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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/20565-8.txt b/20565-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dc6da9d --- /dev/null +++ b/20565-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7954 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 2, +August, 1864, 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: The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 2, August, 1864 + Devoted to Literature and National Policy + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 11, 2007 [EBook #20565] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONTINENTAL MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by Cornell University Digital Collections) + + + + + + + +THE + +CONTINENTAL MONTHLY: + +DEVOTED TO + +LITERATURE AND NATIONAL POLICY: + +VOL. VI.--AUGUST, 1864.--No. II. + + + + ++--------------------------------------------------------------------+ +|Transcriber's note: Obvious printer errors have been corrected. All | +|other inconsistencies are as in the original. | ++--------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + +AMERICAN CIVILIZATION. + +SECOND PAPER. + + +As a nation we are fast losing that reverence for the powers that be +which is enjoined by Holy Writ, and without which no form of government +can be lasting, no political system can take a firm hold upon the +affections of the people. The opposition press teems with vituperation +and personal abuse of those whom the people themselves have chosen to +control the public policy and administer the public affairs. The +incumbent of the Presidential chair, so far from receiving that respect +and deference to which his position entitles him, becomes the victim of +slander and vilification, from one portion of the country to another, on +the part of those who chance to differ with him in political sentiments. +Even beardless boys, taking their cue from those who, being older, +should know better, are unsparing in the use of such terms as +'scoundrel,' 'fool,' 'tyrant,' as applied to those whom the people have +delighted to honor, either unconscious or utterly heedless of the +disgust with which their language inspires the older and more +thoughtful. And thus it has become a recognized fact that no man's +reputation can withstand the trial of a four years' term of service in +the Presidential office. While this is in a great measure the reaction +from the king worship of the Old World, it is nevertheless a blot upon +our civilization, a departure from those lofty and noble sentiments +which characterize every advanced stage of human intellect, in which the +supremacy and inviolability of the law is acknowledged, and in which the +ruler is reverenced as the representative and impersonation of the law. +And as, in such a stage, respect for the magistrate and the law mutually +react upon each other, so in the present state of affairs the tendency +is, in the course of time, to reach from the ruler to the edict which he +administers, and thus to beget a disrespect and disregard of law itself, +paving the way to that violence and mob rule which, in the present state +of humanity, must inevitably attend the establishment of the democratic +principle. + +The remedy is to be found in reform in the education of our youth, +whereby the utmost respect for the law and for those by whom it is +administered shall be inculcated as the groundwork of all patriotism and +national progress, while at the same time cultivating a loftier +appreciation of the blessings of social order and harmony, and of +well-regulated liberty of thought, speech, and action, and a purer +standard of right. Yet even this will be of little avail except in +connection with the abatement, through the strong good sense of a +thinking and upright people, of that national nuisance of bitter and +unmerciful political partisanship of which we have spoken, all of whose +tendencies are to evil, and so removing from the eyes of our youth a +low, unworthy, and degrading example, which they are too prone to +follow. The child will tread, to a great degree, in the steps of the +father, and the whole course of his intellectual life be governed, more +or less, by the principles and prejudices which he is accustomed every +day to hear from the lips of a parent, who is necessarily the teacher +and, in a great measure, the moulder of his infant mind. How careful, +then, ought every parent to be of the principles which he inculcates and +the examples which he sets in his conversation, especially when that +conversation is directed to a condemnation of the motives or the acts of +the ruling powers!--lest the child be some time inclined to enlarge upon +his views, and carry his deductions farther than he himself ever +dreamed, till he shall finally be led into a contempt of the +institutions as well as of the rulers of his native land, through a +father's teaching, and so grow up an embryo traitor, ready at the first +signal to embark in any revolutionary scheme or wild enterprise of +visionary reform, such as have been and are still the disturbers of our +national prosperity. For an example of such a result in our day we have +but to look at the youth of the Southern States, whose fiery treason, +far exceeding that of their elders, is nothing more than the outgrowth, +the legitimate extension and development of that bitter denunciation of +rulers who chanced to be unpopular with their fathers, of that +unrestrained license of speech which left nothing untouched, however +sacred, however holy it might be, which chanced to stand in the way of +gross and sordid interest. The ideas of the hot-blooded, fire-eating +Southern youth of to-day, the recklessness and the treason, the +denationalizing spirit of revolution and blood which so readily +manifests itself in contempt of the old flag, and the direst hatred of +all that their fathers held sacred and laid down their lives to +sustain--all this is but the idea, intensified and developed, of the +Southerner of a bygone generation; it is but the natural deduction from +his conversation and life, pondered over by the child, fixed deeply in +his heart as the teaching of a revered tutor, and carried out, by a +natural course of reasoning, to its extreme in the parricidal rebellion +of to-day. And yet that idea was, in its inception, apparently harmless +enough, being nothing more than that denunciation and vituperation of +the political leaders and the ruling powers which chanced to be in the +opposition, whereby the child was in due course of time weaned from his +country, and taught to look lightly upon and speak lightly of that which +of old time was only mentioned with love and reverent awe. + +Nor is this the only reform which is needed in the education of our +youth. The phrase 'completing one's education' is used to-day with utter +looseness, and applied to that period when the youth leaves the school +or college for the busy walks of life. How much of error is contained in +such an application of the term he well knows who, after some years of +world life, can look back upon his college days and see what a mere +smattering of knowledge he gained within the 'classic shades,' and how +poorly _educated_ he was, in any and every sense of the word, how ill +fitted for the realities of work-day life, when first he emerged in +self-sufficient pride from the sacred walls, and launched boldly out +upon the world. At the time when, according to the popular acceptation +of the term, the education is completed, it is in truth but just begun; +and he who, upon the slender capital of college lore, should set himself +up for a finished man, one competent to take upon himself the duties, +responsibilities, and labors of active life, would soon find to his +sorrow that he was yet but a babe in wisdom, and yet needed a long and +severe discipline ere he could be considered one of the world's workers. +In the few years devoted, in our country, to the education of youth, +little more can be done than to teach them the value of knowledge and +the proper method and system of its acquisition, leaving to the +exertions of the after years that education of the mind and development +of the intellectual powers which constitute the finished man. And this +should be the object of all our schools, for females as well as for +males, to inculcate the truth that the true education begins where the +schools leave off, and depends entirely upon the scholar himself, aided +only by that groundwork of preparation, that systematizing of effort, +imparted by the tutor in the tender years. This end should be ever +before the teacher's eyes, and the whole course of study adjusted with a +view thereto. And the instruction imparted should be of such a character +as most thoroughly to fit the student for future study, giving him a +firm foothold upon the most essential branches of knowledge, from which +he may advance steadily and securely when left to himself; frequently +warning him that this is but the beginning of great things, and that the +abstrusities of wisdom, wherein is all its ęsthetic beauty and its +holiness--all its moral good--lies far beyond, where it can only be +reached by the most patient, persevering, and unremitting toil; not +forgetting, at the same time, to point out the glorious reward which +awaits the seeker of truth. The effect of such a system would soon be +felt, not only in our national life, but in our very civilization. For +thus would be thrown out upon our society, year after year, a class of +thinkers, of earnest, working, strong-minded men and women, searchers +after truth and disciples of the highest good, instead of the crowd of +half-fledged intellectual idlers who yearly emerge from our schools with +the conceited idea that the course of study is finished, the paths of +investigation fully explored, and that life is henceforth a holiday from +study. Under such a giant impulse our society could not but advance with +enormous strides in all that pertains to true civilization, since +thinkers would then be the rule instead of the exception, and talent +almost universal, which is now, like angels' visits, comparatively 'few +and far between.' This is no Utopian vision: it is a reality within the +scope of human exertion and the capacity of our people of to-day, if men +would but exert themselves to such an end, and properly apply the energy +and labor which is now too often excited upon unworthy and trifling +objects. The realm of knowledge is so boundless that a lifetime is +little enough and short enough to give to mortals even a smattering of +that sea of wisdom which swells around the universe, and he alone can +claim to be a seer who devotes the whole of a long existence to the +investigation of truth; and only when this fact is impressed upon the +minds of youth can they be made to appreciate their true position in +existence, and made efficient workers in the great cause of humanity. + +Yet all education is vain, all intellectual development is of little +benefit, all civilization hollow in its nature and ephemeral in its +duration which lacks the moral element. And by the word _moral_ in this +connection is intended to be understood not only what is usually +conveyed in the term morality, but also all religion. It is a +well-established fact, more particularly exemplified in our own history, +that all political parties founded upon an ephemeral issue, inevitably +disappear with the final adjustment of the questions upon which they are +based, having nothing left to rest upon, so it is in the affairs of +nations. In the weakness of human nature and the fallibility of all +human prescience, no system or theory can be devised which shall endure +through all time, which shall not become effete, useless, and even +erroneous in the progress of human development, and in the ever-shifting +condition of human society. Hence any government and society founded +upon a system of merely human devising, must, in the progress of events, +fall to pieces, and give place to the results of a new and younger +development. The law of God, as contained in Divine revelation, is alone +unchangeable, unmodifiable. It is adapted to meet the requirements of +all lands and all ages, to answer all the necessities of which human +nature is capable, even to its extremest verge of development. Hence all +political systems are durable only in proportion as they, in their +organization, conform to the precepts of Divine law. + +We have used the term 'moral element' as necessarily comprehending all +religion, for the reason that upon religion is necessarily based all +true morality. There is nothing in the physical, and more especially in +the intellectual world, without a final cause; and that so-called +morality which exists entirely separate and distinct from religion, can +be based upon nothing other than self-interest, which, under different +conditions and circumstances, would as unhesitatingly lead to evil. The +'moral man' without religion could as easily be evil minded and +dissolute in a community purely evil as he is upright and honorable in a +civilized and enlightened community of to-day, for the reason that his +morality is nothing more than deference to a certain standard of +honor--in other words, to the _tone_ of the society by which he is +surrounded, bringing with it all the benefits of high public estimation +and a lofty position in society, which tone it must follow, be it good +or bad: it is founded and built up in self-interest. Yet this very tone +of society, and all these standards of honor and uprightness, when +traced to their origin, are found to arise from the precepts of +revelation. We are all, physically and intellectually, the creatures of +circumstance. Experience moulds and develops the intellect. Our moral +natures are not innate, but solely and entirely the result of the +influences by which we are surrounded. There is in the soul no absolute +standard of right; if there were, uprightness would be the same the +world over. But the right of the heathen is a different thing from that +of the Christian; the right of the Chinese or the Japanese is a +different thing from that of more enlightened nations; the right of one +Christian community is different from that of another; and this because +right, considered distinct from religion, is relative, and subject to +all the modifications of different conditions of society. The 'Evil, be +thou my good' of Milton's Satan is a delicate recognition of this fact. +But absolute right is a thing unknown to human _nature_; it can never be +innate, but comes from without. It can only be apprehended by the +intellect as a thing of God, a part of His nature, given to us as a law, +a rule of action, which we can accept or not, taking upon ourselves the +consequences of its rejection. There can be no standard of absolute +right other than the law of God; there can be no other invariable and +eternal rule of human action. + +And if this position be true of individuals, most assuredly is it true +of nations, which are but individuals in the concrete, subject to the +same vicissitudes, governed by the same laws, physical and moral, and +following the same path of development. Only that form of government +which recognizes the Supreme Being as the chief of rulers, and His law +as the source and model of all human law, can be sure of truth and +justice on its side, both in its dealings with other nations and in its +regulation of its own internal affairs. Only such a form can work +steadily for the advancement of its people, both by leading them forward +and by smoothing the rugged path to perfection, and removing every +obstacle which impedes the national progress. However near the +principles of our Government may approach to those of the Divine law, +there is still room and urgent necessity for reform. Yet, in the +universal disfavor into which theocracies have fallen, and in the +intense desire which pervades our people to avoid the complicated evils +of a union between church and state, every attempt to unite religious +principles with those of government is looked upon with positive alarm; +and justly so, since the experience of past centuries proves that both +thrive best in separate spheres, however near they may approach each +other in the abstract, and that when united, the one is apt to prove a +hamper on the other, through the introduction of error and corruption; +while, separated, they act as a mutual restraint, each tending to +control the abnormal development of the other. For these reasons reform +in this particular must move from the people to the government, not from +the government to the people. + +And here we come to the root of the whole matter, to the field where +reform is most needed, that is, in the moral condition of our society. +While there are few nations in which there is such a diversity of +religious views and multiplicity of religious sects, there are few +peoples which are so proverbially irreligious as our own. Yet our +condition in this respect is rather a neutral one than otherwise, for +while we are without any positive immorality which should make us +preėminent above other nations for vice, there is, nevertheless, in our +midst, little of that simple, trusting, unquestioning faith, which is +the 'substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not +seen'--little of that all-pervading and all-powerful reverence for +sacred things, that deep religious feeling which forms a portion of the +very life of most of the nations of the Old World. This is nothing more +than the reaction of the stern Puritan tenets of the colonial times. It +is the logical result of those dark and gloomy theories which aimed to +make religion not only unpalatable but absolutely repelling to the young +and the ardent, causing them to fly to the opposite extreme of throwing +aside religion to 'a more convenient season,' when the pleasures of life +should have lost their charm, and they themselves should be drawing near +the close of their pilgrimage. That theory which made a deadly sin of +that which was at worst but a pardonable misdemeanor and perhaps wholly +innocent in its nature, could not fail in time to react violently, first +through the process of disgust, then through that of inquiry, and +finally to the carrying of speculation to extremes, and practically +pronouncing harmless and innocent that which was really vice. The +popular mind, rebounding from the Puritan ideas, did not pause to +discriminate between the truth and error which were so intimately +mingled in their system, but, sweepingly denouncing all the theories +whose most prominent characteristics were revolting, involved in the +denunciation and rejection much of pure and simple truth, and ran +rapidly along the path of revolution, heedless of every warning, +unchecked by the obstacles which Truth threw in its way, down to the +present time of almost universal looseness. + +Another effect of this rebellion of the national mind against the +Puritan theories is seen in the almost yearly inauguration of some new +sect in religion, in a land which is already so crowded with diverse and +antagonistic religious organizations that it might be termed the land of +sects. However right or wrong in a religious point of view, the Puritans +committed the great _social_ mistake of establishing a new church, +instead of working earnestly to reform the old in those respects in +which it seemed to them to have fallen into error, thereby destroying +the unity of the Christian world. Had the movement stopped here, less +harm would have been done; but it was not of the nature of things that +it should be so. The establishment of the principle that purity of +worship and of belief was to be sought, and diversity of religious +opinion to be gratified in separation and the erection of new +organizations, rather than in the endeavor to purify the old and +established form, at once threw wide open the door of schism, and with +it, in the end, that of scepticism. The movement once begun could +neither be checked nor controlled by any human effort. Others claimed +the right which they themselves had exercised, and the result was soon +seen in the separation of one after another denomination from the +Puritan Church, each, in its turn, to be divided into a score of sects, +according as circumstances should alter religious views. Were the +principles of true religion in themselves progressive, were the +teachings, of the gospel inadequate to or unfitting for all possible +stages of human progress, or were they capable of development, the world +might then have been the gainer. Or, again, were reason infallible, the +separation of the churches would be an incalculable blessing, by +securing to all minds a free investigation upon religious subjects. But +infidelity desires no more powerful coadjutor than human reason in its +freest exercise, because it is so liable to be led away by sophistry, +and its invariable tendency is to reject as myths and fables all things +which it cannot comprehend or for which it cannot see a material cause. +Perfect reason is the twin brother and strongest supporter of faith; but +reason as it exists in the present development of humanity is its most +deadly antagonist. The age of reason has fallen upon us, and its result +is seen in a practical scepticism pervading the whole of our society, +which in its extent and its injurious effects put to the blush the +wildest speculations of the most radical German metaphysicians. Every +day we see around us men of no religious profession, and little if any +religious feeling, calmly facing death without a tremor, without a +thought of the awful beyond. And though the application of the term +infidel to such a man would not fail to arouse his fiercest indignation, +his indifference to the events and the fate of the great hereafter can +arise from nothing else than an utter disbelief in the teachings of Holy +Writ, in the truths of Christianity. Such men are but types of a class, +and that class a very large portion of our population. + +The evils of religious divisions are plain to be seen, even if they +consisted in nothing more than the division and consequent weakening of +Christian effort. The church of God, torn by internal dissensions, +becomes almost powerless for the spread of the gospel, the greater +portion of its strength and energy being exhausted in bolstering up its +different branches as against each other, and in proselytizing within +itself. Where, if united, a small portion of its wealth and energy would +suffice to support in a nourishing condition the worship of a great +people, leaving an immense surplus to be directed to the evangelization +of the heathen world, now, in its divided state, its power and immense +material resources are squandered in the support of innumerable +fragments, each one of which costs as much in labor and in means as +would suffice to sustain the religion of the whole country if united. + +Worse than even this, the incessant bickerings of the Christian world +tend to invalidate, in the minds of the unbelievers, not only among the +heathen, but among ourselves, the teachings of that Word which is its +professed guide. The 'See how these Christians hate each other!' is to +reflecting minds outside the church's pale, an almost unconquerable +argument against that religion which professes to be founded upon love. +Hence arises a great portion of that practical infidelity of which we +have spoken, and which is the bane of our civilization. No nation can be +truly great or noble or progressive without religion, and by as much as +we are departing, in our every-day life, from the pure teachings of the +gospel, by so much are we tending to our inevitable downfall. The people +must have some high standard of moral excellence, something to elevate +and purify the tone of society, to lead their aspirations upward away +from the petty toils and cares and vexations, from the sordid desires +and the animal propensities of life, in order to prevent them from +falling into that decay which is inevitably the result of corruption, +following hard upon a devotion to mere self-interest. We are, in a great +measure, a nation of materialists, too much devoted to the pursuit of +selfish and so-called practical aims, too little to the spiritual and +the ethereal. Reform must come, else the soul will become gross and +grovelling, and the nobler part of our natures, the more delicate and +refined sympathies of the heart, the finer faculties of the intellect, +will rust away with disuse, and the whole race become sensual, and +finally effete, however brilliant may be its individual exceptions. From +what direction the needed reform is to come it is not for us to say. +That Almighty Providence which overrules an erring world will doubtless +provide a way for the regeneration of His people. The first great step +is to awaken the people to a sense of the necessity of such a change, +and some more powerful means must be employed to the accomplishment of +that end than have ever yet been applied to our civilization. And the +apostle who, in the hands of God, shall be the means of arousing the +slumbering faith of our people, of awakening them to a full sense of the +danger, and of imparting new energy to the recuperative powers of the +race, will win for himself a loftier position in the world's +appreciation than has yet been conceded to any mere mortal. + +Another great and manifest evil in our society, and one closely +connected with that of which we have just spoken, is the inordinate love +of wealth, and the elevation of the money god to the highest seat in our +temple of worship. Human nature craves distinction. The divisions and +castes in the society of the Old World, from the present day back to the +remotest ages, is not only an evidence, but a practical exemplification +of this fact. The abolition of all these distinctions consequent upon +the establishment of our republican government upon the ground of +political equality, swept away from our ancestors almost the only means +of gratifying this innate propensity. A hard-working, practical, +agricultural people, with no literature, and little if any cultivation +of the fine arts, there was but one road to distinction open to the mass +of the population, and that lay through the avenues of wealth. Hence it +was but natural that affluence should take the place of the hereditary +honors of the olden times, and that the people should bow to the only +distinction, however spurious it might be, which elevated any portion of +themselves above their fellows. With all the evils connected with a +hereditary aristocracy, the distinction which attends upon a nobility is +in a great measure an ideal one. It is not either its wealth or power +which constitutes its charm, but a certain nameless something pertaining +to the ideal, which affects not only the tenants and retainers, but even +our republican selves. It may well be questioned whether we have been +the gainers by substituting for such distinctions a gross and material +one, affecting the bodily senses alone--the animal part of our +nature--and which contains little either to expand the mind or exalt the +aspirations. With us but comparatively few can become distinguished in +the ranks of literature or of art, or, indeed, in any of the higher or +intellectual branches of human attainment; hence for the great mass +there is but one road to distinction, one object to claim every +exertion--the pursuit of wealth. And as a natural consequence, we see +every art, every profession hinging upon this motive. Most of the evils +connected with the administration of our public affairs, the fraud and +corruption which are so prominent, the quadrennial scramble for place, +with its consequent degrading of those positions which should be those +of the highest honor, may be traced to this one source. More than this, +we find the so-called aristocracy of our great cities--a moneyed one +purely--excluding from its ranks those who earn their livelihood in the +pursuit of literature and art, and who, if true to their professions, +are entitled to the very highest rank in society. There are of course +exceptions, but not more than sufficient to prove the rule. A striking +exemplification of the power of wealth among us is seen in these days of +shoddy, when those who have hitherto moved in the humblest circles +suddenly take their positions among the 'upper ten thousand,' and are +treated with a deference to which they have all their lives been +strangers, by virtue of a successful contract or a towering speculation. +The effect of such a state of things upon our civilization is easy to be +seen. A low motive is sure to bring down its followers to its own level. +A people without a lofty and ennobling object is sure to fall into +decay. The grasping spirit which everywhere pervades our society is fast +lowering our people to the level of a race of mercenary jobbers. Truth, +justice, honor, purity, and even religion, are in a great measure lost +sight of in the general scramble for gold, until the strictest +integrity, the most self-sacrificing honesty, are beginning to be looked +upon as marvels, and we have won for ourselves among the nations of the +world the unenviable title of worshippers of the 'almighty dollar.' +Religion itself is twisted and distorted into every imaginable shape to +bring it into harmony with our all-absorbing pursuit: all our ideas of +public policy and of social progress are made to depend upon and +modified by this unworthy motive. We mean not to include those +individuals who, with loftier motives and a true appreciation of man's +spiritual capabilities, are prominent among us, battling earnestly in +the cause of true progress; we are speaking of the mass of our +population. Those few are the goodly leaven who are yet to prove the +regeneration of our race. Bad as is the state of affairs in this +respect, it will, if left to itself, become infinitely worse as each +succeeding year rolls around, for the spirit of greed is progressive in +its nature, growing fatter and fatter upon its success. + +Yet, in another point of view, this same strife for wealth is one great +secret of American prosperity and progress. It is the motive power to +that energy which has peopled the wilderness, erected as if by magic a +mighty republic among the savage wilds, and, above all, spread American +ideas, and with them the germ of human liberty, over the whole broad +earth. To this spirit of greed upon our shores the Old World owes much +of its advancement and most of those useful inventions which are fast +revolutionizing humanity itself. But we are not considering it in this +light; we are viewing it in its moral aspect, that respect in which it +most strongly affects true civilization, which must soon fall away and +lapse into the condition of the ages long past, if it be not sustained +by an enduring moral and religious element. The moral advancement must +keep pace with the intellectual, else the latter will some day reach +that point where extremes meet, and have its weary journey to commence +again. + +It is to be hoped that this evil is already on the wane. It is to be +hoped that the present stirring up of our society from its uttermost +depths, with its consequent exploding of worn-out theories, which have +hitherto held their places only through our national lethargy--with its +sweeping away of old-time prejudices, and mingling together of elements +which have hitherto existed distinct and aloof from each other, will +result in bringing true merit to the surface, in awakening our people to +a loftier appreciation of the good and the true, thereby establishing a +higher moral standard among us; that purer motives will henceforth +actuate our society. The fears which are entertained by some that the +present war will prove a severe shock to our civilization, are not +sustained by the facts which are everywhere appearing around us. The +frequent demands upon the generosity and forbearance of a great people, +the constant calls for the exercise of the noblest qualities, the most +self-sacrificing devotion, and that too in support of a great principle +rather than of any present material interest, the very necessity for an +exalted civilization and intellectual development on the part of the +masses, which shall enable them to see in that principle the groundwork +of all their future well-being, both as regards material prosperity and +political position, are constantly bringing before the people, in a +clearer light than ever before, the blessings of honor and uprightness, +the necessity of national purity, and developing a moral element in our +midst, whose good effects will far outbalance the ephemeral and +spasmodic immorality and vice which a state of war usually engenders. +Our people are _becoming acquainted_ with those blessings of individual +well-doing and those principles of philanthropy to which they have for +so long been comparative strangers. And it is this, together with the +unveiling, through the present convulsion, of those errors, both in our +political system and in our society, which have so nearly proved our +ruin, which will make this war in very truth the greatest blessing that +has ever befallen us. And if this moral progress shall be such and so +great as to throw down the golden calf from his throne and make the +place of honor the reward of true merit alone, then shall we have cause, +for the remotest generations, to thank God for this seeming calamity +which has fallen upon us. + +And these same facts, standing out as shining lights in the darkness, +tend to show that we are, after all, not quite so sordid as we seem; +that, with all our worship of the money god, there is yet, away down in +the great American heart, a wealth of strong, true, generous feeling, +ready at the first call of sorrow and of suffering to spring forth and +scatter its golden blessings even beyond the seas. It is not alone that, +years ago, when we were at peace and at the height of prosperity, many +ships left our shores laden down with food, the voluntary contributions +of the American citizen to his starving brethren of the Emerald Isle; +though this of itself was enough to place our civilization on a level +with that of the most polished nation of the Old World. But even now, +when we are struggling for our very existence, when every energy and +every material resource is being exerted to stem the tide of internal +dissensions and crush out the hydra of internal treason; at a time when +the mother country has gone to every length short of open war to aid and +assist those who are striving for our downfall, and her press is +exhausting every epithet of vituperation and scurrilous abuse of us, who +are battling so earnestly in our own defence, and who are entitled by +every truth of human nature to her warmest sympathy--a press which, +adopting the phraseology of its Secession friends and allies, scruples +not to place the civilization of the slaveholding States far in advance +of that of the 'Northern mudsills'--even now, when the cry of the +starving operatives of the English mills comes to us across the water, +forgetting for the time all the abuse and maltreatment we have received, +all the enmity and bitter hostility which the traitorous perfidy of +England has engendered, more than one full-freighted vessel has left our +ports bearing grain to those whom their own proud aristocracy is either +powerless or too niggardly to sustain. Is this not evidence of a +civilization considerably advanced beyond any which history has yet +recorded?--a civilization based upon the golden rule of Christianity, +and upon that still more precious command: 'Love those that hate you, +and do good to those that persecute you.' For it is in its moral aspect +that every civilization must in the end be judged; and that society +which develops such noble principles and feelings as these, which +manifests itself in this higher region of spiritual excellence, in the +exercise of these finer feelings of the heart, is certainly nearest to +perfection, in that it follows most closely the law of God, the truths +of divine revelation. When instances such as these occur on the part of +any of the older nations of the world, it will do for them to boast of a +civilization superior to ours; but until their faith is shown by their +works, suffering humanity the world over will accord to us the palm. Nor +will it answer to ascribe to us an unworthy motive in this matter--a +desire to win credit in the eyes of the world. An individual might, with +some degree of plausibility, fall under such an imputation, but a great +people does not move spontaneously and unitedly in one direction from +such a motive, since none but a pure and just principle can produce +unity in the masses. Such an unworthy and degrading motive is the +property of individuals, not of nations, even if it were possible for +such an idea to be conceived at one and the same time by a multitude of +minds. No! it was the spontaneous expression of a deep and pervading +principle of American society--of American humanity--a free outpouring +of the American heart; and as such it will stand upon the page of +history as the evidence of a civilization behind none of its age. + +Nor is this the only mark of the moral awakening of our people. +Instances are every day appearing in our midst of this truest of +charity, not the least of which are the 'wood processions' of the +Western cities and towns; those long lines of wagons laden with fuel and +provisions for the families of the absent soldiers, whose sole object +and motive is the comfort of those whose protectors and supporters are +sustaining the country's honor in the field; evidences more striking +than the founding of charitable institutions or benevolent societies, +since the latter may, and too often does, arise from the most selfish +and vainglorious motive, while in the former the individual is lost in +the many who press eagerly to bear their part in a noble work, in this +spontaneous outpouring of true and heartfelt benevolence. From this same +spirit arises the wonderful success which attends the efforts of +sanitary commissions and soldiers' aid associations in alleviating the +sufferings and softening the privations of our soldiers in the field. +With such evidences constantly appearing before our eyes of the deep and +noble feelings of the American heart, who can doubt that our +civilization is a progressive one, our enlightenment equal? Who can +doubt the capacity of the American people for good, or look with +foreboding upon our future? + +Another important sign of the times, as evincing our advancing +civilization, is the revival of art in our midst. In the midst of all +our bustle and toil and eager strife for gain, there has ever been a +something wanting to the completeness of our life, a something to fill +and satisfy that yearning of the soul for ęsthetic beauty, which is at +once an evidence of its progress and its capacity for diviner things. +Too long have we been absorbed by the desires of our animal nature, in +whose pursuit there is little gratification to that finer portion of our +inner selves which will not be silenced by anything short of the deepest +degradation. The people--the great people--need something--something +higher, more ennobling, more tender--to fill the vacant spot in their +hearts and homes, to preserve the balance between the animal and the +spiritual part of their lives, and to clothe their surroundings with a +higher and holier significance than can arise from the events and +associations of the work-day life. In art the missing link is found, and +whether it be the simple ballad in the evening circle or the modest +print that graces the humble cottage walls--and the humbler the +habitation the deeper the manifestation, because the more touching--it +is but the expression of the people's appreciation of the needs, the +capacities, and the holier aspirations of the better part of humanity. +Hence the revival of art has a deep significance; it is something more +than a forced, an exotic, and hence ephemeral growth; it is the +manifestation of the awakening of the people to the ęsthetic sentiment; +it is the actual result of the intellectual and moral needs of society; +it is in itself the striving of a great people for the beautiful and +true. And as such it has a broad and deep foundation in the godlike in +human nature, which shall insure not only its permanence but its +progress as long as the good and the true have any influence whatever +upon our society. That we have had, until a comparatively late period, +no art among us, is the result not of a lack of capacity to comprehend +the beautiful, but of the intense and all-absorbing passion for gain +which has so nearly proved the bane of our society by shutting out the +consideration of better things: that art has so suddenly revived in our +midst is a proof that, so far from having our humanity, our political +position, our very civilization itself swallowed up in the love of the +almighty dollar, as has been predicted of us by foreign wiseacres, we +have been aroused to our danger and to a true appreciation of the better +part of existence; which is itself an evidence of the elasticity and the +recuperative energy of our social system. + +In literature our progress is not so flattering. In its effects upon +civilization a literature can only be judged by that portion of it which +touches the popular heart, which descends to the humblest fireside, and +is most eagerly sought after by the ploughboy and the operative. All +other, however brilliant it may be--and the more brilliant or profound +the farther it is generally removed from the minds of the masses--is to +them but as the stars of a winter night, cold and distant, radiating +little warmth to the longing soul, too far away to awaken more than a +faintly reflected admiration. He who said, 'Give me to write the songs +of a people, and I care not who makes their laws,' touched the tender +spot in the great heart of humanity; he was a sage in that truest of +philosophy, the study of human nature. Though we have our princes in +every branch of literature, who are the result of and an honor to our +civilization, yet for their own results in moulding the tastes, the +habits, and the intellects of the common people, in contributing to +their advancement, they fall far below the efforts of the veriest +penny-a-liner. It is a lamentable fact of our society that while the +more solid literature scarcely pays, the flashiest of so-called 'flash +literature' brings down the golden shower. The writer of the lowest +possible order of literary productions is enriched, and his name is +familiar in the remotest corners of the land, while our monarchs of +literature are oftentimes poverty stricken and comparatively obscure; +and that because the latter is confined to a comparatively small +audience and patronage, while the former speaks to and for the masses; +and, as a natural consequence, the former controls the tastes of the +greater portion of the reading community, and that too for anything but +good, since he reaps his golden harvest by pandering to the basest of +appetites, the lowest of sensibilities and sympathies; thus retarding +rather than accelerating the intellectual advancement of the people, +this being his material interest. + +And how great is the responsibility of those who thus speak to the ear +of the simple and the unlearned! how terrible the retribution they are +heaping up for themselves in the great hereafter, for thus prostituting +talent which might be made eminently useful in leading the minds of the +common people to the highest and noblest of truths; in making purer and +better in every sense of the word! The idea that the province of +literature, even of fiction, is simply to amuse, is exploded in the +light of advancing civilization. Every writer has a higher mission, and +accordingly as he discharges the duty which his faculty lays upon him, +is he true or false to the true end of his existence, a success or a +failure in the world of intellect and morality. The mission of all +literature is to make mankind both wiser and _better_, and the writer +who fails to appreciate and act upon this truth is worse than a useless +cumberer of society; he is a curse to his age, and, however great his +present fame, will most assuredly be forgotten with the passing away of +his generation. For does not _all_ human effort resolve itself into this +one thing? Is there any work which we call good or great, or even +important, which is not intended in some way to benefit mankind? Else we +were but butterflies, and our works but mists. In the past ages the +world has not seen and appreciated this fact; but the world of to-day +does appreciate it, and will certainly set every worker upon his proper +pedestal, high or low, according as his efforts have conduced or not to +the welfare of humanity. + +Present reform in this particular is not to be looked for; it must be +external rather than internal. Could the whole mass of light literature +be at once and forever swept out of existence, the people would soon +acquire a love of solid reading as ardent as that which now pervades the +lower stratum of our society for 'yellow-covered' trash. For the love of +knowledge is innate, and the people would necessarily seek for and find +amusement in such reading as could not fail to instruct and educate, to +revive this love of knowledge, and fan it into an ardent flame. But this +cannot be done. The people will ever seek that reading which is most +congenial to their present tastes and habits, and there will ever be +found a legion of those who are eager to supply this sort of mental +pabulum--if it can be so called--for the sake of the golden equivalent. +For these reasons, the literature of the common people must ever follow, +not lead, their civilization; it must continue to be the outward and +visible sign of their progress, instead of the inward and spiritual +grace by which it is pervaded and sustained; and reform must be +inaugurated and consummated in those other influences which tend to +mould the moral man, and which must be so guided as to destroy all these +low and grovelling tastes, by lifting the man into a higher plane of +being, in which the animal shall be wholly subservient to the spiritual. +Hence the province of the true philanthropist lies in those other paths +which we have pointed out, rather than in this, since in them lies the +prospect of success whose _fruits_ will in this most clearly appear. + +It is a significant fact that the foreign view points to but two blots +upon our society, and that foreign detractors harp continually upon +these, and these alone, as evidences of the backwardness of our +civilization--the institution of slavery and the riots which +occasionally disgrace our large cities. For in the light of the facts +and experience of to-day, such a position is simply a yielding of the +whole question. When it is considered that the few riots with which we +are afflicted--few in comparison with those which so often convulse +European society--are almost invariably incited and sustained by our +foreign population, and that portion of it, too, latest arrived upon our +shores, it will be seen with what injustice the evil is laid at the door +of American society. It is, in fact, nothing else than the outbreak of +the long-accumulated and long-suppressed discontent and misery of +European lands, which, for the first time for centuries, finds vent upon +the shores of a land of political and social liberty--a reaction of the +springs long held down by the iron hand of tyranny--a violent +restoration of that natural elasticity which had so nearly been +destroyed by ages of social degradation. The mob law, the frequent +resort to the pistol and the bowie knife, and the universal social +recklessness of our own citizens of the Southern States, is the effect +of the institution of slavery, and falls within the discussion of that +question, with the disappearance of which they must inevitably depart. + +Were African slavery a permanent feature in our midst, the argument +against our civilization would be unanswerable. But it has maintained +its ground in spite of, rather than as the result of or in connection +with the spirit of our institutions. It has hitherto been suffered to +exist as an acknowledged evil, solely because the disastrous results +attending its sudden abolition have been justly feared as greater than +any which could at present arise from its continuance. Yet at no period +has the American people ceased to look forward to some future time when +it might safely be rooted out. Our faith has ever been strong, and our +confidence in the ultimate triumph of the right unshaken. That time has +come. The present war, from whose inauguration the question of slavery +abolition was--on our part, at least--entirely absent, has given the +opportunity which our people have not failed to seize. To crush out the +rebellion without meddling with the institutions of the South was at +first the main spring of the war; _fiat justitia, ruat coelum_, is now +the voice of the whole people; and the very fact that the nation has so +earnestly taken hold of the work, so sternly determined to sacrifice +everything but its existence to the demolition of this bloody god, is of +itself an evidence of the purity of our civilization. We have not been +dead to the principles of truth and justice involved in this question; +we have been but biding our time, plainly seeing and carefully noting +the direful effects of slavery upon our social organization, and +'heaping up wrath against the day of wrath.' And now, with the blessing +of God upon our efforts, the present war will not cease until the death +blow is given to the accursed institution with all its attendant evils. +We, as a people, are fully aroused and sternly determined henceforth to +let nothing stand in the way of our social advancement, however +time-honored and cherished may have been the obstacle. And when these +evils have all been swept away, as they assuredly will be, we shall +stand forth among the nations in all the glory of a pure and enlightened +civilization, and challenge the world to produce a nobler record, to +point out a happier, more prosperous, more truly progressive people. + +With the close of the present war will arise another important question, +bearing not less strongly than that of slavery upon our ultimate +civilization. The slaveholding States are to be, in a measure, +repeopled. The tide of immigration which has so long and so steadily +streamed toward the West will be for some time diverted to the fertile +plantations of the South. Not only the soldiers of the North, to whom +the war has opened what has hitherto been to them almost a _terra +incognita_, will seek new homes within the sunny climes; but the flood +of foreign immigration, which, upon the vindication of our national +integrity and power, will quickly double itself in comparison with that +of former years, and sweep toward this new and inviting field; and the +distinctive feature of Southern society--of so-called 'Southern +chivalry'--will soon be swallowed up in the torrent. And what then shall +we have to fill its place? The crude ideas of foreign tyros in the +school of freedom, the conflicting religious, social, and political +theories of European revolutionists, the antagonistic policies of a +hundred different nationalities. All this, in connection with the +difficulties arising from the freeing of so large an African population, +will prove a severe trial to our national civilization, and call for the +exercise of the profoundest wisdom, the most careful discrimination, and +the most patient forbearance on the part of our rulers and statesmen. +And most assuredly the times will themselves produce the men most fitted +for the care of such interests and the decision of such questions. +Though there is need of the firm hand, the utmost watchfulness, and the +strongest exertion on the part of every citizen as well as statesman, it +is not to be feared that the result will in the end be disastrous to our +progress. For the genius of the American people was never yet at fault. +We have handled similar questions before; we are handling a more +important one now, and our capabilities and our power of development are +such that we need not fear but that we shall be enabled to cope with the +exigencies of the future. That genius which has built up a powerful +nation here in the wilderness, which has developed to such a degree the +resources of the laud and the capacities of the people, which has +conceived and executed in so short a time such a social and moral +revolution, has in it too much of the godlike to suffer the work to fall +through from any incapacity to deal with the legitimate consequences of +its action. The power to inaugurate and carry through the work +necessarily implies the capacity to establish and render permanent its +results, to guide the ship when the storm is past. It will find the ways +and means; the times themselves will develop new truths, which will make +the task less difficult than it seems to us of to-day. Such is the +feeling of the people; and this same noble faith and confidence in our +own capacities, this turning a deaf ear to all the possibilities of +failure, and looking with a never-failing trust, a soul-felt faith, to +the triumph of our cause and of our civilization, is our greatest +strength, while it is, at the same time, a conclusive evidence that we +are on the high road of true progress, that our civilization is not a +thing of yesterday, to-day, or to-morrow, but of the eternal ages. + + + + +APHORISM.