonies. In the case of the army, as we have shown, the possession and +facilities of reference to documents, enabled us to resolve Mr Cobden's +bill of totals, in one line, into the elements of which composed, to +classify the items under distinct heads, and so to detect the errors, and +redress the balance of his own account. The authorities, of official origin +mostly, to which we had recourse, were equally open to Cobden, had he been +actuated by an anxious desire to arrive at the truth, earnest in his +enquiries after the means of information, laborious in his investigations, +and, beyond all, with honesty of purpose resolved nothing to withhold, nor +aught to set down in malice, as the result of his researches. +Unfortunately, the navy is not a stationary body, as the army may be said +to be; squadrons are not fixtures like corps in garrison; here to-day and +gone to morrow. The naval strength on the various stations, never +permanent, escapes calculation, as the due apportionment of expenditure +between each, and again of the quotas corresponding to the colonies or to +foreign commerce alone, defies any approach to accurate analysis. But we +have at least common observation and common sense to satisfy us that but a +small proportion of the naval outlay can be justly laid to colonial +account, because so unimportant a proportion of the naval armament afloat, +can be required for colonial service or defence. We have, assuredly, a +certain number of gun-boats and schooners on the Canadian lakes, which are +purely for colonial purposes; and we may have some half-a-dozen vessels of +war prowling about the St Lawrence and the British American waters, which +may range under the colonial category. Wherever else our eyes be cast, it +would be difficult to find one colony, east or west, which can be said to +need, or gratuitously to be favoured with, a naval force for protection. +We have a naval station at Halifax chargeable colonially. We have also a +naval station, with headquarters at Jamaica, but certainly that forms no +part of a colonial appendage. The whole of the force on that station is +employed either in cruizing after slavers, and assisting to put down the +slave trade, or it is hovering about the shores of the Spanish Main and +the Gulf of Mexico, for the protection of British foreign commerce, for +redressing the wrongs to British subjects and interests in Colombia, +Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, or Hayti, or for conveying foreign specie and +bullion from those countries for the behoof of British merchants at home. +We have a naval station at the Cape of Good Hope, with the maintenance of +which, that colony, Australia, New Zealand, &c., may be partly debited. +And we have a naval station in India, the expense of which, so far as +required for that great colonial empire, is, we believe, borne entirely by +India herself. But by far the largest proportion of the expense is +incurred, as the great bulk of the force is destined, for the protection +of foreign commerce in the Indian and Chinese seas. + +If we are to seek where the British navy is really to be found and heard +of in masses, we have only to voyage to Brazil, where whole squadrons +divide their occupations betwixt coursing slavers and waiting upon foreign +commerce. Further south, we find the River Plate blocked up with British +war ships, watching over the interests of British commerce, and +interposing betwixt the lives and properties of thousands of British +subjects, and the unslaked thirst of the daggers of Rosas and his +sanguinary _Mas-horcas_, that Ægis flag before which the most fearless +and ferocious have quailed, and quail yet. So also, rounding Cape Horn, +traversing the vast waters of the Great Pacific, the British ensign may +ever be met, and swarming, too, on those west and northwestern coasts of +Spanish America, where, as from Bolivia to California, war and anarchy +eternal seem to reign. Assuredly, no colonial interests, and as little do +political combinations, carry to those far off regions, and there keep, +such large detachments of the British fleet. Nearer home we need not +signalize the Mediterranean and Levant, where British navies range as if +hereditary owners of those seas nor the western coasts of Spain, along +which duly cruise our men-of-war, keeping watch and ward; certainly in +neither one case nor the other for colonial objects. + +From this sweep over the seas, it may readily be gathered how +comparatively insignificant the proportion in which the British colonies +are amenable for the cost of the British navy; and, on the contrary, how +large the cost incurred for the guardianship of the foreign commerce of +Great Britain. In the absence of those authentic data which would warrant +the construction of approximate estimates, we are willing, however, as +before, to accept the basis of Mr Cobden's--not calculations, but--rough +guesses; and as the colonial share of army, navy, and ordnance estimates +altogether, he taxes in "from five to six millions," of which four and a +half millions, according to a previous statement of his, were for the army +alone, we arrive at the simple fact, that the navy and ordnance are rated +rather widely at a cost ranging from half a million to one million and a +half sterling per annum. The mean term of this would be three quarters of +a million; but truth may afford to be liberal, and so we throw in the +other quarter, and debit the colonies with one million sterling for naval +service, which, so far as isolated sections of the great body political, +they can hardly be said, with exceptions noted before, either to receive +or need. We have before, and we believe conclusively, disposed of Mr +Cobden's colonial army estimates; and now we arrive at the total burden, +under the weight of which the empire staggers on colonial account. + + Army charge, L.1,950,000, but say L.2,000,000 + Navy and Ordnance, 1,000,000 + ---------- + Total to Colonial debit, L.3,000,000 + +Mr Cobden enumerates a variety of expenditure against the colonies besides, +under the head of civil establishments, public works, and grants for +educational and religious purposes. We need not--there is no occasion to +discuss these minutiæ with him; we prefer to make him a bargain at once, +and so we throw in, against these civil contingencies for the colonies, the +whole lump of the estimates for the diplomatic and consular service, Dr +Bowring's commissionerships inclusive; all the charges for civil +government, education, religion, public works, &c., besides of those +stations, such as Gibraltar, Malta, the Ionian Isles, Singapore, Penang, +&c., occupied altogether, or chiefly, for the purposes of foreign commerce, +partially from political views, but assuredly not at all with reference to +colonial objects. If he be not content with this bargain of a set-off, we +are quite ready to call over the account with him at any time, crediting +him not more liberally than justly besides, with all the prodigal waste +imposed upon the country by the colonial imposture facetiously styled the +"self-supporting system," in his smart exposure of which our sympathies are +all with him, zealous advocates though we be of colonization, of +colonization on a national scale moreover, and therefore on a national and +commensurate scale of expenditure; which, however, can only be undertaken +by the government when the fiat of financial insolvency which, with the +Exchequer bill fraud, was the last legacy of Mr Spring Rice and Lord +Monteagle, shall be superseded, and the Treasury rehabilitated, and then +only by slow degrees, but sure. An individual may, perchance, thrive upon +an imposture, a government never; the late Ministry are the living evidence +of the truth. We can comprehend "self-supporting colonization" in the +individual sense of the pioneers and backwoodsmen of the United States; in +the "squatting" upon wild lands in Canada and the West Indies; in the +settlement of isolated adventurers among the savages of New Zealand; but +the "self-supporting" settlement of communities, or, as more fancifully +expressed, of "society in frame," is just as sound in principle, and as +possible in practice, as would be the calculation of the Canadian +shipwright, who should nail together a mass of boards and logs as a +leviathan lumber ship for the transport of timber, on the calculation that +at the end of the voyage it would be rated A1 at Lloyd's, or grow into the +solid power and capacity of a first-rate Indiaman, or man-of-war. We all +know that such timber floaters went to wreck in the first gale on our +coasts; the crews, indeed, did not always perish, they were only tossed +about at the mercy of the winds and waves with the wooden lumber which +would not sink, so long as hunger and helplessness did not disable hands +and limbs from holding fast. And just so with the "self-supporting system +of colonization." + +Having ascertained, upon bases laid down by Mr Cobden himself, but without +adopting his slashing unproved totals, the extent to which colonial trade +is criminally accessory to the financial burdens of the United Kingdom, +(not, by the way, of the empire of which they form a component part,) it +behoves us now to establish the proportion in which we are taxed for +foreign trade, for there is clearly more than one vulture preying upon the +vitals of this unhappy land. + +We established, in our September number, an army cost of about L.1,200,000 +against foreign trade for Gibraltar, Malta, the Ionian Islands, Singapore, +Penang, &c. We may add, as a very low valuation, in the absence of +accounts, L.250,000 more for the war with China. Of the estimates for the +navy, L.6,322,000, and ordnance, L.1,849,000--total, L.8,175,000;--we are +fully entitled to charge about three-eighths to foreign commerce, or say +L.3,000,000. The numerous and extensive naval stations kept up for the +protection of our foreign commerce exclusively, together with the +Mediterranean, Levant, and Spanish coast naval expenditure, to no +inconsiderable extent for the same object, will sufficiently justify this +estimate. We have apportioned one million of the naval and ordnance +estimates for colonial purposes; one million more may be safely placed to +the account of the slave trade; the remainder, L.3,175,000, is certainly +an ample allowance for home naval stations, Channel fleet, if there be any, +Mediterranean and other naval armaments, so far as for political objects +only. We remain, therefore, for foreign trade with-- + + Garrisons, Gibraltar, &c., and reliefs at home, L.1,200,000 + War with China, 250,000 + Navy and Ordnance, 3,000,000 + ----------- + Total cost of foreign trade, L.4,450,000 + Id. colonial, as before stated, 3,000,000 + ----------- + Excess foreign, L.1,450,000 + +This excess might justly be swelled to at least half a million more by a +surcharge of army expenditure in China; of navy expenditure on foreign +stations, that for China is not taken into account at all; and in respect +of various other items of smaller consideration, separately, although in +the aggregate of consideration, the account might still more be aggravated. +There would be some difficulty, it must be allowed, in clearly +disinvolving them from masses of general statements, although for an +approximate valuation it might not amount to an impossibility; we prefer, +however, to leave Mr Cobden in possession of all the advantages we cannot +make a clear title to. The advantages, indeed, are of dubious title, and +something of the same kind as the entry into a house of which the owner +cannot be found, or of which he cannot lay his hands on the title-deeds. + +We have now disposed of the preposterous exaggerations of the +anti-colonial school, so far as that school can be said to be represented +by Mr Alderman Cobden, under the head of colonial cost to the metropolitan +state. We have reduced his amount of that cost to its fair approximate +proportions, item by item, of gross charge, so far as we are enabled by +those parliamentary or colonial documents, possessing the character of +official or quasi-official origin. We have necessarily followed up this +portion of our vindication of the colonies from unjust aspersions by a +concurrent enquiry into the cost at which our foreign trade is carried on, +in the national sense of the military, naval, and other establishments +required and kept up for its protection and encouragement. And, finally, +we have struck the balance between the two, the results of which are +already before the public. + +There remains one other essential part of the duty we have undertaken to +fulfill. It is true that it did not suit the purposes of Mr Cobden to +enter himself into any investigation of the comparative profitableness of +foreign and colonial commerce, nor did he, doubtless, desire to provoke +such an investigation on the part of others. With the cunning of a +prejudiced partizan, he was content to skim superficially the large +economical question he had not scrupled to raise from the depths of +discomfiture and oblivion, in which abandoned by the colonial detractors, +his predecessors, who had tried their art to conjure "spirits from the +vasty deep," which would not come when they did "call for them." With +gross numerical proportions apparently in his favour, but well-grounded +convictions that more might be discovered than met the eye, or squared +with the desire, should the component elements of those proportions be +respectively submitted to the process of dissection, he preferred to leave +the tale half told, the subject less than half discussed, rather than +challenge the certain exposure of the fallacious assumptions on which he +had reconstructed a seemingly plausible, but really shallow dogma. A +foreign export trade of thirty-five millions he wished the world to +believe must represent, proportionally, a larger amount of profit, than +sixteen millions of colonial export trade; that the difference, in fact, +would be as thirty-five to sixteen, and so, according to his Cockerian +rule of calculation, it should be. But, it is said and agreed, that two +and two do not always make four, as in the present case will be verified. +We may, indeed, place the matter beyond dispute, by a homely illustration +level to every man's capacity. For example, a Manchester banker, dealing +in money, shall turn over in discounts and accounts-current, with a +capital of L.100,000, the sum of one million sterling per annum. As he +charges interest in current-account at the rate of 5 per cent, so he +allows the same. His profit, therefore, _quoad_ the interest on +current-accounts and balances in hand, is _nil_; but for the trouble of +managing accounts and for discounts, his charge is five shillings per +L.100. In lending out his capital, he realises five per cent more upon +that. But the return upon capital embarked, say, in the cotton manufacture, +is calculated, at the least, at an average of fifteen per cent. What, then, +are the relative profit returns upon the same sum-total of operations for +the banker and manufacturer? + + Manufacturer's Balance Sheet. + On Capital. +Operations, L.1,000,000 Capital, L.100,000 Profit, 15 per cent, L.15,000 + + Banker's Balance Sheet. +Operations, L.1,000,000 Profit thereon, 5s. per L.100, L.2500 +Capital, 100,000 Interest thereon, 5 per cent, 5000 + Return on Capital, ------ 7,500 + -------- + Excess manufacturing profit, L.7500 + +That is, double the amount, or, as rateably may be said, 100 per cent +greater profit for the manufacturer than the banker. Now, what is true +of banking and commerce, may be--often is, true of one description of +commerce, as compared with another. + +It is not meant to be inferred, however, that applied to colonial trade, +as compared with foreign trade, the analogy holds good to all the extent; +but that it does in degree, there can be no doubt, and we are prepared to +show. It will, we know, be urged, that there can be no two _sale_ prices +for the same commodity in the same market, a dictum we are not disposed to +impugn; but we shall not so readily subscribe to the doctrine, that the +prices in the home and colonial markets are absolutely controlled and +equalized by those of the foreign market. This is a rule absolute, not +founded in truth, but contradicted by every day's experience. It would be +equally correct to assert, that the lower rates of labour in the European +foreign market, or the higher rates in the North American, controlled and +equalized in the one sense, and in the other opposing, the rates in this +country, than which no assertion could be more irreconcilable with fact. +Prices and labour rates elsewhere, exercise an influence doubtless, and +would have more in the absence of other conditions and counteracting +influences, partly arising from natural, partly from artificially created +causes. Prices, in privileged home and colonial markets, cannot generally +fall to the same level as in foreign neutral markets, or, as in foreign +protected markets, where the rates of labour are low. Keen as is the +competition in the privileged home and colonial trade among the domestic +and entitled manufacturers themselves, it will hardly be denied that +larger as well as more steady profits are realized from those trades than +from the foreign and fluctuating trade, exposed, as in most cases the +latter is, to high fiscal, restrictive, and capricious burdens. These, +_pro tanto_, shut out competition with the protected foreign producer, +unless the importer consent to be cut down to such a modicum of price or +profit, as shall barely, or not at all, return the simple interest of +capital laid out. Such is the position of foreign, in comparison with home +trade. + +The foreign glut, in such case, reacts upon the privileged home and +colonial markets, no doubt affecting prices in some degree, and if not +always the rates of labour, at all events the sufficiency of employment, +which is scarcely less an evil. But the reaction presses with nothing like +the severity, which in a similar case, and to the same extent only, would +follow from a glut in the home privileged markets. The cause must be +sought in the general rule, that the inferior qualities of merchandise and +manufactures are for the most part the objects of exportation only. +Consequently, in case of a glut, or want of demand abroad, as such are not +suited by quality for home taste and consumption, the superabundance of +accumulated and unsaleable stock, with the depression of prices consequent, +affects comparatively in a slight degree only the value and vent of the +wares prepared expressly for home consumption. But a different and more +modified action takes place in case of over-production of the latter, or +upon a failure of demand, arising from whatever cause. For, being then +pressed upon the foreign market, the superior quality of the goods +commands a decided preference at once, and that preference ensures +comparatively higher rates of price in the midst of the piled up packages +of warehouse sweepings and goods, made, like Peter's razors, for special +sale abroad, which are vainly offered at prime or any cost. These and +other specialties escape, and not unaccountably, the view and the +calculation of the speculative economist, who is so often astounded to +find how a principle, or a theory, of unquestionable truth abstractedly, +and apparently of general application, comes practically to be controlled +by circumstances beyond his appreciation, or even to be negatived +altogether. An example or two in illustration, may render the question +more clearly to the economical reader; although taken from the cotton +trade, they are not the less true, generally, of all other branches of +home manufacturing industry. As we shall have to mention names, a period +long past is purposely selected; but although the parties, so far as +commercial pursuits, may be considered as no longer in existence, yet they +cannot fail to be well remembered. The former firm of Phillips and Lee of +Manchester, were extensive spinners of cotton yarn for exportation, and +extensive purchasers of other cotton yarns for exportation also; but for +home manufacture they never could produce a quality of yarn equally +saleable in the home market with other yarn of the same counts, and +nominally classed of the same quality. The principal reason was, that they +spun with machinery solely adapted for a particular trade, and the +production of quantity was more an object than first-rate quality; to +these ends their machinery was suited, and to have produced a first-rate +article, extensive and expensive alterations in that machinery would have +been required. Mr Lee himself, the managing partner, was an ingenious and +theoretically scientific man, and often experimentalizing, but in general +practically with little success. When, therefore, the export trade in +yarns fell off, as, in some years during the war and the continental +system of Bonaparte, we believe it was almost entirely suspended, the +yarns so described of this firm, and of any others the same, could find no +vent--abroad no opening--at home not suited for the consumption. As the +firm were extremely wealthy the accumulation of stock was, however, of +small inconvenience; time was no object, the Continent was not always +sealed. With the great spinner Arkwright the case was entirely different; +at home as abroad his yarn products were always first in demand; his +qualities unequalled; his prices far above all others of even the first +order; his machinery of the most finished construction. If, perchance, +home demand flagged, the export never failed to compensate in a great +degree. + +So with all other subdivisions of the same or other manufactures, more or +less. And this may explain the seeming phenomenon why; when the foreign +trade has been so prostrate as we have seen it during the last three years, +the home trade did not cease to be almost as prosperous as before. +Political economy would arbitrarily insist that, repelled from the foreign +market, or suffering from a cessation of foreign demand, the manufacturer +for exportation had only to direct his attention, carry his stocks to, and +hasten to swell competition and find relief in, the home market. In +products requiring little skill, such as common calicoes, such efforts +might, to some extent, be successful; but there the invasion ends. In all +the departments requiring greater skill, more perfect machinery, more +taste, and the peculiar arts of finish which long practice alone can give, +the old accustomed manufacturer for the home trade remains without a rival, +still prospering in the midst of depression around, and whilst secure +against intrusion in his own special monopoly of home supply, commanding +also a superiority in foreign markets for his surplus wares, in the event +of stagnation in home consumption, over the less finished and reputed +products of his less-skilled brethren of the craft. + +In the enquiry into the advantages relatively of foreign and colonial +export trade, it is not pretended literally to build upon the premises +here established; the analogy would not always be strictly in point, but +the fact resulting of the greater gainfulness of one description of trade +over another is incontestable, and in the national sense perhaps much more +than the individual. We shall take it for granted that British and Irish +products and manufactures enjoy a preference on import into the colonies, +over imports from foreign countries, of at least five per cent, resulting +from differential duties in favour of the parent state: it may be more, +and we believe it will be found more; but such is the preference. This +profit must be all to the account of the British exporter; for it is not +received by the colonial custom-house, and whatever the reduction of +prices by excess of competition, it is clear prices would be still more +deranged by the introduction of another element of competition in more +cheaply produced foreign products at only equal rates of duty. Take, for +examples, Saxon hose, French silks, American domestics, but more +especially all sorts of foreign made up wares, clothes, &c. _Quoad_ the +foreigner, the preferential duties make two prices therefore, by the very +fact of which he is barred out. We shall now proceed to assess the +mercantile profits respectively upon the sums-total of foreign and +colonial trade by the correct standard; and then we shall endeavour to +arrive at a rough but approximate estimate of the value respectively of +foreign and colonial export trade in respect of the descriptions of +commodities exported from this country, classified as finished or partly +finished, in cases where the raw material is wholly or partially of +foreign origin, and measured accordingly by the amount of profit on +capital, and profit in the shape of wages, which each leave respectively +in the country. It will be understood that no more than a rough estimate +of leading points is pretended; the calculation, article by article, would +involve a labour of months perhaps, and the results in detail fill the +pages of Maga for a year, and after all remain incomplete from the +inaccessibility or non-existence of some of the necessary materials. There +are, however, certain landmarks by which we may steer to something like +general conclusions. + +The profits on exports, as on all other trade, exceptional cases apart, +which cannot impeach the general rule, are measured to a great extent by +the distance of the country to which the exports take place, and therefore +the length of period, besides the extra risk, before which capital can be +replaced and profits realized. Within the compass of a two months' +distance from England, we may include the Gulf of Mexico west, the Baltic +and White Seas north, the Black Sea south-east, the west coast of Africa +to the Gulf of Guinea, and the east coast of South America to Rio Janeiro. +We come thus to the limits within which the smaller profits only are +realized; and all beyond will range under the head of larger returns. It +is not necessary to determine the exact amount of the profit in each case, +the essential point being the ratio of one towards the other. An average +return in round numbers of seven and a half per cent many, therefore, be +taken for the export commerce carried on within the narrower circle, and +of twenty per cent for the _voyages à long cours_, say those to and round +the two Capes of Good Hope and Horn. It is making a large allowance to say +that each shipment to Holland, France, or even the United States, for +example, realizes seven and a half per cent clear profit, or that the +aggregate of the exports cited yields at that rate. Twenty per cent on +exports to China and the East Indies, in view of the more than double +distance, and increase of risk attendant, does not seem proportionally +liable to the same appearance of exaggeration. Under favourable +circumstances returns cannot be looked for in less than a year on the +average, and then the greater distance the greater the risk of all kinds. +Classifying the exports upon this legitimate system, we find that, in +round numbers, not very far from eight-ninths of the total amount of +foreign trade exports come under the denomination of the shorter voyage. +Thus of these total exports of thirty-five millions, less than four +millions belong to the far off traffic. The account will, therefore, stand +thus:-- + +Foreign trade profit of 7-1/2 per cent on L.31,000,000 L.2,325,000 + Do. 20 do. 4,000,000 800,000 + ------------ + Total mercantile profit, L.3,125,000 + + +The quantities colonial would range thus:-- + + +Colonial trade profit, long voyage, of 20 per cent + on L.8,820,000 L.1,764,000 +Colonial trade profit, short voyage, of 7-1/2 per cent + on L.7,180,000 538,000 + ------------ + Total colonial profit, L.2,302,000 + +Truth, like time, is a great leveller--a fact of which no living man has +had proof and reproof administered to him more frequently and severely +that Mr Cobden himself. As culprits, however, harden in heart with each +repetition of crime, until from petty larceny, the initiating offence, +they ascend unscrupulously to the perpetration of felony without benefit +of clergy; so he, with effrontery only the more deeply burnt in, and +conscience the more callous from each conviction, will still lie on, so +long as lungs are left, and vulgar listeners can be found in the scum of +town populations. How grandiloquent was Mr Cobden with his "_new_ facts," +brand new, as he solemnly assured the House of Commons, which was not +convulsed with irrepressible derision on the announcement! How swelled he, +"big with the fate" of corn and colony, as the mighty secret burst from +his labouring breast, "that the whole amount of their trade in 1840 was, +exports, L.51,000,000; out of that L.16,000,000 was (were) exported to the +colonies, including the East Indies; but not one-third went to the +colonies. Take away L.6,000,000 of the export trade that went to the East +Indies, and they had L.10,000,000 of exports," &c. Oh! rare Cocker; 10 not +the third of 16; "take away" one leg and there will only be the other to +stand upon. Cut off, in like manner, the twenty-one millions of exports to +Europe, and what becomes of the foreign trade? "An eye for an eye, and a +tooth for a tooth," is the old _lex talionis_, and we have no objection to +part with a limb on our side on the reciprocal condition that he shall be +amputated of another. We engage to wage air battle with him on the stumps +which are left, he with his fourteen millions of foreign against our ten +millions of colonial trade, like two _razées_ of first and second rates +cut down. Before next he adventures into conflict again--better had he so +bethought him before his colonial debut in the House last June--would it +not be the part of wisdom to take counsel with his dear friend and +neighbour Mr Samuel Brookes, the well-known opulent calico-printer, +manufacturer, and exporting merchant of Manchester, who proved, some three +or four years ago, as clearly as figures--made up, like the restaurateur's +_pain_, at discretion--can prove any thing, that the larger the foreign +trade he carried on, the greater were his losses, in various instances +cited of hundreds per cent; from whence, seeing how rotund and robust +grows the worthy alderman, deplorable balance-sheets notwithstanding, +which would prostrate the Bank of England like the Bank of Manchester, it +should result that he, like another Themistocles, might exclaim to his +family, clad in purple and fine linen, "My children, had we not been +ruined, we should have been undone!" + +But _revenons á nos moutons_. According to Mr Cobden's _new_ facts, +borrowed from Porter's Tables, so far as the figures, the superior +importance and profit of foreign trade should be measured by the gross +quantities, and be, say, as 35 to 16. We have shown that the relation of +profit really stands as 31 to 23, starting from the same basis of total +amounts as himself. The total profit upon a foreign trade of thirty-five +millions, to place it on an equal rateable footing with colonial, should +be, not three millions and an eighth, but upwards of five millions, or the +colonial trade of sixteen millions, if no more gainful than foreign, should +be, not L.2,300,000, but about one million less. And here the question +naturally recurs, assuming the principle of Mr Cobden to be correct--as so, +for his satisfaction, it has been reasoned hitherto--at what rate of charge +nationally are these profits, colonial and foreign, purchased? Fortunately +the materials for the estimates are already in hand, and here they are: + + Colonial trade--cost in Army, Navy, + Ordnance, &c., L.3,000,000 + Colonial trade--profit to exporters, 2,302,000 + ---------- + + Deficit--loss to the country, L.698,000 + Foreign trade--cost in Army, Navy, + Ordnance, &c., L.4,500,000 + Foreign trade exporting profit, 3,125,000 + ---------- + Deficit--loss to the country, L.1,375,000 + +As nearly, therefore, as may be, foreign trade costs the country twice as +much as colonial. Such are the conclusions, the rough but approximately +accurate conclusions, to which the _new_ facts of Mr Cobden and the old +hobby of Joseph Hume, mounted by the _new_ philosopher, have led; and the +public exposition of which has been provoked by his ignorance or +malevolence, or both. In order to gain less than 9 per cent average upon a +foreign trade of thirty-five millions, the country is saddled, for the +benefit of Messrs Brookes and Cobden, _inter alios_, with a cost of nearly +13 per cent upon the same amount; whilst the cost of colonial trade is +about 18-3/4 per cent on the total of sixteen millions, but the profit +nearly fifteen per cent. In the account of colonial profit, be it observed, +moreover, no account is here taken of the supplementary advantage derived +from the differential duties against foreign imports. + +In the national point of view, the profitableness of the foreign export +trade, as compared with colonial, would seem more dubious still, when the +values left and distributed among the producing classes are taken into +calculation. Of the total foreign exports of thirty-five millions, +considerably above one-fifth--say, to the value of nearly seven and a half +millions sterling--were exported in the shape of cotton, linen, and +woollen yarns in 1840, the year selected by Mr Cobden, of which, in cotton +yarn alone, to the value of nearly 6,200,000. According to _Burn's +Commercial Glance for_ 1842, the average price of cotton-yarn so exported, +exceeds by some 50 per cent the average price of the cotton from which +made. Applying the same rule to linen yarn as made from foreign imported +flax, and to woollen yarn as partly, at least, from foreign wool, we come +to a gross sum of about L.3,750,000 left in the country, as values +representing the wages of labour, and the profits of manufacturing capital +in respect of yarn. The quantity of yarn, on the contrary, exported +colonially, does not reach to one-sixteenth of the total colonial exports. +In order to manifest the immense superiority nationally of a colonial +export trade in finished products, over a foreign trade in _quasi_ raw +materials, we need only take the article of "apparel." Of the total value +of wearing apparel exported in 1840, say for L.1,208,000, the colonial +trade alone absorbed the best part of one million. Now, it may be +estimated with tolerable certainty, that the average amount, over and +above the cost of the raw material, of the values expended upon and left +in the country, in the shape of wages and profits, upon this description +of finished product, does not fall short of the rate of 500 per cent. So +that apparel to the total value of one million would leave behind an +expenditure of labour, and a realization of profits, substantially +existing and circulating among the community, over and above the cost of +raw material, of about L.800,000, upon a basis of raw material values of +about L.160,000. Assuming for a moment, that yarns were equally improved +and prolific in the multiplication of values, the seven millions and a +half of foreign exports should represent a value proportionally of +forty-five millions sterling. The colonial exports comprise a variety of +similar finished and made-up articles, to the extent of probably about +four millions sterling, to which the same rate of home values, so swelled +by labour and profits, will apply. + +It remains only to add, that the foreign export trade gave employment in +1840--the date fixed by Mr Cobden, but to which, in some few instances, it +has been impossible to adhere for want of necessary documents, as he +himself experienced--to 10,970 British vessels, of 1,797,000 aggregate +tonnage outwards, repeated voyages inclusive, for the verification of the +number of which we are without any returns, those made to Parliament by +the public offices bearing the simple advertence on their face, with +official nonchalance, that "there are no materials in this office by which +the number of the crews of steam and sailing vessels respectively +(including their repeated voyages) can be shown." And yet a "statistical +department" has now been, for some years, founded as part of the Board of +Trade, whose pretensions to the accomplishment of great works have +hitherto been found considerably to transcend both the merit and the +quantity of its performances. The proportion of foreign vessels sharing in +the same export traffic in 1840, was little inferior to that of the +British. Thus, 10,440 foreign vessels, of 1,488,888 tonnage, divided the +foreign export trade with 10,970 British vessels. The returns for 1840 +give 6663 as the number of British vessels, and 1,495,957 as the aggregate +tonnage, carrying on the export trade with the colonies; thus it will be +seen that the exportation of _thirty-five millions_ of pounds' worth of +British produce and manufactures to foreign countries, employed only about +300,000 tons of British shipping more than the export to the colonies of +_sixteen millions_ of pounds' worth of products, or say, less than one +half. Proportions kept according to values exported respectively, foreign +trade should have occupied about 3,250,000 tons of British shipping, +against the colonial employment of 1,496,000 tons. + +Nor is this all the difference, large as it is, in favour of colonial over +foreign trade, with respect to the employment of shipping. For it may be +taken for granted that, in fact, so far as the amount of tonnage, +_repeated voyages not included_, the colonial does actually employ a much +larger quantity relatively than foreign trade. It may be fairly assumed +that, on the average, the shipping in foreign trade make one and a half +voyages outwards--that is, outwards and inwards together, three voyages in +the year; for, upon a rough estimate, it would appear that not one-tenth +of this shipping was occupied in mercantile enterprise beyond the limits +of that narrower circle before assigned, ad within which repeated voyages +of twice and thrice in the year, and frequently more often, are not +practicable only but habitually performed. Taking one-tenth as +representing the one voyage and return in the year of the more distant +traffic, and one and a half outward sailings for the other nine tenths of +tonnage, we arrive at the approximative fact, that the foreign trade does +in reality employ no more (repeated voyages allowed for as before stated) +than the aggregate tonnage of 1,258,000, instead of the 1,797,000 gross +tonnage as apparent. Applying the same rule, we find that the long or one +year's colonial voyage traffic is equal to something less than two-ninths +of the whole tonnage employed in the colonial trade, and that, assuming +one and a half voyages per annum for the remainder trafficking with the +colonies nearer home, the result will be, that the colonial traffic +absorbs an aggregate of 1,113,000 actual tonnage, exclusive of repeated +voyages of the same shipping. Here, for the satisfaction of colonial +maligners, like Mr Cobden, we place the shipping results for foreign and +colonial traffic respectively. + +The registered tonnage of the 13,927 British vessels above fifty tons +burden, stood, on the 31st of December 1841, (the returns for 1840 or 1839, +we do not chance to have,) + + Tons. + At 2,578,862 + Of which foreign trade, in the export of products + and manufactures to the value of _thirty-five + millions_ sterling, absorbed 1,258,000 + + Colonial trade in the transport of _sixteen + millions_ only of values, 1,113,000 + + Considering the greater mass of values transported, + the foreign trade should have employed, to have + kept its relative shipping proportion and + importance with colonial trade, above 2,400,000 + +We are, however, entirely satisfied, and it would admit of easy proof, +were time and space equally at our disposal for the elaborate development +of details, not only that the colonial trade gives occupation to an equal, +but to a larger proportion of registered British shipping than the foreign +trade. But we have been obliged to limit ourselves to the consideration of +such facts as are most readily accessible, so as to enable the general +reader to test at once the approximative fidelity of the vindication we +present, and the falsehood, scarcely glozed over with a coating of +plausibility, of the vague generalities strung together as a case against +the colonies by Mr Cobden and the anti-colonial faction. We have, moreover, +to request the reader to observe, that we have proceeded all along on the +basis of the wild assumptions of Mr Cobden's own self created and +unexplained calculations; that by his own figures we have tried and +convicted his own conclusions of monstrous exaggeration, and ignorant, if +not wilful, deception. The three fourths charge of army expenditure upon +the colonies, is a mere mischievous fabrication of his own brain. In +ordinary circumstances the colonial charge would not enter for more than +half that amount; and even with the extraordinary expenditure rendered +necessary by Gosford and Durham misrule in Canada, the colonial charge is +not equal to the amount so wantonly asserted. We have likewise not +insisted with sufficient force, and at suitable length of evidence, upon +the fact of the infinitely greater values proportionally left in the +country, in the shape of the wages of labour, and the profits upon +capital, by colonial than by foreign trade. It would not, however, be too +much to assume, and indeed the proposition is almost self-evident, that +whereas about 150 per cent may be taken as the average improved value of +the products absorbed by the foreign trade, over and above the first cost +of the raw material from which fabricated, where such material is of +foreign origin, the similarly improved excess of values absorbed by the +colonial trade, would not average less than from 250 to 300 per cent. +Other occasions may arise, hereafter, more convenient than the present, +for throwing these truths into broader relief; we are content, indeed, now +to leave Mr Cobden to chew the cud of reflection upon his own colonial +blunders and misrepresentations. + +Here, therefore, we stay our hand; we have redeemed our pledge; we have +more than proved our case. Various laborious researches into the real +values of colonial and foreign exported commodities, have amply satisfied +our mind, as they would those of any impartial person capable of +investigation into special facts, of the superior comparative value, in +the mercantile and manufacturing, or individual sense, as well, more +specially, as in the economical and social, or national sense, of colonial +over foreign trade. Do we therefore seek to disparage foreign trade? Far +from it: our anxious desire is to see it prosper and progress daily and +yearly, fully impressed with the conviction that it is, as it long has +been, one of the sheet-anchors of the noble vessel of the State, by the +aid of which it has swung securely in, and weathered bravely, many a +hurricane--and holding fast to which, the gallant ship is again repairing +the damage of the late long night of tempest. But we deprecate these +invidious attacks and comparisons by which malice and ignorance would +depreciate one great interest, for the selfish notion of unduly elevating +another; as if both could not equally prosper without coming into +collision; nay, as if each could not contribute to the welfare of the +other, and, in combined result, advance the glory and prosperity of the +common country. + +We have not deemed it proper, to mix up with the special argument of this +article those political, moral, and social considerations of gravest +import, as connected with the possession, the government, and the +improvement of colonial dependencies, which constitute a question apart, +the happy solution of which is of the highest public concernment; and +separately, therefore, may be left for treatment. But in the economical +view, we may take credit for having cleared the ground and prepared the +way for its discussion to no inconsiderable extent. Nor have we thought it +fitting to nix up the debate on differential duties in favour of the +colonies with the other objects which have engaged our labour. We are as +little disposed as any free trader to view differential duties in excess, +with favour and approval. The candid admission of Mr Deacon Hume on that +head, that in reference to the late Slave colonies the question of those +duties is "taken entirely out of the category of free trade," should set +that debate at rest for the present, at all events. + + * * * * * + + + + +A SPECULATION ON THE SENSES. + + +How can that which is a purely subjective affection--in other words, which +is dependent upon us as a mere modification of our sentient +nature--acquire, nevertheless, such a distinct objective reality, as shall +compel us to acknowledge it as an independent creation, the permanent +existence of which, is beyond the control of all that we can either do or +think? Such is the form to which all the questions of speculation my be +ultimately reduced. And all the solutions which have hitherto been +propounded as answers to the problem, may be generalized into these two: +either consciousness is able to transcend, or go beyond itself; or else +the whole pomp, and pageantry, and magnificence, which we miscall the +external universe, are nothing but our mental phantasmagoria, nothing but +states of our poor, finite, subjective selves. + +But it has been asked again and again, in reference to these two solutions, +can a man overstep the limits of himself--of his own consciousness? If he +can, then says the querist, the reality of the external world is indeed +guaranteed; but what an insoluble, inextricable contradiction is here: +that a man should overstep the limits of the very nature which is _his_, +just because he cannot overstep it! And if he cannot, then says the same +querist, then is the external universe an empty name--a mere unmeaning +sound; and our most inveterate convictions are all dissipated like dreams. + +Astute reasoner! the dilemma is very just, and is very formidable; and +upon the one or other of its horns, has been transfixed every adventurer +that has hitherto gone forth on the knight-errantry of speculation. Every +man who lays claim to a direct knowledge of something different from +himself, perishes impaled on the contradiction involved in the assumption, +that consciousness can transcend itself: and every man who disclaims such +knowledge, expires in the vacuum of idealism, where nothing grows but the +dependent and transitory productions of a delusive and constantly shifting +consciousness. + +But is there no other way in which the question can be resolved? We think +that there is. In the following demonstration, we think that we can +vindicate the objective reality of things--(a vindication which, we would +remark by the way is of no value whatever, in so far as that objective +reality is concerned, but only as being instrumental to the ascertainment +of the laws which regulate the whole process of sensation;)--we think that +we can accomplish this, without, on the one hand, forcing consciousness to +overstep itself, and on the other hand, without reducing that reality to +the delusive impressions of an understanding born but to deceive. Whatever +the defects of our proposed demonstration may be, we flatter ourselves +that the dilemma just noticed as so fatal to every other solution, will be +utterly powerless when brought to bear against it: and we conceive, that +the point of a third alternative must be sharpened by the controversialist +who would bring us to the dust. It is a new argument, and will require a +new answer. We moreover pledge ourselves, that abstruse as the subject is, +both the question, and our attempted solution of it, shall be presented to +the reader in such a shape as shall _compel_ him to understand them. + +Our pioneer shall be a very plain and palpable illustration. Let A be a +circle, containing within it X Y Z. + +[Illustration] + +X Y and Z lie within the circle; and the question is, by what art or +artifice--we might almost say by what sorcery--can they be transplanted +out of it, without at the same time being made to overpass the limits of +the sphere? There are just four conceivable answers to this +question--answers illustrative of three great schools of philosophy, and +of a fourth which is now fighting for existence. + +1. One man will meet the difficulty boldly, and say--"X Y and Z certainly +lie within the circle, but I believe they lie without it. _How_ this +should be, I know not. I merely state what I conceive to be the fact. The +_modus operandi_ is beyond my comprehension." This man's answer is +contradictory, and will never do. + +2. Another man will deny the possibility of the transference--"X Y and Z," +he will say, "are generated within the circle in obedience to its own laws. +They form part and parcel of the sphere; and every endeavour to regard +them as endowed with an extrinsic existence, must end in the discomfiture +of him who makes the attempt." This man declines giving any answer to the +problem. We ask him _how_ X Y and can be projected beyond the circle +without transgressing its limits; and he answers that they never are, and +never can be so projected. + +3. A third man will postulate as the cause of X Y Z a transcendent +X Y Z--that is, a cause lying external to the sphere; and by referring the +former to the latter, he will obtain for X Y X, not certainly a real +externality, which is the thing wanted, but a _quasi-externality_, with +which, as the best that is to be had, he will in all probability rest +contented. "X Y and Z," he will say, "are projected, _as it were_, out of +the circle." This answer leaves the question as much unsolved as ever. Or, + +4. A fourth man (and we beg the reader's attention to this man's answer, +for it forms the fulcrum or cardinal point on which our whole +demonstration turns)--a fourth man will say, "If the circle could only be +brought _within itself_, so-- + +[Illustration] + +then the difficulty would disappear--the problem would be completely +solved. X Y Z must now of necessity fall as extrinsic to the circle A; and +this, too, (which is the material part of the solution,) without the +limits of the circle A being overstepped." + +Perhaps this may appear very like quibbling; perhaps it may be regarded as +a very absurd solution--a very shallow evasion of the difficulty. +Nevertheless, shallow or quibbling as it may seem, we venture to predict, +that when the breath of life shall have been breathed into the bones of +the above dead illustration, this last answer will be found to afford a +most exact picture and explanation of the matter we have to deal with. Let +our illustration, then, stand forth as a living process. The large circle +A we shall call our whole sphere of sense, in so far as it deals with +objective existence--and X Y Z shall be certain sensations of colour, +figure, weight, hardness, and so forth, comprehended within it. The +question then is--how can these sensations, without being ejected from the +sphere of sense within which they lie, assume the status and the character +of real independent existences? How can they be objects, and yet remain +sensations? + +Nothing will be lost on the score of distinctness, if we retrace, in the +living sense, the footprints we have already trod in explicating the +inanimate illustration. Neither will any harm be done, should we employ +very much the same phraseology. We answer, then, that here, too, there are +just four conceivable ways in which this question can be met. + +1. The man of common sense, (so called,) who aspires to be somewhat of a +philosopher, will face the question boldly, and will say, "I feel that +colour and hardness, for instance, lie entirely within the sphere of sense, +and are mere modifications of my subjective nature. At the same time, feel +that colour and hardness constitute a real object, which exists out of the +sphere of sense, independently of me and all my modifications. _How_ this +should be, I know not; I merely state the fact as I imagine myself to find +it. The _modus_ is beyond my comprehension." This man belongs to the +school of Natural Realists. If he merely affirmed or postulated a miracle +in what he uttered, we should have little to say against him, (for the +whole process of sensation is indeed miraculous.) But he postulates more +than a miracle; he postulates a contradiction, in the very contemplation +of which our reason is unhinged. + +2. Another man will deny that our sensations ever transcend the sphere of +sense, or attain a real objective existence. "Colour, hardness, figure, +and so forth," he will say, "are generated within the sphere of sense, in +obedience to its own original laws. They form integral parts of the sphere; +and he who endeavours to construe them to his own mind as embodied in +extrinsic independent existences, must for ever be foiled in the attempt." +This man declines giving any answer to the problem. We ask, _how_ can our +sensations be embodied in distinct permanent realities? And he replies, +that they never are and never can be so embodied. This man is an +Idealist--or as we would term him, (to distinguish him from another +species about to be mentioned, of the same genus,) an _Acosmical_ idealist; +that is, an Idealist who absolutely denies the existence of an independent +material world. + +3. A third man will postulate as the cause of our sensations of hardness, +colour, &c., a transcendent something, of which he knows nothing, except +that he feigns and fables it as lying external to the sphere of sense: and +then, by referring our sensations to this unknown cause, he will obtain +for them, not certainly the externality desiderated, but a +_quasi-externality_, which he palms off upon himself and us as the best +that can be supplied. This man is _Cosmothetical_ Idealist: that is, an +Idealist who postulates an external universe as the unknown cause of +certain modifications we are conscious of within ourselves, and which, +according to his view, we never really get beyond. This species of +speculator is the commonest, but he is the least trustworthy of any; and +his fallacies are all the more dangerous by reason of the air of + plausibility with which they are invested. From first to last, he +represents us as the dupes of our own perfidious nature. By some +inexplicable process of association, he refers certain known effects to +certain unknown causes; and would thus explain to us how these effects +(our sensations) come to assume, _as it were_, the character of external +objects. But we know not "as it were." Away with such shuffling +phraseology. There is nothing either of reference, or of inference, or of +quasi-truthfulness in our apprehension of the material universe. It is +ours with a certainty which laughs to scorn all the deductions of logic, +and all the props of hypothesis. What we wish to know is, _how_ our +subjective affections can _be_, not _as it were_, but in God's truth, and +in the strict, literal, earnest, and unambiguous sense of the words, real +independent, objective existences. This is what the cosmothetical idealist +never can explain, and never attempts to explain. + +4. We now come to the answer which the reader, who has followed us thus +far, will be prepared to find us putting forward as by far the most +important of any, and as containing in fact the very kernel of the +solution. A fourth man will say--"If the whole sphere of sense could only +be withdrawn _inwards_--could be made to fall somewhere _within +itself_--then the whole difficulty would disappear, and the problem would +be solved at once. The sensations which existed previous to this +retraction or withdrawal, would then, of necessity, fall without the +sphere of sense, ( see our second diagram;) and in doing so, they would +necessarily assume a totally different aspect from that of sensations. +They would be real independent objects: and (what is the important part of +the demonstration) they would acquire this _status_ without overstepping +by a hair's-breadth the primary limits of the sphere. Were such +phraseology allowable, we should say that the sphere has _understepped_ +itself, and in doing so, has left its former contents high and dry, and +stamped with all the marks which can characterize objective existences." + +Now the reader will please to remark, that we are very far from desiring +him to accept this last solution at our bidding. Our method, we trust, is +any thing but dogmatical. We merely say, that _if_ this can be shown to be +the case, then the demonstration which we are in the course of unfolding, +will hardly fail to recommend itself to his acceptance. Whether or not it +is the case, can only be established by an appeal to our experience. + +We ask, then--does experience inform us, or does she not, that the sphere +of sense falls within, and very considerably within, itself? But here it +will be asked--what meaning do we attach to the expression, that sense +falls within its own sphere? These words, then, we must first of all +explain. Every thing which is apprehended as a sensation--such as colour, +figure, hardness, and so forth--falls within the sentient sphere. To be a +sensation, and to fall within the sphere of sense, are identical and +convertible terms. When, therefore, it is asked--does the sphere of sense +ever fall within itself? this is equivalent to asking--do the senses +themselves ever become sensations? Is that which apprehends sensations +ever itself apprehended as a sensation? Can the senses he seized on within +the limits of the very circle which they prescribe? If they cannot, then +it must be admitted that the sphere of sense never falls within itself, +and consequently that an objective reality--_i.e._ a reality extrinsic to +that sphere--can never be predicated or secured for any part of its +contents. But we conceive that only one rational answer can be returned to +this question. Does not experience teach us, that much if not the whole of +our sentient nature becomes itself in turn a series of sensations? Does +not the sight--that power which contains the whole visible space, and +embraces distances which no astronomer can compute--does it not abjure its +high prerogative, and take rank within the sphere of sense--itself a +sensation--when revealed to us in the solid atom we call the eye? Here it +is the touch which brings the sight within, and very far within, the +sphere of vision. But somewhat less directly, and by the aid of the +imagination, the sight operates the same introtraction (pardon the coinage) +upon itself. It ebbs inwards, so to speak, from all the contents that were +given in what may be called its primary sphere. It represents itself, in +its organ, as a minute visual sensation, out of, and beyond which, are +left lying the great range of all its other sensations. By imagining the +sight as a sensation of colour, we diminish it to a speck within the +sphere of its own sensations; and as we now regard the sense as for ever +enclosed within this small embrasure, all the other sensations which were +its, previous to our discovery of the organ, and which are its still, are +built up into a world of objective existence, _necessarily_ external to +the sight, and altogether out of its control. All sensations of colour are +necessarily out of one another. Surely, then, when the sight is subsumed +under the category of colour--as it unquestionably is whenever we think of +the eye--surely all other colours must, of necessity, assume a position +external to it; and what more is wanting to constitute that real objective +universe of light and glory in which our hearts rejoice? + +We can, perhaps, make this matter still plainer by reverting to our old +illustration. Our first exposition of the question was designed to exhibit +a general view of the case, through the medium of a dead symbolical figure. +This proved nothing, though we imagine that it illustrated much. Our +second exposition exhibited the illustration in its application to the +living sphere of sensation _in general_; and this proved little. But we +conceive that therein was foreshadowed a certain procedure, which, if it +can be shown from experience to be the actual procedure of sensation _in +detail_, will prove all that we are desirous of establishing. We now, then, +descend to a more systematic exposition of the process which (so far as +our experience goes, and we beg to refer the reader to his own) seems to +be involved in the operation of seeing. We dwell chiefly upon the sense of +sight, because it is mainly through its ministrations that a real +objective universe is given to us. Let the circle A be the whole circuit +of vision. We may begin by calling it the eye, the retina, or what we will. +Let it be provided with the ordinary complement of sensations--the colours +X Y Z. Now, we admit that these sensations cannot be extruded beyond the +periphery of vision; and yet we maintain that, unless they be made to fall +on the outside of that periphery, they cannot become real objects. How is +this difficulty--this contradiction--to be overcome? Nature overcomes it, +by a contrivance as simple as it is beautiful. In the operation of seeing, +admitting the canvass or background of our picture to be a retina, or what +we will, with a multiplicity of colours depicted upon it, we maintain that +we cannot stop here, and that we never do stop here. We invariably go on +(such is the inevitable law of our nature) to complete the picture--that +is to say, we fill in our own eye as a colour within the very picture +which our eye contains--we fill it in as a sensation within the other +sensations which occupy the rest of the field; and in doing so, we of +necessity, by the same law, turn these sensations out of the eye; and they +thus, by the same necessity, assume the rank of independent objective +existences. We describe the circumference infinitely within the +circumference; and hence all that lies on the outside of the intaken +circle comes before us stamped with the impress of real objective truth. +We fill in the eye greatly within the sphere of light, (or within the eye +itself; if we insist on calling the primary sphere by this name,) and the +eye thus filled in is the only eye we know any thing at all about, either +from the experience of sight or of touch. _How_ this operation is +accomplished, is a subject of but secondary moment; whether it be brought +about by the touch, by the eye itself, or by the imagination, is a +question which might admit of much discussion; but it is one of very +subordinate interest. The _fact_ is the main thing--the fact that the +operation _is_ accomplished in one way or another--the fact that the sense +comes before itself (if not directly, yet virtually) as _one_ of its own +sensations--_that_ is the principal point to be attended to; and we +apprehend that this fact is now placed beyond the reach of controversy. + +To put the case in another light. The following considerations may serve +to remove certain untoward difficulties in metaphysics and optics, which +beset the path, not only of the uninitiated, but even of the professors of +these sciences. + +We are assured by optical metaphysicians, or metaphysical opticians, that, +in the operations of vision, we never get beyond the eye itself, or the +representations that are depicted therein. We see nothing, they tell us, +but what is delineated within the eye. Now, the way in which a plain man +should meet this statement, is this--he should ask the metaphysician +_what_ eye he refers to. Do you allude, sir, to an eye which belongs to my +visible body, and forms a small part of the same; or do you allude to an +eye which does not belong to my visible body, and which constitutes no +portion thereof? If the metaphysician should say, that he refers to an eye +of the latter description, then the plain man's answer should be--that he +has no experience of any such eye--that he cannot conceive it--that he +knows nothing at all about it--and that the only eye which he ever thinks +or speaks of, is the eye appertaining to, and situated within, the +phenomenon which he calls his visible body. Is _this_, then, the eye which +the metaphysician refers to, and which he tells us we never get beyond? If +it be--why, then, the very admission that this eye is a part of the +visible body, (and what else can we conceive the eye to be?) proves that +we _must_ get beyond it. Even supposing that the whole operation were +transacted within the eye, and that the visible body were nowhere but +within the eye, still the eye which we invariably and inevitably fill in +as belonging to the visible body, (and no other eye is ever thought of or +spoken of by us,)--_this_ eye, we say, must necessarily exclude the +visible body, and all other visible things, from its sphere. Or, can the +eye (always conceived of as a visible thing among other visible things) +again contain the very phenomenon (_i.e._ the visible body) within which +it is itself contained? Surely no one will maintain a position of such +unparalleled absurdity as that. + +The science of optics, in so far as it maintains, according to certain +physiological principles, that in the operation of seeing we never get +beyond the representations within the eye, is founded on the assumption, +that the visible body has no visible eye belonging to it. Whereas we +maintain, that the only eye that we have--the only eye we can form any +conception of, is the visible eye that belongs to the visible body, as a +part does to a whole; whether this eye be originally revealed to us by the +touch, by the sight, by the reason, or by the imagination. We maintain, +that to affirm we never get beyond this eye in the exercise of vision, is +equivalent to asserting, that a part is larger than the whole, of which it +is only a part--is equivalent to asserting, that Y, which is contained +between X and Z, is nevertheless of larger compass than X and Z, and +comprehends them both. The fallacy we conceive to be this, that the +visible body can be contained within the eye, without the eye of the +visible body also being contained therein. But this is a procedure, which +no law, either of thought or imagination, will tolerate. If we turn the +visible body, and all visible things, into the eye, we must turn the eye +of the visible body also into the eye; a process which, of course, again +turns the visible body, and all visible things, _out_ of the eye. And thus +the procedure eternally defeats itself. Thus the very law which appears to +annihilate, or render impossible, the objective existence of visible +things, as creations independent of the eye--this very law, when carried +into effect with a thorough-going consistency, vindicates and establishes +that objective existence, with a logical force, an iron necessity, which +no physiological paradox can countervail. + +We have now probably said enough to convince the attentive reader, that +the sense of sight, when brought under its own notice as a sensation, +either directly, or through the ministry of the touch or of the +imagination, (as it is when revealed to us in its organ,) falls very +far--falls almost infinitely within its own sphere. Sight, revealing +itself as a sense, spreads over a span commensurate with the diameter of +the whole visible space; sight, revealing itself as a Sensation, dwindles +to a speck of almost unappreciable insignificance, when compared with the +other phenomena which fall within the visual ken. This speck is the organ, +and the organ is the sentient circumference drawn inwards, far within +itself, according to a law which (however unconscious we may be of its +operation) presides over every act and exercise of vision--a law which, +while it contracts the sentient sphere, throws, at the same time, into +necessary objectivity every phenomenon that falls external to the +diminished circle. This is the law in virtue of which subjective visual +sensations are real visible objects. The moment the sight becomes one of +its own sensations, it is restricted, in a peculiar manner, to that +particular sensation. It now falls, as we have said, within its own sphere. +Now, nothing more was wanting to make the other visual sensations real +independent existences; for, _quà_ sensations, they are all originally +independent of each other, and the sense itself being now a sensation, +they must now also be independent of it. + +We now pass on to the consideration of the sense of touch. + +Here precisely the same process is gone through which was observed to take +place in the case of vision. The same law manifests itself here, and the +same inevitable consequence follows, namely--that sensations are +things--that subjective affections are objective realities. The sensation +of hardness (softness, be it observed, is only an inferior degree of +hardness, and therefore the latter word is the proper generic term to be +employed)--the sensation of hardness forms the contents of this sense. +Hardness, we will say, is originally a purely subjective affection. The +question, then, is, how can this affection, without being thrust forth +into a fictitious, transcendent, and incomprehensible universe, assume, +nevertheless, a distinct objective reality, and be (not as it were, but in +language of the most unequivocating truth) a permanent existence +altogether independent of the sense? We answer, that this can take place +only provided the sense of touch can be brought under our notice _as +itself hard_. If this can be shown to take place, then as all sensations +which are presented to us in space necessarily exclude one another, are +reciprocally _out_ of each other, all other instances of hardness must of +necessity fall as extrinsic to that particular hardness which the sense +reveals to us as its own; and, consequently, all these other instances of +hardness will start into being, as things endowed with a permanent and +independent substance. + +Now, what is the verdict of experience on the subject? The direct and +unequivocal verdict of experience is, that the touch reveals itself to us +as one of its own sensations. In the finger-points more particularly, and +generally all over the surface of the body, the touch manifests itself not +only as that which apprehends hardness, but as that which is itself hard. +The sense of touch vested in one of its own sensations (our tangible +bodies namely) is the sense of touch brought within its own sphere. It +comes before itself as _one_ sensation of hardness. Consequently all its +_other_ sensations of hardness are necessarily excluded from this +particular hardness; and, falling beyond it, they are by the same +consequence built up into a world of objective reality, of permanent +substance, altogether independent of the sense, self-betrayed as a +sensation of hardness. + +But here it may be asked, If the senses are thus reduced to the rank of +sensations, if they come under our observation as themselves sensations, +must we not regard them but as parts of the subjective sphere; and though +the other portions of the sphere may be extrinsic to these sensations, +still must not the contents of the sphere, taken as a whole, be considered +as entirely subjective, _i.e._ as merely _ours_, and consequently must not +real objective existence be still as far beyond our grasp as ever? We +answer. No, by no means. Such a query implies a total oversight of all +that experience proves to be the fact with regard to this matter. It +implies that the senses have not been reduced to the rank of +sensations--that they have _not_ been brought under our cognizance as +themselves sensations, and that they have yet to be brought there. It +implies that vision has not been revealed to us as a sensation of colour +in the phenomenon the eye--and that touch has not been revealed to us as a +sensation of hardness in the phenomenon the finger. It implies, in short, +that it is not the sense itself which has been revealed to us, in the one +case as coloured, and in the other case as hard, but that it is something +else which has been thus revealed to us. But it may still be asked, How do +we know that we are not deceiving ourselves? How can it be proved that it +is the senses, and not something else, which have come before us under the +guise of certain sensations? That these sensations are the senses +themselves, and nothing but the senses, may be proved in the following +manner. + +We bring the matter to the test of actual experiment. We make certain +experiments, _seriatim_, upon each of the items that lie within the +sentient sphere, and we note the effect which each experiment has upon +that portion of the contents which is not meddled with. In the exercise of +vision, for example, we remove a book, and no change is produced in our +perception of a house; a cloud disappears, yet our apprehension of the sea +and the mountains, and all other visible things, is the same as ever. We +continue our experiments, until our test happens to be applied to one +particular phenomenon, which lies, if not directly, yet virtually, within +the sphere of vision. We remove or veil this small visual phenomenon, and +a totally different effect is produced from those that took place when any +of the other visual phenomena were removed or veiled. The whole landscape +is obliterated. We restore this phenomenon--the whole landscape reappears: +we adjust this phenomenon differently--the whole landscape becomes +differently adjusted. From these experiments we find, that this phenomenon +is by no means an ordinary sensation, but that it differs from all other +sensations in this, that it is the sense itself appearing in the form of a +sensation. These experiments prove that it is the sense itself, and +nothing else, which reveals itself to us in the particular phenomenon the +eye. If experience informed us that the particular adjustment of some +other visual phenomenon (a book, for instance) were essential to our +apprehension of all the other phenomena, we should, in the same way, be +compelled to regard this book as our sense of sight manifested in one of +its own sensations. The book would be to us what the eye now is: it would +be our bodily organ: and no _à priori_ reason can be shown why this might +not have been the case. All that we can say is, that such is not the +finding of experience. Experience points out the eye, and the eye alone, +as the visual sensation essential to our apprehension of all our other +sensations of vision, and we come at last to regard this sensation as the +sense itself. Inveterate association leads us to regard the eye, not +merely as the organ, but actually as the sense of vision. We find from +experience how much depends upon its possession, and we lay claim to it as +a part of ourselves, with an emphasis that will not be gainsaid. + +An interesting enough subject of speculation would be, an enquiry into the +gradual steps by which each man is led to _appropriate_ his own body. No +man's body is given him absolutely, indefeasibly, and at once, _ex dono +Dei_. It is no unearned hereditary patrimony. It is held by no _à priori_ +title on the part of the possessor. The credentials by which its tenure is +secured to him, are purely of an _à posteriori_ character; and a certain +course of experience must be gone through before the body can become his. +The man acquires it, as he does originally all other property, in a +certain formal and legalized manner. Originally, and in the strict legal +as well as metaphysical idea of them, all bodies, living as well as dead, +human no less than brute, are mere _waifs_--the property of the first +finder. But the law, founding on sound metaphysical principles, very +properly makes a distinction here between two kinds of finding. To entitle +a person to claim a human body as his own, it is not enough that he should +find it in the same way in which he finds his other sensations, namely, as +impressions which interfere not with the manifestations of each other. +This is not enough, even though, in the case supposed, the person should +be the first finder. A subsequent finder would have the preference, if +able to show that the particular sensations manifested as this human body +were essential to his apprehension of all his other sensations whatsoever. +It is this latter species of finding--the finding, namely, of certain +sensations as the essential condition on which the apprehension of all +other sensations depends; it is this finding alone which gives each man a +paramount and indisputable title to that "treasure trove" which he calls +his own body. Now, it is only after going through a considerable course of +experience and experiment, that we can ascertain what the particular +sensations are upon which all our other sensations are dependent. And +therefore were we not right in saying, that a man's body is not given to +him directly and at once, but that he takes a certain time, and must go +through a certain process, to acquire it? + +The conclusion which we would deduce from the whole of the foregoing +remarks is, that the great law of _living_[21] sensation, the _rationale_ +of sensation as a _living_ process, is this, that the senses are not +merely _presentative_--_i.e._ they not only bring sensations before us, but +that they are _self-presentative_--_i.e._ they, moreover, bring themselves +before us as sensations. But for this law we should never get beyond our +mere subjective modifications; but in virtue of it we necessarily get +beyond them; for the results of the law are, 1st, that we, the subject, +restrict ourselves to, or identify ourselves with, the senses, not as +displayed in their primary sphere, (the large circle A,) but as falling +within their own ken as sensations, in their secondary sphere, (the small +circle A.) This smaller sphere is our own bodily frame; and does not each +individual look upon himself as vested in his own bodily frame? And 2ndly, +it is a necessary consequence of this investment or restriction, that +every sensation which lies beyond the sphere of the senses, viewed as +sensations, (_i.e._ which lies beyond the body,) must be, in the most +unequivocal sense of the words, a real independent object. If the reader +wants a name to characterise this system, he may call it the system of +_Absolute or Thorough-going presentationism_. + + [21] We say _living_, because every attempt hitherto made to + explain sensation, has been founded on certain appearances + manifested in the _dead_ subject. By inspecting a dead carcass we + shall never discover the principle of vision. Yet, though there is + no seeing in a dead eye, or in a camera obscura, optics deal + exclusively with such inanimate materials; and hence the student + who studies them will do well to remember, that optics are the + science of vision, with the _fact_ of vision left entirely out of + the consideration. + + * * * * * + + + + +ON THE BEST MEANS OF ESTABLISHING A COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE +BETWEEN THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS. + + +To shorten the navigation between the eastern and western divisions of our +globe, either by discovering a north-west passage into the Pacific, or +opening a route across the American continent, with European philosophers +and statesmen has for centuries been a favourite project, and yet in only +one way has it been attempted. Large sums of money were successively voted +and expended, in endeavouring to penetrate through the Arctic sea; and +such is the persevering enterprise of our mariners, that in all likelihood +this gigantic task eventually will be accomplished: but, even if it should, +it is questionable whether a navigable opening in that direction would +prove beneficial to commerce. The floating ice with which those high +latitudes are encumbered; the intricacy of the navigation; the cold and +tempestuous weather generally prevailing there, and the difficulty of +obtaining aid, in cases of shipwreck, must continue to deter the ordinary +navigator from following that track. + +Enquiry, therefore, naturally turns to the several points on the middle +part of the American continent, where, with the aid of art, it is supposed +that a communication across may be effected. These are five in number, and +the facilities for the undertaking which each affords, have been discussed +by a few modern travellers, commencing with Humboldt. On a close +investigation into the subject, it will, however, appear evident, that +although the cutting of a canal on some point or order, may be within the +compass of human exertion, still the undertaking would require an enormous +outlay of capital, besides many years to accomplish it; and even if it +should be completed, the result could never answer the expectations formed +upon this subject in Europe. On all the points proposed, and more +especially in reference to the long lines, the difficulty of rendering +rivers navigable, which in the winter are swelled into impetuous torrents; +the want of population along the greater part of the distances to be cut; +the differences of elevation; and, above all, the shallowness of the water +on all the extremities of the cuts projected, thus only affording +admission to small vessels, are among the impediments which, for the time +being at least, appear almost insuperable. + +Without entering further into the obstacles which present themselves to +the formation of a canal along any one of the lines alluded to, I shall at +once come to the conclusion, that for all the practical purposes of +commercial intercourse which the physical circumstances of the country +allow, a railroad is preferable, and may be constructed at infinitely less +expense. This position once established, the question next to be asked is, +which is the most eligible spot for the work proposed? On a careful +examination of the relative merits of the several lines pointed out, that +of the isthmus of Panama unquestionably appears to be the most eligible. +From its central position, and the short distance intervening between the +two oceans, it seems, indeed, to be providentially destined to become the +connecting link between the eastern and western worlds; and hence its +being made a thoroughfare for all nations, must be a subject of the utmost +importance to those engaged in commerce. + +Some of our most eminent public writers of the day, anticipating the +advantages likely to result from the emancipation of Spanish America, +considered the opening of a passage across that isthmus as one of the +mightiest events which could present itself to the enterprise of man; and +it is well known, that during Mr Pitt's administration projects on this +subject were submitted to him--some of them even attempting to show the +feasibility of cutting a canal across, sufficiently deep and wide to admit +vessels of the largest class. Report says, that the minister frequently +spoke in rapturous terms on the supposed facilities of this grand project; +and it is believed, that the sanguine hopes of its realization had great +weight with him when forming his plans for the independence of the +southern division of the New World. The same idea prevailed in Europe for +the greater part of the last century; but yet no survey was instituted--no +steps taken to obtain correct data on the subject. Humboldt revived it; +and yet this great and beneficial scheme again remained neglected, and, to +all appearance, forgotten. At length the possession of the Marquesas +islands by the French, brought the topic into public notice, when, towards +the close of last April, and while submitting the project of a law to the +Chamber of Deputies for a grant of money to cover the expenses of a +government establishment in the new settlements, Admiral Roussin expressed +himself thus:--"The advantages of our new establishments, incontestable as +they are even at present, will assume a far greater importance hereafter. +They will become of great value, should a plan which, at the present +moment, fixes the attention of all maritime nations, be realized, namely, +to open, through the isthmus of Panama, a passage between Europe and the +Pacific, instead of going round by Cape Horn. When this great event, alike +interesting to all naval powers, shall have been effected, the Society and +Marquesas islands, by being brought so much nearer to France, will take a +prominent place among the most important stations of the world. The +facility of this communication will necessarily give a new activity to the +navigation of the Pacific ocean; since this way will be, if not the +shortest to the Indian and Chinese seas, certainly the safest, and, in a +commercial point of view, unquestionably the most important." + +In his speech in support of the grant, M. Gaizot, in the sitting of the +10th inst., asserted that the project of piercing the isthmus of Panama +was not a chimerical one, and proceeded to read a letter from Professor +Humbolt, dated Angust 1842, in which that learned gentleman observed, that +"it was twenty-five years since a project for a communication between the +two oceans, either by the isthmus of Panama, the lake of Nicaragua, or by +the isthmus of Capica, had been proposed and topographically discussed; and +yet nothing had been yet commenced." The French minister also read +extracts from a paper addressed to the Academy of Sciences, by an American +gentleman named Warren, advocating the practicability of a canal, by means +of the rivers Vinotinto, Beverardino, and Farren, after which he +enthusiastically exclaimed, that should this great work ever be +accomplished--and in his own mind he had no doubt that some day or other +it would--then the value of Oceana would be greatly increased, and France +would have many reasons to congratulate herself on the possession of them. +This has thus become one of the most popular topics in France, where the +views of the minister are no longer concealed, and in England are we +slumbering upon it? Certainly we have as great an interest in the +accomplishment of the grand design as the French, and possibly possess +more correct information on the subject than they do. Why, then, is it +withheld from the public? What are our government doing? + +To supply this deficiency, as far as his means allow, is the object of the +writer of these pages; and in order to show the degree of credit to which +his remarks may be entitled, and his reasons for differing from the French +as regards the means by which the great desideratum is to be achieved, he +will briefly state, that in early life he left Europe under the prevailing +impression that the opening of a canal across the isthmus of Panama was +practicable; but while in the West Indies, some doubts on the subject +having arisen in his mind, he determined to visit the spot, which he did +at his own expense, and at some personal risk--the Spaniards being still +in possession of the country. With this view he ascended the river Chagre +to Cruces, and thence proceeded by land to Panama, where he stopped a +fortnight. In that time he made several excursions into the interior, and +had a fair opportunity of hearing the sentiments of intelligent natives; +but, although he then came to the conclusion that a canal of large +dimensions was impracticable, he saw the possibility of opening a railroad, +with which, in his opinion, European nations ought to be satisfied, at +least for the present. Why he assumed this position, a description of the +locality will best explain. + +The river Chagre, which falls into the Atlantic, is the nearest +transitable point to Panama, but unfortunately the harbour does not admit +vessels drawing more than twelve feet water.[22] There the traveller +embarks in a _bonjo_, (a flat-bottomed boat,) or in a canoe, made of the +trunk of a cedar-tree, grown on the banks to an enormous size. The +velocity of the downward current is equal to three miles an hour, and +greater towards the source. The ascent is consequently tedious; often the +rowers are compelled to pole the boat along, a task, under a burning sun, +which could only be performed by negroes. In the upper part of the stream +the navigation is obstructed by shallows, so much so as to render the +operation of unloading unavoidable. Large trunks of trees, washed down by +the rains, and sometimes embedded in the sands, also occasionally choke up +the channel, impediments which preclude the possibility of a steam power +being used beyond a certain distance up. No boat can ascend higher than +Cruces, a village in a direct line not more than twenty-two miles from +Chagre harbour; but owing to the sinuosities of the river, the distance to +be performed along it is nearly double. To stem the current requires from +three to eight days, according to the season, whereas the descent does not +take more than from eight to twelve hours. + +From Cruces to Panama the distance is five leagues, over a broken and +hilly country. The town is situated at the head of the gulf, on a neck of +land washed by the waters of the Pacific; but the port is only accessible +to flat-bottomed boats, owing to which it is called _Las Piraguas_. The +harbour, or rather the roadstead, is formed by a cluster of small islands +lying about six miles from the shore, under the shelter of which vessels +find safe anchorage. The tides rise high, and, falling in the same +proportion, the sloping coast is left dry to a considerable distance +out--a circumstance which precludes the possibility of forming an outlet +in front of Panama. The obstacles above enumerated at once convinced the +writer that a ship canal in this direction was impracticable. The Spanish +plan was to make the Chagre navigable a considerable distance up, by +removing the shallows and deepening the channel; but owing to the great +inclination in the descent, and the immense volumes of water rushing down +in winter, the task would be a most herculean one; and, even if +accomplished, this part of the route could only serve for small craft. A +canal over five leagues of hilly ground would still remain to be cut. + +Although the plan, so long and so fondly cherished in Europe, and now +revived in France, must, for the reasons here assigned, be abandoned, on +this account we ought not to be deterred from availing ourselves of such +facilities as the locality affords. The geographical position of the +isthmus of Panama is too interesting to be any longer disregarded. "When +the Spanish discoverers first overcame the range of mountains which divide +the western from the Atlantic shores of South America," said a +distinguished statesman,[23] "they stood fixed in silent admiration, gazing +on the vast expanse of the Southern ocean which lay stretched before them +in boundless prospect. They adored--even those hardened and sanguinary +adventurers adored--the gracious providence of Heaven, which, after lapse +of so many centuries had opened to mankind so wonderful a field of untried +and unimagined enterprize." The very same point of land where, in 1515, +the Spaniards first beheld the Pacific, is the spot formed by nature for +the realization of those advantages which their cautious policy caused +them to overlook. The Creator seems to have intended it for general +use--as the highway of nations; and yet, after a period of more than three +centuries, scarcely has the solitude which envelopes this interesting +strip of land been broken. Is Europe or America to blame for this? + + [22] This is the first impediment to an oceanic canal, and one + equally felt on the other proposed lines. Captain Sir Edward + Belcher, when recently surveying the western coasts of America, + availed himself of the opportunity to explore the Estero Real, a + river on the Pacific side, which he did by ascending it to the + distance of thirty miles from its mouth, but he found that it only + admits a vessel drawing ten feet water. That intelligent officer + considered this an advantageous line for a canal, which by lake + navigation, he concluded might be connected with San Salvador, + Honduras, Nicaragua, and extended to the Atlantic; but the + distance is immense, the country thinly inhabited, and besides + unhealthy, and, after all, it could only serve for boats. + + [23] Lord Grenville in his speech on Indian affairs, April 9, + 1813. + +In the present state of our trade, and the increasing competition which we +are likely to experience, unquestionably it would be advisable for British +subjects to exert themselves in securing a free passage across the isthmus +above-named. It is not, however, to be imagined that this is a new project +in our history. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, one was +formed in Scotland for the establishment of a national company to trade +with the Indies through the Pacific, which became so popular that most of +the royal burghs subscribed to it. The scheme originated with William +Patterson, a Scotchman, of a bold and enterprizing character, who, in +early life, is supposed to have been a Bucanier, and to have traversed +several sections of South America. At all events, he seems to have been +acquainted with the views of Captain, afterwards Sir Henry Morgan, who, in +1670, took and burned Panama. + +In England, the "Scots Company" was strenuously opposed by the +incorporated traders to the East Indies, as well as by the West India +merchants. Parliament equally took the alarm, and prayed the king not to +sanction the scheme. So powerful did this opposition at length become, +that the sums subscribed were withdrawn. Nothing daunted by this failure, +Patterson resolved to engraft upon his original plan one for the +establishment of an emporium on the Isthmus of Darien, whither he +anticipated that European goods would be sent, and thence conveyed to the +western shores of America, the Pacific islands, and Asia; and, in order to +attract notice and gain support, he proposed that the new settlement +should be made a free port, and all distinctions of religion, party, and +nation banished. The project was much liked in the north of Europe, but +again scouted at the English court; when the Scotch, indignant at the +opposition which their commercial prospects experienced from King William's +ministers, which they attributed to a contrariety of interests on the +part of the English, subscribed among themselves L.400,000 for the object +in view, and L.300,000 more were, in the same manner, raised at Hamburg; +but, in consequence of a remonstrance presented to the senate of that city +by the English resident, the latter sum was called in. + +Eventually, in 1699, Patterson sailed with five large vessels, having on +board 1200 followers, all Scotch, and many of them belonging to the best +families, furnished with provisions and merchandise; and, on arriving on +the coast of Darien, took possession of a small peninsula lying between +Porto Bello and Carthagena, where he built the Fort of St Andrew. The +settlement was called New Caledonia; and the directors having taken every +precaution for its security, entered into negotiations with the +independent Indians in the neighbourhood, by whom it is believed that the +tenure of the "Scots Company" was sanctioned. The Spaniards took offence +at this alleged aggression, and angry complaints were forwarded to the +court of St James's. To these King William listened with something like +complacency, his policy at the time being to temporize with Spain, in +order to prevent the aggrandizement of the French Bourbons. The new +settlement was accordingly denounced, in proclamations issued by the +authorities of Jamaica, Barbadoes, and the American plantations, and soon +afterwards attacked by a Spanish force. Pressed on all sides, the +adventurers, for a period of eight months, bore up against accumulated +misfortunes; when at length, receiving no succours from their copartners +at home, convinced that they had to contend against the hostility of the +English government, and their provisions being exhausted, the survivors +were compelled to abandon their enterprise and return to Scotland. To add +to their chagrin, a few days after their departure two vessels arrived +with supplies and a small reinforcement of men. + +Incensed at the second failure of their favourite scheme, the Scotch +endeavoured to obtain from King William an acknowledgment of the national +right to the territory of New Caledonia, and some reparation for the loss +sustained by the disappointed settlers. Unsuccessful in their application, +they next presented an address to the ruling power, praying that their +parliament might be assembled, in order to take the matter into +consideration; when, at the first meeting, angry and spirited resolutions +were passed upon the subject. No redress was, however, obtained; and thus +terminated the Darien scheme of the seventeenth century, founded, no one +will venture to deny, on an enlarged view of our commercial interests, and +a just conception of the means by which they might have been promoted. In +the state of our existing treaties with Spain, the seizure of territory +possibly was unjust, the moment unseasonable, and the plan, in one respect, +obviously defective, inasmuch as the projectors had not taken into account +the hostility of the Spaniards, and could not, consequently, rely on an +outlet for their merchandize in the Pacific. Had the scheme been delayed, +or had the settlement survived some months longer, the War of Succession +would, however, have given to the adventurers a right of tenure stronger +than any they could have obtained from the English court; for it is to be +borne in mind that, on the 3d of November 1700, Charles II. of Spain died +leaving his crown to a French branch of the House of Bourbon--an event +which threw Europe into a blaze, and, in the ensuing year, led to the +formation of the Grand Alliance. + +This short digression may serve to show the spirit of the age towards the +close of the seventeenth century, and more particularly the light in which +the Scotch viewed an attempt, made nearly a century and a half ago, to +establish a commercial intercourse with the Pacific; and, had they then +succeeded, other objects of still mightier import than those at first +contemplated--other benefits of a more extended operation, would have been +included in the results. The opportunity was lost, evidently through the +want of support from the ruling power; but it must have been curious to +see the English government, at the close of the war, endeavouring to have +conceded to them by the Spanish court, and in virtue of the memorable +Aziento contract of 1713, those very same advantages which the "Scots +Company" sought to secure, by their own private efforts, and almost in +defiance of a most powerful interest. And when our prospects in the same +quarter have been enlarged, to an extent far beyond the most sanguine +expectations of our forefathers--when, through the independence of South +America, we have had the fairest opportunities of entering into +combinations with the natives for the accomplishment of the +grand design--is it yet to be said that spirited and enlightened +Englishmen are not to be found, ready and willing enough to support a +scheme advantageous to the whole commercial community of Europe? It is +confidently understood that the best information on the subject has been +submitted to her Majesty's government, even recently. If so, is it then a +fact that no one member of the Cabinet has shown a disposition to lend a +helping hand? + +But what have the South Americans done in furtherance of the scheme in +question? Among the projects contemplated by Bolivar, the Liberator, for +the improvement of his native land, as soon as its independence should +have been consolidated, was one to form a junction between the +neighbouring oceans, so far as nature and the circumstances of the country +would allow. In November 1827, he accordingly commissioned Mr John +Augustus Lloyd, an Englishman, to make a survey of the isthmus of Panama, +"in order to ascertain," as that gentleman himself tells us, "the best and +most eligible line of communication, whether by road or canal, between the +two seas." In March 1828 the commissioner arrived at Panama, where he was +joined by a Swedish officer of engineers in the Colombian service, and, +provided with suitable instruments, they proceeded to perform the task +assigned to them.[24] Their first care was to determine the relative height +of the two oceans, when, from their observations, it appeared that the +tides are regular on both sides of the isthmus, and the time of high water +nearly the same at Panama and Chagre. The rise in the Pacific is, however, +the greatest, the mean height at Panama being rather more than three feet +above that of the Atlantic at Chagre; but, as in every twelve hours the +Pacific falls six feet more than the Atlantic, it is in that same +proportion lower; yet, as soon as the tide has flowed fully in, the level +assumes its usual elevation. Although the measurements of Bolivar's +commissioners were not, perhaps, performed with all the exactitude that +could have been wished, sufficient was then and since ascertained to +establish the fact, that the difference between the levels of the two +oceans is not so great as to cause any derangement, in case the +intervening ground could be pierced. + + [24] The result of their labours was published in the _Philosophic + Transactions_ for 1830, accompanied by drawings. + +In the pursuit of his object, Mr Lloyd seems altogether to set aside the +idea of a canal, and leaving his readers to judge which is the best +expedient to answer the end proposed, he thus describes the topography and +capabilities of the country:--"It is generally supposed in Europe that the +great chain of mountains, which, in South America, forms the Andes, +continues nearly unbroken through the isthmus. This, however, is not the +case. The northern Cordillera breaks into detached mountains on the +eastern side of the province of Vevagna, which are of considerable height, +extremely abrupt and rugged, and frequently exhibit an almost +perpendicular face of bare rock. To these succeed numerous conical +mountains, rising out of savannahs or plains, and seldom exceeding from +300 to 500 feet in height. Finally, between Chagre on the Atlantic side, +and Chorrera on the Pacific side, the conical mountains are not so +numerous, having plains of great extent, interspersed with occasional +insulated ranges of hills, of inconsiderable height and extent. From this +description, it will be seen," continues Mr Lloyd, "that the spot where +the continent of America is reduced to nearly its narrowest limits, is +also distinguished by a break for a few miles of the great chain of +mountains, which otherwise extend, with but few exceptions, to its extreme +northern and southern limits. This combination of circumstances points out +the peculiar fitness of the isthmus of Panama for the establishment of a +communication across." + +Here, then, we have an avowal, from the best authority before the public, +and founded on a survey of the ground, that the intervening country is +sufficiently open, even for a canal, if skilfully undertaken, and with +adequate funds--consequently it cannot present any physical obstacles in +the way of a railroad which cannot readily be overcome. The same opinion +was formed by the writer of these pages, when, at a much earlier period, +he viewed the plains from the heights at the back of Panama; and that +opinion was borne out by natives who had traversed the ground as far as +the forests and brushwood allowed. In the sitting of the Royal Academy of +Sciences, held in Paris on the 26th of last December, Baron Humboldt +reported, that the preparatory labours for cutting a canal across the +isthmus of Panama were rapidly advancing; to which he added that the +commission appointed by the government of New Granada had terminated their +survey of the localities, after arriving at a result as fortunate as it +was unexpected. "The chain of the Cordilleras," he observed, "does not +extend, as it was formerly supposed, across, since a valley favourable to +the operation had been discovered, and the natural position of the waters +might also be rendered useful. Three rivers," the Baron proceeded to say, +"had been explored, over which an easy control might be established; and +these rivers, there was every reason to think, might be made partially +navigable, and afterwards connected with the proposed canal, the +excavations for which would not extend beyond 12-1/2 miles in length. It +was further expected that the fall might be regulated by four double locks, +138 feet in length; by which means the total extent of the canal would not +be more than 49 miles, with a width of 136 feet at the surface, 56 at the +base, and 20 in depth, sufficiently capacious for the admission of a +vessel measuring 1000 to 1400 tons. It was estimated by M. Morel, a French +engineer, that the cost of these several works would not be more than +fourteen millions of francs." + +This is a confirmation of the fact, that on the isthmus facilities exist +for either cutting a canal, or constructing a railroad; but while the +French seem inclined to revive the primitive project, it is to be feared +that they overlook the paramount difficulty, which, as already noticed, +occurs on both sides, through the want of water. Unless admission and an +outlet can be obtained for men-of-war, and the usual class of vessels +trading to India, it would scarcely be worth while to attempt a canal, and +it has not been ascertained that both those essential requisites can be +found. The other plan must therefore be held to be the surest and most +economical. This also seems to have been the conclusion at which Mr Lloyd +arrived. Having made up his mind that a railroad is best adapted to the +locality, he proceeds to trace two lines, starting from the same terminus, +near the Atlantic, and terminating at different points on the Pacific, +respecting which he expresses himself thus:--"Two lines are marked on the +map, commencing at a point near the junction of the rivers Chagre and +Trinidad, and crossing the plains, the one to Chorrera, and the other to +Panama. These lines indicate the directions which I consider the best for +a railroad communication. The principal difficulty in the establishment of +such a communication, would arise from the number of rivulets to be +crossed, which, though dry in summer, become considerable streams in the +rainy season. The line which crosses to Chorrera is much the shortest, but +the other has the advantage of terminating in the city and harbour of +Panama. The country intersected by these lines is by no means so abundant +in woods as in other parts, but has fine savannahs, and throughout the +whole distance, as well as on each bank of the Trinidad, presents flat, +and sometimes swampy country, with occasional detached sugar-loaf +mountains, interspersed with streams that mostly empty themselves into the +Chagre." + +Would it not, then, be more advisable to act on this suggestion, than run +the risk and incur the expense of a canal? On all hands it is agreed, that +as far as the mouth of the Trinidad the Chagre is navigable for vessels +drawing twelve feet water, by which means twelve or fourteen miles of road, +and a long bridge besides, would be saved. Under this supposition, the +proposed line from the junction of the two rivers to Panama would be about +thirty miles, and to Chorrera twenty four; while on neither of them does +any other difficulty present itself than the one mentioned by Mr Lloyd. +"Should the time arrive," says that gentleman, "when a project of a water +communication across the isthmus may be entertained, the river Trinidad +will probably appear the most favourable route. That river is for some +distance both broad and deep, and its banks are also well suited for +wharfs, especially in the neighbourhood of the spot whence the lines +marked for a railroad communication commence." + +It therefore only remains to be determined which of the two lines is the +preferable one; and this depends more on the facilities afforded by the +bay of Chorrera for the admission of vessels, than the difference in the +distances. However desirable it might be to have Panama as the Pacific +station, it will already have been noticed, that the great distance from +the shore at which vessels are obliged to anchor, is a serious impediment +to loading and unloading--operations which are rendered more tedious by +the heavy swell at certain seasons setting into the gulf. The distance +from Chorrera to Panama, over a level part of the coast, is only ten miles. +Should it therefore be deemed expedient, these two places may afterwards +be connected by means of a branch line. As regards the difficulty +mentioned by Mr Lloyd, arising out of "the number of rivulets to be +crossed," it may be observed that this section of the country remains in +nearly the same state as that in which it was left by nature. No +artificial means have been adopted for drainage; but the assurances of +intelligent natives warrant the belief, that by cross-cuts the smaller +rivulets may be made to run into the larger ones, whereby the number to be +crossed would be materially diminished. The contiguous lands abound in +superior stone, easily dug, and well suited for the construction of +causeways as well as arches; while the magnificent forests, which rear +their lofty heads to the north of the projected line, would for sleepers +furnish any quantity of an almost incorruptible and even incombustible +wood, resembling teak.[25] + +The Honourable P. Campbell Scarlett, one of the last travellers of note +who crossed the isthmus and favoured the pubic with the result of his +observations, says, "that for a ship canal the locality would not answer, +but presents the greatest facilities for the transfer of merchandize by +river and canal, sufficiently deep for steam-boats, at a comparatively +trifling expense."[26] He then proceeds to remark, "that Mr Lloyd seemingly +turned his attention more to the practicability of a railroad along the +level country between the mouth of the Trinidad and the town or river of +Chorrera, and no doubt a railroad would be very beneficial;" adding, "that +an explicit understanding would be necessary to prevent interruption, +(meaning with the local government and ruling power:) and the subject +assuredly is of sufficient magnitude and importance to justify, if not +call on, the British government, or any other power, to encourage and +sanction the enterprise by a solemn treaty." + +In proportion to its size, no town built by the Spaniards in the western +world contains so many good edifices as Panama, although many of them are +now falling to decay. It was rebuilt subsequent to the fire in 1737, and +from the ornamental parts of some structures, it is evident that superior +workmen were employed in their erection;[27] and should notice at any time +be given that public works were about to commence there, accompanied by an +assurance that artisans would meet with due encouragement, thither +able-bodied men would flock, even from the West Indies and the United +States. Hardy Mulattoes, Meztizoes, free Negroes, and Indians, may be +assembled upon the spot, among whom are good masons and experienced hewers +of wood; and, being intelligent and tractable, European skill and example +alone would be requisite to direct them. The existence of coal along the +shores of Chili and Peru, is also another encouraging feature in the +scheme;[28] and as the ground for a railroad would cost a mere trifle, if +any thing, the whole might be completed at a comparatively small expense. + +The profits derivable from the undertaking, when accomplished, are too +obvious to require enumeration. The rates levied on letters, passengers, +and merchandize, after leaving a proportionate revenue to the local +government, must produce a large sum, which would progressively increase +as the route became more frequented. Mines exist in the neighbourhood, at +present neglected owing to the difficulty of the smelting process. It may +hereafter be worth while for return vessels to bring the rough mineral +obtained from them to Europe, as is now done with copper ore from Cuba, +Colombia, and Chili. Ship timber, of the largest dimensions and best +qualities, may also be had. The charges on the transit of merchandize +would never be so heavy as even the rates of insurance round Cape Horn and +the Cape of Good Hope. The first of these great headlands mariners know +full well is a fearful barrier, advancing into the cheerless deep amidst +storms, rocks, islands, and currents, to avoid which the navigator is +often compelled to go several degrees more to the south than his track +requires; whereby the voyage is not only lengthened, but his water and +provisions so far exhausted, that frequently he is under the necessity of +making the first port he can in Chili, or seeking safety on the African +coast. + + + [25] Ulloa (Book iii. chap. 11) remarks, that although the greater + part of the houses in Panama were formerly built of wood, fires + very rarely occurred; the nature of the timber being such, that if + lighted embers are laid upon the floor, or wall made of it, the + only consequence is, that it makes a hole without producing a + flame. + + [26] America and the Pacific, 1838. + + [27] Ulloa affirms, that the greater part of the houses in Panama + are now built of stone; all sorts of materials for edifices of + this kind being found there in the greatest abundance. Mr Scarlett + also acknowledges that he there saw more specimens of + architectural beauty than in any other town of South America which + he had occasion to visit. + + [28] In 1814 the writer had coal in his possession, in London, + brought from the vicinity of Lima, which he had coked and tried in + a variety of ways. It was gaseous and resembled that dug in the + United States. Since that period coal has been found near + Talcahuano and at Valdivia, on the coast of Chili; on the island + of Chiloe, and on that of San Lorenzo, opposite to Lima; in the + valley of Tambo, near Islay; at Guacho, and even further down on + the coast of Guayaquil. Mr Scarlett quotes a letter from the Earl + of Dundonald. (Lord Cochrane,) in which his lordship affirms, + "that there is plenty of coal at Talcahuano, in the province of + Conception." It was used on board of her Majesty's ship Blossom; + and Mr Mason, of her Majesty's ship Seringspatam, pronounced it + good when not taken too near the surface. Mr Wheelright, the + American gentleman who formed the Steam Navigation Company along + the western coast, coked the coal found there; and in the general + plan for the formation of his company, assured the public that + "coal exists on various parts of the Chili coast in great + abundance, and will afford an ample supply for steam operations on + the Pacific at a very moderate expense." The fact is confirmed by + various other testimonies, and there is every reason to believe + that coal will be hereafter found at no great distance from + Panama. + +To escape from the perils and delays of this circuitous route has long +been the anxious wish of all commercial nations, and to a certain extent +this may be accomplished in the manner here pointed out. In the course of +time, and in case prospects are sufficiently encouraging--or, in other +words, should the surveys required for a ship canal correspond with the +hopes entertained upon this subject by the French--the great desideratum +might then be attempted. The work done would not interfere with any other +afterwards undertaken on an increased scale. On the contrary, a railroad +would continue its usual traffic, and afford great assistance. Fortunately +the obstruction to the admission of vessels into Chagre harbour, on the +Atlantic side, may be obviated, as will appear from the following passage +in Mr Lloyd's report--a point of extreme importance in the prosecution of +any ulterior design; but even then the great difficulty remains to be +overcome on the Pacific shore:-- + +"The river Chagre," says the Colombian commissioner, "its channel, and the +barks which in the dry season embarrass its navigation, are laid down in +my manuscript plan with great care and minuteness. It is subject to one +great inconvenience; viz. that vessels drawing more than twelve feet water +cannot enter the river, even in perfectly calm weather, on account of a +stratum of slaty limestone which runs, at a depth at high water of fifteen +feet, from a point on the mainland to some rocks in the middle of the +entrance into the harbour, and which are just even with the water's edge. +This, together with the lee current that sets on the southern shore, +particularly in the rainy season, renders the entrance extremely difficult +and dangerous. The value of the Chagre, considered as the port of entrance +for all communication, whether by the river Chagre, Trinidad, or by +railroad, across the plains, is greatly limited owing to the +above-mentioned cause. It would, in all cases, prove a serious +disqualification, were it not one which admits of a simple and effectual +remedy, arising from the proximity of the bay of Limon, otherwise called +Navy Bay, with which the river might be easily connected. The coves of this +bay afford excellent and secure anchorage in its present state, and the +whole harbour is capable of being rendered, by obvious and not very +expensive means, one of the most commodious and safe in the world." + +After expressing his gratitude for the good offices of her Majesty's +consul at Panama, and the services rendered to him by the officers of her +Majesty's ship Victor, with the aid of whose boats, and the assistance of +the master, he made his survey of the bay of Limon, obtained soundings, +and constructed his plan, (the shores of which bay, he says, are therein +laid down trigonometrically from a base of 5220 yards)--Mr Lloyd remarks +thus, "It will be seen by this plan that the distance from one of the +best coves, in respect to anchorage, across the separating country from +the Chagre, and in the most convenient track, is something less than three +miles to a point in the river about three miles from its mouth. I have +traversed the intervening land, which is perfectly level, and in all +respects suitable for a canal, which, being required for so short a +distance, might well be made of a sufficient depth to admit vessels of any +reasonable draught of water, and would obviate the inconvenience of the +shallows at the entrance of the Chagre." + +Granting, however, that the admission from the Atlantic into the Chagre of +a larger class of vessels than those drawing twelve feet might be thus +facilitated, according to Mr Lloyd's own avowal a breakwater would still +be necessary at the entrance of Limon Bay, which is situated round Point +Brujas, about eight geographical miles higher up towards Porto Bello than +the mouth of that river, as the heavy sea setting into the bay would +render the anchorage of vessels insecure. An immense deal of work would +consequently still remain to be performed before a corresponding outlet +into the Pacific could be obtained; and whether this can be accomplished +is yet problematical. In the interval, a railroad, on the plan above +suggested, would answer many, although not all the purposes desired by the +commercial community, and serve as a preparatory step for a canal, should +it be deemed feasible. After the country has been cleared of wood and +properly explored--after the population has been more concentrated, and +the opinions of experienced men obtained--a project of oceanic navigation +may succeed; but, for the present, we ought to be content with the best +and cheapest expedient that can be devised; and the distance is so short, +and the facilities for the enterprise so palpable, that a few previous +combinations, and a small capital only, are required to carry it into +effect. By using the waters of the Chagre and Trinidad, a material part of +the distance across is saved;[29] and as, as before explained, the ground +will cost nothing, and excellent and cheap materials exist, the work might +be performed at a comparatively trifling expense. When completed, the trip +from sea to sea would not take more than from six to eight hours. + +Avowedly, no ocean is so well adapted for steam navigation as the Pacific. +Except near Cape Horn, and in the higher latitudes to the north-west, on +its glassy surface storms are seldom encountered. With their heavy ships, +the Spaniards often made voyages from Manilla to Acapulco in sixty-five +days, without having once had occasion to take in their light sails. The +ulterior consequences, therefore, of a more general introduction of steam +power into that new region, connected with a highway across the isthmus of +Panama, no one can calculate. The experiment along the shores of Chili and +Peru has already commenced; and the cheap rate at which fossil fuel can be +had has proved a great facility. Under circumstances so peculiarly +propitious, to what an extent, then, may not steam navigation be carried +on the smooth expanse of the Southern ocean? If there are two sections of +the globe more pre-eminently suited for commercial intercourse than others, +they are the western shores of America and Southern Asia. To these two +markets, consequently, will the attention of manufacturing nations be +turned; and, should the project here proposed be carried into effect, +depots of merchandize will be formed on and near the isthmus, when the +riches of Europe and America will move more easily towards Asia; while, in +return, the productions of Asia will be wafted towards America and Europe. +If we entertain the expectation, that at no distant period of time our +West India possessions will become advanced posts, and aid in the +development of the resources abounding in that extended and varied region +at the entrance of which they are stationed--if the several islands there +which hoist the British flag are destined to be resting-places for that +trade between Great Britain and the Southern sea, now opening to European +industry--these two great interests cannot be so effectually advanced as +by the means above suggested. + + [29] Mr Scarlett says, that the depth of water at Chagre is + sufficient for steamers and large schooners, which can be + navigated without obstruction as far up as the mouth of the + Trinidad. By descending that river, he himself crossed the isthmus + in seventeen hours--viz. from Panama to Cruces, eight; and thence + to Chagre, nine. Mr Wheelright, the American gentleman above + quoted, says that the transit of the isthmus during the dry + season, (from November to June--and wet from June to November,) is + neither inconvenient nor unpleasant. The canoes are covered, + provisions and fruits cheap along the banks of the Chagre, and + there is always personal security. The temperature, although warm, + is healthy. At the same time it must be confessed, that in the + rainy season a traveller is subject to great exposure and + consequent illness; but if the railroad was roofed this objection + might be removed. It is on all hands agreed, that the climate of + the isthmus would be greatly improved by drainage, and clearing + the country of the immense quantities of vegetable matter left + rotting on the ground. The beds of seaweed, in a constant state of + decomposition on the Pacific shore, create miasmata unquestionably + injurious to health. + +It has generally been thought that the long-neglected isthmus of Suez is +the shortest road to India, but besides being precarious, and suited only +for the conveyance of light weights, that line only embraces one object; +whereas the establishment of a communication across that of Panama, would +be like the creation of a new geographical and commercial world--it would +bring two extremities of the earth closer together, and, besides, connect +many intermediate points. It would open to European nations the portals to +a new field of enterprise, and complete the series of combinations forming +to develop the riches with which the Pacific abounds, by presenting to +European industry a new group of producers and consumers. The remotest +regions of the East would thus come more under the influence of European +civilization; while, by a quicker and safer intercourse, our Indian +possessions would be rendered more secure, and our new connexion with +China strengthened. Besides the wealth arriving from Asia and the islands +in the wide Pacific, the produce of Acapulco, San Blas, California, Nootka +Sound, and the Columbia river, on the one side, and of Guayaquil, Peru, +and Chili, on the other, would come to the Atlantic by a shorter route, at +the same time that we might receive advices from New Holland and New +Zealand with only half the delay we now do. + +The mere recurrence to a map will at once show, that the isthmus of Panama +is destined to become a great commercial thoroughfare, and, at a moderate +expense, might be made the seat of an extensive trade. By the facilities +of communication across, new wants would be created; and, as fresh markets +open to European enterprise, a proportionate share of the supplies would +fall to our lot. In the present depressed state of our commercial +relations, some effort must be made to apply the industry of the country +to a larger range of objects. A century of experiments and labour has +changed the face of nature in our own country, quadrupled the produce of +our lands, and extended a green mantle over districts which once wore the +appearance of barren wastes; but the consumption of our manufactures +abroad has not risen in the same proportion. It behoves us, then, to +explore and secure new markets, which can best be done by connecting +ourselves with those regions to which the isthmus of Panama is the +readiest avenue. In a mercantile point of view, the importance of the +western coasts of America is only partially known to us. With the +exception of Valparaiso and Lima, our merchants seldom visit the various +ports along that extended line, to which the establishment of the Hudson's +Bay Company on the Columbia river gives a new feature. Although abounding +in the elements of wealth, in many of these secluded regions the spark of +commercial life has scarcely been awakened by foreign intercourse. Our +whale-fisheries in the Pacific may also require more protection than they +have hitherto done; and if we ever hope to have it in our power to obtain +live alpacas from Peru as a new stock in this country, and at a rate cheap +enough for the farmer to purchase and naturalize them, it must be by the +way of Panama, by which route guano manure may also be brought over to us +at one half of the present charges. We are now sending bonedust and other +artificial composts to Jamaica and our other islands in the West Indies, +in order to restore the soil, impoverished by successive sugar-cane crops, +while the most valuable fertilizer, providentially provided on the other +side of the isthmus, remains entirely neglected. + +The establishment of a more direct intercourse with the Pacific, it will +therefore readily be acknowledged, is an undertaking worthy of a great +nation, and conformable to the spirit of the age in which we are +living--an undertaking which would do more honour to Great Britain, and +ultimately prove more beneficial to our merchants, than any other that +possibly could be devised. Nor is it to be imagined that other nations are +insensible to the advantages which they would derive from an opening of +this kind. The feelings and sentiments of the French upon this subject +have already been briefly noticed. The King of Holland has expressed +himself favourable to the undertaking, nor are the Belgians behind hand in +their good wishes for its accomplishment. If possible, the North Americans +have a larger and more immediate interest in its success than the +commercial nations of Europe. Ever since their acquisition of Louisiana, a +general spirit of enterprise has directed a large portion of their +population towards the head waters of the Mississippi and Missouri--a +spirit which impels a daring and thrifty race of men gradually to advance +towards the north-west. Captain Clark's excursion in 1805, had for its +object the discovery of a route to the Pacific by connecting the Missouri +and Columbia rivers, a subject on which, even at that early period, he +expressed himself thus:--"I consider this track across the continent of +immense advantage to the fur trade, as all the furs collected in +nine-tenths of the most valuable fur country in America, may be conveyed +to the mouth of the Columbia river, and thence shipped to the East Indies +by the 15th of August in each year, and will, of course, reach Canton +earlier than the furs which are annually exported from Montreal arrive in +Great Britain." + +This extract will suffice to show the spirit of emulation by which the +citizens of the Union were, even at so remote a period, actuated in +reference to the north-west coast of America--a spirit which has since +manifested itself in a variety of ways, and in much stronger terms. The +distance overland is, however, too great, and the population too scanty, +for this route to be rendered available for the general purposes of +traffic, at least for many years to come. The North Americans have, +therefore, turned their attention to other points offering facilities of +communication with the Pacific; and the line to which they have usually +given the preference is the Mexican, or more northern one, across the +isthmus of Tehuantepec, situated partly in the province of Oaxaca and +partly in that of Vera Cruz. The facilities afforded by this locality have +been described by several tourists; but supposing that the river +Guassacualco, on the Atlantic, is, or can be made navigable for large +vessels as high up as the isthmus of Tehuantepec, (as to deep water at the +entrance, there is no doubt,) still a carriage road for at least sixteen +leagues would be necessary. The intervening land, although it may contain +some favourable breaks, is nevertheless avowedly so high, that from some +of the mountain summits the two oceans my be easily seen. The obstacles to +a road, and much more so to a canal, are therefore very considerable; and +a suitable and corresponding outlet into the Pacific, besides, has not yet +been discovered. + +This, then, is by no means so eligible a spot as the isthmus of Panama. +From its situation, the Tehuantepec route would, nevertheless, be +extremely valuable to the North Americans; and it must not be forgotten +that, in this stirring age, there is scarcely an undertaking that baffles +the ingenuity of man. Owing to their position, the North Americans would +gain more by shortening the passage to the Pacific than ourselves; and +Tehuantepec being the nearest point to them suited for that object, and +also the one which they could most effectually control, it is more than +probable that, at some future period, they will use every effort to have +it opened. The country through which the line would pass is confessedly +richer, healthier, and more populous, than that contiguous to the Lake of +Nicaragua, or across the isthmus of Panama; but should the work projected +ever be carried into execution, eventually this route must become an +American monopoly. + +The citizens of the United States, it will therefore readily be believed, +are keenly alive to the subject, and calculate thus:--A steamer leaving +the Mississippi can reach Guassacualco in six days; in seven, her cargo +might be transferred across the isthmus of Tehuantepec to the Pacific, and +in fifty more reach China--total, sixty-three days. As an elucidation, let +us suppose that the usual route to the same destination, round Gape Horn, +from a more central part of the Union--Philadelphia, for example--is 16, +150 miles; in that case the distance saved, independent of less sea risk, +would be as follows:--From the Delaware to Guassacualco, 2100 miles; +across Tehuantepec to the Pacific, 120; to the Sandwich Islands, 3835; to +the Ladrone do., 3900; and to Canton, 2080--total, 12,035 miles; whereby +the saving would be 4115, besides affording greater facilities for the +application of steam. Their estimate of the saving to the Columbia river +is still more encouraging. From one of their central ports the distance +round Cape Horn is estimated at 18,261 miles; whereas by the Mexican route +it would be, to Guassacualco and overland to the Pacific, 2220 miles, and +thence to the Columbia river, 2760--total, 4980; thus leaving the enormous +difference of 13, 281 miles--two-thirds of the distance, besides the +advantage of a safer navigation. By the new route, and the aid of steam, a +voyage to the destination above named may be performed in thirty instead +of a hundred and forty days; and as the population extends towards the +north-west, the Columbia river must become a place of importance. Hitherto +the Pacific ports of Mexico and California have chiefly been supplied with +goods carried overland from Vera Cruz, surcharged with heavy duties and +expenses. More need not be said to show that the United States are on the +alert; nor can it be imagined that they will allow any favourable +opportunity of securing to themselves an easier access to the Pacific to +escape them. On finding another road open, they would, however, be +inclined to desist from seeking a line of communication for themselves. +There is, indeed, every reason to expect that they would cheerfully concur +in a work, the completion of which would so materially redound to their +advantage. + +Nothing, indeed, can be more evident than the fact, that not only Great +Britain and the United States, but also all the commercial nations of +Europe, are deeply interested in securing for themselves a shorter and +safer passage into the great Pacific, on terms the most prompt and +economical that circumstances will allow; and the success which has +attended civilization within the present century, demands that this effort +should be made, in which, from her position, Great Britain is peculiarly +called upon to take the initiative. For the last twenty years the Panamese +have been buoyed up with the hope, that an attempt, of some kind or other, +would be made to open a communication across their isthmus, calculated to +compensate them for all their losses; and hence they have always been +disposed to second the exertions of any respectable party prepared to +undertake a work which they cannot themselves accomplish. They have heard +of the time of the _Galeones_, when the fleet, annually arriving from Peru, +landed its treasures in their port, which were exultingly carried overland +to Porto Bello, where the fair was held. "On that occasion," says Ulloa, +"the road was covered with droves of mules, each consisting of above a +hundred, laden with boxes of gold and silver," &c. Panama then rose into +consequence, attaining a state of wealth and prosperity which ceased when +the trade from the western shores took another direction. The natives and +local authorities would consequently rejoice at an event so favourable to +them, and vie with each other in according to the projectors every aid and +protection. Provisions and rents are cheap, and, under all circumstances, +the work might be completed at half the expense it would cost in Europe. + +At various periods foreign individuals have obtained grants to carry the +project into execution, but time proved that they were mere speculators, +unprovided with capital, and unfortunately death prevented Bolivar from +realizing his favourite scheme. For the same object, attempts have also +been made to form companies; but, owing to the hitherto unsettled state of +the government in whose territory the isthmus is situated, the +unpopularity of South American enterprizes, and the fact that no grant +made to private individuals could afford sufficient security for the +outlay of capital, these schemes fell to the ground. The non-performance +of the promises made by the grantees, at length induced the Congress of +New Granada to annul all privileges conferred on individuals for the +purpose of opening a canal, or constructing a railroad across the isthmus, +and notifying that the project should be left open for general competition. +This determination, and the ulterior views of the French in that quarter, +have again brought the subject under discussion; and it is thought that a +fresh attempt will, erelong, be made to organize a company. It must, +however, be evident to every reflecting mind, that although the scheme has +a claim on the best energies of our countrymen, and is entitled to the +efficient patronage of government, yet, even if the funds were for this +purpose raised through private agency, the works never could be carried +into execution in a manner consistent with the magnitude of the object in +view, or the concern administered on a plan calculated to produce the +results anticipated. No body of individuals ought, indeed, to receive and +hold such a grant as would secure to them the tenure of the lands required +for the undertaking. If such a privilege could be rendered valid, it would +place in their hands a monopoly liable to abuses. + +The best expedient would be for the several maritime and commercial +nations interested in the success of the enterprize, to unite and enter +into combinations, so as to secure for themselves a safe and permanent +transit for the benefit of all; and then let the work be undertaken with +no selfish or ambitious views, but in a spirit of mutual fellowship; and, +when completed, let this be a highway for each party contributing to the +expense, enjoyed and protected by all. At first sight this idea may appear +romantic--the combinations required may be thought difficult; but every +where the extension of commerce is now the order of the day, and the good +understanding which prevails among the parties who might be invited to +concur in the work, warrants the belief that, at a moment so peculiarly +auspicious, little diplomatic ingenuity would be required to procure their +assent and co-operation. By means of negotiations undertaken by Great +Britain and conducted in a right spirit, trading nations would be induced +to agree and contribute to the expenses of the enterprize in proportion to +the advantages which they may hope to derive from its completion. If, for +example, the estimate of the cost amounted to half a million sterling, +Great Britain, France, and the United States might contribute L.100,000 +each, and the remainder be divided among the minor European states--each +having a common right to the property thereby created, and each a +commissioner on the spot, to watch over their respective interests. + +This would be the most honourable and effectual mode of improving +facilities to which the commerce and civilization of Europe have a claim. +It is the settled conviction of the most intelligent persons who have +traversed the isthmus, that these facilities exist to the extent herein +described and unity of purpose is therefore all that is wanting for the +attainment of the end proposed. Jealousies would be thus obviated; and to +such a concession as the one suggested, the local government could have no +objection, as its own people would participate in the benefits flowing +from it. This is indeed a tribute due from the New to the Old World; nor +could the other South American states hesitate to sanction a grant made +for a commercial purpose, and for the general advantage of mankind. The +isthmus of Panama, that interesting portion of their continent, has +remained neglected for ages; and so it must continue, at least as regards +any great and useful purpose, unless called into notice by extraordinary +combinations. With so many prospective advantages before us, it is +therefore to be hoped that the time has arrived when Great Britain will +take the initiative, and promote the combinations necessary to establish a +commercial intercourse between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, an event +that would widen the scope for maritime enterprizes more than any that has +happened within the memory of the present generation, and connect us more +closely with those countries which have lately been the theatre of our +triumphs. The East India and Hudson's Bay Companies, the traders to China +and the Indian archipelago, the Australian and New Zealand colonists, +together with their connexions at home--in a word, all those who are +desirous of shortening the tedious and perilous navigation round Cape Horn +and the Cape of Good Hope--would be benefited by the construction of a +railroad; which, by making Panama an entrepot of supplies for the western +shores of America and the islands in the Pacific, either in direct +communication with Great Britain or the West India colonies, our +manufacturers would participate in the profits of an increased demand for +European commodities, which necessarily must follow the accomplishment of +so grand a design. + + * * * * * + + + + +TWO DREAMS. + + +The Germans and French differ more from each other in the art and mystery +of story-telling than either of them do from the English. It would be very +easy to point out tales which are very popular in Paris, that would make +no sensation at Vienna or Berlin; and, _vice versa_, we cannot imagine how +the French can possibly enter into the spirit of many of the best known +authors of Deutschland. In England, we are happy to say we can appreciate +them all. History, philology, philosophy--in short, all the modes and +subdivisions of heavy authorship--we leave out of the question, and +address ourselves, on this occasion, to the distinctive characteristics of +the two schools of _light_ literature--schools which have a wider +influence, and number more scholars, than all the learned academies put +together. + +In this country an outcry has been raised against the French authors in +this department, and in favour of the Germans, on the ground of the +frightful immorality of the first, and the sound principles of the other. +French impiety is not a more common expression, applied to their writings, +than German honesty. It will, perhaps, be right at starting to state, that, +in regard to decency and propriety, the two nations are on a par; if there +is any preponderance, one way or other, it certainly is not in favour of +the Germans, whose derelictions in those respects are more solemn, and +apparently sincere, than their flippant and superficial rivals. Many +authors there are, of course, in both countries, whose works are +unexceptionable in spirit and intention; but as to the assertion, that one +literature is of a higher tone of morals than the other, it is a mistake. +The great majority of the entertaining works in both are unfit _pueris +virginibusque_. + +Before the Revolution, Voltaire was as popular in England as in the rest +of Europe; his powers as highly admired, and his short _historiettes_ as +much quoted: their wit being considered a sufficient counterbalance of +their coarseness. But with the war between the two nations, arose a hatred +between the two literatures; with Swift and Tristram Shandy in our hands, +we turned up our eyes in holy indignation at Candide; we saw nothing to +admire in any thing French; and as our condition in politics became more +isolated, and we grew like our ancestors, _toto divisos orbe Britannos_-- +we could see no beauty in any thing foreign. The Orders in Council +extended to criticism; and all continental languages were placed in +blockade. The first nation who honestly and zealously took our part +against the enemy was the German; and from that time we began to study +_achs_ and _dochs_. Leipsic, that made Napoleon little, made Goethe great; +and to Waterloo we are indebted for peace and freedom, and also for a +belief in the truth and talent of a host of German authors, whose +principal merit consisted in the fact of their speaking the same language +in which Blucher called for his tobacco. The opposite feelings took rise +from our enmity to the French; and though by this time we have sense +enough to be on good terms with the _crapauds_, and on visiting terms with +Louis Philippe, we have not got over our antipathy to their tongue. During +the contest, we had constantly refreshed our zeal by fervent declarations +of contempt for the frog-eating, spindle shanked mounseers, and persuaded +ourselves that their whole literature consisted in atheism and murder, and +though we now know that frogs are by no means the common food of the +peasantry--costing about a guinea a dish--and that it is possible for a +Frenchman to be a strapping fellow of six feet high, the taint of our +former persuasion remains with us still as to their books; and, in some +remote districts, we have no doubt that Peter Pindar would be thought a +more harmless volume in a young lady's hands than _Pascal's Thoughts_--in +French. + +It is not unlikely that the Customs' Union may lower our estimate of +Weimar; a five years' war with Austria and Prussia, especially if we were +assisted by the French, would make us rank Schiller himself--the greatest +of German names--on the same humble level where we now place Victor Hugo. +But there are thousands, of people in this good realm of England, who +actually consider such beings a Spindler and Vandervelde superior to the +noble genius who created _Notre Dame de Paris_. Poor as our own +novel-writers, by profession, have shown themselves of late years, their +efforts are infinitely superior to the very best of the German +novelists; and yet we see advertisements every day in the newspapers, of +new translations from fourth or fifth-rate scribblers for Leipsic fair, +which would lead one to expect a far higher order of merit than any of +our living authors can show. "A new work by the Walter Scott of +Germany!" A new work by the Newton of Stoke Pogis! A new picture by the +Apelles of the Isle of Man! The Walter Scott of Germany, according to +somebody's saying about Milton, is a very _German_ Walter Scott; and, if +under this ridiculous pull is concealed some drivelling historical hash +by Spindler or Tromlits, the force of impudence can no farther go. + +But we must take care not to be carried too far in our depreciation of +German light literature by our indignation at the over-estimate formed of +some of its professors. Let us admit that there are admirable authors--a +fact which it would be impossible to deny with such works before us as +Tieck's, and Hoffman's, and a host of others--_quos nunc perscribere +longum est_. Let us leave the small fry to the congenial admiration of the +devourers of our circulating libraries, and form our judgment of the +respective methods of conducting a story of the French and Germans, from a +comparison of the heroes of each tongue. Let us judge of Greek and Roman +war from the Phalanx and the Legion, and not from the suttlers of the two +camps. A great excellence in a German novelist is the prodigious faith he +seems to have in his own story; he relates incidents as if he knew them of +his own knowledge; and the wilder and more incredible they are, the more +firm and solemn becomes his belief. The Frenchman never descends from +holding the wires of the puppets to be a puppet himself, or even to delude +spectators with the idea that they are any thing but puppets; he never +forfeits his superiority over the personages of the story, by allowing the +reader to lose sight of the author; no, he piques himself on being the +great showman, and would scarcely take it as a compliment if you entered +into the interest of the tale, unless as an exhibition of the narrator's +talent. But then he handles his wires so cleverly, and is really so +immensely superior to the fictitious individuals whom he places before us, +that it is no great wonder if we prefer Alexander Dumas or Jules Janin to +their heroes. The Germans, relying on their own powers of belief, have +taxed their readers' credulity to a pitch which sober Protestants find it +very difficult to attain. Old Tieck or Hoffman introduces you to ghouls +and ghosts, and they look on them, themselves, with such awestruck eyes, +and treat them in every way with such demonstrations of perfect credence +in their being really ghouls and ghosts, that it is not to be denied that +strange feelings creep over one in reading their stories at the witching +hour, when the fire is nearly out, and the candle-wicks are an inch and a +half long. The Frenchman seldom introduces a ghost--never a ghoul; but he +makes up for it by describing human beings with sentiments which would +probably make the ghoul feel ashamed to associate with them. The utmost +extent of human profligacy is depicted, but still the profligacy is human; +it is only an amplification--very clever and very horrid--of a real +character; but never borrows any additional horrors from the other world. +A French author knows very well that the wickedness of this world is quite +enough to set one's hair on end--for we suspect that the _Life in Paris_ +would supply any amount of iniquity--and professors of the shocking, like +Frederick Soulie or Eugene Sue, can afford very well to dispense with +vampires and gentlemen who have sold their shadows to the devil. The +German, in fact, takes a short cut to the horrible and sublime, by +bringing a live demon into his story, and clothing him with human +attributes; the Frenchman takes the more difficult way, and succeeds in it, +by introducing a real man, and endowing him with the sentiments of a fiend. +The fault of the one is exaggeration; of the other, miscreation: redeemed +in the first by extraordinary cleverness; in the other, by wonderful +belief. What a contrast between La Motte Fouqué and Balzac! how national +and characteristic both! No one can read a chapter of the _Magic Ring_ +without seeing that the Baron believes in all the wonders of his tale; a +page of the other suffices to show that there are few things on the face +of the earth in which he believes at all. Dim, mystic, childish, with +open mouth and staring eyes, the German sees the whole phantasmagoria of +the nether world pass before him: keen, biting, sarcastic--egotistic as +a beauty, and cold-hearted as Mephistopheles--the Frenchman walks among +his figures in a gilded drawing room; probes their spirits, breaks their +hearts, ruins their reputation, and seems to have a profound contempt +for any reader who is so carried away by his power as to waste a touch +of sympathy on the unsubstantial pageants he has clothed for a brief +period in flesh and blood. We confess the sober _super_-naturalism of +the German has less attractions with us, than the grinning +_infra_-naturalism of the Frenchman. There is more sameness in it, and, +besides, it is to be hoped we have at all tines less sympathy for the +very best of devils than for the very worst of men. Luckily for the +Frenchman, he has no need to go to the lower regions to procure monsters +to make us shudder. His own tremendous Revolution furnishes him with +names before which Lucifer must hide his diminished head; and from this +vast repertory of all that is horrid and grotesque--more horrid on +account of its grotesqueness--the _feuilletonists_, or short +story-tellers, are not indisposed to draw. We back Danton any day +against Old Nick. And how infinitely better the effect of introducing a +true villain in plain clothes, relying for his power only on the known +and undeniable atrocity of his character, than all the pale-faced, +hollow-eyed denizens of the lower pit, concealing their cloven feet in +polished-leather Wellington boots, and their tails in a fashionable +surtout. We shall translate a short story of Balzac, which will +illustrate these remarks, only begging the reader to fancy to himself +how different the _denouément_ would have been in the hands of a German; +how demons, instead of surgeons and attorneys, would have disclosed +themselves at the end of the story, how blue the candles would have +burned; and what an awful smell of brimstone would have been perceptible +when they disappeared. It is called the _Two Dreams_, and, we think, is +a sketch of great power. + + * * * * * + +Bodard de St James, treasurer of the navy in 1786, was the best known, and +most talked of, of all the financiers in Paris. He had built his +celebrated Folly at Neuilly, and his wife had bought an ornament of +feathers for the canopy of her bed, the enormous price of which had put it +beyond the power of the Queen. Bodard possessed the magnificent hotel in +the Place Vendôme which the collector of taxes, Dangé, had been forced to +leave. Madame de St James was ambitious, and would only have people of +rank about her--a weakness almost universal in persons of her class. The +humble members of the lower house had no charms for her. She wished to see +in her saloons the nobles and dignitaries of the land who had, at least, +the _grand entrées_ at Versailles. To say that many _cordons bleus_ +visited the fair financier would be absurd; but it is certain she had +managed to gain the notice of several of the Rohan family, as came out +very clearly in the celebrated process of the necklace. + +One evening, I think it was the 2d of August 1786, I was surprised to +encounter in her drawing-room two individuals, whose appearance did not +entitle them to the acquaintance of a person so exclusive as the +Treasurer's wife. She came to me in an embrasure of the window where I had +taken my seat. + +"Tell me," I said, with a look towards one of the strangers, "who in the +world is that? How does such a being find his way here?" + +"He is a charming person, I assure you." + +"Oh--you see him through the spectacles of love!" I said, and smiled. + +"You are not mistaken," she replied, smiling also. "He is horribly ugly, +no doubt, but he has rendered me the greatest service a man can do to +woman." + +I laughed, and I suppose looked maliciously, for she hastily added--"He +has entirely cured me of those horrid eruptions in the face, that made my +complexion like a peasant's." + +I shrugged my shoulders. "Oh--he's a quack!" I said. + +"No, no," she answered, "he is a surgeon of good reputation. He is very +clever, I assure you; and, moreover, he is an author. He's an excellent +doctor." + +"And the other?" I enquired. + +"Who? What other?" + +"The little fellow with the starched, stiff face--looking as sour as if he +had drunk verjuice." + +"Oh! he is a man of good family. I don't know where he comes from. He is +engaged in some business of the Cardinal's, and it was his Eminence +himself who presented him to St James. Both parties have chosen St James +for umpire; in that, you will say, the provincial has not shown much +wisdom; but who can the people be who confide their interests to such a +creature? He is quiet as a lamb, and timid as a girl; but his Eminence +courts him--for the matter is of importance--three hundred thousand francs, +I believe." + +"He's an attorney, then?" + +"Yes," she replied; and, after the humiliating confession, took her seat +at the Faro table. + +I went and threw myself in an easy chair at the fireplace; and if ever a +man was astonished it was I, when I saw seated opposite me the +Controller-General! M. de Calonne looked stupified and half-asleep. I +nodded to Beaumarchais, and looked as if I wished an explanation; and the +author of Figaro, or rather Figaro himself, made clear the mystery in a +manner not very complimentary to Madame de St James s character, whatever +it might be to her beauty. "Oho! the minister is caught," I thought; "no +wonder the Collector lives in such style." + +It was half-past twelve before the card-tables were removed, and we sat +down to supper. We were a party of ten--Bodard and his wife, the +Controller-General, Beaumarchais, the two strangers, two handsome women +whose names I will not mention, and a collector of taxes, I think a M. +Lavoisier. Of thirty who had been in the drawing-room when I entered, +these were all who remained. The supper was stupid beyond belief. The two +strangers and the Collector were intolerable bores. I made signs to +Beaumarchais to make the surgeon tipsy, while I undertook the same kind +office with the attorney, who sat on my left. As we had no other means of +amusing ourselves, and the plan promised some fun, by bringing out the two +interlopers and making them more ridiculous than we had found them already, +M. de Calonne entered into the plot. In a moment the three ladies saw our +design, and joined in it with all their power. The surgeon seemed very +well inclined to yield; but when I had filled my neighbour's glass for the +third time, he thanked me with cold politeness, and would drink no more. +The conversation, I don't know from what cause, had turned on the magic +suppers of the Count Cagliostro. I took little interest in it, for, from +the moment of my neighbour's refusal to drink, I had done nothing but +study his pale and small featured countenance. His nose was flat and +sharp-pointed at the same time, and occasionally an expression came to his +eyes that gave him the appearance of a weasel. All at once the blood +rushed to his cheeks when he heard Madame St James say to M. de Calonne-- + +"But I assure you, sir, I have actually seen Queen Cleopatra." + +"I believe it, madame," exclaimed my neighbour; "for I have spoken to +Catharine de Medicis." + +"Oh! oh!" laughed M. De Calonne. + +The words uttered by the little provincial had an indefinable sonorousness. +The sudden clearness of intonation, from a man who, up to this time, had +scarcely spoken above his breath, startled us all. + +"And how was her late Majesty?" said M. De Calonne. + +"I can't positively declare that the person with whom I supped last night +was Catharine de Medicis herself, for a miracle like that must be +incredible to a Christian as well as to a philosopher," replied the +attorney, resting the points of his fingers on the table, and setting +himself up in his chair, as if he intended to speak for some time; "but I +can swear that the person, whoever she was, resembled Catharine de Medicis +as if they had been sisters. She wore a black velvet robe, exactly like +the dress of that queen given in her portrait in the Royal Gallery; and +the rapidity of her evocation was most surprising, as M. De Cagliostro had +no idea of the person I should desire him to call up. I was confounded. +The sight of a supper at which the illustrious women of past ages were +present, took away my self-command. I listened without daring to ask a +question. On getting away at midnight from the power of his enchantments, +I almost doubted of my own existence. But what is the most wonderful thing +about it is, that all those marvels appear to be quite natural and +commonplace compared to the extraordinary hallucination I was subjected to +afterwards. I don't know how to explain the state of my feelings to you in +words; I will only say that, from henceforth, I an not surprised that +there are spirits--strong enough or weak enough, I know not which--to +believe in the mysteries of magic and the power of demons." + +These words were pronounced with an incredible eloquence of tone. They +were calculated to arrest our attention, and all eyes were fixed on the +speaker. In that man, so cold and self-possessed, there burned a hidden +fire which began to act upon us all. + +"I know not," he continued, "whether the figure followed me in a state of +invisibility; but the moment I got into bed, I saw the great shade of +Catharine rise before me: all of a sudden she bent her head towards +me--but I don't know whether I ought to go on," said the narrator, +interrupting himself; "for though I must believe it was only a dream, what +I have to tell is of the utmost weight." + +"Is it about religion?" enquired Beaumarchais. + +"Or, perhaps, something not fit for ladies' ears?" added M. de Calonne. + +"It is about government," replied the stranger. + +"Go on, then," said the Minister: "Voltaire, Diderot, and Company, have +tutored our ears to good purpose." + +"Whether it was that certain ideas rose involuntarily to my mind, or that +I was acting under some irresistible impulse, I said to her--'Ah, madame, +you committed an enormous crime.' + +"'What crime?' she asked me in a solemn voice. + +"'That of which the Palace clock gave the signal on the 24th of August.' + +"She smiled disdainfully. 'You call that a crime?' she said: ''twas +nothing but a misfortune. The enterprise failed, and has, therefore, not +produced all the good we expected from it--to France, to Europe, to +Christianity itself. The orders were ill executed, and posterity makes no +allowance for the want of communication which hindered us from giving all +the unity to our effort which is requisite in affairs of state;--that was +the misfortune. If on the 26th of August there had not remained the shadow +of a Huguenot in France, the latest posterity would have looked upon me +with awe, as a Providence among men. How often have the clear intellects +of Sextus the Fifth, of Richelieu, and Bossuet, secretly accused me of +having failed in the design, after having had the courage to conceive it; +and therefore how my death was regretted! Thirty years after the St +Bartholomew, the malady existed still; and cost France ten times the +quantity of noble blood that remained to be spilt on the 26th August 1572. +The revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in honour of which medals were +struck, cost more blood, more tears, and more treasure, and has been more +injurious to France, than twenty St Bartholomews. If on the 25th August +1572, that enormous execution was necessary, on the 25th August 1685 it +was useless. Under the second son of Henry de Valois heresy was almost +barren; under the second son of Henry de Bourbon she had become a fruitful +mother, and scattered her progeny over the globe. You accuse _me_ of a +crime, and yet you raise statues to the son of Anne of Austria!' + +"At these words--slowly uttered--I felt a shudder creep over me. I seemed +to inhale the smell of blood." + +"He dreamt that to a certainty," whispered Beaumarchais; "he _could_ not +have invented it." + +"'My reason is confounded,' I said to the queen. 'You plume yourself on an +action which three generations have condemned and cursed, and'-- + +"'And,' she interrupted, 'that history has been more unjust to me than my +contemporaries were. Nobody has taken up my defence. I am accused of +ambition--I, rich and a queen--I am accused of cruelty; and the most +impartial judges consider me a riddle. Do you think that I was actuated by +feelings of hatred; that I breathed nothing but vengeance and fury?' She +smiled. 'I was calm and cold as Reason herself. I condemned the Huguenots +without pity, it is true, but without anger. If I had been Queen of +England, I would have done the same to the Catholics if they had been +seditious. Our country required at that time one God, one faith, one +master. Luckily for me, I have described my policy in a word. When Birague +announced to me the defeat at Dreux--well, I said, we must go to the +Conventicle.--Hate the Huguenots, indeed! I honoured them greatly, and I +did not know them. How could I hate those who had never been my friends?' + +"'But, madame, instead of that horrible butchery, why did you not try to +give the Calvinists the wise indulgences which made the reign of the +Fourth Henry so peaceable and so glorious?' + +"She smiled again, and the wrinkles in her face and brow gave an +expression of the bitterest irony to her pale features. + +"'Henry committed two faults,' she said. He ought neither to have abjured, +nor to have left France Catholic after having become so himself. He alone +was in a position to change the destinies of France. There should have +been either no Crosier or no Conventicle. He should never have left in the +government two hostile principles, with nothing to balance them. It is +impossible that Sully can have looked without envy on the immense +possessions of the church. But,' she paused, and seemed to consider for a +moment--'is it the niece of a pope you are surprised to see a Catholic? +After all,' she said, 'I could have been a Calvinist with all my heart. +Does any one believe that religion had any thing to do with that movement, +that revolution, the greatest the world has ever seen, which has been +retarded by trifling causes, but which nothing can hinder from coming to +pass, since I failed to crush it? A revolution,' she added, fixing her eye +on me, 'which is even now in motion, and which you--yes, you--you who now +listen to me--can finish.' + +"I shuddered. + +"'What! has no one perceived that the old interests and the new have taken +Rome and Luther for their watchwords? What! Louis the Ninth, in order to +avoid a struggle of the same kind, carried away with him five times the +number of victims I condemned, and left their bones on the shores of +Africa, and is considered a saint; while I--but the reason is soon +given--I failed!' + +"She bent her head, and was silent a moment. She was no longer a queen, +but one of those awful druidesses who rejoiced in human sacrifices, and +unrolled the pages of the Future by studying the records of the Past. At +length she raised her noble and majestic head again. 'You are all +inclined,' she said, 'to bestow more sympathy on a few worthless victims +than on the tears and sufferings of a whole generation! And you forget +that religious liberty, political freedom, a nation's tranquillity, +science itself, are benefits which Destiny never vouchsafes to man without +being paid for them in blood!' + +"'Cannot nations, some day or other, obtain happiness on easier terms?' I +asked, with tears in my eyes. + +"'Truths never leave their well unless to be bathed in blood. Christianity +itself--the essence of all truth, since it came from God--was not +established without its martyrs. Blood flowed in torrents.' + +"Blood! blood! the word sounded in my ear like a bell. + +"'You think, then,' I said, 'that Protestantism would have a right to +reason as you do.' + +"But Catharine had disappeared, and I awoke, trembling and in tears, till +reason resumed her sway, and told me that the doctrines of that proud +Italian were detestable, and that neither king nor people had a right to +act on the principles she had enounced, which I felt were only worthy of a +nation of atheists." + +When the unknown ceased to speak, the ladies made no remark. M. Bodard was +asleep. The surgeon, who was half tipsy, Lavoisier Beaumarchais, and I, +were the only ones who had listened. M. de Calonne was flirting with his +neighbour. At that moment there was something solemn in the silence. The +candles themselves seemed to me to burn with a magic dimness. A hidden +power had riveted our attention, by some mysterious links, to the +extraordinary narrator, who made me feel what might be the inexplicable +influence of fanaticism. It was only the deep hollow voice of Beaumarchais' +neighbour that awakened us from our surprise. + +"I also had a dream," he said. I looked more attentively at the surgeon, +and instinctively shuddered with horror. His earthy colour--his features, +at once vulgar and imposing, presented the true expression of _the +canaille_. He had dark pimples spread over his face like patches of dirt, +and his eyes beamed with a repulsive light. His countenance was more +horrid, perhaps, than it might otherwise have been, from his head being +snow-white with powder. + +"That fellow must have buried a host of patients," I said to my neighbour +the attorney. + +"I would not trust him with my dog," was the answer. + +"I hate him--I can't help it," I said. + +"I despise him." + +"No--you're wrong there," I replied. + +"And did you also dream of a queen?" enquired Beaumarchais. + +"No! I dreamt of a people," he answered with an emphasis that made us +laugh. "I had to cut off a patient's leg on the following day, and"-- + +"And you found the people in his leg?" asked M. de Calonne. + +"Exactly," replied the surgeon. + +"He's quite amusing," tittered the Countess de G----. + +"I was rather astonished, I assure you," continued the man, without +minding the sneers and interruptions he met with, "to find any thing to +speak to in that leg. I had the extraordinary faculty of entering into my +patient. When I found myself, for the first time, in his skin, I saw an +immense quantity of little beings, which moved about, and thought, and +reasoned. Some lived in the man's body, and some in his mind. His ideas +were living things, which were born, grew up, and died. They were ill and +well, lively, sorrowful; and in short had each their own characteristics. +They quarrelled, or were friendly with each other. Some of these ideas +forced their way out, and went to inhabit the intellectual world; for I +saw at a glance that there were two worlds--the visible and the invisible, +and that earth, like man, had a body and soul. Nature laid itself bare to +me; and I perceived its immensity, by seeing the ocean of beings who were +spread every where, making the whole one mass of animated matter, from the +marbles up to God. It was a noble sight! In short, there was a universe in +my patient. When I inserted the knife in his gangrened leg I annihilated +millions of those beings. You laugh, ladies, to think you are possessed by +animals." + +"Don't be personal," sneered M. de Calonne--"speak for yourself and your +patient." + +"He, poor man, was so frightened by the cries of those animals, and +suffered such torture, that he tried to interrupt the operation. But I +persevered, and I told him that those noxious animals were actually +gnawing his bones. He made a movement, and the knife hurt my own side." + +"He is an ass," said Lavoisier. + +"No--he is only drunk," replied Beaumarchais. + +"But, gentlemen, my dream has a meaning in it," cried the surgeon. + +"Oh! oh!" exclaimed Bodard, who awoke at the moment--"my leg's asleep." + +"Your animals are dead, my dear," said his wife. + +"That man has a destiny to fulfill," cried my neighbour the attorney, who +had kept his eyes fixed on the narrator the whole time. + +"It is to yours, sir," replied the frightful guest, who had overheard the +remark, "what action is to thought--what the body is to the soul." But at +this point his tongue became very confused from the quantity he had drunk, +and his further words were unintelligible. + +Luckily for us, the conversation soon took another turn, and in half an +hour we forgot all about the surgeon, who was sound asleep in his chair. +The rain fell in torrents when we rose from table. + +"The attorney is no fool," said I to Beaumarchais. + +"He is heavy and cold," he replied; "but you see there are still steady, +good sort of people in the provinces, who are quite in earnest about +political theories, and the history of France. It is a leaven that will +work yet." + +"Is your carriage here?" asked Madame de St James. + +"No"--I replied coldly. "You wished me, perhaps, to take M. de Calonne +home?" + +She left me, slightly offended at the insinuation, and turned to the +attorney. + +"M. de Robespierre," she said, "will you have the kindness to set M. Marat +down at his hotel? He is not able to take care of himself." + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GAME UP WITH REPEAL AGITATION. + + +"The game is up." Such were the words uttered with a somewhat different +intonation, which last month, in speaking of Mr O'Connell's crusade +against the peace of Ireland, we used tentatively, almost doubtfully, but +still in the spirit of hope, in reference to the crisis then apparently +impending, that the agitation might prolong itself by transmigrating into +some other shape, for that case we allowed. But in any result, foremost +amongst the auguries of hope was this--that the evil example of Mr O' +Connell's sedition would soon redress itself by a catastrophe not less +exemplary. And no consummation could satisfy us as a proper euthanasy of +this memorable conspiracy, which should not fasten itself as a _moral_ to +the long malice of the agitation growing out of it, as a natural warning, +and saying audibly to all future agitators--try not this scheme again, or +look for a similar humiliation. Those auguries are, in one sense, +accomplished; that consummation substantially is realized. Sedition has, +at last, countermined itself, and conspiracy we have seen in effect +perishing by its own excesses. Yet still, ingenuously speaking, we cannot +claim the merit of a felicitous foresight. That result _has_ come round +which we foreboded; but not in that sense which we intended to authorize, +nor exactly by those steps which we wished to see. We looked for the +extinction of this national scourge by its own inevitable decays: through +its own organization we had hoped that the Repeal Association should be +confounded: we trusted that an enthusiasm, founded in ignorance, and which, +in no one stage, could be said to have prospered, must finally droop +_spontaneously_, and that once _having_ drooped, through mere defect of +actions that bore any meaning, or tendencies that offered any promise, by +no felicities of intrigue could it ever be revived. Whether we erred in +the philosophy of our anticipations, cannot now be known; for, whether +wrong or right in theory, in practice our expectation has been abruptly +cut short. _A deus ex machinâ_ has descended amongst us abruptly, and +intercepted the natural evolution of the plot: the executive Government +has summarily effected the _peripetteia_ by means of a _coup d'état_; and +the end, such as we augured, has been brought about by means essentially +different. + +Yet, if thus far we were found in error, would _not that_ argue a +corresponding error in the Government? If we, relying on the +self-consistency of the executive, and _because_ we relied on that +self-consistency, predicted a particular solution for the _nodus_ of +Repeal, which solution has now become impossible; presuming a +perseverance in the original policy of ministers, now that its natural +fruits were rapidly ripening--whereas, after all, at the eleventh hour +we find them adopting that course which, with stronger temptation, they +had refused to adopt in the first hour--were this the true portrait of +the case, would it be ourselves that erred, or Government?--ourselves in +counting on steadiness, or Government in acting with caprice? Meantime, +_is_ this the portrait of the case? + +_That_ we shall know when Parliament meets; and possibly not before. At +present the attempts to explain, to reconcile, and, as it were, to +construe the Government system of policy, is first almost neglecting the +Irish sedition, and then (after half-a-year's sedentary and distant +skirmishing, by means of Chancery letters) suddenly, on the 7th day of +October, leaping into the arena armed cap-a-pie, dividing themselves like +a bomb-shell amongst the conspirators, rending--shattering--pursuing to +the right and to the left;--all attempts, we say, to harmonize that past +quiescence (almost _ac_quiescence) with this present demoniac energy, have +seemed to the public either false or feeble, or in some way insufficient. +Five such attempts we have noticed; and of the very best we may say that +perhaps it tells the truth, but not the whole truth. _First_ came the +solution of a great morning journal--to the effect that Government had, +knowingly and wilfully, altered their policy, treading back their own +steps upon finding the inefficiency of gentler measures. On this view no +harmonizing principle was called for the discord existed confessedly, and +the one course had been the _palinode_ of the other. But such a theory is +quite inadmissible to our minds; it tallies neither with the long-headed +and comprehensive sagacity of Sir Robert Peel, nor with the spirit of +simplicity, directness, and determination in the Duke of Wellington. +_Next_ came an evening paper, of high character for Conservative honesty +and ability, which (having all along justified the past policy of vigilant +neutrality) could not be supposed to acknowledge any fickleness in +ministers: the time for moderation and indulgence, according to this +journal, had now passed away: the season had arrived for law to display +its terrors. Not in the Government, but in the conspirators had occurred +the change: and so far--to the extent, namely, of taxing these +conspirators with gradual increase of virulence--it may ultimately turn +out that this journal is right. The fault for the present is--that the +nature of the change, its signs and circumstances, were not specified or +described. How, and by what memorable feature, did last June differ from +this October? and what followed, by its false show of subtlety, +discredited the whole explanation. It seems that notice was required of +this change: in mere equity, proclamation must be made of the royal +pleasure as to the Irish sedition: _that_ was done in the Queen's speech +on adjourning the two Houses. But time also must be granted for this +proclamation to diffuse itself, and _therefore_ it happened that the +Clontarf meeting was selected for the _coup d'essai_ of Government; in its +new character for "handselling" the new system of rigour, this Clontarf +assembly having fallen out just about six weeks from the Royal speech. But +this attempt to establish a metaphysical relation between the time for +issuing a threat, and the time for acting upon it, as though forty and two +days made that act to be reasonable which would _not_ have been so in +twenty and one, being suited chiefly to the universities in Laputa, did +not meet the approbation of our captious and beef-eating island: and this +second solution also, we are obliged to say; was exploded as soon us it +was heard. _Thirdly_, stepped forward one who promised to untie the knot +upon a more familiar principle: the thunder was kept back for so many +months in order to allow time for Mr O'Connell to show out in his true +colours, on the hint of an old proverb, which observes--that a baboon, or +other mischievous animal, when running up a scaffolding or a ship's +tackling, exposes his most odious features the more as he is allowed to +mount the higher. In that idea, there is certainly some truth. "Give him +rope enough, and every knave will hang himself"--is an old adage, a useful +adage, and often a consolatory one. The objection, in the case before us, +is--that our Irish hero _had_ shown himself already, and most redundantly, +on occasions notorious to every body, both previously to 1829, (the year +of Clare,) and subsequently. If, however, it should appear upon the trial +of the several conspirators for seditious language, that they, or that any +of them, had, by good _affidavits_, used indictable language in September, +not having used it sooner, or having guarded it previously by more +equivocal expressions, then it must be admitted that the spirit of this +third explanation _does_ apply itself to the case, though not in an extent +to cover the entire range of the difficulty. But a _fourth_ explanation +would evade the necessity of showing any such difference in the actionable +language held: according to this hypothesis, it was not for subjects to +prosecute that the Government waited, but for strength enough to prosecute +with effect, under circumstances which warned them to expect popular +tumults. In this statement, also, there is probably much truth, indeed, it +has now become evident that there is. Often we have heard it noticed by +military critics as the one great calamity of Ireland, that in earlier +days she had never been adequately conquered--not sufficiently for +extirpating barbarism, or sufficiently for crushing the local temptations +to resistance. Rebellion and barbarism are the two evils (and, since the +Reformation, in alliance with a third evil--religious hostility to the +empire) which have continually sustained themselves in Ireland, propagated +their several curses from age to age, and at this moment equally point to +a burden of misery in the forward direction for the Irish, and backwards +to a burden of reproach for the English. More men applied to Ireland, more +money and more determined legislation spent upon Ireland in times long +past, would have saved England tenfold expenditure of all these elements +in the three centuries immediately behind us, and possibly in that which +is immediately a-head. Such men as Bishop Bedell, as Bishop Jeremy Taylor, +or even as Bishop Berkeley, meeting in one generation and in one paternal +council, would have made Ireland long ago, by colonization and by +Protestantism, that civilized nation which, with all her advances in +mechanic arts[30] of education as yet she is not; would have made her that +tractable nation, which, after all her lustrations by fire and blood, for +her own misfortune she never has been; would have made her that strong arm +of the empire, which hitherto, with all her teeming population, for the +common misfortune of Europe she neither has been nor promises to be. By +and through this neglect it is, that on the inner hearths of the Roman +Catholic Irish, on the very altars of their _lares_ and _penates_, burns +for ever a sullen spark of disaffection to that imperial household, with +which, nevertheless and for ever, their own lot is bound up for evil and +for good; a spark always liable to be fanned by traitors--a spark for ever +kindling into rebellion; and in this has lain perpetually a delusive +encouragement to the hostility of Spain and France, whilst to her own +children, it is the one great snare which besets their feet. This great +evil of imperfect possession--if now it is almost past healing in its +general operation as an engine of civilization, and as applied to the +social training of the people--is nevertheless open to relief as respects +any purpose of the Government, towards which there may be reason to +anticipate a martial resistance. That part of the general policy fell +naturally under the care of our present great Commander-in-chief. Of him +it was that we spoke last month as watching Mr O'Connell's slightest +movements, searching him and nailing him with his eye. We told the reader +at the same time, that Government, as with good reason we believed, had +not been idle during the summer; their work had proceeded in silence; but, +upon any explosion or apprehension of popular tumult, it would be found +that more had been done by a great deal, in the way of preparations, than +the public was aware of. Barracks have every where been made technically +defensible; in certain places they have been provisioned against sieges; +forts have been strengthened; in critical situations redoubts, or other +resorts of hurried retreat, or of known rendezvous in cases of surprise, +have been provided; and in the most merciful spirit every advantage on the +other side has been removed or diminished which could have held out +encouragement to mutiny, or temptation to rebellion. Finally, on the +destined moment arriving, on the _casus foederis_ (whatever _that_ were) +emerging, in which the executive had predetermined to act, not the +perfection of clockwork, not the very masterpieces of scenical art, can +ever have exhibited a combined movement upon one central point--so swift, +punctual, beautiful, harmonious, more soundless than an exhalation, more +overwhelming than a deluge--as the display of military force in Dublin on +Sunday the 8th of October. Without alarm, without warning--as if at the +throwing up of a rocket in the dead of night, or at the summons of a +signal gun--the great capital, almost as populous as Naples or Vienna, and +far more dangerous in its excitement, found itself under military +possession by a little army--so perfect in its appointments as to make +resistance hopeless, and by that very hopelessness (as reconciling the +most insubordinate to a necessity) making irritation impossible. Last +month we warned Mr O'Connell of "the uplifted thunderbolt" suspended in +the Jovian hands of the Wellesley, but ready to descend when the "dignus +vindice nodus" should announce itself. And this, by the way, must have +been the "thunderbolt," this military demonstration, which, in our blind +spirit of prophecy doubtless, we saw dimly in the month of September last; +so that we are disposed to recant our confession even of partial error as +to the coming fortunes of Repeal, and to request that the reader will +think of us as of very decent prophets. But, whether we were so or not, +the Government (it is clear) acted in the prophetic spirit of military +wisdom. "The prophetic eye of taste"--as a brilliant expression for that +felicitous _prolepsis_ by which the painter or the sculptor sees already +in its rudiments what will be the final result of his labours--is a +phrase which we are all acquainted with, and the spirit of prophecy, the +far-stretching vision of sagacity, is analogously conspicuous in the +arts of Government, military or political, when providing for the +contingencies that may commence in pseudo-patriotism, or the +possibilities that may terminate in rebellion. Whether Government saw +those contingencies, whether Government calculated those possibilities +in June last--that is one part of the general question which we have +been discussing; and whether it was to a different estimate of such +chances in summer and in autumn, or to a necessity for time in preparing +against them, that we must ascribe the very different methods of the +Government in dealing with the sedition at different periods--_that_ is +the other part of the question. But this is certain--that whether seeing +and measuring from the first, or suddenly awakened to the danger of +late--in any case, the Government has silently prepared all along; +forestalling evils that possibly never were to arise, and shaping +remedies for disasters which possibly to themselves appeared romantic. +To provide for the worst, is an ordinary phrase, but what _is_ the +worst? Commonly it means the last calamity that experience suggests; but +in the admirable arrangements of Government it meant the very worst that +imagination could conceive--building upon treason at home in alliance +with hostility from abroad. At a time when resistance seemed supremely +improbable, yet, because amongst the headlong desperations of a +confounded faction even this was possible, the ministers determined to +deal with it as a certainty. Against the possible they provided as +against the probable; against the least of probabilities as against the +greatest. The very outside and remote extremities of what might be +looked for in a civil war, seem to have been assumed as a basis in the +calculations. And under that spirit of vista-searching prudence it was, +that the Duke of Wellington saw what we have insisted on, and +practically redressed it--viz. the defective military net-work by which +England has ever spread her power over Ireland. "This must not be," the +Duke said; "never again shall the blood of brave men be shed in +superfluous struggles, nor the ground be strewed with supernumerary +corpses--as happened in the rebellion of 1798--because forts were +wanting and loopholed barracks to secure what had been won; because +retreats were wanting to overawe what, for the moment, had been lost. +Henceforth, and before there is a blushing in the dawn of that new +rebellion which Mr O'Connell disowns, but to which his frenzy may rouse +others having less to lose than himself, we will have true technical +possession, in the military sense, of Ireland." Such has been the recent +policy of the Duke of Wellington: and for this, in so far as it is a +violence done to Ireland, or a badge of her subjection, she has to thank +Mr O'Connell: for this, in so far as it is a merciful arrangement, +diminishing bloodshed by discouraging resistance, she has to thank the +British Government. Mr O'Connell it is, that, by making rebellion +probable, has forced on this reaction of perfect preparation which, in +such a case, became the duty of the Government. The Duke of Wellington +it is, that, by using the occasion advantageously for the perfecting of +the military organization in Ireland, has made police do the work of +war; and by making resistance maniacal, in making it hopeless, has +eventually consulted even for the feelings of the rebellious, sparing to +them the penalties of insurrection in defeating its earliest symptoms; +and for the land itself, has been the chief of benefactors, by removing +systematically that inheritance of desolation attached to all civil +wars, in cutting away from below the feet of conspirators the very +ground on which they could take their earliest stand. Finally, it is Mr +O'Connell who has raised an anarchy in many Irish minds, in the minds of +all whom he influences, by placing their national feelings in collision +with their duty it is the Duke of Wellington who has reconciled the +bravest and most erroneous of Irish patriots to his place in a federal +system, by taking away all dishonour from submission under circumstances +where resistance has at length become notoriously as frantic as would be +a war with gravitation. + + [30] "_Mechanic arts of education_:"--Merely in reading and + writing, the reader must not forget, that according to absolute + documents laid before Parliament, Ireland, in some counties, takes + rank before Prussia; whilst probably, in both countries, that real + education of life and practice, which moves by the commerce of + thought and the contagion of feelings, is at the lowest ebb. + +As to the _fourth_ hypothesis, therefore, for explaining the apparent +inconsistencies of the Executive, we not only assent to it heartily as +involving part of the truth, but we have endeavoured to show earnestly +that the truth is a great truth; no casual aspect, or momentary feature of +truth, depending upon the particular relation at the time between Ireland +and the Horse Guards, or pointing simply to a better cautionary +distribution of the army; but a truth connected systematically with the +policy for Ireland in past times and in times to come. Where men like Mr O' +Connell _can_ arise, it is clear that the social condition of Ireland is +not healthy; that, as a country, she is not fused into a common substance +with the rest of the empire; that she is not fully to be trusted; and that +the road to a more effectual union lies, not through stricter coercion, +but through a system of instant defence making itself apparent to the +people as a means of provisional or potential coercion in the proper case +arising. One traitor cannot exist as a public and demonstrative character +without many minor traitors to back him. To Great Britain it ought to cost +no visible effort, resolutely and instantly to trample out every overture +of insubordination as quietly, peacefully, effectually, as the meeting of +conspirators at Clontarf on the 8th day of October 1843. Ireland is +notoriously, by position and by imaginary grievances--grievances which, +had they ever been real for past generations, would long since have faded +away, were it not through the labours of mercenary traders in treason-- +Ireland is of necessity, and at any rate, the vulnerable part of our +empire. Wars will soon gather again in Christendom. Whilst it is yet +daylight and fair weather in which we can work, this open wound of the +empire must be healed. We cannot afford to stand another era of collusion +from abroad with intestine war. Now is the time for grasping this nettle +of domestic danger, and, by crushing it without fear, to crush it for ever. +Therefore it is that we rejoice to hear of attention in the right quarter +at length drawn to the _radix_ of all this evil; of efforts seriously made +to grapple with the mischief; not by mere accumulation of troops, for +_that_ is a spasmodic effort--sure to relax on the return of tranquillity; +but by those appliances of military art to the system of attack and +defence as connected with the soil and buildings of Ireland, which will +hereafter make it possible for even a diminished army to become all potent +over disaffection, by means of permanent preparations, and through +systematic links of concert. + +_Fifthly_ comes Mr Stuart Wortley, the Parliamentary representative for +Bute, who tells his constituents at Bute, that the true secret of the +apparent incoherency in the conduct of Government, of that subsultory +movement from almost passive _surveillance_ to the most intense +development of power, is to be found in some error, some lapse as yet +unknown, on the part of the conspirators. Hitherto Mr Wortley, as lawyer, +had persuaded himself that the craft of sedition had prevailed over its +zeal. Whatever might be the _animus_ of the parties, hitherto their legal +adroitness had kept them on the right side of the fence which parts the +merely virulent or wicked language from the indictable. But security, and +apparently the indifference of the Government, had tempted them beyond +their safeguards. Government, it is certain, have latterly watched the +proceedings of the Repeal Association in a more official way; they have +sent qualified and vigilant reporters to the scene; and have showed signs +of meaning speedily "to do business" upon a large scale. We do not, indeed, +altogether agree with Mr Wortley, that the earlier language, if searched +with equal care, would be found less offending than the later; but this +later we believe it to be which, as an audacious reiteration of sentiments +that would have been overlooked had they seemed casual or not meant for +continued inculcation, will be found in fact to have provoked the +executive energies. We believe also, in accord with Mr Wortley, that +something or other has transpired by secret information to Government in +relation to this last intended meeting at Clontarf, which authorized a +separate and more sinister construction of _that_, or of its consequences, +than had necessarily attended the former assemblies, however similar in +bad meaning and in malice. This secret information, whether it pointed to +words uttered, to acts done, or to intentions signified, must have been +sudden, and must have been decisive; an impression which we draw from the +hurried summoning of cabinet councils in England on or about the 4th of +October, from the departures for Ireland, apparently consequent upon these +councils--of the Lord Lieutenant, of the Chancellor, and other great +officers, all instant and all simultaneous--and finally, from the +continued consultations in Dublin from the time when these functionaries +arrived; viz. immediately after their landing on Friday morning, October +6th, until the promulgation and enforcement of that memorable proclamation +which crushed the Repeal sedition. A Paris journal of eminence says, that +we are not to exult as if much progress were made towards the crushing of +Repeal, simply by the act of crushing a single meeting; and, strange to +say, the chief morning paper of London echoes this erroneous judgment as +if self-evident, saying, that "it needs no ghost to tell us _that_." We, +however, utterly deny this comment, and protest against it as an absurdity. +Were _that_ true, were it possible that the Clontarf meeting had been +suppressed on its own separate merits, as presumed from secret information, +and without ulterior meaning or application designed for the act--in that +case nothing has been done. But this is not so: Government is bound +henceforwards by its own act. That proclamation as to one meeting +establishes a precedent as to all. It is not within the _power_ of +Government, having done that act of suppression, and still more having +spoken that language of proclamation, now to retreat from their own rule, +and to apply any other rule to any subsequent meeting. The act of +suppression was enough. The commentary on the proclamation is more than +enough. Therefore it is, that we began by saying "the game is up;" and, +because it is of consequence to know the principle on which any act is +done, therefore it is that we have discussed, at some length, the various +hypotheses now current as to the particular principle which, in this +instance, governed our Executive. Our own opinion is, that all these +hypotheses, except the first, which ascribes blank inconsistency to the +Government, and so much of the second as stands upon some fanciful +limitation of time within which Government could not equitably proceed to +action, are partially true. If this be so, there is an answer in full to +the Whigs, who at this moment (October 23) are arguing that no +circumstances of any kind have changed since our ministers treated the +Repeal cause with neglect. Neglect it, comparatively, they never did: as +the cashiering of magistrates ought too angrily to remind the Whigs. But +if the different solutions, which we have here examined, should be +carefully reviewed, it will be seen that circumstances _have_ changed, and, +under the fourth head, it will be seen that they have changed in a way +which required time, selection, and great efforts: what is more, it will +be seen that they have changed in a way critically important for the +future interests of the empire. + +Yes; the game is up! And what now remains is, not to suffer the coming +trials to sink into fictions of law--as a _brutum fulmen_ of menace, never +meant to be realized. Verdicts must be had: judgments must be given: and +then a long farewell to the hopes of treason! + + +Yes, by a double proof the Repeal sedition is at an end: were it not, upon +Clontarf being prohibited, the Repealers would have announced some other +gathering in some other place. You that say it is _not_ at an end, tell us +why did they forbear doing _that_? Secondly, Mr O'Connell has substituted +for Repeal--what? The miserable, the beggarly petition, for a dependent +House of Assembly, an upper sort of "Select Vestry," for Ireland; and +_that_ too as a _bonus_ from the Parliament of the empire. This reminds us +of a capital story related by Mr Webster, and perhaps within the +experience of American statesmen, in reference to the claims of electors +upon those candidates whom they have returned to Congress. Such a +candidate, having succeeded so far as even to become a Secretary for +Foreign Affairs, was one day waited on by a man, who reminded him that +some part of this eminent success had been due to _his_ vote; and really-- +Mr Secretary might think as he pleased--but _him_ it struck, that a +"pretty considerable of a debt" was owing in gratitude to his particular +exertions. Mr Secretary bowed. The stranger proceeded--"His ambition was +moderate: might he look for the office of postmaster-general?" +Unfortunately, said the secretary, that office required special experience, +and it was at present filled to the satisfaction of the President. "Indeed! +_that_ was unhappy: but he was not particular; perhaps the ambassador to +London had not yet been appointed?" There, said the secretary, you are +still more unfortunate: the appointment was open until 11 P.M. on this +very day, and at that hour it was filled up. "Well," said the excellent +and Christian supplicant, "any thing whatever for me; beggars must not be +choosers: possibly the office of vice-president might soon be vacant; it +was said that the present man lay shockingly ill." Not at all; he was +rapidly recovering; and the reversion, even if he should die, required +enormous interest, for which a canvass had long since commenced on the +part of fifty-three candidates. Thus proceeded the assault upon the +secretary, and thus was it evaded. So moved the chase, and thus retreated +the game, until at length nothing under heaven remained amongst all +official prizes which the voter could ask, or which the secretary could +refuse. Pensively the visitor reflected for a few minutes, and, suddenly +raising his eye doubtfully, he said, "Why then, Mr Secretary, have you +ever an old black coat that you could give me?" Oh, aspiring genius of +ambition! from that topmast round of thy aerial ladder that a man should +descend thus awfully!--from the office of vice-president for the U.S. that +he should drop, within three minutes, to "an old black coat!" The +secretary was aghast: he rang the bell for such a coat; the coat appeared; +the martyr of ambition was solemnly inducted into its sleeves; and the two +parties, equally happy at the sudden issue of the interview bowing +profoundly to each other, separated for ever. + +Even upon this model, sinking from a regal honour to an old black coat, Mr +O' Connell has actually agreed to accept--has volunteered to accept--for +the name and rank of a separate nation, some trivial right of holding +county meetings for local purposes of bridges, roads, turnpike gates. This +privilege he calls by the name of "federalism;" a misnomer, it is true; +but, were it the right name, names cannot change realities. These local +committees could not possibly take rank above the Quarter Sessions; nor +could they find much business to do which is not already done, and better +done, by that respectable judicial body. True it is, that this descent is +a thousand times more for the benefit of Ireland than his former ambitious +plan. But we speak of it with reference to the sinking scale of his +ambition. Now this it is--viz. the aspiring character of his former +promises, the assurance that he would raise Ireland into a nation distinct +and independent in the system of Europe, having her own fleets, armies, +peerage, parliament--which operated upon the enthusiasm of a peasantry the +vainest in Christendom after that of France, and perhaps absolutely the +most ignorant. Is it in human nature, we demand, that hereafter the same +enthusiasm should continue available for Mr O'Connell's service, after the +transient reaction of spitefulness to the Government shall have subsided, +which gave buoyancy to his ancient treason? The chair of a proconsul, the +saddle of a pasha--these are golden baits; yet these are below the throne +and diadem of a sovereign prince. But from these to have descended into +asking for "an old black coat," on the American precedent! Faugh! What +remains for Ireland but infinite disgust, for us but infinite laughter? + +No, no. By Mr O'Connell's own act and capitulation, the game is up. +Government has countersigned this result by the implicit pledge in their +proclamation, that, having put down Clontarf, for specific reasons there +assigned, they will put down all future meetings to which the same reasons +apply. At present it remains only to express our fervent hope, that +ministers will drive "home" the nail which they have so happily planted. +The worst spectacle of our times was on that day when Mr O'Connell, +solemnly reprimanded by the Speaker of the House of Commons, was +suffered--was tolerated--in rising to reply; in retorting with insolence; +in lecturing and reprimanding the Senate through their representative +officer; in repelling just scorn by false scorn; in riveting his past +offences; in adding contumely to wrong. Never more must this be repeated. +Neither must the Whig policy be repeated of bringing Mr O'Connell before a +tribunal of justice that had, by a secret intrigue, agreed to lay aside +its terrors.[31] No compromise now: no juggling: no collusion! We desire +to see the majesty of the law vindicated, as solemnly as it has been +notoriously insulted. Such is the demand, such the united cry, of this +great nation, so long and so infamously bearded. Then, and thus only, +justice will be satisfied, reparation will be made: because it will go +abroad into all lands, not only that the evil has been redressed, but that +the author of the evil has been forced into a plenary atonement. + + [31] The allusion is to Mr O'Connell's _past_ experience as a + defendant, on political offences, here the Court of Queen's Bench + in Dublin; an experience which most people have forgotten; and + which we also at this moment should be glad to forget as the + ominous precedent for the present crisis, were it not that + Conservative honesty and Conservative energy were now at the helm, + instead of the Whig spirit of intrigue with all public enemies. + + * * * * * + +_Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work._ + + + * * * * * + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume +54, No. 337, November, 1843, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + +***** This file should be named 16607-8.txt or 16607-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/0/16607/ + +Produced by The Internet Library of Early Journals; Jon +Ingram, Brendan OConnor, Allen Siddle and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +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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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: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 54, No. 337, November, 1843 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: August 27, 2005 [EBook #16607] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by The Internet Library of Early Journals; Jon +Ingram, Brendan OConnor, Allen Siddle and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h1>BLACKWOOD'S</h1> +<h1>Edinburgh</h1> +<h1>MAGAZINE.</h1> +<hr> +<h3>NO. CCCXXXVII. NOVEMBER, 1843. VOL. LIV.</h3> +<hr> + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<ul> + <li><a href="#bw337s1">ADVENTURES IN TEXAS.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw337s2">TRAVELS OF KERIM KHAN.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw337s3">THE BANKING-HOUSE.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw337s4">THE WRONGS OF WOMEN.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw337s5">MARSTON; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A STATESMAN.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw337s6">CEYLON.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw337s7">COMMERCIAL POLICY.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw337s8">A SPECULATION ON THE SENSES.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw337s9">ON THE BEST MEANS OF ESTABLISHING A COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE + BETWEEN THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw337s10">TWO DREAMS.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw337s11">THE GAME UP WITH REPEAL AGITATION.</a></li> + <li><a href="#bw337-footnotes">[FOOTNOTES]</a></li> +</ul> + + +<br> +<br> +<hr> +<h2>EDINBURGH:</h2> +<h4>WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET;</h4> +<h4>AND 22, PALL-MALL, LONDON.</h4> +<h4><i>To whom all Communications (post paid) must +be addressed.</i></h4> +<h4>SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS THE UNITED KINGDOM.</h4> +<h4>PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH.</h4> +<br> + +<hr class="full"> +<span class=pagenum><A id=page552 name=page552></A>[pg 552]</span> +<a name="bw337s1" id="bw337s1"></a><h2>ADVENTURES IN TEXAS.</h2> + +<h3>NO. 1.</h3> + +<h3>A SCAMPER IN THE PRAIRIE OF JACINTO.</h3> + +<p> +Reader! Were you ever in a Texian prairie? Probably not. <i>I</i> have been; +and this was how it happened. When a very young man, I found myself one +fine morning possessor of a Texas land-scrip—that is to say, a +certificate of the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company, in which it was +stated, that in consideration of the sum of one thousand dollars, duly +paid and delivered by Mr Edward Rivers into the hands of the cashier of +the aforesaid company, he, the said Edward Rivers, was become entitled to +ten thousand acres of Texian land, to be selected by himself, or those he +should appoint, under the sole condition of not infringing on the property +or rights of the holders of previously given certificates. +</p> +<p> +Ten thousand acres of the finest land in the world, and under a heaven +compared to which, our Maryland sky, bright as it is, appears dull and +foggy! It was a tempting bait; too good a one not to be caught at by many +in those times of speculation; and accordingly, our free and enlightened +citizens bought and sold their millions of Texian acres just as readily as +they did their thousands of towns and villages in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, +and Michigan, and their tens of thousands of shares in banks and railways. +It was a speculative fever, which has since, we may hope, been in some +degree cured. At any rate, the remedies applied have been tolerably severe. +</p> +<p> +I had not escaped the contagion, and, having got the land on paper, I +thought I should like to see it in dirty acres; so, in company with a +friend who had a similar venture, I embarked at Baltimore on board the +Catcher schooner, and, after a three weeks' voyage, arrived in Galveston +Bay. +</p> +<p> +The grassy shores of this bay, into which the river Brazos empties itself, +rise so little above the surface of the water, to which they bear a strong +resemblance in colour, that it would be difficult to discover them, were +it not for three stunted trees growing on the western extremity of a long +lizard-shaped island that stretches nearly sixty miles across the bay, and +conceals the mouth of the river. These trees are the only landmark for the +mariner; and, with their exception, not a single object—not a hill, a +house, nor so much as a bush, relieves the level sameness of the island +and adjacent continent. +</p> +<p> +After we had, with some difficulty, got on the inner side of the island, a +pilot came on board and took charge of the vessel. The first thing he did +was to run us on a sandbank, off which we got with no small labour, and by +the united exertions of sailors and passengers, and at length entered the +river. In our impatience to land, I and my friend left the schooner in a +cockleshell of a boat, which upset in the surge, and we found ourselves +floundering in the water. Luckily it was not very deep, and we escaped +with a thorough drenching. +</p> +<p> +When we had scrambled on shore, we gazed about us for some time before we +could persuade ourselves that we were actually upon land. It was, without +exception, the strangest coast we had ever seen, and there was scarcely a +possibility of distinguishing the boundary between earth and water. The +green grass grew down to the edge of the green sea, and there was only the +streak of white foam left by the latter upon the former to serve as a line +of demarcation. Before us was a plain, a hundred or more miles in extent, +covered with long, fine grass, rolling in waves before each puff of the +sea-breeze, with neither tree, nor house, nor hill, to vary the monotony +of the surface. Ten or twelve miles towards the north and north-west, we +distinguished some dark masses, which we afterwards discovered to be +groups of trees; but to our eyes they looked exactly like islands in a +green sea, and we subsequently learned that they were called islands by +the people of the country. It would have been difficult to have given them +a more appropriate name, or one better describing their appearance. +</p> +<p> +Proceeding along the shore, we came to a blockhouse situated behind a +small tongue of land projecting into the river, and decorated with the +flag of the Mexican republic, waving in all its glory from the roof. At +that period, this was the only building of which Galveston harbour could +boast. It served as custom-house and as barracks for the garrison, also as +the residence of the director of customs, and of the civil and military +intendant, as headquarters of the officer commanding, and, moreover, as +hotel and wine and spirit store. Alongside the board, on which was +depicted a sort of hieroglyphic, intended for the Mexican eagle, hung a +bottle doing duty as a sign, and the republican banner threw its protecting +shadow over an announcement of—"Brandy, Whisky, and Accommodation for Man +and Beast." +</p> +<p> +As we approached the house, we saw the whole garrison assembled before the +door. It consisted of a dozen dwarfish, spindle-shanked Mexican soldiers, +none of them so big or half so strong as American boys of fifteen, and +whom I would have backed a single Kentucky woodsman, armed with a +riding-whip, to have driven to the four winds of heaven. These heroes all +sported tremendous beards, whiskers, and mustaches, and had a habit of +knitting their brows, in the endeavour, as we supposed, to look fierce and +formidable. They were crowding round a table of rough planks, and playing +a game of cards, in which they were so deeply engrossed that they took no +notice of our approach. Their officer, however, came out of the house to +meet us. +</p> +<p> +Captain Cotton, formerly editor of the <i>Mexican Gazette</i>, now civil and +military commandant at Galveston, customs-director, harbour-master, and +tavern-keeper, and a Yankee to boot, seemed to trouble himself very little +about his various dignities and titles. He produced some capital French +and Spanish wine, which, it is to be presumed, he got duty free, and +welcomed us to Texas. We were presently joined by some of our +fellow-passengers, who seemed as bewildered as we had been at the +billiard-table appearance of the country. Indeed the place looked so +desolate and uninviting, that there was little inducement to remain on +<i>terra firma</i>, and it was with a feeling of relief that we once more found +ourselves on board the schooner. +</p> +<p> +We took three days to sail up the river Brazos to the town of Brazoria, a +distance of thirty miles. On the first day nothing but meadow land was +visible on either side of us; but, on the second, the monotonous +grass-covered surface was varied by islands of trees, and, about twenty +miles from the mouth of the river, we passed through a forest of sycamores, +and saw several herds of deer and flocks of wild turkeys. At length we +reached Brazoria, which at the time I speak of, namely, in the year 1832, +was an important city—for Texas, that is to say—consisting of upwards of +thirty houses, three of which were of brick, three of planks, and the +remainder of logs. All the inhabitants were Americans, and the streets +arranged in American fashion, in straight lines and at right angles. +</p> +<p> +<span class=pagenum><A id=page553 name=page553></A>[pg 553]</span> +The only objection to the place was, that in the wet season it was all +under water; but the Brazorians overlooked this little inconvenience, in +consideration of the inexhaustible fruitfulness of the soil. It was the +beginning of March when we arrived, and yet there was already an abundance +of new potatoes, beans, peas, and artichokes, all of the finest sorts and +most delicious flavour. +</p> +<p> +At Brazoria, my friend and myself had the satisfaction of learning that +our land-certificates, for which we had each paid a thousand dollars, were +worth exactly nothing—just so much waste paper, in short—unless we chose +to conform to a condition to which our worthy friends, the Galveston Bay +and Texas Land Company, had never made the smallest allusion. +</p> +<p> +It appeared that in the year 1824, the Mexican Congress had passed an act +for the encouragement of emigration from the United States to Texas. In +consequence of this act, an agreement was entered into with contractors, +or <i>empresarios</i>, as they call them in Mexico, who had bound themselves to +bring a certain number of settlers into Texas within a given time and +without any expense to the Mexican government. On the other hand, the +Mexican government had engaged to furnish land to these emigrants at the +rate of five square leagues to every hundred families; but to this +agreement one condition was attached, and it was, that all settlers should +be, or become, Roman Catholics. Failing this, the validity of their claims +to the land was not recognised, and they were liable to be turned out any +day at the point of the bayonet. +</p> +<p> +This information threw us into no small perplexity. It was clear that we +had been duped, completely bubbled, by the rascally Land Company; that, as +heretics, the Mexican government would have nothing to say to us; and that, +unless we chose to become converts to the Romish Church, we might whistle +for our acres, and light our pipes with the certificate. Our Yankee +friends at Brazoria, however, laughed at our dilemma, and told us that we +were only in the same plight as hundreds of our countrymen, who had come +to Texas in total ignorance of this condition, but who had not the less +taken possession of their land and settled there; that they themselves +were amongst the number, and that, although it was just as likely they +would turn negroes as Roman Catholics, they had no idea of being turned +out of their houses and plantations; that, at any rate, if the Mexicans +tried it, they had their rifles with them, and should be apt, they +reckoned, to burn powder before they allowed themselves to be kicked off +such an almighty fine piece of soil. So, after a while, we began to think, +that as we had paid our money and come so far, we might do as others had +done before us—occupy our land and wait the course of events. The next +day we each bought a horse, or <i>mustang</i>, as they call them there, which +animals were selling at Brazoria for next to nothing, and rode out into +the prairie to look for a convenient spot to settle. +</p> +<p> +These mustangs are small horses, rarely above fourteen hands high, and are +descended from the Spanish breed introduced by the original conquerors of +the country. During the three centuries that have elapsed since the +conquest of Mexico, they have increased and multiplied to an extraordinary +extent, and are to be found in vast droves in the Texian prairies, +although they are now beginning to become somewhat scarcer. They are taken +with the <i>lasso</i>, concerning which instrument or weapon I will here say a +word or two, notwithstanding that it has been often described. +</p> +<p> +The lasso is usually from twenty to thirty feet long, very flexible, and +composed of strips of twisted ox hide. One end is fastened to the saddle, +and the other, which forms a running noose, held in the hand of the hunter, +who, thus equipped, rides out into the prairie. When he discovers a troop +of wild horses, he manoeuvres to get to windward of them, and then to +approach as near them as possible. If he is an experienced hand, the +horses seldom or never escape him, and as soon as he finds himself within +twenty or thirty feet of them, he throws the noose with unerring aim over +the neck of the one he has selected for his prey. This done, he turns his +own horse sharp round, gives him the spur, and gallops away, dragging his +unfortunate captive after him, breathless, and with his windpipe so +compressed by the noose, that he is unable to make the smallest resistance, +<span class=pagenum><A id=page554 name=page554></A>[pg 554]</span> +and after a few yards, falls headlong to the ground, and lies motionless +and almost lifeless, sometimes indeed badly hurt and disabled. From this +day forward, the horse which has been thus caught never forgets the lasso; +the mere sight of it makes him tremble in every limb; and, however wild he +may be, it is sufficient to show it to him, or lay it on his neck, to +render him as tame and docile as a lamb. +</p> +<p> +The horse taken, next comes the breaking in, which is effected in a no +less brutal manner than his capture. The eyes of the unfortunate animal +are covered with a bandage, and a tremendous bit, a pound weight or more, +clapped into his mouth; the horsebreaker puts on a pair of spurs six +inches long, and with rowels like penknives, and jumping on his back, +urges him to his very utmost speed. If the horse tries to rear, or turns +restive, one pull, and not a very hard one either, at the instrument of +torture they call a bit, is sufficient to tear his mouth to shreds, and +cause the blood to flow in streams. I have myself seen horses' teeth +broken with these barbarous bits. The poor beast whinnies and groans with +pain and terror; but there is no help for him, the spurs are at his flanks, +and on he goes full gallop, till he is ready to sink from fatigue and +exhaustion. He then has a quarter of an hour's rest allowed him; but +scarcely does he begin to recover breath, which has been ridden and +spurred out of his body, when he is again mounted, and has to go through +the same violent process as before. If he breaks down during this rude +trial, he is either knocked on the head or driven away as useless; but if +he holds out, he is marked with a hot iron, and left to graze on the +prairie. Henceforward, there is no particular difficulty in catching him +when wanted; the wildness of the horse is completely punished out of him, +but for it is substituted the most confirmed vice and malice that it is +possible to conceive. These mustangs are unquestionably the most deceitful +and spiteful of all the equine race. They seem to be perpetually looking +out for an opportunity of playing their master a trick; and very soon +after I got possession of mine, I was nearly paying for him in a way that +I had certainly not calculated upon. +</p> +<p> +We were going to Bolivar, and had to cross the river Brazos. I was the +last but one to get into the boat, and was leading my horse carelessly by +the bridle. Just as I was about to step in, a sudden jerk, and a cry of +'mind your beast!' made me jump on one side; and lucky it was that I did +so. My mustang had suddenly sprung back, reared up, and then thrown +himself forward upon me with such force and fury, that, as I got out of +his way, his fore feet went completely through the bottom of the boat. I +never in my life saw an animal in such a paroxysm of rage. He curled up +his lip till his whole range of teeth was visible, his eyes literally shot +fire, while the foam flew from his mouth, and he gave a wild screaming +neigh that had something quite diabolical in its sound. I was standing +perfectly thunderstruck at this scene, when one of the party took a lasso +and very quietly laid it over the animal's neck. The effect was really +magical. With closed mouth, drooping ears, and head low, there stood the +mustang, as meek and docile as any old jackass. The change was so sudden +and comical, that we all burst out laughing; although, when I came to +reflect on the danger I had run, it required all my love of horses to +prevent me from shooting the brute upon the spot. +</p> +<p> +Mounted upon this ticklish steed and in company with my friend, I made +various excursions to Bolivar, Marion, Columbia, Anahuac, incipient cities +consisting of from five to twenty houses. We also visited numerous +plantations and clearings, to the owners of some of which we were known, +or had messages of introduction; but either with or without such +recommendations, we always found a hearty welcome and hospitable reception, +and it was rare that we were allowed to pay for our entertainment. +</p> +<p> +We arrived one day at a clearing which lay a few miles off the way from +Harrisburg to San Felipe de Austin, and belonged to a Mr Neal. He had been +three years in the country, occupying himself with the breeding of cattle, +which is unquestionably the most agreeable, as well as profitable, +occupation that can be followed in Texas. He had between seven and eight +hundred head of cattle, and from fifty to sixty horses, all +<span class=pagenum><A id=page555 name=page555></A>[pg 555]</span> +mustangs. His +plantation, like nearly all the plantations in Texas at that time, was as +yet in a very rough state, and his house, although roomy and comfortable +enough inside, was built of unhewn tree-trunks, in true back-woodsman +style. It was situated on the border of one of the islands, or groups of +trees, and stood between two gigantic sycamores, which sheltered it from +the sun and wind. In front, and as far as could be seen, lay the prairie, +covered with its waving grass and many-coloured flowers, behind the +dwelling arose the cluster of forest trees in all their primeval majesty, +laced and bound together by an infinity of wild vines, which shot their +tendrils and clinging branches hundreds of feet upwards to the very top of +the trees, embracing and covering the whole island with a green network, +and converting it into an immense bower of vine leaves, which would have +been no unsuitable abode for Bacchus and his train. +</p> +<p> +These islands are one of the most enchanting features of Texian scenery. +Of infinite variety and beauty of form, and unrivalled in the growth and +magnitude of the trees that compose them, they are to be found of all +shapes—circular, parallelograms, hexagons, octagons—some again twisting +and winding like dark-green snakes over the brighter surface of the +prairie. In no park or artificially laid out grounds, would it be possible +to find any thing equalling these natural shrubberies in beauty and +symmetry. In the morning and evening especially, when surrounded by a sort +of veil of light-greyish mist, and with the horizontal beams of the rising +or setting sun gleaming through them, they offer pictures which it is +impossible to get weary of admiring. +</p> +<p> +Mr Neal was a jovial Kentuckian, and he received us with the greatest +hospitality, only asking in return all the news we could give him from the +States. It is difficult to imagine, without having witnessed it, the +feverish eagerness and curiosity with which all intelligence from their +native country is sought after and listened to by these dwellers in the +desert. Men, women, and children, crowded round us; and though we had +arrived in the afternoon, it was near sunrise before we could escape from +the enquiries by which we were overwhelmed, and retire to the beds that +had been prepared for us. +</p> +<p> +I had not slept very long when I was roused by our worthy host. He was +going out to catch twenty or thirty oxen, which were wanted for the market +at New Orleans. As the kind of chase which takes place after these animals +is very interesting, and rarely dangerous, we willingly accepted the +invitation to accompany him, and having dressed and breakfasted in all +haste, got upon our mustangs and rode of into the prairie. +</p> +<p> +The party was half a dozen strong, consisting of Mr Neal, my friend and +myself, and three negroes. What we had to do was to drive the cattle, +which were grazing on the prairie in herds of from thirty to fifty head, +to the house, and then those which were selected for the market were to be +taken with the lasso and sent off to Brazoria. +</p> +<p> +After riding four or five miles, we came in sight of a drove, splendid +animals, standing very high, and of most symmetrical form. The horns of +these cattle are of unusual length, and, in the distance, have more the +appearance of stag's antlers than bull's horns. We approached the herd +first to within a quarter of a mile. They remained quite quiet. We rode +round them, and in like manner got in rear of a second and third drove, +and then began to spread out, so as to form a half circle, and drive the +cattle towards the house. +</p> +<p> +Hitherto my mustang had behaved exceedingly well, cantering freely along +and not attempting to play any tricks. I had scarcely, however, left the +remainder of the party a couple of hundred yards, when the devil by which +he was possessed began to wake up. The mustangs belonging to the +plantation were grazing some three quarters of a mile off; and no sooner +did my beast catch sight of them, than he commenced practising every +species of jump and leap that it is possible for a horse to execute, and +many of a nature so extraordinary, that I should have thought no brute +that ever went on four legs would have been able to accomplish them. He +shied, reared, pranced, leaped forwards, backwards, and sideways; in short, +played such infernal pranks, that, although a practised rider, I found it +no easy matter to keep my seat. I began heartily to regret that I had +brought no lasso +<span class=pagenum><A id=page556 name=page556></A>[pg 556]</span> +with me, which would have tamed him at once, and that, +contrary to Mr Neal's advice, I had put on my American bit instead of a +Mexican one. Without these auxiliaries all my horsemanship was useless. +The brute galloped like a mad creature some five hundred yards, caring +nothing for my efforts to stop him; and then, finding himself close to the +troop of mustangs, he stopped suddenly short, threw his head between his +fore legs, and his hind feet into the air, with such vicious violence, +that I was pitched clean out of the saddle. Before I well knew where I was, +I had the satisfaction of seeing him put his fore feet on the bridle, pull +bit and bridoon out of his mouth, and then, with a neigh of exultation, +spring into the midst of the herd of mustangs. +</p> +<p> +I got up out of the long grass in a towering passion. One of the negroes +who was nearest to me came galloping to my assistance, and begged me to +let the beast run for a while, and that when Anthony, the huntsman, came, +he would soon catch him. I was too angry to listen to reason, and I +ordered him to get off his horse, and let me mount. The black begged and +prayed of me not to ride after the brute; and Mr Neal, who was some +distance off, shouted to me, as loud as he could, for Heaven's sake, to +stop—that I did not know what it was to chase a wild horse in a Texian +prairie, and that I must not fancy myself in the meadows of Louisiana or +Florida. I paid no attention to all this—I was in too great a rage at the +trick the beast had played me, and, jumping on the negro's horse, I +galloped away like mad. +</p> +<p> +My rebellious steed was grazing quietly with his companions, and he +allowed me to come within a couple of hundred paces of him; but just as I +had prepared the lasso, which was fastened to the negro's saddle-bow, he +gave a start, and galloped off some distance further, I after him. Again +he made a pause, and munched a mouthful of grass—then off again for +another half mile. This time I had great hopes of catching him, for he let +me come within a hundred yards; but, just as I was creeping up to him, +away he went with one of his shrill neighs. When I galloped fast he went +faster, when I rode slowly he slackened pace. At least ten times did he +let me approach him within a couple of hundred yards, without for that +being a bit nearer getting hold of him. It was certainly high time to +desist from such a mad chase, but I never dreamed of doing so; and indeed +the longer it lasted, the more obstinate I got. I rode on after the beast, +who kept letting me come nearer and nearer, and then darted off again with +his loud-laughing neigh. It was this infernal neigh that made me so +savage—there was something so spiteful and triumphant in it, as though +the animal knew he was making a fool of me, and exulted in so doing. At +last, however, I got so sick of my horse-hunt that I determined to make a +last trial, and, if that failed, to turn back. The runaway had stopped +near one of the islands of trees, and was grazing quite close to its edge. +I thought that if I were to creep round to the other side of the island, +and then steal across it, through the trees, I should be able to throw the +lasso over his head, or, at any rate, to drive him back to the house. This +plan I put in execution—rode round the island, then through it, lasso in +hand, and as softly as if I had been riding over eggs. To my consternation, +however, on arriving at the edge of the trees, and at the exact spot where, +only a few minutes before, I had seen the mustang grazing, no signs of him +were to be perceived. I made the circuit of the island, but in vain—the +animal had disappeared. With a hearty curse, I put spurs to my horse, and +started off to ride back to the plantation. +</p> +<p> +Neither the plantation, the cattle, nor my companions, were visible, it is +true; but this gave me no uneasiness. I felt sure that I knew the +direction in which I had come, and that the island I had just left was one +which was visible from the house, while all around me were such numerous +tracks of horses, that the possibility of my having lost my way never +occurred to me, and I rode on quite unconcernedly. +</p> +<p> +After riding for about an hour, however, I began to find the time rather +long. I looked at my watch. It was past one o'clock. We had started at +nine, and, allowing an hour and a half to have been spent in finding the +cattle, I had passed nearly three hours in my wild and unsuccessful hunt. +<span class=pagenum><A id=page557 name=page557></A>[pg 557]</span> +I began to think that I must have got further from the plantation than I +had as yet supposed. +</p> +<p> +It was towards the end of March, the day clear and warm, just like a +May-day in the Southern States. The sun was now shining brightly out, but +the early part of the morning had been somewhat foggy; and, as I had only +arrived at the plantation the day before, and had passed the whole +afternoon and evening indoors, I had no opportunity of getting acquainted +with the bearings of the house. This reflection began to make me rather +uneasy, particularly when I remembered the entreaties of the negro, and +the loud exhortations Mr Neal addressed to me as I rode away. I said to +myself, however, that I could not be more than ten or fifteen miles from +the plantation, that I should soon come in sight of the herds of cattle, +and that then there would be no difficulty in finding my way. But when I +had ridden another hour without seeing the smallest sign either of man or +beast, I got seriously uneasy. In my impatience, I abused poor Neal for +not sending somebody to find me. His huntsman, I had heard, was gone to +Anahuac, and would not be back for two or three days; but he might have +sent a couple of his lazy negroes. Or, if he had only fired a shot or two +as a signal. I stopped and listened, in hopes of hearing the crack of a +rifle. But the deepest stillness reigned around, scarcely the chirp of a +bird was heard—all nature seemed to be taking the siesta. As far as the +eye could reach was a waving sea of grass, here and there an island of +trees, but not a trace of a human being. At last I thought I had made a +discovery. The nearest clump of trees was undoubtedly the same which I had +admired and pointed out to my companions soon after we had left the house. +It bore a fantastical resemblance to a snake coiled up and about to dart +upon its prey. About six or seven miles from the plantation we had passed +it on our right hand, and if I now kept it upon my left, I could not fail +to be going in a proper direction. So said, so done. I trotted on most +perseveringly towards the point of the horizon where I felt certain the +house must lie. One hour passed, then a second, then a third; every now +and then I stopped and listened, but nothing was audible, not a shot nor a +shout. But although I heard nothing, I saw something which gave me no +great pleasure. In the direction in which we had ridden out, the grass was +very abundant and the flowers scarce; whereas the part of the prairie in +which I now found myself presented the appearance of a perfect +flower-garden, with scarcely a square foot of green to be seen. The most +variegated carpet of flowers I ever beheld lay unrolled before me; red, +yellow, violet, blue, every colour, every tint was there; millions of the +most magnificent prairie roses, tuberoses, asters, dahlias, and fifty +other kinds of flowers. The finest artificial garden in the world would +sink into insignificance when compared with this parterre of nature's own +planting. My horse could hardly make his way through the wilderness of +flowers, and I for a time remained lost in admiration of this scene of +extraordinary beauty. The prairie in the distance looked as if clothed +with rainbows that waved to and fro over its surface. +</p> +<p> +But the difficulties and anxieties of my situation soon banished all other +thoughts, and I rode on with perfect indifference through a scene, that, +under other circumstances, would have captivated my entire attention. All +the stories that I had heard of mishaps in these endless prairies, +recurred in vivid colouring to my memory, not mere backwoodsman's legends, +but facts well authenticated by persons of undoubted veracity, who had +warned me, before I came to Texas, against venturing without guide or +compass into these dangerous wilds. Even men who had been long in the +country, were often known to lose themselves, and to wander for days and +weeks over these oceans of grass, where no hill or variety of surface +offers a landmark to the traveller. In summer and autumn, such a position +would have one danger the less, that is, there would be no risk of dying +of hunger; for at those seasons the most delicious fruits, grapes, plums, +peaches, and others, are to be found in abundance. But we were now in +early spring, and although I saw numbers of peach and plum-trees, they +were only in blossom. Of game also there was plenty, both fur and feather, +but I had no gun, and nothing appeared more probable than +<span class=pagenum><A id=page558 name=page558></A>[pg 558]</span> +that I should +die of hunger, although surrounded by food, and in one of the most +fruitful countries in the world. This thought flashed suddenly across me, +and for a moment my heart sunk within me as I first perceived the real +danger of my position. +</p> +<p> +After a time, however, other ideas came to console me. I had been already +four weeks in the country, and had ridden over a large slice of it in +every direction, always through prairies, and I had never had any +difficulty in finding my way. True, but then I had always had a compass, +and been in company. It was this sort of over-confidence and feeling of +security, that had made me adventure so rashly, and spite of all warning, +in pursuit of the mustang. I had not waited to reflect, that a little more +than four weeks' experience was necessary to make one acquainted with the +bearings of a district three times as big as New York State. Still I +thought it impossible that I should have got so far out of the right track +as not to be able to find the house before nightfall, which was now, +however, rapidly approaching. Indeed, the first shades of evening, strange +as it may seem, gave this persuasion increased strength. Home bred and +gently nurtured as I was, my life before coming to Texas had been by no +means one of adventure, and I was so used to sleep with a roof over my +head, that when I saw it getting dusk I felt certain I could not be far +from the house. The idea fixed itself so strongly in my mind, that I +involuntarily spurred my mustang, and trotted on, peering out through the +now fast-gathering gloom, in expectation of seeing a light. Several times +I fancied I heard the barking of the dogs, the cattle lowing, or the merry +laugh of the children. +</p> +<p> +"Hurrah! there is the house at last—I see the lights in the parlour +windows." +</p> +<p> +I urged my horse on, but when I came near the house, it proved to be an +island of trees. What I had taken for candles were fire-flies, that now +issued in swarms from out of the darkness of the islands, and spread +themselves over the prairie, darting about in every direction, their small +blue flames literally lighting up the plain, and making it appear as if I +were surrounded by a sea of Bengal fire. It is impossible to conceive +anything more bewildering than such a ride as mine, on a warm March night, +through the interminable, never varying prairie. Overhead the deep blue +firmament, with its hosts of bright stars; at my feet, and all around, an +ocean of magical light, myriads of fire-flies floating upon the soft still +air. To me it was like a scene of enchantment. I could distinguish every +blade of grass, every flower, each leaf on the trees, but all in a strange +unnatural sort of light, and in altered colours. Tuberoses and asters, +prairie roses and geraniums, dahlias and vine branches, began to wave and +move, to range themselves in ranks and rows. The whole vegetable world +around me seemed to dance, as the swarms of living lights passed over it. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly out of the sea of fire sounded a loud and long-drawn note. I +stopped, listened, and gazed around me. It was not repeated, and I rode on. +Again the same sound, but this time the cadence was sad and plaintive. +Again I made a halt, and listened. It was repeated a third time in a yet +more melancholy tone, and I recognised it as the cry of a whip-poor-will. +Presently it was answered from a neighbouring island by a Katydid. My +heart leaped for joy at hearing the note of this bird, the native minstrel +of my own dear Maryland. In an instant the house where I was born stood +before the eyesight of my imagination. There were the negro huts, the +garden, the plantation, every thing exactly as I had left it. So powerful +was the illusion, that I gave my horse the spur, persuaded that my +father's house lay before me. The island, too, I took for the grove that +surrounded our house. On reaching its border, I literally dismounted, and +shouted out for Charon Tommy. There was a stream running through our +plantation, which, for nine months out of the twelve, was only passable by +means of a ferry, and the old negro who officiated as ferryman was +indebted to me for the above classical cognomen. I believe I called twice, +nay, three times, but no Charon Tommy answered; and I awoke as from a +pleasant dream, somewhat ashamed of the length to which my excited +imagination had hurried me. +</p> +<p> +I now felt so weary and exhausted, so hungry and thirsty, and, withal, +<span class=pagenum><A id=page559 name=page559></A>[pg 559]</span> +my mind was so anxious and harassed by my dangerous position, and the +uncertainty how I should get out of it, that I was really incapable of +going any further. I felt quite bewildered, and stood for some time gazing +before me, and scarcely even troubling myself to think. At length I +mechanically drew my clasp-knife from my pocket, and set to work to dig a +hole in the rich black soil of the prairie. Into this hole I put the +knotted end of my lasso, and then pushing it in the earth and stamping it +down with my foot, as I had seen others do since I had been in Texas, I +passed the noose over my mustang's neck, and left him to graze, while I +myself lay down outside the circle which the lasso would allow him to +describe. An odd manner, it may seem, of tying up a horse; but the most +convenient and natural one in a country where one may often find +one's-self fifty miles from any house, and five-and-twenty from a tree or +bush. +</p> +<p> +I found it no easy matter to sleep, for on all sides I heard the howling +of wolves and jaguars, an unpleasant serenade at any time, but most of all +so in the prairie, unarmed and defenceless as I was. My nerves, too, were +all in commotion, and I felt so feverish, that I do not know what I should +have done, had I not fortunately remembered that I had my cigar-case and a +roll of tobacco, real Virginia <i>dulcissimus</i>, in my pocket—invaluable +treasures in my present situation, and which on this, as on many other +occasions, did not fail to soothe and calm my agitated thoughts. +</p> +<p> +Luckily, too, being a tolerably confirmed smoker, I carried a flint and +steel with me; for otherwise, although surrounded by lights, I should have +been sadly at a loss for fire. A couple of Havannahs did me an infinite +deal of good, and after a while I sunk into the slumber of which I stood +so much in need. +</p> +<p> +The day was hardly well broken when I awoke. The refreshing sleep I had +enjoyed had given me new energy and courage. I felt hungry enough, to be +sure, but light and cheerful, and I hastened to dig up the end of the +lasso, and saddled my horse. I trusted that, though I had been condemned +to wander over the prairie the whole of the preceding day, as a sort of +punishment for my rashness, I should now have better luck, and having +expiated my fault, be at length allowed to find my way. With this hope I +mounted my mustang, and resumed my ride. +</p> +<p> +I passed several beautiful islands of pecan, plum, and peach trees. It is +a peculiarity worthy of remark, that these islands are nearly always of +one sort of tree. It is very rare to meet with one where there are two +sorts. Like the beasts of the forest, that herd together according to +their kind, so does this wild vegetation preserve itself distinct in its +different species. One island will be entirely composed of live oaks, +another of plum, and a third of pecan trees; the vine only is common to +them all, and embraces them all alike with its slender but tenacious +branches. I rode through several of these islands. They were perfectly +free from bushes and brushwood, and carpeted with the most beautiful +verdure it is possible to behold. I gazed at them in astonishment. It +seemed incredible that nature, abandoned to herself, should preserve +herself so beautifully clean and pure, and I involuntarily looked around +me for some trace of the hand of man. But none was there. I saw nothing +but herds of deer, that gazed wonderingly at me with their large clear +eyes, and when I approached too near, galloped off in alarm. What would I +not have given for an ounce of lead, a charge of powder, and a Kentucky +rifle? Nevertheless, the mere sight of the beasts gladdened me, and raised +my spirits. They were a sort of society. Something of the same feeling +seemed to be imparted to my horse, who bounded under me, and neighed +merrily as he cantered along in the fresh spring morning. +</p> +<p> +I was now skirting the side of an island of trees of greater extent than +most of those I had hitherto seen. On reaching the end of it, I suddenly +came in sight of an object presenting so extraordinary an appearance as +far to surpass any of the natural wonders I had as yet beheld, either in +Texas or the United States. +</p> +<p> +At the distance of about two miles rose a colossal mass, in shape somewhat +like a monumental mound or tumulus, and apparently of the +<span class=pagenum><A id=page560 name=page560></A>[pg 560]</span> +brightest silver. +As I came in view of it, the sun was just covered by a passing cloud, from +the lower edge of which the bright rays shot down obliquely upon this +extraordinary phenomenon, lighting it up in the most brilliant manner. At +one moment it looked like a huge silver cone; then took the appearance of +an illuminated castle with pinnacles and towers, or the dome of some great +cathedral; then of a gigantic elephant, covered with trappings, but always +of solid silver, and indescribably magnificent. Had all the treasures of +the earth been offered me to say what it was, I should have been unable to +answer. Bewildered by my interminable wanderings in the prairie, and +weakened by fatigue and hunger, a superstitious feeling for a moment came +over me, and I half asked myself whether I had not reached some enchanted +region, into which the evil spirit of the prairie was luring me to +destruction by appearances of supernatural strangeness and beauty. +</p> +<p> +Banishing these wild imaginings, I rode on in the direction of this +strange object; but it was only when I came within a very short distance +that I was able to distinguish its nature. It was a live oak of most +stupendous dimensions, the very patriarch of the prairie, grown grey in +the lapse of ages. Its lower limbs had shot out in an horizontal, or +rather a downward-slanting direction; and, reaching nearly to the ground, +formed a vast dome several hundred feet in diameter, and full a hundred +and thirty feet high. It had no appearance of a tree, for neither trunk +nor branches were visible. It seemed a mountain of whitish-green scales, +fringed with long silvery moss, that hung like innumerable beards from +every bough and twig. Nothing could better convey the idea of immense and +incalculable age than the hoary beard and venerable appearance of this +monarch of the woods. Spanish moss of a silvery grey covered the whole +mass of wood and foliage, from the topmost bough down to the very ground; +short near the top of the tree, but gradually increasing in length as it +descended, until it hung like a deep fringe from the lower branches. I +separated the vegetable curtain with my hands, and entered this august +temple with feelings of involuntary awe. The change from the bright +sunlight to the comparative darkness beneath the leafy vault, was so great, +that I at first could scarcely distinguish any thing. When my eyes got +accustomed to the gloom, however, nothing could be more beautiful than the +effect of the sun's rays, which, in forcing their way through the silvered +leaves and mosses, took as many varieties of colour as if they had passed +through a window of painted glass, and gave the rich, subdued, and solemn +light of some old cathedral. +</p> +<p> +The trunk of the tree rose, free from all branches, full forty feet from +the ground, rough and knotted, and of such enormous size that it might +have been taken for a mass of rock, covered with moss and lichens, while +many of its boughs were nearly as thick as the trunk of any tree I had +ever previously seen. +</p> +<p> +I was so absorbed in the contemplation of the vegetable giant, that for a +short space I almost forgot my troubles; but as I rode away from the tree +they returned to me in full force, and my reflections were certainly of no +very cheering or consolatory nature. I rode on, however, most +perseveringly. The morning slipped away; it was noon, the sun stood high +in the cloudless heavens. My hunger had now increased to an insupportable +degree, and I felt as if something were gnawing within me, something like +a crab tugging and riving at my stomach with his sharp claws. This feeling +left me after a time, and was replaced by a sort of squeamishness, a faint +sickly sensation. But if hunger was bad, thirst was worse. For some hours +I suffered martyrdom. At length, like the hunger, it died away, and was +succeeded by a feeling of sickness. The thirty hours' fatigue and fasting +I had endured were beginning to tell upon my naturally strong nerves: I +felt my reasoning powers growing weaker, and my presence of mind leaving +me. A feeling of despondency came over me—a thousand wild fancies passed +through my bewildered brain; while at times my head grew dizzy, and I +reeled in my saddle like a drunken man. These weak fits, as I may call +them, did not last long; and each time that I recovered I spurred my +mustang onwards, but it was all in vain—ride as far and as fast +<span class=pagenum><A id=page561 name=page561></A>[pg 561]</span> +as I would, nothing was visible but a boundless sea of grass. +</p> +<p> +At length I gave up all hope, except in that God whose almighty hand was +so manifest in the beauteous works around me. I let the bridle fall on my +horse's neck, clasped my hands together, and prayed as I had never before +prayed, so heartily and earnestly. When I had finished my prayer I felt +greatly comforted. It seemed to me, that here in the wilderness, which man +had not as yet polluted, I was nearer to God, and that my petition would +assuredly be heard. I gazed cheerfully around, persuaded that I should yet +escape from the peril in which I stood. As I did so, with what +astonishment and inexpressible delight did I perceive, not ten paces off, +the track of a horse! +</p> +<p> +The effect of this discovery was like an electric shock to me, and drew a +cry of joy from my lips that made my mustang start and prick his ears. +Tears of delight and gratitude to Heaven came into my eyes, and I could +scarcely refrain from leaping off my horse and kissing the welcome signs +that gave me assurance of succour. With renewed strength I galloped +onwards; and had I been a lover flying to rescue his mistress from an +Indian war party, I could not have displayed more eagerness than I did in +following up the trail of an unknown traveller. +</p> +<p> +Never had I felt so thankful to Providence as at that moment. I uttered +thanksgivings as I rode on, and contemplated the wonderful evidences of +his skill and might that offered themselves to me on all sides. The aspect +of every thing seemed changed, and I gazed with renewed admiration at the +scenes through which I passed, and which I had previously been too +preoccupied by the danger of my position to notice. The beautiful +appearance of the islands struck me particularly as they lay in the +distance, seeming to swim in the bright golden beams of the noonday sun, +like dark spots of foliage in the midst of the waving grasses and +many-hued flowers of the prairie. Before me lay the eternal flower-carpet +with its innumerable asters, tuberoses, and mimosas, that delicate plant +which, when you approach it, lifts its head, seems to look at you, and +then droops and shrinks back in alarm. This I saw it do when I was two or +three paces from it, and without my horse's foot having touched it. Its +long roots stretch out horizontally in the ground, and the approaching +tread of a horse or man is communicated through them to the plant, and +produces this singular phenomenon. When the danger is gone by, and the +earth ceases to vibrate, the mimosa may be seen to raise its head again, +but quivering and trembling, as though not yet fully recovered from its +fears. +</p> +<p> +I had ridden on for three or four hours, following the track I had so +fortunately discovered, when I came upon the trace of a second horseman, +who appeared to have here joined the first traveller. It ran in a parallel +direction to the one I was following. Had it been possible to increase my +joy, this discovery would have done so. I could now entertain no doubt +that I had hit upon the way out of this terrible prairie. It struck me as +being rather singular that two travellers should have met in this immense +plain, which so few persons traversed; but that they had done so was +certain, for there was the track of the two horses as plain as possible. +The trail was fresh, too, and it was evidently not long since the horsemen +had passed. It might still be possible to overtake them, and in this hope +I rode on faster than ever, as fast, at least, as my mustang could carry +me through the thick grass and flowers, which in many places were four or +five feet high. +</p> +<p> +During the next three hours I passed over some ten or twelve miles of +ground, but although the trail still lay plainly and broadly marked before +me, I say nothing of those who had left it. Still I persevered. I must +overtake them sooner or later, provided I did not lose the track; and that +I was most careful not to do, keeping my eyes fixed upon the ground as I +rode along, and never deviating from the line which the travellers had +followed. +</p> +<p> +In this manner the day passed away, and evening approached. I still felt +hope and courage; but my physical strength began to give way. The gnawing +sensation of hunger increased. I was sick and faint; my limbs became heavy, +my blood seemed chilled in my veins, and all my senses appeared to grow +duller under the influence of exhaustion, thirst, and hunger. My +<span class=pagenum><A id=page562 name=page562></A>[pg 562]</span> eyesight +became misty, my hearing less acute, the bridle felt cold and heavy in my +fingers. +</p> +<p> +Still I rode on. Sooner or later I must find an outlet; the prairie must +have an end somewhere. It is true the whole of Southern Texas is one vast +prairie; but then there are rivers flowing through it, and if I could +reach one of those, I should not be far from the abodes of men. By +following the streams five or six miles up or down, I should be sure to +find a plantation. +</p> +<p> +As I was thus reasoning with, and encouraging myself, I suddenly perceived +the traces of a third horse, running parallel to the two which I had been +so long following. This was indeed encouragement. It was certain that +three travellers, arriving from different points of the prairie, and all +going in the same direction, must have some object, must be repairing to +some village or clearing, and where or what this was had now become +indifferent to me, so long as I once more found myself amongst my +fellow-men. I spurred on my mustang, who was beginning to flag a little in +his pace with the fatigue of our long ride. +</p> +<p> +The sun set behind the high trees of an island that bounded my view +westward, and there being little or no twilight in those southerly +latitudes, the broad day was almost instantaneously replaced by the +darkness of night. I could proceed no further without losing the track of +the three horsemen; and as I happened to be close to an island, I fastened +my mustang to a branch with the lasso, and threw myself on the grass under +the trees. +</p> +<p> +This night, however, I had no fancy for tobacco. Neither the cigars nor +the <i>dulcissimus</i> tempted me. I tried to sleep, but in vain. Once or twice +I began to doze, but was roused again by violent cramps and twitchings in +all my limbs. There is nothing more horrible than a night passed in the +way I passed that one, faint and weak, enduring torture from hunger and +thirst, striving after sleep and never finding it. I can only compare the +sensation of hunger I experienced to that of twenty pairs of pincers +tearing at my stomach. +</p> +<p> +With the first grey light of morning I got up and prepared for departure. +It was a long business, however, to get my horse ready. The saddle, which +at other times I could throw upon his back with two fingers, now seemed +made of lead, and it was as much as I could do to lift it. I had still +more difficulty to draw the girths tight; but at last I accomplished this, +and scrambling upon my beast, rode off. Luckily my mustang's spirit was +pretty well taken out of him by the last two days' work; for if he had +been fresh, the smallest spring on one side would have sufficed to throw +me out of the saddle. As it was, I sat upon him like an automaton, hanging +forward over his neck, some times grasping the mane, and almost unable to +use either rein or spur. +</p> +<p> +I had ridden on for some hours in this helpless manner, when I came to a +place where the three horsemen whose track I was following had apparently +made a halt, perhaps passed the previous night. The grass was trampled and +beaten down in a circumference of some fifty or sixty feet, and there was +a confusion in the horse tracks as if they had ridden backwards and +forwards. Fearful of losing the right trace, I was looking carefully about +me to see in what direction they had recommenced their journey, when I +noticed something white amongst the long grass. I got off my horse to pick +it up. It was a piece of paper with my own name written upon it; and I +recognized it as the back of a letter in which my tobacco had been wrapped, +and which I had thrown away at my halting-place of the preceding night. I +looked around, and recognized the island and the very tree under which I +had slept or endeavoured to sleep. The horrible truth instantly flashed +across me—the horse tracks I had been following were my own: since the +preceding morning I had been riding in <i>a circle</i>! +</p> +<p> +I stood for a few seconds thunderstruck by this discovery, and then sank +upon the ground in utter despair. At that moment I should have been +thankful to any one who would have knocked me on the head as I lay. All I +wished for was to die as speedily as possible. +</p> +<p> +I remained I know not how long lying in a desponding, half insensible, +state upon the grass. Several hours must have elapsed; for when I got up, +<span class=pagenum><A id=page563 name=page563></A>[pg 563]</span> +the sun was low in the western heavens. My head was so weak and wandering, +that I could not well explain to myself how it was that I had been thus +riding after my own shadow. Yet the thing was clear enough. Without +landmarks, and in the monotonous scenery of the prairie, I might have gone +on for ever following my horses track, and going back when I thought I was +going forwards, had it not been for the discovery of the tobacco paper. I +was, as I subsequently learned, in the Jacinto prairie, one of the most +beautiful in Texas, full sixty miles long and broad, but in which the most +experienced hunters never risked themselves without a compass. It was +little wonder then that I, a mere boy of two and twenty, just escaped from +college, should have gone astray in it. +</p> +<p> +I now gave myself up for lost, and with the bridle twisted round my hand, +and holding on as well as I could by the saddle and mane, I let my horse +choose his own road. It would perhaps have been better if I had done this +sooner. The beast's instinct would probably have led him to some +plantation. When he found himself left to his own guidance he threw up his +head, snuffed the air three or four times, and then turning round, set off +in a contrary direction to that he was before going, and at such a brisk +pace that it was as much as I could do to keep upon him. Every jolt caused +me so much pain that I was more than once tempted to let myself fall off +his back. +</p> +<p> +At last night came, and thanks to the lasso, which kept my horse in awe, I +managed to dismount and secure him. The whole night through I suffered +from racking pains in head, limbs, and body. I felt as if I had been +broken on the wheel; not an inch of my whole person but ached and smarted. +My hands were grown thin and transparent, my cheeks fallen in, my eyes +deep sunk in their sockets. When I touched my face I could feel the change +that had taken place, and as I did so I caught myself once or twice +laughing like a child—I was becoming delirious. +</p> +<p> +In the morning I could scarcely rise from the ground, so utterly weakened +and exhausted was I by my three days' fasting, anxiety, and fatigue. I +have heard say that a man in good health can live nine days without food. +It may be so in a room, or a prison; but assuredly not in a Texian prairie. +I am quite certain that the fifth day would have seen the last of me. +</p> +<p> +I should never have been able to mount my mustang, but he had fortunately +lain down, so I got into the saddle, and he rose up with me and started +off of his own accord. As I rode along, the strangest visions seemed to +pass before me. I saw the most beautiful cities that a painter's fancy +ever conceived, with towers, cupolas, and columns, of which the summits +lost themselves in the clouds; marble basins and fountains of bright +sparkling water, rivers flowing with liquid gold and silver, and gardens +in which the trees were bowed down with the most magnificent fruit—fruit +that I had not strength enough to raise my hand and pluck. My limbs were +heavy as lead, my tongue, lips, and gums, dry and parched. I breathed with +the greatest difficulty, and within me was a burning sensation, as if I +had swallowed hot coals; while my extremities, both hands and feet, did +not appear to form a part of myself, but to be instruments of torture +affixed to me, and causing me the most intense suffering. +</p> +<p> +I have a confused recollection of a sort of rushing noise, the nature of +which I was unable to determine, so nearly had all consciousness left me; +then of finding myself amongst trees, the leaves and boughs of which +scratched and beat against my face as I passed through them; then of a +sudden and rapid descent, with the broad bright surface of a river below +me. I clutched at a branch, but my fingers had no strength to retain their +grasp—there was a hissing, splashing noise, and the waters closed over my +head. +</p> +<p> +I soon rose, and endeavoured to strike out with my arms and legs, but in +vain; I was too weak to swim and again I went down. A thousand lights +seemed to dance before my eyes: there was a noise in my brain as if a +four-and-twenty pounder had been fired close to my ear. Just then a hard +hand was wrung into my neck-cloth, and I felt myself dragged out of the +water. The next instant my senses left me. +</p> + +<br> +<hr class=full> +<span class=pagenum><A id=page564 name=page564></A>[pg 564]</span> +<a name="bw337s2" id="bw337s2"></a><h2>TRAVELS OF KERIM KHAN.</h2> + +<h3>NO. II.</h3> + +<p> +We left our friend the Khan, at length comfortably established in London, +and pursuing his observations on the various novel objects of interest +which every where presented themselves to his gaze. The streets lighted by +gas (which the Persian princes call "the spirit of coals") are described +in terms of the highest admiration—"On each side, as far as the eye could +see, were two interminable lines of extremely brilliant light, produced by +a peculiar kind of vapour here called gas, which made the city infinitely +more interesting to look at by night than by day; but the most +extraordinary thing in reference to the flame in the lamps was, that this +appeared to be produced without the medium of either oil or wick, nor +could I discern the cause of the lighting. The houses have from three to +seven stages or stories, one of which is underground—each stage +containing at least two rooms. The walls fronting the streets are of brick +or stone, and the interior of woodwork; but the wood of the rooms inside +is covered with a peculiar sort of paper of various colours and curious +devices, highly elaborate and ingenious. The balconies outside were +generally filled with flowers of various hues: but notwithstanding the +wonders which surrounded me, and made me fancy myself in a world of +talismanic creation, my spirits were for some time depressed, and this +immense city seemed to me worse than the tomb; for I had not yet recovered +from the bewilderment into which all that I had seen had thrown me." +</p> +<p> +The feeling of loneliness, resulting from this oppressive sense of novelty, +wore off, however, as the Khan began to find out his friends, and accustom +himself to the fashions of the country; and he was one day agreeably +surprised by a visit from one of the suite of Moulavi Afzul Ali, an envoy +to the Court of Directors from the Rajah of Sattarah;<a id=footnotetag1 +name=footnotetag1></a><a +href="#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> "I need not say +how delighted I felt, not having the least idea of meeting any of my +countrymen so far from Hindustan." The 11th of August, the day fixed for +the prorogation of Parliament by the Queen, now arrived; and the khan +"accompanied some gentlemen in a carriage to see the procession, but it was +with extreme difficulty that we got a place where we could see her Majesty +pass; at last, however, through the kindness of a mounted officer, we +succeeded. First came the Shahzadehs, or princes of the blood, in +carriages drawn by six horses, and then the wazirs (viziers) and nobles, +and the ambassadors from foreign states, in vehicles, some with six, and +some with four horses. When all these had passed, there came the Queen +herself in a golden carriage, drawn by eight magnificent steeds; on her +right was Prince Arleta, and opposite her was Lord Melbourne, the grand +wazir, (prime minister.) The carriage was preceded by men who, I was +surprised to observe, were dressed in the Hindustani fashion, in red and +gold, with broad sleeves.<a id=footnotetag2 +name=footnotetag2></a><a +href="#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a> But those nearest her Majesty, strange to say, +wore almost exactly the costume of Hindustan, and to these my eyes were +<span class=pagenum><A id=page565 name=page565></A>[pg 565]</span> +immediately directed; and I felt so delighted to see my own countrymen +advanced to the honour of forming the body-guard of the sovereign, that I +could scarcely believe the evidence of my senses, when I perceived on +closer inspection, by their complexions, that they were English. Still I +could not (nor can I even now) understand the reason of their adopting the +Hindustani dress—though I was told on enquiry, that it was the ancient +costume of the guard called <i>yeomen</i>." ... +</p> +<p> +"As the Queen approached the people took off their hats, nor was I less +astonished<a id=footnotetag3 +name=footnotetag3></a><a +href="#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a> when I heard them begin to shout <i>hurra! hurra</i>! as she +passed; which in their language seems to imply approbation. When her +Majesty turned towards our carriage, I immediately made a <i>salaam</i> after +the manner of my own country, which she graciously acknowledged, seeing, +no doubt, that I was a native of a strange land!" +</p> +<p> +This fancied metamorphosis of the sturdy beef-eaters with their partisans, +whose costume has never been altered since the days of Henry VII., into +Hindustani <i>peons</i> and <i>chuprassees</i>, seems to show that the enthusiasm of +the Khan must have been considerably excited—and after this cruel +disappointment he dismisses the remainder of the procession in a few words. +To a native of India, indeed, accustomed to see every petty rajah or nawab +holding a few square miles of territory as the tenant of the Company, +surrounded on state occasions by a crowd of the picturesque irregular +cavalry of the East, and with a <i>Suwarree</i> or cavalcade of led horses, +gayly caparisoned elephants, flaunting banners, and martial music, the +amount of military display in attendance on the Queen of Great Britain +must naturally have appeared inconsiderable—"The escort consisted of only +some two hundred horsemen, but these were cased in steel and leather from +head to foot, and their black horses were by far the finest I have yet +seen in this country. But though the multitudes of people were immense, +yet the procession tell much short of what I had expected from the monarch +of so great and powerful a nation! I returned home, however, much +gratified by the sights I had seen to-day." +</p> +<p> +The sight of this ceremony naturally leads to a digression on the origin +and constitution of the English parliament, and its division into the two +houses of Lords and Commons. The events leading to these institutions, and +the antecedent civil wars between the king and the barons, in the reign of +Henry III. and Edward I., are given by the Khan, on the whole, with great +accuracy—probably from the information of his English friends since the +knowledge of the ancient history and institutions of the country, which he +displays both here and in other parts of his narrative, can scarcely have +been acquired through the medium of a native education in Hindustan. The +deductions which he draws, however, from this historical summary, are +somewhat curious; since he assumes that the power of the crown, though +limited in appearance by the concessions then made, and the legislative +functions vested in parliament, was in truth only strengthened, and +rendered more securely despotic:—"But this is entirely lost sight of by +the people, who, even at the present day, imagine that the parliament is +all-powerful, and the sovereign powerless. But I must be allowed to say, +that those ancient monarchs acted wisely, and the result of their policy +has not been sufficiently perceived.... For when parliament was +constituted, the power of retaining armed vassals and servants, which the +barons had enjoyed for so long a period, was abolished, and has never been +resumed even by princes of the blood; so that they could no longer resist +the authority of the king, who alone had the privilege of raising and +maintaining troops—a right never conceded to parliament. Besides this the +powers of life and death, and of declaring war, were identified with the +person of the sovereign; and with respect to the latter, it is never, +until it has been decided upon, even intimated to the parliament, which +<span class=pagenum><A id=page566 name=page566></A>[pg 566]</span> +possesses <i>only</i> the power of collecting the taxes, from which the +expenses of the war the king may enter into must be paid. The possession, +therefore, of these two rights by the king, is equivalent to the tenure of +absolute power." The possibility of the supplies being refused by a +refractory House of Commons, seems either not to have occurred to the khan, +or to have escaped his recollection at the moment of his penning this +sentence; and though he subsequently alludes to the responsibility of +ministers, he never seems to have comprehended the nature and extent of +the control exercised by parliament over the finances of the nation, so +fully as the Persian princes, who tell us, in their quaint phraseology, +that "if the expenses that were made should be agreeable to the Commons, +well and good—if not, the vizirs must stand the consequences; and every +person who has given ten <i>tomâns</i> of the revenue, has a right to rise up +in the House of Commons, and seize the vizir of the treasury by the collar, +saying, 'What have you done with my money?'"—a mode of <i>putting to the +question</i> which, if now and then practically adopted by some hard-fisted +son of the soil, we have no doubt would operate as a most salutary check +on the vagaries of Chancellors of the Exchequer. +</p> +<p> +It is strange that the Khan should not, in this case, perceive the fallacy +of his own argument, or see that the power of the sword must always +virtually rest with the holder of the purse; since immediately afterwards, +after enlarging on the enormous amount of taxes levied in England, the +oppressive nature of some of them, especially the window-tax, "for the +light of heaven is God's gift to mankind," he proceeds—"In other +countries it would perhaps cost the king, who imposed such taxes, his head; +but here the blame is laid on the House of Commons, without any one +dreaming of censuring the sovereign, in whose name they are levied, and +for whose use they are applied;" citing as a proof of this the ease with +which the insurrection of Wat Tyler and his followers, against the +capitation tax, was suppressed by the promise of the king to redress their +grievances. The subject of English taxation, indeed, both from the amount +levied, and the acquiescence of the people in such unheard-of burdens, +seems to have utterly bewildered the khan's comprehension.<a id= +footnotetag4 +name=footnotetag4></a><a +href="#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a> "All classes, +from the noble to the peasant, are alike oppressed; yet it is amusing to +hear them expatiate on the institutions of their country, fancying it the +freest and themselves the least oppressed of any people on earth! They are +constantly talking of the tyranny and despotism of Oriental governments, +without having set foot in any of those regions, or knowing any thing +about the matter, except what they have gleaned from the imperfect +accounts of superficial travellers—deploring the state of Turkey, Persia, +and other Mahommedan countries, and calling their inhabitants slaves, when, +if the truth were known, there is not a single kingdom of Islam, the +people of which would submit to what the English suffer, or pay one-tenth +of the taxes exacted from them." +</p> +<p> +Relieved, it is to be hoped, by this tirade against the ignominious +submission of the Franks to taxation, +<span class=pagenum><A id=page567 name=page567></A>[pg 567]</span> +the Khan resumes the enumeration of +the endless catalogue of wonders which the sights of London presented to +him. On visiting the Polytechnic Institution—"which means, I understand, +a place in which specimens of every science and art are to be seen in some +mode or other, there being no science or art of any other country unknown +here"—he briefly enumerates the oxyhydrogen microscope, "by which water +was shown so full of little animals, nay, even monsters, as to make one +shudder at the thought of swallowing a drop"—the orrery, the +daguerreotype, and the diving-bell, (in which he had the courage to +descend,) as the objects principally deserving notice, "since it would +require several months, if not years, to give that attention to each +specimen of human industry which it demands, in order thoroughly to +understand it." The effects of the electrical machine, indeed, "by which +fire was made to pass through the body of a man, and out of the +finger-ends of his right hand, without his being in any way affected by it, +though a piece of cloth, placed close to this right hand, was actually +ignited," seem to have excited considerable astonishment in his mind; but +it does not appear that his curiosity led him to make any attempt in +investigating the hidden causes of these mysterious phenomena. His apathy +in this respect presents a strong contrast with the minute and elaborate +description of the same objects, the mode of their construction, and the +uses to which they may be applied, given in the journal of the two Parsees, +Nowrojee and Merwanjee. "To us," say they, "brought up in India for +scientific pursuits, and longing ardently to acquire practical information +connected with modern improvements, more particularly with naval +architecture, steam-engines, steam-boats, and steam navigation, these two +galleries of practical science (the Adelaide and Polytechnic) seemed to +embrace all that we had come over to England to make ourselves acquainted +with; and it was with gratitude to the original projectors of these +institutions that we gazed on the soul-exciting scene before us. We +thought of the enchantments related in the <i>Arabian Nights' +Entertainments</i>, and they faded away into nothingness compared with what +we then saw." +</p> +<p> +But however widely apart the nonchalance of the Moslem, and the +matter-of-fact diligence of the Parsee,<a id=footnotetag5 +name=footnotetag5></a><a +href="#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a> may have placed them +respectively in their appreciation of the scientific marvels of the +Polytechnic Institution, they meet on common ground in their admiration of +the wax-work exhibition of Madame Tussaud; though the Khan, who was not +sufficiently acquainted with the features of our public characters to +judge of the likenesses, expresses his commendation only in general terms. +But the Parsees, with the naïveté of children, break out into absolute +raptures at recognising the features of Lord Melbourne, "a good-humoured +looking, kind English gentleman, with a countenance, perhaps, representing +frankness and candour more than dignity"—William IV., "looking the very +picture of good-nature"—the Duke of Wellington, Lord Brougham, &c.; +"indeed, we know of no exhibition (where a person has read about people) +that will afford him so much pleasure, always recollecting that it is only +<i>one</i> shilling, and for this you may stop just as long as you are +inclined." Their remarks, on seeing the effigy of Voltaire, are too +curious to be omitted. "He is an extraordinary-looking man, dressed so +oddly +<span class=pagenum><A id=page568 name=page568></A>[pg 568]</span> +too, with little pinched-up features, and his hair so curiously +arranged. We looked much at him, thinking he must have had much courage, +and have thought himself quite right in his belief, to have stood opposed +to all the existing religious systems of his native land. He, however, and +those who thought differently from him, have long since in another world +experienced, that if men only act up to what they believe to be right, the +Maker of the Deist, the Christian, and the Parsee, will receive them into +his presence; and that it is the <i>professor of religion</i>, who is <i>nothing +but a professor</i>, let his creed be what it may, that will meet with the +greatest punishment from Him that ruleth all things." But before we quit +the subject of this attractive exhibition, we must not omit to mention an +adventure of the Persian princes, two of whom, having paid a previous +visit, persuaded the third brother, on his accompanying them thither, that +he was in truth in the royal palace, (whither he had been invited for one +of the Queen's parties on the same evening.) and in the presence of the +court and royal family! The embarrassment of poor Najef-Kooli at the +<i>morne silence</i> preserved, which he interpreted as a sign of displeasure, +is amusingly described, till, on touching one of the figures, "he fell +down, and I observed that he was dead; and my brothers and Fraser Sahib +laughed loudly, and said, 'These people are not dead but are all of them +artificial figures of white wax.' Verily, no one would ever have thought +that they were manufactured by men!" +</p> +<p> +A few days after his visit to Madame Tussaud, we find the Khan making an +excursion by the railroad to Southampton, in order to be present at a +banquet given on board the Oriental steamer, by the directors of the +Oriental Steam Navigation Company, from whom he had received a special +invitation. With the exception of the brief transit from Blackwall to +London on his arrival, this was his first trip by rail, but, as his place +was in one of the close first-class carriages, he saw nothing of the +machinery by which the motion was effected, "though such was the rapidity +of the vehicles, that I could distinguish nothing but an expanse of green +all round, nor could I perceive even the trunks of the trees. Every now +and then we were carried through dark caverns, where we could not see each +others' faces; and sometimes we met other vehicles coming in the opposite +direction, which occasioned me no small alarm, as I certainly thought we +should have been dashed to pieces, from the fearful velocity with which +both were running. We reached Southampton, a distance of seventy-eight +miles, in three hours; and what most surprised me was, being seriously +told on our arrival, that we had been unusually long on our way. I was +told that this iron road, from London to Southampton, cost six crores of +rupees, (L.6,000,000.)" The town of Southampton is only briefly noticed as +well built, populous, and flourishing; but he had no time to visit the +beautiful scenery of the environs, as the entertainment took place the +following afternoon in the cabin of the Oriental, "which is a very large +vessel, well constructed, and in admirable order, and is intended to carry +the <i>dak</i> (mail) to India, which is sent by the way of Sikanderîyah, +(Alexandria.)" Our friend the khan, however, must have been always rather +out of his element at a feast; unlike his countryman, Abu-Talib—who +speedily became reconciled to the forbidden viands and wines of the Franks, +and even carried his laxity so far as to express a <i>hope</i>, rather than a +<i>belief</i>, that the brushes which he used were made of horsehair, and not +of the bristles of the unclean beast—Kerim Khan appears (as we have seen +on a previous occasion) never to have relaxed the austerity of the +religious scruples which the <i>Indian</i> Moslems have borrowed from the +Hindus, so far as to partake of food not prepared by his own people; and +on the present occasion, in spite of the instances of his hosts, his +simple repast consisted wholly of fruit. The cheers which followed on the +health of the Queen being given, appeared to him, like those which hailed +her passage at the prorogation of Parliament, a most incomprehensible and +somewhat indecorous proceeding; his own health was also drunk as a <i>lion</i>, +but "not being able to reply from my ignorance of the language, a +gentleman of my acquaintance thanked them in my name; while I also stood +up and made a <i>salaam</i>, as +<span class=pagenum><A id=page569 name=page569></A>[pg 569]</span> +much as to say that I highly appreciated the +honour done me." While the festivities were proceeding in the cabin, the +steamer was got underway and making the circuit of the Isle of Wight; and +on landing again at Southampton, "I was surrounded by a concourse of +people, who had collected to look at me, imagining, no doubt, that I was +some strange creature, the like of which they had never seen before." +Whether from want of time or of curiosity, he left Portsmouth, and all the +wonders of its arsenal and dockyard, unvisited, and after again going on +board the Oriental the next day, to take leave of the captain and officers, +returned in the afternoon by the railway to London. +</p> +<p> +He was next shown over the Bank of England, his remarks on which are +devoid of interest, and he visited the Paddington terminus of the Great +Western Railway, in the hope of gaining a more accurate idea of the nature +of the locomotive machinery, the astonishing powers of which he had +witnessed in his journey to Southampton. But mechanics were not the Khan's +forte; and, dismissing the subject with the remark, that "it is so +extremely complicated and difficult that a stranger cannot possibly +understand it,"<a id=footnotetag6 +name=footnotetag6></a><a +href="#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a> he returns at once to the haunts of fashion, Hyde Park +and the Opera. Hitherto the khan had been unaccountably silent on the +subject of the "Frank moons, brilliant as the sun," (as the English ladies +are called by the Persian princes, who, from the first, lose no +opportunity of commemorating their beauty in the most rapturous strains of +Oriental hyperbole;) but his enthusiasm is effectually kindled by the +blaze of charms which meets his eye in the "bazar of beauty and garden of +pleasure," as he terms the Park, his account of which he sums up by +declaring, that, "were the inhabitants of the celestial regions to descend, +they would at one glance forget the wonders of the heavens at the sight of +so many bright eyes and beautiful faces! what, therefore, remains for +mortals to do?" The Opera is, he says, "the principal <i>tomashagah</i>" +(place of show or entertainment) in London, and best decorated and +lighted;" though he does not go the length of affirming, as stated in the +account given by the Persian princes, that "before each box are forty +chandeliers of cut glass, and each has fifty lights!"—"I could not," +continues the khan, "understand the subject of the performances—it was +all singing, accompanied with various action, as if some story were meant +to be related; but I was also told that the language was different from +English, and that the majority of those present understood it no more than +myself." The scanty drapery and liberal displays of the figurantes at +first startled him a little; but "the beauty of those <i>peris</i> was such as +might have enslaved the heart of Ferhad himself;" and he soon learned to +view all their <i>pirouettes</i> and <i>tours-de-force</i> with the well-bred +nonchalance of a man who had witnessed in his own country exhibitions +nearly as singular in their way "though the style of dancing here was of +course entirely different from what we see in India." The impression made +by the sight of the ballet on the Parsees, who invariably reduce every +thing to pounds, shillings, and pence, took a different form; and they +express unbounded astonishment, on being told that Taglioni was paid a +hundred and fifty guineas a-night, "that such a sum should be paid to a +woman to stand a long time like a goose on one leg, then to throw one leg +straight out, twirl round three or four times with the leg thus extended, +curtsy so low as nearly to seat herself on the stage, and spring from one +side of the stage to another, all which jumping about did not occupy an +hour!" +</p> +<p> +Astley's (which the Persian princes call the "opera of the horse") was the +Khan's next resort; and as the feats of horsemanship there exhibited did +not require any great proficiency in the English language to render +<span class=pagenum><A id=page570 name=page570></A>[pg 570]</span>them +intelligible, he appears to have been highly amused and gratified, and +gives a long description of all he saw there, which would not present much +of novelty to our readers. He was also taken by some of his acquaintance +to see the industrious fleas in the Strand; but this exhibition, which +accorded unbounded gratification to the grandsons of Futteh Ali Shah, +seems to have been looked upon by the khan rather with contempt, as a +marvellous piece of absurdity. "Would any one believe that such a sight as +this could possibly be witnessed any where in the world? but, having +personally seen it, I cannot altogether pass it over." But the then +unfinished Thames Tunnel, which he had the advantage of visiting in +company with Mr Brunel, appears to have impressed his mind more than any +other public work which he had seen; and his remarks upon it show, that he +was at pains to make himself accurately acquainted with the nature and +extent of the undertaking, the details of which he gives with great +exactness. "But," he concludes, "it is impossible to convey in words an +adequate idea of the labour that must have been spent upon this work, the +like of which was never before attempted in any country. The emperors of +Hindustan, who were monarchs of so many extensive provinces, and possessed +such unlimited power and countless treasures, desired a bridge to be +thrown across the Jumna to connect Delhi with the city of Shahdarah—yet +an architect could not be found in all India who could carry this design +into execution. Yet here a few merchants formed a company, and have +executed a work infinitely transcending that of the most elaborate bridge +ever built. In the first instance, as I was given to understand, they +applied to Government for leave to construct a bridge at the same spot, +but as it was objected that this would impede the navigation of the river, +they formed the design, at the suggestion of the talented engineer above +mentioned, of actually making their way across the river underground, and +commenced this great work in spite of the general opinion of the +improbability of success."<a id=footnotetag7 +name=footnotetag7></a><a +href="#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a> +</p> +<p> +"Some days after this," continues the khan, "I paid a visit to the Tower, +which is the fortress of London, placed close to the Thames on its left +bank. Within the ramparts is another fort of white stone, which in past +times was frequently occupied by the sovereigns of the country. It is said +to have been constructed by King William, surnamed <i>Muzuffer</i>, or the +Conqueror; others are of opinion that it was founded by Keesar the Roman +emperor; but God alone can solve this doubt. In times past it was also +used as a state prison for persons of rank, and was the scene of the +execution of most of the princes and nobles whose fate is recorded in the +chronicles of England. They still show the block on which the +decapitations took place." Among the trophies in the armoury, he +particularizes the gun and girdle of Tippoo Sultan, "which seemed to be +taken great care of, and were preserved under a glass case;" but the horse +armoury and the regalia, usually the most attractive part of the +exhibition to strangers, are passed over with but slight notice, though, +from the Parsees, the sight of the equestrian figures in the former, draws +the only allusion which escapes them throughout their narrative to the +fallen glories of their race. "The representations of some of these +monarchs was in the very armour they wore; and we were here very forcibly +put in mind of Persia, once our own country, where this iron clothing was +anciently used; but, alas! we have no remains of these things; all we know +of them is from historical works." The crown jewels might have been +supposed to present to a native of India an object of peculiar interest; +but the khan remarks only the great ruby, "which is so brilliant that (it +is said) one would be able to read by its light by placing it on a book in +the dark. I made some enquiries respecting its value, but could +<span class=pagenum><A id=page571 name=page571></A>[pg 571]</span> +not get no +satisfactory answer, as they said no jeweller could ascertain it." +</p> +<p> +It would appear that the Khan must now have been for several months +resident in London, (for he takes no note of the lapse of time,) since we +next find him a spectator of the pomps and pageants of Lord Mayor's day. +He gives no account, however, of the procession, but contents himself with +informing his readers that the Lord Mayor (except in his tenure of office +being annual instead of for life) is the same as a "patel" or "mukaddam" +in the East: adding that "he is the only person in England, except the +sovereign, who is allowed to have a train of armed followers in attendance +on him." It is not very evident whether the idea of civic army was +suggested to the mind of the khan simply by the sight of the men in armour +in the procession, or whether dark rumours had reached his ear touching +the prowess of the Lumber troopers, and other warlike bodies which march +under the standard of the Lord Mayor; but certain it is that this most +pacific of potentates cannot fairly be charged with abusing the formidable +privilege thus attributed to him—the city sword never having been +unsheathed in mortal fray, as far as our researches extend, since Wat +Tyler fell before the doughty arm of Sir William of Walworth. On returning +from the show, the khan was taken to see Newgate, with the gloomy aspect +of which, and the silent and strict discipline enforced among the +prisoners, he was deeply impressed; "to these poor wretches the gate of +mercy is indeed shut, and that of hardship and oppression thrown open." +His sympathies were still more strongly awakened on discovering among +those unfortunate creatures an Indian Moslem, who proved, on enquiry, to +be a Lascar sailor, imprisoned for selling smuggled cigars—"and, in my +ignorance of the laws and customs of the country, I was anxious to procure +his liberation by paying the fine; but my friends told me that this was +absolutely impossible, and that he must remain the full time in prison. So +we could only thank the governor for his attention, and then took our +departure." +</p> +<p> +Following the steps of the Khan from grave to gay, in his desultory course +through the endless varieties of "Life in London," we are at once +transported from the dismal cells of Newgate to the fancy-dress ball at +Guildhall for the aid of the refugee Poles. This seems to have been the +first scene of the kind at which Kerim Khan had been present since his +arrival in England; and though he was somewhat scandalized at perceiving +that some of those in male attire were evidently ladies, he describes with +considerable effect "the infinite variety of costumes, all very different +from those of England, as if each country had contributed its peculiar +garb," the brilliant lighting and costly decoration of the rooms, and the +picturesque grouping of the vast assemblage. But his first impressions on +English dancing are perfectly unique in their way, and we can only do +justice to them by quoting them at length. "It is so entirely unlike any +thing we ever heard of in Hindustan, that I cannot refrain from giving a +slight sketch of what I saw. In the first place, the company could not +have been fewer than 1500 or 2000, of the highest classes of society, the +ministers, the nobles, and the wealthy, with their wives and daughters. +Several hundreds stood up, every gentleman with a lady; and they advanced +and retired several times, holding each other by the hand, to the sound of +the music: at last the circle they had formed broke up, some running off +to the right, and some to the left—then a gentleman, leaving his lady, +would strike out obliquely across the room, sometimes making direct for +another lady at a distance, and sometimes stooping and flourishing with +his legs as he went along: when he approached her, he made a sort of +salaam, and then retreated. Another would go softly up to a lady, and then +suddenly seizing her by the waist, would turn and twist her round and +round some fifty times till both were evidently giddy with the motion: +this was sometimes performed by a few chosen dancers, and sometimes by +several hundreds at once—all embracing each other in what, to our notions, +would seem rather an odd sort of way, and whirling round and round; and +though their feet appeared constantly coming in contact with each other, a +collision never took place. And those who met in this affectionate manner +were, as I was told, for the most part perfect strangers to each +<span class=pagenum><A id=page572 name=page572></A>[pg 572]</span> other, +which to me was incomprehensible! Several ladies asked me to dance with +them, but I excused myself by saying that their dancing was so +superlatively beautiful that it was sufficient to admire it, and that I +was afraid to try—'besides,' said I, 'it is contrary to our customs in +Hindustan.' To which they replied that India was far off, and no one could +see me. 'But,' said I 'there are people who put every thing in the +newspapers, and if my friends heard of it I should lose caste.' The ladies +smiled; and after this I was not asked to dance." The Persian princes, +when in a similar dilemma, evaded the request by "taking oath that we did +not know how, and that our mother did not care to teach us; and thank +God," concludes Najef-Kooli with heartfelt gratitude, "we never did dance. +God protect the faithful from it!" Independent of the above recorded +opinions on the singularity of quadrilles and waltzes, the khan takes this +occasion to enter into a disquisition on the inconsistency (doubly +incongruous to an Oriental eye) of the ladies having their necks, arms, +and shoulders uncovered, while the men are clothed up to the chin, "and +not even their hands are allowed to be seen bare," and returned from the +ball, no doubt, more lost than ever in wonder at the strange extravagances +of the Feringhis. +</p> +<p> +These opinions are repeated, shortly after, on the occasion of the Khan's +being present at an evening party at Clapham, which, as the invitation was +<i>for the country</i>, he seems to have expected to find quite a different +sort of affair from the entertainments at which he had already assisted in +London. He was greatly surprised, therefore, to find the assemblage, on +his arrival, engaged in the everlasting toil of dancing, "the men, as +usual in this country, clad all in dismal black, and the ladies sparkling +in handsome costumes of bright and variegated colours—another singular +custom, of which I never could learn or guess the reason." But, however +great a bore the sight of quadrilles may have been to the khan, ample +amends were made to him on this occasion by the musical performances, with +which several of the ladies ("though they all at first refused, evidently +from modesty") gratified the company in the intervals of the dance, and at +which he expresses unbounded delight; but this does not prevent his again +launching out into a tirade against the unseemly methods, as they appear +to him, used by the English to signify applause or approbation. "The +strangest custom is, that the audience <i>clapped their hands</i> in token of +satisfaction whenever any of the ladies concluded their performance.... +The only occasion on which such an exhibition of feeling is to be +witnessed in Hindustan, is when some offender is put upon a donkey, with a +string of old shoes round his neck, and his face blackened and turned to +the tail, and in this plight expelled from the city. Then only do the +boys—men never—clap their hands and cry hurra! hurra! Thus, that which +in one country implies shame and disgrace, is resorted to in another to +express the highest degree of approbation!" +</p> +<p> +Passing over the Khan's visits to the Athenæum Club-house, to Buckingham +Palace, &c., his remarks on which contain nothing noticeable, except his +mistaking some of the ancient portraits in the palace, from their long +beards and rosaries, for the representations of Moslem divines, we find +him at last fairly in the midst of an English winter, and an eyewitness of +a spectacle of all others the most marvellous and incredible to a +Hindustani, and which Mirza Abu-Talib, while describing it, frankly +confesses he cannot expect his countrymen to believe—the ice and the +skaters in the Regent's Park.<a id=footnotetag8 +name=footnotetag8></a><a +href="#footnote8"><sup>8</sup></a> "What I had previously seen in the +summer as water, with birds swimming and boats rowing upon it, was now +transformed into an immense sheet of ice as hard as rock, on which +thousands of persons, men, women, and children, were actually walking, +running, and figuring in the most extraordinary manner. I saw men pass +with the rapidity of an arrow, turning, wheeling, retrograding, and +describing figures with surprising agility, sometimes on both, but more +frequently +<span class=pagenum><A id=page573 name=page573></A>[pg 573]</span> +on only one leg; they had all a piece of steel, turned up in +front somewhat in the manner of our slippers, fastened to their shoes, by +means of which they propelled themselves as I have described. After much +persuasion, I went on the ice myself; though not without considerable fear; +yet such a favourite sport is this with the English, and so infatuated are +some of these <i>ice players</i>, that nothing will deter them from venturing +on those places which are marked as dangerous; and thus many perish, like +moths that sacrifice themselves in the candle flame. They have, therefore, +parties of men, with their dresses stuffed with air-cushions, whose duty +it is to watch on the ice, ready to plunge in whenever it breaks and any +one is immersed." +</p> +<p> +The national theatres were now open for the winter, and the Khan paid a +visit to Covent-Garden; but he gives no particulars of the performances +which he witnessed, though he was greatly struck by the splendour of the +lighting and decoration, and still more by the almost magical celerity +with which the changes of scenery were effected. The scanty notice taken +of these matters, may perhaps be partly accounted for by the extraordinary +fascination produced in the mind of the khan by the charms of one of the +houris on the stage—whose name, though he does not mention it, our +readers will probably have no difficulty in supplying; and it may be +doubted whether the warmest panegyrics of the most ardent of her +innumerable admirers ever soared quite so high a pitch into the regions of +hyperbole as the Oriental flights of the khan, who exhausts, in the praise +of her attractions, all the imagery of the eastern poets. She is described +as "cypress-waisted, rose-cheeked, fragrant as amber, and sweet as sugar, +a stealer of hearts, who unites the magic of talismans with loveliness +transcending that of the <i>peris!</i> When she bent the soft arch of her +eyebrows, she pierced the heart through and through with the arrows of her +eyelashes; and when she smiled, the heart of the most rigid ascetic was +intoxicated! She was gorgeously arrayed, and covered all over with +jewels—and the <i>tout-ensemble</i> of her appearance was such as would have +riveted the gaze of the inhabitants of the spheres—what, then, more can a +mere mortal say?"<a id=footnotetag9 +name=footnotetag9></a><a +href="#footnote9"><sup>9</sup></a> +</p> +<p> +At Rundell and Bridge's, to a view of the glittering treasures of whose +establishment the Khan was next introduced, he was not less astonished at +the incalculable value of the articles he saw exhibited, "where the +precious metals and magnificent jewellery of all sorts were scattered +about as profusely as so many sorts of fruit in our Delhi bazars"—as +surprised at being informed that many of the nobles, and even of the royal +family, here deposited their plate and jewels for safe custody; and that, +"though all these valuables were left without a guard of soldiers, this +shop has never been known to be attacked and plundered by robbers and +thieves, who not unfrequently break into other houses.' Among the models +of celebrated gems here shown him, he particularizes a jewel which, for +ages, has been the wonder of the East—"the famous <i>Koh-in-Noor</i>, +(Mountain of Light,) now in the possession of the ruler of Lahore and well +known to have been forcibly seized by him from Shah-Shoojah, king of Cabul, +when a fugitive in the Panjab;" as well as another, (the Pigot diamond,) +"now belonging to Mohammed Ali of Egypt." The Adelaide Gallery of Science +is passed over with the remark, that it is, on the whole, inferior to the +Polytechnic, which he had previously visited. But the Diorama, with the +views of Damascus, Acre, &c., seems to have afforded him great +gratification, as well as to have perplexed him not a little, by the +apparent accuracy of its perspective. "Some objects delineated actually +appeared to be several <i>kos</i> (a measure of about two miles) from us, +others nearer, and some quite close. I marvelled how such things could be +brought together before me; yet, on stretching out the hand, the canvass +on which all this was represented might be touched." But all the wonders +<span class=pagenum><A id=page574 name=page574></A>[pg 574]</span> +of the pictorial art, "which the Europeans have brought to unheard of +perfection," fade before the amazement of the khan, on being informed that +it was possible for him to have a transcript of his countenance taken, +without the use of pencil or brush, by the mere agency of the sun's rays; +and even after having verified the truth of this apparently incredible +statement by actual experiment in his own person, he still seems to have +entertained considerable misgivings as to the legitimacy of the +process—"How it was effected was indeed incomprehensible! Here is an art, +which, if it be not magic, it is difficult to conceive what else it can +be!" +</p> +<p> +The spring was now advancing; "and one day," says the Khan, "not being +Sunday, I was surprised to observe all the shops shut, and the courts of +justice, as well as the merchants' and public offices, all closed. On +enquiry, I was told this was a great day, being the day on which the Jews +crucified the Lord Aysa, (Jesus,) and that a general fast is, on this day, +observed in Europe, when the people abstain from flesh, eating only fish, +and a particular kind of bread marked with a cross. This custom is, +however, now confined to the ancient sect of Christians called Catholics +for the real English never <i>observe fasts of any kind on any occasion +whatever</i>; they eat, nevertheless, both the crossed bread and the fish. +This fast is to the Europeans what the <i>Mohurrum</i><a id=footnotetag10 +name=footnotetag10></a><a +href="#footnote10"><sup>10</sup></a> is to us; only here +no particular signs of sorrow are to be seen on account of the death of +Aysa;—all eat, drink, and enjoy themselves on this day as much as any +other; or, from what I saw, I should say they rather indulged themselves a +little more than usual. Another remarkable thing is, that this fast does +not always happen at the same date, being regulated by the appearance of +the moon; while, in every thing else, the English reckon by the solar +year." +</p> +<p> +We shall offer no comment, as we fear we can offer no contradiction, on +the Khan's account of the singular method of fasting observed in England, +by eating salt fish and cross-buns in addition to the usual viands—but +digressing without an interval from fasts to feasts, we next find him a +guest at a splendid banquet, given by the Lord Mayor. Though Mirza +Abu-Talib, at the beginning of the present century, was present at the +feast given to Lord Nelson during the mayoralty of Alderman Coombe, the +description of a civic entertainment, as it appeared to an Oriental, must +always be a curious <i>morceau</i>; and doubly so in the present instance, as +given by a spectator to whom it was as the feast of the Barmecide—since +Kerim Khan, unlike his countryman, the Mirza, religiously abstained +throughout from the forbidden dainties of the Franks, and sat like an +anchorite at the board of plenty. To this concentration of his faculties +in the task of observing, we probably owe the minute detail he has given +us of the festive scene before him, which we must quote, as a companion +sketch of Feringhi manners to the previously cited account of the ball at +Guildhall:—"At length dinner was announced: and all rose, and led by the +queen of the city, (the lady mayoress,) withdrew to another room, where +the table was laid out in the most costly manner, being loaded with dishes, +principally of silver and gold, and covered with <i>sar-poshes</i>, (lids or +covers,) some of which were of immense size, like little boats. When the +servants removed the <i>sar-poshes</i>, fishes and soup of every sort were +presented to view: some of the former, I was told, brought as rarities +from distant seas, and at great expense. Before every man of rank there +was an immense dish, which it is his duty to cut up and distribute, +putting on each plate about sufficient for a baby to eat. I turned to a +friend and enquired why the guests were helped so sparingly? 'It is +customary,' said he, 'to serve guests in this way.' 'But why not give them +enough?' rejoined I. 'You will soon see,' replied he, 'that they will all +have enough.'<a id=footnotetag11 +name=footnotetag11></a><a +href="#footnote11"><sup>11</sup></a> +</p> +<p> +"Soon after, all the dishes, spoons, +<span class=pagenum><A id=page575 name=page575></A>[pg 575]</span> +&c., were removed by the servants. I +thought the dinner was over, and was preparing to go, not a little +astonished at such scanty hospitality, when other dishes were brought in, +filled with choice viands of every kind—bears from Russia and +Germany—hogs from Ireland—fowls and geese from France—turtle from the +Mediterranean(?)—venison from the parks of the nobility—some in joints, +some quite whole, with their limbs and feet entire. Operations now +recommenced, the carvers doling out the same small quantities as before: +but though many of the gentlemen present were anxious to prevail on me to +partake, and recommended particular dishes, one as being 'a favourite of +the King of the French'—another as particularly rare and exquisite, I +could not be prevailed upon to partake of any. Thus did innumerable dishes +pour and disappear again, the servants constantly changing the plates of +the guests: till I began to form quite a different idea of the appetites +of the guests, and the hospitality of the Lord Mayor, on which I had +thought that a reflection was thrown by the small portions sent to them. I +now saw that many of them, besides being served pretty often, helped +themselves freely to the dishes before them—indeed, their appetite was +wonderfully good: some, doubtless, thinking that such an opportunity would +not often recur. Nor did they forget the juice of the grape—the bottles +which were opened would have filled a ship, and the noise of the champagne +completely drowned the music. One would have thought that, after all this, +no men could eat more: but now the fruits, sweetmeats ices, and jellies +made their appearance, pine-apples, grapes, oranges, apples, pears, +mulberries, and confectionaries of such strange shapes that I can give no +name to them—and before each guest were placed small plates, with +peculiarly shaped knives of gold and silver. Of this part of the banquet I +had the pleasure of partaking, in common with the selfsame gentlemen who +had done such honour to the thousand dishes above mentioned, and who now +distinguished themselves in the same manner on the dessert. The price of +some of the fruit was almost incredible; the reason of which is, that in +this country it can only be reared in glass-houses artificially heated ... +thus the pine-apples, which are by no means fine, cost each twenty rupees, +(L.2,) which in India would be bought for two pice—thus being 640 times +dearer than in our country. Thus in England the poorer classes cannot +afford to eat fruit, whereas in all other countries they can get fruit +when grain is too dear. +</p> +<p> +"The guests continued at table till late, during which time several +gentlemen rose and spoke: but, from my imperfect knowledge of the language, +I could not comprehend their purports beyond the compliments which they +passed on each other, and the evident attacks which they made on their +political opponents. I at last retired with some others to another room, +where many of the guests were dancing—coffee and tea were here taken +about, just as sherbets are with us in the Mohurrum. I must remark that +the servants were gorgeously dressed, being covered with gold like the +generals of the army; but the most extraordinary thing about them was, +there having their heads covered with ashes, like the Hindoo fakirs-a +custom indicative with us of sorrow and repentance. I hardly could help +laughing when I looked at them; but a friend kindly explained to me that, +in England, none but the servants of the great are <i>privileged</i> to have +ashes strewed on their heads, and that for this distinction their masters +actually pay a tax to government! 'Is this enjoined by their religion?' +said I. 'Oh no!' he replied. 'Then,' said I, 'since your religion does not +require it, and it appears, to our notions at least, rather a mark of +grief and mourning, where is the use of paying a tax for it?' '<i>it is the +custom of the country</i>.' said he again. After this I returned hone, musing +deeply on what I had seen." +</p> +<p> +With this inimitable sketch, we take leave of the Khan for the present, +shortly to return to his ideas of men and manners in <i>Feringhistan</i>. +</p> +<br> +<hr class=full> + + + +<span class=pagenum><A id=page576 name=page576></A>[pg 576]</span> +<a name="bw337s3" id="bw337s3"></a><h2>THE BANKING-HOUSE.</h2> + +<h2>A HISTORY IN THREE PARTS.</h2> +<h2>PART I.</h2> + + +<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3> + +<h3>PROSPECTIVE.</h3> + +<p> +If, as Wordsworth, that arch-priest of poesy, expresses it, I could place +the gentle reader "<i>atween the downy wings</i>" of some beneficent and +willing angel, in one brief instant of time should he be deposited on the +little hill that first discovers the smiling, quiet village of Ellendale. +He would imbibe of beauty more in a breath, a glance, than I can pour into +his soul in pages of spiritless delineation. I cannot charm the eye with +that great stream of liquid light, which, during the long and lingering +summer's day, issues from the valley like an eternal joy; I cannot +fascinate his ear, and soothe his spirit with nature's deep mysterious +sounds, so delicately slender and so soft, that silence fails to be +disturbed, but rather grows more mellow and profound; I cannot with a +stroke present the teeming hills, flushed with their weight of corn, that +now stands stately in the suspended air—now, touched by the lightest wind +that ever blew, flows like a golden river. As difficult is it to convey a +just impression of a peaceful spot, whose praise consists—so to +speak—rather in privatives than positives; whose privilege it is to be +still free, tranquil, and unmolested, in a land and in an age of ceaseless +agitation, in which the rigorous virtues of our fathers are forgotten, and +the land's integrity threatens to give way. If Ellendale be not the most +populous and active village, it is certainly the most rustic and winning +that I have ever beheld in our once <i>merry</i> England. It is secreted from +the world, and lies snugly and closely at the foot of massive hills, which +nature seems to have erected solely for its covert and protection. It is +situated about four miles from the high-road, whence you obtain at +intervals short glimpses as it rears its tiny head into the open day. If +the traveller be fresh from an overworked and overworking city, he looks +upon what he deems a sheer impossibility—the residence of men living +cheerfully and happily in solitude intense. The employment of the +villagers is in the silent fields, from day to day, from year to year. +Their life has no variety, the general heart has no desire for change. It +was so with their fathers—so shall it be with their own children, if the +too selfish world will let them. The inhabitants are almost to a man poor, +humble, and contented. The cottages are clean and neat, but lowly, like +the owners. One house, and one alone, is distinguished from the rest; it +is aged, and ivy as venerable as itself clings closer there as years roll +over it. It has a lawn, an antique door and porch, narrow windows with the +smallest diamond panes, and has been called since its first stone was laid, +<i>the Vicarage</i>. Forget the village, courteous reader, and cross with me +the hospitable threshold, for here our history begins—and ends. +</p> +<p> +The season is summer—the time evening—the hour that of sunset. The big +sun goes down like a ball of fire, crimson-red, leaving at the horizon's +verge his splendid escort—a host of clouds glittering with a hundred hues, +the gorgeous livery of him they have attended. A borrowed glory steals +from them into an open casement, and, passing over, illumines for a time a +face pale even to sadness. It is a woman's. She is dressed in deepest +mourning, and is—Heaven be with her in her solitariness!—a recent widow. +She is thirty years of age at least, and is still adorned with half the +beauty of her youth, not injured by the hand of suffering and time. The +expression of the countenance is one of calmness, or, it may be, +resignation—for the tranquility has evidently been taught and learnt as +the world's lesson, and is not native there. Near her sits a man benign of +aspect, advanced in years; his hair and eyebrows white from the winter's +fall; his eye and mien telling of decline, easy and placid as the close of +softest music, and nothing harsher. Care and trouble he has never known; +he is too old to learn them now. His dress is very plain. The room in +which he sits is devoid of ornament, and furnished like the study of a +simple +<span class=pagenum><A id=page577 name=page577></A>[pg 577]</span> +scholar. Books take up the walls. A table and two chairs are the +amount of furniture. The Vicar has a letter in his hand, which he peruses +with attention; and having finished, he turns with a bright smile towards +his guest, and tells her she is welcome. +</p> +<p> +"You are very welcome, madam, for your own sake, and for the sake of him +whose signature is here; although, I fear, you will scarcely find amongst +us the happiness you look for. There will be time, however, to consider"— +</p> +<p> +"I <i>have</i> considered, sir;" answered the lady, somewhat mournfully. "My +resolution has not been formed in haste, believe me." +</p> +<p> +The vicar paused, and reperused the letter. +</p> +<p> +"You are probably aware, madam, that my brother has communicated"— +</p> +<p> +"Every thing. Your people are poor and ignorant. I can be useful to them. +Reduced as I am, I may afford them help. I may instruct the +children—attend the sick—relieve the hungry. Can I do this?" +</p> +<p> +"Pardon me, dear lady. I am loth to repress the noble impulses by which +you are actuated. It would be very wrong to deny the value and importance +of such aid; but I must entreat you to remember your former life and +habits. I fear this place is not what you expect it. In the midst of my +people, and withdrawn from all society, I have accustomed myself to seek +for consolation in the faithful discharge of my duties, and in communion +with the chosen friends of my youth whom you see around me. You are not +aware of what you undertake. There will be no companionship for you—no +female friend—no friend but myself. Our villagers are labouring men and +women—our population consists of such alone. Think what you have been, +and what you must resign." +</p> +<p> +The lady sighed deeply, and answered— +</p> +<p> +"It is, Mr Littleton, just because I cannot forget what I have been, that +I come here to make amends for past neglect and sinfulness. I have a debt +<i>there</i>, sir"—and she pointed solemnly towards the sky—"which must be +paid. I have been an unfaithful steward, and must be reconciled to my good +master ere I die. You may trust me. You know my income and my means. It is +trifling; comparatively speaking—nothing. Yet, less than half of it must +suffice for my support. The rest is for your flock. You shall distribute +it, and you shall teach me how to minister to their temporal +necessities—how to labour for their eternal glory. The world and I have +parted, and for ever." +</p> +<p> +"I will not oppose you further madam. You shall make the trial if you +please, and yet"—the vicar hesitated. +</p> +<p> +"Pray speak, sir," said the lady. +</p> +<p> +"I was thinking of your accommodation. Here I could not well receive +you—and I know no other house becoming"— +</p> +<p> +"Do not mock me, Mr Littleton. A room in the cot of your poorest +parishioner is more than I deserve—more than the good fishermen of +Galilee could sometimes find. Think of me, I beg, as I am—not as I have +been." +</p> +<p> +As the lady spoke, a servant-maid entered the apartment with the +supper-tray, which the good vicar had ordered shortly after the arrival of +his guest. During the repast, it was arranged that the lady should pass +the night in the cottage of John Humphrys, a man acknowledged to be the +most industrious in the village, and who had become the especial favourite +of the vicar, by marrying, as the latter jocosely termed it, into his +family. John Humphrys' wife had been the vicar's housekeeper. The Reverend +Hugh Littleton was a bachelor, and had always been most cautious and +discreet. Although he had a bed to spare, he did not think of offering it +to his handsome visitor; nor, and this is more remarkable, did he again +that evening resume the subject of their previous conversation. He spoke +of matters connected with the world, from which he had been separated for +half a century, but from whose turmoil the lady had only a few weeks +before disentangled herself. To a good churchman, the condition of the +Church is always a subject of the deepest interest, as her prosperity is a +source of gratitude and joy. Tidings of the movement which had recently +taken place in the very heart of the Establishment had already reached his +secluded parish, filling him with doubt and apprehension. He was glad +<span class=pagenum><A id=page578 name=page578></A>[pg 578]</span> +to gain what further information his friendly visitor could afford him. We +may conclude, from the observations of the vicar, that her communication +was unsatisfactory. +</p> +<p> +"It is a cowardly thing, madam," said he, "to withdraw from a scene of +contest in the hour of danger, and when all our dearest interests are at +stake; and yet I do thank my God, from the bottom of my heart, that I am +not an eyewitness to the dishonour and the shame which men are heaping on +our blessed faith. Are we Christians? Do we come before the world as the +messengers of glad tidings—of <i>unity</i> and <i>peace</i>? We profess to do it, +whilst discord, enmity, hatred, and persecution are in our hearts and on +our tongue. The atheist and the worldling live in harmony, whilst the +children of Christ carry on their unholy warfare one against the other. +Strange anomaly! Can we not call upon our people to love their God with +all their hearts—and their neighbours as themselves? Can we not strive by +our own good example to teach them how to do this? Would it not be more +profitable and humane, than to disturb them with formalities that have no +virtue in themselves—to distress them with useless controversies, that +settle no one point, teach no one doctrine, but unsettle and unfix all the +good that our simple creed had previously built up and made secure?" +</p> +<p> +"It is very true, sir;—and it is sweet to hear you talk so." +</p> +<p> +If the lady desired to hear more, it was unwise of her to speak so plainly. +The vicar was unused to praise, and these few words effectually stopped +him. He said no more. The lady remained silent for a minute or two, then +rose and took her leave. The night was very fine, and the vicar's servant +maid accompanied her to John Humphrys' door. Here she found a wholesome +bed, but her pillow did not become a resting-place until she moistened it +with tears—the bitterest that ever wrung a penitent and broken heart. +</p> + +<br> +<hr> + +<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<h3>RETROSPECTIVE</h3> + +<p> +James Mildred was a noble-hearted gentleman. At the age of eighteen he +quitted England to undertake an appointment in India, which he had +obtained through the interest of his uncle, an East Indian Director. He +remained abroad thirty years, and then returned, a stranger, to his native +land, the owner of a noble fortune. His manners were simple and +unassuming—his mind was masculine and well-informed—his generous soul +manifest in every expression of his manly countenance. He had honourably +acquired his wealth, and whilst he amassed, had been by no means greedy of +his gains. He dealt out liberally. There were many reasons why James +Mildred at the age of forty-eight returned to England. I shall state but +one. He was still a bachelor. The historian at once absolves the gentler +sex from any share of blame. It was not, in truth, their fault that he +continued single. Many had done their utmost to remove this stigma from +James Mildred's character; had they done less they might, possibly, have +been more successful. Mildred had a full share of sensibility, and +recoiled at the bare idea of being snared into a state of blessedness. The +woman was not for him, who was willing to accept him only because his gold +and he could not be separated. Neither was he ambitious to purchase the +easy affection of the live commodity as it arrives in ships from England, +with other articles of luxury and merchandize. After years of successful +exertion, he yearned for the enjoyments of the domestic hearth, and for +the home-happiness which an Englishman deserves, because he understands +so well its value. Failing to obtain his wish in India, he journeyed +homeward, sound in mind and body, and determined to improve the comfort +and condition of both, by a union with amiability, loveliness, and virtue, +if in one individual he could find them all combined, and finding, could +secure them for himself. It might have been a year after his appearance in +London, that he became acquainted with the family of +<span class=pagenum><A id=page579 name=page579></A>[pg 579]</span> +Mr Graham, a +lieutenant in the navy on half-pay, and the father of two children. He was +a widower, and not affluent. His offspring were both daughters, and, at +the time to which I allude, full grown, lovely women. Their mother had +been a governess previously to her marriage, and her subsequent days had +been profitably employed in the education of her daughters; in preparing +them, in fact, for the condition of life into which they would inevitably +fall, if they were still unmarried at the dissolution of their father. +They were from infancy taught to expect their future means of living from +their own honourable exertions, and they grew happier and better for the +knowledge. Mildred had retired to a town on the sea-coast, in which this +family resided; and, shortly after his arrival, he first beheld the elder +of the lieutenant's children. She was then in her nineteenth year, a +lovely, graceful, and accomplished creature. I cannot say that he was +smitten at first sight, but it must have been soon afterwards; for the day +succeeding that on which he met her, found him walking and chatting with +her father, as familiarly as though they had been friends from infancy. +Before a week was over, the lieutenant had dined three times with Mildred +at his hotel, and had taken six pipes, and as many glasses of grog, in +token of his fidelity and good fellowship. From being the host of +Lieutenant Graham, it was an easy transition to become his guest. Mildred +was taken to the mariner's cot, and from that hour his destiny was fixed. +In Margaret Graham he found, or he believed he had, the being whom he had +sought so long—the vision which had not, until now, been realized. Six +months elapsed, and found the lover a constant visitor at the lieutenant's +fireside. He had never spoken of his passion, nor did any of the household +dream of what was passing in his heart, save Margaret, who could not fail +to see that she possessed it wholly. His wealth was likewise still a +secret, his position in society unknown. His liberal sentiments and +unaffected demeanour had gained him the regard of the unsophisticated +parent—his modest bearing and politeness were not less grateful to the +sisters. Mildred had resolved a hundred times to reveal to Margaret the +depth and earnestness of his attachment, and to place his heart and +fortune at her feet, but he dared not do it when time and opportunity +arrived. Day by day his ardent love increased—stronger and stronger grew +the impression which had first been stamped upon his noble mind; new +graces were discovered; virtues were developed that had escaped his early +notice, enhancing the maiden's loveliness and worth. Still he continued +silent. He was a shy, retiring man, and entertained a meek opinion of his +merits. The difference of age was very great. He dwelt upon the fact, +until it seemed a barrier fatal to his success. Young, accomplished, and +exceeding beautiful, would she not expect, did she not deserve, a union +with youth and virtues equal to her own? Was it not madness to suppose +that she would shower such happiness on him? Was he not over bold and +arrogant to hope it? Aware of his disadvantage, and rendered miserable by +the thought of losing her in consequence, he had been tempted once or +twice to communicate to Margaret the amount of wealth that he possessed; +but here, too, his reluctant tongue grew ever dumb as he approached the +dangerous topic. No; his soul would pine in disappointment and despair, +before it could consent to <i>purchase</i> love—love which transcends all +price when it becomes the heart's free offering, but is not worth a rush +to buy or bargain for. Could he but be sure that for himself alone she +would receive his hand—could he but once be satisfied of this, how paltry +the return, how poor would be the best that he could offer for her virgin +trust? What was his wealth compared with that? But <i>how</i> be sure and +satisfied? Ask and be refused? Refused, and then denied the privilege to +gaze upon her face, and to linger hour after hour upon the melody which, +flowing from her fair lips, had so long charmed, bewildered him! To be +shut out for ever from the joy that had become a part of him, with which, +already in his dreams, he had connected all that remained to him as yet of +life!—It is true, James Mildred was old enough to be sweet Margaret's +father; but for his <i>heart</i>, with all its throbbings and anxieties, it +might have been the young girl's younger brother's. A lucky +<span class=pagenum><A id=page580 name=page580></A>[pg 580]</span> +moment was it +for Mildred, when he thought of seeking counsel from the straightforward +and plain-speaking officer. A hint sufficed to make the parent wise, and +to draw from him the blunt assurance, that Mildred was a son-in-law to +make a father proud and happy. "I never liked, my friend, superfluous +words," said he; "you have my consent, mind that, when you have settled +matters with the lass." +</p> +<p> +It was a very few hours after the above words were spoken, that, either by +design or chance, Mildred and Margaret found themselves together. The +lieutenant and his younger daughter were from home, and Margaret was +seated in the family parlour, engaged in profitable work, as usual. Upon +entering the room, the lover saw immediately that Graham had committed him. +His easy and accustomed step had never called a blush into the maiden's +cheek. Wherefore should it now? He felt the coming and the dreaded crisis +already near, and that his fate was hanging on her lips. His heart +fluttered, and he became slightly perturbed; but he sat down manfully; +determined to await the issue. Margaret welcomed him with more restraint +than was her wont, but not—he thought and hoped—less cordially. Maidens +are wilful and perverse. Why should she hold her head down, as she had +never done before? Why strain her eyes upon her work, and ply her needle +as though her life depended on the haste with which she wrought? Thus +might she receive a foe; better treatment surely merited so good a friend? +</p> +<p> +"Miss Graham," said at length the resolute yet timid man, "do I judge +rightly? Your father has communicated to you our morning's conversation?" +</p> +<p> +"He has, sir," answered Margaret too softly for any but a lover's ear. +</p> +<p> +"Then, pardon me, dear lady," continued Mildred, gaining confidence, as he +was bound to do, "if I presume to add all that a simple and an honest man +can proffer to the woman he adores. I am too old—that is to say, I have +seen too much of life, perhaps, to be able to address you now in language +that is fitting. But, believe me, dear Miss Graham, I am sensible of your +charms, I esteem your character, I love you ardently. I am aware of my +presumption. I am bold to approach you as a suitor; but my happiness +depends upon your word and I beg you to pronounce it. Dismiss me, and I +will trouble you no longer. I will endeavour to forget you—to forget that +I beheld you—that I ever nourished a passion which has made life sweeter +to me than I believed it could become; but if, on the other hand"— +</p> +<p> +How strange it is, that we will still create troubles in a world that +already abounds with them! Here had Mildred lived in a perpetual fever for +months together, teazing and fretting himself with anxieties and doubts; +whilst, as a reasonable being, he ought to have been as cheerful and as +merry as a lark singing at the gate of heaven. In the midst of his oration, +the gentle Margaret resigned her work, and wept. I say no more. I will not +even add that she had been prepared to weep for months before—that she +had grown half fearful and half angry at the long delay—that she was +woman, and ambitious—that she had heard of Mildred's mine of wealth, and +longed to share it with him. Such secrets, gentle reader, might, if +revealed, attaint the lady's character. I therefore choose to keep them to +myself. It is very certain that Mildred was forthwith accepted, and that, +after a courtship of three months, he led to the altar a woman of whose +beauty and talents a monarch might justly have been proud. It is not to +the purpose of this narrative to describe the wedding guests and +garments—the sumptuous breakfast—the continental tour. It was a fair +scene to look at, that auspicious bridal morn. The lieutenant's unaffected +joy—the bridegroom's blissful pride—the lady's modesty, and—shall I +call it?—triumph, struggling through it; these and other matters might +employ an idle or a dallying pen, but must not now arrest one busy with +more serious work. Far different are the circumstance and season which +call for our regard. We leave the lovers in their bridal bower, and +pensively approach the chamber of sickness and of death. +</p> +<p> +It is ten years since Mildred wedded. He is on the verge of sixty, and +seems more aged, for he is bowed down with bodily disease and pain. +<span class=pagenum><A id=page581 name=page581></A>[pg 581]</span> His +wife, not thirty yet, looks not an hour older than when we saw her last, +dressed like a queen for her espousal. She is more beautiful, as the full +developed rose in grace surpasses the delicate and still expanding bud; +but there she is, the same young Margaret. How they have passed the +married decade, how both fulfilled their several duties, may be gathered +from a description of Mildred's latest moments. He lies almost exhausted +on his bed of suffering, and only at short intervals can find strength to +make his wishes known to one who, since he was a boy, has been a faithful +and a constant friend. He is his comforter and physician now. +</p> +<p> +"You have not told me, Wilford," said Mildred in a moment of physical +repose, "you have not told me yet how long. Let me, I implore you, hear +the truth. I am not afraid to die. Is there any hope at all?" +</p> +<p> +The physician's lip quivered with affectionate grief; but did not move in +answer. +</p> +<p> +"There is <i>no</i> hope then," continued the wasting invalid. "I believe it—I +believe it. But tell me, dearest friend, how long may this endure?" +</p> +<p> +"I cannot say," replied the doctor; "a day or two, perhaps: I fear not +longer, Mildred." +</p> +<p> +"Fear <i>not</i>, old friend," said Mildred. "I do not fear. I thank my God +there is an end of it." +</p> +<p> +"Is your mind happy, Mildred?" asked the physician. +</p> +<p> +"You shall judge yourself. I die at peace with all men. I repent me +heartily of my sins. I place my hope in my Redeemer. I feel that he will +not desert me. I did never fear death, Wilford. I can smile upon him now." +</p> +<p> +"You will see a clergyman?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, Wilford, an hour hence; not now. I have sent <i>her</i> away, that I +might hear the worst from you. She must be recalled, and know that all is +fixed, and over. We will pray together—dear, faithful Margaret—sweet, +patient nurse! Heaven bless her!" +</p> +<p> +"She is to be pitied, Mildred. To die is the common lot. We are not all +doomed to mourn the loss of our beloved ones!" +</p> +<p> +"But, Wilford, you will be good and kind to her, and console her for my +loss. You are my executor and dearest friend. You will have regard to my +dying words, and watch over her. Be a father and a brother to her. You +will—will you not?" +</p> +<p> +"I will," answered the physician solemnly. +</p> +<p> +"Thank you, brother—thank you," replied the patient, pressing his +friend's hand warmly. "We are brothers now, Wilford—we were children, +schoolboys together. Do you remember the birds'-nesting—and the +apple-tree in the orchard? Oh, the happy scenes of my boyhood are fresher +in my memory to day than the occurrences of yesterday!" +</p> +<p> +"You were nearer heaven in your boyhood, Mildred, than you have been since, +until this hour. We are travelling daily further from the East, until we +are summoned home again. The light of heaven is about us at the beginning +and the close of life. We lose it in middle age, when it is hid by the +world's false and unsubstantial glare." +</p> +<p> +"I understand something of what you say. I never dreaded this hour. I have +relied for grace, and it has come—but, Wilford"— +</p> +<p> +"What would you say?" +</p> +<p> +"Margaret." +</p> +<p> +"What of her?" +</p> +<p> +"If you could but know what she has done for me—how, for the last two +years, she has attended me—how she has sacrificed all things for me, and +for my comfort—how she has been, against my will, my servant and my +slave—you would revere her character as I do. Night after night has she +spent at my bedside; no murmur—no dull, complaining look—all +cheerfullness! I have been peevish and impatient—no return for the harsh +word, and harsher look. So young—so beautiful—so self devoted. I have +not deserved such love—and now it is snatched from me, as it should be"— +</p> +<p> +"You are excited, Mildred," said the good doctor. "You have said too much. +Rest now—rest." +</p> +<p> +"Let me see her," answered Mildred. "I cannot part with her an instant +now." +</p> +<p> +And in a few minutes the angel of light—for such she was to the declining +man—glided to the dying bed. When she approached it his eyes were shut, +and his lips moved as if in prayer. At his side she stood, the +<span class=pagenum><A id=page582 name=page582></A>[pg 582]</span>faithful +tears pouring down her cheek, her voice suspended, lest a breath should +fall upon the sufferer and awaken him to pain. Quietly at last, as if from +sweetest sleep, his eyes unclosed, and, with a fond expression, fixed +themselves on <i>her</i>. Faster and faster streamed the unchecked tears adown +the lovely cheek, louder and louder grew the agonizing sobs that would not +be controlled. He took her drooping palm, pressed it as he might between +his bony hands, and covered it with kisses. Doctor Wilford silently +withdrew. +</p> +<p> +"Dear, good Margaret," the sick man faltered, "I shall lose you soon. +Heaven will bless you for your loving care." +</p> +<p> +"Take courage, dearest," was Margaret's reply; "all will yet be well." +</p> +<p> +"It will, beloved—but not here," he answered. "We shall meet again—be +sure of it. God is merciful, not cruel, and our happiness on earth has +been a foretaste of the diviner bliss hereafter. We are separated but for +an hour. Do not weep, my sweet one, but listen to me. It was my duty to +reward you, Margaret, for all that you have done for the infirm old man. I +have performed this duty. Every thing that I possess is yours! My will is +with my private papers in the desk. It will do you justice. Could I have +given you the wealth of India, you would have deserved it all." +</p> +<p> +Tears, tears were the heart's intense acknowledgment. What could she say +at such a time? +</p> +<p> +"I have thought fit, my Margaret, to burden you with no restrictions. I +could not be so wicked and so selfish as to wish you not to wed again"— +</p> +<p> +"Speak not of it, James—speak not of it," almost screamed the lovely wife, +intercepting the generous speaker's words. "Do not overwhelm me with my +grief." +</p> +<p> +"It is best, my Margaret, to name these things whilst power is still left +me. Understand me, dearest. I do not bid you wed again. You are free to do +it if it will make you happier." +</p> +<p> +"Never—never, dearest and best of men! I am yours in life and +death—yours for ever. Before Heaven I vow"— +</p> +<p> +Mildred touched the upraised hand, held it in his own, and in a feeble, +worn-out voice, said gravely— +</p> +<p> +"I implore you to desist—spare me the pain—make not a vow so rash. You +are young and beautiful, my Margaret—a time may come—let there be no vow. +Where is Wilford? I wish to have you both about me." +</p> +<p> +The following morning Margaret was weeping on her husband's corpse. Ten +years before, she had wept when he proposed for her, and ten years +afterwards, almost to a day, she was weeping on John Humphrys' pillow, +distressed with recollections that would not let her rest. +</p> +<br> +<hr> + +<h3>CHAPTER III</h3> + +<h3>THE BEGINNING OF THE END</h3> + + +<p> +Doctor Chalmers was right. The discovery of the telescope was very fine in +its way; but the invention of the microscope was, after all, a much more +sensible affair. We may look at the mountains of the moon, and the spots +on the sun, until we have rendered our eyes, for all practical purposes, +useless for a month, and yet not bring to light one secret worth knowing, +one fact that, as inhabitants of the earth, we care to be acquainted with. +Not so with one microscopic peep at a particle of water or an atom of +cheese. Here we arrive at once at the disclosure of what modern +philosophers call "a beautiful law"—a law affecting the entirety of +animal creation—invisible and visible; a law which proclaims that the +inferior as well as the superior animals, the lowest as well as the +highest, the smallest as well as the largest, live upon one another, +derive their strength and substance from attacking and devouring those of +their neighbours. Shakspeare, whom few things escaped, has not failed to +tell us, that "there be land rats and water rats, water thieves and land +thieves;" he knew not, however, that there be likewise water devils as +well as land devils—water lawyers +<span class=pagenum><A id=page583 name=page583></A>[pg 583]</span> +as well as land lawyers—water +swindlers as well as land swindlers. In one small liquid drop you shall +behold them all—indeed a commonwealth of Christians but for their forms, +and for the atmosphere in which they live and fight. I have often found +great instruction in noting the hypocritical antics of a certain watery +rascal, whose trick it is to lie in one snug corner of the globule, +feigning repose, indifference, or sleep. Nothing disturbs him, until some +weak, innocent animalcule ventures unsuspiciously within his reach, and +then with one muscular exertion, the monster darts, gripes, gulps him +down—goes to his sleep or prayers again, and waits a fresh arrival. The +creature has no joy but in the pangs of others—no life but in their +sufferings and death. Even worse than this thing is the worm, its earthly +prototype, with whom, rather than with himself, this chapter has to deal. +Whilst the last most precious drops of Mildred's breath were leaving him, +whilst his cleansed soul prepared itself for solemn flight, whilst all +around his bed were still and silent as the grave already digging for +him—one human eye, secreted from the world and unobserved, peered into +the lonely chamber, watching for the dissolution, impatient at delay, and +greedy for the sight. I speak of an old, grey-headed man, a small, thin +creature of skin and bone, sordid and avaricious in spirit—one who had +never known Mildred, had not once spoken to or seen him, but who had heard +of his possessions, of his funded gold, and whose grasping soul was sick +to handle and secure them. Abraham Allcraft, hunks as he was, was reputed +wealthy. For years he had retained a high position as the opulent banker +of the mercantile city of ——. His business was extensive—his habits +mean, penurious; his credit was unlimited, as his character was +unimpeachable. There are some men who cannot gain the world's favour, do +what they will to purchase it. There are others, on the other hand, who, +having no fair claim at all to it, are warmed and nourished throughout +life by the good opinion of mankind. No man lived with fewer virtues than +Abraham Allcraft; no man was reputed richer in all the virtues that adorn +humanity. He was an honest man, because he starved upon a crust. He was +industrious, because from morn till night he laboured at the bank. He was +a moral man, because his word was sacred, and no one knew him guilty of a +serious fault. He was the pattern of a father—witness the education of +his son. He was the pattern of a banker—witness the house's regularity, +and steady prosperous course. He lived within view of the mansion in which +Mildred breathed his last; he knew the history of the deceased, as well as +he knew the secrets of his own bad heart. He had seen the widow in her +solitary walks; he had made his plans, and he was not the man to give them +up without a struggle. +</p> +<p> +It was perhaps on the tenth day after Mildred had been deposited in the +earth, that Margaret permitted the sun once more to lighten her abode. +Since the death of her husband the house had been shut up—no visitor had +been admitted—there had been no witness to her agony and tears. It should +be so. There are calamities too great for human sympathy; seasons too +awful for any presence save that of the Eternal. Time, reason, and +religion—not the hollow mockery of solemn words and looks—must heal the +heart lacerated by the tremendous deathblow. Abraham Allcraft had waited +for this day. He saw the gloomy curtains drawn aside—he beheld life +stirring in the house again. He dressed himself more carefully than he had +ever done before, and straightaway hobbled to the door, before another and +less hasty foot could reach it. A painter, wishing to arrest the look of +one who smiles, and smiles, and murders whilst he smiles, would have been +glad to dwell upon the face of Abraham, as he addressed the servant-man +who gave him entrance. Below the superficial grin, there was, as clear as +day, the natural expression of the soul that would not blend with any show +of pleasantry. Abraham wished to give the attendant half-a-crown as soon +as possible. He dared not offer it without a reason, so he dropped his +umbrella, and, like a generous man, rewarded the honest fellow who stooped +to pick it up. This preliminary over, and, as it were, so much of dirt +swept from the very threshold, he gave his card, announced himself as Mr +<span class=pagenum><A id=page584 name=page584></A>[pg 584]</span> +Allcraft, banker, and desired to see the lady on especial business. He was +admitted. The ugliest of dresses did not detract from the perfect beauty +of the widowed Margaret; the bitterest of griefs had not removed the bloom +still ripening on her cheek. Time and sorrow were most merciful. The wife +and widow looked yet a girl blushing in her teens. Abraham Allcraft gazed +upon the lady, as he bowed his artful head, with admiration and delight, +and then he threw one hurried and involuntary glance around the gorgeous +room in which she sat, and then he made his own conclusions, and assumed +an air of condolence and affectionate regard, as the wolf is said to do in +fables, just before he pounces on the lamb and strangles it. +</p> +<p> +The villain sighed. +</p> +<p> +"Sad time, madam," he said, in a lugubrious tone—"sad time. <i>Strangers</i> +feel it." +</p> +<p> +Margaret held down her face. +</p> +<p> +"I should have come before, madam, if propriety had not restrained me. I +have only a few hours which I can take from business, but these belong to +the afflicted and the poor." +</p> +<p> +"You are very kind, sir." +</p> +<p> +"I beg you, Mrs Mildred, not to mention it. It was a great shock to me to +hear of Mr Mildred's death—a man in the prime of life. So very good—so +much respected." +</p> +<p> +"He was too good for this world, sir." +</p> +<p> +"Much, madam—very much; and what a consolation for you, that he is gone +to a better—one more deserving of him. You will feel this more as you +find your duties recalling you to active usefulness again." +</p> +<p> +The lady shook her head despairingly. +</p> +<p> +"I hope, madam, we may be permitted to do all we can to alleviate your +forlorn condition. I am one of many who regard you with the deepest +sympathy. You may have heard my name, perhaps." +</p> +<p> +The lady bowed. +</p> +<p> +"You <i>must</i> be very dull here," exclaimed the wily Abraham, gazing round +him with the internal consciousness that the death of every soul he knew +would not make <i>him</i> dull in such a paradise—"very dull, I am sure!" +</p> +<p> +"It was a cheerful home while <i>he</i> lived, sir," answered Margaret, most +ruefully. +</p> +<p> +"Ah—yes," sighed Abraham; "but now, too true—too true." +</p> +<p> +"I was thinking, Mr Allcraft"— +</p> +<p> +"Before you name your thought, dear madam, let me explain at once the +object of my visit. I am an old man—a father, and a widower—but I am +also" (oh, crafty Allcraft!) "a simple and an artless man. My words are +few, but they express my meaning faithfully. There was a time when, placed +in similar circumstances to your own, I would have given the world had a +friend stepped forward to remove me for a season from the scene of all my +misery. I remembered this whilst dwelling on your solitariness. Within a +few miles of this place, I have a little box untenanted at present. Let me +entreat you to retire to it, if only for a week. I place it at your +command, and shall be honoured if you will accept the offer. The house is +sweetly situated—the prospect charming; a temporary change cannot but +soothe your grief. I am a father, madam—the father of a noble youth—and +I know what you must suffer." +</p> +<p> +"You anticipate my wish, sir, and I am grateful for your kindness. I was +about to move many miles away; but it is advisable, perhaps, that for the +present I should continue in this neighbourhood. I will see your cottage, +and, if it pleases me, you will permit me to become your tenant for a +time." +</p> +<p> +"My guest rather, dear Mrs Mildred. The old should not be thwarted in +their wishes. Let me for the time imagine you my daughter, and act a +father's part." +</p> +<p> +The lady smiled in gratitude, and said that "she would see"—and then the +following day was fixed for a short visit to the cottage and then the +virtuous Allcraft took his leave, and went immediately to Mr Final, house +agent and appraiser. This gentleman was empowered to let a handsome +furnished villa, just three miles distant from poor Margaret's residence. +Allcraft hired it at once for one month certain, reserving to himself the +option of continuing it for any further period. He signed the +agreement—paid the rent—received possession. This over, he hurried back +to business, and by the post dispatched a +<span class=pagenum><A id=page585 name=page585></A>[pg 585]</span> +letter to his absent son, +conjuring him, as he loved his father, and valued his regard, to return +to —— without an instant's hesitation or delay. +</p> +<br> +<hr> + +<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + +<h3>"MICHING MALLECHO; IT MEANS MISCHIEF."