--NO. X. + + +'It is a frequent result of poverty to make men rich--a common curse of +wealth to make them poor.' Poverty, making us feel our dependence upon +God, almost compels us to an acquaintance with Him--this leads us to +accept Him as the one Infinite Benefactor; and so gives us wealth that +can never fail: but riches, by encouraging our natural love of +independence, is too apt to keep us away from our Heavenly Father, and +thus plunge us into such poverty as admits of no actual relief. In this +view there is something to hope for in the present distresses of our +country. Rarely have so many people felt that their dependence must be +upon the mercy of God; and rarely, if ever, have so many, with such +earnestness, appealed to the Father of all on the occasion of a +widespread calamity. This must result in a closer union with the +Infinite Giver, and thus in a great increase of true riches. + + + + +THE ENGLISH PRESS. + +V. + + +How had _The Times_ been getting on all these years? Slowly but surely. +At first, as has been already stated, feeling its way with difficulty +amid a host of obstacles, long-established and successful rivals, +Government prosecutions abroad, and personal crotchets and peculiarities +at home. John Walter, its founder, retired from the management of the +paper in 1803, and died in 1812, having lived to see his literary +offspring grow up into a strong young giant, with thews and sinews +growing fuller and firmer every day, tossing his weighty arms in every +direction, but never aimlessly; and with his vigorous feet firmly +planted, expanded chest, and head boldly erect, fearlessly standing +forward in the very first rank of the champions of freedom. Mr. Walter's +son John succeeded him in the management in 1803; and, under his abler +and more enlightened administration, the paper rapidly increased in +importance. He opened his columns to all comers, and whenever any +communication appeared to possess more than average ability he +endeavored to engage the writer of it as a regular contributor. He +perfected the system of reporting, and the reports in _The Times_ soon +began to be fuller and more exact perhaps even than Perry's in _The +Chronicle_. He especially turned his attention to the foreign department +of his journal, and no trouble or expense was spared in obtaining +intelligence from abroad. This had been one of the strong points with +the elder Walter, and he had always striven to be the first to +communicate important foreign news to the world--thus, for instance, +_The Times_ was the first newspaper which announced the execution of +Marie Antoinette. This element was now greatly strengthened and +developed, correspondents were engaged in all the chief cities of +Europe, and, as time progressed, in other quarters of the world as well, +letters from whom appeared as regularly and as early as the post-office +authorities would allow; and a regular system of expresses from the +Continent was organized. But the Government, who saw and felt the +growing greatness of _The Times_, placed every possible hinderance in +the way--it was not then the custom for the Premier to invite the editor +to dinner--and the letters and foreign packages were delayed in every +possible manner--the machinery of the custom house being even employed +for that purpose--in order that the Government organs might at least get +the start. But fair means and foul alike failed to win over the young +journalistic athlete to the ministerial side, and this illiberal and +selfish policy was at length compelled to give in, beaten at all points. +But there was one thing which was destined to give _The Times_ +supremacy, at which the younger Walter began to work soon after the +reins of power fell into his hands--and that was steam. Great strides +had been made in the art of printing. The first metal types ever cast in +England were those of Caxton, in 1720. Stereotype printing had been +first suggested by William Ged, of Edinburgh, in 1735, and was perfected +and brought into general use by Tillock, in 1779. The printing machine +had been originated by Nicholson, in 1790, and an improved form of it, +made of iron, the invention of Earl Stanhope, was in general use in +1806. Thomas Martyn, a compositor of _The Times_, invented some further +modifications, and was aided by the younger Walter. Owing, however, to +the violent opposition of his fellow workmen, the experiments were +carried on under the greatest secrecy; but the elder Walter could not be +induced to countenance them, and consequently nothing came of them. In +1814, Koenig and Bauer, two German printers, conceived the idea of +printing by steam, and the younger Walter, now by his father's death +permitted to do as he liked, entered warmly into their project. The +greatest silence and mystery was observed, but the employés of _The +Times_ somehow or other obtained an inkling of what was going on, and, +foreseeing a reduction in their numbers, vowed the most terrible +vengeance upon everybody connected with the newfangled invention. Spite +of their threats, however, the necessary machinery was quietly prepared +and erected, and one morning, before day had broken, Mr. Walter called +his printers together, and informed them that that day's issue was +struck off by steam. This ever-memorable day in the history of +journalism was Monday, the 28th of November, 1814. Loud murmurs and +threats were heard among the workmen, and burning down the whole affair +was the least thing suggested; but Mr. Walter had taken precautions, +and, showing his work people that he was prepared to meet any outbreak +on their part, no violence was attempted. Since then _The Times_ has +been regularly printed by steam. Various improvements in steam machinery +have from time to time been patented, and Hoe's gigantic machines--the +production of that country the most prolific of all the world in useful +inventions, America--seemed to show that the limit of the application of +steam to printing had been reached. But a machine still more +wonderful--a machine that possessed all the skill of human intelligence +and ten times the quickness of human fingers--a machine for composing by +steam, was shown at the International Exhibition in London, in 1862. +Printing by steam at once raised the circulation of _The Times_ +enormously, as was but natural, from the facilities which it afforded of +a rapid multiplication of copies; and under the editorship of Thomas +Barnes it soon reached the first place in journalism. But Walter himself +was not idle, and was always on the lookout for fresh and rising talent. +On one occasion, being at a church in the neighborhood of his country +seat in Berkshire, he was very much struck by the sermon which was +preached by a new curate. After the service he went into the vestry, and +had a long conversation with the preacher, the result of which was that +he told him that a curacy was not a very enviable position, and that he +would do much better to go to London, and write for _The Times_ at a +salary of £1,000 a year. It is needless to add that the offer was not +declined. + +In 1817, _The Literary Gazette_ was brought out by William Jordan, as an +organ of literature and the fine arts, and, until The _Athenęum_ was +established, it was without a rival of any consequence. But its +circulation declined, and, after Jordan's death, dwindled down to a very +small number. In 1862 its name was changed to _The Parthenon_, or +rather, to speak more correctly, _The Parthenon_ arose as a new +publication from the ashes of _The Literary Gazette_. But change of name +did not produce change of circumstances, and, before many numbers had +appeared, _The Parthenon_ was privately offered for sale at the low sum +of £100, but, failing to meet with a purchaser, it gave up the ghost +early in 1863. In 1817, Lord Sidmouth made a terrific onslaught upon the +press. He issued a circular to the different lord lieutenants of the +counties, to the effect that any justice of the peace might issue a +warrant for the apprehension of any person charged with printing a +libel. One result of this circular and the vigorous prosecutions which +ensued was that William Cobbett for a while gave up printing his +_Political Register_, and went away to America, from whence he did not +return for two years. He stated his reasons for adopting this course in +his paper, as follows: + + 'I do not retire from a combat with the attorney-general, but from + a combat with a dungeon, deprived of pen, ink, and paper. A combat + with the attorney-general is quite unequal enough; that, however, I + would have encountered. I know too well what a trial by special + jury is; yet that or any sort of trial I would have stayed to face. + But against the absolute power of imprisonment, without even a + hearing, for time unlimited'--an act had been passed which gave the + secretary of state power to suspend the _habeas corpus_ act--'in + any jail in the kingdom, without the use of pen, ink, and paper, + and without communication with any soul but the keepers--against + such a power it would have been worse than madness to attempt to + strive.' + +But the Government met with a notable check in the case of William Howe, +the bookseller. Howe was thrice tried for libel, and, despite the +exertions of Lord Ellenborough, who descended from the judicial bench to +the barrister's table, was thrice acquitted. Persecution after this +languished for a while, but in 1819 were passed those stringent measures +which are known as the Six Acts. One of these gave the judges the power, +upon the conviction of any person a second time of the publication of a +seditious libel, to punish him with fine, imprisonment, banishment, or +transportation. But such monstrous enactments were not suffered to pass +unchallenged, and the result of several animated debates was that the +obnoxious words banishment--a novelty in English jurisprudence--and +transportation were withdrawn, but the remaining provisions of the Six +Acts were carried in all their rigor. But amid much harm, some good was +doubtless effected, for certain provisions were introduced into the act +which declared certain inferior newspapers, which had hitherto evaded +the stamp act, by calling themselves pamphlets and not newspapers, +because they only commented upon the news of the day, to be henceforth +liable to the stamp duties. This really did good service to the better +class of journals, by sweeping away a swarm of newspapers which, by the +quibble above mentioned, were enabled to undersell them. + +_John Bull_ was started in 1820, with the avowed object of espousing the +King's side, and covering the Queen and her friends with obloquy. +Theodore Hook was the editor, but very few persons were in the secret. +Every man or woman who was conspicuous as a friend of the Queen was duly +gibbeted, and any tittle-tattle gossip or scandal that could be ferreted +out against them was boldly printed in the most unmistakable terms. +Trial for libel failed to discover the real proprietors, editor, and +writers, and the men who stood their trial as printer, publisher, +proprietor, etc., were manifestly mere shams, men who would swear to +anything and undergo any amount of imprisonment for the consideration of +the smallest coin of the realm. The scandalous details in _John Bull_ +attracted the public at once, and by the time it reached its sixth +number, the circulation had risen to ten thousand, while the first five +numbers were reprinted over and over again, and the first and second +were actually stereotyped. But it began to be whispered about that Hook +was the editor, whereupon he printed and signed a letter denying the +rumor in the most indignant terms. This letter was supplemented by an +editorial, from which the following is an extract: + + 'The conceit of some people is amusing, and it has not unfrequently + been remarked that conceit is in abundance where talent is most + scarce. Our readers will see that we have received a letter from + Mr. Hook, disowning and disavowing all connection with this + paper.... We are free to confess that two things surprise us in + this business. The first, that anything which we have thought + worthy of giving to the public should have been mistaken for Mr. + Hook's; and secondly, that such a person as Mr. Hook should think + himself disgraced by a connection with _John Bull_.' + +After the death of the Queen, Hook devoted himself to the demolition of +the Whigs and Radicals. Joseph Hume was his especial target, and was +dished up week after week with a decidedly original Latin garnish: '_Ex +humili potens_--From a surgeon to a member of Parliament;' '_Humili modi +loqui_--To talk Scotch like Hume;' '_Nequis humasse velit_--Let no one +call Hume an ass,' etc., etc. _John Bull_ sustained a great many +convictions for libel, and its dummies were frequently imprisoned, but +they never betrayed Hook, who retained the editorship until his death in +1841. Somewhere about this time _The Britannia_, a Conservative journal, +of a few years' standing, was incorporated with it. It had meanwhile +considerably moderated its tone, and at the present day enjoys a fair +circulation among steady-going people--chiefly country gentlemen, old +ladies, and parsons--who obstinately cling to Tory principles. + +_John Bull_ was not the only newspaper which was prolific in libels, and +perhaps at no time were scandalous attacks upon public and private +persons more common. Mr. Freemantle, writing to the Marquis of +Buckingham, in 1820, says: + + 'The press is completely open to treason, sedition, blasphemy, and + falsehood, with impunity.... I do not know whether you see + Cobbett's _Independent Whig_, and many other papers now circulating + most extensively, and which are dangerous much beyond anything I + can describe.' + +This is a sweeping censure, but, allowing for a little personal +irritation, natural enough under the circumstances--he had been +lampooned himself--is true of a great portion of the press. The supply +was regulated by the demand, and the character of the wares purveyed +depended upon the wants of the market. Editors found that scandal was +eagerly devoured by their subscribers, and they did not therefore +hesitate or scruple to gratify the prevailing tastes of the day. But the +better class of papers were not able to keep clear of the law of libel, +even though they did not condescend to pander to the vitiated tastes of +the multitude. Many of them had to sustain actions for merely reporting +proceedings before the police magistrates and in the law courts, and +many a rascal solaced himself for the disagreeables attending a +preliminary examination at the police court for a criminal offence, by a +verdict in his behalf in a civil action against any newspaper that had +been bold enough to print a report of the proceedings. This kind of +action originated from a ruling of Lord Ellenborough, that it was +'libellous to publish the preliminary examination before a magistrate +previously to committing a man for trial or holding him to bail for any +offence with which he is charged, the tendency of such a publication +being to prejudice the minds of the jurymen against the accused, and to +deprive him of a fair trial.' This monstrous and at the same time absurd +doctrine remained in force for many years, but is now happily no longer +the law of the land. + +_The Times_ had now reached the pinnacle of prosperity, and its claims +to be considered the foremost of journals were no longer disputed. The +circulation of _The Morning Chronicle_ had dwindled during the latter +years of Perry's life, and after his death did not revive very much +under Black, his successor. Brougham, Talfourd, and Alderson were among +the writers in _The Times_, and Captain Sterling, whose vigorous, +slashing articles first gained for _The Times_ the title of the +'Thunderer,' was regularly engaged upon the staff at a salary of £2,000 +a year and a small share in the profits. But the Government still +steadily set its face against it, and in 1821 Mr. Hume loudly inveighed +against the ministry in the House of Commons for not sending Government +advertisements to _The Times_, instead of to other journals, which did +not enjoy a tithe of its circulation. The arrangements of the post +office were a great hinderance to the diffusion of newspapers, since the +charge for the carriage of a daily journal was £12 14_s._, and for a +weekly £2 4_s._ a year. The number, therefore, that was sent abroad by +this channel, either to the Continent or our own colonies, was very +small. In 1810 the whole number thus despatched was but three hundred +and eighty-three, and in 1817 it had fallen to two hundred and +seventy-one, owing to the increase in the charges demanded by the +post-office authorities, who were actually allowed to put the money in +their own pockets; and in 1821 it was only two hundred and six. The +circulation through the kingdom of Great Britain itself was not entirely +free, inasmuch as every newspaper sent through the post office was +charged for by weight, at an exorbitant rate, unless it was franked by a +member of Parliament. This regulation continued in force until 1825, +when an act was passed which provided that newspapers should be sent +through the post free, on condition that they were open at both ends, +and had no other writing upon the cover than the necessary address. At +the same time the ridiculous acts which limited the size of newspapers +were done away with, and every printer was henceforth permitted to print +his journal upon any sized sheet he pleased. Two important concessions +were also made to the press at this date, one in the House of Commons, +and the other in the House of Lords. In the former, a portion of the +strangers' gallery was set apart for the exclusive use of the reporters; +and in the latter, reporters were permitted to be present for the first +time. Previously to this, if any one had been rash enough to attempt to +take any notes, an official would pounce upon him, and, with an air of +offended dignity well befitting that august assembly, strike the +offending pencil from his grasp! + +In 1825, Joseph Hume attempted to get the stamp duty reduced on +newspapers to twopence, and the advertisement duty to one shilling; and +in 1827 he tried to gain an exemption from the stamp act for political +pamphlets; but he was defeated on each occasion. In 1827, _The Standard_ +was started as a Tory organ, under the auspices of a knot of able +writers, the chief of whom were Dr. Giffard, the editor, Alaric Attila +Watts, and Dr. Maginn. It has always possessed a good connection among +the Conservative party, but has never been a very profitable concern. +After the abolition of the stamp duty its price was reduced to twopence, +and in 1858 to one penny, and it was the first of the daily journals to +offer a double sheet at that price. In recent times the Letters of +'Manhattan' have given an impulse to its circulation, from their novelty +of style--an impulse which was probably further aided by the ridiculous +but widely believed assertion that those letters had never crossed the +Atlantic, but were penned beneath the shadow of St. Paul's. + +The following statistics of newspapers in the chief countries of Europe +in 1827, will probably prove interesting: France, with a population +of--in round numbers--thirty-two millions, possessed 490 journals; the +Germanic Confederation, with a population of thirteen millions, 305; +Prussia, with a population of twelve millions, 288; Bavaria, with a +population of four millions, 48; the Netherlands, with a population of +six millions, 150; Sweden and Norway, with a population of four +millions, 82; and Denmark, with a population of two millions, 80. Great +Britain, with a population of twenty-three millions, far outstripped +them all, for she boasted 483 newspapers; but was yet compelled to yield +the palm to her Transatlantic kinsmen, for the United States, at the +same date, with a population of twelve millions, circulated the +unequalled number of 800. In looking at these figures, one cannot help +being struck with the enormous disproportion between the journals of +Roman Catholic and Protestant countries--a disproportion which is so +significant that comment upon it is unnecessary. But the difference is +still more plainly shown if we take two capitals. Rome, with a +population of one hundred and fifty-four thousand, possessed only 3 +newspapers, while Copenhagen, with a population of one hundred and nine +thousand, enjoyed the advantage of having 53. The London papers were +100, the English provincial papers 225, the Irish papers 85, the Scotch +63, and the Welsh 10. The number of stamps issued was more than +twenty-seven millions, of which London alone consumed more than fifteen +millions; the number of advertisements was seven hundred and seventy +thousand, of which London supplied nearly a half; and the amount of +advertisement duty was £56,000, of which London contributed £22,000. + +The year 1829 is remarkable for the first appearance of _The Times_ with +a double sheet, consisting of eight pages, or forty-eight columns. This +great step in advance must have quite answered the expectations of its +spirited proprietor, for in 1830 _The Times_ paid to Government for +stamps and advertisement duty no less than £70,000. The day of perfect +freedom was beginning to dawn upon the press, although it took a quarter +of a century to remove the last fetter, the stamp, and still longer, if +we take into consideration the paper duty, which was removed in 1862. +First came the abolition of the most oppressive portion of Lord +Castlereagh's Six Acts, next the advertisement duties, and finally the +stamp. The high price of the stamp, fourpence, kept the better journals +at sevenpence, but a numerous class of unstamped journals at twopence +sprang up in defiance of the law, and were allowed for a time to go on +unchecked. They had a large circulation, one of them, _The London +Dispatch_, attaining to twenty-five thousand a week. Growing bolder with +their impunity, they indulged in the most abominable trash and the most +frantic sedition and treason. They were of course prosecuted and +punished, but they were never finally destroyed until the reduction of +the stamp duty. They did good indirectly, for they formed one of the +strongest arguments in favor of the abolition of that obnoxious impost. + +In 1833 a battle royal raged between Daniel O'Connell and the press; +but, as might have been expected, Dan was no match for the hydra-headed +antagonist he had been rash enough to provoke. The quarrel originated in +a complaint made by the Liberator of a misrepresentation of a speech of +his, and he did this in so intemperate a manner that the reporters +published a letter in _The Times_, in which they expressed their +determination never again to report a speech of O'Connell's until he had +apologized for the insults he had levelled at them. O'Connell vainly +attempted to put the machinery of the House of Commons in motion against +them, but, after repeated efforts, was obliged to give in. His attacks +were principally levelled at _The Times_--which then counted among its +contributors the brilliant names of Macaulay, Thackeray, and +Disraeli--for he and John Walter were bitter foes. But he evoked several +powerful defenders of the press, first and foremost among whom was Sir +Robert Peel. + +In 1834 the system of condensing the speeches in Parliament, and placing +the summary before the leading articles, was first introduced into _The +Times_ by Horace Twiss. At this date there occurred a great schism +between the proprietors and writers of _The Sun_, some of whom seceded, +and brought out _The True Sun_, in opposition to that eccentric planet +which always rises in the evening despite the general conviction of +mankind that the sun is the luminary of the day. Douglas Jerrold, Laman +Blanchard, and, greatest of all, Charles Dickens, commenced their +apprenticeship to literature in this journal, which enjoyed, however, +but a fleeting existence. Jerrold afterward started a paper of his own, +which failed, and then became editor of Lloyd's _Weekly London +Newspaper_, a post which he retained until his death, and which has +since been ably filled by his son Blanchard Jerrold. Laman Blanchard +became the editor of _The Courier_, but resigned it when it became a +Tory organ, and was one of the original writers in and proprietors of +_Punch_. Dickens transferred his services to _The Morning Chronicle_, in +the columns of which the Sketches by Boz first appeared. Several acts of +Parliament relating to newspapers were passed at this period. In 1833 +the advertisement duty was reduced from three shillings and sixpence to +one shilling and sixpence in England, and one shilling in Ireland. In +1834 an act was passed by which the newspapers of those foreign +countries in which English journals were admitted free of postage, were +allowed to enter Great Britain on the same terms. In 1835 a bill was +passed to relieve the press from the action of common informers, and +placed them under the jurisdiction of the attorney-general alone; and +another, which forbade newspapers to publish lectures delivered at +literary and scientific institutions, without the permission of the +lecturer. + +The time was now fast approaching for the reduction of the stamp duty. +Government was getting wearied of the war with the hydra-headed +unstamped monster, and at last adopted the only expedient likely to be +successful in putting it down, which was to place the higher-class +journals in a position to rival them. From 1831 to 1835 there had been +no less than seven hundred and twenty-eight prosecutions, of which the +year 1835 alone had produced two hundred and nineteen. This fact, joined +to the influential agitation which was now being made for the repeal, +caused the Government to decide upon bringing in a measure of relief. It +took six months and an immense deal of speechifying to bring this +measure to maturity; but at last, in 1836, the stamp duty was reduced +from fourpence to one penny, being one halfpenny less than it had been +originally fixed at in 1760. The Tories were the great friends of this +reduction, and Lord Lyndhurst, who had been instrumental in abolishing +many of the most oppressive enactments with which the measure had been +clogged, wished to do away with the duty altogether. There was of course +a loss to the revenue at first. In the first half year of the new duty, +the number of stamps issued was 21,362,148, realizing £88,502. In the +corresponding previous half year, under the old scale, the number of +stamps had been 14,874,652, and the amount paid, £196,909, so that in +six months the number of stamped newspapers had increased by about one +half. + +In 1837, _The Economist_ was started by John Wilson, and attracted great +attention by its statistical and politico-economical articles, Wilson +afterward became secretary of the treasury, and, having been sent to +India, died there, to add one more to the many illustrious victims that +our Indian empire has exacted. In 1838 a most amusing hoax was +perpetrated upon _The Morning Post_ and _Morning Chronicle_, which +announced the death of Lord Brougham, and published a most elaborate +biography of him. But the next day there came a letter from Lord +Brougham, declaring that he was still alive and hearty. The joke, +however, did not end here--for people were ill natured enough to assert +that he had been the author of the rumor himself, in order to learn what +the world would say about him; and so widespread had this second rumor +become, that Lord Brougham was compelled to write another letter +contradicting it. + +The next great event in the history of journalism is the commercial +libel case, Boyle _versus_ Lawson, the printer of _The Times_. Barnes +had died, and had been succeeded by John T. Delane, a nephew of Mr. +Walter, as editor, who still continues to occupy that responsible post. +The matter originated thus: In May, 1841, _The Times_ published a letter +from the Paris correspondent, containing the particulars of an organized +system of forgery on a gigantic scale, which had been agreed on by +certain persons, whose names were published in full. The plan was to +present simultaneously at the chief Continental cities letters of credit +purporting to emanate from Glynn & Co., the London bankers. The +confederates had fixed the sum they meant to realize at one million, and +had actually secured more than £10,000 before the plot was discovered. +One of them was Boyle, a banker, of good position, at Florence, and he +brought an action for libel and defamation. He pressed on the trial, but +_The Times_ maintained its ground, and at an enormous expense despatched +agents all over the Continent to collect evidence. _The Times_ +triumphantly succeeded in proving the truth of what it--_The Times_ is +always spoken and written of as an individual--had printed; but as the +old law--the greater the truth the greater the libel--still existed, the +jury were compelled to find a verdict for the plaintiff, which they did, +with one farthing damages, and the judge clinched the matter by refusing +the plaintiff his costs. Universal joy was expressed at the result of +the trial, and public meetings were called together in London and the +chief Continental cities for the purpose of making a subscription to +defray the expenses of _The Times_ in defending the action. The +proprietors, however, declined this, but said that, at the same time, +they should feel much gratified if a sum of money were raised for some +public object in commemoration of the event. Accordingly it was decided +to found two scholarships in perpetuity for Christ's Hospital and the +City of London School at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, to be +called the Times' Scholarships, and the nomination to them to be placed +in the hands of the proprietors of _The Times_ in perpetuity. Two marble +tablets were also voted, at the cost of a hundred and fifty guineas +each, with commemorative inscriptions, one to be placed in _The Times_ +office and the other in the Royal Exchange. Two somewhat similar tablets +were also placed in Christ's Hospital and the City of London School. For +these purposes the sum of £2,700 was very quickly subscribed, the lord +mayor leading off with ten guineas. If anything had been wanting to +place _The Times_ upon the pinnacle of preėminence among journals, this +famous trial firmly established it there, and ever since it has been +looked up to as an oracle of the commercial world. But _The Times_ was +not contented to rest quietly on its oars. It was ambitious, and looked +farther afield. In 1845, its vigor, enterprise, and disregard of expense +were exemplified in a remarkable manner. _The Times_ had been in the +habit of sending a special courier to Marseilles, to bring its Indian +despatches, and thus anticipate the regular course of the mail. The +French Government threw every possible obstacle in the courier's way, +and _The Times_ took Lieutenant Waghorn, the originator of the Overland +Route, into its pay. In October, 1845, a special messenger met the mail +on its arrival at Suez on the 19th. Mounted on a dromedary, he made his +way, without stopping, to Alexandria, where Waghorn awaited him with a +steamer. Waghorn came _viā_ Trieste--special post horses and steamers +and trains being ready for him at the various points of the route--and +he reached London on the morning of the 31st, in time for his despatches +to appear in the morning's issue of the paper. The result of this was +that _The Times_ reached Paris with the Indian news from London before +the regular mail had reached that city from Marseilles. The next +noticeable enterprise of _The Times_ was the sending out commissioners +to investigate the condition of the poor and laboring population of +London in 1847, an enterprise which was crowned with the moat +satisfactory results. _The Times_ has always been the firm friend of the +poor, and its columns are always open to the tale of distress. No case +is advocated until it has been thoroughly investigated; but when once it +has been mentioned in _The Times_, subscriptions pour in on all sides. +At the commencement of each year especially, _The Times_ publishes +gratuitously appeals from public charities, and during last January the +sums received through those appeals reached the large amount of £12,000. +The last great exploit of _The Times_ was the sending forth a special +correspondent with the English army to the Crimea, a precedent which it +has followed up since in China, India, Italy, America, and +Schleswig-Holstein. But this was not the first occasion that reporters +had accompanied our armies, for Canning despatched reporters with the +troops sent to Portugal in 1826. The tactics of _The Times_ are very +generally misunderstood and misrepresented. Whatever objections +cavillers and opponents may urge, and with truth too--for the course +taken by _The Times_ is not to be praised on all occasions--it cannot be +denied that _The Times_ is the first journal in the world, a position +which it has reached by its enterprise, vigor, and ability. It has +frequently proved its disinterestedness, and during the great railway +mania of 1845, while it was receiving no less a sum than £6,000 weekly +for advertisements, constantly cautioned its readers against the +prevailing madness, and persistently predicted the crash that was +certain to follow. _The Times_, while it appears to lead, in reality +waits upon public opinion, and hence the accusations of inconsistency +and tergiversation so freely lavished upon it. _The Times_ is the +printed breath of public opinion. It throws out a feeler, perhaps, +though not quite at first, accompanied by some decided expression of +opinion, and carefully watches the effect upon the public mind. Should +that effect be different to what was expected, _The Times_ knows how to +veer round with the _popularis aura_. This is not always, however, done +so skilfully but that the act is apparent. It is not the most dignified +course that a journal which aspires to be--and which is--the leading +journal of Europe ought to pursue; but _The Times_ knows human nature, +and knows, too, that were it to adopt any other course, it would fall +from its high estate, and become a mere party organ. Moreover, _The +Times_ possesses an enormous prestige--deservedly won, as this article +has endeavored to show--and that, in a conservative country like +England, is considerably more than half the battle. + +In 1842 appeared the first pictorial newspaper, _The Illustrated London +News_. It was started by Herbert Ingram, who began life as a provincial +newsboy, and died, in the vigor of his age, member of Parliament for his +native town. It was a success from the first, so great that numerous +competitors sprang up and endeavored to undersell it. But these were all +vastly inferior, and one by one withered away, the most persistent of +them at last passing into the hands of _The Illustrated London News_, +which now enjoys a larger circulation than any other weekly newspaper, +amounting to about six millions a year! + +There was a satirical paper at this time, called _The Age_, which, being +of a strongly libellous character, was continually feeling the weight of +the law. It did not improve in character as it grew older, and its +editor, Tommy Holt, was proved upon a trial to have received bribes to +suppress a slander that he had threatened should appear in his paper. +This same Tommy Holt was very successful in inventing 'sensation' +headings for his columns, and by no means either delicate or scrupulous +in so doing. There was another rascally paper of the same description, +called _The Satirist_, which was at last finally crushed by the Duke of +Brunswick, the result of several actions for libel. Among other new +literary oddities at this time may be mentioned _The Fonetic Nuz_, +the organ of those enthusiastic reformers who were endeavoring to +accomplish a revolution in our orthography. It lasted, however, but a +very short time. + +The year 1850 saw the initiation of the final campaign directed against +the only remaining burdens of the press. Mr. Ewart and Mr. Milner Gibson +brought forward a motion for the repeal of the advertisement duty, but +were defeated by two hundred and eight votes to thirty-nine. But they +were not cast down by their want of success, but manfully returned to +the charge. In 1851, they procured the appointment of a committee to +inquire into the question, and in 1852, gathering strength, like William +of Orange, from each successive defeat, they brought forward a triple +set of resolutions, one for the abolition of the advertisement duty, +another levelled at the stamp, and the third for the repeal of the paper +duties. They carried the first, but lost the others. In 1854, Mr. Gibson +made a fresh motion concerning the laws affecting the press, and +received a promise that the subject should receive the early attention +of the House; and in 1855, Sir G.C. Lewis, then chancellor of the +exchequer, who had hitherto opposed the repeal of the duty, brought in a +bill for its abolition. After a struggle in both Houses the measure +passed, and received the royal assent on the 15th of June. + +In following up this final struggle, we have passed over one important +period, the railway mania in 1845, which gave birth to no less than +twenty-nine newspapers, entirely occupied with railway intelligence, in +London, besides many others in the provinces. Only two of these have +survived, for the other two railway newspapers which still exist were +established before that memorable madness fell upon the nation. Of +these, Herapath's _Journal_ is the oldest and best, and is the oracle of +the Stock Exchange on railway matters. There are some slight symptoms of +the madness returning in the present year, as far at least as the +metropolis is concerned, and one new railway journal has just been +started in consequence. There are many amusing anecdotes told of +newspapers at this epoch, of which we will quote one. One of these +railway organs had published and paid for, from time to time, lengthy +and elaborate reports of the meetings of a certain company, supplied by +one of the staff of reporters. At length the editor told the reporter +that he thought it was high time for the company to give the paper an +advertisement, after all the favorable notices that bad been given to +the undertaking in question. The reporter acquiesced, and promised to +get the order for an advertisement, but putting it off from time to +time, the editor was induced to make inquiries for himself; whereupon he +had the extreme satisfaction of learning that no such company had ever +existed, and that the elaborate reports of meetings, speeches, etc., had +been entirely fabricated by his ingenious employé! An endeavor was made +last year to resuscitate one of these defunct daily journals, _The Iron +Times_, and Tommy Holt was the editor. It lingered for some weeks, and +then smashed utterly. The editor called the contributors together, and +told them that there was nothing to pay them with--nothing in fact +remained but the office furniture. 'Take that, my boys,' said he, 'and +divide it among you.' This was accordingly done, and one man marched off +with a table, another with a chair, a third with a desk, a fourth with +an inkstand, and so on! + +When the stamp duty was abolished as a tax, it remained optional with +the publishers to have any number of their issue stamped they pleased +for transmission through the poet. The number of stamps thus issued in +the first six months after the repeal was 21,646,688, whereas the number +in the corresponding period of 1854, when the tax still existed, was +55,732,499. The number of stamps issued in the year 1854 to the +principal newspapers was as follows: _Times_, 15,975,739; _Morning +Advertiser_, 2,392,780; _Daily News_, 1,485,099; _Morning Herald_, +1,158,000; _Morning Chronicle_, 873,500; _The Globe_, 850,000; and _The +Morning Post_, 832,500. Of the weeklies, _The Illustrated London News_ +was then the second, 5,627,866; _The News of the World_, a Liberal, +unillustrated journal, started in 1843, standing first, with 5,673,525 +(the price of this paper is now reduced to twopence, and it is an +admirably conducted journal); Lloyd's _Weekly Newspaper_, 5,572,897; +_The Weekly Times_, price one penny, 3,902,169; Reynolds's _Weekly +Newspaper_, also a penny journal, which is best described by the epithet +'rabid,' 2,496,256; _The Weekly Dispatch_, price fivepence, an advanced +Liberal journal, which is emphatically the workingman's newspaper, and +originally started in 1801, 1,982,933; Bell's _Life in London_, +1,161,000. Of the provincial newspapers, _The Manchester Guardian_ heads +the list with 1,066,575, followed by _The Liverpool Mercury_, with +912,000, and _The Leeds Mercury_, with 735,000. Foremost among the +Scotch newspapers stands _The North British Advertiser_, with 808,002; +and the Irish paper with the largest circulation was _The Telegraph_, +with 959,000. Of the London literary papers the chief was _The +Examiner_, with 248,560. With one or two exceptions, the circulation of +these journals may be considered to have increased enormously. There are +now published in Great Britain 1,350 different newspapers, of which 240 +are London papers, 20 being dailies, 776 English provincial papers, 143 +Irish, 140 Scotch, 37 Welsh, and 14 are published in the British Isles. +Many of these enjoy but a limited circulation, as naturally follows from +the narrow limit they assign to themselves. Thus several trades have +their special organs, as for instance, the grocers, the bakers, and even +the hairdressers among others. + +Before concluding this article it will be well to notice a few of the +leading journals which have not been mentioned. _The Daily Telegraph_ +was originally started at twopence, in 1855, by Colonel Sleigh, but he, +getting behindhand with his printers to the amount of £1,000, sold them +the paper for another £1,000, and in their hands it has since remained. +The price was reduced to a penny, and, under the new management, its +circulation rapidly increased. _The Standard_ dealt a heavy blow at it +in 1858, by coming out suddenly one morning, without any previous +warning, as a double sheet. This first number was given away in the +streets, in vast quantities, thrown into omnibuses and cabs, pitched +into shops and public houses, and so on. The sale of _The Telegraph_ so +decreased that it was found necessary to enlarge it to the same size as +_The Standard_, when its circulation rose again immediately. It has now +the largest circulation in the world, more than 100,000 daily, a much +larger London circulation than _The Times_, though a smaller provincial +and foreign sale; and its clear profits are variously stated by persons +who profess to be well informed, at different sums, the least of which +is £20,000 a year. The chief causes of its success are its independent +and uncompromising tone, the great pains it takes to gain early +intelligence--it has frequently anticipated _The Times_ itself in +foreign news--and the vigorous and able social articles of Mr. George +Augustus Sala. _The Daily News_ was started as a Liberal and Reform +journal in 1846. An enormous sum of money was sunk in establishing it, +for it was not at first successful. Charles Dickens was the first +editor, but politics were not much in the line of the genial and +unrivalled novelist, and he was soon succeeded by John Forster and +Charles Wentworth Dilke, whose connection with the South Kensington +Museum and the great Exhibition has made him a knight, a C. B., and a +very important personage. _The Daily News_ is now one of the ablest and +most successful of London journals, and has had and still enjoys the +assistance of the best writers of the day in every department. The line +which this journal has always maintained toward America will forever +earn it the admiration and gratitude of the United States. Another firm +friend of the great republic is _The Morning Star_, the organ of Mr. +Bright and the Manchester school, started in 1856. In addition to its +political claims, it has a great hold upon the public as a family +newspaper, by the careful manner in which everything objectionable is +excluded from its columns. Its twin sister, born at the same time, is +called _The Evening Star_. _Bell's Life in London_, a weekly journal, +was originally brought out in 1820, and, although it has more than one +successful rival to contend against, it still maintains its preėminence +as the first English sporting paper. It is very carefully edited, each +department being placed under a separate editor, and is the great oracle +in all matters relating to sports and games. The history of one of the +ablest contributors to this journal, who wrote some most charming +articles on fly-fishing and other kindred topics, under the signature of +'Ephemera'--though he was said never to have thrown a fly in his +life--is a very sad one. His name was Fitzgerald, a man of good family +and connections, married to a lady with £1,200 a year, and living in a +good house at the West End. But the alcoholic demon had got hold of him. +He would disappear for days together, and then suddenly present himself +at the office of the paper with nothing on but a shirt and trousers. He +would then sit down and write an article, receive his pay, go away and +purchase decent clothes, return home, and live quietly perhaps for a +month, when he would--to use a prison phrase--break out again as before. +He was last seen, in the streets of London, in a state of complete +intoxication, being carried upon a stretcher by two policemen to the +police cell, where he died the same night. + +At the head of the Sunday papers stands _The Observer_, founded in 1792. +Like _The Globe_, it is extremely well informed upon all political +matters, for very good reasons. It spares no expense in obtaining early +news, and is an especial favorite with the clubs. _The Era_ is the great +organ of the theatrical world, but joins to that _specialité_ the +general attributes of an ordinary weekly journal. It was established in +1837. _The Field_, which calls itself the country gentleman's newspaper, +is all that it professes to be, and a most admirable publication, +treating of games, sports, natural history, and rural matters generally. +It was started by Mr. Benjamin Webster, the accomplished actor manager, +in 1853. But to particularize the principal papers, even in a short +separate notice of a few lines, would far transgress the limits at our +disposal. All the professions are well supplied with journals devoted to +their interests, and it is impossible here to dwell upon them or those +which represent literature and the fine arts. With regard to religious +papers, their name is legion, and they would require a separate article +to be fairly and honestly considered. _Punch_, too, and his rivals, dead +and living, are in the same category, and must, however reluctantly, be +passed over. Two curiosities, however, of the press must be mentioned. +_Public Opinion_ was started about two years and a half ago. It +consisted of weekly extracts from the leading articles of English and +foreign journals, and scraps of news, and other odds and ends. It has +succeeded mainly from its cost of production being so slight, owing to +its paste-and-scissors character, and also because it freely opens its +columns to correspondents _de rebus omnibus_, who are willing to buy any +number of copies for the pleasure of seeing themselves in print. _The +Literary Times_, in addition to reviews of books, professed to criticize +the leading articles in the various papers, but, after an existence of +some six months or so, one Saturday morning _The Literary Times_ was +_non est inventus_. + +In concluding this series of articles, which has run to a much greater +length than he originally intended, the writer is conscious of many +shortcomings and omissions, which he trusts will be pardoned and +overlooked when his principal object is borne in mind. That object has +been to give a general outline of the history of the press, and +especially of its struggles against 'the powers which be;' and, though +tempted now and again--he fears too often for the patience of his +readers--to wander away into particularities, he has always endeavored +to keep that object in view. Above all, he hopes he has at least been +successful in showing the truth of that sentiment which was first +publicly expressed as a toast at a Whig dinner, at the Crown and Anchor +tavern, in 1795: 'The liberty of the press--it is like the air we +breathe--if we have it not, we die!' + + + + +OUR MARTYRS. + + + Lightly the river runs between + Hanging cliffs and meadows green. + + Blackly the prison, looking down, + Frowns at its shadow's answering frown. + + Shut from life in his life's fresh morn, + Crouches a soldier, wounded and worn. + + Chained and starved in the dungeon grim, + Day and night are alike to him; + + Save that the murmurous twilight air + Stings his soul with a deeper despair. + + Day by day, as the taunting breeze + Wafts him the breath of orange trees, + + He fancies in meadows far away + The level lines of odorous hay; + + And sees the scythes of the mowers run + In and out of the steady sun. + + Night by night, as the mounting moon + Climbs from his eager gaze too soon, + + The gleams that across the gratings fall, + Broken and bright, on the prison wall, + + Seem the tangles of Northern rills, + Like threads of silver winding the hills. + + When, sinking into the western skies, + The sun aslant on the window lies; + + And motes that hovered dusty and dim, + Golden-winged through the glory swim: + + He drops his head on his fettered hands, + And thinks of the fruitful Northern lands. + + Between his fingers' wasted lines, + Tear after tear into sunlight shines, + + As, wandering in a dream, he treads + The ripened honey of clover heads; + + Or watches the sea of yellow grain + Break into waves on the windy plain; + + Or sees the orchard's grassy gloom + Spotted with globes of rosy bloom. + + Through the shimmer of shadowy haze + Redden the hills with their autumn blaze. + + The oxen stand in the loaded teams; + The cider bubbles in amber streams; + + And child-like laughter and girlish song + Float with the reaper's shout along. + + He stirs his hands, and the jealous chain + Wakes him once more to his tyrant pain-- + + To festered wounds, and to dungeon taint, + And hunger's agony, fierce and faint. + + The sunset vision fades and flits, + And alone in his dark'ning cell he sits: + + Alone with only the jailers grim, + Hunger and Pain, that clutch at him; + + And, tight'ning his fetters, link by link, + Drag him near to a ghastly brink; + + Where, in the blackness that yawns beneath, + Stalks the skeleton form of Death. + + Starved, and tortured, and worn with strife; + Robbed of the hopes of his fresh, young life;-- + + Shall one pang of his martyr pain + Cry to a sleepless God in vain? + + + + +ĘNONE: + +A TALE OF SLAVE LIFE IN ROME. + + +CHAPTER X. + +But though Ęnone's sanguinely conceived plan for Cleotos's happiness had +so cruelly failed, it was not in her heart to yield to his passionate, +unreflecting demand, and send him away from her, even to a kinder home +than he would have found at the house of the captain Polidorus. It would +but increase his ill fortune, by enforcing still greater isolation from +every fount of human sympathy. Though the affection of the wily Leta had +been withdrawn from him, her own secret friendship yet remained, and +could be a protection to him as long as he was at her side; and in many +ways she could yet extend her care and favor to him, until such time as +an outward-bound vessel might be found in which to restore him to his +native country. + +Whether there was any instinct at the bottom of her heart, telling her +that in the possibility of trying events to come his friendship might be +equally serviceable to her, and that, even in the mere distant +companionship of a slave with his mistress, she might feel a certain +protecting influence, she did not stop to ask. Neither did she inquire +whether she wished to retain him for his own benefit alone, and without +thought of any happiness or comfort to be derived by her from his +presence. Had she been accustomed closely to analyze her feelings, she +might have perceived, perhaps, that, in her growing isolation, it was no +unpleasant thing to look upon the features and listen to the tones which +carried her memory back to her early days of poverty, when, except for a +short interval, her life had been at its happiest. But had she known and +acknowledged all this, it would not have startled her, for she would +have felt that, in her heart, there was not the slightest accompanying +shade of disloyalty. Her nature was not one to admit of sudden transfers +of allegiance. It was rather one in which a real love would last +forever. When the first romantic liking for Cleotos had consumed itself, +from the ashes there had sprung no new passion for him, but merely the +flowers of earnest, true-hearted friendship. And it was her misfortune, +perhaps, that the real love for another which had succeeded would not in +turn consume itself, but would continue to flourish green and perennial, +though now seemingly fated to bask no longer in the sunshine of kindly +words and actions, but only to cower beneath the chill of harsh and +wanton neglect. + +Cleotos therefore remained--at first passing weary days of bitter, +heartbreaking despondency. His lost liberty he had borne without much +complaint, for it was merely the fortune of war, and hundreds of his +countrymen were sharing the same fate with him. But to lose that love +upon which he had believed all the happiness of his life depended, was a +blow to which, for a time, no philosophy could reconcile him--the more +particularly as the manner in which that loss had been forced upon him +seemed, to his sensitive nature, to be marked by peculiar severity. To +have had her torn from him in any ordinary way--to part with her in some +quarrel in which either side might be partially right, and thenceforth +never to see her again--or to be obliged to yield her up to the superior +claims of an open, generous rivalry--any of these things would, in +itself, have been sufficient affliction. But it was far worse than all +this to be obliged to meet her at every turn, holding out her hand to +him in pleasant greeting, and uttering words of welcoming import; and +all with an unblushing appearance of friendly interest, as though his +relations with her had never been other than those of a fraternal +character, and as though, upon being allowed her mere friendship, there +could be nothing of which he had a right to complain. + +At first, in the agony of his heart, he had no strength to rise above +the weight which crushed him, and to obey the counsels of his pride so +far as to play before her a part of equally assumed indifference. To her +smiling greetings he could return only looks of bitter despair or +passionate entreaty--vainly hoping that he might thereby arouse her +better nature, and bring her in repentance back to him. And at first +sight it seemed not impossible that such a thing might take place; for, +in the midst of all her change of conduct and wilful avoidance of +allusion to the past, she felt no dislike of him. It was merely her love +for him that she had suppressed, and in its place there still remained a +warm regard. If he could have been content with her friendship alone, +she would have granted it all, and would have rejoiced, for the sake of +olden times, to use her influence with others in aid of his upward +progress. Perhaps there were even times when, as she looked upon his +misery and thought of the days not so very far back, in which he had +been all in all to her, her heart may have been melted into something of +its former affection. But if so, it was only for a moment, nor did she +ever allow the weakness to be seen. Her path had been taken, and nothing +now could make her swerve from it. Before her enraptured fancy gleamed +the state and rank belonging to a patrician's wife; and as she wove her +toils with all the resources of her cunning, the prize seemed to +approach her nearer and nearer. Now having advanced so far, she must not +allow a momentary weakness to imperil all. And therefore unwaveringly +she daily met her former lover with the open smile of friendly greeting, +inviting confidence, mingled with the same indescribable glance, +forbidding any renewal of love. + +And so days passed by, and Cleotos, arousing from his apathetic despair, +felt more strongly that, if the lapse of love into mere friendship is a +misfortune, the offer of friendship as a substitute for promised love is +a mockery and an insult: his soul rebelled at being made a passive party +to such a bargain; and he began himself to play the retaliatory part +which a wronged nature naturally suggests to itself. Like Leta, he +learned to hold out the limpid hand in careless greeting, or to mutter +meaningless and cold compliments, and, in any communication with her, to +assume all the appearances of indifferent acquaintanceship. At first, +indeed, it was with an aching heart struggling in his breast, and an +agony of wounded spirit tempting him to cast away all such studied +pretences, and to throw himself upon her mercy, and meanly beg for even +the slightest return of her former affection. But gradually, as he +perceived how vain would be such self-abasement, and how its display +would rather tend to add contempt to her indifference, his pride came to +rescue him from such a course; and he began more and more to tune the +temper of his mind to his actions, and to feel something of the same +coldness which he outwardly displayed. + +Not but that for a while such a disposition was forced and unnatural; +and however steadily composed he felt, and strongly fortified in his +stubborn pride, a look or a word from her would have brought him again a +willing slave to her feet. But that look or word was not given. Perhaps, +in her eager struggle after the glittering prize which she had held out +before herself, she disdained the love which had once delighted her; +perhaps, actuated by a purer and less selfish motive, her friendship +for Cleotos forbade her, in mere wanton pride, to keep open the wound +which she had made. Whatever the reason, the withdrawal of the +fascinations which had once attracted him, gave his mind leisure and +opportunity to reason with itself in more quietude and composure than +could have been expected. And, as he more and more began to realize how +closely she was wrapped up in her ambition, to the exclusion of any +gentler feeling, and how, under the stimulant of her infatuated hopes, +she was allowing herself each day to act with less guarded resolution, +there were times when he found himself asking whether she had indeed +changed from what she had been, or whether, on the contrary, she had not +always, at heart, been the same as now, and his conception, of her true +character been at fault. + +But, in proportion as the veil of error seemed lifted from his soul, +letting calm content once more shine in upon him, so, on the other hand, +did a night of despair slowly settle upon Ęnone. By no reasoning could +she longer urge upon herself the belief that the neglect with which her +lord treated her could be traced to any inoffensive cause. Claims of +court--urgency of military duties--exactions of business might easily +account for transitory slights, but not for long-sustained periods of +indifference, unbroken by a single word of kindness. And as days passed +by and this indifference continued, until at times seeming ready to give +place to openly expressed dislike, and her ears became more and more +accustomed to words of hasty petulance, and Sergius grew still deeper +absorbed in the infatuation which possessed him, and less careful to +conceal its influences from her, and the Greek girl glided hither and +thither, ever less anxious, as she believed her triumph more nearly +assured, to maintain the humble guise which she had at first assumed, +Ęnone felt that there had indeed come upon her a sorrow from which there +could be no escape. There were a hundred methods of relief from it which +hourly occurred to her agitated mind, but one after another was in turn +laid aside, as she felt that it would but aggravate the evil, or as the +opportunity to employ it was not given her. To make open complaint of +her wrongs and try to drive Leta from the house--to humble herself +before her, and thereby strive to move her pity--to reproach Sergius for +his neglect, and demand that, since he no longer loved her, he would +send her back to her native place, away from the hollow world of +Rome--to assume toward him, by a strong effort of will, a like +indifference--to watch until she could find some season when his better +nature appeared more impressible, and then to throw herself before him, +as she had once before done, and plead for a return of his love--these +and like expedients fruitlessly passed in review before her. All in turn +failed in promise of relief; and at times it seemed as though the only +course left to her was to lie down in her sorrow and die. + +It was no uncommon thing then, as now, for the husband to neglect his +wife. All Rome rang with the frequent story of marital wrong. But those +were days in which the matron did not generally accept her desertion +with meekness. Brought up in a fevered, unscrupulous society, she had +her own retaliatory resources; and if no efforts were sufficient to +bring back the wandering affection, she could recompense herself +elsewhere for its loss, secure that her wrongs would be held as a +justification, and that her associates, equally aggrieved and avenged, +would applaud her course. But with Ęnone, brought up in a provincial +town, under the shelter of her own native purity and innocence, no such +idea could find countenance. Even the thought which sometimes dimly +presented itself, that by some harmless coquetry she might perhaps +excite her husband's jealousy, and thereby chance to win back his love, +was one which she always stifled in its beginning as weak and unworthy. + +But the recompenses of friendship were still left to her, and it was +surely doing no wrong to accept them. Therefore the more she realized +that her source of real happiness was becoming estranged from her, so +much the more did she feel naturally drawn toward the society of +Cleotos. To her, of course, he was not a mere slave, but rather a person +of equal birth with herself, who had been beaten down by the same fate +which had elevated her. And in conversation with him, it was easy to +carry her mind back to her early home, and for a little while forget her +present misery. And he, in turn, having been repulsed where he had +placed his highest hopes of happiness, and imbittered with the +disappointment, was not at all loth to transfer, in all innocence, his +devotion to one who extended such kindly condescension toward him. It +therefore happened that the two were naturally drawn much together, and, +for a time, without attracting invidious notice. Those were days in +which the association between master and slave was often of an intimate +character. To the lower class of slaves, indeed, there could be no +familiar approach. It was sufficient for them that at times they could +look upon the faces of their owners from a distance. But above these, +were converging circles, each rising in rank and responsibility, until +there were those who stood at their owners' right hands, more in the +position of friends and confidants than of menials. Of these was +Cleotos, whose winning face and graceful mien, joined to his natural +abilities and his valued accomplishments, would have insured him a +higher position than that of most captives, even if he had not been +assisted by the partiality of his mistress. + +It was his duty to announce her guests, to trim the lamps at which she +read, to read to her when she felt indisposed to do so for herself; to +indite her correspondence--and generally to superintend all those little +elegancies and demands of social life which require grace or mental +ability in their execution. These offices naturally kept him near her +during much of each day--and when Ęnone and he were alone, and no task +was before him requiring immediate completion, it was but to be expected +that a mingling of curiosity and friendly interest should lead her to +question him upon his past life, his home, his associates, even his +thoughts. And often it as naturally happened that, while he spoke, the +music of his voice lulled her into forgetfulness of all but the past, +and she would find herself unconsciously relaxing from the somewhat +frigid dignity which she felt called upon to assume, until her features +must have glowed with some expression of her former familiar kindness. +For she would be suddenly startled back into her forced propriety by a +strange and troubled look of puzzled thought flitting across his face--a +look which she could read and analyze better than he could; for it told +her that, without any real suspicion of the truth, he was wondering at +the likeness of that beaming face which bent over him to something which +he had seen elsewhere in the past. + +There was one morning that he sat before her by a little table where he +had been writing a letter at her dictation. The letter was folded and +sealed, and then ensued one of those vacant intervals when each, having +no pressing task at hand, remains for a few moments listlessly thinking +what shall be done next. At that instant Leta passed through the +room--bowing low as she moved before her mistress, and throwing out +toward Cleotos from the corner of her dark eye one of those aggravating +looks in which friendly interest in him and pleasure at his sight were +mingled with a certain cruel warning against any renewal of past +memories. Cleotos retorted with a similar careless greeting, expressive +of simple friendliness, unconscious of any warmer emotion. But he had +not yet perfectly learned his part; for, as Leta passed out of the room, +the quiver of his lip showed how difficult had been the task of +mastering his forced smile even for that moment. + +'Poor boy!' said, Ęnone, as she witnessed the effort. 'You have not yet +learned not to love her.' + +'Not yet, indeed, my mistress,' he responded. 'But it seems as though I +knew the task better than last week, and would know it still better a +week hence. What can I say? It is not to be thought that I should lapse +in a moment into real indifference, even though I may find out that she +is unworthy of love. There cannot but be an interval during which the +heart will struggle against the judgment, and lead to foolish longings +after what has passed.' + +'True, indeed,' said Ęnone. + +'And still, in my heart, I sometimes almost think that I have never +loved her,' he continued in a reflective, dreamy tone; 'that I have been +under a spell--have been made the slave of certain outward fascinations, +which have fettered my judgment. Can it be that one will think he loves +and yet does not?' + +'It is indeed hard to answer, I suppose.' + +'It must be hard; for wherein, after all, is the difference between +being and thinking to be? But yet it seems as though there were times, +even long past and before this captivity, when, being in our own land, +and with nothing to disturb us or make us doubtful of the future, I +looked upon her with a strange kind of fear--wondering whether, though I +loved her with so strong a passion, it might not rather be the passion +of an unlasting, unsatisfying slavery of thought, than of a calm, +lifelong trustfulness. And now it seems to me that if I ever had this +feeling--for I cannot certainly tell whether I ever had or only now +imagine it--it seems to me as though it were an inner instinct warning +me against evil; for day by day I see more clearly that there has been +some veil over my soul, hiding it from a clear perception of what was +suitable for it.' + +'And you begin to dislike her?' inquired Ęnone. + +'Not so,' he said. 'Nor do I know whether I ought to do so, if I could. +I believe now that she does not, and perhaps never has loved me, but I +must forgive her for all that. She may have tried to do so, and for a +time have thought that she did, and the true blame may all the while +have rested with me alone. With her strong, unbending temperament, +fearless of correction, and jealous of all control, how, indeed, could +she long cling to one of such a tranquil and yielding nature as myself? +That she loved me not, proves not that she could love no one; and though +she now seems so coldly heartless and so rashly heedless of her fame, +yet who knows what she might have been if fettered by the love of a +spirit more imperious than her own? Who can tell how the great good that +is within her might then have conquered the evil, and her soul have +spurned its present headstrong course, and gloriously aroused itself to +its sole great duty of love and innocent trustfulness?' + +'These, indeed, are very far from being words of dislike,' said Ęnone; +'and they only prove that you still love her, or you would not so +readily excuse her.' + +'Neither have I denied that I love her yet,' he said. 'But it is not +with as blind an affection as before. Her touch, her words, her +smile--if given with real love--would still please me as of old; and yet +I should feel that there was something gone from me forever. Even if we +were restored to our own isle, with no enemy near or rival to interrupt +us, I could not but henceforth feel that destiny had not meant her for +me, so much would her stronger nature be ill assorted with my own. And +sometimes--' + +'Well?' + +'Sometimes--now that this thraldom of my spirit is passing off--there +comes back to me the memory of another face, a gentle, loving +face--which, if it were possible ever to see it again, I have too long +forgotten, but which, if I may not see it more, I should, for my own +sake, have forgotten long ago. But all this, honored mistress, can be of +no interest to you, and therefore it were foolish to mention it.' + +'Nay, speak to me of it,' murmured Ęnone; and, struggle as she would, +the telltale blood began to flow up into her face. 'Is there any woman +who does not care to listen to a love story?' she added, as though in +excuse for her curiosity. + +'It is but a common love tale,' he said, 'and the more so that nothing +came of it. A few stolen interviews--a few promises exchanged--and then +a parting forever. That is all.' + +'But where and when was this?' + +'Six years ago, at Ostia. For, though a Greek, I have been in this land +before now. I was a sailor then, and in that port I met her. Met her and +loved her, and promised to return again. And for a while I meant to do +so; but on our passage back our ship was wrecked. I could not at once +find place upon another, and so took employment on the shore--none the +less, however, intending some day to come back and claim her. What shall +I say? It is the old story. The sea is wide, and I could interchange no +tidings with her. Ill success followed me, and I could not return to +Ostia. Then, little by little, as the months drifted past, and I +believed her lost to me, her image began to fade from my memory. And +then I saw Leta; and under the spell of that new charm, it seemed to me +as though the other one had lost all grasp upon my mind. Not altogether, +though, for even at the height of my later love, I have always borne +about me the last keepsake that she had given me.' + +'Let me see it, what it is like,' said Ęnone, faintly; and in obedience +to her command, and perhaps wondering a little that she should take such +interest in so simple a story, Cleotos drew from beneath his tunic a +thread with a coin dangling at the end. + +The tears struggled into Ęnone's eyes as she gazed upon the token. It +was a poor little silver coin of the time of the first Cęsars--one of +the few curiosities of her father's family--and which she had given to +her lover as the most precious thing belonging to her. She remembered +that when, in that last stroll by the shore, she had hung it about his +neck with her own hands, and had made him promise always to keep it, she +had received from him a similar token--a bright silver piece of +Vespasian, and had placed it near her heart, while murmuring similar +vows. He had kept his word, and she had not kept hers. For the moment, +she felt even guilty of bad faith, forgetting that when she afterward +gave her more mature affection to Sergius, it was only her duty to lay +aside all that even whispered of past promises. + +'I could not bear to part with it,' he said; 'for it still spoke to me +of her friendship, if not of her love. And a superstitions thought came +into my mind that I might some day see her again, and that, though we +should not meet as lovers, yet she might, perhaps, be pleased to learn +that I had not entirely forgotten her. Would she not, noble lady, do you +think?' + +'She does--that is, it surely should so move her,' said Ęnone. + +'So have I still worn it,' he continued. 'And somehow each day brings +back the recollection of her more faithfully to me. Whether it is +because this other absorbing love is passing from my heart, and leaving +to me greater freedom of thought--or whether it is that Ostia is now so +near to me that I daily hear of it and see its costumes in the streets, +and thus my recollection of the place is kindled anew--or whether it +is--' + +'Is what?' said Ęnone, encouragingly. + +'I know not how to dare say it,' he stammered. 'It is a presumption, +indeed, but I mean it not for such. I would say that there is something +in your face, most noble mistress--a look--a flash of thought--a glance +of the eye--a something I know not what, which reminds me of her whom I +knew so many years ago. So that sometimes, were it not for the +difference of dress and all else around you, so much at variance with +what had been her state, I could almost forget the lapse of years, and +imagine that--Pardon, most noble lady! I meant not to offend!' + +For she had arisen; and now, drawn to her full height, was looking down +upon him with all the coldness of patrician dignity that she could +summon to her aid. He, too, arose, and stood trembling opposite her. For +a moment they remained gazing upon each other; he aghast at the apparent +consequences of his remark, reproaching himself for having so +inconsiderately raised her anger by daring to compare, even in feature, +a lowly country girl with her, and despairingly asking himself what he +should do to restore himself to her favor--she more and more wrapping +herself in a disguise of outward pride and haughty bearing, lest by some +chance his unsuspecting eyes might detect the truth, and yet inwardly +bleeding at the heart to think that she could not reveal herself to him +and promise him her friendship, in full confidence that his love for her +would not return and bring new distress upon them. Then suddenly, while +each stood wondering what course to take, a light step was heard in the +outer hall, and the poet Emilius entered. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +At the interruption, Ęnone hastily reseated herself; while Cleotos, in +obedience to a quick and significant motion of her finger, remained in +the room, and, resuming his position at the table, prepared to continue +his writing. The poet Emilius could not, of course, fail to notice this +somewhat confused alteration of posture, but no suspicion of having +intruded upon an embarrassing scene crossed his mind. He merely saw a +proudly erect mistress and a cowering slave; and it was no unusual thing +to interrupt a Roman lady in the act of giving even corporeal correction +to her attendant, nor did the stranger's entrance always cause the +punishment to cease. + +'Has the caitiff been insolent?' he exclaimed, in gallant tone, as he +approached and seated himself before her. 'Has he dared to look too +rebelliously upon so charming a mistress? If so, permit that I may +chastise him for you. It is not fit that such fair hands should be +obliged to wield the rod.' + +'Nay, it is nothing,' she said. 'Nothing, indeed, needing much reproof; +and it is all past now. And wherefore have we lately seen so little of +you?' + +'Commands of court--the claims of Parnassus--all these, fair lady, have +withheld me from heretofore giving to beauty its proper meed of +admiration and worship. To speak more plainly, I have undertaken, by +order of our emperor, the not ungrateful task of weaving a few poetical +sentiments to be recited at the opening of our new amphitheatre. And in +order that the results of my labor might not lessen my already acquired +fame, I judged it most prudent to seclude myself for the past few days +from the gayeties of the world, and give myself up to study and +meditation. Though, after all, I could not deny, if closely questioned, +that my seclusion was but little productive of results; for, upon being +tempted out one evening, sorely against my judgment, to a feast at the +house of the comedian Bassus, the true poetic inspiration overtook me +at the end of my third goblet, and, calling for parchment, I there +accomplished, in one short hour, the greater portion of my task.' + +'Then, I presume that your ode, unlike your other works, will be of a +cheerful and lively character, more especially as it is written for such +a festive occasion.' + +'Scarcely, perhaps, what the world would call altogether lively, though +here and there a thread of playful thought may gleam upon the more sober +texture of the basis. I have rather judged it proper that, for the due +celebration of an event of such wondrous magnificence, I should give +utterance to deeper and more lasting sentiments, so as to fit the minds +of the spectators for a higher comprehension of its true significance. +But, if you wish, I will read aloud a few of my thoughts; and be assured +that so far no eye has seen the scroll, not even the august eye of the +emperor Titus himself.' + +Ęnone inclined her head in assent, and he drew from the breast of his +tunic a small roll of parchment, carefully wrapped in a covering of +embroidered silk. + +'I commence, of course, by an address to the emperor, whom I call the +most illustrious of all the Cęsars, and liken unto Jove. I then +congratulate the spectators not only upon living in his time, but also +upon being there to bask in the effulgence of his majesty; his +countenance being the sight most to be desired, and the games and +combats being merely accessory thereto. After which, I speak to the +gladiators and captives; and prove to them how grateful they should be +to the gods for allowing them the privilege of dying in such an august +presence.' + +'Is it such a privilege, do you think?' inquired Ęnone. + +'Perhaps not a privilege, but certainly no great hardship. The trained +gladiators surely cannot complain, for they have voluntarily assumed the +risks; and as for the captives, the most of them will some day die a +violent death of some kind or another, and, therefore, why not now, +attended by the decent observances of the games and the applause of all +the Roman people? But to proceed. From thence I speak of death--its +pleasures and its recompenses; showing that, if there be a future life, +the gods have done wisely to withhold its exact nature from us, and +that, whatever uncertainties may exist in other respects, nothing can be +more true than that those who now die in the arena will, in another +world, find their highest felicity in the privilege of looking up from a +distance at the loved emperor in whose honor they perished, and +beholding him enjoying, through adoption, the society of the inhabitants +of Olympus. I then--but it is useless to detail all the argument. I will +read the poem itself; or rather, if you so permit, I will let this +scribe of yours read it for me. Perhaps, upon hearing it from another's +mouth, I may be led to make still further corrections.' + +Handing the manuscript with all care to Cleotos, the poet leaned back +with eyes closed in delicious revery, now and then arousing himself to +correct some defective emphasis or unsatisfactory intonation, the +tolerance of which, he imagined, would mar the proper effect of the +production, or, with persistent desire for praise, momentarily calling +closer attention to such passages as appeared to him deserving of +especial commendation--and generally omitting no opportunity of exacting +that entire admiration to which he believed his genius entitled him. +Apart from a somewhat extravagant display of high-strained metaphor, the +poem had merit, being bold in scope, sonorous and well rounded in tone, +and here and there gracefully decked with original and pleasing +thoughts. Throughout the whole, however, the singular propensity of the +author for indulgence in morbid and gloomy reflection found its usual +development, while every line was laden with lofty maxims of moral +philosophy, mingled with urgent incentives to the adoption of a virtuous +career;--all, in themselves, both unexceptionable and praiseworthy, but, +nevertheless, having a strange sound in the ears of those who recognized +them as the utterances of one whose conversation was always flippant and +puerile, and whose daily life, in the enormity and uninterrupted +persistency of its profligacy, rendered him the acknowledged leader of +all that was most disreputable and contaminating in Roman society. + +At length, the reading having been fully completed, and the listener's +powers of flattery exhausted, the author carefully rewrapped his poem in +its silken cover and carried it away, to read it, in turn, to other +noble ladies, with the same transparent pretence of giving exclusive +hearing of it to each. For a few moments Ęnone remained in thoughtful +silence, with her head bowed upon her hand; recalling the scattered +fragments of the sonorous verses, and wondering why it was that, when +each line had seemed so perfect in itself, and every thought so pure and +noble in its purport and conception, the whole should have left upon her +mind such an undefinable impress of dissatisfaction. + +Cleotos, with unobtrusive scrutiny, seemed to read her thoughts, for, at +the first intimation of her perplexity, he said: + +'It is because the author of those verses has not sincerely felt the +full meaning of what he has there written. For, with whatsoever display +of ingenious and artistic skill fair sounding maxims of morality may be +expressed, yet, if they come not from the heart, their utterance must +seem hollow and unreal. I do not know this author--how or where he +lives. It may be that in his daily life he is outwardly all that could +be desired. But I know this--that he has written about virtue and death, +not because he loves the one and fears not the other, but simply +because, by a display of well-toned periods, he may more surely hope to +gain the applause of the arena and the smiles of the court.' + +'But why should not these sentiments, though called into being by +personal ambition alone, give equal pleasure as if springing directly +from the heart? Are they not, after all, as true?' + +'Nay, honored mistress, neither are they true. This is again where they +fail to please; for in your soul there is an instinct, though you may +not know of it, which forbids that such cold and unsatisfactory +reasoning should bring you comfort. He speaks of death: is it cheering +to be told that, though the gods have appointed death to every person, +they have given it, not as a veiled mercy, but rather as a dreadful +fate--that there is no certainty about our future condition, but that, +if we are destined to live again, it may be with the same evils +encompassing us which bind us now--and that the slave may then still be +a slave, destined forever to look up to and worship the high and mighty +ones who trampled on him here?' + +'That is, in truth, no comfort,' said Ęnone. And she bowed her head upon +her hands, and sadly thought how worthless to her would be the gift of +eternal life, if her present sorrows were to follow her. 'But what can +we do? If it were possible to discover and believe in some other fate, +telling us that death, instead of being a dreaded pang, is a boon and +relief to the sick and weary and oppressed--' + +'There is a book,' said Cleotos--and for a moment he hesitated, as +though fearful of proceeding--'there is a book which I have read, and +which tells us all this. It says that death is not merely a fate, but is +a source of blessing; since it leads to a world where the sufferings of +this life shall be recompensed with abundant joy, not to the rich +merely, but more especially to the poor and lowly.' + +'Where is that book?' cried Ęnone, with sudden energy, as the wondrous +depth and power of the sentiment flashed upon her. 'Where can I see and +read it? He who can talk like that, must surely have said still more?' + +'I have not that book,' answered Cleotos. 'I have only this little copy +of a small portion of it;' and he hesitatingly drew from beneath his +tunic a single small leaf of discolored parchment, closely filled with +Greek characters. 'But being at Corinth, a year ago, I was permitted to +see the book itself, and to hear portions of it read. It was written to +a Christian church there, by one Paul, a leader of that sect.' + +At the word 'Christian' the first impulse of Ęnone was to shrink back, +not knowing but that even the presence of one who had ever come into +contact with any of that despised sect might be injurious to her. For at +once she began to recall many of the tales which she had heard to its +discredit--its members hiding as outcasts in the caves and dens of the +earth--their repeated insults to the gods--their proud and unaccountable +worship of a malefactor--their sacrifice of infants--and other +exaggerations and calumnies, begotten in malice or ignorance, and thence +widely spread, making it not hard to believe that the only fate fit for +those to whom they related was a life of persecution and a cruel death +in the arena. + +But only for a moment did this instinctive horror control her. The +single doctrine which she had just heard advanced already began to bear +its fruits. It seemed, indeed, not unlikely that one who could write +such truths, and those, his disciples, who could so gratefully treasure +them up, might not, after all, be wantonly wicked, but, at the worst, +might be merely victims of mistaken zeal. And then, in turn, she thought +of much that had been related to her in their favor. During her life at +Rome, indeed, she had heard no mention of the Christian sect, unless +accompanied with sneers or contempt. But she remembered how that in +Ostia, while she was yet a very young girl, she had heard it sometimes +whispered that the Christians were kind and loving to all the world, and +free from many sins in which other men openly exulted, and that, through +their great love for their founder, they organized charities which had +never before been even thought of--and how that once, when she had been +very sick, a strange woman had nursed her into health and refused all +payment for it, alleging that her religion bade her give herself up to +such tasks--and how that she had once seen pass by, one who was pointed +out to her as a holy man among the sect--whose name indeed she could not +remember, but whose mild and serene expression yet lived in her +recollection. It was hardly possible that one whose face was so radiant +with universal love and benevolence as to impress itself thus lastingly +upon the heart of a young child could have been very wicked. Nor did it +seem likely that Cleotos, whose greatest weakness was that his life had +been almost too innocent and trusting, could speak well of a sect which +worthily ought to be persecuted. And then again she thought upon that +little book to the sect at Corinth, and she bade Cleotos to read a verse +or two. He did so. At another time she might have listened as she had +listened to the moral maxims of the poet Emilius--judging well of it, +perhaps, for the beauty of its words, but, beyond that, regarding it +simply as some new and more original expression of long-accepted +philosophy. But now, in her trouble, she felt that there was something +in it beyond all known philosophy--a new development of faith, appealing +to the heart, and speaking comfort to all who were in misery. It surely +could not be that such words were the emanations of an evil influence. + +'Art thou--answer me, Cleotos--art thou one of the sect of Christians?' +she inquired. + +'How can I tell?' he responded. 'I have so often asked that question of +my heart, and yet have not been able to understand what it has said to +me. There are times when I think that I must pray only to the gods of +Olympus, and that all I have heard or read about other gods must be +untrue. And again, when I read this little parchment of mine, and +remember other like things that have been told to me, and see how they +all speak of death as a relief to the sorrowing, and of another life in +which the down trodden and the captive shall be recompensed for what +they have suffered here, and know that I am one of those who need such +recompense--then I think that perhaps the only true God is the God of +the Christians. But I can learn so little about it all, that I cannot, +from my own judgment, determine which must be right.' + +'Perhaps,' thoughtfully responded Ęnone, 'it may be that if you tell me +all you know about it, I may be able to assist your conclusions. Who +knows what light I myself need, or how much of good we may borrow from +this new religion? It cannot be wrong to examine for one's self, and the +gods will not be angry if we gain good doctrine even from wrong sources, +so long as it may make us better. To-morrow, therefore, let us begin.' + +Upon the morrow, therefore, and for many succeeding days, the mistress +and the slave spent stolen moments in groping after the truth of that +faith which makes the high and the low equal. It was a blind search, for +neither of them had any definite comprehension of the history and +doctrine upon which the new religion had been founded. Cleotos had +enjoyed the best opportunities of acquainting himself with it, having +naturally, in his wanderings about the East, and in his contact with the +poor and enslaved of many lands, heard much respecting the Christian +churches and their belief; but having had no instructor, a great portion +of what he had thus received came to him in but distorted and puzzling +array. And Ęnone could not comprehend how, when the gods ruled Rome, and +Rome had scattered the Jews, one whom the Jews had had the power to slay +could be greater than all. But between them, for their study, lay the +leaf of parchment, closely covered with writing, beside which the +proudest and choicest philosophy of Rome seemed mockery; and though they +could not understand its full meaning, they knew that it spoke such good +words that, at the least, though it may have come from erring men, it +was no less worthy to have come from a God. Whatever the real nature of +the faith itself, here was certainly a proof that among its attributes +were mercy and peace and brotherly love toward all. + +What might have been the consequences if Ęnone had been free to pursue +the investigation as far as she wished--to send for other books to aid +her--to consult more learned teachers, who, though perhaps hiding in +secret shelter, were yet attainable with proper search, cannot be known. +It is not improbable that, in the end, one more might have been added to +the list of those few Roman women of high degree who even then gave up +all their rank and state in order to share the persecutions of the +Nazarenes. But it was otherwise ordered. Already indications, each +slight in itself, but altogether of important bearing, began to present +themselves before her, warning her that jealous eyes were watching her, +and that, if she would avoid the consequences of misconstruction, she +must bring her feeble investigations to a close. + +Until now, Leta, in her struggle to alienate the husband from the wife, +had been actuated simply by the exigencies of her ambitious policy. +Bearing in her heart no especial hatred toward her mistress, she would +willingly have spared her, had not the circumstances of the case seemed +to require the ruin of the one preliminary to the exaltation of the +other. But now, other incentives to her efforts were added. First in her +mind came jealousy of Cleotos; for though she had cast him off, and bade +him stifle the yearnings of his heart, and, by the cool exercise of +intellect and craft alone, seek a better fortune for himself, it was +hardly natural that she should feel pleased to have him so soon appear +to take her at her word. She would have better liked to see him display +more prolonged sorrow for her loss. Then came jealousy of Ęnone, who had +apparently been able to console him so early. And mingled with all this, +there began to press upon her a startling thought--one which she at +first contemned as unlikely and absurd--but which, though continually +driven away, so obstinately returned and commended itself to her +attention with newer plausibility, that at last she began to give bitter +and anxious heed to it. What if this constant communication between +Ęnone and Cleotos were to result in a mutual love? It was no uncommon +thing in those days for the high-born lady to cast her eyes upon the +slave. How mortifying to herself, then, if, while she had been exerting +all her powers of fascination, taxing the utmost resources of her +intellect, and making of her whole existence one labored study for the +purpose of gaining an undue influence over the lord, Cleotos, without +art or disguise or apparent effort, or any advantage other than that +afforded by his simple-hearted, trusting nature, should have quietly won +from the other side of the house a victory of almost equal importance? +And further than this--what if the lord were to perish in some brawl or +by the hired assassin of a rival house; and Ęnone, released from her +thraldom, and despising conventional scruples--as again was not uncommon +among the Roman ladies of that day--were to exalt her favorite with +legal honors, and thus make herself, Leta, his slave? This, to be sure, +was an improbable chance; but a mind as active as her own did not +disdain to foresee and provide against all contingencies. + +Then, in addition to everything else, she became absorbed in the one +overwhelming and bitter reflection, that after all her sacrifice and +labor, the anticipated success might be escaping her. It is true that, +thanks to her efforts, the distance between Sergius and Ęnone had +widened, until it seemed that there could never be a perfect reunion; +but all this, if the state of partial neglect which had existed in the +beginning could be relied upon as an indication, was a consequence which +might easily, in time, have come of itself. It is true that Sergius had +yielded himself a willing victim to the unlawful fascinations thrown +around him; but yet Leta could not avoid seeing that he regarded her not +with the deep, earnest love which she had hoped to inspire, but rather +with the trifling carelessness of one giving himself up to the plaything +of the hour. Not having, from the very first, been chary of the sidelong +glance and the winning smile, and whatever grace of style or manner +could tempt him to pursuit, as an illusive appearance of success seemed +to beckon her onward, her heart at times grew desperate with the +apprehension that all had been in vain. For Sergius, content that the +wife whom he neglected did not disturb his repose with idle complaints, +had no thought of inflicting any deeper injury upon her, being well +satisfied to have her remain and confer honor upon him by the grace with +which she maintained the dignity of his house. And though well pleased +to sun himself in Leta's smile, there never came to him the thought that +the slave could be worthy of any exaltation, or that her highest +ambition could prompt her to desire more than a continuance of the +companionship with which he honored her. All this Leta began to dimly +see; and there were times when, strive to hide it from her heart as she +would, it seemed as though he might be even growing weary of her. + +Thus tormented with doubt and jealousy and the constantly increasing +suspicion of baffled ambition, how was she to act? To accept her +situation as a decree of fate, to fawn upon the mistress like a patient +slave, and, if the lord were to tire of her in the end and give himself +up to other captivations, to submit unmurmuringly to the unavoidable +necessity? All this some might consent to do; but surely not one like +herself, gifted with indomitable will, and stung to desperation with the +sense of great and irreparable sacrifices. To her there could be but one +course. She must abandon her slow and cautious policy, and seek the +earliest opportunity to urge the matter to its crisis. If, by sparing no +watchfulness or ingenuity, or by the exercise of bold and vigorous +manoeuvring, she could produce a quarrel and final separation between +Sergius and his wife, it might not be impossible for her to impress upon +him how much she was necessary to his happiness, and thereby elevate +herself into the vacant place. And if unsuccessful, at the least she +would be but sharing a ruin which would fall like an avalanche upon all +alike. + + + + +THE FIRST CHRISTIAN EMPEROR. + + +The last great imperial persecution of the Christians under Diocletian +and Galerius, which was aimed at the entire uprooting of the new +religion, ended with the edict of toleration of 311 and the tragical +ruin of the persecutors. Galerius died soon after of a disgusting and +terrible disease (_morbus pedicularis_), described with great minuteness +by Eusebius and Lactantius. 'His body,' says Gibbon, 'swelled by an +intemperate course of life to an unwieldy corpulence, was covered with +ulcers and devoured by innumerable swarms of those insects which have +given their name to a most loathsome disease.' Diocletian had withdrawn +from the throne in 305, and in 313 put an end to his imbittered life by +suicide. In his retirement he found more pleasure in raising cabbage +than he had found in ruling the empire; a confession we may readily +believe. (President Lincoln, of the United States, during the dark days +of the civil war, in December, 1862, declared that he would gladly +exchange his position with any common soldier in the tented field.) +Maximin, who kept up the persecution in the East, even after the +toleration edict, as long as he could, died likewise a violent death by +poison, in 313. In this tragical end of their last three imperial +persecutors the Christians saw a palpable judgment of God. The edict of +toleration was an involuntary and irresistible concession of the +incurable impotence of heathenism and the indestructible power of +Christianity. It left but a step to the downfall of the one and the +supremacy of the other in the empire of the Cęsars. + +This great epoch is marked by the reign of Constantine I. He understood +the signs of the time, and acted accordingly. He was the man for the +times, as the times were prepared for him by that Providence which +controls both and fits them for each other. He placed himself at the +head of true progress, while his nephew, Julian the Apostate, opposed +it, and was left behind. He was the chief instrument for raising the +church from the low estate of oppression and persecution to +well-deserved honor and power. For this service a thankful posterity has +given him the surname of the Great, to which he was entitled, though not +by his moral character, yet doubtless by his military and administrative +ability, his judicious policy, his appreciation and protection of +Christianity, and the far-reaching consequences of his reign. His +greatness was not indeed of the first, but of the second order, and is +to be measured more by what he _did_ than by what he _was_. To the Greek +Church, which honors him even as a canonized saint, he has the same +significance as Charlemagne to the Latin. + +Constantine, the first Christian Cęsar, the founder of Constantinople +and the Byzantine empire, and one of the most gifted, energetic, and +successful of the Roman emperors, was the first representative of the +imposing idea of a Christian theocracy, or of that system of policy +which assumes all subjects to be Christians, connects civil and +religious rights, and regards church and state as the two arms of one +and the same divine government on earth. This was more fully developed +by his successors, it animated the whole Middle Age, and is yet working +under various forms in these latest times; though it has never been +fully realized, whether in the Byzantine, the German, or the Russian +empire, the Roman church-state, the Calvinistic republic of Geneva, or +the early Puritanic colonies of New England. At the same time, however, +Constantine stands also as the type of an undiscriminating and harmful +conjunction of Christianity with politics, of the holy symbol of peace +with the horrors of war, of the spiritual interests of the kingdom of +heaven with the earthly interests of the state. + +In judging of this remarkable man and his reign, we must by all means +keep to the great historical principle, that all representative +characters act consciously or unconsciously as the free and responsible +organs of the spirit of their age, which moulds them first before they +can mould it in turn, and that the spirit of the age itself, whether +good or bad or mixed, is but an instrument in the hands of Divine +Providence, which rules and overrules all the actions and motives of +men. + +Through a history of three centuries Christianity had already overcome +the world, and thus rendered such an outward revolution, as has attached +itself to the name of this prince, both possible and unavoidable. It +were extremely superficial to refer so thorough and momentous a change +to the personal motives of an individual, be they motives of policy, of +piety, or of superstition. But unquestionably every age produces and +shapes its own organs, as its own purposes require. So in the case of +Constantine. He was distinguished by that genuine political wisdom, +which, putting itself at the head of the age, clearly saw that idolatry +had outlived itself in the Roman empire, and that Christianity alone +could breathe new vigor into it and furnish its moral support. +Especially on the point of the external catholic unity, his monarchical +politics accorded with the hierarchical episcopacy of the church. Hence +from the year 313 he placed himself in close connection with the +bishops, made peace and harmony his first object in the Donatist and +Arian controversies, and gave the predicate 'catholic' to the church in +all official documents. And as his predecessors were supreme pontiffs of +the heathen religion of the empire, so he desired to be looked upon as a +sort of bishop, as universal bishop of the eternal affairs of the +church. All this by no means from mere self-interest, but for the good +of the empire, which, now shaken to its foundations and threatened by +barbarians on every side, could only by some new bond of unity be +consolidated and upheld until at least the seeds of Christianity and +civilization should be planted among the barbarians themselves, the +representatives of the future. His personal policy thus coincided with +the interests of the state. Christianity appeared to him, as it proved +in fact, the only efficient power for a political reformation of the +empire, from which the ancient spirit of Rome was fast departing, while +internal civil and religious dissensions and the outward pressure of the +barbarians threatened a gradual dissolution of society. + +But with the political he united also a religious motive, not clear and +deep, indeed, yet honest, and strongly infused with the superstitious +disposition to judge of a religion by its outward success, and to +ascribe a magical virtue to signs and ceremonies. His whole family was +swayed by religious sentiment, which manifested itself in very different +forms, in the devout pilgrimages of his Helena, the fanatical Arianism +of Constantia and Constantius, and the fanatical paganism of Julian. +Constantine adopted Christianity first as a superstition, and put it by +the side of his heathen superstition, till finally in his conviction the +Christian vanquished the pagan, though without itself developing into a +pure and enlightened faith. + +At first Constantine, like his father, in the spirit of the Neo-Platonic +syncretism of dying heathendom, reverenced all the gods as mysterious +powers; especially Apollo, the god of the sun, to whom in the year 308 +he presented munificent gifts. Nay, so late as the year 321 he enjoined +regular consultation of the soothsayers in public misfortunes, according +to ancient heathen usage; even later, he placed his new residence, +Byzantium, under the protection of the God of the Martyrs and the +heathen goddess of Fortune; and down to the end of his life he retained +the title and the dignity of a _Pontifex Maximus_, or high priest of the +heathen hierarchy. His coins bore on the one side the letters of the +name of Christ, on the other the figure of the sun-god, and the +inscription _Sol invictus_. Of course these inconsistencies may be +referred also to policy and accommodation to the toleration edict of +313. Nor is it difficult to adduce parallels of persons who in passing +from Judaism to Christianity, or from Romanism to Protestantism, have +honestly so wavered between their old and their new position, that they +might be claimed by both. With his every victory over his pagan rivals, +Galerius, Maxentius, and Licinius, his personal leaning to Christianity +and his confidence in the magic power of the sign of the cross +increased; yet he did not formally renounce heathenism, and did not +receive baptism until, in 337, he was laid upon the bed of death. + +He had an imposing and winning person, and was compared by flatterers +with Apollo. He was tall, broad shouldered, handsome, and of a +remarkably vigorous and healthy constitution, but given to excessive +vanity in his dress and outward demeanor, always wearing an oriental +diadem, a helmet studded with jewels, and a purple mantle of silk richly +embroidered with pearls and flowers worked in gold. His mind was not +highly cultivated, but naturally clear, strong, and shrewd, and seldom +thrown off its guard. He is said to have combined a cynical contempt of +mankind with an inordinate love of praise. He possessed a good knowledge +of human nature and administrative energy and tact. + +His moral character was not without noble traits, among which a chastity +rare for the time, and a liberality and beneficence bordering on +wastefulness were prominent. Many of his laws and regulations breathed +the spirit of Christian justice and humanity, promoted the elevation of +the female sex, improved the condition of slaves and of unfortunates, +and gave free play to the efficiency of the church throughout the whole +empire. Altogether he was one of the best, the most fortunate, and the +most influential of the Roman emperors, Christian and pagan. + +Yet he had great faults. He was far from being so pure and so venerable +as Eusebius, blinded by his favor to the church, depicts him, in his +bombastic and almost dishonestly eulogistic biography, with the evident +intention of setting him up as a model for all future Christian princes. +It must, with all regret, be conceded, that his progress in the +knowledge of Christianity was not a progress in the practice of its +virtues. His love of display and his prodigality, his suspiciousness and +his despotism, increased with his power. + +The very brightest period of his reign is stained with gross crimes, +which even the spirit of the age and the policy of an absolute monarch +cannot excuse. After having reached, upon the bloody path of war, the +goal of his ambition, the sole possession of the empire, yea, in the +very year in which he summoned the great council of Nicęa, he ordered +the execution of his conquered rival and brother-in-law, Licinius, in +breach of a solemn promise of mercy (324). Not satisfied with this, he +caused soon afterward, from political suspicion, the death of the young +Licinius, his nephew, a boy of hardly eleven years. But the worst of all +is the murder of his eldest son, Crispus, in 326, who had incurred +suspicion of political conspiracy, and of adulterous and incestuous +purposes toward his stepmother Fausta, but is generally regarded as +innocent. This domestic and political tragedy emerged from a vortex of +mutual suspicion and rivalry, and calls to mind the conduct of Philip +II. toward Don Carlos, of Peter the Great toward his son Alexis, and of +Soliman the Great toward his son Mustapha. Later authors assert, though +gratuitously, that the emperor, like David, bitterly repented of this +sin. He has been frequently charged besides, though it would seem +altogether unjustly, with the death of his second wife Fausta (326?), +who, after twenty years of happy wedlock, is said to have been convicted +of slandering her stepson Crispus, and of adultery with a slave or one +of the imperial guards, and then to have been suffocated in the vapor of +an overheated bath. But the accounts of the cause and manner of her +death are so late and discordant as to make Constantine's part in it at +least very doubtful. + +At all events Christianity did not produce in Constantine a thorough +moral transformation. He was concerned more to advance the outward +social position of the Christian religion, than to further its inward +mission. He was praised and censured in turn by the Christians and +pagans, the orthodox and the Arians, as they successively experienced +his favor or dislike. He bears some resemblance to Peter the Great, both +in his public acts and his private character, by combining great virtues +and merits with monstrous crimes, and he probably died with the same +consolation as Peter, whose last words were: 'I trust that in respect of +the good I have striven to do my people (the church), God will pardon my +sins.' It is quite characteristic of his piety that he turned the sacred +nails of the Saviour's cross, which Helena brought from Jerusalem, the +one into the bit of his war horse, the other into an ornament of his +helmet. Not a decided, pure, and consistent character, he stands on the +line of transition between two ages and two religions; and his life +bears plain marks of both. When at last on his deathbed he submitted to +baptism, with the remark, 'Now let us cast away all _duplicity_,' he +honestly admitted the conflict of two antagonistic principles which +swayed his private character and public life. + +From these general remarks we turn to the leading features of +Constantine's life and reign, so far as they bear upon the history of +the church. We shall consider in order his youth and training, the +vision of the cross, the edict of toleration, his legislation in favor +of Christianity, his baptism and death. + +Constantine, son of the co-emperor Constantius Chlorus, who reigned over +Gaul, Spain, and Britain till his death in 306, was born probably in the +year 272, either in Britain or at Naissus (now called Nissa), a town of +Dardania, in Illyricum. His mother was Helena, daughter of an innkeeper, +the first wife of Constantius, afterward divorced, when Constantius, for +political reasons, married a daughter of Maximian. She is described by +Christian writers as a discreet and devout woman, and has been honored +with a place in the catalogue of saints. Her name is identified with the +discovery of the cross and the pious superstitions of the holy places. +She lived to a very advanced age, and died in the year 326 or 327, in or +near the city of Rome. Rising by her beauty and good fortune from +obscurity to the splendor of the court, then meeting the fate of +Josephine, but restored to imperial dignity by her son, and ending as a +saint of the Catholic church: Helena would form an interesting subject +for a historical novel illustrating the leading events of the Nicene age +and the triumph of Christianity in the Roman empire. + +Constantine first distinguished himself in the service of Diocletian in +the Egyptian and Persian wars; went afterward to Gaul and Britain, and +in the Prętorium at York was proclaimed emperor by his dying father and +by the Roman troops. His father before him held a favorable opinion of +the Christians as peaceable and honorable citizens, and protected them +in the West during the Diocletian persecution in the East. This +respectful, tolerant regard descended to Constantine, and the good +effects of it, compared with the evil results of the opposite course of +his antagonist Galerius, could but encourage him to pursue it. He +reasoned, as Eusebius reports from his own mouth, in the following +manner: 'My father revered the Christian God, and uniformly prospered, +while the emperors who worshipped the heathen gods, died a miserable +death; therefore, that I may enjoy a happy life and reign, I will +imitate the example of my father and join myself to the cause of the +Christians, who are growing daily, while the heathen are diminishing.' +This low utilitarian consideration weighed heavily in the mind of an +ambitious captain, who looked forward to the highest seat of power +within the gift of his age. Whether his mother, whom he always revered, +and who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in her eightieth year (A. D. +325), planted the germ of the Christian faith in her son, as Theodoret +supposes, or herself became a Christian through his influence, as +Eusebius asserts, must remain undecided. According to the heathen +Zosimus, whose statement is unquestionably false and malicious, an +Egyptian, who came out of Spain (probably the bishop Hosius of Cordova, +a native of Egypt, is intended), persuaded him, after the murder of +Crispus (which did not occur before 326), that by converting to +Christianity he might obtain forgiveness of his sins. + +The first public evidence of a positive leaning toward the Christian +religion he gave in his contest with the pagan Maxentius, who had +usurped the government of Italy and Africa, and is universally +represented as a cruel, dissolute tyrant, hated by heathens and +Christians alike. Called by the Roman people to their aid, Constantine +marched from Gaul across the Alps with an army of ninety-eight thousand +soldiers of every nationality, and defeated Maxentius in three battles; +the last in October, 312, at the Milvian bridge, near Rome, where +Maxentius found a disgraceful death in the waters of the Tiber. + +Here belongs the familiar story of the miraculous cross. The precise day +and place cannot be fixed, but the event must have occurred shortly +before the final victory over Maxentius in the neighborhood of Rome. As +this vision is one of the most noted miracles in church history, and has +a representative significance, it deserves a closer examination. It +marks for us on the one hand the victory of Christianity over paganism +in the Roman empire, and on the other the ominous admixture of foreign, +political, and military interests with it. We need not be surprised that +in the Nicene age so great a revolution and transition should have been +clothed with a supernatural character. + +The occurrence is variously described, and is not without serious +difficulties. Lactantius, the earliest witness, some three years after +the battle, speaks only of a dream by night, in which the emperor was +directed (it is not stated by whom, whether by Christ, or by an angel) +to stamp on the shields of his soldiers 'the heavenly sign of God,' that +is, the cross with the name of Christ, and thus to go forth against his +enemy. Eusebius, on the contrary, gives a more minute account, on the +authority of a subsequent private communication of the aged Constantine +himself under oath--not, however, till the year 338, a year after the +death of the emperor, his only witness, and twenty-six years after the +event. On his march from Gaul to Italy (the spot and date are not +specified), the emperor, while earnestly praying to the true God for +light and help at this critical time, saw, together with his army, in +clear daylight toward evening, a shining cross in the heavens above the +sun, with the inscription: '_By this conquer;_' and in the following +night Christ himself appeared to him while he slept, and directed him to +have a standard prepared in the form of this sign of the cross, and with +that to proceed against Maxentius and all other enemies. This account of +Eusebius, or rather of Constantine himself, adds to the night dream of +Lactantius the preceding vision of the day, and the direction concerning +the standard, while Lactantius speaks of the inscription of the initial +letters of Christ's name on the shields of the soldiers. According to +Rufinus, a later historian, who elsewhere depends entirely on Eusebius, +and can therefore not be regarded as a proper witness in the case, the +sign of the cross appeared to Constantine in a dream (which agrees with +the account of Lactantius), and upon his awaking in terror, an angel +(not Christ) exclaimed to him: '_Hoc vince._' Lactantius, Eusebius, and +Rufinus are the only Christian writers of the fourth century, who +mention the apparition. But we have besides one or two heathen +testimonies, which, though vague and obscure, still serve to strengthen +the evidence in favor of some actual occurrence. The contemporaneous +orator Nazarius, in a panegyric upon the emperor, pronounced March 1, +321, apparently at Rome, speaks of an army of divine warriors and a +divine assistance which Constantine received in the engagement with +Maxentius; but he converts it to the service of heathenism by recurring +to old prodigies, such as the appearance of Castor and Pollux. + +This famous tradition may be explained either as a real miracle implying +a personal appearance of Christ, or as a pious fraud, or as a natural +phenomenon in the clouds and an optical illusion, or finally as a +prophetic dream. + +The propriety of a miracle, parallel to the signs in heaven which +preceded the destruction of Jerusalem, might be justified by the +significance of the victory as marking a great epoch in history, namely, +the downfall of paganism and the establishment of Christianity in the +empire. But even if we waive the purely critical objections to the +Eusebian narrative, the assumed connection, in this case, of the gentle +Prince of peace with the god of battle, and the subserviency of the +sacred symbol of redemption to military ambition, is repugnant to the +genius of the gospel and to sound Christian feeling, unless we stretch +the theory of divine accommodation to the spirit of the age and the +passions and interests of individuals beyond the ordinary limits. We +should suppose, moreover, that Christ, if he had really appeared to +Constantine either in person (according to Eusebius) or through angels +(as Rufinus and Sozomen modify it), would have exhorted him to repent +and be baptized rather than to construct a military ensign for a bloody +battle. In no case can we ascribe to this occurrence, with Eusebius, +Theodoret, and older writers, the character of a sudden and genuine +conversion, as to Paul's vision of Christ on the way to Damascus; for, +on the one hand, Constantine was never hostile to Christianity, but most +probably friendly to it from his early youth, according to the example +of his father, and, on the other, he put off his baptism quite five and +twenty years, almost to the hour of his death. + +The opposite hypothesis of a mere military stratagem or intentional +fraud is still more objectionable, and would compel us either to impute +to the first Christian emperor, at a venerable age, the double crime of +falsehood and perjury, or, if Eusebius invented the story, to deny to +the 'father of church history' all claim to credibility and common +respectability. Besides, it should be remembered that the older +testimony of Lactantius, or whoever was the author of the work on the +Deaths of Persecutors, is quite independent of that of Eusebius, and +derives additional force from the vague heathen rumors of the time. +Finally the _Hoc vince_, which has passed into proverbial significance +as a most appropriate motto of the invincible religion of the cross, is +too good to be traced to sheer falsehood. Some actual fact, therefore, +must be supposed to underlie the tradition, and the question only is +this, whether it was an external, viable phenomenon or an internal +experience. + +The hypothesis of a natural formation of the clouds, which Constantine +by an optical illusion mistook for a supernatural sign of the cross, +besides smacking of the exploded rationalistic explanation of the New +Testament miracles, and deriving an important event from a mere +accident, leaves the figure of Christ and the Greek or Latin +inscription, '_By this sign thou shalt conquer!