</h3> + +<p> +Reader, I have no heart to proceed; I am sorry that I began at all—that I +have got thus far. I love Margaret, the beautiful and gentle—Margaret, +the heart-broken penitent. I love her as a brother; and what brother but +yearns to conceal his erring sister's frailty? The faithful historian, +however, is denied the privileges of fiction. He may not, if he would, +divert the natural course of things; he cannot, though he pines to do it, +expunge the written acts of Providence Let us go or in charity. +</p> +<p> +Michael Allcraft, in obedience to his father's wish, came home. He was in +his twenty-fourth year, stood six feet high, was handsome and +well-proportioned. He was a youth of ardent temperament, liberal and +high-spirited. How he became the son of such a sire is to me a mystery. It +was not in the affections that the defects of Michael's character were +found. These were warm, full of the flowing milk of human kindness. +Weakness, however, was apparent in the more solid portions of the edifice. +His morals, it must be confessed, were very lax—his principles unsteady +and insecure—and how could it be otherwise? Deprived of his mother at his +birth, and from that hour brought up under the eye and tutelage of a man +who had spent a life in the education of one idea—who regarded +money-making as the business, the duty, the pleasure, the very soul and +end of our existence—who judged of the worth of mankind—of men, women, +and children—according to their incomes, and accounted all men virtuous +who were rich—all guilty who were poor—whose spirit was so intent upon +accumulation, that it did not stop to choose the straight and open roads +that led to it, but often crept through many crooked and unclean—brought +up, I say, under such a father and a guide, was it a wonder that Michael +was imperfect in many qualities of mind—that reason with him was no tutor, +that his understanding failed to be, as South expresses it, "the soul's +upper region, lofty and serene, free from the vapours and disturbances of +the inferior affections?" In truth there was no upper region at all, and +very little serenity in Michael's composition. He had been a wayward and +passionate boy. He was a restless and excitable man—full of generous +impulses, as I have hinted, but sudden and hasty in action—swift in +anger—impatient of restraint and government. His religious views were +somewhat dim and undistinguishable even to himself. He believed—as who +does not—in the great First Cause, and in the usefulness of religion as +an instrument of good in the hands of government. I do not think he +troubled himself any further with the subject. He sometimes on the Sabbath +went to church, but oftener stayed at home, or sought excitement with a +chosen friend or two abroad. He hated professing people, as they are +called, and would rather shake hands with a housebreaker than a saint. It +has been necessary to state these particulars, in order to show how +thoroughly he lived uninfluenced by the high motives which are at once the +inspiration and the happiness of all good men—how madly he rested on the +conviction that religion is an abstract matter, and has nothing more to do +with life and conduct than any other abstruse branch of metaphysics. But +in spite of this unsound state of things, the gentleman possessed all the +showy surface-virtues that go so very far towards eliciting the favourable +verdict of mankind. He prided himself upon a delicate, a surprising sense +of honour. He professed himself ready to part with his life rather than +permit a falsehood to escape his lips; he would have blushed to think +dishonestly—to <i>act</i> so was impossible. Pride stood him here in the stead +of holiness; for the command which he refused to regard at the bidding of +the Almighty, he implicitly obeyed at the solicitation of the most ignoble +of his passions. It is difficult to imagine a more dangerous companion for +a young widow than Michael Allcraft was likely to prove. +<span class=pagenum><A id=page586 name=page586></A>[pg 586]</span> Manliness of +demeanour, and a handsome face and figure, have always their intrinsic +value. If you add to these a cultivated mind, a most expressive and +intellectual countenance, rich hazel eyes, as full of love as fire, a warm +impulsive nature, shrinking from oppression, active in kindness and deeds +of real benevolence—you will not fail to tremble for my Margaret. Abraham +Allcraft was too shrewd a man to allude even most remotely to the actual +reason of his son's recall. He knew very well that to hint at it was in +the very outset to defeat his purpose. He acted far more cautiously. +Michael had received a first rate education—he had been to the +university—he had travelled through Italy and Germany; and when he +received his father's letter was acquiring business habits in a +banking-house in London. It was high time to settle seriously to work, so +thought Allcraft senior, and suddenly determined to constitute his son a +partner in his bank. "He himself was getting old," he said. "Who knew what +would happen? Delays were dangerous. He would delay no longer. Now he was +well, and Michael might learn and profit by his long experience." Michael +consented—why should he not?—to be the junior partner in the prosperous +house of Allcraft senior and Son. Three months passed speedily, and +Margaret still continued Abraham's tenant. She had lost the sting of her +sorrow in the scenes of natural beauty by which she was surrounded. She +had lived in strict retirement, and a gentle tide of peace was flowing +gradually and softly to her soul again. She thought of quitting the +tranquil cot with pain, and still fixed day after day for a departure that +she could not take. The large house, associated as it was with all her +grief, looked dismal at a distance. How would it be when she returned to +it, and revisited the well-known rooms? Every article of furniture was in +one way or another connected with the departed. She never—no never could +be happy there again. The seclusion to which she doomed herself had not +prevented Abraham Allcraft from being her daily visitor. His age and +character protected her from calumny. His sympathy and great attention had +merited and won her unaffected gratitude. She received his visits with +thankfulness, and courted them. The wealth which it was known he possessed +acquitted him of all sinister designs; and it was easy and natural to +attribute his regard and tenderness to the pity which a good man feels for +a bereavement such as she had undergone. The close of six months found her +still residing at the cottage, and Abraham still a constant and untiring +friend. He had been fortunate enough to give her able and important +counsel. In the disposition of a portion of her property, he had evinced +so great a respect for her interest, had regarded his own profit and +advantages so little, that had Margaret not been satisfied before of his +probity and good faith, she would have been the most ungrateful of women +not to acknowledge them now. But, in fact, poor Margaret did acknowledge +them, and in the simplicity of her nature had mingled in her daily prayers +tears of gratitude to Heaven for the blessing which had come to her in the +form of one so fatherly and good. In the meanwhile where was Michael? At +home—at work—under the <i>surveillance</i> of a parent who had power to check +and keep in awe even his turbulent and outbreaking spirit. He had taken +kindly to the occupation which had been provided for him, and promised, +under good tuition, to become in time a proper man of business. He had +heard of the Widow Mildred—her unbounded wealth—her unrivalled beauty. +He knew of his father's daily visit to the favoured cottage, but he knew +no more; nor more would he have <i>cared</i> to know had not his father, with a +devil's cunning, and with much mysteriousness, forbidden him to speak +about the lady, or to think of visiting her so long as she remained +amongst them. Such being the interdict, Michael was, of course, impatient +to seek out the hidden treasure, and determined to behold her. Delay +increased desire, and desire with him was equal to attainment. Whilst he +was busy in contriving a method for the production of the lovely widow, +his father, who had watched and waited for the moment that had come, +suddenly requested him to accompany him to Mrs Mildred's house—to dine +with that good lady, and to take leave of her before she departed from the +neighbourhood for ever. Michael did +<span class=pagenum><A id=page587 name=page587></A>[pg 587]</span> +not need a second invitation. The +eagerness with which he listened to the first was a true joy for Abraham. +Margaret, be it understood, had not invited Michael. The first year of her +widowhood was drawing to a close, and she had resolved at length to remove +from the retreat in which she had been so long hidden from mankind. Her +youthful spirits had rebounded—were once more buoyant—solitude had done +its work—the physician was no longer needed. That she might gradually +approach the busy world again, she proposed to visit, for a time, a small +and pretty town, well known to her, on the eastern coast. The day was +fixed for her removal, and, just one week before, she invited Mr Allcraft +senior to a farewell dinner. She had not thought it necessary to include +in the invitation the younger gentleman, whom she had never seen, albeit +his father's constant and unlimited encomiums had made the <i>woman</i> less +unwilling to receive than to invite the youth, in whom the graces and the +virtues of humanity were said to have their residence. And Allcraft was +aware of this too. For his head he would not have incurred the risk of +giving her offence. With half an eye he saw the danger was not worth the +speaking of. When I say that Michael never eat less food at a meal in his +life—never talked more volubly or better—never had been so thoroughly +entranced and happy—so lost to every thing but the consciousness of <i>her</i> +presence, of the hot blood tingling in his cheek—of the mad delight that +had leapt into his eyes and sparkled there, it will scarcely be requisite +to describe more particularly the effect of this precious dinner party +upon <i>him</i>. As for the lady, she would not have been woman had she failed +to admire the generous sentiments—the witty repartees—the brilliant +passages with which the young man's taste and memory enabled him to +entertain and charm his lovely hostess. As for his handsome face and manly +bearing—but, as we have said already, these have their price and value +always. Allcraft senior had the remarkable faculty of observing every +thing either with or without the assistance of his eyes. During the whole +of dinner he did not once withdraw his devil's vision from his plate, and +yet he knew more of what was going on above it than both the individuals +together, whose eyes it seemed had nothing better to do than just to take +full notes of what was passing in the countenance of either. Against this +happy talent we must set off a serious failing in the character of Abraham. +He always had a nap, he said, the moment after dinner. Accordingly, though +he retired with the young people to the drawing-room, he placed himself +immediately in an easy-chair, and quickly passed into a deep and +long-enduring sleep. Margaret then played sacred airs on the piano, which +Michael listened to with most unsacred feelings. Fathers and mothers! put +out your children's eyes—remove their toes—cut off their fingers. Whilst +with a lightning look, a hair-breadth touch, they can declare, make known +the love, that, having grown too big for the young heart, is panting for a +vent—you do but lose your pains whilst you stand by to seal their +tremulous lips. Speech! Fond lovers did never need it yet—and never shall. +What Margaret thought when the impassioned youth turned her pages over one +by one, (and sometimes two and three together,) and with a hand quivering +as if it had committed murder—what she felt when his full liquid eye +gazed on her, thanking her for her sweet voice, and imploring one strain +more, I cannot tell, though Abraham Allcraft guessed exactly, bobbing and +nodding, though he was, in slumber most profound. +</p> +<p> +Your talking and susceptible men are either at summer heat or zero. +Michael, who had been all animation and garrulity from the moment he +beheld the widow until he looked his last unutterable adieus, became +silent and morose as soon as he turned his back upon the cottage, and lost +sight, as he believed, of the divinity for ever. He screwed himself into a +corner of the coach, and there he sat until the short homeward journey was +completed, mentally chewing, with the best appetite he could, the cud of +that day's delicious feast. Judging from his frequent sighs, and the +uneasy shiftings in his seat, the repast was any thing but savoury. +Abraham said nothing. He had but a few words to utter, and these were +reserved for the quiet half hour which preceded the usual time of rest. +</p> +<p> +<span class=pagenum><A id=page588 name=page588></A>[pg 588]</span> +"Michael," said the sire as they sat together in the evening. +</p> +<p> +"Father," said the junior partner. +</p> +<p> +"Two hundred thousand clear. She'll be a duchess!" +</p> +<p> +A sigh, like a current of air, flowed through the room. +</p> +<p> +"She deserves it, Michael—a sweet creature—a coronet might be proud of +her. Why don't you answer, Mike?" +</p> +<p> +"Father, she is an angel!" +</p> +<p> +"Pooh, pooh!" +</p> +<p> +"A heavenly creature!" +</p> +<p> +"I tell you what, Mike, if I were a royal duke, and you a prince, I should +be proud to have her for a daughter. But it is useless talking so. I sadly +fear that some designing rascal, without a shilling in his pocket, will +get her in his clutches, and, who knows, perhaps ruin the poor creature. +What rosy lips she has! You cunning dog, I saw you ogle them." +</p> +<p> +"Father!" +</p> +<p> +"You did, sir—don't deny it; and do you think I wonder at you, Mike? +Ain't I your father, and don't I know the blood? Come, go to bed, sir, +and forget it all." +</p> +<p> +"Do you, father, really think it possible that—do you think she is in +danger? I do confess she is loveliest, the most accomplished woman in the +world. If she were to come to any harm—if—if"— +</p> +<p> +"Now look you, Mike. There are one or two trifling business matters to be +arranged between the widow and myself before she leaves us. You shall +transact them with her. I am too busy at the bank at present. You are my +junior partner, but you are a hot-headed fellow, and I can hardly trust +you with accounts. All I ask and bargain for is, <i>that you be cautious +and discreet</i>—mark me, cautious and discreet. Let me feel satisfied of +this, and you shall settle all the matters as you please. Business, sir, +is business. I must acknowledge, Mike, that such a pair of eyes would +have been too much for old Abraham forty years ago; and what a neck and +bust! Come, go to bed, sir, and get up early in the morning." +</p> +<br> +<hr> + +<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3> + +<h3>MATTERS OF COURSE.</h3> + +<p> +Margaret Mildred had not failed to note the impression which had been made +upon the warm and youthful heart of Michael; she was not displeased to +note it; and from her couch she rose, the following morning, delighted +with her dreams, and benevolently disposed towards mankind in general. She +lingered at her toilet, grew hypercritical in articles of taste, and found +defects in beauty without the shadow of a blemish. Had some wicked sprite +but whispered in her ear one thought injurious to the memory of her +departed husband, Margaret would have shrunk from its reception, and would +have scorned to acknowledge it as her own. Time, she felt and owned with +gratitude, had assuaged her sorrows—had removed the sting from her +calamity, but had not rendered her one jot less sensible to the great +claims <i>he</i> held, even now, on her affection. From the hour of Mildred's +decease up to the present moment, the widow had considered herself +strictly bound by the vow which she had proposed to take, and would have +taken, but for the dying man's earnest prohibition. Her conscience told +her that that prohibition, so far from setting her free from the +engagement, did but render her more liable to fulfill it. Her feelings +coincided with the judgment of her understanding. Both pronounced upon her +the self-inflicted verdict of eternal widowhood. How long this sentence +would have been respected, had Michael never interfered to argue its +repeal, it is impossible to say; as a general remark it may be stated, +that nothing is so delusive as the heroic declarations we make in seasons +of excitement—no resolution is in such danger of becoming forfeited as +that which Nature never sanctioned and which depends for its existence +only upon a state of feeling which every passing hour serves to enfeeble +and suppress. +</p> +<p> +When Margaret reached her breakfast-room, she found a nosegay on the table, +and Mr Michael Allcraft's card. He had called to make enquiries at a very +early hour of the morning, and +<span class=pagenum><A id=page589 name=page589></A>[pg 589]</span> +had signified his intention of returning on +affairs of business later in the day. Margaret blushed deeper than the +rose on which her eyes were bent, and took alarm; her first determination +was to be denied to him; the second—far more rational—to receive him as +the partner in the banking-house, to transact the necessary business, and +then dismiss him as a stranger, distantly, but most politely. This was as +it should be. Michael came. He was more bashful than he had been the night +before, and he stammered an apology for his father's absence without +venturing to look towards the individual he addressed. He drew two chairs +to the table—one for Margaret, another for himself. He placed them at a +distance from each other, and, taking some papers from his pocket with a +nervous hand, he sat down without a minute's loss of time to look over and +arrange them. Margaret was pleased with his behaviour; she took her seat +composedly, and waited for his statement. There were a few select and +favourite volumes on the table, and one of these the lady involuntarily +took up and ran through, whilst Michael still continued busy with his +documents, and apparently perplexed by them. Nothing can be more ill +advised than to disturb a man immersed in business with literary or any +other observations foreign to his subject. +</p> +<p> +"You were speaking of Wordsworth yesterday evening, Mr Allcraft," said +Margaret suddenly—Allcraft pushed every paper from him in a paroxysm of +delight, and looked up—"and I think we were agreed in our opinion of that +great poet. What a sweet thing is this! Did you ever read it? It is the +sonnet on the Sonnet." +</p> +<p> +"A gem, madam. None but he could have written it. The finest writer of +sonnets in the world has spoken the poem's praise with a tenderness and +pathos that are inimitable. There is the true philosophy of the heart in +all he says—a reconciliation of suffering humanity to its hard but +necessary lot. How exquisite and full of meaning are those lines— +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p class=i10> 'Bees that soar for bloom,</p> +<p> High as the highest peak of Furness fells,</p> +<p> Will murmur by the hour in foxglove bells;'</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +and then the touching close— +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> 'In truth, the prison unto which we doom</p> +<p> Ourselves, no prison is; and hence to me,</p> +<p> In sundry moods, 'twas pastime to be bound</p> +<p> Within the sonnets scanty plot of ground;</p> +<p> Pleased if some souls, for such there needs must be,</p> +<p> Who have felt the weight of too much liberty,</p> +<p> Should find brief solace there as I have found.'</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +<i>The weight of too much liberty</i>. Ah, who has not experienced this!"—Mr +Michael Allcraft sighed profoundly. A slight pause ensued after this +sudden outbreak on the part of the junior partner, and then he proceeded, +his animated and handsome countenance glowing with expression as he spoke. +</p> +<p> +"You are really to be envied, Mrs Mildred, with your cultivated tastes and +many acquirements. You can comply with every wish of your elegant and +well-informed mind. There is no barrier between you and a life of high +mental enjoyment. The source of half my happiness was cut off when I +exchanged my study for the desk. Men cease to live when what is falsely +called life begins with them." +</p> +<p> +"We have all our work to do, and we should do it cheerfully. It is a +lesson taught me by my mother, and experience has shown it to be just." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, madam, I grant you when your mother spoke. But it is not so now. +Mercantile occupation in England is not as it has been. I question whether +it will ever be again. It is not closely and essentially associated, as it +was of yore, with high principle and strict notions of honour. The simple +word of the English merchant has ceased to pass current through the world, +sacred as his oath—more binding than his bond; fair, manly dealing is at +an end; and he who would mount the ladder of fortune, must be prepared to +soil his hands if he hope to reach the top. Legitimate trading is no +longer profitable. Selfishness is arrayed against selfishness—cunning +against cunning—lying against lying +<span class=pagenum><A id=page590 name=page590></A>[pg 590]</span> +—deception against deception. The great rogue prospers—the +honest man starves with his innate sense of honour and integrity. Is it +possible to enter cheerfully upon employment which demands the sacrifice +of soul even at the outset?" </p> +<p> "You draw a dark picture, Mr Allcraft, slightly tinged, I trust, with the poetic pencil. But be it as +gloomy as you paint it, we have still religion amongst us, and individuals +who adapt their conduct to its principles"— </p> +<p> "Ay, madam," +said Michael, quickly interrupting her, "I grant you all you wish. If we +did but adapt our conduct to the doctrines of the Testament—to that +unequalled humanizing moral code—if we were taught to do this, and +how to do it, we might hope for some amendment. But look at the actual +state of things. The religious world is but a portion of the whole—a +world within a world. Preachers of peace—men who arrogate to +themselves the divine right of inculcating truth, and who, if any, should +be free from the corruption that taints the social atmosphere,—such +men come before mankind already sick with warfare, widening the breaches, +subdividing our divisions. Are these men pure and single-minded? Are these +men free from the grasping itch that distinguishes our age? Is there no +such thing as trafficking with souls? Are chapels bought and sold only +with a spiritual view, or sometimes as men bargain for their theatres? Are +these men really messengers of peace, living in amity and union, acting +Christianity as well as preaching it? Ask the Papist, the Protestant, the +Independent, and the thousand sects who dwell apart as foes, and, whilst +they talk of love, are teaching mankind how to hate beneath the garb of +sanctimoniousness and hollow forms!"</p> + +<p>"You are eloquent, Mr Allcraft, in a bad cause."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, Mrs Mildred," answered the passionate youth immediately, +and with much bitterness, "but in the next street you shall find one +eloquent in a worse. There is what some of us are pleased to call a +popular preacher there. I speak the plain and simple truth, and say he is +a hireling—a paid actor, without the credit that attaches to the +open exercise of an honourable profession. The owner of the chapel is a +usurer, or money-lender—no speculation answers so well as this snug +property. The ranter exhibits to his audience once a- week—the place +is crowded when he appears upon the stage— deserted when he is +absent, and his place is occupied by one who fears, perhaps, to tamper +with his God—is humble, honest, quiet. The crowds who throng to +listen to the one, and will not hear the other, profess to worship God in +what they dare to call <i>his</i> sanctuary, and look with pity on such as +have not courage to unite in all their hideous mockery."</p> + +<p>Right or wrong, it was evident that Michael was in earnest. He +spoke warmly, but with a natural vehemence that by no means disfigured his +good-looking visage, now illuminated with unusual fire. In these days of +hollowness and hypocrisy, an ingenuous straightforward character is a +refreshing spectacle, and commands our admiration, be the principles it +represents just what they may. Hence, possibly, the unaffected pleasure +with which Margaret listened to her visitor whilst he declaimed against +men and things previously regarded by her with reverence and awe. He +certainly was winning on her esteem. Women are the strangest beings! Let +them guard against these natural and impetuous characters, say I. The +business papers lay very quietly on the table, whilst the conversation +flowed as easily into another channel. Poets and poetry were again the +subject of discourse; and here our Michael was certainly at home. The +displeasure which he had formerly exhibited passed like a cloud from his +brow; he grew elated, criticized writer after writer, recited compositions, +illustrated them with verses from the French and German; repeated his own +modest attempts at translation, gave his hearer an idea of Goethe, Uhland, +Wieland, and the smaller fry of German poets, and pursued his theme, in +short, until listener and reciter both were charmed and gratified beyond +expression—she, with his talents and his manners—he, with her +patience and attention, and, perhaps, her face and figure. </p> + +<p> Mr Allcraft, junior, after having proceeded in the above fashion for +about three hours, suddenly recollected that he had made a few +appointments at the banking-house. He +<span class=pagenum><A id=page591 name=page591></A>[pg 591]</span> +looked at his watch, and discovered +that he was just two hours behind the latest. Both blushed, and looked +ridiculous. He rose, however, and took his leave, asking and receiving her +permission to pay another visit on the following day for the purpose of +arranging their eternal "business matters." Things take ugly shapes in the +dark; a tree, an object of grace add beauty in the meridian sun, is a +giant spectre in the gloom of night. Thoughts of death are bolder and more +startling on the midnight pillow than in the noonday walk. Our vices, +which are the pastime of the drawing-room, become the bugbears of the +silent bedchamber. Margaret, when she would have slept, was haunted by +reproaches, which waited until then to agitate and frighten her. A sense +of impropriety and sinfulness started in her bosom, and convicted her of +an offence— unpardonable in her sight—against the blessed +memory of Mildred. She could not deny it, Michael Allcraft had created on +her heart a favourable impression—one that must be obliterated at +once and for ever, if she hoped for happiness, for spiritual repose. She +had listened to his impassioned tones with real delight; had gazed upon +his bright and beaming countenance, until her eyes had stolen away the +image, and fixed it on her heart. Not a year had elapsed since the +generous Mildred had been committed to the earth, and could she so soon +rebel—so easily forget his princely conduct, and permit his picture +to be supplanted in her breast? Oh, impossible! It was a grievous fault. +She acknowledged it with her warm tears, and vowed (Margaret was disposed +to vow—too readily on most occasions) that she would rise reproved; +repentant, and faithful to her duty. Yes, and the earnest creature leapt +from her couch, and prayed for strength and help to resist the sore +temptation; nor did she visit it again until she felt the strong assurance +that her victory was gained, and her future peace secured. It is greatly +to be feared that the majority of persons who make resolutions, imagine +that all their work is done the instant the virtuous determination is +formed. Now, the fact is, that the real work is not even begun; and if +exertion be suspended at the point at which it is most needed, the +resolute individual is in greater danger of miscarriage than if he had not +resolved at all, but had permitted things to take their own course and +natural direction. I do believe that Margaret received Michael on the +following day without deeming it in the slightest degree incumbent upon +her to act upon the offensive. She established herself behind her decision +and her prayers, and, relying upon such fortifications, would not permit +the idea of danger. A child might have prophesied the result. Michael was +always at her side—Margaret's departure from the cottage was +postponed day after day. The youth, who in truth ardently and truly loved +the gentle widow, had no joy away from her. He supplied her with books, +the choice of which did credit to his refinement and good taste. Sometimes +she perused them alone—sometimes he read aloud to her. His own hand +culled her flowers, and placed the offering on her table. He met her in +her walks—he taught her botany—he sketched her favourite views +—he was devoted to her, heart and soul. And <i>she</i>—but they +are sitting now together after a month's acquaintance, and the reader +shall judge of Margaret by what he sees. It is a day for lovers. The earth +is bathed in light, and southerly breezes, such as revive the dying and +cheer their heavy hours with promises of amendment and recovery, temper +the fire that streams from the unclouded sun. In the garden of the cottage, +in a secluded part of it, there is a summer-house—call it beauty's +bower—with Margaret within—and honeysuckle, clematis, and +the passion flower, twining and intertwining, kissing and embracing, +around, above, below, on every side. There they are sitting. He reads a +book— and a paragraph has touched a chord in one of the young hearts, +to which the other has responded. She moves her foot unconsciously along +the floor, her downcast eye as unconsciously following it. He dares to +raise his look, and with a palpitating heart, observes the colour in her +cheek, which tells him that the heart is vanquished, and the prize is won. +He tries to read again, but eyesight fails him, and his hand is shaking +like a leaf. His spirit expands, his heart grows confident and rash— +he knows not what he does—he cannot be held +<span class=pagenum><A id=page592 name=page592></A>[pg 592]</span> +back, though death be +punishment if he goes on—he touches the soft hand, and in an instant, +the drooping, almost lifeless Margaret—drawn to his breast— +fastens there, and sobs. She whispers to him to be gone—her clammy +hand is pressing him to stay. </p> <br> <hr> + + +<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + +<h3>A DEATH AND A DISCOVERY.</h3> + +<p> +I am really inclined to believe, after all, that the best mode of finally +extinguishing sorrow for a dead husband, is to listen quietly to the +reasonable pleas of a live lover. After the scene to which it has been my +painful task to allude in the last chapter, it would have been the very +height of prudery on the part of the lady and gentleman, had they avoided +speaking on the subject in which they had both become so deeply interested. +They did not attempt it. The first excitement over, Margaret entreated her +lover to be gone. He did not move. She conjured him, as he valued her +esteem, to flee from that spot, and to return to it no more. He pressed +her hand to his devoted lips. "What would become of her?" she emphatically +exclaimed, clasping her taper fingers in distrust and doubt. "You will be +mine, dear Margaret," was the wild reply, and the taper fingers easily +relaxed—gave way—and got confounded with his own. After the lapse of +four-and-twenty hours, reason returned to both; not the cold and +calculating capacity that stands aloof from every suggestion of feeling, +but that more sensible and temporizing reason, that with the <i>will</i> goes +hand-in-hand, and serves the blind one as a careful guide. They met—for +they had parted suddenly, abruptly—in the summer-house, by previous +appointment. Michael pleaded his affection—his absorbing and devoted love. +She has objections numerous—insuperable; they dwindle down to one or two, +and these as weak and easily overcome as woman's melting heart itself. +They meet to argue, and he stays to woo. They bandy words and arguments +for hours together, but all their logic fails in proof; whilst one long, +passionate, parting kiss, does more by way of demonstration than the art +and science ever yet effected. +</p> +<p> +Abraham Allcraft, who had been busily engaged behind the scenes pulling +the wires and exhibiting the puppets, appeared upon the stage as soon as +the first act of the performance was at an end. His son had said nothing +to him, but Abraham had many eyes and ears, and saw and heard enough to +make him mad with villainous delight. The second year of widowhood had +commenced. Margaret had doffed her weeds. She openly received the man on +whom she had bestowed her heart. They were betrothed. The public voice +proclaimed young Allcraft the luckiest of men; the public soul envied and +hated him for his good fortune. Abraham could never leave the presence of +his future daughter—and in her presence could never cease to flatter her, +and to grow disgusting in his lavish praises of his son. +</p> +<p> +"When I first saw you, my dear lady," said the greedy banker, "I had but +one thought on my mind that livelong day. 'What would I give,' said I, +'for such a daughter? what would I give if for my noble son I could secure +so sweet a wife? I never met his equal—I say it, madam—who, being his +father, should perhaps not say it; but a stranger can admire his lusty +form and figure, and his mind is just as vigorous and sprightly. A rare +youth, madam, I assure you—too disinterested, perhaps—too generous, too +confiding—too regardless of the value of that necessary evil—money; but +as he gets older he will be wiser. I do believe he would rather have died, +though he loved you so much—than asked you for your hand, if he had not +been thoroughly independent without it.'" +</p> +<p> +"I can believe it, sir," sighed Margaret. +</p> +<p> +"I know you can—bless you! You were born for one another. You are a sweet +pair. I know not which is prettiest—which I love the best. I love you +both better than any thing in the world—that is at present; for by-and-by, +you know, I may love something quite as well. +<span class=pagenum><A id=page593 name=page593></A>[pg 593]</span> +Grandfathers are fond and +foolish creatures. But, as I was saying—his independence is so fine—so +like himself. Every thing I have will be his. He is my partner now—the +bank will be his own at my death, madam. A prosperous concern. Many of our +neighbours would like to have a finger in the pie; but Abraham Allcraft +knows what he is about. I'll not burden him with partners. He shall have +it all—every thing—he is worthy of it, if it were ten tines as much—he +can do as he likes—when I am cold and mouldering in the grave; but he +must not owe any thing to the lady of his heart, but his attention, and +his kindness, and his dear love. I know my spirited and high-minded boy." +</p> +<p> +Yes, and he knew human nature generally—knew its weaknesses and +faults—and lived upon them. His words require but little explanation. The +wedding-day had not been fixed. The ceremony once over, and his mind +would be at rest. "It was a consummation devoutly to be wished." Why? He +knew well enough. Michael had proposed the day, but she asked for time, +and he refrained from further importunity. His love and delicacy forbade +his giving her one moment's pain. Abraham was less squeamish. His long +experience told him that some good reason must exist for such a wish to +dwell in the young bosom of the blooming widow. It was unnatural and +foreign to young blood. It could be nothing else than the fear of parting +with her wealth—of placing all at the command of one, whom, though she +loved, she did not know that she might trust. Satisfied of this, he +resolved immediately to calm her apprehensions, and to assure her that not +one farthing of her fortune should pass from her control. He spoke of his +son as a man of wealth already, too proud to accept another's gold, even +were he poor. Perhaps he was. Margaret at least believed so. Abraham did +not quit her till the marriage day was settled. +</p> +<p> +He returned from the widow in ecstasy, and called his son to his own snug +private room. +</p> +<p> +"I have done it for you, Michael," said the father, rubbing his grasping +hands—it's done—it's settled, lad. Two months' patience, and the jewel +is your own. Thank your father, on your knees—oh, lucky Mike! But mark me, +boy. I have had enough to do. My guess was right. She was afraid of us, +but her fears are over. Till I told her that the bank would make you rich +without her, there was no relenting, I assure you. +</p> +<p> +"You said so, father, did you?" asked the son. +</p> +<p> +"Yes—I did. Remember that Mike when I am dead—remember what I have done +for you—put a fortune in your pocket, and given you an angel—remember +that, Mike, and respect my memory. Don't let the world laugh at your +father, and call him ugly names. You can prevent it if you like. A son is +bound to assert his father's honour, living or dead, at any price." +</p> +<p> +"He is, sir," answered Michael. +</p> +<p> +"I knew, Mike, that would be your answer. You are a noble fellow—don't +forget me when I am under ground; not that I mean to die yet no—no—I +feel a score of years hanging about me still. I shall dandle a dozen of +your young ones before these arms are withered. I shall live to see you—a +peer of the realm. That money—with your talents, Mike, will command a +dukedom." +</p> +<p> +"I am not ambitious, father." +</p> +<p> +"You lie—you are, Mike. You have got your father's blood in you. You +would risk a great deal to be at the top of the tree; so would I. <i>Would</i> +I? Haven't I? We shall see, Mike—we shall see. But it isn't wishing that +will do it. The clearest head—the best exertions must sometimes give in +to circumstances; but then, my boy, there is one comfort, those who come +after us can repair our faults, and profit by our experience. That thought +gives us courage, and makes us go forward. Don't forget, Mike, I say, what +I have done for you, when you are a rich and titled man!" +</p> +<p> +"I hope, father, I shall never forget my duty." +</p> +<p> +"I am sure you won't, Mike—and there's an end of it. Let us speak of +something else. Now, when you are married, boy, I shall often come to see +you. You'll be glad to have me, sha'n't you?" +</p> +<p> +"Is it necessary to ask the question?" +</p> +<p> +"No, it isn't, but I am happy to-night, and I am in a humour to talk and +dream. You must let me have +<span class=pagenum><A id=page594 name=page594></A>[pg 594]</span> +my own room—and call it Abraham's <i>sanctum</i>. +A good name, eh? I will come when I like, and go when I like—eat, drink, +and be merry, Mike. How white with envy Old Varley will get, when he sees +me driving to business in my boy's carriage. A pretty match he made of +it—that son of his married the cook, and sent her to a boarding-school. +Stupid fool!" +</p> +<p> +"Young Varley is a worthy fellow, father." +</p> +<p> +"Can't be—can't be—worthy fellows don't marry cooks. But don't stop me +in my plans. I said you should give me my own room, Mike—and so you +shall—and every Wednesday shall be a holiday. We'll be in the country +together, and shoot and fish, and hunt, and do what every body else does. +We'll be great men, Mike, and we'll enjoy ourselves." +</p> +<p> +And so the man went on, elevated by the circumstances of the day, and by +the prospects of the future, until he became intoxicated with his pleasure. +On the following morning he rose just as elated, and went to business like +a boy to play. About noon, he was talking to a farmer in his quiet back +room, endeavouring to drive a hard bargain with the man, whom a bad season +had already rendered poor. He spoke loud and fast—until, suddenly, a +spasm at the heart caught and stopped him. His eyes bolted from their +sockets—the parchment skin of his face grew livid and blue. He staggered +for an instant, and then dropped dead at the farmer's foot. The doctors +were not wrong when they pronounced the banker's heart diseased. A week +after this sudden and awful visitation, all that remained of Abraham +Allcraft was committed to the dust, and Michael discovered, to his +surprise and horror, that his father had died an insolvent and a beggar. +</p> +<br> +<hr> + +<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3> + +<h3>THE END OF THE BEGINNING.</h3> + +<p> +Abraham Allcraft, with all his base and sordid habits, was a beggar. His +gluttony had been too powerful for his judgment, and he had speculated +beyond all computation. His first hit had been received in connexion with +some extensive mines. At the outset they had promised to realize a +princely fortune. All the calculations had been made with care. The most +wary and experienced were eager for a share in the hoped for <i>el dorado</i>, +and Abraham was the greediest of any. In due time the bubble burst, +carrying with it into air poor Abraham's hard-earned fifty thousand pounds, +and his hearty execrations. Such a loss was not to be repaired by the +slow-healing process of legitimate business. Information reached him +respecting an extensive manufactory in Glasgow. Capabilities of turning +half a million per annum existed in the house, and were unfortunately +dormant simply because the moving principle was wanting. With a +comparatively moderate capital, what could not be effected? Ah, what? Had +you listened to the sanguine manufacturer your head would have grown giddy +with his magnificent proposals, as Allcraft's had, to the cost of his +unhappy self, and still unhappier clients. As acting is said to be not a +bare servile exhibition of nature, but rather an exalted and poetic +imitation of the same, so likewise are the pictures of houses, the +portraits of geniuses, <i>the representations of business facts</i>, and other +works of art which undertake to copy truth, but only embellish it and +render it most grateful to the eye. Nothing could <i>look</i> more substantial +than the Glasgow manufactory on paper. A prettier painting never charmed +the eye of speculating amateur. Allcraft was caught. Ten thousand pounds, +which had been sent out to bring the fifty thousand back, never were seen +again. The manufacturer decamped—the rickety house gave way, and failed. +From this period Allcraft entangled himself more and more in schemes for +making money rapidly and by great strokes, and deeper he fell into the +slough of difficulty and danger. His troubles were commencing when he +heard of Mildred's serious illness, and the certainty of his speedy death. +With an affectionate solicitude, he mentally disposed of the splendid +<span class=pagenum><A id=page595 name=page595></A>[pg 595]</span> +fortune which the sick man could not possibly take with him, and contrived +a plan for making it fill up the gaps which misfortune had opened in the +banking-house. This was a new speculation, and promised more than all the +rest. Every energy was called forth—every faculty. His plans we already +know—his success has yet to be discovered. Abraham did not die intestate. +He left a will, bequeathing to Michael, his son and heir, a rotten firm, a +dishonourable name, a history of dishonesty, a nest of troubles. +Accompanying his will, there was a letter written in Allcraft's hand to +Michael, imploring the young man to act a child's part by his unhappy +parent. The elder one urged him by his love and gratitude to save his name +from the discredit which an exposure of his affairs must entail upon it; +and not only upon <i>it</i>, he added, but upon the living also. He had +procured for him, he said, an alliance which he would never have aspired +to—never would have obtained, had not his father laboured so hardly for +his boy's happiness and welfare. With management and care, and a gift from +his intended wife, nothing need be said—no exposure would take place—the +house would retain its high character, and in the course of a very few +years recover its solvency and prosperity. A fearful list of the +engagements was appended, and an account of every transaction in which the +deceased had been concerned. Michael read and read again every line and +word, and he stood thunderstruck at the disclosure. He raved against his +father, swore he would do nothing for the man who had so shamefully +involved himself; and, not content with his own ruin, had so wickedly +implicated him. This was the outbreak of the excited youth, but he sobered +down, and, in a few hours, the creature of impulse and impetuosity had +argued himself into the expediency of adapting his conduct to existing +circumstances—of stooping, in short, to all the selfishness and meanness +that actuate the most unfeeling and the least uncalculating of mortals. If +there were wanting, as, thank Heaven, there is not, one proof to +substantiate the fact, that no rule of life is safe and certain save that +made known in the translucent precepts of our God—no species of thought +free from hurt or danger—no action secure from ill or mischief, except +all thoughts and actions that have their origin in humble, loving, +<i>strict</i> obedience to the pleasure and the will of Heaven; if any one +proof, I say, were wanting, it would be easy to discover it in the natural +perverse and inconsistent heart of man. A voice louder than the +preacher's—the voice of daily, hourly experience—proclaims the +melancholy fact, that no amount of high-wrought feeling, no loftiness of +speech, no intensity of expression, is a guarantee for purity of soul and +conduct, when obedience, simple, childlike obedience, has ceased to be the +spring of every motion and every aim. Reader, let us grapple with this +truth! We are servants here on earth, not masters! subjects, and not +legislators! Infants are we all in the arms of a just father! The command +is from elsewhere—<i>obedience</i> is with us. If you would be happy, I charge +you, fling away the hope of finding security or rest in laws of your own +making in a system which you are pleased to call a code of +<i>honour</i>—honour that grows cowardlike and pale in the time of trial—that +shrinks in the path of duty—that slinks away unarmed and powerless, when +it should be nerved and ready for the righteous battle. Where are the +generous sentiments—the splendid outbursts—the fervid eloquence with +which Michael Allcraft was wont to greet the recital of any one short +history of oppression and dishonesty? Where are they now, in the first +moments of real danger, whilst his own soul is busy with designs as base +as they are cowardly? Nothing is easier for a loquacious person than to +talk. How glibly Michael could declaim against mankind before the +fascinating Margaret, we have seen; how feelingly against the degenerate +spirit of commerce, and the back-slidings of all professors of religion. +Surely, he who saw and so well depicted the vices of the age, was prepared +for adversity and its temptations! Not he, nor any man who prefers to be +the slave of impulse rather than the child of reason. After a day's +deliberation, he had resolved upon two things—first, not to expose +himself to the pity or derision of men, as it might chance to be, by +<span class=pagenum><A id=page596 name=page596></A>[pg 596]</span> +proclaiming the insolvency of his deceased father and secondly, not to +risk the loss of Margaret, by acknowledging himself to be a beggar. His +father had told him—he remembered the words well that she was induced to +name the wedding-day, only upon receiving the assurance of his +independence. Not to undeceive her now, would be to wed her under false +pretences; but to free her from deception, would be to free her from her +plighted word, and this his sense of honour would not let him do. I will +not say that Michael grossly and unfeelingly proposed to circumvent—to +cheat and rob the luckless Margaret; or that his conscience, that mighty +law unto itself, did not wince before it held its peace. There were +strugglings and entreaties, and patchings up, and excuses, and all the +appliances which precede the commission of a sinful act. Reasons for +honesty and disinterestedness were converted for the occasion into +justifications of falsehood and artifice. A paltry regard for himself and +his own interests was bribed to take the shape of filial duty and +affection. The result of all his cogitation and contrivances was one great +plan. He would not take from his Margaret's fortune. No, under existing +circumstances it would be wrong, unpardonable; but at the same time he was +bound to protect his father's reputation. The engagement with the widow +must go on. He could not yield the prize; life without her would not be +worth the having. What was to be done, then? Why, to wed, and to secure +the maintenance of the firm by means which were at his command. Once +married to the opulent Mrs Mildred, and nothing would be easier than to +obtain men of the first consideration in the county to take a share of his +responsibilities. Twenty, whom he could name, would jump at the +opportunity and the offer. The house stood already high in the opinion of +the world. What would it be with the superadded wealth of the magnificent +widow? The private debts of his father were a secret. His parsimonious +habits had left upon the minds of people a vague and shadowy notion of +surpassing riches; Had he not been rich beyond men's calculation, he would +not have ventured to live so meanly. Michael derived support from the +general belief, and resolved most secularly to take a full advantage of it. +If he could but procure one or two monied men as partners in the house, +the thing was settled. Matters would be snug—the property secured. The +business must increase. The profits would enable him in time to pay off +his father's liabilities, and if, in the meanwhile, it should be deemed +expedient to borrow from his wife, he might do so safely, satisfied that +he could repay the loan, at length, with interest. Such was the outline of +Michael Allcraft's scheme. His spirit was quiet as soon as it was +concocted, and he reposed upon it for a season as tired men sleep soundly +on a bed of straw. +</p> +<p> +Whilst the bridegroom was distressed with his peculiar grievances, the +lovely bride was doomed to submit to annoyances scarcely less painful. Her +late husband's friend, Doctor Wilford, who had been abroad for many months, +suddenly returned home, and, in fulfilment of Mildred's dying wish, +repaired without delay to the residence of his widow. Wilford had seen a +great deal of the world. He did not expect to find the bereaved one +inconsolable, but he was certainly staggered to behold her busy in +preparations for a second marriage. Indignant at what he conceived to be +an affront upon the memory of his friend, he argued and remonstrated +against her indecent haste, and besought her to postpone the unseemly +union. Roused by all he saw, the faithful friend spoke warmly on the +deceased's behalf, and painted in the strongest colours he could employ, +the enormity of her transgression. Now Margaret loved Michael as she had +never loved before. Slander could not open its lying lips to speak one +word against the esteem and gratitude she had ever entertained for Mildred +but esteem and gratitude—I appeal to the best, the most virtuous and +moral of my readers—cannot put out the fire that nature kindles in the +adoring heart of woman. Her error was not that she loved Michael more, but +that she had loved Mildred less. Ambition, if it usurp the rights of love, +must look for all the punishment that love inflicts. Sooner or later it +must come. "Who are you?" enquires the little god of the greater god, +ambition, "that you should march +<span class=pagenum><A id=page597 name=page597></A>[pg 597]</span> +into my realms, and create rebellion +there? Wait but a little." Short was the interval between ambition's crime +and love's revenge with our poor Margaret. Wilford might never know how +cruelly his bitter words wrung her smitten soul. She did not answer him. +Paler she grew with every reproach—deeper was the self-conviction with +every angry syllable. She wept until he left her, and then she wrote to +Michael. As matters stood, and with their present understanding—he was +perhaps her best adviser. Wilford called to see her on the following +day—but Margaret's door was shut against him, and she beheld her +husband's friend no more. +</p> +<p> +And the blissful day came on—slowly, at last, to the happy lovers—for +happy they were in each other's sight, and in their passionate attachment. +And the blissful day arrived. Michael led her to the altar. A hundred +curious eyes looked on, admired, and praised, and envied. He might be +proud of his possession, were she unendowed with any thing but that +incomparable, unfading loveliness. And he, with his young and vigorous +form, was he not made for that rare plant to clasp and hang upon? "Heaven +bless them both!" So said the multitude, and so say I, although I scarce +can hope it; for who shall dare to think that Heaven will grant its +benediction on a compact steeped in earthliness, and formed without one +heavenward view! +</p> +<br> +<hr class=full> + + +<a name="bw337s4" id="bw337s4"></a><h2>THE WRONGS OF WOMEN.</h2> + +<p> +I knew, my dear Eusebius, how delighted you would be with that paper in +Maga on "Woman's Rights." It was balm to your Quixotic spirit. Though your +limbs are a little rheumatic, and you do not so often as you were wont, +when your hair was black as raven's wing, raise your hands to take down +the armour that you have long since hung up, you know and feel with pride +that it has been charmed by due night-watchings, and will yet serve many a +good turn, should occasion require your service for woman in danger. Then, +indeed, would you buckle on in defence of all or any that ever did, or did +not, "buckle to." Then would come a happy cure to aching bones—made whole +with honourable bruises, oblivious of pain, the "<i>brachia livida</i>," +lithesome and triumphant. Your devotion to the sex has been seasoned under +burning sun and winter frost, and has yet vital heat against icy age, come +on fast as it will. You would not chill, Eusebius, though you were hours +under a pump in a November night, and lusty arms at work watering your +tender passion. +</p> +<p> +I know you. Rebecca and her daughters had a good word, a soft word from +you, till you found out their beards. No mercy with them after that with +you—the cowardly disguise—pike for pike was the cry. It was laughable to +see you, and to hear you, as you brought a battery that could never reach +them—fired upon them the reproach of Diogenes to an effeminate—"If he +was offended with nature for making him a man, and not a woman;" and the +affirmation of the Pedasians, from your friend Herodotus, that, whenever +any calamity befell them, a prodigious beard grew on the chin of the +priestess of Minerva. You ever thought a man in woman's disguise a +profanation—a woman in man's a horror. The fair sex were never, in your +eyes, the weaker and the worse; how oft have you delighted in their +outward grace and moral purity, contrasting them with gross man, +gloriously turning the argument in their favour by your new +emphasis—"Give every <i>man</i> his deserts, and who shall escape +whipping"—satisfying yourself, and every one else, that good, true, +woman-loving Shakspeare must have meant the passage so to be read. And do +you remember a whole afternoon maintaining, that the well-known song of +"Billy Taylor" was a serious, true, good, epic poem, in eulogy of the +exploits of a glorious woman, and in no way ridiculous to those whose +language it spoke; and when we all gave it against you, how you turned +<span class=pagenum><A id=page598 name=page598></A>[pg 598]</span> +round upon the poor author, and said he ought to have the bastinado at the +soles of his feet? +</p> +<p> +And if an occasional disappointment, a small delinquency in some feminine +character did now and then happen, and a little sly satire would force its +way, quietly too, out of the sides of your mouth, how happily would you +instantly disown it, fling it from you as a thing not yours, then catch at +it, and sport with it as if you could afford to sport with it, and thereby +show it was no serious truth, and pass it off with the passage from +Dryden— +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> "Madam, these words are chanticleer's, not mine;</p> +<p> I honour dames, and think their sex divine!"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +No human being ever collected so many of the good sayings and doings of +women as you, Eusebius. I am not, then, surprised that, having read the +"Rights of Women," you are come to the determination to take up "The +Wrongs of Women." The wrongs of women, alas! +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> ——"Adeo sunt multa loquacem</p> +<p> Delassare valent Fabium."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +And so you write to me, to supply you with some sketches from nature, +instances of the "Wrongs of Woman." Ah me! Does not this earth teem with +them—the autumnal winds moan with them? The miseries want a good hurricane +to sweep them off the land, and the dwellings the "foul fiend" hath +contaminated. Man's doing, and woman's suffering, and thence even arises +the beauty of loveliness—woman's patience. In the very palpable darkness +besetting the ways of domestic life, woman's virtue walks forth loveliest— +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> "Virtue gives herself light, through darkness for to wade."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +The gentle Spenser, did he not love woman's virtue, and weep for her +wrongs? You, Eusebius, were wont ever to quote his tender lament:— +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> "Naught is there under heaven's wide hollowness</p> +<p> That moves more clear compassion of mind</p> +<p> Than beauty brought to unworthy wretchedness</p> +<p> By envy's frowns or fortune's freaks unkind.</p> +<p> I, whether lately through her brightness blind,</p> +<p> Or through allegiance and fast fealty,</p> +<p> Which <i>I do owe unto all womankind</i>,</p> +<p> Feel my heart pierced with so great agony,</p> +<p> When such I see, that all for pity I could die."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +This melting mood will not long suit your mercurial spirit. You used to +say that the fairies were all, in common belief, creatures feminine, hence +deservedly called "good people,"—that they made the country merry, and +kept clowns in awe, and were better for the people's morals than a justice +of the peace. They tamed the savage, and made him yield, and bow before +feminine feet. Sweet were they that hallowed the brown hills, and left +tokens of their visits, blessing all seasons to the rustic's ear, +whispering therein softly at nightfall— +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> "Go, take a wife unto thy arms, and see</p> +<p> Winter and brownie-hills shall have a charm for thee."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +Such was your talk, Eusebius, passing off your discontent of things that +are, into your inward ideal, rejoicing in things unreal, breaking out into +your wildest paradox—"What is the world the better for all its boasted +truth! It has belied man's better nature. Faith, trust, belief, is the +better part of him, the spiritual of man; and who shall dare to say that +its creations, visible, or invisible, all felt, acknowledged as vital +things, are not realities?" All this—in your contempt for beadles and +tip-staves, even overseers and churchwardens, and all subdividing +machinery of country government, that, when it came in and fairly +established itself, drove away the "good people," and with them merriment +and love, and sweet fear, from off the earth—that twenty wheedling, +flattering Autolycuses did not do half the hurt to morals or manners that +one grim-visaged justice did—the curmudgeon, you called him, Eusebius, +that would, were they now on earth, and sleeping all lovely with their +pearly arms together, locked in leafy bower, have Cupid and Psychè taken +up under the Vagrant Act, or have them lodged in +<span class=pagenum><A id=page599 name=page599></A>[pg 599]</span> +a "Union House" to be +disunited. You thought the superstition of the world as it was, far above +the knowledge it now brags of. You admired the Saxons and Danes in their +veneration of the predictions of old women, whom the after ungallantry of +a hard age would have burned for witches. Marriage act and poor act have, +as you believe, extinguished the holy light of Hymen's torch, and +re-lighted it with Lucifer matches in Register offices; and out it soon +goes, leaving worse than Egyptian darkness in the dwellings of the +poor—the smell of its brimstone indicative of its origin, and ominous of +its ending. +</p> +<p> +I verily believe, Eusebius, you would have spared Don Quixote's whole +library, and have preferred committing the curate to the flames. Your +dreams, even your day-dreams, have hurried you ever far off and away from +the beaten turnpike-road of life, through forests of enchantment, to +rescue beauty which you never saw, from knight-begirt and dragon-guarded +castles; and little thankful have you been when you have opened your eyes +awake in peace to the cold light of our misnamed utilitarian day, and +found all your enchantment broken, the knights discomfited, the dragon +killed, the drawbridge broken down, and the ladies free—all without your +help; and then, when you have gone forth, and in lieu of some rescued +paragon of her sex, you have met but the squire's daughter, in her trim +bonnet, tripping with her trumpery to set up her fancy-shop in Vanity-Fair, +for fops to stare at through their glasses, your imagination has felt the +shock, and incredulous of the improvement in manners and morals, and +overlooking all advancement of knowledge, all the advantages of their real +liberty, momentarily have you wished them all shut up in castles, or in +nunneries, to be the more adored till they may chance to be rescued. But +soon would the fit go off—and the first sweet, innocent, lovely smile +that greeted you, restored your gentleness, and added to your stock of +love. And once, when some parish shame was talked of, you never would +believe it common, and blamed the Overseer for bringing it to light—and +vindicated the sex by quoting from Pennant, how St Werberg lived +immaculate with her husband Astardus, copying her aunt, the great +Ethelreda, who lived for three years with not less purity with her good man +Tonberetus, and for twelve with her second husband the pious Prince Egfrid: +and the churchwarden left the vestry, lifting up his hands, and +saying—"Poor gentleman!"—and you laughed as if you had never laughed +before, when you heard it, and heartily shook him by the hand to convince +him you were in your senses; which action he nevertheless put to the +credit of the soundness of your heart, and not a bit to that of your head. +You saw it—and immediately, with a trifling flaw in the application quite +worthy yourself, reminded me of a passage in a letter from Lord +Bolingbroke to Swift, that "The truest reflection, and at the same time +the bitterest satire, which can be made on the present age, is this, that +to think as you think, will make a man pass for romantic. Sincerity, +constancy, tenderness, are rarely to be found. They are so much out of use, +that the man of mode imagines them to be out of nature." So insane and +romantic, you added, are synonymous terms to this incredulous, this +matter-of-fact world, that, like the unbelieving Thomas, trusts in, +believes in nothing that it does not touch and handle. Your partiality for +days of chivalry blinds you a little. The men were splendid—women shone +with their reflected splendour—you see them through an illuminated haze, +and, as you were not behind the curtain, imagine their minds as cultivated +as their beauty was believed to be great. The mantle of chivalry hid all +the wrongs, but the particular ones from which they rescued them. If the +men are worse, our women are far better—more like those noble Roman +ladies, intellectual and high-minded, whom you have ever esteemed the +worthiest of history. Then women were valued. Valerius Maximus gives the +reason why women had the upper-hand. After the mother of Coriolanus and +other Roman women had preserved their country, how could the senate reward +them?—"Sanxit uti foeminis semitâ viri cederent—permisit quoque his +purpureâ veste et aureis uti segmentis." It was sanctioned by the senate, +you perceive, that men should yield the wall to the sex, in honour, and +that they should +<span class=pagenum><A id=page600 name=page600></A>[pg 600]</span> +be allowed the distinction of purple vests and golden +borders—privileges the female world still enjoy. Yet in times you love to +applaud, the paltry interference of men would have curtailed one of these +privileges. For a mandate was issued by the papal legate in Germany in the +14th century, decreeing, that "the apparel of women, which ought to be +consistent with modesty, but now, through their foolishness, is +degenerated into wantonness and extravagance, more particularly the +immoderate length of their petticoats, with which they sweep the ground, +be restrained to a moderate fashion, agreeably to the decency of the sex, +under pain of the sentence of excommunication." "Velamina etiam mulierum, +quæ ad verecundiam designandam eis sunt concessa, sed nunc, per +insipientiam earum, in lasciviam et luxuriam excreverunt, it immoderata +longitudo superpelliccorum quibus pulverem trahunt, ad moderatum usum, +sicut decet verecundiam sexus, per excommunicationis sententiam +cohibeantur." +</p> +<p> +Excommunication, indeed! Not even the church could have carried on that +war long. Every word of this marks the degradation to which those monkish +times would have made the sex submit, "velamina <i>concessa</i> insipientiam +earum!" and pretty well for men of the cloth of that day's make, to speak +of women's "lasciviam et luxuriam," when, perhaps, the hypocritical +mandate arose from nothing but a desire in the coelibatists themselves to +get a sly peep at the neatly turned feet and ankles of the women. One +would almost think the old nursery song of +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> —"The beggar whose name was Stout,</p> +<p> He cut her petticoats all round about,</p> +<p> He cut her petticoats far above her knee, &c.,"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +was written to perpetuate the mandate. Certainly a "Stout beggar was the +Papal church." "Consistent with modesty," "sicut decet verecundiam sexus;" +nothing can beat that bare-faced hypocrisy. So when afterwards the sex +shortened their petticoats, other Simon Pures start up and put them in the +stocks for immodesty. Poor women! Here was a wrong, Eusebius. Long or +short, they were equally immodest. Immodest, indeed! Nature has clad them +with modesty and temperance—their natural habit—other garment is +conventional. I admire what Oelian says of Phocion's wife. +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> "[Greek: Aempeicheto de protae tae sophrosunae</p> +<p> deuterois ge maen tois parosi.]"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +"She first arrayed herself in temperance, and then put on what was +necessary." Every seed of beauty is sown by modesty. It is woman's glory, +"[Greek: hae gar aidos anthos epispeirei]," says Clearchus in his first +book of Erotics, quoting from Lycophronides. The appointment of +magistrates at Athens, [Greek: gunaichochosmoi], to regulate the dress of +women, was a great infringement on their rights—the origin of +men-milliners. You are one, Eusebius, who +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> "Had rather hear the tedious tales</p> +<p> Of Hollingshed, than any thing that trenches</p> +<p> On love."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +I remember how, in contempt of the story of the Ephesian matron, you had +your Petronius interleaved, and filled it with anecdotes of noble virtue, +till the comment far exceeded the text—then, finding your excellent women +in but bad company, you tore out the text of Petronius, and committed it +to the flames. Preserve your precious catalogue of female worthies—often +have you lamented that of Hesiod was lost, of all the [Greek: Hoiai +megalai] Alcmena alone remaining, and you will not make much boast of her. +How far back would you go for the wrongs of women—do you intend to write +a library—a library in a series of novels in three volumes—what are all +that are published but "wrongs of women?" Could but the Lion have written! +Books have been written by men, and be sure they have spared +themselves—and yet what a catalogue of wrongs we have from the earliest +date! Even the capture of Helen was not with her consent; and how lovely +she is! and how indicative is that wondrous history of a high chivalrous +spirit and admiration of woman in those days! Old Priam and all his aged +council pay her reverence. Menelaus is the only one of the Grecian heroes +that had no other wife or mistress—here was devotion and constancy! +Andromache has been, and ever will be, the pride of the world. Yet the +less refined dramatist has told of her wrongs; for he puts into her mouth +a dutiful acquiescence in the +<span class=pagenum><A id=page601 name=page601></A>[pg 601]</span> +gallantries of Hector. Little can be said +for the men. Poor old Priam we must pardon, if Hecuba could and did; for +Priam told her that he had nineteen children by her, and many others by +the concubines in his palace. He had enough, too, upon his hands—yet +found time for all things—"[Greek: horae eran, horae de gamein, horae de +pepausthai]." How lovely is Penelope, and how great her wrongs!—and the +lovely Nausicaa complains of scandal. But great must have been the +deference paid to women; for Nausicaa plainly tells Ulysses, that her +mother is every thing and every body. People have drawn a very absurd +inference to the contrary, from the fact of the princess washing the +clothes. That operation may have been as fashionable then as worsted work +now, and clothes then were not what clothes are now—there were no +Manchesters, and those things were rare and precious, handed down to +generations, and given as presents of honour. You have shed tears over the +beautiful, noble-hearted Iphigenia—wronged even to death. Glorious was +the age that could find an Alcestis to suffer her great wrong! Such women +honour human nature, and make man himself better. Oh, how infinitely less +selfish are they than we are—confiding, trusting—with a fortitude for +every sacrifice! We have no trust like theirs, no confidence—are jealous, +suspicious, even on the wedding-day. You quite roared with delight when +you heard of a fool, who, mistrusting himself and his bride, tried his +fortune after the fashion of the Sortes Virgilianæ, by dipping into +Shakspeare on his wedding-day and finding +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p class=i10> "Not poppy nor mandragora,</p> +<p> Nor all the drowsy syrups of the East,</p> +<p> Shall ever med'cine to thee that sweet sleep</p> +<p> Which thou ow'dst yesterday."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +You have rather puzzled me, Eusebius, by giving me so wide a field of +enquiry—woman's wrongs; of what kind—of ancient or modern times—general +or particular? You should have arranged your objects. It is you that are +going to write this "Family Library," not I. For my own part, I should +have been contented in walking into the next village, an unexpected guest, +to the houses of rich and poor—do you think you would have wanted +materials? But forewarned is forearmed—and few will "tell the secrets of +their prison-house," if you take them with a purpose. On your account, in +this matter, I have written to six ladies of my acquaintance, three +married and three single. Two of the married have replied that they have +nothing to complain of—not a wrong. The third bids me ask her husband. So +I put her down as ambiguous—perhaps she wishes to give him a hint through +me; I am wise, and shall hold my tongue. Of the unmarried, one says she +has received no wrong, but fears she may have inflicted some—another, +that as she is going to be married on Monday, she cannot conceive a wrong, +and cannot possibly reply till after the honeymoon. The third replies, that +it is <i>very wrong</i> in me to ask her. But stay a moment—here is a quarrel +going on—two women and a man—we may pick up something. "Rat thee, Jahn," +says a stout jade, with her arm out and her fist almost in Jahn's face, "I +wish I were a man—I'd gie it to thee!" She evidently thinks it a wrong +that she was born a woman—and upon my word, by that brawny arm, and those +masculine features, there does appear to have been a mistake in it. If you +go to books—I know your learning—you will revert to your favourite +classical authorities. Helen of Troy calls herself by a sad name, "[Greek: +chuon os eimi]," dog (feminine) as I am—her wrongs must, therefore, go to +no account. I know but of one who really takes it in hand to catalogue +them, and she is Medea. "We women," says she, "are the most wretched of +living creatures." For first—of women—she must buy her husband, pay for +him with all she has—secondly, when she has bought him, she has bought a +master, one to lord it over her very person—thirdly, the danger of buying +a bad one—fourthly, that divorce is not creditable—fifthly, that she +ought to be a prophetess, and is not to know what sort of a man he is to +whose house she is to go, where all is strange to her—sixthly, that if +she does not like her home, she must not leave it, nor look out for +sympathising friends—seventhly, that she must have the pains and troubles +of bearing children—eighthly, she gives up country, home, parents, +friends, for one husband—and perhaps a bad one. So much for Medea and her +list; had she lived in +<span class=pagenum><A id=page602 name=page602></A>[pg 602]</span> +modern times it might have been longer; but she was +of too bold a spirit to enter into minutiæ. Hers, too, are the wrongs of +married life. Nor on this point the wise son of Sophroniscus makes the man +the sufferer. "Neither," he says, "can he who marries a wife tell if he +shall have cause to rejoice thereat." He had most probably at that moment +Xantippe in his eye. You remember how pleasantly Addison, in the +<i>Spectator</i>, tells the story of a colony of women, who, disgusted with +their wrongs, had separated themselves from the men, and set up a +government of their own. That there was a fierce war between them and the +men—that there was a truce to bury the dead on either side—that the +prudent male general contrived that the truce should be prolonged; and +during the truce both armies had friendly intercourse—on some pretence or +other the truce was still lengthened, till there was not one woman in a +condition, or with an inclination, to take up her wrongs—not one woman +was any longer a fighting man—they saw their errors—they did not, as the +fable says we all do, cast the burden of their own faults behind them, but +bravely carried them before them—made peace, and were righted. +</p> +<p> +We would not, Eusebius, have all their wrongs righted—so lovely is the +moral beauty of their wonderful patience in enduring them. What—if they +were in a condition to legislate and impose upon us some of their burdens, +or divide them with us? What man of your acquaintance could turn +dry-nurse—tend even his own babes twelve hours out of the twenty-four? +</p> +<p> +A pretty head-nurse would my Eusebius make in an orphan asylum. I should +like to see you with twins in your arms, both crying into your sensitive +ears, and you utterly ignorant of their wants and language. And I do think +your condition will be almost as bad, if you publish your catalogue of +wrongs in your own name. By all means preserve an incognito. You will be +besieged with wrongs—will be the only "Defender of the Faithful"—not +knight-<i>errant</i>, for you may stay at home, and all will come to you for +redress. You will be like the author, or rather translator, of the Arabian +Tales, whose window was nightly assailed, and slumber broken in upon, by +successive troops of children, crying "Monsieur Galland if you are not +asleep, get up—come and tell us one of those pretty stories." Keep your +secret. Now, the mention of the Arabian Tales reminds me of +Sinbad—<i>there</i> is a true picture of man's cowardice; what loathsome holes +did he not creep into to make his escape when the wife of his bosom was +sick, and he understood the law that he was to be buried with her. It is +all very well, in the sick chamber, for the husband to say to his +departing partner for life—"Wait, my dearest—I will go with you." She is +sure, as La Fontaine says in his satire, reversing the case, "to take the +journey alone." This is all talk on the man's side—but see what the +master of the slave woman has actually imposed upon her as a law. The +Hindoo widow ascends the funeral pile, and is burnt rejoicing. What male +creature ever thought of enduring this for his wife?—this wrong, for it +is a grievous wrong thus to tempt her superior fortitude. It was not +without reason that, in the heathen mythology, (and it shows the great +advancement of civilization when and wherever it was conceived,) were +deified all great and noble qualities in the image of the sex. What are +Juno, Minerva, and Venus, but acknowledgments of the strength, wisdom, +fortitude, beauty, and love, of woman, while their male deities have but +borrowed attributes and ambiguous characters? It is a deference—perhaps +unintentionally, unconsciously—paid to the sex, that in every language +the soul itself, and all its noblest virtues, and the personification of +all virtue, are feminine. +</p> +<p> +I supposed woman the legislatrix—what reason have we to say she would +enact a wrong? The story of the mother of Papirius is not against her; for +in that case there was only a choice of evils. It is from Aulus Gellius, +as having been told and written by M. Cato in the oration which he made to +the soldiers against Galba. The mother of young Papirius, who had +accompanied his father into the senate-house, as was usual formerly for +sons to do who had taken the <i>toga prætexta</i>, enquired of her son what +the senate had been doing; the youth replied, that he had been enjoined +silence. This answer made her the more importunate and he adopted this +humorous fallacy—that it had been discussed in the senate which would be +most beneficial to the state, for one +<span class=pagenum><A id=page603 name=page603></A>[pg 603]</span> +man to have two wives, or for one +woman to have two husbands? Hearing this, she left the house in no small +trepidation, and went to tell other matrons what she had heard. The next +day a troop of matrons went to the senate-house, and implored, with tears +in their eyes, that one woman might be suffered to have two husbands, +rather than one man have two wives. The senate honoured the young Papirius +with a special law in his favour; they should rather have conferred honour +upon his mother and the other matrons for their disinterested virtue, who +were content to submit themselves to so great an evil, I may say <i>wrong</i>, +as to have imposed upon them two masters instead of one. Not that you, +Eusebius, ever entertained an idea that women are wronged by not being +admitted to a share of legislation. I will not suppose you to be that +liberal fool. But you are aware that such a scheme has been, and is still +entertained. I believe there is a Miss Somebody now going about our towns, +lecturing on the subject, and she is probably worthy to be one of the +company of the "Ecclesiagusæ." This idea is not new. The other day I hit +upon a letter in the <i>Gentleman's Magazine</i> for the year 1740 on the +subject, by which you will see there was some amusement about it a century +ago:— +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> "TO CALEB D'ANVERS, Esq.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +"Sir,—I am a mournful relict of <i>five husbands</i>, and the happy mother of +<i>twenty-seven</i> children, the tender pledges of our chaste embraces. Had +<i>old Rome</i>, instead of <i>England</i>, been the place of my nativity and abode, +what honours might I not have expected to my person, and immunities to my +fortune? But I need not tell you that virtue of this sort meets with no +encouragement in our northern climate. <i>Children</i>, instead of freeing us +from <i>taxes</i> increase the weight of them, and matrimony is become the jest +of every coxcomb. Nor could I allow, till very lately, that an old +bachelor, as you profess yourself to be, had any just pretence to be +called a patriot. Don't think that I mean to offer myself to you; for I +assure you that I have refused very advantageous proposals since the +decease of my <i>last poor spouse</i>, who hath been dead near <i>five months</i>. I +have no design at present of altering my condition again. Few women are so +happy as to meet with <i>five good husbands</i>, and therefore I should be glad +to devote the remaining part of my life to the good of my country and +family, in a more public and active station than that of a <i>wife</i>, +according to your late scheme for <i>a septennial administration of women</i>. +But I think you ought to have enforced your project with some instances of +<i>illustrious females</i>, who have appeared in the foremost classes of life, +not only for heroic valour, but likewise for several branches of learning, +wisdom, and policy—such as <i>Joan of Naples</i>, the <i>Maid of Orleans, +Catherine de Medicis, Margaret of Mountfort, Madame Dacier, Mrs Behn, Mrs +Manly, Mrs Stephens</i>, Doctor of Physic, <i>Mrs Mapp</i>, Surgeon, the valiant +<i>Mrs Ross</i>, Dragoon, and the learned <i>Mrs Osborne</i>, Politician. I had +almost forgot the present Queen of <i>Spain</i>, who hath not only an absolute +ascendant over the counsels of her <i>husband</i>, but hath often outwitted the +<i>greatest statesmen</i>, as they fancy themselves, of <i>another kingdom</i>, +which hath already felt the effects of her <i>petticoat government</i>. +</p> +<p> +"If we look back into history, a thousand more instances might be brought +of the same kind; but I think those already mentioned sufficient to prove, +that the best capacities of <i>our sex</i> are by no means inferior to the best +capacities <i>of yours</i>; and the triflers of <i>either sex</i> are not designed +to be the subject of this letter. But much as <i>our sex</i> are obliged to you, +in general, for your proposal, I have one material objection against it; +for I think you have carried the point a little too far, by excluding <i>all +males</i> from the enjoyment of any office, dignity, or employment; for as +they have long engrossed the public administration of the government to +themselves, (a few women only excepted,) I am apprehensive that they will +be loth to part with it, and that if they give us power for <i>seven years</i>, +it will be very difficult to get it out of our hands again. I have, +therefore, thought of the following expedient, which will almost answer +the same purpose—viz. that all power, both <i>legislative and executive, +ecclesiastical and civil</i>, may be divided among <i>both sexes</i>; and that +they may be equally capable of sitting in Parliament. Is it not absurd +that <i>women</i> in <i>England</i> should be capable of inheriting <i>the +</i> +<span class=pagenum><A id=page604 name=page604></A>[pg 604]</span> <i>crown</i>, and +yet not intrusted with the representation of a <i>little borough</i>, or so +much as allowed to vote for a representative? Is this consistent with the +rights of a <i>people</i>, which certainly includes both <i>men and women</i>, +though the latter have been generally deprived of their privileges in all +countries? I don't mean that the people should be obliged to choose +<i>women</i> only, as I said before, for that would be equally hard upon the +<i>men</i>—but that the <i>electors</i> should be left at their own liberty; for it +is certainly a restraint upon the <i>freedom of elections</i>, that whatever +regard a <i>corporation</i> may have for a <i>man of quality's family</i>, if he +happened to have no <i>sons</i> or <i>brothers</i>, they cannot testify their esteem +for it by choosing his <i>daughters</i> or <i>sisters</i>. I am for no restraint +upon the <i>members of either sex</i>; for if the honour, integrity, or great +capacity of a <i>fine lady</i> should recommend her to the intimacy or +confidence of a <i>Prime Minister</i>, in consequence of which he should get +her a <i>place</i>—would it not be very hard that this very act of mutual +friendship must render her incapable of doing either <i>him</i> or <i>her +country</i> any real service in the <i>senate-house</i>? Is <i>freedom</i> consistent +with <i>restraint</i>? or can we propose to serve our country by obstructing +the natural operations of <i>love and gratitude</i>? I would not be understood +to propose increasing the number of members. Let every county or +corporation choose <i>a man or a woman</i>, as they think proper; and if either +of the members should be married, let it be in the power of the +<i>constituents</i> to return both <i>husband and wife as one member</i>, but not to +sit at the same time; from whence would accrue great strength to our +constitution, by having the <i>house</i> well attended, without the present +disagreeable method of <i>frequent calls</i>, and putting several <i>members</i> to +the expense and disgrace of being brought up to town in the custody of +<i>messengers</i>; for if a <i>country gentleman</i> should like <i>fox-hunting</i>, or +any other <i>rural diversion</i>, better than attending his <i>duty in +Parliament</i>, let him send up his <i>wife</i>. Or if an <i>officer in the army</i> +should be obliged to be at his post in <i>Ireland</i>, the <i>Mediterranean</i>, the +<i>West Indies</i>, or aboard the <i>fleet</i>, a thousand leagues off, or upon any +<i>public embassy</i>, if his <i>wife</i> should happen to be chosen, never fear +that she would do the <i>nation's business</i>, full as well. Besides, in +several affairs of great consequence, the resolutions might perhaps be +much more agreeable to the tenderness of <i>our sex</i> than the roughness of +<i>yours</i>. As, for instance, it hath often been thought unnatural for +<i>soldiers</i> to promote <i>peace</i>. When a debate, therefore, of that sort +should be to come on, if the <i>soldiers</i> staid at home, and their <i>wives</i> +attended, it would very well become the softness of <i>the female sex</i> to +show a regard for their <i>husbands</i>; especially if they should be such +<i>pretty, smart, young fellows</i>, as make a most considerable figure at a +review." The lady writer goes on at some length, that she has a borough of +her own, and will be certainly returned whether she marries or not, and +will act with inflexible zeal, naïvely adding—"If, therefore, I should +hereafter be put into a <i>considerable employment</i>, and <i>fourteen of my +sons</i> be advanced in the <i>army</i>; should <i>the ministry</i> provide for the +<i>other seven</i> in the <i>Church</i>, <i>Excise Office</i>, or <i>Exchequer</i>; and my +poor <i>girls</i>, who are but tender infants at the boarding-school, should +have places given to them in the <i>Customs</i>, which they might officiate by +<i>deputy</i>—don't imagine that I am under any <i>undue influence</i> if I should +happen always to vote with the <i>Ministry</i>." We do not quote further. The +letter is signed "MARGERY WELDONE." +</p> +<p> +It is needless to tell you the wrong done to the sex by the rigour of +modern law. You have stamped the foot at it often enough. I mean, not so +much the separation in the whimsically-called <i>union</i> houses, for, as +husbands go, they may have little to complain of on that score; but that +dire injustice which throws upon woman the whole penalty of a mutual crime, +of which the instigator is always man. Then, is she not injured by the +legislative removal of the sanctity of marriage, by which the man is less +bound to her—thinks less of the bond—the <i>vinculum matrimoniæ</i> being, +in his mind, one of straw, to her one of iron. And here, Eusebius, a +difficulty presents itself which I do not remember ever to have seen met, +no, nor even noticed. How can a court <i>ecclesiastical</i>, which from its +very constitution and formula of marriage which it receives and +sanctions—that marriage is a Divine institution, that man shall not put +asunder those by this +<span class=pagenum><A id=page605 name=page605></A>[pg 605]</span> +matrimony made one—I ask, how can such a court deal +with cases where the people have not been put together by the only bond of +matrimony which the church can allow? But these are painful subjects, and +I feel myself wading in deeper water than will be good for one who can't +swim without corks, though he be <i>levior cortice</i>; and lighter than cork, +too, will be the obligation on the man's side, who has taken trusting +woman to one of these registry houses, leaped over a broomstick and called +it a marriage. It will soon come to the truth of the old saying, "The +first month is the honeymoon or smick-smack, the second is hither and +thither; the third is thwick-thwack; the fourth, the devil take them that +brought thee and I together." +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> "Love, light as air, at sight of <i>human</i> ties,</p> +<p> Spreads his light wings, and in a moment flies."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +The great walking monster that does the great wrong to women is, depend +upon it, Eusebius, the "brute of a husband," called, by courtesy, in +higher life, "<i>Sir</i> John Brute." Horace says wittily, that Venus puts +together discordant persons and minds with a bitter joke, "sævo mittere +cum joco;" it begins a jest, and ends a <i>crying</i> evil. We name the thing +that should be good, with an ambiguous sound that gives disagreement to +the sense. It is marry-age, or matter o' money. And let any man who is a +euphonist, and takes omens from names, attend the publication of banns, he +will be quite shocked at the unharmonious combination. Now, you will laugh +when I tell you positively, that within a twelvemonth I have heard called +the banns of "John Smasher and Mary Smallbones;" no doubt, by this time +they are "marrow bones and cleaver," what else could be expected? Did you +never note how it has puzzled curates to read the ill-assorted names? +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> "Serpentes avibus geminantur, tigribus agni."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +Then to look at the couples as they come to be bound for life. One would +think they had been shaken together hap-hazard, each in a sack. I have met +with a quotation from Hermippus who says—"There was at Lacedæmon a very +retired hall or dwelling, in which the unmarried girls and young bachelors +were confined, till each of the latter, in that obscurity which precluded +the possibility of choice, fixed on one, which he was obliged to take as a +wife, without portion. Lysander having abandoned that which fell to his +lot, to marry another of greater beauty, was condemned to pay a heavy +fine." Is there not in the <i>Spectator</i> a story or dream, where every man +is obliged to choose a wife unseen, tied up in a sack? At this said +Lacedæmon, by the by, women seem to have somewhat ruled the roast, and +taken the law, at least before marriage, into their own hands; for +Clearchus Solensis, in his adages, reports, that "at Lacedæmon, on a +certain festival, the women dragged the unmarried men about the altar, and +beat them with their hands, in order that a sense of shame at the +indignity of this injury might excite in them a desire to have children of +their own to educate, and to choose wives at a proper season for this +purpose." Mr Stephens, in his <i>Travels in Yucatan</i>, shows how wives are +taken and treated in the New World. "When the Indian grows up to manhood, +he requires a woman to make him tortillas, and to provide him warm water +for his bath at night. He procures one sometimes by the providence of the +master, without much regard to similarity of tastes or parity of age; and +though a young man is mated to an old woman, they live comfortably +together. If he finds her guilty of any great offence, he brings her up +before the master or the alcalde, gets her a whipping, and then takes her +under his arm, and goes quietly home with her." This "whipping" the +unromantic author considers not at all derogatory to the character of a +kind husband, for he adds—"The Indian husband is rarely harsh to his wife, +and the devotion of the wife to her husband is always a subject of remark." +Some have made it a grave question whether marriages should not be made by +the magistrate, and be proclaimed by the town-crier. To imagine which is a +wrong and tyranny, and arises from the barbarous custom that no woman +shall be the first to tell her mind in matters of affection. Men have set +aside the privilege of Leap year; it is as great a nickname as the +church's <span class=pagenum><A id=page606 name=page606></A>[pg 606]</span> +"convocation." We tie her tongue upon the first subject on which +she would speak, then impudently call woman a babbler. There is no end, +Eusebius, to the <i>wrongs</i> our tongues do the sex. We take up all old, and +invent new, proverbs against them. Ungenerous as we are, we learn other +languages out of spite, as it were, to abuse them with, and cry out, "One +tongue is enough for a woman." We <i>rate</i> them for every thing and at +nothing—thus: "He that loseth his wife and a farthing, hath a great loss +of his farthing." There's not a natural evil but we contrive to couple +them with it. "Wedding and ill-wintering tame both man and beast." I heard +a witty invention the other day—it was by a lady, and a wife, and perhaps +in her pride. It was asked whence came the saying, that "March comes in +like a lion, and goes out like a lamb." "Because," said she, "he meets +with Lady Day, and gets his quietus." Whatever we say against them, +however, lacks the great essential—truth, and that is why we go on saying, +thinking we shall come to it at last. We show more malice than matter. +Birds ever peck at the fairest fruit; nay, cast it to the ground, and a +man picks it up, tastes it, and says how good is it. He enjoys all good in +a good wife, and yet too often complains. He rides a fast mare home to a +smiling wife, pats them both in his delight, and calls them both jades—he +unbridles the one, and bridles the other. There is no end to it; when one +begins with the injustice we do the sex, we may go on for ever, and stick +our rhapsodies together "with a hot needle, and a burnt thread," and no +good will come of it. It is envy, jealousy—we don't like to see them so +much better than ourselves. We dare not tell them what we really think of +them, lest they should think less of us. So we speak with a disguise. Sir +Walter Scott forgot himself when he spoke of them:— +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> "Oh woman, in our hours of ease,</p> +<p> Uncertain, coy, and hard to please;"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +as if they were stormy peterals, whose appearance indicated shipwreck and +troubled waters on the sea of life. Woman's bard, and such he deserves to +be entitled, should only have thought of her as the "fair and gentle maid," +or the "pleasing wife," <i>placens uxor</i>—the perfectness of man's nature, +by whom he is united to goodness, gentleness, the two, man and woman +united, making the complete one—as "<i>Mulier est hominis +confusio</i>"—malevolent would he be that would mistranslate it "man's +confusion," for— +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p>"Madam, the meaning of this Latin is,</p> +<p>That womankind to man is sovereign bliss."—<i>Dryden</i>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +By this "mystical union," man is made "Paterfamilias," that name of truest +dignity. See him in that best position, in the old monuments of James's +time, kneeling with his spouse opposite at the same table, with their +seven sons and seven daughters, sons behind the father, and daughters +behind the mother. It is worth looking a day or two beyond the turmoil or +even joys of our life, and to contemplate in the mind's eye, one's own +<i>post mortem</i> and monumental honour. Such a sight, with all the loving +thoughts of loving life, ere this maturity of family repose—is it not +enough to make old bachelors gaze with envy, and go and advertise for +wives?—each one sighing as he goes, that he has no happy home to receive +him—no best of womankind his spouse—no children to run to meet him and +devour him with kisses, while secret sweetness is overflowing at his heart +and so he beats it like a poor player, and says, that is, if he be a +Latinist— +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> "At non domus accipiet te læta, neque uxor</p> +<p> Optima, nec dulces occurrent oscula nati</p> +<p> Præripère, et tacitâ pectus dulcedine tangent."—<i>Lucret</i>. +</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +But leaving the "gentle bachelor" to settle the matter with himself as he +may, I will not be hurried beyond bounds—not bounds of the subject, or +what is due to it, but of your patience, Eusebius, who know and feel, more +sensibly than I can express, woman's worth. You want to know her +wrongs—and you say that I am a sketcher from life. Well, that being the +case, though it is painful to dwell upon any case, accept the following +sketch from nature; it is a recent event—you may not question the +truth—the names I conceal. A sour, sulky, cantankerous fellow, of some +fortune, lean, wizened, and little, with one of those parchment +complexions that indicate <span class=pagenum><A id=page607 name=page607></A>[pg +607]</span> +a cold antipathy to aught but self, married a +fine generous creature, fair and large in person; neither bride nor +bridegroom were in the flower of youth—a flower which, it is hard to say +why, is supposed to shed "a purple light of love." After the wedding, the +"happy couple" departed to spend the honeymoon among their relations. In +such company, the ill-tempered husband is obliged to behave his best—he +coldly puts on the polite hypocrite in the presence of others—but, every +moment of <i>tête-à-tête</i>, vents maliciously his ill-temper upon his spouse. +It happened, that after one day of more remarkably well-acted sweetness, +he retired in more than common disgust at the fatigue he had been obliged +to endure, to make himself appear properly agreeable. He gets into bed, +and instantly tucks up his legs with his knees nigh to his chin, +and—detestable little wretch!—throws out a kick with his utmost power +against his fair, fat, substantial partner. What is the result? He did not +calculate the "<i>vis inertiæ</i>," that a little body kicking against the +greater is wont to come off second best—so he kicks himself out of bed, +and here ends the comedy of the affair; the rest is tragic enough. Some +how or other, in his fall, he broke his neck upon the spot. This was a +very awkward affair. The bell is rung, up come the friends; the story is +told, nor is it other than they had suspected. It does not end here, for, +of course, there must be an inquest. It is an Irish jury. All said it +served him right—and so what is the verdict?—Justifiable <i>felo-de-se</i>." +Here, Eusebius, you have something remarkable;—one happier at the +termination than the commencement of the honeymoon—a widow happier than a +bride. She might go forth to the world again, with the sweet reputation of +having smothered him with kisses, and killed him with kindness—if the +verdict can be concealed; if not, while the husband is buried with the +ignominy of "felonious intent," the widow will be but little disconsolate, +and universally applauded. To those of any experience, it will not be a +cause of wonder how such parties should come together. It is but an +instance of the too common "bitter jokes" of Love, or rather Hymen. I only +wish, that if ever man try that experiment again, he may meet with +precisely the same success; and that if any man marries, determined to +<i>fall out</i> with his bride, he may <i>fall out</i> in that very way, and at the +very first opportunity. +</p> +<p style="margin-bottom: .2em;"> +The next little incident from married life which I mean to give you, will +show you the wonderful wit and ingenuity of the sex. Here the parties had +been much longer wedded. The poor woman had borne much. The husband +thought he had a second Griselda. The case of his tyranny was pretty well +known; indeed, the poor wife too often bore marks, that could not be +concealed, of the "purple light" of his love—his passion. The gentleman, +for such was, I regret to say, his grade of life, invited a number of +friends to dine with him, giving directions to his lady that the dinner +should be a good one. Behold the guests assembled—grace said—and hear +the dialogue:—Husband—"My dear, what is that dish before you?" Wife—"Oh, +my dear, it is a favourite dish of yours—stewed eels." Husband—"Then, my +dear, I will trouble you." After a pause, during which the husband +endeavours in vain to cut through what is before him—Then—Husband—"Why, +my dear, what <i>is</i> this—it is quite hard, I cannot get through it." +Wife—"Yes, my dear, it is <i>very</i> hard, and I rather wished you to know +<i>how</i> hard—it is the horse whip you gave me for breakfast this morning." +I will not add a word to it. You, Eusebius, will not read a line more; you +are in antics of delight—you cannot keep yourself quiet for joy—you walk +up and down—you sit—you rise—you laugh—you roar out. Oh! this is +better than the "taming of a shrew." And do you think "a brute of a +husband" is so easily tamed? The lion was a gentle beast, and made himself +submissive to sweet Una; but the brute of a husband, he is indeed a very +hideous and untameable wild-fowl. Poor, good, loving woman is happily +content at some thing far under perfection. In a lower grade of life, good +wife once told me, that she had had an excellent husband, for that he had +never kicked her but twice. On enquiry, I found he died young.—My dear +Eusebius, yours ever, and as ever,</p> +<p style="text-align: right; padding-right: 3em; font-weight: bold; font-size: 140%; margin-top: .1em;">———</p> +<br> +<hr class=full> + + + +<span class=pagenum><A id=page608 name=page608></A>[pg 608]</span> +<a name="bw337s5" id="bw337s5"></a><h2>MARSTON; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A +STATESMAN.</h2> + +<h3>PART V.</h3> + + +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> "Have I not in my time heard lions roar?</p> +<p> Have I not heard the sea, puft up with wind,</p> +<p> Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat?</p> +<p> Have I not heard great ordinance in the field,</p> +<p> And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies?</p> +<p> Have I not in the pitched battle heard</p> +<p> Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets clang?"</p> + +<p class=i10> SHAKESPEARE. +</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +I found the Jew in his den as usual, and communicated my object, like a +man of business, in as few words as possible, and in that tone which +showed that I had made up my mind. To my surprise, and, I must own, a +little to the chagrin of my vanity, he made no opposition to it whatever. +I afterwards ascertained that, on the day before, he had received a +proposal of marriage for his daughter from a German <i>millionaire</i> of his +own line; and that, as there could be no comparison between a penniless +son-in-law, if he came of the blood of all the Paleologi, and one of the +tribe of Issachar with his panniers loaded with guineas, the sooner I took +my flight the better. +</p> +<p> +"You are perfectly right," said he, "in desiring to see the Continent; and +in Paris you will find the Continent all gathered into a glance, as a +French cook gives you a dozen sauces in compounding one fricassee. It +happens, curiously enough, that I can just now furnish you with some +opportunities for seeing it in the most convenient manner. A person with +whom I have had occasional business in Downing Street, has applied to me +to name an individual in my confidence, as an <i>attaché</i> to our embassy in +France, though, be it understood, without an actual appointment." +</p> +<p> +I started at this dubious diplomacy. +</p> +<p> +"This," said he, "only shows that you have still to learn the trade. Let +me then tell you, that it is by such persons that all the real work of +diplomacy is carried on. Can you suppose that the perfumed and polished +young gentlemen who, under the name of secretaries and sub secretaries, +superior and inferior <i>attachés</i>, and so forth, haunt the hotels of the +embassy, are the real instruments? It is true, they are necessary to the +dinners and balls of the embassy. They are useful to drive out the +ambassador's horses to air, escort his wife, and dance with his daughters. +But the business is uniformly done by somebody of whom nobody knows any +thing, but that he is never seen loitering about the ambassador's +drawing-room though he has the <i>entrée</i> of his closet; and that he never +makes charades, though he corresponds from day to day with the government +at home. Of course you will accept the appointment—and now, let me give +you your credentials." +</p> +<p> +He unlocked a cabinet, which, except for its dust and the coating of +cobwebs which time had wrought upon it, might have figured in the saloons +of the Medici. The succession of springs which he touched, and of secret +drawers which started at the touch, might have supplied a little history +of Italian intrigue. At last he found the roll of papers which he sought, +and having first thrown a glance round the room, as if a spy sat on every +chair, he began to unroll them; with a rapid criticism on each as the few +first lines met his eye. Every nerve of his countenance was in full play +as he looked over those specimens of the wisdom of the wise; It would have +been an invaluable study to a Laveter. He had evidently almost forgotten +that I was present; and the alternate ridicule and disdain of his powerful +physiognomy were assisted, in my comprehension, by notes from time to +time—certainly the antipodes of flattery—"paltry knave"—"pompous +fool"—"specious swindler." "Ambassador! ay, if we were to send one to a +nation of baboons." "Here," said he, throwing, the bundle on the table, +"if I did not despise mankind enough already, I have sufficient evidence +to throng the pillory. I deal in gold; well, it is only such that can know +the world. Hate, ambition, religion—all have their hypocrisies; but money +applies the <span class=pagenum><A id=page609 name=page609></A>[pg 609]</span> +thumbscrew to them all. Want, sir, want, is the master of +mankind. There have been men—ay, and women too—within this dungeon, as +you think it, whose names would astonish you. Oh! Father Abraham"— +</p> +<p> +I finished the quotation.—"What fools these Christians are!" He burst +into grim laughter. "Here you have the paper," said he, "and I must +therefore send you back to the secretary's office. But there you must not +be known. Secrecy is essential even to your life. Stabbing in Paris is +growing common, and the knowledge that you had any other purpose than +gambling, might be repaid by a poniard." +</p> +<p> +He now prepared his note, and as he wrote, continued his conversation in +fragments. "Three-fourths of mankind are mere blunderers, and the more you +know of them the more you will be of my opinion. I am by no means sure +that we have not some of them in Whitehall itself. Pitt is a powerful man, +and he alone keeps them together; without him they would be +potsherds.—Pitt thinks that we can go on without a war: he is mistaken. +How is it possible to keep Europe in peace, when the Continent is as +rotten as thatch, and France as combustible as gunpowder?—The minister is +a man of wonders, but he cannot prevent thirty millions of maniacs from +playing their antics until they are cooled by blood-letting; or a hundred +millions of Germans, Spaniards, Dutch, and Italians from being pilfered to +their last coin!—Old Frederick, the greatest genius that ever sat upon a +German throne, saw this fifty years ago. I have him at this moment before +my eyes, as he walked with his hands behind his bent back in the little +parterre of Sans Souci. I myself heard him utter the words—'If I were +King of France, a cannon-shot should not be fired in Europe without my +permission.'—France is now governed by fools, and is nothing. But if +ever she shall have an able man at her head, she will realize old +Frederick's opinion." +</p> +<p> +As no time was to be lost, I hurried with my note of introduction to +Whitehall, was ushered through a succession of dingy offices into a small +chamber, where I found, busily employed at an escrutoire, a young man of a +heavy and yet not unintelligent countenance. He read my note, asked me +whether I had ever been in Paris, from which he had just returned; uttered +a sentence or two in the worst possible French, congratulated me on the +fluency of my answer, rang his bell, and handed me a small packet, +endorsed—<i>most secret and confidential</i>. He then made the most awkward of +bows; and our interview was at an end. I saw this man afterwards prime +minister. +</p> +<p> +Till now, the novelty and interest of any new purpose had kept me in a +state of excitement; but I now found, to my surprise, my spirits suddenly +flag, and a dejection wholly unaccountable seize upon me. Perhaps +something like this occurs after all strong excitement; but a cloud seemed +actually to draw over my mind. My thoughts sometimes even fell into +confusion—I deeply repented having involved myself in a rash design, +which required qualities so much more experienced than mine; and in which, +if I failed, the consequences might be so ruinous, not merely to my own +character, but to noble and even royal lives. I now felt the whole truth +of Hamlet's description—the ways of the world "flat, stale, and +unprofitable;" the face of nature gloomy; the sky a "congregation of +pestilent vapours." It was not the hazard of life; exposed, as it might be, +in the midst of scenes of which the horrors were daily deepening; it was a +general undefined feeling, of having undertaken a task too difficult for +my powers, and of having engaged in a service in which I could neither +advance with hope nor retreat with honour. +</p> +<p> +After a week of this painful fluctuation, I received a note, saying that I +had but six hours before me, and that I must leave London at midnight. +</p> +<p> +I strayed involuntarily towards Devonshire House. It was one of its state +dinner-days, and the street rang with the incessant setting down of the +guests. As I stood gazing on the crowd, to prevent more uneasy thoughts, +Lafontaine stood before me. He was in uniform, and looked showily. He was +to be one of the party, and his manner had all the animation which scenes +of this order naturally excite in those with whom the world goes well. But +my countenance evidently startled him, and he attempted +<span class=pagenum><A id=page610 name=page610></A>[pg 610]</span>to offer such +consolation as was to be found in telling me that if La Comtesse was +visible, he should not fail to tell her of the noble manner in which I had +volunteered; and the happiness which I had thus secured to him and +Mariamne. "You may rely on it," said he, "that I shall make her sick of +Monsieur le Marquis and his sulky physiognomy. I shall dance with her, +shall talk to her, and you shall be the subject, as you so well deserve." +</p> +<p> +"But her marriage is inevitable," was my sole answer. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, true; inevitable! But that makes no possible difference. You cannot +marry all the women you may admire, nor they you. So, the only imaginable +resource is, to obtain their friendship, to be their <i>pastor fido</i>, their +hero, their Amadis. You then have the <i>entrée</i> of their houses, the honour +of their confidence, and the favoured seat in their boxes, till you prefer +the favoured seat at their firesides, and all grow old together." +</p> +<p> +The sound of a neighbouring church clock broke off our dialogue. He took +out his diamond watch, compared it with the time, found that to delay a +moment longer would be a solecism which might lose him a smile or be +punished with a frown; repeated a couplet on the pangs of parting with +friends; and with an embrace, in the most glowing style of Paris, bounded +across the street, and was lost in the crowd which blocked up her grace's +portal. +</p> +<p> +Thus parted the gay lieutenant and myself; he to float along the stream of +fashion in its most sparkling current—I to tread the twilight paths of +the green park in helplessness and heaviness of soul. +</p> +<p> +This interview had not the more reconciled me to life. I was vexed with +what I regarded the nonchalance of my friend, and began to wish that I had +left him to go through his own affairs as he might. But reflection did +justice to his gallant spirit, and I mentally thanked him for having +relieved me from the life of an idler. At this moment my name was +pronounced by a familiar voice; it was Mordecai's. He had brought me some +additional letters to the leaders of the party in Paris. We returned to +the hotel, and sat down to our final meal together. When the lights were +brought in, I saw that he looked at me with some degree of surprise, and +even of alarm. "You are ill," said he; "the life of London is too much for +you. There are but three things that constitute health in this world—air, +exercise, and employment." I acknowledged to him my misgivings as to my +fitness for the mission. But he was a man of the world. He asked me, "Do +you desire to resign? If so, I have the power to revoke it at this moment. +And you can do this without loss of honour, for it is known to but two +persons in England—Lafontaine and myself. I have not concealed its danger +from you, and I have ascertained that even the personal danger is greater +than I thought. In fact, one of my objects in coming to you at this hour +was, to apprise you of the state of things, if not to recommend your +giving up the mission altogether." +</p> +<p> +The alternative was now plainly before me; and, stern as was the nature of +the Israelite, I saw evidently that he would be gratified by my abandoning +the project. But this was suddenly out of the question. The mission, to +escape which in the half hour before I should have gladly given up every +shilling I ever hoped to possess, was at once fixed in my mind as a +peculiar bounty of fortune. There are periods in the human heart like +those which we observe in nature—the atmosphere clears up after the +tempest. The struggle which had shaken me so long had now passed away, and +things assumed as new and distinct an aspect as a hill or a forest in the +distance might on the passing away of a cloud. Mordecai argued against my +enthusiasm; but when was enthusiasm ever out-argued? I drove him horse and +foot from the field. I did more, enthusiasm is contagious—I made him my +convert. The feverish fire of my heart lent itself to my tongue, and I +talked so loftily of revolutions and counter-revolutions; of the +opportunity of seeing humankind pouring, like metal from the forge, into +new shapes of society, of millions acting on a new scale of power, of +nations summoned to a new order of existence, that I began to melt even +the rigid prepossessions of that mass of granite, or iron, or whatever is +most intractable—the Jew. I could perceive his countenance changing from +a smile to seriousness; and, as I +<span class=pagenum><A id=page611 name=page611></A>[pg 611]</span> +declaimed, I could see his hollow eye +sparkle, and his sallow lip quiver, with impressions not unlike my own. +</p> +<p> +"Whether you are fit for a politician," said he, "I cannot tell; for the +trade is of a mingled web, and has its rough side as well as its smooth +one. But, young as you are, and old as I am, there are some notions in +which we do not differ so much as in our years. I have long seen that the +world was about to undergo some extraordinary change. That it should ever +come from the rabble of Paris, I must confess, had not entered into my +mind; a rope of sand, or a mountain of feathers, would have been as fully +within my comprehension. I might have understood it, if it had come from +John Bull. But I have lived in France, and I never expected any thing from +the people; more than I should expect to see the waterworks of Versailles +turned into a canal, or irrigating the thirsty acres round the palace." +</p> +<p> +"Yes," I observed; "but their sporting and sparkling answers their purpose. +They amuse the holiday multitude for a day." +</p> +<p> +"And are dry for a week.—If France shall have a revolution, it will be as +much a matter of mechanism, of show, and of holiday, as the '<i>grand +jet-d'eau</i>.'" He was mistaken. We ended with a parting health to Mariamne, +and his promise to attend to my interests at the Horse-guards, on which I +was still strongly bent. The Jew was clearly no sentimentalist; but the +glass of wine, and the few words of civility and recollection with which I +had devoted it to his pretty daughter, evidently touched the father's +heart. He lingered on the steps of the hotel, and still held my hand. "You +shall not," said he, "be the worse for your good wishes, nor for that +glass of wine. I shall attend to your business at Whitehall when you are +gone; and you might have worse friends than Mordecai even there." He +seemed big with some disclosure of his influence, but suddenly checked +himself. "At all events," he added, "your services on the present occasion +shall not be forgotten. You have a bold, ay, and a broad career before you. +One thing I shall tell you. We shall certainly have war. The government +here are blind to it. Even the prime minister—and there is not a more +sagacious mind on the face of the earth—is inclined to think that it may +be averted. But I tell you, as the first secret which you may insert in +your despatches, that it will come—will be sudden, desperate, and +universal." +</p> +<p> +"May I not ask from what source you have your information; it will at +least strengthen mine?" +</p> +<p> +"Undoubtedly. You may tell the minister, or the world, that you had it +from Mordecai. I lay on you only one condition—that you shall not mention +it within a week. I have received it from our brethren on the Continent, +as a matter of business. I give it to you here as a flourish for your +first essay in diplomacy." +</p> +<p> +We had now reached the door of the post-chaise. He drew out another letter. +"This," said he, "is from my daughter. Before you come among us again, she +will probably be the wife of one of our nation, and the richest among us. +But she still values you as the preserver of her life, and sends you a +letter to one of our most intimate friends in Paris. If he shall not be +frightened out of it by the violence of the mob, you will find him and his +family hospitable. Now, farewell!" He turned away. +</p> +<p> +I sprang into the post-chaise, in which was already seated a French +courier, with despatches from his minister; whose attendance the Jew had +secured, to lighten the first inconveniences to a young traveller. The +word was given—we dashed along the Dover road, and I soon gave my last +gaze to London, with its fiery haze hanging over it, like the flame of a +conflagration. +</p> +<p> +My mind was still in a whirl as rapid as my wheels. Hope, doubt, and +determination passed through my brain in quick succession, yet there was +one thought that came, like Shakspeare's "delicate spirit," in all the +tumult of soul, of which, like Ariel in the storm, it was the chief cause, +to soothe and subdue me. Hastily as I had driven from the door of my hotel, +I had time to cast my eye along the front of Devonshire House. All the +windows of its principal apartments shone with almost noonday +brightness—uniforms glittered, and plumes waved in the momentary view. +But in the range above, all was dark; except one window—the window of +<span class=pagenum><A id=page612 name=page612></A>[pg 612]</span> +the boudoir—and there the light was of the dim and melancholy hue that +instinctively gives the impression of the sick-chamber. Was Clotilde still +there, feebly counting the hours of pain, while all within her hearing was +festivity? The answers which I had received to my daily enquiries were +cheerless. "She had not quitted the apartment where she had been first +conveyed."—"The duchess insisted on her not being removed."—"Madame was +inconsolable, but the doctor had hopes." Those, and other commonplaces of +information, were all that I could glean from either the complacent +chamberlains or the formal physician. And now I was to give up even this +meagre knowledge, and plunge into scenes which might separate us for ever. +But were we not separated already? If she recovered, must she not be in +the power of a task-master? If she sank under her feebleness, what was +earth to me? +</p> +<p> +In those reveries I passed the hours until daybreak, when the sun and the +sea rose together on my wearied eyes. +</p> + +<br> +<hr> + + +<p> +The bustle of Dover aroused me to a sense of the world. All was animation +on sea and shore. The emigration was now in full flow, and France was +pouring down her terrified thousands on the nearest shore. The harbour was +crowded with vessels of every kind, which had just disgorged themselves of +their living cargoes; the streets were blocked up with foreign carriages; +the foreign population had completely overpowered the native, and the town +swarmed with strangers of every rank and dress, with the hurried look of +escaped fugitives. As I drove to the harbour, my ear rang with foreign +accents, and my eyes were filled with foreign physiognomies. From time to +time the band of a regiment, which had furnished a guard to one of the +French blood-royal, mingled its drums and trumpets with the swell of sea +and shore; and, as I gazed on the moving multitude from my window, the +thunder of the guns from the castle, for the arrival of some ambassador, +grandly completed the general mass and power of the uproar. +</p> + +<br> +<hr> + +<p> +Three hours carried me to the French shore. Free from all the vulgar +vexations of the road, I had the full enjoyment of one of the most +pleasant of all enjoyments—moving at one's ease through a new and +interesting country. The road to Paris is now like the road to Windsor, to +all the higher portions of my countrymen; but then it was much less known +even to them than in later days, and the circumstances of the time gave it +a totally new character. It was the difference between travelling through +a country in a state of peace and in a state of war; between going to +visit some superb palace for the purpose of viewing its paintings and +curiosities, and hurrying to see what part of its magnificence had escaped +an earthquake. The landscape had literally the look of war; troops were +seen encamped in the neighbourhood of the principal towns; the national +guards were exercising in the fields; mimic processions of children were +beating drums and displaying banners in the streets, and the popular songs +were all for the conquest of every thing beneath the moon. +</p> +<p> +But I was to have a higher spectacle. And I shall never forget the mixture +of wonder and awe which I felt at the first distant sight of the capital. +</p> +<p> +It was at the close of a long day's journey, while the twilight gave a +mysterious hue to a scene in itself singular and stately.—Glistening +spire on spire; massive piles, which in the deepening haze might be either +prisons or palaces; vast ranges of buildings, gloomy or glittering as the +partial ray fell on them; with the solemn beauty of the Invalides on one +wing, the light and lovely elegance of the St Genevieve on the other, and +the frowning majesty of Notre-Dame in the midst, filled the plain with a +vision such as I had imaged only in an Arabian tale. Yet the moral reality +was even greater than the visible. I felt that I was within reach of the +chief seat of all the leading events of the Continent since the birth of +monarchy; every step which I might tread among those piles was historical; +within that clouded circumference, like the circle of a necromancer, had +been raised all the dazzling and all the disturbing spirits of the world. +There was the grand display of statesmanship, pomp, ambition, pleasure, +and each the most subtle, splendid, daring, and prodigal ever seen among +<span class=pagenum><A id=page613 name=page613></A>[pg 613]</span> +men. And, was it not now to assume even a more powerful influence on the +fates of mankind? Was not the falling of the monarchical forest of so many +centuries, about to lay the land open to a new, and perhaps a more +powerful produce; where the free blasts of nature were to rear new forms, +and demand new arts of cultivation? The monarchy was falling—but was not +the space, cleared of its ruins, to be filled with some new structure, +statelier still? Or, if the government of the Bourbons were to sink for +ever from the eyes of men, were there to be no discoveries made in the +gulf itself in which it went down; were there to be no treasures found in +the recesses thus thrown open to the eye for the first time; no mines in +the dissevered strata—no founts of inexhaustible freshness and flow +opened by thus piercing into the bowels of the land? +</p> +<p> +There are moments on which the destiny of a nation, perhaps of an age, +turns. I had reached Paris at one of those moments. As my calèche wound +its slow way round the base of Montmartre, I perceived, through the +deepening twilight, a long train of flame, spreading from the horizon to +the gates of the city. Shouts were heard, with now and then the heavy +sounds of cannon. This produced a dead stop in my progress. My postilion +stoutly protested against venturing his calèche, his horses, and, what he +probably regarded much more than either, himself, into the very heart of +what he pronounced a counter-revolution. My courier, freighted with +despatches, which might have been high treason to the majesty of the mob, +and who saw nothing less than suspension from the first lamp-post in their +discovery, protested, with about the same number of <i>sacres</i>; and my +diplomatic beams seemed in a fair way to be shorn. +</p> +<p> +But this was the actual thing which I had come to see: Paris in its new +existence; the capital of the populace; the headquarters of the grand army +of insurgency; the living centre of all those flashes of fantasy, fury, +and fire, which were already darting out towards every throne of Europe. I +determined to have a voice on the occasion, and I exerted it with such +vigour, that I roused the inmates of a blockhouse, a party of the National +Guard, who, early as it was, had been as fast asleep as if they had been a +<i>posse</i> of city watchmen. They clustered round us, applauded my resolve, +to see what was to be seen, as perfectly national, <i>vraiment Français</i>; +kicked my postilion till he mounted his horse, beat my sulky courier with +the flats of their little swords, and would have bastinadoed, or probably +hanged him, if I had not interposed; and, finally, hoisting me into the +calèche, which they loaded with half a dozen of their number before and +behind, commenced our march into Paris. This was evidently not the age of +discipline. +</p> +<p> +It may have been owing to this curious escort that I got in at all; for at +the gate I found a strong guard of the regular troops, who drove back a +long succession of carriages which had preceded me. But my cortège were so +thoroughly in the new fashion, they danced the "<i>carmagnole</i>" so +boisterously, and sang patriotic rhymes with such strength of lungs, that +it was impossible to refuse admission to patriots of such sonorousness. +The popular conjectures, too, which fell to my share, vastly increased my +importance. In the course of the five minutes spent in wading through the +crowd of the rejected, I bore fifty different characters—I was a state +prisoner—a deputy from Marseilles, a part of the kingdom then in peculiar +favour; an ex-general; a captain of banditti, and an ambassador from +England or America; in either case, an especially honoured missionary, for +England was then pronounced by all the Parisian authorities to be on the +verge of a revolution. Though, I believe, Jonathan had the preference, for +the double reason, that the love of Jean Français for John Bull is of a +rather precarious order, and that the American Revolution was an egg +hatched by the warmth of the Gallic bird itself; a secondary sort of +parentage. +</p> +<p> +As we advanced through the streets, my noisy "compagnons de voyage" +dropped off one by one, some to the lowest places of entertainment, and +some tired of the jest; and I proceeded to the Place de Vendome, where was +my hotel, at my leisure. The streets were now solitary; to a degree that +was almost startling. As I wound my way through long lines of houses, +tortuous, narrow, and dark +<span class=pagenum><A id=page614 name=page614></A>[pg 614]</span> + as Erebus, I saw the cause of the singular +success which had attended all Parisian insurrections. A chain across one +of these dismal streets, an overturned cart, a pile of stones, would +convert it at once into an impassable defile. Walls and windows, massive, +lofty, and nearly touching each other from above afforded a perpetual +fortification; lanes innumerable, and extending from one depth of darkness +and intricacy into another, a network of attack and ambush, obviously gave +an extraordinary advantage to the irregular daring of men accustomed to +thread those wretched and dismal dens, crowded with one of the fiercest +and most capricious populations in the world. Times have strikingly +changed since. The "fifteen fortresses" are but so many strong bars of the +great cage, and they are neither too strong nor too many. Paris is now the +only city on earth which is defended against itself, garrisoned on its +outside, and protected by a perpetual Praetorian band against a national +mania of insurrection. +</p> +<p> +But, on turning into the Boulevards, the scene changed with the rapidity +of magic. Before me were raging thousands, the multitude which I had seen +advancing to the gates. The houses, as far as the eye could reach, were +lighted up with lamps, torches, and every kind of hurried illumination. +Banners of all hues were waving from the casements, and borne along by the +people; and in the midst of the wild procession were seen at a distance a +train of travelling carriages, loaded on the roofs with the basest of the +rabble. A mixed crowd of National Guards, covered with dust, and drooping +under the fatigue of the road, poissardes drunk, dancing, screaming the +most horrid blasphemies, and a still wider circle, which seemed to me +recruited from all the jails of Paris, surrounded the carriages, which I +at length understood to be those of the royal family. They had attempted +to escape to the frontier, had been arrested, and were now returning as +prisoners. I caught a glimpse, by the torchlight, of the illustrious +sufferers, as they passed the spot where I stood. The Queen was pale, but +exhibited that stateliness of countenance for which she was memorable to +the last; she sat with the Dauphiness pressed in her arms. The King looked +overcome with exhaustion; the Dauphin gazed at the populace with a child's +curiosity. +</p> +<p> +At the moment when the carriages were passing, an incident occurred +terribly characteristic of the time. A man of a noble presence, and with +an order of St Louis at his breast, who had been giving me a hurried and +anxious explanation of the scene, excited by sudden feeling, rushed +forward through the escort, and laying one hand on the royal carriage, +with the other waved his hat, and shouted, "Vive le Roi!" In another +instant I saw him stagger; a pike was darted into his bosom, and he fell +dead under the wheel. Before the confusion of this frightful catastrophe +had subsided, a casement was opened immediately above my head, and a woman, +superbly dressed, rushed out on the balcony waving a white scarf, and +crying, "Vive Marie Antoinette!" The muskets of the escort were turned +upon her, and a volley was fired at the balcony. She started back at the +shock, and a long gush of blood down her white robe showed that she had +been wounded. But she again waved the scarf, and again uttered the loyal +cry. Successive shots were fired at her by the monsters beneath; but she +still stood. At length she received the mortal blow; she tottered and fell; +yet, still clinging to the front of the balcony, she waved the scarf, and +constantly attempted to pronounce the words of her generous and devoted +heart, until she expired. I saw this scene with an emotion beyond my power +to describe; all the enthusiasm of popular change was chilled within me; +my boyish imaginations of republicanism were extinguished by this plunge +into innocent blood; and I never felt more relieved, than when the whole +fearful procession at length moved on, and I was left to make my way once +more, through dim and silent streets, to my dwelling. +</p> +<br> +<hr> +<p> +I pass by a considerable portion of the time which followed. The +Revolution was like the tiger, it advanced couching; though, when it +sprang, its bound was sudden and irresistible. My time was occupied in my +official functions, which became constantly more important, and of which I +received flattering opinions from Downing Street. I mingled extensively in +general society, and it was never more +<span class=pagenum><A id=page615 name=page615></A>[pg 615]</span> + animated, or more characteristic, +than at that period in Paris. The leaders of faction and the leaders of +fashion, classes so different in every other part of the world, were there +often the same. The woman who dazzled the ball-room, was frequently the +<i>confidente</i> of the deepest designs of party. The coterie in a <i>salon</i>, +covered with gilding, and filled with <i>chefs-d'oeuvre</i> of the arts, was +often as subtle as a conspiracy in the cells of the Jacobins; and the +dance or the masquerade only the preliminary to an outbreak which +shattered a ministry into fragments All the remarkable men of France +passed before me, and I acknowledge that I was frequently delighted and +surprised by their extra ordinary attainments. The age of the +<i>Encyclopédie</i> was in its wane, but some of its brilliant names still +illustrated the Parisian <i>salons</i>. I recognised the style of Buffon and +Rousseau in a crowd of their successors; and the most important knowledge +was frequently communicated in language the most eloquent and captivating. +Even the mixture of society which had been created by the Revolution, gave +an original force and freshness to these assemblies, infinitely more +attractive than the most elaborate polish of the old <i>régime</i>. Brissot, +the common printer, but a man of singular strength of thought, there +figured by Condorcet, the noble and the man of profound science. St +Etienne, the little bustling partizan, yet the man of talent, mingled with +the chief advocates of the Parisian courts; or Servan fenced with his +subtle knowledge of the world against Vergniaud, the romantic Girondist, +but the most Ciceronian of orators. Talleyrand, already known as the most +sarcastic of men, and Maury, by far the most powerful debater of France +since Mirabeau—figured among the chief ornaments of the <i>salons</i> of De +Staël. Roland, and the showy and witty Theresa Cabarrus, and even the +flutter of La Fayette, the most tinsel of heroes, and the sullen +sententiousness of Robespierre, then known only as a provincial deputy, +furnished a background which increased the prominence of the grouping. +</p> +<p> +But the greatest wonder of France still escaped the general eye. At a ball +at the Hotel de Staël, I remember to have been struck with the energetic +denunciation of some rabble insult to the Royal family, by an officer whom +nobody knew. As a circle were standing in conversation on the topic of the +day, the little officer started from his seat, pushed into the group, and +expressed his utter contempt for the supineness of the Government on those +occasions, so strongly, as to turn all eyes upon him. "Where were the +troops, where the guns?" he exclaimed. "If such things are suffered, all +is over with royalty; a squadron of horse, and a couple of six pounders, +would have swept away the whole swarm of scoundrels like so many flies." +Having thus discharged his soul, he started back again, flung himself into +a chair, and did not utter another word through the evening. I little +dreamed that in that meagre frame, and long, thin physiognomy, I saw +Napoleon. +</p> +<p> +I must hasten to other things. Yet I still cast many a lingering glance +over these times. The vividness of the collision was incomparable. The wit, +the eccentricity, the anecdote, the eloquence of those assemblages, were +of a character wholly their own. They had, too, a substantial nutriment, +the want of which had made the conversation of the preceding age vapid, +with all its elegance.—Public events of the most powerful order fed the +flame. It was the creation of a vast national excitement; the rush of +sparks from the great electrical machine, turned by the hands of thirty +millions. The flashes were still but matters of sport and surprise. The +time was nigh when those flashes were to be fatal, and that gay lustre was +to do the work of conflagration. +</p> +<p> +I had now been a year in Paris, without returning, or wishing to return, +to London. A letter now and then informed me of the state of those who +still drew my feelings towards England. But I was in the centre of all +that awoke, agitated, or alarmed Europe; and, compared with the glow and +rapidity of events in France, the rest of Europe appeared asleep, or to +open its eyes solely when some new explosion shook it from its slumber. +</p> +<p> +My position, too, was a matchless school for the learner in diplomacy. +France shaped the politics of the Continent; and I was present in the +furnace where the casting was performed. France was the stage to which +every eye in Europe was turned, +<span class=pagenum><A id=page616 name=page616></A>[pg 616]</span> + whether for comedy or tragedy; and I was +behind the scenes. But the change was at hand. +</p> +<p> +One night I found an individual, of a very marked appearance, waiting for +me at my hotel. His countenance was evidently Jewish, and he introduced +himself as one of the secret police of the ministry. The man handed me a +letter—it was from Mordecai, and directed to be given with the utmost +secrecy. It was in his usual succinct and rapid style. +</p> +<p> +"I write this in the midst of a tumult of business. My friend Mendoza will +give you such knowledge and assistance as may be necessary. France is on +the point of an explosion. Every thing is prepared. It is impossible that +it can be delayed above a week or two, and the only origin of the delay is +in the determination to make the overthrow final. Acquaint your English +officials with this. The monarchy of the Bourbons has signed its +death-warrant. By suffering a legislature to be formed by the votes of the +mere multitude, it has put property within the power of all beggars; rank +has been left at the mercy of the rabble; and the church has been +sacrificed to please a faction. Thus the true pillars of society have been +cut away; and the throne is left in the air. Mendoza will tell you more. +The train is already laid. A letter from a confidential agent tells us +that the day is fixed. At all events, avoid the mine. There is no pleasure +in being blown up, even in company with kings." +</p> +<p> +A postscript briefly told me—that his daughter sent her recollections; +that Clotilde was still indisposed; La Fontaine giddier than ever; and, as +the proof of his own confidence in his views, that he had just sold out +100,000 three per cent consols. +</p> +<p> +My first visit next morning was to the British embassy. But the ambassador +was absent in the country, and the functionary who had been left in charge +was taking lessons on the guitar, and extremely unwilling to be disturbed +by matters comparatively so trifling as the fate of dynasties. I explained, +but explained in vain. The hour was at hand when his horses were to be at +the door for a ride in the Bois de Boulogne. I recommended a ride after +the ambassador. It was impossible. He was to be the escort of a duchess; +then to go to a dinner at the Russian embassy, and was under engagements +to three balls in the course of the evening. Nothing could be clearer than +that such duties must supersede the slight concerns of office. I left him +under the hands of his valet, curling his ringlets, and preparing him to +be the admiration of mankind. +</p> +<p> +I saw Mendoza secretly again; received from him additional intelligence; +and, as I was not inclined to make a second experiment on the "elegant +extract" of diplomacy, and escort of duchesses, I went, as soon as the +nightfall concealed my visit, to the hotel of the Foreign Minister. This +was my first interview with the celebrated Dumourier. +</p> +<p> +He received me with the courtesy of a man accustomed to high life; and I +entered on the purport of my visit at once. He was perfectly astonished at +my tidings. He had known that strong resolutions had been adopted by the +party opposed to the Cabinet; but was startled by the distinct avowal of +its intention to overthrow the monarchy. I was struck with his appearance, +his quickness of conception, and that mixture of sportiveness and depth, +which I had found characteristic of the higher orders of French society. +He was short in stature, but proportioned for activity; his countenance +bold, but with smiling lips and a most penetrating grey eye. His name as a +soldier was at this period wholly unknown, but I could imagine in him a +leader equally subtle and daring;—he soon realized my conjecture. +</p> +<p> +We sat together until midnight; and over the supper-table, and cheered by +all the good things which French taste provides and enjoys more than any +other on earth, he gave full flow to his spirit of communication. The +Frenchman's sentences are like sabre-cuts—they have succession, but no +connexion. +</p> +<p> +"I shall always converse with you, M. Marston," said he, "with ease; for +you are of the noblesse of your own great country, and I am tired of +<i>roturiers</i> already.—The government has committed dangerous faults. The +king is an excellent man, but his heart is where his head ought to be, and +his head where his heart.—His flight was a terrible affair, but it was a +blunder on both sides; <i>he</i> ought never to +<span class=pagenum><A id=page617 name=page617></A>[pg 617]</span> + have gone, or the government +ought never to have brought him back.—However, I have no cause to +complain of its epitaph. The blunder dissolved that government. I have to +thank it for bringing me and my colleagues into power. Our business now is +to preserve the monarchy, but this becomes more difficult from day to day." +</p> +<p> +I adverted to the personal character of the royal family. +</p> +<p> +"Nothing can be better. But chance has placed them in false position.—If +the king were but the first prince of the blood, his benevolence without +his responsibility would make him the most popular man in France.—If the +queen were still but the dauphiness, she would be, as she was then, all +but worshipped. As the leader of fashion in France, she would be the +leader of taste in Europe.—Elegant, animated, and high-minded, she would +have charmed every one, without power. If she could but continue to move +along the ground, all would admire the grace of her steps; but, sitting on +a throne, she loses the spell of motion." +</p> +<p> +"Yet, can France ever forget her old allegiance, and adopt the fierce +follies of a republic?" +</p> +<p> +"I think not. And yet we are dealing with agencies of which we know +nothing but the tremendous force. We are breathing a new atmosphere, which +may at first excite only to kill.—We have let out the waters of a new +river-head, which continues pouring from hour to hour, with a fulness +sufficient to terrify us already, and threatening to swell over the +ancient landmarks of the soil.—It is even now a torrent—what can prevent +it from being a lake? what hand of man can prevent that lake from being an +ocean? or what power of human council can say to that ocean in its +rage—Thus far shalt thou go?" +</p> +<p> +"But the great institutions of France, will they not form a barrier? Is +not their ancient firmness proof against the loose and desultory assaults +of a populace like that of Paris?" +</p> +<p> +"I shall answer by an image which occurred to me on my late tour of +inspection to the ports in the west. At Cherbourg, millions of francs have +been spent in attempting to make a harbour. When I was there one stormy +day, the ocean rose, and the first thing swept away was the great +<i>caisson</i> which formed the principal defence against the tide,—its wrecks +were carried up the harbour, heaped against the piers, which they swept +away; hurled against the fortifications, which they broke down; and +finally working ten times more damage than if the affair had been left to +the surges alone. The thought struck me at the moment, that this <i>caisson</i> +was the emblem of a government assailed by an irresistible force. The +firmer the foundations, and the loftier the superstructure, the surer it +was to be ultimately carried away, and to carry away with it all that the +mere popular outburst would have spared.—The massiveness of the obstacle +increased the spread of the ruin. Few Asiatic kingdoms would be overthrown +with less effort, and perish with less public injury, than the monarchy of +the Bourbons, if it is to fall. Yet, your monarchy is firmer. It is less a +vast building than a mighty tree, not fixed on foundations which can never +widen, but growing from roots which continually extend. But, if that tree +perish, it will not be thrown down, but torn up; it will not leave a space +clear to receive a new work of man, but a pit, which no successor can fill +for a thousand years." +</p> +<p> +"But the insurrection; I fear the attack on the palace." +</p> +<p> +"It will not take place. Your information shall be forwarded to the court; +where, however, I doubt whether it will be received with much credence. +The Austrian declaration of war has put the flatterers of royalty into +such spirits, that if the tocsin were sounding at this instant, they would +not believe in the danger. We have been unfortunately forced to send the +chief part of the garrison of Paris towards the frontier. But we have +three battalions of the Swiss guard within call at Courbevoie, and they +can be ready on the first emergency. Rely upon it, all will go well." +</p> +<p> +With this assurance I was forced to be content; but I relied much more +upon Mordecai and his Jewish intelligence. A despatch to London gave a +minute of this conversation before I laid my head on my pillow; and I +flung myself down, not without a glance at the tall roofs of the Tuileries, +and a reflection on how much the man escapes whose forehead has no wrinkle +from the diadem. +</p> +<p> +<span class=pagenum><A id=page618 name=page618></A>[pg 618]</span> +Within twenty four hours of this interview the ministry was dissolved! +Dumourier was gone posthaste to the command of one of the armies on the +frontier, merely to save his life from the mob, and I went to bed, in the +Place Vendôme, by the light of Lafayette burned in effigy in the centre of +the square. So much for popularity. +</p> +<p> +At dusk, on the memorable ninth of August, as I was sitting in a café of +the Palais Royal, listening to the mountain songs of a party of Swiss +minstrels in front of the door, Mendoza, passing through the crowd, made +me a signal; I immediately followed him to an obscure corner of one of the +galleries. +</p> +<p> +"The insurrection is fixed for to-night," was his startling announcement. +"At twelve by the clock of Notre-Dame, all the sections will be under +arms. The Jacobin club, the club of the Cordeliers, and the Faubourg St +Antoine, are the alarm posts. The Marseillais are posted at the Cordeliers, +and are to head the attack. Danton is already among them, and has +published this address. +</p> +<p> +He gave me the placard. It was brief and bold. +</p> +<p> +"Citizens—The country is betrayed. France is in the hands of her enemies. +The Austrians are advancing. Our troops are retreating, and Paris must be +defended by her brave sons alone. But we have traitors in the camp. Our +legislators are their accomplices: Lafayette, the slave of kings, has been +suffered to escape; but the nation must be avenged. The perfidious Louis +is about to follow his example and fly, after having devoted the capital +to conflagration. Delay a moment, and you will have to fight by the flame +of your houses, and to bleed over the ashes of your wives and children. +March, and victory is yours. To arms! To arms!! To arms!!!" +</p> +<p> +"Does Danton lead the insurrection?" +</p> +<p> +"No—for two reasons: he is an incendiary but no soldier; and they cannot +trust him in case of success. A secret meeting of the heads of the party +was held two days since, to decide on a leader of the sections. It was +difficult, and had nearly been finished by the dagger. Billaud de Varennes, +Vanquelin, St Angely, and Danton, were successively proposed. Robespierre +objected to them all. At length an old German refugee, a beggar, but a +soldier, was fixed on; and Westerman is to take the command. By one +o'clock the tocsin is to be rung, and the insurgents are instantly to move +from all points on the Tuileries." +</p> +<p> +"What is the object?" +</p> +<p> +"The seizure, or death, of the King and Royal Family!" +</p> +<p> +"And the result of that object?" +</p> +<p> +"The proclamation of a Republic!" +</p> +<p> +"Is this known at the palace?" +</p> +<p> +"Not a syllable. All there are in perfect security; to communicate +intelligence there is not in my department." +</p> +<p> +As I looked at the keen eye and dark physiognomy of my informant, there +was an expression of surprise in mine at this extraordinary coolness, +which saved me the trouble of asking the question. +</p> +<p> +"You doubt me," said he, "you feel distrust of information unpaid and +voluntary. But I have been ordered by Mordecai, the chief of our tribe in +England, to watch over you; and this information is a part of my obedience +to the command." He suddenly darted away. +</p> +<p> +Notwithstanding the steadiness of his assertions I still doubted their +probability, and, to examine the point for myself, I strayed towards the +palace. All there was tranquil; a few lights were scattered through the +galleries, but every sound of life, much less of watchfulness and +preparation, was still. The only human beings in sight were some +dismounted cavalry, and a battalion of the national guard, lounging: about +the square. As I found it impossible to think of rest until the truth or +falsehood of my information was settled, I next wandered along the +Boulevarde, in the direction of the Faubourg St Antoine, the focus of all +the tumults of Paris; but all along this fine avenue was hushed as if a +general slumber had fallen over the city. The night was calm, and the air +was a delicious substitute for the hot and reeking atmosphere of this +populous quarter in the day. I saw no gathering of the populace; no +hurrying torches. I heard no clash of arms, nor tramp of marching men; all +lay beneath the young moon, which, near her setting, touched the whole +scene with a look of soft and almost melancholy quietude. The character of +my Israelite friend began to fall rapidly in the scale, and +<span class=pagenum><A id=page619 name=page619></A>[pg 619]</span> + I had made up +my mind that insurrection had gone to its slumbers for that night; when, +as I was returning by the <i>Place de Bastile</i>, and was passing under the +shadow of one of the huge old houses that then surrounded that scene of +hereditary terror, two men, who had been loitering beside the parapet of +the fosse, suddenly started forward and planted themselves in my way. I +flung one of them aside, but the other grasped my arm, and, drawing a +dagger, told me that my life was at his mercy. His companion giving a +signal, a group of fierce-looking fellows started from their +lurking-places; and of course further resistance was out of the question. +I was ordered to follow them, and regarding myself as having nothing to +fear, yet uneasy at the idea of compulsion, I remonstrated, but in vain; +and was finally led through a labyrinth of horrid alleys, to what I now +found to be the headquarters of the insurrection. It was an immense +building, which had probably been a manufactory, but was now filled with +the leaders of the mob. The few torches which were its only light, and +which scarcely showed the roof and extremity of the building, were, +however, enough to show heaps of weapons of every kind—muskets, sabres, +pikes, and even pitchforks and scythes, thrown on the floor. On one side, +raised on a sort of desk, was a ruffianly figure flinging placards to the +crowd below, and often adding some savage comment on their meaning, which +produced a general laugh. Flags inscribed with "Liberty Bread or +Blood—Down with the Tyrant"—and that comprehensive and peculiarly +favourite motto of the mob—"May the last of the kings be strangled with +the entrails of the last of the priests," were hung from the walls in all +quarters; and in the centre of the floor were ranged three pieces of +artillery surrounded by their gunners. I now fully acknowledged the +exactness of Mendoza's information; and began to feel considerable +uncertainty about my own fate in the midst of a horde of armed ruffians, +who came pouring in more thickly every moment, and seemed continually more +ferocious. At length I was ordered to go forward to a sort of platform at +the head of the hall, where some candles were still burning, and the +remnants of a supper gave signs that there had been gathered the chief +persons of this tremendous assemblage. A brief interrogatory from one of +them armed to the teeth, and with a red cap so low down on his bushy brows +as almost wholly to disguise his physiognomy, enquired my name, my +business in Paris, and especially what I had to allege against my being +shot as a spy in the pay of the Tuileries. My answers were drowned in the +roar of the multitude. Still, I protested firmly against this summary +trial, and at length threatened them with the vengeance of my country. +This might be heroic, but it was injudicious. Patriotism is a fiery affair, +and a circle of pistols and daggers ready prepared for action, and roused +by the word to execute popular justice on me, waited but the signal from +the platform. Their leader rose with some solemnity, and taking off his +cap, to give the ceremonial a more authentic aspect, declared me to have +forfeited the right to live, by acting the part of an <i>espion</i>, and +ordered me to be shot in "front of the leading battalion of the army of +vengeance." The decree was so unexpected, that for the instant I felt +absolutely paralyzed. The sight left my eyes, my ears tingled with strange +sounds, and I almost felt as if I had received the shots of the ruffians, +who now, incontrollable in their first triumph, were firing their pistols +in all directions in the air. But at the moment, so formidable to my +future career, I heard the sound of the clock of Notre Dame. I felt a +sudden return of my powers and recollections, but the hands of my +assassins were already upon me. The sound of the general signal for their +march produced a rush of the crowd towards the gate, I took advantage of +the confusion, struck down one of my captors, shook off the other, and +plunged into the living torrent that was now pouring and struggling before +me. +</p> +<p> +But even when I reached the open air—and never did I feel its freshness +with a stronger sense of revival—I was still in the midst of the +multitude, and any attempt to make my way alone would have obviously been +death. Thus was I carried on along the Boulevarde, in the heart of a +column of a hundred thousand maniacs, trampled, driven, bruised by the +rabble, and deafened with shouts, yells, and cries of vengeance, until my +frame <span class=pagenum><A id=page620 name=page620></A>[pg 620]</span> + was a fever and my brain scarcely less than a frenzy. +</p> +<p> +That terrible morning gave the deathblow to the mighty monarchy of the +Bourbons. The throne was so shaken by the popular arm, that though it +preserved a semblance of its original shape, a breath was sufficient to +cast it to the ground. I have no heart for the recital. Even now I can +scarcely think of that tremendous pageant of popular fantasy, fury, and +the very passion of crime; or bring to my mind's eye that column, which +seemed then to be boundless and endless, with the glare of its torches, +the rattle of its drums, the grinding of its cannon-wheels, as we rushed +along the causeway, from time to time stopping to fire, as a summons to +the other districts, and as a note of exultation; or the perpetual, sullen, +and deep roar of the populace—without a thrilling sense of perplexity and +pain. +</p> +<p> +Long before daybreak we had swept all minor resistance before us, +plundered the arsenal of its arms, and taken possession of the Hotel de +Ville. The few troops who had kept guard at the different posts on our way, +had been captured without an effort, or joined the insurgents. But +intelligence now came that the palace was roused at last, that troops were +ordered from the country for its defence, and that the noblesse remaining +in the capital were crowding to the Tuileries. I stood beside Danton when +those tidings were brought to him. He flung up his cap in the air, with a +burst of laughter. "So much the better!" he exclaimed; "the closer the +preserve, the thicker the game." I had now a complete view of this hero of +democracy. His figure was herculean; his countenance, which possibly, in +his younger days, had been handsome, was now marked with the lines of +every passion and profligacy, but it was still commanding. His costume was +one which he had chosen for himself, and which was worn by his peculiar +troop; a short brown mantle, an under-robe with the arms naked to the +shoulder, a broad leathern belt loaded with pistols, a huge sabre in hand, +rusted from hilt to point, which he declared to have been stained with the +blood of aristocrats, and the republican red cap, which he frequently +waved in the air, or lifted on the point of his sabre as a standard. Yet, +in the midst of all this savage disorder of costume, I observed every hair +of his enormous whiskers to be curled with the care of a Parisian +<i>merveilleux</i>. It was the most curious specimen of the ruling passion that +I remember to have seen. +</p> +<p> +At the Hotel de Ville, Danton entered the hall with several of the +insurgents; and the crowd, unwilling to waste time, began to fire at the +little statues and insignia of the French kings, which ornamented this old +building. When this amusement palled—the French are easily +<i>ennuied</i>—they formed circles, and danced the Carmagnole. Rum and brandy, +largely introduced among them, gave them animation after their night's +watching, and they were fit for any atrocity. But the beating of drums, +and a rush to the balconies of the Hotel de Ville, told us that something +of importance was at hand; and, in the midst of a group of municipal +officers, Petion, the mayor of Paris, arrived. No man in France wore a +milder visage, or hid a blacker heart under it. He was received with +shouts, and after a show of resistance, just sufficient to confirm his +character for hypocrisy, suffered himself to be led to the front of the +grand balcony, bowing as the man of the people. Another followed, a +prodigious patriot, who had been placed at the head of the National Guard +for his popular sycophancy, but who, on being called on by the mob to +swear "death to the King;" and hesitating, felt the penalty of being +unprepared to go all lengths on the spot. I saw his throat cut, and his +body flung from the balcony. A cannon-shot gave the signal for the march, +and we advanced to the grand prize of the day. I can describe but little +more of the assault on the Tuileries, than that it was a scene of +desperate confusion on both sides. The front of the palace continually +covered with the smoke of fire-arms of all kinds, from all the casements; +and the front of the mob a similar cloud of smoke, under which men fired, +fled, fell, got drunk, and danced. Nothing could be more ferocious, or +more feeble. Some of the Sections utterly ran away on the first fire; but, +as they were unpursued, they returned by degrees, and joined the +<span class=pagenum><A id=page621 name=page621></A>[pg 621]</span> +fray. It +may be presumed that I made many an effort to escape; but I was in the +midst of a battalion of the Faubourg St Antoine. I had already been +suspected, from having dropped several muskets in succession, which had +been thrust into my hands by the zeal of my begrimed comrades; and a +sabre-cut, which I had received from one of our mounted ruffians as he saw +me stepping to the rear, warned me that my time was not yet come to get +rid of the scene of revolt and bloodshed. +</p> +<p> +At length the struggle drew to a close. A rumour spread that the King had +left the palace, and gone to the Assembly. The cry was now on all +sides—"Advance, the day is our own!" The whole multitude rushed forward, +clashing their pikes and muskets, and firing their cannon, which were +worked by deserters from the royal troops; the Marseillais, a band of the +most desperate-looking ruffians that eye was ever set upon, chiefly +galley-slaves and the profligate banditti of a sea-port, led the column of +assault; and the sudden and extraordinary cessation of the fire from the +palace windows, seemed to promise a sure conquest. But, as the smoke +subsided, I saw a long line of troops, three deep, drawn up in front of +the chief entrance. Their scarlet uniforms showed that they were the Swiss. +The gendarmerie, the National Guard, the regular battalions, had abandoned +them, and their fate seemed inevitable. But there they stood, firm as iron. +Their assailants evidently recoiled; but the discharge of some +cannon-shots, which told upon the ranks of those brave and unfortunate men, +gave them new courage, and they poured onward. The voice of the Swiss +commandant giving the word to fire was heard, and it was followed by a +rolling discharge, from flank to flank, of the whole battalion. It was my +first experience of the effect of fire; and I was astonished at its +precision, rapidity, and deadly power. In an instant, almost the whole +troop of the Marseillais, in our front, were stretched upon the ground, +and every third man in the first line of the Sections was killed or +wounded. Before this shock could be recovered, we heard the word "fire" +again from the Swiss officer, and a second shower of bullets burst upon +our ranks. The Sections turned and fled in all directions, some by the +Pont Neuf, some by the Place Carrousel. The rout was complete; the terror, +the confusion, and the yelling of the wounded were horrible. The havoc was +increased by a party of the defenders of the palace, who descended into +the court and fell with desperation on the fugitives. I felt that now was +my time to escape, and darted behind one of the buttresses of a royal +<i>porte cachere</i>, to let the crowd pass me. The skirmishing continued at +intervals, and an officer in the uniform of the Royal Guard was struck +down by a shot close to my feet. As he rolled over, I recognised his +features. He was my young friend Lafontaine! With an inconceivable shudder +I looked on his pale countenance, and with the thought that he was killed +was mingled the thought of the misery which the tidings would bring to +fond ears in England. But as I drew the body within the shelter of the +gate, I found that he still breathed; he opened his eyes, and I had the +happiness, after waiting in suspense till the dusk covered our movements, +of conveying him to my hotel. +</p> +<p> +Of the remaining events of this most calamitous day, I know but what all +the world knows. It broke down the monarchy. It was the last struggle in +which a possibility existed of saving the throne. The gentlest of the +Bourbons was within sight of the scaffold. He had now only to retrieve his +character for personal virtue by laying down his head patiently under the +blade of the guillotine. His royal character was gone beyond hope, and all +henceforth was to be the trial of the legislature and the nation. Even +that trial was to be immediate, comprehensive, and condign. No people in +the history of rebellion ever suffered, so keenly or so rapidly, the +vengeance which belongs to national crimes. The saturnalia was followed by +massacre. A new and darker spirit of ferocity displayed itself, in a +darker and more degraded form, from hour to hour, until the democracy was +extinguished. Like the Scripture miracle of the demoniac—the spirits +which had once exhibited the shape of man, were transmitted into the shape +of the brute; and even the swine ran down by instinct, and perished in the +waters. +</p> +<br> +<hr class=full> + +<span class=pagenum><A id=page622 name=page622></A>[pg 622]</span> +<a name="bw337s6" id="bw337s6"></a><h2>CEYLON<a id=footnotetag12 +name=footnotetag12></a><a +href="#footnote12"><sup>12</sup></a></h2> + +<p> +There is in the science and process of colonization, as in every complex +act of man, a secret philosophy—which is first suspected through results, +and first expounded by experience. Here, almost more than any where else, +nature works in fellowship with man. Yet all nature is not alike suited to +the purposes of the early colonist; and all men are not alike qualified +for giving effect to the hidden capacities of nature. One system of +natural advantages is designed to have a long precedency of others; and +one race of men is selected and sealed for an eternal preference in this +function of colonizing to the very noblest of their brethren. As +colonization advances, that ground becomes eligible for culture—that +nature becomes full of promise—which in earlier stages of the science was +<i>not</i> so; because the dreadful solitude becomes continually narrower under +the accelerated diffusion of men, which shortens the <i>space</i> of +distance—under the strides of nautical science, which shortens the <i>time</i> +of distance—and under the eternal discoveries of civilization, which +combat with elementary nature. Again, in the other element of colonization, +races of men become known for what they are; the furnace has tried them +all; the truth has justified itself; and if, as at some great memorial +review of armies, some solemn <i>armilustrum</i>, the colonizing nations, since +1500, were now by name called up—France would answer not at all; Portugal +and Holland would stand apart with dejected eyes—dimly revealing the +legend of <i>Fuit Ilium</i>; Spain would be seen sitting in the distance, and, +like Judæa on the Roman coins, weeping under her palm-tree in the vast +regions of the Orellana; whilst the British race would be heard upon every +wind, coming on with mighty hurrahs, full of power and tumult, as some +"hail-stone chorus,"<a id=footnotetag13 +name=footnotetag13></a><a +href="#footnote13"><sup>13</sup></a> and crying aloud to the five hundred millions of +Burmah, China, Japan, and the infinite islands, to make ready their paths +before them. Already a ground-plan, or ichnography, has been laid down of +the future colonial empire. In three centuries, already some outline has +been sketched, rudely adumbrating the future settlement destined for the +planet, some infant castrametation has been marked out for the future +encampment of nations. Enough has been already done to show the course by +which the tide is to flow, to prefigure for languages their proportions, +and for nations to trace their distribution. +</p> +<p> +In this movement, so far as it regards man, in this machinery for sifting +and winnowing the merits of races, there is a system of marvellous means, +which by its very simplicity masks and hides from us the wise profundity +of its purpose. Often-times, in wandering amongst the inanimate world, the +philosopher is disposed to say—this plant, this mineral, this fruit, is +met with so often, not because it is better than others of the same family, +perhaps it is worse, but because its resources for spreading and +naturalizing itself, are, by accident, greater than theirs. That same +analogy he finds repeated in the great drama of colonization. It is not, +says he pensively to himself, the success which measures the merit. It is +not that nature, or that providence, has any final cause at work in +disseminating these British children over every zone and climate of the +earth. Oh, no! far from it! But it is the unfair advantages of these +islanders, which carry them thus potently a-head. Is it so, indeed? +Philosopher, you are wrong. Philosopher, you are envious. You speak +Spanish, philosopher, or even French. Those advantages, which you suppose +to disturb the equities of the case—were they not products of British +energy? Those twenty-five thousand of ships, whose graceful shadows darken +the blue waters in every climate—did they build themselves? That myriad +of acres, laid out in the watery cities of +<span class=pagenum><A id=page623 name=page623></A>[pg 623]</span> +docks—were they sown by the +rain, as the fungus or the daisy? Britain <i>has</i> advantages at this stage +of the race, which make the competition no longer equal—henceforwards it +has become gloriously "unfair"—but at starting we were all equal. Take +this truth from us, philosopher; that in such contests the power +constitutes the title, the man that has the ability to go a-head, is the +man entitled to go a-head; and the nation that <i>can</i> win the place of +leader, is the nation that ought to do so. +</p> +<p> +This colonizing genius of the British people appears upon a grand scale in +Australia, Canada, and, as we may remind the else forgetful world, in the +United States of America; which States are our children, prosper by our +blood, and have ascended to an overshadowing altitude from an infancy +tended by ourselves. But on the fields of India it is, that our aptitudes +for colonization have displayed themselves most illustriously, because +they were strengthened by violent resistance. We found many kingdoms +established, and to these we have given unity; and in process of doing so, +by the necessities of the general welfare, or the mere instincts of +self-preservation, we have transformed them to an empire, rising like an +exhalation, of our own—a mighty monument of our own superior civilization. +</p> +<p> +Ceylon, as a virtual dependency of India, ranks in the same category. +There also we have prospered by resistance; there also we have succeeded +memorably where other nations memorably failed. Of Ceylon, therefore, now +rising annually into importance, let us now (on occasion of this splendid +book, the work of one officially connected with the island, bound to it +also by affectionate ties of services rendered, not less than of unmerited +persecutions suffered) offer a brief, but rememberable account; of Ceylon +in itself, and of Ceylon in its relations historical or economic, to +ourselves. +</p> +<p> +Mr Bennett says of it, with more and less of doubt, three things—of which +any one would be sufficient to detain a reader's attention; viz., 1. That +it is the Taprobane of the Romans; 2. That it was, or has been thought to +be, the Paradise of Scripture; 3. That it is "the most magnificent of the +British <i>insular</i> possessions," or in yet wider language, that it is an +"incomparable colony." This last count in the pretensions of Ceylon is +quite indisputable; Ceylon is in fact already, Ceylon is at this moment, a +gorgeous jewel in the imperial crown; and yet, compared with what it may +be, with what it will be, with what it ought to be, Ceylon is but that +grain of mustard-seed which hereafter is destined to become the stately +tree,<a id=footnotetag14 +name=footnotetag14></a><a +href="#footnote14"><sup>14</sup></a> where the fowls of heaven will lodge for generations. Great are +the promises of Ceylon; great already her performances. Great are the +possessions of Ceylon, far greater her reversions. Rich she is by her +developments, richer by her endowments. She combines the luxury of the +tropics with the sterner gifts of our own climate. She is hot; she is cold. +She is civilized; she is barbarous. She has the resources of the rich; and +she has the energies of the poor. +</p> +<p> +But for Taprobane, but for Paradise, we have a word of dissent. Mr Bennett +is well aware that many men in many ages have protested against the +possibility that Ceylon could realize <i>all</i> the conditions involved in the +ancient Taprobane. Milton, it is true, with other excellent scholars, has +<i>insinuated</i> his belief that probably Taprobane is Ceylon; when our +Saviour in the wilderness sees the great vision of Roman power, expressed, +<i>inter alia</i>, by high officers of the Republic flocking to, or from, the +gates of Rome, and "embassies from regions far remote," crowding the +Appian or the Emilian roads, some +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> "From the Asian kings, and Parthian amongst these;</p> +<p> From India and the golden Chersonese,</p> +<p> And utmost Indian isle Taprobane</p> +———————— +<p> Dusk faces with white silken turbans wreathed;"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +it is probable, from the mention of this island Taprobane following so +closely after that of the Malabar peninsula, that Milton held it to be the +island of Ceylon, and not of Sumatra. In this he does but follow the +stream of geographical critics; and, upon the whole, if any one island +exclusively is to be received for the Roman +<span class=pagenum><A id=page624 name=page624></A>[pg 624]</span> + Taprobane, doubt there can be +none that Ceylon has the superior title. But, as we know that, in regions +less remote from Rome, <i>Mona</i> did not always mean the Isle of Man, nor +<i>Ultima Thule</i> uniformly the Isle of Skye or of St Kilda—so it is pretty +evident that features belonging to Sumatra, and probably to other oriental +islands, blended (through mutual misconceptions of the parties, questioned +and questioning) into one semi-fabulous object not entirely realized in +any locality whatever. The case is precisely as if Cosmas Indicopleustes, +visiting Scotland in the sixth century, should have placed the scene of +any adventure in a town distant six miles from Glasgow and eight miles +from Edinburgh. These we know to be irreconcilable conditions, such as +cannot meet in any town whatever, past or present. But in such a case many +circumstances might, notwithstanding, combine to throw a current of very +strong suspicion upon Hamilton as the town concerned. On the same +principle, it is easy to see that most of those Romans who spoke of +Taprobane had Ceylon in their eye. But that all had not, and of those who +really <i>had</i>, that some indicated by their facts very different islands, +whilst designing to indicate Ceylon, is undeniable; since, amongst other +imaginary characteristics of Taprobane, they make it extend considerably +to the south of the line. Now, with respect to Ceylon, this is notoriously +false; that island lies entirely in the northern tropic, and does not come +within five (hardly more than six) degrees of the equator. Plain it is, +therefore, that Taprobane, it construed very strictly, is an <i>ens +rationis</i>, made up by fanciful composition from various sources, and much +like our own mediæval conceit of Prester John's country, or the fancies +(which have but recently vanished) of the African river Niger, and the +golden city Tombuctoo. These were lies; and yet also, in a limited sense, +they were truths. They were expansions, often fabulous and impossible, +engrafted upon some basis of fact by the credulity of the traveller, or +subsequently by misconception of the scholar. For instance, as to +Tombuctoo, Leo Africanus had authorized men to believe in some vast +African city, central to that great continent, and a focus to some mighty +system of civilization. Others, improving on that chimera, asserted, that +this glorious city represented an inheritance derived from ancient +Carthage; here, it was said, survived the arts and arms of that injured +state; hither, across Bilidulgerid, had the children of Phoenicia fled +from the wrath of Rome; and the mighty phantom of him whose uplifted +truncheon had pointed its path to the carnage of Cannæ, was still the +tutelary genius watching over a vast posterity worthy of himself. Here was +a wilderness of lies; yet, after all, the lies were but so many voluminous +<i>fasciæ</i>, enveloping the mummy of an original truth. Mungo Park came, and +the city of Tombuctoo was shown to be a real existence. Seeing was +believing. And yet, if, before the time of Park, you had avowed a belief +in Tombuctoo, you would have made yourself an indorser of that huge +forgery which had so long circulated through the forum of Europe, and, in +fact, a party to the total fraud. +</p> +<p> +We have thought it right to direct the reader's eye upon this correction +of the common problem as to this or that place—Ceylon for +example—answering to this or that classical name—because, in fact, the +problem is more subtle than it appears to be. If you are asked whether you +believe in the unicorn, undoubtedly you are within the <i>letter</i> of the +truth in replying that you do; for there are several varieties of large +animals which carry a single horn in the forehead.