_' altogether +unexplained. + +We are shut up, therefore, to the theory of a dream or vision, and an +experience within the mind of Constantine. This is supported by the +oldest testimony of Lactantius, as well as by the report of Rufinus and +Sozomen, and we do not hesitate to regard the Eusebian cross in the +skies as originally a part of the dream, which only subsequently assumed +the character of an outward objective apparition, either in the +imagination of Constantine or by a mistake of the memory of the +historian, but in either case without intentional fraud. That the vision +was traced to supernatural origin, especially after the happy success, +is quite natural and in perfect keeping with the prevailing ideas of the +age. Tertullian and other ante-Nicene and Nicene fathers attributed many +conversions to nocturnal dreams and visions. Constantine and his friends +referred the most important facts of his life, as the knowledge of the +approach of hostile armies, the discovery of the holy sepulchre, the +founding of Constantinople, to divine revelation through visions and +dreams. Nor are we disposed in the least to deny the connection of the +vision of the cross with the agency of Divine Providence, which +controlled this remarkable turning point of history. We may go farther +and admit a special providence, or what the old divines call a +_providentia specialissima_; but this does not necessarily imply a +violation of the order of nature or an actual miracle in the shape of an +objective personal appearance of the Saviour. We may refer to a somewhat +similar, though far less important, vision in the life of the pious +English Colonel James Gardiner. The Bible itself sanctions the general +theory of providential or prophetic dreams and nocturnal visions through +which divine revelations and admonitions are communicated to men. + +The facts, therefore, may have been these: Before the battle, +Constantine, leaning already toward Christianity as probably the beat +and most hopeful of the various religions, seriously sought in prayer, +as he related to Eusebius, the assistance of the God of the Christians, +while his heathen antagonist, Maxentius, according to Zosimus, was +consulting the sibylline books and offering sacrifice to the idols. +Filled with mingled fears and hopes about the issue of the conflict, he +fell asleep, and saw in a dream the sign of the cross of Christ with a +significant inscription and promise of victory. Being already familiar +with the general use of this sign among the numerous Christians of the +empire, many of whom no doubt were in his own army, he constructed the +_labarum_,[A] afterward so called, that is, the sacred standard of the +Christian cross with the Greek monogram of Christ,[B] which he had also +put upon the shields of the soldiers. To this cross-standard, which now +took the place of the Roman eagles, he attributed the decisive victory +over the heathen Maxentius. + +Accordingly, after his triumphal entrance into Rome, he had his statue +erected upon the forum with the labarum in his right hand, and the +inscription beneath: 'By this saving sign, the true token of bravery, I +have delivered your city from the yoke of the tyrant.' Three years +afterward the senate erected to him a triumphal arch of marble, which to +this day, within sight of the sublime ruins of the pagan Colosseum, +indicates at once the decay of ancient art and the downfall of +heathenism; as the neighboring arch of Titus commemorates the downfall +of Judaism and the destruction of the temple. The inscription on this +arch of Constantine, however, ascribes his victory over the hated +tyrant, not only to his master mind, but indefinitely also to the +impulse of Deity; by which a Christian would naturally understand the +true God, while a heathen, like the orator Nazarius, in his eulogy on +Constantine, might take it for the celestial guardian power of the _urbs +ęterna_. + +At all events the victory of Constantine over Maxentius was a military +and political victory of Christianity over heathenism; the intellectual +and moral victory having been already accomplished by the literature and +life of the church in the preceding period. The emblem of ignominy and +oppression[C] became thenceforward the badge of honor and dominion, and +was invested in the emperor's view, according to the spirit of the +church of his day, with a magic virtue. It now took the place of the +eagle and other field badges, under which the heathen Romans had +conquered the world. It was stamped on the imperial coin, and on the +standards, helmets, and shields of the soldiers. Above all military +representations of the cross the original imperial labarum shone in the +richest decorations of gold and gems; was intrusted to the truest and +bravest fifty of the body guard; filled the Christians with the spirit +of victory, and spread fear and terror among their enemies; until, under +the weak successors of Theodosius II., it fell out of use, and was +lodged as a venerable relic in the imperial palace at Constantinople. + +Before this victory at Rome (which occurred October 27, 312), either in +the spring or summer of 312, Constantine, in conjunction with his +Eastern colleague, Licinius, had published an edict of religious +toleration, now not extant, but probably a step beyond the edict of the +still anti-Christian Galerius in 311, which was likewise subscribed by +Constantine and Licinius as co-regents. Soon after, in January, 313, the +two emperors issued from Milan a new edict (the third) on religion, +still extant both in Latin and Greek, in which, in the spirit of +religious eclecticism, they granted full freedom to all existing forms +of worship, with special reference to the Christian. This religion the +edict not only recognized in its existing limits, but also--what neither +the first nor perhaps the second edict had done--allowed every heathen +subject to adopt it with impunity. At the same time the church buildings +and property confiscated in the Diocletian persecution were ordered to +be restored, and private property-owners to be indemnified from the +imperial treasury. + +In this notable edict, however, we should look in vain for the modern +Protestant and Anglo-American theory of religious liberty as one of the +universal and inalienable rights of man. Sundry voices, it is true, in +the Christian church itself, at that time and even before, declared +firmly against all compulsion in religion. But the spirit of the Roman +empire was too absolutistic to abandon the prerogative of a supervision +of public worship. The Constantinian toleration was a temporary measure +of state policy, which, as indeed the edict expressly states the motive, +promised the greatest security to the public peace and the protection of +all divine and heavenly powers, for emperor and empire. It was, as the +result teaches, but the necessary transition step to a new order of +things. It opened the door to the elevation of Christianity, and +specifically of Catholic hierarchical Christianity, with its +exclusiveness toward heretical and schismatic sects, to be the religion +of the state. For, once put on an equal footing with heathenism, it must +soon, in spite of numerical minority, bear away the victory from a +religion which had already inwardly outlived itself. + +From this time Constantine decidedly favored the church, though without +persecuting or forbidding the pagan religions. He always mentions the +Christian church with reverence in his imperial edicts, and uniformly +applies to it, as we have already observed, the predicate of catholic. +For only as a catholic, thoroughly organized, firmly compacted, and +conservative institution did it meet his rigid monarchical interest, and +afford the splendid state and court dress he wished for his empire. So +early as the year 313 we find the bishop Hosius of Cordova among his +counsellors, and heathen writers ascribe to the bishop even a magical +influence over the emperor. Lactantius, also, and Eusebius of Cęsarea +belonged to his confidential circle. He exempted the Christian clergy +from military and municipal duty (March, 313); abolished various customs +and ordinances offensive to the Christians (315); facilitated the +emancipation of Christian slaves (before 316); legalized bequests to +catholic churches (321); enjoined the civil observance of Sunday, though +not as _dies Domini_, but as _dies Solis_, in conformity to his worship +of Apollo, and in company with an ordinance for the regular consulting +of the haruspex (321); contributed liberally to the building of churches +and the support of the clergy; erased the heathen symbols of Jupiter and +Apollo, Mars and Hercules from the imperial coins (323); and gave his +sons a Christian education. This mighty example was followed, as might +be expected, by a general transition of those subjects who were more +influenced in their conduct by outward circumstances than by inward +conviction and principle. The story, that in one year (324) twelve +thousand men, with women and children in proportion, were baptized in +Rome, and that the emperor had promised to each convert a white garment +and twenty pieces of gold, is at least in accordance with the spirit of +that reign, though the fact itself, in all probability, is greatly +exaggerated. + +Constantine came out with still greater decision, when, by his victory +over his Eastern colleague and brother-in-law, Licinius, he became sole +head of the whole Roman empire. To strengthen his position, Licinius had +gradually placed himself at the head of the heathen party, still very +numerous, and had vexed the Christians first with wanton ridicule, then +with exclusion from civil and military office, with banishment, and in +some instances perhaps even with bloody persecution. This gave the +political strife for the monarchy between himself and Constantine the +character also of a war of religions; and the defeat of Licinius in the +battle of Adrianople, in July, 321, and at Chalcedon, in September, was +a new triumph of the standard of the cross over the sacrifices of the +gods; save that Constantine dishonored himself and his cause by the +execution of Licinius and his son. + +The emperor now issued a general exhortation to his subjects to embrace +the Christian religion, still leaving them, however, to their own free +conviction. In the year 325, as patron of the church, he summoned the +council of Nice, and himself attended it; banished the Arians, though he +afterward recalled them; and, in his monarchical spirit of uniformity, +showed great zeal for the settlement of all theological disputes, while +he was blind to their deep significance. He first introduced the +practice of subscription to the articles of a written creed and of the +infliction of civil punishments for non-conformity. In the years +325-329, in connection with his mother, Helena, he erected magnificent +churches on the sacred spots in Jerusalem. + +As heathenism had still the preponderance in Rome, where it was hallowed +by its great traditions, Constantine, by divine command as he supposed, +in the year 330, transferred the seat of his government to Byzantium, +and thus fixed the policy, already initiated by Domitian, or +orientalizing and dividing the empire. In the selection of the +unrivalled locality he showed more taste and genius than the founders of +Madrid, Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg, or Washington. With incredible +rapidity, and by all the means within reach of an absolute monarch, he +turned this nobly situated town, connecting two seas and two continents, +into a splendid residence and a new Christian Rome, 'for which now,' as +Gregory of Nazianzen expresses it, 'sea and land emulate each other, to +load it with their treasures, and crown it queen of cities.' Here, +instead of idol temples and altars, churches and crucifixes rose; though +among them the statues of patron deities from all over Greece, mutilated +by all sorts of tasteless adaptations, were also gathered in the new +metropolis. The main hall in the palace was adorned with representations +of the crucifixion and other Biblical scenes. The gladiatorial shows, so +popular in Rome, were forbidden here, though theatres, amphitheatres, +and hippodromes kept their place. It could nowhere be mistaken, that the +new imperial residence was, as to all outward appearance, a Christian +city. The smoke of heathen sacrifices never rose from the seven hills of +New Rome, except during the short reign of Julian the Apostate. It +became the residence of a bishop, who not only claimed the authority of +the apostolic see of neighboring Ephesus, but soon outshone the +patriarchate of Alexandria, and rivalled for centuries the papal power +in ancient Rome. + +The emperor diligently attended divine worship, and is portrayed upon +medals in the posture of prayer. He kept the Easter vigils with great +devotion. He would stand during the longest sermons of his bishops, who +always surrounded him, and unfortunately flattered him only too much. +And he even himself composed and delivered discourses to his court, in +the Latin language, from which they were translated into Greek by +interpreters appointed for the purpose. General invitations were issued, +and the citizens flocked in great crowds to the palace to hear the +imperial preacher, who would in vain try to prevent their loud applause +by pointing to heaven as the source of his wisdom. He dwelt mainly on +the truth of Christianity, the folly of idolatry, the unity and +providence of God, the coming of Christ, and the judgment. At times he +would severely rebuke the avarice and rapacity of his courtiers, who +would loudly applaud him with their mouths and belie his exhortations by +their works. One of these productions is still extant, in which he +recommends Christianity in a characteristic strain, and in proof of its +divine origin cites especially the fulfilment of prophecy, including the +sibylline books and the Fourth Eclogue of Virgil, with the contrast +between his own happy and brilliant reign and the tragical fate of his +persecuting predecessors and colleagues. + +Nevertheless he continued in his later years true, upon the whole, to +the toleration principles of the edict of 313, protected the pagan +priests and temples in their privileges, and wisely abstained from all +violent measures against heathenism, in the persuasion that it would in +time die out. He retained many heathens at court and in public office, +although he loved to promote Christians to honorable positions. In +several cases, however, he prohibited idolatry, where it sanctioned +scandalous immorality, as in the obscene worship of Venus in Phenicia; +or in places which were especially sacred to the Christians, as the +sepulchre of Christ and the grove of Mamre; and he caused a number of +deserted temples and images to be destroyed or turned into Christian +churches. Eusebius relates several such instances with evident +approbation, and praises also his later edicts against various heretics +and schismatics, but without mentioning the Arians. In his later years +he seems, indeed, to have issued a general prohibition of idolatrous +sacrifice; Eusebius speaks of it, and his sons in 341 refer to an edict +to that effect; but the repetition of it by his successors proves that, +if issued, it was not carried into general execution under his reign. + +With this shrewd, cautious, and moderate policy of Constantine, which +contrasts well with the violent fanaticism of his sons, accords the +postponement of his own baptism to his last sickness. For this he had +the further motives of a superstitious desire, which he himself +expresses, to be baptized in the Jordan, whose waters had been +sanctified by the Saviour's baptism, and no doubt also a fear that he +might by relapse forfeit the sacramental remission of sins. He wished to +secure all the benefit of baptism as a complete expiation of past sins, +with as little risk as possible, and thus to make the best of both +worlds. Deathbed baptisms then were to half Christians of that age what +deathbed conversions and deathbed communions are now. But he presumed to +preach the gospel, he called himself the bishop of bishops, he convened +the first general council, and made Christianity the religion of the +empire, long before his baptism! Strange as this inconsistency appears +to us, what shall we think of the court bishops who, from false +prudence, relaxed in his favor the otherwise strict discipline of the +church, and admitted him, at least tacitly, to the enjoyment of nearly +all the privileges of believers, before he had taken upon himself even a +single obligation of a catechumen? + +When, after a life of almost uninterrupted health, he felt the approach +of death, he was received into the number of catechumens by laying on of +hands, and then formally admitted by baptism into the full communion of +the church in the year 337, the sixty-fifth year of his age, by the +Arian (or properly Semi-Arian) bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, whom he had +shortly before recalled from exile together with Arius! His dying +testimony then was, as to form, in favor of heretical rather than +orthodox Christianity, but merely from accident, not from intention. He +meant the Christian as against the heathen religion, and whatever of +Arianism may have polluted his baptism, was for the Greek Church fully +neutralized by the orthodox canonization. After the solemn ceremony, he +promised to live thenceforth worthily of a disciple of Jesus; refused to +wear again the imperial mantle of cunningly woven silk, richly +ornamented with gold; retained the white baptismal robe; and died a few +days after, on Pentecost, May 32, 337, trusting in the mercy of God, and +leaving a long, a fortunate, and a brilliant reign, such as none but +Augustus, of all his predecessors, had enjoyed. 'So passed away the +first Christian emperor, the first defender of the faith, the first +imperial patron of the papal see, and of the whole Eastern Church, the +first founder of the holy places, pagan and Christian, orthodox and +heretical, liberal and fanatical, not to be imitated or admired, but +much to be remembered, and deeply to be studied.' + +His remains were removed in a golden coffin by a procession of +distinguished civilians and the whole army, from Nicomedia to +Constantinople, and deposited, with the highest Christian honors, in the +Church of the Apostles, while the Roman senate, after its ancient +custom, proudly ignoring the great religious revolution of the age, +enrolled him among the gods of the heathen Olympus. Soon after his +death, Eusebius set him above the greatest princes of all times; from +the fifth century he began to be recognized in the East as a saint; and +the Greek and Russian Church to this day celebrates his memory under the +extravagant title of _Isapostolos_, the 'Equal of the Apostles.' The +Latin Church, on the contrary, with truer tact, has never placed him +among the saints, but has been content with naming him 'the Great,' in +just and grateful remembrance of his services to the cause of +Christianity and civilization. + +Constantine marks the beginning of the downfall of ancient and classical +paganism. Still it dragged out a sickly old age for about two hundred +years longer, until at last it died of incurable consumption, without +the hope of a resurrection. + +The final dissolution of heathenism in the Eastern empire may be dated +from the middle of the fifth century. In the year 435, Theodosius II. +commanded the temples to be destroyed or turned into churches. There +still appear some heathens in civil office and at court so late as the +beginning of the reign of Justinian I. (527-567). But this despotic +emperor prohibited heathenism as a form of worship in the empire on pain +of death, and in 529 abolished the last intellectual seminary of it, the +philosophical school of Athens, which had stood nine hundred years. At +that time just seven philosophers were teaching in that school, the +shades of the ancient seven sages of Greece--a striking play of history, +like the name of the last West-Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, or, in +contemptuous diminutive, Augustulus, combining the names of the founder +of the city and the founder of the empire. + +In the West, heathenism maintained itself until near the middle of the +sixth century, and even later, partly as a private religious conviction +among many cultivated and aristocratic families in Rome, partly even in +the full form of worship in the remote provinces and on the mountains of +Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, and partly in heathen customs and popular +usages, like the gladiatorial shows still extant in Rome in 404, and the +wanton Lupercalia, a sort of heathen carnival, the feast of Lupercus, +the god of herds, still celebrated with all its excesses in February, +495. But, in general, it may be said that the Gręco-Roman heathenism, as +a system of worship, was buried under the ruins of the Western empire, +which sank under the storms of the great migration. It is remarkable +that the northern barbarians labored with the same zeal in the +destruction of idolatry as in the destruction of the empire, and really +promoted the victory of the Christian religion. The Gothic king Alaric, +on entering Rome, expressly ordered that the churches of the apostles +Peter and Paul should be spared, as inviolable sanctuaries; and he +showed a humanity, which Augustin justly attributes to the influence of +Christianity (even perverted Arian Christianity) on these barbarous +people. The Christian name, he says, which the heathens blaspheme, has +effected not the destruction, but the salvation of the city. Odoacer, +who put an end to the Western Roman empire in 476, was incited to his +expedition into Italy by St. Severin, and, though himself an Arian, +showed great regard to the catholic bishops. The same is true of his +conqueror and successor, Theodoric the Ostrogoth, who was recognized by +the East-Roman emperor Anastasius as king of Italy (A.D. 500), and was +likewise an Arian. Thus between the barbarians and the Romans, as +between the Romans and the Greeks, and in a measure also the Jews, the +conquered gave laws to the conquerors. Christianity triumphed over both. + +This is the end of Gręco-Roman heathenism, with its power, wisdom, and +beauty. It fell a victim to a slow but steady process of incurable +consumption. Its downfall is a sublime tragedy which, with all our +abhorrence of idolatry, we cannot witness without a certain sadness. At +the first appearance of Christianity it comprised all the wisdom, +literature, art, and political power of the civilized world, and led all +into the field against the weaponless religion of the crucified +Nazarene. After a conflict of four or five centuries it lay prostrate in +the dust without hope of resurrection. With the outward protection of +the state, it lost all power, and had not even the courage of martyrdom; +while the Christian church showed countless hosts of confessors and +blood-witnesses, and Judaism lives to-day in spite of all persecution. +The expectation that Christianity would fall about the year 398, after +an existence of three hundred and sixty-five years, turned out in the +fulfilment to relate to heathenism itself. + +The last glimmer of life in the old religion was its pitiable prayer +for toleration and its lamentation over the ruin of the empire. Its best +elements took refuge in the church, and became converted, or at least +took Christian names. Now the gods were dethroned, oracles and prodigies +ceased, sibylline books were burned, temples were destroyed, or +transformed into churches, or still stand as memorials of the victory of +Christianity. + +But although ancient Greece and Rome have fallen forever, the spirit of +Gręco-Roman paganism is not extinct. It still lives in the natural heart +of man, which at this day as much as ever needs regeneration by the +spirit of God. It lives also in many idolatrous and superstitious usages +of the Greek and Roman Churches, against which the pure spirit of +Christianity has instinctively protested from the beginning, and will +protest, till all remains of gross and refined idolatry shall be +outwardly as well as inwardly overcome, and baptized and sanctified not +only with water, but also with the spirit and fire of the gospel. + +Finally, the better genius of ancient Greece and Rome still lives in the +immortal productions of their poets, philosophers, historians, and +orators--yet no longer an enemy, but a friend and servant of Christ. +What is truly great and noble and beautiful can never perish. The +classic literature had prepared the way for the gospel, in the sphere of +natural culture, and was to be turned thenceforth into a weapon for its +defence. It passed, like the Old Testament, as a rightful inheritance, +into the possession of the Christian church, which saved those precious +works of genius through the ravages of the migration of nations and the +darkness of the Middle Ages, and used them as material in the rearing of +the temple of modern civilization. The word of the great apostle of the +Gentiles was here fulfilled: 'All things are yours.' The ancient +classics, delivered from the dęmoniacal possession of idolatry, have +come into the service of the only true and living God, once 'unknown' to +them, but now everywhere revealed, and are thus enabled to fulfil their +true mission as the preparatory tutors of youth for Christian learning +and culture. This is the noblest, the most worthy, and most complete +victory of Christianity, transforming the enemy into friend and ally. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] [Greek: Labōron], also [Greek: labouron]; derived, not from _labor_, +nor from [Greek: laphuron], i.e., _pręda_, nor from [Greek: labein], but +probably from a barbarian root, otherwise unknown, and introduced into +the Roman terminology, even before Constantine, by the Celtic or +Germanic recruits. Comp. Du Cange, Glossar., and Suicer, Thesaur. s.h.v. +The labarum, as described by Eusebius, who saw it himself (Vita Const. +i. 30), consisted of a long spear overlaid with gold, and a cross piece +of wood, from which hung a square flag of purple cloth, embroidered and +covered with precious stones. On the top of the shaft was a crown +composed of gold and precious stones, and containing the monogram of +Christ (see next note), and just under this crown was a likeness of the +emperor and his sons in gold. The emperor told Eusebius (I. ii. c. 7) +some incredible things about this labarum, _e.g._ that none of its +bearers was ever hurt by the darts of the enemy. + +[B] X and P, the first two letters of the name of Christ, +so written upon one another as to make the form of the cross: +[Illustration] (_i.e._ Christos--Alpha and Omega, the beginning and +the end), and similar forms, of which Münter (Sinnbilder der Alten +Christen, p. 36 sqq.) has collected from ancient coins, vessels, and +tombstones more than twenty. The monogram, as well as the sign of the +cross, was in use among the Christians long before Constantine, probably +as early as the Antonines and Hadrian. Yea, the standards and trophies +of victory generally had the appearance of a cross, as Minucius Felix, +Tertullian, Justin, and other apologists of the second century told the +heathens. According to Killen (Ancient Church, p. 317, note), who quotes +Aringhus (Roma Subterranea, II. p. 567) as his authority, the famous +monogram (of course in a different sense) is found even before Christ on +coins of the Ptolemies. The only thing new, therefore, was the _union_ +of this symbol in its _Christian_ sense and application with the Roman +_military standard_. + +[C] Cicero says, pro Raberio, c. 5: 'Nomen ipsum _crucis_ absit non modo +a corpore civium Romanorum, sed etiam a cogitatione, oculis, auribus.' +With other ancient heathens, however, the Egyptians, the Buddhists, and +even the aborigines of Mexico, the cross seems to have been in use as a +religious symbol. Socrates relates (H.E. v. 17) that at the destruction +of the temple of Serapis, among the hieroglyphic inscriptions, forms of +crosses were found which pagans and Christians alike referred to their +respective religions. Some of the heathen converts, conversant with +hieroglyphic characters, interpreted the form of the cross to mean _the +Life to come_. According to Prescott (Conquest of Mexico, iii. 338-340) +the Spaniards found the cross among the objects of worship in the idol +temples of Anahnac. + + + + +CAUSES OF THE MINNESOTA MASSACRE. + + +If great public phenomena do not come by chance, then there were causes +for the Minnesota massacres, by the Sioux, in 1862-'3, quite apart from +the aboriginal cruelty and ferocity of the Indian nature. We all know +that the carnal Indian man is a bad enough fellow at the best, and +capable of dreadful crimes and misdemeanors, if only to gratify his whim +or the caprice of the moment. And when he is bent upon satiating his +revenge for some real or imaginary wrong, I would back him in the +horrible ingenuity of his devices for torture, in the unrelenting malice +of his vengeance, against any--the most fierce and diabolical--of all +the potentates in the kingdoms of eternal and immutable evil! + +But the white man has always had the advantage of the red man. He was +his superior in knowledge, power, and intellect; and came, for the most +part, of that lordly race, the issue of whose loins already occupy all +the chief countries within the zones of civilization. He knew, +therefore, when he first began to deal with the Indian, what manner of +man he was, what his enlightenment was, and how far it reached out into +the darkness where all is night! He knew that this wild, savage, +untamable redskin could not be approached, reconciled, traded with, or +stolen, from, by adopting, in his case, the usages and courtesies of +civil life, as we understand them, but that his own peculiar laws, +customs, and manners must be studied and conformed to, if any headway +were to be made in his regard and confidence. + +At no time, from the beginning to the present day and hour, has any +white man been so fuddled in his wits as to suppose that the Indian +could either act or talk like a clergyman of any recognized Christian +denomination. It was too much, therefore, to expect from him that he +should exhibit any of the fine charities and warm affections which +distinguish the Christian character. He was a redskin, implacable in his +hate, not altogether trustworthy even in his friendships, and jealous of +his reputation and the traditions of his race. Nor was he without +manhood either. A brave, bloody, mocking and defiant manhood! capable of +the endurances of the martyr, exhibiting sometimes the sublimest +self-sacrifice and courage. + +Whether out of these wild and savage materials there lay anywhere, at +any time, the human or divine power to mould a civilized community, does +not appear upon the record. It is certain, however, that after all the +far-too-late attempts to transfigure these savages into the likeness of +a down-East Yankee, or, better still, into the similitude of a Western +farmer, no permanent good results are likely to ensue. + +The red man and the white are separated indeed by the prodigious +distances (ethnologically speaking) not only of race and language, but +of noble tradition and glorious history. They could never amalgamate in +blood, or in the so-called natural sympathies of man. They seem to be +born enemies! as their feelings and their instincts apparently reach +them when they come into contact with each other. They cannot exist side +by side. A mightier than they holds the destinies of both in His hands. +He has tried the redskins. He has given them a good chance upon the +earth, and they have failed to do anything but kill buffalo and breed +like rats--often burrowing like rats--refusing to dig and plant the +teeming, beneficent earth which had been committed to their charge; and +preferring, generally, the life of a vagabond loafer to that of a +thrifty, careful husbandman. + +I do not blame them. They are as God made them, and man left them; for, +I suppose, their forebears--somewhere afar off in Asia, perhaps, in the +dim, immemorial ages--had all passed through the various phases of the +civilization of their time, and that they did not grow out of the tail +of any gorilla. It is not for profane man to inquire what possible +reason there could be for the perpetuation--let alone the creation--of +such a useless, bootless race. There they are, occupiers of the soil for +unknown centuries--before the white man ever saw their faces--many +thousands of them still squatting there, cleaving, like bereaved +Autochthons, to the bosom of the dear old mother who had whelped and so +long nurtured them; and trying to make themselves believe that they are +still masters of the continent. + +What they were made for at all, I do not pretend to divine. The +Divine Maker of all knows best, and what He does is its own +justification--satisfying the wellnigh insatiable cry of the universe +for universal justice. They are the saurians of humanity; and it is +remarkable that the idea of 'progressive development'--if I may be +pardoned for making use of a term in modern philosophy about which there +has been so much assumption and canting--it is remarkable that this +idea, which the name of _saurian_ suggests, should run through all +nature, and be embodied in her finest forms and intelligences. There is +a considerable distance between the saurian and good Master Adam, the +gardener of Eden; but it seems to me, after all, that this brutal, foul, +obscene monster of the prime, was only Adam in the making. He came after +him, a long way, at all events; and if geology had been fashionable in +his time, and he a _savant_, he might have chalked out for himself a +very fine pedigree. + +For this strange, eccentric Nature, who meant _man_ from the beginning, +and failed to realize her ideal because of those horrible nightmare +dreams of which these saurians, mastodons, mammoths were the visible +representatives, did, nevertheless, make, in every succeeding world (for +every crust of this planet is the crust of a dead world), higher and +higher organizations--until, at last, she gave to man his _inscrutable_ +birth! + +That was, no doubt, a great triumph of power and genius! Man is a noble +animal, the finest of all living fellows! _et cetera! et cetera!_ But +what sort of a fellow was he when he came, in his spindles and +shacklebones, from the womb of the All-mother? Was he a Caucasian, or a +Mongolian, a Negro, a Malay, or a Bosjesman?--this last being an effigy +of man so abominable that no race that I have heard of will include him +even as a lodger in the parish settlements! + +Mark! what a sameness, and yet what an infinite variety, there is in all +the operations and purposes of Nature! She does not grow us _men_ out of +our mothers, but babes--helpless, pitiably, tearfully helpless +_babes_!--ignorant; who must _grow_ into the perfect stature and the +mature mind of men. Is not this babe also a saurian in its little way? +Does a wider gap separate the saurian from the man, than that which +separates the tiny babe from some Bacon or Raleigh? The law of nature is +progress. It is often, nay, always, a very slow thing--but how sure! how +inevitable! how beneficent in its results! She never makes worse after +bad--and those weird opium monsters of the foreworlds were unspeakably +bad!--but always she makes of bad better; and of better she has made her +best, at present. In the light of this law, _were any one mad enough to +grope_, he might come to the conclusion that the first man (or race of +men) was anything but a grandee in mind, person, or estate; and that our +seemingly puzzled but at last most wonder-working mother, ycleped +Nature, made some very ugly attempts at man before she reached the +climax of her imagination and her power as it obtains in the man +Caucasian! + +I regard all the colored races--and with no malice or evil of any sort +in my heart toward them--as first experiments in the gamut of human +creation. Neither ethnology nor any other ology will pull out of my +consciousness--let alone my active intellect--the belief that these were +the oldest, the primordial races, or the descendants of such, and that +the white Caucasian man, with his noble brain and heart, his matchless +person, was an afterthought, the brightest since her birth-thought of +the earth's creation. Look into the face of any upgrown modern Indian! +It is an _old_ face, as if the accumulated wrinkles of, not 'forty,' but +a hundred 'centuries' had ploughed their marks there. They seem to +belong to the dawn of time; while our Caucasian man is ever young and +beautiful, the born master of all things. + +We must deal with races according to their faculty, and credit them +according to their faculty. If we fail, we fail in wisdom--and in +prudence, which is a valuable attribute of wisdom. Expect not grapes +from thistles! Expect no virtue--unless it relates to his own +selfishness or his own tribe--from an Indian, or from very many other +men! + +It must not be forgotten, however, that Indians are people who, to say +the least of them, are fashioned in the likeness of men. Here, as +elsewhere, Nature sticks to her old plan, and will not budge an inch. In +the chart of the Indian's nature are mapped out the same feelings, +instincts, passions, the same organs and dimensions as belong to the +highest race, or the highest race of the mixed races. She will have no +nonsense about her red children, nor about her black. There they are, as +she (for purposes of her own, not particularly clear) intended them to +be--men, alive, oh!--not descendants of Monboddo's ape, nor of Du +Chaillu's gorilla, but men proper and absolute! with their duties, +responsibilities, and destinies. + +Seeing, therefore, that the Indian (our American Indian, with whom we +have now to do) has all the faculties--however defaced and blurred by +long centuries of bloody crimes, which they regard _not_ as crimes, but +as virtues--seeing that these red, thriftless, bloody-minded Indians +have all the human faculties intact--although, it may be, not so bright +as those of some of our own people who call themselves Americans--is it +not possible that by fair and manly dealing with them, by a just trade, +and conscientious regard for the sanctity of treaty rights and +obligations--that you, whom it may more particularly concern, might so +win their good will as to make them friends instead of enemies? The +devil that lies at the bottom of all savage natures is easily roused, +not at all so easily laid again, and as easily kept in his own place. +Indians are not incapable of friendship, nor of good faith, although the +best require a great deal of looking after--and close looking, too! But +what I want to urge is this: that if you always appeal to the worst +passions of the redskin, rob him of his rights and property, cheat him +by false promises, deceive him at all hands, and then mock him when he +knocks at your door for credit or charity, that he and his may live, you +cannot much wonder if, obeying his traditions, his religion, and the +dictates of his savage nature--now maddened into fury and reckless of +consequences--he indulges in the frightful havoc, the relentless murders +and burnings, which have so lately marked his trail in Minnesota. + +Let no one suppose for a moment, from what I have now said, that I +design to offer any apology, any excuse for the nameless and +unpunishable crimes which these miscreants have perpetrated. I have no +pity and no compassion for them, and surely no word either which I +desire should be construed, in this respect, to their favor. I go with +the old Scotch judge--a rigid Antinomian! who, having tried and +convicted a Calvinist as rigid as himself, asked him what he had to say +why the sentence of the law should not be pronounced against him. + +'My lord,' said the prisoner, 'it's a bad job; but I was predestined to +do it!' + +Whereupon his lordship replied: 'Ay! ay! my cannie laddie! an' I was +predestined to hang ye for't.' + +So while I set forth the necessary, evil nature of the Indian, and the +consequent necessity of his bloody deeds, I also insist upon the +necessity of hanging him for it. + +I plead not for the Indian of Minnesota, after these most shocking, most +appalling butcheries. I love my own race; and not a man, woman, or +child, who was sacrificed by these monsters, but their wounds were my +wounds, and their agonies tore my heart to the very core. Henceforth I +shall never see an Indian but I shall feel the 'goose flesh' of loathing +and horror steal over my Adam's buff! But you, my beloved friends of +Minnesota! you who have suffered so much in your families and homes +during the massacre, are you sure that you did all you could do as +citizens and rulers in this land to see even-handed justice dealt out +between the corrupt Government agencies and storekeepers, and the +helpless Indians? Had these last no just and reasonable ground of +complaint? complaint of the General Government, complaint of the delays +in their payment, complaint of the swindling of the storekeepers and +traders? + +They had sold their lands, and gone away to their reservations. But the +money for their lands--promised so faithfully at such a time--where was +that money? _Non est!_ The Indians depended on it, trusted to the +certainty of its coming as the saint trusts in the promises. They came +for it--often, in their history, in the depth of winter, for hundred of +miles, through an inhospitable forest; their wives, children, and braves +starving--many of them left behind in the wilderness to die; their only +weapon made of coarse nails, lashed with wire, and this they called a +gun barrel, and with this they killed what game was killed by the way. + +This did not happen in Minnesota, it is true; but events as horrible and +sickening as this did happen, and brought with them consequences more +horrible still, which will never be forgotten while the State exists or +the language lasts. Scenes were enacted at that 'Lower Agency' which +were disgraceful to human nature, and the victims were invariably the +redskins. Once when Red Iron came there, at the summons, or rather after +the repeated summons of Governor Ramsay, it turned out that nearly four +hundred thousand dollars of the cash payment due to the Sioux, under the +treaties of 1851-'2, were paid to the traders on old indebtedness! How +much of this enormous sum was really due to the traders it is bootless +now to inquire; although it is pretty certain, from what we know of +similar transactions, that not a twentieth part of it was due to them. +Mr. Isaac V. D. Heard, who has written a 'History of the Sioux War and +Massacres of 1862 and 1863,' who is an old resident of Minnesota of +twelve years' standing, acted with General Sibley in his expedition +against the savages in 1862, and was recorder of the military commission +which tried some four hundred of the participants in the outbreak--has +not been deterred by the just hatred which the Minnesota people nurture +against the Indians, and which they will keep hot until their rifles +have exterminated the whole brood of them, from saying a brave word +respecting the iniquities perpetrated by rascal peddlers and official +prigs against the Indians which were the immediate causes of the +massacre and the subsequent wars. + +The Indian was subjected to all sorts of frauds, little and big--the +smaller thieves thinking that they also must live, no matter at whose +expense, although I demur to the proposition. Why should they stop at +stealing a thousand or two, more or less, while that four hundred +thousand swindle leered at them so wickedly over the left shoulder, +mocking at all law and justice, and scot free from all punishment? These +'traders' could charge what sums they liked against the Indian, and get +them too; for there was no one to defeat or check their rapacity. Mr. +Heard tells us that no less a sum than fifty-five thousand dollars was +claimed by one Hugh Tyler, as due to him by the Indians, when the great +swindle just alluded to was committed; and that he was paid out of the +accruing funds. This man was a stranger in the country, an adventurer, +who went out into the wilderness 'for to seek his fortune;' and it is +curious to read the items of which his little bill, fifty-five thousand, +is composed. Here they are: For getting the treaties through the Senate; +for '_necessary disbursements_' in securing the assent of the chiefs. +Very curious and instructive items they are, to all who consider them. +To say nothing of the corruption of the Senate which the first item +signifies, if it has any meaning at all, there is the guilty record of +the 'necessary disbursements,' or, in other words, _bribes_, paid to +chiefs for betraying their country and their race. This was a part of +the regular machinery of the Agencies. All their plans were cut and +dried, and they had men to carry them out. They could not stir a peg +without the assent of the chiefs; and when they found a man too noble to +be a traitor, they got the Governor to break him as a chief, and invest +a more pliable, accommodating redskin with his rank and title. Through +the influence of bad men, and by the forging of lying documents, which +the Indians could not read, and which were never interpreted to them +except to cheat them as to their contents and meaning, they have always +managed to get their treaties signed; after which the newly made chiefs +could not so much as take the liberty to beg a pipe of tobacco of them. + +As a sample of their infamous dealings, we take the following excerpt +from Mr. Heard's book, page 41: + + 'In 1857, a trader, pretending that he was getting them to sign a + power of attorney to get back the money which had gone to the + traders under the treaty of 1851 and 1852, obtained their + signatures to vouchers, by which he swindled them out of $12,000. + Shortly after, this trader secured the payment of $4,500 for goods + which he claimed (falsely, it is said) to have been stolen. About + the same time a man in Sioux City was allowed a claim of $5,000 for + horses, which he also alleged to have been stolen. + + 'In 1858, the chiefs were taken to Washington, and agreed to + treaties for the cession of all their reservations north of the + Minnesota, for which, as ratified by the Senate, they were to have + $166,000; but of this amount they never received a penny until four + years afterward, when $15,000, in goods, were sent to the Lower + Sioux, and these were deducted out of what was due them under + former treaties. The Indians, discovering the fraud, refused to + receive them for several weeks, and only consented to take them + after the Government had agreed to rectify the matter. _Most of the + large amount due under these treaties, went into the pockets of + traders, Government officials, and swindlers generally._ + + 'The Indians were grievously disappointed with their bargains, and + from that time the control of affairs passed from the chiefs--who, + it was believed, had been bribed--to the young men. They had now + nearly disposed of all their lands, and received scarcely anything + for them. They were six thousand two hundred in number, and their + annuities, when paid in full, were hardly fifteen dollars apiece. + + 'Their sufferings,' continues Mr. Heard, 'were often severe, + especially during the winter and spring previous to the massacres.' + +Their crops failed them; a heavy fall of snow, late in the season, came +to increase their miseries, and delayed the spring hunts. The Sissetons, +of Lac Traverse, had to eat their horses and dogs--and at least fifteen +hundred of the old men, women, and children had to be supported by the +Government at an extra expense; and this was so inadequately done that +some died of starvation. + +The history of these iniquities is no new thing in Indian affairs. It +is, from first to last, a record of the most shameless lying and fraud. +The Agency seems to have been established there as a sort of Jonathan +Wild's shop, for the purpose of carrying on the trade of thieving. What +did these storekeepers--who credited the Indians for tobacco and rum, +for bread and beef, for clothing, and such other luxuries as they had +come to regard as necessaries--care for the winter prospects of the +wretched Indians, after they had lined their pockets with that four +hundred thousand dollars? Not a dime! And when subsequently it was found +that only half the regular Government payment would be handed over to +the Indians during the next year, these storekeepers--on the 'Wild' +plan--not only refused to give them credit for articles indispensable to +life in the wilderness, but insulted them to boot; and this so +exasperated the proud, revengeful nature of the Indian, that he +remembered it afterward in many a bloody murder which he committed, and +the innocent suffered for the guilty! + +Mr. Heard acquits the Agency, and all connected with it, of being in +any way the causes of this outbreak. But his own statements of their +dealing with the Indians hardly bear him out in his judgment. I do not +mean to say that the people of the Lower Agency were a whit worse in +such dealings than those of the Upper, or any other similar Agency. It +is an understood thing, and mercilessly practised, that the Indian shall +be fleeced whenever the white man has a chance to fleece him. It is the +law and the gospel of these Agencies; and we must not allow ourselves to +be hoodwinked in this matter by the mistaken humanity of Mr. Heard. + +And yet, if we think of it, there could not have been devised a more +evil scheme, either against the natives or the settlers, than these +wellnigh irresponsible Agencies. From all parts of the Union, from every +country of the Old World, emigrants had come to settle in the beautiful +Minnesota State; they had built themselves good, substantial houses, +ploughed, fenced, and planted their rich and prosperous farms, conquered +the savage wilderness into blooming cornfields, orchards, and +gardens--and here was their true El Dorado! where they hoped to live in +peace, plenty, and security. They were not afraid of the savages, but +their wont was to make friends of them, and to be their friends, +entertaining them at their homes when they visited the settlements, and +doing all they could--with some exceptions--to perpetuate among them a +good feeling and an intelligent understanding. + +To a certain extent, and in some cases, they succeeded in this +straight-forward diplomacy. But the predisposition of the reds to +enmity with the whites was still there, slumbering only, not eradicated; +nor could all the kindness and generosity of the whole Caucasian heart, +heaped upon them in the most lavish profusion, ever root it out. Nature +put it there--I wish she hadn't--for reasons of her own, just as she put +murder into the cruel heart and brain of the tiger in the jungle. + +There was this 'original sin,' therefore, to contend against always, +without reference to any tangible causes or provocations. All knew this. +All knew, from the youngest to the oldest, that the true policy of the +whites was to conciliate the Indians. They knew his inextinguishable +memory of wrongs, his dreadful vengeance, his power, and his constant +opportunity to do irreparable mischief. And, as I said, the settlers +were, for the most part, anxious to smoke the pipe of peace and +friendship with him. + +But what was the good of all this? What, think you, did it avail in the +councils of the savages, when they sat over their fires discussing their +wrongs and prospects? What the good-hearted settlers did in the way of +reconciliation and good will was undone a thousandfold at the Agency. It +is true that the Agency had become necessary to the subsistence of the +Indian, and that this fact made him bear much which, under other +circumstances, he would instantly have resented and punished. But they +well knew how they were robbed; and when did a wrong of that, or any +sort, pass muster upon the Indian's roll of vengeance? Every fraud +against an Indian, every lie told him, every broken promise, every +worthless article sold to him at the Agency, was more than a set-off to +any act of kindness shown to him by the settlers. Add to these local +crimes, the great error of the Government in unduly withholding the +Indian payment for their lands--and you have the Indian's _casus belli_, +the grounds, or some of them, on which he justified himself to his own +bloody and remorseless conscience, for his inhuman deeds! For the Indian +beeps a conscience, such as it is; but of a truth, better no conscience +than an Indian's conscience! It is like an appeal to hell, one's appeal +to this! all the accursed passions imprisoned there coming up from their +limbos, their eyes glaring with the malice of ineradicable hate, and +bloodshot with murder, to support the conscience, and strengthen its +resolution for an unspeakable vengeance. + +But, after all, this poor devil is really to be pitied for his ignorance +and brutality, and as really to be killed without mercy. He is in the +way of civilization, and must go to the wall. I find that Nature herself +is utterly pitiless; that she cares neither for white nor red, nor for +any other color or person, but, like a horrible, crashing car of +Juggernaut, she rolls steadily forward, astride the inevitable +machinery, crushing all who oppose her. + +But this digression is no apology, in the matter of its argument, for +the Indian Agents, who must have been aware, long before the outbreak +took place, that their frauds were fast culminating in the Indian mind, +and that every fresh wrong they did to them was only bringing nearer by +a step the indiscriminate massacre of the settlers. + +There were other causes, however, besides these, to enrage and madden +them, which must not be lost sight of. Our Government had prohibited +their sanguinary wars upon the Chippewas, and they regarded this as an +act of wanton tyranny. They were bred in the faith that war is the true +condition of an Indian man, and that peace was made for women and +children. War was the only outlet for their power, the only field in +which they could distinguish themselves and win immortal renown. All the +great kingdoms of knowledge and literature were shut against them as +with walls of brass. They could not read or write, and their leisure was +passed in idle gossip, or in deliberations on infernal schemes against +the white man to revenge themselves for their wrongs. + +It was not a wise thing to do, I think; although, no doubt, it was +humane enough, as we understand humanity. Did not the 'dragons of the +prime tear other in their slime,' and so thin out the horrible race, +until Nature herself put the final claws of annihilation upon them? Why, +in mercy, then, do we try to prevent the inevitable? War is a great +clearer of the atmosphere; and one of our poets, Coleridge, I believe, +says that 'Carnage is God's daughter'! a bold figure of rhetoric, not +without its apparently sufficient apologies. Why not let the Sioux and +Chippewas, or any other of the wild, irreclaimable brood, fight their +bloodiest, and do their prettiest to help Nature, who seems bent on the +extermination of all inferior races? They have got to die, any +way!--that is a great consolation!--and if the philanthropists at +Washington had only left them to themselves, they would have died by +mutual slaughter--great numbers of them--long ago, and saved said +philanthropists from the crime of killing them, which they are now +doing, by inches!--a far more cruel way of dying. + +I was much pleased, when last summer they were upbraided for doing a +little war against the Chips, in spite of Washington, with the sarcastic +reply of a chief, who said: 'Our Great Father, we know, has always told +us it was wrong to make war; yet now he himself is making war, and +killing a great many. Will you explain this to us? We do not understand +it!' This was a hit, a palpable hit, let who will reconcile it. + +Mr. Heard gives us the following brief statement of the manner in which +treaties are made with the Indians; and I earnestly call the attention +of the Government and all just citizens to its statements. He says: + + 'The traders, knowing for years before, that the whites will + purchase lands, sell the Indians goods on credit, expecting to + realize their pay from the consideration to be paid by the + Government. They thus become interested instruments to obtain the + consent of the Indians to the treaty. And by reason of their + familiarity with the language, and the associations of half-breed + relatives, are possessed of great facilities to accomplish their + object. The persons deputed by the Government to effect a treaty + are compelled to procure their cooperation, and this they do by + providing that their debts shall be paid. The traders obtain the + concurrence of the Indians by refusing to give them further credit, + and by representing to them that they will receive an immense + amount of money if they sell their lands, and thenceforth will live + at ease, with plenty to eat, and plenty to wear, and plenty of + powder and lead, and of whatever else they may request. After the + treaty is agreed to, the amount of ready money is absorbed by the + _exorbitant demands of the traders_, and _the expenses of the + removal of the Indians to their reservations_! + + 'After that the trader no longer looks to the Indian for his pay; + he gets it from their annuities. He, therefore, does not use the + same means to conciliate their good will that he did when he was + dependent upon their honesty. Claims for depredations upon white + settlers are also deducted out of their moneys before they leave + Washington, on _insufficient testimony_; and these are always, when + based on fact, _double the actual loss_; for the Indian Department + is notoriously corrupt, and the hand manipulating the machinery + _must be crossed with gold_! The 'expenses' of obtaining a claim + enter into the amount demanded and allowed. The demand is not only + generally unjust, but, instead of its being deducted from the + moneys of the wrong doer, _it is taken from the annuities of all_! + This course punishes the innocent and rewards the guilty, because + the property taken by the depredator is of more value than the + slight percentage he loses. + + 'Many of the stipulations as to establishing schools and furnishing + them with farming utensils, are never carried out. Building and + supply contracts are entered into without investigation at + outrageous prices, and goods belonging to the Indians are put into + the traders' stores, and _sold to their owners_, and the moneys + realized _shared by the trader and the Agent_!' + +Bishop Whipple, of Minnesota, in his appeal for the red man, confirms +this statement beyond doubt or question: + + 'There is not a man in America,' he says,'who ever gave an hour's + calm reflection to this subject, who does not know that our Indian + system is an organized system of robbery, and has been for years a + disgrace to the nation. It has left savage men without Governmental + control; it has looked on unconcerned at every crime against the + laws of God and man; it has fostered savage life by wasting + thousands of dollars in the purchase of paint, beads, scalping + knives, and tomahawks; it has fostered a system of trade which + robbed the thrifty and virtuous to pay the debts of the indolent + and vicious; it has squandered the funds for civilization and + schools; it has connived at theft; it has winked at murder; and at + last, after dragging the savage down to a brutishness unknown to + his fathers, it has brought a harvest of blood to our door!' + +The Bishop continues: + + 'It was under this Indian system that the fierce, warlike Sioux + were fitted and trained to be the actors in this bloody drama, _and + the same causes are to-day, slowly but surely, preparing the way + for a Chippewa war_. There is not, to-day, an old citizen of + Minnesota who will not shrug his shoulders as he speaks of the + dishonesty which accompanied the purchase of the lands of the + Sioux. It left in savage minds a deep sense of injustice. Then, + followed ten years of savage life, unchecked by law, uninfluenced + by good example. They were taught by white men that lying was no + disgrace, adultery no sin, and theft no crime. Their hunting + grounds were gone; the onward march of civilization crowded them on + every side. Their only possible hope of being saved from starvation + was the fidelity with which a great nation fulfilled its plighted + faith, which before God and man it had pledged to its heathen + wards. _The people here, on the border, and the rulers at + Washington, know how that faith has been broken._ + + 'The constant irritations of such a system would, in time, have + secured an Indian massacre. It was hastened and precipitated by the + sale of nearly eight hundred thousand acres of land, for _which + they never received one farthing_; for it was all absorbed in + claims! Then came the story (and it was true) that half of their + annuity money had also been taken for claims. They waited two + months, mad, exasperated, hungry--the Agent utterly powerless to + undo the wrong committed at Washington--and they resolved on savage + vengeance. For every dollar of which they have been defrauded we + shall pay ten dollars in the cost of the war. It has been so for + fifty years; it will be so again. _God's retributive justice always + has compelled a people to reap exactly what they have permitted to + be sown!_' + +These extracts from the Bishop's Plea confirm what I have stated in the +preceding paragraphs; and the last sentence--which I have marked in +italics--is well worth the while of every reader to ponder well. + +Mr. Heard dates the commencement of the massacre to the breaking of a +stray nest of hen's eggs on the prairie, and what came of the +transaction; but the date lies farther back than that, so far as the +resolution to seize the first favorable opportunity for slaughtering the +whites is concerned--and belongs to the era of the great crimes of our +Government against them, as shown in the forcible seizure of their lands +without their receiving any payment, even 'a farthing' for them; the +hucksters, under the connivance of the Government agents, getting the +whole of it, and, in the instance alluded to a while ago, keeping back +from them, as payment for old debts, about three hundred boxes of the +money upon which they had depended to keep themselves alive during the +winter and the following year. + +Such enormous crimes were sure to reap a bloody harvest. The Indian is +no fool, although he can't do addition and subtraction. He knows when he +is _about_ fairly dealt with, and he knows when he is mightily plucked. +In this case of the 'old debt payment' he knew that he was robbed +wholesale, and through the mouth of Red Iron he proclaimed the fact to +Governor Ramsey, in council assembled. Alluding to this robbery, he +said: + +'We don't think we owe them so much. We want to pay all our debts. We +want our Great Father to send three good men here, to tell us how much +we do owe; and whatever they say, we will pay; and (pointing to the +Indians) that's what all these braves say; our chiefs and all our people +say this!' + +At which all the Indians present responded: + +'Ho! ho!' + +This Red Iron was the principal chief of the Sissetons, and his +indignation at the wrongs done to his race made him so 'boisterous' that +Governor Ramsey was imprudent enough to break him of his chieftainship. +The scene and its results were by no means creditable to the Governor. +This latter personage had summoned Red Iron to meet him at a council, +held December, 1852, and he did not turn up as expected. So, I suppose, +he was sent for, and brought in by the soldiers. He is described by one +who was present, as about forty years old, tall and athletic; six feet +high in his moccasons, with a large, well-developed head, aquiline nose, +thin, compressed lips, and physiognomy beaming with intelligence and +resolution. He was clad in the half military, half Indian costume of the +Dacotah chiefs, as he sat in the council room; and no one greeted or +noticed him. A very poor piece of revenge! In a few minutes the +Governor, turning to the chief in the midst of a breathless silence, by +the aid of an interpreter, opened council. The Governor asked the chief +what excuse he had for not coming to the council when he sent for him. + +Whereupon Red Iron rose to his feet, 'with native grace and dignity,' +says Mr. Heard, his blanket falling from his shoulders, and, purposely +dropping the pipe of peace, he stood erect before the Governor, with his +arms folded and his right hand pressed upon the sheath of his scalping +knife. With the utmost coolness and self-possession, a defiant smile +playing upon his thin lips, and his eyes sternly fixed upon his +excellency, the Indian, with a firm voice, replied: + +'I started to come, but your braves drove me back.' + +GOVERNOR. 'What excuse have you for not coming the second time +when I sent for you?' + +RED IRON. 'No other excuse than I have given you.' + +GOVERNOR. 'At the treaty, I thought you a good man; but since, +you have acted badly, and I am disposed to break you. I _do_ break you.' + +Red Iron looked at the Governor for a moment with a look of withering +contempt and scorn, and then burst out in a voice full of derisive +mockery. + +RED IRON. '_You break me!_ My people made me a chief. My people +love me. I will still be their chief. I have done nothing wrong.' + +GOVERNOR. 'Red Iron, why did you get your braves together, and +march around here for the purpose of intimidating other chiefs, and +prevent their coming to council?' + +RED IRON. 'I did not get my braves together; they got +themselves together, to prevent _boys_ going to council to be made +_chiefs_ to sign papers, and to prevent single chiefs going to council +at night, to be _bribed_ to sign papers for _money_ we have never got.' +And then the inexorable fellow continued, without any regard to his +excellency's nerves or conscience: 'We have heard how the M'Dewakantons +were served at Mendota; that by secret councils you got their names on +paper, and took away their money. We don't want to be served so. My +braves wanted to come to council in the _daytime_, when the sun shines; +and we want no councils in the dark. We want all our people to go to +council together, so that we can all know what is done.' + +The Governor is nothing abashed at these damaging charges, but returns +once more to the assault. + +GOVERNOR. 'Why did you attempt to come to council with your +braves, when I had forbidden your braves coming to council?' + +To which Red Iron, with the same masterful, defiant smile upon his 'thin +lips,' answers: + +RED IRON. 'You invited the chiefs only, and would not let the +braves come too. This is not the way we have been treated before; this +is not according to our customs; for among Dacotahs, chiefs and braves +go to council together. When you first sent for us there were two or +three chiefs here, and we waited, and we wanted to wait till the rest +would come, that we might all be in council together, and know what was +done, and so that we might all understand the papers, and know what we +were signing. When we signed the treaty, the _traders threw a blanket +over our faces, and darkened our eyes; and made us sign papers which we +did not understand, and which were not explained or read to us_. We want +our Great Father at Washington to know what has been done.' + +This last speech--whose words hit like bullets--made the Governor wince, +and he replied, with more sharpness than wit: + +GOVERNOR. 'Your Great Father has sent me to represent him; and +what I say, he says. He wants you to pay your old debts, in accordance +with the papers you signed when the treaty was made' ['which we did not +understand; which were never read nor explained to us; which we were +forced to sign,' as Red Iron had just told the Governor!]. 'You must +leave that money in my hands to pay those debts. If you refuse to do +that, I will take the money back.' + +The Governor was getting deeper and deeper into the pit which he had dug +for the Indian. This last speech was most unhappy and impolitic for the +side he was advocating. It put dreadful weapons into the hands of Red +Iron, which the crafty 'old man eloquent' did not fail to use against +his antagonist. + +He makes this manly answer, not at all abashed in the presence of the +chief magistrate: + +RED IRON. 'You can take back your money! We sold our land to +you, and you promised to pay us. If you don't give us the money, I will +be glad, and all our people will be glad; for we will have our land back +if you don't give us the money. That paper was not interpreted or +explained to us. We are told it gives about three hundred boxes +($300,000) of our money to some of the traders! We don't think we owe +them so much. We want to pay all our debts. We want our Great Father to +send three good men here to tell us how much we do owe, and whatever +they say, we will pay; and (pointing to the Indians) that's what all +these braves say. Our chiefs and all our people say this.' + +And the Indians responded with the usual 'Ho! ho!' of acquiescence. + +But the Governor don't see it. A poor devil of an Indian, according to +his Christian conviction, ought to be content to pay unaudited, untaxed +bills, wherein the margin is broad enough for any scoundrel to do his +robberies by tens of thousands. So his excellency told Red Iron: + +GOVERNOR. 'That can't be done!' [Nay, more confounding and +appalling still, he added:] 'You owe more than your money will pay, and +I am ready now to pay your annuity, and no more; and when you are ready +to receive it, the Agent will pay it.' + +Red Iron replies in a speech full of pathos: + +RED IRON. 'We will receive our annuity, but we will sign no +papers for anything else.' [You've swindled us enough, lied to us deep +enough already, and we have no belief in your words or agreements.] 'The +snow is on the ground, and we have been waiting a long time to get our +money. We are poor; you have plenty. Your fires are warm; your _tepees_ +(wigwams, tents) keep out the cold. We have nothing to eat. We have been +waiting a long time for our moneys. Our hunting season is past. A great +many of our people are sick for being hungry. We must die because you +won't pay us. We may die! but if we do' [hold on, reader! no curses on +the white men are coming next, as one might naturally expect, either +from Christian or heathen orator, under the circumstances!]--'but if we +do,' he continues, 'we will leave our bones on the ground, that our +Great Father may see where his Dacotah children died!' [He has seen many +such shambles, O thou eloquent Indian! eloquent to ears of flint and +hearts of granite! and I never heard that the 'Great Father' ever shed a +single tear over them.] He goes on: 'We are very poor. We have sold our +hunting grounds, and with them the graves of our fathers. We have sold +our own graves.' [Out of all those hundreds of thousands of acres, not +six feet of earth, which they could call their own, left for any one of +them!] 'We have no place to bury our dead, and you will not pay us the +money for our lands.' + +I give this interview, and what transpired there, as a sample of the +treatment which the Indians were in the habit of receiving at the hands +both of the General Government and the State authorities. Not the wisest +kind of treatment, one would think, this which Red Iron received, taking +all the circumstances into account. The reader will be surprised, +however, that Governor Ramsey, not content with 'breaking' the chief, as +he called it--the greatest dishonor which he could inflict upon an +Indian of rank--sent him, when the council broke up, to the guard house, +under an escort of soldiers! This impolitic official ought to have +remembered that the fire was even then ready for the kindling, which +finally burst out in such fearful devastation over his devoted State; +that it was enough to have cheated the Indians, without thus inflaming +their already excited passions, by heaping so great an indignity upon +the person of their chief. But he was regardless of everything except +the display of his own power and authority. No doubt he thought he was +acting for the best, and that the dirty redskins needed to be held with +a high hand. But it was bad thinking and doing, nevertheless; a most +shortsighted and foolish policy, which came wellnigh, as it was, to an +Indian outbreak. + +The braves of Red Iron retired under the leadership of Lean Bear, a +crafty fellow, eloquent in his way, and now irreconcilably mad against +the whites; and when he had led them about a quarter of a mile from the +council house, they set up a simultaneous yell, the gathering signal of +the Dacotah. Ere the echoes died away, Indians were hurrying from their +_tepees_ toward them, prepared for battle. They proceeded to an eminence +near the camp, where mouldered the bones of many warriors. It was the +memorable battle ground where their ancestors had fought, in a Waterloo +conflict, the warlike Sacs and Foxes, thereby preserving their lands and +nationality. + +A more favorable occasion, a more fitting locality for the display of +eloquence which should kindle the blood of the Indian into raging fire, +and persuade him to any the most monstrous and inhuman deeds, could not +have been chosen even by Indian sagacity. An old battle ground, where +the Sioux had been victorious over their enemies; the whitened bones of +the ghastly skeletons of their ancestors who fought the battle, +bleaching on the turf, or calling to them from their graves below to +take God's vengeance in their own hands; the memory of the old and new +wrongs inflicted upon them by the whites; the infuriating insult just +offered to their favorite chief--all conspired with the orator's cunning +to give edge to his eloquence and obedience to his commands. + +Governor Ramsey has a good deal to thank God for, that, stimulated by +Lean Bear's rhetoric, the Sioux did not that night attack the whites, +and make an indiscriminate slaughter of the population, as they would +have done, if it had not been for the friendly Indians and half breeds. +Perhaps he thought he was strong enough, for the hour, to defeat them in +any attempt at an outbreak. But it is not strength so much as strategy +which is needed in Indian warfare. To whip the Indians, we must become +Indians in our plan and conduct of battle. The civilization and +mathematics of war, as practised by cultivated people, are useless in +the wilderness, and all our proud and boasted tactics are mere foolish +toying and trifling--a waste of time, strength, and opportunity. No one +doubts that if our troops could meet the Indians in open field, they +would slaughter them like rats; but they know better than to be caught +on the open field, except they are pretty sure of an advantage. They +steal upon you like thieves, shod with moccasons which have no sound; +they think it equally brave to shoot a man from behind a tree as to +sabre him in a hand-to-hand encounter. + +It is dreadful to contemplate what an incarnate fiend we have roused in +this cheated, wronged, and despised Indian. I tremble to think of it. I +tremble when I remember also what Bishop Whipple says in the 'Plea,' +from which I have already quoted; they are words which ought to be +thundered continually into the ears of the 'Great Father,' until he +compels a total revolution in our Indian affairs--words which all +settlers in those regions should keep forever present in their minds; +and, with the Minnesota massacres still fresh in their memory, they +should be taught by them never for a moment to trust an Indian, and +never knowingly to give him just cause for complaint; to go always +armed; to organize, in towns, districts, and counties, the yeomen of the +soil, who must be ready at any moment, by night or day, to meet the +treacherous, ubiquitous enemy. These last will be found of more value +than the 'thundering' suggestion contained in the first of these +precautionary propositions. For it is upon themselves that they must +chiefly rely for defence, these hapless settlers! and upon no +Government, and no soldiers. + +Think of it, our 'Great Father' at Washington! and you, his unruly +children, you Senators and Congressmen! One of your most loyal citizens +in the State of Minnesota, a Christian bishop, well acquainted with all +the facts, the dodges, lies, frauds, and all the ins and outs of your +Indian administration, declares, with the fullest solemnity which his +office and functions can give to words, and with the voice, not of +prophecy, but of logical deduction, that the same causes which brought +about the Sioux massacre, 'ARE TO-DAY, SLOWLY BUT SURELY, PREPARING +THE WAY FOR A CHIPPEWA WAR!' What a Chippewa war means, those who +did not know in 1861, found out through the Sioux in 1862 and 1863, to +their perpetual sorrow. Like the Bourbons, however, our Government +either cannot or will not learn lessons from experience. If they were +compelled to bear the penalties of their neglect and wanton +maladministration of affairs in the Indian districts, the loss would be +small and the retribution just. But they sit at ease, far away from the +scene of carnage, and 'get' nothing but the 'news,' which they read as +they would any other record of human passion and depravity. It is the +innocent settlers who pay the penalty for the guilt and transgressions +of their rulers. + +It is time somebody, or some vast numbers, banded as one man, began to +think upon this threatening question, and to act upon it. It concerns +the faith and honor of this great republic before all the world, that +the wrongs alluded to should be speedily righted. We are not, in +reality, what our Indian legislation would almost seem to accuse and +convict us of, a nation of man-catchers, baiting our trap with fine +farms, and free government, and happy homes, and abundant prosperity of +all sorts, that so we may inveigle the simple minded, and then hand them +over to the tender mercies of the Indians! God forbid that such crimes +should be ours! But there is a coloring of truth about the whole +programme. We invite settlers to populate our vast and wellnigh +boundless wilderness, promising them protection from enemies abroad and +a happy peace at home; and in the same breath we cheat the savages, and +stir them up to hatred and violence against every white man, woman, and +child in the country. This is like preaching security and peace while +your lighted match is applied to the powder barrel. It is a logic which +confutes itself, and needs no _sillygism_ to prove its lying. + +Why should we not bravely and manfully, with all the wisdom we possess, +confront and reform the evils and iniquities of this system? It is a +part and parcel of the work committed to our charge, that we shall +wisely deal with this people, until God, by His own mysterious means and +agencies, removes them finally from the continent and the planet. There +is no room for the red man where the white man comes. He _must_ give +way. It is destiny, and there is no help for it. He knows this as well +as we do; and he gnaws the grim fact with the teeth of the hopeless +damned. But why imbitter him needlessly against us, against the +Government, against the people among whom he resides, and over whose +dear lives and properties he holds suspended the scalping knife and the +flaming pine brand? We are unworthy of the sovereign possessions +reserved for us from before the foundations of the world--making the +title deeds, therefore, unusually sound and wellnigh unquestionable--if +we cannot deal like rational men with the hordes of savages, whose lands +we have robbed them of, whom we have reduced to mere pensioners upon +our caprice--not bounty--and so satisfy them and their claims that the +business of human life may be carried on safely in their vicinity and +actual presence. 'Who art thou that saith 'there is a lion in the way'? +Rise, sluggard, and slay the lion! The road has to be travelled.' + +We are certainly not afraid of any lion, whether he be red or black; +and, until lately, _both_ these monstrous red and black animals lay in +the direct path of the nation, on which it must travel or perish. We +have pretty well mauled and knuckled the black animal, and wellnigh +settled with his keepers, one and all! but this red lion is of a +different sort, and requires altogether another kind of treatment. We +shall yet save the bruised and bleeding black to the service of +civilization and humanity. He never was half a bad fellow at the bottom +of his leonine bowels, and he already takes to white civility and +customs, like an educated, intelligent, and trusty dog of the 'poor dog +Tray' sort! And I, for one, have more than a sneaking affection for his +old black mug, and a world of hope in his future behavior, if we don't +spoil him for the field and for watch and guard at home, by our infernal +'culture,' as the thing is called. + +Is this red lion a more terrible devil to combat, or harder to trick +into civility, or more impervious to the injunctions of the Ten +Commandments? I suppose it will be said that he is; that the black +fellow bolted the whole code at a gobble, and wagged his tail, as if the +feat must surely please his new masters; that he had long had the +benefit of civilized cooking, and knew a gentleman by his toggery; that, +moreover, he was of a teachable, plastic nature, and was meant to lie +down in due time upon the hearth rug before the fire, in any gentleman's +sitting room in the land. It may be true. I believe all this myself, and +a good deal more, about him; and I take renewed hope also for this great +republic--which is the hope of the world!--that it has thus, at last, +tamed him, and fitted him for exhibition upon a nobler theatre than that +of Barnum. + +But the red lion, you say, is untamable--cannot be dealt with +successfully by the wit of white men; and that it is best, therefore, to +rob him of the golden apples which he guards, and which are his only +food, and so starve him out. But you can't deal that way with the Indian +lion, my friend, without feeling the taste of his claws. You have tried +it long enough. Bishop Whipple says, 'for fifty years'! And I ask you +how much nearer are you to the taming of him now, than you were those +'fifty years' ago? Echo answers: 'That's an impudent question!' and I +reply, so be it! but you can't shuffle it off in that way. I have tried +my hand at suggesting how imminent dangers, calamities, and horrors may +even yet be averted from the Western settlements; and if those who urge +that justice shall be done to them, equal to that which we here render, +or try or pretend to render to each other--if those who urge this are +not listened to now, their plea will be remembered when it is all too +late, and thousands of innocent people are again murdered, and their +homes laid waste and desolate. + +I again say, let no one think by these statements that I am making a +special pleading for the Indians, or that I sanction their butcheries. +God knows how far all this is from my thought or feeling! I am a white +man right through all the inmost fibres of my being: too white, I often +fear; for I find my love of race, and pride of blood and ancestry, often +encroach too far upon the proper regions of my humanity, and threaten to +blear my eyesight to the fair claims of the inferior races. + +But I have to do with a thoughtful, reflective, and, at the bottom, just +and humane people; and knowing this, I felt safe, or nearly so, against +all misconstruction, in this my attempt to show that the late Indian +massacres were not instigated merely and solely by the passion of the +Indian for blood, but that they had deeper, broader, more tangible +causes than this, some of which I have briefly hinted at. Woe to them by +whom these butcheries came! Woe also to them who, knowing what must +inevitably result from their foul dealings, continued to deal foully +with the Indian--until the doomsday came! + +I have not put in a single tithe of the evidence which I might adduce to +prove my case. It is of no use appealing to the higher powers for +redress. 'I am sick at heart,' says the good Bishop Whipple; 'I fear the +words of one of our statesmen to me were true: 'Bishop, every word you +say of this Indian system is true; the nation knows it. It is useless; +you will not be heard. Your faith is only like that of the man that +stood on the bank of the river, waiting for the water to run by, that he +might cross over dryshod!'' And then he continues, with solemn emphasis +and pity: 'All I have to say is this, that if a nation, trembling on the +brink of anarchy and ruin, is so dead that it will not hear a plea to +redress wrongs which the whole people admit call for reform, God in +mercy pity us and our children!' + + + + +BURIED ALIVE. + +A Dirge. + + "There may be thought, + Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily." + + "A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted." + + + Deep, deep in the tender heart + Make a grave for the joys of the Past! + Let never a tear fall hot on their bier, + But hurry them in as fast + As we bury the Beautiful out of our sight, + Ere corruption and horror have saddened our light. + + Deep, deep in the sinking heart + Make a grave for the dreams of the Past! + Let the shrill cries of pain still assail thee in vain, + Though they follow so wild and so fast: + Through the fibres and sinews, and hot, bloody dew + Let the sharp strokes fall piercing, unceasing, and true. + + Call, call on the feverish brain + To bring aid to the gasping heart! + To sustain its quick throbs, to suppress its fierce sobs, + As it must with its idols part: + While the ruthless spade in the grave it has made + Hurries forever the beautiful Dead! + + Call, call on the tortured soul + To stand close by the sinking heart, + While the nervous mesh of the writhing flesh, + Shuddering and shivering in every part, + Its strange anguish renews as the hot, bloody dews + Follow the track of the rude spade through. + + Call, call on the gifted brain + To send on in the funeral train + Her fair children enwrought from the tissue of thought-- + Though their wailing will all be in vain-- + Yet shrouded in robes of funereal woe + Let them move on to monotones, solemn and slow! + + Rouse, rouse the immortal soul + With its hopes and its visions so bright, + To send them in the train with the thoughts of the brain, + Though their vesture seemed woven of light, + To sigh, wail, and weep o'er the pulse-rhythmed sleep + Of the Dead in their living urn! + + Heave, heave the weird sculptured stone; + Press it deep on the throbbing grave! + With a wildering moan leave the Buried alone + In their tomb in the quivering heart: + While it pours its wild blood in a hot lava flood + Round its beautiful sepulchred Dead. + + But my God, they are _not_ at rest! + Can they neither live nor die? + See, they writhe in their throbbing grave! + While the nervous mesh of the quivering flesh + Its strange anguish renews as the hot, bloody dews + Follow the track of my Beautiful back + As they rush into life again, + Bringing nought but a sense of pain! + + We may bury deep the Past-- + Vain is all our bitter task! + It is throbbing, living still, for beyond all power to kill, + It can never find a rest in a woman's stormful breast, + It can never, never sleep rocked by anguish wild and deep, + It can never quiet lie with shrill sobs for lullaby; + And since woman cannot part from the idols of her heart, + And as severed life is Hell for the souls that love too well, + Better far the tender form whose lorn life is only storm, + With the coffined dead should seek + To lie down in a dreamless sleep-- + And find rest in the dust with the worm. + + Dig a quiet, lowly grave + In the earth where willows wave! + Round the burning anguish deep wrap the cooling winding sheet, + Shroud the children of the brain, and the soul's high-visioned train: + Ah, o'er the snowy sleep let no pitying mortal weep, + For the _weary seek repose_ with the worm! + + Creeping pines and mosses grow + O'er the fragile form below! + Violets, bright-eyed pansies wave o'er the lowly, harmless grave; + Let the butterfly and bee all the summer flutter free, + O'er the flowers grown from a heart which no wrongs could ever part, + Nor torture e'er remove from the creatures of its love; + With the wild and feverish brain, and thought's bright but blighted train, + With strong heart, but anguished soul, and pain's weird and heavy dole-- + Let the weary, tired form, whose lost life was only storm, + In the shroud's pure snow + Find release from woe, + Nor hope, nor joy, nor love it e'er again would know! + + + + +NEGRO TROOPS. + + +There was a time not long since when the serious consideration of a +question like this would have met with little favor. We remember seeing, +in this city of New York, one genial October day, not very many years +ago, a small company of negro soldiers. They were marching in Canal +street, not in Broadway, and seemed to fear molestation even there. The +writer was a schoolboy then, cadet in a military school (one of the +first established of those excellent institutions), and had, of course, +a particular interest in all military matters. So he stopped to look +upon these black soldiers--marching with all the more pride (as it +seemed to him) because they marched under the floating folds of the +stars and stripes. His boy's heart was stirred by the spectacle, and +full of a big emotion; but the fashion of the times overpowered the +generous impulse, and he treated the negro soldiers with contempt. + +This was in the palmy days of the old _régime_. The stifling of that +generous impulse was one of the glories of the old _régime_. Not a +decade of years went by, and the writer stood again in the streets of +New York city, and saw another sight of negro soldiers. It was, indeed, +and in all respects, another sight. This time the black men marched in +Broadway; this time they feared no molestation. It was a balmy day in +spring, and God's sunshine glistened gladly from the bright bayonets of +United States black soldiers. What a spectacle it was! There marched the +retributive justice of the nation--'carrying the flag and keeping step +to the music of the Union.' That march was a march of triumph, and its +sublime watchword was: 'LIBERTY AND UNION, NOW AND FOREVER, ONE AND +INSEPARABLE!' + +What a marvellous change in public opinion! Now, negro companies are +treated with respect, negro regiments are honored; because we honor the +defenders of our national ensign, which is the representative and symbol +of our national life. The men who joined so gallantly in the assault on +Port Hudson; who fell so nobly at Milliken's Bend, in repelling the +attack of men whose blackness was not, like theirs, of the outside skin, +but of a blacker, deeper dye, the blackness of treason in their inner +hearts; the men whose blood drenched the sands of Morris Island, and +made South Carolina more a sacred soil than it had ever been before, +because it was blood poured out in defence of the nation's honor, and to +wash out the stain of Carolina's dishonor; these men cannot be contemned +now. They have shown themselves noble men. They have made for themselves +a place in American history, along with their fathers at New Orleans, +and their grandfathers under Washington. And the rebel epitaph of the +brave Colonel Shaw, who led them unflinchingly against the iron hail of +Wagner, is no reproach, but a badge of honor: 'We have buried him under +his niggers.' + +Since that memorable assault, another State has witnessed the patriotic +gallantry of these despised 'niggers;' and in the first Virginia +campaign of Lieutenant-General Grant, negroes have borne an honorable +part. There is a division of them attached to the old ninth corps, under +Burnside, in the present organization of the Army of the Potomac. While +that noble army was fighting the battles of the Wilderness, this +division was holding the fords of the Rapid Ann. When Grant swung his +base away from the river, after the disaster to his right wing, and +moved upon Lee's flank, the ninth corps, with its negro division, held +an honorable post in the marching column; and at Spottsylvania Court +House the correspondents tell us how, with the war cry of Fort Pillow in +their mouths, these 'niggers' rushed valiantly to the assault, and +elicited the highest praise for their steadiness and courage. Not less +honorable is the record of the negro troops attached to the coöperating +Army of the Peninsula. The three extracts from official despatches, +which follow, show what the record is. + +May 5th, General Butler telegraphs to Secretary Stanton: 'We have seized +Wilson's Wharf Landing. A brigade of Wild's colored troops are there. At +Powhatan Landing two regiments of the same brigade have landed.' + +May 9th, General Butler telegraphs from Bermuda Landing: 'Our operations +may be summed up in a few words. With seventeen hundred cavalry we have +advanced up the Peninsula, forced the Chickahominy, and have safely +brought them to our present position. These are colored cavalry, and are +now holding position as our advance toward Richmond.' + +May 25th, the War Department announced, in a bulletin, that 'General +Butler, in a despatch dated at headquarters in the field, at seven +o'clock this morning, reports that Major-General Fitzhugh Lee, lately +promoted, made, with cavalry, infantry, and artillery, an attack upon my +post at Wilson's Wharf, north side of James River, below Fort Powhatan, +garrisoned by two regiments, all negro troops, Brigadier-General Wild +commanding, and was handsomely repulsed. Before the attack, Lee sent a +flag, stating that he had force enough to take the place, demanding its +surrender, and in that case the garrison should be turned over to the +authorities at Richmond as prisoners of war(!); but if this proposition +was rejected, he would not be answerable for the consequences when he +took the place. General Wild replied: 'We will try that.' Reinforcements +were at once sent, but the fight was over before their arrival.' + +It has been not unfrequently said that negroes were cowards and would +not fight. The best answer that can be made to that charge is the +official order, hereto annexed, of General 'Baldy' Smith. It will be +remembered that Grant had just accomplished the transfer of his army +from the swamps of the Chickahominy to the south side of the James +River, and had immediately thereupon attacked the earthworks in front of +Petersburg. The time was June--a month later than the official +despatches from Butler already quoted: + + '_To the Eighteenth Army Corps_: + + 'The General commanding desires to express to his command his + appreciation of the soldierly qualities which have been displayed + during the campaign of the last seventeen days. Within that time + they have been constantly called upon to undergo all the hardships + of the soldier's life, and be exposed to all of its dangers. + + 'Marches under a hot sun have ended in severe battles, and, after + the battle, watchful nights in the trenches gallantly taken from + the enemy. + + 'But the crowning point of the honor they are entitled to has been + won since the morning of the 15th instant, when a series of + earthworks on most commanding positions and of formidable strength + have been carried, with all the guns and materials of war of the + enemy, including prisoners and colors. The works have all been + held, and the trophies remain in our hands. + + 'This victory is all the more important to us as the troops never + have been regularly organized in camps where time has been given + them to learn the discipline necessary to a well-organized _corps + d'armée_, but they had been hastily concentrated and suddenly + summoned to take part in the trying campaign of our country's + being. Such honor as they have won will remain imperishable. + + '_To the colored troops comprising the division of General Hinks, + the General commanding would call the attention of his command_. + With the veterans of the Eighteenth Corps they have stormed the + works of the enemy and carried them, taking guns and prisoners, and + _in the whole affair they have displayed all the qualities of good + soldiers_. + + 'By command of + 'W. F. SMITH, Major-General. + + 'WM. RUSSELL, JR., + 'Assistant Adjt.-General. + + 'Official: SOLON A. CARTER, + 'Captain and A. A. A.-G.' + + +It may be added that 'Baldy' Smith has never been known as being +particularly partial to the use of negro troops. He is reported to have +said, after the assault on Petersburg, that the war was virtually ended, +because the negroes had now shown that they could fight, and so it was +only a question of time. + +The man is not to be envied who can contemptuously disregard this +record. And while we give unstinted honor to the heroes whose valor has +made the Army of the Potomac immortal in history, and made its campaign +of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania a campaign of glory, let us not +forget that negro troops in that army, and in other armies in the same +campaign, have borne their part faithfully, and deserve well of the +republic. Nor let us forget the damning atrocities at Fort Pillow, where +black men in United States uniform were massacred in cold blood, because +they were willing rather to die freemen with their white comrades of the +United States army, than live slaves to rebel masters:[D] thus +vindicating their claim to freedom, and reflecting upon our country's +flag the especial honor which such determined bravery has ever been +awarded among men--reminding us of the Three Hundred at Thermopylę, and +the Old Guard at Waterloo, disdaining to surrender. + +So strange are the events of history! So mysterious is the plan of +Providence, choosing now, as in the days of the apostle Paul, 'base +things of the world, and things which are despised, yea, and things +which are not, to bring to nought things that are!' What a stinging +example of time's revenges, to be sure, that negroes should have a part +in bringing to nought the rebellion of negro-holders! that they should +be found fighting for the very Government whose power had aided to keep +them in bondage to these negro-holders! In face of such facts, will any +one impiously declare that fate, or blind chance, rules the affairs of +men! + +We might well pause at this point to consider the philosophy of +revolutions. It would be an interesting study to investigate the +efficient or radical causes of these singular phenomena of God's +providence--these crises in history, when 'the fountains of the great +deep are broken up,' and the experience of centuries is crowded into the +limits of a single year, and we see the old landmarks all swept away +before the overwhelming tides of a new era. Then it is that precedents +avail us nothing, and we are driven to lay hold of those principles of +justice and right which are alone eternal. For in the storm and wreck of +revolution those principles are our sure beacon lights, shining on, like +the stars, forever. Thus philosophizing, the question would be: Have +revolutions a fixed law? Is there a recurring sequence in the mighty +'logic of events,' that will enable us to define a formula for the +revolutions of systems in society? So science has demonstrated a law for +the revolutions and changes of systems of worlds in infinite space. Or, +are the revolutions of history, like the volcanic disturbances of our +planet earth, in a sort, abnormal? They seem to come, like the _deus ex +machina_ of the Roman poet, to cut the Gordian knots that perplex +statesmen and bewilder nations. The affairs of men get so tangled up +sometimes, that to prevent anarchy and chaos, God sends revolutions, +which sweep away the effete institutions and old, worn-out systems, to +replace them with new and living systems. And thus there is a perpetual +genesis, or new creation, of the world. Let any one read Carlyle's vivid +description of the badness of the eighteenth century, 'bad in that bad +way as never century before was, till the French Revolution came and put +an end to it,' and he will understand something of this question of +revolutions. It suggests the old scholastic dispute of the free agency +of man, and looks as though, granting that freedom, it were, after all, +too great a gift for us. For history seems to teach, as its one grand +lesson, confirming, as always, the revelation in Christ, that men cannot +take care of themselves; and that God leaves them to their own ways long +enough to satisfy them that human agency is inadequate to solve the +question of reform, and then, when the times are ripe, He takes the +reins into His own hand, and starts society anew. It is the patient +process of education by centuries, or by ages--only to be made perfect +in the millennial age. So it is that the world moves. It moves by the +free agency of man, kept in its balance by the guiding hand of God. + + +I. THE VEXED QUESTION OF THE NEGRO. + +Thus it is that the second American revolution is settling for us the +vexed question of the negro. What should be done with him, or for him, +or to him, had been the disturbing element in our political system ever +since the African slave trade expired by limitation of the Constitution +in 1808. The devices of human ingenuity (inspired, as we fervently +believe, by the purest patriotism) to stave off the inevitable final +settlement of this account, innumerable as they were, and only limited +by the predestined decree of Supreme Benevolence (which is Supreme +Justice), were, at last, exhausted. The statesmanship of '50 had been +outgrown. The giants of those days had gone, one by one, to their reward +ere yet the first breaths of the revolution that has opened the decade +of '60. Nought remained to their lesser associates, who still survived, +but to bow reverently before the storm, 'as seeing in it Him who is +invisible.' Such recognition, indeed, is the measure of men's patriotism +to-day. The man who so perverts his mind and reason as to shut out the +evidence of the stars and his own consciousness (the German +metaphysician's proof of Deity), and deny that God is, is simply a fool; +and every reflecting mind is ready to sanction and adopt the Psalmist's +word: 'The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.' Equally a fool +is he who shuts his eyes to the overwhelming facts of the last two +years, refusing to be taught by the Providence behind them. Such and so +vast is the revolution by which God has intervened in our history. Such +is the Providence that still guides and guards the nation ordained by +Him to be. Such is the revolution that has swept away the slave system, +and opened for us a new path, and given us a new power of progress. + +Now, these views need not make one a negro-enthusiast. Because the +system of slavery has been swept away, it is not necessary to assert, as +some do, the negro's equality with the white man in those things wherein +he is plainly not his equal. Yet there is an equality that cannot be +denied. The negro is certainly a man, and not a brute animal; although +so demoralized and corrupt had grown to be the tone of society that we +have actually heard the opinion avowed, in all seriousness, that the +negro had no soul. Shylock, in 'The Merchant of Venice,' pleads for +himself and his Jewish brethren, in one of the most pathetic passages of +even Shakspeare's genius, as though the Hebrew race were considered less +than men. And such, indeed, was nearly the case in Shylock's time. On +the other hand, the Moor of Venice disdains to plead as to his +superiors. His conscious equality in presence of the 'grave and reverend +signiors,' gives to his renowned address a consummate dignity, unknown +elsewhere in literature. He felt, indeed, that his victories under the +flag of the republic entitled him not only to equality, but especial +honor. Is it not singular that in this nineteenth century there should +be found men who gladly accord to the Jew, the descendant of Shem, that +of which they refuse even the possibility to the dark descendant of Ham? +Surely the republic of Venice was not so far behind our boasted +civilization. Our civilization still clings to the idea of privilege. +The privilege of caste is only exchanged for the privilege of color. + +Nor need we commit ourselves to the doctrine of some, who would appear +to think that the negro is to be the dominant race of the future; if not +in himself, yet in virtue of his supplementing the composite Anglo-Saxon +race, and thus giving to it a completeness it is assumed not to have at +present. Such we understand to be the doctrine of what styles itself +Miscegenation. It would be pertinent, and, perhaps, conclusive, to cite +on this point the Latin maxim, _De gustibus non disputandum_. + +There are those who admire a certain new style of music, of which the +melody is chiefly hidden from the appreciation of common folk, and which +has received the title, 'Music of the Future;' looking forward to a time +when, perhaps, men's senses will be preternaturally quickened to +comprehend its discordant harmonies. It is something akin to that vagary +of religious sentiment, which, whatever may be its merits, whatever its +satisfaction for a spiritually illuminated chosen few, is, nevertheless, +beyond the present ken and comprehension and spiritual compass of most +mortals, and may be called the Religion of the Future. The fatal defect +of all these theories is that they serve no purpose of utility. +Considered as creations of ideal beauty, they may charm the fancy and +quicken the imagination, and even exalt the mental habitudes, of a few +devotees. Or, allowing that they are a sort of morning twilight vision, +they _may_, we cannot dogmatically deny, hereafter develop into a +splendid fulness, in the perfect day. All this may be. But they do not +meet the practical needs of our working life, the wants of weary men and +weary women. + +So, what we want for the negro is not a metaphysical theory of his +perfect equality with the white man. Nor, on the other hand, are we at +liberty to say that he is, by virtue of any physical conformation and +structure, something inferior to the white man. Neither of these +positions can be sustained. The one plainly contradicts our observation +and experience; the other needs the proof of science that inferiority is +determined by physical structure. We must face the fact of the negro's +present degraded condition; and we must accept the equal fact of his +being a man, with a soul as precious, in the sight of God, as the soul +of his white brother. For the day when the sublime exordium of the +Declaration of Independence could be stigmatized as a 'glittering +generality,' is gone by. The basis of our American system of government, +it is no longer doubted, is the equality of all men before the law, as +the basis of our Christian faith is the equality of all men before God. +Accepting, then, the two undeniable facts above named, the question is, +What shall we do now with the negro? + + +II. THE NEGRO SLAVE AS A SOLDIER. + +Without attempting to discuss this interesting question in all its +various aspects, we may briefly advert to some of the problems in the +discussion which would seem to be fairly solved in the employment of the +negro as a United States soldier. + +Thus much is certainly true of the American negro, and herein he is +doubtless superior to the white man; namely, that he is docile, patient, +buoyant of spirit, full of affection, and endowed with a marvellous +apprehension of things spiritual. His _patience_ is shown by his long +bondage, borne without serious murmuring; awaiting the day of +deliverance, confident that the year of jubilee was to come. This point +is lucidly elaborated in a late article, of great interest, in _The +Edinburgh Review_, said to have been written by a negro escaped from +slavery. The negro's _docility_ appears in his aptitude to catch quickly +the tone of his master's mind, and guide himself by it; in the readiness +with which he yields to superior authority--which may or may not be due +to his spirit-crushing bondage, but which certainly has in it little of +the stupidity we should expect to find if such were the case. The +_buoyancy of his spirit_ overflows in the perpetual music of his laugh +and song amid the hard fortunes of his race. The fulness of his +_capacity of affection_ is attested by his remarkable devotion to master +or mistress, surviving strong amid all vicissitudes, and rising above +the iniquitous injustice that holds him in bonds into that exalted +triumph of the apostle's doctrine: 'Be not overcome of evil, but +overcome evil with good.' As for his _readiness to apprehend spiritual +things_, the experience of every person who has lived at the South +furnishes abundant proof. Who that has stood on the banks of a Southern +river, when a negro was baptized, and heard the loud chorus of joy of +his brethren and sisters when the sign of the Church was put upon him, +and seen the sympathy of eye and hand that welcomed him to the blessed +company, has not felt that for this poor, despised race there are riches +laid up in that kingdom 'where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and +where thieves do not break through nor steal'? Who that has stood in a +Southern forest on some Sunday afternoon, in the early Southern spring, +when the woods are resonant with the songs of birds, and heard a negro +congregation of believers in their meeting-house near by, joining with +all the fervor of their tropical temperament in this glad hymn of +nature, in the immortal verse of Wesley and Whitfield, has not felt that +to the negro the vision of the New Jerusalem is more of a reality than +has yet been granted to his worldly favored white brother and master? +Ah, no one who has witnessed such scenes all the years of his childhood +and youth, can deny that among the disciples of Christ are to be +reckoned especially the negro race; who bear His blessed cross in our +day, amid the jeers of a sceptical world, just as in His own day upon +earth the negro Simon of Cyrene bore to the Mount of Calvary the cross +on which the Saviour died. + +What these things prove is just this: the negro's capacity for freedom; +his capacity to know what is the 'perfect law of liberty,' keeping +irresponsible license in check; his absolute freedom from the +bloodthirstiness that seems to horrify so many unthinking persons, who +affect to fear the consequences of putting a musket in a negro's hand. +The incontestable points above enumerated show the groundlessness of +such an alleged fear. It needs only to consider them candidly to be +disabused on that score. No one who has seen and knows the tenderness of +the negro toward the children of his master, and his never-failing +respect toward his mistress, dares say he fears the negro's savageness. +No one who knows the negro's religious sensibility and his unshaken +faith in Christ, dares say he fears. No. Only those fear who know +nothing at all about the negro. They fear whose creed is given them by +men thirsting for the negro's blood, that it may be coined into ungodly +gold. + +Thus much will suffice for objections to negro troops, on the ground of +their incapacity. It is seen that the negro is capable to comprehend the +limitations of liberty; that his nature is not essentially savage, or, +if so, has been softened and tempered into a gentle docility under the +benign influences of civilized society; that, above all, his Christian +education has elevated him to a dignity that despises mean revenge. If +further proof is necessary, the regiments of negro slaves recruited in +Louisiana and the Carolinas, acquiring a discipline that has stood them +in good stead at Olustee (day of gloom) and elsewhere on their native +soil, may be cited in evidence of their capacity. + +But what about our rights in the matter? For we are considering now the +case of the slaves, not the free negro? The proper and sufficient answer +to that question is, What about the rights of slave-holders? What rights +of theirs are we bound to respect now? They have taken the law into +their own hands, and if they cannot enforce it, is it any part of our +business to aid them? Certainly and undoubtedly not. It is part of the +penalty of treason; part of the price they are paying for their ignoble +thrust at the nation's life; and a very light penalty, and cheap price +it is, that they lose their right to hold slaves. Such rights as they +possessed they held under the Constitution. We have been willing, for +the sake of peace (bearing in mind the apostle's injunction, 'If it be +possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men'), to +protect, under the sacred covenant of the nation, what they called their +rights to property; albeit not willing ourselves to touch the 'accursed +thing.' The history of the country is a witness to our good faith. But +plainly the injunction of the apostle becomes impossible of obedience +when men transform themselves into fiends, and hang up in their railway +cars, as trophies, the ghastly skulls of such of us as have been slain +in defence of the national covenant.[E] By their own acts the +slave-holders have cancelled our obligations as to such permissive +rights under the Constitution. We shall not probably hasten to incur any +more such obligations. They say that slavery is the strength of their +society. Doubtless it is. Then, Samson-like, they have pulled down upon +themselves the pillars of their whole fabric, and they cannot complain +if they and all their rights, immunities, and titles are buried in the +ruins. In other words, they have appealed from the Constitution, or the +law civil, to the sword, or the law military; and they must abide the +result of that appeal. Such is a brief statement of the question of +negro troops, as affecting the slaves of the South and their traitor +masters. + + +III. THE FREE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. + +There is another phase of the question, less difficult of solution than +the preceding, perhaps, but by no means less important. It is the case +of the free negro, and especially the free negro of the North. Here +again we need not stop to discuss abstract questions of equality, nor +declare our adherence to the philosophy of Miscegenation. We need not +stop to consider the nature, or justice, of the prejudice which prevails +against the negro at the North. It is undeniable that there is such a +prejudice. Accepting the undoubted fact, we see that it shuts nearly +every avenue of honest industry against the man with a black skin, +restricting him to the most menial offices; and that it is fostered in +many ways by the conventions and usages of our society, so as +practically to put him in a worse condition than his bonded brother at +the South--always except as to his God-given right to his liberty and +labor. Experience has shown that even this is not always fully assured +to the negro; and the July riots of New York indicate the uncertain +tenure of his liberty and life, even under the protection of equal laws. +What then? Shall we remand him to the servitude of the South? Shall we +enact for him a sort of Napoleonic law of general safety, to deprive him +of the poor liberty he has--however profitless the boon may seem to us +to be? Certainly not. Every instinct of humanity rises up against so +monstrous a suggestion. Yet something very like it has a place in the +legislation of some States in the American Union. + +Then what a Providential solution of the question is offered in the +employment of the negro as a soldier! There cannot surely be any +well-founded objection to it. Such opposition as the plan has +encountered seems to spring from the same unreasoning prejudice that +keeps the black man out of all decent industries in our free North. It +is that very prejudice which this plan will overcome. For the first +thing to be done is to raise the negro from his degradation; and to do +this we must obviously begin with teaching him a proper self-respect. +This will bear its fruit in making him respected by others. No one will +say that it is well to foster a feeling which outlaws any single class +in the community from the respect of all. This would be to glorify the +slave system of the South, and lay a basis for possible revolutions. +Thus the employment of the negro as a soldier, while it must inspire the +bondman of the South with a truer sense of his worth and capacity, and +thus tend to weaken the foundation of the whole rebel fabric, will also +correct the unquestioned evil of a growing class of outlaws in the midst +of our society. And if we clothe the negro in the uniform of a soldier +of the United States, the respect of the nation for its brave defenders +will teach him self-respect; at the same time that it will teach the +nation to put a new value upon its idea of loyalty. + +The epitaph commemorative of the Spartan valor that has made Thermopylę +a name forever, serves to show the conclusion of our whole discussion: + + 'Go, stranger, and at Lacedęmon tell, + That here, obedient to her laws, we fell.' + +For the man who is loyal to his flag will not quarrel with the color of +a comrade in arms who has shed blood, red like his own, in defending +that flag from dishonor; just as the man who is loyal to the altar feels +a fellowship for every one, however humble, who bears the name of their +common Master, and is made in the image of their common Father. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[D] Late Southern newspapers speak of the obstinacy of the garrison at +Fort Pillow, and assert that Forrest would have stopped the massacre at +any time after the capture, if our soldiers had manifested any +disposition to yield. + +[E] The writer's father saw these skulls hanging in the cars on a +railway in Georgia, after first Bull Run, and saw them handed through +the cars amid the jeers of passengers. + + + + +COLORS AND THEIR MEANING. + + +In order to a due understanding of the signification of colors, it is +necessary we should commence at the foundation. Accordingly I shall +begin by saying that colors are primary, secondary, and tertiary. + +Primary colors are three: red, yellow, and blue. + +RED is the color of greatest heat. + +YELLOW is the color of greatest light. + +BLUE is the color of chemical change. + +In accordance with this philosophical truth, we should naturally expect +to find a preponderance of blue rays from the sun in the spring time, +and so it is. + +These rays preponderate at the time of ploughing, sowing, and +germination. + +In the summer time, after the plant has started from the ground, and +requires vigorous leaves to bring it to perfection ere the cold winter +rolls around once more, we have the yellow rays. 'Light, more light,' is +then the cry of nature, and as not even length of days affords this +element in sufficient completeness, the sun darts his brightest beams in +'the leafy month of June.' + +Later still in the year, after germination is past and growth perfected, +comes the necessity of heat rays to ripen fruit, vegetables, and grain, +and nature's behests are obeyed in the then preponderance of the red +rays. Much of this effect may be due to the _media_ through which the +sun's rays pass. A sensitized photographic paper is not colored as much +at an altitude of three miles in half an hour as is a similar paper upon +the earth's surface in one moment. At any season of the year, gardeners +can either stimulate or retard germination as they place a blue or +yellow glass over the nursling. That the growth of plants is not due +alone to the rays of the sun we can, without experiment, convince +ourselves, as even ordinary observers are well aware that upon some days +plants shoot up so rapidly as to grow almost visibly under their eyes, +and in other conditions of the atmosphere seemingly remain dormant for +days. + +The germinating influence, let it be due either to peculiar rays alone, +or to atmospheric state, does not contain much coloring matter. The +first spring flowers are of a pale color; as summer advances we have +brighter hues, but not until the approach of fall do we see Flora in all +her gorgeousness of coloring. The paleness of mountain and arctic +flowers, and the brilliancy of those of the tropics, point to the same +cause which gives the temperate zones their brightest flowers when heat +rays preponderate. + +As depth of color seems connected with the red or heat rays; so perfume +belongs rightfully to the summer blossoms; when light is the strongest, +then we have our pinks, and roses, and lilies. + +There are also in the spectrum four secondary colors: orange, green, +indigo, and violet. The secondary colors are alternate with the primary +in the spectrum, and are formed by a mixture of the two primary nearest +them--as orange, formed by a union of red and yellow; green, by a +mixture of yellow and blue; indigo and violet, of blue and red. Thus: + +Red, + +_Orange_, + +Yellow, + +_Green_, + +Blue, + +_Indigo_, + +_Violet_. + +Tertiary colors are many more than both primary and secondary. They are +hues not found in the spectrum. They are nature's stepchildren rather +than children, and many of them might not inappropriately be called +children of art; yet although most of them are of inventions that man +has sought out, they are at best but shades, and must all look back to +the spectrum as their common parent. + +Each of the primary colors forms a simple contrast to the other two; +thus blue is contrasted by yellow and by red, either of which forms a +simple contrast to it; but as it is a law of color that compound +contrasts are more effective than simple in the proportion of two to +one, it follows that a mixture of either two of the primitive colors is +the most powerful contrast possible with the other. + +Red and yellow form orange, the greatest and the most harmonious +contrast to blue; red and blue form violet or purple, so much admired in +contrast with yellow in the pansy; yellow and blue form green, the +contrast to red, and the color needed to restore the tone of the optic +nerve when strained or fatigued by undue attention to red. This is the +most common and admirable contrast in the vegetable kingdom; the +brilliant red blossom or fruit, with green leaves, as instance the fiery +tulip, the crimson rose, the scarlet verbena, the burning dahlia, the +cherry and apple trees, the tomato or loveapple of my childhood, and the +scarlet maple and sumach of our American October. + +There are two distinct harmonies of color: the harmony of contrast, and +the harmony of shading. The former is the harmony of striking +diversities found in nature, and the other a mellowing of colors, or +blending of similar hues, attributable to art. + +From this little synopsis of the effects and uses of the prismatic +colors, we shall be enabled the better to understand both the ancient +and modern popular ideas as to colors as representatives and +correspondences. Colors have a mental, moral, and physical +significance--a good and a bad import. The one to which I shall first +direct your attention is that which most readily strikes the eye. + + +RED. + +Which Thoreau called the 'color of colors,' in the Hebrew signified to +have dominion, and in early art was symbolical or emblematic of Divine +love, creative power, etc. The word Adam, we have been taught, signifies +red man; it does mean 'the blood,' which, of course, originated 'to be +red,' as a secondary signification. Lanci, the great interpreter of +Sacred Philology at the Vatican, deems 'The Blusher,' to be the true +meaning of the word Adam. God created man, male and female created He +them, and called their name Adam. A blush, so becoming on the +countenance of feminine beauty, is generally deemed a sign of weakness +when visible upon a man's face. But if the above interpretation be +correct, a blush is a man's birthright, which no sense of false shame +should prevent him from modestly claiming. Red, as signifying +perfection, dominion, fruition, was appropriately the name of our first +parents, whether we regard the account of the creation to be literally +understood, as the old theologians believe, or spiritually and +typically, as the modern ones insist. + +Red is the color of what is intense, be it love or hatred, kindness or +cruelty. It denotes the fulness of strong emotions; alike the glowing of +conscious love or the blazing of fierce anger, the fiery ardor of daring +and valor, or the fierce cruelty of hatred and revenge. Of our own +star-spangled banner, we sing: + + 'The red is the blood of the brave.' + +The red garments of cardinals, and especially their red hats, are +supposed to betoken their readiness to spill their blood for Jesus +Christ. + +Red is the color of undeveloped ideas. It is the hue which most quickly +attracts the attention of children and savages. All barbarous nations +admire red; many savages paint their faces vermilion before entering +battle, to which they look forward as the means of attaining enviable +position in their tribe; for with barbarians physical prowess is the +only superiority. + +Some animals are excited to madness by the sight of this color. The bull +and the turkey take it as a signal of defiance, which they rush to meet. +'Come, if you dare,' they read it, and impetuously hasten to the onset. + +When the bloody Jeffreys was in his bloodiest humor, he wore into court +a red cap, which was the sure death warrant of those about to be tried. + +The death garment of Charlotte Corday was a red chemise--fit emblem of +the ungovernable instincts, the wild rioting in blood of that reign of +terror. + +Christ was crucified in a scarlet robe, and in that color of love and +perfection, perfected his offering of love for mankind. + + +YELLOW. + +Anciently symbolized the sun, the goodness of God, marriage, faith, and +fruitfulness. Old paintings of St. Peter represent him in a yellow +mantle. The Venuses were clothed in saffron-colored tunics; Roman brides +of an early day wore a veil of an orange tinge, called the _flameum_, a +flame--a flame which, kindled at Hymen's torch, it is to be hoped was +ever burning, never consuming. As every good has its antipodal evil, so +every color has its bad sense, which is contrary or opposite to its +first or good signification. + +In a bad sense, yellow means inconstancy, and the ęsthetic Greeks, fully +carrying out this meaning, compelled their public courtesans to +distinguish themselves by mantles of saffron color. The radical sense of +saffron is to fail, to be hollow, to be exhausted. In tracing customs, +it is easy to see the bias unknowingly received from natural +significations, significations which take their rise in the spiritual +world. The _San Benito_ or _auto-da-fe_ dress of the Spanish Inquisition +was yellow, blazoned with a flaming cross; and, as a mark of contempt +for the race, the Jews of Catholic Spain were condemned to wear a yellow +cap. Distinguishing colors in dress have ever been one of the most +common methods of expressing distinction of class and differences of +faith, until thence has arisen the imperative adage: 'Show your colors;' +and he who refuses to do so is despised as a hypocrite or changeling. + +Yellow, as a color, finds but few admirers among modern enlightened +nations; it is recognized as the color of shams; but in China, that +country of contrarities, where printing, fish breeding, gas burning, and +artesian wells have been known and stationary for centuries, where +almond-shaped eyes, club feet, and long cues are types of beauty, where +old men laughingly fly kites, and little boys look gravely on, where +white is mourning, and everything is different from elsewhere--there +yellow is the most admired of colors, restricted to the use of royalty +alone under penalty of death. + +Yellow is the most searching of colors, as indeed it should be from its +correspondence with light. It is gaudy, and does not inspire respect, +for it brings into view every imperfection. Every defect in form or +manner is rendered conspicuous by it, and we involuntarily scan the +whole person of the unfortunate and tasteless wearer of it. + + +BLUE. + +In early art, represented truth, honor, and fidelity, and even at this +day we associate blue and truthfulness. Christ and the Virgin were +formerly painted with blue mantles, and blue is especially recognized as +the Virgin's color. We can never turn our eyes upward without seeing +truth's emblematical color. How appropriate that the heavens should be +blue! Of truthfulness and faithfulness it should be our constant +reminder. + +Primary blue enters as a compound into three other colors of the +spectrum: green, indigo, and violet. As a primary color, it is much more +rarely seen in nature than either red or yellow. We have few blue birds, +few blue flowers, few blue fruits. As one of a compound, it is oftener +found than red. The grass, the leaves, everywhere proclaim the marriage +of good, as yellow anciently represented, and truth, as blue symbolized. +There is a deep significance in the change that has come over mankind's +view of the meaning of the first of these colors. With the loss of +faith, the tearing apart of truth and goodness, has come a change of +correspondence. Men have everywhere turned away from the light, though +still professing to strive for truth. + +Each color possesses a character of its own, which proclaims to the +close observer the peculiar qualities of that to which it belongs. The +horticulturist reads the peculiarities of the fruit as readily by its +color as the phrenologist reads his by his 'bumps.' The red one, he will +tell you, is sour, the white one sweet, the pale one flat, and the green +one alkaline; that one is a good table apple, this one a superior cider +apple; and if you further ask the characteristics of a good cider apple, +he will tell you again it is known by its color, not only of the skin, +but also of the pulp, and that it can be foretold whether cider will be +weak, thin, and colorless, or possess strength, or richness, or color. + +The botanist, too, regards color as indicative of quality, the yellow +flower having a bitter taste and a fixed, unfading hue, the black, a +poisonous, destructive property, etc., etc. + +Truth, of which we have seen blue was the correspondent, is never +superficial, and, although apparent truths lie upon the surface, yet a +common adage locates truth at the bottom of a well. Seamen acknowledge +deep indigo blue of water to be indicative of profound depth. Of the +three or primitive colors, the red or heat color, which has been termed +light felt, the yellow or light color, which has been called heat seen, +and the blue, a color of chemical change, which is the color of growth, +these correspond in an unknown degree to the love, wisdom, and truth of +the Supreme One; heat to love, for love is heat; light to wisdom, for +wisdom is light; and germination and growth to truth, for by truth souls +grow into wisdom and love. The more we explore the arcana of nature the +more we will be enabled to discover the correspondence of the natural +with the spiritual world. + + +WHITE. + +Is the emblem of light, every white ray of light containing all the +prismatic colors; and as it symbolizes innocence and purity, it is the +color must appropriate for clothing infants, brides, and the dead. We +think of the angels as clothed in white. At the transfiguration of our +Lord and Master, his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, as +no fuller on earth can white them; and in one of the Evangelists his +raiment is described as at that time as white as the light, and so our +highest comparison of whiteness is 'as white as the light.' + + +BLACK. + +Formed by a combination in equal proportions of the three primitive +colors in equal intensity, is the color of despair. As mourning, it is +only suitable for those who despair of the future of their friends; but +it is preėminently unsuitable to be worn for those who die in Christian +faith with a Christian hope. Despite its gloomy hue, it has almost +become a sacred color among Christian nations, being worn as the dress +of the priest in his ministerial office, and doubly hallowed from its +association with the dead. + +Black, as an ornamental color, should be below all others, for artistic +effect. An artistic dressmaker places the dark or black plaids or +stripes beneath the others. This natural correspondence is almost +universally recognized among enlightened nations in clothing for the +feet. They not only look smaller and more tasteful in black shoes than +in colored, but economy also sanctions them as more useful. The +universal tendency of the nineteenth century is to utilitarianism; the +one question asked is: What is the use? and in use is beauty ever found. + +Ethnological investigation shows that black or dark-colored races have +invariably preceded settlement by the whites. This is in accordance with +the law of color above laid down, viz., that, _artistically_, black is +below the other colors (and now, in order that I may not be +misunderstood, I explicitly say that because, _artistically_, black is +the lowest color, it by no means follows that I deem black or olive or +yellow races subjects for slavery, or unworthy of social and political +rights). In accordance with the above axiom, savage and half-civilized +races are found to be at the present day black haired and black eyed. I +will also venture the assertion that nine tenths of all the people in +the world have black hair. + +The Hindoo legend of the eighth incarnation of Vishnu under the name of +Crishna, makes him then of a bluish-black color, which the name Crishna +signifies. His supposititious father, Wanda, said: + + 'When I named him Crishna, on account of his color, the priest told + me he must be the god who had taken different bodies, red, white, + yellow, and black, in his various incarnations, and now he had + assumed a black color again, since in black all colors are + absorbed.' + +Although among Caucasian nations, and especially in cosmopolitan +America, we do not adduce intellectual superiority from the shades or +degrees of whiteness, yet it is said of the Moors that the more the +color approaches the _black_, the handsomer and of more decisive +character are the men. + +It is a physiological fact brought to light partially through the +census, that black-eyed races and black-eyed people are more subject to +blindness than others. It has also been shown that black-eyed men are +not as good marksmen as blue-eyed or light-eyed men. + +Not only are different races of men subject to different diseases, but +statistics prove that among Caucasian nations, complexion and disease +are in some way connected, as for instance, consumption is more rife +among dark-haired and dark-eyed people than others, and more rapid with +those dark-haired and dark-eyed people who have very fair complexion. As +the difference between golden and black hair lies in that there is in +the one case an excess of sulphur and oxygen with a deficiency of +carbon, and in the other an excess of carbon and a deficiency of sulphur +and oxygen, it can easily be seen why such deficiency or excess, if +arising from idiosyncrasy of the system, should predispose to dissimilar +diseases. But here a wide field yet lies open for experimental and +physiological research. + + +GREEN. + +There is scarcely a color but has been or is held sacred by some nation +or religion. With Mahommedans green is the sacred hue. The prophet +originally wore a turban of that dye, and the sultan shows due +preference for that color. + +The tomb of David, which is in possession of the Mahommedans, and which +was at great hazard visited by a lady within the past few years, is +covered by a green satin tapestry, and over it hangs a satin canopy of +red, blue, yellow, and green stripes, the three primitive and the +sacred, compound color. + +Green also seems to have been the sacred color in ancient Peru, virgins +of the sun wearing robes of that hue. The ancient Mexican priests also, +in the performance of their functions, wore crowns of green and yellow +feathers, and at their ears hung green jewels. Precious stones of a +green color were held in higher estimation by the Aztecs than any other. +When the Spaniards were first admitted to an audience with Montezuma, he +wore no other ornament on his head than a _panache_ of plumes of royal +green. + +Green comes in the class of secondary colors, being a compound of yellow +and blue, and signifies pale, new, fresh, growing, flourishing (like a +green bay tree); and also unripe, when applied to either fruits or men, +which, as far as the human is concerned, is a term of reproach. A person +without experience, either in position, behavior, or use of anything, is +termed green, and laughed at. They are fresh, new, and, instead of the +admiring exclamation, How green it is! as applied to a plant, is the +reproachful one, How green he is! + +At different seasons of the year, different colors are appropriate in +dress. Light green is the color of freshness, youth, and spring, and +more suitable to be worn in the spring of the year and by young persons, +than later in the season or by mature women. Dark green, like crimson +and orange, is a warmer, more intensified color, with less of liveliness +and freshness. + + +PURPLE. + +Is the type of monarchical enlightenment. With Caucasian nations it has +been the symbolic color of royalty, until 'invest with the purple,' in +the course of ages, comes to mean kingdom, government, power, to rule. +Purple is formed by the union of blue and red, truth and valor. Happy +the people who are truly governed by truth and valor! The Tyrian purple +was famous in Homer's days, and our dreams of Tyre and its splendor are +all colored by this most gorgeous of dyes, the manufacture of which from +a species of shell fish gave this ancient city a celebrity which all its +other arts combined could not equal. This was one of the symbolic colors +with which the high priest's robe was wrought in figures of pomegranates +upon its skirt; and when Solomon sent to Hiram, king of Tyre, for a +cunning workman to assist in building the temple, he did not fail to +require he should be skilled in purple. During the time of the Roman +emperors, the Tyrian purple was valued so highly that a pound of cloth +twice dipped was sold for about one hundred and fifty dollars. Even a +purple border about a robe was a mark of dignity. + + +VIOLET. + +Is a color that has often been worn by martyrs; formed of a union of red +and blue, it signifies love and truth, and their passion and suffering. +It is the court mourning color all over Europe, with the exception of +England. It is the softest of the prismatic colors, and its very name +carries us in thought to the modest sweet flower which is Flora's emblem +of humility. + + * * * * * + +Of one of the colors of the spectrum I have failed to speak, because +there was so little to say. Orange is a bright, warm color, not quite as +intense as red, still one which the eye does not readily seek. Its +suitableness in dress is confined mainly to children. Upon them our eye +naturally seeks for bright, warm colors, and rests with a kind of +pleasure upon rich hues. There is nothing upon which the public taste +requires more education than upon the arrangement and modification of +colors. Gardeners need it in setting their plants and putting in their +seeds; florists, in the arrangement of their bouquets; furnishers, in +the decoration of apartments; and especially the fashion leaders, who +decide what colors or shades must or must not be worn together. +Sometimes hues are conjoined by them, that, no matter how loudly +proclaimed _au fait_, the height of style, or _ą la mode_, are never +artistic, and no _dicta_ can make them so. A fashion framer should needs +be a natural philosopher, and hold the rudiments of all science in her +grasp. Botany, mineralogy, conchology should walk as handmaidens to +philosophy; optics should steer the rudder of color's bark when launched +upon the sea of taste. + +If, when dressed, the aim is to present a light and graceful toilet, +light and delicate shades of color must be worn; no crimson, dark green, +purple, or indigo, but rose, light green, azure, or lavender, with a due +admixture of white, must be the hues chosen. White serves as an +admirable break, and prevents the appearance of violent transition. It +is none the less requisite in bouquets, where no two shades of the same +color should be allowed without either white or green as a separator. +Very handsome self-colored bouquets can be arranged by giving a finish +of the complementary shade. One of the most beautiful I ever remember to +have seen was scarlet verbenas with a base of rose-geranium leaves, the +whole set in a small antique green-and-gold vase. + +Although the mature fall of the year clothes itself in gay colors, it is +deemed an evidence of immaturity for women in the fall time of life to +sport crimson and scarlet and orange. Sober grays (which mean old, +mature), quiet brown, and even sombre blacks, are rather what are looked +for. To dress young when people are old, deceives no one. There is a +beauty of age as well as a beauty of youth. Those who live to be old +have had their share of the former: why should they seek to deprive +themselves of the latter? Aside from the appropriateness of color as to +age, there are yet others as to size and complexion. Light-haired men +should always wear _very dark_ cravats, in order to give tone and +expression to the face. Large women should wear warm colors, if they +wish to create a pleasant impression. They cannot attain grace by any +aid of color, while they will lose the dignity they might naturally +claim if they confined themselves to warm, grave shades. + +An unartistic arrangement of light or drapery in an apartment will +totally destroy the harmony of the most carefully prepared toilet. Rooms +can be toned warm or cold, but, unless some especial object is sought, +neutral tints should predominate, and violent contrasts should be +avoided. + +Who has failed to notice the fantastic tricks played at times upon some +body of worshippers, where light to the church is admitted through +stained glass windows? A lambent red flame lighting up the hair of a +man's head, while at the same moment his beard is blue and luminous. +Over the shoulders of another, the purple mantle of royalty seems about +falling, investing him for a moment with regal splendors, while perhaps +the cadaverous hue of his next neighbor's face well fits him to be some +imagined victim of his new majesty's anger. + +Color ranks as one of the earliest arts. No nation is so low but it +makes some attempt at decorative color, and we may be well assured it +was one of the earliest, if not the earliest method employed in +transmitting intelligence. When this country was first discovered, the +Peruvians were making use of small knotted cords of various colors, +termed _quippu_, as mediums of records and messages. Our own North +American savages employed wampum, made from various colored shells, for +a similar purpose. Color played its part in ancient Egyptian +hieroglyphics. It speaks to the eye sooner than form. A black flag +hoisted upon the battle field proclaims louder than words the demoniac +cruelty that reigns, while a white signifies that submission has been +decided upon. Joseph's coat of many colors proclaimed the father's +favoritism to his brothers, and worked a mighty change in the history of +the race to which he belonged. This very instance, if we possessed no +other, would prove to us the high estimation in which color was held, +and its symbolic meaning, in the most ancient times. + +The ermine is an animal of such spotless purity it will tolerate no +stain on its fur, and by this symbolic name we designate the judge, who +should be stainless, unbiassed, and incorruptible. + +The highest art of the florist is put forth to procure change of color. +Self tulips are valueless beside sports, and to induce this breaking +various methods are put in requisition, as there is no sporting of +colors from natural causes among flowers. A green rose, a blue verbena, +are hailed as triumphs, and secure the propagator an enviable name +either as an amateur or professional florist. + +Perhaps the most curious thing connected with color is that some stars +give colored light; and in one instance, in a northern constellation, a +_double_ star gives forth blue rays from one and red from the other. How +our fancy might be permitted to soar away beyond the stars themselves in +wondering fancies as to the meaning of this--truth and love united in a +star, not as a compound color, but each retaining its own hue of blue +and red! What a happy abode of truthful, loving spirits we can imagine +this the dwelling place! And may there not here be a symbol of such a +union? + +The art of color is yet in its infancy, and although Tyrian purple was +magnificent and famous, and the highly prized Turkey red unfading, yet +modern chemical discovery has opened a wide variety of hues unknown to +the ancients. + +Colors obtained from vegetable substances have been the most numerous, +those from the animal kingdom the most brilliant, and from the mineral +the greatest variety from the same substance. A buff, a blue, and a +black, and again a red, a blue, a purple, and a violet, are produced +from the same metal. + +The recent discovery of aniline colors, to be extracted from coal +refuse, has given art new, beautiful, and durable shades of red, blue, +purple, and violet. We know but by description what the lauded Tyrian +purple was, for monopoly caused the art to be lost; but for softness, +richness, and beauty of purple we have none to approach that extracted +from this refuse. Nature means nothing to be lost, and waste arises from +ignorance. She is a royal mistress when royally represented. + +To the mineral kingdom we are indebted for most of the mordants which +fix the hues derived from other sources. That in union is strength is +taught by the most common art. + +Much is yet to be learned in regard to color. Men have understood its +correspondence sufficiently to associate red and cruelty as its lowest +expression, so that the men of the bloody French Revolution received an +undying name from the red cap of the Carmagnole costume--and yellow with +shame, for a ruff of this color on the neck of a woman hanged drove this +fashion out of England--and white with purity, as the ermine of the +judge shows; although, thousands of years ago, the men of Tartary and +Thibet prized the wool of the Crimean sheep stained of a peculiar gray +by its feeding upon the _centarina myriocephala_, and although modern +gardeners deepen the hues of plants by feeding them judiciously, yet few +attach the requisite importance to color as history. Writers for the +most part pass silently by this great aid to a correct understanding of +past events. Color in costume is no less essential to a true description +or representation than form; in some instances it is more so. + +The _color_ of the silken sails of Cleopatra's vessel, as she sailed +down the Cydnus, proclaimed her royalty as no other could have done. + +A fairy could not be depicted without her green robe, or young Aurora +unless tinted with the hues of morn. + +Here lies the great fault of all sun pictures. The distinctive hues of +complexion, hair, and eyes are not preserved. The flaxen, the auburn, +the brown hair alike take black. Light eyes and dark are +undistinguishable; the clearest complexion becomes muddy and full of +lines if the color of the dress is such as to throw the shade upon it. + +A mixture of colors in dress in which either two of the primitives +predominate, is a token of barbarism, even if occurring among so-called +enlightened people. + +Color is an exponent of the degree of civilization. + +RED finds its fitness among savage races, and with undeveloped +natures. + +YELLOW indicates transition from barbarism to civilization. + +GREEN, advanced civilization. + +PURPLE, monarchical enlightenment, which is will individualized +in but one. + +Modification and harmony are only with people free to follow taste and +select for themselves. Among the most enlightened nations these five +states are all found. The highest type, shown by culture, discovery, +art, literature, science, equity, and government, exists with but a few. +The mass are civilized, and continue 'the mass.' It is the natural +tendency of enlightenment to individualize. In proportion to genius, +culture, and _perseverance_, is one set apart, becomes a leader of the +masses, and should be a teacher of the harmony and correspondence of +color, both by precept and example. + +Strong contrasts are admissible in what is designed to illustrate +particular things, and especially if to be viewed from a distance. To me +no sight is ever more beautiful than the American flag, red, white, and +blue, as the breeze opens every fold and waves it abroad for the gaze of +men; the blue signifying a league and covenant against oppression, to be +maintained in truth, by valor and purity; the very color proclaiming to +despots and tyrannized man that in one land on the broad face of the +earth liberty of conscience prevails, and freedom of speech exists. We +shall not want to change it when this war is over. It is the symbol of +an idea which has never yet found its full utterance. When Liberty and +Union become one and indivisible, it will be the harmonious exponent of +those grand ideas rooted, budded, blossomed, and bearing fruit +forevermore. + + + + +BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. + + + Oh, how our pulses leaped and thrilled, when, at the dead of night, + We saw our legions mustering, and marching forth to fight! + Line after line comes surging on with martial pomp and pride, + And all the pageantries that gild the battle's crimson tide. + A forest of bright bayonets, like stars at midnight, gleam; + A hundred glittering standards flash above the silver stream. + We plunged into the Wilderness, and morning's early dawn + Disclosed our gallant army in line of battle drawn. + An early zephyr fresh and sweet breathed through the forest shade; + A thousand happy warblers, too, a pleasant music made; + And modest blossoms bathed in dew the morning light revealed: + Oh, who could deem those pleasant shades a savage foe concealed? + With lagging pace the morning hours dragged heavily away, + And yet we wait the coming strife, in battle's stern array. + A solemn stillness reigns around--but hark! a savage yell, + As if ten thousand angry fiends had burst the gates of hell, + Now thrills upon our startled ears. By heaven! the traitors come! + We see their gleaming banners, we hear the throbbing drum. + In solid ranks, their countless hordes from the dense woods emerge, + And roll upon our serried lines like ocean's angry surge. + Our ranks are silent--on each face the light of battle glows: + 'Ready!' At once our polished tubes are levelled on our foes. + Now leaps a livid lightning up--from rank to rank it flies-- + A fearful diapason rends the arches of the skies. + The wooded hills seem reeling before that fierce recoil; + With fire and smoke the valleys like Etna's craters boil: + From red volcanoes bursting, hissing, hurtling in the sky, + A thousand death-winged messengers like fiery meteors fly: + Within that seething vortex their shattered cohorts reel. + 'Fix bayonets!' At once our lines bristle with burnished steel. + 'Charge!' And our gallant regiments burst through the _feu d'enfer_. + Before their furious onset the rebel hosts give way; + And, surging backward, hide again within the forest's shade, + Whose mazes dark and intricate our charging columns stayed. + + Now sinks the fiery orb of day, half hidden from our sight + Amid the sulphurous clouds of war dyed red in lurid light; + And soon the smoking Wilderness with gloom and darkness fills; + The dense, damp foliage on the sod a bloody dew distils. + Sleepless we rest upon our arms. Dim lights flit through the shade: + We hear the groans of dying men, the rattle of the spade. + And when the morning dawns at last, resounding from afar + We hear the crash of musketry, the rising din of war. + O comrades, comrades, rally round, close up your ranks again; + Weep not our brethren fallen upon the crimson plain; + For unborn ages shall their tombs with freshest laurels twine; + Their names in characters of light on history's page shall shine: + We all must die; but few may win a deathless prize of life-- + Close up your ranks--again the foe renews the bloody strife. + Two days we struggled fiercely against our stubborn foes-- + Two days from out the Wilderness the din of conflict rose. + But when the third aurora bathed the eastern sky in gold, + And to our soldiers' anxious gaze the field of death unrolled, + Lo! all was silent in our front. The rebel hosts had fled, + Abandoning in hasty flight their wounded and their dead. + + Come, friends of freedom, gather round, loud shouts of triumph give: + The field of blood is won at last--let the republic live! + Our country, O our country, our hearts throb wild and high; + Your cause has triumphed. God be praised! Freedom shall never die. + Our eagle proudly soars to-day, his talons bathed in gore, + For treason's hydra head is crushed--its reign of terror o'er. + Wake, wake your shouts of triumph all through our mighty land, + From California's golden hills to proud Potomac's strand. + Atlantic's waves exulting Pacific's billows call, + And great Niagara's cataracts in louder thunders fall. + We've stayed the tempest black as night that on our country lowers, + And backward dashed its waves of blood. The victory is ours! + + A light shines from the Wilderness--far up time's pathway streams-- + Through death, and blood, and agony, on Calvary's cross it gleams; + It lights with radiance divine Mount Vernon's humble tomb, + And sparkles on Harmodius' sword bright flashing through the gloom. + Ho! slaves of yesterday, arise, now will your chains be riven. + Ho! tyrants, tremble, for behold a day of vengeance given. + Gaze on our banners stained with blood--think of your brethren slain; + Say, has not freedom, crushed to earth, sprung forth to life again? + Freedom, high freedom, friend of man, sheath not thy crimson steel; + Still let thy cannon thunder loud, still let thy trumpet peal; + Stay not the justice of thy wrath, stay not thy vengeful hand, + Till slavery and treason have been blotted from our land. + + + + +TARDY TRUTHS. + + +Under the heading of 'Tardy Truths' _The New Nation_, of May 7th, +republished a compendium of matter some time back given to the world by +M. Emile de Girardin, in his paper _La Presse_, and in pamphlet form. +This matter purports to have been written by a so-called _ex-commandant_ +in the late Polish insurrection, a certain M. Fouquet, of Marseilles. + +Poland has no reason to fear truth. On the contrary, the difficulty has +been to find means to set it forth, avenues to the public intelligence +and sense of justice, whereby those might be reached who forget the +Latin saying: _Audi et alteram partem_. The Poles are willing to hear +reproaches, if such as may be profited by, or if the self-constituted +judges be conscientious and unprejudiced. + +But, may we not ask why it is that many of these _so-called_ truths, +professedly founded upon personal acquaintance with Polish localities, +men, and institutions, spring from sources in many respects similar to +that of the recent publication in _La Presse_, from individuals who +never were in Poland beyond a few hours spent in Warsaw--who have seen +nothing of the country, except as passing in a passenger car from Kracow +to Mohilew, a distance of about seven hundred miles, traversed in about +twenty-four hours--who never understood one word of Polish, of Rossian, +or of any of the cognate tongues--who have never conversed freely with +the inhabitants--who may have been entertained during a few hours by +Government employés or by cautious and distrustful patriots--who were in +a hurry to see St. Petersburg and its _elephant_, and who learned Polish +history in the Kremlin, in the saloons of some former prince from the +Altay or the Caucasus, or, at best, in the work of M. Koydanoff? + +_La Presse_, in Paris, undertook the charge of saying things which her +franker sisters, _Le Nord_ and _La Nation_, the avowed organs of Rossian +czarism, did not venture to propound. M. de Girardin, whose paper has, +since a certain period, taken a liberalistic, even socialistic, +infection, is a living example of sundry anomalous eccentricities, such +as Alcibiades, Gracchus, Mirabeau, etc., who speak most liberally, and +act in a contrary manner. He seems to have been adopted by Rossian +diplomatists, and those sanguine of Rossian _destiny_, as a most +convenient defender of czarish ambition--the more so that they found in +him a revealer of things never thought of by the czar; as for instance, +liberality and even democracy in Great Rossia, on the plains of Okka and +Petschora. + +We might compare M. Fouquet's account of Poland with Neumann's account +of Kosciusko, or Freneau's of Washington, but will content ourselves +with referring the reader to better European sources of knowledge, as +the _Breslau Zeitung_, _Ost Deutsche Zeitung_, _Czas_, _Wiek_, _La +Pologne_, etc. + +Indeed, it would not be worth our while to pay any attention to M. +Fouquet's allegations, had not the Paris letter of April 4th appeared in +the above-mentioned paper, and were it not likely to mislead many +ignorant of the facts. + +The writer tells us that he has 'experienced a great temptation to tell +what he has seen,' and to 'expose the result of experience acquired at +his own cost, with all attendant risk and danger.' Probably we do not +understand the fear of the author of 'Tardy Truths,' and wish to give no +extended explanation to his conclusion: 'A rare opportunity occurs at +_present_, and he profits by it.' We have been taught that we must +always have courage to speak the truth. Surely no great amount of that +noble quality is required to make accusations in a paper far from the +scene of action, and pronounce a verdict where there can be no adequate +defence, no judges, only the advantage of the fashion of the day, and +the craving for problematical benefits and friendship, to which we must +apply Moore's comparison: + + 'Like Dead Sea fruits, that tempt the eye, + But turn to ashes on the lips.' + +Let us never be deceived: a free nation in the embrace of absolutism +must, sooner or later, fall a prey to the cajoler's hypocrisy and greed. + +The correspondent reports that the Polish Committee in Paris declined to +give him information or furnish means, and even said that they did not +wish volunteers. All this may readily be explained by the consideration +that a man who thereafter proved to be so bitter an enemy was not +sufficiently diplomatic to deceive even the obtuse perceptions of so +undeserving a body as the author describes said committee. On the other +hand, it would have been more prudent for the writer to have said less +on this topic, as such hesitation in accepting his services might induce +the reader to think that the Poles were not so anxious for external aid +as he seemed to fancy. We also know that not only at present in Poland, +but in former ages, and in our own days, in the happiest of countries, +there can be no revolution, no war, which will not attract a host of men +covetous of rank or fortune. Lately, in Poland, by certain judicious +arrangements, this calamity has been prevented, to the great +dissatisfaction of many. + +No one can doubt or deny that the interest of various Governments, and +the sense of justice among nations, gave the Poles a right to expect +foreign aid. The assurances of certain politicians and statesmen even +gave _reasonable expectation_ of such a result. Such aid would of course +neither be rejected nor treated with indifference. But the assertion +that the Poles relied _solely_ on such aid is (in the face of the +manifesto of January 22d and July 31st, 1863) either a proof of ill +will, or of entire ignorance of the resources upon which Poland was +bound to rely, and which could not be intrusted to the discretion of +every volunteer or pretended well-wisher to the Polish nation. + +Continuing his imputations, the accuser says he only learned afterward +why seven thousand Parisian workmen, registered at M. d'Harcourt's +committee, 'were not sent forth.' The probable purport of this reproach +is: 'They were not sent for fear of the introduction of liberal +elements--and the _proletariat_--into Poland.' As to the latter, we may +at once confidently answer that, were Poland free to-day, the condition +of the laboring class in Western Europe need not be dreaded for a +hundred years to come. As to the liberal element, does the author indeed +think that Poland has had no Liberalists similar to Voltaire, La +Mennais, Victor Hugo, L. Blanc, Mazzini, or Hertzen? Does he fancy that +Modzewski (in the sixteenth century), Skarga (a Catholic preacher in the +seventeenth), Morsztyn, Jezierski, Andrew Zamoyski, Hugo Kollontay, +Loyko (in the eighteenth), Staszye, Lelewel, Mochnacki, Ostrowski, +Czynski, Mieroslawski, and a host of others, contented with the private +good they did, and forced to shun the jealous watchfulness of suspicious +rulers--does he, we say, fancy that all these needed to be inspired by +the liberality of Parisian workmen, or even that all the aforesaid +workmen would apply themselves to the dissemination of liberal opinions? +It is indeed a great disadvantage to Polish Liberalists, philosophers, +and poets, that they speak and write in a tongue unknown to the noble +philanthropists of the West. A greater amount of knowledge would have +saved hasty tourists, _veracious_ lecturers, and all-knowing +diplomatists many errors in statement and conception, and much aversion +toward a noble people, who, if vanquished, will not be crushed, and will +always reserve the _right_ of _protest_. + +At all events, this last conclusion of our correspondent leads us to +suspect that he may perchance never have been in Poland--perhaps never +even in Paris--since this _non-sending_ forth of seven thousand +Parisians was better understood by every _gamin du faubourg_ than +apparently by the _sincere_ narrator of 'Tardy Truths.' + +The writer says further, that he expected to find in Kracow 'activity +and infinite means.' Now, the author and the confidence of the Poles +must have been quite strangers to one another, or his imagination must +have misled him farther than was becoming in a man of knowledge and +reflection. He does not mention the date of his journey, but we know +about the period referred to. It is true that at that time Kracow had +not yet been declared in a state of siege by M. Pouilly de Mensdorf, +but, as a personal friend of the Czar, he had then held Galicia and +Kracow during the past year under a more uncertain condition than even +the declaration of a state of siege would have produced. Twenty thousand +chosen officers and soldiers, with discretionary and greatly enlarged +powers, and almost as many policemen and spies, with early fed and +increasing covetousness for rewards, promotions, and orders, kept +constant watch over the ancient capital of Poland, the last remnant of +Polish nationality which had been engulfed in the European peace of +1846. + +We may then safely assert that our author has given us sketches from his +whims and fancies, rather than the mature results of his judgment, and +that he has also neglected to direct his researches into the history of +the past. It is doubtless true that he was not desired as a volunteer, +and that he found danger only, and not fortune, which, indeed, we think +his own sagacity might have taught him from the first. + +We would be forced to doubt that any one understood the policy of the +Polish Committee in Warsaw who should apply the epithet 'mercenary' to +the Polish soldiers. We would not ask our author how much he gave per +diem to those under his own command: we have no wish to rival the wit of +a Russian proclamation which appeared last winter in Warsaw, in which +the Poles in general, including those who fought at Orsza, Wielikie +Luki, Kirchholm, Chocim, Smolensk, Vienna, Zurich, Hohenlinden, +Samocierros, Pultusk, Grochow, Iganie, Zyzyny, Opatow, etc., etc., were +stigmatized as poltroons and cowards! + +It is certainly true that the battles of late have not represented a +file of twenty thousand men, but to call them on that account _frontier +demonstrations_, is to add subtle calumny to ungenerous irony; it is a +deviation even from the very 'tardy truths.' It is an assertion not made +in an impartial spirit, but calculated in favor of, and determinately +stated with the intention of sustaining those who are exerting +themselves to prove that Minsk, Grodno, Mohilew, Wolhynia, Podole, +Plock, Augustow, Lithuania, Samogitia, Liefland, etc., were ancient +dependencies of Russia, before she had herself an existence either in +name or fact! If the originator of the term _frontier demonstrations_ +would take the trouble to study the map, he would not be able to cherish +the delusion that his intelligent readers could believe that battles +fought near Kowno, Oszmiana, Upita, Poniewiez, Lida, Ihumen, Dubno, +Pinsk, Mscislaw, etc., were really _frontier demonstrations_! + +This declaration of the letter from Paris to America would not be of +much service to _The Journal of St. Petersburg_ or _The Invalid_, of +Moscow, or increase their exhilaration over the extermination of the +Polish race, the destruction of Polish principles. There is nothing more +natural than that a rebuke to the _Sičcle, Opinion Nationale, Patrie_, +and perhaps even others, should follow such statements--their views +undoubtedly stand in complete opposition to those held by M. de +Girardin, and advocated in _La Presse_. + +The assertion that the Polish National Government had no object in view +but to excite and await the intervention of France; that Galicia was the +principal focus of the rebellion, and that the unknown Government had no +actual existence, is, on the one hand, an unskilful attempt to justify +the Governments of Russia and Austria, and, on the other, by the +ignoring of all the reports of the Polish National Government--all its +obvious facts, its printed documents, its acts everywhere known and +seen, its seizures of papers and documents--and to portray it as a +fraud, a myth, a dream of the imagination, a wild hallucination of a +disordered brain, it suggests to us the thought that the _tardy_ and +present truths here given us of Poland may perhaps have the same origin +as that famous description in one of the St. Petersburg papers, of 'the +at last truly discovered leader of the Polish insurrection,' which was +but a portraiture of a certain, not mentioned but easily guessed, +personage in Paris. + +We have no reply to make to this reproach (we can only wonder that under +the circumstances they should ever have been made) that the Polish +volunteers were badly armed and illy managed--possibly they might have +been better even in a partisan war. But as to the want of skill in the +officers, including such as Skarzynski, Bosak, Padlewski, we wonder that +the writer or his friend F. could not succeed in making their talents +known and valued, and become at least leaders among the blind. Of course +he had to contend with cross-eyed jealousy. Yet if, as a foreigner, and +a learned one too, he was, as he himself informs us, intimately admitted +into various chateaux, it seems almost impossible he should have had no +opportunity to become major, colonel, or even general, since it is well +known, and every foreigner will bear witness to the fact, that in these +_chateaux_ there has always been too much attention and too great +preference shown to foreigners--a preference, however, in which the +lower classes do not participate. + +As to the easy chateau life led in Galicia, as in Russia, we have a +remark to offer. In a country exposed during five or six centuries to +incessant struggle against Asiatic craving for European allurements, or, +to speak more definitely, after ninety-four Mongolian incursions, in +which twenty millions of Polish people were carried off, and thousands +of towns, bourgs, and villages were destroyed; after numberless wars, +plunders, and devastations by Jazygs, Turks, Muscovites, Crusaders, +Wallachians, Transylvanians, Swedes, Brandenburgians, etc., etc.; after +a hundred years of the so-called _paternal_ spoliation of Russia, +Prussia, and Austria--there could have been no opportunity, even under +Graff Pouilly de Mensdorf, to build _comfortable_ chateaux on the +mouldering ruins, or for the accumulation of means for an easy life +under the oppressions of an Austrian tariff, which exacted that goods +manufactured in Lemberg should be sent for inspection to the Vienna +custom house before being exposed to sale. There are, however, a few +very splendid chateaux, like oases in the Desert of Sahara; they can be +counted readily on one's fingers; among them few patriots; no +conspirator, much less an insurgent or crippled invalid, ever called to +ask hospitality. + +The calumny so often repeated, so urgently insisted upon, that the aim +of the Polish insurrection was inconsistent, foolish, and wicked, might +not perhaps astonish the reader more than the report of the want of zeal +and faith in the convictions of the Poles, a fact first revealed to the +world in 'Tardy Truths.' This warning with regard to the true character +of the struggle on the shores of the Vistula might prove of service in +aiding the discrimination of the American people, and be useful in +confusing the judgment of the liberal men and newspapers, which, whether +in Germany, Belgium, France, or England, are not too much inclined to +favor the cause of Polish independence; nay, it would spare France the +useless demonstration in the Chambers, made in consequence of the speech +of November 5th. The late efforts of the Poles are also shown to have +been inspired and incited by, and carried on for the benefit of, the +Catholic clergy, stimulated by fanaticism against the liberal, +civilizing, enlightened, Rosso-Greek Church, a view which might and has +proved very useful to modern lecturers and letter writers. The warning +therein given might also serve to degrade the Polish revolution to the +level of some of the slave-holders' rebellion. Let us reflect but for +one single moment on the parallel attempted to be drawn, particularly in +the New York papers, after the unfortunate Mexican imbroglio and +subsequent visit of the Russian fleet, between things so utterly unlike. +The Poles fought for everything most dear to the heart of man, for every +right which he can justly claim, for independence, national existence, +the right to use his own language, for the integrity of his +country;--the States of the South had all these in full possession, nay, +even the right to pass the law binding the North. These things might be +shown to be essentially dissimilar in _every_ respect, but this short +statement is deemed sufficient to show the futility of the comparison. + +Let us now proceed to say a few words with regard to the plausible +arguments so generally set forth for the glorification of the Czar, in +respect to the emancipation of the Polish serfs. The Czar gave in 1864 +what had already been given by the Poles themselves in 1863; less the +soil, which indeed never belonged to him, but for which he exacts +payment. Besides, he has confiscated, without regulations or laws, the +income from forests, rents, fields, and fisheries, belonging to old men, +women, and children, whose only crime was that they had been born Poles, +or whom it pleased the hungry throng of unscrupulous, greedy, and +fanatical officials, unbounded in their zeal as in their power, to +denounce, accuse, or dislike. We could fully prove the fact that the +greater part of the peasants are now forced by bayonets to work for the +exacted pay, and most of them venture to doubt entirely the propriety of +the pretended Russian gift. This one circumstance makes this gift in the +greater part of Poland and even, of Russia more burdensome than the old +state of regulated labor; for how is a peasant to procure money in +provinces distant from markets, rivers, and towns? Under what conditions +would it be possible to obtain it? And even in cases where the peasant +may be able to make a sale, the value received for eight bushels of +potatoes will not be sufficient to buy him a common axe. How many +calves, cows, sheep, horses, and hogs are brought back from market from +the impossibility of finding purchasers, even at the lowest prices? Now, +by the decree of January 22d, the Polish National Government gave +freedom, and land relieved from all claims, thus executing what was in +accordance with the spirit and wishes of the Poles, without losing sight +of the difficulties to be encountered. It was their imperative duty to +satisfy and adjust the exigencies of the national political economy. +Fortunately, it was found possible to harmonize the requirements of the +country with the personal interests of the proprietors. The amount of +land held by them was in general so large, that even after endowing the +peasant with the allotted portion, considerable would still remain in +their hands. Diminished in extent and value during the transitional +phase, the remaining land would necessarily rise rapidly in value, +because the emancipated peasant _would_ now _have_ the right to own and +buy land. The calculation might be sustained that it would quintuple in +value in the course of fifty years. Small farms from their possessions +would soon be in the market, farms within the range of small purses and +limited means, and the proprietors did not fail to see the advantage +which would accrue to them in the almost unlimited increase of +purchasers which would soon be found among the enfranchised laborers. +The peasants gained freedom, land, and many advantages, nor were the +proprietors ruined in their advancement. Hence the National Government +effected what the Rossian never intended to do or ever will achieve: +gain and loss were equalized in the national duty of sustaining the +country in its progressive course, stimulating all to labor +simultaneously to support its public burdens, to aid in the general +advancement. The real freedom thus gained, in accordance with the +far-sighted policy of the Polish National Government, opened wide the +door to liberty, trade, commerce, and exchange; a policy which czarism, +even in its most liberal mood, can never admit, because it would condemn +itself, and give the death blow to its own existence. There is another +specialty peculiar to the Rossian Government, never forgotten by those +who live under its rule, viz.: the late emancipation was begun about +three years ago by an ukase of no very decided purport, which was +followed by many others of like uncertain character, according with the +varying views of those by whom they were dictated, by the partisans of +emancipation or by those standing in opposition to it. These ukases are +ranged in their appropriate numerical titles, and there are at least +five hundred thousand of them--whether imperial or senatorial, all +legally binding. What memory could stand such a burden, or what might +legal cavil not find therein? + +It is an easy thing to 'speak for Buncombe,' as we say in America; it is +an easy thing to proclaim measures when we take no thought of how they +may be carried out; it is easy to excite the enthusiasm of the popular +lecturer, always in search of novelty with which to feed his hearers; it +may be pleasant to furnish venom to wounded self-esteem or disappointed +and petty ambition--but it will be found an exceedingly difficult task +to reconcile absolutism with freedom, czarism with liberalism, the +division of men into appointed castes and classes with the existence of +liberty and political equality. We are assured, not only by the writer +of the letter in question, but by the sages of New York, that the Polish +peasants were not willing to fight for Poland, that they called their +countrymen now in arms against Rossia 'dogs of nobles,' and 'that it was +really their duty to rise against and denounce their former _masters_ to +Rossia and Austria!' + +If these assertions are true, who then filled the ranks of the Polish +insurgents? Who furnished food to those who lived for months in the +depths of forests, the haunts of mountain gorges? How was it possible +that without the connivance of the peasants the insurgents should pass +to and fro, or lie hidden in woods and fields? It was stated +authoritatively that the insurgents, were composed principally of +Hungarian refugees, about ten Frenchmen, a few strangers from other +nations, but of the number of the lesser nobility, men, in short, in +search of shelter and fortune. A strange fortune, a marvellous shelter +indeed to reward the greed of the ambitious--exile, death, and torture! +Were the testimony of such witnesses to be relied upon, we might well +exclaim: 'Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.' Yet how is it that we +find among the seven hundred patriots who were hung so many Poles, less +than a half of whom were Catholics, many of whom were Jews, Protestants, +and even Rosso-Greeks of various classes? Among the forty thousand known +deported, torn ruthlessly away from their native homes for centuries, we +find nearly five thousand Israelites, ten thousand peasants (known), and +from four to six thousand of Greek and other creeds. The two villages +near Lida, two in the government of Grodno, the hundreds of villages and +thousands of huts near Dwina, Rzezyca, Mohilew, Witebsk, burned, razed +to the ground by an excited and hired rabble of Muscovite Muziks, who +had sought and found hospitality in Poland for hundreds of +years--certainly all these villages and huts were not inhabited even by +the 'lesser nobility.' And it is also certain that the dwellers were not +so cruelly punished for denouncing the 'dogs of nobles'--an expression, +if we are not mistaken, taken from the vocabulary of the corporal or +subaltern officials, and which has never reached the fourteenth +class--from which the Rossian begins to reckon humanity. + +The allegation of the existence of unrooted feudalism in Poland, because +such a system was known to the whole of Middle Europe, must be accounted +for by the evident ignorance of Polish history; and we assure both +teachers and readers, notwithstanding the evident wish to find it in +Poland, that it was unknown to her, nor could it subsist in the presence +of Polish institutions, habits, customs, and geography. + +We can scarcely suppose it possible that our author means to insinuate +that thousands of noble families bought and transported arms for the +purpose of speculation. Notwithstanding the evidence he had of one such +bad business transaction for the purpose of sustaining and upholding the +insurrection, his frequent intimations of the incorrigible and unruly +character of the few Poles left, would almost authorize us in believing +that such was the intention of the writer when speaking of the aforesaid +arms. + +Oh, in the name of common sense, for the sake of the men whose country +has been torn from them, who may not speak their mothers' tongue in the +land of their fathers, who are forbidden to worship in accordance with +the dictates of their conscience, whose sacred homes are desecrated by +the presence of privileged spies, who cannot sit down in peace in the +holy quiet of evening, because they know that the morrow may see them +dragged off to unknown and inaccessible dungeons, or summoned before +brutal judges without defenders, where they will find accusers, but will +be allowed to cite no witnesses; subjected to witness the horrible +anxiety endured every spring and fall by Polish fathers and mothers lest +the sons of their love should be unexpectedly seized in the night and +hurried off over the Caucasus, the Ural, or to the mouth of the Amour, +to serve in the army of the oppressor for life, or longer than home +memories in such young bosoms could be expected to last, with no +prospect of reward save such as may be reckoned in the number of +_palkis_ and _pletnis_ (whips and lashes); sons, whether rich or poor, +to be exposed to cavil, cunning, and vindictiveness, to the practices of +gambling judges and a profligate soldiery, to a venal police, to +fraudulent employés, themselves badly paid for service, but whose +extortions and abuses always meet with approval, a single complaint +against whom would expose the complainant to be sent through that +hopeless gate always open on the route to Siberia;--oh, for the sake of +common humanity, say not that men placed in such situations have, in +spite of their glorious history, no rights, no claims on human sympathy, +no cause to sacrifice life even when it has become a haunting horror! + +Believe not that such complaints are inventions: the facts are known to +everybody who will look upon them. They are no slanderous stories, but +occurrences renewed with every morning, taking place under all +circumstances and with every transaction patent to the world. They were +appreciated and described in Prussia, and even in Austria verified, not +long before the last campaign. Under such circumstances, what must be +thought of the discoveries and conclusions of writers who assert that +'the Polish nation is a mere chimera'? As no individual, mighty as he +may be, can by a blasphemous word suppress the existence of the Eternal +Father, so neither passion nor love, favor nor animosity, interest nor +purpose of the most talented or ambitious, can erase at pleasure a +nationality which has a history of over a thousand years of existence, a +nationality proved by the last hundred years of incessant struggle for +independence with three giants. This nation has marked its boundaries +with graveyards toward the Dniester, Dnieper, Niemen, and Dwina, where +rest the beaten hordes of Batu or Nogays. Can the record be erased of +the power that broke the sword of the Osmanlis, and was it a _chimera_ +that preserved Western Europe from such sights as Polowce and +Pietschiniegs, etc.? You may perhaps to-day designate as a _chimera_ the +Vienna saved in 1683, that very Vienna which in 1815 first conceived the +idea of sowing the seeds of distrust between Galicians and +Lodomerians--an idea soon after adopted, perfected, and publicly +propagated by Rossians, who applied the practice to Lithuanians, +Volhynians, Podolans, Polans, Radymicians, etc.