<a id=footnotetag15 +name=footnotetag15></a><a +href="#footnote15"><sup>15</sup></a> But, <i>virtually</i>, by +such an answer you would countenance a falsehood or a doubtful legend, +since you are well aware that, in the idea of an unicorn, your questioner +included the whole traditionary character of the unicorn, as an antagonist +and emulator of the lion, &c.; under which fanciful description, this +animal is properly ranked with the griffin, the mermaid, the basilisk, the +dragon—and +<span class=pagenum><A id=page625 name=page625></A>[pg 625]</span> + sometimes discussed in a supplementary chapter by the current +zoologies, under the idea of heraldic and apocryphal natural history. When +asked, therefore, whether Ceylon is Taprobane, the true answer is, not by +affirmation simply, nor by negation simply, but by both at once; it is, +and it is not. Taprobane includes much of what belongs to Ceylon, but also +more, and also less. And this case is a type of many others standing in +the same logical circumstances. +</p> +<p> +But, secondly, as to Ceylon being the local representative of Paradise, we +may say, as the courteous Frenchman did to Dr Moore, upon the Doctor's +apologetically remarking of a word which he had used, that he feared it +was not good French—"Non, Monsieur, il n'est pas; mais il mérite bien +l'être." Certainly, if Ceylon was not, at least it ought to have been, +Paradise; for at this day there is no place on earth which better supports +the paradisiacal character (always excepting Lapland, as an Upsal +professor observes, and Wapping, as an old seaman reminds us) than this +Pandora of islands, which the Hindoos call Lanka, and Europe calls Ceylon. +We style it the "Pandora" of islands, because, as all the gods of the +heathen clubbed their powers in creating that ideal woman—clothing her +with perfections, and each separate deity subscribing to her dowery some +separate gift—not less conspicuous, and not less comprehensive, has been +the bounty of Providence, running through the whole diapason of +possibilities, to this all-gorgeous island. Whatsoever it is that God has +given by separate allotment and partition to other sections of the planet, +all this he has given cumulatively and redundantly to Ceylon. Was she +therefore happy, was Ceylon happier than other regions, through this +hyper-tropical munificence of her Creator? No, she was not; and the reason +was, because idolatrous darkness had planted curses where Heaven had +planted blessings; because the insanity of man had defeated the +graciousness of God. But another era is dawning for Ceylon; God will now +countersign his other blessings, and ripen his possibilities into great +harvests of realization, by superadding the one blessing of a dovelike +religion; light is thickening apace, the horrid altars of Moloch are +growing dim; woman will no more consent to forego her birthright as the +daughter of God; man will cease to be the tiger-cat that, in the <i>noblest</i> +chamber of Ceylon, he has ever been; and with the new hopes that will now +blossom amidst the ancient beauties of this lovely island, Ceylon will but +too deeply fulfill the functions of a paradise. Too subtly she will lay +fascinations upon man; and it will need all the anguish of disease, and +the stings of death, to unloose the ties which, in coming ages, must bind +the hearts of her children to this Eden of the terraqueous globe. +</p> +<p> +Yet if, apart from all bravuras of rhetoric, Mr Bennett seriously presses +the question regarding Paradise as a question in geography, we are sorry +that we must vote against Ceylon, for the reason that heretofore we have +pledged ourselves in print to vote in favour of Cashmeer; which beautiful +vale, by the way, is omitted in Mr Bennett's list of the candidates for +that distinction already entered upon the roll. Supposing the Paradise of +Scripture to have had a local settlement upon our earth, and not in some +extra-terrene orb, even in that case we cannot imagine that any thing +could now survive, even so much as an angle or a curve, of its original +outline. All rivers have altered their channels; many are altering them +for ever.<a id=footnotetag16 +name=footnotetag16></a><a +href="#footnote16"><sup>16</sup></a> Longitude and latitude might be assigned, at the most, if +even those are not substantially defeated by the Miltonic "pushing askance" +of the poles with regard to the equinoctial. But, finally, we remark, that +whereas human nature has ever been prone to the superstition of local +consecrations and personal idolatries, by means of memorial relics, +apparently it is the usage of God to hallow such remembrances by removing, +abolishing, and confounding all traces of their punctual identities. +<i>That</i> raises them to shadowy powers. By that process such remembrances +pass from the state of base sensual signs, ministering only to a sensual +servitude, into the state of great ideas—mysterious as +<span class=pagenum><A id=page626 name=page626></A>[pg 626]</span> + spirituality is +mysterious, and permanent as truth is permanent. Thus it is, and therefore +it is, that Paradise has vanished; Luz is gone; Jacob's ladder is found +only as an apparition in the clouds; the true cross survives no more among +the Roman Catholics than the true ark is mouldering upon Ararat; no +scholar can lay his hand upon Gethsemane; and for the grave of Moses the +son of Amram, mightiest of lawgivers, though it is somewhere near Mount +Nebo, and in a valley of Moab, yet eye has not been suffered to behold it, +and "no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day."<a id=footnotetag17 +name=footnotetag17></a><a +href="#footnote17"><sup>17</sup></a> +</p> +<p> +If, however as to Paradise in connexion with Ceylon we are forced to say +"<i>No</i>," if as to Taprobane in connexion with Ceylon we say both "<i>Yes</i>" +and "<i>No</i>,"—not the less we come back with a reiterated "<i>Yes, yes, yes</i>," +upon Ceylon as the crest and eagle's plume of the Indies, as the priceless +pearl, the ruby without a flaw, and (once again we say it) as the Pandora +of oriental islands. +</p> +<p> +Yet ends so glorious imply means of corresponding power; and advantages so +comprehensive cannot be sustained unless by a machinery proportionately +elaborate. Part of this machinery lies in the miraculous climate of Ceylon. +Climate? She has all climates. Like some rare human favourite of nature, +scattered at intervals along the line of a thousand years, who has been +gifted so variously as to seem +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> "Not one, but all mankind's epitome,"</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +Ceylon, in order that she might become capable of products without end, +has been made an abstract of the whole earth, and fitted up as a +<i>panorganon</i> for modulating through the whole diatonic scale of climates. +This is accomplished in part by her mountains. No island has mountains so +high. It was the hideous oversight of a famous infidel in the last century, +that, in supposing an Eastern prince <i>of necessity</i> to deny frost and ice +as things impossible to <i>his</i> experience, he betrayed too palpably his own +non-acquaintance with the grand economies of nature. To make acquaintance +with cold, and the products of cold, obviously he fancied it requisite to +travel northwards; to taste of polar power, he supposed it indispensable +to have advanced towards the pole. Narrow was the knowledge in those days, +when a master in Israel might have leave to err thus grossly. Whereas, at +present, few are the people, amongst those not openly making profession of +illiteracy, who do not know that a sultan of the tropics—ay, though his +throne were screwed down by exquisite geometry to the very centre of the +equator—might as surely become familiar with winter by ascending three +miles in altitude, as by travelling three thousand horizontally. In that +way of ascent, it is that Ceylon has her regions of winter and her Arctic +districts. She has her Alps, and she has her alpine tracts for supporting +human life and useful vegetation. Adam's Peak, which of itself is more +than seven thousand feet high, (and by repute the highest range within her +shores,) has been found to rank only fifth in the mountain scale. The +highest is a thousand feet higher. The maritime district, which runs round +the island for a course of nine hundred miles, fanned by the sea-breezes, +makes, with these varying elevations, a vast cycle of secondary +combinations for altering the temperature and for <i>adapting</i> the weather. +The central region has a separate climate of its own. And an inner belt of +country, neither central nor maritime, which from the sea belt is regarded +as inland, but from the centre is regarded as maritime, composes another +chamber of climates: whilst these again, each individually within its +class, are modified into minor varieties by local circumstances as to wind, +by local accidents of position, and by shifting stages of altitude. +</p> +<p> +With all this compass of power, however, (obtained from its hills and its +varying scale of hills,) Ceylon has not much of waste ground, in the sense +of being irreclaimable—for of waste ground, in the sense of being +unoccupied, she has an infinity. What are the dimensions of Ceylon? Of all +islands in this world which we know, in respect of size it most resembles +Ireland, being about one-sixth part less. But, for a particular reason, we +choose to compare it with Scotland, which is very little different in +dimensions from Ireland, having (by some +<span class=pagenum><A id=page627 name=page627></A>[pg 627]</span> + hundred or two of square miles) a +trifling advantage in extent. Now, say that Scotland contains a trifle +more than thirty thousand square miles, the relation of Ceylon to Scotland +will become apparent when we mention that this Indian island contains +about twenty-four thousand five hundred of similar square miles. +</p> +<p> +Twenty-four and a half to thirty—or forty-nine to sixty—there lies the +ratio of Ceylon to Scotland. The ratio in population is not less easily +remembered: Scotland has <i>now</i> (October 1843) hard upon three millions of +people: Ceylon, by a late census, has just three <i>half</i> millions. But +strange indeed, where every thing seems strange, is the arrangement of +this Ceylonese territory and people. Take a peach: what you call the flesh +of the peach, the substance which you eat, is massed orbicularly around a +central stone—often as large as a pretty large strawberry. Now in Ceylon, +the central district, answering to this peach-stone, constitutes a fierce +little Liliputian kingdom, quite independent, through many centuries, of +the lazy belt, the peach-flesh, which swathes and enfolds it, and +perfectly distinct by the character and origin of its population. The +peach-stone is called Kandy, and the people Kandyans. These are a +desperate variety of the tiger-man, agile and fierce as he is, though +smooth, insinuating, and full of subtlety as a snake, even to the moment +of crouching for their last fatal spring. On the other hand the people of +the engirdling zone are called the Cinghalese, spelled according to fancy +of us authors and compositors, who legislate for the spelling of the +British empire, with an S or a C. As to moral virtue, in the sense of +integrity or fixed principle, there is not much lost upon either race: in +that point they are "much of a muchness." They are also both respectable +for their attainments in cowardice; but with this difference, that the +Cinghalese are soft, inert, passive cowards: but your Kandyan is a +ferocious little bloody coward, full of mischief as a monkey, grinning +with desperation, laughing like a hyena, or chattering if you vex him, and +never to be trusted for a moment. The reader now understands why we +described the Ceylonese man as a tiger-cat in his noblest division: for, +after all, these dangerous gentlemen in the peach-stone are a more +promising race than the silky and nerveless population surrounding them. +You can strike no fire out of the Cinghalese: but the Kandyans show fight +continually, and would even persist in fighting, if there were in this +world no gunpowder, (which exceedingly they dislike,) and if their +allowance of arrack were greater. +</p> +<p> +Surely this is the very strangest spectacle exhibited on earth: a kingdom +within a kingdom, an <i>imperium in imperio</i>, settled and maintaining itself +for centuries in defiance of all that Pagan, that Mahommedan, that Jew, or +that Christian, could do. The reader will remember the case of the British +envoy to Geneva, who being ordered in great wrath to "quit the territories +of the republic in twenty-four hours," replied, "By all means: in ten +minutes." And here was a little bantam kingdom, not much bigger than the +irate republic, having its separate sultan, with full-mounted +establishment of peacock's feathers, white elephants, Moorish eunuchs, +armies, cymbals, dulcimers, and all kinds of music, tormentors, and +executioners; whilst his majesty crowed defiance across the ocean to all +other kings, rajahs, soldans, kesars, "flowery" emperors, and +"golden-feet," east or west, be the same more or less; and really with +some reason. For though it certainly <i>is</i> amusing to hear of a kingdom no +bigger than Stirlingshire with the half of Perthshire, standing erect and +maintaining perpetual war with all the rest of Scotland, a little nucleus +of pugnacity, sixty miles by twenty-four, rather more than a match for the +lazy lubber, nine hundred miles long, that dandled it in its arms; yet, as +the trick was done, we cease to find it ridiculous. +</p> +<p> +For the trick <i>was</i> done: and that reminds us to give the history of +Ceylon in its two sections, which will not prove much longer than the +history of Tom Thumb. Precisely three centuries before Waterloo, viz. +<i>Anno Domini</i> 1515, a Portuguese admiral hoisted his sovereign's flag, and +formed a durable settlement at Columbo, which was, and is, considered the +maritime capital of the island. Very nearly halfway on the interval of +time between this event and Waterloo, viz. in 1656 (ante-penultimate year +of Cromwell,) the Portuguese +<span class=pagenum><A id=page628 name=page628></A>[pg 628]</span> + nation made over, by treaty, this settlement +to the Dutch; which, of itself, seems to mark that the sun of the former +people was now declining to the west. In 1796, now forty-seven years ago, +it arose out of the French revolutionary war—so disastrous for +Holland—that the Dutch surrendered it per force to the British, who are +not very likely to surrender it in <i>their</i> turn on any terms, or at any +gentleman's request. Up to this time, when Ceylon passed under our flag, +it is to be observed that no progress whatever, not the least, had been +made in mastering the peach-stone, that old central nuisance of the island. +The little monster still crowed, and flapped his wings on his dunghill, as +had been his custom always in the afternoon for certain centuries. But +nothing on earth is immortal: even mighty bantams must have their decline +and fall; and omens began to show out that soon there would be a dust with +the new master at Columbo. Seven years after our <i>debut</i> on that stage, +the dust began. By the way, it is perhaps an impertinence to remark it, +but there certainly <i>is</i> a sympathy between the motions of the Kandyan +potentate and our European enemy Napoleon. Both pitched into <i>us</i> in 1803, +and we pitched into both in 1815. That we call a coincidence. How the row +began was thus: some incomprehensible intrigues had been proceeding for a +time between the British governor or commandant, or whatever he might be, +and the Kandyan prime minister. This minister, who was a noticeable man, +with large grey eyes, was called <i>Pilamé Tilawé</i>. We write his name after +Mr Bennett: but it is quite useless to study the pronunciation of it, +seeing that he was hanged in 1812 (the year of Moscow)—a fact for which +we are thankful as often as we think of it. <i>Pil</i>. (surely <i>Tilawé</i> cannot +be pronounced Garlic?) managed to get the king's head into Chancery, and +then fibbed him. Why Major-General M'Dowall (then commanding our forces) +should collude with Pil Garlic, is past our understanding. But so it was. +<i>Pil</i>. said that a certain prince, collaterally connected with the royal +house, by name Mootto Sawmé, who had fled to our protection, was, or might +be thought to be, the lawful king. Upon which the British general +proclaimed him. What followed is too shocking to dwell upon. Scarcely had +Mootto, apparently a good creature, been inaugurated, when <i>Pil</i>. proposed +his deposition, to which General M'Dowall consented, and his own (<i>Pil.'s</i>) +elevation to the throne. It is like a dream to say, that this also was +agreed to. King Pil. the First, and, God be thanked! the last, was raised +to the—<i>musnud</i>, we suppose, or whatsoever they call it in Pil.'s jargon. +So far there was little but farce; now comes the tragedy. A certain Major +Davie was placed with a very inconsiderable garrison in the capital of the +Kandyan empire, called by name Kandy. This officer, whom Mr Bennett +somewhere calls the "gallant," capitulated upon terms, and had the +inconceivable folly to imagine that a base Kandyan chief would think +himself bound by these terms. One of them was—that he (Major Davie) and +his troops should be allowed to retreat unmolested upon Columbo. +Accordingly, fully armed and accoutred, the British troops began their +march. At Wattépolowa a proposal was made to Major Davie, that Mootto +Sawmé (our <i>protégé</i> and instrument) should be delivered up to the Kandyan +tiger. Oh! sorrow for the British name! he <i>was</i> delivered. Soon after a +second proposal came, that the British soldiers should deliver up their +arms, and should march back to Kandy. It makes an Englishman shiver with +indignation to hear that even this demand was complied with. Let us pause +for one moment. Wherefore is it, that in all similar cases, in this +Ceylonese case, in Major Baillie's Mysore case, in the Cabool case, +uniformly the privates are wiser than their officers? In a case of +delicacy or doubtful policy, certainly the officers would have been the +party best able to solve the difficulties; but in a case of elementary +danger, where manners disappear, and great passions come upon the stage, +strange it is that poor men, labouring men, men without education, always +judge more truly of the crisis than men of high refinement. But this was +seen by Wordsworth—thus spoke he, thirty-six years ago, of Germany, +contrasted with the Tyrol:— +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> "Her haughty schools</p> +<p> Shall blush; and may not we with sorrow say—</p> +<span class=pagenum><A id=page629 name=page629></A>[pg 629]</span> +<p> A few strong instincts, and a few plain rules,</p> +<p> Among the herdsmen of the Alps, have wrought</p> +<p> More for mankind at this unhappy day</p> +<p> Than all the pride of intellect and thought."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +The regiment chiefly concerned was the 19th, (for which regiment the word +<i>Wattépolowa</i>, the scene of their martyrdom, became afterwards a memorial +war-cry.) Still, to this hour, it forces tears of wrath into our eyes when +we read the recital of the case. A dozen years ago we first read it in a +very interesting book, published by the late Mr Blackwood—the Life of +Alexander. This Alexander was not personally present at the +bloody catastrophe; but he was in Ceylon at the time, and knew the one +sole fugitive<a id=footnotetag18 +name=footnotetag18></a><a +href="#footnote18"><sup>18</sup></a> from that fatal day. The soldiers of the 19th, not even +in that hour of horror, forgot their discipline, or their duty, or their +respectful attachment to their officers. When they were ordered to ground +their arms, (oh, base idiot that could issue such an order!) they +remonstrated most earnestly, but most respectfully. Major Davie, agitated +and distracted by the scene, himself recalled the order. The men resumed +their arms. Alas! again the fatal order was issued; again it was recalled; +but finally, it was issued peremptorily. The men sorrowfully obeyed. We +hurry to the odious conclusion. In parties of twos and of threes, our +brave countrymen were called out by the horrid Kandyan tiger cats. +Disarmed by the frenzy of their moonstruck commander, what resistance +could they make? One after one the parties, called out to suffer, were +decapitated by the executioner. The officers, who had refused to give up +their pistols, finding what was going on, blew out their brains with their +own hands, now too bitterly feeling how much wiser had been the poor +privates than themselves. At length there was stillness on the field. +Night had come on. All were gone— +</p> +<div class=poem> +<div class=stanza> +<p> "And darkness was the buryer of the dead."</p> +</div> +</div> +<p> +The reader may recollect a most picturesque murder near Manchester, about +thirteen or fourteen years ago, perpetrated by two brothers named McKean, +where a servant woman, whose throat had been effectually cut, rose up, +after an interval, from the ground at a most critical moment, (so critical, +that, by that act, and at that second of time, she drew off the murderer's +hand from the throat of a second victim,) staggered, in her delirium, to +the door of a room where sometime a club had been held, doubtless under +some idea of obtaining aid, and at the door, after walking some fifty feet, +dropped down dead. Not less astonishing was the resurrection, as it might +be called, of an English corporal, cut, mangled, remangled, and left +without sign of life. Suddenly he rose up, stiff and gory; dying and +delirious, as he felt himself, with misery from exhaustion and wounds, he +swam rivers, threaded enemies, and moving day and night, came suddenly +upon an army of Kandyans; here he prepared himself with pleasure for the +death that now seemed inevitable, when, by a fortunate accident, for want +of a fitter man, he was selected as an ambassador to the English officer +commanding a Kandyan garrison—and thus once more escaped miraculously. +</p> +<p> +Sometimes, when we are thinking over the great scenes of tragedy through +which Europe passed from 1805 to 1815, suddenly, from the bosom of utter +darkness, a blaze of light arises; a curtain is drawn up; a saloon is +revealed. We see a man sitting there alone, in an attitude of alarm and +expectation. What does he expect? What is it that he fears? He is +listening for the chariot-wheels of a fugitive army. At intervals he +raises his head—and we know him now for the Abbé de Pradt—the place, +Warsaw—the time, early in December 1812. All at once the rushing of +cavalry is heard; the door is thrown open; a stranger enters. We see, as +in Cornelius Agrippa's mirror, his haggard features; it is a momentary +king, having the sign of a felon's death written secretly on his brow; it +is Murat; he raises his hands with a gesture of horror as he advances to M. +l'Abbé. We hear his words—<i>"L'Abbé, all is lost!"</i> +</p> +<p> +Even so, when the English soldier, reeling from his anguish and weariness, +was admitted into the +<span class=pagenum><A id=page630 name=page630></A>[pg 630]</span> + beleaguered fortress, his first words, more homely +in expression than Murat's, were to the same dreadful purpose—"Your +honour," he said, "all is dished;" and this being uttered by way of +prologue, he then delivered himself of the message with which he had been +charged, and <i>that</i> was a challenge from the Kandyan general to come out +and fight without aid from his artillery. The dismal report was just in +time; darkness was then coming on. The English officer spiked his guns; +and, with his garrison, fled by night from a fort in which else he would +have perished by starvation or by storm, had Kandyan forces been equal to +such an effort. This corporal was, strictly speaking, the only man who +<i>escaped</i>, one or two other survivors having been reserved as captives, +for some special reasons. Of this captive party was Major Davie, the +commander, whom Mr Bennett salutes by the title of "gallant," and regrets +that "the strong arm of death" had intercepted his apology. +</p> +<p> +He could have made no apology. Plea or palliation he had none. To have +polluted the British honour in treacherously yielding up to murder (and +absolutely for nothing in return) a prince, whom we ourselves had seduced +into rebellion—to have forced his men and officers into laying down their +arms, and sueing for the mercy of wretches the most perfidious on earth; +these were acts as to which atonement or explanation was hopeless for +<i>him</i>, forgiveness impossible for England. So this man is to be called +"the gallant"—is he? We will thank Mr Bennett to tell us, who was that +officer subsequently seen walking about in Ceylon, no matter whether in +Western Columbo, or in Eastern Trincomalé, long enough for reaping his +dishonour, though, by accident, not for a court-martial? Behold, what a +curse rests in this British island upon those men, who, when the clock of +honour has sounded the hour for their departure, cannot turn their dying +eyes nobly to the land of their nativity—stretch out their hands to the +glorious island in farewell homage, and say with military pride—as even +the poor gladiators (who were but slaves) said to Cæsar, when they passed +his chair to their death "Morituri te salutamus!" This man and Mr Bennett +knows it, because he was incrusted with the leprosy of cowardice, and +because upon him lay the blood of those to whom he should have been <i>in +loco parentis</i>, made a solitude wherever he appeared, men ran from him as +from an incarnation of pestilence; and between him and free intercourse +with his countrymen, from the hour of his dishonour in the field, to the +hour of his death, there flowed a river of separation—there were +stretched lines of interdict heavier than ever Pope ordained—there +brooded a schism like that of death, a silence like that of the grave; +making known for ever the deep damnation of the infamy, which on this +earth settles upon the troubled resting-place of him, who, through +cowardice, has shrunk away from his duty, and, on the day of trial, has +broken the bond which bound him to his country. +</p> +<p> +Surely there needed no arrear of sorrow to consummate this disaster. Yet +two aggravations there were, which afterwards transpired, irritating the +British soldiers to madness. One was soon reported, viz. that 120 sick or +wounded men, lying in an hospital, had been massacred without a motive, by +the children of hell with whom we were contending. The other was not +discovered until 1815. Then first it became known, that in the whole +stores of the Kandyan government, (<i>à fortiori</i> then in the particular +section of the Kandyan forces which we faced,) there had not been more +gunpowder remaining at the hour of Major Davie's infamous capitulation +than 750 lbs. avoirdupois; other munitions of war having been in the same +state of bankruptcy. Five minutes more of resistance, one inspiration of +English pluck, would have placed the Kandyan army in our power—would have +saved the honour of the country—would have redeemed our noble +soldiers—and to Major Davie, would have made the total difference between +lying in a traitor's grave, and lying in Westminster Abbey. +</p> +<p> +Was there no vengeance, no retribution, for these things? Vengeance there +was, but by accident. Retribution there was, but partial and remote. +Infamous it was for the English government at Columbo, as Mr Bennett +insinuates, that having a large fund disposable annually for secret +<span class=pagenum><A id=page631 name=page631></A>[pg 631]</span> +service, between 1796 and 1803, such a rupture <i>could</i> have happened and +have found us unprepared. Equally infamous it was, that summary +chastisement was not inflicted upon the perfidious court of Kandy. What +<i>real</i> power it had, when unaided by villainy amongst ourselves, was shown +in 1804, in the course of which year, one brave officer, Lieutenant +Johnstone of the 19th, with no more than 150 men, including officers, +marched right through the country, in the teeth of all opposition from the +king, and resolutely took<a id=footnotetag19 +name=footnotetag19></a><a +href="#footnote19"><sup>19</sup></a> Kandy in his route. However, for the present, +without a shadow of a reason, since all reasons ran in the other direction, +we ate our leek in silence; once again, but now for the last time, the +bloody little bantam crowed defiance from his dunghill, and tore the +British flag with his spurs. What caused his ruin at last, was literally +the profundity of our own British humiliation; had <i>that</i> been less, had +it not been for the natural reaction of that spectacle, equally hateful +and incredible, upon barbarian chief, as ignorant as he was fiendish, he +would have returned a civil answer to our subsequent remonstrances. In +that case, our government would have been conciliated; and the monster's +son, who yet lives in Malabar, would now be reigning in his stead. But +<i>Diis aliter visum est</i>—earth was weary of this Kandyan nuisance, and the +infatuation, which precipitated its doom, took the following shape. In +1814, certain traders, ten in number, not British but Cinghalese, and +therefore British subjects, entitled to British protection, were wantonly +molested in their peaceable occupations by this Kandyan king. Three of +these traders one day returned to our frontier wearing upon necklaces, +inextricably attached to their throats, their own ears, noses, and other +parts of their own persons, torn away by the pincers of the Kandyan +executioners. The seven others had sunk under their sufferings. Observe +that there had been no charge or imputation against these men, more or +less: <i>stet proratione voluntas</i>. This was too much even for our +all-suffering<a id=footnotetag20 +name=footnotetag20></a><a +href="#footnote20"><sup>20</sup></a> English administration. They sent off a kind of +expostulation, which amounted to this—"How now, my good sir? What are you +up to?" Fortunately for his miserable subjects, (and, as this case showed, +by possibility for many who were <i>not</i> such,) the vain-glorious animal +returned no answer; not because he found any diplomatic difficulty to +surmount, but in mere self glorification, and in pure disdain of <i>us</i>. +What a commentary was <i>that</i> upon our unspeakable folly up to that hour! +</p> +<p> +We are anxious that the reader should go along with the short remainder of +this story, because it bears strongly upon the true moral of our Eastern +policy, of which, hereafter, we shall attempt to unfold the casuistry, in +a way that will be little agreeable to the calumniators of Clive and +Hastings. We do not intend that these men shall have it all their own way +in times to come. Our Eastern rulers have erred always, and erred deeply, +by doing too little rather than too much. They have been <i>too</i> +long-suffering; and have tolerated many nuisances, and many miscreants, +when their duty was—when their power was—to have destroyed them for ever. +And the capital fault of the East India Company—that greatest benefactor +for the East that ever yet has arisen—has been in not publishing to the +world the grounds and details of their policy. Let this one chapter in +that policy, this Kandyan chapter, proclaim how great must have been the +evils from which our "usurpations" (as they are called) have liberated the +earth. For let no man dwell on the rarity, or on the limited sphere, of +such atrocities, even in Eastern despotisms. If the act be rare, is not +the anxiety eternal? If the personal suffering be transitory, is not the +outrage upon human sensibilities, upon the +<span class=pagenum><A id=page632 name=page632></A>[pg 632]</span> + majesty of human nature, upon +the possibilities of light, order, commerce, civilization, of a duration +and a compass to make the total difference between man viler than the +brutes, and man a little lower than the angels? +</p> +<p> +It happened that the first noble, or "Adikar," of the Kandyan king, being +charged with treason at this time, had fled to our protection. That was +enough. Vengeance on <i>him</i>, in his proper person, had become impossible: +and the following was the vicarious vengeance adopted by God's vicegerent +upon earth, whose pastime it had long been to study the ingenuities of +malice, and the possible refinements in the arts of tormenting. Here +follows the published report on this one case:—"The ferocious miscreant +determined to be fully revenged, and immediately sentenced the Adikar's +wife and children, together with his brother and the brother's wife, to +death after the following fashion. The children were ordered to be +decapitated before their mother's face, and their heads to be pounded in a +rice-mortar by their mother's hands; which, to save herself from a +diabolical torture and exposure," (concealments are here properly +practised in the report, for the sake of mere human decency,) "she +submitted to attempt. The eldest boy shrunk (shrank) from the dread ordeal, +and clung to his agonized parent for safety; but his younger brother +stepped forward, and encouraged him to submit to his fate, placing himself +before the executioner by way of setting an example. The last of the +children to be beheaded was an infant at the breast, from which it was +forcibly torn away, and its mother's milk was dripping from its innocent +mouth as it was put into the hands of the grim executioner." Finally, the +Adikar's brother was executed, having no connexion (so much as alleged) +with his brother's flight; and then the two sisters-in-law, having stones +attached to their feet, were thrown into a tank. These be thy gods, O +Egypt! such are the processes of Kandyan law, such is its horrid religion, +and such the morality which it generates! And let it not be said, these +were the excesses of a tyrant. Man does not brutalize, by possibility, in +pure insulation. He gives, and he receives. It is by sympathy, by the +contagion of example, by reverberation of feelings, that every man's heart +is moulded. A prince, to have been such as this monster, must been bred +amongst a cruel people: a cruel people, as by other experience we know +them to be, naturally produce an inhuman prince, and such a prince +reproduces his own corrupters. +</p> +<p> +Vengeance, however, was now at hand: a better and more martial governor, +Sir Robert Brownrigg, was in the field since 1812. On finding that no +answer was forthcoming, he marched with all his forces. But again these +were inadequate to the service; and once again, as in 1803, we were on the +brink of being sacrificed to the very lunacies of retrenchment. By a mere +godsend, more troops happened to arrive from the Indian continent. We +marched in triumphal ease to the capital city of Kandy. The wicked prince +fled: Major Kelly pursued him—to pursue was to overtake—to overtake was +to conquer. Thirty-seven ladies of his <i>zenana</i>, and his mother, were +captured elsewhere: and finally the whole kingdom capitulated by a solemn +act, in which we secured to it what we had no true liberty to secure, viz. +the <i>inviolability</i> of their horrid idolatries. Render unto Cæsar the +things which are Cæsar's—but this was <i>not</i> Cæsar's. Whether in some +other concessions, whether in volunteering certain civil privileges of +which the conquered had never dreamed, and which, for many a long year +they will not understand, our policy were right or wrong—may admit of +much debate. Often-times, but not always, it is wise and long-sighted +policy to presume in nations higher qualities than they have, and +developments beyond what really exist. But as to religion, there can be no +doubt, and no debate at all. To exterminate their filthy and bloody +abominations of creed and of ritual practice, is the first step to any +serious improvement of the Kandyan people: it is the <i>conditio sine quâ +non</i> of all regeneration for this demoralized race. And what we ought to +have promised, all that in mere civil equity we had the right to promise; +was—that we would <i>tolerate</i> such follies, would make no war upon such +superstitions as should not be openly immoral. One word more than this +covenant was equally beyond the powers of one party to that covenant, and +the highest interests of all parties. +</p> +<p> +Philosophically speaking, this great +<span class=pagenum><A id=page633 name=page633></A>[pg 633]</span> + revolution may not close perhaps for +centuries: historically, it closed about the opening of the Hundred Days +in the <i>annus mirabilis</i> of Waterloo. On the 13th of February 1815, Kandy, +the town, was occupied by the British troops, never again to be resigned. +In March, followed the solemn treaty by which all parties assumed their +constitutional stations. In April, occurred the ceremonial part of the +revolution, its public notification and celebration, by means of a grand +processional entry into the capital, stretching for upwards of a mile; and +in January 1816, the late king, now formally deposed, "a stout, +good-looking Malabar, with a peculiarly keen and roving eye, and a +restlessness of manner, marking unbridled passions," was conveyed in the +governor's carriage to the jetty at Trincomalee, from which port H.M.S. +Mexico conveyed him to the Indian continent: he was there confined in the +fortress of Vellore, famous for the bloody mutiny amongst the Company's +sepoy troops, so bloodily suppressed. In Vellore, this cruel prince, whose +name was Sree Wickremé Rajah Singha, died some years after; and one son +whom he left behind him, born during his father's captivity, may still be +living. But his ambitious instincts, if any such are working within him, +are likely to be seriously baffled in the very outset by the precautions +of our diplomacy; for one article of the treaty proscribes the descendants +of this prince as enemies of Ceylon, if found within its precincts. In +this exclusion, pointed against a single family, we are reminded of the +Stuart dynasty in England, and the Bonaparte dynasty in France. We cannot, +however, agree with Mr Bennett's view of this parallelism—either in so +far as it points our pity towards Napoleon, or in so far as it points the +regrets of disappointed vengeance to the similar transportation of Sree. +</p> +<p> +Pity is misplaced upon Napoleon, and anger is wasted upon Sree. He ought +to have been hanged, says Mr Bennett; and so said many of Napoleon. But it +was not our mission to punish either. The Malabar prince had broken no +faith with <i>us</i>: he acted under the cursed usages of a cruel people and a +bloody religion. These influences had trained a bad heart to corresponding +atrocities. Courtesy we did right to pay him, for our own sakes as a high +and noble nation. What we could not punish judicially, it did not become +us to revile. And finally, we much doubt whether hanging upon a tree, +either in Napoleon's case or Sree's, would not practically have been found +by both a happy liberation from that bitter cup of mortification which +both drank off in their latter years. +</p> +<p> +At length, then, the entire island of Ceylon, about a hundred days before +Waterloo, had become ours for ever. Hereafter Ceylon must inseparably +attend the fortunes of India. Whosoever in the East commands the sea, must +command the southern empires of Asia; and he who commands those empires, +must for ever command the Oriental islands. One thing only remains to be +explained; and the explanation, we fear, will be harder to understand than +the problem: it is—how the Portuguese and Dutch failed, through nearly +three centuries, to master this little obstinate <i>nucleus</i> of the peach. +It seems like a fairy tale to hear the answer: Sinbad has nothing wilder. +"They were," says Mr Bennett, "repeatedly masters of the capital." What +was it, then, that stopped them from going on? "At one period, the former +(<i>i.e.</i> the Portuguese) had conquered all but the impregnable position +called <i>Kandi Udda</i>." And what was it then that lived at Kandi Udda? The +dragon of Wantley? or the dun cow of Warwick? or the classical Hydra? No; +it was thus:—<i>Kandi</i> was "in the centre of the mountainous region, +surrounded by impervious jungles, with secret approaches for only one man +at a time." Such tricks might have answered in the time of Ali Baba and +the forty thieves; but we suspect that, even then, an "<i>open sesame</i>" +would have been found for this pestilent defile. Smoking a cigar through +it, and dropping the sparks, might have done the business in the dry +season. But, in very truth, we imagine that political arrangements were +answerable for this long failure in checkmating the king, and not at all +the cunning passage which carried only one inside passenger. The +Portuguese permitted the Kandyan natives to enter their army; and that one +fact gives us a short solution of the case. For, as Mr Bennett observes, +the principal features of these Kandyans are merely "human imitations of +their own +<span class=pagenum><A id=page634 name=page634></A>[pg 634]</span> + indigenous leopards—treachery and ferocity," as the +circumstances may allow them to profit by one or the other. Sugarcandy, +however, appears to have given very little trouble to <i>us</i>; and, at all +events, it is ours now, together with all that is within its gates. It is +proper, however, to add, that since the conquest of this country in 1815, +there have been three rebellions, viz. in 1817-18, in 1834, and finally in +1842. This last comes pretty well home to our own times and concerns; so +that we naturally become curious as to the causes of such troubles. The +two last are said to have been inconsiderable in their extent. But the +earlier of the three, which broke out so soon after the conquest as 1817, +must, we conceive, have owed something to intrigues promoted on behalf of +the exiled king. His direct lineal descendants are excluded, as we have +said, from the island for ever; but his relatives, by whom we presume to +be meant his <i>cognati</i> or kinspeople in the female line, not his <i>agnati</i>, +are allowed to live in Kandy, suffering only the slight restriction of +confinement to one street out of five, which compose this ancient +metropolis. Meantime, it is most instructive to hear the secret account of +those causes which set in motion this unprincipled rebellion. For it will +thus be seen how hopeless it is, under the present idolatrous superstition +of Ceylon, to think of any attachment in the people, by means of good +government, just laws, agriculture promoted, or commerce created. More +stress will be laid, by the Ceylonese, on our worshipping a carious tooth +two inches long, ascribed to the god Buddha, (but by some to an +ourang-outang,) than to every mode of equity, good faith, or kindness. It +seems that the Kandyans and we reciprocally misunderstood the ranks, +orders, precedencies, titular distinctions, and external honours attached +to them in our several nations. But none are so deaf as those that have no +mind to hear. And we suspect that our honest fellows of the 19th Regiment, +whose comrades had been murdered in their beds by the cursed Kandyan +"nobles," neither did nor would understand the claim of such assassins to +military salutes, to the presenting of arms, or to the turning out of the +guard. Here, it is said, began the ill-blood, and also on the claim of the +Buddhist priests to similar honours. To say the simple truth, these +soldiers ought not to have been expected to show respect towards the +murderers of their brethren. The priests, with their shaven crowns and +yellow robes, were objects of mere mockery to the British soldier. "Not to +have been kicked," it should have been said, "is gain; not to have been +cudgeled, is for you a ground of endless gratitude. Look not for salutes; +dream not of honours." For our own part—again we say it—let the +government look a-head for endless insurrections. We tax not the rulers of +Ceylon with having caused the insurrections. We hold them blameless on +that head; for a people so fickle and so unprincipled will never want such +matter for rebellion as would be suspected, least of all, by a wise and +benevolent man. But we <i>do</i> tax the local government with having +ministered to the possibility of rebellion. We British have not sowed the +ends and objects of conspiracies; but undoubtedly, by our lax +administration, we have sowed the <i>means</i> of conspiracies. We must not +transfer to a Pagan island our own mild code of penal laws: the subtle +savage will first become capable of these, when he becomes capable of +Christianity. And to this we must now bend our attention. Government must +make no more offerings of musical clocks to the Pagan temples; for such +propitiations are understood by the people to mean—that we admit their +god to be naturally stronger than ours. Any mode or measure of excellence +but that of power, they understand not, as applying to a deity. Neither +must our government any longer wink at such monstrous practices as that of +children ejecting their dying parents, in their last struggles, from the +shelter of their own roofs, on the plea that death would pollute their +dwellings. Such compliances with Paganism, make Pagans of ourselves. Nor, +again, ought the professed worship of devils to be tolerated, more than +the Fetish worship, or the African witchcraft, was tolerated in the West +Indies. Having, at last, obtained secure possession of the entire island, +with no reversionary fear over our heads, (as, up to Waterloo, we always +had,) that possibly at a general peace we might find it diplomatically +prudent to let it return under Dutch possession, we have no excuse for any +longer neglecting the jewel in our +<span class=pagenum><A id=page635 name=page635></A>[pg 635]</span> + power. We gave up to Holland, through +unwise generosity, already one splendid island, viz. Java. Let one such +folly suffice for one century. +</p> +<p> +For the same reason—namely, the absolute and undivided possession which +we now hold of the island—it is at length time that our home government +should more distinctly invite colonists, and make known the unrivaled +capabilities of this region. So vast are our colonial territories, that +for every class in our huge framework of society we have separate and +characteristic attractions. In some it is chiefly labour that is wanted, +capital being in excess. In others these proportions are reversed. In some +it is great capitalists that are wanted for the present; in others almost +exclusively small ones. Now, in Ceylon, either class will be welcome. It +ought also to be published every where, that immediately after the +conquest of Kandy, the government entered upon the Roman career of +civilization, and upon that also which may be considered peculiarly +British. Military roads were so carried as to pierce and traverse all the +guilty fastnesses of disease, and of rebellion by means of disease. +Bridges, firmly built of satin-wood, were planted over every important +stream. The Kirimé canal was completed in the most eligible situation. The +English institution of mail-coaches was perfected in all parts of the +island. At this moment there are three separate modes of itinerating +through the island—viz., by mail-coach, by buggy, or by palanquin; to say +nothing of the opportunities offered at intervals, along the maritime +provinces, for coasting by ships or boats. To the botanist, the +mineralogist, the naturalist, the sportsman, Ceylon offers almost a +virgin Eldorado. To a man wishing to combine the lucrative pursuits of the +colonist with the elegances of life, and with the comforts of compatriot +society, not (as in Australia, or in American back settlements) to weather +the hardships of Robinson Crusoe, the invitations from the infinite +resources of Ceylon are past all count or estimate. "For my own part," +says Mr Bennett, who is <i>now</i> a party absolutely disinterested, "having +visited all but the northern regions of the globe, I have seen nothing to +equal this incomparable country." Here a man may purchase land, with +secure title, and of a good tenure, at five shillings the acre; this, at +least, is the upset price, though in some privileged situations it is +known to have reached seventeen shillings. A house may be furnished in the +Morotto style, and with luxurious contrivances for moderating the heat in +the hotter levels of the island, at fifty pounds sterling. The native +furniture is both cheap and excellent in quality, every way superior, +intrinsically, to that which, at five times the cost, is imported from +abroad. Labour is pretty uniformly at the rate of six-pence English for +twelve hours. Provisions of every sort and variety are poured out in +Ceylon from an American <i>cornucopia</i> of some Saturnian age. Wheat, +potatoes, and many esculent plants, or fruits, were introduced by the +British in the great year, (and for this island, in the most literal sense, +the era of a new earth and new heavens)—the year of Waterloo. From that +year dates, for the Ceylonese, the day of equal laws for rich and poor, +the day of development out of infant and yet unimproved advantages; +finally—if we are wise, and they are docile—the day of a heavenly +religion displacing the <i>avowed</i> worship of devils, and giving to the +people a new nature, a new heart, and hopes as yet not dawning upon their +dreams. How often has it been said by the vile domestic calumniators of +British policy, by our own anti-national deceivers, that if tomorrow we +should leave India, no memorial would attest that ever we had been there. +Infamous falsehood! damnable slander! Speak, Ceylon, to <i>that</i>. True it is, +that the best of our gifts—peace, freedom, security, and a new standard +of public morality—these blessings are like sleep, like health, like +innocence, like the eternal revolutions of day and night, which sink +inaudibly into human hearts, leaving behind (as sweet vernal rains) no +flaunting records of ostentation and parade; we are not the nation of +triumphal arches and memorial obelisks; but the sleep, the health, the +innocence, the grateful vicissitudes of seasons, reproduce themselves in +fruits and products enduring for generations, and overlooked by the +slanderer only because they are too diffusive to be noticed as +extraordinary, and benefiting by no light of contrast, simply because our +own beneficence has swept away the ancient wretchedness that could have +furnished that +<span class=pagenum><A id=page636 name=page636></A>[pg 636]</span> + contrast. Ceylon, of itself, can reply victoriously to such +falsehoods. Not yet fifty years have we held this island; not yet thirty +have we had the <i>entire</i> possession of the island; and (what is more +important to a point of this nature) not yet thirty have we had that +secure possession which results from the consciousness that our government +is not meditating to resign it. Previously to Waterloo, our tenure of +Ceylon was a provisional tenure. With the era of our Kandyan conquest +coincides the era of our absolute appropriation, signed and countersigned +for ever. The arrangements, of that day at Paris, and by a few subsequent +Congresses of revision, are like the arrangements of Westphalia in +1648—valid until Christendom shall be again convulsed to her foundations. +From that date is, therefore, justly to be inaugurated our English career +of improvement. Of the roads laid open through the island, we have spoken. +The attempts at improvement of the agriculture and horticulture furnish +matter already for a romance, if told of any other than this wonderful +labyrinth of climates. The openings for commercial improvement are not +less splendid. It is a fact infamous to the Ceylonese, that an island, +which might easily support twenty millions of people, has been liable to +famine, not unfrequently, with a population of fifteen hundred thousand. +This has already ceased to be a possibility: is <i>that</i> a blessing of +British rule? Not only many new varieties of rice have been introduced, +and are now being introduced, adapted to opposite extremes of weather: and +soil—some to the low grounds warm and abundantly irrigated, some to the +dry grounds demanding far less of moisture—but also other and various +substitutes have been presented to Ceylon. Manioc, maize, the potato, the +turnip, have all been cultivated. Mr Bennett himself would, in ancient +Greece, have had many statues raised to his honour for his exemplary +bounties of innovation. The food of the people is now secure. And, as +regard their clothing or their exports, there is absolutely no end to the +new prospects opened before them by the English. Is <i>cotton</i> a British +gift? Is sugar? Is coffee? We are not the men lazily and avariciously to +anchor our hopes on a pearl fishery; we rouse the natives to cultivate +their salt fish and shark fisheries. Tea will soon be cultivated more +hopefully than in Assam. Sugar, coffee, cinnamon, pepper, are all +cultivated already. Silk worms and mulberry-trees were tried with success, +and opium with <i>virtual</i> success, (though in that instance defeated by an +accident,) under the auspices of Mr Bennett. Hemp (and surely it is +wanted?) will be introduced abundantly: indigo is not only grown in plenty, +but it appears that a beautiful variety of indigo, a violet-coloured +indigo, exists as a weed in Ceylon. Finally, in the running over hastily +the <i>summa genera</i> of products by which Ceylon will soon make her name +known to the ends of the earth, we may add, that salt provisions in every +kind, of which hitherto Ceylon did not furnish an ounce, will now be +supplied redundantly; the great mart for this will be in the vast bosom of +the Indian ocean; and at the same time we shall see the scandal wiped +away—that Ceylon, the headquarters of the British navy in the East, could +not supply a cock-boat in distress with a week's salt provisions, from her +own myriads of cattle, zebus, buffaloes, or cows. +</p> +<p> +Ceylon has this one disadvantage for purposes of theatrical effect; she is +like a star rising heliacally, and hidden in the blaze of the sun: any +island, however magnificent, becomes lost in the blaze of India. But +<i>that</i> does not affect the realities of the case. She has <i>that</i> within +which passes show. Her one calamity is in the laziness of her native +population; though in this respect the Kandyans are a more hopeful race +than the Cinghalese. But the evil for both is, that they want the +<i>motives</i> to exertion. These will be created by a new and higher +civilization. Foreign labourers will also be called for; a mixed race will +succeed in the following generations; and a mixed breed in man is always +an improved breed. Witness every where the people of colour contrasted +with the blacks. Then will come the great race between man indefinitely +exalted, and glorious tropical nature indefinitely developed. Ceylon will +be born again, in our hands she will first answer to the great summons of +nature; and will become, in fact, what by Providential destiny, she +is—the queen lotus of the Indian seas, and the Pandora of islands. +</p> +<br> +<hr class=full> + +<span class=pagenum><A id=page637 name=page637></A>[pg 637]</span> +<a name="bw337s7" id="bw337s7"></a><h2>COMMERCIAL POLICY.</h2> + +<h3>SHIPS, COLONIES, AND COMMERCE.</h3> + +<p> +In our September number, we succeeded in establishing the fact, upon the +best official records which could be accessible either to ourselves or to +Mr Cobden, that the renowned Leaguer had magnified that portion of the +army estimates, or expenditure, falling properly under the lead of +colonial charge, by about thirty-five per cent beyond its real amount, as +tested <i>seriatim</i> and starting upon his own arithmetical elements of gross +numbers and values. We arrived at the truth by the careful process of +dissecting, analysing, and classifying, under each colonial head, the +various items of which his gross sum of aggregates must necessarily be +composed; and the result was, that of the <i>four millions and a-half +sterling</i>, with such dauntless assurance set down as the proportion of +army charge incurred for the colonies by the parent state, it was found, +and proved in detail by official returns, colony by colony, and summed up +in tabular array at the close, that the very conscientiously calculating +Leaguer had made no scruple, under his lumping system, of overlaying +colonial trade with upwards of one million and a half of army expenditure, +one million and a quarter of which, in all probability, appertaining to, +and forming part of the cost nationally at which foreign trade was carried +on. The cunning feat was bravely accomplished by ranging Gibraltar, Malta, +&c. &c., as trading and producing colonies, for the purpose of swelling +out the colonial army cost; whilst, to complete the cheat cleverly, they +were again turned to account in his comparative statistics of foreign and +colonial trade, to the detriment of the latter, by carrying all the +commerce with, or through them, to the credit of foreign trade. This was +ringing the changes to one tune with some effect, for the time being—and +so astutely timed and intended, that no discussion could be taken in the +House of Commons upon the informal motion, serving as the peg on which to +hang the prepared speech of deceptive figures and assertions inflicted on +the House the 22d of June last; whilst thus, as the Leaguer shrewdly +anticipated, it might run uncontroverted for months to come until another +session, and, through <i>Anti-Corn-Law circulars</i> and tracts of the League, +do the dirty work of the time for which concocted, when no matter how +consigned and forgotten afterwards among the numberless other lies of the +day, fabricated by the League. Unluckily for the crafty combination, +<i>Blackwood</i> was neither slow to detect, nor tardy in unmasking, the +premeditated imposture, the crowning and final points of which we now +propose to deal with and demolish. Betwixt the relative importance in the +cost, and in the profit and loss sense, of foreign and colonial trade, on +which the question of the advantages or disadvantages attending the +possession or retention of colonies is made exclusively to hinge, with a +narrow-mindedness incapable of appreciating the other high political and +social interests, the moral and religious considerations, moreover, +involved—we shall now proceed with the task of arbitrating and striking +the balance. If that balance should little correspond with the bold and +unscrupulous allegations of Mr Cobden—if it should be found to derogate +from the assumed super-eminence of the foreign trading interest over the +colonial, let it be remembered that the invidious discussion was not +raised by us, nor by any member of the Legislature who can rightfully be +classed as the representative of great national and constitutional +principles; that the distinction and disjunction of interests, both +national, with the absurd attempt unduly to elevate the one by unjustly +depreciating the other, is the work of the League alone, which, having +originated the senseless cry of "class interests," would seem doggedly +determined to establish the fact, <i>per fas et nefas</i>, as the means of +funding and perpetuating class divisions. +</p> +<blockquote> +<tt> +<span class=pagenum><A id=page638 name=page638></A>[pg 638]</span> +<br> +In our last number, we left Mr Cobden's<br> + sum total of army expenditure<br> + for colonial account<br> + charged by him, at + + + +L.4,500,000 +<br> +Reduced by deductions for<br> + military and other stations,<br> + maintained for the<br> + protection and promotion<br> + of foreign trade,<br> + for the suppression of<br> + slave dealing, and as penal<br> + colonies, in the total<br> + amount of — + + + +1,550,000<br> + + + + +—————————————<br> +<br> +To apparent colonial<br> + charge, — + + + + L.2,950,000<br> +</tt> +</blockquote> +<p> +We have, however, to reform this statement, so far as Mr Cobden's basis +upon which founded. Accustomed to his blunders undesigned and mistatements +intentional as we are, it is not always easy to ascertain their extent at +the moment. Thus, the army estimates for 1843, amounting to L.6,225,000 in +the whole, as he states, include a charge of, say about L.2,300,000 for +"half-pay, pensions, superannuations, &c.," for upwards of 80,000 officers +and men. This fact it suited his convenience to overlook. Now, of this +number of men it is not perhaps too much to assume, that more than +one-half consists of the noble wreck and remainder of those magnificent +armies led to victory by the illustrious Wellington, but certainly not in +the colonies, and the present cost of half-pay and invaliding not +therefore chargeable to colonial account. It may be taken for granted, +that at least to the amount of L.1,300,000 should be placed against +ancient foreign service, separate from colonial; whilst, for the balance, +home, foreign, and colonial service since the war may be admitted to enter +in certain proportions each. Deducting, in the first place, from the total +estimates of, say +</p> +<blockquote> +<tt> +<br> + + + + +L.6,225,000 +<br> +The "dead-weight" of<br> + pensions, &c., + + + +2,300,000<br> + + + + +——————————————— +<br> +We have, as expenditure<br> + for military force on<br> + foot, L.3,925,000, but<br> + say — + + + + +L.4,000,000 +<br> +Taking the Cobden dictum<br> + of three-fourths of<br> + this charge for the colonies,<br> + we have in round<br> + numbers, say — + + + +3,000,000<br> + + + + +——————————————— +<br> +And the incredibly absurd<br> + sum left for home and<br> + foreign service of + + + +L.1,000,000 +</tt> +</blockquote> +<p> +As we have, in our last number, established deductions from the gross sum +of L.4,500,000 put down to the colonies by Mr Cobden, to the amount of +L.1,550,000, we shall now remodel our table thus:— +</p> +<blockquote> +<tt> +<br> +To colonial account, as per Mr Cobden, of active<br> + force, — + + + +L.3,000,000 +<br> +Add colonial proportion of half-pay, pensions,<br> + &c., as per id., three-fourths of L.1,000,000 + +750,000<br> + + + + +——————————————— +<br> + +L.3,750,000<br> +<br> +Deduct military and other stations, falsely called<br> + colonial, as per former account, — + + +L.1,550,000 +<br> +Deduct again charges for the Chinese war, exact<br> + amount unknown, deceptively included in colonial<br> + account—say for only + + + +250,000<br> + + + + +——————————————— +<br> + + + + + +1,800,000 +<br> +Approximate, but still surcharged proportion of army estimates<br> + for colonial service, on Mr Cobden's absurd basis of<br> + three-fourths, + + + +L.1,950,000 +</tt> +</blockquote> +<p> +This is a woful falling off from Mr Cobden's wholesale colonial invoice of +<i>four and a half millions sterling</i>! It amounts to a discount or rebate +upon his statistical ware of L.2,550,000, or say, not far short of sixty +per cent. Had the Leaguer been in the habit of dealing cotton wares to his +customers, so damaged in texture or colours as are his wares political and +economical, we are inclined to conceit, that he would long since have +arrived at the <i>finiquito de todas cuentas</i>. +</p> +<p> +We now come to his naval cost of colonies, with a margin for ordnance as +well. On this head, Mr Cobden remarks, with much sagacity—and, for once, +Mr Cobden states one fact in +<span class=pagenum><A id=page639 name=page639></A>[pg 639]</span> + which we may agree with him:—"But the +colonies had no ships to form a navy. The mother country had to send them +ships to guard their territories, which were not paid for by the colonies, +but out of the taxation of this country. The navy estimates for this year +amounted to L.6,322,000. He had no means of ascertaining what proportion +of this large amount was required for their colonies; but a very large +proportion of it was taken for the navy in their colonies. The ordnance +estimate was L.1,849,142, a large share of which was required for their +colonial expenditure. The House would find, that from the lowest estimate, +from L.5,000,000 to L.6,000,000 out of the taxes of this country were +required for maintaining their colonial army and navy." True it is, the +colonies have no ships of war; true, the navy expenses count for the +gigantic sum stated—in the estimates at least, and estimates seldom fall +short, however budgets may; true, also, that ordnance is the heavy item +represented. And we also are without the means for any, not to say +accurate, but fair approximative estimate of the proportion of this +expenditure which may be incurred for, and duly chargeable against the +colonies. In the case of the army, as we have shown, the possession and +facilities of reference to documents, enabled us to resolve Mr Cobden's +bill of totals, in one line, into the elements of which composed, to +classify the items under distinct heads, and so to detect the errors, and +redress the balance of his own account. The authorities, of official origin +mostly, to which we had recourse, were equally open to Cobden, had he been +actuated by an anxious desire to arrive at the truth, earnest in his +enquiries after the means of information, laborious in his investigations, +and, beyond all, with honesty of purpose resolved nothing to withhold, nor +aught to set down in malice, as the result of his researches. +Unfortunately, the navy is not a stationary body, as the army may be said +to be; squadrons are not fixtures like corps in garrison; here to-day and +gone to morrow. The naval strength on the various stations, never +permanent, escapes calculation, as the due apportionment of expenditure +between each, and again of the quotas corresponding to the colonies or to +foreign commerce alone, defies any approach to accurate analysis. But we +have at least common observation and common sense to satisfy us that but a +small proportion of the naval outlay can be justly laid to colonial +account, because so unimportant a proportion of the naval armament afloat, +can be required for colonial service or defence. We have, assuredly, a +certain number of gun-boats and schooners on the Canadian lakes, which are +purely for colonial purposes; and we may have some half-a-dozen vessels of +war prowling about the St Lawrence and the British American waters, which +may range under the colonial category. Wherever else our eyes be cast, it +would be difficult to find one colony, east or west, which can be said to +need, or gratuitously to be favoured with, a naval force for protection. +We have a naval station at Halifax chargeable colonially. We have also a +naval station, with headquarters at Jamaica, but certainly that forms no +part of a colonial appendage. The whole of the force on that station is +employed either in cruizing after slavers, and assisting to put down the +slave trade, or it is hovering about the shores of the Spanish Main and +the Gulf of Mexico, for the protection of British foreign commerce, for +redressing the wrongs to British subjects and interests in Colombia, +Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, or Hayti, or for conveying foreign specie and +bullion from those countries for the behoof of British merchants at home. +We have a naval station at the Cape of Good Hope, with the maintenance of +which, that colony, Australia, New Zealand, &c., may be partly debited. +And we have a naval station in India, the expense of which, so far as +required for that great colonial empire, is, we believe, borne entirely by +India herself. But by far the largest proportion of the expense is +incurred, as the great bulk of the force is destined, for the protection +of foreign commerce in the Indian and Chinese seas. +</p> +<p> +If we are to seek where the British navy is really to be found and heard +of in masses, we have only to voyage to Brazil, where whole squadrons +divide their occupations betwixt coursing slavers and waiting upon foreign +commerce. Further south, we find the River Plate blocked up with +<span class=pagenum><A id=page640 name=page640></A>[pg 640]</span> + British +war ships, watching over the interests of British commerce, and +interposing betwixt the lives and properties of thousands of British +subjects, and the unslaked thirst of the daggers of Rosas and his +sanguinary <i>Mas-horcas</i>, that Ægis flag before which the most fearless +and ferocious have quailed, and quail yet. So also, rounding Cape Horn, +traversing the vast waters of the Great Pacific, the British ensign may +ever be met, and swarming, too, on those west and northwestern coasts of +Spanish America, where, as from Bolivia to California, war and anarchy +eternal seem to reign. Assuredly, no colonial interests, and as little do +political combinations, carry to those far off regions, and there keep, +such large detachments of the British fleet. Nearer home we need not +signalize the Mediterranean and Levant, where British navies range as if +hereditary owners of those seas nor the western coasts of Spain, along +which duly cruise our men-of-war, keeping watch and ward; certainly in +neither one case nor the other for colonial objects. +</p> +<p> +From this sweep over the seas, it may readily be gathered how +comparatively insignificant the proportion in which the British colonies +are amenable for the cost of the British navy; and, on the contrary, how +large the cost incurred for the guardianship of the foreign commerce of +Great Britain. In the absence of those authentic data which would warrant +the construction of approximate estimates, we are willing, however, as +before, to accept the basis of Mr Cobden's—not calculations, but—rough +guesses; and as the colonial share of army, navy, and ordnance estimates +altogether, he taxes in "from five to six millions," of which four and a +half millions, according to a previous statement of his, were for the army +alone, we arrive at the simple fact, that the navy and ordnance are rated +rather widely at a cost ranging from half a million to one million and a +half sterling per annum. The mean term of this would be three quarters of +a million; but truth may afford to be liberal, and so we throw in the +other quarter, and debit the colonies with one million sterling for naval +service, which, so far as isolated sections of the great body political, +they can hardly be said, with exceptions noted before, either to receive +or need. We have before, and we believe conclusively, disposed of Mr +Cobden's colonial army estimates; and now we arrive at the total burden, +under the weight of which the empire staggers on colonial account. +</p> +<blockquote> +<tt> +<br> +Army charge, L.1,950,000, but say + + +L.2,000,000 +<br> +Navy and Ordnance, + + + +1,000,000 +<br> + + + + +——————————————— +<br> +Total to Colonial debit, + + + +L.3,000,000 +</tt> +</blockquote> +<p> +Mr Cobden enumerates a variety of expenditure against the colonies besides, +under the head of civil establishments, public works, and grants for +educational and religious purposes. We need not—there is no occasion to +discuss these minutiæ with him; we prefer to make him a bargain at once, +and so we throw in, against these civil contingencies for the colonies, +the whole lump of the estimates for the diplomatic and consular service, +Dr Bowring's commissionerships inclusive; all the charges for civil +government, education, religion, public works, &c., besides of those +stations, such as Gibraltar, Malta, the Ionian Isles, Singapore, Penang, +&c., occupied altogether, or chiefly, for the purposes of foreign commerce, +partially from political views, but assuredly not at all with reference to +colonial objects. +If he be not content with this bargain of a set-off, we are quite ready to +call over the account with him at any time, crediting him not more +liberally than justly besides, with all the prodigal waste imposed upon +the country by the colonial imposture facetiously styled the +"self-supporting system," in his smart exposure of which our sympathies +are all with him, zealous advocates though we be of colonization, of +colonization on a national scale moreover, and therefore on a national and +commensurate scale of expenditure; which, however, can only be undertaken +by the government when the fiat of financial insolvency which, with the +Exchequer bill fraud, was the last legacy of Mr Spring Rice and Lord +Monteagle, shall be superseded, and the Treasury rehabilitated, and then +only by slow +<span class=pagenum><A id=page641 name=page641></A>[pg 641]</span> +degrees, but sure. An individual may, perchance, thrive upon +an imposture, a government never; the late Ministry are the living +evidence of the truth. We can comprehend "self-supporting colonization" in +the individual sense of the pioneers and backwoodsmen of the United States; +in the "squatting" upon wild lands in Canada and the West Indies; in the +settlement of isolated adventurers among the savages of New Zealand; but +the "self-supporting" settlement of communities, or, as more fancifully +expressed, of "society in frame," is just as sound in principle, and as +possible in practice, as would be the calculation of the Canadian +shipwright, who should nail together a mass of boards and logs as a +leviathan lumber ship for the transport of timber, on the calculation that +at the end of the voyage it would be rated A1 at Lloyd's, or grow into +the solid power and capacity of a first-rate Indiaman, or man-of-war. We +all know that such timber floaters went to wreck in the first gale on our +coasts; the crews, indeed, did not always perish, they were only tossed +about at the mercy of the winds and waves with the wooden lumber which +would not sink, so long as hunger and helplessness did not disable hands +and limbs from holding fast. And just so with the "self-supporting system +of colonization." +</p> +<p> +Having ascertained, upon bases laid down by Mr Cobden himself, but without +adopting his slashing unproved totals, the extent to which colonial trade +is criminally accessory to the financial burdens of the United Kingdom, +(not, by the way, of the empire of which they form a component part,) it +behoves us now to establish the proportion in which we are taxed for +foreign trade, for there is clearly more than one vulture preying upon the +vitals of this unhappy land. +</p> +<p> +We established, in our September number, an army cost of about L.1,200,000 +against foreign trade for Gibraltar, Malta, the Ionian Islands, Singapore, +Penang, &c. We may add, as a very low valuation, in the absence of +accounts, L.250,000 more for the war with China. Of the estimates for the +navy, L.6,322,000, and ordnance, L.1,849,000—total, L.8,175,000;—we are +fully entitled to charge about three-eighths to foreign commerce, or say +L.3,000,000. The numerous and extensive naval stations kept up for the +protection of our foreign commerce exclusively, together with the +Mediterranean, Levant, and Spanish coast naval expenditure, to no +inconsiderable extent for the same object, will sufficiently justify this +estimate. We have apportioned one million of the naval and ordnance +estimates for colonial purposes; one million more may be safely placed to +the account of the slave trade; the remainder, L.3,175,000, is certainly +an ample allowance for home naval stations, Channel fleet, if there be any, +Mediterranean and other naval armaments, so far as for political objects +only. We remain, therefore, for foreign trade with— +</p> +<blockquote> +<tt> +<br> +Garrisons, Gibraltar, &c., and reliefs at home, + +L.1,200,000 +<br> +War with China, + + + +250,000 +<br> +Navy and Ordnance, + + + +3,000,000 +<br> + + + + +——————————————— +<br> + Total cost of foreign trade, + + +L.4,450,000 +<br> + Id. colonial, as before stated, + + +3,000,000 +<br> + + + + +——————————————— +<br> + Excess foreign, + + + +L.1,450,000 +</tt> +</blockquote> +<p> +This excess might justly be swelled to at least half a million more by a +surcharge of army expenditure in China; of navy expenditure on foreign +stations, that for China is not taken into account at all; and in respect +of various other items of smaller consideration, separately, although in +the aggregate of consideration, the account might still more be aggravated. +There would be some difficulty, it must be allowed, in clearly +disinvolving them from masses of general statements, although for an +approximate valuation it might not amount to an impossibility; we prefer, +however, to leave Mr Cobden in possession of all the advantages we cannot +make a clear title to. The advantages, indeed, are of dubious title, and +something of the same kind as the entry into a house of +<span class=pagenum><A id=page642 name=page642></A>[pg 642]</span>which the owner +cannot be found, or of which he cannot lay his hands on the title-deeds. +</p> +<p> +We have now disposed of the preposterous exaggerations of the +anti-colonial school, so far as that school can be said to be represented +by Mr Alderman Cobden, under the head of colonial cost to the metropolitan +state. We have reduced his amount of that cost to its fair approximate +proportions, item by item, of gross charge, so far as we are enabled by +those parliamentary or colonial documents, possessing the character of +official or quasi-official origin. We have necessarily followed up this +portion of our vindication of the colonies from unjust aspersions by a +concurrent enquiry into the cost at which our foreign trade is carried on, +in the national sense of the military, naval, and other establishments +required and kept up for its protection and encouragement. And, finally, +we have struck the balance between the two, the results of which are +already before the public. +</p> +<p> +There remains one other essential part of the duty we have undertaken to +fulfill. It is true that it did not suit the purposes of Mr Cobden to +enter himself into any investigation of the comparative profitableness of +foreign and colonial commerce, nor did he, doubtless, desire to provoke +such an investigation on the part of others. With the cunning of a +prejudiced partizan, he was content to skim superficially the large +economical question he had not scrupled to raise from the depths of +discomfiture and oblivion, in which abandoned by the colonial detractors, +his predecessors, who had tried their art to conjure "spirits from the +vasty deep," which would not come when they did "call for them." With +gross numerical proportions apparently in his favour, but well-grounded +convictions that more might be discovered than met the eye, or squared +with the desire, should the component elements of those proportions be +respectively submitted to the process of dissection, he preferred to leave +the tale half told, the subject less than half discussed, rather than +challenge the certain exposure of the fallacious assumptions on which he +had reconstructed a seemingly plausible, but really shallow dogma. A +foreign export trade of thirty-five millions he wished the world to +believe must represent, proportionally, a larger amount of profit, than +sixteen millions of colonial export trade; that the difference, in fact, +would be as thirty-five to sixteen, and so, according to his Cockerian +rule of calculation, it should be. But, it is said and agreed, that two +and two do not always make four, as in the present case will be verified. +We may, indeed, place the matter beyond dispute, by a homely illustration +level to every man's capacity. For example, a Manchester banker, dealing +in money, shall turn over in discounts and accounts-current, with a +capital of L.100,000, the sum of one million sterling per annum. As he +charges interest in current-account at the rate of 5 per cent, so he +allows the same. His profit, therefore, <i>quoad</i> the interest on +current-accounts and balances in hand, is <i>nil</i>; but for the trouble of +managing accounts and for discounts, his charge is five shillings per +L.100. In lending out his capital, he realises five per cent more upon +that. But the return upon capital embarked, say, in the cotton manufacture, +is calculated, at the least, at an average of fifteen per cent. What, then, +are the relative profit returns upon the same sum-total of operations for +the banker and manufacturer? +</p> +<blockquote> +<tt> +<br> + + +Manufacturer's Balance Sheet. +<br><br> + + + + + +On Capital.<br> +Operations, L.1,000,000 + +Capital, L.100,000 + +Profit, 15 per cent, L.15,000 +<br><br> + + +Banker's Balance Sheet. +<br><br> +Operations, L.1,000,000 + +Profit thereon, 5s. per L.100, L.2500<br> +Capital, 100,000 + Interest thereon, 5 per cent, 5000 +<br> + + + +Return on Capital, —————— + +7,500<br> + + + + + + +————————<br> + + + +Excess manufacturing profit, + +L.7,500 +</tt> +</blockquote> +<p> +That is, double the amount, or, as rateably may be said, 100 per cent +greater profit for the manufacturer than the banker. Now, what is true +<span class=pagenum><A id=page643 name=page643></A>[pg 643]</span> +of banking and commerce, may be—often is, true of one description of +commerce, as compared with another. +</p> +<p> +It is not meant to be inferred, however, that applied to colonial trade, +as compared with foreign trade, the analogy holds good to all the extent; +but that it does in degree, there can be no doubt, and we are prepared to +show. It will, we know, be urged, that there can be no two <i>sale</i> prices +for the same commodity in the same market, a dictum we are not disposed to +impugn; but we shall not so readily subscribe to the doctrine, that the +prices in the home and colonial markets are absolutely controlled and +equalized by those of the foreign market. This is a rule absolute, not +founded in truth, but contradicted by every day's experience. It would be +equally correct to assert, that the lower rates of labour in the European +foreign market, or the higher rates in the North American, controlled and +equalized in the one sense, and in the other opposing, the rates in this +country, than which no assertion could be more irreconcilable with fact. +Prices and labour rates elsewhere, exercise an influence doubtless, and +would have more in the absence of other conditions and counteracting +influences, partly arising from natural, partly from artificially created +causes. Prices, in privileged home and colonial markets, cannot generally +fall to the same level as in foreign neutral markets, or, as in foreign +protected markets, where the rates of labour are low. Keen as is the +competition in the privileged home and colonial trade among the domestic +and entitled manufacturers themselves, it will hardly be denied that +larger as well as more steady profits are realized from those trades than +from the foreign and fluctuating trade, exposed, as in most cases the +latter is, to high fiscal, restrictive, and capricious burdens. These, +<i>pro tanto</i>, shut out competition with the protected foreign producer, +unless the importer consent to be cut down to such a modicum of price or +profit, as shall barely, or not at all, return the simple interest of +capital laid out. Such is the position of foreign, in comparison with home +trade. +</p> +<p> +The foreign glut, in such case, reacts upon the privileged home and +colonial markets, no doubt affecting prices in some degree, and if not +always the rates of labour, at all events the sufficiency of employment, +which is scarcely less an evil. But the reaction presses with nothing like +the severity, which in a similar case, and to the same extent only, would +follow from a glut in the home privileged markets. The cause must be +sought in the general rule, that the inferior qualities of merchandise and +manufactures are for the most part the objects of exportation only. +Consequently, in case of a glut, or want of demand abroad, as such are not +suited by quality for home taste and consumption, the superabundance of +accumulated and unsaleable stock, with the depression of prices consequent, +affects comparatively in a slight degree only the value and vent of the +wares prepared expressly for home consumption. But a different and more +modified action takes place in case of over-production of the latter, or +upon a failure of demand, arising from whatever cause. For, being then +pressed upon the foreign market, the superior quality of the goods +commands a decided preference at once, and that preference ensures +comparatively higher rates of price in the midst of the piled up packages +of warehouse sweepings and goods, made, like Peter's razors, for special +sale abroad, which are vainly offered at prime or any cost. These and +other specialties escape, and not unaccountably, the view and the +calculation of the speculative economist, who is so often astounded to +find how a principle, or a theory, of unquestionable truth abstractedly, +and apparently of general application, comes practically to be controlled +by circumstances beyond his appreciation, or even to be negatived +altogether. An example or two in illustration, may render the question +more clearly to the economical reader; although taken from the cotton +trade, they are not the less true, generally, of all other branches of +home manufacturing industry. As we shall have to mention names, a period +long past is purposely selected; but although the parties, so far as +commercial pursuits, may be considered as no longer in existence, yet they +cannot fail to be well remembered. The former firm of Phillips and Lee of +Manchester, were extensive spinners of cotton yarn for +<span class=pagenum><A id=page644 name=page644></A>[pg 644]</span> exportation, and +extensive purchasers of other cotton yarns for exportation also; but for +home manufacture they never could produce a quality of yarn equally +saleable in the home market with other yarn of the same counts, and +nominally classed of the same quality. The principal reason was, that they +spun with machinery solely adapted for a particular trade, and the +production of quantity was more an object than first-rate quality; to +these ends their machinery was suited, and to have produced a first-rate +article, extensive and expensive alterations in that machinery would have +been required. Mr Lee himself, the managing partner, was an ingenious and +theoretically scientific man, and often experimentalizing, but in general +practically with little success. When, therefore, the export trade in +yarns fell off, as, in some years during the war and the continental +system of Bonaparte, we believe it was almost entirely suspended, the +yarns so described of this firm, and of any others the same, could find no +vent—abroad no opening—at home not suited for the consumption. As the +firm were extremely wealthy the accumulation of stock was, however, of +small inconvenience; time was no object, the Continent was not always +sealed. With the great spinner Arkwright the case was entirely different; +at home as abroad his yarn products were always first in demand; his +qualities unequalled; his prices far above all others of even the first +order; his machinery of the most finished construction. If, perchance, +home demand flagged, the export never failed to compensate in a great +degree. +</p> +<p> +So with all other subdivisions of the same or other manufactures, more or +less. And this may explain the seeming phenomenon why; when the foreign +trade has been so prostrate as we have seen it during the last three years, +the home trade did not cease to be almost as prosperous as before. +Political economy would arbitrarily insist that, repelled from the foreign +market, or suffering from a cessation of foreign demand, the manufacturer +for exportation had only to direct his attention, carry his stocks to, and +hasten to swell competition and find relief in, the home market. In +products requiring little skill, such as common calicoes, such efforts +might, to some extent, be successful; but there the invasion ends. In all +the departments requiring greater skill, more perfect machinery, more +taste, and the peculiar arts of finish which long practice alone can give, +the old accustomed manufacturer for the home trade remains without a rival, +still prospering in the midst of depression around, and whilst secure +against intrusion in his own special monopoly of home supply, commanding +also a superiority in foreign markets for his surplus wares, in the event +of stagnation in home consumption, over the less finished and reputed +products of his less-skilled brethren of the craft. +</p> +<p> +In the enquiry into the advantages relatively of foreign and colonial +export trade, it is not pretended literally to build upon the premises +here established; the analogy would not always be strictly in point, but +the fact resulting of the greater gainfulness of one description of trade +over another is incontestable, and in the national sense perhaps much more +than the individual. We shall take it for granted that British and Irish +products and manufactures enjoy a preference on import into the colonies, +over imports from foreign countries, of at least five per cent, resulting +from differential duties in favour of the parent state: it may be more, +and we believe it will be found more; but such is the preference. This +profit must be all to the account of the British exporter; for it is not +received by the colonial custom-house, and whatever the reduction of +prices by excess of competition, it is clear prices would be still more +deranged by the introduction of another element of competition in more +cheaply produced foreign products at only equal rates of duty. Take, for +examples, Saxon hose, French silks, American domestics, but more +especially all sorts of foreign made up wares, clothes, &c. <i>Quoad</i> the +foreigner, the preferential duties make two prices therefore, by the very +fact of which he is barred out. We shall now proceed to assess the +mercantile profits respectively upon the sums-total of foreign and +colonial trade by the correct standard; and then we shall endeavour to +arrive at a rough but approximate estimate of the value respectively of +foreign and colonial export trade in respect of the descriptions of +commodities exported from +<span class=pagenum><A id=page645 name=page645></A>[pg 645]</span> + this country, classified as finished or partly +finished, in cases where the raw material is wholly or partially of +foreign origin, and measured accordingly by the amount of profit on +capital, and profit in the shape of wages, which each leave respectively +in the country. It will be understood that no more than a rough estimate +of leading points is pretended; the calculation, article by article, would +involve a labour of months perhaps, and the results in detail fill the +pages of Maga for a year, and after all remain incomplete from the +inaccessibility or non-existence of some of the necessary materials. There +are, however, certain landmarks by which we may steer to something like +general conclusions. +</p> +<p> +The profits on exports, as on all other trade, exceptional cases apart, +which cannot impeach the general rule, are measured to a great extent by +the distance of the country to which the exports take place, and therefore +the length of period, besides the extra risk, before which capital can be +replaced and profits realized. Within the compass of a two months' +distance from England, we may include the Gulf of Mexico west, the Baltic +and White Seas north, the Black Sea south-east, the west coast of Africa +to the Gulf of Guinea, and the east coast of South America to Rio Janeiro. +We come thus to the limits within which the smaller profits only are +realized; and all beyond will range under the head of larger returns. It +is not necessary to determine the exact amount of the profit in each case, +the essential point being the ratio of one towards the other. An average +return in round numbers of seven and a half per cent many, therefore, be +taken for the export commerce carried on within the narrower circle, and +of twenty per cent for the <i>voyages à long cours</i>, say those to and round +the two Capes of Good Hope and Horn. It is making a large allowance to say +that each shipment to Holland, France, or even the United States, for +example, realizes seven and a half per cent clear profit, or that the +aggregate of the exports cited yields at that rate. Twenty per cent on +exports to China and the East Indies, in view of the more than double +distance, and increase of risk attendant, does not seem proportionally +liable to the same appearance of exaggeration. Under favourable +circumstances returns cannot be looked for in less than a year on the +average, and then the greater distance the greater the risk of all kinds. +Classifying the exports upon this legitimate system, we find that, in +round numbers, not very far from eight-ninths of the total amount of +foreign trade exports come under the denomination of the shorter voyage. +Thus of these total exports of thirty-five millions, less than four +millions belong to the far off traffic. The account will, therefore, stand +thus:— +</p> +<blockquote> +<tt> +<br> + +Foreign trade profit of 7-1/2 per cent on L.31,000,000, — L.2,325,000 +<br> + Do. + 20 + do. + 4,000,000, + — 800,000 +<br> + + + + +———————————— +<br> + + +Total mercantile profit, + L.3,125,000 +<br> +<br> +The quantities colonial would range thus: —<br><br> +Colonial trade profit, long voyage, of 20 per cent<br> + on L.8,820,000 + + + +L.1,764,000 +<br> +Colonial trade profit, short voyage, of 7-1/2 per cent<br> + on L.7,180,000 + + + +538,000 +<br> + + + + +———————————— +<br> + +Total colonial profit, + + +L.2,302,000 +</tt> +</blockquote> +<p> +Truth, like time, is a great leveller—a fact of which no living man has +had proof and reproof administered to him more frequently and severely +that Mr Cobden himself. As culprits, however, harden in heart with each +repetition of crime, until from petty larceny, the initiating offence, +they ascend unscrupulously to the perpetration of felony without benefit +of clergy; so he, with effrontery only the more deeply burnt in, and +conscience the more callous from each conviction, will still lie on, so +long as lungs are left, and vulgar listeners can be found in the scum of +town populations. How grandiloquent was Mr Cobden with his "<i>new</i> facts," +brand new, as he solemnly assured the House of Commons, which was not +convulsed with +<span class=pagenum><A id=page646 name=page646></A>[pg 646]</span> + irrepressible derision on the announcement! How swelled he, +"big with the fate" of corn and colony, as the mighty secret burst from +his labouring breast, "that the whole amount of their trade in 1840 was, +exports, L.51,000,000; out of that L.16,000,000 was (were) exported to the +colonies, including the East Indies; but not one-third went to the +colonies. Take away L.6,000,000 of the export trade that went to the East +Indies, and they had L.10,000,000 of exports," &c. Oh! rare Cocker; 10 not +the third of 16; "take away" one leg and there will only be the other to +stand upon. Cut off, in like manner, the twenty-one millions of exports to +Europe, and what becomes of the foreign trade? "An eye for an eye, and a +tooth for a tooth," is the old <i>lex talionis</i>, and we have no objection to +part with a limb on our side on the reciprocal condition that he shall be +amputated of another. We engage to wage air battle with him on the stumps +which are left, he with his fourteen millions of foreign against our ten +millions of colonial trade, like two <i>razées</i> of first and second rates +cut down. Before next he adventures into conflict again—better had he so +bethought him before his colonial debut in the House last June—would it +not be the part of wisdom to take counsel with his dear friend and +neighbour Mr Samuel Brookes, the well-known opulent calico-printer, +manufacturer, and exporting merchant of Manchester, who proved, some three +or four years ago, as clearly as figures—made up, like the restaurateur's +<i>pain</i>, at discretion—can prove any thing, that the larger the foreign +trade he carried on, the greater were his losses, in various instances +cited of hundreds per cent; from whence, seeing how rotund and robust +grows the worthy alderman, deplorable balance-sheets notwithstanding, +which would prostrate the Bank of England like the Bank of Manchester, it +should result that he, like another Themistocles, might exclaim to his +family, clad in purple and fine linen, "My children, had we not been +ruined, we should have been undone!"</p> +<p>But <i>revenons á nos moutons</i>. +According to Mr Cobden's <i>new</i> facts, borrowed from Porter's Tables, so +far as the figures, the superior importance and profit of foreign trade +should be measured by the gross quantities, and be, say, as 35 to 16. We +have shown that the relation of profit really stands as 31 to 23, starting +from the same basis of total amounts as himself. The total profit upon a +foreign trade of thirty-five millions, to place it on an equal rateable +footing with colonial, should be, not three millions and an eighth, but +upwards of five millions, or the colonial trade of sixteen millions, if no +more gainful than foreign, should be, not L.2,300,000, but about one +million less. And here the question naturally recurs, assuming the +principle of Mr Cobden to be correct—as so, for his satisfaction, it has +been reasoned hitherto—at what rate of charge nationally are these +profits, colonial and foreign, purchased? Fortunately the materials for +the estimates are already in hand, and here they are: +</p> +<blockquote> +<tt> +<br> +Colonial trade—cost in Army, Navy, Ordnance, &c., + +L.3,000,000 +<br> +Colonial trade—profit to exporters, + + +2,302,000 +<br> + + + + +———————————— +<br> + Deficit—loss to the country, + + + +L.698,000 +<br> +<br> +Foreign trade—cost in Army, Navy, Ordnance, &c., + +L.4,500,000 +<br> +Foreign trade exporting profit, + + +3,125,000 +<br> + + + + +———————————— +<br> + Deficit—loss to the country, + + + +L.1,375,000 +</tt> +</blockquote> +<p> +As nearly, therefore, as may be, foreign trade costs the country twice as +much as colonial. Such are the conclusions, the rough but approximately +accurate conclusions, to which the <i>new</i> facts of Mr Cobden and the old +hobby of Joseph Hume, mounted by the <i>new</i> philosopher, have led; and the +public exposition of which has been provoked by his ignorance or +malevolence, or both. In order to gain less than 9 per cent average upon a +foreign trade of thirty-five millions, the country is saddled, for the +benefit of Messrs Brookes and Cobden, <i>inter alios</i>, with a cost of nearly +13 per cent upon +<span class=pagenum><A id=page647 name=page647></A>[pg 647]</span> + the same amount; whilst the cost of colonial trade is +about 18-3/4 per cent on the total of sixteen millions, but the profit +nearly fifteen per cent. In the account of colonial profit, be it observed, +moreover, no account is here taken of the supplementary advantage derived +from the differential duties against foreign imports. +</p> +<p> +In the national point of view, the profitableness of the foreign export +trade, as compared with colonial, would seem more dubious still, when the +values left and distributed among the producing classes are taken into +calculation. Of the total foreign exports of thirty-five millions, +considerably above one-fifth—say, to the value of nearly seven and a half +millions sterling—were exported in the shape of cotton, linen, and +woollen yarns in 1840, the year selected by Mr Cobden, of which, in cotton +yarn alone, to the value of nearly 6,200,000. According to <i>Burn's +Commercial Glance for</i> 1842, the average price of cotton-yarn so exported, +exceeds by some 50 per cent the average price of the cotton from which +made. Applying the same rule to linen yarn as made from foreign imported +flax, and to woollen yarn as partly, at least, from foreign wool, we come +to a gross sum of about L.3,750,000 left in the country, as values +representing the wages of labour, and the profits of manufacturing capital +in respect of yarn. The quantity of yarn, on the contrary, exported +colonially, does not reach to one-sixteenth of the total colonial exports. +In order to manifest the immense superiority nationally of a colonial +export trade in finished products, over a foreign trade in <i>quasi</i> raw +materials, we need only take the article of "apparel." Of the total value +of wearing apparel exported in 1840, say for L.1,208,000, the colonial +trade alone absorbed the best part of one million. Now, it may be +estimated with tolerable certainty, that the average amount, over and +above the cost of the raw material, of the values expended upon and left +in the country, in the shape of wages and profits, upon this description +of finished product, does not fall short of the rate of 500 per cent. So +that apparel to the total value of one million would leave behind an +expenditure of labour, and a realization of profits, substantially +existing and circulating among the community, over and above the cost of +raw material, of about L.800,000, upon a basis of raw material values of +about L.160,000. Assuming for a moment, that yarns were equally improved +and prolific in the multiplication of values, the seven millions and a +half of foreign exports should represent a value proportionally of +forty-five millions sterling. The colonial exports comprise a variety of +similar finished and made-up articles, to the extent of probably about +four millions sterling, to which the same rate of home values, so swelled +by labour and profits, will apply. +</p> +<p> +It remains only to add, that the foreign export trade gave employment in +1840—the date fixed by Mr Cobden, but to which, in some few instances, it +has been impossible to adhere for want of necessary documents, as he +himself experienced—to 10,970 British vessels, of 1,797,000 aggregate +tonnage outwards, repeated voyages inclusive, for the verification of the +number of which we are without any returns, those made to Parliament by +the public offices bearing the simple advertence on their face, with +official nonchalance, that "there are no materials in this office by which +the number of the crews of steam and sailing vessels respectively +(including their repeated voyages) can be shown." And yet a "statistical +department" has now been, for some years, founded as part of the Board of +Trade, whose pretensions to the accomplishment of great works have +hitherto been found considerably to transcend both the merit and the +quantity of its performances. The proportion of foreign vessels sharing in +the same export traffic in 1840, was little inferior to that of the +British. Thus, 10,440 foreign vessels, of 1,488,888 tonnage, divided the +foreign export trade with 10,970 British vessels. The returns for 1840 +give 6663 as the number of British vessels, and 1,495,957 as the aggregate +tonnage, carrying on the export trade with the colonies; thus it will be +seen that the exportation of <i>thirty-five millions</i> of pounds' worth of +British produce and manufactures to foreign countries, employed only about +300,000 tons of British shipping more than the export to the colonies of +<i>sixteen millions</i> of pounds' worth +<span class=pagenum><A id=page648 name=page648></A>[pg 648]</span> + of products, or say, less than one +half. Proportions kept according to values exported respectively, foreign +trade should have occupied about 3,250,000 tons of British shipping, +against the colonial employment of 1,496,000 tons. +</p> +<p> +Nor is this all the difference, large as it is, in favour of colonial over +foreign trade, with respect to the employment of shipping. For it may be +taken for granted that, in fact, so far as the amount of tonnage, +<i>repeated voyages not included</i>, the colonial does actually employ a much +larger quantity relatively than foreign trade. It may be fairly assumed +that, on the average, the shipping in foreign trade make one and a half +voyages outwards—that is, outwards and inwards together, three voyages in +the year; for, upon a rough estimate, it would appear that not one-tenth +of this shipping was occupied in mercantile enterprise beyond the limits +of that narrower circle before assigned, ad within which repeated voyages +of twice and thrice in the year, and frequently more often, are not +practicable only but habitually performed. Taking one-tenth as +representing the one voyage and return in the year of the more distant +traffic, and one and a half outward sailings for the other nine tenths of +tonnage, we arrive at the approximative fact, that the foreign trade does +in reality employ no more (repeated voyages allowed for as before stated) +than the aggregate tonnage of 1,258,000, instead of the 1,797,000 gross +tonnage as apparent. Applying the same rule, we find that the long or one +year's colonial voyage traffic is equal to something less than two-ninths +of the whole tonnage employed in the colonial trade, and that, assuming +one and a half voyages per annum for the remainder trafficking with the +colonies nearer home, the result will be, that the colonial traffic +absorbs an aggregate of 1,113,000 actual tonnage, exclusive of repeated +voyages of the same shipping. Here, for the satisfaction of colonial +maligners, like Mr Cobden, we place the shipping results for foreign and +colonial traffic respectively. +</p> +<p> +The registered tonnage of the 13,927 British vessels above fifty tons +burden, stood, on the 31st of December 1841, (the returns for 1840 or 1839, +we do not chance to have,) +</p> +<blockquote> +<tt> +<br> + + + + +Tons.<br> +At + + + +2,578,862<br> + Of which foreign trade, in<br> + the export of products<br> + and manufactures to the<br> + value of <i>thirty-five millions</i><br> + sterling, absorbed + + +1,258,000<br> + + Colonial trade in the transport<br> + of <i>sixteen millions</i><br> + only of values, + + +1,113,000 +<br> + + Considering the greater<br> + mass of values transported,<br> + the foreign trade<br> + should have employed,<br> + to have kept its relative<br> + shipping proportion and<br> + importance with colonial<br> + trade, above + + + +2,400,000 +</tt> +</blockquote> +<p> +We are, however, entirely satisfied, and it would admit of easy proof, +were time and space equally at our disposal for the elaborate development +of details, not only that the colonial trade gives occupation to an equal, +but to a larger proportion of registered British shipping than the foreign +trade. But we have been obliged to limit ourselves to the consideration of +such facts as are most readily accessible, so as to enable the general +reader to test at once the approximative fidelity of the vindication we +present, and the falsehood, scarcely glozed over with a coating of +plausibility, of the vague generalities strung together as a case against +the colonies by Mr Cobden and the anti-colonial faction. We have, moreover, +to request the reader to observe, that we have proceeded all along on the +basis of the wild assumptions of Mr Cobden's own self created and +unexplained calculations; that by his own figures we have tried and +convicted his own conclusions of monstrous exaggeration, and ignorant, if +not wilful, deception. The three fourths charge of army expenditure upon +the colonies, is a mere mischievous fabrication of his own brain. In +ordinary circumstances the colonial charge would not enter for more than +half that amount; and even with the extraordinary expenditure rendered +necessary by Gosford and Durham misrule in Canada, the colonial charge is +not equal to the amount so wantonly asserted. We have likewise not +insisted with sufficient force, and at suitable length of evidence, upon +the fact of the infinitely greater values proportionally left in the +country, in +<span class=pagenum><A id=page649 name=page649></A>[pg 649]</span> + the shape of the wages of labour, and the profits upon +capital, by colonial than by foreign trade. It would not, however, be too +much to assume, and indeed the proposition is almost self-evident, that +whereas about 150 per cent may be taken as the average improved value of +the products absorbed by the foreign trade, over and above the first cost +of the raw material from which fabricated, where such material is of +foreign origin, the similarly improved excess of values absorbed by the +colonial trade, would not average less than from 250 to 300 per cent. +Other occasions may arise, hereafter, more convenient than the present, +for throwing these truths into broader relief; we are content, indeed, now +to leave Mr Cobden to chew the cud of reflection upon his own colonial +blunders and misrepresentations. +</p> +<p> +Here, therefore, we stay our hand; we have redeemed our pledge; we have +more than proved our case. Various laborious researches into the real +values of colonial and foreign exported commodities, have amply satisfied +our mind, as they would those of any impartial person capable of +investigation into special facts, of the superior comparative value, in +the mercantile and manufacturing, or individual sense, as well, more +specially, as in the economical and social, or national sense, of colonial +over foreign trade. Do we therefore seek to disparage foreign trade? Far +from it: our anxious desire is to see it prosper and progress daily and +yearly, fully impressed with the conviction that it is, as it long has +been, one of the sheet-anchors of the noble vessel of the State, by the +aid of which it has swung securely in, and weathered bravely, many a +hurricane—and holding fast to which, the gallant ship is again repairing +the damage of the late long night of tempest. But we deprecate these +invidious attacks and comparisons by which malice and ignorance would +depreciate one great interest, for the selfish notion of unduly elevating +another; as if both could not equally prosper without coming into +collision; nay, as if each could not contribute to the welfare of the +other, and, in combined result, advance the glory and prosperity of the +common country. +</p> +<p> +We have not deemed it proper, to mix up with the special argument of this +article those political, moral, and social considerations of gravest +import, as connected with the possession, the government, and the +improvement of colonial dependencies, which constitute a question apart, +the happy solution of which is of the highest public concernment; and +separately, therefore, may be left for treatment. But in the economical +view, we may take credit for having cleared the ground and prepared the +way for its discussion to no inconsiderable extent. Nor have we thought it +fitting to nix up the debate on differential duties in favour of the +colonies with the other objects which have engaged our labour. We are as +little disposed as any free trader to view differential duties in excess, +with favour and approval. The candid admission of Mr Deacon Hume on that +head, that in reference to the late Slave colonies the question of those +duties is "taken entirely out of the category of free trade," should set +that debate at rest for the present, at all events. +</p> +<br> +<hr class=full> + +<span class=pagenum><A id=page650 name=page650></A>[pg 650]</span> +<a name="bw337s8" id="bw337s8"></a><h2>A SPECULATION ON THE SENSES.</h2> + +<p> +How can that which is a purely subjective affection—in other words, which +is dependent upon us as a mere modification of our sentient +nature—acquire, nevertheless, such a distinct objective reality, as shall +compel us to acknowledge it as an independent creation, the permanent +existence of which, is beyond the control of all that we can either do or +think? Such is the form to which all the questions of speculation my be +ultimately reduced. And all the solutions which have hitherto been +propounded as answers to the problem, may be generalized into these two: +either consciousness is able to transcend, or go beyond itself; or else +the whole pomp, and pageantry, and magnificence, which we miscall the +external universe, are nothing but our mental phantasmagoria, nothing but +states of our poor, finite, subjective selves. +</p> +<p> +But it has been asked again and again, in reference to these two solutions, +can a man overstep the limits of himself—of his own consciousness? If he +can, then says the querist, the reality of the external world is indeed +guaranteed; but what an insoluble, inextricable contradiction is here: +that a man should overstep the limits of the very nature which is <i>his</i>, +just because he cannot overstep it! And if he cannot, then says the same +querist, then is the external universe an empty name—a mere unmeaning +sound; and our most inveterate convictions are all dissipated like dreams. +</p> +<p> +Astute reasoner! the dilemma is very just, and is very formidable; and +upon the one or other of its horns, has been transfixed every adventurer +that has hitherto gone forth on the knight-errantry of speculation. Every +man who lays claim to a direct knowledge of something different from +himself, perishes impaled on the contradiction involved in the assumption, +that consciousness can transcend itself: and every man who disclaims such +knowledge, expires in the vacuum of idealism, where nothing grows but the +dependent and transitory productions of a delusive and constantly shifting +consciousness. +</p> +<p> +But is there no other way in which the question can be resolved? We think +that there is. In the following demonstration, we think that we can +vindicate the objective reality of things—(a vindication which, we would +remark by the way is of no value whatever, in so far as that objective +reality is concerned, but only as being instrumental to the ascertainment +of the laws which regulate the whole process of sensation;)—we think that +we can accomplish this, without, on the one hand, forcing consciousness to +overstep itself, and on the other hand, without reducing that reality to +the delusive impressions of an understanding born but to deceive. Whatever +the defects of our proposed demonstration may be, we flatter ourselves +that the dilemma just noticed as so fatal to every other solution, will be +utterly powerless when brought to bear against it: and we conceive, that +the point of a third alternative must be sharpened by the controversialist +who would bring us to the dust. It is a new argument, and will require a +new answer. We moreover pledge ourselves, that abstruse as the subject is, +both the question, and our attempted solution of it, shall be presented to +the reader in such a shape as shall <i>compel</i> him to understand them. +</p> +<p> +Our pioneer shall be a very plain and palpable illustration. Let A be a +circle, containing within it X Y Z. +</p> + +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"><a href="images/337-001.png"> +<img border ="0" width = "25%" src="images/337-001.png" alt="Illustration 1."></a></div> + +<p> +X Y and Z lie within the circle; and the question is, by what art or +artifice—we might almost say by what sorcery—can they be transplanted +out of it, without at the same time being made to overpass the limits of +the sphere? There are just four conceivable answers to this +question—answers illustrative of three great +<span class=pagenum><A id=page651 name=page651></A>[pg 651]</span> + schools of philosophy, and +of a fourth which is now fighting for existence. +</p> +<p> +1. One man will meet the difficulty boldly, and say—"X Y and Z certainly +lie within the circle, but I believe they lie without it. <i>How</i> this +should be, I know not. I merely state what I conceive to be the fact. The +<i>modus operandi</i> is beyond my comprehension." This man's answer is +contradictory, and will never do. +</p> +<p> +2. Another man will deny the possibility of the transference—"X Y and Z," +he will say, "are generated within the circle in obedience to its own laws. +They form part and parcel of the sphere; and every endeavour to regard +them as endowed with an extrinsic existence, must end in the discomfiture +of him who makes the attempt." This man declines giving any answer to the +problem. We ask him <i>how</i> X Y and can be projected beyond the circle +without transgressing its limits; and he answers that they never are, and +never can be so projected. +</p> +<p> +3. A third man will postulate as the cause of X Y Z a transcendent +X Y Z—that is, a cause lying external to the sphere; and by referring the +former to the latter, he will obtain for X Y X, not certainly a real +externality, which is the thing wanted, but a <i>quasi-externality</i>, with +which, as the best that is to be had, he will in all probability rest +contented. "X Y and Z," he will say, "are projected, <i>as it were</i>, out of +the circle." This answer leaves the question as much unsolved as ever. Or, +</p> +<p> +4. A fourth man (and we beg the reader's attention to this man's answer, +for it forms the fulcrum or cardinal point on which our whole +demonstration turns)—a fourth man will say, "If the circle could only be +brought <i>within itself</i>, so— +</p> + +<div class="figure" style="width:100%;"><a href="images/337-002.png"> +<img border ="0" width = "25%" src="images/337-002.png" alt="Illustration 1."></a></div> + +<p> +then the difficulty would disappear—the problem would be completely +solved. X Y Z must now of necessity fall as extrinsic to the circle A; and +this, too, (which is the material part of the solution,) without the +limits of the circle A being overstepped." +</p> +<p> +Perhaps this may appear very like quibbling; perhaps it may be regarded as +a very absurd solution—a very shallow evasion of the difficulty. +Nevertheless, shallow or quibbling as it may seem, we venture to predict, +that when the breath of life shall have been breathed into the bones of +the above dead illustration, this last answer will be found to afford a +most exact picture and explanation of the matter we have to deal with. Let +our illustration, then, stand forth as a living process. The large circle +A we shall call our whole sphere of sense, in so far as it deals with +objective existence—and X Y Z shall be certain sensations of colour, +figure, weight, hardness, and so forth, comprehended within it. The +question then is—how can these sensations, without being ejected from the +sphere of sense within which they lie, assume the status and the character +of real independent existences? How can they be objects, and yet remain +sensations? +</p> +<p> +Nothing will be lost on the score of distinctness, if we retrace, in the +living sense, the footprints we have already trod in explicating the +inanimate illustration. Neither will any harm be done, should we employ +very much the same phraseology. We answer, then, that here, too, there are +just four conceivable ways in which this question can be met. +</p> +<p> +1. The man of common sense, (so called,) who aspires to be somewhat of a +philosopher, will face the question boldly, and will say, "I feel that +colour and hardness, for instance, lie entirely within the sphere of sense, +and are mere modifications of my subjective nature. At the same time, feel +that colour and hardness constitute a real object, which exists out of the +sphere of sense, independently of me and all my modifications. <i>How</i> this +should be, I know not; I merely state the fact as I imagine myself to find +it. The <i>modus</i> is beyond my comprehension." This man belongs to the +school of Natural Realists. If he merely affirmed or +<span class=pagenum><A id=page652 name=page652></A>[pg 652]</span> + postulated a miracle +in what he uttered, we should have little to say against him, (for the +whole process of sensation is indeed miraculous.) But he postulates more +than a miracle; he postulates a contradiction, in the very contemplation +of which our reason is unhinged. +</p> +<p> +2. Another man will deny that our sensations ever transcend the sphere of +sense, or attain a real objective existence. "Colour, hardness, figure, +and so forth," he will say, "are generated within the sphere of sense, in +obedience to its own original laws. They form integral parts of the sphere; +and he who endeavours to construe them to his own mind as embodied in +extrinsic independent existences, must for ever be foiled in the attempt." +This man declines giving any answer to the problem. We ask, <i>how</i> can our +sensations be embodied in distinct permanent realities? And he replies, +that they never are and never can be so embodied. This man is an +Idealist—or as we would term him, (to distinguish him from another +species about to be mentioned, of the same genus,) an <i>Acosmical</i> idealist; +that is, an Idealist who absolutely denies the existence of an independent +material world. +</p> +<p> +3. A third man will postulate as the cause of our sensations of hardness, +colour, &c., a transcendent something, of which he knows nothing, except +that he feigns and fables it as lying external to the sphere of sense: and +then, by referring our sensations to this unknown cause, he will obtain +for them, not certainly the externality desiderated, but a +<i>quasi-externality</i>, which he palms off upon himself and us as the best +that can be supplied. This man is <i>Cosmothetical</i> Idealist: that is, an +Idealist who postulates an external universe as the unknown cause of +certain modifications we are conscious of within ourselves, and which, +according to his view, we never really get beyond. This species of +speculator is the commonest, but he is the least trustworthy of any; and +his fallacies are all the more dangerous by reason of the air of + plausibility with which they are invested. From first to last, he +represents us as the dupes of our own perfidious nature. By some +inexplicable process of association, he refers certain known effects to +certain unknown causes; and would thus explain to us how these effects +(our sensations) come to assume, <i>as it were</i>, the character of external +objects. But we know not "as it were." Away with such shuffling +phraseology. There is nothing either of reference, or of inference, or of +quasi-truthfulness in our apprehension of the material universe. It is +ours with a certainty which laughs to scorn all the deductions of logic, +and all the props of hypothesis. What we wish to know is, <i>how</i> our +subjective affections can <i>be</i>, not <i>as it were</i>, but in God's truth, and +in the strict, literal, earnest, and unambiguous sense of the words, real +independent, objective existences. This is what the cosmothetical idealist +never can explain, and never attempts to explain. +</p> +<p> +4. We now come to the answer which the reader, who has followed us thus +far, will be prepared to find us putting forward as by far the most +important of any, and as containing in fact the very kernel of the +solution. A fourth man will say—"If the whole sphere of sense could only +be withdrawn <i>inwards</i>—could be made to fall somewhere <i>within +itself</i>—then the whole difficulty would disappear, and the problem would +be solved at once. The sensations which existed previous to this +retraction or withdrawal, would then, of necessity, fall without the +sphere of sense, ( see our second diagram;) and in doing so, they would +necessarily assume a totally different aspect from that of sensations. +They would be real independent objects: and (what is the important part of +the demonstration) they would acquire this <i>status</i> without overstepping +by a hair's-breadth the primary limits of the sphere. Were such +phraseology allowable, we should say that the sphere has <i>understepped</i> +itself, and in doing so, has left its former contents high and dry, and +stamped with all the marks which can characterize objective existences." +</p> +<p> +Now the reader will please to remark, that we are very far from desiring +him to accept this last solution at our bidding. Our method, we trust, is +any thing but dogmatical. We merely say, that <i>if</i> this can be shown to be +the case, then the demonstration which we are in the course of unfolding, +will hardly fail to recommend itself to his acceptance. Whether or not it +is the case, can only be established by an appeal to our experience. +</p> +<p> +<span class=pagenum><A id=page653 name=page653></A>[pg 653]</span> +We ask, then—does experience inform us, or does she not, that the sphere +of sense falls within, and very considerably within, itself? But here it +will be asked—what meaning do we attach to the expression, that sense +falls within its own sphere? These words, then, we must first of all +explain. Every thing which is apprehended as a sensation—such as colour, +figure, hardness, and so forth—falls within the sentient sphere. To be a +sensation, and to fall within the sphere of sense, are identical and +convertible terms. When, therefore, it is asked—does the sphere of sense +ever fall within itself? this is equivalent to asking—do the senses +themselves ever become sensations? Is that which apprehends sensations +ever itself apprehended as a sensation? Can the senses he seized on within +the limits of the very circle which they prescribe? If they cannot, then +it must be admitted that the sphere of sense never falls within itself, +and consequently that an objective reality—<i>i.e.</i> a reality extrinsic to +that sphere—can never be predicated or secured for any part of its +contents. But we conceive that only one rational answer can be returned to +this question. Does not experience teach us, that much if not the whole of +our sentient nature becomes itself in turn a series of sensations? Does +not the sight—that power which contains the whole visible space, and +embraces distances which no astronomer can compute—does it not abjure its +high prerogative, and take rank within the sphere of sense—itself a +sensation—when revealed to us in the solid atom we call the eye? Here it +is the touch which brings the sight within, and very far within, the +sphere of vision. But somewhat less directly, and by the aid of the +imagination, the sight operates the same introtraction (pardon the coinage) +upon itself. It ebbs inwards, so to speak, from all the contents that were +given in what may be called its primary sphere. It represents itself, in +its organ, as a minute visual sensation, out of, and beyond which, are +left lying the great range of all its other sensations. By imagining the +sight as a sensation of colour, we diminish it to a speck within the +sphere of its own sensations; and as we now regard the sense as for ever +enclosed within this small embrasure, all the other sensations which were +its, previous to our discovery of the organ, and which are its still, are +built up into a world of objective existence, <i>necessarily</i> external to +the sight, and altogether out of its control. All sensations of colour are +necessarily out of one another. Surely, then, when the sight is subsumed +under the category of colour—as it unquestionably is whenever we think of +the eye—surely all other colours must, of necessity, assume a position +external to it; and what more is wanting to constitute that real objective +universe of light and glory in which our hearts rejoice? +</p> +<p> +We can, perhaps, make this matter still plainer by reverting to our old +illustration. Our first exposition of the question was designed to exhibit +a general view of the case, through the medium of a dead symbolical figure. +This proved nothing, though we imagine that it illustrated much. Our +second exposition exhibited the illustration in its application to the +living sphere of sensation <i>in general</i>; and this proved little. But we +conceive that therein was foreshadowed a certain procedure, which, if it +can be shown from experience to be the actual procedure of sensation <i>in +detail</i>, will prove all that we are desirous of establishing. We now, then, +descend to a more systematic exposition of the process which (so far as +our experience goes, and we beg to refer the reader to his own) seems to +be involved in the operation of seeing. We dwell chiefly upon the sense of +sight, because it is mainly through its ministrations that a real +objective universe is given to us. Let the circle A be the whole circuit +of vision. We may begin by calling it the eye, the retina, or what we will. +Let it be provided with the ordinary complement of sensations—the colours +X Y Z. Now, we admit that these sensations cannot be extruded beyond the +periphery of vision; and yet we maintain that, unless they be made to fall +on the outside of that periphery, they cannot become real objects. How is +this difficulty—this contradiction—to be overcome? Nature overcomes it, +by a contrivance as simple as it is beautiful. In the operation of seeing, +admitting the canvass or background of our picture to be a retina, or what +we will, with a multiplicity of colours depicted upon it, we maintain that +we cannot stop here, and that we never +<span class=pagenum><A id=page654 name=page654></A>[pg 654]</span> + do stop here. We invariably go on +(such is the inevitable law of our nature) to complete the picture—that +is to say, we fill in our own eye as a colour within the very picture +which our eye contains—we fill it in as a sensation within the other +sensations which occupy the rest of the field; and in doing so, we of +necessity, by the same law, turn these sensations out of the eye; and they +thus, by the same necessity, assume the rank of independent objective +existences. We describe the circumference infinitely within the +circumference; and hence all that lies on the outside of the intaken +circle comes before us stamped with the impress of real objective truth. +We fill in the eye greatly within the sphere of light, (or within the eye +itself; if we insist on calling the primary sphere by this name,) and the +eye thus filled in is the only eye we know any thing at all about, either +from the experience of sight or of touch. <i>How</i> this operation is +accomplished, is a subject of but secondary moment; whether it be brought +about by the touch, by the eye itself, or by the imagination, is a +question which might admit of much discussion; but it is one of very +subordinate interest. The <i>fact</i> is the main thing—the fact that the +operation <i>is</i> accomplished in one way or another—the fact that the sense +comes before itself (if not directly, yet virtually) as <i>one</i> of its own +sensations—<i>that</i> is the principal point to be attended to; and we +apprehend that this fact is now placed beyond the reach of controversy. +</p> +<p> +To put the case in another light. The following considerations may serve +to remove certain untoward difficulties in metaphysics and optics, which +beset the path, not only of the uninitiated, but even of the professors of +these sciences. +</p> +<p> +We are assured by optical metaphysicians, or metaphysical opticians, that, +in the operations of vision, we never get beyond the eye itself, or the +representations that are depicted therein. We see nothing, they tell us, +but what is delineated within the eye. Now, the way in which a plain man +should meet this statement, is this—he should ask the metaphysician +<i>what</i> eye he refers to. Do you allude, sir, to an eye which belongs to my +visible body, and forms a small part of the same; or do you allude to an +eye which does not belong to my visible body, and which constitutes no +portion thereof? If the metaphysician should say, that he refers to an eye +of the latter description, then the plain man's answer should be—that he +has no experience of any such eye—that he cannot conceive it—that he +knows nothing at all about it—and that the only eye which he ever thinks +or speaks of, is the eye appertaining to, and situated within, the +phenomenon which he calls his visible body. Is <i>this</i>, then, the eye which +the metaphysician refers to, and which he tells us we never get beyond? If +it be—why, then, the very admission that this eye is a part of the +visible body, (and what else can we conceive the eye to be?) proves that +we <i>must</i> get beyond it. Even supposing that the whole operation were +transacted within the eye, and that the visible body were nowhere but +within the eye, still the eye which we invariably and inevitably fill in +as belonging to the visible body, (and no other eye is ever thought of or +spoken of by us,)—<i>this</i> eye, we say, must necessarily exclude the +visible body, and all other visible things, from its sphere. Or, can the +eye (always conceived of as a visible thing among other visible things) +again contain the very phenomenon (<i>i.e.</i> the visible body) within which it +is itself contained? Surely no one will maintain a position of such +unparalleled absurdity as that. +</p> +<p> +The science of optics, in so far as it maintains, according to certain +physiological principles, that in the operation of seeing we never get +beyond the representations within the eye, is founded on the assumption, +that the visible body has no visible eye belonging to it. Whereas we +maintain, that the only eye that we have—the only eye we can form any +conception of, is the visible eye that belongs to the visible body, as a +part does to a whole; whether this eye be originally revealed to us by the +touch, by the sight, by the reason, or by the imagination. We maintain, +that to affirm we never get beyond this eye in the exercise of vision, is +equivalent to asserting, that a part is larger than the whole, of which it +is only a part—is equivalent to asserting, that Y, which is contained +between X and Z, is nevertheless of larger compass than X and Z, and +comprehends them both. +<span class=pagenum><A id=page655 name=page655></A>[pg 655]</span> +The fallacy we conceive to be this, that the +visible body can be contained within the eye, without the eye of the +visible body also being contained therein. But this is a procedure, which +no law, either of thought or imagination, will tolerate. If we turn the +visible body, and all visible things, into the eye, we must turn the eye +of the visible body also into the eye; a process which, of course, again +turns the visible body, and all visible things, <i>out</i> of the eye. And thus +the procedure eternally defeats itself. Thus the very law which appears to +annihilate, or render impossible, the objective existence of visible +things, as creations independent of the eye—this very law, when carried +into effect with a thorough-going consistency, vindicates and establishes +that objective existence, with a logical force, an iron necessity, which +no physiological paradox can countervail. +</p> +<p> +We have now probably said enough to convince the attentive reader, that +the sense of sight, when brought under its own notice as a sensation, +either directly, or through the ministry of the touch or of the +imagination, (as it is when revealed to us in its organ,) falls very +far—falls almost infinitely within its own sphere. Sight, revealing +itself as a sense, spreads over a span commensurate with the diameter of +the whole visible space; sight, revealing itself as a Sensation, dwindles +to a speck of almost unappreciable insignificance, when compared with the +other phenomena which fall within the visual ken. This speck is the organ, +and the organ is the sentient circumference drawn inwards, far within +itself, according to a law which (however unconscious we may be of its +operation) presides over every act and exercise of vision—a law which, +while it contracts the sentient sphere, throws, at the same time, into +necessary objectivity every phenomenon that falls external to the +diminished circle. This is the law in virtue of which subjective visual +sensations are real visible objects. The moment the sight becomes one of +its own sensations, it is restricted, in a peculiar manner, to that +particular sensation. It now falls, as we have said, within its own sphere. +Now, nothing more was wanting to make the other visual sensations real +independent existences; for, <i>quà</i> sensations, they are all originally +independent of each other, and the sense itself being now a sensation, +they must now also be independent of it. +</p> +<p> +We now pass on to the consideration of the sense of touch. +</p> +<p> +Here precisely the same process is gone through which was observed to take +place in the case of vision. The same law manifests itself here, and the +same inevitable consequence follows, namely—that sensations are +things—that subjective affections are objective realities. The sensation +of hardness (softness, be it observed, is only an inferior degree of +hardness, and therefore the latter word is the proper generic term to be +employed)—the sensation of hardness forms the contents of this sense. +Hardness, we will say, is originally a purely subjective affection. The +question, then, is, how can this affection, without being thrust forth +into a fictitious, transcendent, and incomprehensible universe, assume, +nevertheless, a distinct objective reality, and be (not as it were, but in +language of the most unequivocating truth) a permanent existence +altogether independent of the sense? We answer, that this can take place +only provided the sense of touch can be brought under our notice <i>as +itself hard</i>. If this can be shown to take place, then as all sensations +which are presented to us in space necessarily exclude one another, are +reciprocally <i>out</i> of each other, all other instances of hardness must of +necessity fall as extrinsic to that particular hardness which the sense +reveals to us as its own; and, consequently, all these other instances of +hardness will start into being, as things endowed with a permanent and +independent substance. +</p> +<p> +Now, what is the verdict of experience on the subject? The direct and +unequivocal verdict of experience is, that the touch reveals itself to us +as one of its own sensations. In the finger-points more particularly, and +generally all over the surface of the body, the touch manifests itself not +only as that which apprehends hardness, but as that which is itself hard. +The sense of touch vested in one of its own sensations (our tangible +bodies namely) is the sense of touch brought within its own sphere. It +comes before itself as <i>one</i> sensation of hardness. Consequently all its +<i>other</i> sensations of hardness are necessarily +<span class=pagenum><A id=page656 name=page656></A>[pg 656]</span> + excluded from this +particular hardness; and, falling beyond it, they are by the same +consequence built up into a world of objective reality, of permanent +substance, altogether independent of the sense, self-betrayed as a +sensation of hardness. +</p> +<p> +But here it may be asked, If the senses are thus reduced to the rank of +sensations, if they come under our observation as themselves sensations, +must we not regard them but as parts of the subjective sphere; and though +the other portions of the sphere may be extrinsic to these sensations, +still must not the contents of the sphere, taken as a whole, be considered +as entirely subjective, <i>i.e.</i> as merely <i>ours</i>, and consequently must not +real objective existence be still as far beyond our grasp as ever? We +answer. No, by no means. Such a query implies a total oversight of all +that experience proves to be the fact with regard to this matter. It +implies that the senses have not been reduced to the rank of +sensations—that they have <i>not</i> been brought under our cognizance as +themselves sensations, and that they have yet to be brought there. It +implies that vision has not been revealed to us as a sensation of colour +in the phenomenon the eye—and that touch has not been revealed to us as a +sensation of hardness in the phenomenon the finger. It implies, in short, +that it is not the sense itself which has been revealed to us, in the one +case as coloured, and in the other case as hard, but that it is something +else which has been thus revealed to us. But it may still be asked, How do +we know that we are not deceiving ourselves? How can it be proved that it +is the senses, and not something else, which have come before us under the +guise of certain sensations? That these sensations are the senses +themselves, and nothing but the senses, may be proved in the following +manner. +</p> +<p> +We bring the matter to the test of actual experiment. We make certain +experiments, <i>seriatim</i>, upon each of the items that lie within the +sentient sphere, and we note the effect which each experiment has upon +that portion of the contents which is not meddled with. In the exercise of +vision, for example, we remove a book, and no change is produced in our +perception of a house; a cloud disappears, yet our apprehension of the sea +and the mountains, and all other visible things, is the same as ever. We +continue our experiments, until our test happens to be applied to one +particular phenomenon, which lies, if not directly, yet virtually, within +the sphere of vision. We remove or veil this small visual phenomenon, and +a totally different effect is produced from those that took place when any +of the other visual phenomena were removed or veiled. The whole landscape +is obliterated. We restore this phenomenon—the whole landscape reappears: +we adjust this phenomenon differently—the whole landscape becomes +differently adjusted. From these experiments we find, that this phenomenon +is by no means an ordinary sensation, but that it differs from all other +sensations in this, that it is the sense itself appearing in the form of a +sensation. These experiments prove that it is the sense itself, and +nothing else, which reveals itself to us in the particular phenomenon the +eye. If experience informed us that the particular adjustment of some +other visual phenomenon (a book, for instance) were essential to our +apprehension of all the other phenomena, we should, in the same way, be +compelled to regard this book as our sense of sight manifested in one of +its own sensations. The book would be to us what the eye now is: it would +be our bodily organ: and no <i>à priori</i> reason can be shown why this might +not have been the case. All that we can say is, that such is not the +finding of experience. Experience points out the eye, and the eye alone, +as the visual sensation essential to our apprehension of all our other +sensations of vision, and we come at last to regard this sensation as the +sense itself. Inveterate association leads us to regard the eye, not +merely as the organ, but actually as the sense of vision. We find from +experience how much depends upon its possession, and we lay claim to it as +a part of ourselves, with an emphasis that will not be gainsaid. +</p> +<p> +An interesting enough subject of speculation would be, an enquiry into the +gradual steps by which each man is led to <i>appropriate</i> his own body. No +man's body is given him absolutely, indefeasibly, and at once, <i>ex dono +Dei</i>. It is no unearned hereditary patrimony. It is held by no <i>à priori</i> +title on the part of the possessor. The +<span class=pagenum><A id=page657 name=page657></A>[pg 657]</span> +credentials by which its tenure is +secured to him, are purely of an <i>à posteriori</i> character; and a certain +course of experience must be gone through before the body can become his. +The man acquires it, as he does originally all other property, in a +certain formal and legalized manner. Originally, and in the strict legal +as well as metaphysical idea of them, all bodies, living as well as dead, +human no less than brute, are mere <i>waifs</i>—the property of the first +finder. But the law, founding on sound metaphysical principles, very +properly makes a distinction here between two kinds of finding. To entitle +a person to claim a human body as his own, it is not enough that he should +find it in the same way in which he finds his other sensations, namely, as +impressions which interfere not with the manifestations of each other. +This is not enough, even though, in the case supposed, the person should +be the first finder. A subsequent finder would have the preference, if +able to show that the particular sensations manifested as this human body +were essential to his apprehension of all his other sensations whatsoever. +It is this latter species of finding—the finding, namely, of certain +sensations as the essential condition on which the apprehension of all +other sensations depends; it is this finding alone which gives each man a +paramount and indisputable title to that "treasure trove" which he calls +his own body. Now, it is only after going through a considerable course of +experience and experiment, that we can ascertain what the particular +sensations are upon which all our other sensations are dependent. And +therefore were we not right in saying, that a man's body is not given to +him directly and at once, but that he takes a certain time, and must go +through a certain process, to acquire it? +</p> +<p> +The conclusion which we would deduce from the whole of the foregoing +remarks is, that the great law of <i>living</i><a id=footnotetag21 +name=footnotetag21></a><a +href="#footnote21"><sup>21</sup></a> sensation, the <i>rationale</i> +of sensation as a <i>living</i> process, is this, that the senses are not +merely <i>presentative</i>—<i>i.e.</i> they not only bring sensations before us, but +that they are <i>self-presentative</i>—<i>i.e.</i> they, moreover, bring themselves +before us as sensations. But for this law we should never get beyond our +mere subjective modifications; but in virtue of it we necessarily get +beyond them; for the results of the law are, 1st, that we, the subject, +restrict ourselves to, or identify ourselves with, the senses, not as +displayed in their primary sphere, (the large circle A,) but as falling +within their own ken as sensations, in their secondary sphere, (the small +circle A.) This smaller sphere is our own bodily frame; and does not each +individual look upon himself as vested in his own bodily frame? And 2ndly, +it is a necessary consequence of this investment or restriction, that +every sensation which lies beyond the sphere of the senses, viewed as +sensations, (<i>i.e.</i> which lies beyond the body,) must be, in the most +unequivocal sense of the words, a real independent object. If the reader +wants a name to characterise this system, he may call it the system of +<i>Absolute or Thorough-going presentationism</i>. +</p> +<br> +<hr class=full> + +<span class=pagenum><A id=page658 name=page658></A>[pg 658]</span> +<a name="bw337s9" id="bw337s9"></a><h2>ON THE BEST MEANS OF ESTABLISHING A COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE +BETWEEN THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS.</h2> + +<p> +To shorten the navigation between the eastern and western divisions of our +globe, either by discovering a north-west passage into the Pacific, or +opening a route across the American continent, with European philosophers +and statesmen has for centuries been a favourite project, and yet in only +one way has it been attempted. Large sums of money were successively voted +and expended, in endeavouring to penetrate through the Arctic sea; and +such is the persevering enterprise of our mariners, that in all likelihood +this gigantic task eventually will be accomplished: but, even if it should, +it is questionable whether a navigable opening in that direction would +prove beneficial to commerce. The floating ice with which those high +latitudes are encumbered; the intricacy of the navigation; the cold and +tempestuous weather generally prevailing there, and the difficulty of +obtaining aid, in cases of shipwreck, must continue to deter the ordinary +navigator from following that track. +</p> +<p> +Enquiry, therefore, naturally turns to the several points on the middle +part of the American continent, where, with the aid of art, it is supposed +that a communication across may be effected. These are five in number, and +the facilities for the undertaking which each affords, have been discussed +by a few modern travellers, commencing with Humboldt. On a close +investigation into the subject, it will, however, appear evident, that +although the cutting of a canal on some point or order, may be within the +compass of human exertion, still the undertaking would require an enormous +outlay of capital, besides many years to accomplish it; and even if it +should be completed, the result could never answer the expectations formed +upon this subject in Europe. On all the points proposed, and more +especially in reference to the long lines, the difficulty of rendering +rivers navigable, which in the winter are swelled into impetuous torrents; +the want of population along the greater part of the distances to be cut; +the differences of elevation; and, above all, the shallowness of the water +on all the extremities of the cuts projected, thus only affording +admission to small vessels, are among the impediments which, for the time +being at least, appear almost insuperable. +</p> +<p> +Without entering further into the obstacles which present themselves to +the formation of a canal along any one of the lines alluded to, I shall at +once come to the conclusion, that for all the practical purposes of +commercial intercourse which the physical circumstances of the country +allow, a railroad is preferable, and may be constructed at infinitely less +expense. This position once established, the question next to be asked is, +which is the most eligible spot for the work proposed? On a careful +examination of the relative merits of the several lines pointed out, that +of the isthmus of Panama unquestionably appears to be the most eligible. +From its central position, and the short distance intervening between the +two oceans, it seems, indeed, to be providentially destined to become the +connecting link between the eastern and western worlds; and hence its +being made a thoroughfare for all nations, must be a subject of the utmost +importance to those engaged in commerce. +</p> +<p> +Some of our most eminent public writers of the day, anticipating the +advantages likely to result from the emancipation of Spanish America, +considered the opening of a passage across that isthmus as one of the +mightiest events which could present itself to the enterprise of man; and +it is well known, that during Mr Pitt's administration projects on this +subject were submitted to him—some of them even attempting to show the +feasibility of cutting a canal across, sufficiently deep and wide to admit +vessels of the largest class. Report says, that the minister frequently +spoke in rapturous terms on the supposed facilities of this grand project; +and it is believed, that the sanguine +<span class=pagenum><A id=page659 name=page659></A>[pg 659]</span> + hopes of its realization had great +weight with him when forming his plans for the independence of the +southern division of the New World. The same idea prevailed in Europe for +the greater part of the last century; but yet no survey was instituted—no +steps taken to obtain correct data on the subject. Humboldt revived it; +and yet this great and beneficial scheme again remained neglected, and, to +all appearance, forgotten. At length the possession of the Marquesas +islands by the French, brought the topic into public notice, when, towards +the close of last April, and while submitting the project of a law to the +Chamber of Deputies for a grant of money to cover the expenses of a +government establishment in the new settlements, Admiral Roussin expressed +himself thus:—"The advantages of our new establishments, incontestable as +they are even at present, will assume a far greater importance hereafter. +They will become of great value, should a plan which, at the present +moment, fixes the attention of all maritime nations, be realized, namely, +to open, through the isthmus of Panama, a passage between Europe and the +Pacific, instead of going round by Cape Horn. When this great event, alike +interesting to all naval powers, shall have been effected, the Society and +Marquesas islands, by being brought so much nearer to France, will take a +prominent place among the most important stations of the world. The +facility of this communication will necessarily give a new activity to the +navigation of the Pacific ocean; since this way will be, if not the +shortest to the Indian and Chinese seas, certainly the safest, and, in a +commercial point of view, unquestionably the most important." +</p> +<p> +In his speech in support of the grant, M. Gaizot, in the sitting of the +10th inst., asserted that the project of piercing the isthmus of Panama +was not a chimerical one, and proceeded to read a letter from Professor +Humbolt, dated August 1842, in which that learned gentleman observed, that +"it was twenty-five years since a project for a communication between the +two oceans, either by the isthmus of Panama, the lake of Nicaragua, or by +the isthmus of Capica, had been proposed and topographically discussed; and +yet nothing had been yet commenced." The French minister also read +extracts from a paper addressed to the Academy of Sciences, by an American +gentleman named Warren, advocating the practicability of a canal, by means +of the rivers Vinotinto, Beverardino, and Farren, after which he +enthusiastically exclaimed, that should this great work ever be +accomplished—and in his own mind he had no doubt that some day or other +it would—then the value of Oceana would be greatly increased, and France +would have many reasons to congratulate herself on the possession of them. +This has thus become one of the most popular topics in France, where the +views of the minister are no longer concealed, and in England are we +slumbering upon it? Certainly we have as great an interest in the +accomplishment of the grand design as the French, and possibly possess +more correct information on the subject than they do. Why, then, is it +withheld from the public? What are our government doing? +</p> +<p> +To supply this deficiency, as far as his means allow, is the object of the +writer of these pages; and in order to show the degree of credit to which +his remarks may be entitled, and his reasons for differing from the French +as regards the means by which the great desideratum is to be achieved, he +will briefly state, that in early life he left Europe under the prevailing +impression that the opening of a canal across the isthmus of Panama was +practicable; but while in the West Indies, some doubts on the subject +having arisen in his mind, he determined to visit the spot, which he did +at his own expense, and at some personal risk—the Spaniards being still +in possession of the country. With this view he ascended the river Chagre +to Cruces, and thence proceeded by land to Panama, where he stopped a +fortnight. In that time he made several excursions into the interior, and +had a fair opportunity of hearing the sentiments of intelligent natives; +but, although he then came to the conclusion that a canal of large +dimensions was impracticable, he saw the possibility of opening a railroad, +with which, in his opinion, European nations ought to be satisfied, at +least for the present. Why he assumed this position, a description of the +locality will best explain. +</p> +<p> +<span class=pagenum><A id=page660 name=page660></A>[pg 660]</span> +The river Chagre, which falls into the Atlantic, is the nearest +transitable point to Panama, but unfortunately the harbour does not admit +vessels drawing more than twelve feet water.<a id=footnotetag22 +name=footnotetag22></a><a +href="#footnote22"><sup>22</sup></a> There the traveller +embarks in a <i>bonjo</i>, (a flat-bottomed boat,) or in a canoe, made of the +trunk of a cedar-tree, grown on the banks to an enormous size. The +velocity of the downward current is equal to three miles an hour, and +greater towards the source. The ascent is consequently tedious; often the +rowers are compelled to pole the boat along, a task, under a burning sun, +which could only be performed by negroes. In the upper part of the stream +the navigation is obstructed by shallows, so much so as to render the +operation of unloading unavoidable. Large trunks of trees, washed down by +the rains, and sometimes embedded in the sands, also occasionally choke up +the channel, impediments which preclude the possibility of a steam power +being used beyond a certain distance up. No boat can ascend higher than +Cruces, a village in a direct line not more than twenty-two miles from +Chagre harbour; but owing to the sinuosities of the river, the distance to +be performed along it is nearly double. To stem the current requires from +three to eight days, according to the season, whereas the descent does not +take more than from eight to twelve hours. +</p> +<p> +From Cruces to Panama the distance is five leagues, over a broken and +hilly country. The town is situated at the head of the gulf, on a neck of +land washed by the waters of the Pacific; but the port is only accessible +to flat-bottomed boats, owing to which it is called <i>Las Piraguas</i>. The +harbour, or rather the roadstead, is formed by a cluster of small islands +lying about six miles from the shore, under the shelter of which vessels +find safe anchorage. The tides rise high, and, falling in the same +proportion, the sloping coast is left dry to a considerable distance +out—a circumstance which precludes the possibility of forming an outlet +in front of Panama. The obstacles above enumerated at once convinced the +writer that a ship canal in this direction was impracticable. The Spanish +plan was to make the Chagre navigable a considerable distance up, by +removing the shallows and deepening the channel; but owing to the great +inclination in the descent, and the immense volumes of water rushing down +in winter, the task would be a most herculean one; and, even if +accomplished, this part of the route could only serve for small craft. A +canal over five leagues of hilly ground would still remain to be cut. +</p> +<p> +Although the plan, so long and so fondly cherished in Europe, and now +revived in France, must, for the reasons here assigned, be abandoned, on +this account we ought not to be deterred from availing ourselves of such +facilities as the locality affords. The geographical position of the +isthmus of Panama is too interesting to be any longer disregarded. "When +the Spanish discoverers first overcame the range of mountains which divide +the western from the Atlantic shores of South America," said a +distinguished statesman,<a id=footnotetag23 +name=footnotetag23></a><a +href="#footnote23"><sup>23</sup></a> "they stood fixed in silent admiration, gazing +on the vast expanse of the Southern ocean which lay stretched before them +in boundless prospect. They adored—even those hardened and sanguinary +adventurers adored—the gracious providence of Heaven, which, after lapse +of so many centuries had opened to mankind so wonderful a field of untried +and unimagined enterprize." The very same point of land where, in 1515, +the Spaniards first beheld the Pacific, is the spot formed by nature for +the realization of those advantages which their +<span class=pagenum><A id=page661 name=page661></A>[pg 661]</span> + cautious policy caused +them to overlook. The Creator seems to have intended it for general +use—as the highway of nations; and yet, after a period of more than three +centuries, scarcely has the solitude which envelopes this interesting +strip of land been broken. Is Europe or America to blame for this? +</p> +<p> +In the present state of our trade, and the increasing competition which we +are likely to experience, unquestionably it would be advisable for British +subjects to exert themselves in securing a free passage across the isthmus +above-named. It is not, however, to be imagined that this is a new project +in our history. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, one was +formed in Scotland for the establishment of a national company to trade +with the Indies through the Pacific, which became so popular that most of +the royal burghs subscribed to it. The scheme originated with William +Patterson, a Scotchman, of a bold and enterprizing character, who, in +early life, is supposed to have been a Bucanier, and to have traversed +several sections of South America. At all events, he seems to have been +acquainted with the views of Captain, afterwards Sir Henry Morgan, who, in +1670, took and burned Panama. +</p> +<p> +In England, the "Scots Company" was strenuously opposed by the +incorporated traders to the East Indies, as well as by the West India +merchants. Parliament equally took the alarm, and prayed the king not to +sanction the scheme. So powerful did this opposition at length become, +that the sums subscribed were withdrawn. Nothing daunted by this failure, +Patterson resolved to engraft upon his original plan one for the +establishment of an emporium on the Isthmus of Darien, whither he +anticipated that European goods would be sent, and thence conveyed to the +western shores of America, the Pacific islands, and Asia; and, in order to +attract notice and gain support, he proposed that the new settlement +should be made a free port, and all distinctions of religion, party, and +nation banished. The project was much liked in the north of Europe, but +again scouted at the English court; when the Scotch, indignant at the +opposition which their commercial prospects experienced from King William's +ministers, which they attributed to a contrariety of interests on the +part of the English, subscribed among themselves L.400,000 for the object +in view, and L.300,000 more were, in the same manner, raised at Hamburg; +but, in consequence of a remonstrance presented to the senate of that city +by the English resident, the latter sum was called in. +</p> +<p> +Eventually, in 1699, Patterson sailed with five large vessels, having on +board 1200 followers, all Scotch, and many of them belonging to the best +families, furnished with provisions and merchandise; and, on arriving on +the coast of Darien, took possession of a small peninsula lying between +Porto Bello and Carthagena, where he built the Fort of St Andrew. The +settlement was called New Caledonia; and the directors having taken every +precaution for its security, entered into negotiations with the +independent Indians in the neighbourhood, by whom it is believed that the +tenure of the "Scots Company" was sanctioned. The Spaniards took offence +at this alleged aggression, and angry complaints were forwarded to the +court of St James's. To these King William listened with something like +complacency, his policy at the time being to temporize with Spain, in +order to prevent the aggrandizement of the French Bourbons. The new +settlement was accordingly denounced, in proclamations issued by the +authorities of Jamaica, Barbadoes, and the American plantations, and soon +afterwards attacked by a Spanish force. Pressed on all sides, the +adventurers, for a period of eight months, bore up against accumulated +misfortunes; when at length, receiving no succours from their copartners +at home, convinced that they had to contend against the hostility of the +English government, and their provisions being exhausted, the survivors +were compelled to abandon their enterprise and return to Scotland. To add +to their chagrin, a few days after their departure two vessels arrived +with supplies and a small reinforcement of men. +</p> +<p> +Incensed at the second failure of their favourite scheme, the Scotch +endeavoured to obtain from King William an acknowledgment of the national +right to the territory of New +<span class=pagenum><A id=page662 name=page662></A>[pg 662]</span> + Caledonia, and some reparation for the loss +sustained by the disappointed settlers. Unsuccessful in their application, +they next presented an address to the ruling power, praying that their +parliament might be assembled, in order to take the matter into +consideration; when, at the first meeting, angry and spirited resolutions +were passed upon the subject. No redress was, however, obtained; and thus +terminated the Darien scheme of the seventeenth century, founded, no one +will venture to deny, on an enlarged view of our commercial interests, and +a just conception of the means by which they might have been promoted. In +the state of our existing treaties with Spain, the seizure of territory +possibly was unjust, the moment unseasonable, and the plan, in one respect, +obviously defective, inasmuch as the projectors had not taken into account +the hostility of the Spaniards, and could not, consequently, rely on an +outlet for their merchandize in the Pacific. Had the scheme been delayed, +or had the settlement survived some months longer, the War of Succession +would, however, have given to the adventurers a right of tenure stronger +than any they could have obtained from the English court; for it is to be +borne in mind that, on the 3d of November 1700, Charles II. of Spain died +leaving his crown to a French branch of the House of Bourbon—an event +which threw Europe into a blaze, and, in the ensuing year, led to the +formation of the Grand Alliance. +</p> +<p> +This short digression may serve to show the spirit of the age towards the +close of the seventeenth century, and more particularly the light in which +the Scotch viewed an attempt, made nearly a century and a half ago, to +establish a commercial intercourse with the Pacific; and, had they then +succeeded, other objects of still mightier import than those at first +contemplated—other benefits of a more extended operation, would have been +included in the results. The opportunity was lost, evidently through the +want of support from the ruling power; but it must have been curious to +see the English government, at the close of the war, endeavouring to have +conceded to them by the Spanish court, and in virtue of the memorable +Aziento contract of 1713, those very same advantages which the "Scots +Company" sought to secure, by their own private efforts, and almost in +defiance of a most powerful interest. And when our prospects in the same +quarter have been enlarged, to an extent far beyond the most sanguine +expectations of our forefathers—when, through the independence of South +America, we have had the fairest opportunities of entering into +combinations with the natives for the accomplishment of the +grand design—is it yet to be said that spirited and enlightened +Englishmen are not to be found, ready and willing enough to support a +scheme advantageous to the whole commercial community of Europe? It is +confidently understood that the best information on the subject has been +submitted to her Majesty's government, even recently. If so, is it then a +fact that no one member of the Cabinet has shown a disposition to lend a +helping hand? +</p> +<p> +But what have the South Americans done in furtherance of the scheme in +question? Among the projects contemplated by Bolivar, the Liberator, for +the improvement of his native land, as soon as its independence should +have been consolidated, was one to form a junction between the +neighbouring oceans, so far as nature and the circumstances of the country +would allow. In November 1827, he accordingly commissioned Mr John +Augustus Lloyd, an Englishman, to make a survey of the isthmus of Panama, +"in order to ascertain," as that gentleman himself tells us, "the best and +most eligible line of communication, whether by road or canal, between the +two seas." In March 1828 the commissioner arrived at Panama, where he was +joined by a Swedish officer of engineers in the Colombian service, and, +provided with suitable instruments, they proceeded to perform the task +assigned to them.