--an idea now held in the +fierce grasp of Muraview, Anienkow, and probably at no very distant +period to be recalled to the mind of the originator. + +The gentleman's knowledge of Russians (the true name is Rossians, the +other being assumed to effect a certain purpose in Western Europe), +Prussians, and Austrians, to the exclusion of Poles, proves only that +his geographic and ethnographic researches in Poland went no farther +than those of the 'reliable gentleman' who described the Bunker Hill +monument under President Lafayette. + +In addition to the above, let us consult simply the sound of the names +of places, and we can form some idea of the extent of races and +nationalities. Nowgorod, Kaluga, Pskow--are _Rossian_; Telsze, Szawle, +Rosienie--_Lithuanian_; Winszpilis, Gielgawa, Libosie--_Courland_; +Lublin, Ostrolenka, Plock--_Polish_; Wlodrimirz, Zytomirz, +Berdyczev--_Volhynian_. In Austria, are the inhabitants of Venice, +Prague, and Buda, Austrian? The name of Prussia is an old one of +Slavonians living at the mouth of the Vistula, and has no etymology in +the Teutonic language. Those of Galicia and Lodomeria are unskilfully +disfigured from Halitsh (Halicz) and Wlodzimir. The name of Prussia was +assumed by Frederic II., margrave of Brandenburg, when he took the title +of king, at the same time giving solemn oaths never to pretend to the +sovereignty of Dantzick (Gdansk), Thorn (Torun), etc. + +The present empire of Alexander is not of _Russia_, but of _Rossia_, and +the name of Russia is imposed on Polans near Kiow, on Radymicians near +Nowogrodek, on Drewlans south of the river Pripec, etc.; and we must +remember that Catharine II., in 1764, had solemnly declared by her +ambassadors, Kayserling and Repnin, that she had no right to Russias or +Ruthenias in Poland: 'Declaramus suam Imperatoriam Majestatem Dominam +nostram clementissimam ex usu _tituli totius Rossię_, nec sibi, nec +successoribus suis neque Imperio suo _jus ullum_ in ditiones et terrę +quę _sub nomine Russię_ a Regno Polonię magnoque ducatu Lithuanię +possiduntur,' etc. + +The prediction of the reėstablishment of serfdom as a result aimed at in +the present Polish struggle, is not only rash but preposterous, and has +no foundation except in a fixed purpose to direct all sympathy toward +Rossia. + +The true bondage that tied man in Poland to the soil, began with the +introduction of police, passports, censors or _skaski_, recruiting, +conscription, and taxation, introduced by Prussia, Austria, and Rossia, +as so-called _improvements_. Poland had more free peasants, called +Ziemianin, Kmiec, Kozak, than there were in France during the _régime_ +of the Gabeles or Leibeigenschaft in Germany. That they entirely +disappeared after the fall of Poland was surely not her fault. The +peasants on the estates attached to the clergy of all denominations, to +public schools, to the crown, and to the nation, were in a much better +condition, materially and morally, than are at present those in some +parts of Hainault and Thuringen. Individual abuses by an unconscientious +lord were to be seen as well in Connaught as near Debretschyn, near the +Saone as on the Necker. Times--contemporary with independent Poland, and +hence not very far back--beheld these sins against humanity committed on +a larger scale, and in lands in otherwise happier conditions. The phrase +_bonded labor_ is known under the best institutions. But this excuses no +one. Poland, without any compulsive cause, in 1764 and 1768, took these +questions into consideration; in 1791, was even more explicit; and in +1792, Kosciuszko distinctly settled the condition of the Polish peasant, +and that without opposition from the Polish nobility--a measure +immediately overruled and suppressed by Prussia and Rossia, both +accusing Poland of being a _dangerous_ nest of Jacobinism. In 1807, in +the grand duchy of Warsaw, after it was retaken from Prussia, the +condition of the peasantry was far more clear and protected than even +now promised by the Czar Alexander II., and was probably better +preserved than it can be under the crowd of employés and magistrates, +nominally elected by the peasants, but in fact imported from Saratow, +Kazan, Penza, etc., for the purpose of teaching liberty and Siberian +civilization in Warsaw and Wilna. + +Common sense and the ordinary rules of logic force upon us the +conviction that writings of the above stamp are gotten up to produce +certain effects. Can any be found simple enough to believe that a whole +people would be aroused, armed, and taught to what end and how to use +the given arms, as was done by the manifesto of the Polish National +Government, January 22d, 1863, only to be deceived and in the end +deprived of that for which they had fought? By what right can bad faith +be imputed to land owners whom experience, a sense of justice, and even +interest, had already impelled to get rid of a useless and burdensome +relation? These land owners, even under the Rossian Government (in +1818), had solemnly begged the uncle of the present czar, Alexander I., +to allow them to be freed from the onerous responsibilities caused by +serfdom under Rossian surveillance and severity. + +The letter from Paris further states, on what authority we know not, +that the condition of the peasant or serf in Poland was dreadful until +the seventeenth century. This is going very far back, and probably at +that period, if facts could be found to sustain the writer's allegation, +the condition of bondmen--_vilains regardants_--boors, _Lebeigenschaft_, +_manans_, etc., was not better elsewhere. But here again we must differ +in opinion, and beg leave to state, not only to the author of the +letter, but to all other self-constituted authorities, whose knowledge +of Poland is derived from _The London Times_, _Chambers's Magazine_, M. +Hilperding, Kattow, or M. Morny, etc., that, with all due respect to +their social positions, we must deny them the title of well-informed +historians and profound judges of Poland and the Slavonic races. Up to +the seventeenth century, the peasantry (Kmiec, Ziemiamin) had its +_representatives in the diet_, and could find entrance into the ranks of +the nobility, which had no divisions into classes or titular +distinctions. Said nobility had the right to serve their country during +war, and a peasant providing himself with a horse and suitable arms, was +not excluded from that class. They could also take orders among the +clergy, and hence rise to high dignities in the church. Public schools +in Poland were never shut to the peasants, nor were any distinctions +therein authorized in favor of one or other class of pupils. In schools +then they enjoyed all privileges in common, and these were great--a +separate jurisdiction, and the facilities of reaching higher ranks. +Kromer, Janicki, Poniatowski, great names in Polish history, can show no +other origin than one nearer to the Ziemianin than to any other class. + +If the current of fashion did not warp all judgments in favor of Rossia, +the writers of 'Tardy Truths' from Paris and elsewhere would have +reflected a little longer, and would soon have discovered that the +ignorance and poverty of the Polish peasantry were not due solely to the +Poles themselves. Polish schools were formerly all completely free, and +each school even had funds for the poor, called _purses_, foundations, +etc. Rossia, in the last fifty years, charged as high as $625 for +inscription alone in the higher classes, and about $25 for elementary +beginners. How could a poor family rise in prosperity if this school was +often the first cause of losing the favorite son; if they did send the +child to school they might lose him as a recruit for the army or navy, +as designated by the whim of the treacherous teacher and recruiting +officer; and this did not exempt from public burdens, as they were still +obliged to pay taxes for him during ten years, and contribute to all +public services, as stations (stoyki), wagons and teams (rozgony), +repairing and making public and private roads, extra post service, +besides innumerable services imposed for his own personal benefit by a +spravnik, straptschy, zasiedatel, sotnik, etc. Add to this the thwarting +of intercourse and commerce by every imaginable means under the system +of the famous M. Kankrin. + +Could the peasant or the master become wealthy when a measure called _a +ton_, weighing about eight hundred and forty pounds, of wheat brought +the enormous sum of $4.25? a load of hay, drawn by one horse, +seventy-five cents when well paid, and _nothing_ when wanted by ulans or +hussars garrisoned in the neighborhood? A hen, with a dozen and a half +well-grown chickens, hardly brought enough to pay the value of the +commonest apron. + +Such things as these were never known in ancient Poland, now so +unanimously accused and condemned by fashionable philanthropy. Even +eighty years ago such abuses would have been vainly looked for. We +remember, in our younger days, when conversing with an old sowietnik +(counsellor), to have heard him relate his bewildered astonishment at +the comfort and well-being in Poland when sent under an escort of +Cossacks to introduce Rossian _improvements_. 'What has become of them?' +we asked innocently. 'Ha!' was his naļve reply; 'St. Petersburg has +since then grown into a splendid city!' + +Let us call the attention of Russo-maniacs to the fact that eighty years +ago, soon after the second partition of Poland, flax in Riga brought +eight hundred and seventy florins, while in 1845 it hardly brought two +hundred and forty florins; and the famous wheat of Sandomir sold, at the +first-named period, at sixty, while in 1856 it brought barely +thirty-five. Yet money now is cheaper than before 1800. + +Did the Polish nobleman, selfish and wicked as now seems the fashion to +describe him, force the peasant of Samogitia to servile work, when the +latter had an opportunity of drawing a good profit from the results of +his labor in the neighboring marts of Memel, Liban, Riga, Mittau, +Venden, etc.? No, must we answer to our readers. _There_ might have been +seen a boor's wife dressed in sky blue lined with fox fur, and drawn to +church in a comfortable kolaska, by two excellent, plump, Samogitian +ponies; and neither did the father of the family exhaust his strength in +night watches or day labor, as he had twenty teams to dispose of, and +could offer to an unexpected visitor a broiled chicken with milk sauce, +and a couple of bottles of brown stout from Barclay, Perkins & Co., of +London. Such prosperity, although then declining, was still to be found +in 1830. Why does it not exist to-day? Let this question be answered by +civilizers and democrats from Tambow, Saratow, or Penza, and their +jealous apologists. + +Our writer seems to think he has made a wonderful discovery when he +exultingly exclaims: 'How surprised these pretended _liberals_ would be +to see that their efforts only tend toward reconstituting a monarchical +Poland (was Poland really monarchical?--we may doubt) under the +protection of a _feudal_ and Catholic Church!' Such charges were also +made in the eighteenth century, and were suggested by similar motives. I +do not feel called upon to defend the Catholics of Poland. I would +simply retort upon the authors of such suggestions, by referring to +certain distinguished rabbis, as Heilprin, Meintzel, Jastrow, etc.; to +Protestants, as Konarski, Potworowski, Kasaius, Krolikowski, Czynski, +and hosts of others; and also to Mohammedans, as Baranowski, Mucha, +Bielak, etc. I cannot condemn a man because he is a Catholic, because I +have everywhere, and in every religious community, found both patriots +and traitors to their country, to their origin, to principle, and to +their religion. But this I must say, that of whatever denomination or +sect be the minister or priest, he has a right to be a faithful son to +his fatherland and race. It happened that in Poland the Catholic priest +stood opposed to the Rossian pope. If the latter can be a Rossian +patriot, why should a like sentiment render guilty a Polish priest? This +animosity in certain circles proceeds from a partiality to the +Rosso-Greek Church, which, some years ago, during the visit of the +emperor Nicholas to England, certain ignorant or du. By way of +parenthesis, we may add that the Rosso-Greek Church separated long ago +from the Eastern Greek Church, preserving, however, all its outward +forms. Peter I. abolished the patriarchate, introduced his own classes +and reforms, and made himself head of the church. He gave the name of +synod to a permanent council, nominated, appointed, dismissed, +controlled, rewarded, and punished by himself, according to his own +judgment, passion, or will. The Gręco-Rossian Church is kept under the +same discipline as the army, and an offending pope is sent, with the +rank of private, to some remote regiment. + +The author of the letter from Paris somewhat contradictorily asserts +that the women, being superior in Poland, govern the men, but are +themselves governed entirely by the priests. This scarcely tallies with +strict logic; but, for the sake of truth and of a just respect for our +mothers, who taught us to love our country and freedom, who gave us +strength in exile, and faith through persecution, and who instructed us +how to think, and inspired us with those noble sentiments, seemingly +denied to the mothers of the 'fashionable civilization' (of St. +Petersburg), among whom there is not one lady writer--we will thank this +writer for the refutation offered by him to an impudent slander, +emanating from a contributor to _Chambers' Magazine_, of January last. +We repeat that we thank him for his just tribute to Polish women, +however inimical he may be to the Polish cause, and however much he may +depreciate our sex. Yet it seems strange that, while accusing Polish +women of being entirely under the control of the priests, and hence to +have been chiefly instrumental in fomenting the last insurrection, the +author did not notice, or is purposely silent regarding, a fact which, +as he appears to have been longer in a Galician chateau than elsewhere, +must have fallen under his notice, namely, that in Galicia, the Polish +priest was the _most decided opponent_ to any insurrection. How, then, +could the active Polish women-patriots be instruments of the action +condemned by the apologists of the absolute government of Rossia? + +The admonition to France, on the ground that, after the revolution of +1789, she is committing a contradictory error by showing sympathy toward +a revolution gotten up by priests, is but a consequence of the first +judgment, and we may leave to France and her sense of her own interests +to do what she may think right and profitable. We will simply mention +that, for French glory, and for this error, as the author calls it, two +hundred thousand Poles were slain in Egypt, Italy, San Domingo, Spain, +Germany, Holland, and on the plains of Mozajsk, Kraslaw, Boryssow, +Eylau, Friedland, etc. The monument seen from the balcony of the +Tuileries has the names upon it, which we scarcely can suppose to have +been inscribed for the sole purpose of filling space. + +The friends of Poland believe that they serve the cause of progress by +aiding in the reėstablishment of the Polish nation. We presume there are +plenty of men in France who know that during the last thirty years +Rossia has spread her dominion in Asia over twice the area of Germany +and France together, that she is only eighty miles from Peking, and as +far from India as Vienna is from the Black Sea. Moreover, Asiatic +people, always dreaming of plunder in Europe, once armed with European +Minié rifles and rifled cannon, may repeat anew the incursions of +Attila, Tamerlane, Battu, etc. The end to be gained and the booty will +create the temptation, and offer superior inducements. + +The effort to palliate Rossian cruelty, skilful as it is, by the alleged +necessities of war, by denials, or by asserting it to be mere revenge +for similar atrocities committed by Poles, must be appreciated according +to the sources whence it emanates. What the letter writer or similar +twelve-hour visitors saw in Poland, particularly in Kracow, of people +sharpening knives or preparing deadly poisons, need here be merely +referred to by saying that in times of general confusion we have no +means to foresee or to control personal revenge, and also that we will +not here cite the reports of Polish papers or accounts of Germans. We +will take our data from the Moscow _Invalid_, the czar's _Universal +Journal_ at Warsaw, and the _Journal de Petersbourg_. From these we find +it stated that the number of men hanged in three hundred and sixty-five +days of insurrection was eight hundred and fifty, besides many others +whose names were not given because it was simpler and more profitable to +ignore their origin, class, and religion. + +From Kiow alone Anienkow sent away fourteen thousand men, chiefly of +Greek or other non-Roman-Catholic religion, over whom the Catholic +priest had neither control or influence. From Warsaw, every Saturday +during fifty-two weeks, an average of four hundred men, women, and +children were deported, all separated from their natural guides and +protectors. From Liefland, north of the Dwina, were sent off, in one +month, thirty-five hundred of the better educated and comfortable class +of people. A Government paper rejoices that Polish and Catholic +principles, growing there during five centuries, were in a fair way of +extinction, since, as it itself admits, forty-five thousand men had been +transferred to the governments of Samara, Orenburg, Kazan, and similar +localities. To burn the villages of Ibanie, Szarki, Hrodki, Smoloy, +Zabolocie, etc., to destroy the furniture, horses, cattle, and all other +property, to send the inhabitants on foot, only allowing for the aged +and young children a few small wagons, far away into a cold, strange, +savage country, without tools, means, etc.--was all this done merely as +a military necessity, and was it excusable, or, at most, merely +_blamable_? + +Now, certain correspondents and lecturers, with other gentlemen, deny +the use of the lash or whip on the backs of women and ladies, because +the American people cannot countenance such barbarism. To say the least +of such a denial--it is gratuitous. Austria daily publishes similar +judgments as the result of police court trials. In Rossia, they are not +published, because the administration of lash, whip, and scourge is left +to the _paternal_ discretion of every sergeant, lieutenant, police +commissary, and district constable, and is enjoyed by them to their +hearts' content. It is the method employed for ages by Rossia, and +considered as an indispensable appendage to patriarchal czarism and its +lieutenants. We cannot wonder at such denials, for their authors have +ordinarily been brought up under a better state of things, and never +learned in their youth the possibility of resort to such practices: the +less also can we wonder when we know that they met only similar denials +in the higher Rossian society, and when we consider that such denials +came from a source one is naturally inclined to respect, when the man +denying seems respectable. How can we fancy a lie told by a gentleman in +golden uniform, or a lady in a lace dress? But if the defenders of the +civilization of Rossia and of the noble manners of its aristocracy knew +all the cruel judgments of Rossian masters, the lewdness, recklessness, +indecency, and shallowness often concealed beneath their artificial good +breeding and apparent courtesy, they would learn that laces may cover +coarse tissues, and gold hide corroded brass. The gaudy dress and +uniform serve but to permit more daring deeds; the more they glitter, +the more impunity they confer. Under every Government, and more +especially under a despotism, subaltern officers may be sure of impunity +to abuse, provided it is done under the guise of zeal and devotion. + +During the past year we have heard and read in lectures, newspapers, +correspondences, etc., many flattering statements of the beauty of the +Rossian Government, and the czar's liberality--and as many accusations +and imputations detrimental to the Polish cause. Why the same views were +not held and advocated during the Crimean war we will not ask, but +merely hint at. These statements come from organs whose purpose is +readily divined. If we turn to the paper that has opened its columns to +the Paris letter, we find close at hand the advertisement and +recommendation of a programme for our own great country, and the +pointing out of a new Garibaldi for the American Union. Now, neither +said platform nor Garibaldi would be consistent with the condemnation, +irony, and ridicule flung upon the champions for one thousand years of +the growing progress, prosperity, and Christianity of Western Europe. + +We of this generation are grown fixedly into our ancient habits of +thought, and now can make no change; but our successors, perchance, may +possibly be reduced to undersign the manifesto of Rossian Liberalism, +published about a year ago in Moscow, and, in return for false promises +and deceptions, consent to make common cause against Germany and the +whole of Western Europe. What _American_ liberties would gain by such an +eventuality, is not for us, nor for to-day, to say. + + + + +APHORISMS.--NO. XI. + + +'A man who has no wants has attained great freedom, and firmness, and +even dignity.'--BURKE. + +'Mad wants and mean endeavors,' as Carlyle expresses it, 'are among the +signal characteristics and great follies of our nature.' + +But how can we attain to the freedom, firmness, and dignity of having no +wants? Answer: By learning what our real necessities are, and limiting +our sense of want by such knowledge. Otherwise there is little hope for +us; for, as soon as we admit imaginary and factitious needs, we become +the slaves of mere fancy, the sport of mere human opinion, and devoid of +all true dignity. + +How sublime, as compared with the ordinary condition of men, is the +possibility suggested by Burke! _Freedom_, instead of such slavery as +the love of pleasure occasions, or such as ambition entails upon men! +_Firmness_, such as he has who does not feel compelled to ask how his +conduct may affect the supply of his wants from day to day! _Dignity_, +such as we see in every man who studies the great interests of his +being, regardless of any harm that may thereby accrue to his earthly +estate! So free, and firm, and dignified may each be that will. + +But no such good is possible for men who allow their sense of want to be +ruled by the common opinions of men. If the good at which we aim can be +secured only by the possession of this world's favors, as they are +dispensed by the wealthy or the powerful, or the suffrages of the +multitude (votes for office, and the like), then each one becomes the +servant of his fellow men--a servant just as really as if he were hired +to perform any menial office. The party politician, for example, is just +as fully bound by the will of others as a coachman or foot servant. For +him neither freedom, firmness, or dignity is possible. He can do only as +others bid him: he can resist no solicitations to evil on the part of +those whom he would make his constituents: he has no dignity above that +of a tool, in the hands, it may be, of a very unworthy master. + +So in all cases where we allow ourselves to be dependent in such form +and measure that in order to compass our own ends we must look to the +will and behests of others. + + + + +AN ARMY: ITS ORGANIZATION AND MOVEMENTS. + +_THIRD PAPER._ + + +Cavalry! At this word whose mind does not involuntarily recall pictures +of mailed knights rushing upon each other with levelled lances, and of +the charging squadrons of Austerlitz, of Jena, of Marengo, of the +Peninsula, and of Waterloo? Whose blood is not stirred with a throng of +memories connected with the noble achievements of the war horse and his +rider? Who does not imagine a panorama of all that is gay and glorious +in warfare--prancing coursers, gilded trappings, burnished sabres, +waving pennons, and glittering helmets--rank after rank of gallant +riders--anon the blast of bugles, the drawing of sabres, the mighty +rushing of a thousand steeds, the clash of steel, the shout, the +victory? The chief romance of war attaches itself to the deeds +accomplished by the assistance of the power and endurance of man's +noblest servant. Every one has read so much poetry about valiant youths, +mounted on fiery yet docile steeds, doing deeds of miraculous prowess in +the ranks of their enemies--our literature is so full of tapestried +representations of knightly retinues and charging squadrons--the +towering form of Murat is so conspicuous in the narratives of the +Napoleonic wars--and history has so often repeated the deeds of those +horsemen who performed such illustrious feats in the combats of half a +century ago, that we associate with the cavalry only ideas of splendor +and glory, of wild freedom and dashing gallantry. But the cavalry +service is far different from such vague and fanciful imaginations. +Instead of ease, there is constant labor; instead of freedom, there is a +difficult system of discipline and tactics; and instead of frequent +opportunities for glorious charges, there is a constant routine of +toilsome duty in scouting and picketing, with rarely an opportunity for +assisting prominently in the decision of a great battle, or of winning +renown in overthrowing the ranks of an enemy by the impetuous rush of a +mass of horses against serried bayonets. + +In many respects cavalry is the most difficult branch of military +service to maintain and to operate. It is exceedingly costly, on account +of the great loss of horses by the carelessness of the men, by overwork, +by disease, and by the fatalities of battle. The report of General +Halleck, for the year 1863, stated that from May to October there were +from ten thousand to fourteen thousand cavalry in the Army of the +Potomac, while the number of horses furnished them for the same period +was thirty-five thousand; adding to these the horses taken by capture +and used for mounting men, the number would be sufficient to give each +man a horse every _two months_. There were two hundred and twenty-three +regiments of cavalry in the service, which, at the same rate, would +require four hundred and thirty-five thousand horses. This is an immense +expenditure of animals, and is attributable in part to the peculiarities +of the volunteer service--such as the lack of care and knowledge on the +part of the officers, and the disposition of the men to break down their +horses by improper riding, and sometimes out of mere wantonness, for the +purpose of getting rid of animals they do not like, for the chance of +obtaining better. A measure has recently been adopted to remedy these +evils, by putting into the infantry cavalry officers and men who show +themselves incompetent to take proper care of their animals, and who +neglect other essentials of cavalry service. The provision and +transportation of forage for cavalry horses also constitute items of +great cost. + +To attain proficiency and effectiveness, cavalry soldiers require much +longer instruction than those of any other arm. They must become expert +swordsmen, and acquire such skill in equitation that horse and rider +shall resemble the mythical centaurs of the ancients--shall be only one +individual in will. The horses should be as thoroughly trained as the +riders. In European armies this is accomplished in training schools. The +Governments keep constantly on hand large supplies of animals, partly +purchased and partly produced in public stables, and capable instructors +are continually employed in fitting both men and horses for their +duties. + +To insure the provision of proper horses and to recuperate those which +are sent from the army disabled or sick, an immense cavalry depot has +been established at Giesboro', near Washington. Thousands of horses are +kept there ready for service, and as fast as men in the army are +dismounted by the loss of their animals, they are sent to this depot. It +is one of the most useful and best-arranged affairs connected with our +service, and has greatly assisted in diminishing the expense attending +the provision of animals, and in increasing the efficiency of our +cavalry. + +We have had all the difficulties to contend with resulting from +inexperienced riders and untrained horses. No one who has not beheld the +scene, can imagine the awkward appearance of a troop of recruits mounted +on horses unaccustomed to the saddle. The sight is one of the most +laughable that can be witnessed. We have seen the attempt made to put +such a troop into a gallop across a field. Fifty horses and fifty men +instantly became actuated by a hundred different wills, and dispersed in +all directions--some of the riders hanging on to the pommels, with their +feet out of the stirrups, others tugging away at the bridles, and not a +few sprawling on the ground. After a few months' drills, however, a +different scene is presented, and an old troop horse becomes so +habituated to his exercises that not only will he perform all the +evolutions without guidance, but will even refuse to leave the ranks, +though under the most vigorous incitements of whip and spur. An officer +friend was once acting as cavalier to a party of ladies on horseback at +a review, when, unfortunately, the troop in which his horse belonged +happening to pass by, the animal bolted from the group of ladies, and +took his accustomed place in the ranks, nor could all the efforts of his +rider disengage him. Finally, our friend was obliged to dismount, and, +holding the horse by the bit, _back_ him out of the troop to his station +with the party of ladies--a feat performed amid much provoking laughter. + +Cavalry can operate in masses only when circumstances are favorable--the +country open, and the ground free from obstructions. Yet it is in masses +alone that it can be effective, and it can triumph against infantry only +by a _shock_--from the precipitation of its weight upon the lines, +crushing them by the onset. Before the time of Frederic the Great, the +Prussian horsemen resembled those to be seen at a militia review--they +were a sort of picture soldiers, incapable of a vigorous charge. He +revolutionized the service by teaching that cavalry must achieve success +by a rapid onset, not stopping to fire themselves, and not regarding the +fire of their opponents. By practising these lessons, they were able to +overthrow the Austrian infantry. But if the force of a charge is +dissipated by obstructions on the ground, or is broken by the fire of +the assailed, the effectiveness of cavalry, as a participant in the +manoeuvres of a battle field, is entirely destroyed. + +The question of the future of cavalry is at present one of great +interest among military investigators; for notwithstanding its +brilliant achievements during our civil war, the fact is apparent that +its sphere has been entirely changed, its old system has become +obsolete, and former possibilities no longer lie within its scope. Since +Waterloo there had not been, until our war commenced, any opportunity to +test the action of cavalry; for its operations in the Crimea and in +Italy were insignificant. The art of warfare had, meanwhile, in many +respects, become revolutionized by the introduction of rifled arms. +Military men waited, therefore, with interest, the experience of the war +in this country, to judge from it as to the part cavalry was to perform +in future warfare. That experience has shown that the day in which +cavalry can successfully charge squares of infantry has passed. When the +smooth-bore muskets alone were used by infantry, cavalry could be formed +in masses for charging at a distance of five hundred yards; now the +formations must be made at the distance of nearly a mile, and that +intervening space must be passed at speed under the constant fire of +cannon and rifles; when the squares are reached, the horses are +frightened and blown, the ranks have been disordered by the +impossibility of preserving a correct front during such a length of time +at rapid speed, and by the loss of men; the charge breaks weakly on the +wall of bayonets, and retires baffled. Infantry, before it learns its +own strength and the difficulty of forcing a horse against a bayonet--or +rather to trample down a man--has an absurd and unfounded fear of +cavalry. This feeling was in part the cause of the panic among our +troops at Bull Run--so much had been said about the Black Horse troop of +the rebels. The Waterloo achievements of the French were then thought +possible of repetition. Now adays it is hardly probable that the veteran +infantry of either army would take the trouble to form squares to resist +cavalry, but would expect to rout it by firing in line. Neither party in +our war has been able to make its mounted forces effective in a general +battle. Nothing has occurred to parallel, upon the battle field, those +exploits of the cavalry--French, Prussian, and English--in the great +wars of the last century, extending to Waterloo. + +The enthusiastic admirers of cavalry still maintain that it is possible +to repeat those exploits, even in face of the improved firearms now in +use. All that is necessary, they say, is to have the cavalry +sufficiently drilled. The ground to be crossed under a positively +dangerous fire is only five hundred or six hundred yards, and once +taught to continue the charge through the bullets for this distance, and +then to throw themselves on the bayonets, horsemen will now, as +heretofore, break the lines of infantry. All very true, _if_ cavalry to +fulfil the conditions named can be obtained; but in _them_ lies the +difficulty. Occasional instances of splendid charges will undoubtedly +occur in future warfare; but it seems to be an established fact that the +day for the glory of cavalry has passed. Once the mailed knight, mounted +on his mailed charger, could overthrow by scores the poor, pusillanimous +pikemen and crossbow men who composed the infantry; he was invulnerable +in his iron armor, and could ride them down like reeds. But gunpowder +and the bayonet have changed this; and now the most confident and +domineering cavalryman will put spurs to his horse and fly at a gallop, +if he sees the muzzle of an infantryman's rifle, with its glittering +bayonet, pointed at him from the thicket. + +Another revolution effected in the mounted service by the improvements +in arms and the consequent changes of tactics, is the diminution of +heavy and the increase of light cavalry--that is, the transfer of the +former into the latter. These two denominations really include all kinds +of cavalry, although the non-military reader may have been puzzled by +the numerous subordinate denominations to be found in the accounts of +European warfare--such as dragoons, cuirassiers, hussars, lancers, +chasseurs, hulans, etc. + +Heavy cavalry is composed of the heavier men and horses, and is usually +divided into dragoons and cuirassiers. It is designed to act in masses, +and to break the lines of an enemy by the weight of its charge. Usually, +also, it has had some defensive armor, and is a direct descendant from +the knights of the Middle Ages. But the cuirasses, which were sufficient +to resist the balls from smooth-bore muskets, are easily penetrated by +rifles. Consequently the occupation of this kind of cavalry is gone, and +it is likely to disappear gradually from the service. In this country we +have never had anything except light cavalry--the only kind adapted for +use in our Indian warfare. This kind of cavalry is intended to +accomplish results by the celerity of its movements, and all its +equipments should therefore be as light as possible. The chief +difficulty is to prevent the cavalry soldier from overloading his horse, +as he has a propensity not only to carry a large wardrobe and a full +supply of kitchen utensils, but also to 'convey,' in the language of +Pistol, or, in army language, 'gobble up,' or, in plain English, steal +anything that is capable of being fastened to his saddle. + +It is evident that the efficiency of a cavalry soldier depends as much +upon his horse as upon himself; and it is requisite, therefore, that the +weight upon the horse should be as light as possible. The limit has been +fixed at about two hundred pounds for light, and two hundred and fifty +for heavy cavalry; but both of these are too much. A cavalry soldier +ought not to weigh over one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty +pounds, and his accoutrements not over thirty pounds additional; but in +practice, scarcely any horse--except where the rider is a very light +weight--carries less than two hundred and twenty or two hundred and +thirty pounds. One great cause of the evils incident to our cavalry +service is the excessive weight imposed on the horses. The French take +particular pains in this respect; while in England the cavalry is almost +entirely 'heavy,' and, though well drilled, is clumsy. John Bull, with +his roast beef and plum pudding, makes a poor specimen of a light +cavalryman. English officers are now endeavoring to revolutionize their +mounted service, so as to diminish its weight and increase its celerity. + +The _arms_ of cavalry have been various, but it is now well settled that +its true weapon is the sabre, as its true form of operation is the +charge. A great deal of ingenuity has been expended in devising the best +form of sabre. Different countries have different patterns, but the one +adopted in our army is very highly considered. It is pointed, so as to +be used in thrusting; sharp on one edge for cutting; curved, so as to +inflict a deeper wound; and the weight arranged, by a mathematical rule, +so that the centres of percussion and of gravity are placed where the +weapon may be most easily handled. The lance is a weapon very +appropriate to light mounted troops, and is still used by some of the +Cossacks and Arab horsemen. But to wield it effectively requires +protracted training. For a long time in Europe it was the chief weapon +for horsemen; with the knights it was held in exclusive honor, and +continued in use for a considerable period after firearms had destroyed +the prestige of the gentlemen of the golden spurs. Prince Maurice, of +Orange, when he raised mounted regiments to defend the Netherlands +against the Spanish, rejected it, and since his time it has become +obsolete except in some regiments especially drilled to it. Such a +regiment was raised in Philadelphia at the commencement of our war, but +after eighteen months' experience the lances were abandoned. Besides the +sabre, cavalry-men are armed with pistols or carbines--the men having +the latter being employed particularly in skirmishing, sometimes on +foot. + +The proportion of mounted troops in an army varies according to the +nature of the country which is the theatre of military operations. In a +level country it should be about one fourth or one fifth, while in one +that is mountainous, it should not be greater than a tenth. As a general +rule, improvements in firearms have produced a decrease in the +proportion of cavalry and lessened its importance. When artillery was +introduced, the cavaliers, who composed the Middle Age armies +exclusively, commenced to disappear; knighthood passed out of existence, +being superseded by mercenary bands. Infantry gradually assumed +importance, which has constantly increased, until it has now attained +the vast predominance. This has not only caused a general diminution of +the proportion of cavalry, but has entailed on the Governments of Europe +the necessity of keeping their cavalry service always at its maximum, so +that the mounted troops may be perfect in their drill; whereas infantry +troops can acquire comparative proficiency in a few months. + +We will give a brief description of the different classes of cavalry, +and close our subject by some remarks on the operation of this arm of +service in our civil war. + +The regiments raised by Prince Maurice, of Orange, above referred to, +were the first known as _cuirassiers_, on account of the cuirasses which +they wore for defence. All defensive armor is now being laid aside. + +_Dragoons_ originally were a class of soldiers who operated both on foot +and mounted. They are supposed to take their name from a kind of firearm +called a 'dragon.' In modern practice dragoons are almost entirely used +as cavalry, and rarely have recourse to any extended service on foot. +The denomination 'dragoons' has recently been abolished from our +service. + +_Carabineers_ were at first some Basque and Gascon horsemen in the +French service, whose peculiarly distinguishing characteristic was a +skilful use in the saddle of a short firearm. + +_Hussars_ originated in Hungary, taking their denomination from the word +_husz_, which signifies twenty, and _ar_, pay--every twentieth man being +required by the state to enter into service. From their origin they were +distinguished for the celerity of their movements and their devotion to +fine costumes. + +The _hulans_ were a species of Polish light cavalry, bearing lances, and +taking their name from their commander--a nobleman named Huland. + +_Chasseurs_ are French regiments, designed chiefly to act as scouts and +skirmishers. The _chasseurs d'Afrique_ are cavalry which have been +trained in Algeria, and have become exceedingly expert through conflicts +with the Arabs. The _spahis_ are Arab cavalry, in the French service, +and are such admirable riders that they will charge over all kinds of +ground, and dash upon a foe who judges himself secure amid rocks or +trees or ditches. + +At the commencement of the war the rebel cavalry was superior to that +furnished by the North. For this there were many reasons. Southern +plantation life had accustomed the aristocratic youth to the saddle, and +great attention was bestowed on the training of horses. At the North the +number of skilled riders was comparatively few. Gradually, however, +Northern energy, endurance, and patient discipline began to tell, and +the time soon arrived when the Southern cavalry were invariably driven, +especially in sabre charges, to which Southerners have great aversion. +At present, on account of the scarcity of horses, the difficulty of +supplying forage, and the loss of so many gay youths of the chivalry, +the Southern, cavalry has dwindled into such a condition as to be no +longer formidable. + +The service of the cavalry in both armies during the war has been +exclusively as light cavalry--scouting, picketing, raiding, etc. Its +combats have been with forces of its own arm. No commander has yet +succeeded in assisting to determine the issue of a pitched battle by the +charges of his mounted troops. Our cavalry have rendered, however, +brilliant and invaluable services in protecting the rear and flanks of +the armies, and by their magnificent raiding expeditions into the +enemy's country, destroying his supplies, injuring his communications, +diverting his forces, and liberating his slaves. No sufficient accounts +of such expeditions and of the numerous cavalry conflicts have been +published; yet they are very desirable. They would furnish most +interesting narratives, and be a valuable contribution not only to the +history of the times, but to the history of warfare; for the operations +of the cavalry in this war constitute a new era in the history of this +branch of military service. Unless care is exercised to procure such +narratives, our posterity will never know anything of many battle fields +where fought and fell brave troopers from every Northern State. + +The chief duties of officers belonging to the _corps of engineers_, when +connected with an army acting in the field, are the supervision of +routes of communication, the laying of bridges, the selection of +positions for fortifications, and the indication of the proper character +of works to be constructed. Should a siege occur, a new and very +important class of duties devolves on them, relating to the trenches, +saps, batteries, etc. + +Not only is there in Virginia a lack of good roads, but the numerous +streams have few or no bridges. In many cases where bridges have +existed, one or the other of the contending armies has destroyed them to +impede the march of its opponents. Streams which have an average depth +of three or four feet are, however, generally without bridges, except +where crossed by some turnpike, the common country roads mostly leading +to fords. The famous Bull Run is an example. There were but two or three +bridges over this stream in the space of country penetrated by the roads +generally pursued by our army in advancing or retreating, and these have +been several times destroyed and rebuilt. The stream varies from two to +six feet in depth--the fords being at places of favorable depth, and +where the bottom is gravelly and the banks sloping. Often such streams +as this, and indeed smaller ones, become immensely swelled in volume by +storms, so that a comparatively insignificant rivulet might greatly +delay the march of an army, if means for quickly crossing should not be +provided. The general depth of a ford which a large force, with its +appurtenances, can safely cross, is about three feet, and even then the +bottom should be good and the current gentle. With a greater depth of +water, the men are likely to wet their cartridge boxes, or be swept off +their feet. There is a small stream about three miles from Alexandria, +crossing the Little River turnpike, which has never been bridged, and +which was once so suddenly swollen by rain that all the artillery and +wagons of a corps were obliged to wait about twelve hours for its +subsidence. The mules of some wagons driven into it were swept away. +Fords, unless of the best bottom, are rendered impassable after a small +portion of the wagons and artillery of an army have crossed them--the +gravel being cut through into the underlying clay, and the banks +converted into sloughs by the dripping of water from the animals and +wheels. + +A very amusing scene was presented at the crossing of Hazel River (a +branch of the Rappahannock) last fall, when the Army of the Potomac +first marched to Culpepper. The stream was at least three feet deep, +and at various places four--the current very rapid--the bottom filled +with large stones, and the banks steep, except where a narrow road had +been cut for the wagons. The men adopted various expedients for +crossing. Some went in boldly all accoutred; some took off shoes and +stockings, and carefully rolled up their trousers; others (and they were +the wisest) divested themselves of all their lower clothing. The long +column struggled as best it could through the water, and occasionally, +amid vociferous shouts, those who had been careful to roll up their +trousers would step into a hole up to the middle; others, who had taken +still more precautions, would stumble over a stone and pitch headlong +into the roaring waters, dropping their guns, and splashing vainly about +with their heavy knapsacks, in the endeavor to regain a footing, until +some of their comrades righted them; and others, after getting over +safely, would slip back from the sandy bank, and take an involuntary +immersion. Some clung to the rear of the wagons, but in the middle of +the stream the mules would become fractious, or the wagon would get +jammed against a stone, and the unfortunate passengers were compelled to +drop off and wade ashore, greeted by roars of derisive laughter. On such +occasions soldiers give full play to their humor. They accept the +hardships with good nature, and make the best of any ridiculous incident +that may happen. At the time referred to, many conscripts had just +joined the ranks, and cries resounded everywhere among the old soldiers: +'Hello, conscripts, how do you like this?' 'What d'ye think of sogering +now?' 'This is nothing. You'll have to go in up to yer neck next time.' + +Generally, when the exigencies of the march will permit, bridges are +made over such streams, either by the engineers of the army, or +detachments from the various corps which are passing upon the roads. +They are simple 'corduroy bridges,' and can be laid very expeditiously. +Two or three piers of stones and logs are placed in the stream, string +pieces are stretched upon them, and cross pieces of small round logs +laid down for the flooring. The most extensive bridges of this kind used +by the Army of the Potomac were those over the Chickahominy in the +Peninsular campaign. 