<a id=footnotetag24 +name=footnotetag24></a><a +href="#footnote24"><sup>24</sup></a> Their first care was to determine the relative height +of the two oceans, when, from their observations, it appeared that the +tides are regular on both +<span class=pagenum><A id=page663 name=page663></A>[pg 663]</span> +sides of the isthmus, and the time of high water +nearly the same at Panama and Chagre. The rise in the Pacific is, however, +the greatest, the mean height at Panama being rather more than three feet +above that of the Atlantic at Chagre; but, as in every twelve hours the +Pacific falls six feet more than the Atlantic, it is in that same +proportion lower; yet, as soon as the tide has flowed fully in, the level +assumes its usual elevation. Although the measurements of Bolivar's +commissioners were not, perhaps, performed with all the exactitude that +could have been wished, sufficient was then and since ascertained to +establish the fact, that the difference between the levels of the two +oceans is not so great as to cause any derangement, in case the +intervening ground could be pierced. +</p> +<p> +In the pursuit of his object, Mr Lloyd seems altogether to set aside the +idea of a canal, and leaving his readers to judge which is the best +expedient to answer the end proposed, he thus describes the topography and +capabilities of the country:—"It is generally supposed in Europe that the +great chain of mountains, which, in South America, forms the Andes, +continues nearly unbroken through the isthmus. This, however, is not the +case. The northern Cordillera breaks into detached mountains on the +eastern side of the province of Vevagna, which are of considerable height, +extremely abrupt and rugged, and frequently exhibit an almost +perpendicular face of bare rock. To these succeed numerous conical +mountains, rising out of savannahs or plains, and seldom exceeding from +300 to 500 feet in height. Finally, between Chagre on the Atlantic side, +and Chorrera on the Pacific side, the conical mountains are not so +numerous, having plains of great extent, interspersed with occasional +insulated ranges of hills, of inconsiderable height and extent. From this +description, it will be seen," continues Mr Lloyd, "that the spot where +the continent of America is reduced to nearly its narrowest limits, is +also distinguished by a break for a few miles of the great chain of +mountains, which otherwise extend, with but few exceptions, to its extreme +northern and southern limits. This combination of circumstances points out +the peculiar fitness of the isthmus of Panama for the establishment of a +communication across." +</p> +<p> +Here, then, we have an avowal, from the best authority before the public, +and founded on a survey of the ground, that the intervening country is +sufficiently open, even for a canal, if skilfully undertaken, and with +adequate funds—consequently it cannot present any physical obstacles in +the way of a railroad which cannot readily be overcome. The same opinion +was formed by the writer of these pages, when, at a much earlier period, +he viewed the plains from the heights at the back of Panama; and that +opinion was borne out by natives who had traversed the ground as far as +the forests and brushwood allowed. In the sitting of the Royal Academy of +Sciences, held in Paris on the 26th of last December, Baron Humboldt +reported, that the preparatory labours for cutting a canal across the +isthmus of Panama were rapidly advancing; to which he added that the +commission appointed by the government of New Granada had terminated their +survey of the localities, after arriving at a result as fortunate as it +was unexpected. "The chain of the Cordilleras," he observed, "does not +extend, as it was formerly supposed, across, since a valley favourable to +the operation had been discovered, and the natural position of the waters +might also be rendered useful. Three rivers," the Baron proceeded to say, +"had been explored, over which an easy control might be established; and +these rivers, there was every reason to think, might be made partially +navigable, and afterwards connected with the proposed canal, the +excavations for which would not extend beyond 12-1/2 miles in length. It +was further expected that the fall might be regulated by four double locks, +138 feet in length; by which means the total extent of the canal would not +be more than 49 miles, with a width of 136 feet at the surface, 56 at the +base, and 20 in depth, sufficiently capacious for the admission of a +vessel measuring 1000 to 1400 tons. It was estimated by M. Morel, a French +engineer, that the cost of these several works would not be more than +fourteen millions of francs." +</p> +<p> +This is a confirmation of the fact, that on the isthmus facilities exist +for +<span class=pagenum><A id=page664 name=page664></A>[pg 664]</span> +either cutting a canal, or constructing a railroad; but while the +French seem inclined to revive the primitive project, it is to be feared +that they overlook the paramount difficulty, which, as already noticed, +occurs on both sides, through the want of water. Unless admission and an +outlet can be obtained for men-of-war, and the usual class of vessels +trading to India, it would scarcely be worth while to attempt a canal, and +it has not been ascertained that both those essential requisites can be +found. The other plan must therefore be held to be the surest and most +economical. This also seems to have been the conclusion at which Mr Lloyd +arrived. Having made up his mind that a railroad is best adapted to the +locality, he proceeds to trace two lines, starting from the same terminus, +near the Atlantic, and terminating at different points on the Pacific, +respecting which he expresses himself thus:—"Two lines are marked on the +map, commencing at a point near the junction of the rivers Chagre and +Trinidad, and crossing the plains, the one to Chorrera, and the other to +Panama. These lines indicate the directions which I consider the best for +a railroad communication. The principal difficulty in the establishment of +such a communication, would arise from the number of rivulets to be +crossed, which, though dry in summer, become considerable streams in the +rainy season. The line which crosses to Chorrera is much the shortest, but +the other has the advantage of terminating in the city and harbour of +Panama. The country intersected by these lines is by no means so abundant +in woods as in other parts, but has fine savannahs, and throughout the +whole distance, as well as on each bank of the Trinidad, presents flat, +and sometimes swampy country, with occasional detached sugar-loaf +mountains, interspersed with streams that mostly empty themselves into the +Chagre." +</p> +<p> +Would it not, then, be more advisable to act on this suggestion, than run +the risk and incur the expense of a canal? On all hands it is agreed, that +as far as the mouth of the Trinidad the Chagre is navigable for vessels +drawing twelve feet water, by which means twelve or fourteen miles of road, +and a long bridge besides, would be saved. Under this supposition, the +proposed line from the junction of the two rivers to Panama would be about +thirty miles, and to Chorrera twenty four; while on neither of them does +any other difficulty present itself than the one mentioned by Mr Lloyd. +"Should the time arrive," says that gentleman, "when a project of a water +communication across the isthmus may be entertained, the river Trinidad +will probably appear the most favourable route. That river is for some +distance both broad and deep, and its banks are also well suited for +wharfs, especially in the neighbourhood of the spot whence the lines +marked for a railroad communication commence." +</p> +<p> +It therefore only remains to be determined which of the two lines is the +preferable one; and this depends more on the facilities afforded by the +bay of Chorrera for the admission of vessels, than the difference in the +distances. However desirable it might be to have Panama as the Pacific +station, it will already have been noticed, that the great distance from +the shore at which vessels are obliged to anchor, is a serious impediment +to loading and unloading—operations which are rendered more tedious by +the heavy swell at certain seasons setting into the gulf. The distance +from Chorrera to Panama, over a level part of the coast, is only ten miles. +Should it therefore be deemed expedient, these two places may afterwards +be connected by means of a branch line. As regards the difficulty +mentioned by Mr Lloyd, arising out of "the number of rivulets to be +crossed," it may be observed that this section of the country remains in +nearly the same state as that in which it was left by nature. No +artificial means have been adopted for drainage; but the assurances of +intelligent natives warrant the belief, that by cross-cuts the smaller +rivulets may be made to run into the larger ones, whereby the number to be +crossed would be materially diminished. The contiguous lands abound in +superior stone, easily dug, and well suited for the construction of +causeways as well as arches; while the magnificent forests, which rear +their lofty heads to the north of the projected line, would for sleepers +furnish any quantity of an almost +<span class=pagenum><A id=page665 name=page665></A>[pg 665]</span> +incorruptible and even incombustible +wood, resembling teak.<a id=footnotetag25 +name=footnotetag25></a><a +href="#footnote25"><sup>25</sup></a> +</p> +<p> +The Honourable P. Campbell Scarlett, one of the last travellers of note +who crossed the isthmus and favoured the pubic with the result of his +observations, says, "that for a ship canal the locality would not answer, +but presents the greatest facilities for the transfer of merchandize by +river and canal, sufficiently deep for steam-boats, at a comparatively +trifling expense."<a id=footnotetag26 +name=footnotetag26></a><a +href="#footnote26"><sup>26</sup></a> He then proceeds to remark, "that Mr Lloyd seemingly +turned his attention more to the practicability of a railroad along the +level country between the mouth of the Trinidad and the town or river of +Chorrera, and no doubt a railroad would be very beneficial;" adding, "that +an explicit understanding would be necessary to prevent interruption, +(meaning with the local government and ruling power:) and the subject +assuredly is of sufficient magnitude and importance to justify, if not +call on, the British government, or any other power, to encourage and +sanction the enterprise by a solemn treaty." +</p> +<p> +In proportion to its size, no town built by the Spaniards in the western +world contains so many good edifices as Panama, although many of them are +now falling to decay. It was rebuilt subsequent to the fire in 1737, and +from the ornamental parts of some structures, it is evident that superior +workmen were employed in their erection;<a id=footnotetag27 +name=footnotetag27></a><a +href="#footnote27"><sup>27</sup></a> and should notice at any time +be given that public works were about to commence there, accompanied by an +assurance that artisans would meet with due encouragement, thither +able-bodied men would flock, even from the West Indies and the United +States. Hardy Mulattoes, Meztizoes, free Negroes, and Indians, may be +assembled upon the spot, among whom are good masons and experienced hewers +of wood; and, being intelligent and tractable, European skill and example +alone would be requisite to direct them. The existence of coal along the +shores of Chili and Peru, is also another encouraging feature in the +scheme;<a id=footnotetag28 +name=footnotetag28></a><a +href="#footnote28"><sup>28</sup></a> and as the ground for a railroad would cost a mere trifle, if +any thing, the whole might be completed at a comparatively small expense. +</p> +<p> +The profits derivable from the undertaking, when accomplished, are too +obvious to require enumeration. The rates levied on letters, passengers, +and merchandize, after leaving a proportionate revenue to the local +government, must produce a large sum, which would progressively increase +as +<span class=pagenum><A id=page666 name=page666></A>[pg 666]</span> +the route became more frequented. Mines exist in the neighbourhood, at +present neglected owing to the difficulty of the smelting process. It may +hereafter be worth while for return vessels to bring the rough mineral +obtained from them to Europe, as is now done with copper ore from Cuba, +Colombia, and Chili. Ship timber, of the largest dimensions and best +qualities, may also be had. The charges on the transit of merchandize +would never be so heavy as even the rates of insurance round Cape Horn and +the Cape of Good Hope. The first of these great headlands mariners know +full well is a fearful barrier, advancing into the cheerless deep amidst +storms, rocks, islands, and currents, to avoid which the navigator is +often compelled to go several degrees more to the south than his track +requires; whereby the voyage is not only lengthened, but his water and +provisions so far exhausted, that frequently he is under the necessity of +making the first port he can in Chili, or seeking safety on the African +coast. +</p> +<p> +To escape from the perils and delays of this circuitous route has long +been the anxious wish of all commercial nations, and to a certain extent +this may be accomplished in the manner here pointed out. In the course of +time, and in case prospects are sufficiently encouraging—or, in other +words, should the surveys required for a ship canal correspond with the +hopes entertained upon this subject by the French—the great desideratum +might then be attempted. The work done would not interfere with any other +afterwards undertaken on an increased scale. On the contrary, a railroad +would continue its usual traffic, and afford great assistance. Fortunately +the obstruction to the admission of vessels into Chagre harbour, on the +Atlantic side, may be obviated, as will appear from the following passage +in Mr Lloyd's report—a point of extreme importance in the prosecution of +any ulterior design; but even then the great difficulty remains to be +overcome on the Pacific shore:— +</p> +<p> +"The river Chagre," says the Colombian commissioner, "its channel, and the +barks which in the dry season embarrass its navigation, are laid down in +my manuscript plan with great care and minuteness. It is subject to one +great inconvenience; viz. that vessels drawing more than twelve feet water +cannot enter the river, even in perfectly calm weather, on account of a +stratum of slaty limestone which runs, at a depth at high water of fifteen +feet, from a point on the mainland to some rocks in the middle of the +entrance into the harbour, and which are just even with the water's edge. +This, together with the lee current that sets on the southern shore, +particularly in the rainy season, renders the entrance extremely difficult +and dangerous. The value of the Chagre, considered as the port of entrance +for all communication, whether by the river Chagre, Trinidad, or by +railroad, across the plains, is greatly limited owing to the +above-mentioned cause. It would, in all cases, prove a serious +disqualification, were it not one which admits of a simple and effectual +remedy, arising from the proximity of the bay of Limon, otherwise called +Navy Bay, with which the river might be easily connected. The coves of this +bay afford excellent and secure anchorage in its present state, and the +whole harbour is capable of being rendered, by obvious and not very +expensive means, one of the most commodious and safe in the world." +</p> +<p> +After expressing his gratitude for the good offices of her Majesty's +consul at Panama, and the services rendered to him by the officers of her +Majesty's ship Victor, with the aid of whose boats, and the assistance of +the master, he made his survey of the bay of Limon, obtained soundings, +and constructed his plan, (the shores of which bay, he says, are therein +laid down trigonometrically from a base of 5220 yards)—Mr Lloyd remarks +thus, "It will be seen by this plan that the distance from one of the +best coves, in respect to anchorage, across the separating country from +the Chagre, and in the most convenient track, is something less than three +miles to a point in the river about three miles from its mouth. I have +traversed the intervening land, which is perfectly level, and in all +respects suitable for a canal, which, being required for so short a +distance, might well be made of a sufficient depth to admit vessels of any +reasonable draught of water, and would obviate the inconvenience of the +shallows at the entrance of the Chagre." +</p> +<p> +Granting, however, that the +<span class=pagenum><A id=page667 name=page667></A>[pg 667]</span> +admission from the Atlantic into the Chagre of +a larger class of vessels than those drawing twelve feet might be thus +facilitated, according to Mr Lloyd's own avowal a breakwater would still +be necessary at the entrance of Limon Bay, which is situated round Point +Brujas, about eight geographical miles higher up towards Porto Bello than +the mouth of that river, as the heavy sea setting into the bay would +render the anchorage of vessels insecure. An immense deal of work would +consequently still remain to be performed before a corresponding outlet +into the Pacific could be obtained; and whether this can be accomplished +is yet problematical. In the interval, a railroad, on the plan above +suggested, would answer many, although not all the purposes desired by the +commercial community, and serve as a preparatory step for a canal, should +it be deemed feasible. After the country has been cleared of wood and +properly explored—after the population has been more concentrated, and +the opinions of experienced men obtained—a project of oceanic navigation +may succeed; but, for the present, we ought to be content with the best +and cheapest expedient that can be devised; and the distance is so short, +and the facilities for the enterprise so palpable, that a few previous +combinations, and a small capital only, are required to carry it into +effect. By using the waters of the Chagre and Trinidad, a material part of +the distance across is saved;<a id=footnotetag29 +name=footnotetag29></a><a +href="#footnote29"><sup>29</sup></a> and as, as before explained, the ground +will cost nothing, and excellent and cheap materials exist, the work might +be performed at a comparatively trifling expense. When completed, the trip +from sea to sea would not take more than from six to eight hours. +</p> +<p> +Avowedly, no ocean is so well adapted for steam navigation as the Pacific. +Except near Cape Horn, and in the higher latitudes to the north-west, on +its glassy surface storms are seldom encountered. With their heavy ships, +the Spaniards often made voyages from Manilla to Acapulco in sixty-five +days, without having once had occasion to take in their light sails. The +ulterior consequences, therefore, of a more general introduction of steam +power into that new region, connected with a highway across the isthmus of +Panama, no one can calculate. The experiment along the shores of Chili and +Peru has already commenced; and the cheap rate at which fossil fuel can be +had has proved a great facility. Under circumstances so peculiarly +propitious, to what an extent, then, may not steam navigation be carried +on the smooth expanse of the Southern ocean? If there are two sections of +the globe more pre-eminently suited for commercial intercourse than others, +they are the western shores of America and Southern Asia. To these two +markets, consequently, will the attention of manufacturing nations be +turned; and, should the project here proposed be carried into effect, +depots of merchandize will be formed on and near the isthmus, when the +riches of Europe and America will move more easily towards Asia; while, in +return, the productions of Asia will be wafted towards America and Europe. +If we entertain the expectation, that at no distant period of time our +West India possessions will become advanced posts, and aid in the +development of +<span class=pagenum><A id=page668 name=page668></A>[pg 668]</span> +the resources abounding in that extended and varied region +at the entrance of which they are stationed—if the several islands there +which hoist the British flag are destined to be resting-places for that +trade between Great Britain and the Southern sea, now opening to European +industry—these two great interests cannot be so effectually advanced as +by the means above suggested. +</p> +<p> +It has generally been thought that the long-neglected isthmus of Suez is +the shortest road to India, but besides being precarious, and suited only +for the conveyance of light weights, that line only embraces one object; +whereas the establishment of a communication across that of Panama, would +be like the creation of a new geographical and commercial world—it would +bring two extremities of the earth closer together, and, besides, connect +many intermediate points. It would open to European nations the portals to +a new field of enterprise, and complete the series of combinations forming +to develop the riches with which the Pacific abounds, by presenting to +European industry a new group of producers and consumers. The remotest +regions of the East would thus come more under the influence of European +civilization; while, by a quicker and safer intercourse, our Indian +possessions would be rendered more secure, and our new connexion with +China strengthened. Besides the wealth arriving from Asia and the islands +in the wide Pacific, the produce of Acapulco, San Blas, California, Nootka +Sound, and the Columbia river, on the one side, and of Guayaquil, Peru, +and Chili, on the other, would come to the Atlantic by a shorter route, at +the same time that we might receive advices from New Holland and New +Zealand with only half the delay we now do. +</p> +<p> +The mere recurrence to a map will at once show, that the isthmus of Panama +is destined to become a great commercial thoroughfare, and, at a moderate +expense, might be made the seat of an extensive trade. By the facilities +of communication across, new wants would be created; and, as fresh markets +open to European enterprise, a proportionate share of the supplies would +fall to our lot. In the present depressed state of our commercial +relations, some effort must be made to apply the industry of the country +to a larger range of objects. A century of experiments and labour has +changed the face of nature in our own country, quadrupled the produce of +our lands, and extended a green mantle over districts which once wore the +appearance of barren wastes; but the consumption of our manufactures +abroad has not risen in the same proportion. It behoves us, then, to +explore and secure new markets, which can best be done by connecting +ourselves with those regions to which the isthmus of Panama is the +readiest avenue. In a mercantile point of view, the importance of the +western coasts of America is only partially known to us. With the +exception of Valparaiso and Lima, our merchants seldom visit the various +ports along that extended line, to which the establishment of the Hudson's +Bay Company on the Columbia river gives a new feature. Although abounding +in the elements of wealth, in many of these secluded regions the spark of +commercial life has scarcely been awakened by foreign intercourse. Our +whale-fisheries in the Pacific may also require more protection than they +have hitherto done; and if we ever hope to have it in our power to obtain +live alpacas from Peru as a new stock in this country, and at a rate cheap +enough for the farmer to purchase and naturalize them, it must be by the +way of Panama, by which route guano manure may also be brought over to us +at one half of the present charges. We are now sending bonedust and other +artificial composts to Jamaica and our other islands in the West Indies, +in order to restore the soil, impoverished by successive sugar-cane crops, +while the most valuable fertilizer, providentially provided on the other +side of the isthmus, remains entirely neglected. +</p> +<p> +The establishment of a more direct intercourse with the Pacific, it will +therefore readily be acknowledged, is an undertaking worthy of a great +nation, and conformable to the spirit of the age in which we are +living—an undertaking which would do more honour to Great Britain, and +ultimately prove more beneficial to our merchants, than any other that +possibly could be devised. Nor is it to be imagined that other nations are +insensible to the advantages which +<span class=pagenum><A id=page669 name=page669></A>[pg 669]</span> +they would derive from an opening of +this kind. The feelings and sentiments of the French upon this subject +have already been briefly noticed. The King of Holland has expressed +himself favourable to the undertaking, nor are the Belgians behind hand in +their good wishes for its accomplishment. If possible, the North Americans +have a larger and more immediate interest in its success than the +commercial nations of Europe. Ever since their acquisition of Louisiana, a +general spirit of enterprise has directed a large portion of their +population towards the head waters of the Mississippi and Missouri—a +spirit which impels a daring and thrifty race of men gradually to advance +towards the north-west. Captain Clark's excursion in 1805, had for its +object the discovery of a route to the Pacific by connecting the Missouri +and Columbia rivers, a subject on which, even at that early period, he +expressed himself thus:—"I consider this track across the continent of +immense advantage to the fur trade, as all the furs collected in +nine-tenths of the most valuable fur country in America, may be conveyed +to the mouth of the Columbia river, and thence shipped to the East Indies +by the 15th of August in each year, and will, of course, reach Canton +earlier than the furs which are annually exported from Montreal arrive in +Great Britain." +</p> +<p> +This extract will suffice to show the spirit of emulation by which the +citizens of the Union were, even at so remote a period, actuated in +reference to the north-west coast of America—a spirit which has since +manifested itself in a variety of ways, and in much stronger terms. The +distance overland is, however, too great, and the population too scanty, +for this route to be rendered available for the general purposes of +traffic, at least for many years to come. The North Americans have, +therefore, turned their attention to other points offering facilities of +communication with the Pacific; and the line to which they have usually +given the preference is the Mexican, or more northern one, across the +isthmus of Tehuantepec, situated partly in the province of Oaxaca and +partly in that of Vera Cruz. The facilities afforded by this locality have +been described by several tourists; but supposing that the river +Guassacualco, on the Atlantic, is, or can be made navigable for large +vessels as high up as the isthmus of Tehuantepec, (as to deep water at the +entrance, there is no doubt,) still a carriage road for at least sixteen +leagues would be necessary. The intervening land, although it may contain +some favourable breaks, is nevertheless avowedly so high, that from some +of the mountain summits the two oceans my be easily seen. The obstacles to +a road, and much more so to a canal, are therefore very considerable; and +a suitable and corresponding outlet into the Pacific, besides, has not yet +been discovered. +</p> +<p> +This, then, is by no means so eligible a spot as the isthmus of Panama. +From its situation, the Tehuantepec route would, nevertheless, be +extremely valuable to the North Americans; and it must not be forgotten +that, in this stirring age, there is scarcely an undertaking that baffles +the ingenuity of man. Owing to their position, the North Americans would +gain more by shortening the passage to the Pacific than ourselves; and +Tehuantepec being the nearest point to them suited for that object, and +also the one which they could most effectually control, it is more than +probable that, at some future period, they will use every effort to have +it opened. The country through which the line would pass is confessedly +richer, healthier, and more populous, than that contiguous to the Lake of +Nicaragua, or across the isthmus of Panama; but should the work projected +ever be carried into execution, eventually this route must become an +American monopoly. +</p> +<p> +The citizens of the United States, it will therefore readily be believed, +are keenly alive to the subject, and calculate thus:—A steamer leaving +the Mississippi can reach Guassacualco in six days; in seven, her cargo +might be transferred across the isthmus of Tehuantepec to the Pacific, and +in fifty more reach China—total, sixty-three days. As an elucidation, let +us suppose that the usual route to the same destination, round Gape Horn, +from a more central part of the Union—Philadelphia, for example—is 16, +150 miles; in that case the distance saved, independent of less sea risk, +would be as follows:—From the Delaware to Guassacualco, 2100 miles; +across Tehuantepec to the Pacific, 120; to the Sandwich Islands, +<span class=pagenum><A id=page670 name=page670></A>[pg 670]</span> +3835; to +the Ladrone do., 3900; and to Canton, 2080—total, 12,035 miles; whereby +the saving would be 4115, besides affording greater facilities for the +application of steam. Their estimate of the saving to the Columbia river +is still more encouraging. From one of their central ports the distance +round Cape Horn is estimated at 18,261 miles; whereas by the Mexican route +it would be, to Guassacualco and overland to the Pacific, 2220 miles, and +thence to the Columbia river, 2760—total, 4980; thus leaving the enormous +difference of 13, 281 miles—two-thirds of the distance, besides the +advantage of a safer navigation. By the new route, and the aid of steam, a +voyage to the destination above named may be performed in thirty instead +of a hundred and forty days; and as the population extends towards the +north-west, the Columbia river must become a place of importance. Hitherto +the Pacific ports of Mexico and California have chiefly been supplied with +goods carried overland from Vera Cruz, surcharged with heavy duties and +expenses. More need not be said to show that the United States are on the +alert; nor can it be imagined that they will allow any favourable +opportunity of securing to themselves an easier access to the Pacific to +escape them. On finding another road open, they would, however, be +inclined to desist from seeking a line of communication for themselves. +There is, indeed, every reason to expect that they would cheerfully concur +in a work, the completion of which would so materially redound to their +advantage. +</p> +<p> +Nothing, indeed, can be more evident than the fact, that not only Great +Britain and the United States, but also all the commercial nations of +Europe, are deeply interested in securing for themselves a shorter and +safer passage into the great Pacific, on terms the most prompt and +economical that circumstances will allow; and the success which has +attended civilization within the present century, demands that this effort +should be made, in which, from her position, Great Britain is peculiarly +called upon to take the initiative. For the last twenty years the Panamese +have been buoyed up with the hope, that an attempt, of some kind or other, +would be made to open a communication across their isthmus, calculated to +compensate them for all their losses; and hence they have always been +disposed to second the exertions of any respectable party prepared to +undertake a work which they cannot themselves accomplish. They have heard +of the time of the <i>Galeones</i>, when the fleet, annually arriving from Peru, +landed its treasures in their port, which were exultingly carried overland +to Porto Bello, where the fair was held. "On that occasion," says Ulloa, +"the road was covered with droves of mules, each consisting of above a +hundred, laden with boxes of gold and silver," &c. Panama then rose into +consequence, attaining a state of wealth and prosperity which ceased when +the trade from the western shores took another direction. The natives and +local authorities would consequently rejoice at an event so favourable to +them, and vie with each other in according to the projectors every aid and +protection. Provisions and rents are cheap, and, under all circumstances, +the work might be completed at half the expense it would cost in Europe. +</p> +<p> +At various periods foreign individuals have obtained grants to carry the +project into execution, but time proved that they were mere speculators, +unprovided with capital, and unfortunately death prevented Bolivar from +realizing his favourite scheme. For the same object, attempts have also +been made to form companies; but, owing to the hitherto unsettled state of +the government in whose territory the isthmus is situated, the +unpopularity of South American enterprizes, and the fact that no grant +made to private individuals could afford sufficient security for the +outlay of capital, these schemes fell to the ground. The non-performance +of the promises made by the grantees, at length induced the Congress of +New Granada to annul all privileges conferred on individuals for the +purpose of opening a canal, or constructing a railroad across the isthmus, +and notifying that the project should be left open for general competition. +This determination, and the ulterior views of the French in that quarter, +have again brought the subject under discussion; and it is thought that a +fresh attempt will, erelong, be made to organize a company. It must, +however, be evident <span class=pagenum><A id=page671 name=page671></A>[pg +671]</span> +to every reflecting mind, that although the scheme has +a claim on the best energies of our countrymen, and is entitled to the +efficient patronage of government, yet, even if the funds were for this +purpose raised through private agency, the works never could be carried +into execution in a manner consistent with the magnitude of the object in +view, or the concern administered on a plan calculated to produce the +results anticipated. No body of individuals ought, indeed, to receive and +hold such a grant as would secure to them the tenure of the lands required +for the undertaking. If such a privilege could be rendered valid, it would +place in their hands a monopoly liable to abuses. +</p> +<p> +The best expedient would be for the several maritime and commercial +nations interested in the success of the enterprize, to unite and enter +into combinations, so as to secure for themselves a safe and permanent +transit for the benefit of all; and then let the work be undertaken with +no selfish or ambitious views, but in a spirit of mutual fellowship; and, +when completed, let this be a highway for each party contributing to the +expense, enjoyed and protected by all. At first sight this idea may appear +romantic—the combinations required may be thought difficult; but every +where the extension of commerce is now the order of the day, and the good +understanding which prevails among the parties who might be invited to +concur in the work, warrants the belief that, at a moment so peculiarly +auspicious, little diplomatic ingenuity would be required to procure their +assent and co-operation. By means of negotiations undertaken by Great +Britain and conducted in a right spirit, trading nations would be induced +to agree and contribute to the expenses of the enterprize in proportion to +the advantages which they may hope to derive from its completion. If, for +example, the estimate of the cost amounted to half a million sterling, +Great Britain, France, and the United States might contribute L.100,000 +each, and the remainder be divided among the minor European states—each +having a common right to the property thereby created, and each a +commissioner on the spot, to watch over their respective interests. +</p> +<p> +This would be the most honourable and effectual mode of improving +facilities to which the commerce and civilization of Europe have a claim. +It is the settled conviction of the most intelligent persons who have +traversed the isthmus, that these facilities exist to the extent herein +described and unity of purpose is therefore all that is wanting for the +attainment of the end proposed. Jealousies would be thus obviated; and to +such a concession as the one suggested, the local government could have no +objection, as its own people would participate in the benefits flowing +from it. This is indeed a tribute due from the New to the Old World; nor +could the other South American states hesitate to sanction a grant made +for a commercial purpose, and for the general advantage of mankind. The +isthmus of Panama, that interesting portion of their continent, has +remained neglected for ages; and so it must continue, at least as regards +any great and useful purpose, unless called into notice by extraordinary +combinations. With so many prospective advantages before us, it is +therefore to be hoped that the time has arrived when Great Britain will +take the initiative, and promote the combinations necessary to establish a +commercial intercourse between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, an event +that would widen the scope for maritime enterprizes more than any that has +happened within the memory of the present generation, and connect us more +closely with those countries which have lately been the theatre of our +triumphs. The East India and Hudson's Bay Companies, the traders to China +and the Indian archipelago, the Australian and New Zealand colonists, +together with their connexions at home—in a word, all those who are +desirous of shortening the tedious and perilous navigation round Cape Horn +and the Cape of Good Hope—would be benefited by the construction of a +railroad; which, by making Panama an entrepot of supplies for the western +shores of America and the islands in the Pacific, either in direct +communication with Great Britain or the West India colonies, our +manufacturers would participate in the profits of an increased demand for +European commodities, which necessarily must follow the accomplishment of +so grand a design. +</p> +<br> +<hr class=full> + + + +<span class=pagenum><A id=page672 name=page672></A>[pg 672]</span> +<a name="bw337s10" id="bw337s10"></a><h2>TWO DREAMS.</h2> + +<p> +The Germans and French differ more from each other in the art and mystery +of story-telling than either of them do from the English. It would be very +easy to point out tales which are very popular in Paris, that would make +no sensation at Vienna or Berlin; and, <i>vice versa</i>, we cannot imagine how +the French can possibly enter into the spirit of many of the best known +authors of Deutschland. In England, we are happy to say we can appreciate +them all. History, philology, philosophy—in short, all the modes and +subdivisions of heavy authorship—we leave out of the question, and +address ourselves, on this occasion, to the distinctive characteristics of +the two schools of <i>light</i> literature—schools which have a wider +influence, and number more scholars, than all the learned academies put +together. +</p> +<p> +In this country an outcry has been raised against the French authors in +this department, and in favour of the Germans, on the ground of the +frightful immorality of the first, and the sound principles of the other. +French impiety is not a more common expression, applied to their writings, +than German honesty. It will, perhaps, be right at starting to state, that, +in regard to decency and propriety, the two nations are on a par; if there +is any preponderance, one way or other, it certainly is not in favour of +the Germans, whose derelictions in those respects are more solemn, and +apparently sincere, than their flippant and superficial rivals. Many +authors there are, of course, in both countries, whose works are +unexceptionable in spirit and intention; but as to the assertion, that one +literature is of a higher tone of morals than the other, it is a mistake. +The great majority of the entertaining works in both are unfit <i>pueris +virginibusque</i>. +</p> +<p> +Before the Revolution, Voltaire was as popular in England as in the rest +of Europe; his powers as highly admired, and his short <i>historiettes</i> as +much quoted: their wit being considered a sufficient counterbalance of +their coarseness. But with the war between the two nations, arose a hatred +between the two literatures; with Swift and Tristram Shandy in our hands, +we turned up our eyes in holy indignation at Candide; we saw nothing to +admire in any thing French; and as our condition in politics became more +isolated, and we grew like our ancestors, <i>toto divisos orbe Britannos</i>— +we could see no beauty in any thing foreign. The Orders in Council +extended to criticism; and all continental languages were placed in +blockade. The first nation who honestly and zealously took our part +against the enemy was the German; and from that time we began to study +<i>achs</i> and <i>dochs</i>. Leipsic, that made Napoleon little, made Goethe great; +and to Waterloo we are indebted for peace and freedom, and also for a +belief in the truth and talent of a host of German authors, whose +principal merit consisted in the fact of their speaking the same language +in which Blucher called for his tobacco. The opposite feelings took rise +from our enmity to the French; and though by this time we have sense +enough to be on good terms with the <i>crapauds</i>, and on visiting terms with +Louis Philippe, we have not got over our antipathy to their tongue. During +the contest, we had constantly refreshed our zeal by fervent declarations +of contempt for the frog-eating, spindle shanked mounseers, and persuaded +ourselves that their whole literature consisted in atheism and murder, and +though we now know that frogs are by no means the common food of the +peasantry—costing about a guinea a dish—and that it is possible for a +Frenchman to be a strapping fellow of six feet high, the taint of our +former persuasion remains with us still as to their books; and, in some +remote districts, we have no doubt that Peter Pindar would be thought a +more harmless volume in a young lady's hands than <i>Pascal's Thoughts</i>—in +French. +</p> +<p> +It is not unlikely that the Customs' Union may lower our estimate of +Weimar; a five years' war with Austria and Prussia, especially if we were +assisted by the French, would make us rank Schiller himself—the greatest +of German names—on the same humble level where we now place Victor Hugo. +But there are thousands, of people in this good realm of England, who +actually consider such beings +<span class=pagenum><A id=page673 name=page673></A>[pg 673]</span> +a Spindler and Vandervelde superior to the +noble genius who created <i>Notre Dame de Paris</i>. Poor as our own +novel-writers, by profession, have shown themselves of late years, their +efforts are infinitely superior to the very best of the German +novelists; and yet we see advertisements every day in the newspapers, of +new translations from fourth or fifth-rate scribblers for Leipsic fair, +which would lead one to expect a far higher order of merit than any of +our living authors can show. "A new work by the Walter Scott of +Germany!" A new work by the Newton of Stoke Pogis! A new picture by the +Apelles of the Isle of Man! The Walter Scott of Germany, according to +somebody's saying about Milton, is a very <i>German</i> Walter Scott; and, if +under this ridiculous pull is concealed some drivelling historical hash +by Spindler or Tromlits, the force of impudence can no farther go. +</p> +<p> +But we must take care not to be carried too far in our depreciation of +German light literature by our indignation at the over-estimate formed of +some of its professors. Let us admit that there are admirable authors—a +fact which it would be impossible to deny with such works before us as +Tieck's, and Hoffman's, and a host of others—<i>quos nunc perscribere +longum est</i>. Let us leave the small fry to the congenial admiration of the +devourers of our circulating libraries, and form our judgment of the +respective methods of conducting a story of the French and Germans, from a +comparison of the heroes of each tongue. Let us judge of Greek and Roman +war from the Phalanx and the Legion, and not from the suttlers of the two +camps. A great excellence in a German novelist is the prodigious faith he +seems to have in his own story; he relates incidents as if he knew them of +his own knowledge; and the wilder and more incredible they are, the more +firm and solemn becomes his belief. The Frenchman never descends from +holding the wires of the puppets to be a puppet himself, or even to delude +spectators with the idea that they are any thing but puppets; he never +forfeits his superiority over the personages of the story, by allowing the +reader to lose sight of the author; no, he piques himself on being the +great showman, and would scarcely take it as a compliment if you entered +into the interest of the tale, unless as an exhibition of the narrator's +talent. But then he handles his wires so cleverly, and is really so +immensely superior to the fictitious individuals whom he places before us, +that it is no great wonder if we prefer Alexander Dumas or Jules Janin to +their heroes. The Germans, relying on their own powers of belief, have +taxed their readers' credulity to a pitch which sober Protestants find it +very difficult to attain. Old Tieck or Hoffman introduces you to ghouls +and ghosts, and they look on them, themselves, with such awestruck eyes, +and treat them in every way with such demonstrations of perfect credence +in their being really ghouls and ghosts, that it is not to be denied that +strange feelings creep over one in reading their stories at the witching +hour, when the fire is nearly out, and the candle-wicks are an inch and a +half long. The Frenchman seldom introduces a ghost—never a ghoul; but he +makes up for it by describing human beings with sentiments which would +probably make the ghoul feel ashamed to associate with them. The utmost +extent of human profligacy is depicted, but still the profligacy is human; +it is only an amplification—very clever and very horrid—of a real +character; but never borrows any additional horrors from the other world. +A French author knows very well that the wickedness of this world is quite +enough to set one's hair on end—for we suspect that the <i>Life in Paris</i> +would supply any amount of iniquity—and professors of the shocking, like +Frederick Soulie or Eugene Sue, can afford very well to dispense with +vampires and gentlemen who have sold their shadows to the devil. The +German, in fact, takes a short cut to the horrible and sublime, by +bringing a live demon into his story, and clothing him with human +attributes; the Frenchman takes the more difficult way, and succeeds in it, +by introducing a real man, and endowing him with the sentiments of a fiend. +The fault of the one is exaggeration; of the other, miscreation: redeemed +in the first by extraordinary cleverness; in the other, by wonderful +belief. What a contrast between La Motte Fouqué and Balzac! how national +and characteristic both! No one can read a chapter of the <i>Magic Ring</i> +without seeing that the Baron believes +<span class=pagenum><A id=page674 name=page674></A>[pg 674]</span> +in all the wonders of his tale; a +page of the other suffices to show that there are few things on the face +of the earth in which he believes at all. Dim, mystic, childish, with +open mouth and staring eyes, the German sees the whole phantasmagoria of +the nether world pass before him: keen, biting, sarcastic—egotistic as +a beauty, and cold-hearted as Mephistopheles—the Frenchman walks among +his figures in a gilded drawing room; probes their spirits, breaks their +hearts, ruins their reputation, and seems to have a profound contempt +for any reader who is so carried away by his power as to waste a touch +of sympathy on the unsubstantial pageants he has clothed for a brief +period in flesh and blood. We confess the sober <i>super</i>-naturalism of +the German has less attractions with us, than the grinning +<i>infra</i>-naturalism of the Frenchman. There is more sameness in it, and, +besides, it is to be hoped we have at all tines less sympathy for the +very best of devils than for the very worst of men. Luckily for the +Frenchman, he has no need to go to the lower regions to procure monsters +to make us shudder. His own tremendous Revolution furnishes him with +names before which Lucifer must hide his diminished head; and from this +vast repertory of all that is horrid and grotesque—more horrid on +account of its grotesqueness—the <i>feuilletonists</i>, or short +story-tellers, are not indisposed to draw. We back Danton any day +against Old Nick. And how infinitely better the effect of introducing a +true villain in plain clothes, relying for his power only on the known +and undeniable atrocity of his character, than all the pale-faced, +hollow-eyed denizens of the lower pit, concealing their cloven feet in +polished-leather Wellington boots, and their tails in a fashionable +surtout. We shall translate a short story of Balzac, which will +illustrate these remarks, only begging the reader to fancy to himself +how different the <i>denouément</i> would have been in the hands of a German; +how demons, instead of surgeons and attorneys, would have disclosed +themselves at the end of the story, how blue the candles would have +burned; and what an awful smell of brimstone would have been perceptible +when they disappeared. It is called the <i>Two Dreams</i>, and, we think, is +a sketch of great power. +</p> +<br> +<hr> +<br> +<p> +Bodard de St James, treasurer of the navy in 1786, was the best known, and +most talked of, of all the financiers in Paris. He had built his +celebrated Folly at Neuilly, and his wife had bought an ornament of +feathers for the canopy of her bed, the enormous price of which had put it +beyond the power of the Queen. Bodard possessed the magnificent hotel in +the Place Vendôme which the collector of taxes, Dangé, had been forced to +leave. Madame de St James was ambitious, and would only have people of +rank about her—a weakness almost universal in persons of her class. The +humble members of the lower house had no charms for her. She wished to see +in her saloons the nobles and dignitaries of the land who had, at least, +the <i>grand entrées</i> at Versailles. To say that many <i>cordons bleus</i> +visited the fair financier would be absurd; but it is certain she had +managed to gain the notice of several of the Rohan family, as came out +very clearly in the celebrated process of the necklace. +</p> +<p> +One evening, I think it was the 2d of August 1786, I was surprised to +encounter in her drawing-room two individuals, whose appearance did not +entitle them to the acquaintance of a person so exclusive as the +Treasurer's wife. She came to me in an embrasure of the window where I had +taken my seat. +</p> +<p> +"Tell me," I said, with a look towards one of the strangers, "who in the +world is that? How does such a being find his way here?" +</p> +<p> +"He is a charming person, I assure you." +</p> +<p> +"Oh—you see him through the spectacles of love!" I said, and smiled. +</p> +<p> +"You are not mistaken," she replied, smiling also. "He is horribly ugly, +no doubt, but he has rendered me the greatest service a man can do to +woman." +</p> +<p> +I laughed, and I suppose looked maliciously, for she hastily added—"He +has entirely cured me of those horrid eruptions in the face, that made my +complexion like a peasant's." +</p> +<p> +I shrugged my shoulders. "Oh—he's a quack!" I said. +</p> +<p> +"No, no," she answered, "he is a surgeon of good reputation. He is very +clever, I assure you; and, moreover, he is an author. He's an excellent +doctor." +</p> +<p> +<span class=pagenum><A id=page675 name=page675></A>[pg 675]</span> +"And the other?" I enquired. +</p> +<p> +"Who? What other?" +</p> +<p> +"The little fellow with the starched, stiff face—looking as sour as if he +had drunk verjuice." +</p> +<p> +"Oh! he is a man of good family. I don't know where he comes from. He is +engaged in some business of the Cardinal's, and it was his Eminence +himself who presented him to St James. Both parties have chosen St James +for umpire; in that, you will say, the provincial has not shown much +wisdom; but who can the people be who confide their interests to such a +creature? He is quiet as a lamb, and timid as a girl; but his Eminence +courts him—for the matter is of importance—three hundred thousand francs, +I believe." +</p> +<p> +"He's an attorney, then?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes," she replied; and, after the humiliating confession, took her seat +at the Faro table. +</p> +<p> +I went and threw myself in an easy chair at the fireplace; and if ever a +man was astonished it was I, when I saw seated opposite me the +Controller-General! M. de Calonne looked stupified and half-asleep. I +nodded to Beaumarchais, and looked as if I wished an explanation; and the +author of Figaro, or rather Figaro himself, made clear the mystery in a +manner not very complimentary to Madame de St James s character, whatever +it might be to her beauty. "Oho! the minister is caught," I thought; "no +wonder the Collector lives in such style." +</p> +<p> +It was half-past twelve before the card-tables were removed, and we sat +down to supper. We were a party of ten—Bodard and his wife, the +Controller-General, Beaumarchais, the two strangers, two handsome women +whose names I will not mention, and a collector of taxes, I think a M. +Lavoisier. Of thirty who had been in the drawing-room when I entered, +these were all who remained. The supper was stupid beyond belief. The two +strangers and the Collector were intolerable bores. I made signs to +Beaumarchais to make the surgeon tipsy, while I undertook the same kind +office with the attorney, who sat on my left. As we had no other means of +amusing ourselves, and the plan promised some fun, by bringing out the two +interlopers and making them more ridiculous than we had found them already, +M. de Calonne entered into the plot. In a moment the three ladies saw our +design, and joined in it with all their power. The surgeon seemed very +well inclined to yield; but when I had filled my neighbour's glass for the +third time, he thanked me with cold politeness, and would drink no more. +The conversation, I don't know from what cause, had turned on the magic +suppers of the Count Cagliostro. I took little interest in it, for, from +the moment of my neighbour's refusal to drink, I had done nothing but +study his pale and small featured countenance. His nose was flat and +sharp-pointed at the same time, and occasionally an expression came to his +eyes that gave him the appearance of a weasel. All at once the blood +rushed to his cheeks when he heard Madame St James say to M. de Calonne— +</p> +<p> +"But I assure you, sir, I have actually seen Queen Cleopatra." +</p> +<p> +"I believe it, madame," exclaimed my neighbour; "for I have spoken to +Catharine de Medicis." +</p> +<p> +"Oh! oh!" laughed M. De Calonne. +</p> +<p> +The words uttered by the little provincial had an indefinable sonorousness. +The sudden clearness of intonation, from a man who, up to this time, had +scarcely spoken above his breath, startled us all. +</p> +<p> +"And how was her late Majesty?" said M. De Calonne. +</p> +<p> +"I can't positively declare that the person with whom I supped last night +was Catharine de Medicis herself, for a miracle like that must be +incredible to a Christian as well as to a philosopher," replied the +attorney, resting the points of his fingers on the table, and setting +himself up in his chair, as if he intended to speak for some time; "but I +can swear that the person, whoever she was, resembled Catharine de Medicis +as if they had been sisters. She wore a black velvet robe, exactly like +the dress of that queen given in her portrait in the Royal Gallery; and +the rapidity of her evocation was most surprising, as M. De Cagliostro had +no idea of the person I should desire him to call up. I was confounded. +The sight of a supper at which the illustrious women of past ages were +present, took away my self-command. I listened without daring to ask a +question. On getting away at midnight from the power of his enchantments, +I almost doubted of my own +<span class=pagenum><A id=page676 name=page676></A>[pg 676]</span> +existence. But what is the most wonderful thing +about it is, that all those marvels appear to be quite natural and +commonplace compared to the extraordinary hallucination I was subjected to +afterwards. I don't know how to explain the state of my feelings to you in +words; I will only say that, from henceforth, I an not surprised that +there are spirits—strong enough or weak enough, I know not which—to +believe in the mysteries of magic and the power of demons." +</p> +<p> +These words were pronounced with an incredible eloquence of tone. They +were calculated to arrest our attention, and all eyes were fixed on the +speaker. In that man, so cold and self-possessed, there burned a hidden +fire which began to act upon us all. + </p> +<p> +"I know not," he continued, "whether the figure followed me in a state of +invisibility; but the moment I got into bed, I saw the great shade of +Catharine rise before me: all of a sudden she bent her head towards +me—but I don't know whether I ought to go on," said the narrator, +interrupting himself; "for though I must believe it was only a dream, what +I have to tell is of the utmost weight." + </p> +<p> +"Is it about religion?" enquired Beaumarchais. +</p> +<p> +"Or, perhaps, something not fit for ladies' ears?" added M. de Calonne. +</p> +<p> +"It is about government," replied the stranger. +</p> +<p> +"Go on, then," said the Minister: "Voltaire, Diderot, and Company, have +tutored our ears to good purpose." +</p> +<p> +"Whether it was that certain ideas rose involuntarily to my mind, or that +I was acting under some irresistible impulse, I said to her—'Ah, madame, +you committed an enormous crime.' +</p> +<p> +"'What crime?' she asked me in a solemn voice. +</p> +<p> +"'That of which the Palace clock gave the signal on the 24th of August.' +</p> +<p> +"She smiled disdainfully. 'You call that a crime?' she said: ''twas +nothing but a misfortune. The enterprise failed, and has, therefore, not +produced all the good we expected from it—to France, to Europe, to +Christianity itself. The orders were ill executed, and posterity makes no +allowance for the want of communication which hindered us from giving all +the unity to our effort which is requisite in affairs of state;—that was +the misfortune. If on the 26th of August there had not remained the shadow +of a Huguenot in France, the latest posterity would have looked upon me +with awe, as a Providence among men. How often have the clear intellects +of Sextus the Fifth, of Richelieu, and Bossuet, secretly accused me of +having failed in the design, after having had the courage to conceive it; +and therefore how my death was regretted! Thirty years after the St +Bartholomew, the malady existed still; and cost France ten times the +quantity of noble blood that remained to be spilt on the 26th August 1572. +The revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in honour of which medals were +struck, cost more blood, more tears, and more treasure, and has been more +injurious to France, than twenty St Bartholomews. If on the 25th August +1572, that enormous execution was necessary, on the 25th August 1685 it +was useless. Under the second son of Henry de Valois heresy was almost +barren; under the second son of Henry de Bourbon she had become a fruitful +mother, and scattered her progeny over the globe. You accuse <i>me</i> of a +crime, and yet you raise statues to the son of Anne of Austria!' +</p> +<p> +"At these words—slowly uttered—I felt a shudder creep over me. I seemed +to inhale the smell of blood." +</p> +<p> +"He dreamt that to a certainty," whispered Beaumarchais; "he <i>could</i> not +have invented it." +</p> +<p> +"'My reason is confounded,' I said to the queen. 'You plume yourself on an +action which three generations have condemned and cursed, and'— +</p> +<p> +"'And,' she interrupted, 'that history has been more unjust to me than my +contemporaries were. Nobody has taken up my defence. I am accused of +ambition—I, rich and a queen—I am accused of cruelty; and the most +impartial judges consider me a riddle. Do you think that I was actuated by +feelings of hatred; that I breathed nothing but vengeance and fury?' She +smiled. 'I was calm and cold as Reason herself. I condemned the Huguenots +without pity, it is true, but without anger. If I had been Queen of +England, I would have done the same to the Catholics if they had been +seditious. Our country required at that time one God, one faith, one +<span class=pagenum><A id=page677 name=page677></A>[pg 677]</span> +master. Luckily for me, I have described my policy in a word. When Birague +announced to me the defeat at Dreux—well, I said, we must go to the +Conventicle.—Hate the Huguenots, indeed! I honoured them greatly, and I +did not know them. How could I hate those who had never been my friends?' +</p> +<p> +"'But, madame, instead of that horrible butchery, why did you not try to +give the Calvinists the wise indulgences which made the reign of the +Fourth Henry so peaceable and so glorious?' +</p> +<p> +"She smiled again, and the wrinkles in her face and brow gave an +expression of the bitterest irony to her pale features. +</p> +<p> +"'Henry committed two faults,' she said. He ought neither to have abjured, +nor to have left France Catholic after having become so himself. He alone +was in a position to change the destinies of France. There should have +been either no Crosier or no Conventicle. He should never have left in the +government two hostile principles, with nothing to balance them. It is +impossible that Sully can have looked without envy on the immense +possessions of the church. But,' she paused, and seemed to consider for a +moment—'is it the niece of a pope you are surprised to see a Catholic? +After all,' she said, 'I could have been a Calvinist with all my heart. +Does any one believe that religion had any thing to do with that movement, +that revolution, the greatest the world has ever seen, which has been +retarded by trifling causes, but which nothing can hinder from coming to +pass, since I failed to crush it? A revolution,' she added, fixing her eye +on me, 'which is even now in motion, and which you—yes, you—you who now +listen to me—can finish.' +</p> +<p> +"I shuddered. +</p> +<p> +"'What! has no one perceived that the old interests and the new have taken +Rome and Luther for their watchwords? What! Louis the Ninth, in order to +avoid a struggle of the same kind, carried away with him five times the +number of victims I condemned, and left their bones on the shores of +Africa, and is considered a saint; while I—but the reason is soon +given—I failed!' +</p> +<p> +"She bent her head, and was silent a moment. She was no longer a queen, +but one of those awful druidesses who rejoiced in human sacrifices, and +unrolled the pages of the Future by studying the records of the Past. At +length she raised her noble and majestic head again. 'You are all +inclined,' she said, 'to bestow more sympathy on a few worthless victims +than on the tears and sufferings of a whole generation! And you forget +that religious liberty, political freedom, a nation's tranquillity, +science itself, are benefits which Destiny never vouchsafes to man without +being paid for them in blood!' +</p> +<p> +"'Cannot nations, some day or other, obtain happiness on easier terms?' I +asked, with tears in my eyes. +</p> +<p> +"'Truths never leave their well unless to be bathed in blood. Christianity +itself—the essence of all truth, since it came from God—was not +established without its martyrs. Blood flowed in torrents.' +</p> +<p> +"Blood! blood! the word sounded in my ear like a bell. +</p> +<p> +"'You think, then,' I said, 'that Protestantism would have a right to +reason as you do.' +</p> +<p> +"But Catharine had disappeared, and I awoke, trembling and in tears, till +reason resumed her sway, and told me that the doctrines of that proud +Italian were detestable, and that neither king nor people had a right to +act on the principles she had enounced, which I felt were only worthy of a +nation of atheists." +</p> +<p> +When the unknown ceased to speak, the ladies made no remark. M. Bodard was +asleep. The surgeon, who was half tipsy, Lavoisier Beaumarchais, and I, +were the only ones who had listened. M. de Calonne was flirting with his +neighbour. At that moment there was something solemn in the silence. The +candles themselves seemed to me to burn with a magic dimness. A hidden +power had riveted our attention, by some mysterious links, to the +extraordinary narrator, who made me feel what might be the inexplicable +influence of fanaticism. It was only the deep hollow voice of Beaumarchais' +neighbour that awakened us from our surprise. +</p> +<p> +"I also had a dream," he said. I looked more attentively at the surgeon, +and instinctively shuddered with horror. His earthy colour—his features, +at once vulgar and imposing, presented the true expression of <i>the +canaille</i>. He had dark pimples spread +<span class=pagenum><A id=page678 name=page678></A>[pg 678]</span> +over his face like patches of dirt, +and his eyes beamed with a repulsive light. His countenance was more +horrid, perhaps, than it might otherwise have been, from his head being +snow-white with powder. +</p> +<p> +"That fellow must have buried a host of patients," I said to my neighbour +the attorney. +</p> +<p> +"I would not trust him with my dog," was the answer. +</p> +<p> +"I hate him—I can't help it," I said. +</p> +<p> +"I despise him." +</p> +<p> +"No—you're wrong there," I replied. +</p> +<p> +"And did you also dream of a queen?" enquired Beaumarchais. +</p> +<p> +"No! I dreamt of a people," he answered with an emphasis that made us +laugh. "I had to cut off a patient's leg on the following day, and"— +</p> +<p> +"And you found the people in his leg?" asked M. de Calonne. +</p> +<p> +"Exactly," replied the surgeon. +</p> +<p> +"He's quite amusing," tittered the Countess de G——. +</p> +<p> +"I was rather astonished, I assure you," continued the man, without +minding the sneers and interruptions he met with, "to find any thing to +speak to in that leg. I had the extraordinary faculty of entering into my +patient. When I found myself, for the first time, in his skin, I saw an +immense quantity of little beings, which moved about, and thought, and +reasoned. Some lived in the man's body, and some in his mind. His ideas +were living things, which were born, grew up, and died. They were ill and +well, lively, sorrowful; and in short had each their own characteristics. +They quarrelled, or were friendly with each other. Some of these ideas +forced their way out, and went to inhabit the intellectual world; for I +saw at a glance that there were two worlds—the visible and the invisible, +and that earth, like man, had a body and soul. Nature laid itself bare to +me; and I perceived its immensity, by seeing the ocean of beings who were +spread every where, making the whole one mass of animated matter, from the +marbles up to God. It was a noble sight! In short, there was a universe in +my patient. When I inserted the knife in his gangrened leg I annihilated +millions of those beings. You laugh, ladies, to think you are possessed by +animals." +</p> +<p> +"Don't be personal," sneered M. de Calonne—"speak for yourself and your +patient." +</p> +<p> +"He, poor man, was so frightened by the cries of those animals, and +suffered such torture, that he tried to interrupt the operation. But I +persevered, and I told him that those noxious animals were actually +gnawing his bones. He made a movement, and the knife hurt my own side." +</p> +<p> +"He is an ass," said Lavoisier. +</p> +<p> +"No—he is only drunk," replied Beaumarchais. +</p> +<p> +"But, gentlemen, my dream has a meaning in it," cried the surgeon. +</p> +<p> +"Oh! oh!" exclaimed Bodard, who awoke at the moment—"my leg's asleep." +</p> +<p> +"Your animals are dead, my dear," said his wife. +</p> +<p> +"That man has a destiny to fulfill," cried my neighbour the attorney, who +had kept his eyes fixed on the narrator the whole time. +</p> +<p> +"It is to yours, sir," replied the frightful guest, who had overheard the +remark, "what action is to thought—what the body is to the soul." But at +this point his tongue became very confused from the quantity he had drunk, +and his further words were unintelligible. +</p> +<p> +Luckily for us, the conversation soon took another turn, and in half an +hour we forgot all about the surgeon, who was sound asleep in his chair. +The rain fell in torrents when we rose from table. +</p> +<p> +"The attorney is no fool," said I to Beaumarchais. +</p> +<p> +"He is heavy and cold," he replied; "but you see there are still steady, +good sort of people in the provinces, who are quite in earnest about +political theories, and the history of France. It is a leaven that will +work yet." +</p> +<p> +"Is your carriage here?" asked Madame de St James. +</p> +<p> +"No"—I replied coldly. "You wished me, perhaps, to take M. de Calonne +home?" +</p> +<p> +She left me, slightly offended at the insinuation, and turned to the +attorney. +</p> +<p> +"M. de Robespierre," she said, "will you have the kindness to set M. Marat +down at his hotel? He is not able to take care of himself." +</p> +<br> +<hr class=full> +<br> +<span class=pagenum><A id=page679 name=page679></A>[pg 679]</span> +<a name="bw337s11" id="bw337s11"></a><h2>THE GAME UP WITH REPEAL AGITATION. +</h2> + +<p> +"The game is up." Such were the words uttered with a somewhat different +intonation, which last month, in speaking of Mr O'Connell's crusade +against the peace of Ireland, we used tentatively, almost doubtfully, but +still in the spirit of hope, in reference to the crisis then apparently +impending, that the agitation might prolong itself by transmigrating into +some other shape, for that case we allowed. But in any result, foremost +amongst the auguries of hope was this—that the evil example of Mr O' +Connell's sedition would soon redress itself by a catastrophe not less +exemplary. And no consummation could satisfy us as a proper euthanasy of +this memorable conspiracy, which should not fasten itself as a <i>moral</i> to +the long malice of the agitation growing out of it, as a natural warning, +and saying audibly to all future agitators—try not this scheme again, or +look for a similar humiliation. Those auguries are, in one sense, +accomplished; that consummation substantially is realized. Sedition has, +at last, countermined itself, and conspiracy we have seen in effect +perishing by its own excesses. Yet still, ingenuously speaking, we cannot +claim the merit of a felicitous foresight. That result <i>has</i> come round +which we foreboded; but not in that sense which we intended to authorize, +nor exactly by those steps which we wished to see. We looked for the +extinction of this national scourge by its own inevitable decays: through +its own organization we had hoped that the Repeal Association should be +confounded: we trusted that an enthusiasm, founded in ignorance, and which, +in no one stage, could be said to have prospered, must finally droop +<i>spontaneously</i>, and that once <i>having</i> drooped, through mere defect of +actions that bore any meaning, or tendencies that offered any promise, by +no felicities of intrigue could it ever be revived. Whether we erred in +the philosophy of our anticipations, cannot now be known; for, whether +wrong or right in theory, in practice our expectation has been abruptly +cut short. <i>A deus ex machinâ</i> has descended amongst us abruptly, and +intercepted the natural evolution of the plot: the executive Government +has summarily effected the <i>peripetteia</i> by means of a <i>coup d'état</i>; and +the end, such as we augured, has been brought about by means essentially +different. +</p> +<p> +Yet, if thus far we were found in error, would <i>not that</i> argue a +corresponding error in the Government? If we, relying on the +self-consistency of the executive, and <i>because</i> we relied on that +self-consistency, predicted a particular solution for the <i>nodus</i> of +Repeal, which solution has now become impossible; presuming a +perseverance in the original policy of ministers, now that its natural +fruits were rapidly ripening—whereas, after all, at the eleventh hour +we find them adopting that course which, with stronger temptation, they +had refused to adopt in the first hour—were this the true portrait of +the case, would it be ourselves that erred, or Government?—ourselves in +counting on steadiness, or Government in acting with caprice? Meantime, +<i>is</i> this the portrait of the case? +</p> +<p> +<i>That</i> we shall know when Parliament meets; and possibly not before. At +present the attempts to explain, to reconcile, and, as it were, to +construe the Government system of policy, is first almost neglecting the +Irish sedition, and then (after half-a-year's sedentary and distant +skirmishing, by means of Chancery letters) suddenly, on the 7th day of +October, leaping into the arena armed cap-a-pie, dividing themselves like +a bomb-shell amongst the conspirators, rending—shattering—pursuing to +the right and to the left;—all attempts, we say, to harmonize that past +quiescence (almost <i>ac</i>quiescence) with this present demoniac energy, have +seemed to the public either false or feeble, or in some way insufficient. +Five such attempts we have noticed; and of the very best we may say that +perhaps it tells the truth, but not the whole truth. <i>First</i> came the +solution of a great morning journal—to the effect that Government had, +knowingly and wilfully, altered their policy, treading back their own +steps upon finding the inefficiency of gentler measures. On this view no +harmonizing principle was called for; +<span class=pagenum><A id=page680 name=page680></A>[pg 680]</span> +the discord existed confessedly, and +the one course had been the <i>palinode</i> of the other. But such a theory is +quite inadmissible to our minds; it tallies neither with the long-headed +and comprehensive sagacity of Sir Robert Peel, nor with the spirit of +simplicity, directness, and determination in the Duke of Wellington. +<i>Next</i> came an evening paper, of high character for Conservative honesty +and ability, which (having all along justified the past policy of vigilant +neutrality) could not be supposed to acknowledge any fickleness in +ministers: the time for moderation and indulgence, according to this +journal, had now passed away: the season had arrived for law to display +its terrors. Not in the Government, but in the conspirators had occurred +the change: and so far—to the extent, namely, of taxing these +conspirators with gradual increase of virulence—it may ultimately turn +out that this journal is right. The fault for the present is—that the +nature of the change, its signs and circumstances, were not specified or +described. How, and by what memorable feature, did last June differ from +this October? and what followed, by its false show of subtlety, +discredited the whole explanation. It seems that notice was required of +this change: in mere equity, proclamation must be made of the royal +pleasure as to the Irish sedition: <i>that</i> was done in the Queen's speech +on adjourning the two Houses. But time also must be granted for this +proclamation to diffuse itself, and <i>therefore</i> it happened that the +Clontarf meeting was selected for the <i>coup d'essai</i> of Government; in its +new character for "handselling" the new system of rigour, this Clontarf +assembly having fallen out just about six weeks from the Royal speech. But +this attempt to establish a metaphysical relation between the time for +issuing a threat, and the time for acting upon it, as though forty and two +days made that act to be reasonable which would <i>not</i> have been so in +twenty and one, being suited chiefly to the universities in Laputa, did +not meet the approbation of our captious and beef-eating island: and this +second solution also, we are obliged to say; was exploded as soon us it +was heard. <i>Thirdly</i>, stepped forward one who promised to untie the knot +upon a more familiar principle: the thunder was kept back for so many +months in order to allow time for Mr O'Connell to show out in his true +colours, on the hint of an old proverb, which observes—that a baboon, or +other mischievous animal, when running up a scaffolding or a ship's +tackling, exposes his most odious features the more as he is allowed to +mount the higher. In that idea, there is certainly some truth. "Give him +rope enough, and every knave will hang himself"—is an old adage, a useful +adage, and often a consolatory one. The objection, in the case before us, +is—that our Irish hero <i>had</i> shown himself already, and most redundantly, +on occasions notorious to every body, both previously to 1829, (the year +of Clare,) and subsequently. If, however, it should appear upon the trial +of the several conspirators for seditious language, that they, or that any +of them, had, by good <i>affidavits</i>, used indictable language in September, +not having used it sooner, or having guarded it previously by more +equivocal expressions, then it must be admitted that the spirit of this +third explanation <i>does</i> apply itself to the case, though not in an extent +to cover the entire range of the difficulty. But a <i>fourth</i> explanation +would evade the necessity of showing any such difference in the actionable +language held: according to this hypothesis, it was not for subjects to +prosecute that the Government waited, but for strength enough to prosecute +with effect, under circumstances which warned them to expect popular +tumults. In this statement, also, there is probably much truth, indeed, it +has now become evident that there is. Often we have heard it noticed by +military critics as the one great calamity of Ireland, that in earlier +days she had never been adequately conquered—not sufficiently for +extirpating barbarism, or sufficiently for crushing the local temptations +to resistance. Rebellion and barbarism are the two evils (and, since the +Reformation, in alliance with a third evil—religious hostility to the +empire) which have continually sustained themselves in Ireland, propagated +their several curses from age to age, and at this moment equally point to +a burden of misery in the forward direction for the Irish, and backwards +<span class=pagenum><A id=page681 name=page681></A>[pg 681]</span> +to a burden of reproach for the English. More men applied to Ireland, more +money and more determined legislation spent upon Ireland in times long +past, would have saved England tenfold expenditure of all these elements +in the three centuries immediately behind us, and possibly in that which +is immediately a-head. Such men as Bishop Bedell, as Bishop Jeremy Taylor, +or even as Bishop Berkeley, meeting in one generation and in one paternal +council, would have made Ireland long ago, by colonization and by +Protestantism, that civilized nation which, with all her advances in +mechanic arts<a id=footnotetag30 +name=footnotetag30></a><a +href="#footnote30"><sup>30</sup></a> of education as yet she is not; would have made her that +tractable nation, which, after all her lustrations by fire and blood, for +her own misfortune she never has been; would have made her that strong arm +of the empire, which hitherto, with all her teeming population, for the +common misfortune of Europe she neither has been nor promises to be. By +and through this neglect it is, that on the inner hearths of the Roman +Catholic Irish, on the very altars of their <i>lares</i> and <i>penates</i>, burns +for ever a sullen spark of disaffection to that imperial household, with +which, nevertheless and for ever, their own lot is bound up for evil and +for good; a spark always liable to be fanned by traitors—a spark for ever +kindling into rebellion; and in this has lain perpetually a delusive +encouragement to the hostility of Spain and France, whilst to her own +children, it is the one great snare which besets their feet. This great +evil of imperfect possession—if now it is almost past healing in its +general operation as an engine of civilization, and as applied to the +social training of the people—is nevertheless open to relief as respects +any purpose of the Government, towards which there may be reason to +anticipate a martial resistance. That part of the general policy fell +naturally under the care of our present great Commander-in-chief. Of him +it was that we spoke last month as watching Mr O'Connell's slightest +movements, searching him and nailing him with his eye. We told the reader +at the same time, that Government, as with good reason we believed, had +not been idle during the summer; their work had proceeded in silence; but, +upon any explosion or apprehension of popular tumult, it would be found +that more had been done by a great deal, in the way of preparations, than +the public was aware of. Barracks have every where been made technically +defensible; in certain places they have been provisioned against sieges; +forts have been strengthened; in critical situations redoubts, or other +resorts of hurried retreat, or of known rendezvous in cases of surprise, +have been provided; and in the most merciful spirit every advantage on the +other side has been removed or diminished which could have held out +encouragement to mutiny, or temptation to rebellion. Finally, on the +destined moment arriving, on the <i>casus foederis</i> (whatever <i>that</i> were) +emerging, in which the executive had predetermined to act, not the +perfection of clockwork, not the very masterpieces of scenical art, can +ever have exhibited a combined movement upon one central point—so swift, +punctual, beautiful, harmonious, more soundless than an exhalation, more +overwhelming than a deluge—as the display of military force in Dublin on +Sunday the 8th of October. Without alarm, without warning—as if at the +throwing up of a rocket in the dead of night, or at the summons of a +signal gun—the great capital, almost as populous as Naples or Vienna, and +far more dangerous in its excitement, found itself under military +possession by a little army—so perfect in its appointments as to make +resistance hopeless, and by that very hopelessness (as reconciling the +most insubordinate to a necessity) making irritation impossible. Last +month we warned Mr O'Connell of "the uplifted thunderbolt" suspended in +the Jovian hands of the Wellesley, but ready to descend when the "dignus +vindice nodus" should announce itself. And this, by the way, must have +been the <span class=pagenum><A id=page682 name=page682></A>[pg 682]</span> +"thunderbolt," this military demonstration, which, in our blind +spirit of prophecy doubtless, we saw dimly in the month of September last; +so that we are disposed to recant our confession even of partial error as +to the coming fortunes of Repeal, and to request that the reader will +think of us as of very decent prophets. But, whether we were so or not, +the Government (it is clear) acted in the prophetic spirit of military +wisdom. "The prophetic eye of taste"—as a brilliant expression for that +felicitous <i>prolepsis</i> by which the painter or the sculptor sees already +in its rudiments what will be the final result of his labours—is a +phrase which we are all acquainted with, and the spirit of prophecy, the +far-stretching vision of sagacity, is analogously conspicuous in the +arts of Government, military or political, when providing for the +contingencies that may commence in pseudo-patriotism, or the +possibilities that may terminate in rebellion. Whether Government saw +those contingencies, whether Government calculated those possibilities +in June last—that is one part of the general question which we have +been discussing; and whether it was to a different estimate of such +chances in summer and in autumn, or to a necessity for time in preparing +against them, that we must ascribe the very different methods of the +Government in dealing with the sedition at different periods—<i>that</i> is +the other part of the question. But this is certain—that whether seeing +and measuring from the first, or suddenly awakened to the danger of +late—in any case, the Government has silently prepared all along; +forestalling evils that possibly never were to arise, and shaping +remedies for disasters which possibly to themselves appeared romantic. +To provide for the worst, is an ordinary phrase, but what <i>is</i> the +worst? Commonly it means the last calamity that experience suggests; but +in the admirable arrangements of Government it meant the very worst that +imagination could conceive—building upon treason at home in alliance +with hostility from abroad. At a time when resistance seemed supremely +improbable, yet, because amongst the headlong desperations of a +confounded faction even this was possible, the ministers determined to +deal with it as a certainty. Against the possible they provided as +against the probable; against the least of probabilities as against the +greatest. The very outside and remote extremities of what might be +looked for in a civil war, seem to have been assumed as a basis in the +calculations. And under that spirit of vista-searching prudence it was, +that the Duke of Wellington saw what we have insisted on, and +practically redressed it—viz. the defective military net-work by which +England has ever spread her power over Ireland. "This must not be," the +Duke said; "never again shall the blood of brave men be shed in +superfluous struggles, nor the ground be strewed with supernumerary +corpses—as happened in the rebellion of 1798—because forts were +wanting and loopholed barracks to secure what had been won; because +retreats were wanting to overawe what, for the moment, had been lost. +Henceforth, and before there is a blushing in the dawn of that new +rebellion which Mr O'Connell disowns, but to which his frenzy may rouse +others having less to lose than himself, we will have true technical +possession, in the military sense, of Ireland." Such has been the recent +policy of the Duke of Wellington: and for this, in so far as it is a +violence done to Ireland, or a badge of her subjection, she has to thank +Mr O'Connell: for this, in so far as it is a merciful arrangement, +diminishing bloodshed by discouraging resistance, she has to thank the +British Government. Mr O'Connell it is, that, by making rebellion +probable, has forced on this reaction of perfect preparation which, in +such a case, became the duty of the Government. The Duke of Wellington +it is, that, by using the occasion advantageously for the perfecting of +the military organization in Ireland, has made police do the work of +war; and by making resistance maniacal, in making it hopeless, has +eventually consulted even for the feelings of the rebellious, sparing to +them the penalties of insurrection in defeating its earliest symptoms; +and for the land itself, has been the chief of benefactors, by removing +systematically that inheritance of desolation attached to all civil +wars, in cutting away from below the feet of conspirators the very +ground on <span class=pagenum><A id=page683 name=page683></A>[pg 683]</span> +which they could take their earliest stand. Finally, it is Mr +O'Connell who has raised an anarchy in many Irish minds, in the minds of +all whom he influences, by placing their national feelings in collision +with their duty it is the Duke of Wellington who has reconciled the +bravest and most erroneous of Irish patriots to his place in a federal +system, by taking away all dishonour from submission under circumstances +where resistance has at length become notoriously as frantic as would be +a war with gravitation. +</p> +<p> +As to the <i>fourth</i> hypothesis, therefore, for explaining the apparent +inconsistencies of the Executive, we not only assent to it heartily as +involving part of the truth, but we have endeavoured to show earnestly +that the truth is a great truth; no casual aspect, or momentary feature of +truth, depending upon the particular relation at the time between Ireland +and the Horse Guards, or pointing simply to a better cautionary +distribution of the army; but a truth connected systematically with the +policy for Ireland in past times and in times to come. Where men like Mr O' +Connell <i>can</i> arise, it is clear that the social condition of Ireland is +not healthy; that, as a country, she is not fused into a common substance +with the rest of the empire; that she is not fully to be trusted; and that +the road to a more effectual union lies, not through stricter coercion, +but through a system of instant defence making itself apparent to the +people as a means of provisional or potential coercion in the proper case +arising. One traitor cannot exist as a public and demonstrative character +without many minor traitors to back him. To Great Britain it ought to cost +no visible effort, resolutely and instantly to trample out every overture +of insubordination as quietly, peacefully, effectually, as the meeting of +conspirators at Clontarf on the 8th day of October 1843. Ireland is +notoriously, by position and by imaginary grievances—grievances which, +had they ever been real for past generations, would long since have faded +away, were it not through the labours of mercenary traders in treason— +Ireland is of necessity, and at any rate, the vulnerable part of our +empire. Wars will soon gather again in Christendom. Whilst it is yet +daylight and fair weather in which we can work, this open wound of the +empire must be healed. We cannot afford to stand another era of collusion +from abroad with intestine war. Now is the time for grasping this nettle +of domestic danger, and, by crushing it without fear, to crush it for ever. +Therefore it is that we rejoice to hear of attention in the right quarter +at length drawn to the <i>radix</i> of all this evil; of efforts seriously made +to grapple with the mischief; not by mere accumulation of troops, for +<i>that</i> is a spasmodic effort—sure to relax on the return of tranquillity; +but by those appliances of military art to the system of attack and +defence as connected with the soil and buildings of Ireland, which will +hereafter make it possible for even a diminished army to become all potent +over disaffection, by means of permanent preparations, and through +systematic links of concert. +</p> +<p> +<i>Fifthly</i> comes Mr Stuart Wortley, the Parliamentary representative for +Bute, who tells his constituents at Bute, that the true secret of the +apparent incoherency in the conduct of Government, of that subsultory +movement from almost passive <i>surveillance</i> to the most intense +development of power, is to be found in some error, some lapse as yet +unknown, on the part of the conspirators. Hitherto Mr Wortley, as lawyer, +had persuaded himself that the craft of sedition had prevailed over its +zeal. Whatever might be the <i>animus</i> of the parties, hitherto their legal +adroitness had kept them on the right side of the fence which parts the +merely virulent or wicked language from the indictable. But security, and +apparently the indifference of the Government, had tempted them beyond +their safeguards. Government, it is certain, have latterly watched the +proceedings of the Repeal Association in a more official way; they have +sent qualified and vigilant reporters to the scene; and have showed signs +of meaning speedily "to do business" upon a large scale. We do not, indeed, +altogether agree with Mr Wortley, that the earlier language, if searched +with equal care, would be found less offending than the later; but this +later we believe it to be which, as an audacious reiteration of +<span class=pagenum><A id=page684 name=page684></A>[pg 684]</span>sentiments +that would have been overlooked had they seemed casual or not meant for +continued inculcation, will be found in fact to have provoked the +executive energies. We believe also, in accord with Mr Wortley, that +something or other has transpired by secret information to Government in +relation to this last intended meeting at Clontarf, which authorized a +separate and more sinister construction of <i>that</i>, or of its consequences, +than had necessarily attended the former assemblies, however similar in +bad meaning and in malice. This secret information, whether it pointed to +words uttered, to acts done, or to intentions signified, must have been +sudden, and must have been decisive; an impression which we draw from the +hurried summoning of cabinet councils in England on or about the 4th of +October, from the departures for Ireland, apparently consequent upon these +councils—of the Lord Lieutenant, of the Chancellor, and other great +officers, all instant and all simultaneous—and finally, from the +continued consultations in Dublin from the time when these functionaries +arrived; viz. immediately after their landing on Friday morning, October +6th, until the promulgation and enforcement of that memorable proclamation +which crushed the Repeal sedition. A Paris journal of eminence says, that +we are not to exult as if much progress were made towards the crushing of +Repeal, simply by the act of crushing a single meeting; and, strange to +say, the chief morning paper of London echoes this erroneous judgment as +if self-evident, saying, that "it needs no ghost to tell us <i>that</i>." We, +however, utterly deny this comment, and protest against it as an absurdity. +Were <i>that</i> true, were it possible that the Clontarf meeting had been +suppressed on its own separate merits, as presumed from secret information, +and without ulterior meaning or application designed for the act—in that +case nothing has been done. But this is not so: Government is bound +henceforwards by its own act. That proclamation as to one meeting +establishes a precedent as to all. It is not within the <i>power</i> of +Government, having done that act of suppression, and still more having +spoken that language of proclamation, now to retreat from their own rule, +and to apply any other rule to any subsequent meeting. The act of +suppression was enough. The commentary on the proclamation is more than +enough. Therefore it is, that we began by saying "the game is up;" and, +because it is of consequence to know the principle on which any act is +done, therefore it is that we have discussed, at some length, the various +hypotheses now current as to the particular principle which, in this +instance, governed our Executive. Our own opinion is, that all these +hypotheses, except the first, which ascribes blank inconsistency to the +Government, and so much of the second as stands upon some fanciful +limitation of time within which Government could not equitably proceed to +action, are partially true. If this be so, there is an answer in full to +the Whigs, who at this moment (October 23) are arguing that no +circumstances of any kind have changed since our ministers treated the +Repeal cause with neglect. Neglect it, comparatively, they never did: as +the cashiering of magistrates ought too angrily to remind the Whigs. But +if the different solutions, which we have here examined, should be +carefully reviewed, it will be seen that circumstances <i>have</i> changed, and, +under the fourth head, it will be seen that they have changed in a way +which required time, selection, and great efforts: what is more, it will +be seen that they have changed in a way critically important for the +future interests of the empire. +</p> +<p> +Yes; the game is up! And what now remains is, not to suffer the coming +trials to sink into fictions of law—as a <i>brutum fulmen</i> of menace, never +meant to be realized. Verdicts must be had: judgments must be given: and +then a long farewell to the hopes of treason! +</p> +<p> +Yes, by a double proof the Repeal sedition is at an end: were it not, upon +Clontarf being prohibited, the Repealers would have announced some other +gathering in some other place. You that say it is <i>not</i> at an end, tell us +why did they forbear doing <i>that</i>? Secondly, Mr O'Connell has substituted +for Repeal—what? The miserable, the beggarly petition, for a dependent +House of Assembly, an upper sort of "Select Vestry," for +<span class=pagenum><A id=page685 name=page685></A>[pg 685]</span>Ireland; and +<i>that</i> too as a <i>bonus</i> from the Parliament of the empire. This reminds us +of a capital story related by Mr Webster, and perhaps within the +experience of American statesmen, in reference to the claims of electors +upon those candidates whom they have returned to Congress. Such a +candidate, having succeeded so far as even to become a Secretary for +Foreign Affairs, was one day waited on by a man, who reminded him that +some part of this eminent success had been due to <i>his</i> vote; and really— +Mr Secretary might think as he pleased—but <i>him</i> it struck, that a +"pretty considerable of a debt" was owing in gratitude to his particular +exertions. Mr Secretary bowed. The stranger proceeded—"His ambition was +moderate: might he look for the office of postmaster-general?" +Unfortunately, said the secretary, that office required special experience, +and it was at present filled to the satisfaction of the President. "Indeed! +<i>that</i> was unhappy: but he was not particular; perhaps the ambassador to +London had not yet been appointed?" There, said the secretary, you are +still more unfortunate: the appointment was open until 11 P.M. on this +very day, and at that hour it was filled up. "Well," said the excellent +and Christian supplicant, "any thing whatever for me; beggars must not be +choosers: possibly the office of vice-president might soon be vacant; it +was said that the present man lay shockingly ill." Not at all; he was +rapidly recovering; and the reversion, even if he should die, required +enormous interest, for which a canvass had long since commenced on the +part of fifty-three candidates. Thus proceeded the assault upon the +secretary, and thus was it evaded. So moved the chase, and thus retreated +the game, until at length nothing under heaven remained amongst all +official prizes which the voter could ask, or which the secretary could +refuse. Pensively the visitor reflected for a few minutes, and, suddenly +raising his eye doubtfully, he said, "Why then, Mr Secretary, have you +ever an old black coat that you could give me?" Oh, aspiring genius of +ambition! from that topmast round of thy aerial ladder that a man should +descend thus awfully!—from the office of vice-president for the U.S. that +he should drop, within three minutes, to "an old black coat!" The +secretary was aghast: he rang the bell for such a coat; the coat appeared; +the martyr of ambition was solemnly inducted into its sleeves; and the two +parties, equally happy at the sudden issue of the interview bowing +profoundly to each other, separated for ever. +</p> +<p> +Even upon this model, sinking from a regal honour to an old black coat, Mr +O' Connell has actually agreed to accept—has volunteered to accept—for +the name and rank of a separate nation, some trivial right of holding +county meetings for local purposes of bridges, roads, turnpike gates. This +privilege he calls by the name of "federalism;" a misnomer, it is true; +but, were it the right name, names cannot change realities. These local +committees could not possibly take rank above the Quarter Sessions; nor +could they find much business to do which is not already done, and better +done, by that respectable judicial body. True it is, that this descent is +a thousand times more for the benefit of Ireland than his former ambitious +plan. But we speak of it with reference to the sinking scale of his +ambition. Now this it is—viz. the aspiring character of his former +promises, the assurance that he would raise Ireland into a nation distinct +and independent in the system of Europe, having her own fleets, armies, +peerage, parliament—which operated upon the enthusiasm of a peasantry the +vainest in Christendom after that of France, and perhaps absolutely the +most ignorant. Is it in human nature, we demand, that hereafter the same +enthusiasm should continue available for Mr O'Connell's service, after the +transient reaction of spitefulness to the Government shall have subsided, +which gave buoyancy to his ancient treason? The chair of a proconsul, the +saddle of a pasha—these are golden baits; yet these are below the throne +and diadem of a sovereign prince. But from these to have descended into +asking for "an old black coat," on the American precedent! Faugh! What +remains for Ireland but infinite disgust, for us but infinite laughter? +</p> +<p> +No, no. By Mr O'Connell's own act and capitulation, the game is up. +<span class=pagenum><A id=page686 name=page686></A>[pg 686]</span> +Government has countersigned this result by the implicit pledge in their +proclamation, that, having put down Clontarf, for specific reasons there +assigned, they will put down all future meetings to which the same reasons +apply. At present it remains only to express our fervent hope, that +ministers will drive "home" the nail which they have so happily planted. +The worst spectacle of our times was on that day when Mr O'Connell, +solemnly reprimanded by the Speaker of the House of Commons, was +suffered—was tolerated—in rising to reply; in retorting with insolence; +in lecturing and reprimanding the Senate through their representative +officer; in repelling just scorn by false scorn; in riveting his past +offences; in adding contumely to wrong. Never more must this be repeated. +Neither must the Whig policy be repeated of bringing Mr O'Connell before a +tribunal of justice that had, by a secret intrigue, agreed to lay aside +its terrors.<a id=footnotetag31 +name=footnotetag31></a><a +href="#footnote31"><sup>31</sup></a> No compromise now: no juggling: no collusion! We desire +to see the majesty of the law vindicated, as solemnly as it has been +notoriously insulted. Such is the demand, such the united cry, of this +great nation, so long and so infamously bearded. Then, and thus only, +justice will be satisfied, reparation will be made: because it will go +abroad into all lands, not only that the evil has been redressed, but that +the author of the evil has been forced into a plenary atonement. +</p> + +<br><hr class="full"> + +<a name="bw337-footnotes" id="bw337-footnotes"></a><h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> + + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote1 name=footnote1></A> + <b>Footnote 1</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag1">return</a>) + This must have been one of the <i>vakeels</i> or envoys, whose + departure from Bombay, in March 1839, is mentioned in the <i>Asiatic + Journal</i>, (xxix. 178;) the party is there said, on the authority of + the <i>Durpun</i>, (a native newspaper,) to have consisted of eleven, + Mahrattas and Purbhoos, no mention being made of Moulavi Afzul Ali. + We have been unable to trace the further proceedings of the + deputation in this country; but they probably found on their + arrival, that the fate of their master was already decided, as he + was dethroned by the Company, in favour of his cousin Appa Sahib, + in September of the same year, on the charge of having participated + in a conspiracy against the English power. The justice, as well as + policy of this measure, was, however, strongly canvassed, and gave + rise to repeated and violent debates in the Court of Proprietors. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote2 name=footnote2></A> + <b>Footnote 2</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag2">return</a>) + The native servants of the Governor-General at Calcutta, on + state occasions, wear splendid scarlet and gold caftans.—<i>See</i> + Bishop Heber's Journal. + </p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote3 name=footnote3></A> + <b>Footnote 3</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag3">return</a>) + The Khan nowhere exactly explains the surprise which he + expresses, here and at other times, at the shouts of + <i>hurra</i>!—perhaps his ear was wounded by the resemblance of the + sound to certain Hindustani epithets, by no means refined or + complimentary. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote4 name=footnote4></A> + <b>Footnote 4</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag4">return</a>) + The views of Mirza Abu-Talib on this important subject, are far + more enlightened and correct than those of Kerim Khan. "The public + revenue of England," he observes, "is not, as in India, raised + merely from the land, or by duties levied on a few kinds of + merchandise, but almost every article of consumption pays its + portion. The taxes are levied by the authority and decree of + parliament; and are in general so framed <i>as to bear lightly on the + poor</i>, and that <i>every person should pay in proportion to his + income</i>. Thus bread, meat, and coals, being articles of + indispensable use, are exempt; but spirits, wines, &c., are taxed + very high; and the rich are obliged to pay for every horse, dog, + and man-servant they keep; also for the privilege of throwing + <i>flour</i> on their heads, and having their <i>arms</i> (insignia of the + antiquity and rank of their family) painted on their carriages, &c. + Since the commencement of the present war, a new law has been + passed, compelling every person to pay annually a tenth of his + whole income. Most of the taxes are permanent, but some of them are + changed at the pleasure of parliament. Abu-Talib visited the + country in the first years of the present century, when the + capability of taxation was strained to the utmost, but the words + which we have given in italics, contain the secret which Kerim + failed to detect." +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote5 name=footnote5></A> + <b>Footnote 5</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag5">return</a>) + "The Parsees," says Mirza Abu-Talib, describing those whom he + saw at Bombay on his return to India, "are not possessed of a spark + of liberality or gentility.... The only Parsee I was ever + acquainted with who had received a liberal education, was Moula + Firoz, whom I met at the house of a friend; he was a sensible and + well-informed man, who had travelled into Persia, and there studied + mathematics, astronomy, and the sciences of Zoroaster." If this + account be correct, a marvellous improvement must have taken place + during the last forty years. Many of the Parsees of the present day + are almost on a level with Europeans in education and acquirements; + and in their adoption of our manners and customs, they stand alone + among the various nations of our Oriental subjects—but their + exclusive addiction to mercantile pursuits, and their pacific + habits, (in both which points they are hardly exceeded by the + Quakers of Europe,) make them objects of contempt to the haughty + Moslems. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote6 name=footnote6></A> + <b>Footnote 6</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag6">return</a>) + The Persian princes go more into detail; but we doubt whether + their description will much facilitate the construction of a + railway from Ispahan to Shiraz. "The roads on which the coaches are + placed and fixed, are made of iron bars; all that seems to draw + them is a box of iron, in which they put water to boil; underneath, + this iron box is like an urn, and from it rises the steam which + gives the wonderful force; when the steam rises up, the wheels take + their motion, the coach spreads its wings, and the travellers + become like birds." +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote7 name=footnote7></A> + <b>Footnote 7</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag7">return</a>) + The Parsees, in their account of the Tunnel, mention a fact now + not generally remembered, that the attempt was far from a new + one:—"In 1802, a Cornish miner having been selected for the + purpose, operations were commenced 330 feet from the Thames, on the + Rotherhithe side. Two or three different engineers were engaged, + and the affair was nearly abandoned, till in 1809 it was quite + given up." + </p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote8 name=footnote8></A> + <b>Footnote 8</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag8">return</a>) + Bishop Heber, in his journal, also mentions the wonder of his + Bengali servants on their first sight of a piece of ice in Himalaya, + and their regret on finding that they could not carry it home to + Calcutta as a curiosity. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote9 name=footnote9></A> + <b>Footnote 9</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag9">return</a>) + The sober prose of the Parsees presents, as usual, an amusing + contrast with the highflown rhapsodies of the Moslem; their remarks + on the same lady are comprised in the pithy observation—"We should + not have taken her for more than twenty-six years of age; but we + are told she is near fifty." +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote10 name=footnote10></A> + <b>Footnote 10</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag10">return</a>) + The ten days' lamentation for the martyred imams, Hassan and + Hussein, the grandsons of the Prophet, who were murdered by the + Ommiyades. Some notice of this ceremonial is given at the beginning + of his narrative by the Khan, who attended it just before he sailed + from Calcutta. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote11 name=footnote11></A> + <b>Footnote 11</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag11">return</a>) + To explain the Khan's ignorance of the form of an English + entertainment, it should be remembered that his religious scruples + excluded him from dinner parties—and that, except on occasions of + form like the present, or the party on hoard the Oriental at + Southampton, he had probably never witnessed a banquet in England. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote12 name=footnote12></A> + <b>Footnote 12</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag12">return</a>) + CEYLON, AND ITS CAPABILITIES. BY J. W. Bennett, Esq. F.L.S. + London Allen: 1843. With Plain and Coloured Illustrations. 4to. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote13 name=footnote13></A> + <b>Footnote 13</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag13">return</a>) + "Hailstone chorus:"—Handel's Israel in Egypt. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote14 name=footnote14></A> + <b>Footnote 14</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag14">return</a>) + + St Mark, iv. 31, 32. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote15 name=footnote15></A> + <b>Footnote 15</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag15">return</a>) + <i>Unicorn</i>: and strange it is, that, in ancient dilapidated + monuments of the Ceylonese, religious sculptures, &c., the unicorn + of Scotland frequently appears according to its true heraldic (<i>i.e.</i> + fabulous) type. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote16 name=footnote16></A> + <b>Footnote 16</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag16">return</a>) + See Dr Robison on <i>Rivers</i>. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote17 name=footnote17></A> + <b>Footnote 17</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag17">return</a>) + Deut. xxxiv. 6. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote18 name=footnote18></A> + <b>Footnote 18</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag18">return</a>) + <i>Fugitive</i>, observe. There were some others, and amongst them + Major Davie, who, for private reasons, were suffered to survive as + prisoners. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote19 name=footnote19></A> + <b>Footnote 19</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag19">return</a>) + "<i>Took</i> Kandy in his route." This phrase is equivocal, it + bears two senses—the traveller's sense, and the soldier's. But + <i>we</i> rarely make such errors in the use of words; the error is + original in the Government documents themselves. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote20 name=footnote20></A> + <b>Footnote 20</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag20">return</a>) + Why were they "all-suffering?" will be the demand of the + reader, and he will doubt the fact simply because he will not + apprehend any sufficient motive. That motive we believe to have + been this: war, even just or necessary war, is costly; now, the + governor and his council knew that their own individual chances of + promotion were in the exact ratio of the economy which they could + exhibit. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote21 name=footnote21></A> + <b>Footnote 21</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag21">return</a>) + We say <i>living</i>, because every attempt hitherto made to explain + sensation, has been founded on certain appearances manifested in + the <i>dead</i> subject. By inspecting a dead carcass we shall never + discover the principle of vision. Yet, though there is no seeing + in a dead eye, or in a camera obscura, optics deal exclusively + with such inanimate materials; and hence the student who studies + them will do well to remember, that optics are the science of + vision, with the <i>fact</i> of vision left entirely out of the + consideration. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote22 name=footnote22></A> + <b>Footnote 22</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag22">return</a>) + This is the first impediment to an oceanic canal, and one + equally felt on the other proposed lines. Captain Sir Edward + Belcher, when recently surveying the western coasts of America, + availed himself of the opportunity to explore the Estero Real, a + river on the Pacific side, which he did by ascending it to the + distance of thirty miles from its mouth, but he found that it + only admits a vessel drawing ten feet water. That intelligent + officer considered this an advantageous line for a canal, which + by lake navigation, he concluded might be connected with San + Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and extended to the Atlantic; but + the distance is immense, the country thinly inhabited, and + besides unhealthy, and, after all, it could only serve for boats. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote23 name=footnote23></A> + <b>Footnote 23</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag23">return</a>) + Lord Grenville in his speech on Indian affairs, April 9, 1813. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote24 name=footnote24></A> + <b>Footnote 24</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag24">return</a>) + The result of their labours was published in the <i>Philosophic + Transactions</i> for 1830, accompanied by drawings. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote25 name=footnote25></A> + <b>Footnote 25</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag25">return</a>) + Ulloa (Book iii. chap. 11) remarks, that although the greater + part of the houses in Panama were formerly built of wood, fires + very rarely occurred; the nature of the timber being such, that + if lighted embers are laid upon the floor, or wall made of it, + the only consequence is, that it makes a hole without producing + a flame. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote26 name=footnote26></A> + <b>Footnote 26</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag26">return</a>) + America and the Pacific, 1838. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote27 name=footnote27></A> + <b>Footnote 27</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag27">return</a>) + Ulloa affirms, that the greater part of the houses in Panama + are now built of stone; all sorts of materials for edifices of + this kind being found there in the greatest abundance. Mr + Scarlett also acknowledges that he there saw more specimens of + architectural beauty than in any other town of South America + which he had occasion to visit. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote28 name=footnote28></A> + <b>Footnote 28</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag28">return</a>) + In 1814 the writer had coal in his possession, in London, + brought from the vicinity of Lima, which he had coked and tried + in a variety of ways. It was gaseous and resembled that dug in + the United States. Since that period coal has been found near + Talcahuano and at Valdivia, on the coast of Chili; on the + island of Chiloe, and on that of San Lorenzo, opposite to Lima; + in the valley of Tambo, near Islay; at Guacho, and even further + down on the coast of Guayaquil. Mr Scarlett quotes a letter + from the Earl of Dundonald. (Lord Cochrane,) in which his + lordship affirms, "that there is plenty of coal at Talcahuano, + in the province of Conception." It was used on board of her + Majesty's ship Blossom; and Mr Mason, of her Majesty's ship + Seringspatam, pronounced it good when not taken too near the + surface. Mr Wheelright, the American gentleman who formed the + Steam Navigation Company along the western coast, coked the + coal found there; and in the general plan for the formation of + his company, assured the public that "coal exists on various + parts of the Chili coast in great abundance, and will afford an + ample supply for steam operations on the Pacific at a very + moderate expense." The fact is confirmed by various other + testimonies, and there is every reason to believe that coal + will be hereafter found at no great distance from Panama. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote29 name=footnote29></A> + <b>Footnote 29</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag29">return</a>) + Mr Scarlett says, that the depth of water at Chagre is + sufficient for steamers and large schooners, which can be + navigated without obstruction as far up as the mouth of the + Trinidad. By descending that river, he himself crossed the + isthmus in seventeen hours—viz. from Panama to Cruces, eight; + and thence to Chagre, nine. Mr Wheelright, the American + gentleman above quoted, says that the transit of the isthmus + during the dry season, (from November to June—and wet from + June to November,) is neither inconvenient nor unpleasant. The + canoes are covered, provisions and fruits cheap along the banks + of the Chagre, and there is always personal security. The + temperature, although warm, is healthy. At the same time it must + be confessed, that in the rainy season a traveller is subject + to great exposure and consequent illness; but if the railroad + was roofed this objection might be removed. It is on all hands + agreed, that the climate of the isthmus would be greatly + improved by drainage, and clearing the country of the immense + quantities of vegetable matter left rotting on the ground. The + beds of seaweed, in a constant state of decomposition on the + Pacific shore, create miasmata unquestionably injurious to + health. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote30 name=footnote30></A> + <b>Footnote 30</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag30">return</a>) + "<i>Mechanic arts of education</i>:"—Merely in reading and writing, + the reader must not forget, that according to absolute + documents laid before Parliament, Ireland, in some counties, + takes rank before Prussia; whilst probably, in both countries, + that real education of life and practice, which moves by the + commerce of thought and the contagion of feelings, is at the + lowest ebb. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<BLOCKQUOTE class=footnote> + <P><A id=footnote31 name=footnote31></A> + <b>Footnote 31</b>: (<a href="#footnotetag31">return</a>) + The allusion is to Mr O'Connell's <i>past</i> experience as a + defendant, on political offences, here the Court of Queen's + Bench in Dublin; an experience which most people have forgotten; + and which we also at this moment should be glad to forget as + the ominous precedent for the present crisis, were it not that + Conservative honesty and Conservative energy were now at the + helm, instead of the Whig spirit of intrigue with all public + enemies. +</p></BLOCKQUOTE> + +<hr class="full"> + +<h4><i>Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work.</i></h4> + +<hr class="full"> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume +54, No. 337, November, 1843, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + +***** This file should be named 16607-h.htm or 16607-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/0/16607/ + +Produced by The Internet Library of Early Journals; Jon +Ingram, Brendan OConnor, Allen Siddle and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +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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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: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 54, No. 337, November, 1843 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: August 27, 2005 [EBook #16607] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + + + + +Produced by The Internet Library of Early Journals; Jon +Ingram, Brendan OConnor, Allen Siddle and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + +No. CCCXXXVII. NOVEMBER, 1843. VOL. LIV. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + ADVENTURES IN TEXAS. + TRAVELS OF KERIM KHAN. + THE BANKING-HOUSE. + THE WRONGS OF WOMEN. + MARSTON; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A STATESMAN. + CEYLON + COMMERCIAL POLICY. + A SPECULATION ON THE SENSES. + ON THE BEST MEANS OF ESTABLISHING A COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE + BETWEEN THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS. + TWO DREAMS. + THE GAME UP WITH REPEAL AGITATION. + + * * * * * + + + + +ADVENTURES IN TEXAS. + +NO. 1. + +A SCAMPER IN THE PRAIRIE OF JACINTO. + + +Reader! Were you ever in a Texian prairie? Probably not. _I_ have been; +and this was how it happened. When a very young man, I found myself one +fine morning possessor of a Texas land-scrip--that is to say, a +certificate of the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company, in which it was +stated, that in consideration of the sum of one thousand dollars, duly +paid and delivered by Mr Edward Rivers into the hands of the cashier of +the aforesaid company, he, the said Edward Rivers, was become entitled to +ten thousand acres of Texian land, to be selected by himself, or those he +should appoint, under the sole condition of not infringing on the property +or rights of the holders of previously given certificates. + +Ten thousand acres of the finest land in the world, and under a heaven +compared to which, our Maryland sky, bright as it is, appears dull and +foggy! It was a tempting bait; too good a one not to be caught at by many +in those times of speculation; and accordingly, our free and enlightened +citizens bought and sold their millions of Texian acres just as readily as +they did their thousands of towns and villages in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, +and Michigan, and their tens of thousands of shares in banks and railways. +It was a speculative fever, which has since, we may hope, been in some +degree cured. At any rate, the remedies applied have been tolerably severe. + +I had not escaped the contagion, and, having got the land on paper, I +thought I should like to see it in dirty acres; so, in company with a +friend who had a similar venture, I embarked at Baltimore on board the +Catcher schooner, and, after a three weeks' voyage, arrived in Galveston +Bay. + +The grassy shores of this bay, into which the river Brazos empties itself, +rise so little above the surface of the water, to which they bear a strong +resemblance in colour, that it would be difficult to discover them, were +it not for three stunted trees growing on the western extremity of a long +lizard-shaped island that stretches nearly sixty miles across the bay, and +conceals the mouth of the river. These trees are the only landmark for the +mariner; and, with their exception, not a single object--not a hill, a +house, nor so much as a bush, relieves the level sameness of the island +and adjacent continent. + +After we had, with some difficulty, got on the inner side of the island, a +pilot came on board and took charge of the vessel. The first thing he did +was to run us on a sandbank, off which we got with no small labour, and by +the united exertions of sailors and passengers, and at length entered the +river. In our impatience to land, I and my friend left the schooner in a +cockleshell of a boat, which upset in the surge, and we found ourselves +floundering in the water. Luckily it was not very deep, and we escaped +with a thorough drenching. + +When we had scrambled on shore, we gazed about us for some time before we +could persuade ourselves that we were actually upon land. It was, without +exception, the strangest coast we had ever seen, and there was scarcely a +possibility of distinguishing the boundary between earth and water. The +green grass grew down to the edge of the green sea, and there was only the +streak of white foam left by the latter upon the former to serve as a line +of demarcation. Before us was a plain, a hundred or more miles in extent, +covered with long, fine grass, rolling in waves before each puff of the +sea-breeze, with neither tree, nor house, nor hill, to vary the monotony +of the surface. Ten or twelve miles towards the north and north-west, we +distinguished some dark masses, which we afterwards discovered to be +groups of trees; but to our eyes they looked exactly like islands in a +green sea, and we subsequently learned that they were called islands by +the people of the country. It would have been difficult to have given them +a more appropriate name, or one better describing their appearance. + +Proceeding along the shore, we came to a blockhouse situated behind a +small tongue of land projecting into the river, and decorated with the +flag of the Mexican republic, waving in all its glory from the roof. At +that period, this was the only building of which Galveston harbour could +boast. It served as custom-house and as barracks for the garrison, also as +the residence of the director of customs, and of the civil and military +intendant, as headquarters of the officer commanding, and, moreover, as +hotel and wine and spirit store. Alongside the board, on which was +depicted a sort of hieroglyphic, intended for the Mexican eagle, hung a +bottle doing duty as a sign, and the republican banner threw its protecting +shadow over an announcement of--"Brandy, Whisky, and Accommodation for Man +and Beast." + +As we approached the house, we saw the whole garrison assembled before the +door. It consisted of a dozen dwarfish, spindle-shanked Mexican soldiers, +none of them so big or half so strong as American boys of fifteen, and +whom I would have backed a single Kentucky woodsman, armed with a +riding-whip, to have driven to the four winds of heaven. These heroes all +sported tremendous beards, whiskers, and mustaches, and had a habit of +knitting their brows, in the endeavour, as we supposed, to look fierce and +formidable. They were crowding round a table of rough planks, and playing +a game of cards, in which they were so deeply engrossed that they took no +notice of our approach. Their officer, however, came out of the house to +meet us. + +Captain Cotton, formerly editor of the _Mexican Gazette_, now civil and +military commandant at Galveston, customs-director, harbour-master, and +tavern-keeper, and a Yankee to boot, seemed to trouble himself very little +about his various dignities and titles. He produced some capital French +and Spanish wine, which, it is to be presumed, he got duty free, and +welcomed us to Texas. We were presently joined by some of our +fellow-passengers, who seemed as bewildered as we had been at the +billiard-table appearance of the country. Indeed the place looked so +desolate and uninviting, that there was little inducement to remain on +_terra firma_, and it was with a feeling of relief that we once more found +ourselves on board the schooner. + +We took three days to sail up the river Brazos to the town of Brazoria, a +distance of thirty miles. On the first day nothing but meadow land was +visible on either side of us; but, on the second, the monotonous +grass-covered surface was varied by islands of trees, and, about twenty +miles from the mouth of the river, we passed through a forest of +sycamores, and saw several herds of deer and flocks of wild turkeys. At +length we reached Brazoria, which at the time I speak of, namely, in the +year 1832, was an important city--for Texas, that is to say--consisting of +upwards of thirty houses, three of which were of brick, three of planks, +and the remainder of logs. All the inhabitants were Americans, and the +streets arranged in American fashion, in straight lines and at right +angles. The only objection to the place was, that in the wet season it +was all under water; but the Brazorians overlooked this little +inconvenience, in consideration of the inexhaustible fruitfulness of the +soil. It was the beginning of March when we arrived, and yet there was +already an abundance of new potatoes, beans, peas, and artichokes, all of +the finest sorts and most delicious flavour. + +At Brazoria, my friend and myself had the satisfaction of learning that +our land-certificates, for which we had each paid a thousand dollars, were +worth exactly nothing--just so much waste paper, in short--unless we chose +to conform to a condition to which our worthy friends, the Galveston Bay +and Texas Land Company, had never made the smallest allusion. + +It appeared that in the year 1824, the Mexican Congress had passed an act +for the encouragement of emigration from the United States to Texas. In +consequence of this act, an agreement was entered into with contractors, +or _empresarios_, as they call them in Mexico, who had bound themselves to +bring a certain number of settlers into Texas within a given time and +without any expense to the Mexican government. On the other hand, the +Mexican government had engaged to furnish land to these emigrants at the +rate of five square leagues to every hundred families; but to this +agreement one condition was attached, and it was, that all settlers should +be, or become, Roman Catholics. Failing this, the validity of their claims +to the land was not recognised, and they were liable to be turned out any +day at the point of the bayonet. + +This information threw us into no small perplexity. It was clear that we +had been duped, completely bubbled, by the rascally Land Company; that, as +heretics, the Mexican government would have nothing to say to us; and that, +unless we chose to become converts to the Romish Church, we might whistle +for our acres, and light our pipes with the certificate. Our Yankee +friends at Brazoria, however, laughed at our dilemma, and told us that we +were only in the same plight as hundreds of our countrymen, who had come +to Texas in total ignorance of this condition, but who had not the less +taken possession of their land and settled there; that they themselves +were amongst the number, and that, although it was just as likely they +would turn negroes as Roman Catholics, they had no idea of being turned +out of their houses and plantations; that, at any rate, if the Mexicans +tried it, they had their rifles with them, and should be apt, they +reckoned, to burn powder before they allowed themselves to be kicked off +such an almighty fine piece of soil. So, after a while, we began to think, +that as we had paid our money and come so far, we might do as others had +done before us--occupy our land and wait the course of events. The next +day we each bought a horse, or _mustang_, as they call them there, which +animals were selling at Brazoria for next to nothing, and rode out into +the prairie to look for a convenient spot to settle. + +These mustangs are small horses, rarely above fourteen hands high, and are +descended from the Spanish breed introduced by the original conquerors of +the country. During the three centuries that have elapsed since the +conquest of Mexico, they have increased and multiplied to an extraordinary +extent, and are to be found in vast droves in the Texian prairies, +although they are now beginning to become somewhat scarcer. They are taken +with the _lasso_, concerning which instrument or weapon I will here say a +word or two, notwithstanding that it has been often described. + +The lasso is usually from twenty to thirty feet long, very flexible, and +composed of strips of twisted ox hide. One end is fastened to the saddle, +and the other, which forms a running noose, held in the hand of the hunter, +who, thus equipped, rides out into the prairie. When he discovers a troop +of wild horses, he manoeuvres to get to windward of them, and then to +approach as near them as possible. If he is an experienced hand, the +horses seldom or never escape him, and as soon as he finds himself within +twenty or thirty feet of them, he throws the noose with unerring aim over +the neck of the one he has selected for his prey. This done, he turns his +own horse sharp round, gives him the spur, and gallops away, dragging his +unfortunate captive after him, breathless, and with his windpipe so +compressed by the noose, that he is unable to make the smallest resistance, +and after a few yards, falls headlong to the ground, and lies motionless +and almost lifeless, sometimes indeed badly hurt and disabled. From this +day forward, the horse which has been thus caught never forgets the lasso; +the mere sight of it makes him tremble in every limb; and, however wild he +may be, it is sufficient to show it to him, or lay it on his neck, to +render him as tame and docile as a lamb. + +The horse taken, next comes the breaking in, which is effected in a no +less brutal manner than his capture. The eyes of the unfortunate animal +are covered with a bandage, and a tremendous bit, a pound weight or more, +clapped into his mouth; the horsebreaker puts on a pair of spurs six +inches long, and with rowels like penknives, and jumping on his back, +urges him to his very utmost speed. If the horse tries to rear, or turns +restive, one pull, and not a very hard one either, at the instrument of +torture they call a bit, is sufficient to tear his mouth to shreds, and +cause the blood to flow in streams. I have myself seen horses' teeth +broken with these barbarous bits. The poor beast whinnies and groans with +pain and terror; but there is no help for him, the spurs are at his flanks, +and on he goes full gallop, till he is ready to sink from fatigue and +exhaustion. He then has a quarter of an hour's rest allowed him; but +scarcely does he begin to recover breath, which has been ridden and +spurred out of his body, when he is again mounted, and has to go through +the same violent process as before. If he breaks down during this rude +trial, he is either knocked on the head or driven away as useless; but if +he holds out, he is marked with a hot iron, and left to graze on the +prairie. Henceforward, there is no particular difficulty in catching him +when wanted; the wildness of the horse is completely punished out of him, +but for it is substituted the most confirmed vice and malice that it is +possible to conceive. These mustangs are unquestionably the most deceitful +and spiteful of all the equine race. They seem to be perpetually looking +out for an opportunity of playing their master a trick; and very soon +after I got possession of mine, I was nearly paying for him in a way that +I had certainly not calculated upon. + +We were going to Bolivar, and had to cross the river Brazos. I was the +last but one to get into the boat, and was leading my horse carelessly by +the bridle. Just as I was about to step in, a sudden jerk, and a cry of +'mind your beast!' made me jump on one side; and lucky it was that I did +so. My mustang had suddenly sprung back, reared up, and then thrown +himself forward upon me with such force and fury, that, as I got out of +his way, his fore feet went completely through the bottom of the boat. I +never in my life saw an animal in such a paroxysm of rage. He curled up +his lip till his whole range of teeth was visible, his eyes literally shot +fire, while the foam flew from his mouth, and he gave a wild screaming +neigh that had something quite diabolical in its sound. I was standing +perfectly thunderstruck at this scene, when one of the party took a lasso +and very quietly laid it over the animal's neck. The effect was really +magical. With closed mouth, drooping ears, and head low, there stood the +mustang, as meek and docile as any old jackass. The change was so sudden +and comical, that we all burst out laughing; although, when I came to +reflect on the danger I had run, it required all my love of horses to +prevent me from shooting the brute upon the spot. + +Mounted upon this ticklish steed and in company with my friend, I made +various excursions to Bolivar, Marion, Columbia, Anahuac, incipient cities +consisting of from five to twenty houses. We also visited numerous +plantations and clearings, to the owners of some of which we were known, +or had messages of introduction; but either with or without such +recommendations, we always found a hearty welcome and hospitable reception, +and it was rare that we were allowed to pay for our entertainment. + +We arrived one day at a clearing which lay a few miles off the way from +Harrisburg to San Felipe de Austin, and belonged to a Mr Neal. He had been +three years in the country, occupying himself with the breeding of cattle, +which is unquestionably the most agreeable, as well as profitable, +occupation that can be followed in Texas. He had between seven and eight +hundred head of cattle, and from fifty to sixty horses, all mustangs. His +plantation, like nearly all the plantations in Texas at that time, was as +yet in a very rough state, and his house, although roomy and comfortable +enough inside, was built of unhewn tree-trunks, in true back-woodsman +style. It was situated on the border of one of the islands, or groups of +trees, and stood between two gigantic sycamores, which sheltered it from +the sun and wind. In front, and as far as could be seen, lay the prairie, +covered with its waving grass and many-coloured flowers, behind the +dwelling arose the cluster of forest trees in all their primeval majesty, +laced and bound together by an infinity of wild vines, which shot their +tendrils and clinging branches hundreds of feet upwards to the very top of +the trees, embracing and covering the whole island with a green network, +and converting it into an immense bower of vine leaves, which would have +been no unsuitable abode for Bacchus and his train. + +These islands are one of the most enchanting features of Texian scenery. +Of infinite variety and beauty of form, and unrivalled in the growth and +magnitude of the trees that compose them, they are to be found of all +shapes--circular, parallelograms, hexagons, octagons--some again twisting +and winding like dark-green snakes over the brighter surface of the +prairie. In no park or artificially laid out grounds, would it be possible +to find any thing equalling these natural shrubberies in beauty and +symmetry. In the morning and evening especially, when surrounded by a sort +of veil of light-greyish mist, and with the horizontal beams of the rising +or setting sun gleaming through them, they offer pictures which it is +impossible to get weary of admiring. + +Mr Neal was a jovial Kentuckian, and he received us with the greatest +hospitality, only asking in return all the news we could give him from the +States. It is difficult to imagine, without having witnessed it, the +feverish eagerness and curiosity with which all intelligence from their +native country is sought after and listened to by these dwellers in the +desert. Men, women, and children, crowded round us; and though we had +arrived in the afternoon, it was near sunrise before we could escape from +the enquiries by which we were overwhelmed, and retire to the beds that +had been prepared for us. + +I had not slept very long when I was roused by our worthy host. He was +going out to catch twenty or thirty oxen, which were wanted for the market +at New Orleans. As the kind of chase which takes place after these animals +is very interesting, and rarely dangerous, we willingly accepted the +invitation to accompany him, and having dressed and breakfasted in all +haste, got upon our mustangs and rode of into the prairie. + +The party was half a dozen strong, consisting of Mr Neal, my friend and +myself, and three negroes. What we had to do was to drive the cattle, +which were grazing on the prairie in herds of from thirty to fifty head, +to the house, and then those which were selected for the market were to be +taken with the lasso and sent off to Brazoria. + +After riding four or five miles, we came in sight of a drove, splendid +animals, standing very high, and of most symmetrical form. The horns of +these cattle are of unusual length, and, in the distance, have more the +appearance of stag's antlers than bull's horns. We approached the herd +first to within a quarter of a mile. They remained quite quiet. We rode +round them, and in like manner got in rear of a second and third drove, +and then began to spread out, so as to form a half circle, and drive the +cattle towards the house. + +Hitherto my mustang had behaved exceedingly well, cantering freely along +and not attempting to play any tricks. I had scarcely, however, left the +remainder of the party a couple of hundred yards, when the devil by which +he was possessed began to wake up. The mustangs belonging to the +plantation were grazing some three quarters of a mile off; and no sooner +did my beast catch sight of them, than he commenced practising every +species of jump and leap that it is possible for a horse to execute, and +many of a nature so extraordinary, that I should have thought no brute +that ever went on four legs would have been able to accomplish them. He +shied, reared, pranced, leaped forwards, backwards, and sideways; in short, +played such infernal pranks, that, although a practised rider, I found it +no easy matter to keep my seat. I began heartily to regret that I had +brought no lasso with me, which would have tamed him at once, and that, +contrary to Mr Neal's advice, I had put on my American bit instead of a +Mexican one. Without these auxiliaries all my horsemanship was useless. +The brute galloped like a mad creature some five hundred yards, caring +nothing for my efforts to stop him; and then, finding himself close to the +troop of mustangs, he stopped suddenly short, threw his head between his +fore legs, and his hind feet into the air, with such vicious violence, +that I was pitched clean out of the saddle. Before I well knew where I was, +I had the satisfaction of seeing him put his fore feet on the bridle, pull +bit and bridoon out of his mouth, and then, with a neigh of exultation, +spring into the midst of the herd of mustangs. + +I got up out of the long grass in a towering passion. One of the negroes +who was nearest to me came galloping to my assistance, and begged me to +let the beast run for a while, and that when Anthony, the huntsman, came, +he would soon catch him. I was too angry to listen to reason, and I +ordered him to get off his horse, and let me mount. The black begged and +prayed of me not to ride after the brute; and Mr Neal, who was some +distance off, shouted to me, as loud as he could, for Heaven's sake, to +stop--that I did not know what it was to chase a wild horse in a Texian +prairie, and that I must not fancy myself in the meadows of Louisiana or +Florida. I paid no attention to all this--I was in too great a rage at the +trick the beast had played me, and, jumping on the negro's horse, I +galloped away like mad. + +My rebellious steed was grazing quietly with his companions, and he +allowed me to come within a couple of hundred paces of him; but just as I +had prepared the lasso, which was fastened to the negro's saddle-bow, he +gave a start, and galloped off some distance further, I after him. Again +he made a pause, and munched a mouthful of grass--then off again for +another half mile. This time I had great hopes of catching him, for he let +me come within a hundred yards; but, just as I was creeping up to him, +away he went with one of his shrill neighs. When I galloped fast he went +faster, when I rode slowly he slackened pace. At least ten times did he +let me approach him within a couple of hundred yards, without for that +being a bit nearer getting hold of him. It was certainly high time to +desist from such a mad chase, but I never dreamed of doing so; and indeed +the longer it lasted, the more obstinate I got. I rode on after the beast, +who kept letting me come nearer and nearer, and then darted off again with +his loud-laughing neigh. It was this infernal neigh that made me so +savage--there was something so spiteful and triumphant in it, as though +the animal knew he was making a fool of me, and exulted in so doing. At +last, however, I got so sick of my horse-hunt that I determined to make a +last trial, and, if that failed, to turn back. The runaway had stopped +near one of the islands of trees, and was grazing quite close to its edge. +I thought that if I were to creep round to the other side of the island, +and then steal across it, through the trees, I should be able to throw the +lasso over his head, or, at any rate, to drive him back to the house. This +plan I put in execution--rode round the island, then through it, lasso in +hand, and as softly as if I had been riding over eggs. To my consternation, +however, on arriving at the edge of the trees, and at the exact spot where, +only a few minutes before, I had seen the mustang grazing, no signs of him +were to be perceived. I made the circuit of the island, but in vain--the +animal had disappeared. With a hearty curse, I put spurs to my horse, and +started off to ride back to the plantation. + +Neither the plantation, the cattle, nor my companions, were visible, it is +true; but this gave me no uneasiness. I felt sure that I knew the +direction in which I had come, and that the island I had just left was one +which was visible from the house, while all around me were such numerous +tracks of horses, that the possibility of my having lost my way never +occurred to me, and I rode on quite unconcernedly. + +After riding for about an hour, however, I began to find the time rather +long. I looked at my watch. It was past one o'clock. We had started at +nine, and, allowing an hour and a half to have been spent in finding the +cattle, I had passed nearly three hours in my wild and unsuccessful hunt. +I began to think that I must have got further from the plantation than I +had as yet supposed. + +It was towards the end of March, the day clear and warm, just like a +May-day in the Southern States. The sun was now shining brightly out, but +the early part of the morning had been somewhat foggy; and, as I had only +arrived at the plantation the day before, and had passed the whole +afternoon and evening indoors, I had no opportunity of getting acquainted +with the bearings of the house. This reflection began to make me rather +uneasy, particularly when I remembered the entreaties of the negro, and +the loud exhortations Mr Neal addressed to me as I rode away. I said to +myself, however, that I could not be more than ten or fifteen miles from +the plantation, that I should soon come in sight of the herds of cattle, +and that then there would be no difficulty in finding my way. But when I +had ridden another hour without seeing the smallest sign either of man or +beast, I got seriously uneasy. In my impatience, I abused poor Neal for +not sending somebody to find me. His huntsman, I had heard, was gone to +Anahuac, and would not be back for two or three days; but he might have +sent a couple of his lazy negroes. Or, if he had only fired a shot or two +as a signal. I stopped and listened, in hopes of hearing the crack of a +rifle. But the deepest stillness reigned around, scarcely the chirp of a +bird was heard--all nature seemed to be taking the siesta. As far as the +eye could reach was a waving sea of grass, here and there an island of +trees, but not a trace of a human being. At last I thought I had made a +discovery. The nearest clump of trees was undoubtedly the same which I had +admired and pointed out to my companions soon after we had left the house. +It bore a fantastical resemblance to a snake coiled up and about to dart +upon its prey. About six or seven miles from the plantation we had passed +it on our right hand, and if I now kept it upon my left, I could not fail +to be going in a proper direction. So said, so done. I trotted on most +perseveringly towards the point of the horizon where I felt certain the +house must lie. One hour passed, then a second, then a third; every now +and then I stopped and listened, but nothing was audible, not a shot nor a +shout. But although I heard nothing, I saw something which gave me no +great pleasure. In the direction in which we had ridden out, the grass was +very abundant and the flowers scarce; whereas the part of the prairie in +which I now found myself presented the appearance of a perfect +flower-garden, with scarcely a square foot of green to be seen. The most +variegated carpet of flowers I ever beheld lay unrolled before me; red, +yellow, violet, blue, every colour, every tint was there; millions of the +most magnificent prairie roses, tuberoses, asters, dahlias, and fifty +other kinds of flowers. The finest artificial garden in the world would +sink into insignificance when compared with this parterre of nature's own +planting. My horse could hardly make his way through the wilderness of +flowers, and I for a time remained lost in admiration of this scene of +extraordinary beauty. The prairie in the distance looked as if clothed +with rainbows that waved to and fro over its surface. + +But the difficulties and anxieties of my situation soon banished all other +thoughts, and I rode on with perfect indifference through a scene, that, +under other circumstances, would have captivated my entire attention. All +the stories that I had heard of mishaps in these endless prairies, +recurred in vivid colouring to my memory, not mere backwoodsman's legends, +but facts well authenticated by persons of undoubted veracity, who had +warned me, before I came to Texas, against venturing without guide or +compass into these dangerous wilds. Even men who had been long in the +country, were often known to lose themselves, and to wander for days and +weeks over these oceans of grass, where no hill or variety of surface +offers a landmark to the traveller. In summer and autumn, such a position +would have one danger the less, that is, there would be no risk of dying +of hunger; for at those seasons the most delicious fruits, grapes, plums, +peaches, and others, are to be found in abundance. But we were now in +early spring, and although I saw numbers of peach and plum-trees, they +were only in blossom. Of game also there was plenty, both fur and feather, +but I had no gun, and nothing appeared more probable than that I should +die of hunger, although surrounded by food, and in one of the most +fruitful countries in the world. This thought flashed suddenly across me, +and for a moment my heart sunk within me as I first perceived the real +danger of my position. + +After a time, however, other ideas came to console me. I had been already +four weeks in the country, and had ridden over a large slice of it in +every direction, always through prairies, and I had never had any +difficulty in finding my way. True, but then I had always had a compass, +and been in company. It was this sort of over-confidence and feeling of +security, that had made me adventure so rashly, and spite of all warning, +in pursuit of the mustang. I had not waited to reflect, that a little more +than four weeks' experience was necessary to make one acquainted with the +bearings of a district three times as big as New York State. Still I +thought it impossible that I should have got so far out of the right track +as not to be able to find the house before nightfall, which was now, +however, rapidly approaching. Indeed, the first shades of evening, strange +as it may seem, gave this persuasion increased strength. Home bred and +gently nurtured as I was, my life before coming to Texas had been by no +means one of adventure, and I was so used to sleep with a roof over my +head, that when I saw it getting dusk I felt certain I could not be far +from the house. The idea fixed itself so strongly in my mind, that I +involuntarily spurred my mustang, and trotted on, peering out through the +now fast-gathering gloom, in expectation of seeing a light. Several times +I fancied I heard the barking of the dogs, the cattle lowing, or the merry +laugh of the children. + +"Hurrah! there is the house at last--I see the lights in the parlour +windows." + +I urged my horse on, but when I came near the house, it proved to be an +island of trees. What I had taken for candles were fire-flies, that now +issued in swarms from out of the darkness of the islands, and spread +themselves over the prairie, darting about in every direction, their small +blue flames literally lighting up the plain, and making it appear as if I +were surrounded by a sea of Bengal fire. It is impossible to conceive +anything more bewildering than such a ride as mine, on a warm March night, +through the interminable, never varying prairie. Overhead the deep blue +firmament, with its hosts of bright stars; at my feet, and all around, an +ocean of magical light, myriads of fire-flies floating upon the soft still +air. To me it was like a scene of enchantment. I could distinguish every +blade of grass, every flower, each leaf on the trees, but all in a strange +unnatural sort of light, and in altered colours. Tuberoses and asters, +prairie roses and geraniums, dahlias and vine branches, began to wave and +move, to range themselves in ranks and rows. The whole vegetable world +around me seemed to dance, as the swarms of living lights passed over it. + +Suddenly out of the sea of fire sounded a loud and long-drawn note. I +stopped, listened, and gazed around me. It was not repeated, and I rode on. +Again the same sound, but this time the cadence was sad and plaintive. +Again I made a halt, and listened. It was repeated a third time in a yet +more melancholy tone, and I recognised it as the cry of a whip-poor-will. +Presently it was answered from a neighbouring island by a Katydid. My +heart leaped for joy at hearing the note of this bird, the native minstrel +of my own dear Maryland. In an instant the house where I was born stood +before the eyesight of my imagination. There were the negro huts, the +garden, the plantation, every thing exactly as I had left it. So powerful +was the illusion, that I gave my horse the spur, persuaded that my +father's house lay before me. The island, too, I took for the grove that +surrounded our house. On reaching its border, I literally dismounted, and +shouted out for Charon Tommy. There was a stream running through our +plantation, which, for nine months out of the twelve, was only passable by +means of a ferry, and the old negro who officiated as ferryman was +indebted to me for the above classical cognomen. I believe I called twice, +nay, three times, but no Charon Tommy answered; and I awoke as from a +pleasant dream, somewhat ashamed of the length to which my excited +imagination had hurried me. + +I now felt so weary and exhausted, so hungry and thirsty, and, withal, my +mind was so anxious and harassed by my dangerous position, and the +uncertainty how I should get out of it, that I was really incapable of +going any further. I felt quite bewildered, and stood for some time gazing +before me, and scarcely even troubling myself to think. At length I +mechanically drew my clasp-knife from my pocket, and set to work to dig a +hole in the rich black soil of the prairie. Into this hole I put the +knotted end of my lasso, and then pushing it in the earth and stamping it +down with my foot, as I had seen others do since I had been in Texas, I +passed the noose over my mustang's neck, and left him to graze, while I +myself lay down outside the circle which the lasso would allow him to +describe. An odd manner, it may seem, of tying up a horse; but the most +convenient and natural one in a country where one may often find +one's-self fifty miles from any house, and five-and-twenty from a tree or +bush. + +I found it no easy matter to sleep, for on all sides I heard the howling +of wolves and jaguars, an unpleasant serenade at any time, but most of all +so in the prairie, unarmed and defenceless as I was. My nerves, too, were +all in commotion, and I felt so feverish, that I do not know what I should +have done, had I not fortunately remembered that I had my cigar-case and a +roll of tobacco, real Virginia _dulcissimus_, in my pocket--invaluable +treasures in my present situation, and which on this, as on many other +occasions, did not fail to soothe and calm my agitated thoughts. + +Luckily, too, being a tolerably confirmed smoker, I carried a flint and +steel with me; for otherwise, although surrounded by lights, I should have +been sadly at a loss for fire. A couple of Havannahs did me an infinite +deal of good, and after a while I sunk into the slumber of which I stood +so much in need. + +The day was hardly well broken when I awoke. The refreshing sleep I had +enjoyed had given me new energy and courage. I felt hungry enough, to be +sure, but light and cheerful, and I hastened to dig up the end of the +lasso, and saddled my horse. I trusted that, though I had been condemned +to wander over the prairie the whole of the preceding day, as a sort of +punishment for my rashness, I should now have better luck, and having +expiated my fault, be at length allowed to find my way. With this hope I +mounted my mustang, and resumed my ride. + +I passed several beautiful islands of pecan, plum, and peach trees. It is +a peculiarity worthy of remark, that these islands are nearly always of +one sort of tree. It is very rare to meet with one where there are two +sorts. Like the beasts of the forest, that herd together according to +their kind, so does this wild vegetation preserve itself distinct in its +different species. One island will be entirely composed of live oaks, +another of plum, and a third of pecan trees; the vine only is common to +them all, and embraces them all alike with its slender but tenacious +branches. I rode through several of these islands. They were perfectly +free from bushes and brushwood, and carpeted with the most beautiful +verdure it is possible to behold. I gazed at them in astonishment. It +seemed incredible that nature, abandoned to herself, should preserve +herself so beautifully clean and pure, and I involuntarily looked around +me for some trace of the hand of man. But none was there. I saw nothing +but herds of deer, that gazed wonderingly at me with their large clear +eyes, and when I approached too near, galloped off in alarm. What would I +not have given for an ounce of lead, a charge of powder, and a Kentucky +rifle? Nevertheless, the mere sight of the beasts gladdened me, and raised +my spirits. They were a sort of society. Something of the same feeling +seemed to be imparted to my horse, who bounded under me, and neighed +merrily as he cantered along in the fresh spring morning. + +I was now skirting the side of an island of trees of greater extent than +most of those I had hitherto seen. On reaching the end of it, I suddenly +came in sight of an object presenting so extraordinary an appearance as +far to surpass any of the natural wonders I had as yet beheld, either in +Texas or the United States. + +At the distance of about two miles rose a colossal mass, in shape somewhat +like a monumental mound or tumulus, and apparently of the brightest silver. +As I came in view of it, the sun was just covered by a passing cloud, from +the lower edge of which the bright rays shot down obliquely upon this +extraordinary phenomenon, lighting it up in the most brilliant manner. At +one moment it looked like a huge silver cone; then took the appearance of +an illuminated castle with pinnacles and towers, or the dome of some great +cathedral; then of a gigantic elephant, covered with trappings, but always +of solid silver, and indescribably magnificent. Had all the treasures of +the earth been offered me to say what it was, I should have been unable to +answer. Bewildered by my interminable wanderings in the prairie, and +weakened by fatigue and hunger, a superstitious feeling for a moment came +over me, and I half asked myself whether I had not reached some enchanted +region, into which the evil spirit of the prairie was luring me to +destruction by appearances of supernatural strangeness and beauty. + +Banishing these wild imaginings, I rode on in the direction of this +strange object; but it was only when I came within a very short distance +that I was able to distinguish its nature. It was a live oak of most +stupendous dimensions, the very patriarch of the prairie, grown grey in +the lapse of ages. Its lower limbs had shot out in an horizontal, or +rather a downward-slanting direction; and, reaching nearly to the ground, +formed a vast dome several hundred feet in diameter, and full a hundred +and thirty feet high. It had no appearance of a tree, for neither trunk +nor branches were visible. It seemed a mountain of whitish-green scales, +fringed with long silvery moss, that hung like innumerable beards from +every bough and twig. Nothing could better convey the idea of immense and +incalculable age than the hoary beard and venerable appearance of this +monarch of the woods. Spanish moss of a silvery grey covered the whole +mass of wood and foliage, from the topmost bough down to the very ground; +short near the top of the tree, but gradually increasing in length as it +descended, until it hung like a deep fringe from the lower branches. I +separated the vegetable curtain with my hands, and entered this august +temple with feelings of involuntary awe. The change from the bright +sunlight to the comparative darkness beneath the leafy vault, was so great, +that I at first could scarcely distinguish any thing. When my eyes got +accustomed to the gloom, however, nothing could be more beautiful than the +effect of the sun's rays, which, in forcing their way through the silvered +leaves and mosses, took as many varieties of colour as if they had passed +through a window of painted glass, and gave the rich, subdued, and solemn +light of some old cathedral. + +The trunk of the tree rose, free from all branches, full forty feet from +the ground, rough and knotted, and of such enormous size that it might +have been taken for a mass of rock, covered with moss and lichens, while +many of its boughs were nearly as thick as the trunk of any tree I had +ever previously seen. + +I was so absorbed in the contemplation of the vegetable giant, that for a +short space I almost forgot my troubles; but as I rode away from the tree +they returned to me in full force, and my reflections were certainly of no +very cheering or consolatory nature. I rode on, however, most +perseveringly. The morning slipped away; it was noon, the sun stood high +in the cloudless heavens. My hunger had now increased to an insupportable +degree, and I felt as if something were gnawing within me, something like +a crab tugging and riving at my stomach with his sharp claws. This feeling +left me after a time, and was replaced by a sort of squeamishness, a faint +sickly sensation. But if hunger was bad, thirst was worse. For some hours +I suffered martyrdom. At length, like the hunger, it died away, and was +succeeded by a feeling of sickness. The thirty hours' fatigue and fasting +I had endured were beginning to tell upon my naturally strong nerves: I +felt my reasoning powers growing weaker, and my presence of mind leaving +me. A feeling of despondency came over me--a thousand wild fancies passed +through my bewildered brain; while at times my head grew dizzy, and I +reeled in my saddle like a drunken man. These weak fits, as I may call +them, did not last long; and each time that I recovered I spurred my +mustang onwards, but it was all in vain--ride as far and as fast as I +would, nothing was visible but a boundless sea of grass. + +At length I gave up all hope, except in that God whose almighty hand was +so manifest in the beauteous works around me. I let the bridle fall on my +horse's neck, clasped my hands together, and prayed as I had never before +prayed, so heartily and earnestly. When I had finished my prayer I felt +greatly comforted. It seemed to me, that here in the wilderness, which man +had not as yet polluted, I was nearer to God, and that my petition would +assuredly be heard. I gazed cheerfully around, persuaded that I should yet +escape from the peril in which I stood. As I did so, with what +astonishment and inexpressible delight did I perceive, not ten paces off, +the track of a horse! + +The effect of this discovery was like an electric shock to me, and drew a +cry of joy from my lips that made my mustang start and prick his ears. +Tears of delight and gratitude to Heaven came into my eyes, and I could +scarcely refrain from leaping off my horse and kissing the welcome signs +that gave me assurance of succour. With renewed strength I galloped +onwards; and had I been a lover flying to rescue his mistress from an +Indian war party, I could not have displayed more eagerness than I did in +following up the trail of an unknown traveller. + +Never had I felt so thankful to Providence as at that moment. I uttered +thanksgivings as I rode on, and contemplated the wonderful evidences of +his skill and might that offered themselves to me on all sides. The aspect +of every thing seemed changed, and I gazed with renewed admiration at the +scenes through which I passed, and which I had previously been too +preoccupied by the danger of my position to notice. The beautiful +appearance of the islands struck me particularly as they lay in the +distance, seeming to swim in the bright golden beams of the noonday sun, +like dark spots of foliage in the midst of the waving grasses and +many-hued flowers of the prairie. Before me lay the eternal flower-carpet +with its innumerable asters, tuberoses, and mimosas, that delicate plant +which, when you approach it, lifts its head, seems to look at you, and +then droops and shrinks back in alarm. This I saw it do when I was two or +three paces from it, and without my horse's foot having touched it. Its +long roots stretch out horizontally in the ground, and the approaching +tread of a horse or man is communicated through them to the plant, and +produces this singular phenomenon. When the danger is gone by, and the +earth ceases to vibrate, the mimosa may be seen to raise its head again, +but quivering and trembling, as though not yet fully recovered from its +fears. + +I had ridden on for three or four hours, following the track I had so +fortunately discovered, when I came upon the trace of a second horseman, +who appeared to have here joined the first traveller. It ran in a parallel +direction to the one I was following. Had it been possible to increase my +joy, this discovery would have done so. I could now entertain no doubt +that I had hit upon the way out of this terrible prairie. It struck me as +being rather singular that two travellers should have met in this immense +plain, which so few persons traversed; but that they had done so was +certain, for there was the track of the two horses as plain as possible. +The trail was fresh, too, and it was evidently not long since the horsemen +had passed. It might still be possible to overtake them, and in this hope +I rode on faster than ever, as fast, at least, as my mustang could carry +me through the thick grass and flowers, which in many places were four or +five feet high. + +During the next three hours I passed over some ten or twelve miles of +ground, but although the trail still lay plainly and broadly marked before +me, I say nothing of those who had left it. Still I persevered. I must +overtake them sooner or later, provided I did not lose the track; and that +I was most careful not to do, keeping my eyes fixed upon the ground as I +rode along, and never deviating from the line which the travellers had +followed. + +In this manner the day passed away, and evening approached. I still felt +hope and courage; but my physical strength began to give way. The gnawing +sensation of hunger increased. I was sick and faint; my limbs became heavy, +my blood seemed chilled in my veins, and all my senses appeared to grow +duller under the influence of exhaustion, thirst, and hunger. My eyesight +became misty, my hearing less acute, the bridle felt cold and heavy in my +fingers. + +Still I rode on. Sooner or later I must find an outlet; the prairie must +have an end somewhere. It is true the whole of Southern Texas is one vast +prairie; but then there are rivers flowing through it, and if I could +reach one of those, I should not be far from the abodes of men. By +following the streams five or six miles up or down, I should be sure to +find a plantation. + +As I was thus reasoning with, and encouraging myself, I suddenly perceived +the traces of a third horse, running parallel to the two which I had been +so long following. This was indeed encouragement. It was certain that +three travellers, arriving from different points of the prairie, and all +going in the same direction, must have some object, must be repairing to +some village or clearing, and where or what this was had now become +indifferent to me, so long as I once more found myself amongst my +fellow-men. I spurred on my mustang, who was beginning to flag a little in +his pace with the fatigue of our long ride. + +The sun set behind the high trees of an island that bounded my view +westward, and there being little or no twilight in those southerly +latitudes, the broad day was almost instantaneously replaced by the +darkness of night. I could proceed no further without losing the track of +the three horsemen; and as I happened to be close to an island, I fastened +my mustang to a branch with the lasso, and threw myself on the grass under +the trees. + +This night, however, I had no fancy for tobacco. Neither the cigars nor +the _dulcissimus_ tempted me. I tried to sleep, but in vain. Once or twice +I began to doze, but was roused again by violent cramps and twitchings in +all my limbs. There is nothing more horrible than a night passed in the +way I passed that one, faint and weak, enduring torture from hunger and +thirst, striving after sleep and never finding it. I can only compare the +sensation of hunger I experienced to that of twenty pairs of pincers +tearing at my stomach. + +With the first grey light of morning I got up and prepared for departure. +It was a long business, however, to get my horse ready. The saddle, which +at other times I could throw upon his back with two fingers, now seemed +made of lead, and it was as much as I could do to lift it. I had still +more difficulty to draw the girths tight; but at last I accomplished this, +and scrambling upon my beast, rode off. Luckily my mustang's spirit was +pretty well taken out of him by the last two days' work; for if he had +been fresh, the smallest spring on one side would have sufficed to throw +me out of the saddle. As it was, I sat upon him like an automaton, hanging +forward over his neck, some times grasping the mane, and almost unable to +use either rein or spur. + +I had ridden on for some hours in this helpless manner, when I came to a +place where the three horsemen whose track I was following had apparently +made a halt, perhaps passed the previous night. The grass was trampled and +beaten down in a circumference of some fifty or sixty feet, and there was +a confusion in the horse tracks as if they had ridden backwards and +forwards. Fearful of losing the right trace, I was looking carefully about +me to see in what direction they had recommenced their journey, when I +noticed something white amongst the long grass. I got off my horse to pick +it up. It was a piece of paper with my own name written upon it; and I +recognized it as the back of a letter in which my tobacco had been wrapped, +and which I had thrown away at my halting-place of the preceding night. I +looked around, and recognized the island and the very tree under which I +had slept or endeavoured to sleep. The horrible truth instantly flashed +across me--the horse tracks I had been following were my own: since the +preceding morning I had been riding in _a circle_! + +I stood for a few seconds thunderstruck by this discovery, and then sank +upon the ground in utter despair. At that moment I should have been +thankful to any one who would have knocked me on the head as I lay. All I +wished for was to die as speedily as possible. + +I remained I know not how long lying in a desponding, half insensible, +state upon the grass. Several hours must have elapsed; for when I got up, +the sun was low in the western heavens. My head was so weak and wandering, +that I could not well explain to myself how it was that I had been thus +riding after my own shadow. Yet the thing was clear enough. Without +landmarks, and in the monotonous scenery of the prairie, I might have gone +on for ever following my horses track, and going back when I thought I was +going forwards, had it not been for the discovery of the tobacco paper. I +was, as I subsequently learned, in the Jacinto prairie, one of the most +beautiful in Texas, full sixty miles long and broad, but in which the most +experienced hunters never risked themselves without a compass. It was +little wonder then that I, a mere boy of two and twenty, just escaped from +college, should have gone astray in it. + +I now gave myself up for lost, and with the bridle twisted round my hand, +and holding on as well as I could by the saddle and mane, I let my horse +choose his own road. It would perhaps have been better if I had done this +sooner. The beast's instinct would probably have led him to some +plantation. When he found himself left to his own guidance he threw up his +head, snuffed the air three or four times, and then turning round, set off +in a contrary direction to that he was before going, and at such a brisk +pace that it was as much as I could do to keep upon him. Every jolt caused +me so much pain that I was more than once tempted to let myself fall off +his back. + +At last night came, and thanks to the lasso, which kept my horse in awe, I +managed to dismount and secure him. The whole night through I suffered +from racking pains in head, limbs, and body. I felt as if I had been +broken on the wheel; not an inch of my whole person but ached and smarted. +My hands were grown thin and transparent, my cheeks fallen in, my eyes +deep sunk in their sockets. When I touched my face I could feel the change +that had taken place, and as I did so I caught myself once or twice +laughing like a child--I was becoming delirious. + +In the morning I could scarcely rise from the ground, so utterly weakened +and exhausted was I by my three days' fasting, anxiety, and fatigue. I +have heard say that a man in good health can live nine days without food. +It may be so in a room, or a prison; but assuredly not in a Texian prairie. +I am quite certain that the fifth day would have seen the last of me. + +I should never have been able to mount my mustang, but he had fortunately +lain down, so I got into the saddle, and he rose up with me and started +off of his own accord. As I rode along, the strangest visions seemed to +pass before me. I saw the most beautiful cities that a painter's fancy +ever conceived, with towers, cupolas, and columns, of which the summits +lost themselves in the clouds; marble basins and fountains of bright +sparkling water, rivers flowing with liquid gold and silver, and gardens +in which the trees were bowed down with the most magnificent fruit--fruit +that I had not strength enough to raise my hand and pluck. My limbs were +heavy as lead, my tongue, lips, and gums, dry and parched. I breathed with +the greatest difficulty, and within me was a burning sensation, as if I +had swallowed hot coals; while my extremities, both hands and feet, did +not appear to form a part of myself, but to be instruments of torture +affixed to me, and causing me the most intense suffering. + +I have a confused recollection of a sort of rushing noise, the nature of +which I was unable to determine, so nearly had all consciousness left me; +then of finding myself amongst trees, the leaves and boughs of which +scratched and beat against my face as I passed through them; then of a +sudden and rapid descent, with the broad bright surface of a river below +me. I clutched at a branch, but my fingers had no strength to retain their +grasp--there was a hissing, splashing noise, and the waters closed over my +head. + +I soon rose, and endeavoured to strike out with my arms and legs, but in +vain; I was too weak to swim and again I went down. A thousand lights +seemed to dance before my eyes: there was a noise in my brain as if a +four-and-twenty pounder had been fired close to my ear. Just then a hard +hand was wrung into my neck-cloth, and I felt myself dragged out of the +water. The next instant my senses left me. + + * * * * * + + + + +TRAVELS OF KERIM KHAN. + +NO. II. + + +We left our friend the Khan, at length comfortably established in London, +and pursuing his observations on the various novel objects of interest +which every where presented themselves to his gaze. The streets lighted by +gas (which the Persian princes call "the spirit of coals") are described +in terms of the highest admiration--"On each side, as far as the eye could +see, were two interminable lines of extremely brilliant light, produced by +a peculiar kind of vapour here called gas, which made the city infinitely +more interesting to look at by night than by day; but the most +extraordinary thing in reference to the flame in the lamps was, that this +appeared to be produced without the medium of either oil or wick, nor +could I discern the cause of the lighting. The houses have from three to +seven stages or stories, one of which is underground--each stage +containing at least two rooms. The walls fronting the streets are of brick +or stone, and the interior of woodwork; but the wood of the rooms inside +is covered with a peculiar sort of paper of various colours and curious +devices, highly elaborate and ingenious. The balconies outside were +generally filled with flowers of various hues: but notwithstanding the +wonders which surrounded me, and made me fancy myself in a world of +talismanic creation, my spirits were for some time depressed, and this +immense city seemed to me worse than the tomb; for I had not yet recovered +from the bewilderment into which all that I had seen had thrown me." + +The feeling of loneliness, resulting from this oppressive sense of +novelty, wore off, however, as the Khan began to find out his friends, and +accustom himself to the fashions of the country; and he was one day +agreeably surprised by a visit from one of the suite of Moulavi Afzul Ali, +an envoy to the Court of Directors from the Rajah of Sattarah;[1] "I need +not say how delighted I felt, not having the least idea of meeting any of +my countrymen so far from Hindustan." The 11th of August, the day fixed +for the prorogation of Parliament by the Queen, now arrived; and the khan +"accompanied some gentlemen in a carriage to see the procession, but it +was with extreme difficulty that we got a place where we could see her +Majesty pass; at last, however, through the kindness of a mounted officer, +we succeeded. First came the Shahzadehs, or princes of the blood, in +carriages drawn by six horses, and then the wazirs (viziers) and nobles, +and the ambassadors from foreign states, in vehicles, some with six, and +some with four horses. When all these had passed, there came the Queen +herself in a golden carriage, drawn by eight magnificent steeds; on her +right was Prince Arleta, and opposite her was Lord Melbourne, the grand +wazir, (prime minister.) The carriage was preceded by men who, I was +surprised to observe, were dressed in the Hindustani fashion, in red and +gold, with broad sleeves.[2] But those nearest her Majesty, strange to +say, wore almost exactly the costume of Hindustan, and to these my eyes +were immediately directed; and I felt so delighted to see my own +countrymen advanced to the honour of forming the body-guard of the +sovereign, that I could scarcely believe the evidence of my senses, when I +perceived on closer inspection, by their complexions, that they were +English. Still I could not (nor can I even now) understand the reason of +their adopting the Hindustani dress--though I was told on enquiry, that it +was the ancient costume of the guard called _yeomen_." ... "As the Queen +approached the people took off their hats, nor was I less astonished[3] +when I heard them begin to shout _hurra! hurra_! as she passed; which in +their language seems to imply approbation. When her Majesty turned towards +our carriage, I immediately made a _salaam_ after the manner of my own +country, which she graciously acknowledged, seeing, no doubt, that I was a +native of a strange land!" + + [1] This must have been one of the _vakeels_ or envoys, whose + departure from Bombay, in March 1839, is mentioned in the _Asiatic + Journal_, (xxix. 178;) the party is there said, on the authority + of the _Durpun_, (a native newspaper,) to have consisted of + eleven, Mahrattas and Purbhoos, no mention being made of Moulavi + Afzul Ali. We have been unable to trace the further proceedings of + the deputation in this country; but they probably found on their + arrival, that the fate of their master was already decided, as he + was dethroned by the Company, in favour of his cousin Appa Sahib, + in September of the same year, on the charge of having + participated in a conspiracy against the English power. The + justice, as well as policy of this measure, was, however, strongly + canvassed, and gave rise to repeated and violent debates in the + Court of Proprietors. + + [2] The native servants of the Governor-General at Calcutta, on + state occasions, wear splendid scarlet and gold caftans.--_See_ + Bishop Heber's Journal. + + [3] The Khan nowhere exactly explains the surprise which he + expresses, here and at other times, at the shouts of + _hurra_!--perhaps his ear was wounded by the resemblance of the + sound to certain Hindustani epithets, by no means refined or + complimentary. + +This fancied metamorphosis of the sturdy beef-eaters with their partisans, +whose costume has never been altered since the days of Henry VII., into +Hindustani _peons_ and _chuprassees_, seems to show that the enthusiasm of +the Khan must have been considerably excited--and after this cruel +disappointment he dismisses the remainder of the procession in a few words. +To a native of India, indeed, accustomed to see every petty rajah or nawab +holding a few square miles of territory as the tenant of the Company, +surrounded on state occasions by a crowd of the picturesque irregular +cavalry of the East, and with a _Suwarree_ or cavalcade of led horses, +gayly caparisoned elephants, flaunting banners, and martial music, the +amount of military display in attendance on the Queen of Great Britain +must naturally have appeared inconsiderable--"The escort consisted of only +some two hundred horsemen, but these were cased in steel and leather from +head to foot, and their black horses were by far the finest I have yet +seen in this country. But though the multitudes of people were immense, +yet the procession tell much short of what I had expected from the monarch +of so great and powerful a nation! I returned home, however, much +gratified by the sights I had seen to-day." + +The sight of this ceremony naturally leads to a digression on the origin +and constitution of the English parliament, and its division into the two +houses of Lords and Commons. The events leading to these institutions, and +the antecedent civil wars between the king and the barons, in the reign of +Henry III. and Edward I., are given by the Khan, on the whole, with great +accuracy--probably from the information of his English friends since the +knowledge of the ancient history and institutions of the country, which he +displays both here and in other parts of his narrative, can scarcely have +been acquired through the medium of a native education in Hindustan. The +deductions which he draws, however, from this historical summary, are +somewhat curious; since he assumes that the power of the crown, though +limited in appearance by the concessions then made, and the legislative +functions vested in parliament, was in truth only strengthened, and +rendered more securely despotic:--"But this is entirely lost sight of by +the people, who, even at the present day, imagine that the parliament is +all-powerful, and the sovereign powerless. But I must be allowed to say, +that those ancient monarchs acted wisely, and the result of their policy +has not been sufficiently perceived.... For when parliament was +constituted, the power of retaining armed vassals and servants, which the +barons had enjoyed for so long a period, was abolished, and has never been +resumed even by princes of the blood; so that they could no longer resist +the authority of the king, who alone had the privilege of raising and +maintaining troops--a right never conceded to parliament. Besides this the +powers of life and death, and of declaring war, were identified with the +person of the sovereign; and with respect to the latter, it is never, +until it has been decided upon, even intimated to the parliament, which +possesses _only_ the power of collecting the taxes, from which the +expenses of the war the king may enter into must be paid. The possession, +therefore, of these two rights by the king, is equivalent to the tenure of +absolute power." The possibility of the supplies being refused by a +refractory House of Commons, seems either not to have occurred to the khan, +or to have escaped his recollection at the moment of his penning this +sentence; and though he subsequently alludes to the responsibility of +ministers, he never seems to have comprehended the nature and extent of +the control exercised by parliament over the finances of the nation, so +fully as the Persian princes, who tell us, in their quaint phraseology, +that "if the expenses that were made should be agreeable to the Commons, +well and good--if not, the vizirs must stand the consequences; and every +person who has given ten _tomans_ of the revenue, has a right to rise up +in the House of Commons, and seize the vizir of the treasury by the collar, +saying, 'What have you done with my money?'"--a mode of _putting to the +question_ which, if now and then practically adopted by some hard-fisted +son of the soil, we have no doubt would operate as a most salutary check +on the vagaries of Chancellors of the Exchequer. + +It is strange that the Khan should not, in this case, perceive the fallacy +of his own argument, or see that the power of the sword must always +virtually rest with the holder of the purse; since immediately afterwards, +after enlarging on the enormous amount of taxes levied in England, the +oppressive nature of some of them, especially the window-tax, "for the +light of heaven is God's gift to mankind," he proceeds--"In other +countries it would perhaps cost the king, who imposed such taxes, his head; +but here the blame is laid on the House of Commons, without any one +dreaming of censuring the sovereign, in whose name they are levied, and +for whose use they are applied;" citing as a proof of this the ease with +which the insurrection of Wat Tyler and his followers, against the +capitation tax, was suppressed by the promise of the king to redress their +grievances. The subject of English taxation, indeed, both from the amount +levied, and the acquiescence of the people in such unheard-of burdens, +seems to have utterly bewildered the khan's comprehension.[4] "All classes, +from the noble to the peasant, are alike oppressed; yet it is amusing to +hear them expatiate on the institutions of their country, fancying it the +freest and themselves the least oppressed of any people on earth! They are +constantly talking of the tyranny and despotism of Oriental governments, +without having set foot in any of those regions, or knowing any thing +about the matter, except what they have gleaned from the imperfect +accounts of superficial travellers--deploring the state of Turkey, Persia, +and other Mahommedan countries, and calling their inhabitants slaves, when, +if the truth were known, there is not a single kingdom of Islam, the +people of which would submit to what the English suffer, or pay one-tenth +of the taxes exacted from them." + + [4] The views of Mirza Abu-Talib on this important subject, are + far more enlightened and correct than those of Kerim Khan. "The + public revenue of England," he observes, "is not, as in India, + raised merely from the land, or by duties levied on a few kinds of + merchandise, but almost every article of consumption pays its + portion. The taxes are levied by the authority and decree of + parliament; and are in general so framed _as to bear lightly on + the poor_, and that _every person should pay in proportion to his + income_. Thus bread, meat, and coals, being articles of + indispensable use, are exempt; but spirits, wines, &c., are taxed + very high; and the rich are obliged to pay for every horse, dog, + and man-servant they keep; also for the privilege of throwing + _flour_ on their heads, and having their _arms_ (insignia of the + antiquity and rank of their family) painted on their carriages, + &c. Since the commencement of the present war, a new law has been + passed, compelling every person to pay annually a tenth of his + whole income. Most of the taxes are permanent, but some of them + are changed at the pleasure of parliament. Abu-Talib visited the + country in the first years of the present century, when the + capability of taxation was strained to the utmost, but the words + which we have given in italics, contain the secret which Kerim + failed to detect." + +Relieved, it is to be hoped, by this tirade against the ignominious +submission of the Franks to taxation, the Khan resumes the enumeration of +the endless catalogue of wonders which the sights of London presented to +him. On visiting the Polytechnic Institution--"which means, I understand, +a place in which specimens of every science and art are to be seen in some +mode or other, there being no science or art of any other country unknown +here"--he briefly enumerates the oxyhydrogen microscope, "by which water +was shown so full of little animals, nay, even monsters, as to make one +shudder at the thought of swallowing a drop"--the orrery, the +daguerreotype, and the diving-bell, (in which he had the courage to +descend,) as the objects principally deserving notice, "since it would +require several months, if not years, to give that attention to each +specimen of human industry which it demands, in order thoroughly to +understand it." The effects of the electrical machine, indeed, "by which +fire was made to pass through the body of a man, and out of the +finger-ends of his right hand, without his being in any way affected by it, +though a piece of cloth, placed close to this right hand, was actually +ignited," seem to have excited considerable astonishment in his mind; but +it does not appear that his curiosity led him to make any attempt in +investigating the hidden causes of these mysterious phenomena. His apathy +in this respect presents a strong contrast with the minute and elaborate +description of the same objects, the mode of their construction, and the +uses to which they may be applied, given in the journal of the two Parsees, +Nowrojee and Merwanjee. "To us," say they, "brought up in India for +scientific pursuits, and longing ardently to acquire practical information +connected with modern improvements, more particularly with naval +architecture, steam-engines, steam-boats, and steam navigation, these two +galleries of practical science (the Adelaide and Polytechnic) seemed to +embrace all that we had come over to England to make ourselves acquainted +with; and it was with gratitude to the original projectors of these +institutions that we gazed on the soul-exciting scene before us. We +thought of the enchantments related in the _Arabian Nights' +Entertainments_, and they faded away into nothingness compared with what +we then saw." + +But however widely apart the nonchalance of the Moslem, and the +matter-of-fact diligence of the Parsee,[5] may have placed them +respectively in their appreciation of the scientific marvels of the +Polytechnic Institution, they meet on common ground in their admiration of +the wax-work exhibition of Madame Tussaud; though the Khan, who was not +sufficiently acquainted with the features of our public characters to +judge of the likenesses, expresses his commendation only in general terms. +But the Parsees, with the naivete of children, break out into absolute +raptures at recognising the features of Lord Melbourne, "a good-humoured +looking, kind English gentleman, with a countenance, perhaps, representing +frankness and candour more than dignity"--William IV., "looking the very +picture of good-nature"--the Duke of Wellington, Lord Brougham, &c.; +"indeed, we know of no exhibition (where a person has read about people) +that will afford him so much pleasure, always recollecting that it is only +_one_ shilling, and for this you may stop just as long as you are +inclined." Their remarks, on seeing the effigy of Voltaire, are too +curious to be omitted. "He is an extraordinary-looking man, dressed so +oddly too, with little pinched-up features, and his hair so curiously +arranged. We looked much at him, thinking he must have had much courage, +and have thought himself quite right in his belief, to have stood opposed +to all the existing religious systems of his native land. He, however, and +those who thought differently from him, have long since in another world +experienced, that if men only act up to what they believe to be right, the +Maker of the Deist, the Christian, and the Parsee, will receive them into +his presence; and that it is the _professor of religion_, who is _nothing +but a professor_, let his creed be what it may, that will meet with the +greatest punishment from Him that ruleth all things." But before we quit +the subject of this attractive exhibition, we must not omit to mention an +adventure of the Persian princes, two of whom, having paid a previous +visit, persuaded the third brother, on his accompanying them thither, that +he was in truth in the royal palace, (whither he had been invited for one +of the Queen's parties on the same evening.) and in the presence of the +court and royal family! The embarrassment of poor Najef-Kooli at the +_morne silence_ preserved, which he interpreted as a sign of displeasure, +is amusingly described, till, on touching one of the figures, "he fell +down, and I observed that he was dead; and my brothers and Fraser Sahib +laughed loudly, and said, 'These people are not dead but are all of them +artificial figures of white wax.' Verily, no one would ever have thought +that they were manufactured by men!" + + [5] "The Parsees," says Mirza Abu-Talib, describing those whom he + saw at Bombay on his return to India, "are not possessed of a + spark of liberality or gentility.... The only Parsee I was ever + acquainted with who had received a liberal education, was Moula + Firoz, whom I met at the house of a friend; he was a sensible and + well-informed man, who had travelled into Persia, and there + studied mathematics, astronomy, and the sciences of Zoroaster." If + this account be correct, a marvellous improvement must have taken + place during the last forty years. Many of the Parsees of the + present day are almost on a level with Europeans in education and + acquirements; and in their adoption of our manners and customs, + they stand alone among the various nations of our Oriental + subjects--but their exclusive addiction to mercantile pursuits, + and their pacific habits, (in both which points they are hardly + exceeded by the Quakers of Europe,) make them objects of contempt + to the haughty Moslems. + +A few days after his visit to Madame Tussaud, we find the Khan making an +excursion by the railroad to Southampton, in order to be present at a +banquet given on board the Oriental steamer, by the directors of the +Oriental Steam Navigation Company, from whom he had received a special +invitation. With the exception of the brief transit from Blackwall to +London on his arrival, this was his first trip by rail, but, as his place +was in one of the close first-class carriages, he saw nothing of the +machinery by which the motion was effected, "though such was the rapidity +of the vehicles, that I could distinguish nothing but an expanse of green +all round, nor could I perceive even the trunks of the trees. Every now +and then we were carried through dark caverns, where we could not see each +others' faces; and sometimes we met other vehicles coming in the opposite +direction, which occasioned me no small alarm, as I certainly thought we +should have been dashed to pieces, from the fearful velocity with which +both were running. We reached Southampton, a distance of seventy-eight +miles, in three hours; and what most surprised me was, being seriously +told on our arrival, that we had been unusually long on our way. I was +told that this iron road, from London to Southampton, cost six crores of +rupees, (L.6,000,000.)" The town of Southampton is only briefly noticed as +well built, populous, and flourishing; but he had no time to visit the +beautiful scenery of the environs, as the entertainment took place the +following afternoon in the cabin of the Oriental, "which is a very large +vessel, well constructed, and in admirable order, and is intended to carry +the _dak_ (mail) to India, which is sent by the way of Sikanderiyah, +(Alexandria.)" Our friend the khan, however, must have been always rather +out of his element at a feast; unlike his countryman, Abu-Talib--who +speedily became reconciled to the forbidden viands and wines of the Franks, +and even carried his laxity so far as to express a _hope_, rather than a +_belief_, that the brushes which he used were made of horsehair, and not +of the bristles of the unclean beast--Kerim Khan appears (as we have seen +on a previous occasion) never to have relaxed the austerity of the +religious scruples which the _Indian_ Moslems have borrowed from the +Hindus, so far as to partake of food not prepared by his own people; and +on the present occasion, in spite of the instances of his hosts, his +simple repast consisted wholly of fruit. The cheers which followed on the +health of the Queen being given, appeared to him, like those which hailed +her passage at the prorogation of Parliament, a most incomprehensible and +somewhat indecorous proceeding; his own health was also drunk as a _lion_, +but "not being able to reply from my ignorance of the language, a +gentleman of my acquaintance thanked them in my name; while I also stood +up and made a _salaam_, as much as to say that I highly appreciated the +honour done me." While the festivities were proceeding in the cabin, the +steamer was got underway and making the circuit of the Isle of Wight; and +on landing again at Southampton, "I was surrounded by a concourse of +people, who had collected to look at me, imagining, no doubt, that I was +some strange creature, the like of which they had never seen before." +Whether from want of time or of curiosity, he left Portsmouth, and all the +wonders of its arsenal and dockyard, unvisited, and after again going on +board the Oriental the next day, to take leave of the captain and officers, +returned in the afternoon by the railway to London. + +He was next shown over the Bank of England, his remarks on which are +devoid of interest, and he visited the Paddington terminus of the Great +Western Railway, in the hope of gaining a more accurate idea of the nature +of the locomotive machinery, the astonishing powers of which he had +witnessed in his journey to Southampton. But mechanics were not the Khan's +forte; and, dismissing the subject with the remark, that "it is so +extremely complicated and difficult that a stranger cannot possibly +understand it,"[6] he returns at once to the haunts of fashion, Hyde Park +and the Opera. Hitherto the khan had been unaccountably silent on the +subject of the "Frank moons, brilliant as the sun," (as the English ladies +are called by the Persian princes, who, from the first, lose no +opportunity of commemorating their beauty in the most rapturous strains of +Oriental hyperbole;) but his enthusiasm is effectually kindled by the +blaze of charms which meets his eye in the "bazar of beauty and garden of +pleasure," as he terms the Park, his account of which he sums up by +declaring, that, "were the inhabitants of the celestial regions to descend, +they would at one glance forget the wonders of the heavens at the sight of +so many bright eyes and beautiful faces! what, therefore, remains for +mortals to do?" The Opera is, he says, "the principal _tomashagah_" +(place of show or entertainment) in London, and best decorated and +lighted;" though he does not go the length of affirming, as stated in the +account given by the Persian princes, that "before each box are forty +chandeliers of cut glass, and each has fifty lights!"--"I could not," +continues the khan, "understand the subject of the performances--it was +all singing, accompanied with various action, as if some story were meant +to be related; but I was also told that the language was different from +English, and that the majority of those present understood it no more than +myself." The scanty drapery and liberal displays of the figurantes at +first startled him a little; but "the beauty of those _peris_ was such as +might have enslaved the heart of Ferhad himself;" and he soon learned to +view all their _pirouettes_ and _tours-de-force_ with the well-bred +nonchalance of a man who had witnessed in his own country exhibitions +nearly as singular in their way "though the style of dancing here was of +course entirely different from what we see in India." The impression made +by the sight of the ballet on the Parsees, who invariably reduce every +thing to pounds, shillings, and pence, took a different form; and they +express unbounded astonishment, on being told that Taglioni was paid a +hundred and fifty guineas a-night, "that such a sum should be paid to a +woman to stand a long time like a goose on one leg, then to throw one leg +straight out, twirl round three or four times with the leg thus extended, +curtsy so low as nearly to seat herself on the stage, and spring from one +side of the stage to another, all which jumping about did not occupy an +hour!" + + [6] The Persian princes go more into detail; but we doubt whether + their description will much facilitate the construction of a + railway from Ispahan to Shiraz. "The roads on which the coaches + are placed and fixed, are made of iron bars; all that seems to + draw them is a box of iron, in which they put water to boil; + underneath, this iron box is like an urn, and from it rises the + steam which gives the wonderful force; when the steam rises up, + the wheels take their motion, the coach spreads its wings, and the + travellers become like birds." + +Astley's (which the Persian princes call the "opera of the horse") was the +Khan's next resort; and as the feats of horsemanship there exhibited did +not require any great proficiency in the English language to render them +intelligible, he appears to have been highly amused and gratified, and +gives a long description of all he saw there, which would not present much +of novelty to our readers. He was also taken by some of his acquaintance +to see the industrious fleas in the Strand; but this exhibition, which +accorded unbounded gratification to the grandsons of Futteh Ali Shah, +seems to have been looked upon by the khan rather with contempt, as a +marvellous piece of absurdity. "Would any one believe that such a sight as +this could possibly be witnessed any where in the world? but, having +personally seen it, I cannot altogether pass it over." But the then +unfinished Thames Tunnel, which he had the advantage of visiting in +company with Mr Brunel, appears to have impressed his mind more than any +other public work which he had seen; and his remarks upon it show, that he +was at pains to make himself accurately acquainted with the nature and +extent of the undertaking, the details of which he gives with great +exactness. "But," he concludes, "it is impossible to convey in words an +adequate idea of the labour that must have been spent upon this work, the +like of which was never before attempted in any country. The emperors of +Hindustan, who were monarchs of so many extensive provinces, and possessed +such unlimited power and countless treasures, desired a bridge to be +thrown across the Jumna to connect Delhi with the city of Shahdarah--yet +an architect could not be found in all India who could carry this design +into execution. Yet here a few merchants formed a company, and have +executed a work infinitely transcending that of the most elaborate bridge +ever built. In the first instance, as I was given to understand, they +applied to Government for leave to construct a bridge at the same spot, +but as it was objected that this would impede the navigation of the river, +they formed the design, at the suggestion of the talented engineer above +mentioned, of actually making their way across the river underground, and +commenced this great work in spite of the general opinion of the +improbability of success."[7] + + [7] The Parsees, in their account of the Tunnel, mention a fact + now not generally remembered, that the attempt was far from a new + one:--"In 1802, a Cornish miner having been selected for the + purpose, operations were commenced 330 feet from the Thames, on + the Rotherhithe side. Two or three different engineers were + engaged, and the affair was nearly abandoned, till in 1809 it was + quite given up." + +"Some days after this," continues the khan, "I paid a visit to the Tower, +which is the fortress of London, placed close to the Thames on its left +bank. Within the ramparts is another fort of white stone, which in past +times was frequently occupied by the sovereigns of the country. It is said +to have been constructed by King William, surnamed _Muzuffer_, or the +Conqueror; others are of opinion that it was founded by Keesar the Roman +emperor; but God alone can solve this doubt. In times past it was also +used as a state prison for persons of rank, and was the scene of the +execution of most of the princes and nobles whose fate is recorded in the +chronicles of England. They still show the block on which the +decapitations took place." Among the trophies in the armoury, he +particularizes the gun and girdle of Tippoo Sultan, "which seemed to be +taken great care of, and were preserved under a glass case;" but the horse +armoury and the regalia, usually the most attractive part of the +exhibition to strangers, are passed over with but slight notice, though, +from the Parsees, the sight of the equestrian figures in the former, draws +the only allusion which escapes them throughout their narrative to the +fallen glories of their race. "The representations of some of these +monarchs was in the very armour they wore; and we were here very forcibly +put in mind of Persia, once our own country, where this iron clothing was +anciently used; but, alas! we have no remains of these things; all we know +of them is from historical works." The crown jewels might have been +supposed to present to a native of India an object of peculiar interest; +but the khan remarks only the great ruby, "which is so brilliant that (it +is said) one would be able to read by its light by placing it on a book in +the dark. I made some enquiries respecting its value, but could not get no +satisfactory answer, as they said no jeweller could ascertain it." + +It would appear that the Khan must now have been for several months +resident in London, (for he takes no note of the lapse of time,) since we +next find him a spectator of the pomps and pageants of Lord Mayor's day. +He gives no account, however, of the procession, but contents himself with +informing his readers that the Lord Mayor (except in his tenure of office +being annual instead of for life) is the same as a "patel" or "mukaddam" +in the East: adding that "he is the only person in England, except the +sovereign, who is allowed to have a train of armed followers in attendance +on him." It is not very evident whether the idea of civic army was +suggested to the mind of the khan simply by the sight of the men in armour +in the procession, or whether dark rumours had reached his ear touching +the prowess of the Lumber troopers, and other warlike bodies which march +under the standard of the Lord Mayor; but certain it is that this most +pacific of potentates cannot fairly be charged with abusing the formidable +privilege thus attributed to him--the city sword never having been +unsheathed in mortal fray, as far as our researches extend, since Wat +Tyler fell before the doughty arm of Sir William of Walworth. On returning +from the show, the khan was taken to see Newgate, with the gloomy aspect +of which, and the silent and strict discipline enforced among the +prisoners, he was deeply impressed; "to these poor wretches the gate of +mercy is indeed shut, and that of hardship and oppression thrown open." +His sympathies were still more strongly awakened on discovering among +those unfortunate creatures an Indian Moslem, who proved, on enquiry, to +be a Lascar sailor, imprisoned for selling smuggled cigars--"and, in my +ignorance of the laws and customs of the country, I was anxious to procure +his liberation by paying the fine; but my friends told me that this was +absolutely impossible, and that he must remain the full time in prison. So +we could only thank the governor for his attention, and then took our +departure." + +Following the steps of the Khan from grave to gay, in his desultory course +through the endless varieties of "Life in London," we are at once +transported from the dismal cells of Newgate to the fancy-dress ball at +Guildhall for the aid of the refugee Poles. This seems to have been the +first scene of the kind at which Kerim Khan had been present since his +arrival in England; and though he was somewhat scandalized at perceiving +that some of those in male attire were evidently ladies, he describes with +considerable effect "the infinite variety of costumes, all very different +from those of England, as if each country had contributed its peculiar +garb," the brilliant lighting and costly decoration of the rooms, and the +picturesque grouping of the vast assemblage. But his first impressions on +English dancing are perfectly unique in their way, and we can only do +justice to them by quoting them at length. "It is so entirely unlike any +thing we ever heard of in Hindustan, that I cannot refrain from giving a +slight sketch of what I saw. In the first place, the company could not +have been fewer than 1500 or 2000, of the highest classes of society, the +ministers, the nobles, and the wealthy, with their wives and daughters. +Several hundreds stood up, every gentleman with a lady; and they advanced +and retired several times, holding each other by the hand, to the sound of +the music: at last the circle they had formed broke up, some running off +to the right, and some to the left--then a gentleman, leaving his lady, +would strike out obliquely across the room, sometimes making direct for +another lady at a distance, and sometimes stooping and flourishing with +his legs as he went along: when he approached her, he made a sort of +salaam, and then retreated. Another would go softly up to a lady, and then +suddenly seizing her by the waist, would turn and twist her round and +round some fifty times till both were evidently giddy with the motion: +this was sometimes performed by a few chosen dancers, and sometimes by +several hundreds at once--all embracing each other in what, to our notions, +would seem rather an odd sort of way, and whirling round and round; and +though their feet appeared constantly coming in contact with each other, a +collision never took place. And those who met in this affectionate manner +were, as I was told, for the most part perfect strangers to each other, +which to me was incomprehensible! Several ladies asked me to dance with +them, but I excused myself by saying that their dancing was so +superlatively beautiful that it was sufficient to admire it, and that I +was afraid to try--'besides,' said I, 'it is contrary to our customs in +Hindustan.' To which they replied that India was far off, and no one could +see me. 'But,' said I 'there are people who put every thing in the +newspapers, and if my friends heard of it I should lose caste.' The ladies +smiled; and after this I was not asked to dance." The Persian princes, +when in a similar dilemma, evaded the request by "taking oath that we did +not know how, and that our mother did not care to teach us; and thank +God," concludes Najef-Kooli with heartfelt gratitude, "we never did dance. +God protect the faithful from it!" Independent of the above recorded +opinions on the singularity of quadrilles and waltzes, the khan takes this +occasion to enter into a disquisition on the inconsistency (doubly +incongruous to an Oriental eye) of the ladies having their necks, arms, +and shoulders uncovered, while the men are clothed up to the chin, "and +not even their hands are allowed to be seen bare," and returned from the +ball, no doubt, more lost than ever in wonder at the strange extravagances +of the Feringhis. + +These opinions are repeated, shortly after, on the occasion of the Khan's +being present at an evening party at Clapham, which, as the invitation was +_for the country_, he seems to have expected to find quite a different +sort of affair from the entertainments at which he had already assisted in +London. He was greatly surprised, therefore, to find the assemblage, on +his arrival, engaged in the everlasting toil of dancing, "the men, as +usual in this country, clad all in dismal black, and the ladies sparkling +in handsome costumes of bright and variegated colours--another singular +custom, of which I never could learn or guess the reason." But, however +great a bore the sight of quadrilles may have been to the khan, ample +amends were made to him on this occasion by the musical performances, with +which several of the ladies ("though they all at first refused, evidently +from modesty") gratified the company in the intervals of the dance, and at +which he expresses unbounded delight; but this does not prevent his again +launching out into a tirade against the unseemly methods, as they appear +to him, used by the English to signify applause or approbation. "The +strangest custom is, that the audience _clapped their hands_ in token of +satisfaction whenever any of the ladies concluded their performance.... +The only occasion on which such an exhibition of feeling is to be +witnessed in Hindustan, is when some offender is put upon a donkey, with a +string of old shoes round his neck, and his face blackened and turned to +the tail, and in this plight expelled from the city. Then only do the +boys--men never--clap their hands and cry hurra! hurra! Thus, that which +in one country implies shame and disgrace, is resorted to in another to +express the highest degree of approbation!" + +Passing over the Khan's visits to the Athenaeum Club-house, to Buckingham +Palace, &c., his remarks on which contain nothing noticeable, except his +mistaking some of the ancient portraits in the palace, from their long +beards and rosaries, for the representations of Moslem divines, we find +him at last fairly in the midst of an English winter, and an eyewitness of +a spectacle of all others the most marvellous and incredible to a +Hindustani, and which Mirza Abu-Talib, while describing it, frankly +confesses he cannot expect his countrymen to believe--the ice and the +skaters in the Regent's Park.[8] "What I had previously seen in the +summer as water, with birds swimming and boats rowing upon it, was now +transformed into an immense sheet of ice as hard as rock, on which +thousands of persons, men, women, and children, were actually walking, +running, and figuring in the most extraordinary manner. I saw men pass +with the rapidity of an arrow, turning, wheeling, retrograding, and +describing figures with surprising agility, sometimes on both, but more +frequently on only one leg; they had all a piece of steel, turned up in +front somewhat in the manner of our slippers, fastened to their shoes, by +means of which they propelled themselves as I have described. After much +persuasion, I went on the ice myself; though not without considerable fear; +yet such a favourite sport is this with the English, and so infatuated are +some of these _ice players_, that nothing will deter them from venturing +on those places which are marked as dangerous; and thus many perish, like +moths that sacrifice themselves in the candle flame. They have, therefore, +parties of men, with their dresses stuffed with air-cushions, whose duty +it is to watch on the ice, ready to plunge in whenever it breaks and any +one is immersed." + + [8] Bishop Heber, in his journal, also mentions the wonder of his + Bengali servants on their first sight of a piece of ice in + Himalaya, and their regret on finding that they could not carry it + home to Calcutta as a curiosity. + +The national theatres were now open for the winter, and the Khan paid a +visit to Covent-Garden; but he gives no particulars of the performances +which he witnessed, though he was greatly struck by the splendour of the +lighting and decoration, and still more by the almost magical celerity +with which the changes of scenery were effected. The scanty notice taken +of these matters, may perhaps be partly accounted for by the extraordinary +fascination produced in the mind of the khan by the charms of one of the +houris on the stage--whose name, though he does not mention it, our +readers will probably have no difficulty in supplying; and it may be +doubted whether the warmest panegyrics of the most ardent of her +innumerable admirers ever soared quite so high a pitch into the regions of +hyperbole as the Oriental flights of the khan, who exhausts, in the praise +of her attractions, all the imagery of the eastern poets. She is described +as "cypress-waisted, rose-cheeked, fragrant as amber, and sweet as sugar, +a stealer of hearts, who unites the magic of talismans with loveliness +transcending that of the _peris!_ When she bent the soft arch of her +eyebrows, she pierced the heart through and through with the arrows of her +eyelashes; and when she smiled, the heart of the most rigid ascetic was +intoxicated! She was gorgeously arrayed, and covered all over with +jewels--and the _tout-ensemble_ of her appearance was such as would have +riveted the gaze of the inhabitants of the spheres--what, then, more can a +mere mortal say?"[9] + + [9] The sober prose of the Parsees presents, as usual, an amusing + contrast with the highflown rhapsodies of the Moslem; their + remarks on the same lady are comprised in the pithy + observation--"We should not have taken her for more than + twenty-six years of age; but we are told she is near fifty." + +At Rundell and Bridge's, to a view of the glittering treasures of whose +establishment the Khan was next introduced, he was not less astonished at +the incalculable value of the articles he saw exhibited, "where the +precious metals and magnificent jewellery of all sorts were scattered +about as profusely as so many sorts of fruit in our Delhi bazars"--as +surprised at being informed that many of the nobles, and even of the royal +family, here deposited their plate and jewels for safe custody; and that, +"though all these valuables were left without a guard of soldiers, this +shop has never been known to be attacked and plundered by robbers and +thieves, who not unfrequently break into other houses.' Among the models +of celebrated gems here shown him, he particularizes a jewel which, for +ages, has been the wonder of the East--"the famous _Koh-in-Noor_, +(Mountain of Light,) now in the possession of the ruler of Lahore and well +known to have been forcibly seized by him from Shah-Shoojah, king of Cabul, +when a fugitive in the Panjab;" as well as another, (the Pigot diamond,) +"now belonging to Mohammed Ali of Egypt." The Adelaide Gallery of Science +is passed over with the remark, that it is, on the whole, inferior to the +Polytechnic, which he had previously visited. But the Diorama, with the +views of Damascus, Acre, &c., seems to have afforded him great +gratification, as well as to have perplexed him not a little, by the +apparent accuracy of its perspective. "Some objects delineated actually +appeared to be several _kos_ (a measure of about two miles) from us, +others nearer, and some quite close. I marvelled how such things could be +brought together before me; yet, on stretching out the hand, the canvass +on which all this was represented might be touched." But all the wonders +of the pictorial art, "which the Europeans have brought to unheard of +perfection," fade before the amazement of the khan, on being informed that +it was possible for him to have a transcript of his countenance taken, +without the use of pencil or brush, by the mere agency of the sun's rays; +and even after having verified the truth of this apparently incredible +statement by actual experiment in his own person, he still seems to have +entertained considerable misgivings as to the legitimacy of the +process--"How it was effected was indeed incomprehensible! Here is an art, +which, if it be not magic, it is difficult to conceive what else it can +be!" + +The spring was now advancing; "and one day," says the Khan, "not being +Sunday, I was surprised to observe all the shops shut, and the courts of +justice, as well as the merchants' and public offices, all closed. On +enquiry, I was told this was a great day, being the day on which the Jews +crucified the Lord Aysa, (Jesus,) and that a general fast is, on this day, +observed in Europe, when the people abstain from flesh, eating only fish, +and a particular kind of bread marked with a cross. This custom is, +however, now confined to the ancient sect of Christians called Catholics +for the real English never _observe fasts of any kind on any occasion +whatever_; they eat, nevertheless, both the crossed bread and the fish. +This fast is to the Europeans what the _Mohurrum_[10] is to us; only here +no particular signs of sorrow are to be seen on account of the death of +Aysa;--all eat, drink, and enjoy themselves on this day as much as any +other; or, from what I saw, I should say they rather indulged themselves a +little more than usual. Another remarkable thing is, that this fast does +not always happen at the same date, being regulated by the appearance of +the moon; while, in every thing else, the English reckon by the solar +year." + + [10] The ten days' lamentation for the martyred imams, Hassan and + Hussein, the grandsons of the Prophet, who were murdered by the + Ommiyades. Some notice of this ceremonial is given at the + beginning of his narrative by the Khan, who attended it just + before he sailed from Calcutta. + +We shall offer no comment, as we fear we can offer no contradiction, on +the Khan's account of the singular method of fasting observed in England, +by eating salt fish and cross-buns in addition to the usual viands--but +digressing without an interval from fasts to feasts, we next find him a +guest at a splendid banquet, given by the Lord Mayor. Though Mirza +Abu-Talib, at the beginning of the present century, was present at the +feast given to Lord Nelson during the mayoralty of Alderman Coombe, the +description of a civic entertainment, as it appeared to an Oriental, must +always be a curious _morceau_; and doubly so in the present instance, as +given by a spectator to whom it was as the feast of the Barmecide--since +Kerim Khan, unlike his countryman, the Mirza, religiously abstained +throughout from the forbidden dainties of the Franks, and sat like an +anchorite at the board of plenty. To this concentration of his faculties +in the task of observing, we probably owe the minute detail he has given +us of the festive scene before him, which we must quote, as a companion +sketch of Feringhi manners to the previously cited account of the ball at +Guildhall:--"At length dinner was announced: and all rose, and led by the +queen of the city, (the lady mayoress,) withdrew to another room, where +the table was laid out in the most costly manner, being loaded with dishes, +principally of silver and gold, and covered with _sar-poshes_, (lids or +covers,) some of which were of immense size, like little boats. When the +servants removed the _sar-poshes_, fishes and soup of every sort were +presented to view: some of the former, I was told, brought as rarities +from distant seas, and at great expense. Before every man of rank there +was an immense dish, which it is his duty to cut up and distribute, +putting on each plate about sufficient for a baby to eat. I turned to a +friend and enquired why the guests were helped so sparingly? 'It is +customary,' said he, 'to serve guests in this way.' 'But why not give them +enough?' rejoined I. 'You will soon see,' replied he, 'that they will all +have enough.'[11] + + [11] To explain the Khan's ignorance of the form of an English + entertainment, it should be remembered that his religious scruples + excluded him from dinner parties--and that, except on occasions of + form like the present, or the party on hoard the Oriental at + Southampton, he had probably never witnessed a banquet in England. + +"Soon after, all the dishes, spoons, &c., were removed by the servants. I +thought the dinner was over, and was preparing to go, not a little +astonished at such scanty hospitality, when other dishes were brought in, +filled with choice viands of every kind--bears from Russia and +Germany--hogs from Ireland--fowls and geese from France--turtle from the +Mediterranean(?)--venison from the parks of the nobility--some in joints, +some quite whole, with their limbs and feet entire. Operations now +recommenced, the carvers doling out the same small quantities as before: +but though many of the gentlemen present were anxious to prevail on me to +partake, and recommended particular dishes, one as being 'a favourite of +the King of the French'--another as particularly rare and exquisite, I +could not be prevailed upon to partake of any. Thus did innumerable dishes +pour and disappear again, the servants constantly changing the plates of +the guests: till I began to form quite a different idea of the appetites +of the guests, and the hospitality of the Lord Mayor, on which I had +thought that a reflection was thrown by the small portions sent to them. I +now saw that many of them, besides being served pretty often, helped +themselves freely to the dishes before them--indeed, their appetite was +wonderfully good: some, doubtless, thinking that such an opportunity would +not often recur. Nor did they forget the juice of the grape--the bottles +which were opened would have filled a ship, and the noise of the champagne +completely drowned the music. One would have thought that, after all this, +no men could eat more: but now the fruits, sweetmeats ices, and jellies +made their appearance, pine-apples, grapes, oranges, apples, pears, +mulberries, and confectionaries of such strange shapes that I can give no +name to them--and before each guest were placed small plates, with +peculiarly shaped knives of gold and silver. Of this part of the banquet I +had the pleasure of partaking, in common with the selfsame gentlemen who +had done such honour to the thousand dishes above mentioned, and who now +distinguished themselves in the same manner on the dessert. The price of +some of the fruit was almost incredible; the reason of which is, that in +this country it can only be reared in glass-houses artificially heated ... +thus the pine-apples, which are by no means fine, cost each twenty rupees, +(L.2,) which in India would be bought for two pice--thus being 640 times +dearer than in our country. Thus in England the poorer classes cannot +afford to eat fruit, whereas in all other countries they can get fruit +when grain is too dear. + +"The guests continued at table till late, during which time several +gentlemen rose and spoke: but, from my imperfect knowledge of the language, +I could not comprehend their purports beyond the compliments which they +passed on each other, and the evident attacks which they made on their +political opponents. I at last retired with some others to another room, +where many of the guests were dancing--coffee and tea were here taken +about, just as sherbets are with us in the Mohurrum. I must remark that +the servants were gorgeously dressed, being covered with gold like the +generals of the army; but the most extraordinary thing about them was, +there having their heads covered with ashes, like the Hindoo fakirs-a +custom indicative with us of sorrow and repentance. I hardly could help +laughing when I looked at them; but a friend kindly explained to me that, +in England, none but the servants of the great are _privileged_ to have +ashes strewed on their heads, and that for this distinction their masters +actually pay a tax to government! 'Is this enjoined by their religion?' +said I. 'Oh no!' he replied. 'Then,' said I, 'since your religion does not +require it, and it appears, to our notions at least, rather a mark of +grief and mourning, where is the use of paying a tax for it?' '_it is the +custom of the country_.' said he again. After this I returned hone, musing +deeply on what I had seen." + +With this inimitable sketch, we take leave of the Khan for the present, +shortly to return to his ideas of men and manners in _Feringhistan_. + + * * * * * + + + + +THE BANKING-HOUSE. + +A HISTORY IN THREE PARTS. PART I. + + +CHAPTER I. + +PROSPECTIVE. + + +If, as Wordsworth, that arch-priest of poesy, expresses it, I could place +the gentle reader "_atween the downy wings_" of some beneficent and +willing angel, in one brief instant of time should he be deposited on the +little hill that first discovers the smiling, quiet village of Ellendale. +He would imbibe of beauty more in a breath, a glance, than I can pour into +his soul in pages of spiritless delineation. I cannot charm the eye with +that great stream of liquid light, which, during the long and lingering +summer's day, issues from the valley like an eternal joy; I cannot +fascinate his ear, and soothe his spirit with nature's deep mysterious +sounds, so delicately slender and so soft, that silence fails to be +disturbed, but rather grows more mellow and profound; I cannot with a +stroke present the teeming hills, flushed with their weight of corn, that +now stands stately in the suspended air--now, touched by the lightest wind +that ever blew, flows like a golden river. As difficult is it to convey a +just impression of a peaceful spot, whose praise consists--so to +speak--rather in privatives than positives; whose privilege it is to be +still free, tranquil, and unmolested, in a land and in an age of ceaseless +agitation, in which the rigorous virtues of our fathers are forgotten, and +the land's integrity threatens to give way. If Ellendale be not the most +populous and active village, it is certainly the most rustic and winning +that I have ever beheld in our once _merry_ England. It is secreted from +the world, and lies snugly and closely at the foot of massive hills, which +nature seems to have erected solely for its covert and protection. It is +situated about four miles from the high-road, whence you obtain at +intervals short glimpses as it rears its tiny head into the open day. If +the traveller be fresh from an overworked and overworking city, he looks +upon what he deems a sheer impossibility--the residence of men living +cheerfully and happily in solitude intense. The employment of the +villagers is in the silent fields, from day to day, from year to year. +Their life has no variety, the general heart has no desire for change. It +was so with their fathers--so shall it be with their own children, if the +too selfish world will let them. The inhabitants are almost to a man poor, +humble, and contented. The cottages are clean and neat, but lowly, like +the owners. One house, and one alone, is distinguished from the rest; it +is aged, and ivy as venerable as itself clings closer there as years roll +over it. It has a lawn, an antique door and porch, narrow windows with the +smallest diamond panes, and has been called since its first stone was laid, +_the Vicarage_. Forget the village, courteous reader, and cross with me +the hospitable threshold, for here our history begins--and ends. + +The season is summer--the time evening--the hour that of sunset. The big +sun goes down like a ball of fire, crimson-red, leaving at the horizon's +verge his splendid escort--a host of clouds glittering with a hundred hues, +the gorgeous livery of him they have attended. A borrowed glory steals +from them into an open casement, and, passing over, illumines for a time a +face pale even to sadness. It is a woman's. She is dressed in deepest +mourning, and is--Heaven be with her in her solitariness!--a recent widow. +She is thirty years of age at least, and is still adorned with half the +beauty of her youth, not injured by the hand of suffering and time. The +expression of the countenance is one of calmness, or, it may be, +resignation--for the tranquility has evidently been taught and learnt as +the world's lesson, and is not native there. Near her sits a man benign of +aspect, advanced in years; his hair and eyebrows white from the winter's +fall; his eye and mien telling of decline, easy and placid as the close of +softest music, and nothing harsher. Care and trouble he has never known; +he is too old to learn them now. His dress is very plain. The room in +which he sits is devoid of ornament, and furnished like the study of a +simple scholar. Books take up the walls. A table and two chairs are the +amount of furniture. The Vicar has a letter in his hand, which he peruses +with attention; and having finished, he turns with a bright smile towards +his guest, and tells her she is welcome. + +"You are very welcome, madam, for your own sake, and for the sake of him +whose signature is here; although, I fear, you will scarcely find amongst +us the happiness you look for. There will be time, however, to consider"-- + +"I _have_ considered, sir;" answered the lady, somewhat mournfully. "My +resolution has not been formed in haste, believe me." + +The vicar paused, and reperused the letter. + +"You are probably aware, madam, that my brother has communicated"-- + +"Every thing. Your people are poor and ignorant. I can be useful to them. +Reduced as I am, I may afford them help. I may instruct the +children--attend the sick--relieve the hungry. Can I do this?" + +"Pardon me, dear lady. I am loth to repress the noble impulses by which +you are actuated. It would be very wrong to deny the value and importance +of such aid; but I must entreat you to remember your former life and +habits. I fear this place is not what you expect it. In the midst of my +people, and withdrawn from all society, I have accustomed myself to seek +for consolation in the faithful discharge of my duties, and in communion +with the chosen friends of my youth whom you see around me. You are not +aware of what you undertake. There will be no companionship for you--no +female friend--no friend but myself. Our villagers are labouring men and +women--our population consists of such alone. Think what you have been, +and what you must resign." + +The lady sighed deeply, and answered-- + +"It is, Mr Littleton, just because I cannot forget what I have been, that +I come here to make amends for past neglect and sinfulness. I have a debt +_there_, sir"--and she pointed solemnly towards the sky--"which must be +paid. I have been an unfaithful steward, and must be reconciled to my good +master ere I die. You may trust me. You know my income and my means. It is +trifling; comparatively speaking--nothing. Yet, less than half of it must +suffice for my support. The rest is for your flock. You shall distribute +it, and you shall teach me how to minister to their temporal +necessities--how to labour for their eternal glory. The world and I have +parted, and for ever." + +"I will not oppose you further madam. You shall make the trial if you +please, and yet"--the vicar hesitated. + +"Pray speak, sir," said the lady. + +"I was thinking of your accommodation. Here I could not well receive +you--and I know no other house becoming"-- + +"Do not mock me, Mr Littleton. A room in the cot of your poorest +parishioner is more than I deserve--more than the good fishermen of +Galilee could sometimes find. Think of me, I beg, as I am--not as I have +been." + +As the lady spoke, a servant-maid entered the apartment with the +supper-tray, which the good vicar had ordered shortly after the arrival of +his guest. During the repast, it was arranged that the lady should pass +the night in the cottage of John Humphrys, a man acknowledged to be the +most industrious in the village, and who had become the especial favourite +of the vicar, by marrying, as the latter jocosely termed it, into his +family. John Humphrys' wife had been the vicar's housekeeper. The Reverend +Hugh Littleton was a bachelor, and had always been most cautious and +discreet. Although he had a bed to spare, he did not think of offering it +to his handsome visitor; nor, and this is more remarkable, did he again +that evening resume the subject of their previous conversation. He spoke +of matters connected with the world, from which he had been separated for +half a century, but from whose turmoil the lady had only a few weeks +before disentangled herself. To a good churchman, the condition of the +Church is always a subject of the deepest interest, as her prosperity is a +source of gratitude and joy. Tidings of the movement which had recently +taken place in the very heart of the Establishment had already reached his +secluded parish, filling him with doubt and apprehension. He was glad +to gain what further information his friendly visitor could afford him. We +may conclude, from the observations of the vicar, that her communication +was unsatisfactory. + +"It is a cowardly thing, madam," said he, "to withdraw from a scene of +contest in the hour of danger, and when all our dearest interests are at +stake; and yet I do thank my God, from the bottom of my heart, that I am +not an eyewitness to the dishonour and the shame which men are heaping on +our blessed faith. Are we Christians? Do we come before the world as the +messengers of glad tidings--of _unity_ and _peace_? We profess to do it, +whilst discord, enmity, hatred, and persecution are in our hearts and on +our tongue. The atheist and the worldling live in harmony, whilst the +children of Christ carry on their unholy warfare one against the other. +Strange anomaly! Can we not call upon our people to love their God with +all their hearts--and their neighbours as themselves? Can we not strive by +our own good example to teach them how to do this? Would it not be more +profitable and humane, than to disturb them with formalities that have no +virtue in themselves--to distress them with useless controversies, that +settle no one point, teach no one doctrine, but unsettle and unfix all the +good that our simple creed had previously built up and made secure?" + +"It is very true, sir;--and it is sweet to hear you talk so." + +If the lady desired to hear more, it was unwise of her to speak so plainly. +The vicar was unused to praise, and these few words effectually stopped +him. He said no more. The lady remained silent for a minute or two, then +rose and took her leave. The night was very fine, and the vicar's servant +maid accompanied her to John Humphrys' door. Here she found a wholesome +bed, but her pillow did not become a resting-place until she moistened it +with tears--the bitterest that ever wrung a penitent and broken heart. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +RETROSPECTIVE + + +James Mildred was a noble-hearted gentleman. At the age of eighteen he +quitted England to undertake an appointment in India, which he had +obtained through the interest of his uncle, an East Indian Director. He +remained abroad thirty years, and then returned, a stranger, to his native +land, the owner of a noble fortune. His manners were simple and +unassuming--his mind was masculine and well-informed--his generous soul +manifest in every expression of his manly countenance. He had honourably +acquired his wealth, and whilst he amassed, had been by no means greedy of +his gains. He dealt out liberally. There were many reasons why James +Mildred at the age of forty-eight returned to England. I shall state but +one. He was still a bachelor. The historian at once absolves the gentler +sex from any share of blame. It was not, in truth, their fault that he +continued single. Many had done their utmost to remove this stigma from +James Mildred's character; had they done less they might, possibly, have +been more successful. Mildred had a full share of sensibility, and +recoiled at the bare idea of being snared into a state of blessedness. The +woman was not for him, who was willing to accept him only because his gold +and he could not be separated. Neither was he ambitious to purchase the +easy affection of the live commodity as it arrives in ships from England, +with other articles of luxury and merchandize. After years of successful +exertion, he yearned for the enjoyments of the domestic hearth, and for +the home-happiness which an Englishman deserves, because he understands +so well its value. Failing to obtain his wish in India, he journeyed +homeward, sound in mind and body, and determined to improve the comfort +and condition of both, by a union with amiability, loveliness, and virtue, +if in one individual he could find them all combined, and finding, could +secure them for himself. It might have been a year after his appearance in +London, that he became acquainted with the family of Mr Graham, a +lieutenant in the navy on half-pay, and the father of two children. He was +a widower, and not affluent. His offspring were both daughters, and, at +the time to which I allude, full grown, lovely women. Their mother had +been a governess previously to her marriage, and her subsequent days had +been profitably employed in the education of her daughters; in preparing +them, in fact, for the condition of life into which they would inevitably +fall, if they were still unmarried at the dissolution of their father. +They were from infancy taught to expect their future means of living from +their own honourable exertions, and they grew happier and better for the +knowledge. Mildred had retired to a town on the sea-coast, in which this +family resided; and, shortly after his arrival, he first beheld the elder +of the lieutenant's children. She was then in her nineteenth year, a +lovely, graceful, and accomplished creature. I cannot say that he was +smitten at first sight, but it must have been soon afterwards; for the day +succeeding that on which he met her, found him walking and chatting with +her father, as familiarly as though they had been friends from infancy. +Before a week was over, the lieutenant had dined three times with Mildred +at his hotel, and had taken six pipes, and as many glasses of grog, in +token of his fidelity and good fellowship. From being the host of +Lieutenant Graham, it was an easy transition to become his guest. Mildred +was taken to the mariner's cot, and from that hour his destiny was fixed. +In Margaret Graham he found, or he believed he had, the being whom he had +sought so long--the vision which had not, until now, been realized. Six +months elapsed, and found the lover a constant visitor at the lieutenant's +fireside. He had never spoken of his passion, nor did any of the household +dream of what was passing in his heart, save Margaret, who could not fail +to see that she possessed it wholly. His wealth was likewise still a +secret, his position in society unknown. His liberal sentiments and +unaffected demeanour had gained him the regard of the unsophisticated +parent--his modest bearing and politeness were not less grateful to the +sisters. Mildred had resolved a hundred times to reveal to Margaret the +depth and earnestness of his attachment, and to place his heart and +fortune at her feet, but he dared not do it when time and opportunity +arrived. Day by day his ardent love increased--stronger and stronger grew +the impression which had first been stamped upon his noble mind; new +graces were discovered; virtues were developed that had escaped his early +notice, enhancing the maiden's loveliness and worth. Still he continued +silent. He was a shy, retiring man, and entertained a meek opinion of his +merits. The difference of age was very great. He dwelt upon the fact, +until it seemed a barrier fatal to his success. Young, accomplished, and +exceeding beautiful, would she not expect, did she not deserve, a union +with youth and virtues equal to her own? Was it not madness to suppose +that she would shower such happiness on him? Was he not over bold and +arrogant to hope it? Aware of his disadvantage, and rendered miserable by +the thought of losing her in consequence, he had been tempted once or +twice to communicate to Margaret the amount of wealth that he possessed; +but here, too, his reluctant tongue grew ever dumb as he approached the +dangerous topic. No; his soul would pine in disappointment and despair, +before it could consent to _purchase_ love--love which transcends all +price when it becomes the heart's free offering, but is not worth a rush +to buy or bargain for. Could he but be sure that for himself alone she +would receive his hand--could he but once be satisfied of this, how paltry +the return, how poor would be the best that he could offer for her virgin +trust? What was his wealth compared with that? But _how_ be sure and +satisfied? Ask and be refused? Refused, and then denied the privilege to +gaze upon her face, and to linger hour after hour upon the melody which, +flowing from her fair lips, had so long charmed, bewildered him! To be +shut out for ever from the joy that had become a part of him, with which, +already in his dreams, he had connected all that remained to him as yet of +life!--It is true, James Mildred was old enough to be sweet Margaret's +father; but for his _heart_, with all its throbbings and anxieties, it +might have been the young girl's younger brother's. A lucky moment was it +for Mildred, when he thought of seeking counsel from the straightforward +and plain-speaking officer. A hint sufficed to make the parent wise, and +to draw from him the blunt assurance, that Mildred was a son-in-law to +make a father proud and happy. "I never liked, my friend, superfluous +words," said he; "you have my consent, mind that, when you have settled +matters with the lass." + +It was a very few hours after the above words were spoken, that, either by +design or chance, Mildred and Margaret found themselves together. The +lieutenant and his younger daughter were from home, and Margaret was +seated in the family parlour, engaged in profitable work, as usual. Upon +entering the room, the lover saw immediately that Graham had committed him. +His easy and accustomed step had never called a blush into the maiden's +cheek. Wherefore should it now? He felt the coming and the dreaded crisis +already near, and that his fate was hanging on her lips. His heart +fluttered, and he became slightly perturbed; but he sat down manfully; +determined to await the issue. Margaret welcomed him with more restraint +than was her wont, but not--he thought and hoped--less cordially. Maidens +are wilful and perverse. Why should she hold her head down, as she had +never done before? Why strain her eyes upon her work, and ply her needle +as though her life depended on the haste with which she wrought? Thus +might she receive a foe; better treatment surely merited so good a friend? + +"Miss Graham," said at length the resolute yet timid man, "do I judge +rightly? Your father has communicated to you our morning's conversation?" + +"He has, sir," answered Margaret too softly for any but a lover's ear. + +"Then, pardon me, dear lady," continued Mildred, gaining confidence, as he +was bound to do, "if I presume to add all that a simple and an honest man +can proffer to the woman he adores. I am too old--that is to say, I have +seen too much of life, perhaps, to be able to address you now in language +that is fitting. But, believe me, dear Miss Graham, I am sensible of your +charms, I esteem your character, I love you ardently. I am aware of my +presumption. I am bold to approach you as a suitor; but my happiness +depends upon your word and I beg you to pronounce it. Dismiss me, and I +will trouble you no longer. I will endeavour to forget you--to forget that +I beheld you--that I ever nourished a passion which has made life sweeter +to me than I believed it could become; but if, on the other hand"-- + +How strange it is, that we will still create troubles in a world that +already abounds with them! Here had Mildred lived in a perpetual fever for +months together, teazing and fretting himself with anxieties and doubts; +whilst, as a reasonable being, he ought to have been as cheerful and as +merry as a lark singing at the gate of heaven. In the midst of his oration, +the gentle Margaret resigned her work, and wept. I say no more. I will not +even add that she had been prepared to weep for months before--that she +had grown half fearful and half angry at the long delay--that she was +woman, and ambitious--that she had heard of Mildred's mine of wealth, and +longed to share it with him. Such secrets, gentle reader, might, if +revealed, attaint the lady's character. I therefore choose to keep them to +myself. It is very certain that Mildred was forthwith accepted, and that, +after a courtship of three months, he led to the altar a woman of whose +beauty and talents a monarch might justly have been proud. It is not to +the purpose of this narrative to describe the wedding guests and +garments--the sumptuous breakfast--the continental tour. It was a fair +scene to look at, that auspicious bridal morn. The lieutenant's unaffected +joy--the bridegroom's blissful pride--the lady's modesty, and--shall I +call it?--triumph, struggling through it; these and other matters might +employ an idle or a dallying pen, but must not now arrest one busy with +more serious work. Far different are the circumstance and season which +call for our regard. We leave the lovers in their bridal bower, and +pensively approach the chamber of sickness and of death. + +It is ten years since Mildred wedded. He is on the verge of sixty, and +seems more aged, for he is bowed down with bodily disease and pain. His +wife, not thirty yet, looks not an hour older than when we saw her last, +dressed like a queen for her espousal. She is more beautiful, as the full +developed rose in grace surpasses the delicate and still expanding bud; +but there she is, the same young Margaret. How they have passed the +married decade, how both fulfilled their several duties, may be gathered +from a description of Mildred's latest moments. He lies almost exhausted +on his bed of suffering, and only at short intervals can find strength to +make his wishes known to one who, since he was a boy, has been a faithful +and a constant friend. He is his comforter and physician now. + +"You have not told me, Wilford," said Mildred in a moment of physical +repose, "you have not told me yet how long. Let me, I implore you, hear +the truth. I am not afraid to die. Is there any hope at all?" + +The physician's lip quivered with affectionate grief; but did not move in +answer. + +"There is _no_ hope then," continued the wasting invalid. "I believe it--I +believe it. But tell me, dearest friend, how long may this endure?" + +"I cannot say," replied the doctor; "a day or two, perhaps: I fear not +longer, Mildred." + +"Fear _not_, old friend," said Mildred. "I do not fear. I thank my God +there is an end of it." + +"Is your mind happy, Mildred?" asked the physician. + +"You shall judge yourself. I die at peace with all men. I repent me +heartily of my sins. I place my hope in my Redeemer. I feel that he will +not desert me. I did never fear death, Wilford. I can smile upon him now." + +"You will see a clergyman?" + +"Yes, Wilford, an hour hence; not now. I have sent _her_ away, that I +might hear the worst from you. She must be recalled, and know that all is +fixed, and over. We will pray together--dear, faithful Margaret--sweet, +patient nurse! Heaven bless her!" + +"She is to be pitied, Mildred. To die is the common lot. We are not all +doomed to mourn the loss of our beloved ones!" + +"But, Wilford, you will be good and kind to her, and console her for my +loss. You are my executor and dearest friend. You will have regard to my +dying words, and watch over her. Be a father and a brother to her. You +will--will you not?" + +"I will," answered the physician solemnly. + +"Thank you, brother--thank you," replied the patient, pressing his +friend's hand warmly. "We are brothers now, Wilford--we were children, +schoolboys together. Do you remember the birds'-nesting--and the +apple-tree in the orchard? Oh, the happy scenes of my boyhood are fresher +in my memory to day than the occurrences of yesterday!" + +"You were nearer heaven in your boyhood, Mildred, than you have been since, +until this hour. We are travelling daily further from the East, until we +are summoned home again. The light of heaven is about us at the beginning +and the close of life. We lose it in middle age, when it is hid by the +world's false and unsubstantial glare." + +"I understand something of what you say. I never dreaded this hour. I have +relied for grace, and it has come--but, Wilford"-- + +"What would you say?" + +"Margaret." + +"What of her?" + +"If you could but know what she has done for me--how, for the last two +years, she has attended me--how she has sacrificed all things for me, and +for my comfort--how she has been, against my will, my servant and my +slave--you would revere her character as I do. Night after night has she +spent at my bedside; no murmur--no dull, complaining look--all +cheerfullness! I have been peevish and impatient--no return for the harsh +word, and harsher look. So young--so beautiful--so self devoted. I have +not deserved such love--and now it is snatched from me, as it should be"-- + +"You are excited, Mildred," said the good doctor. "You have said too much. +Rest now--rest." + +"Let me see her," answered Mildred. "I cannot part with her an instant +now." + +And in a few minutes the angel of light--for such she was to the declining +man--glided to the dying bed. When she approached it his eyes were shut, +and his lips moved as if in prayer. At his side she stood, the faithful +tears pouring down her cheek, her voice suspended, lest a breath should +fall upon the sufferer and awaken him to pain. Quietly at last, as if from +sweetest sleep, his eyes unclosed, and, with a fond expression, fixed +themselves on _her_. Faster and faster streamed the unchecked tears adown +the lovely cheek, louder and louder grew the agonizing sobs that would not +be controlled. He took her drooping palm, pressed it as he might between +his bony hands, and covered it with kisses. Doctor Wilford silently +withdrew. + +"Dear, good Margaret," the sick man faltered, "I shall lose you soon. +Heaven will bless you for your loving care." + +"Take courage, dearest," was Margaret's reply; "all will yet be well." + +"It will, beloved--but not here," he answered. "We shall meet again--be +sure of it. God is merciful, not cruel, and our happiness on earth has +been a foretaste of the diviner bliss hereafter. We are separated but for +an hour. Do not weep, my sweet one, but listen to me. It was my duty to +reward you, Margaret, for all that you have done for the infirm old man. I +have performed this duty. Every thing that I possess is yours! My will is +with my private papers in the desk. It will do you justice. Could I have +given you the wealth of India, you would have deserved it all." + +Tears, tears were the heart's intense acknowledgment. What could she say +at such a time? + +"I have thought fit, my Margaret, to burden you with no restrictions. I +could not be so wicked and so selfish as to wish you not to wed again"-- + +"Speak not of it, James--speak not of it," almost screamed the lovely wife, +intercepting the generous speaker's words. "Do not overwhelm me with my +grief." + +"It is best, my Margaret, to name these things whilst power is still left +me. Understand me, dearest. I do not bid you wed again. You are free to do +it if it will make you happier." + +"Never--never, dearest and best of men! I am yours in life and +death--yours for ever. Before Heaven I vow"-- + +Mildred touched the upraised hand, held it in his own, and in a feeble, +worn-out voice, said gravely-- + +"I implore you to desist--spare me the pain--make not a vow so rash. You +are young and beautiful, my Margaret--a time may come--let there be no vow. +Where is Wilford? I wish to have you both about me." + +The following morning Margaret was weeping on her husband's corpse. Ten +years before, she had wept when he proposed for her, and ten years +afterwards, almost to a day, she was weeping on John Humphrys' pillow, +distressed with recollections that would not let her rest. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER III + +THE BEGINNING OF THE END + + +Doctor Chalmers was right. The discovery of the telescope was very fine in +its way; but the invention of the microscope was, after all, a much more +sensible affair. We may look at the mountains of the moon, and the spots +on the sun, until we have rendered our eyes, for all practical purposes, +useless for a month, and yet not bring to light one secret worth knowing, +one fact that, as inhabitants of the earth, we care to be acquainted with. +Not so with one microscopic peep at a particle of water or an atom of +cheese. Here we arrive at once at the disclosure of what modern +philosophers call "a beautiful law"--a law affecting the entirety of +animal creation--invisible and visible; a law which proclaims that the +inferior as well as the superior animals, the lowest as well as the +highest, the smallest as well as the largest, live upon one another, +derive their strength and substance from attacking and devouring those of +their neighbours. Shakspeare, whom few things escaped, has not failed to +tell us, that "there be land rats and water rats, water thieves and land +thieves;" he knew not, however, that there be likewise water devils as +well as land devils--water lawyers as well as land lawyers--water +swindlers as well as land swindlers. In one small liquid drop you shall +behold them all--indeed a commonwealth of Christians but for their forms, +and for the atmosphere in which they live and fight. I have often found +great instruction in noting the hypocritical antics of a certain watery +rascal, whose trick it is to lie in one snug corner of the globule, +feigning repose, indifference, or sleep. Nothing disturbs him, until some +weak, innocent animalcule ventures unsuspiciously within his reach, and +then with one muscular exertion, the monster darts, gripes, gulps him +down--goes to his sleep or prayers again, and waits a fresh arrival. The +creature has no joy but in the pangs of others--no life but in their +sufferings and death. Even worse than this thing is the worm, its earthly +prototype, with whom, rather than with himself, this chapter has to deal. +Whilst the last most precious drops of Mildred's breath were leaving him, +whilst his cleansed soul prepared itself for solemn flight, whilst all +around his bed were still and silent as the grave already digging for +him--one human eye, secreted from the world and unobserved, peered into +the lonely chamber, watching for the dissolution, impatient at delay, and +greedy for the sight. I speak of an old, grey-headed man, a small, thin +creature of skin and bone, sordid and avaricious in spirit--one who had +never known Mildred, had not once spoken to or seen him, but who had heard +of his possessions, of his funded gold, and whose grasping soul was sick +to handle and secure them. Abraham Allcraft, hunks as he was, was reputed +wealthy. For years he had retained a high position as the opulent banker +of the mercantile city of ----. His business was extensive--his habits +mean, penurious; his credit was unlimited, as his character was +unimpeachable. There are some men who cannot gain the world's favour, do +what they will to purchase it. There are others, on the other hand, who, +having no fair claim at all to it, are warmed and nourished throughout +life by the good opinion of mankind. No man lived with fewer virtues than +Abraham Allcraft; no man was reputed richer in all the virtues that adorn +humanity. He was an honest man, because he starved upon a crust. He was +industrious, because from morn till night he laboured at the bank. He was +a moral man, because his word was sacred, and no one knew him guilty of a +serious fault. He was the pattern of a father--witness the education of +his son. He was the pattern of a banker--witness the house's regularity, +and steady prosperous course. He lived within view of the mansion in which +Mildred breathed his last; he knew the history of the deceased, as well as +he knew the secrets of his own bad heart. He had seen the widow in her +solitary walks; he had made his plans, and he was not the man to give them +up without a struggle. + +It was perhaps on the tenth day after Mildred had been deposited in the +earth, that Margaret permitted the sun once more to lighten her abode. +Since the death of her husband the house had been shut up--no visitor had +been admitted--there had been no witness to her agony and tears. It should +be so. There are calamities too great for human sympathy; seasons too +awful for any presence save that of the Eternal. Time, reason, and +religion--not the hollow mockery of solemn words and looks--must heal the +heart lacerated by the tremendous deathblow. Abraham Allcraft had waited +for this day. He saw the gloomy curtains drawn aside--he beheld life +stirring in the house again. He dressed himself more carefully than he had +ever done before, and straightaway hobbled to the door, before another and +less hasty foot could reach it. A painter, wishing to arrest the look of +one who smiles, and smiles, and murders whilst he smiles, would have been +glad to dwell upon the face of Abraham, as he addressed the servant-man +who gave him entrance. Below the superficial grin, there was, as clear as +day, the natural expression of the soul that would not blend with any show +of pleasantry. Abraham wished to give the attendant half-a-crown as soon +as possible. He dared not offer it without a reason, so he dropped his +umbrella, and, like a generous man, rewarded the honest fellow who stooped +to pick it up. This preliminary over, and, as it were, so much of dirt +swept from the very threshold, he gave his card, announced himself as Mr +Allcraft, banker, and desired to see the lady on especial business. He was +admitted. The ugliest of dresses did not detract from the perfect beauty +of the widowed Margaret; the bitterest of griefs had not removed the bloom +still ripening on her cheek. Time and sorrow were most merciful. The wife +and widow looked yet a girl blushing in her teens. Abraham Allcraft gazed +upon the lady, as he bowed his artful head, with admiration and delight, +and then he threw one hurried and involuntary glance around the gorgeous +room in which she sat, and then he made his own conclusions, and assumed +an air of condolence and affectionate regard, as the wolf is said to do in +fables, just before he pounces on the lamb and strangles it. + +The villain sighed. + +"Sad time, madam," he said, in a lugubrious tone--"sad time. _Strangers_ +feel it." + +Margaret held down her face. + +"I should have come before, madam, if propriety had not restrained me. I +have only a few hours which I can take from business, but these belong to +the afflicted and the poor." + +"You are very kind, sir." + +"I beg you, Mrs Mildred, not to mention it. It was a great shock to me to +hear of Mr Mildred's death--a man in the prime of life. So very good--so +much respected." + +"He was too good for this world, sir." + +"Much, madam--very much; and what a consolation for you, that he is gone +to a better--one more deserving of him. You will feel this more as you +find your duties recalling you to active usefulness again." + +The lady shook her head despairingly. + +"I hope, madam, we may be permitted to do all we can to alleviate your +forlorn condition. I am one of many who regard you with the deepest +sympathy. You may have heard my name, perhaps." + +The lady bowed. + +"You _must_ be very dull here," exclaimed the wily Abraham, gazing round +him with the internal consciousness that the death of every soul he knew +would not make _him_ dull in such a paradise--"very dull, I am sure!" + +"It was a cheerful home while _he_ lived, sir," answered Margaret, most +ruefully. + +"Ah--yes," sighed Abraham; "but now, too true--too true." + +"I was thinking, Mr Allcraft"-- + +"Before you name your thought, dear madam, let me explain at once the +object of my visit. I am an old man--a father, and a widower--but I am +also" (oh, crafty Allcraft!) "a simple and an artless man. My words are +few, but they express my meaning faithfully. There was a time when, placed +in similar circumstances to your own, I would have given the world had a +friend stepped forward to remove me for a season from the scene of all my +misery. I remembered this whilst dwelling on your solitariness. Within a +few miles of this place, I have a little box untenanted at present. Let me +entreat you to retire to it, if only for a week. I place it at your +command, and shall be honoured if you will accept the offer. The house is +sweetly situated--the prospect charming; a temporary change cannot but +soothe your grief. I am a father, madam--the father of a noble youth--and +I know what you must suffer." + +"You anticipate my wish, sir, and I am grateful for your kindness. I was +about to move many miles away; but it is advisable, perhaps, that for the +present I should continue in this neighbourhood. I will see your cottage, +and, if it pleases me, you will permit me to become your tenant for a +time." + +"My guest rather, dear Mrs Mildred. The old should not be thwarted in +their wishes. Let me for the time imagine you my daughter, and act a +father's part." + +The lady smiled in gratitude, and said that "she would see"--and then the +following day was fixed for a short visit to the cottage and then the +virtuous Allcraft took his leave, and went immediately to Mr Final, house +agent and appraiser. This gentleman was empowered to let a handsome +furnished villa, just three miles distant from poor Margaret's residence. +Allcraft hired it at once for one month certain, reserving to himself the +option of continuing it for any further period. He signed the +agreement--paid the rent--received possession. This over, he hurried back +to business, and by the post dispatched a letter to his absent son, +conjuring him, as he loved his father, and valued his regard, to return +to ---- without an instant's hesitation or delay. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +"MICHING MALLECHO; IT MEANS MISCHIEF." + + +Reader, I have no heart to proceed; I am sorry that I began at all--that I +have got thus far. I love Margaret, the beautiful and gentle--Margaret, +the heart-broken penitent. I love her as a brother; and what brother but +yearns to conceal his erring sister's frailty? The faithful historian, +however, is denied the privileges of fiction. He may not, if he would, +divert the natural course of things; he cannot, though he pines to do it, +expunge the written acts of Providence Let us go or in charity. + +Michael Allcraft, in obedience to his father's wish, came home. He was in +his twenty-fourth year, stood six feet high, was handsome and +well-proportioned. He was a youth of ardent temperament, liberal and +high-spirited. How he became the son of such a sire is to me a mystery. It +was not in the affections that the defects of Michael's character were +found. These were warm, full of the flowing milk of human kindness. +Weakness, however, was apparent in the more solid portions of the edifice. +His morals, it must be confessed, were very lax--his principles unsteady +and insecure--and how could it be otherwise? Deprived of his mother at his +birth, and from that hour brought up under the eye and tutelage of a man +who had spent a life in the education of one idea--who regarded +money-making as the business, the duty, the pleasure, the very soul and +end of our existence--who judged of the worth of mankind--of men, women, +and children--according to their incomes, and accounted all men virtuous +who were rich--all guilty who were poor--whose spirit was so intent upon +accumulation, that it did not stop to choose the straight and open roads +that led to it, but often crept through many crooked and unclean--brought +up, I say, under such a father and a guide, was it a wonder that Michael +was imperfect in many qualities of mind--that reason with him was no tutor, +that his understanding failed to be, as South expresses it, "the soul's +upper region, lofty and serene, free from the vapours and disturbances of +the inferior affections?" In truth there was no upper region at all, and +very little serenity in Michael's composition. He had been a wayward and +passionate boy. He was a restless and excitable man--full of generous +impulses, as I have hinted, but sudden and hasty in action--swift in +anger--impatient of restraint and government. His religious views were +somewhat dim and undistinguishable even to himself. He believed--as who +does not--in the great First Cause, and in the usefulness of religion as +an instrument of good in the hands of government. I do not think he +troubled himself any further with the subject. He sometimes on the Sabbath +went to church, but oftener stayed at home, or sought excitement with a +chosen friend or two abroad. He hated professing people, as they are +called, and would rather shake hands with a housebreaker than a saint. It +has been necessary to state these particulars, in order to show how +thoroughly he lived uninfluenced by the high motives which are at once the +inspiration and the happiness of all good men--how madly he rested on the +conviction that religion is an abstract matter, and has nothing more to do +with life and conduct than any other abstruse branch of metaphysics. But +in spite of this unsound state of things, the gentleman possessed all the +showy surface-virtues that go so very far towards eliciting the favourable +verdict of mankind. He prided himself upon a delicate, a surprising sense +of honour. He professed himself ready to part with his life rather than +permit a falsehood to escape his lips; he would have blushed to think +dishonestly--to _act_ so was impossible. Pride stood him here in the stead +of holiness; for the command which he refused to regard at the bidding of +the Almighty, he implicitly obeyed at the solicitation of the most ignoble +of his passions. It is difficult to imagine a more dangerous companion for +a young widow than Michael Allcraft was likely to prove. Manliness of +demeanour, and a handsome face and figure, have always their intrinsic +value. If you add to these a cultivated mind, a most expressive and +intellectual countenance, rich hazel eyes, as full of love as fire, a warm +impulsive nature, shrinking from oppression, active in kindness and deeds +of real benevolence--you will not fail to tremble for my Margaret. Abraham +Allcraft was too shrewd a man to allude even most remotely to the actual +reason of his son's recall. He knew very well that to hint at it was in +the very outset to defeat his purpose. He acted far more cautiously. +Michael had received a first rate education--he had been to the +university--he had travelled through Italy and Germany; and when he +received his father's letter was acquiring business habits in a +banking-house in London. It was high time to settle seriously to work, so +thought Allcraft senior, and suddenly determined to constitute his son a +partner in his bank. "He himself was getting old," he said. "Who knew what +would happen? Delays were dangerous. He would delay no longer. Now he was +well, and Michael might learn and profit by his long experience." Michael +consented--why should he not?--to be the junior partner in the prosperous +house of Allcraft senior and Son. Three months passed speedily, and +Margaret still continued Abraham's tenant. She had lost the sting of her +sorrow in the scenes of natural beauty by which she was surrounded. She +had lived in strict retirement, and a gentle tide of peace was flowing +gradually and softly to her soul again. She thought of quitting the +tranquil cot with pain, and still fixed day after day for a departure that +she could not take. The large house, associated as it was with all her +grief, looked dismal at a distance. How would it be when she returned to +it, and revisited the well-known rooms? Every article of furniture was in +one way or another connected with the departed. She never--no never could +be happy there again. The seclusion to which she doomed herself had not +prevented Abraham Allcraft from being her daily visitor. His age and +character protected her from calumny. His sympathy and great attention had +merited and won her unaffected gratitude. She received his visits with +thankfulness, and courted them. The wealth which it was known he possessed +acquitted him of all sinister designs; and it was easy and natural to +attribute his regard and tenderness to the pity which a good man feels for +a bereavement such as she had undergone. The close of six months found her +still residing at the cottage, and Abraham still a constant and untiring +friend. He had been fortunate enough to give her able and important +counsel. In the disposition of a portion of her property, he had evinced +so great a respect for her interest, had regarded his own profit and +advantages so little, that had Margaret not been satisfied before of his +probity and good faith, she would have been the most ungrateful of women +not to acknowledge them now. But, in fact, poor Margaret did acknowledge +them, and in the simplicity of her nature had mingled in her daily prayers +tears of gratitude to Heaven for the blessing which had come to her in the +form of one so fatherly and good. In the meanwhile where was Michael? At +home--at work--under the _surveillance_ of a parent who had power to check +and keep in awe even his turbulent and outbreaking spirit. He had taken +kindly to the occupation which had been provided for him, and promised, +under good tuition, to become in time a proper man of business. He had +heard of the Widow Mildred--her unbounded wealth--her unrivalled beauty. +He knew of his father's daily visit to the favoured cottage, but he knew +no more; nor more would he have _cared_ to know had not his father, with a +devil's cunning, and with much mysteriousness, forbidden him to speak +about the lady, or to think of visiting her so long as she remained +amongst them. Such being the interdict, Michael was, of course, impatient +to seek out the hidden treasure, and determined to behold her. Delay +increased desire, and desire with him was equal to attainment. Whilst he +was busy in contriving a method for the production of the lovely widow, +his father, who had watched and waited for the moment that had come, +suddenly requested him to accompany him to Mrs Mildred's house--to dine +with that good lady, and to take leave of her before she departed from the +neighbourhood for ever. Michael did not need a second invitation. The +eagerness with which he listened to the first was a true joy for Abraham. +Margaret, be it understood, had not invited Michael. The first year of her +widowhood was drawing to a close, and she had resolved at length to remove +from the retreat in which she had been so long hidden from mankind. Her +youthful spirits had rebounded--were once more buoyant--solitude had done +its work--the physician was no longer needed. That she might gradually +approach the busy world again, she proposed to visit, for a time, a small +and pretty town, well known to her, on the eastern coast. The day was +fixed for her removal, and, just one week before, she invited Mr Allcraft +senior to a farewell dinner. She had not thought it necessary to include +in the invitation the younger gentleman, whom she had never seen, albeit +his father's constant and unlimited encomiums had made the _woman_ less +unwilling to receive than to invite the youth, in whom the graces and the +virtues of humanity were said to have their residence. And Allcraft was +aware of this too. For his head he would not have incurred the risk of +giving her offence. With half an eye he saw the danger was not worth the +speaking of. When I say that Michael never eat less food at a meal in his +life--never talked more volubly or better--never had been so thoroughly +entranced and happy--so lost to every thing but the consciousness of _her_ +presence, of the hot blood tingling in his cheek--of the mad delight that +had leapt into his eyes and sparkled there, it will scarcely be requisite +to describe more particularly the effect of this precious dinner party +upon _him_. As for the lady, she would not have been woman had she failed +to admire the generous sentiments--the witty repartees--the brilliant +passages with which the young man's taste and memory enabled him to +entertain and charm his lovely hostess. As for his handsome face and manly +bearing--but, as we have said already, these have their price and value +always. Allcraft senior had the remarkable faculty of observing every +thing either with or without the assistance of his eyes. During the whole +of dinner he did not once withdraw his devil's vision from his plate, and +yet he knew more of what was going on above it than both the individuals +together, whose eyes it seemed had nothing better to do than just to take +full notes of what was passing in the countenance of either. Against this +happy talent we must set off a serious failing in the character of Abraham. +He always had a nap, he said, the moment after dinner. Accordingly, though +he retired with the young people to the drawing-room, he placed himself +immediately in an easy-chair, and quickly passed into a deep and +long-enduring sleep. Margaret then played sacred airs on the piano, which +Michael listened to with most unsacred feelings. Fathers and mothers! put +out your children's eyes--remove their toes--cut off their fingers. Whilst +with a lightning look, a hair-breadth touch, they can declare, make known +the love, that, having grown too big for the young heart, is panting for a +vent--you do but lose your pains whilst you stand by to seal their +tremulous lips. Speech! Fond lovers did never need it yet--and never shall. +What Margaret thought when the impassioned youth turned her pages over one +by one, (and sometimes two and three together,) and with a hand quivering +as if it had committed murder--what she felt when his full liquid eye +gazed on her, thanking her for her sweet voice, and imploring one strain +more, I cannot tell, though Abraham Allcraft guessed exactly, bobbing and +nodding, though he was, in slumber most profound. + +Your talking and susceptible men are either at summer heat or zero. +Michael, who had been all animation and garrulity from the moment he +beheld the widow until he looked his last unutterable adieus, became +silent and morose as soon as he turned his back upon the cottage, and lost +sight, as he believed, of the divinity for ever. He screwed himself into a +corner of the coach, and there he sat until the short homeward journey was +completed, mentally chewing, with the best appetite he could, the cud of +that day's delicious feast. Judging from his frequent sighs, and the +uneasy shiftings in his seat, the repast was any thing but savoury. +Abraham said nothing. He had but a few words to utter, and these were +reserved for the quiet half hour which preceded the usual time of rest. + +"Michael," said the sire as they sat together in the evening. + +"Father," said the junior partner. + +"Two hundred thousand clear. She'll be a duchess!" + +A sigh, like a current of air, flowed through the room. + +"She deserves it, Michael--a sweet creature--a coronet might be proud of +her. Why don't you answer, Mike?" + +"Father, she is an angel!" + +"Pooh, pooh!" + +"A heavenly creature!" + +"I tell you what, Mike, if I were a royal duke, and you a prince, I should +be proud to have her for a daughter. But it is useless talking so. I sadly +fear that some designing rascal, without a shilling in his pocket, will +get her in his clutches, and, who knows, perhaps ruin the poor creature. +What rosy lips she has! You cunning dog, I saw you ogle them." + +"Father!" + +"You did, sir--don't deny it; and do you think I wonder at you, Mike? +Ain't I your father, and don't I know the blood? Come, go to bed, sir, +and forget it all." + +"Do you, father, really think it possible that--do you think she is in +danger? I do confess she is loveliest, the most accomplished woman in the +world. If she were to come to any harm--if--if"-- + +"Now look you, Mike. There are one or two trifling business matters to be +arranged between the widow and myself before she leaves us. You shall +transact them with her. I am too busy at the bank at present. You are my +junior partner, but you are a hot-headed fellow, and I can hardly trust +you with accounts. All I ask and bargain for is, _that you be cautious +and discreet_--mark me, cautious and discreet. Let me feel satisfied of +this, and you shall settle all the matters as you please. Business, sir, +is business. I must acknowledge, Mike, that such a pair of eyes would +have been too much for old Abraham forty years ago; and what a neck and +bust! Come, go to bed, sir, and get up early in the morning." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MATTERS OF COURSE. + + +Margaret Mildred had not failed to note the impression which had been made +upon the warm and youthful heart of Michael; she was not displeased to +note it; and from her couch she rose, the following morning, delighted +with her dreams, and benevolently disposed towards mankind in general. She +lingered at her toilet, grew hypercritical in articles of taste, and found +defects in beauty without the shadow of a blemish. Had some wicked sprite +but whispered in her ear one thought injurious to the memory of her +departed husband, Margaret would have shrunk from its reception, and would +have scorned to acknowledge it as her own. Time, she felt and owned with +gratitude, had assuaged her sorrows--had removed the sting from her +calamity, but had not rendered her one jot less sensible to the great +claims _he_ held, even now, on her affection. From the hour of Mildred's +decease up to the present moment, the widow had considered herself +strictly bound by the vow which she had proposed to take, and would have +taken, but for the dying man's earnest prohibition. Her conscience told +her that that prohibition, so far from setting her free from the +engagement, did but render her more liable to fulfill it. Her feelings +coincided with the judgment of her understanding. Both pronounced upon her +the self-inflicted verdict of eternal widowhood. How long this sentence +would have been respected, had Michael never interfered to argue its +repeal, it is impossible to say; as a general remark it may be stated, +that nothing is so delusive as the heroic declarations we make in seasons +of excitement--no resolution is in such danger of becoming forfeited as +that which Nature never sanctioned and which depends for its existence +only upon a state of feeling which every passing hour serves to enfeeble +and suppress. + +When Margaret reached her breakfast-room, she found a nosegay on the table, +and Mr Michael Allcraft's card. He had called to make enquiries at a very +early hour of the morning, and had signified his intention of returning on +affairs of business later in the day. Margaret blushed deeper than the +rose on which her eyes were bent, and took alarm; her first determination +was to be denied to him; the second--far more rational--to receive him as +the partner in the banking-house, to transact the necessary business, and +then dismiss him as a stranger, distantly, but most politely. This was as +it should be. Michael came. He was more bashful than he had been the night +before, and he stammered an apology for his father's absence without +venturing to look towards the individual he addressed. He drew two chairs +to the table--one for Margaret, another for himself. He placed them at a +distance from each other, and, taking some papers from his pocket with a +nervous hand, he sat down without a minute's loss of time to look over and +arrange them. Margaret was pleased with his behaviour; she took her seat +composedly, and waited for his statement. There were a few select and +favourite volumes on the table, and one of these the lady involuntarily +took up and ran through, whilst Michael still continued busy with his +documents, and apparently perplexed by them. Nothing can be more ill +advised than to disturb a man immersed in business with literary or any +other observations foreign to his subject. + +"You were speaking of Wordsworth yesterday evening, Mr Allcraft," said +Margaret suddenly--Allcraft pushed every paper from him in a paroxysm of +delight, and looked up--"and I think we were agreed in our opinion of that +great poet. What a sweet thing is this! Did you ever read it? It is the +sonnet on the Sonnet." + +"A gem, madam. None but he could have written it. The finest writer of +sonnets in the world has spoken the poem's praise with a tenderness and +pathos that are inimitable. There is the true philosophy of the heart in +all he says--a reconciliation of suffering humanity to its hard but +necessary lot. How exquisite and full of meaning are those lines-- + + 'Bees that soar for bloom, + High as the highest peak of Furness fells, + Will murmur by the hour in foxglove bells;' + +and then the touching close-- + + 'In truth, the prison unto which we doom + Ourselves, no prison is; and hence to me, + In sundry moods, 'twas pastime to be bound + Within the sonnets scanty plot of ground; + Pleased if some souls, for such there needs must be, + Who have felt the weight of too much liberty, + Should find brief solace there as I have found.' + +_The weight of too much liberty_. Ah, who has not experienced this!"--Mr +Michael Allcraft sighed profoundly. A slight pause ensued after this +sudden outbreak on the part of the junior partner, and then he proceeded, +his animated and handsome countenance glowing with expression as he spoke. + +"You are really to be envied, Mrs Mildred, with your cultivated tastes and +many acquirements. You can comply with every wish of your elegant and +well-informed mind. There is no barrier between you and a life of high +mental enjoyment. The source of half my happiness was cut off when I +exchanged my study for the desk. Men cease to live when what is falsely +called life begins with them." + +"We have all our work to do, and we should do it cheerfully. It is a +lesson taught me by my mother, and experience has shown it to be just." + +"Yes, madam, I grant you when your mother spoke. But it is not so now. +Mercantile occupation in England is not as it has been. I question whether +it will ever be again. It is not closely and essentially associated, as it +was of yore, with high principle and strict notions of honour. The simple +word of the English merchant has ceased to pass current through the world, +sacred as his oath--more binding than his bond; fair, manly dealing is at +an end; and he who would mount the ladder of fortune, must be prepared to +soil his hands if he hope to reach the top. Legitimate trading is no +longer profitable. Selfishness is arrayed against selfishness--cunning +against cunning--lying against lying--deception against deception. The +great rogue prospers--the honest man starves with his innate sense of +honour and integrity. Is it possible to enter cheerfully upon employment +which demands the sacrifice of soul even at the outset?" + +"You draw a dark picture, Mr Allcraft, slightly tinged, I trust, with the +poetic pencil. But be it as gloomy as you paint it, we have still religion +amongst us, and individuals who adapt their conduct to its principles"-- + +"Ay, madam," said Michael, quickly interrupting her, "I grant you all you +wish. If we did but adapt our conduct to the doctrines of the +Testament--to that unequalled humanizing moral code--if we were taught to +do this, and how to do it, we might hope for some amendment. But look at +the actual state of things. The religious world is but a portion of the +whole--a world within a world. Preachers of peace--men who arrogate to +themselves the divine right of inculcating truth, and who, if any, should +be free from the corruption that taints the social atmosphere,--such men +come before mankind already sick with warfare, widening the breaches, +subdividing our divisions. Are these men pure and single-minded? Are these +men free from the grasping itch that distinguishes our age? Is there no +such thing as trafficking with souls? Are chapels bought and sold only +with a spiritual view, or sometimes as men bargain for their theatres? Are +these men really messengers of peace, living in amity and union, acting +Christianity as well as preaching it? Ask the Papist, the Protestant, the +Independent, and the thousand sects who dwell apart as foes, and, whilst +they talk of love, are teaching mankind how to hate beneath the garb of +sanctimoniousness and hollow forms!" + +"You are eloquent, Mr Allcraft, in a bad cause." + +"Pardon me, Mrs Mildred," answered the passionate youth immediately, and +with much bitterness, "but in the next street you shall find one eloquent +in a worse. There is what some of us are pleased to call a popular +preacher there. I speak the plain and simple truth, and say he is a +hireling--a paid actor, without the credit that attaches to the open +exercise of an honourable profession. The owner of the chapel is a usurer, +or money-lender--no speculation answers so well as this snug property. The +ranter exhibits to his audience once a-week--the place is crowded when he +appears upon the stage--deserted when he is absent, and his place is +occupied by one who fears, perhaps, to tamper with his God--is humble, +honest, quiet. The crowds who throng to listen to the one, and will not +hear the other, profess to worship God in what they dare to call _his_ +sanctuary, and look with pity on such as have not courage to unite in all +their hideous mockery." + +Right or wrong, it was evident that Michael was in earnest. He spoke +warmly, but with a natural vehemence that by no means disfigured his +good-looking visage, now illuminated with unusual fire. In these days of +hollowness and hypocrisy, an ingenuous straightforward character is a +refreshing spectacle, and commands our admiration, be the principles it +represents just what they may. Hence, possibly, the unaffected pleasure +with which Margaret listened to her visitor whilst he declaimed against +men and things previously regarded by her with reverence and awe. He +certainly was winning on her esteem. Women are the strangest beings! Let +them guard against these natural and impetuous characters, say I. The +business papers lay very quietly on the table, whilst the conversation +flowed as easily into another channel. Poets and poetry were again the +subject of discourse; and here our Michael was certainly at home. The +displeasure which he had formerly exhibited passed like a cloud from his +brow; he grew elated, criticized writer after writer, recited compositions, +illustrated them with verses from the French and German; repeated his own +modest attempts at translation, gave his hearer an idea of Goethe, Uhland, +Wieland, and the smaller fry of German poets, and pursued his theme, in +short, until listener and reciter both were charmed and gratified beyond +expression--she, with his talents and his manners--he, with her patience +and attention, and, perhaps, her face and figure. + +Mr Allcraft, junior, after having proceeded in the above fashion for about +three hours, suddenly recollected that he had made a few appointments at +the banking-house. He looked at his watch, and discovered that he was just +two hours behind the latest. Both blushed, and looked ridiculous. He rose, +however, and took his leave, asking and receiving her permission to pay +another visit on the following day for the purpose of arranging their +eternal "business matters." Things take ugly shapes in the dark; a tree, +an object of grace add beauty in the meridian sun, is a giant spectre in +the gloom of night. Thoughts of death are bolder and more startling on the +midnight pillow than in the noonday walk. Our vices, which are the pastime +of the drawing-room, become the bugbears of the silent bedchamber. +Margaret, when she would have slept, was haunted by reproaches, which +waited until then to agitate and frighten her. A sense of impropriety and +sinfulness started in her bosom, and convicted her of an +offence--unpardonable in her sight--against the blessed memory of Mildred. +She could not deny it, Michael Allcraft had created on her heart a +favourable impression--one that must be obliterated at once and for ever, +if she hoped for happiness, for spiritual repose. She had listened to his +impassioned tones with real delight; had gazed upon his bright and beaming +countenance, until her eyes had stolen away the image, and fixed it on her +heart. Not a year had elapsed since the generous Mildred had been +committed to the earth, and could she so soon rebel--so easily forget his +princely conduct, and permit his picture to be supplanted in her breast? +Oh, impossible! It was a grievous fault. She acknowledged it with her warm +tears, and vowed (Margaret was disposed to vow--too readily on most +occasions) that she would rise reproved; repentant, and faithful to her +duty. Yes, and the earnest creature leapt from her couch, and prayed for +strength and help to resist the sore temptation; nor did she visit it +again until she felt the strong assurance that her victory was gained, and +her future peace secured. It is greatly to be feared that the majority of +persons who make resolutions, imagine that all their work is done the +instant the virtuous determination is formed. Now, the fact is, that the +real work is not even begun; and if exertion be suspended at the point at +which it is most needed, the resolute individual is in greater danger of +miscarriage than if he had not resolved at all, but had permitted things +to take their own course and natural direction. I do believe that Margaret +received Michael on the following day without deeming it in the slightest +degree incumbent upon her to act upon the offensive. She established +herself behind her decision and her prayers, and, relying upon such +fortifications, would not permit the idea of danger. A child might have +prophesied the result. Michael was always at her side--Margaret's +departure from the cottage was postponed day after day. The youth, who in +truth ardently and truly loved the gentle widow, had no joy away from her. +He supplied her with books, the choice of which did credit to his +refinement and good taste. Sometimes she perused them alone--sometimes he +read aloud to her. His own hand culled her flowers, and placed the +offering on her table. He met her in her walks--he taught her botany--he +sketched her favourite views--he was devoted to her, heart and soul. And +_she_--but they are sitting now together after a month's acquaintance, and +the reader shall judge of Margaret by what he sees. It is a day for lovers. +The earth is bathed in light, and southerly breezes, such as revive the +dying and cheer their heavy hours with promises of amendment and recovery, +temper the fire that streams from the unclouded sun. In the garden of the +cottage, in a secluded part of it, there is a summer-house--call it +beauty's bower--with Margaret within--and honeysuckle, clematis, and the +passion flower, twining and intertwining, kissing and embracing, around, +above, below, on every side. There they are sitting. He reads a book--and +a paragraph has touched a chord in one of the young hearts, to which the +other has responded. She moves her foot unconsciously along the floor, her +downcast eye as unconsciously following it. He dares to raise his look, +and with a palpitating heart, observes the colour in her cheek, which +tells him that the heart is vanquished, and the prize is won. He tries to +read again, but eyesight fails him, and his hand is shaking like a leaf. +His spirit expands, his heart grows confident and rash--he knows not what +he does--he cannot be held back, though death be punishment if he goes +on--he touches the soft hand, and in an instant, the drooping, almost +lifeless Margaret--drawn to his breast--fastens there, and sobs. She +whispers to him to be gone--her clammy hand is pressing him to stay. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A DEATH AND A DISCOVERY. + + +I am really inclined to believe, after all, that the best mode of finally +extinguishing sorrow for a dead husband, is to listen quietly to the +reasonable pleas of a live lover. After the scene to which it has been my +painful task to allude in the last chapter, it would have been the very +height of prudery on the part of the lady and gentleman, had they avoided +speaking on the subject in which they had both become so deeply interested. +They did not attempt it. The first excitement over, Margaret entreated her +lover to be gone. He did not move. She conjured him, as he valued her +esteem, to flee from that spot, and to return to it no more. He pressed +her hand to his devoted lips. "What would become of her?" she emphatically +exclaimed, clasping her taper fingers in distrust and doubt. "You will be +mine, dear Margaret," was the wild reply, and the taper fingers easily +relaxed--gave way--and got confounded with his own. After the lapse of +four-and-twenty hours, reason returned to both; not the cold and +calculating capacity that stands aloof from every suggestion of feeling, +but that more sensible and temporizing reason, that with the _will_ goes +hand-in-hand, and serves the blind one as a careful guide. They met--for +they had parted suddenly, abruptly--in the summer-house, by previous +appointment. Michael pleaded his affection--his absorbing and devoted love. +She has objections numerous--insuperable; they dwindle down to one or two, +and these as weak and easily overcome as woman's melting heart itself. +They meet to argue, and he stays to woo. They bandy words and arguments +for hours together, but all their logic fails in proof; whilst one long, +passionate, parting kiss, does more by way of demonstration than the art +and science ever yet effected. + +Abraham Allcraft, who had been busily engaged behind the scenes pulling +the wires and exhibiting the puppets, appeared upon the stage as soon as +the first act of the performance was at an end. His son had said nothing +to him, but Abraham had many eyes and ears, and saw and heard enough to +make him mad with villainous delight. The second year of widowhood had +commenced. Margaret had doffed her weeds. She openly received the man on +whom she had bestowed her heart. They were betrothed. The public voice +proclaimed young Allcraft the luckiest of men; the public soul envied and +hated him for his good fortune. Abraham could never leave the presence of +his future daughter--and in her presence could never cease to flatter her, +and to grow disgusting in his lavish praises of his son. + +"When I first saw you, my dear lady," said the greedy banker, "I had but +one thought on my mind that livelong day. 'What would I give,' said I, +'for such a daughter? what would I give if for my noble son I could secure +so sweet a wife? I never met his equal--I say it, madam--who, being his +father, should perhaps not say it; but a stranger can admire his lusty +form and figure, and his mind is just as vigorous and sprightly. A rare +youth, madam, I assure you--too disinterested, perhaps--too generous, too +confiding--too regardless of the value of that necessary evil--money; but +as he gets older he will be wiser. I do believe he would rather have died, +though he loved you so much--than asked you for your hand, if he had not +been thoroughly independent without it.'" + +"I can believe it, sir," sighed Margaret. + +"I know you can--bless you! You were born for one another. You are a sweet +pair. I know not which is prettiest--which I love the best. I love you +both better than any thing in the world--that is at present; for by-and-by, +you know, I may love something quite as well. Grandfathers are fond and +foolish creatures. But, as I was saying--his independence is so fine--so +like himself. Every thing I have will be his. He is my partner now--the +bank will be his own at my death, madam. A prosperous concern. Many of our +neighbours would like to have a finger in the pie; but Abraham Allcraft +knows what he is about. I'll not burden him with partners. He shall have +it all--every thing--he is worthy of it, if it were ten tines as much--he +can do as he likes--when I am cold and mouldering in the grave; but he +must not owe any thing to the lady of his heart, but his attention, and +his kindness, and his dear love. I know my spirited and high-minded boy." + +Yes, and he knew human nature generally--knew its weaknesses and +faults--and lived upon them. His words require but little explanation. The +wedding-day had not been fixed. The ceremony once over, and his mind +would be at rest. "It was a consummation devoutly to be wished." Why? He +knew well enough. Michael had proposed the day, but she asked for time, +and he refrained from further importunity. His love and delicacy forbade +his giving her one moment's pain. Abraham was less squeamish. His long +experience told him that some good reason must exist for such a wish to +dwell in the young bosom of the blooming widow. It was unnatural and +foreign to young blood. It could be nothing else than the fear of parting +with her wealth--of placing all at the command of one, whom, though she +loved, she did not know that she might trust. Satisfied of this, he +resolved immediately to calm her apprehensions, and to assure her that not +one farthing of her fortune should pass from her control. He spoke of his +son as a man of wealth already, too proud to accept another's gold, even +were he poor. Perhaps he was. Margaret at least believed so. Abraham did +not quit her till the marriage day was settled. + +He returned from the widow in ecstasy, and called his son to his own snug +private room. + +"I have done it for you, Michael," said the father, rubbing his grasping +hands--it's done--it's settled, lad. Two months' patience, and the jewel +is your own. Thank your father, on your knees--oh, lucky Mike! But mark me, +boy. I have had enough to do. My guess was right. She was afraid of us, +but her fears are over. Till I told her that the bank would make you rich +without her, there was no relenting, I assure you. + +"You said so, father, did you?" asked the son. + +"Yes--I did. Remember that Mike when I am dead--remember what I have done +for you--put a fortune in your pocket, and given you an angel--remember +that, Mike, and respect my memory. Don't let the world laugh at your +father, and call him ugly names. You can prevent it if you like. A son is +bound to assert his father's honour, living or dead, at any price." + +"He is, sir," answered Michael. + +"I knew, Mike, that would be your answer. You are a noble fellow--don't +forget me when I am under ground; not that I mean to die yet no--no--I +feel a score of years hanging about me still. I shall dandle a dozen of +your young ones before these arms are withered. I shall live to see you--a +peer of the realm. That money--with your talents, Mike, will command a +dukedom." + +"I am not ambitious, father." + +"You lie--you are, Mike. You have got your father's blood in you. You +would risk a great deal to be at the top of the tree; so would I. _Would_ +I? Haven't I? We shall see, Mike--we shall see. But it isn't wishing that +will do it. The clearest head--the best exertions must sometimes give in +to circumstances; but then, my boy, there is one comfort, those who come +after us can repair our faults, and profit by our experience. That thought +gives us courage, and makes us go forward. Don't forget, Mike, I say, what +I have done for you, when you are a rich and titled man!" + +"I hope, father, I shall never forget my duty." + +"I am sure you won't, Mike--and there's an end of it. Let us speak of +something else. Now, when you are married, boy, I shall often come to see +you. You'll be glad to have me, sha'n't you?" + +"Is it necessary to ask the question?" + +"No, it isn't, but I am happy to-night, and I am in a humour to talk and +dream. You must let me have my own room--and call it Abraham's _sanctum_. +A good name, eh? I will come when I like, and go when I like--eat, drink, +and be merry, Mike. How white with envy Old Varley will get, when he sees +me driving to business in my boy's carriage. A pretty match he made of +it--that son of his married the cook, and sent her to a boarding-school. +Stupid fool!" + +"Young Varley is a worthy fellow, father." + +"Can't be--can't be--worthy fellows don't marry cooks. But don't stop me +in my plans. I said you should give me my own room, Mike--and so you +shall--and every Wednesday shall be a holiday. We'll be in the country +together, and shoot and fish, and hunt, and do what every body else does. +We'll be great men, Mike, and we'll enjoy ourselves." + +And so the man went on, elevated by the circumstances of the day, and by +the prospects of the future, until he became intoxicated with his pleasure. +On the following morning he rose just as elated, and went to business like +a boy to play. About noon, he was talking to a farmer in his quiet back +room, endeavouring to drive a hard bargain with the man, whom a bad season +had already rendered poor. He spoke loud and fast--until, suddenly, a +spasm at the heart caught and stopped him. His eyes bolted from their +sockets--the parchment skin of his face grew livid and blue. He staggered +for an instant, and then dropped dead at the farmer's foot. The doctors +were not wrong when they pronounced the banker's heart diseased. A week +after this sudden and awful visitation, all that remained of Abraham +Allcraft was committed to the dust, and Michael discovered, to his +surprise and horror, that his father had died an insolvent and a beggar. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE END OF THE BEGINNING. + + +Abraham Allcraft, with all his base and sordid habits, was a beggar. His +gluttony had been too powerful for his judgment, and he had speculated +beyond all computation. His first hit had been received in connexion with +some extensive mines. At the outset they had promised to realize a +princely fortune. All the calculations had been made with care. The most +wary and experienced were eager for a share in the hoped for _el dorado_, +and Abraham was the greediest of any. In due time the bubble burst, +carrying with it into air poor Abraham's hard-earned fifty thousand pounds, +and his hearty execrations. Such a loss was not to be repaired by the +slow-healing process of legitimate business. Information reached him +respecting an extensive manufactory in Glasgow. Capabilities of turning +half a million per annum existed in the house, and were unfortunately +dormant simply because the moving principle was wanting. With a +comparatively moderate capital, what could not be effected? Ah, what? Had +you listened to the sanguine manufacturer your head would have grown giddy +with his magnificent proposals, as Allcraft's had, to the cost of his +unhappy self, and still unhappier clients. As acting is said to be not a +bare servile exhibition of nature, but rather an exalted and poetic +imitation of the same, so likewise are the pictures of houses, the +portraits of geniuses, _the representations of business facts_, and other +works of art which undertake to copy truth, but only embellish it and +render it most grateful to the eye. Nothing could _look_ more substantial +than the Glasgow manufactory on paper. A prettier painting never charmed +the eye of speculating amateur. Allcraft was caught. Ten thousand pounds, +which had been sent out to bring the fifty thousand back, never were seen +again. The manufacturer decamped--the rickety house gave way, and failed. +From this period Allcraft entangled himself more and more in schemes for +making money rapidly and by great strokes, and deeper he fell into the +slough of difficulty and danger. His troubles were commencing when he +heard of Mildred's serious illness, and the certainty of his speedy death. +With an affectionate solicitude, he mentally disposed of the splendid +fortune which the sick man could not possibly take with him, and contrived +a plan for making it fill up the gaps which misfortune had opened in the +banking-house. This was a new speculation, and promised more than all the +rest. Every energy was called forth--every faculty. His plans we already +know--his success has yet to be discovered. Abraham did not die intestate. +He left a will, bequeathing to Michael, his son and heir, a rotten firm, a +dishonourable name, a history of dishonesty, a nest of troubles. +Accompanying his will, there was a letter written in Allcraft's hand to +Michael, imploring the young man to act a child's part by his unhappy +parent. The elder one urged him by his love and gratitude to save his name +from the discredit which an exposure of his affairs must entail upon it; +and not only upon _it_, he added, but upon the living also. He had +procured for him, he said, an alliance which he would never have aspired +to--never would have obtained, had not his father laboured so hardly for +his boy's happiness and welfare. With management and care, and a gift from +his intended wife, nothing need be said--no exposure would take place--the +house would retain its high character, and in the course of a very few +years recover its solvency and prosperity. A fearful list of the +engagements was appended, and an account of every transaction in which the +deceased had been concerned. Michael read and read again every line and +word, and he stood thunderstruck at the disclosure. He raved against his +father, swore he would do nothing for the man who had so shamefully +involved himself; and, not content with his own ruin, had so wickedly +implicated him. This was the outbreak of the excited youth, but he sobered +down, and, in a few hours, the creature of impulse and impetuosity had +argued himself into the expediency of adapting his conduct to existing +circumstances--of stooping, in short, to all the selfishness and meanness +that actuate the most unfeeling and the least uncalculating of mortals. If +there were wanting, as, thank Heaven, there is not, one proof to +substantiate the fact, that no rule of life is safe and certain save that +made known in the translucent precepts of our God--no species of thought +free from hurt or danger--no action secure from ill or mischief, except +all thoughts and actions that have their origin in humble, loving, +_strict_ obedience to the pleasure and the will of Heaven; if any one +proof, I say, were wanting, it would be easy to discover it in the natural +perverse and inconsistent heart of man. A voice louder than the +preacher's--the voice of daily, hourly experience--proclaims the +melancholy fact, that no amount of high-wrought feeling, no loftiness of +speech, no intensity of expression, is a guarantee for purity of soul and +conduct, when obedience, simple, childlike obedience, has ceased to be the +spring of every motion and every aim. Reader, let us grapple with this +truth! We are servants here on earth, not masters! subjects, and not +legislators! Infants are we all in the arms of a just father! The command +is from elsewhere--_obedience_ is with us. If you would be happy, I charge +you, fling away the hope of finding security or rest in laws of your own +making in a system which you are pleased to call a code of +_honour_--honour that grows cowardlike and pale in the time of trial--that +shrinks in the path of duty--that slinks away unarmed and powerless, when +it should be nerved and ready for the righteous battle. Where are the +generous sentiments--the splendid outbursts--the fervid eloquence with +which Michael Allcraft was wont to greet the recital of any one short +history of oppression and dishonesty? Where are they now, in the first +moments of real danger, whilst his own soul is busy with designs as base +as they are cowardly? Nothing is easier for a loquacious person than to +talk. How glibly Michael could declaim against mankind before the +fascinating Margaret, we have seen; how feelingly against the degenerate +spirit of commerce, and the back-slidings of all professors of religion. +Surely, he who saw and so well depicted the vices of the age, was prepared +for adversity and its temptations! Not he, nor any man who prefers to be +the slave of impulse rather than the child of reason. After a day's +deliberation, he had resolved upon two things--first, not to expose +himself to the pity or derision of men, as it might chance to be, by +proclaiming the insolvency of his deceased father and secondly, not to +risk the loss of Margaret, by acknowledging himself to be a beggar. His +father had told him--he remembered the words well that she was induced to +name the wedding-day, only upon receiving the assurance of his +independence. Not to undeceive her now, would be to wed her under false +pretences; but to free her from deception, would be to free her from her +plighted word, and this his sense of honour would not let him do. I will +not say that Michael grossly and unfeelingly proposed to circumvent--to +cheat and rob the luckless Margaret; or that his conscience, that mighty +law unto itself, did not wince before it held its peace. There were +strugglings and entreaties, and patchings up, and excuses, and all the +appliances which precede the commission of a sinful act. Reasons for +honesty and disinterestedness were converted for the occasion into +justifications of falsehood and artifice. A paltry regard for himself and +his own interests was bribed to take the shape of filial duty and +affection. The result of all his cogitation and contrivances was one great +plan. He would not take from his Margaret's fortune. No, under existing +circumstances it would be wrong, unpardonable; but at the same time he was +bound to protect his father's reputation. The engagement with the widow +must go on. He could not yield the prize; life without her would not be +worth the having. What was to be done, then? Why, to wed, and to secure +the maintenance of the firm by means which were at his command. Once +married to the opulent Mrs Mildred, and nothing would be easier than to +obtain men of the first consideration in the county to take a share of his +responsibilities. Twenty, whom he could name, would jump at the +opportunity and the offer. The house stood already high in the opinion of +the world. What would it be with the superadded wealth of the magnificent +widow? The private debts of his father were a secret. His parsimonious +habits had left upon the minds of people a vague and shadowy notion of +surpassing riches; Had he not been rich beyond men's calculation, he would +not have ventured to live so meanly. Michael derived support from the +general belief, and resolved most secularly to take a full advantage of it. +If he could but procure one or two monied men as partners in the house, +the thing was settled. Matters would be snug--the property secured. The +business must increase. The profits would enable him in time to pay off +his father's liabilities, and if, in the meanwhile, it should be deemed +expedient to borrow from his wife, he might do so safely, satisfied that +he could repay the loan, at length, with interest. Such was the outline of +Michael Allcraft's scheme. His spirit was quiet as soon as it was +concocted, and he reposed upon it for a season as tired men sleep soundly +on a bed of straw. + +Whilst the bridegroom was distressed with his peculiar grievances, the +lovely bride was doomed to submit to annoyances scarcely less painful. Her +late husband's friend, Doctor Wilford, who had been abroad for many months, +suddenly returned home, and, in fulfilment of Mildred's dying wish, +repaired without delay to the residence of his widow. Wilford had seen a +great deal of the world. He did not expect to find the bereaved one +inconsolable, but he was certainly staggered to behold her busy in +preparations for a second marriage. Indignant at what he conceived to be +an affront upon the memory of his friend, he argued and remonstrated +against her indecent haste, and besought her to postpone the unseemly +union. Roused by all he saw, the faithful friend spoke warmly on the +deceased's behalf, and painted in the strongest colours he could employ, +the enormity of her transgression. Now Margaret loved Michael as she had +never loved before. Slander could not open its lying lips to speak one +word against the esteem and gratitude she had ever entertained for Mildred +but esteem and gratitude--I appeal to the best, the most virtuous and +moral of my readers--cannot put out the fire that nature kindles in the +adoring heart of woman. Her error was not that she loved Michael more, but +that she had loved Mildred less. Ambition, if it usurp the rights of love, +must look for all the punishment that love inflicts. Sooner or later it +must come. "Who are you?" enquires the little god of the greater god, +ambition, "that you should march into my realms, and create rebellion +there? Wait but a little." Short was the interval between ambition's crime +and love's revenge with our poor Margaret. Wilford might never know how +cruelly his bitter words wrung her smitten soul. She did not answer him. +Paler she grew with every reproach--deeper was the self-conviction with +every angry syllable. She wept until he left her, and then she wrote to +Michael. As matters stood, and with their present understanding--he was +perhaps her best adviser. Wilford called to see her on the following +day--but Margaret's door was shut against him, and she beheld her +husband's friend no more. + +And the blissful day came on--slowly, at last, to the happy lovers--for +happy they were in each other's sight, and in their passionate attachment. +And the blissful day arrived. Michael led her to the altar. A hundred +curious eyes looked on, admired, and praised, and envied. He might be +proud of his possession, were she unendowed with any thing but that +incomparable, unfading loveliness. And he, with his young and vigorous +form, was he not made for that rare plant to clasp and hang upon? "Heaven +bless them both!" So said the multitude, and so say I, although I scarce +can hope it; for who shall dare to think that Heaven will grant its +benediction on a compact steeped in earthliness, and formed without one +heavenward view! + + * * * * * + + + + +THE WRONGS OF WOMEN. + + +I knew, my dear Eusebius, how delighted you would be with that paper in +Maga on "Woman's Rights." It was balm to your Quixotic spirit. Though your +limbs are a little rheumatic, and you do not so often as you were wont, +when your hair was black as raven's wing, raise your hands to take down +the armour that you have long since hung up, you know and feel with pride +that it has been charmed by due night-watchings, and will yet serve many a +good turn, should occasion require your service for woman in danger. Then, +indeed, would you buckle on in defence of all or any that ever did, or did +not, "buckle to." Then would come a happy cure to aching bones--made whole +with honourable bruises, oblivious of pain, the "_bruchia livida_," +lithesome and triumphant. Your devotion to the sex has been seasoned under +burning sun and winter frost, and has yet vital heat against icy age, come +on fast as it will. You would not chill, Eusebius, though you were hours +under a pump in a November night, and lusty arms at work watering your +tender passion. + +I know you. Rebecca and her daughters had a good word, a soft word from +you, till you found out their beards. No mercy with them after that with +you--the cowardly disguise--pike for pike was the cry. It was laughable to +see you, and to hear you, as you brought a battery that could never reach +them--fired upon them the reproach of Diogenes to an effeminate--"If he +was offended with nature for making him a man, and not a woman;" and the +affirmation of the Pedasians, from your friend Herodotus, that, whenever +any calamity befell them, a prodigious beard grew on the chin of the +priestess of Minerva. You ever thought a man in woman's disguise a +profanation--a woman in man's a horror. The fair sex were never, in your +eyes, the weaker and the worse; how oft have you delighted in their +outward grace and moral purity, contrasting them with gross man, +gloriously turning the argument in their favour by your new +emphasis--"Give every _man_ his deserts, and who shall escape +whipping"--satisfying yourself, and every one else, that good, true, +woman-loving Shakspeare must have meant the passage so to be read. And do +you remember a whole afternoon maintaining, that the well-known song of +"Billy Taylor" was a serious, true, good, epic poem, in eulogy of the +exploits of a glorious woman, and in no way ridiculous to those whose +language it spoke; and when we all gave it against you, how you turned +round upon the poor author, and said he ought to have the bastinado at the +soles of his feet? + +And if an occasional disappointment, a small delinquency in some feminine +character did now and then happen, and a little sly satire would force its +way, quietly too, out of the sides of your mouth, how happily would you +instantly disown it, fling it from you as a thing not yours, then catch at +it, and sport with it as if you could afford to sport with it, and thereby +show it was no serious truth, and pass it off with the passage from +Dryden-- + + "Madam, these words are chanticleer's, not mine; + I honour dames, and think their sex divine!" + +No human being ever collected so many of the good sayings and doings of +women as you, Eusebius. I am not, then, surprised that, having read the +"Rights of Women," you are come to the determination to take up "The +Wrongs of Women." The wrongs of women, alas! + + ----"Adeo sunt multa loquacem + Delassare valent Fabium." + +And so you write to me, to supply you with some sketches from nature, +instances of the "Wrongs of Woman." Ah me! Does not this earth teem with +them--the autumnal winds moan with them? The miseries want a good hurricane +to sweep them off the land, and the dwellings the "foul fiend" hath +contaminated. Man's doing, and woman's suffering, and thence even arises +the beauty of loveliness--woman's patience. In the very palpable darkness +besetting the ways of domestic life, woman's virtue walks forth loveliest-- + + "Virtue gives herself light, through darkness for to wade." + +The gentle Spenser, did he not love woman's virtue, and weep for her +wrongs? You, Eusebius, were wont ever to quote his tender lament:-- + + "Naught is there under heaven's wide hollowness + That moves more clear compassion of mind + Than beauty brought to unworthy wretchedness + By envy's frowns or fortune's freaks unkind. + I, whether lately through her brightness blind, + Or through allegiance and fast fealty, + Which _I do owe unto all womankind_, + Feel my heart pierced with so great agony, + When such I see, that all for pity I could die." + +This melting mood will not long suit your mercurial spirit. You used to +say that the fairies were all, in common belief, creatures feminine, hence +deservedly called "good people,"--that they made the country merry, and +kept clowns in awe, and were better for the people's morals than a justice +of the peace. They tamed the savage, and made him yield, and bow before +feminine feet. Sweet were they that hallowed the brown hills, and left +tokens of their visits, blessing all seasons to the rustic's ear, +whispering therein softly at nightfall-- + + "Go, take a wife unto thy arms, and see + Winter and brownie-hills shall have a charm for thee." + +Such was your talk, Eusebius, passing off your discontent of things that +are, into your inward ideal, rejoicing in things unreal, breaking out into +your wildest paradox--"What is the world the better for all its boasted +truth! It has belied man's better nature. Faith, trust, belief, is the +better part of him, the spiritual of man; and who shall dare to say that +its creations, visible, or invisible, all felt, acknowledged as vital +things, are not realities?" All this--in your contempt for beadles and +tip-staves, even overseers and churchwardens, and all subdividing +machinery of country government, that, when it came in and fairly +established itself, drove away the "good people," and with them merriment +and love, and sweet fear, from off the earth--that twenty wheedling, +flattering Autolycuses did not do half the hurt to morals or manners that +one grim-visaged justice did--the curmudgeon, you called him, Eusebius, +that would, were they now on earth, and sleeping all lovely with their +pearly arms together, locked in leafy bower, have Cupid and Psyche taken +up under the Vagrant Act, or have them lodged in a "Union House" to be +disunited. You thought the superstition of the world as it was, far above +the knowledge it now brags of. You admired the Saxons and Danes in their +veneration of the predictions of old women, whom the after ungallantry of +a hard age would have burned for witches. Marriage act and poor act have, +as you believe, extinguished the holy light of Hymen's torch, and +re-lighted it with Lucifer matches in Register offices; and out it soon +goes, leaving worse than Egyptian darkness in the dwellings of the +poor--the smell of its brimstone indicative of its origin, and ominous of +its ending. + +I verily believe, Eusebius, you would have spared Don Quixote's whole +library, and have preferred committing the curate to the flames. Your +dreams, even your day-dreams, have hurried you ever far off and away from +the beaten turnpike-road of life, through forests of enchantment, to +rescue beauty which you never saw, from knight-begirt and dragon-guarded +castles; and little thankful have you been when you have opened your eyes +awake in peace to the cold light of our misnamed utilitarian day, and +found all your enchantment broken, the knights discomfited, the dragon +killed, the drawbridge broken down, and the ladies free--all without your +help; and then, when you have gone forth, and in lieu of some rescued +paragon of her sex, you have met but the squire's daughter, in her trim +bonnet, tripping with her trumpery to set up her fancy-shop in Vanity-Fair, +for fops to stare at through their glasses, your imagination has felt the +shock, and incredulous of the improvement in manners and morals, and +overlooking all advancement of knowledge, all the advantages of their real +liberty, momentarily have you wished them all shut up in castles, or in +nunneries, to be the more adored till they may chance to be rescued. But +soon would the fit go off--and the first sweet, innocent, lovely smile +that greeted you, restored your gentleness, and added to your stock of +love. And once, when some parish shame was talked of, you never would +believe it common, and blamed the Overseer for bringing it to light--and +vindicated the sex by quoting from Pennant, how St Werberg lived +immaculate with her husband Astardus, copying her aunt, the great +Ethelreda, who lived for three years with not less purity with her good man +Tonberetus, and for twelve with her second husband the pious Prince Egfrid: +and the churchwarden left the vestry, lifting up his hands, and +saying--"Poor gentleman!"--and you laughed as if you had never laughed +before, when you heard it, and heartily shook him by the hand to convince +him you were in your senses; which action he nevertheless put to the +credit of the soundness of your heart, and not a bit to that of your head. +You saw it--and immediately, with a trifling flaw in the application quite +worthy yourself, reminded me of a passage in a letter from Lord +Bolingbroke to Swift, that "The truest reflection, and at the same time +the bitterest satire, which can be made on the present age, is this, that +to think as you think, will make a man pass for romantic. Sincerity, +constancy, tenderness, are rarely to be found. They are so much out of use, +that the man of mode imagines them to be out of nature." So insane and +romantic, you added, are synonymous terms to this incredulous, this +matter-of-fact world, that, like the unbelieving Thomas, trusts in, +believes in nothing that it does not touch and handle. Your partiality for +days of chivalry blinds you a little. The men were splendid--women shone +with their reflected splendour--you see them through an illuminated haze, +and, as you were not behind the curtain, imagine their minds as cultivated +as their beauty was believed to be great. The mantle of chivalry hid all +the wrongs, but the particular ones from which they rescued them. If the +men are worse, our women are far better--more like those noble Roman +ladies, intellectual and high-minded, whom you have ever esteemed the +worthiest of history. Then women were valued. Valerius Maximus gives the +reason why women had the upper-hand. After the mother of Coriolanus and +other Roman women had preserved their country, how could the senate reward +them?--"Sanxit uti foeminis semita viri cederent--permisit quoque his +purpurea veste et aureis uti segmentis." It was sanctioned by the senate, +you perceive, that men should yield the wall to the sex, in honour, and +that they should be allowed the distinction of purple vests and golden +borders--privileges the female world still enjoy. Yet in times you love to +applaud, the paltry interference of men would have curtailed one of these +privileges. For a mandate was issued by the papal legate in Germany in the +14th century, decreeing, that "the apparel of women, which ought to be +consistent with modesty, but now, through their foolishness, is +degenerated into wantonness and extravagance, more particularly the +immoderate length of their petticoats, with which they sweep the ground, +be restrained to a moderate fashion, agreeably to the decency of the sex, +under pain of the sentence of excommunication." "Velamina etiam mulierum, +quae ad verecundiam designandam eis sunt concessa, sed nunc, per +insipientiam earum, in lasciviam et luxuriam excreverunt, it immoderata +longitudo superpelliccorum quibus pulverem trahunt, ad moderatum usum, +sicut decet verecundiam sexus, per excommunicationis sententiam +cohibeantur." + +Excommunication, indeed! Not even the church could have carried on that +war long. Every word of this marks the degradation to which those monkish +times would have made the sex submit, "velamina _concessa_ insipientiam +earum!" and pretty well for men of the cloth of that day's make, to speak +of women's "lasciviam et luxuriam," when, perhaps, the hypocritical +mandate arose from nothing but a desire in the coelibatists themselves to +get a sly peep at the neatly turned feet and ankles of the women. One +would almost think the old nursery song of + + --"The beggar whose name was Stout, + He cut her petticoats all round about, + He cut her petticoats far above her knee, &c.," + +was written to perpetuate the mandate. Certainly a "Stout beggar was the +Papal church." "Consistent with modesty," "sicut decet verecundiam sexus;" +nothing can beat that bare-faced hypocrisy. So when afterwards the sex +shortened their petticoats, other Simon Pures start up and put them in the +stocks for immodesty. Poor women! Here was a wrong, Eusebius. Long or +short, they were equally immodest. Immodest, indeed! Nature has clad them +with modesty and temperance--their natural habit--other garment is +conventional. I admire what Oelian says of Phocion's wife. + + "[Greek: Empeicheto de prote te sophrosune, + deuterois ge men tois parousi.]" + +"She first arrayed herself in temperance, and then put on what was +necessary." Every seed of beauty is sown by modesty. It is woman's glory, +"[Greek: he gar aidos anthos epispeirei]" says Clearchus in his first +book of Erotics, quoting from Lycophronides. The appointment of +magistrates at Athens, [Greek: gunaikokosmoi], to regulate the dress of +women, was a great infringement on their rights--the origin of +men-milliners. You are one, Eusebius, who + + "Had rather hear the tedious tales + Of Hollingshed, than any thing that trenches + On love." + +I remember how, in contempt of the story of the Ephesian matron, you had +your Petronius interleaved, and filled it with anecdotes of noble virtue, +till the comment far exceeded the text--then, finding your excellent women +in but bad company, you tore out the text of Petronius, and committed it +to the flames. Preserve your precious catalogue of female worthies--often +have you lamented that of Hesiod was lost, of all the [Greek: Hoiai +megalai] Alcmena alone remaining, and you will not make much boast of her. +How far back would you go for the wrongs of women--do you intend to write +a library--a library in a series of novels in three volumes--what are all +that are published but "wrongs of women?" Could but the Lion have written! +Books have been written by men, and be sure they have spared +themselves--and yet what a catalogue of wrongs we have from the earliest +date! Even the capture of Helen was not with her consent; and how lovely +she is! and how indicative is that wondrous history of a high chivalrous +spirit and admiration of woman in those days! Old Priam and all his aged +council pay her reverence. Menelaus is the only one of the Grecian heroes +that had no other wife or mistress--here was devotion and constancy! +Andromache has been, and ever will be, the pride of the world. Yet the +less refined dramatist has told of her wrongs; for he puts into her mouth +a dutiful acquiescence in the gallantries of Hector. Little can be said +for the men. Poor old Priam we must pardon, if Hecuba could and did; for +Priam told her that he had nineteen children by her, and many others by +the concubines in his palace. He had enough, too, upon his hands--yet +found time for all things--"[Greek: hore eran, hore de gamein, hore de +pepausthai]." How lovely is Penelope, and how great her wrongs!--and the +lovely Nausicaa complains of scandal. But great must have been the +deference paid to women; for Nausicaa plainly tells Ulysses, that her +mother is every thing and every body. People have drawn a very absurd +inference to the contrary, from the fact of the princess washing the +clothes. That operation may have been as fashionable then as worsted work +now, and clothes then were not what clothes are now--there were no +Manchesters, and those things were rare and precious, handed down to +generations, and given as presents of honour. You have shed tears over the +beautiful, noble-hearted Iphigenia--wronged even to death. Glorious was +the age that could find an Alcestis to suffer her great wrong! Such women +honour human nature, and make man himself better. Oh, how infinitely less +selfish are they than we are--confiding, trusting--with a fortitude for +every sacrifice! We have no trust like theirs, no confidence--are jealous, +suspicious, even on the wedding-day. You quite roared with delight when +you heard of a fool, who, mistrusting himself and his bride, tried his +fortune after the fashion of the Sortes Virgilianae, by dipping into +Shakspeare on his wedding-day and finding + + "Not poppy nor mandragora, + Nor all the drowsy syrups of the East, + Shall ever med'cine to thee that sweet sleep + Which thou ow'dst yesterday." + +You have rather puzzled me, Eusebius, by giving me so wide a field of +enquiry--woman's wrongs; of what kind--of ancient or modern times--general +or particular? You should have arranged your objects. It is you that are +going to write this "Family Library," not I. For my own part, I should +have been contented in walking into the next village, an unexpected guest, +to the houses of rich and poor--do you think you would have wanted +materials? But forewarned is forearmed--and few will "tell the secrets of +their prison-house," if you take them with a purpose. On your account, in +this matter, I have written to six ladies of my acquaintance, three +married and three single. Two of the married have replied that they have +nothing to complain of--not a wrong. The third bids me ask her husband. So +I put her down as ambiguous--perhaps she wishes to give him a hint through +me; I am wise, and shall hold my tongue. Of the unmarried, one says she +has received no wrong, but fears she may have inflicted some--another, +that as she is going to be married on Monday, she cannot conceive a wrong, +and cannot possibly reply till after the honeymoon. The third replies, +that it is _very wrong_ in me to ask her. But stay a moment--here is a +quarrel going on--two women and a man--we may pick up something. "Rat +thee, Jahn," says a stout jade, with her arm out and her fist almost in +Jahn's face, "I wish I were a man--I'd gie it to thee!" She evidently +thinks it a wrong that she was born a woman--and upon my word, by that +brawny arm, and those masculine features, there does appear to have been a +mistake in it. If you go to books--I know your learning--you will revert +to your favourite classical authorities. Helen of Troy calls herself by a +sad name, "[Greek: kuon hos eimi]," dog (feminine) as I am--her wrongs +must, therefore, go to no account. I know but of one who really takes it +in hand to catalogue them, and she is Medea. "We women," says she, "are +the most wretched of living creatures." For first--of women--she must buy +her husband, pay for him with all she has--secondly, when she has bought +him, she has bought a master, one to lord it over her very +person--thirdly, the danger of buying a bad one--fourthly, that divorce is +not creditable--fifthly, that she ought to be a prophetess, and is not to +know what sort of a man he is to whose house she is to go, where all is +strange to her--sixthly, that if she does not like her home, she must not +leave it, nor look out for sympathising friends--seventhly, that she must +have the pains and troubles of bearing children--eighthly, she gives up +country, home, parents, friends, for one husband--and perhaps a bad one. +So much for Medea and her list; had she lived in modern times it might +have been longer; but she was of too bold a spirit to enter into minutiae. +Hers, too, are the wrongs of married life. Nor on this point the wise son +of Sophroniscus makes the man the sufferer. "Neither," he says, "can he +who marries a wife tell if he shall have cause to rejoice thereat." He had +most probably at that moment Xantippe in his eye. You remember how +pleasantly Addison, in the _Spectator_, tells the story of a colony of +women, who, disgusted with their wrongs, had separated themselves from the +men, and set up a government of their own. That there was a fierce war +between them and the men--that there was a truce to bury the dead on +either side--that the prudent male general contrived that the truce should +be prolonged; and during the truce both armies had friendly +intercourse--on some pretence or other the truce was still lengthened, +till there was not one woman in a condition, or with an inclination, to +take up her wrongs--not one woman was any longer a fighting man--they saw +their errors--they did not, as the fable says we all do, cast the burden +of their own faults behind them, but bravely carried them before +them--made peace, and were righted. + +We would not, Eusebius, have all their wrongs righted--so lovely is the +moral beauty of their wonderful patience in enduring them. What--if they +were in a condition to legislate and impose upon us some of their burdens, +or divide them with us? What man of your acquaintance could turn +dry-nurse--tend even his own babes twelve hours out of the twenty-four? + +A pretty head-nurse would my Eusebius make in an orphan asylum. I should +like to see you with twins in your arms, both crying into your sensitive +ears, and you utterly ignorant of their wants and language. And I do think +your condition will be almost as bad, if you publish your catalogue of +wrongs in your own name. By all means preserve an incognito. You will be +besieged with wrongs--will be the only "Defender of the Faithful"--not +knight-_errant_, for you may stay at home, and all will come to you for +redress. You will be like the author, or rather translator, of the Arabian +Tales, whose window was nightly assailed, and slumber broken in upon, by +successive troops of children, crying "Monsieur Galland if you are not +asleep, get up--come and tell us one of those pretty stories." Keep your +secret. Now, the mention of the Arabian Tales reminds me of +Sinbad--_there_ is a true picture of man's cowardice; what loathsome holes +did he not creep into to make his escape when the wife of his bosom was +sick, and he understood the law that he was to be buried with her. It is +all very well, in the sick chamber, for the husband to say to his +departing partner for life--"Wait, my dearest--I will go with you." She is +sure, as La Fontaine says in his satire, reversing the case, "to take the +journey alone." This is all talk on the man's side--but see what the +master of the slave woman has actually imposed upon her as a law. The +Hindoo widow ascends the funeral pile, and is burnt rejoicing. What male +creature ever thought of enduring this for his wife?--this wrong, for it +is a grievous wrong thus to tempt her superior fortitude. It was not +without reason that, in the heathen mythology, (and it shows the great +advancement of civilization when and wherever it was conceived,) were +deified all great and noble qualities in the image of the sex. What are +Juno, Minerva, and Venus, but acknowledgments of the strength, wisdom, +fortitude, beauty, and love, of woman, while their male deities have but +borrowed attributes and ambiguous characters? It is a deference--perhaps +unintentionally, unconsciously--paid to the sex, that in every language +the soul itself, and all its noblest virtues, and the personification of +all virtue, are feminine. + +I supposed woman the legislatrix--what reason have we to say she would +enact a wrong? The story of the mother of Papirius is not against her; for +in that case there was only a choice of evils. It is from Aulus Gellius, +as having been told and written by M. Cato in the oration which he made to +the soldiers against Galba. The mother of young Papirius, who had +accompanied his father into the senate-house, as was usual formerly for +sons to do who had taken the _toga praetexta_, enquired of her son what +the senate had been doing; the youth replied, that he had been enjoined +silence. This answer made her the more importunate and he adopted this +humorous fallacy--that it had been discussed in the senate which would be +most beneficial to the state, for one man to have two wives, or for one +woman to have two husbands? Hearing this, she left the house in no small +trepidation, and went to tell other matrons what she had heard. The next +day a troop of matrons went to the senate-house, and implored, with tears +in their eyes, that one woman might be suffered to have two husbands, +rather than one man have two wives. The senate honoured the young Papirius +with a special law in his favour; they should rather have conferred honour +upon his mother and the other matrons for their disinterested virtue, who +were content to submit themselves to so great an evil, I may say _wrong_, +as to have imposed upon them two masters instead of one. Not that you, +Eusebius, ever entertained an idea that women are wronged by not being +admitted to a share of legislation. I will not suppose you to be that +liberal fool. But you are aware that such a scheme has been, and is still +entertained. I believe there is a Miss Somebody now going about our towns, +lecturing on the subject, and she is probably worthy to be one of the +company of the "Ecclesiagusae." This idea is not new. The other day I hit +upon a letter in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for the year 1740 on the +subject, by which you will see there was some amusement about it a century +ago:-- + + "TO CALEB D'ANVERS, Esq. + +"Sir,--I am a mournful relict of _five husbands_, and the happy mother of +_twenty-seven_ children, the tender pledges of our chaste embraces. Had +_old Rome_, instead of _England_, been the place of my nativity and abode, +what honours might I not have expected to my person, and immunities to my +fortune? But I need not tell you that virtue of this sort meets with no +encouragement in our northern climate. _Children_, instead of freeing us +from _taxes_ increase the weight of them, and matrimony is become the jest +of every coxcomb. Nor could I allow, till very lately, that an old +bachelor, as you profess yourself to be, had any just pretence to be +called a patriot. Don't think that I mean to offer myself to you; for I +assure you that I have refused very advantageous proposals since the +decease of my _last poor spouse_, who hath been dead near _five months_. I +have no design at present of altering my condition again. Few women are so +happy as to meet with _five good husbands_, and therefore I should be glad +to devote the remaining part of my life to the good of my country and +family, in a more public and active station than that of a _wife_, +according to your late scheme for _a septennial administration of women_. +But I think you ought to have enforced your project with some instances of +_illustrious females_, who have appeared in the foremost classes of life, +not only for heroic valour, but likewise for several branches of learning, +wisdom, and policy--such as _Joan of Naples_, the _Maid of Orleans, +Catherine de Medicis, Margaret of Mountfort, Madame Dacier, Mrs Behn, Mrs +Manly, Mrs Stephens_, Doctor of Physic, _Mrs Mapp_, Surgeon, the valiant +_Mrs Ross_, Dragoon, and the learned _Mrs Osborne_, Politician. I had +almost forgot the present Queen of _Spain_, who hath not only an absolute +ascendant over the counsels of her _husband_, but hath often outwitted the +_greatest statesmen_, as they fancy themselves, of _another kingdom_, +which hath already felt the effects of her _petticoat government_. + +"If we look back into history, a thousand more instances might be brought +of the same kind; but I think those already mentioned sufficient to prove, +that the best capacities of _our sex_ are by no means inferior to the best +capacities _of yours_; and the triflers of _either sex_ are not designed +to be the subject of this letter. But much as _our sex_ are obliged to you, +in general, for your proposal, I have one material objection against it; +for I think you have carried the point a little too far, by excluding _all +males_ from the enjoyment of any office, dignity, or employment; for as +they have long engrossed the public administration of the government to +themselves, (a few women only excepted,) I am apprehensive that they will +be loth to part with it, and that if they give us power for _seven years_, +it will be very difficult to get it out of our hands again. I have, +therefore, thought of the following expedient, which will almost answer +the same purpose--viz. that all power, both _legislative and executive, +ecclesiastical and civil_, may be divided among _both sexes_; and that +they may be equally capable of sitting in Parliament. Is it not absurd +that _women_ in _England_ should be capable of inheriting _the crown_, and +yet not intrusted with the representation of a _little borough_, or so +much as allowed to vote for a representative? Is this consistent with the +rights of a _people_, which certainly includes both _men and women_, +though the latter have been generally deprived of their privileges in all +countries? I don't mean that the people should be obliged to choose +_women_ only, as I said before, for that would be equally hard upon the +_men_--but that the _electors_ should be left at their own liberty; for it +is certainly a restraint upon the _freedom of elections_, that whatever +regard a _corporation_ may have for a _man of quality's family_, if he +happened to have no _sons_ or _brothers_, they cannot testify their esteem +for it by choosing his _daughters_ or _sisters_. I am for no restraint +upon the _members of either sex_; for if the honour, integrity, or great +capacity of a _fine lady_ should recommend her to the intimacy or +confidence of a _Prime Minister_, in consequence of which he should get +her a _place_--would it not be very hard that this very act of mutual +friendship must render her incapable of doing either _him_ or _her +country_ any real service in the _senate-house_? Is _freedom_ consistent +with _restraint_? or can we propose to serve our country by obstructing +the natural operations of _love and gratitude_? I would not be understood +to propose increasing the number of members. Let every county or +corporation choose _a man or a woman_, as they think proper; and if either +of the members should be married, let it be in the power of the +_constituents_ to return both _husband and wife as one member_, but not to +sit at the same time; from whence would accrue great strength to our +constitution, by having the _house_ well attended, without the present +disagreeable method of _frequent calls_, and putting several _members_ to +the expense and disgrace of being brought up to town in the custody of +_messengers_; for if a _country gentleman_ should like _fox-hunting_, or +any other _rural diversion_, better than attending his _duty in +Parliament_, let him send up his _wife_. Or if an _officer in the army_ +should be obliged to be at his post in _Ireland_, the _Mediterranean_, the +_West Indies_, or aboard the _fleet_, a thousand leagues off, or upon any +_public embassy_, if his _wife_ should happen to be chosen, never fear +that she would do the _nation's business_, full as well. Besides, in +several affairs of great consequence, the resolutions might perhaps be +much more agreeable to the tenderness of _our sex_ than the roughness of +_yours_. As, for instance, it hath often been thought unnatural for +_soldiers_ to promote _peace_. When a debate, therefore, of that sort +should be to come on, if the _soldiers_ staid at home, and their _wives_ +attended, it would very well become the softness of _the female sex_ to +show a regard for their _husbands_; especially if they should be such +_pretty, smart, young fellows_, as make a most considerable figure at a +review." The lady writer goes on at some length, that she has a borough of +her own, and will be certainly returned whether she marries or not, and +will act with inflexible zeal, naively adding--"If, therefore, I should +hereafter be put into a _considerable employment_, and _fourteen of my +sons_ be advanced in the _army_; should _the ministry_ provide for the +_other seven_ in the _Church_, _Excise Office_, or _Exchequer_; and my +poor _girls_, who are but tender infants at the boarding-school, should +have places given to them in the _Customs_, which they might officiate by +_deputy_--don't imagine that I am under any _undue influence_ if I should +happen always to vote with the _Ministry_." We do not quote further. The +letter is signed "MARGERY WELDONE." + +It is needless to tell you the wrong done to the sex by the rigour of +modern law. You have stamped the foot at it often enough. I mean, not so +much the separation in the whimsically-called _union_ houses, for, as +husbands go, they may have little to complain of on that score; but that +dire injustice which throws upon woman the whole penalty of a mutual crime, +of which the instigator is always man. Then, is she not injured by the +legislative removal of the sanctity of marriage, by which the man is less +bound to her--thinks less of the bond--the _vinculum matrimoniae_ being, +in his mind, one of straw, to her one of iron. And here, Eusebius, a +difficulty presents itself which I do not remember ever to have seen met, +no, nor even noticed. How can a court _ecclesiastical_, which from its +very constitution and formula of marriage which it receives and +sanctions--that marriage is a Divine institution, that man shall not put +asunder those by this matrimony made one--I ask, how can such a court deal +with cases where the people have not been put together by the only bond of +matrimony which the church can allow? But these are painful subjects, and +I feel myself wading in deeper water than will be good for one who can't +swim without corks, though he be _levior cortice_; and lighter than cork, +too, will be the obligation on the man's side, who has taken trusting +woman to one of these registry houses, leaped over a broomstick and called +it a marriage. It will soon come to the truth of the old saying, "The +first month is the honeymoon or smick-smack, the second is hither and +thither; the third is thwick-thwack; the fourth, the devil take them that +brought thee and I together." + + "Love, light as air, at sight of _human_ ties, + Spreads his light wings, and in a moment flies." + +The great walking monster that does the great wrong to women is, depend +upon it, Eusebius, the "brute of a husband," called, by courtesy, in +higher life, "_Sir_ John Brute." Horace says wittily, that Venus puts +together discordant persons and minds with a bitter joke, "saevo mittere +cum joco;" it begins a jest, and ends a _crying_ evil. We name the thing +that should be good, with an ambiguous sound that gives disagreement to +the sense. It is marry-age, or matter o' money. And let any man who is a +euphonist, and takes omens from names, attend the publication of banns, he +will be quite shocked at the unharmonious combination. Now, you will laugh +when I tell you positively, that within a twelvemonth I have heard called +the banns of "John Smasher and Mary Smallbones;" no doubt, by this time +they are "marrow bones and cleaver," what else could be expected? Did you +never note how it has puzzled curates to read the ill-assorted names? + + "Serpentes avibus geminantur, tigribus agni." + +Then to look at the couples as they come to be bound for life. One would +think they had been shaken together hap-hazard, each in a sack. I have met +with a quotation from Hermippus who says--"There was at Lacedaemon a very +retired hall or dwelling, in which the unmarried girls and young bachelors +were confined, till each of the latter, in that obscurity which precluded +the possibility of choice, fixed on one, which he was obliged to take as a +wife, without portion. Lysander having abandoned that which fell to his +lot, to marry another of greater beauty, was condemned to pay a heavy +fine." Is there not in the _Spectator_ a story or dream, where every man +is obliged to choose a wife unseen, tied up in a sack? At this said +Lacedaemon, by the by, women seem to have somewhat ruled the roast, and +taken the law, at least before marriage, into their own hands; for +Clearchus Solensis, in his adages, reports, that "at Lacedaemon, on a +certain festival, the women dragged the unmarried men about the altar, and +beat them with their hands, in order that a sense of shame at the +indignity of this injury might excite in them a desire to have children of +their own to educate, and to choose wives at a proper season for this +purpose." Mr Stephens, in his _Travels in Yucatan_, shows how wives are +taken and treated in the New World. "When the Indian grows up to manhood, +he requires a woman to make him tortillas, and to provide him warm water +for his bath at night. He procures one sometimes by the providence of the +master, without much regard to similarity of tastes or parity of age; and +though a young man is mated to an old woman, they live comfortably +together. If he finds her guilty of any great offence, he brings her up +before the master or the alcalde, gets her a whipping, and then takes her +under his arm, and goes quietly home with her." This "whipping" the +unromantic author considers not at all derogatory to the character of a +kind husband, for he adds--"The Indian husband is rarely harsh to his wife, +and the devotion of the wife to her husband is always a subject of remark." +Some have made it a grave question whether marriages should not be made by +the magistrate, and be proclaimed by the town-crier. To imagine which is a +wrong and tyranny, and arises from the barbarous custom that no woman +shall be the first to tell her mind in matters of affection. Men have set +aside the privilege of Leap year; it is as great a nickname as the +church's "convocation." We tie her tongue upon the first subject on which +she would speak, then impudently call woman a babbler. There is no end, +Eusebius, to the _wrongs_ our tongues do the sex. We take up all old, and +invent new, proverbs against them. Ungenerous as we are, we learn other +languages out of spite, as it were, to abuse them with, and cry out, "One +tongue is enough for a woman." We _rate_ them for every thing and at +nothing--thus: "He that loseth his wife and a farthing, hath a great loss +of his farthing." There's not a natural evil but we contrive to couple +them with it. "Wedding and ill-wintering tame both man and beast." I heard +a witty invention the other day--it was by a lady, and a wife, and perhaps +in her pride. It was asked whence came the saying, that "March comes in +like a lion, and goes out like a lamb." "Because," said she, "he meets +with Lady Day, and gets his quietus." Whatever we say against them, +however, lacks the great essential--truth, and that is why we go on saying, +thinking we shall come to it at last. We show more malice than matter. +Birds ever peck at the fairest fruit; nay, cast it to the ground, and a +man picks it up, tastes it, and says how good is it. He enjoys all good in +a good wife, and yet too often complains. He rides a fast mare home to a +smiling wife, pats them both in his delight, and calls them both jades--he +unbridles the one, and bridles the other. There is no end to it; when one +begins with the injustice we do the sex, we may go on for ever, and stick +our rhapsodies together "with a hot needle, and a burnt thread," and no +good will come of it. It is envy, jealousy--we don't like to see them so +much better than ourselves. We dare not tell them what we really think of +them, lest they should think less of us. So we speak with a disguise. Sir +Walter Scott forgot himself when he spoke of them:-- + + "Oh woman, in our hours of ease, + Uncertain, coy, and hard to please;" + +as if they were stormy peterals, whose appearance indicated shipwreck and +troubled waters on the sea of life. Woman's bard, and such he deserves to +be entitled, should only have thought of her as the "fair and gentle maid," +or the "pleasing wife," _placens uxor_--the perfectness of man's nature, +by whom he is united to goodness, gentleness, the two, man and woman +united, making the complete one--as "_Mulier est hominis +confusio_"--malevolent would he be that would mistranslate it "man's +confusion," for-- + + "Madam, the meaning of this Latin is, + That womankind to man is sovereign bliss."--_Dryden_. + +By this "mystical union," man is made "Paterfamilias," that name of truest +dignity. See him in that best position, in the old monuments of James's +time, kneeling with his spouse opposite at the same table, with their +seven sons and seven daughters, sons behind the father, and daughters +behind the mother. It is worth looking a day or two beyond the turmoil or +even joys of our life, and to contemplate in the mind's eye, one's own +_post mortem_ and monumental honour. Such a sight, with all the loving +thoughts of loving life, ere this maturity of family repose--is it not +enough to make old bachelors gaze with envy, and go and advertise for +wives?--each one sighing as he goes, that he has no happy home to receive +him--no best of womankind his spouse--no children to run to meet him and +devour him with kisses, while secret sweetness is overflowing at his heart +and so he beats it like a poor player, and says, that is, if he be a +Latinist-- + + "At non domus accipiet te laeta, neque uxor + Optima, nec dulces occurrent oscula nati + Praeripere, et tacita pectus dulcedine tangent."--_Lucret_. + +But leaving the "gentle bachelor" to settle the matter with himself as he +may, I will not be hurried beyond bounds--not bounds of the subject, or +what is due to it, but of your patience, Eusebius, who know and feel, more +sensibly than I can express, woman's worth. You want to know her +wrongs--and you say that I am a sketcher from life. Well, that being the +case, though it is painful to dwell upon any case, accept the following +sketch from nature; it is a recent event--you may not question the +truth--the names I conceal. A sour, sulky, cantankerous fellow, of some +fortune, lean, wizened, and little, with one of those parchment +complexions that indicate a cold antipathy to aught but self, married a +fine generous creature, fair and large in person; neither bride nor +bridegroom were in the flower of youth--a flower which, it is hard to say +why, is supposed to shed "a purple light of love." After the wedding, the +"happy couple" departed to spend the honeymoon among their relations. In +such company, the ill-tempered husband is obliged to behave his best--he +coldly puts on the polite hypocrite in the presence of others--but, every +moment of _tete-a-tete_, vents maliciously his ill-temper upon his spouse. +It happened, that after one day of more remarkably well-acted sweetness, +he retired in more than common disgust at the fatigue he had been obliged +to endure, to make himself appear properly agreeable. He gets into bed, +and instantly tucks up his legs with his knees nigh to his chin, +and--detestable little wretch!--throws out a kick with his utmost power +against his fair, fat, substantial partner. What is the result? He did not +calculate the "_vis inertiae_," that a little body kicking against the +greater is wont to come off second best--so he kicks himself out of bed, +and here ends the comedy of the affair; the rest is tragic enough. Some +how or other, in his fall, he broke his neck upon the spot. This was a +very awkward affair. The bell is rung, up come the friends; the story is +told, nor is it other than they had suspected. It does not end here, for, +of course, there must be an inquest. It is an Irish jury. All said it +served him right--and so what is the verdict?--Justifiable _felo-de-se_." +Here, Eusebius, you have something remarkable;--one happier at the +termination than the commencement of the honeymoon--a widow happier than a +bride. She might go forth to the world again, with the sweet reputation of +having smothered him with kisses, and killed him with kindness--if the +verdict can be concealed; if not, while the husband is buried with the +ignominy of "felonious intent," the widow will be but little disconsolate, +and universally applauded. To those of any experience, it will not be a +cause of wonder how such parties should come together. It is but an +instance of the too common "bitter jokes" of Love, or rather Hymen. I only +wish, that if ever man try that experiment again, he may meet with +precisely the same success; and that if any man marries, determined to +_fall out_ with his bride, he may _fall out_ in that very way, and at the +very first opportunity. + +The next little incident from married life which I mean to give you, will +show you the wonderful wit and ingenuity of the sex. Here the parties had +been much longer wedded. The poor woman had borne much. The husband +thought he had a second Griselda. The case of his tyranny was pretty well +known; indeed, the poor wife too often bore marks, that could not be +concealed, of the "purple light" of his love--his passion. The gentleman, +for such was, I regret to say, his grade of life, invited a number of +friends to dine with him, giving directions to his lady that the dinner +should be a good one. Behold the guests assembled--grace said--and hear +the dialogue:--Husband--"My dear, what is that dish before you?" Wife--"Oh, +my dear, it is a favourite dish of yours--stewed eels." Husband--"Then, my +dear, I will trouble you." After a pause, during which the husband +endeavours in vain to cut through what is before him--Then--Husband--"Why, +my dear, what _is_ this--it is quite hard, I cannot get through it." +Wife--"Yes, my dear, it is _very_ hard, and I rather wished you to know +_how_ hard--it is the horse whip you gave me for breakfast this morning." +I will not add a word to it. You, Eusebius, will not read a line more; you +are in antics of delight--you cannot keep yourself quiet for joy--you walk +up and down--you sit--you rise--you laugh--you roar out. Oh! this is +better than the "taming of a shrew." And do you think "a brute of a +husband" is so easily tamed? The lion was a gentle beast, and made himself +submissive to sweet Una; but the brute of a husband, he is indeed a very +hideous and untameable wild-fowl. Poor, good, loving woman is happily +content at some thing far under perfection. In a lower grade of life, good +wife once told me, that she had had an excellent husband, for that he had +never kicked her but twice. On enquiry, I found he died young.--My dear +Eusebius, yours ever, and as ever, + + ------ + + * * * * * + + + + +MARSTON; OR, THE MEMOIRS OF A STATESMAN. + +PART V. + + + "Have I not in my time heard lions roar? + Have I not heard the sea, puft up with wind, + Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat? + Have I not heard great ordinance in the field, + And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies? + Have I not in the pitched battle heard + Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets clang?" + + SHAKESPEARE. + +I found the Jew in his den as usual, and communicated my object, like a +man of business, in as few words as possible, and in that tone which +showed that I had made up my mind. To my surprise, and, I must own, a +little to the chagrin of my vanity, he made no opposition to it whatever. +I afterwards ascertained that, on the day before, he had received a +proposal of marriage for his daughter from a German _millionaire_ of his +own line; and that, as there could be no comparison between a penniless +son-in-law, if he came of the blood of all the Paleologi, and one of the +tribe of Issachar with his panniers loaded with guineas, the sooner I took +my flight the better. + +"You are perfectly right," said he, "in desiring to see the Continent; and +in Paris you will find the Continent all gathered into a glance, as a +French cook gives you a dozen sauces in compounding one fricassee. It +happens, curiously enough, that I can just now furnish you with some +opportunities for seeing it in the most convenient manner. A person with +whom I have had occasional business in Downing Street, has applied to me +to name an individual in my confidence, as an _attache_ to our embassy in +France, though, be it understood, without an actual appointment." + +I started at this dubious diplomacy. + +"This," said he, "only shows that you have still to learn the trade. Let +me then tell you, that it is by such persons that all the real work of +diplomacy is carried on. Can you suppose that the perfumed and polished +young gentlemen who, under the name of secretaries and sub secretaries, +superior and inferior _attaches_, and so forth, haunt the hotels of the +embassy, are the real instruments? It is true, they are necessary to the +dinners and balls of the embassy. They are useful to drive out the +ambassador's horses to air, escort his wife, and dance with his daughters. +But the business is uniformly done by somebody of whom nobody knows any +thing, but that he is never seen loitering about the ambassador's +drawing-room though he has the _entree_ of his closet; and that he never +makes charades, though he corresponds from day to day with the government +at home. Of course you will accept the appointment--and now, let me give +you your credentials." + +He unlocked a cabinet, which, except for its dust and the coating of +cobwebs which time had wrought upon it, might have figured in the saloons +of the Medici. The succession of springs which he touched, and of secret +drawers which started at the touch, might have supplied a little history +of Italian intrigue. At last he found the roll of papers which he sought, +and having first thrown a glance round the room, as if a spy sat on every +chair, he began to unroll them; with a rapid criticism on each as the few +first lines met his eye. Every nerve of his countenance was in full play +as he looked over those specimens of the wisdom of the wise; It would have +been an invaluable study to a Laveter. He had evidently almost forgotten +that I was present; and the alternate ridicule and disdain of his powerful +physiognomy were assisted, in my comprehension, by notes from time to +time--certainly the antipodes of flattery--"paltry knave"--"pompous +fool"--"specious swindler." "Ambassador! ay, if we were to send one to a +nation of baboons." "Here," said he, throwing, the bundle on the table, +"if I did not despise mankind enough already, I have sufficient evidence +to throng the pillory. I deal in gold; well, it is only such that can know +the world. Hate, ambition, religion--all have their hypocrisies; but money +applies the thumbscrew to them all. Want, sir, want, is the master of +mankind. There have been men--ay, and women too--within this dungeon, as +you think it, whose names would astonish you. Oh! Father Abraham"-- + +I finished the quotation.--"What fools these Christians are!" He burst +into grim laughter. "Here you have the paper," said he, "and I must +therefore send you back to the secretary's office. But there you must not +be known. Secrecy is essential even to your life. Stabbing in Paris is +growing common, and the knowledge that you had any other purpose than +gambling, might be repaid by a poniard." + +He now prepared his note, and as he wrote, continued his conversation in +fragments. "Three-fourths of mankind are mere blunderers, and the more you +know of them the more you will be of my opinion. I am by no means sure +that we have not some of them in Whitehall itself. Pitt is a powerful man, +and he alone keeps them together; without him they would be +potsherds.--Pitt thinks that we can go on without a war: he is mistaken. +How is it possible to keep Europe in peace, when the Continent is as +rotten as thatch, and France as combustible as gunpowder?--The minister is +a man of wonders, but he cannot prevent thirty millions of maniacs from +playing their antics until they are cooled by blood-letting; or a hundred +millions of Germans, Spaniards, Dutch, and Italians from being pilfered to +their last coin!--Old Frederick, the greatest genius that ever sat upon a +German throne, saw this fifty years ago. I have him at this moment before +my eyes, as he walked with his hands behind his bent back in the little +parterre of Sans Souci. I myself heard him utter the words--'If I were +King of France, a cannon-shot should not be fired in Europe without my +permission.'--France is now governed by fools, and is nothing. But if +ever she shall have an able man at her head, she will realize old +Frederick's opinion." + +As no time was to be lost, I hurried with my note of introduction to +Whitehall, was ushered through a succession of dingy offices into a small +chamber, where I found, busily employed at an escrutoire, a young man of a +heavy and yet not unintelligent countenance. He read my note, asked me +whether I had ever been in Paris, from which he had just returned; uttered +a sentence or two in the worst possible French, congratulated me on the +fluency of my answer, rang his bell, and handed me a small packet, +endorsed--_most secret and confidential_. He then made the most awkward of +bows; and our interview was at an end. I saw this man afterwards prime +minister. + +Till now, the novelty and interest of any new purpose had kept me in a +state of excitement; but I now found, to my surprise, my spirits suddenly +flag, and a dejection wholly unaccountable seize upon me. Perhaps +something like this occurs after all strong excitement; but a cloud seemed +actually to draw over my mind. My thoughts sometimes even fell into +confusion--I deeply repented having involved myself in a rash design, +which required qualities so much more experienced than mine; and in which, +if I failed, the consequences might be so ruinous, not merely to my own +character, but to noble and even royal lives. I now felt the whole truth +of Hamlet's description--the ways of the world "flat, stale, and +unprofitable;" the face of nature gloomy; the sky a "congregation of +pestilent vapours." It was not the hazard of life; exposed, as it might be, +in the midst of scenes of which the horrors were daily deepening; it was a +general undefined feeling, of having undertaken a task too difficult for +my powers, and of having engaged in a service in which I could neither +advance with hope nor retreat with honour. + +After a week of this painful fluctuation, I received a note, saying that I +had but six hours before me, and that I must leave London at midnight. + +I strayed involuntarily towards Devonshire House. It was one of its state +dinner-days, and the street rang with the incessant setting down of the +guests. As I stood gazing on the crowd, to prevent more uneasy thoughts, +Lafontaine stood before me. He was in uniform, and looked showily. He was +to be one of the party, and his manner had all the animation which scenes +of this order naturally excite in those with whom the world goes well. But +my countenance evidently startled him, and he attempted to offer such +consolation as was to be found in telling me that if La Comtesse was +visible, he should not fail to tell her of the noble manner in which I had +volunteered; and the happiness which I had thus secured to him and +Mariamne. "You may rely on it," said he, "that I shall make her sick of +Monsieur le Marquis and his sulky physiognomy. I shall dance with her, +shall talk to her, and you shall be the subject, as you so well deserve." + +"But her marriage is inevitable," was my sole answer. + +"Oh, true; inevitable! But that makes no possible difference. You cannot +marry all the women you may admire, nor they you. So, the only imaginable +resource is, to obtain their friendship, to be their _pastor fido_, their +hero, their Amadis. You then have the _entree_ of their houses, the honour +of their confidence, and the favoured seat in their boxes, till you prefer +the favoured seat at their firesides, and all grow old together." + +The sound of a neighbouring church clock broke off our dialogue. He took +out his diamond watch, compared it with the time, found that to delay a +moment longer would be a solecism which might lose him a smile or be +punished with a frown; repeated a couplet on the pangs of parting with +friends; and with an embrace, in the most glowing style of Paris, bounded +across the street, and was lost in the crowd which blocked up her grace's +portal. + +Thus parted the gay lieutenant and myself; he to float along the stream of +fashion in its most sparkling current--I to tread the twilight paths of +the green park in helplessness and heaviness of soul. + +This interview had not the more reconciled me to life. I was vexed with +what I regarded the nonchalance of my friend, and began to wish that I had +left him to go through his own affairs as he might. But reflection did +justice to his gallant spirit, and I mentally thanked him for having +relieved me from the life of an idler. At this moment my name was +pronounced by a familiar voice; it was Mordecai's. He had brought me some +additional letters to the leaders of the party in Paris. We returned to +the hotel, and sat down to our final meal together. When the lights were +brought in, I saw that he looked at me with some degree of surprise, and +even of alarm. "You are ill," said he; "the life of London is too much for +you. There are but three things that constitute health in this world--air, +exercise, and employment." I acknowledged to him my misgivings as to my +fitness for the mission. But he was a man of the world. He asked me, "Do +you desire to resign? If so, I have the power to revoke it at this moment. +And you can do this without loss of honour, for it is known to but two +persons in England--Lafontaine and myself. I have not concealed its danger +from you, and I have ascertained that even the personal danger is greater +than I thought. In fact, one of my objects in coming to you at this hour +was, to apprise you of the state of things, if not to recommend your +giving up the mission altogether." + +The alternative was now plainly before me; and, stern as was the nature of +the Israelite, I saw evidently that he would be gratified by my abandoning +the project. But this was suddenly out of the question. The mission, to +escape which in the half hour before I should have gladly given up every +shilling I ever hoped to possess, was at once fixed in my mind as a +peculiar bounty of fortune. There are periods in the human heart like +those which we observe in nature--the atmosphere clears up after the +tempest. The struggle which had shaken me so long had now passed away, and +things assumed as new and distinct an aspect as a hill or a forest in the +distance might on the passing away of a cloud. Mordecai argued against my +enthusiasm; but when was enthusiasm ever out-argued? I drove him horse and +foot from the field. I did more, enthusiasm is contagious--I made him my +convert. The feverish fire of my heart lent itself to my tongue, and I +talked so loftily of revolutions and counter-revolutions; of the +opportunity of seeing humankind pouring, like metal from the forge, into +new shapes of society, of millions acting on a new scale of power, of +nations summoned to a new order of existence, that I began to melt even +the rigid prepossessions of that mass of granite, or iron, or whatever is +most intractable--the Jew. I could perceive his countenance changing from +a smile to seriousness; and, as I declaimed, I could see his hollow eye +sparkle, and his sallow lip quiver, with impressions not unlike my own. + +"Whether you are fit for a politician," said he, "I cannot tell; for the +trade is of a mingled web, and has its rough side as well as its smooth +one. But, young as you are, and old as I am, there are some notions in +which we do not differ so much as in our years. I have long seen that the +world was about to undergo some extraordinary change. That it should ever +come from the rabble of Paris, I must confess, had not entered into my +mind; a rope of sand, or a mountain of feathers, would have been as fully +within my comprehension. I might have understood it, if it had come from +John Bull. But I have lived in France, and I never expected any thing from +the people; more than I should expect to see the waterworks of Versailles +turned into a canal, or irrigating the thirsty acres round the palace." + +"Yes," I observed; "but their sporting and sparkling answers their purpose. +They amuse the holiday multitude for a day." + +"And are dry for a week.--If France shall have a revolution, it will be as +much a matter of mechanism, of show, and of holiday, as the '_grand +jet-d'eau_.'" He was mistaken. We ended with a parting health to Mariamne, +and his promise to attend to my interests at the Horse-guards, on which I +was still strongly bent. The Jew was clearly no sentimentalist; but the +glass of wine, and the few words of civility and recollection with which I +had devoted it to his pretty daughter, evidently touched the father's +heart. He lingered on the steps of the hotel, and still held my hand. "You +shall not," said he, "be the worse for your good wishes, nor for that +glass of wine. I shall attend to your business at Whitehall when you are +gone; and you might have worse friends than Mordecai even there." He +seemed big with some disclosure of his influence, but suddenly checked +himself. "At all events," he added, "your services on the present occasion +shall not be forgotten. You have a bold, ay, and a broad career before you. +One thing I shall tell you. We shall certainly have war. The government +here are blind to it. Even the prime minister--and there is not a more +sagacious mind on the face of the earth--is inclined to think that it may +be averted. But I tell you, as the first secret which you may insert in +your despatches, that it will come--will be sudden, desperate, and +universal." + +"May I not ask from what source you have your information; it will at +least strengthen mine?" + +"Undoubtedly. You may tell the minister, or the world, that you had it +from Mordecai. I lay on you only one condition--that you shall not mention +it within a week. I have received it from our brethren on the Continent, +as a matter of business. I give it to you here as a flourish for your +first essay in diplomacy." + +We had now reached the door of the post-chaise. He drew out another letter. +"This," said he, "is from my daughter. Before you come among us again, she +will probably be the wife of one of our nation, and the richest among us. +But she still values you as the preserver of her life, and sends you a +letter to one of our most intimate friends in Paris. If he shall not be +frightened out of it by the violence of the mob, you will find him and his +family hospitable. Now, farewell!" He turned away. + +I sprang into the post-chaise, in which was already seated a French +courier, with despatches from his minister; whose attendance the Jew had +secured, to lighten the first inconveniences to a young traveller. The +word was given--we dashed along the Dover road, and I soon gave my last +gaze to London, with its fiery haze hanging over it, like the flame of a +conflagration. + +My mind was still in a whirl as rapid as my wheels. Hope, doubt, and +determination passed through my brain in quick succession, yet there was +one thought that came, like Shakspeare's "delicate spirit," in all the +tumult of soul, of which, like Ariel in the storm, it was the chief cause, +to soothe and subdue me. Hastily as I had driven from the door of my hotel, +I had time to cast my eye along the front of Devonshire House. All the +windows of its principal apartments shone with almost noonday +brightness--uniforms glittered, and plumes waved in the momentary view. +But in the range above, all was dark; except one window--the window of +the boudoir--and there the light was of the dim and melancholy hue that +instinctively gives the impression of the sick-chamber. Was Clotilde still +there, feebly counting the hours of pain, while all within her hearing was +festivity? The answers which I had received to my daily enquiries were +cheerless. "She had not quitted the apartment where she had been first +conveyed."--"The duchess insisted on her not being removed."--"Madame was +inconsolable, but the doctor had hopes." Those, and other commonplaces of +information, were all that I could glean from either the complacent +chamberlains or the formal physician. And now I was to give up even this +meagre knowledge, and plunge into scenes which might separate us for ever. +But were we not separated already? If she recovered, must she not be in +the power of a task-master? If she sank under her feebleness, what was +earth to me? + +In those reveries I passed the hours until daybreak, when the sun and the +sea rose together on my wearied eyes. + + * * * * * + +The bustle of Dover aroused me to a sense of the world. All was animation +on sea and shore. The emigration was now in full flow, and France was +pouring down her terrified thousands on the nearest shore. The harbour was +crowded with vessels of every kind, which had just disgorged themselves of +their living cargoes; the streets were blocked up with foreign carriages; +the foreign population had completely overpowered the native, and the town +swarmed with strangers of every rank and dress, with the hurried look of +escaped fugitives. As I drove to the harbour, my ear rang with foreign +accents, and my eyes were filled with foreign physiognomies. From time to +time the band of a regiment, which had furnished a guard to one of the +French blood-royal, mingled its drums and trumpets with the swell of sea +and shore; and, as I gazed on the moving multitude from my window, the +thunder of the guns from the castle, for the arrival of some ambassador, +grandly completed the general mass and power of the uproar. + + * * * * * + +Three hours carried me to the French shore. Free from all the vulgar +vexations of the road, I had the full enjoyment of one of the most +pleasant of all enjoyments--moving at one's ease through a new and +interesting country. The road to Paris is now like the road to Windsor, to +all the higher portions of my countrymen; but then it was much less known +even to them than in later days, and the circumstances of the time gave it +a totally new character. It was the difference between travelling through +a country in a state of peace and in a state of war; between going to +visit some superb palace for the purpose of viewing its paintings and +curiosities, and hurrying to see what part of its magnificence had escaped +an earthquake. The landscape had literally the look of war; troops were +seen encamped in the neighbourhood of the principal towns; the national +guards were exercising in the fields; mimic processions of children were +beating drums and displaying banners in the streets, and the popular songs +were all for the conquest of every thing beneath the moon. + +But I was to have a higher spectacle. And I shall never forget the mixture +of wonder and awe which I felt at the first distant sight of the capital. + +It was at the close of a long day's journey, while the twilight gave a +mysterious hue to a scene in itself singular and stately.--Glistening +spire on spire; massive piles, which in the deepening haze might be either +prisons or palaces; vast ranges of buildings, gloomy or glittering as the +partial ray fell on them; with the solemn beauty of the Invalides on one +wing, the light and lovely elegance of the St Genevieve on the other, and +the frowning majesty of Notre-Dame in the midst, filled the plain with a +vision such as I had imaged only in an Arabian tale. Yet the moral reality +was even greater than the visible. I felt that I was within reach of the +chief seat of all the leading events of the Continent since the birth of +monarchy; every step which I might tread among those piles was historical; +within that clouded circumference, like the circle of a necromancer, had +been raised all the dazzling and all the disturbing spirits of the world. +There was the grand display of statesmanship, pomp, ambition, pleasure, +and each the most subtle, splendid, daring, and prodigal ever seen among +men. And, was it not now to assume even a more powerful influence on the +fates of mankind? Was not the falling of the monarchical forest of so many +centuries, about to lay the land open to a new, and perhaps a more +powerful produce; where the free blasts of nature were to rear new forms, +and demand new arts of cultivation? The monarchy was falling--but was not +the space, cleared of its ruins, to be filled with some new structure, +statelier still? Or, if the government of the Bourbons were to sink for +ever from the eyes of men, were there to be no discoveries made in the +gulf itself in which it went down; were there to be no treasures found in +the recesses thus thrown open to the eye for the first time; no mines in +the dissevered strata--no founts of inexhaustible freshness and flow +opened by thus piercing into the bowels of the land? + +There are moments on which the destiny of a nation, perhaps of an age, +turns. I had reached Paris at one of those moments. As my caleche wound +its slow way round the base of Montmartre, I perceived, through the +deepening twilight, a long train of flame, spreading from the horizon to +the gates of the city. Shouts were heard, with now and then the heavy +sounds of cannon. This produced a dead stop in my progress. My postilion +stoutly protested against venturing his caleche, his horses, and, what he +probably regarded much more than either, himself, into the very heart of +what he pronounced a counter-revolution. My courier, freighted with +despatches, which might have been high treason to the majesty of the mob, +and who saw nothing less than suspension from the first lamp-post in their +discovery, protested, with about the same number of _sacres_; and my +diplomatic beams seemed in a fair way to be shorn. + +But this was the actual thing which I had come to see: Paris in its new +existence; the capital of the populace; the headquarters of the grand army +of insurgency; the living centre of all those flashes of fantasy, fury, +and fire, which were already darting out towards every throne of Europe. I +determined to have a voice on the occasion, and I exerted it with such +vigour, that I roused the inmates of a blockhouse, a party of the National +Guard, who, early as it was, had been as fast asleep as if they had been a +_posse_ of city watchmen. They clustered round us, applauded my resolve, +to see what was to be seen, as perfectly national, _vraiment Francais_; +kicked my postilion till he mounted his horse, beat my sulky courier with +the flats of their little swords, and would have bastinadoed, or probably +hanged him, if I had not interposed; and, finally, hoisting me into the +caleche, which they loaded with half a dozen of their number before and +behind, commenced our march into Paris. This was evidently not the age of +discipline. + +It may have been owing to this curious escort that I got in at all; for at +the gate I found a strong guard of the regular troops, who drove back a +long succession of carriages which had preceded me. But my cortege were so +thoroughly in the new fashion, they danced the "_carmagnole_" so +boisterously, and sang patriotic rhymes with such strength of lungs, that +it was impossible to refuse admission to patriots of such sonorousness. +The popular conjectures, too, which fell to my share, vastly increased my +importance. In the course of the five minutes spent in wading through the +crowd of the rejected, I bore fifty different characters--I was a state +prisoner--a deputy from Marseilles, a part of the kingdom then in peculiar +favour; an ex-general; a captain of banditti, and an ambassador from +England or America; in either case, an especially honoured missionary, for +England was then pronounced by all the Parisian authorities to be on the +verge of a revolution. Though, I believe, Jonathan had the preference, for +the double reason, that the love of Jean Francais for John Bull is of a +rather precarious order, and that the American Revolution was an egg +hatched by the warmth of the Gallic bird itself; a secondary sort of +parentage. + +As we advanced through the streets, my noisy "compagnons de voyage" +dropped off one by one, some to the lowest places of entertainment, and +some tired of the jest; and I proceeded to the Place de Vendome, where was +my hotel, at my leisure. The streets were now solitary; to a degree that +was almost startling. As I wound my way through long lines of houses, +tortuous, narrow, and dark as Erebus, I saw the cause of the singular +success which had attended all Parisian insurrections. A chain across one +of these dismal streets, an overturned cart, a pile of stones, would +convert it at once into an impassable defile. Walls and windows, massive, +lofty, and nearly touching each other from above afforded a perpetual +fortification; lanes innumerable, and extending from one depth of darkness +and intricacy into another, a network of attack and ambush, obviously gave +an extraordinary advantage to the irregular daring of men accustomed to +thread those wretched and dismal dens, crowded with one of the fiercest +and most capricious populations in the world. Times have strikingly +changed since. The "fifteen fortresses" are but so many strong bars of the +great cage, and they are neither too strong nor too many. Paris is now the +only city on earth which is defended against itself, garrisoned on its +outside, and protected by a perpetual Praetorian band against a national +mania of insurrection. + +But, on turning into the Boulevards, the scene changed with the rapidity +of magic. Before me were raging thousands, the multitude which I had seen +advancing to the gates. The houses, as far as the eye could reach, were +lighted up with lamps, torches, and every kind of hurried illumination. +Banners of all hues were waving from the casements, and borne along by the +people; and in the midst of the wild procession were seen at a distance a +train of travelling carriages, loaded on the roofs with the basest of the +rabble. A mixed crowd of National Guards, covered with dust, and drooping +under the fatigue of the road, poissardes drunk, dancing, screaming the +most horrid blasphemies, and a still wider circle, which seemed to me +recruited from all the jails of Paris, surrounded the carriages, which I +at length understood to be those of the royal family. They had attempted +to escape to the frontier, had been arrested, and were now returning as +prisoners. I caught a glimpse, by the torchlight, of the illustrious +sufferers, as they passed the spot where I stood. The Queen was pale, but +exhibited that stateliness of countenance for which she was memorable to +the last; she sat with the Dauphiness pressed in her arms. The King looked +overcome with exhaustion; the Dauphin gazed at the populace with a child's +curiosity. + +At the moment when the carriages were passing, an incident occurred +terribly characteristic of the time. A man of a noble presence, and with +an order of St Louis at his breast, who had been giving me a hurried and +anxious explanation of the scene, excited by sudden feeling, rushed +forward through the escort, and laying one hand on the royal carriage, +with the other waved his hat, and shouted, "Vive le Roi!" In another +instant I saw him stagger; a pike was darted into his bosom, and he fell +dead under the wheel. Before the confusion of this frightful catastrophe +had subsided, a casement was opened immediately above my head, and a woman, +superbly dressed, rushed out on the balcony waving a white scarf, and +crying, "Vive Marie Antoinette!" The muskets of the escort were turned +upon her, and a volley was fired at the balcony. She started back at the +shock, and a long gush of blood down her white robe showed that she had +been wounded. But she again waved the scarf, and again uttered the loyal +cry. Successive shots were fired at her by the monsters beneath; but she +still stood. At length she received the mortal blow; she tottered and fell; +yet, still clinging to the front of the balcony, she waved the scarf, and +constantly attempted to pronounce the words of her generous and devoted +heart, until she expired. I saw this scene with an emotion beyond my power +to describe; all the enthusiasm of popular change was chilled within me; +my boyish imaginations of republicanism were extinguished by this plunge +into innocent blood; and I never felt more relieved, than when the whole +fearful procession at length moved on, and I was left to make my way once +more, through dim and silent streets, to my dwelling. + + * * * * * + +I pass by a considerable portion of the time which followed. The +Revolution was like the tiger, it advanced couching; though, when it +sprang, its bound was sudden and irresistible. My time was occupied in my +official functions, which became constantly more important, and of which I +received flattering opinions from Downing Street. I mingled extensively in +general society, and it was never more animated, or more characteristic, +than at that period in Paris. The leaders of faction and the leaders of +fashion, classes so different in every other part of the world, were there +often the same. The woman who dazzled the ball-room, was frequently the +_confidente_ of the deepest designs of party. The coterie in a _salon_, +covered with gilding, and filled with _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of the arts, was +often as subtle as a conspiracy in the cells of the Jacobins; and the +dance or the masquerade only the preliminary to an outbreak which +shattered a ministry into fragments All the remarkable men of France +passed before me, and I acknowledge that I was frequently delighted and +surprised by their extra ordinary attainments. The age of the +_Encyclopedie_ was in its wane, but some of its brilliant names still +illustrated the Parisian _salons_. I recognised the style of Buffon and +Rousseau in a crowd of their successors; and the most important knowledge +was frequently communicated in language the most eloquent and captivating. +Even the mixture of society which had been created by the Revolution, gave +an original force and freshness to these assemblies, infinitely more +attractive than the most elaborate polish of the old _regime_. Brissot, +the common printer, but a man of singular strength of thought, there +figured by Condorcet, the noble and the man of profound science. St +Etienne, the little bustling partizan, yet the man of talent, mingled with +the chief advocates of the Parisian courts; or Servan fenced with his +subtle knowledge of the world against Vergniaud, the romantic Girondist, +but the most Ciceronian of orators. Talleyrand, already known as the most +sarcastic of men, and Maury, by far the most powerful debater of France +since Mirabeau--figured among the chief ornaments of the _salons_ of De +Stael. Roland, and the showy and witty Theresa Cabarrus, and even the +flutter of La Fayette, the most tinsel of heroes, and the sullen +sententiousness of Robespierre, then known only as a provincial deputy, +furnished a background which increased the prominence of the grouping. + +But the greatest wonder of France still escaped the general eye. At a ball +at the Hotel de Stael, I remember to have been struck with the energetic +denunciation of some rabble insult to the Royal family, by an officer whom +nobody knew. As a circle were standing in conversation on the topic of the +day, the little officer started from his seat, pushed into the group, and +expressed his utter contempt for the supineness of the Government on those +occasions, so strongly, as to turn all eyes upon him. "Where were the +troops, where the guns?" he exclaimed. "If such things are suffered, all +is over with royalty; a squadron of horse, and a couple of six pounders, +would have swept away the whole swarm of scoundrels like so many flies." +Having thus discharged his soul, he started back again, flung himself into +a chair, and did not utter another word through the evening. I little +dreamed that in that meagre frame, and long, thin physiognomy, I saw +Napoleon. + +I must hasten to other things. Yet I still cast many a lingering glance +over these times. The vividness of the collision was incomparable. The wit, +the eccentricity, the anecdote, the eloquence of those assemblages, were +of a character wholly their own. They had, too, a substantial nutriment, +the want of which had made the conversation of the preceding age vapid, +with all its elegance.--Public events of the most powerful order fed the +flame. It was the creation of a vast national excitement; the rush of +sparks from the great electrical machine, turned by the hands of thirty +millions. The flashes were still but matters of sport and surprise. The +time was nigh when those flashes were to be fatal, and that gay lustre was +to do the work of conflagration. + +I had now been a year in Paris, without returning, or wishing to return, +to London. A letter now and then informed me of the state of those who +still drew my feelings towards England. But I was in the centre of all +that awoke, agitated, or alarmed Europe; and, compared with the glow and +rapidity of events in France, the rest of Europe appeared asleep, or to +open its eyes solely when some new explosion shook it from its slumber. + +My position, too, was a matchless school for the learner in diplomacy. +France shaped the politics of the Continent; and I was present in the +furnace where the casting was performed. France was the stage to which +every eye in Europe was turned, whether for comedy or tragedy; and I was +behind the scenes. But the change was at hand. + +One night I found an individual, of a very marked appearance, waiting for +me at my hotel. His countenance was evidently Jewish, and he introduced +himself as one of the secret police of the ministry. The man handed me a +letter--it was from Mordecai, and directed to be given with the utmost +secrecy. It was in his usual succinct and rapid style. + +"I write this in the midst of a tumult of business. My friend Mendoza will +give you such knowledge and assistance as may be necessary. France is on +the point of an explosion. Every thing is prepared. It is impossible that +it can be delayed above a week or two, and the only origin of the delay is +in the determination to make the overthrow final. Acquaint your English +officials with this. The monarchy of the Bourbons has signed its +death-warrant. By suffering a legislature to be formed by the votes of the +mere multitude, it has put property within the power of all beggars; rank +has been left at the mercy of the rabble; and the church has been +sacrificed to please a faction. Thus the true pillars of society have been +cut away; and the throne is left in the air. Mendoza will tell you more. +The train is already laid. A letter from a confidential agent tells us +that the day is fixed. At all events, avoid the mine. There is no pleasure +in being blown up, even in company with kings." + +A postscript briefly told me--that his daughter sent her recollections; +that Clotilde was still indisposed; La Fontaine giddier than ever; and, as +the proof of his own confidence in his views, that he had just sold out +100,000 three per cent consols. + +My first visit next morning was to the British embassy. But the ambassador +was absent in the country, and the functionary who had been left in charge +was taking lessons on the guitar, and extremely unwilling to be disturbed +by matters comparatively so trifling as the fate of dynasties. I explained, +but explained in vain. The hour was at hand when his horses were to be at +the door for a ride in the Bois de Boulogne. I recommended a ride after +the ambassador. It was impossible. He was to be the escort of a duchess; +then to go to a dinner at the Russian embassy, and was under engagements +to three balls in the course of the evening. Nothing could be clearer than +that such duties must supersede the slight concerns of office. I left him +under the hands of his valet, curling his ringlets, and preparing him to +be the admiration of mankind. + +I saw Mendoza secretly again; received from him additional intelligence; +and, as I was not inclined to make a second experiment on the "elegant +extract" of diplomacy, and escort of duchesses, I went, as soon as the +nightfall concealed my visit, to the hotel of the Foreign Minister. This +was my first interview with the celebrated Dumourier. + +He received me with the courtesy of a man accustomed to high life; and I +entered on the purport of my visit at once. He was perfectly astonished at +my tidings. He had known that strong resolutions had been adopted by the +party opposed to the Cabinet; but was startled by the distinct avowal of +its intention to overthrow the monarchy. I was struck with his appearance, +his quickness of conception, and that mixture of sportiveness and depth, +which I had found characteristic of the higher orders of French society. +He was short in stature, but proportioned for activity; his countenance +bold, but with smiling lips and a most penetrating grey eye. His name as a +soldier was at this period wholly unknown, but I could imagine in him a +leader equally subtle and daring;--he soon realized my conjecture. + +We sat together until midnight; and over the supper-table, and cheered by +all the good things which French taste provides and enjoys more than any +other on earth, he gave full flow to his spirit of communication. The +Frenchman's sentences are like sabre-cuts--they have succession, but no +connexion. + +"I shall always converse with you, M. Marston," said he, "with ease; for +you are of the noblesse of your own great country, and I am tired of +_roturiers_ already.--The government has committed dangerous faults. The +king is an excellent man, but his heart is where his head ought to be, and +his head where his heart.--His flight was a terrible affair, but it was a +blunder on both sides; _he_ ought never to have gone, or the government +ought never to have brought him back.--However, I have no cause to +complain of its epitaph. The blunder dissolved that government. I have to +thank it for bringing me and my colleagues into power. Our business now is +to preserve the monarchy, but this becomes more difficult from day to day." + +I adverted to the personal character of the royal family. + +"Nothing can be better. But chance has placed them in false position.--If +the king were but the first prince of the blood, his benevolence without +his responsibility would make him the most popular man in France.--If the +queen were still but the dauphiness, she would be, as she was then, all +but worshipped. As the leader of fashion in France, she would be the +leader of taste in Europe.--Elegant, animated, and high-minded, she would +have charmed every one, without power. If she could but continue to move +along the ground, all would admire the grace of her steps; but, sitting on +a throne, she loses the spell of motion." + +"Yet, can France ever forget her old allegiance, and adopt the fierce +follies of a republic?" + +"I think not. And yet we are dealing with agencies of which we know +nothing but the tremendous force. We are breathing a new atmosphere, which +may at first excite only to kill.--We have let out the waters of a new +river-head, which continues pouring from hour to hour, with a fulness +sufficient to terrify us already, and threatening to swell over the +ancient landmarks of the soil.--It is even now a torrent--what can prevent +it from being a lake? what hand of man can prevent that lake from being an +ocean? or what power of human council can say to that ocean in its +rage--Thus far shalt thou go?" + +"But the great institutions of France, will they not form a barrier? Is +not their ancient firmness proof against the loose and desultory assaults +of a populace like that of Paris?" + +"I shall answer by an image which occurred to me on my late tour of +inspection to the ports in the west. At Cherbourg, millions of francs have +been spent in attempting to make a harbour. When I was there one stormy +day, the ocean rose, and the first thing swept away was the great +_caisson_ which formed the principal defence against the tide,--its wrecks +were carried up the harbour, heaped against the piers, which they swept +away; hurled against the fortifications, which they broke down; and +finally working ten times more damage than if the affair had been left to +the surges alone. The thought struck me at the moment, that this _caisson_ +was the emblem of a government assailed by an irresistible force. The +firmer the foundations, and the loftier the superstructure, the surer it +was to be ultimately carried away, and to carry away with it all that the +mere popular outburst would have spared.--The massiveness of the obstacle +increased the spread of the ruin. Few Asiatic kingdoms would be overthrown +with less effort, and perish with less public injury, than the monarchy of +the Bourbons, if it is to fall. Yet, your monarchy is firmer. It is less a +vast building than a mighty tree, not fixed on foundations which can never +widen, but growing from roots which continually extend. But, if that tree +perish, it will not be thrown down, but torn up; it will not leave a space +clear to receive a new work of man, but a pit, which no successor can fill +for a thousand years." + +"But the insurrection; I fear the attack on the palace." + +"It will not take place. Your information shall be forwarded to the court; +where, however, I doubt whether it will be received with much credence. +The Austrian declaration of war has put the flatterers of royalty into +such spirits, that if the tocsin were sounding at this instant, they would +not believe in the danger. We have been unfortunately forced to send the +chief part of the garrison of Paris towards the frontier. But we have +three battalions of the Swiss guard within call at Courbevoie, and they +can be ready on the first emergency. Rely upon it, all will go well." + +With this assurance I was forced to be content; but I relied much more +upon Mordecai and his Jewish intelligence. A despatch to London gave a +minute of this conversation before I laid my head on my pillow; and I +flung myself down, not without a glance at the tall roofs of the Tuileries, +and a reflection on how much the man escapes whose forehead has no wrinkle +from the diadem. + +Within twenty four hours of this interview the ministry was dissolved! +Dumourier was gone posthaste to the command of one of the armies on the +frontier, merely to save his life from the mob, and I went to bed, in the +Place Vendome, by the light of Lafayette burned in effigy in the centre of +the square. So much for popularity. + +At dusk, on the memorable ninth of August, as I was sitting in a cafe of +the Palais Royal, listening to the mountain songs of a party of Swiss +minstrels in front of the door, Mendoza, passing through the crowd, made +me a signal; I immediately followed him to an obscure corner of one of the +galleries. + +"The insurrection is fixed for to-night," was his startling announcement. +"At twelve by the clock of Notre-Dame, all the sections will be under +arms. The Jacobin club, the club of the Cordeliers, and the Faubourg St +Antoine, are the alarm posts. The Marseillais are posted at the Cordeliers, +and are to head the attack. Danton is already among them, and has +published this address. + +He gave me the placard. It was brief and bold. + +"Citizens--The country is betrayed. France is in the hands of her enemies. +The Austrians are advancing. Our troops are retreating, and Paris must be +defended by her brave sons alone. But we have traitors in the camp. Our +legislators are their accomplices: Lafayette, the slave of kings, has been +suffered to escape; but the nation must be avenged. The perfidious Louis +is about to follow his example and fly, after having devoted the capital +to conflagration. Delay a moment, and you will have to fight by the flame +of your houses, and to bleed over the ashes of your wives and children. +March, and victory is yours. To arms! To arms!! To arms!!!" + +"Does Danton lead the insurrection?" + +"No--for two reasons: he is an incendiary but no soldier; and they cannot +trust him in case of success. A secret meeting of the heads of the party +was held two days since, to decide on a leader of the sections. It was +difficult, and had nearly been finished by the dagger. Billaud de Varennes, +Vanquelin, St Angely, and Danton, were successively proposed. Robespierre +objected to them all. At length an old German refugee, a beggar, but a +soldier, was fixed on; and Westerman is to take the command. By one +o'clock the tocsin is to be rung, and the insurgents are instantly to move +from all points on the Tuileries." + +"What is the object?" + +"The seizure, or death, of the King and Royal Family!" + +"And the result of that object?" + +"The proclamation of a Republic!" + +"Is this known at the palace?" + +"Not a syllable. All there are in perfect security; to communicate +intelligence there is not in my department." + +As I looked at the keen eye and dark physiognomy of my informant, there +was an expression of surprise in mine at this extraordinary coolness, +which saved me the trouble of asking the question. + +"You doubt me," said he, "you feel distrust of information unpaid and +voluntary. But I have been ordered by Mordecai, the chief of our tribe in +England, to watch over you; and this information is a part of my obedience +to the command." He suddenly darted away. + +Notwithstanding the steadiness of his assertions I still doubted their +probability, and, to examine the point for myself, I strayed towards the +palace. All there was tranquil; a few lights were scattered through the +galleries, but every sound of life, much less of watchfulness and +preparation, was still. The only human beings in sight were some +dismounted cavalry, and a battalion of the national guard, lounging: about +the square. As I found it impossible to think of rest until the truth or +falsehood of my information was settled, I next wandered along the +Boulevarde, in the direction of the Faubourg St Antoine, the focus of all +the tumults of Paris; but all along this fine avenue was hushed as if a +general slumber had fallen over the city. The night was calm, and the air +was a delicious substitute for the hot and reeking atmosphere of this +populous quarter in the day. I saw no gathering of the populace; no +hurrying torches. I heard no clash of arms, nor tramp of marching men; all +lay beneath the young moon, which, near her setting, touched the whole +scene with a look of soft and almost melancholy quietude. The character of +my Israelite friend began to fall rapidly in the scale, and I had made up +my mind that insurrection had gone to its slumbers for that night; when, +as I was returning by the _Place de Bastile_, and was passing under the +shadow of one of the huge old houses that then surrounded that scene of +hereditary terror, two men, who had been loitering beside the parapet of +the fosse, suddenly started forward and planted themselves in my way. I +flung one of them aside, but the other grasped my arm, and, drawing a +dagger, told me that my life was at his mercy. His companion giving a +signal, a group of fierce-looking fellows started from their +lurking-places; and of course further resistance was out of the question. +I was ordered to follow them, and regarding myself as having nothing to +fear, yet uneasy at the idea of compulsion, I remonstrated, but in vain; +and was finally led through a labyrinth of horrid alleys, to what I now +found to be the headquarters of the insurrection. It was an immense +building, which had probably been a manufactory, but was now filled with +the leaders of the mob. The few torches which were its only light, and +which scarcely showed the roof and extremity of the building, were, +however, enough to show heaps of weapons of every kind--muskets, sabres, +pikes, and even pitchforks and scythes, thrown on the floor. On one side, +raised on a sort of desk, was a ruffianly figure flinging placards to the +crowd below, and often adding some savage comment on their meaning, which +produced a general laugh. Flags inscribed with "Liberty Bread or +Blood--Down with the Tyrant"--and that comprehensive and peculiarly +favourite motto of the mob--"May the last of the kings be strangled with +the entrails of the last of the priests," were hung from the walls in all +quarters; and in the centre of the floor were ranged three pieces of +artillery surrounded by their gunners. I now fully acknowledged the +exactness of Mendoza's information; and began to feel considerable +uncertainty about my own fate in the midst of a horde of armed ruffians, +who came pouring in more thickly every moment, and seemed continually more +ferocious. At length I was ordered to go forward to a sort of platform at +the head of the hall, where some candles were still burning, and the +remnants of a supper gave signs that there had been gathered the chief +persons of this tremendous assemblage. A brief interrogatory from one of +them armed to the teeth, and with a red cap so low down on his bushy brows +as almost wholly to disguise his physiognomy, enquired my name, my +business in Paris, and especially what I had to allege against my being +shot as a spy in the pay of the Tuileries. My answers were drowned in the +roar of the multitude. Still, I protested firmly against this summary +trial, and at length threatened them with the vengeance of my country. +This might be heroic, but it was injudicious. Patriotism is a fiery affair, +and a circle of pistols and daggers ready prepared for action, and roused +by the word to execute popular justice on me, waited but the signal from +the platform. Their leader rose with some solemnity, and taking off his +cap, to give the ceremonial a more authentic aspect, declared me to have +forfeited the right to live, by acting the part of an _espion_, and +ordered me to be shot in "front of the leading battalion of the army of +vengeance." The decree was so unexpected, that for the instant I felt +absolutely paralyzed. The sight left my eyes, my ears tingled with strange +sounds, and I almost felt as if I had received the shots of the ruffians, +who now, incontrollable in their first triumph, were firing their pistols +in all directions in the air. But at the moment, so formidable to my +future career, I heard the sound of the clock of Notre Dame. I felt a +sudden return of my powers and recollections, but the hands of my +assassins were already upon me. The sound of the general signal for their +march produced a rush of the crowd towards the gate, I took advantage of +the confusion, struck down one of my captors, shook off the other, and +plunged into the living torrent that was now pouring and struggling before +me. + +But even when I reached the open air--and never did I feel its freshness +with a stronger sense of revival--I was still in the midst of the +multitude, and any attempt to make my way alone would have obviously been +death. Thus was I carried on along the Boulevarde, in the heart of a +column of a hundred thousand maniacs, trampled, driven, bruised by the +rabble, and deafened with shouts, yells, and cries of vengeance, until my +frame was a fever and my brain scarcely less than a frenzy. + +That terrible morning gave the deathblow to the mighty monarchy of the +Bourbons. The throne was so shaken by the popular arm, that though it +preserved a semblance of its original shape, a breath was sufficient to +cast it to the ground. I have no heart for the recital. Even now I can +scarcely think of that tremendous pageant of popular fantasy, fury, and +the very passion of crime; or bring to my mind's eye that column, which +seemed then to be boundless and endless, with the glare of its torches, +the rattle of its drums, the grinding of its cannon-wheels, as we rushed +along the causeway, from time to time stopping to fire, as a summons to +the other districts, and as a note of exultation; or the perpetual, sullen, +and deep roar of the populace--without a thrilling sense of perplexity and +pain. + +Long before daybreak we had swept all minor resistance before us, +plundered the arsenal of its arms, and taken possession of the Hotel de +Ville. The few troops who had kept guard at the different posts on our way, +had been captured without an effort, or joined the insurgents. But +intelligence now came that the palace was roused at last, that troops were +ordered from the country for its defence, and that the noblesse remaining +in the capital were crowding to the Tuileries. I stood beside Danton when +those tidings were brought to him. He flung up his cap in the air, with a +burst of laughter. "So much the better!" he exclaimed; "the closer the +preserve, the thicker the game." I had now a complete view of this hero of +democracy. His figure was herculean; his countenance, which possibly, in +his younger days, had been handsome, was now marked with the lines of +every passion and profligacy, but it was still commanding. His costume was +one which he had chosen for himself, and which was worn by his peculiar +troop; a short brown mantle, an under-robe with the arms naked to the +shoulder, a broad leathern belt loaded with pistols, a huge sabre in hand, +rusted from hilt to point, which he declared to have been stained with the +blood of aristocrats, and the republican red cap, which he frequently +waved in the air, or lifted on the point of his sabre as a standard. Yet, +in the midst of all this savage disorder of costume, I observed every hair +of his enormous whiskers to be curled with the care of a Parisian +_merveilleux_. It was the most curious specimen of the ruling passion that +I remember to have seen. + +At the Hotel de Ville, Danton entered the hall with several of the +insurgents; and the crowd, unwilling to waste time, began to fire at the +little statues and insignia of the French kings, which ornamented this old +building. When this amusement palled--the French are easily +_ennuied_--they formed circles, and danced the Carmagnole. Rum and brandy, +largely introduced among them, gave them animation after their night's +watching, and they were fit for any atrocity. But the beating of drums, +and a rush to the balconies of the Hotel de Ville, told us that something +of importance was at hand; and, in the midst of a group of municipal +officers, Petion, the mayor of Paris, arrived. No man in France wore a +milder visage, or hid a blacker heart under it. He was received with +shouts, and after a show of resistance, just sufficient to confirm his +character for hypocrisy, suffered himself to be led to the front of the +grand balcony, bowing as the man of the people. Another followed, a +prodigious patriot, who had been placed at the head of the National Guard +for his popular sycophancy, but who, on being called on by the mob to +swear "death to the King;" and hesitating, felt the penalty of being +unprepared to go all lengths on the spot. I saw his throat cut, and his +body flung from the balcony. A cannon-shot gave the signal for the march, +and we advanced to the grand prize of the day. I can describe but little +more of the assault on the Tuileries, than that it was a scene of +desperate confusion on both sides. The front of the palace continually +covered with the smoke of fire-arms of all kinds, from all the casements; +and the front of the mob a similar cloud of smoke, under which men fired, +fled, fell, got drunk, and danced. Nothing could be more ferocious, or +more feeble. Some of the Sections utterly ran away on the first fire; but, +as they were unpursued, they returned by degrees, and joined the fray. It +may be presumed that I made many an effort to escape; but I was in the +midst of a battalion of the Faubourg St Antoine. I had already been +suspected, from having dropped several muskets in succession, which had +been thrust into my hands by the zeal of my begrimed comrades; and a +sabre-cut, which I had received from one of our mounted ruffians as he saw +me stepping to the rear, warned me that my time was not yet come to get +rid of the scene of revolt and bloodshed. + +At length the struggle drew to a close. A rumour spread that the King had +left the palace, and gone to the Assembly. The cry was now on all +sides--"Advance, the day is our own!" The whole multitude rushed forward, +clashing their pikes and muskets, and firing their cannon, which were +worked by deserters from the royal troops; the Marseillais, a band of the +most desperate-looking ruffians that eye was ever set upon, chiefly +galley-slaves and the profligate banditti of a sea-port, led the column of +assault; and the sudden and extraordinary cessation of the fire from the +palace windows, seemed to promise a sure conquest. But, as the smoke +subsided, I saw a long line of troops, three deep, drawn up in front of +the chief entrance. Their scarlet uniforms showed that they were the Swiss. +The gendarmerie, the National Guard, the regular battalions, had abandoned +them, and their fate seemed inevitable. But there they stood, firm as iron. +Their assailants evidently recoiled; but the discharge of some +cannon-shots, which told upon the ranks of those brave and unfortunate men, +gave them new courage, and they poured onward. The voice of the Swiss +commandant giving the word to fire was heard, and it was followed by a +rolling discharge, from flank to flank, of the whole battalion. It was my +first experience of the effect of fire; and I was astonished at its +precision, rapidity, and deadly power. In an instant, almost the whole +troop of the Marseillais, in our front, were stretched upon the ground, +and every third man in the first line of the Sections was killed or +wounded. Before this shock could be recovered, we heard the word "fire" +again from the Swiss officer, and a second shower of bullets burst upon +our ranks. The Sections turned and fled in all directions, some by the +Pont Neuf, some by the Place Carrousel. The rout was complete; the terror, +the confusion, and the yelling of the wounded were horrible. The havoc was +increased by a party of the defenders of the palace, who descended into +the court and fell with desperation on the fugitives. I felt that now was +my time to escape, and darted behind one of the buttresses of a royal +_porte cachere_, to let the crowd pass me. The skirmishing continued at +intervals, and an officer in the uniform of the Royal Guard was struck +down by a shot close to my feet. As he rolled over, I recognised his +features. He was my young friend Lafontaine! With an inconceivable shudder +I looked on his pale countenance, and with the thought that he was killed +was mingled the thought of the misery which the tidings would bring to +fond ears in England. But as I drew the body within the shelter of the +gate, I found that he still breathed; he opened his eyes, and I had the +happiness, after waiting in suspense till the dusk covered our movements, +of conveying him to my hotel. + +Of the remaining events of this most calamitous day, I know but what all +the world knows. It broke down the monarchy. It was the last struggle in +which a possibility existed of saving the throne. The gentlest of the +Bourbons was within sight of the scaffold. He had now only to retrieve his +character for personal virtue by laying down his head patiently under the +blade of the guillotine. His royal character was gone beyond hope, and all +henceforth was to be the trial of the legislature and the nation. Even +that trial was to be immediate, comprehensive, and condign. No people in +the history of rebellion ever suffered, so keenly or so rapidly, the +vengeance which belongs to national crimes. The saturnalia was followed by +massacre. A new and darker spirit of ferocity displayed itself, in a +darker and more degraded form, from hour to hour, until the democracy was +extinguished. Like the Scripture miracle of the demoniac--the spirits +which had once exhibited the shape of man, were transmitted into the shape +of the brute; and even the swine ran down by instinct, and perished in the +waters. + + * * * * * + + + + +CEYLON[12] + + [12] CEYLON, AND ITS CAPABILITIES. BY J.W. Bennett, Esq. F.L.S. + London Allen: 1843. With Plain and Coloured Illustrations. 4to. + + +There is in the science and process of colonization, as in every complex +act of man, a secret philosophy--which is first suspected through results, +and first expounded by experience. Here, almost more than any where else, +nature works in fellowship with man. Yet all nature is not alike suited to +the purposes of the early colonist; and all men are not alike qualified +for giving effect to the hidden capacities of nature. One system of +natural advantages is designed to have a long precedency of others; and +one race of men is selected and sealed for an eternal preference in this +function of colonizing to the very noblest of their brethren. As +colonization advances, that ground becomes eligible for culture--that +nature becomes full of promise--which in earlier stages of the science was +_not_ so; because the dreadful solitude becomes continually narrower under +the accelerated diffusion of men, which shortens the _space_ of +distance--under the strides of nautical science, which shortens the _time_ +of distance--and under the eternal discoveries of civilization, which +combat with elementary nature. Again, in the other element of colonization, +races of men become known for what they are; the furnace has tried them +all; the truth has justified itself; and if, as at some great memorial +review of armies, some solemn _armilustrum_, the colonizing nations, since +1500, were now by name called up--France would answer not at all; Portugal +and Holland would stand apart with dejected eyes--dimly revealing the +legend of _Fuit Ilium_; Spain would be seen sitting in the distance, and, +like Judaea on the Roman coins, weeping under her palm-tree in the vast +regions of the Orellana; whilst the British race would be heard upon every +wind, coming on with mighty hurrahs, full of power and tumult, as some +"hail-stone chorus,"[13] and crying aloud to the five hundred millions of +Burmah, China, Japan, and the infinite islands, to make ready their paths +before them. Already a ground-plan, or ichnography, has been laid down of +the future colonial empire. In three centuries, already some outline has +been sketched, rudely adumbrating the future settlement destined for the +planet, some infant castrametation has been marked out for the future +encampment of nations. Enough has been already done to show the course by +which the tide is to flow, to prefigure for languages their proportions, +and for nations to trace their distribution. + + [13] "Hailstone chorus:"--Handel's Israel in Egypt. + +In this movement, so far as it regards man, in this machinery for sifting +and winnowing the merits of races, there is a system of marvellous means, +which by its very simplicity masks and hides from us the wise profundity +of its purpose. Often-times, in wandering amongst the inanimate world, the +philosopher is disposed to say--this plant, this mineral, this fruit, is +met with so often, not because it is better than others of the same family, +perhaps it is worse, but because its resources for spreading and +naturalizing itself, are, by accident, greater than theirs. That same +analogy he finds repeated in the great drama of colonization. It is not, +says he pensively to himself, the success which measures the merit. It is +not that nature, or that providence, has any final cause at work in +disseminating these British children over every zone and climate of the +earth. Oh, no! far from it! But it is the unfair advantages of these +islanders, which carry them thus potently a-head. Is it so, indeed? +Philosopher, you are wrong. Philosopher, you are envious. You speak +Spanish, philosopher, or even French. Those advantages, which you suppose +to disturb the equities of the case--were they not products of British +energy? Those twenty-five thousand of ships, whose graceful shadows darken +the blue waters in every climate--did they build themselves? That myriad +of acres, laid out in the watery cities of docks--were they sown by the +rain, as the fungus or the daisy? Britain _has_ advantages at this stage +of the race, which make the competition no longer equal--henceforwards it +has become gloriously "unfair"--but at starting we were all equal. Take +this truth from us, philosopher; that in such contests the power +constitutes the title, the man that has the ability to go a-head, is the +man entitled to go a-head; and the nation that _can_ win the place of +leader, is the nation that ought to do so. + +This colonizing genius of the British people appears upon a grand scale in +Australia, Canada, and, as we may remind the else forgetful world, in the +United States of America; which States are our children, prosper by our +blood, and have ascended to an overshadowing altitude from an infancy +tended by ourselves. But on the fields of India it is, that our aptitudes +for colonization have displayed themselves most illustriously, because +they were strengthened by violent resistance. We found many kingdoms +established, and to these we have given unity; and in process of doing so, +by the necessities of the general welfare, or the mere instincts of +self-preservation, we have transformed them to an empire, rising like an +exhalation, of our own--a mighty monument of our own superior civilization. + +Ceylon, as a virtual dependency of India, ranks in the same category. +There also we have prospered by resistance; there also we have succeeded +memorably where other nations memorably failed. Of Ceylon, therefore, now +rising annually into importance, let us now (on occasion of this splendid +book, the work of one officially connected with the island, bound to it +also by affectionate ties of services rendered, not less than of unmerited +persecutions suffered) offer a brief, but rememberable account; of Ceylon +in itself, and of Ceylon in its relations historical or economic, to +ourselves. + +Mr Bennett says of it, with more and less of doubt, three things--of which +any one would be sufficient to detain a reader's attention; viz., 1. That +it is the Taprobane of the Romans; 2. That it was, or has been thought to +be, the Paradise of Scripture; 3. That it is "the most magnificent of the +British _insular_ possessions," or in yet wider language, that it is an +"incomparable colony." This last count in the pretensions of Ceylon is +quite indisputable; Ceylon is in fact already, Ceylon is at this moment, a +gorgeous jewel in the imperial crown; and yet, compared with what it may +be, with what it will be, with what it ought to be, Ceylon is but that +grain of mustard-seed which hereafter is destined to become the stately +tree,[14] where the fowls of heaven will lodge for generations. Great are +the promises of Ceylon; great already her performances. Great are the +possessions of Ceylon, far greater her reversions. Rich she is by her +developments, richer by her endowments. She combines the luxury of the +tropics with the sterner gifts of our own climate. She is hot; she is cold. +She is civilized; she is barbarous. She has the resources of the rich; and +she has the energies of the poor. + + [14] St Mark, iv. 31, 32. + +But for Taprobane, but for Paradise, we have a word of dissent. Mr Bennett +is well aware that many men in many ages have protested against the +possibility that Ceylon could realize _all_ the conditions involved in the +ancient Taprobane. Milton, it is true, with other excellent scholars, has +_insinuated_ his belief that probably Taprobane is Ceylon; when our +Saviour in the wilderness sees the great vision of Roman power, expressed, +_inter alia_, by high officers of the Republic flocking to, or from, the +gates of Rome, and "embassies from regions far remote," crowding the +Appian or the Emilian roads, some + + "From the Asian kings, and Parthian amongst these; + From India and the golden Chersonese, + And utmost Indian isle Taprobane + * * * * * + Dusk faces with white silken turbans wreathed;" + +it is probable, from the mention of this island Taprobane following so +closely after that of the Malabar peninsula, that Milton held it to be the +island of Ceylon, and not of Sumatra. In this he does but follow the +stream of geographical critics; and, upon the whole, if any one island +exclusively is to be received for the Roman Taprobane, doubt there can be +none that Ceylon has the superior title. But, as we know that, in regions +less remote from Rome, _Mona_ did not always mean the Isle of Man, nor +_Ultima Thule_ uniformly the Isle of Skye or of St Kilda--so it is pretty +evident that features belonging to Sumatra, and probably to other oriental +islands, blended (through mutual misconceptions of the parties, questioned +and questioning) into one semi-fabulous object not entirely realized in +any locality whatever. The case is precisely as if Cosmas Indicopleustes, +visiting Scotland in the sixth century, should have placed the scene of +any adventure in a town distant six miles from Glasgow and eight miles +from Edinburgh. These we know to be irreconcilable conditions, such as +cannot meet in any town whatever, past or present. But in such a case many +circumstances might, notwithstanding, combine to throw a current of very +strong suspicion upon Hamilton as the town concerned. On the same +principle, it is easy to see that most of those Romans who spoke of +Taprobane had Ceylon in their eye. But that all had not, and of those who +really _had_, that some indicated by their facts very different islands, +whilst designing to indicate Ceylon, is undeniable; since, amongst other +imaginary characteristics of Taprobane, they make it extend considerably +to the south of the line. Now, with respect to Ceylon, this is notoriously +false; that island lies entirely in the northern tropic, and does not come +within five (hardly more than six) degrees of the equator. Plain it is, +therefore, that Taprobane, it construed very strictly, is an _ens +rationis_, made up by fanciful composition from various sources, and much +like our own mediaeval conceit of Prester John's country, or the fancies +(which have but recently vanished) of the African river Niger, and the +golden city Tombuctoo. These were lies; and yet also, in a limited sense, +they were truths. They were expansions, often fabulous and impossible, +engrafted upon some basis of fact by the credulity of the traveller, or +subsequently by misconception of the scholar. For instance, as to +Tombuctoo, Leo Africanus had authorized men to believe in some vast +African city, central to that great continent, and a focus to some mighty +system of civilization. Others, improving on that chimera, asserted, that +this glorious city represented an inheritance derived from ancient +Carthage; here, it was said, survived the arts and arms of that injured +state; hither, across Bilidulgerid, had the children of Phoenicia fled +from the wrath of Rome; and the mighty phantom of him whose uplifted +truncheon had pointed its path to the carnage of Cannae, was still the +tutelary genius watching over a vast posterity worthy of himself. Here was +a wilderness of lies; yet, after all, the lies were but so many voluminous +_fasciae_, enveloping the mummy of an original truth. Mungo Park came, and +the city of Tombuctoo was shown to be a real existence. Seeing was +believing. And yet, if, before the time of Park, you had avowed a belief +in Tombuctoo, you would have made yourself an indorser of that huge +forgery which had so long circulated through the forum of Europe, and, in +fact, a party to the total fraud. + +We have thought it right to direct the reader's eye upon this correction +of the common problem as to this or that place--Ceylon for +example--answering to this or that classical name--because, in fact, the +problem is more subtle than it appears to be. If you are asked whether you +believe in the unicorn, undoubtedly you are within the _letter_ of the +truth in replying that you do; for there are several varieties of large +animals which carry a single horn in the forehead.[15] But, _virtually_, by +such an answer you would countenance a falsehood or a doubtful legend, +since you are well aware that, in the idea of an unicorn, your questioner +included the whole traditionary character of the unicorn, as an antagonist +and emulator of the lion, &c.; under which fanciful description, this +animal is properly ranked with the griffin, the mermaid, the basilisk, the +dragon--and sometimes discussed in a supplementary chapter by the current +zoologies, under the idea of heraldic and apocryphal natural history. When +asked, therefore, whether Ceylon is Taprobane, the true answer is, not by +affirmation simply, nor by negation simply, but by both at once; it is, +and it is not. Taprobane includes much of what belongs to Ceylon, but also +more, and also less. And this case is a type of many others standing in +the same logical circumstances. + + [15] _Unicorn_: and strange it is, that, in ancient dilapidated + monuments of the Ceylonese, religious sculptures, &c., the unicorn + of Scotland frequently appears according to its true heraldic + (_i.e._ fabulous) type. + +But, secondly, as to Ceylon being the local representative of Paradise, we +may say, as the courteous Frenchman did to Dr Moore, upon the Doctor's +apologetically remarking of a word which he had used, that he feared it +was not good French--"Non, Monsieur, il n'est pas; mais il merite bien +l'etre." Certainly, if Ceylon was not, at least it ought to have been, +Paradise; for at this day there is no place on earth which better supports +the paradisiacal character (always excepting Lapland, as an Upsal +professor observes, and Wapping, as an old seaman reminds us) than this +Pandora of islands, which the Hindoos call Lanka, and Europe calls Ceylon. +We style it the "Pandora" of islands, because, as all the gods of the +heathen clubbed their powers in creating that ideal woman--clothing her +with perfections, and each separate deity subscribing to her dowery some +separate gift--not less conspicuous, and not less comprehensive, has been +the bounty of Providence, running through the whole diapason of +possibilities, to this all-gorgeous island. Whatsoever it is that God has +given by separate allotment and partition to other sections of the planet, +all this he has given cumulatively and redundantly to Ceylon. Was she +therefore happy, was Ceylon happier than other regions, through this +hyper-tropical munificence of her Creator? No, she was not; and the reason +was, because idolatrous darkness had planted curses where Heaven had +planted blessings; because the insanity of man had defeated the +graciousness of God. But another era is dawning for Ceylon; God will now +countersign his other blessings, and ripen his possibilities into great +harvests of realization, by superadding the one blessing of a dovelike +religion; light is thickening apace, the horrid altars of Moloch are +growing dim; woman will no more consent to forego her birthright as the +daughter of God; man will cease to be the tiger-cat that, in the _noblest_ +chamber of Ceylon, he has ever been; and with the new hopes that will now +blossom amidst the ancient beauties of this lovely island, Ceylon will but +too deeply fulfill the functions of a paradise. Too subtly she will lay +fascinations upon man; and it will need all the anguish of disease, and +the stings of death, to unloose the ties which, in coming ages, must bind +the hearts of her children to this Eden of the terraqueous globe. + +Yet if, apart from all bravuras of rhetoric, Mr Bennett seriously presses +the question regarding Paradise as a question in geography, we are sorry +that we must vote against Ceylon, for the reason that heretofore we have +pledged ourselves in print to vote in favour of Cashmeer; which beautiful +vale, by the way, is omitted in Mr Bennett's list of the candidates for +that distinction already entered upon the roll. Supposing the Paradise of +Scripture to have had a local settlement upon our earth, and not in some +extra-terrene orb, even in that case we cannot imagine that any thing +could now survive, even so much as an angle or a curve, of its original +outline. All rivers have altered their channels; many are altering them +for ever.[16] Longitude and latitude might be assigned, at the most, if +even those are not substantially defeated by the Miltonic "pushing askance" +of the poles with regard to the equinoctial. But, finally, we remark, that +whereas human nature has ever been prone to the superstition of local +consecrations and personal idolatries, by means of memorial relics, +apparently it is the usage of God to hallow such remembrances by removing, +abolishing, and confounding all traces of their punctual identities. +_That_ raises them to shadowy powers. By that process such remembrances +pass from the state of base sensual signs, ministering only to a sensual +servitude, into the state of great ideas--mysterious as spirituality is +mysterious, and permanent as truth is permanent. Thus it is, and therefore +it is, that Paradise has vanished; Luz is gone; Jacob's ladder is found +only as an apparition in the clouds; the true cross survives no more among +the Roman Catholics than the true ark is mouldering upon Ararat; no +scholar can lay his hand upon Gethsemane; and for the grave of Moses the +son of Amram, mightiest of lawgivers, though it is somewhere near Mount +Nebo, and in a valley of Moab, yet eye has not been suffered to behold it, +and "no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day."[17] + + [16] See Dr Robison on _Rivers_. + + [17] Deut. xxxiv. 6. + +If, however as to Paradise in connexion with Ceylon we are forced to say +"_No_," if as to Taprobane in connexion with Ceylon we say both "_Yes_" +and "_No_,"--not the less we come back with a reiterated "_Yes, yes, yes_," +upon Ceylon as the crest and eagle's plume of the Indies, as the priceless +pearl, the ruby without a flaw, and (once again we say it) as the Pandora +of oriental islands. + +Yet ends so glorious imply means of corresponding power; and advantages so +comprehensive cannot be sustained unless by a machinery proportionately +elaborate. Part of this machinery lies in the miraculous climate of Ceylon. +Climate? She has all climates. Like some rare human favourite of nature, +scattered at intervals along the line of a thousand years, who has been +gifted so variously as to seem + + "Not one, but all mankind's epitome," + +Ceylon, in order that she might become capable of products without end, +has been made an abstract of the whole earth, and fitted up as a +_panorganon_ for modulating through the whole diatonic scale of climates. +This is accomplished in part by her mountains. No island has mountains so +high. It was the hideous oversight of a famous infidel in the last century, +that, in supposing an Eastern prince _of necessity_ to deny frost and ice +as things impossible to _his_ experience, he betrayed too palpably his own +non-acquaintance with the grand economies of nature. To make acquaintance +with cold, and the products of cold, obviously he fancied it requisite to +travel northwards; to taste of polar power, he supposed it indispensable +to have advanced towards the pole. Narrow was the knowledge in those days, +when a master in Israel might have leave to err thus grossly. Whereas, at +present, few are the people, amongst those not openly making profession of +illiteracy, who do not know that a sultan of the tropics--ay, though his +throne were screwed down by exquisite geometry to the very centre of the +equator--might as surely become familiar with winter by ascending three +miles in altitude, as by travelling three thousand horizontally. In that +way of ascent, it is that Ceylon has her regions of winter and her Arctic +districts. She has her Alps, and she has her alpine tracts for supporting +human life and useful vegetation. Adam's Peak, which of itself is more +than seven thousand feet high, (and by repute the highest range within her +shores,) has been found to rank only fifth in the mountain scale. The +highest is a thousand feet higher. The maritime district, which runs round +the island for a course of nine hundred miles, fanned by the sea-breezes, +makes, with these varying elevations, a vast cycle of secondary +combinations for altering the temperature and for _adapting_ the weather. +The central region has a separate climate of its own. And an inner belt of +country, neither central nor maritime, which from the sea belt is regarded +as inland, but from the centre is regarded as maritime, composes another +chamber of climates: whilst these again, each individually within its +class, are modified into minor varieties by local circumstances as to wind, +by local accidents of position, and by shifting stages of altitude. + +With all this compass of power, however, (obtained from its hills and its +varying scale of hills,) Ceylon has not much of waste ground, in the sense +of being irreclaimable--for of waste ground, in the sense of being +unoccupied, she has an infinity. What are the dimensions of Ceylon? Of all +islands in this world which we know, in respect of size it most resembles +Ireland, being about one-sixth part less. But, for a particular reason, we +choose to compare it with Scotland, which is very little different in +dimensions from Ireland, having (by some hundred or two of square miles) a +trifling advantage in extent. Now, say that Scotland contains a trifle more +than thirty thousand square miles, the relation of Ceylon to Scotland will +become apparent when we mention that this Indian island contains about +twenty-four thousand five hundred of similar square miles. Twenty-four and +a half to thirty--or forty-nine to sixty--there lies the ratio of Ceylon to +Scotland. The ratio in population is not less easily remembered: Scotland +has _now_ (October 1843) hard upon three millions of people: Ceylon, by a +late census, has just three _half_ millions. But strange indeed, where +every thing seems strange, is the arrangement of this Ceylonese territory +and people. Take a peach: what you call the flesh of the peach, the +substance which you eat, is massed orbicularly around a central +stone--often as large as a pretty large strawberry. Now in Ceylon, the +central district, answering to this peach-stone, constitutes a fierce +little Liliputian kingdom, quite independent, through many centuries, of +the lazy belt, the peach-flesh, which swathes and enfolds it, and perfectly +distinct by the character and origin of its population. The peach-stone is +called Kandy, and the people Kandyans. These are a desperate variety of the +tiger-man, agile and fierce as he is, though smooth, insinuating, and full +of subtlety as a snake, even to the moment of crouching for their last +fatal spring. On the other hand the people of the engirdling zone are +called the Cinghalese, spelled according to fancy of us authors and +compositors, who legislate for the spelling of the British empire, with an +S or a C. As to moral virtue, in the sense of integrity or fixed principle, +there is not much lost upon either race: in that point they are "much of a +muchness." They are also both respectable for their attainments in +cowardice; but with this difference, that the Cinghalese are soft, inert, +passive cowards: but your Kandyan is a ferocious little bloody coward, full +of mischief as a monkey, grinning with desperation, laughing like a hyena, +or chattering if you vex him, and never to be trusted for a moment. The +reader now understands why we described the Ceylonese man as a tiger-cat in +his noblest division: for, after all, these dangerous gentlemen in the +peach-stone are a more promising race than the silky and nerveless +population surrounding them. You can strike no fire out of the Cinghalese: +but the Kandyans show fight continually, and would even persist in +fighting, if there were in this world no gunpowder, (which exceedingly they +dislike,) and if their allowance of arrack were greater. + +Surely this is the very strangest spectacle exhibited on earth: a kingdom +within a kingdom, an _imperium in imperio_, settled and maintaining itself +for centuries in defiance of all that Pagan, that Mahommedan, that Jew, or +that Christian, could do. The reader will remember the case of the British +envoy to Geneva, who being ordered in great wrath to "quit the territories +of the republic in twenty-four hours," replied, "By all means: in ten +minutes." And here was a little bantam kingdom, not much bigger than the +irate republic, having its separate sultan, with full-mounted +establishment of peacock's feathers, white elephants, Moorish eunuchs, +armies, cymbals, dulcimers, and all kinds of music, tormentors, and +executioners; whilst his majesty crowed defiance across the ocean to all +other kings, rajahs, soldans, kesars, "flowery" emperors, and +"golden-feet," east or west, be the same more or less; and really with +some reason. For though it certainly _is_ amusing to hear of a kingdom no +bigger than Stirlingshire with the half of Perthshire, standing erect and +maintaining perpetual war with all the rest of Scotland, a little nucleus +of pugnacity, sixty miles by twenty-four, rather more than a match for the +lazy lubber, nine hundred miles long, that dandled it in its arms; yet, as +the trick was done, we cease to find it ridiculous. + +For the trick _was_ done: and that reminds us to give the history of +Ceylon in its two sections, which will not prove much longer than the +history of Tom Thumb. Precisely three centuries before Waterloo, viz. +_Anno Domini_ 1515, a Portuguese admiral hoisted his sovereign's flag, and +formed a durable settlement at Columbo, which was, and is, considered the +maritime capital of the island. Very nearly halfway on the interval of +time between this event and Waterloo, viz. in 1656 (ante-penultimate year +of Cromwell,) the Portuguese nation made over, by treaty, this settlement +to the Dutch; which, of itself, seems to mark that the sun of the former +people was now declining to the west. In 1796, now forty-seven years ago, +it arose out of the French revolutionary war--so disastrous for +Holland--that the Dutch surrendered it per force to the British, who are +not very likely to surrender it in _their_ turn on any terms, or at any +gentleman's request. Up to this time, when Ceylon passed under our flag, +it is to be observed that no progress whatever, not the least, had been +made in mastering the peach-stone, that old central nuisance of the island. +The little monster still crowed, and flapped his wings on his dunghill, as +had been his custom always in the afternoon for certain centuries. But +nothing on earth is immortal: even mighty bantams must have their decline +and fall; and omens began to show out that soon there would be a dust with +the new master at Columbo. Seven years after our _debut_ on that stage, +the dust began. By the way, it is perhaps an impertinence to remark it, +but there certainly _is_ a sympathy between the motions of the Kandyan +potentate and our European enemy Napoleon. Both pitched into _us_ in 1803, +and we pitched into both in 1815. That we call a coincidence. How the row +began was thus: some incomprehensible intrigues had been proceeding for a +time between the British governor or commandant, or whatever he might be, +and the Kandyan prime minister. This minister, who was a noticeable man, +with large grey eyes, was called _Pilame Tilawe_. We write his name after +Mr Bennett: but it is quite useless to study the pronunciation of it, +seeing that he was hanged in 1812 (the year of Moscow)--a fact for which +we are thankful as often as we think of it. _Pil_. (surely _Tilawe_ cannot +be pronounced Garlic?) managed to get the king's head into Chancery, and +then fibbed him. Why Major-General M'Dowall (then commanding our forces) +should collude with Pil Garlic, is past our understanding. But so it was. +_Pil_. said that a certain prince, collaterally connected with the royal +house, by name Mootto Sawme, who had fled to our protection, was, or might +be thought to be, the lawful king. Upon which the British general +proclaimed him. What followed is too shocking to dwell upon. Scarcely had +Mootto, apparently a good creature, been inaugurated, when _Pil_. proposed +his deposition, to which General M'Dowall consented, and his own (_Pil.'s_) +elevation to the throne. It is like a dream to say, that this also was +agreed to. King Pil. the First, and, God be thanked! the last, was raised +to the--_musnud_, we suppose, or whatsoever they call it in Pil.'s jargon. +So far there was little but farce; now comes the tragedy. A certain Major +Davie was placed with a very inconsiderable garrison in the capital of the +Kandyan empire, called by name Kandy. This officer, whom Mr Bennett +somewhere calls the "gallant," capitulated upon terms, and had the +inconceivable folly to imagine that a base Kandyan chief would think +himself bound by these terms. One of them was--that he (Major Davie) and +his troops should be allowed to retreat unmolested upon Columbo. +Accordingly, fully armed and accoutred, the British troops began their +march. At Wattepolowa a proposal was made to Major Davie, that Mootto +Sawme (our _protege_ and instrument) should be delivered up to the Kandyan +tiger. Oh! sorrow for the British name! he _was_ delivered. Soon after a +second proposal came, that the British soldiers should deliver up their +arms, and should march back to Kandy. It makes an Englishman shiver with +indignation to hear that even this demand was complied with. Let us pause +for one moment. Wherefore is it, that in all similar cases, in this +Ceylonese case, in Major Baillie's Mysore case, in the Cabool case, +uniformly the privates are wiser than their officers? In a case of +delicacy or doubtful policy, certainly the officers would have been the +party best able to solve the difficulties; but in a case of elementary +danger, where manners disappear, and great passions come upon the stage, +strange it is that poor men, labouring men, men without education, always +judge more truly of the crisis than men of high refinement. But this was +seen by Wordsworth--thus spoke he, thirty-six years ago, of Germany, +contrasted with the Tyrol:-- + + "Her haughty schools + Shall blush; and may not we with sorrow say-- + A few strong instincts, and a few plain rules, + Among the herdsmen of the Alps, have wrought + More for mankind at this unhappy day + Than all the pride of intellect and thought." + +The regiment chiefly concerned was the 19th, (for which regiment the word +_Wattepolowa_, the scene of their martyrdom, became afterwards a memorial +war-cry.) Still, to this hour, it forces tears of wrath into our eyes when +we read the recital of the case. A dozen years ago we first read it in a +very interesting book, published by the late Mr Blackwood--the Life of +Alexander. This Alexander was not personally present at the +bloody catastrophe; but he was in Ceylon at the time, and knew the one +sole fugitive[18] from that fatal day. The soldiers of the 19th, not even +in that hour of horror, forgot their discipline, or their duty, or their +respectful attachment to their officers. When they were ordered to ground +their arms, (oh, base idiot that could issue such an order!) they +remonstrated most earnestly, but most respectfully. Major Davie, agitated +and distracted by the scene, himself recalled the order. The men resumed +their arms. Alas! again the fatal order was issued; again it was recalled; +but finally, it was issued peremptorily. The men sorrowfully obeyed. We +hurry to the odious conclusion. In parties of twos and of threes, our +brave countrymen were called out by the horrid Kandyan tiger cats. +Disarmed by the frenzy of their moonstruck commander, what resistance +could they make? One after one the parties, called out to suffer, were +decapitated by the executioner. The officers, who had refused to give up +their pistols, finding what was going on, blew out their brains with their +own hands, now too bitterly feeling how much wiser had been the poor +privates than themselves. At length there was stillness on the field. +Night had come on. All were gone-- + + "And darkness was the buryer of the dead." + + [18] _Fugitive_, observe. There were some others, and amongst them + Major Davie, who, for private reasons, were suffered to survive as + prisoners. + +The reader may recollect a most picturesque murder near Manchester, about +thirteen or fourteen years ago, perpetrated by two brothers named McKean, +where a servant woman, whose throat had been effectually cut, rose up, +after an interval, from the ground at a most critical moment, (so critical, +that, by that act, and at that second of time, she drew off the murderer's +hand from the throat of a second victim,) staggered, in her delirium, to +the door of a room where sometime a club had been held, doubtless under +some idea of obtaining aid, and at the door, after walking some fifty feet, +dropped down dead. Not less astonishing was the resurrection, as it might +be called, of an English corporal, cut, mangled, remangled, and left +without sign of life. Suddenly he rose up, stiff and gory; dying and +delirious, as he felt himself, with misery from exhaustion and wounds, he +swam rivers, threaded enemies, and moving day and night, came suddenly +upon an army of Kandyans; here he prepared himself with pleasure for the +death that now seemed inevitable, when, by a fortunate accident, for want +of a fitter man, he was selected as an ambassador to the English officer +commanding a Kandyan garrison--and thus once more escaped miraculously. + +Sometimes, when we are thinking over the great scenes of tragedy through +which Europe passed from 1805 to 1815, suddenly, from the bosom of utter +darkness, a blaze of light arises; a curtain is drawn up; a saloon is +revealed. We see a man sitting there alone, in an attitude of alarm and +expectation. What does he expect? What is it that he fears? He is +listening for the chariot-wheels of a fugitive army. At intervals he +raises his head--and we know him now for the Abbe de Pradt--the place, +Warsaw--the time, early in December 1812. All at once the rushing of +cavalry is heard; the door is thrown open; a stranger enters. We see, as +in Cornelius Agrippa's mirror, his haggard features; it is a momentary +king, having the sign of a felon's death written secretly on his brow; it +is Murat; he raises his hands with a gesture of horror as he advances to M. +l'Abbe. We hear his words--_"L'Abbe, all is lost!"_ + +Even so, when the English soldier, reeling from his anguish and weariness, +was admitted into the beleaguered fortress, his first words, more homely +in expression than Murat's, were to the same dreadful purpose--"Your +honour," he said, "all is dished;" and this being uttered by way of +prologue, he then delivered himself of the message with which he had been +charged, and _that_ was a challenge from the Kandyan general to come out +and fight without aid from his artillery. The dismal report was just in +time; darkness was then coming on. The English officer spiked his guns; +and, with his garrison, fled by night from a fort in which else he would +have perished by starvation or by storm, had Kandyan forces been equal to +such an effort. This corporal was, strictly speaking, the only man who +_escaped_, one or two other survivors having been reserved as captives, +for some special reasons. Of this captive party was Major Davie, the +commander, whom Mr Bennett salutes by the title of "gallant," and regrets +that "the strong arm of death" had intercepted his apology. + +He could have made no apology. Plea or palliation he had none. To have +polluted the British honour in treacherously yielding up to murder (and +absolutely for nothing in return) a prince, whom we ourselves had seduced +into rebellion--to have forced his men and officers into laying down their +arms, and sueing for the mercy of wretches the most perfidious on earth; +these were acts as to which atonement or explanation was hopeless for +_him_, forgiveness impossible for England. So this man is to be called +"the gallant"--is he? We will thank Mr Bennett to tell us, who was that +officer subsequently seen walking about in Ceylon, no matter whether in +Western Columbo, or in Eastern Trincomale, long enough for reaping his +dishonour, though, by accident, not for a court-martial? Behold, what a +curse rests in this British island upon those men, who, when the clock of +honour has sounded the hour for their departure, cannot turn their dying +eyes nobly to the land of their nativity--stretch out their hands to the +glorious island in farewell homage, and say with military pride--as even +the poor gladiators (who were but slaves) said to Caesar, when they passed +his chair to their death "Morituri te salutamus!" This man and Mr Bennett +knows it, because he was incrusted with the leprosy of cowardice, and +because upon him lay the blood of those to whom he should have been _in +loco parentis_, made a solitude wherever he appeared, men ran from him as +from an incarnation of pestilence; and between him and free intercourse +with his countrymen, from the hour of his dishonour in the field, to the +hour of his death, there flowed a river of separation--there were +stretched lines of interdict heavier than ever Pope ordained--there +brooded a schism like that of death, a silence like that of the grave; +making known for ever the deep damnation of the infamy, which on this +earth settles upon the troubled resting-place of him, who, through +cowardice, has shrunk away from his duty, and, on the day of trial, has +broken the bond which bound him to his country. + +Surely there needed no arrear of sorrow to consummate this disaster. Yet +two aggravations there were, which afterwards transpired, irritating the +British soldiers to madness. One was soon reported, viz. that 120 sick or +wounded men, lying in an hospital, had been massacred without a motive, by +the children of hell with whom we were contending. The other was not +discovered until 1815. Then first it became known, that in the whole +stores of the Kandyan government, (_a fortiori_ then in the particular +section of the Kandyan forces which we faced,) there had not been more +gunpowder remaining at the hour of Major Davie's infamous capitulation +than 750 lbs. avoirdupois; other munitions of war having been in the same +state of bankruptcy. Five minutes more of resistance, one inspiration of +English pluck, would have placed the Kandyan army in our power--would have +saved the honour of the country--would have redeemed our noble +soldiers--and to Major Davie, would have made the total difference between +lying in a traitor's grave, and lying in Westminster Abbey. + +Was there no vengeance, no retribution, for these things? Vengeance there +was, but by accident. Retribution there was, but partial and remote. +Infamous it was for the English government at Columbo, as Mr Bennett +insinuates, that having a large fund disposable annually for secret +service, between 1796 and 1803, such a rupture _could_ have happened and +have found us unprepared. Equally infamous it was, that summary +chastisement was not inflicted upon the perfidious court of Kandy. What +_real_ power it had, when unaided by villainy amongst ourselves, was shown +in 1804, in the course of which year, one brave officer, Lieutenant +Johnstone of the 19th, with no more than 150 men, including officers, +marched right through the country, in the teeth of all opposition from the +king, and resolutely took[19] Kandy in his route. However, for the present, +without a shadow of a reason, since all reasons ran in the other direction, +we ate our leek in silence; once again, but now for the last time, the +bloody little bantam crowed defiance from his dunghill, and tore the +British flag with his spurs. What caused his ruin at last, was literally +the profundity of our own British humiliation; had _that_ been less, had +it not been for the natural reaction of that spectacle, equally hateful +and incredible, upon barbarian chief, as ignorant as he was fiendish, he +would have returned a civil answer to our subsequent remonstrances. In +that case, our government would have been conciliated; and the monster's +son, who yet lives in Malabar, would now be reigning in his stead. But +_Diis aliter visum est_--earth was weary of this Kandyan nuisance, and the +infatuation, which precipitated its doom, took the following shape. In +1814, certain traders, ten in number, not British but Cinghalese, and +therefore British subjects, entitled to British protection, were wantonly +molested in their peaceable occupations by this Kandyan king. Three of +these traders one day returned to our frontier wearing upon necklaces, +inextricably attached to their throats, their own ears, noses, and other +parts of their own persons, torn away by the pincers of the Kandyan +executioners. The seven others had sunk under their sufferings. Observe +that there had been no charge or imputation against these men, more or +less: _stet proratione voluntas_. This was too much even for our +all-suffering[20] English administration. They sent off a kind of +expostulation, which amounted to this--"How now, my good sir? What are you +up to?" Fortunately for his miserable subjects, (and, as this case showed, +by possibility for many who were _not_ such,) the vain-glorious animal +returned no answer; not because he found any diplomatic difficulty to +surmount, but in mere self glorification, and in pure disdain of _us_. +What a commentary was _that_ upon our unspeakable folly up to that hour! + + [19] "_Took_ Kandy in his route." This phrase is equivocal, it + bears two senses--the traveller's sense, and the soldier's. But + _we_ rarely make such errors in the use of words; the error is + original in the Government documents themselves. + + [20] Why were they "all-suffering?" will be the demand of the + reader, and he will doubt the fact simply because he will not + apprehend any sufficient motive. That motive we believe to have + been this: war, even just or necessary war, is costly; now, the + governor and his council knew that their own individual chances of + promotion were in the exact ratio of the economy which they could + exhibit. + +We are anxious that the reader should go along with the short remainder of +this story, because it bears strongly upon the true moral of our Eastern +policy, of which, hereafter, we shall attempt to unfold the casuistry, in +a way that will be little agreeable to the calumniators of Clive and +Hastings. We do not intend that these men shall have it all their own way +in times to come. Our Eastern rulers have erred always, and erred deeply, +by doing too little rather than too much. They have been _too_ +long-suffering; and have tolerated many nuisances, and many miscreants, +when their duty was--when their power was--to have destroyed them for ever. +And the capital fault of the East India Company--that greatest benefactor +for the East that ever yet has arisen--has been in not publishing to the +world the grounds and details of their policy. Let this one chapter in +that policy, this Kandyan chapter, proclaim how great must have been the +evils from which our "usurpations" (as they are called) have liberated the +earth. For let no man dwell on the rarity, or on the limited sphere, of +such atrocities, even in Eastern despotisms. If the act be rare, is not +the anxiety eternal? If the personal suffering be transitory, is not the +outrage upon human sensibilities, upon the majesty of human nature, upon +the possibilities of light, order, commerce, civilization, of a duration +and a compass to make the total difference between man viler than the +brutes, and man a little lower than the angels? + +It happened that the first noble, or "Adikar," of the Kandyan king, being +charged with treason at this time, had fled to our protection. That was +enough. Vengeance on _him_, in his proper person, had become impossible: +and the following was the vicarious vengeance adopted by God's vicegerent +upon earth, whose pastime it had long been to study the ingenuities of +malice, and the possible refinements in the arts of tormenting. Here +follows the published report on this one case:--"The ferocious miscreant +determined to be fully revenged, and immediately sentenced the Adikar's +wife and children, together with his brother and the brother's wife, to +death after the following fashion. The children were ordered to be +decapitated before their mother's face, and their heads to be pounded in a +rice-mortar by their mother's hands; which, to save herself from a +diabolical torture and exposure," (concealments are here properly +practised in the report, for the sake of mere human decency,) "she +submitted to attempt. The eldest boy shrunk (shrank) from the dread ordeal, +and clung to his agonized parent for safety; but his younger brother +stepped forward, and encouraged him to submit to his fate, placing himself +before the executioner by way of setting an example. The last of the +children to be beheaded was an infant at the breast, from which it was +forcibly torn away, and its mother's milk was dripping from its innocent +mouth as it was put into the hands of the grim executioner." Finally, the +Adikar's brother was executed, having no connexion (so much as alleged) +with his brother's flight; and then the two sisters-in-law, having stones +attached to their feet, were thrown into a tank. These be thy gods, O +Egypt! such are the processes of Kandyan law, such is its horrid religion, +and such the morality which it generates! And let it not be said, these +were the excesses of a tyrant. Man does not brutalize, by possibility, in +pure insulation. He gives, and he receives. It is by sympathy, by the +contagion of example, by reverberation of feelings, that every man's heart +is moulded. A prince, to have been such as this monster, must been bred +amongst a cruel people: a cruel people, as by other experience we know +them to be, naturally produce an inhuman prince, and such a prince +reproduces his own corrupters. + +Vengeance, however, was now at hand: a better and more martial governor, +Sir Robert Brownrigg, was in the field since 1812. On finding that no +answer was forthcoming, he marched with all his forces. But again these +were inadequate to the service; and once again, as in 1803, we were on the +brink of being sacrificed to the very lunacies of retrenchment. By a mere +godsend, more troops happened to arrive from the Indian continent. We +marched in triumphal ease to the capital city of Kandy. The wicked prince +fled: Major Kelly pursued him--to pursue was to overtake--to overtake was +to conquer. Thirty-seven ladies of his _zenana_, and his mother, were +captured elsewhere: and finally the whole kingdom capitulated by a solemn +act, in which we secured to it what we had no true liberty to secure, viz. +the _inviolability_ of their horrid idolatries. Render unto Caesar the +things which are Caesar's--but this was _not_ Caesar's. Whether in some +other concessions, whether in volunteering certain civil privilages of +which the conquered had never dreamed, and which, for many a long year +they will not understand, our policy were right or wrong--may admit of +much debate. Often-times, but not always, it is wise and long-sighted +policy to presume in nations higher qualities than they have, and +developments beyond what really exist. But as to religion, there can be no +doubt, and no debate at all. To exterminate their filthy and bloody +abominations of creed and of ritual practice, is the first step to any +serious improvement of the Kandyan people: it is the _conditio sine qua +non_ of all regeneration for this demoralized race. And what we ought to +have promised, all that in mere civil equity we had the right to promise; +was--that we would _tolerate_ such follies, would make no war upon such +superstitions as should not be openly immoral. One word more than this +covenant was equally beyond the powers of one party to that covenant, and +the highest interests of all parties. + +Philosophically speaking, this great revolution may not close perhaps for +centuries: historically, it closed about the opening of the Hundred Days +in the _annus mirabilis_ of Waterloo. On the 13th of February 1815, Kandy, +the town, was occupied by the British troops, never again to be resigned. +In March, followed the solemn treaty by which all parties assumed their +constitutional stations. In April, occurred the ceremonial part of the +revolution, its public notification and celebration, by means of a grand +processional entry into the capital, stretching for upwards of a mile; and +in January 1816, the late king, now formally deposed, "a stout, +good-looking Malabar, with a peculiarly keen and roving eye, and a +restlessness of manner, marking unbridled passions," was conveyed in the +governor's carriage to the jetty at Trincomalee, from which port H.M.S. +Mexico conveyed him to the Indian continent: he was there confined in the +fortress of Vellore, famous for the bloody mutiny amongst the Company's +sepoy troops, so bloodily suppressed. In Vellore, this cruel prince, whose +name was Sree Wickreme Rajah Singha, died some years after; and one son +whom he left behind him, born during his father's captivity, may still be +living. But his ambitious instincts, if any such are working within him, +are likely to be seriously baffled in the very outset by the precautions +of our diplomacy; for one article of the treaty proscribes the descendants +of this prince as enemies of Ceylon, if found within its precincts. In +this exclusion, pointed against a single family, we are reminded of the +Stuart dynasty in England, and the Bonaparte dynasty in France. We cannot, +however, agree with Mr Bennett's view of this parallelism--either in so +far as it points our pity towards Napoleon, or in so far as it points the +regrets of disappointed vengeance to the similar transportation of Sree. + +Pity is misplaced upon Napoleon, and anger is wasted upon Sree. He ought +to have been hanged, says Mr Bennett; and so said many of Napoleon. But it +was not our mission to punish either. The Malabar prince had broken no +faith with _us_: he acted under the cursed usages of a cruel people and a +bloody religion. These influences had trained a bad heart to corresponding +atrocities. Courtesy we did right to pay him, for our own sakes as a high +and noble nation. What we could not punish judicially, it did not become +us to revile. And finally, we much doubt whether hanging upon a tree, +either in Napoleon's case or Sree's, would not practically have been found +by both a happy liberation from that bitter cup of mortification which +both drank off in their latter years. + +At length, then, the entire island of Ceylon, about a hundred days before +Waterloo, had become ours for ever. Hereafter Ceylon must inseparably +attend the fortunes of India. Whosoever in the East commands the sea, must +command the southern empires of Asia; and he who commands those empires, +must for ever command the Oriental islands. One thing only remains to be +explained; and the explanation, we fear, will be harder to understand than +the problem: it is--how the Portuguese and Dutch failed, through nearly +three centuries, to master this little obstinate _nucleus_ of the peach. +It seems like a fairy tale to hear the answer: Sinbad has nothing wilder. +"They were," says Mr Bennett, "repeatedly masters of the capital." What +was it, then, that stopped them from going on? "At one period, the former +(_i.e._ the Portuguese) had conquered all but the impregnable position +called _Kandi Udda_." And what was it then that lived at Kandi Udda? The +dragon of Wantley? or the dun cow of Warwick? or the classical Hydra? No; +it was thus:--_Kandi_ was "in the centre of the mountainous region, +surrounded by impervious jungles, with secret approaches for only one man +at a time." Such tricks might have answered in the time of Ali Baba and +the forty thieves; but we suspect that, even then, an "_open sesame_" +would have been found for this pestilent defile. Smoking a cigar through +it, and dropping the sparks, might have done the business in the dry +season. But, in very truth, we imagine that political arrangements were +answerable for this long failure in checkmating the king, and not at all +the cunning passage which carried only one inside passenger. The +Portuguese permitted the Kandyan natives to enter their army; and that one +fact gives us a short solution of the case. For, as Mr Bennett observes, +the principal features of these Kandyans are merely "human imitations of +their own indigenous leopards--treachery and ferocity," as the +circumstances may allow them to profit by one or the other. Sugarcandy, +however, appears to have given very little trouble to _us_; and, at all +events, it is ours now, together with all that is within its gates. It is +proper, however, to add, that since the conquest of this country in 1815, +there have been three rebellions, viz. in 1817-18, in 1834, and finally in +1842. This last comes pretty well home to our own times and concerns; so +that we naturally become curious as to the causes of such troubles. The +two last are said to have been inconsiderable in their extent. But the +earlier of the three, which broke out so soon after the conquest as 1817, +must, we conceive, have owed something to intrigues promoted on behalf of +the exiled king. His direct lineal descendants are excluded, as we have +said, from the island for ever; but his relatives, by whom we presume to +be meant his _cognati_ or kinspeople in the female line, not his _agnati_, +are allowed to live in Kandy, suffering only the slight restriction of +confinement to one street out of five, which compose this ancient +metropolis. Meantime, it is most instructive to hear the secret account of +those causes which set in motion this unprincipled rebellion. For it will +thus be seen how hopeless it is, under the present idolatrous superstition +of Ceylon, to think of any attachment in the people, by means of good +government, just laws, agriculture promoted, or commerce created. More +stress will be laid, by the Ceylonese, on our worshipping a carious tooth +two inches long, ascribed to the god Buddha, (but by some to an +ourang-outang,) than to every mode of equity, good faith, or kindness. It +seems that the Kandyans and we reciprocally misunderstood the ranks, +orders, precedencies, titular distinctions, and external honours attached +to them in our several nations. But none are so deaf as those that have no +mind to hear. And we suspect that our honest fellows of the 19th Regiment, +whose comrades had been murdered in their beds by the cursed Kandyan +"nobles," neither did nor would understand the claim of such assassins to +military salutes, to the presenting of arms, or to the turning out of the +guard. Here, it is said, began the ill-blood, and also on the claim of the +Buddhist priests to similar honours. To say the simple truth, these +soldiers ought not to have been expected to show respect towards the +murderers of their brethren. The priests, with their shaven crowns and +yellow robes, were objects of mere mockery to the British soldier. "Not to +have been kicked," it should have been said, "is gain; not to have been +cudgeled, is for you a ground of endless gratitude. Look not for salutes; +dream not of honours." For our own part--again we say it--let the +government look a-head for endless insurrections. We tax not the rulers of +Ceylon with having caused the insurrections. We hold them blameless on +that head; for a people so fickle and so unprincipled will never want such +matter for rebellion as would be suspected, least of all, by a wise and +benevolent man. But we _do_ tax the local government with having +ministered to the possibility of rebellion. We British have not sowed the +ends and objects of conspiracies; but undoubtedly, by our lax +administration, we have sowed the _means_ of conspiracies. We must not +transfer to a Pagan island our own mild code of penal laws: the subtle +savage will first become capable of these, when he becomes capable of +Christianity. And to this we must now bend our attention. Government must +make no more offerings of musical clocks to the Pagan temples; for such +propitiations are understood by the people to mean--that we admit their +god to be naturally stronger than ours. Any mode or measure of excellence +but that of power, they understand not, as applying to a deity. Neither +must our government any longer wink at such monstrous practices as that of +children ejecting their dying parents, in their last struggles, from the +shelter of their own roofs, on the plea that death would pollute their +dwellings. Such compliances with Paganism, make Pagans of ourselves. Nor, +again, ought the professed worship of devils to be tolerated, more than +the Fetish worship, or the African witchcraft, was tolerated in the West +Indies. Having, at last, obtained secure possession of the entire island, +with no reversionary fear over our heads, (as, up to Waterloo, we always +had,) that possibly at a general peace we might find it diplomatically +prudent to let it return under Dutch possession, we have no excuse for any +longer neglecting the jewel in our power. We gave up to Holland, through +unwise generosity, already one splendid island, viz. Java. Let one such +folly suffice for one century. + +For the same reason--namely, the absolute and undivided possession which +we now hold of the island--it is at length time that our home government +should more distinctly invite colonists, and make known the unrivaled +capabilities of this region. So vast are our colonial territories, that +for every class in our huge framework of society we have separate and +characteristic attractions. In some it is chiefly labour that is wanted, +capital being in excess. In others these proportions are reversed. In some +it is great capitalists that are wanted for the present; in others almost +exclusively small ones. Now, in Ceylon, either class will be welcome. It +ought also to be published every where, that immediately after the +conquest of Kandy, the government entered upon the Roman career of +civilization, and upon that also which may be considered peculiarly +British. Military roads were so carried as to pierce and traverse all the +guilty fastnesses of disease, and of rebellion by means of disease. +Bridges, firmly built of satin-wood, were planted over every important +stream. The Kirime canal was completed in the most eligible situation. The +English institution of mail-coaches was perfected in all parts of the +island. At this moment there are three separate modes of itinerating +through the island--viz., by mail-coach, by buggy, or by palanquin; to say +nothing of the opportunities offered at intervals, along the maritime +provinces, for coasting by ships or boats. To the botanist, the +mineralogist, the naturalist, the sportsman, Ceylon offers almost a +virgin Eldorado. To a man wishing to combine the lucrative pursuits of the +colonist with the elegances of life, and with the comforts of compatriot +society, not (as in Australia, or in American back settlements) to weather +the hardships of Robinson Crusoe, the invitations from the infinite +resources of Ceylon are past all count or estimate. "For my own part," +says Mr Bennett, who is _now_ a party absolutely disinterested, "having +visited all but the northern regions of the globe, I have seen nothing to +equal this incomparable country." Here a man may purchase land, with +secure title, and of a good tenure, at five shillings the acre; this, at +least, is the upset price, though in some privileged situations it is +known to have reached seventeen shillings. A house may be furnished in the +Morotto style, and with luxurious contrivances for moderating the heat in +the hotter levels of the island, at fifty pounds sterling. The native +furniture is both cheap and excellent in quality, every way superior, +intrinsically, to that which, at five times the cost, is imported from +abroad. Labour is pretty uniformly at the rate of six-pence English for +twelve hours. Provisions of every sort and variety are poured out in +Ceylon from an American _cornucopia_ of some Saturnian age. Wheat, +potatoes, and many esculent plants, or fruits, were introduced by the +British in the great year, (and for this island, in the most literal sense, +the era of a new earth and new heavens)--the year of Waterloo. From that +year dates, for the Ceylonese, the day of equal laws for rich and poor, +the day of development out of infant and yet unimproved advantages; +finally--if we are wise, and they are docile--the day of a heavenly +religion displacing the _avowed_ worship of devils, and giving to the +people a new nature, a new heart, and hopes as yet not dawning upon their +dreams. How often has it been said by the vile domestic calumniators of +British policy, by our own anti-national deceivers, that if tomorrow we +should leave India, no memorial would attest that ever we had been there. +Infamous falsehood! damnable slander! Speak, Ceylon, to _that_. True it is, +that the best of our gifts--peace, freedom, security, and a new standard +of public morality--these blessings are like sleep, like health, like +innocence, like the eternal revolutions of day and night, which sink +inaudibly into human hearts, leaving behind (as sweet vernal rains) no +flaunting records of ostentation and parade; we are not the nation of +triumphal arches and memorial obelisks; but the sleep, the health, the +innocence, the grateful vicissitudes of seasons, reproduce themselves in +fruits and products enduring for generations, and overlooked by the +slanderer only because they are too diffusive to be noticed as +extraordinary, and benefiting by no light of contrast, simply because our +own beneficence has swept away the ancient wretchedness that could have +furnished that contrast. Ceylon, of itself, can reply victoriously to such +falsehoods. Not yet fifty years have we held this island; not yet thirty +have we had the _entire_ possession of the island; and (what is more +important to a point of this nature) not yet thirty have we had that +secure possession which results from the consciousness that our government +is not meditating to resign it. Previously to Waterloo, our tenure of +Ceylon was a provisional tenure. With the era of our Kandyan conquest +coincides the era of our absolute appropriation, signed and countersigned +for ever. The arrangements, of that day at Paris, and by a few subsequent +Congresses of revision, are like the arrangements of Westphalia in +1648--valid until Christendom shall be again convulsed to her foundations. +From that date is, therefore, justly to be inaugurated our English career +of improvement. Of the roads laid open through the island, we have spoken. +The attempts at improvement of the agriculture and horticulture furnish +matter already for a romance, if told of any other than this wonderful +labyrinth of climates. The openings for commercial improvement are not +less splendid. It is a fact infamous to the Ceylonese, that an island, +which might easily support twenty millions of people, has been liable to +famine, not unfrequently, with a population of fifteen hundred thousand. +This has already ceased to be a possibility: is _that_ a blessing of +British rule? Not only many new varieties of rice have been introduced, +and are now being introduced, adapted to opposite extremes of weather: and +soil--some to the low grounds warm and abundantly irrigated, some to the +dry grounds demanding far less of moisture--but also other and various +substitutes have been presented to Ceylon. Manioc, maize, the potato, the +turnip, have all been cultivated. Mr Bennett himself would, in ancient +Greece, have had many statues raised to his honour for his exemplary +bounties of innovation. The food of the people is now secure. And, as +regard their clothing or their exports, there is absolutely no end to the +new prospects opened before them by the English. Is _cotton_ a British +gift? Is sugar? Is coffee? We are not the men lazily and avariciously to +anchor our hopes on a pearl fishery; we rouse the natives to cultivate +their salt fish and shark fisheries. Tea will soon be cultivated more +hopefully than in Assam. Sugar, coffee, cinnamon, pepper, are all +cultivated already. Silk worms and mulberry-trees were tried with success, +and opium with _virtual_ success, (though in that instance defeated by an +accident,) under the auspices of Mr Bennett. Hemp (and surely it is +wanted?) will be introduced abundantly: indigo is not only grown in plenty, +but it appears that a beautiful variety of indigo, a violet-coloured +indigo, exists as a weed in Ceylon. Finally, in the running over hastily +the _summa genera_ of products by which Ceylon will soon make her name +known to the ends of the earth, we may add, that salt provisions in every +kind, of which hitherto Ceylon did not furnish an ounce, will now be +supplied redundantly; the great mart for this will be in the vast bosom of +the Indian ocean; and at the same time we shall see the scandal wiped +away--that Ceylon, the headquarters of the British navy in the East, could +not supply a cock-boat in distress with a week's salt provisions, from her +own myriads of cattle, zebus, buffaloes, or cows. + +Ceylon has this one disadvantage for purposes of theatrical effect; she is +like a star rising heliacally, and hidden in the blaze of the sun: any +island, however magnificent, becomes lost in the blaze of India. But +_that_ does not affect the realities of the case. She has _that_ within +which passes show. Her one calamity is in the laziness of her native +population; though in this respect the Kandyans are a more hopeful race +than the Cinghalese. But the evil for both is, that they want the +_motives_ to exertion. These will be created by a new and higher +civilization. Foreign labourers will also be called for; a mixed race will +succeed in the following generations; and a mixed breed in man is always +an improved breed. Witness every where the people of colour contrasted +with the blacks. Then will come the great race between man indefinitely +exalted, and glorious tropical nature indefinitely developed. Ceylon will +be born again, in our hands she will first answer to the great summons of +nature; and will become, in fact, what by Providential destiny, she +is--the queen lotus of the Indian seas, and the Pandora of islands. + + * * * * * + + + + +COMMERCIAL POLICY. + +SHIPS, COLONIES, AND COMMERCE. + + +In our September number, we succeeded in establishing the fact, upon the +best official records which could be accessible either to ourselves or to +Mr Cobden, that the renowned Leaguer had magnified that portion of the +army estimates, or expenditure, falling properly under the lead of +colonial charge, by about thirty-five per cent beyond its real amount, as +tested _seriatim_ and starting upon his own arithmetical elements of gross +numbers and values. We arrived at the truth by the careful process of +dissecting, analysing, and classifying, under each colonial head, the +various items of which his gross sum of aggregates must necessarily be +composed; and the result was, that of the _four millions and a-half +sterling_, with such dauntless assurance set down as the proportion of +army charge incurred for the colonies by the parent state, it was found, +and proved in detail by official returns, colony by colony, and summed up +in tabular array at the close, that the very conscientiously calculating +Leaguer had made no scruple, under his lumping system, of overlaying +colonial trade with upwards of one million and a half of army expenditure, +one million and a quarter of which, in all probability, appertaining to, +and forming part of the cost nationally at which foreign trade was carried +on. The cunning feat was bravely accomplished by ranging Gibraltar, Malta, +&c. &c., as trading and producing colonies, for the purpose of swelling +out the colonial army cost; whilst, to complete the cheat cleverly, they +were again turned to account in his comparative statistics of foreign and +colonial trade, to the detriment of the latter, by carrying all the +commerce with, or through them, to the credit of foreign trade. This was +ringing the changes to one tune with some effect, for the time being--and +so astutely timed and intended, that no discussion could be taken in the +House of Commons upon the informal motion, serving as the peg on which to +hang the prepared speech of deceptive figures and assertions inflicted on +the House the 22d of June last; whilst thus, as the Leaguer shrewdly +anticipated, it might run uncontroverted for months to come until another +session, and, through _Anti-Corn-Law circulars_ and tracts of the League, +do the dirty work of the time for which concocted, when no matter how +consigned and forgotten afterwards among the numberless other lies of the +day, fabricated by the League. Unluckily for the crafty combination, +_Blackwood_ was neither slow to detect, nor tardy in unmasking, the +premeditated imposture, the crowning and final points of which we now +propose to deal with and demolish. Betwixt the relative importance in the +cost, and in the profit and loss sense, of foreign and colonial trade, on +which the question of the advantages or disadvantages attending the +possession or retention of colonies is made exclusively to hinge, with a +narrow-mindedness incapable of appreciating the other high political and +social interests, the moral and religious considerations, moreover, +involved--we shall now proceed with the task of arbitrating and striking +the balance. If that balance should little correspond with the bold and +unscrupulous allegations of Mr Cobden--if it should be found to derogate +from the assumed super-eminence of the foreign trading interest over the +colonial, let it be remembered that the invidious discussion was not +raised by us, nor by any member of the Legislature who can rightfully be +classed as the representative of great national and constitutional +principles; that the distinction and disjunction of interests, both +national, with the absurd attempt unduly to elevate the one by unjustly +depreciating the other, is the work of the League alone, which, having +originated the senseless cry of "class interests," would seem doggedly +determined to establish the fact, _per fas et nefas_, as the means of +funding and perpetuating class divisions. + + In our last number, we left Mr Cobden's sum + total of army expenditure for colonial + account charged by him, at L.4,500,000 + + Reduced by deductions for military and other + stations, maintained for the protection + and promotion of foreign trade, for the + suppression of slave dealing, and as penal + colonies, in the total amount of-- 1,550,000 + ---------- + To apparent colonial charge, -- L.2,950,000 + +We have, however, to reform this statement, so far as Mr Cobden's basis +upon which founded. Accustomed to his blunders undesigned and mistatements +intentional as we are, it is not always easy to ascertain their extent at +the moment. Thus, the army estimates for 1843, amounting to L.6,225,000 in +the whole, as he states, include a charge of, say about L.2,300,000 for +"half-pay, pensions, superannuations, &c.," for upwards of 80,000 officers +and men. This fact it suited his convenience to overlook. Now, of this +number of men it is not perhaps too much to assume, that more than +one-half consists of the noble wreck and remainder of those magnificent +armies led to victory by the illustrious Wellington, but certainly not in +the colonies, and the present cost of half-pay and invaliding not +therefore chargeable to colonial account. It may be taken for granted, +that at least to the amount of L.1,300,000 should be placed against +ancient foreign service, separate from colonial; whilst, for the balance, +home, foreign, and colonial service since the war may be admitted to enter +in certain proportions each. Deducting, in the first place, from the total +estimates of, say + + L.6,225,000 + + The "dead-weight" of pensions, &c., 2,300,000 + ---------- + + We have, as expenditure for military force on + foot, L.3,925,000, but say-- L.4,000,000 + + Taking the Cobden dictum of three-fourths of + this charge for the colonies, we have in + round numbers, say-- 3,000,000 + ---------- + + And the incredibly absurd sum left for home + and foreign service of L.1,000,000 + +As we have, in our last number, established deductions from the gross sum +of L.4,500,000 put down to the colonies by Mr Cobden, to the amount of +L.1,550,000, we shall now remodel our table thus:-- + + + To colonial account, as per Mr Cobden, of + active force,-- L.3,000,000 + + Add colonial proportion of half-pay, + pensions, &c., as per id., three-fourths + of L.1,000,000 750,000 + ---------- L.3,750,000 + + Deduct military and other stations, falsely + called colonial, as per former account,-- L.1,550,000 + + Deduct again charges for the Chinese war, + exact amount unknown, deceptively included + in colonial account--say for only 250,000 + --------- 1,800,000 + ---------- + + Approximate, but still surcharged proportion of + army estimates for colonial service, on Mr + Cobden's absurd basis of three-fourths, L.1,950,000 + +This is a woful falling off from Mr Cobden's wholesale colonial invoice of +_four and a half millions sterling_! It amounts to a discount or rebate +upon his statistical ware of L.2,550,000, or say, not far short of sixty +per cent. Had the Leaguer been in the habit of dealing cotton wares to his +customers, so damaged in texture or colours as are his wares political and +economical, we are inclined to conceit, that he would long since have +arrived at the _finiquito de todas cuentas_. + +We now come to his naval cost of colonies, with a margin for ordnance as +well. On this head, Mr Cobden remarks, with much sagacity--and, for once, +Mr Cobden states one fact in which we may agree with him:--"But the +colonies had no ships to form a navy. The mother country had to send them +ships to guard their territories, which were not paid for by the colonies, +but out of the taxation of this country. The navy estimates for this year +amounted to L.6,322,000. He had no means of ascertaining what proportion +of this large amount was required for their colonies; but a very large +proportion of it was taken for the navy in their colonies. The ordnance +estimate was L.1,849,142, a large share of which was required for their +colonial expenditure. The House would find, that from the lowest estimate, +from L.5,000,000 to L.6,000,000 out of the taxes of this country were +required for maintaining their colonial army and navy." True it is, the +colonies have no ships of war; true, the navy expenses count for the +gigantic sum stated--in the estimates at least, and estimates seldom fall +short, however budgets may; true, also, that ordnance is the heavy item +represented. And we also are without the means for any, not to say +accurate, but fair approximative estimate of the proportion of this +expenditure which may be incurred for, and duly chargeable against the +colonies. In the case of the army, as we have shown, the possession and +facilities of reference to documents, enabled us to resolve Mr Cobden's +bill of totals, in one line, into the elements of which composed, to +classify the items under distinct heads, and so to detect the errors, and +redress the balance of his own account. The authorities, of official origin +mostly, to which we had recourse, were equally open to Cobden, had he been +actuated by an anxious desire to arrive at the truth, earnest in his +enquiries after the means of information, laborious in his investigations, +and, beyond all, with honesty of purpose resolved nothing to withhold, nor +aught to set down in malice, as the result of his researches. +Unfortunately, the navy is not a stationary body, as the army may be said +to be; squadrons are not fixtures like corps in garrison; here to-day and +gone to morrow. The naval strength on the various stations, never +permanent, escapes calculation, as the due apportionment of expenditure +between each, and again of the quotas corresponding to the colonies or to +foreign commerce alone, defies any approach to accurate analysis. But we +have at least common observation and common sense to satisfy us that but a +small proportion of the naval outlay can be justly laid to colonial +account, because so unimportant a proportion of the naval armament afloat, +can be required for colonial service or defence. We have, assuredly, a +certain number of gun-boats and schooners on the Canadian lakes, which are +purely for colonial purposes; and we may have some half-a-dozen vessels of +war prowling about the St Lawrence and the British American waters, which +may range under the colonial category. Wherever else our eyes be cast, it +would be difficult to find one colony, east or west, which can be said to +need, or gratuitously to be favoured with, a naval force for protection. +We have a naval station at Halifax chargeable colonially. We have also a +naval station, with headquarters at Jamaica, but certainly that forms no +part of a colonial appendage. The whole of the force on that station is +employed either in cruizing after slavers, and assisting to put down the +slave trade, or it is hovering about the shores of the Spanish Main and +the Gulf of Mexico, for the protection of British foreign commerce, for +redressing the wrongs to British subjects and interests in Colombia, +Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, or Hayti, or for conveying foreign specie and +bullion from those countries for the behoof of British merchants at home. +We have a naval station at the Cape of Good Hope, with the maintenance of +which, that colony, Australia, New Zealand, &c., may be partly debited. +And we have a naval station in India, the expense of which, so far as +required for that great colonial empire, is, we believe, borne entirely by +India herself. But by far the largest proportion of the expense is +incurred, as the great bulk of the force is destined, for the protection +of foreign commerce in the Indian and Chinese seas. + +If we are to seek where the British navy is really to be found and heard +of in masses, we have only to voyage to Brazil, where whole squadrons +divide their occupations betwixt coursing slavers and waiting upon foreign +commerce. Further south, we find the River Plate blocked up with British +war ships, watching over the interests of British commerce, and +interposing betwixt the lives and properties of thousands of British +subjects, and the unslaked thirst of the daggers of Rosas and his +sanguinary _Mas-horcas_, that AEgis flag before which the most fearless +and ferocious have quailed, and quail yet. So also, rounding Cape Horn, +traversing the vast waters of the Great Pacific, the British ensign may +ever be met, and swarming, too, on those west and northwestern coasts of +Spanish America, where, as from Bolivia to California, war and anarchy +eternal seem to reign. Assuredly, no colonial interests, and as little do +political combinations, carry to those far off regions, and there keep, +such large detachments of the British fleet. Nearer home we need not +signalize the Mediterranean and Levant, where British navies range as if +hereditary owners of those seas nor the western coasts of Spain, along +which duly cruise our men-of-war, keeping watch and ward; certainly in +neither one case nor the other for colonial objects. + +From this sweep over the seas, it may readily be gathered how +comparatively insignificant the proportion in which the British colonies +are amenable for the cost of the British navy; and, on the contrary, how +large the cost incurred for the guardianship of the foreign commerce of +Great Britain. In the absence of those authentic data which would warrant +the construction of approximate estimates, we are willing, however, as +before, to accept the basis of Mr Cobden's--not calculations, but--rough +guesses; and as the colonial share of army, navy, and ordnance estimates +altogether, he taxes in "from five to six millions," of which four and a +half millions, according to a previous statement of his, were for the army +alone, we arrive at the simple fact, that the navy and ordnance are rated +rather widely at a cost ranging from half a million to one million and a +half sterling per annum. The mean term of this would be three quarters of +a million; but truth may afford to be liberal, and so we throw in the +other quarter, and debit the colonies with one million sterling for naval +service, which, so far as isolated sections of the great body political, +they can hardly be said, with exceptions noted before, either to receive +or need. We have before, and we believe conclusively, disposed of Mr +Cobden's colonial army estimates; and now we arrive at the total burden, +under the weight of which the empire staggers on colonial account. + + Army charge, L.1,950,000, but say L.2,000,000 + Navy and Ordnance, 1,000,000 + ---------- + Total to Colonial debit, L.3,000,000 + +Mr Cobden enumerates a variety of expenditure against the colonies besides, +under the head of civil establishments, public works, and grants for +educational and religious purposes. We need not--there is no occasion to +discuss these minutiae with him; we prefer to make him a bargain at once, +and so we throw in, against these civil contingencies for the colonies, the +whole lump of the estimates for the diplomatic and consular service, Dr +Bowring's commissionerships inclusive; all the charges for civil +government, education, religion, public works, &c., besides of those +stations, such as Gibraltar, Malta, the Ionian Isles, Singapore, Penang, +&c., occupied altogether, or chiefly, for the purposes of foreign commerce, +partially from political views, but assuredly not at all with reference to +colonial objects. If he be not content with this bargain of a set-off, we +are quite ready to call over the account with him at any time, crediting +him not more liberally than justly besides, with all the prodigal waste +imposed upon the country by the colonial imposture facetiously styled the +"self-supporting system," in his smart exposure of which our sympathies are +all with him, zealous advocates though we be of colonization, of +colonization on a national scale moreover, and therefore on a national and +commensurate scale of expenditure; which, however, can only be undertaken +by the government when the fiat of financial insolvency which, with the +Exchequer bill fraud, was the last legacy of Mr Spring Rice and Lord +Monteagle, shall be superseded, and the Treasury rehabilitated, and then +only by slow degrees, but sure. An individual may, perchance, thrive upon +an imposture, a government never; the late Ministry are the living evidence +of the truth. We can comprehend "self-supporting colonization" in the +individual sense of the pioneers and backwoodsmen of the United States; in +the "squatting" upon wild lands in Canada and the West Indies; in the +settlement of isolated adventurers among the savages of New Zealand; but +the "self-supporting" settlement of communities, or, as more fancifully +expressed, of "society in frame," is just as sound in principle, and as +possible in practice, as would be the calculation of the Canadian +shipwright, who should nail together a mass of boards and logs as a +leviathan lumber ship for the transport of timber, on the calculation that +at the end of the voyage it would be rated A1 at Lloyd's, or grow into the +solid power and capacity of a first-rate Indiaman, or man-of-war. We all +know that such timber floaters went to wreck in the first gale on our +coasts; the crews, indeed, did not always perish, they were only tossed +about at the mercy of the winds and waves with the wooden lumber which +would not sink, so long as hunger and helplessness did not disable hands +and limbs from holding fast. And just so with the "self-supporting system +of colonization." + +Having ascertained, upon bases laid down by Mr Cobden himself, but without +adopting his slashing unproved totals, the extent to which colonial trade +is criminally accessory to the financial burdens of the United Kingdom, +(not, by the way, of the empire of which they form a component part,) it +behoves us now to establish the proportion in which we are taxed for +foreign trade, for there is clearly more than one vulture preying upon the +vitals of this unhappy land. + +We established, in our September number, an army cost of about L.1,200,000 +against foreign trade for Gibraltar, Malta, the Ionian Islands, Singapore, +Penang, &c. We may add, as a very low valuation, in the absence of +accounts, L.250,000 more for the war with China. Of the estimates for the +navy, L.6,322,000, and ordnance, L.1,849,000--total, L.8,175,000;--we are +fully entitled to charge about three-eighths to foreign commerce, or say +L.3,000,000. The numerous and extensive naval stations kept up for the +protection of our foreign commerce exclusively, together with the +Mediterranean, Levant, and Spanish coast naval expenditure, to no +inconsiderable extent for the same object, will sufficiently justify this +estimate. We have apportioned one million of the naval and ordnance +estimates for colonial purposes; one million more may be safely placed to +the account of the slave trade; the remainder, L.3,175,000, is certainly +an ample allowance for home naval stations, Channel fleet, if there be any, +Mediterranean and other naval armaments, so far as for political objects +only. We remain, therefore, for foreign trade with-- + + Garrisons, Gibraltar, &c., and reliefs at home, L.1,200,000 + War with China, 250,000 + Navy and Ordnance, 3,000,000 + ----------- + Total cost of foreign trade, L.4,450,000 + Id. colonial, as before stated, 3,000,000 + ----------- + Excess foreign, L.1,450,000 + +This excess might justly be swelled to at least half a million more by a +surcharge of army expenditure in China; of navy expenditure on foreign +stations, that for China is not taken into account at all; and in respect +of various other items of smaller consideration, separately, although in +the aggregate of consideration, the account might still more be aggravated. +There would be some difficulty, it must be allowed, in clearly +disinvolving them from masses of general statements, although for an +approximate valuation it might not amount to an impossibility; we prefer, +however, to leave Mr Cobden in possession of all the advantages we cannot +make a clear title to. The advantages, indeed, are of dubious title, and +something of the same kind as the entry into a house of which the owner +cannot be found, or of which he cannot lay his hands on the title-deeds. + +We have now disposed of the preposterous exaggerations of the +anti-colonial school, so far as that school can be said to be represented +by Mr Alderman Cobden, under the head of colonial cost to the metropolitan +state. We have reduced his amount of that cost to its fair approximate +proportions, item by item, of gross charge, so far as we are enabled by +those parliamentary or colonial documents, possessing the character of +official or quasi-official origin. We have necessarily followed up this +portion of our vindication of the colonies from unjust aspersions by a +concurrent enquiry into the cost at which our foreign trade is carried on, +in the national sense of the military, naval, and other establishments +required and kept up for its protection and encouragement. And, finally, +we have struck the balance between the two, the results of which are +already before the public. + +There remains one other essential part of the duty we have undertaken to +fulfill. It is true that it did not suit the purposes of Mr Cobden to +enter himself into any investigation of the comparative profitableness of +foreign and colonial commerce, nor did he, doubtless, desire to provoke +such an investigation on the part of others. With the cunning of a +prejudiced partizan, he was content to skim superficially the large +economical question he had not scrupled to raise from the depths of +discomfiture and oblivion, in which abandoned by the colonial detractors, +his predecessors, who had tried their art to conjure "spirits from the +vasty deep," which would not come when they did "call for them." With +gross numerical proportions apparently in his favour, but well-grounded +convictions that more might be discovered than met the eye, or squared +with the desire, should the component elements of those proportions be +respectively submitted to the process of dissection, he preferred to leave +the tale half told, the subject less than half discussed, rather than +challenge the certain exposure of the fallacious assumptions on which he +had reconstructed a seemingly plausible, but really shallow dogma. A +foreign export trade of thirty-five millions he wished the world to +believe must represent, proportionally, a larger amount of profit, than +sixteen millions of colonial export trade; that the difference, in fact, +would be as thirty-five to sixteen, and so, according to his Cockerian +rule of calculation, it should be. But, it is said and agreed, that two +and two do not always make four, as in the present case will be verified. +We may, indeed, place the matter beyond dispute, by a homely illustration +level to every man's capacity. For example, a Manchester banker, dealing +in money, shall turn over in discounts and accounts-current, with a +capital of L.100,000, the sum of one million sterling per annum. As he +charges interest in current-account at the rate of 5 per cent, so he +allows the same. His profit, therefore, _quoad_ the interest on +current-accounts and balances in hand, is _nil_; but for the trouble of +managing accounts and for discounts, his charge is five shillings per +L.100. In lending out his capital, he realises five per cent more upon +that. But the return upon capital embarked, say, in the cotton manufacture, +is calculated, at the least, at an average of fifteen per cent. What, then, +are the relative profit returns upon the same sum-total of operations for +the banker and manufacturer? + + Manufacturer's Balance Sheet. + On Capital. +Operations, L.1,000,000 Capital, L.100,000 Profit, 15 per cent, L.15,000 + + Banker's Balance Sheet. +Operations, L.1,000,000 Profit thereon, 5s. per L.100, L.2500 +Capital, 100,000 Interest thereon, 5 per cent, 5000 + Return on Capital, ------ 7,500 + -------- + Excess manufacturing profit, L.7500 + +That is, double the amount, or, as rateably may be said, 100 per cent +greater profit for the manufacturer than the banker. Now, what is true +of banking and commerce, may be--often is, true of one description of +commerce, as compared with another. + +It is not meant to be inferred, however, that applied to colonial trade, +as compared with foreign trade, the analogy holds good to all the extent; +but that it does in degree, there can be no doubt, and we are prepared to +show. It will, we know, be urged, that there can be no two _sale_ prices +for the same commodity in the same market, a dictum we are not disposed to +impugn; but we shall not so readily subscribe to the doctrine, that the +prices in the home and colonial markets are absolutely controlled and +equalized by those of the foreign market. This is a rule absolute, not +founded in truth, but contradicted by every day's experience. It would be +equally correct to assert, that the lower rates of labour in the European +foreign market, or the higher rates in the North American, controlled and +equalized in the one sense, and in the other opposing, the rates in this +country, than which no assertion could be more irreconcilable with fact. +Prices and labour rates elsewhere, exercise an influence doubtless, and +would have more in the absence of other conditions and counteracting +influences, partly arising from natural, partly from artificially created +causes. Prices, in privileged home and colonial markets, cannot generally +fall to the same level as in foreign neutral markets, or, as in foreign +protected markets, where the rates of labour are low. Keen as is the +competition in the privileged home and colonial trade among the domestic +and entitled manufacturers themselves, it will hardly be denied that +larger as well as more steady profits are realized from those trades than +from the foreign and fluctuating trade, exposed, as in most cases the +latter is, to high fiscal, restrictive, and capricious burdens. These, +_pro tanto_, shut out competition with the protected foreign producer, +unless the importer consent to be cut down to such a modicum of price or +profit, as shall barely, or not at all, return the simple interest of +capital laid out. Such is the position of foreign, in comparison with home +trade. + +The foreign glut, in such case, reacts upon the privileged home and +colonial markets, no doubt affecting prices in some degree, and if not +always the rates of labour, at all events the sufficiency of employment, +which is scarcely less an evil. But the reaction presses with nothing like +the severity, which in a similar case, and to the same extent only, would +follow from a glut in the home privileged markets. The cause must be +sought in the general rule, that the inferior qualities of merchandise and +manufactures are for the most part the objects of exportation only. +Consequently, in case of a glut, or want of demand abroad, as such are not +suited by quality for home taste and consumption, the superabundance of +accumulated and unsaleable stock, with the depression of prices consequent, +affects comparatively in a slight degree only the value and vent of the +wares prepared expressly for home consumption. But a different and more +modified action takes place in case of over-production of the latter, or +upon a failure of demand, arising from whatever cause. For, being then +pressed upon the foreign market, the superior quality of the goods +commands a decided preference at once, and that preference ensures +comparatively higher rates of price in the midst of the piled up packages +of warehouse sweepings and goods, made, like Peter's razors, for special +sale abroad, which are vainly offered at prime or any cost. These and +other specialties escape, and not unaccountably, the view and the +calculation of the speculative economist, who is so often astounded to +find how a principle, or a theory, of unquestionable truth abstractedly, +and apparently of general application, comes practically to be controlled +by circumstances beyond his appreciation, or even to be negatived +altogether. An example or two in illustration, may render the question +more clearly to the economical reader; although taken from the cotton +trade, they are not the less true, generally, of all other branches of +home manufacturing industry. As we shall have to mention names, a period +long past is purposely selected; but although the parties, so far as +commercial pursuits, may be considered as no longer in existence, yet they +cannot fail to be well remembered. The former firm of Phillips and Lee of +Manchester, were extensive spinners of cotton yarn for exportation, and +extensive purchasers of other cotton yarns for exportation also; but for +home manufacture they never could produce a quality of yarn equally +saleable in the home market with other yarn of the same counts, and +nominally classed of the same quality. The principal reason was, that they +spun with machinery solely adapted for a particular trade, and the +production of quantity was more an object than first-rate quality; to +these ends their machinery was suited, and to have produced a first-rate +article, extensive and expensive alterations in that machinery would have +been required. Mr Lee himself, the managing partner, was an ingenious and +theoretically scientific man, and often experimentalizing, but in general +practically with little success. When, therefore, the export trade in +yarns fell off, as, in some years during the war and the continental +system of Bonaparte, we believe it was almost entirely suspended, the +yarns so described of this firm, and of any others the same, could find no +vent--abroad no opening--at home not suited for the consumption. As the +firm were extremely wealthy the accumulation of stock was, however, of +small inconvenience; time was no object, the Continent was not always +sealed. With the great spinner Arkwright the case was entirely different; +at home as abroad his yarn products were always first in demand; his +qualities unequalled; his prices far above all others of even the first +order; his machinery of the most finished construction. If, perchance, +home demand flagged, the export never failed to compensate in a great +degree. + +So with all other subdivisions of the same or other manufactures, more or +less. And this may explain the seeming phenomenon why; when the foreign +trade has been so prostrate as we have seen it during the last three years, +the home trade did not cease to be almost as prosperous as before. +Political economy would arbitrarily insist that, repelled from the foreign +market, or suffering from a cessation of foreign demand, the manufacturer +for exportation had only to direct his attention, carry his stocks to, and +hasten to swell competition and find relief in, the home market. In +products requiring little skill, such as common calicoes, such efforts +might, to some extent, be successful; but there the invasion ends. In all +the departments requiring greater skill, more perfect machinery, more +taste, and the peculiar arts of finish which long practice alone can give, +the old accustomed manufacturer for the home trade remains without a rival, +still prospering in the midst of depression around, and whilst secure +against intrusion in his own special monopoly of home supply, commanding +also a superiority in foreign markets for his surplus wares, in the event +of stagnation in home consumption, over the less finished and reputed +products of his less-skilled brethren of the craft. + +In the enquiry into the advantages relatively of foreign and colonial +export trade, it is not pretended literally to build upon the premises +here established; the analogy would not always be strictly in point, but +the fact resulting of the greater gainfulness of one description of trade +over another is incontestable, and in the national sense perhaps much more +than the individual. We shall take it for granted that British and Irish +products and manufactures enjoy a preference on import into the colonies, +over imports from foreign countries, of at least five per cent, resulting +from differential duties in favour of the parent state: it may be more, +and we believe it will be found more; but such is the preference. This +profit must be all to the account of the British exporter; for it is not +received by the colonial custom-house, and whatever the reduction of +prices by excess of competition, it is clear prices would be still more +deranged by the introduction of another element of competition in more +cheaply produced foreign products at only equal rates of duty. Take, for +examples, Saxon hose, French silks, American domestics, but more +especially all sorts of foreign made up wares, clothes, &c. _Quoad_ the +foreigner, the preferential duties make two prices therefore, by the very +fact of which he is barred out. We shall now proceed to assess the +mercantile profits respectively upon the sums-total of foreign and +colonial trade by the correct standard; and then we shall endeavour to +arrive at a rough but approximate estimate of the value respectively of +foreign and colonial export trade in respect of the descriptions of +commodities exported from this country, classified as finished or partly +finished, in cases where the raw material is wholly or partially of +foreign origin, and measured accordingly by the amount of profit on +capital, and profit in the shape of wages, which each leave respectively +in the country. It will be understood that no more than a rough estimate +of leading points is pretended; the calculation, article by article, would +involve a labour of months perhaps, and the results in detail fill the +pages of Maga for a year, and after all remain incomplete from the +inaccessibility or non-existence of some of the necessary materials. There +are, however, certain landmarks by which we may steer to something like +general conclusions. + +The profits on exports, as on all other trade, exceptional cases apart, +which cannot impeach the general rule, are measured to a great extent by +the distance of the country to which the exports take place, and therefore +the length of period, besides the extra risk, before which capital can be +replaced and profits realized. Within the compass of a two months' +distance from England, we may include the Gulf of Mexico west, the Baltic +and White Seas north, the Black Sea south-east, the west coast of Africa +to the Gulf of Guinea, and the east coast of South America to Rio Janeiro. +We come thus to the limits within which the smaller profits only are +realized; and all beyond will range under the head of larger returns. It +is not necessary to determine the exact amount of the profit in each case, +the essential point being the ratio of one towards the other. An average +return in round numbers of seven and a half per cent many, therefore, be +taken for the export commerce carried on within the narrower circle, and +of twenty per cent for the _voyages a long cours_, say those to and round +the two Capes of Good Hope and Horn. It is making a large allowance to say +that each shipment to Holland, France, or even the United States, for +example, realizes seven and a half per cent clear profit, or that the +aggregate of the exports cited yields at that rate. Twenty per cent on +exports to China and the East Indies, in view of the more than double +distance, and increase of risk attendant, does not seem proportionally +liable to the same appearance of exaggeration. Under favourable +circumstances returns cannot be looked for in less than a year on the +average, and then the greater distance the greater the risk of all kinds. +Classifying the exports upon this legitimate system, we find that, in +round numbers, not very far from eight-ninths of the total amount of +foreign trade exports come under the denomination of the shorter voyage. +Thus of these total exports of thirty-five millions, less than four +millions belong to the far off traffic. The account will, therefore, stand +thus:-- + +Foreign trade profit of 7-1/2 per cent on L.31,000,000 L.2,325,000 + Do. 20 do. 4,000,000 800,000 + ------------ + Total mercantile profit, L.3,125,000 + + +The quantities colonial would range thus:-- + + +Colonial trade profit, long voyage, of 20 per cent + on L.8,820,000 L.1,764,000 +Colonial trade profit, short voyage, of 7-1/2 per cent + on L.7,180,000 538,000 + ------------ + Total colonial profit, L.2,302,000 + +Truth, like time, is a great leveller--a fact of which no living man has +had proof and reproof administered to him more frequently and severely +that Mr Cobden himself. As culprits, however, harden in heart with each +repetition of crime, until from petty larceny, the initiating offence, +they ascend unscrupulously to the perpetration of felony without benefit +of clergy; so he, with effrontery only the more deeply burnt in, and +conscience the more callous from each conviction, will still lie on, so +long as lungs are left, and vulgar listeners can be found in the scum of +town populations. How grandiloquent was Mr Cobden with his "_new_ facts," +brand new, as he solemnly assured the House of Commons, which was not +convulsed with irrepressible derision on the announcement! How swelled he, +"big with the fate" of corn and colony, as the mighty secret burst from +his labouring breast, "that the whole amount of their trade in 1840 was, +exports, L.51,000,000; out of that L.16,000,000 was (were) exported to the +colonies, including the East Indies; but not one-third went to the +colonies. Take away L.6,000,000 of the export trade that went to the East +Indies, and they had L.10,000,000 of exports," &c. Oh! rare Cocker; 10 not +the third of 16; "take away" one leg and there will only be the other to +stand upon. Cut off, in like manner, the twenty-one millions of exports to +Europe, and what becomes of the foreign trade? "An eye for an eye, and a +tooth for a tooth," is the old _lex talionis_, and we have no objection to +part with a limb on our side on the reciprocal condition that he shall be +amputated of another. We engage to wage air battle with him on the stumps +which are left, he with his fourteen millions of foreign against our ten +millions of colonial trade, like two _razees_ of first and second rates +cut down. Before next he adventures into conflict again--better had he so +bethought him before his colonial debut in the House last June--would it +not be the part of wisdom to take counsel with his dear friend and +neighbour Mr Samuel Brookes, the well-known opulent calico-printer, +manufacturer, and exporting merchant of Manchester, who proved, some three +or four years ago, as clearly as figures--made up, like the restaurateur's +_pain_, at discretion--can prove any thing, that the larger the foreign +trade he carried on, the greater were his losses, in various instances +cited of hundreds per cent; from whence, seeing how rotund and robust +grows the worthy alderman, deplorable balance-sheets notwithstanding, +which would prostrate the Bank of England like the Bank of Manchester, it +should result that he, like another Themistocles, might exclaim to his +family, clad in purple and fine linen, "My children, had we not been +ruined, we should have been undone!" + +But _revenons a nos moutons_. According to Mr Cobden's _new_ facts, +borrowed from Porter's Tables, so far as the figures, the superior +importance and profit of foreign trade should be measured by the gross +quantities, and be, say, as 35 to 16. We have shown that the relation of +profit really stands as 31 to 23, starting from the same basis of total +amounts as himself. The total profit upon a foreign trade of thirty-five +millions, to place it on an equal rateable footing with colonial, should +be, not three millions and an eighth, but upwards of five millions, or the +colonial trade of sixteen millions, if no more gainful than foreign, should +be, not L.2,300,000, but about one million less. And here the question +naturally recurs, assuming the principle of Mr Cobden to be correct--as so, +for his satisfaction, it has been reasoned hitherto--at what rate of charge +nationally are these profits, colonial and foreign, purchased? Fortunately +the materials for the estimates are already in hand, and here they are: + + Colonial trade--cost in Army, Navy, + Ordnance, &c., L.3,000,000 + Colonial trade--profit to exporters, 2,302,000 + ---------- + + Deficit--loss to the country, L.698,000 + Foreign trade--cost in Army, Navy, + Ordnance, &c., L.4,500,000 + Foreign trade exporting profit, 3,125,000 + ---------- + Deficit--loss to the country, L.1,375,000 + +As nearly, therefore, as may be, foreign trade costs the country twice as +much as colonial. Such are the conclusions, the rough but approximately +accurate conclusions, to which the _new_ facts of Mr Cobden and the old +hobby of Joseph Hume, mounted by the _new_ philosopher, have led; and the +public exposition of which has been provoked by his ignorance or +malevolence, or both. In order to gain less than 9 per cent average upon a +foreign trade of thirty-five millions, the country is saddled, for the +benefit of Messrs Brookes and Cobden, _inter alios_, with a cost of nearly +13 per cent upon the same amount; whilst the cost of colonial trade is +about 18-3/4 per cent on the total of sixteen millions, but the profit +nearly fifteen per cent. In the account of colonial profit, be it observed, +moreover, no account is here taken of the supplementary advantage derived +from the differential duties against foreign imports. + +In the national point of view, the profitableness of the foreign export +trade, as compared with colonial, would seem more dubious still, when the +values left and distributed among the producing classes are taken into +calculation. Of the total foreign exports of thirty-five millions, +considerably above one-fifth--say, to the value of nearly seven and a half +millions sterling--were exported in the shape of cotton, linen, and +woollen yarns in 1840, the year selected by Mr Cobden, of which, in cotton +yarn alone, to the value of nearly 6,200,000. According to _Burn's +Commercial Glance for_ 1842, the average price of cotton-yarn so exported, +exceeds by some 50 per cent the average price of the cotton from which +made. Applying the same rule to linen yarn as made from foreign imported +flax, and to woollen yarn as partly, at least, from foreign wool, we come +to a gross sum of about L.3,750,000 left in the country, as values +representing the wages of labour, and the profits of manufacturing capital +in respect of yarn. The quantity of yarn, on the contrary, exported +colonially, does not reach to one-sixteenth of the total colonial exports. +In order to manifest the immense superiority nationally of a colonial +export trade in finished products, over a foreign trade in _quasi_ raw +materials, we need only take the article of "apparel." Of the total value +of wearing apparel exported in 1840, say for L.1,208,000, the colonial +trade alone absorbed the best part of one million. Now, it may be +estimated with tolerable certainty, that the average amount, over and +above the cost of the raw material, of the values expended upon and left +in the country, in the shape of wages and profits, upon this description +of finished product, does not fall short of the rate of 500 per cent. So +that apparel to the total value of one million would leave behind an +expenditure of labour, and a realization of profits, substantially +existing and circulating among the community, over and above the cost of +raw material, of about L.800,000, upon a basis of raw material values of +about L.160,000. Assuming for a moment, that yarns were equally improved +and prolific in the multiplication of values, the seven millions and a +half of foreign exports should represent a value proportionally of +forty-five millions sterling. The colonial exports comprise a variety of +similar finished and made-up articles, to the extent of probably about +four millions sterling, to which the same rate of home values, so swelled +by labour and profits, will apply. + +It remains only to add, that the foreign export trade gave employment in +1840--the date fixed by Mr Cobden, but to which, in some few instances, it +has been impossible to adhere for want of necessary documents, as he +himself experienced--to 10,970 British vessels, of 1,797,000 aggregate +tonnage outwards, repeated voyages inclusive, for the verification of the +number of which we are without any returns, those made to Parliament by +the public offices bearing the simple advertence on their face, with +official nonchalance, that "there are no materials in this office by which +the number of the crews of steam and sailing vessels respectively +(including their repeated voyages) can be shown." And yet a "statistical +department" has now been, for some years, founded as part of the Board of +Trade, whose pretensions to the accomplishment of great works have +hitherto been found considerably to transcend both the merit and the +quantity of its performances. The proportion of foreign vessels sharing in +the same export traffic in 1840, was little inferior to that of the +British. Thus, 10,440 foreign vessels, of 1,488,888 tonnage, divided the +foreign export trade with 10,970 British vessels. The returns for 1840 +give 6663 as the number of British vessels, and 1,495,957 as the aggregate +tonnage, carrying on the export trade with the colonies; thus it will be +seen that the exportation of _thirty-five millions_ of pounds' worth of +British produce and manufactures to foreign countries, employed only about +300,000 tons of British shipping more than the export to the colonies of +_sixteen millions_ of pounds' worth of products, or say, less than one +half. Proportions kept according to values exported respectively, foreign +trade should have occupied about 3,250,000 tons of British shipping, +against the colonial employment of 1,496,000 tons. + +Nor is this all the difference, large as it is, in favour of colonial over +foreign trade, with respect to the employment of shipping. For it may be +taken for granted that, in fact, so far as the amount of tonnage, +_repeated voyages not included_, the colonial does actually employ a much +larger quantity relatively than foreign trade. It may be fairly assumed +that, on the average, the shipping in foreign trade make one and a half +voyages outwards--that is, outwards and inwards together, three voyages in +the year; for, upon a rough estimate, it would appear that not one-tenth +of this shipping was occupied in mercantile enterprise beyond the limits +of that narrower circle before assigned, ad within which repeated voyages +of twice and thrice in the year, and frequently more often, are not +practicable only but habitually performed. Taking one-tenth as +representing the one voyage and return in the year of the more distant +traffic, and one and a half outward sailings for the other nine tenths of +tonnage, we arrive at the approximative fact, that the foreign trade does +in reality employ no more (repeated voyages allowed for as before stated) +than the aggregate tonnage of 1,258,000, instead of the 1,797,000 gross +tonnage as apparent. Applying the same rule, we find that the long or one +year's colonial voyage traffic is equal to something less than two-ninths +of the whole tonnage employed in the colonial trade, and that, assuming +one and a half voyages per annum for the remainder trafficking with the +colonies nearer home, the result will be, that the colonial traffic +absorbs an aggregate of 1,113,000 actual tonnage, exclusive of repeated +voyages of the same shipping. Here, for the satisfaction of colonial +maligners, like Mr Cobden, we place the shipping results for foreign and +colonial traffic respectively. + +The registered tonnage of the 13,927 British vessels above fifty tons +burden, stood, on the 31st of December 1841, (the returns for 1840 or 1839, +we do not chance to have,) + + Tons. + At 2,578,862 + Of which foreign trade, in the export of products + and manufactures to the value of _thirty-five + millions_ sterling, absorbed 1,258,000 + + Colonial trade in the transport of _sixteen + millions_ only of values, 1,113,000 + + Considering the greater mass of values transported, + the foreign trade should have employed, to have + kept its relative shipping proportion and + importance with colonial trade, above 2,400,000 + +We are, however, entirely satisfied, and it would admit of easy proof, +were time and space equally at our disposal for the elaborate development +of details, not only that the colonial trade gives occupation to an equal, +but to a larger proportion of registered British shipping than the foreign +trade. But we have been obliged to limit ourselves to the consideration of +such facts as are most readily accessible, so as to enable the general +reader to test at once the approximative fidelity of the vindication we +present, and the falsehood, scarcely glozed over with a coating of +plausibility, of the vague generalities strung together as a case against +the colonies by Mr Cobden and the anti-colonial faction. We have, moreover, +to request the reader to observe, that we have proceeded all along on the +basis of the wild assumptions of Mr Cobden's own self created and +unexplained calculations; that by his own figures we have tried and +convicted his own conclusions of monstrous exaggeration, and ignorant, if +not wilful, deception. The three fourths charge of army expenditure upon +the colonies, is a mere mischievous fabrication of his own brain. In +ordinary circumstances the colonial charge would not enter for more than +half that amount; and even with the extraordinary expenditure rendered +necessary by Gosford and Durham misrule in Canada, the colonial charge is +not equal to the amount so wantonly asserted. We have likewise not +insisted with sufficient force, and at suitable length of evidence, upon +the fact of the infinitely greater values proportionally left in the +country, in the shape of the wages of labour, and the profits upon +capital, by colonial than by foreign trade. It would not, however, be too +much to assume, and indeed the proposition is almost self-evident, that +whereas about 150 per cent may be taken as the average improved value of +the products absorbed by the foreign trade, over and above the first cost +of the raw material from which fabricated, where such material is of +foreign origin, the similarly improved excess of values absorbed by the +colonial trade, would not average less than from 250 to 300 per cent. +Other occasions may arise, hereafter, more convenient than the present, +for throwing these truths into broader relief; we are content, indeed, now +to leave Mr Cobden to chew the cud of reflection upon his own colonial +blunders and misrepresentations. + +Here, therefore, we stay our hand; we have redeemed our pledge; we have +more than proved our case. Various laborious researches into the real +values of colonial and foreign exported commodities, have amply satisfied +our mind, as they would those of any impartial person capable of +investigation into special facts, of the superior comparative value, in +the mercantile and manufacturing, or individual sense, as well, more +specially, as in the economical and social, or national sense, of colonial +over foreign trade. Do we therefore seek to disparage foreign trade? Far +from it: our anxious desire is to see it prosper and progress daily and +yearly, fully impressed with the conviction that it is, as it long has +been, one of the sheet-anchors of the noble vessel of the State, by the +aid of which it has swung securely in, and weathered bravely, many a +hurricane--and holding fast to which, the gallant ship is again repairing +the damage of the late long night of tempest. But we deprecate these +invidious attacks and comparisons by which malice and ignorance would +depreciate one great interest, for the selfish notion of unduly elevating +another; as if both could not equally prosper without coming into +collision; nay, as if each could not contribute to the welfare of the +other, and, in combined result, advance the glory and prosperity of the +common country. + +We have not deemed it proper, to mix up with the special argument of this +article those political, moral, and social considerations of gravest +import, as connected with the possession, the government, and the +improvement of colonial dependencies, which constitute a question apart, +the happy solution of which is of the highest public concernment; and +separately, therefore, may be left for treatment. But in the economical +view, we may take credit for having cleared the ground and prepared the +way for its discussion to no inconsiderable extent. Nor have we thought it +fitting to nix up the debate on differential duties in favour of the +colonies with the other objects which have engaged our labour. We are as +little disposed as any free trader to view differential duties in excess, +with favour and approval. The candid admission of Mr Deacon Hume on that +head, that in reference to the late Slave colonies the question of those +duties is "taken entirely out of the category of free trade," should set +that debate at rest for the present, at all events. + + * * * * * + + + + +A SPECULATION ON THE SENSES. + + +How can that which is a purely subjective affection--in other words, which +is dependent upon us as a mere modification of our sentient +nature--acquire, nevertheless, such a distinct objective reality, as shall +compel us to acknowledge it as an independent creation, the permanent +existence of which, is beyond the control of all that we can either do or +think? Such is the form to which all the questions of speculation my be +ultimately reduced. And all the solutions which have hitherto been +propounded as answers to the problem, may be generalized into these two: +either consciousness is able to transcend, or go beyond itself; or else +the whole pomp, and pageantry, and magnificence, which we miscall the +external universe, are nothing but our mental phantasmagoria, nothing but +states of our poor, finite, subjective selves. + +But it has been asked again and again, in reference to these two solutions, +can a man overstep the limits of himself--of his own consciousness? If he +can, then says the querist, the reality of the external world is indeed +guaranteed; but what an insoluble, inextricable contradiction is here: +that a man should overstep the limits of the very nature which is _his_, +just because he cannot overstep it! And if he cannot, then says the same +querist, then is the external universe an empty name--a mere unmeaning +sound; and our most inveterate convictions are all dissipated like dreams. + +Astute reasoner! the dilemma is very just, and is very formidable; and +upon the one or other of its horns, has been transfixed every adventurer +that has hitherto gone forth on the knight-errantry of speculation. Every +man who lays claim to a direct knowledge of something different from +himself, perishes impaled on the contradiction involved in the assumption, +that consciousness can transcend itself: and every man who disclaims such +knowledge, expires in the vacuum of idealism, where nothing grows but the +dependent and transitory productions of a delusive and constantly shifting +consciousness. + +But is there no other way in which the question can be resolved? We think +that there is. In the following demonstration, we think that we can +vindicate the objective reality of things--(a vindication which, we would +remark by the way is of no value whatever, in so far as that objective +reality is concerned, but only as being instrumental to the ascertainment +of the laws which regulate the whole process of sensation;)--we think that +we can accomplish this, without, on the one hand, forcing consciousness to +overstep itself, and on the other hand, without reducing that reality to +the delusive impressions of an understanding born but to deceive. Whatever +the defects of our proposed demonstration may be, we flatter ourselves +that the dilemma just noticed as so fatal to every other solution, will be +utterly powerless when brought to bear against it: and we conceive, that +the point of a third alternative must be sharpened by the controversialist +who would bring us to the dust. It is a new argument, and will require a +new answer. We moreover pledge ourselves, that abstruse as the subject is, +both the question, and our attempted solution of it, shall be presented to +the reader in such a shape as shall _compel_ him to understand them. + +Our pioneer shall be a very plain and palpable illustration. Let A be a +circle, containing within it X Y Z. + +[Illustration] + +X Y and Z lie within the circle; and the question is, by what art or +artifice--we might almost say by what sorcery--can they be transplanted +out of it, without at the same time being made to overpass the limits of +the sphere? There are just four conceivable answers to this +question--answers illustrative of three great schools of philosophy, and +of a fourth which is now fighting for existence. + +1. One man will meet the difficulty boldly, and say--"X Y and Z certainly +lie within the circle, but I believe they lie without it. _How_ this +should be, I know not. I merely state what I conceive to be the fact. The +_modus operandi_ is beyond my comprehension." This man's answer is +contradictory, and will never do. + +2. Another man will deny the possibility of the transference--"X Y and Z," +he will say, "are generated within the circle in obedience to its own laws. +They form part and parcel of the sphere; and every endeavour to regard +them as endowed with an extrinsic existence, must end in the discomfiture +of him who makes the attempt." This man declines giving any answer to the +problem. We ask him _how_ X Y and can be projected beyond the circle +without transgressing its limits; and he answers that they never are, and +never can be so projected. + +3. A third man will postulate as the cause of X Y Z a transcendent +X Y Z--that is, a cause lying external to the sphere; and by referring the +former to the latter, he will obtain for X Y X, not certainly a real +externality, which is the thing wanted, but a _quasi-externality_, with +which, as the best that is to be had, he will in all probability rest +contented. "X Y and Z," he will say, "are projected, _as it were_, out of +the circle." This answer leaves the question as much unsolved as ever. Or, + +4. A fourth man (and we beg the reader's attention to this man's answer, +for it forms the fulcrum or cardinal point on which our whole +demonstration turns)--a fourth man will say, "If the circle could only be +brought _within itself_, so-- + +[Illustration] + +then the difficulty would disappear--the problem would be completely +solved. X Y Z must now of necessity fall as extrinsic to the circle A; and +this, too, (which is the material part of the solution,) without the +limits of the circle A being overstepped." + +Perhaps this may appear very like quibbling; perhaps it may be regarded as +a very absurd solution--a very shallow evasion of the difficulty. +Nevertheless, shallow or quibbling as it may seem, we venture to predict, +that when the breath of life shall have been breathed into the bones of +the above dead illustration, this last answer will be found to afford a +most exact picture and explanation of the matter we have to deal with. Let +our illustration, then, stand forth as a living process. The large circle +A we shall call our whole sphere of sense, in so far as it deals with +objective existence--and X Y Z shall be certain sensations of colour, +figure, weight, hardness, and so forth, comprehended within it. The +question then is--how can these sensations, without being ejected from the +sphere of sense within which they lie, assume the status and the character +of real independent existences? How can they be objects, and yet remain +sensations? + +Nothing will be lost on the score of distinctness, if we retrace, in the +living sense, the footprints we have already trod in explicating the +inanimate illustration. Neither will any harm be done, should we employ +very much the same phraseology. We answer, then, that here, too, there are +just four conceivable ways in which this question can be met. + +1. The man of common sense, (so called,) who aspires to be somewhat of a +philosopher, will face the question boldly, and will say, "I feel that +colour and hardness, for instance, lie entirely within the sphere of sense, +and are mere modifications of my subjective nature. At the same time, feel +that colour and hardness constitute a real object, which exists out of the +sphere of sense, independently of me and all my modifications. _How_ this +should be, I know not; I merely state the fact as I imagine myself to find +it. The _modus_ is beyond my comprehension." This man belongs to the +school of Natural Realists. If he merely affirmed or postulated a miracle +in what he uttered, we should have little to say against him, (for the +whole process of sensation is indeed miraculous.) But he postulates more +than a miracle; he postulates a contradiction, in the very contemplation +of which our reason is unhinged. + +2. Another man will deny that our sensations ever transcend the sphere of +sense, or attain a real objective existence. "Colour, hardness, figure, +and so forth," he will say, "are generated within the sphere of sense, in +obedience to its own original laws. They form integral parts of the sphere; +and he who endeavours to construe them to his own mind as embodied in +extrinsic independent existences, must for ever be foiled in the attempt." +This man declines giving any answer to the problem. We ask, _how_ can our +sensations be embodied in distinct permanent realities? And he replies, +that they never are and never can be so embodied. This man is an +Idealist--or as we would term him, (to distinguish him from another +species about to be mentioned, of the same genus,) an _Acosmical_ idealist; +that is, an Idealist who absolutely denies the existence of an independent +material world. + +3. A third man will postulate as the cause of our sensations of hardness, +colour, &c., a transcendent something, of which he knows nothing, except +that he feigns and fables it as lying external to the sphere of sense: and +then, by referring our sensations to this unknown cause, he will obtain +for them, not certainly the externality desiderated, but a +_quasi-externality_, which he palms off upon himself and us as the best +that can be supplied. This man is _Cosmothetical_ Idealist: that is, an +Idealist who postulates an external universe as the unknown cause of +certain modifications we are conscious of within ourselves, and which, +according to his view, we never really get beyond. This species of +speculator is the commonest, but he is the least trustworthy of any; and +his fallacies are all the more dangerous by reason of the air of + plausibility with which they are invested. From first to last, he +represents us as the dupes of our own perfidious nature. By some +inexplicable process of association, he refers certain known effects to +certain unknown causes; and would thus explain to us how these effects +(our sensations) come to assume, _as it were_, the character of external +objects. But we know not "as it were." Away with such shuffling +phraseology. There is nothing either of reference, or of inference, or of +quasi-truthfulness in our apprehension of the material universe. It is +ours with a certainty which laughs to scorn all the deductions of logic, +and all the props of hypothesis. What we wish to know is, _how_ our +subjective affections can _be_, not _as it were_, but in God's truth, and +in the strict, literal, earnest, and unambiguous sense of the words, real +independent, objective existences. This is what the cosmothetical idealist +never can explain, and never attempts to explain. + +4. We now come to the answer which the reader, who has followed us thus +far, will be prepared to find us putting forward as by far the most +important of any, and as containing in fact the very kernel of the +solution. A fourth man will say--"If the whole sphere of sense could only +be withdrawn _inwards_--could be made to fall somewhere _within +itself_--then the whole difficulty would disappear, and the problem would +be solved at once. The sensations which existed previous to this +retraction or withdrawal, would then, of necessity, fall without the +sphere of sense, ( see our second diagram;) and in doing so, they would +necessarily assume a totally different aspect from that of sensations. +They would be real independent objects: and (what is the important part of +the demonstration) they would acquire this _status_ without overstepping +by a hair's-breadth the primary limits of the sphere. Were such +phraseology allowable, we should say that the sphere has _understepped_ +itself, and in doing so, has left its former contents high and dry, and +stamped with all the marks which can characterize objective existences." + +Now the reader will please to remark, that we are very far from desiring +him to accept this last solution at our bidding. Our method, we trust, is +any thing but dogmatical. We merely say, that _if_ this can be shown to be +the case, then the demonstration which we are in the course of unfolding, +will hardly fail to recommend itself to his acceptance. Whether or not it +is the case, can only be established by an appeal to our experience. + +We ask, then--does experience inform us, or does she not, that the sphere +of sense falls within, and very considerably within, itself? But here it +will be asked--what meaning do we attach to the expression, that sense +falls within its own sphere? These words, then, we must first of all +explain. Every thing which is apprehended as a sensation--such as colour, +figure, hardness, and so forth--falls within the sentient sphere. To be a +sensation, and to fall within the sphere of sense, are identical and +convertible terms. When, therefore, it is asked--does the sphere of sense +ever fall within itself? this is equivalent to asking--do the senses +themselves ever become sensations? Is that which apprehends sensations +ever itself apprehended as a sensation? Can the senses he seized on within +the limits of the very circle which they prescribe? If they cannot, then +it must be admitted that the sphere of sense never falls within itself, +and consequently that an objective reality--_i.e._ a reality extrinsic to +that sphere--can never be predicated or secured for any part of its +contents. But we conceive that only one rational answer can be returned to +this question. Does not experience teach us, that much if not the whole of +our sentient nature becomes itself in turn a series of sensations? Does +not the sight--that power which contains the whole visible space, and +embraces distances which no astronomer can compute--does it not abjure its +high prerogative, and take rank within the sphere of sense--itself a +sensation--when revealed to us in the solid atom we call the eye? Here it +is the touch which brings the sight within, and very far within, the +sphere of vision. But somewhat less directly, and by the aid of the +imagination, the sight operates the same introtraction (pardon the coinage) +upon itself. It ebbs inwards, so to speak, from all the contents that were +given in what may be called its primary sphere. It represents itself, in +its organ, as a minute visual sensation, out of, and beyond which, are +left lying the great range of all its other sensations. By imagining the +sight as a sensation of colour, we diminish it to a speck within the +sphere of its own sensations; and as we now regard the sense as for ever +enclosed within this small embrasure, all the other sensations which were +its, previous to our discovery of the organ, and which are its still, are +built up into a world of objective existence, _necessarily_ external to +the sight, and altogether out of its control. All sensations of colour are +necessarily out of one another. Surely, then, when the sight is subsumed +under the category of colour--as it unquestionably is whenever we think of +the eye--surely all other colours must, of necessity, assume a position +external to it; and what more is wanting to constitute that real objective +universe of light and glory in which our hearts rejoice? + +We can, perhaps, make this matter still plainer by reverting to our old +illustration. Our first exposition of the question was designed to exhibit +a general view of the case, through the medium of a dead symbolical figure. +This proved nothing, though we imagine that it illustrated much. Our +second exposition exhibited the illustration in its application to the +living sphere of sensation _in general_; and this proved little. But we +conceive that therein was foreshadowed a certain procedure, which, if it +can be shown from experience to be the actual procedure of sensation _in +detail_, will prove all that we are desirous of establishing. We now, then, +descend to a more systematic exposition of the process which (so far as +our experience goes, and we beg to refer the reader to his own) seems to +be involved in the operation of seeing. We dwell chiefly upon the sense of +sight, because it is mainly through its ministrations that a real +objective universe is given to us. Let the circle A be the whole circuit +of vision. We may begin by calling it the eye, the retina, or what we will. +Let it be provided with the ordinary complement of sensations--the colours +X Y Z. Now, we admit that these sensations cannot be extruded beyond the +periphery of vision; and yet we maintain that, unless they be made to fall +on the outside of that periphery, they cannot become real objects. How is +this difficulty--this contradiction--to be overcome? Nature overcomes it, +by a contrivance as simple as it is beautiful. In the operation of seeing, +admitting the canvass or background of our picture to be a retina, or what +we will, with a multiplicity of colours depicted upon it, we maintain that +we cannot stop here, and that we never do stop here. We invariably go on +(such is the inevitable law of our nature) to complete the picture--that +is to say, we fill in our own eye as a colour within the very picture +which our eye contains--we fill it in as a sensation within the other +sensations which occupy the rest of the field; and in doing so, we of +necessity, by the same law, turn these sensations out of the eye; and they +thus, by the same necessity, assume the rank of independent objective +existences. We describe the circumference infinitely within the +circumference; and hence all that lies on the outside of the intaken +circle comes before us stamped with the impress of real objective truth. +We fill in the eye greatly within the sphere of light, (or within the eye +itself; if we insist on calling the primary sphere by this name,) and the +eye thus filled in is the only eye we know any thing at all about, either +from the experience of sight or of touch. _How_ this operation is +accomplished, is a subject of but secondary moment; whether it be brought +about by the touch, by the eye itself, or by the imagination, is a +question which might admit of much discussion; but it is one of very +subordinate interest. The _fact_ is the main thing--the fact that the +operation _is_ accomplished in one way or another--the fact that the sense +comes before itself (if not directly, yet virtually) as _one_ of its own +sensations--_that_ is the principal point to be attended to; and we +apprehend that this fact is now placed beyond the reach of controversy. + +To put the case in another light. The following considerations may serve +to remove certain untoward difficulties in metaphysics and optics, which +beset the path, not only of the uninitiated, but even of the professors of +these sciences. + +We are assured by optical metaphysicians, or metaphysical opticians, that, +in the operations of vision, we never get beyond the eye itself, or the +representations that are depicted therein. We see nothing, they tell us, +but what is delineated within the eye. Now, the way in which a plain man +should meet this statement, is this--he should ask the metaphysician +_what_ eye he refers to. Do you allude, sir, to an eye which belongs to my +visible body, and forms a small part of the same; or do you allude to an +eye which does not belong to my visible body, and which constitutes no +portion thereof? If the metaphysician should say, that he refers to an eye +of the latter description, then the plain man's answer should be--that he +has no experience of any such eye--that he cannot conceive it--that he +knows nothing at all about it--and that the only eye which he ever thinks +or speaks of, is the eye appertaining to, and situated within, the +phenomenon which he calls his visible body. Is _this_, then, the eye which +the metaphysician refers to, and which he tells us we never get beyond? If +it be--why, then, the very admission that this eye is a part of the +visible body, (and what else can we conceive the eye to be?) proves that +we _must_ get beyond it. Even supposing that the whole operation were +transacted within the eye, and that the visible body were nowhere but +within the eye, still the eye which we invariably and inevitably fill in +as belonging to the visible body, (and no other eye is ever thought of or +spoken of by us,)--_this_ eye, we say, must necessarily exclude the +visible body, and all other visible things, from its sphere. Or, can the +eye (always conceived of as a visible thing among other visible things) +again contain the very phenomenon (_i.e._ the visible body) within which +it is itself contained? Surely no one will maintain a position of such +unparalleled absurdity as that. + +The science of optics, in so far as it maintains, according to certain +physiological principles, that in the operation of seeing we never get +beyond the representations within the eye, is founded on the assumption, +that the visible body has no visible eye belonging to it. Whereas we +maintain, that the only eye that we have--the only eye we can form any +conception of, is the visible eye that belongs to the visible body, as a +part does to a whole; whether this eye be originally revealed to us by the +touch, by the sight, by the reason, or by the imagination. We maintain, +that to affirm we never get beyond this eye in the exercise of vision, is +equivalent to asserting, that a part is larger than the whole, of which it +is only a part--is equivalent to asserting, that Y, which is contained +between X and Z, is nevertheless of larger compass than X and Z, and +comprehends them both. The fallacy we conceive to be this, that the +visible body can be contained within the eye, without the eye of the +visible body also being contained therein. But this is a procedure, which +no law, either of thought or imagination, will tolerate. If we turn the +visible body, and all visible things, into the eye, we must turn the eye +of the visible body also into the eye; a process which, of course, again +turns the visible body, and all visible things, _out_ of the eye. And thus +the procedure eternally defeats itself. Thus the very law which appears to +annihilate, or render impossible, the objective existence of visible +things, as creations independent of the eye--this very law, when carried +into effect with a thorough-going consistency, vindicates and establishes +that objective existence, with a logical force, an iron necessity, which +no physiological paradox can countervail. + +We have now probably said enough to convince the attentive reader, that +the sense of sight, when brought under its own notice as a sensation, +either directly, or through the ministry of the touch or of the +imagination, (as it is when revealed to us in its organ,) falls very +far--falls almost infinitely within its own sphere. Sight, revealing +itself as a sense, spreads over a span commensurate with the diameter of +the whole visible space; sight, revealing itself as a Sensation, dwindles +to a speck of almost unappreciable insignificance, when compared with the +other phenomena which fall within the visual ken. This speck is the organ, +and the organ is the sentient circumference drawn inwards, far within +itself, according to a law which (however unconscious we may be of its +operation) presides over every act and exercise of vision--a law which, +while it contracts the sentient sphere, throws, at the same time, into +necessary objectivity every phenomenon that falls external to the +diminished circle. This is the law in virtue of which subjective visual +sensations are real visible objects. The moment the sight becomes one of +its own sensations, it is restricted, in a peculiar manner, to that +particular sensation. It now falls, as we have said, within its own sphere. +Now, nothing more was wanting to make the other visual sensations real +independent existences; for, _qua_ sensations, they are all originally +independent of each other, and the sense itself being now a sensation, +they must now also be independent of it. + +We now pass on to the consideration of the sense of touch. + +Here precisely the same process is gone through which was observed to take +place in the case of vision. The same law manifests itself here, and the +same inevitable consequence follows, namely--that sensations are +things--that subjective affections are objective realities. The sensation +of hardness (softness, be it observed, is only an inferior degree of +hardness, and therefore the latter word is the proper generic term to be +employed)--the sensation of hardness forms the contents of this sense. +Hardness, we will say, is originally a purely subjective affection. The +question, then, is, how can this affection, without being thrust forth +into a fictitious, transcendent, and incomprehensible universe, assume, +nevertheless, a distinct objective reality, and be (not as it were, but in +language of the most unequivocating truth) a permanent existence +altogether independent of the sense? We answer, that this can take place +only provided the sense of touch can be brought under our notice _as +itself hard_. If this can be shown to take place, then as all sensations +which are presented to us in space necessarily exclude one another, are +reciprocally _out_ of each other, all other instances of hardness must of +necessity fall as extrinsic to that particular hardness which the sense +reveals to us as its own; and, consequently, all these other instances of +hardness will start into being, as things endowed with a permanent and +independent substance. + +Now, what is the verdict of experience on the subject? The direct and +unequivocal verdict of experience is, that the touch reveals itself to us +as one of its own sensations. In the finger-points more particularly, and +generally all over the surface of the body, the touch manifests itself not +only as that which apprehends hardness, but as that which is itself hard. +The sense of touch vested in one of its own sensations (our tangible +bodies namely) is the sense of touch brought within its own sphere. It +comes before itself as _one_ sensation of hardness. Consequently all its +_other_ sensations of hardness are necessarily excluded from this +particular hardness; and, falling beyond it, they are by the same +consequence built up into a world of objective reality, of permanent +substance, altogether independent of the sense, self-betrayed as a +sensation of hardness. + +But here it may be asked, If the senses are thus reduced to the rank of +sensations, if they come under our observation as themselves sensations, +must we not regard them but as parts of the subjective sphere; and though +the other portions of the sphere may be extrinsic to these sensations, +still must not the contents of the sphere, taken as a whole, be considered +as entirely subjective, _i.e._ as merely _ours_, and consequently must not +real objective existence be still as far beyond our grasp as ever? We +answer. No, by no means. Such a query implies a total oversight of all +that experience proves to be the fact with regard to this matter. It +implies that the senses have not been reduced to the rank of +sensations--that they have _not_ been brought under our cognizance as +themselves sensations, and that they have yet to be brought there. It +implies that vision has not been revealed to us as a sensation of colour +in the phenomenon the eye--and that touch has not been revealed to us as a +sensation of hardness in the phenomenon the finger. It implies, in short, +that it is not the sense itself which has been revealed to us, in the one +case as coloured, and in the other case as hard, but that it is something +else which has been thus revealed to us. But it may still be asked, How do +we know that we are not deceiving ourselves? How can it be proved that it +is the senses, and not something else, which have come before us under the +guise of certain sensations? That these sensations are the senses +themselves, and nothing but the senses, may be proved in the following +manner. + +We bring the matter to the test of actual experiment. We make certain +experiments, _seriatim_, upon each of the items that lie within the +sentient sphere, and we note the effect which each experiment has upon +that portion of the contents which is not meddled with. In the exercise of +vision, for example, we remove a book, and no change is produced in our +perception of a house; a cloud disappears, yet our apprehension of the sea +and the mountains, and all other visible things, is the same as ever. We +continue our experiments, until our test happens to be applied to one +particular phenomenon, which lies, if not directly, yet virtually, within +the sphere of vision. We remove or veil this small visual phenomenon, and +a totally different effect is produced from those that took place when any +of the other visual phenomena were removed or veiled. The whole landscape +is obliterated. We restore this phenomenon--the whole landscape reappears: +we adjust this phenomenon differently--the whole landscape becomes +differently adjusted. From these experiments we find, that this phenomenon +is by no means an ordinary sensation, but that it differs from all other +sensations in this, that it is the sense itself appearing in the form of a +sensation. These experiments prove that it is the sense itself, and +nothing else, which reveals itself to us in the particular phenomenon the +eye. If experience informed us that the particular adjustment of some +other visual phenomenon (a book, for instance) were essential to our +apprehension of all the other phenomena, we should, in the same way, be +compelled to regard this book as our sense of sight manifested in one of +its own sensations. The book would be to us what the eye now is: it would +be our bodily organ: and no _a priori_ reason can be shown why this might +not have been the case. All that we can say is, that such is not the +finding of experience. Experience points out the eye, and the eye alone, +as the visual sensation essential to our apprehension of all our other +sensations of vision, and we come at last to regard this sensation as the +sense itself. Inveterate association leads us to regard the eye, not +merely as the organ, but actually as the sense of vision. We find from +experience how much depends upon its possession, and we lay claim to it as +a part of ourselves, with an emphasis that will not be gainsaid. + +An interesting enough subject of speculation would be, an enquiry into the +gradual steps by which each man is led to _appropriate_ his own body. No +man's body is given him absolutely, indefeasibly, and at once, _ex dono +Dei_. It is no unearned hereditary patrimony. It is held by no _a priori_ +title on the part of the possessor. The credentials by which its tenure is +secured to him, are purely of an _a posteriori_ character; and a certain +course of experience must be gone through before the body can become his. +The man acquires it, as he does originally all other property, in a +certain formal and legalized manner. Originally, and in the strict legal +as well as metaphysical idea of them, all bodies, living as well as dead, +human no less than brute, are mere _waifs_--the property of the first +finder. But the law, founding on sound metaphysical principles, very +properly makes a distinction here between two kinds of finding. To entitle +a person to claim a human body as his own, it is not enough that he should +find it in the same way in which he finds his other sensations, namely, as +impressions which interfere not with the manifestations of each other. +This is not enough, even though, in the case supposed, the person should +be the first finder. A subsequent finder would have the preference, if +able to show that the particular sensations manifested as this human body +were essential to his apprehension of all his other sensations whatsoever. +It is this latter species of finding--the finding, namely, of certain +sensations as the essential condition on which the apprehension of all +other sensations depends; it is this finding alone which gives each man a +paramount and indisputable title to that "treasure trove" which he calls +his own body. Now, it is only after going through a considerable course of +experience and experiment, that we can ascertain what the particular +sensations are upon which all our other sensations are dependent. And +therefore were we not right in saying, that a man's body is not given to +him directly and at once, but that he takes a certain time, and must go +through a certain process, to acquire it? + +The conclusion which we would deduce from the whole of the foregoing +remarks is, that the great law of _living_[21] sensation, the _rationale_ +of sensation as a _living_ process, is this, that the senses are not +merely _presentative_--_i.e._ they not only bring sensations before us, but +that they are _self-presentative_--_i.e._ they, moreover, bring themselves +before us as sensations. But for this law we should never get beyond our +mere subjective modifications; but in virtue of it we necessarily get +beyond them; for the results of the law are, 1st, that we, the subject, +restrict ourselves to, or identify ourselves with, the senses, not as +displayed in their primary sphere, (the large circle A,) but as falling +within their own ken as sensations, in their secondary sphere, (the small +circle A.) This smaller sphere is our own bodily frame; and does not each +individual look upon himself as vested in his own bodily frame? And 2ndly, +it is a necessary consequence of this investment or restriction, that +every sensation which lies beyond the sphere of the senses, viewed as +sensations, (_i.e._ which lies beyond the body,) must be, in the most +unequivocal sense of the words, a real independent object. If the reader +wants a name to characterise this system, he may call it the system of +_Absolute or Thorough-going presentationism_. + + [21] We say _living_, because every attempt hitherto made to + explain sensation, has been founded on certain appearances + manifested in the _dead_ subject. By inspecting a dead carcass we + shall never discover the principle of vision. Yet, though there is + no seeing in a dead eye, or in a camera obscura, optics deal + exclusively with such inanimate materials; and hence the student + who studies them will do well to remember, that optics are the + science of vision, with the _fact_ of vision left entirely out of + the consideration. + + * * * * * + + + + +ON THE BEST MEANS OF ESTABLISHING A COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE +BETWEEN THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OCEANS. + + +To shorten the navigation between the eastern and western divisions of our +globe, either by discovering a north-west passage into the Pacific, or +opening a route across the American continent, with European philosophers +and statesmen has for centuries been a favourite project, and yet in only +one way has it been attempted. Large sums of money were successively voted +and expended, in endeavouring to penetrate through the Arctic sea; and +such is the persevering enterprise of our mariners, that in all likelihood +this gigantic task eventually will be accomplished: but, even if it should, +it is questionable whether a navigable opening in that direction would +prove beneficial to commerce. The floating ice with which those high +latitudes are encumbered; the intricacy of the navigation; the cold and +tempestuous weather generally prevailing there, and the difficulty of +obtaining aid, in cases of shipwreck, must continue to deter the ordinary +navigator from following that track. + +Enquiry, therefore, naturally turns to the several points on the middle +part of the American continent, where, with the aid of art, it is supposed +that a communication across may be effected. These are five in number, and +the facilities for the undertaking which each affords, have been discussed +by a few modern travellers, commencing with Humboldt. On a close +investigation into the subject, it will, however, appear evident, that +although the cutting of a canal on some point or order, may be within the +compass of human exertion, still the undertaking would require an enormous +outlay of capital, besides many years to accomplish it; and even if it +should be completed, the result could never answer the expectations formed +upon this subject in Europe. On all the points proposed, and more +especially in reference to the long lines, the difficulty of rendering +rivers navigable, which in the winter are swelled into impetuous torrents; +the want of population along the greater part of the distances to be cut; +the differences of elevation; and, above all, the shallowness of the water +on all the extremities of the cuts projected, thus only affording +admission to small vessels, are among the impediments which, for the time +being at least, appear almost insuperable. + +Without entering further into the obstacles which present themselves to +the formation of a canal along any one of the lines alluded to, I shall at +once come to the conclusion, that for all the practical purposes of +commercial intercourse which the physical circumstances of the country +allow, a railroad is preferable, and may be constructed at infinitely less +expense. This position once established, the question next to be asked is, +which is the most eligible spot for the work proposed? On a careful +examination of the relative merits of the several lines pointed out, that +of the isthmus of Panama unquestionably appears to be the most eligible. +From its central position, and the short distance intervening between the +two oceans, it seems, indeed, to be providentially destined to become the +connecting link between the eastern and western worlds; and hence its +being made a thoroughfare for all nations, must be a subject of the utmost +importance to those engaged in commerce. + +Some of our most eminent public writers of the day, anticipating the +advantages likely to result from the emancipation of Spanish America, +considered the opening of a passage across that isthmus as one of the +mightiest events which could present itself to the enterprise of man; and +it is well known, that during Mr Pitt's administration projects on this +subject were submitted to him--some of them even attempting to show the +feasibility of cutting a canal across, sufficiently deep and wide to admit +vessels of the largest class. Report says, that the minister frequently +spoke in rapturous terms on the supposed facilities of this grand project; +and it is believed, that the sanguine hopes of its realization had great +weight with him when forming his plans for the independence of the +southern division of the New World. The same idea prevailed in Europe for +the greater part of the last century; but yet no survey was instituted--no +steps taken to obtain correct data on the subject. Humboldt revived it; +and yet this great and beneficial scheme again remained neglected, and, to +all appearance, forgotten. At length the possession of the Marquesas +islands by the French, brought the topic into public notice, when, towards +the close of last April, and while submitting the project of a law to the +Chamber of Deputies for a grant of money to cover the expenses of a +government establishment in the new settlements, Admiral Roussin expressed +himself thus:--"The advantages of our new establishments, incontestable as +they are even at present, will assume a far greater importance hereafter. +They will become of great value, should a plan which, at the present +moment, fixes the attention of all maritime nations, be realized, namely, +to open, through the isthmus of Panama, a passage between Europe and the +Pacific, instead of going round by Cape Horn. When this great event, alike +interesting to all naval powers, shall have been effected, the Society and +Marquesas islands, by being brought so much nearer to France, will take a +prominent place among the most important stations of the world. The +facility of this communication will necessarily give a new activity to the +navigation of the Pacific ocean; since this way will be, if not the +shortest to the Indian and Chinese seas, certainly the safest, and, in a +commercial point of view, unquestionably the most important." + +In his speech in support of the grant, M. Gaizot, in the sitting of the +10th inst., asserted that the project of piercing the isthmus of Panama +was not a chimerical one, and proceeded to read a letter from Professor +Humbolt, dated Angust 1842, in which that learned gentleman observed, that +"it was twenty-five years since a project for a communication between the +two oceans, either by the isthmus of Panama, the lake of Nicaragua, or by +the isthmus of Capica, had been proposed and topographically discussed; and +yet nothing had been yet commenced." The French minister also read +extracts from a paper addressed to the Academy of Sciences, by an American +gentleman named Warren, advocating the practicability of a canal, by means +of the rivers Vinotinto, Beverardino, and Farren, after which he +enthusiastically exclaimed, that should this great work ever be +accomplished--and in his own mind he had no doubt that some day or other +it would--then the value of Oceana would be greatly increased, and France +would have many reasons to congratulate herself on the possession of them. +This has thus become one of the most popular topics in France, where the +views of the minister are no longer concealed, and in England are we +slumbering upon it? Certainly we have as great an interest in the +accomplishment of the grand design as the French, and possibly possess +more correct information on the subject than they do. Why, then, is it +withheld from the public? What are our government doing? + +To supply this deficiency, as far as his means allow, is the object of the +writer of these pages; and in order to show the degree of credit to which +his remarks may be entitled, and his reasons for differing from the French +as regards the means by which the great desideratum is to be achieved, he +will briefly state, that in early life he left Europe under the prevailing +impression that the opening of a canal across the isthmus of Panama was +practicable; but while in the West Indies, some doubts on the subject +having arisen in his mind, he determined to visit the spot, which he did +at his own expense, and at some personal risk--the Spaniards being still +in possession of the country. With this view he ascended the river Chagre +to Cruces, and thence proceeded by land to Panama, where he stopped a +fortnight. In that time he made several excursions into the interior, and +had a fair opportunity of hearing the sentiments of intelligent natives; +but, although he then came to the conclusion that a canal of large +dimensions was impracticable, he saw the possibility of opening a railroad, +with which, in his opinion, European nations ought to be satisfied, at +least for the present. Why he assumed this position, a description of the +locality will best explain. + +The river Chagre, which falls into the Atlantic, is the nearest +transitable point to Panama, but unfortunately the harbour does not admit +vessels drawing more than twelve feet water.[22] There the traveller +embarks in a _bonjo_, (a flat-bottomed boat,) or in a canoe, made of the +trunk of a cedar-tree, grown on the banks to an enormous size. The +velocity of the downward current is equal to three miles an hour, and +greater towards the source. The ascent is consequently tedious; often the +rowers are compelled to pole the boat along, a task, under a burning sun, +which could only be performed by negroes. In the upper part of the stream +the navigation is obstructed by shallows, so much so as to render the +operation of unloading unavoidable. Large trunks of trees, washed down by +the rains, and sometimes embedded in the sands, also occasionally choke up +the channel, impediments which preclude the possibility of a steam power +being used beyond a certain distance up. No boat can ascend higher than +Cruces, a village in a direct line not more than twenty-two miles from +Chagre harbour; but owing to the sinuosities of the river, the distance to +be performed along it is nearly double. To stem the current requires from +three to eight days, according to the season, whereas the descent does not +take more than from eight to twelve hours. + +From Cruces to Panama the distance is five leagues, over a broken and +hilly country. The town is situated at the head of the gulf, on a neck of +land washed by the waters of the Pacific; but the port is only accessible +to flat-bottomed boats, owing to which it is called _Las Piraguas_. The +harbour, or rather the roadstead, is formed by a cluster of small islands +lying about six miles from the shore, under the shelter of which vessels +find safe anchorage. The tides rise high, and, falling in the same +proportion, the sloping coast is left dry to a considerable distance +out--a circumstance which precludes the possibility of forming an outlet +in front of Panama. The obstacles above enumerated at once convinced the +writer that a ship canal in this direction was impracticable. The Spanish +plan was to make the Chagre navigable a considerable distance up, by +removing the shallows and deepening the channel; but owing to the great +inclination in the descent, and the immense volumes of water rushing down +in winter, the task would be a most herculean one; and, even if +accomplished, this part of the route could only serve for small craft. A +canal over five leagues of hilly ground would still remain to be cut. + +Although the plan, so long and so fondly cherished in Europe, and now +revived in France, must, for the reasons here assigned, be abandoned, on +this account we ought not to be deterred from availing ourselves of such +facilities as the locality affords. The geographical position of the +isthmus of Panama is too interesting to be any longer disregarded. "When +the Spanish discoverers first overcame the range of mountains which divide +the western from the Atlantic shores of South America," said a +distinguished statesman,[23] "they stood fixed in silent admiration, gazing +on the vast expanse of the Southern ocean which lay stretched before them +in boundless prospect. They adored--even those hardened and sanguinary +adventurers adored--the gracious providence of Heaven, which, after lapse +of so many centuries had opened to mankind so wonderful a field of untried +and unimagined enterprize." The very same point of land where, in 1515, +the Spaniards first beheld the Pacific, is the spot formed by nature for +the realization of those advantages which their cautious policy caused +them to overlook. The Creator seems to have intended it for general +use--as the highway of nations; and yet, after a period of more than three +centuries, scarcely has the solitude which envelopes this interesting +strip of land been broken. Is Europe or America to blame for this? + + [22] This is the first impediment to an oceanic canal, and one + equally felt on the other proposed lines. Captain Sir Edward + Belcher, when recently surveying the western coasts of America, + availed himself of the opportunity to explore the Estero Real, a + river on the Pacific side, which he did by ascending it to the + distance of thirty miles from its mouth, but he found that it only + admits a vessel drawing ten feet water. That intelligent officer + considered this an advantageous line for a canal, which by lake + navigation, he concluded might be connected with San Salvador, + Honduras, Nicaragua, and extended to the Atlantic; but the + distance is immense, the country thinly inhabited, and besides + unhealthy, and, after all, it could only serve for boats. + + [23] Lord Grenville in his speech on Indian affairs, April 9, + 1813. + +In the present state of our trade, and the increasing competition which we +are likely to experience, unquestionably it would be advisable for British +subjects to exert themselves in securing a free passage across the isthmus +above-named. It is not, however, to be imagined that this is a new project +in our history. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, one was +formed in Scotland for the establishment of a national company to trade +with the Indies through the Pacific, which became so popular that most of +the royal burghs subscribed to it. The scheme originated with William +Patterson, a Scotchman, of a bold and enterprizing character, who, in +early life, is supposed to have been a Bucanier, and to have traversed +several sections of South America. At all events, he seems to have been +acquainted with the views of Captain, afterwards Sir Henry Morgan, who, in +1670, took and burned Panama. + +In England, the "Scots Company" was strenuously opposed by the +incorporated traders to the East Indies, as well as by the West India +merchants. Parliament equally took the alarm, and prayed the king not to +sanction the scheme. So powerful did this opposition at length become, +that the sums subscribed were withdrawn. Nothing daunted by this failure, +Patterson resolved to engraft upon his original plan one for the +establishment of an emporium on the Isthmus of Darien, whither he +anticipated that European goods would be sent, and thence conveyed to the +western shores of America, the Pacific islands, and Asia; and, in order to +attract notice and gain support, he proposed that the new settlement +should be made a free port, and all distinctions of religion, party, and +nation banished. The project was much liked in the north of Europe, but +again scouted at the English court; when the Scotch, indignant at the +opposition which their commercial prospects experienced from King William's +ministers, which they attributed to a contrariety of interests on the +part of the English, subscribed among themselves L.400,000 for the object +in view, and L.300,000 more were, in the same manner, raised at Hamburg; +but, in consequence of a remonstrance presented to the senate of that city +by the English resident, the latter sum was called in. + +Eventually, in 1699, Patterson sailed with five large vessels, having on +board 1200 followers, all Scotch, and many of them belonging to the best +families, furnished with provisions and merchandise; and, on arriving on +the coast of Darien, took possession of a small peninsula lying between +Porto Bello and Carthagena, where he built the Fort of St Andrew. The +settlement was called New Caledonia; and the directors having taken every +precaution for its security, entered into negotiations with the +independent Indians in the neighbourhood, by whom it is believed that the +tenure of the "Scots Company" was sanctioned. The Spaniards took offence +at this alleged aggression, and angry complaints were forwarded to the +court of St James's. To these King William listened with something like +complacency, his policy at the time being to temporize with Spain, in +order to prevent the aggrandizement of the French Bourbons. The new +settlement was accordingly denounced, in proclamations issued by the +authorities of Jamaica, Barbadoes, and the American plantations, and soon +afterwards attacked by a Spanish force. Pressed on all sides, the +adventurers, for a period of eight months, bore up against accumulated +misfortunes; when at length, receiving no succours from their copartners +at home, convinced that they had to contend against the hostility of the +English government, and their provisions being exhausted, the survivors +were compelled to abandon their enterprise and return to Scotland. To add +to their chagrin, a few days after their departure two vessels arrived +with supplies and a small reinforcement of men. + +Incensed at the second failure of their favourite scheme, the Scotch +endeavoured to obtain from King William an acknowledgment of the national +right to the territory of New Caledonia, and some reparation for the loss +sustained by the disappointed settlers. Unsuccessful in their application, +they next presented an address to the ruling power, praying that their +parliament might be assembled, in order to take the matter into +consideration; when, at the first meeting, angry and spirited resolutions +were passed upon the subject. No redress was, however, obtained; and thus +terminated the Darien scheme of the seventeenth century, founded, no one +will venture to deny, on an enlarged view of our commercial interests, and +a just conception of the means by which they might have been promoted. In +the state of our existing treaties with Spain, the seizure of territory +possibly was unjust, the moment unseasonable, and the plan, in one respect, +obviously defective, inasmuch as the projectors had not taken into account +the hostility of the Spaniards, and could not, consequently, rely on an +outlet for their merchandize in the Pacific. Had the scheme been delayed, +or had the settlement survived some months longer, the War of Succession +would, however, have given to the adventurers a right of tenure stronger +than any they could have obtained from the English court; for it is to be +borne in mind that, on the 3d of November 1700, Charles II. of Spain died +leaving his crown to a French branch of the House of Bourbon--an event +which threw Europe into a blaze, and, in the ensuing year, led to the +formation of the Grand Alliance. + +This short digression may serve to show the spirit of the age towards the +close of the seventeenth century, and more particularly the light in which +the Scotch viewed an attempt, made nearly a century and a half ago, to +establish a commercial intercourse with the Pacific; and, had they then +succeeded, other objects of still mightier import than those at first +contemplated--other benefits of a more extended operation, would have been +included in the results. The opportunity was lost, evidently through the +want of support from the ruling power; but it must have been curious to +see the English government, at the close of the war, endeavouring to have +conceded to them by the Spanish court, and in virtue of the memorable +Aziento contract of 1713, those very same advantages which the "Scots +Company" sought to secure, by their own private efforts, and almost in +defiance of a most powerful interest. And when our prospects in the same +quarter have been enlarged, to an extent far beyond the most sanguine +expectations of our forefathers--when, through the independence of South +America, we have had the fairest opportunities of entering into +combinations with the natives for the accomplishment of the +grand design--is it yet to be said that spirited and enlightened +Englishmen are not to be found, ready and willing enough to support a +scheme advantageous to the whole commercial community of Europe? It is +confidently understood that the best information on the subject has been +submitted to her Majesty's government, even recently. If so, is it then a +fact that no one member of the Cabinet has shown a disposition to lend a +helping hand? + +But what have the South Americans done in furtherance of the scheme in +question? Among the projects contemplated by Bolivar, the Liberator, for +the improvement of his native land, as soon as its independence should +have been consolidated, was one to form a junction between the +neighbouring oceans, so far as nature and the circumstances of the country +would allow. In November 1827, he accordingly commissioned Mr John +Augustus Lloyd, an Englishman, to make a survey of the isthmus of Panama, +"in order to ascertain," as that gentleman himself tells us, "the best and +most eligible line of communication, whether by road or canal, between the +two seas." In March 1828 the commissioner arrived at Panama, where he was +joined by a Swedish officer of engineers in the Colombian service, and, +provided with suitable instruments, they proceeded to perform the task +assigned to them.[24] Their first care was to determine the relative height +of the two oceans, when, from their observations, it appeared that the +tides are regular on both sides of the isthmus, and the time of high water +nearly the same at Panama and Chagre. The rise in the Pacific is, however, +the greatest, the mean height at Panama being rather more than three feet +above that of the Atlantic at Chagre; but, as in every twelve hours the +Pacific falls six feet more than the Atlantic, it is in that same +proportion lower; yet, as soon as the tide has flowed fully in, the level +assumes its usual elevation. Although the measurements of Bolivar's +commissioners were not, perhaps, performed with all the exactitude that +could have been wished, sufficient was then and since ascertained to +establish the fact, that the difference between the levels of the two +oceans is not so great as to cause any derangement, in case the +intervening ground could be pierced. + + [24] The result of their labours was published in the _Philosophic + Transactions_ for 1830, accompanied by drawings. + +In the pursuit of his object, Mr Lloyd seems altogether to set aside the +idea of a canal, and leaving his readers to judge which is the best +expedient to answer the end proposed, he thus describes the topography and +capabilities of the country:--"It is generally supposed in Europe that the +great chain of mountains, which, in South America, forms the Andes, +continues nearly unbroken through the isthmus. This, however, is not the +case. The northern Cordillera breaks into detached mountains on the +eastern side of the province of Vevagna, which are of considerable height, +extremely abrupt and rugged, and frequently exhibit an almost +perpendicular face of bare rock. To these succeed numerous conical +mountains, rising out of savannahs or plains, and seldom exceeding from +300 to 500 feet in height. Finally, between Chagre on the Atlantic side, +and Chorrera on the Pacific side, the conical mountains are not so +numerous, having plains of great extent, interspersed with occasional +insulated ranges of hills, of inconsiderable height and extent. From this +description, it will be seen," continues Mr Lloyd, "that the spot where +the continent of America is reduced to nearly its narrowest limits, is +also distinguished by a break for a few miles of the great chain of +mountains, which otherwise extend, with but few exceptions, to its extreme +northern and southern limits. This combination of circumstances points out +the peculiar fitness of the isthmus of Panama for the establishment of a +communication across." + +Here, then, we have an avowal, from the best authority before the public, +and founded on a survey of the ground, that the intervening country is +sufficiently open, even for a canal, if skilfully undertaken, and with +adequate funds--consequently it cannot present any physical obstacles in +the way of a railroad which cannot readily be overcome. The same opinion +was formed by the writer of these pages, when, at a much earlier period, +he viewed the plains from the heights at the back of Panama; and that +opinion was borne out by natives who had traversed the ground as far as +the forests and brushwood allowed. In the sitting of the Royal Academy of +Sciences, held in Paris on the 26th of last December, Baron Humboldt +reported, that the preparatory labours for cutting a canal across the +isthmus of Panama were rapidly advancing; to which he added that the +commission appointed by the government of New Granada had terminated their +survey of the localities, after arriving at a result as fortunate as it +was unexpected. "The chain of the Cordilleras," he observed, "does not +extend, as it was formerly supposed, across, since a valley favourable to +the operation had been discovered, and the natural position of the waters +might also be rendered useful. Three rivers," the Baron proceeded to say, +"had been explored, over which an easy control might be established; and +these rivers, there was every reason to think, might be made partially +navigable, and afterwards connected with the proposed canal, the +excavations for which would not extend beyond 12-1/2 miles in length. It +was further expected that the fall might be regulated by four double locks, +138 feet in length; by which means the total extent of the canal would not +be more than 49 miles, with a width of 136 feet at the surface, 56 at the +base, and 20 in depth, sufficiently capacious for the admission of a +vessel measuring 1000 to 1400 tons. It was estimated by M. Morel, a French +engineer, that the cost of these several works would not be more than +fourteen millions of francs." + +This is a confirmation of the fact, that on the isthmus facilities exist +for either cutting a canal, or constructing a railroad; but while the +French seem inclined to revive the primitive project, it is to be feared +that they overlook the paramount difficulty, which, as already noticed, +occurs on both sides, through the want of water. Unless admission and an +outlet can be obtained for men-of-war, and the usual class of vessels +trading to India, it would scarcely be worth while to attempt a canal, and +it has not been ascertained that both those essential requisites can be +found. The other plan must therefore be held to be the surest and most +economical. This also seems to have been the conclusion at which Mr Lloyd +arrived. Having made up his mind that a railroad is best adapted to the +locality, he proceeds to trace two lines, starting from the same terminus, +near the Atlantic, and terminating at different points on the Pacific, +respecting which he expresses himself thus:--"Two lines are marked on the +map, commencing at a point near the junction of the rivers Chagre and +Trinidad, and crossing the plains, the one to Chorrera, and the other to +Panama. These lines indicate the directions which I consider the best for +a railroad communication. The principal difficulty in the establishment of +such a communication, would arise from the number of rivulets to be +crossed, which, though dry in summer, become considerable streams in the +rainy season. The line which crosses to Chorrera is much the shortest, but +the other has the advantage of terminating in the city and harbour of +Panama. The country intersected by these lines is by no means so abundant +in woods as in other parts, but has fine savannahs, and throughout the +whole distance, as well as on each bank of the Trinidad, presents flat, +and sometimes swampy country, with occasional detached sugar-loaf +mountains, interspersed with streams that mostly empty themselves into the +Chagre." + +Would it not, then, be more advisable to act on this suggestion, than run +the risk and incur the expense of a canal? On all hands it is agreed, that +as far as the mouth of the Trinidad the Chagre is navigable for vessels +drawing twelve feet water, by which means twelve or fourteen miles of road, +and a long bridge besides, would be saved. Under this supposition, the +proposed line from the junction of the two rivers to Panama would be about +thirty miles, and to Chorrera twenty four; while on neither of them does +any other difficulty present itself than the one mentioned by Mr Lloyd. +"Should the time arrive," says that gentleman, "when a project of a water +communication across the isthmus may be entertained, the river Trinidad +will probably appear the most favourable route. That river is for some +distance both broad and deep, and its banks are also well suited for +wharfs, especially in the neighbourhood of the spot whence the lines +marked for a railroad communication commence." + +It therefore only remains to be determined which of the two lines is the +preferable one; and this depends more on the facilities afforded by the +bay of Chorrera for the admission of vessels, than the difference in the +distances. However desirable it might be to have Panama as the Pacific +station, it will already have been noticed, that the great distance from +the shore at which vessels are obliged to anchor, is a serious impediment +to loading and unloading--operations which are rendered more tedious by +the heavy swell at certain seasons setting into the gulf. The distance +from Chorrera to Panama, over a level part of the coast, is only ten miles. +Should it therefore be deemed expedient, these two places may afterwards +be connected by means of a branch line. As regards the difficulty +mentioned by Mr Lloyd, arising out of "the number of rivulets to be +crossed," it may be observed that this section of the country remains in +nearly the same state as that in which it was left by nature. No +artificial means have been adopted for drainage; but the assurances of +intelligent natives warrant the belief, that by cross-cuts the smaller +rivulets may be made to run into the larger ones, whereby the number to be +crossed would be materially diminished. The contiguous lands abound in +superior stone, easily dug, and well suited for the construction of +causeways as well as arches; while the magnificent forests, which rear +their lofty heads to the north of the projected line, would for sleepers +furnish any quantity of an almost incorruptible and even incombustible +wood, resembling teak.[25] + +The Honourable P. Campbell Scarlett, one of the last travellers of note +who crossed the isthmus and favoured the pubic with the result of his +observations, says, "that for a ship canal the locality would not answer, +but presents the greatest facilities for the transfer of merchandize by +river and canal, sufficiently deep for steam-boats, at a comparatively +trifling expense."[26] He then proceeds to remark, "that Mr Lloyd seemingly +turned his attention more to the practicability of a railroad along the +level country between the mouth of the Trinidad and the town or river of +Chorrera, and no doubt a railroad would be very beneficial;" adding, "that +an explicit understanding would be necessary to prevent interruption, +(meaning with the local government and ruling power:) and the subject +assuredly is of sufficient magnitude and importance to justify, if not +call on, the British government, or any other power, to encourage and +sanction the enterprise by a solemn treaty." + +In proportion to its size, no town built by the Spaniards in the western +world contains so many good edifices as Panama, although many of them are +now falling to decay. It was rebuilt subsequent to the fire in 1737, and +from the ornamental parts of some structures, it is evident that superior +workmen were employed in their erection;[27] and should notice at any time +be given that public works were about to commence there, accompanied by an +assurance that artisans would meet with due encouragement, thither +able-bodied men would flock, even from the West Indies and the United +States. Hardy Mulattoes, Meztizoes, free Negroes, and Indians, may be +assembled upon the spot, among whom are good masons and experienced hewers +of wood; and, being intelligent and tractable, European skill and example +alone would be requisite to direct them. The existence of coal along the +shores of Chili and Peru, is also another encouraging feature in the +scheme;[28] and as the ground for a railroad would cost a mere trifle, if +any thing, the whole might be completed at a comparatively small expense. + +The profits derivable from the undertaking, when accomplished, are too +obvious to require enumeration. The rates levied on letters, passengers, +and merchandize, after leaving a proportionate revenue to the local +government, must produce a large sum, which would progressively increase +as the route became more frequented. Mines exist in the neighbourhood, at +present neglected owing to the difficulty of the smelting process. It may +hereafter be worth while for return vessels to bring the rough mineral +obtained from them to Europe, as is now done with copper ore from Cuba, +Colombia, and Chili. Ship timber, of the largest dimensions and best +qualities, may also be had. The charges on the transit of merchandize +would never be so heavy as even the rates of insurance round Cape Horn and +the Cape of Good Hope. The first of these great headlands mariners know +full well is a fearful barrier, advancing into the cheerless deep amidst +storms, rocks, islands, and currents, to avoid which the navigator is +often compelled to go several degrees more to the south than his track +requires; whereby the voyage is not only lengthened, but his water and +provisions so far exhausted, that frequently he is under the necessity of +making the first port he can in Chili, or seeking safety on the African +coast. + + + [25] Ulloa (Book iii. chap. 11) remarks, that although the greater + part of the houses in Panama were formerly built of wood, fires + very rarely occurred; the nature of the timber being such, that if + lighted embers are laid upon the floor, or wall made of it, the + only consequence is, that it makes a hole without producing a + flame. + + [26] America and the Pacific, 1838. + + [27] Ulloa affirms, that the greater part of the houses in Panama + are now built of stone; all sorts of materials for edifices of + this kind being found there in the greatest abundance. Mr Scarlett + also acknowledges that he there saw more specimens of + architectural beauty than in any other town of South America which + he had occasion to visit. + + [28] In 1814 the writer had coal in his possession, in London, + brought from the vicinity of Lima, which he had coked and tried in + a variety of ways. It was gaseous and resembled that dug in the + United States. Since that period coal has been found near + Talcahuano and at Valdivia, on the coast of Chili; on the island + of Chiloe, and on that of San Lorenzo, opposite to Lima; in the + valley of Tambo, near Islay; at Guacho, and even further down on + the coast of Guayaquil. Mr Scarlett quotes a letter from the Earl + of Dundonald. (Lord Cochrane,) in which his lordship affirms, + "that there is plenty of coal at Talcahuano, in the province of + Conception." It was used on board of her Majesty's ship Blossom; + and Mr Mason, of her Majesty's ship Seringspatam, pronounced it + good when not taken too near the surface. Mr Wheelright, the + American gentleman who formed the Steam Navigation Company along + the western coast, coked the coal found there; and in the general + plan for the formation of his company, assured the public that + "coal exists on various parts of the Chili coast in great + abundance, and will afford an ample supply for steam operations on + the Pacific at a very moderate expense." The fact is confirmed by + various other testimonies, and there is every reason to believe + that coal will be hereafter found at no great distance from + Panama. + +To escape from the perils and delays of this circuitous route has long +been the anxious wish of all commercial nations, and to a certain extent +this may be accomplished in the manner here pointed out. In the course of +time, and in case prospects are sufficiently encouraging--or, in other +words, should the surveys required for a ship canal correspond with the +hopes entertained upon this subject by the French--the great desideratum +might then be attempted. The work done would not interfere with any other +afterwards undertaken on an increased scale. On the contrary, a railroad +would continue its usual traffic, and afford great assistance. Fortunately +the obstruction to the admission of vessels into Chagre harbour, on the +Atlantic side, may be obviated, as will appear from the following passage +in Mr Lloyd's report--a point of extreme importance in the prosecution of +any ulterior design; but even then the great difficulty remains to be +overcome on the Pacific shore:-- + +"The river Chagre," says the Colombian commissioner, "its channel, and the +barks which in the dry season embarrass its navigation, are laid down in +my manuscript plan with great care and minuteness. It is subject to one +great inconvenience; viz. that vessels drawing more than twelve feet water +cannot enter the river, even in perfectly calm weather, on account of a +stratum of slaty limestone which runs, at a depth at high water of fifteen +feet, from a point on the mainland to some rocks in the middle of the +entrance into the harbour, and which are just even with the water's edge. +This, together with the lee current that sets on the southern shore, +particularly in the rainy season, renders the entrance extremely difficult +and dangerous. The value of the Chagre, considered as the port of entrance +for all communication, whether by the river Chagre, Trinidad, or by +railroad, across the plains, is greatly limited owing to the +above-mentioned cause. It would, in all cases, prove a serious +disqualification, were it not one which admits of a simple and effectual +remedy, arising from the proximity of the bay of Limon, otherwise called +Navy Bay, with which the river might be easily connected. The coves of this +bay afford excellent and secure anchorage in its present state, and the +whole harbour is capable of being rendered, by obvious and not very +expensive means, one of the most commodious and safe in the world." + +After expressing his gratitude for the good offices of her Majesty's +consul at Panama, and the services rendered to him by the officers of her +Majesty's ship Victor, with the aid of whose boats, and the assistance of +the master, he made his survey of the bay of Limon, obtained soundings, +and constructed his plan, (the shores of which bay, he says, are therein +laid down trigonometrically from a base of 5220 yards)--Mr Lloyd remarks +thus, "It will be seen by this plan that the distance from one of the +best coves, in respect to anchorage, across the separating country from +the Chagre, and in the most convenient track, is something less than three +miles to a point in the river about three miles from its mouth. I have +traversed the intervening land, which is perfectly level, and in all +respects suitable for a canal, which, being required for so short a +distance, might well be made of a sufficient depth to admit vessels of any +reasonable draught of water, and would obviate the inconvenience of the +shallows at the entrance of the Chagre." + +Granting, however, that the admission from the Atlantic into the Chagre of +a larger class of vessels than those drawing twelve feet might be thus +facilitated, according to Mr Lloyd's own avowal a breakwater would still +be necessary at the entrance of Limon Bay, which is situated round Point +Brujas, about eight geographical miles higher up towards Porto Bello than +the mouth of that river, as the heavy sea setting into the bay would +render the anchorage of vessels insecure. An immense deal of work would +consequently still remain to be performed before a corresponding outlet +into the Pacific could be obtained; and whether this can be accomplished +is yet problematical. In the interval, a railroad, on the plan above +suggested, would answer many, although not all the purposes desired by the +commercial community, and serve as a preparatory step for a canal, should +it be deemed feasible. After the country has been cleared of wood and +properly explored--after the population has been more concentrated, and +the opinions of experienced men obtained--a project of oceanic navigation +may succeed; but, for the present, we ought to be content with the best +and cheapest expedient that can be devised; and the distance is so short, +and the facilities for the enterprise so palpable, that a few previous +combinations, and a small capital only, are required to carry it into +effect. By using the waters of the Chagre and Trinidad, a material part of +the distance across is saved;[29] and as, as before explained, the ground +will cost nothing, and excellent and cheap materials exist, the work might +be performed at a comparatively trifling expense. When completed, the trip +from sea to sea would not take more than from six to eight hours. + +Avowedly, no ocean is so well adapted for steam navigation as the Pacific. +Except near Cape Horn, and in the higher latitudes to the north-west, on +its glassy surface storms are seldom encountered. With their heavy ships, +the Spaniards often made voyages from Manilla to Acapulco in sixty-five +days, without having once had occasion to take in their light sails. The +ulterior consequences, therefore, of a more general introduction of steam +power into that new region, connected with a highway across the isthmus of +Panama, no one can calculate. The experiment along the shores of Chili and +Peru has already commenced; and the cheap rate at which fossil fuel can be +had has proved a great facility. Under circumstances so peculiarly +propitious, to what an extent, then, may not steam navigation be carried +on the smooth expanse of the Southern ocean? If there are two sections of +the globe more pre-eminently suited for commercial intercourse than others, +they are the western shores of America and Southern Asia. To these two +markets, consequently, will the attention of manufacturing nations be +turned; and, should the project here proposed be carried into effect, +depots of merchandize will be formed on and near the isthmus, when the +riches of Europe and America will move more easily towards Asia; while, in +return, the productions of Asia will be wafted towards America and Europe. +If we entertain the expectation, that at no distant period of time our +West India possessions will become advanced posts, and aid in the +development of the resources abounding in that extended and varied region +at the entrance of which they are stationed--if the several islands there +which hoist the British flag are destined to be resting-places for that +trade between Great Britain and the Southern sea, now opening to European +industry--these two great interests cannot be so effectually advanced as +by the means above suggested. + + [29] Mr Scarlett says, that the depth of water at Chagre is + sufficient for steamers and large schooners, which can be + navigated without obstruction as far up as the mouth of the + Trinidad. By descending that river, he himself crossed the isthmus + in seventeen hours--viz. from Panama to Cruces, eight; and thence + to Chagre, nine. Mr Wheelright, the American gentleman above + quoted, says that the transit of the isthmus during the dry + season, (from November to June--and wet from June to November,) is + neither inconvenient nor unpleasant. The canoes are covered, + provisions and fruits cheap along the banks of the Chagre, and + there is always personal security. The temperature, although warm, + is healthy. At the same time it must be confessed, that in the + rainy season a traveller is subject to great exposure and + consequent illness; but if the railroad was roofed this objection + might be removed. It is on all hands agreed, that the climate of + the isthmus would be greatly improved by drainage, and clearing + the country of the immense quantities of vegetable matter left + rotting on the ground. The beds of seaweed, in a constant state of + decomposition on the Pacific shore, create miasmata unquestionably + injurious to health. + +It has generally been thought that the long-neglected isthmus of Suez is +the shortest road to India, but besides being precarious, and suited only +for the conveyance of light weights, that line only embraces one object; +whereas the establishment of a communication across that of Panama, would +be like the creation of a new geographical and commercial world--it would +bring two extremities of the earth closer together, and, besides, connect +many intermediate points. It would open to European nations the portals to +a new field of enterprise, and complete the series of combinations forming +to develop the riches with which the Pacific abounds, by presenting to +European industry a new group of producers and consumers. The remotest +regions of the East would thus come more under the influence of European +civilization; while, by a quicker and safer intercourse, our Indian +possessions would be rendered more secure, and our new connexion with +China strengthened. Besides the wealth arriving from Asia and the islands +in the wide Pacific, the produce of Acapulco, San Blas, California, Nootka +Sound, and the Columbia river, on the one side, and of Guayaquil, Peru, +and Chili, on the other, would come to the Atlantic by a shorter route, at +the same time that we might receive advices from New Holland and New +Zealand with only half the delay we now do. + +The mere recurrence to a map will at once show, that the isthmus of Panama +is destined to become a great commercial thoroughfare, and, at a moderate +expense, might be made the seat of an extensive trade. By the facilities +of communication across, new wants would be created; and, as fresh markets +open to European enterprise, a proportionate share of the supplies would +fall to our lot. In the present depressed state of our commercial +relations, some effort must be made to apply the industry of the country +to a larger range of objects. A century of experiments and labour has +changed the face of nature in our own country, quadrupled the produce of +our lands, and extended a green mantle over districts which once wore the +appearance of barren wastes; but the consumption of our manufactures +abroad has not risen in the same proportion. It behoves us, then, to +explore and secure new markets, which can best be done by connecting +ourselves with those regions to which the isthmus of Panama is the +readiest avenue. In a mercantile point of view, the importance of the +western coasts of America is only partially known to us. With the +exception of Valparaiso and Lima, our merchants seldom visit the various +ports along that extended line, to which the establishment of the Hudson's +Bay Company on the Columbia river gives a new feature. Although abounding +in the elements of wealth, in many of these secluded regions the spark of +commercial life has scarcely been awakened by foreign intercourse. Our +whale-fisheries in the Pacific may also require more protection than they +have hitherto done; and if we ever hope to have it in our power to obtain +live alpacas from Peru as a new stock in this country, and at a rate cheap +enough for the farmer to purchase and naturalize them, it must be by the +way of Panama, by which route guano manure may also be brought over to us +at one half of the present charges. We are now sending bonedust and other +artificial composts to Jamaica and our other islands in the West Indies, +in order to restore the soil, impoverished by successive sugar-cane crops, +while the most valuable fertilizer, providentially provided on the other +side of the isthmus, remains entirely neglected. + +The establishment of a more direct intercourse with the Pacific, it will +therefore readily be acknowledged, is an undertaking worthy of a great +nation, and conformable to the spirit of the age in which we are +living--an undertaking which would do more honour to Great Britain, and +ultimately prove more beneficial to our merchants, than any other that +possibly could be devised. Nor is it to be imagined that other nations are +insensible to the advantages which they would derive from an opening of +this kind. The feelings and sentiments of the French upon this subject +have already been briefly noticed. The King of Holland has expressed +himself favourable to the undertaking, nor are the Belgians behind hand in +their good wishes for its accomplishment. If possible, the North Americans +have a larger and more immediate interest in its success than the +commercial nations of Europe. Ever since their acquisition of Louisiana, a +general spirit of enterprise has directed a large portion of their +population towards the head waters of the Mississippi and Missouri--a +spirit which impels a daring and thrifty race of men gradually to advance +towards the north-west. Captain Clark's excursion in 1805, had for its +object the discovery of a route to the Pacific by connecting the Missouri +and Columbia rivers, a subject on which, even at that early period, he +expressed himself thus:--"I consider this track across the continent of +immense advantage to the fur trade, as all the furs collected in +nine-tenths of the most valuable fur country in America, may be conveyed +to the mouth of the Columbia river, and thence shipped to the East Indies +by the 15th of August in each year, and will, of course, reach Canton +earlier than the furs which are annually exported from Montreal arrive in +Great Britain." + +This extract will suffice to show the spirit of emulation by which the +citizens of the Union were, even at so remote a period, actuated in +reference to the north-west coast of America--a spirit which has since +manifested itself in a variety of ways, and in much stronger terms. The +distance overland is, however, too great, and the population too scanty, +for this route to be rendered available for the general purposes of +traffic, at least for many years to come. The North Americans have, +therefore, turned their attention to other points offering facilities of +communication with the Pacific; and the line to which they have usually +given the preference is the Mexican, or more northern one, across the +isthmus of Tehuantepec, situated partly in the province of Oaxaca and +partly in that of Vera Cruz. The facilities afforded by this locality have +been described by several tourists; but supposing that the river +Guassacualco, on the Atlantic, is, or can be made navigable for large +vessels as high up as the isthmus of Tehuantepec, (as to deep water at the +entrance, there is no doubt,) still a carriage road for at least sixteen +leagues would be necessary. The intervening land, although it may contain +some favourable breaks, is nevertheless avowedly so high, that from some +of the mountain summits the two oceans my be easily seen. The obstacles to +a road, and much more so to a canal, are therefore very considerable; and +a suitable and corresponding outlet into the Pacific, besides, has not yet +been discovered. + +This, then, is by no means so eligible a spot as the isthmus of Panama. +From its situation, the Tehuantepec route would, nevertheless, be +extremely valuable to the North Americans; and it must not be forgotten +that, in this stirring age, there is scarcely an undertaking that baffles +the ingenuity of man. Owing to their position, the North Americans would +gain more by shortening the passage to the Pacific than ourselves; and +Tehuantepec being the nearest point to them suited for that object, and +also the one which they could most effectually control, it is more than +probable that, at some future period, they will use every effort to have +it opened. The country through which the line would pass is confessedly +richer, healthier, and more populous, than that contiguous to the Lake of +Nicaragua, or across the isthmus of Panama; but should the work projected +ever be carried into execution, eventually this route must become an +American monopoly. + +The citizens of the United States, it will therefore readily be believed, +are keenly alive to the subject, and calculate thus:--A steamer leaving +the Mississippi can reach Guassacualco in six days; in seven, her cargo +might be transferred across the isthmus of Tehuantepec to the Pacific, and +in fifty more reach China--total, sixty-three days. As an elucidation, let +us suppose that the usual route to the same destination, round Gape Horn, +from a more central part of the Union--Philadelphia, for example--is 16, +150 miles; in that case the distance saved, independent of less sea risk, +would be as follows:--From the Delaware to Guassacualco, 2100 miles; +across Tehuantepec to the Pacific, 120; to the Sandwich Islands, 3835; to +the Ladrone do., 3900; and to Canton, 2080--total, 12,035 miles; whereby +the saving would be 4115, besides affording greater facilities for the +application of steam. Their estimate of the saving to the Columbia river +is still more encouraging. From one of their central ports the distance +round Cape Horn is estimated at 18,261 miles; whereas by the Mexican route +it would be, to Guassacualco and overland to the Pacific, 2220 miles, and +thence to the Columbia river, 2760--total, 4980; thus leaving the enormous +difference of 13, 281 miles--two-thirds of the distance, besides the +advantage of a safer navigation. By the new route, and the aid of steam, a +voyage to the destination above named may be performed in thirty instead +of a hundred and forty days; and as the population extends towards the +north-west, the Columbia river must become a place of importance. Hitherto +the Pacific ports of Mexico and California have chiefly been supplied with +goods carried overland from Vera Cruz, surcharged with heavy duties and +expenses. More need not be said to show that the United States are on the +alert; nor can it be imagined that they will allow any favourable +opportunity of securing to themselves an easier access to the Pacific to +escape them. On finding another road open, they would, however, be +inclined to desist from seeking a line of communication for themselves. +There is, indeed, every reason to expect that they would cheerfully concur +in a work, the completion of which would so materially redound to their +advantage. + +Nothing, indeed, can be more evident than the fact, that not only Great +Britain and the United States, but also all the commercial nations of +Europe, are deeply interested in securing for themselves a shorter and +safer passage into the great Pacific, on terms the most prompt and +economical that circumstances will allow; and the success which has +attended civilization within the present century, demands that this effort +should be made, in which, from her position, Great Britain is peculiarly +called upon to take the initiative. For the last twenty years the Panamese +have been buoyed up with the hope, that an attempt, of some kind or other, +would be made to open a communication across their isthmus, calculated to +compensate them for all their losses; and hence they have always been +disposed to second the exertions of any respectable party prepared to +undertake a work which they cannot themselves accomplish. They have heard +of the time of the _Galeones_, when the fleet, annually arriving from Peru, +landed its treasures in their port, which were exultingly carried overland +to Porto Bello, where the fair was held. "On that occasion," says Ulloa, +"the road was covered with droves of mules, each consisting of above a +hundred, laden with boxes of gold and silver," &c. Panama then rose into +consequence, attaining a state of wealth and prosperity which ceased when +the trade from the western shores took another direction. The natives and +local authorities would consequently rejoice at an event so favourable to +them, and vie with each other in according to the projectors every aid and +protection. Provisions and rents are cheap, and, under all circumstances, +the work might be completed at half the expense it would cost in Europe. + +At various periods foreign individuals have obtained grants to carry the +project into execution, but time proved that they were mere speculators, +unprovided with capital, and unfortunately death prevented Bolivar from +realizing his favourite scheme. For the same object, attempts have also +been made to form companies; but, owing to the hitherto unsettled state of +the government in whose territory the isthmus is situated, the +unpopularity of South American enterprizes, and the fact that no grant +made to private individuals could afford sufficient security for the +outlay of capital, these schemes fell to the ground. The non-performance +of the promises made by the grantees, at length induced the Congress of +New Granada to annul all privileges conferred on individuals for the +purpose of opening a canal, or constructing a railroad across the isthmus, +and notifying that the project should be left open for general competition. +This determination, and the ulterior views of the French in that quarter, +have again brought the subject under discussion; and it is thought that a +fresh attempt will, erelong, be made to organize a company. It must, +however, be evident to every reflecting mind, that although the scheme has +a claim on the best energies of our countrymen, and is entitled to the +efficient patronage of government, yet, even if the funds were for this +purpose raised through private agency, the works never could be carried +into execution in a manner consistent with the magnitude of the object in +view, or the concern administered on a plan calculated to produce the +results anticipated. No body of individuals ought, indeed, to receive and +hold such a grant as would secure to them the tenure of the lands required +for the undertaking. If such a privilege could be rendered valid, it would +place in their hands a monopoly liable to abuses. + +The best expedient would be for the several maritime and commercial +nations interested in the success of the enterprize, to unite and enter +into combinations, so as to secure for themselves a safe and permanent +transit for the benefit of all; and then let the work be undertaken with +no selfish or ambitious views, but in a spirit of mutual fellowship; and, +when completed, let this be a highway for each party contributing to the +expense, enjoyed and protected by all. At first sight this idea may appear +romantic--the combinations required may be thought difficult; but every +where the extension of commerce is now the order of the day, and the good +understanding which prevails among the parties who might be invited to +concur in the work, warrants the belief that, at a moment so peculiarly +auspicious, little diplomatic ingenuity would be required to procure their +assent and co-operation. By means of negotiations undertaken by Great +Britain and conducted in a right spirit, trading nations would be induced +to agree and contribute to the expenses of the enterprize in proportion to +the advantages which they may hope to derive from its completion. If, for +example, the estimate of the cost amounted to half a million sterling, +Great Britain, France, and the United States might contribute L.100,000 +each, and the remainder be divided among the minor European states--each +having a common right to the property thereby created, and each a +commissioner on the spot, to watch over their respective interests. + +This would be the most honourable and effectual mode of improving +facilities to which the commerce and civilization of Europe have a claim. +It is the settled conviction of the most intelligent persons who have +traversed the isthmus, that these facilities exist to the extent herein +described and unity of purpose is therefore all that is wanting for the +attainment of the end proposed. Jealousies would be thus obviated; and to +such a concession as the one suggested, the local government could have no +objection, as its own people would participate in the benefits flowing +from it. This is indeed a tribute due from the New to the Old World; nor +could the other South American states hesitate to sanction a grant made +for a commercial purpose, and for the general advantage of mankind. The +isthmus of Panama, that interesting portion of their continent, has +remained neglected for ages; and so it must continue, at least as regards +any great and useful purpose, unless called into notice by extraordinary +combinations. With so many prospective advantages before us, it is +therefore to be hoped that the time has arrived when Great Britain will +take the initiative, and promote the combinations necessary to establish a +commercial intercourse between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, an event +that would widen the scope for maritime enterprizes more than any that has +happened within the memory of the present generation, and connect us more +closely with those countries which have lately been the theatre of our +triumphs. The East India and Hudson's Bay Companies, the traders to China +and the Indian archipelago, the Australian and New Zealand colonists, +together with their connexions at home--in a word, all those who are +desirous of shortening the tedious and perilous navigation round Cape Horn +and the Cape of Good Hope--would be benefited by the construction of a +railroad; which, by making Panama an entrepot of supplies for the western +shores of America and the islands in the Pacific, either in direct +communication with Great Britain or the West India colonies, our +manufacturers would participate in the profits of an increased demand for +European commodities, which necessarily must follow the accomplishment of +so grand a design. + + * * * * * + + + + +TWO DREAMS. + + +The Germans and French differ more from each other in the art and mystery +of story-telling than either of them do from the English. It would be very +easy to point out tales which are very popular in Paris, that would make +no sensation at Vienna or Berlin; and, _vice versa_, we cannot imagine how +the French can possibly enter into the spirit of many of the best known +authors of Deutschland. In England, we are happy to say we can appreciate +them all. History, philology, philosophy--in short, all the modes and +subdivisions of heavy authorship--we leave out of the question, and +address ourselves, on this occasion, to the distinctive characteristics of +the two schools of _light_ literature--schools which have a wider +influence, and number more scholars, than all the learned academies put +together. + +In this country an outcry has been raised against the French authors in +this department, and in favour of the Germans, on the ground of the +frightful immorality of the first, and the sound principles of the other. +French impiety is not a more common expression, applied to their writings, +than German honesty. It will, perhaps, be right at starting to state, that, +in regard to decency and propriety, the two nations are on a par; if there +is any preponderance, one way or other, it certainly is not in favour of +the Germans, whose derelictions in those respects are more solemn, and +apparently sincere, than their flippant and superficial rivals. Many +authors there are, of course, in both countries, whose works are +unexceptionable in spirit and intention; but as to the assertion, that one +literature is of a higher tone of morals than the other, it is a mistake. +The great majority of the entertaining works in both are unfit _pueris +virginibusque_. + +Before the Revolution, Voltaire was as popular in England as in the rest +of Europe; his powers as highly admired, and his short _historiettes_ as +much quoted: their wit being considered a sufficient counterbalance of +their coarseness. But with the war between the two nations, arose a hatred +between the two literatures; with Swift and Tristram Shandy in our hands, +we turned up our eyes in holy indignation at Candide; we saw nothing to +admire in any thing French; and as our condition in politics became more +isolated, and we grew like our ancestors, _toto divisos orbe Britannos_-- +we could see no beauty in any thing foreign. The Orders in Council +extended to criticism; and all continental languages were placed in +blockade. The first nation who honestly and zealously took our part +against the enemy was the German; and from that time we began to study +_achs_ and _dochs_. Leipsic, that made Napoleon little, made Goethe great; +and to Waterloo we are indebted for peace and freedom, and also for a +belief in the truth and talent of a host of German authors, whose +principal merit consisted in the fact of their speaking the same language +in which Blucher called for his tobacco. The opposite feelings took rise +from our enmity to the French; and though by this time we have sense +enough to be on good terms with the _crapauds_, and on visiting terms with +Louis Philippe, we have not got over our antipathy to their tongue. During +the contest, we had constantly refreshed our zeal by fervent declarations +of contempt for the frog-eating, spindle shanked mounseers, and persuaded +ourselves that their whole literature consisted in atheism and murder, and +though we now know that frogs are by no means the common food of the +peasantry--costing about a guinea a dish--and that it is possible for a +Frenchman to be a strapping fellow of six feet high, the taint of our +former persuasion remains with us still as to their books; and, in some +remote districts, we have no doubt that Peter Pindar would be thought a +more harmless volume in a young lady's hands than _Pascal's Thoughts_--in +French. + +It is not unlikely that the Customs' Union may lower our estimate of +Weimar; a five years' war with Austria and Prussia, especially if we were +assisted by the French, would make us rank Schiller himself--the greatest +of German names--on the same humble level where we now place Victor Hugo. +But there are thousands, of people in this good realm of England, who +actually consider such beings a Spindler and Vandervelde superior to the +noble genius who created _Notre Dame de Paris_. Poor as our own +novel-writers, by profession, have shown themselves of late years, their +efforts are infinitely superior to the very best of the German +novelists; and yet we see advertisements every day in the newspapers, of +new translations from fourth or fifth-rate scribblers for Leipsic fair, +which would lead one to expect a far higher order of merit than any of +our living authors can show. "A new work by the Walter Scott of +Germany!" A new work by the Newton of Stoke Pogis! A new picture by the +Apelles of the Isle of Man! The Walter Scott of Germany, according to +somebody's saying about Milton, is a very _German_ Walter Scott; and, if +under this ridiculous pull is concealed some drivelling historical hash +by Spindler or Tromlits, the force of impudence can no farther go. + +But we must take care not to be carried too far in our depreciation of +German light literature by our indignation at the over-estimate formed of +some of its professors. Let us admit that there are admirable authors--a +fact which it would be impossible to deny with such works before us as +Tieck's, and Hoffman's, and a host of others--_quos nunc perscribere +longum est_. Let us leave the small fry to the congenial admiration of the +devourers of our circulating libraries, and form our judgment of the +respective methods of conducting a story of the French and Germans, from a +comparison of the heroes of each tongue. Let us judge of Greek and Roman +war from the Phalanx and the Legion, and not from the suttlers of the two +camps. A great excellence in a German novelist is the prodigious faith he +seems to have in his own story; he relates incidents as if he knew them of +his own knowledge; and the wilder and more incredible they are, the more +firm and solemn becomes his belief. The Frenchman never descends from +holding the wires of the puppets to be a puppet himself, or even to delude +spectators with the idea that they are any thing but puppets; he never +forfeits his superiority over the personages of the story, by allowing the +reader to lose sight of the author; no, he piques himself on being the +great showman, and would scarcely take it as a compliment if you entered +into the interest of the tale, unless as an exhibition of the narrator's +talent. But then he handles his wires so cleverly, and is really so +immensely superior to the fictitious individuals whom he places before us, +that it is no great wonder if we prefer Alexander Dumas or Jules Janin to +their heroes. The Germans, relying on their own powers of belief, have +taxed their readers' credulity to a pitch which sober Protestants find it +very difficult to attain. Old Tieck or Hoffman introduces you to ghouls +and ghosts, and they look on them, themselves, with such awestruck eyes, +and treat them in every way with such demonstrations of perfect credence +in their being really ghouls and ghosts, that it is not to be denied that +strange feelings creep over one in reading their stories at the witching +hour, when the fire is nearly out, and the candle-wicks are an inch and a +half long. The Frenchman seldom introduces a ghost--never a ghoul; but he +makes up for it by describing human beings with sentiments which would +probably make the ghoul feel ashamed to associate with them. The utmost +extent of human profligacy is depicted, but still the profligacy is human; +it is only an amplification--very clever and very horrid--of a real +character; but never borrows any additional horrors from the other world. +A French author knows very well that the wickedness of this world is quite +enough to set one's hair on end--for we suspect that the _Life in Paris_ +would supply any amount of iniquity--and professors of the shocking, like +Frederick Soulie or Eugene Sue, can afford very well to dispense with +vampires and gentlemen who have sold their shadows to the devil. The +German, in fact, takes a short cut to the horrible and sublime, by +bringing a live demon into his story, and clothing him with human +attributes; the Frenchman takes the more difficult way, and succeeds in it, +by introducing a real man, and endowing him with the sentiments of a fiend. +The fault of the one is exaggeration; of the other, miscreation: redeemed +in the first by extraordinary cleverness; in the other, by wonderful +belief. What a contrast between La Motte Fouque and Balzac! how national +and characteristic both! No one can read a chapter of the _Magic Ring_ +without seeing that the Baron believes in all the wonders of his tale; a +page of the other suffices to show that there are few things on the face +of the earth in which he believes at all. Dim, mystic, childish, with +open mouth and staring eyes, the German sees the whole phantasmagoria of +the nether world pass before him: keen, biting, sarcastic--egotistic as +a beauty, and cold-hearted as Mephistopheles--the Frenchman walks among +his figures in a gilded drawing room; probes their spirits, breaks their +hearts, ruins their reputation, and seems to have a profound contempt +for any reader who is so carried away by his power as to waste a touch +of sympathy on the unsubstantial pageants he has clothed for a brief +period in flesh and blood. We confess the sober _super_-naturalism of +the German has less attractions with us, than the grinning +_infra_-naturalism of the Frenchman. There is more sameness in it, and, +besides, it is to be hoped we have at all tines less sympathy for the +very best of devils than for the very worst of men. Luckily for the +Frenchman, he has no need to go to the lower regions to procure monsters +to make us shudder. His own tremendous Revolution furnishes him with +names before which Lucifer must hide his diminished head; and from this +vast repertory of all that is horrid and grotesque--more horrid on +account of its grotesqueness--the _feuilletonists_, or short +story-tellers, are not indisposed to draw. We back Danton any day +against Old Nick. And how infinitely better the effect of introducing a +true villain in plain clothes, relying for his power only on the known +and undeniable atrocity of his character, than all the pale-faced, +hollow-eyed denizens of the lower pit, concealing their cloven feet in +polished-leather Wellington boots, and their tails in a fashionable +surtout. We shall translate a short story of Balzac, which will +illustrate these remarks, only begging the reader to fancy to himself +how different the _denouement_ would have been in the hands of a German; +how demons, instead of surgeons and attorneys, would have disclosed +themselves at the end of the story, how blue the candles would have +burned; and what an awful smell of brimstone would have been perceptible +when they disappeared. It is called the _Two Dreams_, and, we think, is +a sketch of great power. + + * * * * * + +Bodard de St James, treasurer of the navy in 1786, was the best known, and +most talked of, of all the financiers in Paris. He had built his +celebrated Folly at Neuilly, and his wife had bought an ornament of +feathers for the canopy of her bed, the enormous price of which had put it +beyond the power of the Queen. Bodard possessed the magnificent hotel in +the Place Vendome which the collector of taxes, Dange, had been forced to +leave. Madame de St James was ambitious, and would only have people of +rank about her--a weakness almost universal in persons of her class. The +humble members of the lower house had no charms for her. She wished to see +in her saloons the nobles and dignitaries of the land who had, at least, +the _grand entrees_ at Versailles. To say that many _cordons bleus_ +visited the fair financier would be absurd; but it is certain she had +managed to gain the notice of several of the Rohan family, as came out +very clearly in the celebrated process of the necklace. + +One evening, I think it was the 2d of August 1786, I was surprised to +encounter in her drawing-room two individuals, whose appearance did not +entitle them to the acquaintance of a person so exclusive as the +Treasurer's wife. She came to me in an embrasure of the window where I had +taken my seat. + +"Tell me," I said, with a look towards one of the strangers, "who in the +world is that? How does such a being find his way here?" + +"He is a charming person, I assure you." + +"Oh--you see him through the spectacles of love!" I said, and smiled. + +"You are not mistaken," she replied, smiling also. "He is horribly ugly, +no doubt, but he has rendered me the greatest service a man can do to +woman." + +I laughed, and I suppose looked maliciously, for she hastily added--"He +has entirely cured me of those horrid eruptions in the face, that made my +complexion like a peasant's." + +I shrugged my shoulders. "Oh--he's a quack!" I said. + +"No, no," she answered, "he is a surgeon of good reputation. He is very +clever, I assure you; and, moreover, he is an author. He's an excellent +doctor." + +"And the other?" I enquired. + +"Who? What other?" + +"The little fellow with the starched, stiff face--looking as sour as if he +had drunk verjuice." + +"Oh! he is a man of good family. I don't know where he comes from. He is +engaged in some business of the Cardinal's, and it was his Eminence +himself who presented him to St James. Both parties have chosen St James +for umpire; in that, you will say, the provincial has not shown much +wisdom; but who can the people be who confide their interests to such a +creature? He is quiet as a lamb, and timid as a girl; but his Eminence +courts him--for the matter is of importance--three hundred thousand francs, +I believe." + +"He's an attorney, then?" + +"Yes," she replied; and, after the humiliating confession, took her seat +at the Faro table. + +I went and threw myself in an easy chair at the fireplace; and if ever a +man was astonished it was I, when I saw seated opposite me the +Controller-General! M. de Calonne looked stupified and half-asleep. I +nodded to Beaumarchais, and looked as if I wished an explanation; and the +author of Figaro, or rather Figaro himself, made clear the mystery in a +manner not very complimentary to Madame de St James s character, whatever +it might be to her beauty. "Oho! the minister is caught," I thought; "no +wonder the Collector lives in such style." + +It was half-past twelve before the card-tables were removed, and we sat +down to supper. We were a party of ten--Bodard and his wife, the +Controller-General, Beaumarchais, the two strangers, two handsome women +whose names I will not mention, and a collector of taxes, I think a M. +Lavoisier. Of thirty who had been in the drawing-room when I entered, +these were all who remained. The supper was stupid beyond belief. The two +strangers and the Collector were intolerable bores. I made signs to +Beaumarchais to make the surgeon tipsy, while I undertook the same kind +office with the attorney, who sat on my left. As we had no other means of +amusing ourselves, and the plan promised some fun, by bringing out the two +interlopers and making them more ridiculous than we had found them already, +M. de Calonne entered into the plot. In a moment the three ladies saw our +design, and joined in it with all their power. The surgeon seemed very +well inclined to yield; but when I had filled my neighbour's glass for the +third time, he thanked me with cold politeness, and would drink no more. +The conversation, I don't know from what cause, had turned on the magic +suppers of the Count Cagliostro. I took little interest in it, for, from +the moment of my neighbour's refusal to drink, I had done nothing but +study his pale and small featured countenance. His nose was flat and +sharp-pointed at the same time, and occasionally an expression came to his +eyes that gave him the appearance of a weasel. All at once the blood +rushed to his cheeks when he heard Madame St James say to M. de Calonne-- + +"But I assure you, sir, I have actually seen Queen Cleopatra." + +"I believe it, madame," exclaimed my neighbour; "for I have spoken to +Catharine de Medicis." + +"Oh! oh!" laughed M. De Calonne. + +The words uttered by the little provincial had an indefinable sonorousness. +The sudden clearness of intonation, from a man who, up to this time, had +scarcely spoken above his breath, startled us all. + +"And how was her late Majesty?" said M. De Calonne. + +"I can't positively declare that the person with whom I supped last night +was Catharine de Medicis herself, for a miracle like that must be +incredible to a Christian as well as to a philosopher," replied the +attorney, resting the points of his fingers on the table, and setting +himself up in his chair, as if he intended to speak for some time; "but I +can swear that the person, whoever she was, resembled Catharine de Medicis +as if they had been sisters. She wore a black velvet robe, exactly like +the dress of that queen given in her portrait in the Royal Gallery; and +the rapidity of her evocation was most surprising, as M. De Cagliostro had +no idea of the person I should desire him to call up. I was confounded. +The sight of a supper at which the illustrious women of past ages were +present, took away my self-command. I listened without daring to ask a +question. On getting away at midnight from the power of his enchantments, +I almost doubted of my own existence. But what is the most wonderful thing +about it is, that all those marvels appear to be quite natural and +commonplace compared to the extraordinary hallucination I was subjected to +afterwards. I don't know how to explain the state of my feelings to you in +words; I will only say that, from henceforth, I an not surprised that +there are spirits--strong enough or weak enough, I know not which--to +believe in the mysteries of magic and the power of demons." + +These words were pronounced with an incredible eloquence of tone. They +were calculated to arrest our attention, and all eyes were fixed on the +speaker. In that man, so cold and self-possessed, there burned a hidden +fire which began to act upon us all. + +"I know not," he continued, "whether the figure followed me in a state of +invisibility; but the moment I got into bed, I saw the great shade of +Catharine rise before me: all of a sudden she bent her head towards +me--but I don't know whether I ought to go on," said the narrator, +interrupting himself; "for though I must believe it was only a dream, what +I have to tell is of the utmost weight." + +"Is it about religion?" enquired Beaumarchais. + +"Or, perhaps, something not fit for ladies' ears?" added M. de Calonne. + +"It is about government," replied the stranger. + +"Go on, then," said the Minister: "Voltaire, Diderot, and Company, have +tutored our ears to good purpose." + +"Whether it was that certain ideas rose involuntarily to my mind, or that +I was acting under some irresistible impulse, I said to her--'Ah, madame, +you committed an enormous crime.' + +"'What crime?' she asked me in a solemn voice. + +"'That of which the Palace clock gave the signal on the 24th of August.' + +"She smiled disdainfully. 'You call that a crime?' she said: ''twas +nothing but a misfortune. The enterprise failed, and has, therefore, not +produced all the good we expected from it--to France, to Europe, to +Christianity itself. The orders were ill executed, and posterity makes no +allowance for the want of communication which hindered us from giving all +the unity to our effort which is requisite in affairs of state;--that was +the misfortune. If on the 26th of August there had not remained the shadow +of a Huguenot in France, the latest posterity would have looked upon me +with awe, as a Providence among men. How often have the clear intellects +of Sextus the Fifth, of Richelieu, and Bossuet, secretly accused me of +having failed in the design, after having had the courage to conceive it; +and therefore how my death was regretted! Thirty years after the St +Bartholomew, the malady existed still; and cost France ten times the +quantity of noble blood that remained to be spilt on the 26th August 1572. +The revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in honour of which medals were +struck, cost more blood, more tears, and more treasure, and has been more +injurious to France, than twenty St Bartholomews. If on the 25th August +1572, that enormous execution was necessary, on the 25th August 1685 it +was useless. Under the second son of Henry de Valois heresy was almost +barren; under the second son of Henry de Bourbon she had become a fruitful +mother, and scattered her progeny over the globe. You accuse _me_ of a +crime, and yet you raise statues to the son of Anne of Austria!' + +"At these words--slowly uttered--I felt a shudder creep over me. I seemed +to inhale the smell of blood." + +"He dreamt that to a certainty," whispered Beaumarchais; "he _could_ not +have invented it." + +"'My reason is confounded,' I said to the queen. 'You plume yourself on an +action which three generations have condemned and cursed, and'-- + +"'And,' she interrupted, 'that history has been more unjust to me than my +contemporaries were. Nobody has taken up my defence. I am accused of +ambition--I, rich and a queen--I am accused of cruelty; and the most +impartial judges consider me a riddle. Do you think that I was actuated by +feelings of hatred; that I breathed nothing but vengeance and fury?' She +smiled. 'I was calm and cold as Reason herself. I condemned the Huguenots +without pity, it is true, but without anger. If I had been Queen of +England, I would have done the same to the Catholics if they had been +seditious. Our country required at that time one God, one faith, one +master. Luckily for me, I have described my policy in a word. When Birague +announced to me the defeat at Dreux--well, I said, we must go to the +Conventicle.--Hate the Huguenots, indeed! I honoured them greatly, and I +did not know them. How could I hate those who had never been my friends?' + +"'But, madame, instead of that horrible butchery, why did you not try to +give the Calvinists the wise indulgences which made the reign of the +Fourth Henry so peaceable and so glorious?' + +"She smiled again, and the wrinkles in her face and brow gave an +expression of the bitterest irony to her pale features. + +"'Henry committed two faults,' she said. He ought neither to have abjured, +nor to have left France Catholic after having become so himself. He alone +was in a position to change the destinies of France. There should have +been either no Crosier or no Conventicle. He should never have left in the +government two hostile principles, with nothing to balance them. It is +impossible that Sully can have looked without envy on the immense +possessions of the church. But,' she paused, and seemed to consider for a +moment--'is it the niece of a pope you are surprised to see a Catholic? +After all,' she said, 'I could have been a Calvinist with all my heart. +Does any one believe that religion had any thing to do with that movement, +that revolution, the greatest the world has ever seen, which has been +retarded by trifling causes, but which nothing can hinder from coming to +pass, since I failed to crush it? A revolution,' she added, fixing her eye +on me, 'which is even now in motion, and which you--yes, you--you who now +listen to me--can finish.' + +"I shuddered. + +"'What! has no one perceived that the old interests and the new have taken +Rome and Luther for their watchwords? What! Louis the Ninth, in order to +avoid a struggle of the same kind, carried away with him five times the +number of victims I condemned, and left their bones on the shores of +Africa, and is considered a saint; while I--but the reason is soon +given--I failed!' + +"She bent her head, and was silent a moment. She was no longer a queen, +but one of those awful druidesses who rejoiced in human sacrifices, and +unrolled the pages of the Future by studying the records of the Past. At +length she raised her noble and majestic head again. 'You are all +inclined,' she said, 'to bestow more sympathy on a few worthless victims +than on the tears and sufferings of a whole generation! And you forget +that religious liberty, political freedom, a nation's tranquillity, +science itself, are benefits which Destiny never vouchsafes to man without +being paid for them in blood!' + +"'Cannot nations, some day or other, obtain happiness on easier terms?' I +asked, with tears in my eyes. + +"'Truths never leave their well unless to be bathed in blood. Christianity +itself--the essence of all truth, since it came from God--was not +established without its martyrs. Blood flowed in torrents.' + +"Blood! blood! the word sounded in my ear like a bell. + +"'You think, then,' I said, 'that Protestantism would have a right to +reason as you do.' + +"But Catharine had disappeared, and I awoke, trembling and in tears, till +reason resumed her sway, and told me that the doctrines of that proud +Italian were detestable, and that neither king nor people had a right to +act on the principles she had enounced, which I felt were only worthy of a +nation of atheists." + +When the unknown ceased to speak, the ladies made no remark. M. Bodard was +asleep. The surgeon, who was half tipsy, Lavoisier Beaumarchais, and I, +were the only ones who had listened. M. de Calonne was flirting with his +neighbour. At that moment there was something solemn in the silence. The +candles themselves seemed to me to burn with a magic dimness. A hidden +power had riveted our attention, by some mysterious links, to the +extraordinary narrator, who made me feel what might be the inexplicable +influence of fanaticism. It was only the deep hollow voice of Beaumarchais' +neighbour that awakened us from our surprise. + +"I also had a dream," he said. I looked more attentively at the surgeon, +and instinctively shuddered with horror. His earthy colour--his features, +at once vulgar and imposing, presented the true expression of _the +canaille_. He had dark pimples spread over his face like patches of dirt, +and his eyes beamed with a repulsive light. His countenance was more +horrid, perhaps, than it might otherwise have been, from his head being +snow-white with powder. + +"That fellow must have buried a host of patients," I said to my neighbour +the attorney. + +"I would not trust him with my dog," was the answer. + +"I hate him--I can't help it," I said. + +"I despise him." + +"No--you're wrong there," I replied. + +"And did you also dream of a queen?" enquired Beaumarchais. + +"No! I dreamt of a people," he answered with an emphasis that made us +laugh. "I had to cut off a patient's leg on the following day, and"-- + +"And you found the people in his leg?" asked M. de Calonne. + +"Exactly," replied the surgeon. + +"He's quite amusing," tittered the Countess de G----. + +"I was rather astonished, I assure you," continued the man, without +minding the sneers and interruptions he met with, "to find any thing to +speak to in that leg. I had the extraordinary faculty of entering into my +patient. When I found myself, for the first time, in his skin, I saw an +immense quantity of little beings, which moved about, and thought, and +reasoned. Some lived in the man's body, and some in his mind. His ideas +were living things, which were born, grew up, and died. They were ill and +well, lively, sorrowful; and in short had each their own characteristics. +They quarrelled, or were friendly with each other. Some of these ideas +forced their way out, and went to inhabit the intellectual world; for I +saw at a glance that there were two worlds--the visible and the invisible, +and that earth, like man, had a body and soul. Nature laid itself bare to +me; and I perceived its immensity, by seeing the ocean of beings who were +spread every where, making the whole one mass of animated matter, from the +marbles up to God. It was a noble sight! In short, there was a universe in +my patient. When I inserted the knife in his gangrened leg I annihilated +millions of those beings. You laugh, ladies, to think you are possessed by +animals." + +"Don't be personal," sneered M. de Calonne--"speak for yourself and your +patient." + +"He, poor man, was so frightened by the cries of those animals, and +suffered such torture, that he tried to interrupt the operation. But I +persevered, and I told him that those noxious animals were actually +gnawing his bones. He made a movement, and the knife hurt my own side." + +"He is an ass," said Lavoisier. + +"No--he is only drunk," replied Beaumarchais. + +"But, gentlemen, my dream has a meaning in it," cried the surgeon. + +"Oh! oh!" exclaimed Bodard, who awoke at the moment--"my leg's asleep." + +"Your animals are dead, my dear," said his wife. + +"That man has a destiny to fulfill," cried my neighbour the attorney, who +had kept his eyes fixed on the narrator the whole time. + +"It is to yours, sir," replied the frightful guest, who had overheard the +remark, "what action is to thought--what the body is to the soul." But at +this point his tongue became very confused from the quantity he had drunk, +and his further words were unintelligible. + +Luckily for us, the conversation soon took another turn, and in half an +hour we forgot all about the surgeon, who was sound asleep in his chair. +The rain fell in torrents when we rose from table. + +"The attorney is no fool," said I to Beaumarchais. + +"He is heavy and cold," he replied; "but you see there are still steady, +good sort of people in the provinces, who are quite in earnest about +political theories, and the history of France. It is a leaven that will +work yet." + +"Is your carriage here?" asked Madame de St James. + +"No"--I replied coldly. "You wished me, perhaps, to take M. de Calonne +home?" + +She left me, slightly offended at the insinuation, and turned to the +attorney. + +"M. de Robespierre," she said, "will you have the kindness to set M. Marat +down at his hotel? He is not able to take care of himself." + + * * * * * + + + + +THE GAME UP WITH REPEAL AGITATION. + + +"The game is up." Such were the words uttered with a somewhat different +intonation, which last month, in speaking of Mr O'Connell's crusade +against the peace of Ireland, we used tentatively, almost doubtfully, but +still in the spirit of hope, in reference to the crisis then apparently +impending, that the agitation might prolong itself by transmigrating into +some other shape, for that case we allowed. But in any result, foremost +amongst the auguries of hope was this--that the evil example of Mr O' +Connell's sedition would soon redress itself by a catastrophe not less +exemplary. And no consummation could satisfy us as a proper euthanasy of +this memorable conspiracy, which should not fasten itself as a _moral_ to +the long malice of the agitation growing out of it, as a natural warning, +and saying audibly to all future agitators--try not this scheme again, or +look for a similar humiliation. Those auguries are, in one sense, +accomplished; that consummation substantially is realized. Sedition has, +at last, countermined itself, and conspiracy we have seen in effect +perishing by its own excesses. Yet still, ingenuously speaking, we cannot +claim the merit of a felicitous foresight. That result _has_ come round +which we foreboded; but not in that sense which we intended to authorize, +nor exactly by those steps which we wished to see. We looked for the +extinction of this national scourge by its own inevitable decays: through +its own organization we had hoped that the Repeal Association should be +confounded: we trusted that an enthusiasm, founded in ignorance, and which, +in no one stage, could be said to have prospered, must finally droop +_spontaneously_, and that once _having_ drooped, through mere defect of +actions that bore any meaning, or tendencies that offered any promise, by +no felicities of intrigue could it ever be revived. Whether we erred in +the philosophy of our anticipations, cannot now be known; for, whether +wrong or right in theory, in practice our expectation has been abruptly +cut short. _A deus ex machina_ has descended amongst us abruptly, and +intercepted the natural evolution of the plot: the executive Government +has summarily effected the _peripetteia_ by means of a _coup d'etat_; and +the end, such as we augured, has been brought about by means essentially +different. + +Yet, if thus far we were found in error, would _not that_ argue a +corresponding error in the Government? If we, relying on the +self-consistency of the executive, and _because_ we relied on that +self-consistency, predicted a particular solution for the _nodus_ of +Repeal, which solution has now become impossible; presuming a +perseverance in the original policy of ministers, now that its natural +fruits were rapidly ripening--whereas, after all, at the eleventh hour +we find them adopting that course which, with stronger temptation, they +had refused to adopt in the first hour--were this the true portrait of +the case, would it be ourselves that erred, or Government?--ourselves in +counting on steadiness, or Government in acting with caprice? Meantime, +_is_ this the portrait of the case? + +_That_ we shall know when Parliament meets; and possibly not before. At +present the attempts to explain, to reconcile, and, as it were, to +construe the Government system of policy, is first almost neglecting the +Irish sedition, and then (after half-a-year's sedentary and distant +skirmishing, by means of Chancery letters) suddenly, on the 7th day of +October, leaping into the arena armed cap-a-pie, dividing themselves like +a bomb-shell amongst the conspirators, rending--shattering--pursuing to +the right and to the left;--all attempts, we say, to harmonize that past +quiescence (almost _ac_quiescence) with this present demoniac energy, have +seemed to the public either false or feeble, or in some way insufficient. +Five such attempts we have noticed; and of the very best we may say that +perhaps it tells the truth, but not the whole truth. _First_ came the +solution of a great morning journal--to the effect that Government had, +knowingly and wilfully, altered their policy, treading back their own +steps upon finding the inefficiency of gentler measures. On this view no +harmonizing principle was called for the discord existed confessedly, and +the one course had been the _palinode_ of the other. But such a theory is +quite inadmissible to our minds; it tallies neither with the long-headed +and comprehensive sagacity of Sir Robert Peel, nor with the spirit of +simplicity, directness, and determination in the Duke of Wellington. +_Next_ came an evening paper, of high character for Conservative honesty +and ability, which (having all along justified the past policy of vigilant +neutrality) could not be supposed to acknowledge any fickleness in +ministers: the time for moderation and indulgence, according to this +journal, had now passed away: the season had arrived for law to display +its terrors. Not in the Government, but in the conspirators had occurred +the change: and so far--to the extent, namely, of taxing these +conspirators with gradual increase of virulence--it may ultimately turn +out that this journal is right. The fault for the present is--that the +nature of the change, its signs and circumstances, were not specified or +described. How, and by what memorable feature, did last June differ from +this October? and what followed, by its false show of subtlety, +discredited the whole explanation. It seems that notice was required of +this change: in mere equity, proclamation must be made of the royal +pleasure as to the Irish sedition: _that_ was done in the Queen's speech +on adjourning the two Houses. But time also must be granted for this +proclamation to diffuse itself, and _therefore_ it happened that the +Clontarf meeting was selected for the _coup d'essai_ of Government; in its +new character for "handselling" the new system of rigour, this Clontarf +assembly having fallen out just about six weeks from the Royal speech. But +this attempt to establish a metaphysical relation between the time for +issuing a threat, and the time for acting upon it, as though forty and two +days made that act to be reasonable which would _not_ have been so in +twenty and one, being suited chiefly to the universities in Laputa, did +not meet the approbation of our captious and beef-eating island: and this +second solution also, we are obliged to say; was exploded as soon us it +was heard. _Thirdly_, stepped forward one who promised to untie the knot +upon a more familiar principle: the thunder was kept back for so many +months in order to allow time for Mr O'Connell to show out in his true +colours, on the hint of an old proverb, which observes--that a baboon, or +other mischievous animal, when running up a scaffolding or a ship's +tackling, exposes his most odious features the more as he is allowed to +mount the higher. In that idea, there is certainly some truth. "Give him +rope enough, and every knave will hang himself"--is an old adage, a useful +adage, and often a consolatory one. The objection, in the case before us, +is--that our Irish hero _had_ shown himself already, and most redundantly, +on occasions notorious to every body, both previously to 1829, (the year +of Clare,) and subsequently. If, however, it should appear upon the trial +of the several conspirators for seditious language, that they, or that any +of them, had, by good _affidavits_, used indictable language in September, +not having used it sooner, or having guarded it previously by more +equivocal expressions, then it must be admitted that the spirit of this +third explanation _does_ apply itself to the case, though not in an extent +to cover the entire range of the difficulty. But a _fourth_ explanation +would evade the necessity of showing any such difference in the actionable +language held: according to this hypothesis, it was not for subjects to +prosecute that the Government waited, but for strength enough to prosecute +with effect, under circumstances which warned them to expect popular +tumults. In this statement, also, there is probably much truth, indeed, it +has now become evident that there is. Often we have heard it noticed by +military critics as the one great calamity of Ireland, that in earlier +days she had never been adequately conquered--not sufficiently for +extirpating barbarism, or sufficiently for crushing the local temptations +to resistance. Rebellion and barbarism are the two evils (and, since the +Reformation, in alliance with a third evil--religious hostility to the +empire) which have continually sustained themselves in Ireland, propagated +their several curses from age to age, and at this moment equally point to +a burden of misery in the forward direction for the Irish, and backwards +to a burden of reproach for the English. More men applied to Ireland, more +money and more determined legislation spent upon Ireland in times long +past, would have saved England tenfold expenditure of all these elements +in the three centuries immediately behind us, and possibly in that which +is immediately a-head. Such men as Bishop Bedell, as Bishop Jeremy Taylor, +or even as Bishop Berkeley, meeting in one generation and in one paternal +council, would have made Ireland long ago, by colonization and by +Protestantism, that civilized nation which, with all her advances in +mechanic arts[30] of education as yet she is not; would have made her that +tractable nation, which, after all her lustrations by fire and blood, for +her own misfortune she never has been; would have made her that strong arm +of the empire, which hitherto, with all her teeming population, for the +common misfortune of Europe she neither has been nor promises to be. By +and through this neglect it is, that on the inner hearths of the Roman +Catholic Irish, on the very altars of their _lares_ and _penates_, burns +for ever a sullen spark of disaffection to that imperial household, with +which, nevertheless and for ever, their own lot is bound up for evil and +for good; a spark always liable to be fanned by traitors--a spark for ever +kindling into rebellion; and in this has lain perpetually a delusive +encouragement to the hostility of Spain and France, whilst to her own +children, it is the one great snare which besets their feet. This great +evil of imperfect possession--if now it is almost past healing in its +general operation as an engine of civilization, and as applied to the +social training of the people--is nevertheless open to relief as respects +any purpose of the Government, towards which there may be reason to +anticipate a martial resistance. That part of the general policy fell +naturally under the care of our present great Commander-in-chief. Of him +it was that we spoke last month as watching Mr O'Connell's slightest +movements, searching him and nailing him with his eye. We told the reader +at the same time, that Government, as with good reason we believed, had +not been idle during the summer; their work had proceeded in silence; but, +upon any explosion or apprehension of popular tumult, it would be found +that more had been done by a great deal, in the way of preparations, than +the public was aware of. Barracks have every where been made technically +defensible; in certain places they have been provisioned against sieges; +forts have been strengthened; in critical situations redoubts, or other +resorts of hurried retreat, or of known rendezvous in cases of surprise, +have been provided; and in the most merciful spirit every advantage on the +other side has been removed or diminished which could have held out +encouragement to mutiny, or temptation to rebellion. Finally, on the +destined moment arriving, on the _casus foederis_ (whatever _that_ were) +emerging, in which the executive had predetermined to act, not the +perfection of clockwork, not the very masterpieces of scenical art, can +ever have exhibited a combined movement upon one central point--so swift, +punctual, beautiful, harmonious, more soundless than an exhalation, more +overwhelming than a deluge--as the display of military force in Dublin on +Sunday the 8th of October. Without alarm, without warning--as if at the +throwing up of a rocket in the dead of night, or at the summons of a +signal gun--the great capital, almost as populous as Naples or Vienna, and +far more dangerous in its excitement, found itself under military +possession by a little army--so perfect in its appointments as to make +resistance hopeless, and by that very hopelessness (as reconciling the +most insubordinate to a necessity) making irritation impossible. Last +month we warned Mr O'Connell of "the uplifted thunderbolt" suspended in +the Jovian hands of the Wellesley, but ready to descend when the "dignus +vindice nodus" should announce itself. And this, by the way, must have +been the "thunderbolt," this military demonstration, which, in our blind +spirit of prophecy doubtless, we saw dimly in the month of September last; +so that we are disposed to recant our confession even of partial error as +to the coming fortunes of Repeal, and to request that the reader will +think of us as of very decent prophets. But, whether we were so or not, +the Government (it is clear) acted in the prophetic spirit of military +wisdom. "The prophetic eye of taste"--as a brilliant expression for that +felicitous _prolepsis_ by which the painter or the sculptor sees already +in its rudiments what will be the final result of his labours--is a +phrase which we are all acquainted with, and the spirit of prophecy, the +far-stretching vision of sagacity, is analogously conspicuous in the +arts of Government, military or political, when providing for the +contingencies that may commence in pseudo-patriotism, or the +possibilities that may terminate in rebellion. Whether Government saw +those contingencies, whether Government calculated those possibilities +in June last--that is one part of the general question which we have +been discussing; and whether it was to a different estimate of such +chances in summer and in autumn, or to a necessity for time in preparing +against them, that we must ascribe the very different methods of the +Government in dealing with the sedition at different periods--_that_ is +the other part of the question. But this is certain--that whether seeing +and measuring from the first, or suddenly awakened to the danger of +late--in any case, the Government has silently prepared all along; +forestalling evils that possibly never were to arise, and shaping +remedies for disasters which possibly to themselves appeared romantic. +To provide for the worst, is an ordinary phrase, but what _is_ the +worst? Commonly it means the last calamity that experience suggests; but +in the admirable arrangements of Government it meant the very worst that +imagination could conceive--building upon treason at home in alliance +with hostility from abroad. At a time when resistance seemed supremely +improbable, yet, because amongst the headlong desperations of a +confounded faction even this was possible, the ministers determined to +deal with it as a certainty. Against the possible they provided as +against the probable; against the least of probabilities as against the +greatest. The very outside and remote extremities of what might be +looked for in a civil war, seem to have been assumed as a basis in the +calculations. And under that spirit of vista-searching prudence it was, +that the Duke of Wellington saw what we have insisted on, and +practically redressed it--viz. the defective military net-work by which +England has ever spread her power over Ireland. "This must not be," the +Duke said; "never again shall the blood of brave men be shed in +superfluous struggles, nor the ground be strewed with supernumerary +corpses--as happened in the rebellion of 1798--because forts were +wanting and loopholed barracks to secure what had been won; because +retreats were wanting to overawe what, for the moment, had been lost. +Henceforth, and before there is a blushing in the dawn of that new +rebellion which Mr O'Connell disowns, but to which his frenzy may rouse +others having less to lose than himself, we will have true technical +possession, in the military sense, of Ireland." Such has been the recent +policy of the Duke of Wellington: and for this, in so far as it is a +violence done to Ireland, or a badge of her subjection, she has to thank +Mr O'Connell: for this, in so far as it is a merciful arrangement, +diminishing bloodshed by discouraging resistance, she has to thank the +British Government. Mr O'Connell it is, that, by making rebellion +probable, has forced on this reaction of perfect preparation which, in +such a case, became the duty of the Government. The Duke of Wellington +it is, that, by using the occasion advantageously for the perfecting of +the military organization in Ireland, has made police do the work of +war; and by making resistance maniacal, in making it hopeless, has +eventually consulted even for the feelings of the rebellious, sparing to +them the penalties of insurrection in defeating its earliest symptoms; +and for the land itself, has been the chief of benefactors, by removing +systematically that inheritance of desolation attached to all civil +wars, in cutting away from below the feet of conspirators the very +ground on which they could take their earliest stand. Finally, it is Mr +O'Connell who has raised an anarchy in many Irish minds, in the minds of +all whom he influences, by placing their national feelings in collision +with their duty it is the Duke of Wellington who has reconciled the +bravest and most erroneous of Irish patriots to his place in a federal +system, by taking away all dishonour from submission under circumstances +where resistance has at length become notoriously as frantic as would be +a war with gravitation. + + [30] "_Mechanic arts of education_:"--Merely in reading and + writing, the reader must not forget, that according to absolute + documents laid before Parliament, Ireland, in some counties, takes + rank before Prussia; whilst probably, in both countries, that real + education of life and practice, which moves by the commerce of + thought and the contagion of feelings, is at the lowest ebb. + +As to the _fourth_ hypothesis, therefore, for explaining the apparent +inconsistencies of the Executive, we not only assent to it heartily as +involving part of the truth, but we have endeavoured to show earnestly +that the truth is a great truth; no casual aspect, or momentary feature of +truth, depending upon the particular relation at the time between Ireland +and the Horse Guards, or pointing simply to a better cautionary +distribution of the army; but a truth connected systematically with the +policy for Ireland in past times and in times to come. Where men like Mr O' +Connell _can_ arise, it is clear that the social condition of Ireland is +not healthy; that, as a country, she is not fused into a common substance +with the rest of the empire; that she is not fully to be trusted; and that +the road to a more effectual union lies, not through stricter coercion, +but through a system of instant defence making itself apparent to the +people as a means of provisional or potential coercion in the proper case +arising. One traitor cannot exist as a public and demonstrative character +without many minor traitors to back him. To Great Britain it ought to cost +no visible effort, resolutely and instantly to trample out every overture +of insubordination as quietly, peacefully, effectually, as the meeting of +conspirators at Clontarf on the 8th day of October 1843. Ireland is +notoriously, by position and by imaginary grievances--grievances which, +had they ever been real for past generations, would long since have faded +away, were it not through the labours of mercenary traders in treason-- +Ireland is of necessity, and at any rate, the vulnerable part of our +empire. Wars will soon gather again in Christendom. Whilst it is yet +daylight and fair weather in which we can work, this open wound of the +empire must be healed. We cannot afford to stand another era of collusion +from abroad with intestine war. Now is the time for grasping this nettle +of domestic danger, and, by crushing it without fear, to crush it for ever. +Therefore it is that we rejoice to hear of attention in the right quarter +at length drawn to the _radix_ of all this evil; of efforts seriously made +to grapple with the mischief; not by mere accumulation of troops, for +_that_ is a spasmodic effort--sure to relax on the return of tranquillity; +but by those appliances of military art to the system of attack and +defence as connected with the soil and buildings of Ireland, which will +hereafter make it possible for even a diminished army to become all potent +over disaffection, by means of permanent preparations, and through +systematic links of concert. + +_Fifthly_ comes Mr Stuart Wortley, the Parliamentary representative for +Bute, who tells his constituents at Bute, that the true secret of the +apparent incoherency in the conduct of Government, of that subsultory +movement from almost passive _surveillance_ to the most intense +development of power, is to be found in some error, some lapse as yet +unknown, on the part of the conspirators. Hitherto Mr Wortley, as lawyer, +had persuaded himself that the craft of sedition had prevailed over its +zeal. Whatever might be the _animus_ of the parties, hitherto their legal +adroitness had kept them on the right side of the fence which parts the +merely virulent or wicked language from the indictable. But security, and +apparently the indifference of the Government, had tempted them beyond +their safeguards. Government, it is certain, have latterly watched the +proceedings of the Repeal Association in a more official way; they have +sent qualified and vigilant reporters to the scene; and have showed signs +of meaning speedily "to do business" upon a large scale. We do not, indeed, +altogether agree with Mr Wortley, that the earlier language, if searched +with equal care, would be found less offending than the later; but this +later we believe it to be which, as an audacious reiteration of sentiments +that would have been overlooked had they seemed casual or not meant for +continued inculcation, will be found in fact to have provoked the +executive energies. We believe also, in accord with Mr Wortley, that +something or other has transpired by secret information to Government in +relation to this last intended meeting at Clontarf, which authorized a +separate and more sinister construction of _that_, or of its consequences, +than had necessarily attended the former assemblies, however similar in +bad meaning and in malice. This secret information, whether it pointed to +words uttered, to acts done, or to intentions signified, must have been +sudden, and must have been decisive; an impression which we draw from the +hurried summoning of cabinet councils in England on or about the 4th of +October, from the departures for Ireland, apparently consequent upon these +councils--of the Lord Lieutenant, of the Chancellor, and other great +officers, all instant and all simultaneous--and finally, from the +continued consultations in Dublin from the time when these functionaries +arrived; viz. immediately after their landing on Friday morning, October +6th, until the promulgation and enforcement of that memorable proclamation +which crushed the Repeal sedition. A Paris journal of eminence says, that +we are not to exult as if much progress were made towards the crushing of +Repeal, simply by the act of crushing a single meeting; and, strange to +say, the chief morning paper of London echoes this erroneous judgment as +if self-evident, saying, that "it needs no ghost to tell us _that_." We, +however, utterly deny this comment, and protest against it as an absurdity. +Were _that_ true, were it possible that the Clontarf meeting had been +suppressed on its own separate merits, as presumed from secret information, +and without ulterior meaning or application designed for the act--in that +case nothing has been done. But this is not so: Government is bound +henceforwards by its own act. That proclamation as to one meeting +establishes a precedent as to all. It is not within the _power_ of +Government, having done that act of suppression, and still more having +spoken that language of proclamation, now to retreat from their own rule, +and to apply any other rule to any subsequent meeting. The act of +suppression was enough. The commentary on the proclamation is more than +enough. Therefore it is, that we began by saying "the game is up;" and, +because it is of consequence to know the principle on which any act is +done, therefore it is that we have discussed, at some length, the various +hypotheses now current as to the particular principle which, in this +instance, governed our Executive. Our own opinion is, that all these +hypotheses, except the first, which ascribes blank inconsistency to the +Government, and so much of the second as stands upon some fanciful +limitation of time within which Government could not equitably proceed to +action, are partially true. If this be so, there is an answer in full to +the Whigs, who at this moment (October 23) are arguing that no +circumstances of any kind have changed since our ministers treated the +Repeal cause with neglect. Neglect it, comparatively, they never did: as +the cashiering of magistrates ought too angrily to remind the Whigs. But +if the different solutions, which we have here examined, should be +carefully reviewed, it will be seen that circumstances _have_ changed, and, +under the fourth head, it will be seen that they have changed in a way +which required time, selection, and great efforts: what is more, it will +be seen that they have changed in a way critically important for the +future interests of the empire. + +Yes; the game is up! And what now remains is, not to suffer the coming +trials to sink into fictions of law--as a _brutum fulmen_ of menace, never +meant to be realized. Verdicts must be had: judgments must be given: and +then a long farewell to the hopes of treason! + + +Yes, by a double proof the Repeal sedition is at an end: were it not, upon +Clontarf being prohibited, the Repealers would have announced some other +gathering in some other place. You that say it is _not_ at an end, tell us +why did they forbear doing _that_? Secondly, Mr O'Connell has substituted +for Repeal--what? The miserable, the beggarly petition, for a dependent +House of Assembly, an upper sort of "Select Vestry," for Ireland; and +_that_ too as a _bonus_ from the Parliament of the empire. This reminds us +of a capital story related by Mr Webster, and perhaps within the +experience of American statesmen, in reference to the claims of electors +upon those candidates whom they have returned to Congress. Such a +candidate, having succeeded so far as even to become a Secretary for +Foreign Affairs, was one day waited on by a man, who reminded him that +some part of this eminent success had been due to _his_ vote; and really-- +Mr Secretary might think as he pleased--but _him_ it struck, that a +"pretty considerable of a debt" was owing in gratitude to his particular +exertions. Mr Secretary bowed. The stranger proceeded--"His ambition was +moderate: might he look for the office of postmaster-general?" +Unfortunately, said the secretary, that office required special experience, +and it was at present filled to the satisfaction of the President. "Indeed! +_that_ was unhappy: but he was not particular; perhaps the ambassador to +London had not yet been appointed?" There, said the secretary, you are +still more unfortunate: the appointment was open until 11 P.M. on this +very day, and at that hour it was filled up. "Well," said the excellent +and Christian supplicant, "any thing whatever for me; beggars must not be +choosers: possibly the office of vice-president might soon be vacant; it +was said that the present man lay shockingly ill." Not at all; he was +rapidly recovering; and the reversion, even if he should die, required +enormous interest, for which a canvass had long since commenced on the +part of fifty-three candidates. Thus proceeded the assault upon the +secretary, and thus was it evaded. So moved the chase, and thus retreated +the game, until at length nothing under heaven remained amongst all +official prizes which the voter could ask, or which the secretary could +refuse. Pensively the visitor reflected for a few minutes, and, suddenly +raising his eye doubtfully, he said, "Why then, Mr Secretary, have you +ever an old black coat that you could give me?" Oh, aspiring genius of +ambition! from that topmast round of thy aerial ladder that a man should +descend thus awfully!--from the office of vice-president for the U.S. that +he should drop, within three minutes, to "an old black coat!" The +secretary was aghast: he rang the bell for such a coat; the coat appeared; +the martyr of ambition was solemnly inducted into its sleeves; and the two +parties, equally happy at the sudden issue of the interview bowing +profoundly to each other, separated for ever. + +Even upon this model, sinking from a regal honour to an old black coat, Mr +O' Connell has actually agreed to accept--has volunteered to accept--for +the name and rank of a separate nation, some trivial right of holding +county meetings for local purposes of bridges, roads, turnpike gates. This +privilege he calls by the name of "federalism;" a misnomer, it is true; +but, were it the right name, names cannot change realities. These local +committees could not possibly take rank above the Quarter Sessions; nor +could they find much business to do which is not already done, and better +done, by that respectable judicial body. True it is, that this descent is +a thousand times more for the benefit of Ireland than his former ambitious +plan. But we speak of it with reference to the sinking scale of his +ambition. Now this it is--viz. the aspiring character of his former +promises, the assurance that he would raise Ireland into a nation distinct +and independent in the system of Europe, having her own fleets, armies, +peerage, parliament--which operated upon the enthusiasm of a peasantry the +vainest in Christendom after that of France, and perhaps absolutely the +most ignorant. Is it in human nature, we demand, that hereafter the same +enthusiasm should continue available for Mr O'Connell's service, after the +transient reaction of spitefulness to the Government shall have subsided, +which gave buoyancy to his ancient treason? The chair of a proconsul, the +saddle of a pasha--these are golden baits; yet these are below the throne +and diadem of a sovereign prince. But from these to have descended into +asking for "an old black coat," on the American precedent! Faugh! What +remains for Ireland but infinite disgust, for us but infinite laughter? + +No, no. By Mr O'Connell's own act and capitulation, the game is up. +Government has countersigned this result by the implicit pledge in their +proclamation, that, having put down Clontarf, for specific reasons there +assigned, they will put down all future meetings to which the same reasons +apply. At present it remains only to express our fervent hope, that +ministers will drive "home" the nail which they have so happily planted. +The worst spectacle of our times was on that day when Mr O'Connell, +solemnly reprimanded by the Speaker of the House of Commons, was +suffered--was tolerated--in rising to reply; in retorting with insolence; +in lecturing and reprimanding the Senate through their representative +officer; in repelling just scorn by false scorn; in riveting his past +offences; in adding contumely to wrong. Never more must this be repeated. +Neither must the Whig policy be repeated of bringing Mr O'Connell before a +tribunal of justice that had, by a secret intrigue, agreed to lay aside +its terrors.[31] No compromise now: no juggling: no collusion! We desire +to see the majesty of the law vindicated, as solemnly as it has been +notoriously insulted. Such is the demand, such the united cry, of this +great nation, so long and so infamously bearded. Then, and thus only, +justice will be satisfied, reparation will be made: because it will go +abroad into all lands, not only that the evil has been redressed, but that +the author of the evil has been forced into a plenary atonement. + + [31] The allusion is to Mr O'Connell's _past_ experience as a + defendant, on political offences, here the Court of Queen's Bench + in Dublin; an experience which most people have forgotten; and + which we also at this moment should be glad to forget as the + ominous precedent for the present crisis, were it not that + Conservative honesty and Conservative energy were now at the helm, + instead of the Whig spirit of intrigue with all public enemies. + + * * * * * + +_Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work._ + + + * * * * * + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume +54, No. 337, November, 1843, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH *** + +***** This file should be named 16607.txt or 16607.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/0/16607/ + +Produced by The Internet Library of Early Journals; Jon +Ingram, Brendan OConnor, Allen Siddle and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +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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