'Sumner's bridge,' by which reinforcements crossed +at the battle of Fair Oaks, was laid in this manner. Of course such +bridges are liable to be carried away and to be easily destroyed. Some +of the bridges over the Chickahominy were laid much more thoroughly. +'Cribs' of logs were piled in cob-house fashion, pinned together, and +sunk vertically in the stream. Then string pieces and the flooring were +laid, the whole covered with brush and dirt. Men worked at these bridges +up to the waist in water for many days in succession. + +Military art has devised many expedients for bridging streams, and use +is made of any facilities that may be at hand for constructing the means +of passage; but the only organized bridge trains which move with the +army are those which carry the pontoons. Of these there are various +kinds, made of wood, of corrugated iron, and of india rubber stretched +over frames. But the wooden pontoon boats are most in use. They can be +placed in a river and the flooring laid upon them with great rapidity. +Several very fine bridges have been thus constructed--among them may be +mentioned the one at the mouth of the Chickahominy, across which General +McClellan's army marched in retreating from Harrison's Landing. It was +about a mile long, and was constructed in a few hours. + +To cross a river under the fire of an enemy is one of the most difficult +operations in warfare. Yet it has been frequently accomplished by our +armies. The crossing of the Rappahannock by General Burnside's army, +previous to the great battle of Fredericksburg, in December, 1862, is +one of the most remarkable instances of the kind during the war. The +rebel rifle pits lined the southern bank, and the fire from them +prevented our engineers from approaching--the river being only about +seventy-five yards wide. For a long time our artillery failed to drive +the rebels away. About noon of the day on which the crossing was made, +General Burnside ordered a concentration of fire on Fredericksburg, in +the houses of which place the rebels had concealed their forces. A +hundred guns, hurling shot and shell into every building and street of +the city, soon riddled it; but the obstinate foes hid themselves in the +cellars till the storm was over, and then emerged defiantly. They were +only dislodged by sending over a battalion in boats to attack them in +flank, when they retreated, and the bridges were laid. + +It is impossible to explain in articles of this character the mysteries +of intrenchment and fortification, so that they will be comprehensible. +A few notes, however, on some of the principal terms constantly +employed, may be found useful and interesting. + +_Rifle pits_--as the term is now generally used--are small embankments, +made by throwing up dirt from an excavation _inside_. They can be +erected quickly, for it will be seen that those behind them have the +advantage, not only of the height of the embankment, but also of the +depth of the ditch. Thus an excavation of two feet would give a +protection of _four_ feet. This is the ordinary rifle pit, but when time +permits it receives many improvements. + +_Breastworks_ are any erections of logs, dirt, etc., raised breast high, +to shelter the men behind them. + +An _abatis_ consists of obstructions placed in front of a work to form +obstacles to a storming party. The most convenient method of forming it +is to cut down trees and allow them to lie helterskelter. When there is +time, the trees are laid with the butts toward the work, and the +branches outward--the small limbs being removed, and the ends of the +remainder sharpened. + +[Illustration] + +A _redan_ is a letter V, with the point toward the enemy, and is used +generally to cover the heads of bridges, etc. + +[Illustration] + +A _lunette_ is the redan with flanking wings. + +[Illustration] + +A _redoubt_ is an enclosed parallelogram. + +[Illustration] + +These works are very imperfect, because they have exposed points. The +angles are not protected by the fire from the sides. To remedy this +difficulty, the next most usual work is the _star fort_, made in the +form of a regular or irregular star. It will be perceived that the fire +from the sides covers the angles. + +The next and still more improved form of work is the bastioned fort, +which consists of projecting bastions at the corners, the fire from +which enfilades the ditches. + +The following is a diagram of a vertical section of the parapet and +ditch used in all fully constructed field works: + +[Illustration: + + A B is the slope of the banquette. + + B C head of the banquette, or place where the men stand to deliver + their fire. + + C D the interior slope of the parapet. + + D E superior slope of the same. + + F G the berme, or place left to prevent the parapet from washing + down into the ditch. + + G H the scarp or interior wall of the ditch. + + H I the bottom of the ditch. + + I K the counterscarp. + + L M N the glacis, which, except the abatis near the ditch, is left + free and open, so as to expose the assailants to the fire from the + parapet. + + The proportions and angles of all the lines given are fixed + according to mathematical rules.] + +The operations of a siege present many incidents of great interest; but +we can do nothing more in this article than illustrate the methods in +which the approaches are made to the works the capture of which is +designed. When reconnoissances have established the conclusion that the +works of an enemy cannot be carried by assault, the lines of the +investing army are advanced as near to them as is compatible with +safety; advantage is then taken of the opportunities afforded by the +ground to cover working parties, which are thrown forward to the place +fixed for the first parallel; sometimes these parties can commence their +work only at night. The parallel is only a deep trench with the dirt +thrown toward the enemy; and after the excavation has progressed, the +trench is occupied by parties of troops to resist any sorties of the +enemy, and to prevent attempts against the batteries established behind +the parallel. + +The first parallel being completed, zigzag excavations are made toward +the front to cover the passage of men who proceed to dig the second +parallel. Meanwhile the batteries have commenced to play, and riflemen +have been advanced in trenches at convenient places, whose fire annoys +the gunners of the enemy. The second parallel being made, the batteries +are moved up to it, and the third parallel is proceeded with in a manner +similar to that used for the second. + + +We give below a rough diagram of these operations: + +[Illustration: + +A B C D E is the work of the enemy to be besieged. The working parties +advance by the zigzag paths M N and O to the position chosen for the +first parallel, K L. At the proper time they proceed by the zigzag paths +to the second parallel, H I, and then to the third, F G. When this is +reached, the enemy's work can generally be carried by storm, unless +already evacuated, for _ceteris paribus_ the advantages generally lie +with the besieging party. The zigzags are called _boyaux_, and they are +dug in the form represented, so that the bank of earth thrown up may be +always in front of them. Were they in straight lines this could not be. + +The above refers exclusively to the siege of a field work. The +principles for besieging a walled fort or a fortified town are the same, +but the operations are much more complicated.] + + + + +LITERARY NOTICES. + + + Popular Edition. RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. By AUGUSTIN + COCHIN, Ex-Maire and Municipal Councillor of Paris. Work + crowned by the Institute of France (Académie Franēaise). Translated + by MARY L. BOOTH, Translator of Count de Gasparin's work + on America, etc. Fourth thousand. Boston: Walker, Wise & Co., 245 + Washington street. 1864. + +A remarkable book, indicative of a new era in the discussion of social, +religious, political, and economical questions. Prejudice, misstatement, +and fanaticism are apparently so opposed to the clear, candid mind of +the author, that he has needed no effort to avoid them, and in their +stead give us simple truth, broad views of men and things, and the +highest conceptions of duty and charity, together with the nicest +consideration of the rights and material interests, even the local +prejudices and misconceptions, of our fellow mortals. He shows clearly +that a _moral_ wrong can never long tend to _material_ advantage, and +that the laws of _society_ cannot be made ultimately to triumph over the +laws of _nature_; neither, in general, can a wrong be righted without +some suffering by way of expiation. + +Although filled with statistical details, the work cannot fail to be +intensely interesting to the general reader. Lofty, hopeful, rational, +and yet progressive in its tone, it is calculated to do great good, not +only through the useful information and instructive generalizations it +makes known, but also as a model of right feeling, and consequent good +breeding, in its peculiar sphere. + +The chapters upon the sugar question are wonderfully lucid and +convincing. Their bearing upon mooted points of political economy +recommend them to the study of all interested in that intricate subject. +The distressing relations necessarily existing between slavery and +religious instruction are also plainly set forth, and the general +conclusion of the book (that 'emancipation' is not only possible, but +most expedient, and that, with certain care upon the part of the +Government and of slave owners, an immediate and simultaneous liberation +is likely to breed fewer disturbances and less evil than gradual +disenthralment) seems to be rapidly gaining ground in the convictions of +our own countrymen. The conscience, and prophetic dreams of priests, +women, and poets, have long given assurance of such results, but the +world, of course, required definite experience and practical essays +before instituting any extensive course of action in that direction. + + 'A council held in the city of London in 1102, under the presidency + of St. Anselm, interdicted trade in slaves. This was eight hundred + years before the same object was debated in the same city before + Parliament. In 1780, Thomas Clarkson proposed to abolish the slave + trade. In 1787, Wilberforce renewed the proposition. Seven times + presented from 1793 to 1799, the bill seven times failed. + Successively laid over, it triumphed at length in 1806 and 1807. + All the Christian nations followed this memorable example. At the + Congress of Vienna, all the Powers pledged themselves to unite + their efforts to obtain _the entire and final abolition of a + traffic so odious and so loudly reproved by the laws of religion + and nature_. The slave trade was abolished in 1808 by the American + United States; in 1811, by Denmark, Portugal, and Chili; in 1813, + by Sweden; in 1814 and 1815, by Holland; in 1815, by France; in + 1822, by Spain. In this same year, 1822, Wilberforce attacked + slavery after the slave trade, and won over public opinion by + appeals and repeated meetings, while his friend Mr. Buxton proposed + emancipation in Parliament. The Emancipation Bill was presented in + 1833. On the 1st of August, 1834, slavery ceased to sully the soil + of the English colonies. In 1846, Sweden, in 1847, Denmark, + Uruguay, Wallachia, and Tunis, obeyed the same impulse, which + France followed in 1848, Portugal in 1856, and which Holland + promised to imitate in 1860. An earnest movement agitated Brazil.' + +In Poland, the serfdom of the peasants was never sanctioned by law, but +existed in later times by reason of exception and abuse. Stanislas +Leszczynski, King of Poland, in 1720 raised his voice in favor of the +peasant population; the same principles were in 1768 defended, sword in +hand, by the Confederation of Bar, discussed in the diets of 1776, 1780, +1788, and finally adopted by the famous Constituent Assembly of 1791. +Thadeus Kosciuszko (May 7th, 1794), then Dictator of Poland, issued a +document giving entire personal liberty to all serfs; and on the 22d of +January, 1863, the members of the 'National Polish Government' decreed +that the peasants were not only free, but were entitled to a certain +portion of land, of which they should be the sole proprietors. In 1861, +Russia emancipated all serfs within her borders. In the United States, +the stern 'logic of events' seems to be rapidly bringing about similar +results, although indeed 'slavery' and 'serfdom' should never be +mentioned together, being so essentially different; the one the +possession of the _man_, the other merely the ownership of his _labor_ +or of a _portion of its results_. + +We cannot better conclude than by giving the following extract from the +Introduction of M. Cochin, who, by the way, is a man of good family and +ample fortune, an eminent publicist, and a Catholic of the school of +Lacordaire, Montalembert, Monseigneur d'Orleans, and the Prince de +Broglie: + + 'It was once exclaimed, Perish the colonies, rather than a + principle! The principle has not perished, the colonies have not + perished. + + 'It is not correct that interests should yield to principles; + between legitimate interests and true principles, harmony is + infallible; this is truth. Those who look only to interests are + sooner or later deceived in their calculations; those who, + exclusively occupied with principles, are generous without being + practical, cease to be generous, for they lead the cause which they + serve to certain destruction. It is the will of God that realities + should mingle with ideas, and that material obstacles should compel + the purchase of progress by toil.' + +The publishers tell us that, a large demand for this work having arisen, +they have issued this 'popular edition,' wherein the figures in the +original are given as nearly as possible in the American currencies, +measures, etc. + + STUMBLING BLOCKS. By GAIL HAMILTON, Author of + 'Country Living and Country Thinking,' 'Gala Days,' etc. Boston: + Ticknor & Fields, For sale by D. Appleton & Co., New York. + +Gail Hamilton's religious position gives her vast advantages. She is +thoroughly orthodox, Calvinistic, and Congregational, and being neither +Unitarian nor Catholic, will not be regarded as one of the 'Suspect' by +the great community of the so-called evangelical Christians. But she is +a bold, independent thinker, and spurns the trammels of bigotry and +prescription. No party spirit blinds her clear vision, no sectarian +prejudice vitiates her statements of the creeds of others, or induces +her to veil the faults and follies of those worshipping in the same +church with herself. Ministers are by no means immaculate saints in her +eyes. Seating herself in the pews, she preaches better sermons to them +than they are in the habit of giving to their people; taking possession +of their pulpits, she shows them what might and ought to be done from +that throne of power. Petty vanities, subjective experiences recorded in +morbid journals, religious frames of mind frequently dwelt upon until +the tortured self-watcher is driven into insanity, fall under her +scathing rebuke. + +This volume deals chiefly with the shortcomings of the orthodox +religious world. Its faults of temper, its repulsive manners, its custom +of making home unlovely, its distaste of innocent amusement, its habits +of censure, its self-sufficiency and pharisaical character, are touched +with a caustic but healing power. Only the hand of a friend could have +done this thing. No point of doctrine is questioned, no principle of +faith invaded, no charity wounded. She probes in love--her object is +cure. This book is fresh and vigorous, worth thousands of lifeless +sermons and unprofitable religious journals. No prejudice or falsehood +is spared, though it may have taken refuge in the very sanctuary. Her +every shaft is well directed, every arrow powerfully sent, every shot +strikes the bull's eye in its centre. Her words are hailstones rattling +fell and fast, but melt into and soften the heart on which they fall. +Delusions disappear, cant and want of courtesy become odious, shams grow +shameful, while all lovely things bloom lovelier in the light of truth +emanating from this large brain, and poured through this living heart. +We bask in its sunshine, growing strong and happy as we read. Christian +fervor and charity, love for Redeemer and redeemed, for saint and +sinner, cheer us through all these well-deserved denunciations. Her +style is clear and rapid, her matter of daily and urgent import, her +characterizations of classes and types of men worthy of La Bruyčre +himself, her satire melts into humor, her humor into pathos. She has +been attacked by some of the religious papers, and has herein taken a +true Christian and magnanimous revenge. O Gail! the clergy should open +wide their hearts to take you in, their gifted child, the iconoclast +within the temple, the faithful disciple of Christ, the lover of purity +and truth! + +We quote the following brave words from this remarkable book: + + 'We sometimes see religious newspapers charging each other with + acts which should exclude the perpetrators from the fraternity of + _honest_ men; for, through the medium of religious newspapers, one + church, or one fraction of a church, or one ecclesiastical body, or + one member of it, accuses another of an act, or a course of action, + which, in sober truth, amounts to nothing more or less than + _obvious, persistent deception, dishonesty and trickery_.... Can + such be correct transcripts of facts? Is it true that a church, or + any body corporate, whose very existence as such is professedly to + cultivate and disseminate the principles of sound morality and true + religion, does fall so far short of the faith delivered to the + saints--does so far forget its origin, and pervert its aims, as to + violate common law and common honesty, and persist in its + violation, deliberately, against repeated remonstrances, by sheer + force? Yet we see no convulsion in the community. Nothing intimates + that a great grief is fallen upon Israel. Everybody eats, drinks, + and sleeps as usual. The pulpits still stand, and the law and the + gospel are appealed to from that vantage ground. The sacramental + cup is still raised to devout lips. The gray heads of the culprits + still go in and out among the people with no diminishing of + honor--no odium is attached to their persons; no stigmas to their + names. What a state of things does this argue! A whole church + plunges into darkness, and the + + 'Majestic heaven + Shines not the less for that one vanished star.' + + 'Can we wonder that the world will not let itself be converted? To + what should it be converted, if it were willing? Would it be an + advance for a community that sends its thieves to prison when it + catches them to merge itself in a community that is content to + print a few columns of _exposé_ on the subject? If the stream where + you wish to drink is muddy, you will scarcely find clear waters by + descending. You want to go up, not down; up on the high lands where + threads of crystal cleave the gray old rocks, and gather purity + from earth's deep bosom and the sky's clear blue. + + 'If it is not so, if the acts only appear dishonest because we are + looking at one side, why do we not say so, or why do we say + anything about it? Every man is to be held innocent till he is + proved guilty. If there is any standpoint from which we can view + our opponent's position and find it not dishonest, we ought to + mention it. We have no right to look at him from _a_ standpoint, + and hold him up to view as a criminal, and ignore _another_, from + which he may be seen as simply mistaken, or deceived, or blameless. + Still less have we a right to take innocent facts and construct + upon them a guilty hypothesis to suit our foregone conclusion. A + _right_ to do it? _It is sin_. _It is more than murder_. It may rob + a man of what is more precious to him than his life. It attempts to + take away from a man what, taken, would leave him stripped of his + manhood, and a man's manhood is worth more to him and his friends + than his bone and muscle.' + +Ah, Gail, thy keen aim has indeed struck the pupil of the bull's eye! If +false statements of varying dogmas were held 'as criminal as they +undoubtedly are,' if they were never viewed from 'foregone conclusions,' +sects would perish in the death of misconceptions, and warring +Christians would rush into each other's arms with the joy-cry, +'Brothers!' Through the misstatements of centuries, the good Protestant +minister regards the Catholic priest, ready as he may be to die for the +faith of his fathers, as a _wilful liar_, a _conscious deceiver_, +selling the souls of his flock for a Judas bribe; while the equally good +priest, in his turn, looks upon the conscientious minister as a despiser +of authority, an enemy of the Church of Christ, refusing to hear what he +believes to be its undoubted teachings, a blind man, leading the blind +into the pit of perdition. The men may be both right from the standpoint +of their 'foregone conclusions,' both wrong from the standpoint of fact. +And so it goes on, through all the lesser sectarian divisions. +Everywhere misstatement, misconception, and smouldering hatred. The +first step to reconciliation among the antagonistic members of Christ's +torn body, would be to put into instantaneous practice the wise, sound, +and just maxims of Gail Hamilton. Let us begin it, lovers of truth and +justice! + + THE MAINE WOODS. By HENRY D. THOREAU, Author of + 'A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers,' 'Walden,' + 'Excursions,' etc. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. For sale by D. + Appleton & Co., New York. + +The first of the papers contained in this book was published in 'The +Union Magazine;' the second, 'Chesuncook,' came out in the 'Atlantic +Monthly,' in 1858; the last is now for the first time printed. The +contents of the volume are as follows: Ktaadn, Chesuncook, The Allegash +and East Branch; in the Appendix we have Trees, Flowers, and Shrubs, +List of Plants, List of Birds, Quadrupeds, Outfit for an Excursion, and +a List of Indian Words. Henry D. Thoreau was an enthusiastic lover of +nature, but no blind adorer of her loveliness. He knew her in all her +moods, was familiar with all her caprices. He was a man of strong brain, +and of accurate knowledge in such fields as it pleased him to study. The +woods have never before had such an accurate biographer, such a true +painter. He saw them with the eye of the poet as well as that of the +naturalist. Scholarship and imagination roam with him in the primeval +forests. After the most accurate and detailed description of a moose +which had been killed by his Indian guide, this anti-sentimentalist, but +true forest lover says: 'Here, just at the head of the murmuring rapids, +Joe now proceeded to skin the moose with a pocket knife, while I looked +on; and a tragical business it was--to see that still warm and +palpitating body pierced with a knife, to see the warm milk stream from +the rent udder, and the ghastly naked red carcass appearing from within +its seemly robe, which was made to hide it.' There is no joy of the +hunter here! The words are as 'tragical' and tender as were those of the +melancholy Jaques. That 'warm milk and rent udder' seems to make the +stately creature half human. He proceeds: + + 'But on more accounts than one, I had had enough of moose hunting. + I had not come to the woods for this purpose, nor had I foreseen + it, though I had been willing to learn how the Indian manoeuvred; + but one moose killed was as good, if not as bad, as a dozen. The + afternoon's tragedy and my share in it, as it affected the + _innocence_, destroyed the _pleasure_ of my adventure. This hunting + of the moose merely for the satisfaction of killing him--not even + for the sake of his hide--without making any extraordinary exertion + or running any risk yourself, is too much like going out by night + to some woodside pasture and shooting your neighbor's horses. These + are God's own horses, poor timid creatures, that will run fast + enough as soon as they smell you, though they are _nine_ feet high + (often eleven, with the antlers).... You strip off its hide, + because that is the common trophy, and moreover you have heard it + may be sold for mocassons--cut a steak from its body, and leave the + huge carcass 'to smell to heaven' for you. It is no better, at + least, than to assist at a slaughter house. This afternoon's + experience suggested to me how base or coarse are the motives which + commonly carry men into the wilderness. The explorers and lumberers + generally are hirelings, paid so much a day for their labor, and as + such they have no more love for wild nature than wood sawyers have + for forests. Other white men and Indians who come here are for the + most part hunters, whose object is to slay as many moose and other + wild animals as possible. But pray, could not one spend some weeks + or years in the solitude of this vast wilderness with other + employments than these--employments perfectly sweet, innocent, and + ennobling? For one that comes with a pencil to sketch or sing, a + thousand come with an axe or rifle. What a coarse and imperfect use + Indians and hunters make of nature! No wonder that their race is so + soon exterminated. I already, and for weeks afterward, felt my + nature the coarser for this part of my woodland experience, and was + reminded that our life should be lived as tenderly and daintily as + one would pluck a flower.' + +Again: + + 'As I sat before the fire on my fir-twig seat, without walls above + or around me, I remembered how far on every hand that wilderness + stretched, before you came to cleared or cultivated fields, and + wondered if any bear or moose was watching the light of my fire; + for nature looked sternly upon me on account of the _murder of the + moose_. + + 'Strange that so few ever come to the woods to see how the pine + lives and grows and spires, lifting its ever-green arms to the + light--to see its perfect success; but most are content to behold + it in the shape of many broad boards brought to market, and deem + _that_ its true success. But the pine is no more lumber than man + is, and to be made into boards and houses is no more its true and + highest use, than the truest use of a man is to be cut down and + made into manure. There is a higher law affecting our relation to + pines as well as to men. A pine cut down, a dead pine, is no more a + pine than a dead human carcass is a man. Can he who has discovered + only some of the values of whalebone and whale oil be said to have + discovered the true use of the whale? Can he who slays the elephant + for his ivory be said to have 'seen the elephant'? These are petty + and accidental uses; just as if a stronger race were to kill us in + order to make buttons and flageolets of our bones; for everything + may serve a lower as well as a higher use. Every creature is better + alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who + understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy + it. + + 'Is it the lumberman, then, who is the friend and lover of the + pine, stands nearest to it, and understands its nature best? Is it + the tanner who has barked it, or he who has boxed it for + turpentine, whom posterity will fable to have changed into a pine + at last? No! no! it is the poet; he it is who makes the truest use + of the pine--who does not fondle it with an axe, nor tickle it with + a saw, nor stroke it with a plane--who knows whether its heart is + false without cutting into it--who has not bought the stumpage of + the town on which its stands. All the pines shudder and heave a + sigh when _that_ man steps on the forest floor. No, it is the poet, + who loves them as his own shadow in the air, and lets them stand. I + have been into the lumber yard, the carpenter's shop, the tannery, + the lamp-black factory, and the turpentine clearing; but when at + length I saw the tops of the pines waving and reflecting the light + at a distance over all the rest of the forest, I realized that the + former were not the highest use of the pine. It is not their bones + or hide or tallow that I love most. It is the living spirit of the + tree, not its spirit of turpentine, with which I sympathize, and + which heals my cuts. It is as immortal as I am, and, perchance, may + go to as high a heaven, there to tower above me still.' + +Reader, was not this man a nature lover, a nature limner, worthy to take +his place among our Giffords, Whittredges, McEntees, Bierstadts, and +Beards? Truly original, natural, and American, who among our descriptive +writers can surpass H. D. Thoreau? + + PRIMARY LESSONS FOR DEAF MUTES. By J. A. JACOBS, + A. M., Principal of the Kentucky Institution for the Education of + Deaf Mutes. New York: John F. Trow, Printer & Publisher, 50 Greene + street, between Broome & Grand. 1864. + +An excellent little work, intended to impart some of the rudimentary +branches of learning to that interesting class of our fellow beings who +can neither speak nor hear. Every effort made for their instruction +should be cordially welcomed, for sad indeed is their position, and very +difficult the discovery of means to reach and develop their often very +bright intelligence. These lessons can be used by parents, guardians, or +elder brothers and sisters, before the deaf-mute child is old enough to +send to a regular institution. They are divided into two parts, bound in +separate little volumes, and _filled_ with cuts illustrating the +text--or rather, the text, as is proper in such a work, illustrates the +cuts, which occupy the larger portion of the book. Teachers cannot but +find these aids of incalculable value. + + THE RELATIONS OF THE INDUSTRY OF CANADA WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY + AND THE UNITED STATES. Being a Speech by ISAAC + BUCHANAN, Esq., M. P., as delivered at the late Demonstration + to the Parliamentary Opposition at Toronto; together with a series + of Articles in defence of the National Sentiments contained + therein, which originally appeared in the columns of the _Hamilton + Spectator_, from the pen of Mr. Buchanan; to which is added a + Speech delivered by him at the Dinner given to the Pioneers of + Upper Canada, at London, Canada West, 10th December, 1863. Now + first published in complete and collected form, with copious Notes + and Annotations, besides an extended Introductory Explanation, and + an Appendix containing various valuable Documents. Edited by + HENRY J. MORGAN, Corresponding Member of the New York + Historical Society, and Author of 'Sketches of Celebrated + Canadians.' Montreal: Printed by John Lovell, St. Nicholas. 1864. + +We recommend this book to such of our readers as may be interested in +political economy, not as sound in theory, but as containing a vast +array of facts and giving considerable information with regard to the +internal affairs of our neighbor Canada. The Reciprocity Treaty comes in +for its share of consideration. Mr. Buchanan is a Protectionist, and +uses the arguments of his party with considerable ability. The question +of annexation is also incidentally touched upon. We do not know that we +can give our readers a better idea of the contents and policy of this +book than by placing the dedication before them. + + 'To the leaders of the forthcoming Party of Order, I dedicate these + pages, because I feel that the province is at the winning or the + losing, and that we shall hereafter have to hail you as the honored + instruments of our Political and Industrial salvation. + + 'In Mr. Buchanan's Letter to the Editor of the Globe, assuring him + publicly that Mr. Buchanan and all his friends, as in the Past, so + in the Future, would be found opponents to the death of Annexation, + and not its friends, as that journal basely insinuated, he states + that he is of no party, though reluctantly compelled to be in + opposition to the present ministry in consequence of their acts, + Executive as well as Legislative; but that he is of a class far + more numerous than the 'thick and thin' adherents of either of the + present _soi-disant_ parties. Those alluded to by Mr. Buchanan will + form a new party--the Party of Order, which will probably be called + the 'Constitutional Party'--its platform being broad enough to hold + all who value and respect the time-honored Constitution, whether + they be original Reformers or Conservatives in name. The new Party + of Order will comprise these elements: + + 'First. Conservative Liberals, or old Reformers, who have been + taught by experience, and are willing now to adopt the word + 'Conservative,' at least in its adjective sense. + + 'Secondly. Liberal Conservatives, or old Tories, or their + descendants, who have also been taught by experience, and are + willing to adopt the word 'Liberal,' at least in its adjective + sense. + + 'Thirdly. Conservatives, and Conservative Liberals, who have + unwittingly been mingled up with the incendiary party, composed of + 'Clear Grits' and 'Rouges.' + + 'And that in your discussions on the great question of the + Reciprocity Law, now about to agitate both Canada and the United + States, these pages may be of some service, is the fond hope of + your obedient servant, + 'THE EDITOR.' + + FAMILY PRIDE. By the Author of 'Pique.' Philadelphia: T. + B. Peterson & Brothers, 306 Chestnut street. + +Family Pride is a novel of still greater interest than 'Pique.' The plot +is well conceived, the characters skilfully developed, and the attention +is fascinated even to the end. The moral is unexceptionable, the style +fresh and pure. We must however enter an earnest protest against the +manifest injustice of the closing sentence, where the talented author +has gone out of his way to find a blot for his book, the only stain upon +his fair pages. It reads thus: 'After a variety of vicissitudes, she had +embraced the Romish faith: that religion which relieves from all +personal responsibility in spiritual matters; and which teaches that +earthly penance and ascetic observances will open the gates of heaven to +the vilest of criminals.' We have studied Westminster, Episcopal, and +Catholic catechisms, the teachings in all three of which are that faith +in Christ and sorrow for and renunciation of sin alone can open the +gates of heaven. We regard it as the duty of a conscientious reviewer to +point out an erroneous statement wherever it occurs, whether in regard +to the faith of Protestants, Catholics, Hebrews, Mohammedans, Fire +Worshippers, or any other classes of men whatsoever. Misstatement has +caused an immense deal of bloodshed and bitterness among Christians. The +walls of Zion must be built of the stones of truth. + + THE TANNER BOY, AND HOW HE BECAME LIEUTENANT-GENERAL. By + MAJOR PENNIMAN. 'The boy is father to the man.' Fifth + thousand. Boston: Roberts Brothers, publishers, 143 Washington + street. 1864. + +A lively account of the boyhood and subsequent career of one likely to +be famous in American history. The nation's eyes are at this moment +turned hopefully upon the result of Gen. Grant's campaign in Virginia, +and all will be glad to learn that his previous life offers so fair and +pleasant a record. One observation, however, we feel called upon to make +to the entertaining Major: the youth of America should be taught to +love, to live for, and, if need be, to die for their country; but they +should also be taught to shun narrow exclusiveness and boastful vanity. +A government of a whole people should in this respect set a noble +example to all other nations. + +The 'Tanner Boy' has already reached its 'fifth thousand,' and will no +doubt be eagerly read by all the patriotic boys and girls in the land. + + WAX FLOWERS. J. E. Tilton & Co., Boston. 1864. + +This little book contains somewhat over a hundred pages, and is gotten +up in the attractive style for which the publications of this firm have +become noted. A prefatory chapter sets forth the object of the work, and +the claims of the art. The first part treats of Wax Fruit, giving the +methods of making moulds and casting therefrom, of preparing the wax, of +coloring the fruit and giving it the proper outward texture. The second +part describes all the articles and materials required for making even +the most elaborate of WAX FLOWERS; gives the way of preparing +the wax, including its formation into sheets of any required thickness, +with all the minutię relating to coloring, &c. The text is clearly and +simply written, and by the aid of ample illustrations everything is made +plain to the learner. + +It is wonderful how exquisitely flowers may be imitated--making one wish +a device for the secreting of the appropriate perfumes. + + The wax once gathered by bees through many a bower, + Glows again in the form of a beautiful flower. + +The artist in wax enjoys the best of opportunities for learning Botany, +both analytically and synthetically. A series of models in wax would +make the ocular study of botany possible throughout the year. The taste +for wax flowers is becoming widely extended, and high prices are brought +by the finest specimens of the art. Humanity should heartily welcome an +employment which enables many to escape the suicide of the needle! + + DENISE. By the Author of 'Mademoiselle Mori.' In two vols. + New York: James G. Gregory, 540 Broadway. + +There is a strange charm about this book. The story is common enough, +the characters have nothing original in their conception, and yet we are +fascinated by the detailed truth of the portraiture from the first page +to the last. The scenes are laid in Farnoux, a town in the old Provenēal +districts. The ancient views and manners are still retained, and +interest us by the force of contrast with our own. Mademoiselle Le +Marchand, an odd old maid, with a genius for painting, is really the +character of the book. Denise, the heroine, is quietly and faithfully +drawn. Various picturesque phases of the Catholic faith are artistically +managed, while the faith itself is not treated with much courtesy. As a +general thing we do not like theological novels written from foregone +conclusions. We can imagine however that such a subject might be made +intensely interesting. If a master mind of perfect impartiality would +give us the effect produced upon two minds of equal mental power, of +equal moral worth, by Protestantism or Catholicity--such a study would +both interest and instruct. All religious nicknames should be avoided, +as offensive both to charity and refined taste. Episcopalians do not +like to be called Anglicans; Friends, Quakers; Baptists, Hardshells; +Unitarians, Pantheists; nor Catholics, Romanists. Let us use courtesy to +all men, that so we may have more weight when we attack erroneous +principles. + +By all means read Denise; its studies of the heart are close and +accurate. + + + + +EDITOR'S TABLE. + + +THE CAMPAIGN. + +[_Furnished by a Friend of the Editor of_ THE CONTINENTAL.] + +Three routes of operation are open to an army designing to proceed +against Richmond: first, along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad to +Charlottesville; second, along the railroad from Fredericksburg to +Hanover Court House; and third, by the way of Fortress Monroe. The first +has the disadvantage of presenting a long line of communication, +constantly exposed to inroads from guerillas, and for the purposes of +warfare may be considered as utterly impracticable. It would not, in +fact, be worth considering, had not some critics of Gen. Grant's +movements absurdly insisted that he ought to have adopted this route. +The second route is far more advantageous, and had Gen. Grant's purposes +been confined simply to putting his army before the rebel capital, and +lying there to seize such opportunities as the developments of the +campaign should afford, it might have been expedient to maintain by this +route communications with the Potomac. But the intentions of our +Lieutenant-General were of a much more comprehensive character. While, +therefore, following this route in his march, because it gave the most +direct and shortest line to Richmond, he did not use the railroad as a +means of communication. His aim was fixed on an ulterior object. He +designed to put his army in such a position that it should be constantly +assailing Richmond by its presence, although not a gun should be fired. +He, therefore, tried the strength of the rebel works, in passing, and +finding that time would be spent uselessly in attempting to overthrow +them either upon the north or the east, he proceeded to the new position +south of the James, and adopted the third route mentioned for his +communication with the North, having previously used it, also, for the +transportation to the ultimate scene of conflict of a part of his forces +under Gen. Butler. + +Among military men, there have been, since the commencement of the war, +many advocates for an attack on Richmond from the position at +Petersburg. It has many advantages. The facilities for transporting +supplies are easy, it isolates the capital of the Southern government +from its southern and eastern connections, it interferes largely with +the internal trade of the confederacy, it confines the rebel army in a +narrow space, and it necessitates constant efforts on the part of the +confederate commanders to expel the Northern forces, thus constraining +them to leave their works and become assailants. In fine, the position +affords more opportunities for strategically investing Richmond than any +other which is accessible to our armies. + +A clear perception of these advantages determined Gen. Grant to adopt +the position at Petersburg. He was aware that Richmond could not be +directly invested except with a very large army. He desired to +accomplish the results which such an investment would give. He sought to +cut off the city from its principal channels of communication--to +deprive it of its main resources. Have these purposes been effected? At +the time we write it is announced that the army occupies the railroad +leading to Weldon, thus breaking the communication with North Carolina; +that our cavalry has destroyed a portion of the road leading to +Lynchburg; that the forces operating under Gen. Hunter have also +destroyed portions of the Virginia Central and the road between +Gordonsville and Lynchburg; they have also damaged the James River +Canal. The only railroad communication now existing between Richmond and +the South is that by way of Danville. Before this reaches our readers we +trust that the effects of these efforts to isolate the capital of the +confederacy will become evident; that the rebel army will be forced to +leave its intrenchments and meet our brave soldiers in the field, and +that the conflict may have resulted in victory for the cause of the +country and of freedom. + +The various steps of the process by which the army gained the position +at Petersburg are already well known. From the time the camps at +Culpepper Court House were broken up, until the lines were established +south of the James river, the series of movements consisted in masterly +marches by the left, compelling the enemy constantly to fall back from +his intrenched positions to points farther in his rear. Such movements +were not, however made until after trials of the enemy in the front, +some of which resulted in splendid partial successes. They were, +however, not conclusive. The flank movements of our army belong to that +class which are considered among the most difficult in warfare, +requiring great skill in commanders to arrange their details, and +endurance and discipline in the troops to effect them. It is no easy +matter to change position in the face of a wary and vigorous enemy, +ready to fall upon any exposed point in the long array of a marching +column. Yet, several times, the manoeuvre has been skilfully and +successfully performed, and each time the rebels have learned it too +late to profit by the chances offered for a surprise. + +Hundreds of miles distant from the principal point of attraction in +Virginia, the other great army of the Union, under Gen. Sherman, has +also been performing similar feats--turning by well-directed marches, +one after another, the intrenched positions of the enemy in the +mountainous district of Georgia. Atlanta, the object of its toils, is a +great centre of railroad communication, and when our armies obtain +possession of it, the confederacy will experience another severing +stroke, almost as severe as that which cleft it in twain by the capture +of Vicksburg and the reopening of the Mississippi. By such strokes the +pretentious imposture of a Southern nation must be broken into +fragments, even should the armies supporting it remain for a time +organized and defiant; for, under the appliances of modern civilization +and commerce, the possession of a railroad or internal depot of trade is +almost equivalent to the destruction of an army. + +The campaigns of 1863 produced great results, as well geographically as +in the capture of men and munitions from the rebels. At the commencement +of the year they held the Mississippi, they threatened Kentucky and the +borders of the Ohio, they were able to draw supplies from Tennessee, +Arkansas, and Texas. They were, moreover, arrogantly defiant toward the +North, and boasted of their ability to march to its great commercial +centres. At the close of the year they were driven to the confines of +Georgia, they were separated from the trans-Mississippi region, their +boasting had been brought to humility at Gettysburg. The objects to be +accomplished in the great campaign of 1864 are to drive in upon each +other the two armies which resist our progress in Virginia and Georgia, +and to compress the rebellion into the Southern Atlantic States. This +done, the existence of secession is practically at an end, though it may +brag as loudly as ever and keep on foot its armies. For without +Virginia, and without the connections of Atlanta, the existence of an +independent government in the South is impossible: sufficient country +would not remain to support so magnificent an affair. The loss of +Virginia in fact would be the fatal blow to the rebellion; for, however +South Carolina may exalt herself, and however the other States of the +South may aspire, yet it is Virginia which gives tone and respectability +to the Southern confederacy. It is for this, far more than because it is +the rebel capital, that the capture of Richmond is desirable. + +But should it happen--which fortunately is not a reasonable +surmise--that the objects of this year's campaign should not be +attained, we consider that the Southern confederacy exists only in +pretence. Should its ports be to-day opened, should our armies fall back +to their primary bases of operation, should European Powers formally +declare that a slave republic exists, yet the new nation would be +practically a nonentity. Does any one suppose that the United States +would yield Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, New Orleans, and +the Mississippi; that the freemen of Western Virginia would be forsaken; +that Fortress Monroe and Port Royal would be abandoned? How long would a +nation so surrounded, so intersected, exist, or how could it achieve any +prosperity, character, and stability? Constant war, in the effort to +expand and perfect its borders, would be its necessity; but such a +necessity would be its destruction. There is no possibility of +compromise or arrangement in the contest in which we are engaged, except +with the parallel of the Potomac and the Ohio as the dividing border; +but such an arrangement is impossible; entire reconquest becomes the +imperative; it may be delayed, our present hopes may be disappointed, +but the march of our armies thus far has trodden out the life from the +Southern attempt at independence, and any future existence it may have +will be merely muscular paroxysms--not the steady, regular, automatic +movements of freedom and spontaneity. + +Any notice of the operations of our armies would be incomplete without +tributes to the ability of commanders and the valor of our soldiers. In +no previous period of the war have these been more strikingly +exemplified. The capacity of man to endure and his ability to exert +himself continuously without exhausting his energy, are very wonderful. +The reader of military history is constantly struck with this, in +perusing accounts of sieges and marches and battles. War is always +accompanied with a host of terrors--exposures to heat, cold, and +tempests, marches through swamps and snows, suffering by hunger and +thirst and fatigue, lying with bleeding wounds for days and nights +between the lines of friends and foes, toil, danger, privation, pain, in +every form. But among the memorable campaigns in the history of war, +none is more marked for its incessant activity and the cheerful alacrity +with which every hardship was endured, than that in which our army +marched from the Rapidan to the James. From Georgia, too, we have +similar accounts of difficulties met only to be surmounted. Heaven bless +our gallant soldiers everywhere! A nation's hopes and prayers are with +them. May they know the soldier's dearest delight--victory! + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 2, + August, 1864, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONTINENTAL MONTHLY *** + +***** This file should be named 20565-8.txt or 20565-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/5/6/20565/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by Cornell University Digital Collections) + + +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: The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 2, August, 1864 + Devoted to Literature and National Policy + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 11, 2007 [EBook #20565] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONTINENTAL MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by Cornell University Digital Collections) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE</h2> + +<h1>CONTINENTAL MONTHLY:</h1> + +<h4>DEVOTED TO</h4> + +<h2>Literature and NationaL Policy.</h2> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3>VOL. VI.—AUGUST, 1864.—No. II.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="trans-note"> + Transcriber's Note: Obvious printer errors have been corrected. All other +inconstencies in spelling or punctuation are as in the original. + </div> + +<div class='centered'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#AMERICAN_CIVILIZATION">AMERICAN CIVILIZATION.—<i>SECOND PAPER.</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#APHORISM_NO_X">APHORISM.—NO. X.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_ENGLISH_PRESS">THE ENGLISH PRESS.—V.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#OUR_MARTYRS">OUR MARTYRS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#AENONE">ÆNONE:</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#AENONE">CHAPTER X.</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_FIRST_CHRISTIAN_EMPEROR">THE FIRST CHRISTIAN EMPEROR.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#CAUSES_OF_THE_MINNESOTA_MASSACRE">CAUSES OF THE MINNESOTA MASSACRE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#BURIED_ALIVE">BURIED ALIVE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#NEGRO_TROOPS">NEGRO TROOPS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#VEXED">THE VEXED QUESTION OF THE NEGRO.</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#SLAVE">THE NEGRO SLAVE AS A SOLDIER.</a></span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><a href="#FREE">THE FREE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER.</a></span></td></tr> + + + +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#COLORS_AND_THEIR_MEANING">COLORS AND THEIR MEANING.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#BATTLE_OF_THE_WILDERNESS">BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#TARDY_TRUTHS">TARDY TRUTHS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#APHORISMS_NO_XI">APHORISMS.—NO. XI.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#AN_ARMY_ITS_ORGANIZATION_AND_MOVEMENTS">AN ARMY: ITS ORGANIZATION AND MOVEMENTS.—<i>THIRD PAPER.</i></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#LITERARY_NOTICES">LITERARY NOTICES.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#EDITORS_TABLE">EDITOR'S TABLE.</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="AMERICAN_CIVILIZATION" id="AMERICAN_CIVILIZATION"></a>AMERICAN CIVILIZATION.</h2> + +<h3><i>SECOND PAPER.</i></h3> + + +<p>As a nation we are fast losing that reverence for the powers that be +which is enjoined by Holy Writ, and without which no form of government +can be lasting, no political system can take a firm hold upon the +affections of the people. The opposition press teems with vituperation +and personal abuse of those whom the people themselves have chosen to +control the public policy and administer the public affairs. The +incumbent of the Presidential chair, so far from receiving that respect +and deference to which his position entitles him, becomes the victim of +slander and vilification, from one portion of the country to another, on +the part of those who chance to differ with him in political sentiments. +Even beardless boys, taking their cue from those who, being older, +should know better, are unsparing in the use of such terms as +'scoundrel,' 'fool,' 'tyrant,' as applied to those whom the people have +delighted to honor, either unconscious or utterly heedless of the +disgust with which their language inspires the older and more +thoughtful. And thus it has become a recognized fact that no man's +reputation can withstand the trial of a four years' term of service in +the Presidential office. While this is in a great measure the reaction +from the king worship of the Old World, it is nevertheless a blot upon +our civilization, a departure from those lofty and noble sentiments +which characterize every advanced stage of human intellect, in which the +supremacy and inviolability of the law is acknowledged, and in which the +ruler is reverenced as the representative and impersonation of the law. +And as, in such a stage, respect for the magistrate and the law mutually +react upon each other, so in the present state of affairs the tendency +is, in the course of time, to reach from the ruler to the edict which he +administers, and thus to beget a disrespect and disregard of law itself, +paving the way to that violence and mob rule which, in the present state +of humanity, must inevitably attend the establishment of the democratic +principle.</p> + +<p>The remedy is to be found in reform in the education of our youth, +whereby the utmost respect for the law and for those by whom it is +administered shall be inculcated as the groundwork of all patriotism and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>national progress, while at the same time cultivating a loftier +appreciation of the blessings of social order and harmony, and of +well-regulated liberty of thought, speech, and action, and a purer +standard of right. Yet even this will be of little avail except in +connection with the abatement, through the strong good sense of a +thinking and upright people, of that national nuisance of bitter and +unmerciful political partisanship of which we have spoken, all of whose +tendencies are to evil, and so removing from the eyes of our youth a +low, unworthy, and degrading example, which they are too prone to +follow. The child will tread, to a great degree, in the steps of the +father, and the whole course of his intellectual life be governed, more +or less, by the principles and prejudices which he is accustomed every +day to hear from the lips of a parent, who is necessarily the teacher +and, in a great measure, the moulder of his infant mind. How careful, +then, ought every parent to be of the principles which he inculcates and +the examples which he sets in his conversation, especially when that +conversation is directed to a condemnation of the motives or the acts of +the ruling powers!—lest the child be some time inclined to enlarge upon +his views, and carry his deductions farther than he himself ever +dreamed, till he shall finally be led into a contempt of the +institutions as well as of the rulers of his native land, through a +father's teaching, and so grow up an embryo traitor, ready at the first +signal to embark in any revolutionary scheme or wild enterprise of +visionary reform, such as have been and are still the disturbers of our +national prosperity. For an example of such a result in our day we have +but to look at the youth of the Southern States, whose fiery treason, +far exceeding that of their elders, is nothing more than the outgrowth, +the legitimate extension and development of that bitter denunciation of +rulers who chanced to be unpopular with their fathers, of that +unrestrained license of speech which left nothing untouched, however +sacred, however holy it might be, which chanced to stand in the way of +gross and sordid interest. The ideas of the hot-blooded, fire-eating +Southern youth of to-day, the recklessness and the treason, the +denationalizing spirit of revolution and blood which so readily +manifests itself in contempt of the old flag, and the direst hatred of +all that their fathers held sacred and laid down their lives to +sustain—all this is but the idea, intensified and developed, of the +Southerner of a bygone generation; it is but the natural deduction from +his conversation and life, pondered over by the child, fixed deeply in +his heart as the teaching of a revered tutor, and carried out, by a +natural course of reasoning, to its extreme in the parricidal rebellion +of to-day. And yet that idea was, in its inception, apparently harmless +enough, being nothing more than that denunciation and vituperation of +the political leaders and the ruling powers which chanced to be in the +opposition, whereby the child was in due course of time weaned from his +country, and taught to look lightly upon and speak lightly of that which +of old time was only mentioned with love and reverent awe.</p> + +<p>Nor is this the only reform which is needed in the education of our +youth. The phrase 'completing one's education' is used to-day with utter +looseness, and applied to that period when the youth leaves the school +or college for the busy walks of life. How much of error is contained in +such an application of the term he well knows who, after some years of +world life, can look back upon his college days and see what a mere +smattering of knowledge he gained within the 'classic shades,' and how +poorly <i>educated</i> he was, in any and every sense of the word, how ill +fitted for the realities of work-day life, when first he emerged in +self-sufficient pride from the sacred walls, and launched boldly out +upon the world. At the time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> when, according to the popular acceptation +of the term, the education is completed, it is in truth but just begun; +and he who, upon the slender capital of college lore, should set himself +up for a finished man, one competent to take upon himself the duties, +responsibilities, and labors of active life, would soon find to his +sorrow that he was yet but a babe in wisdom, and yet needed a long and +severe discipline ere he could be considered one of the world's workers. +In the few years devoted, in our country, to the education of youth, +little more can be done than to teach them the value of knowledge and +the proper method and system of its acquisition, leaving to the +exertions of the after years that education of the mind and development +of the intellectual powers which constitute the finished man. And this +should be the object of all our schools, for females as well as for +males, to inculcate the truth that the true education begins where the +schools leave off, and depends entirely upon the scholar himself, aided +only by that groundwork of preparation, that systematizing of effort, +imparted by the tutor in the tender years. This end should be ever +before the teacher's eyes, and the whole course of study adjusted with a +view thereto. And the instruction imparted should be of such a character +as most thoroughly to fit the student for future study, giving him a +firm foothold upon the most essential branches of knowledge, from which +he may advance steadily and securely when left to himself; frequently +warning him that this is but the beginning of great things, and that the +abstrusities of wisdom, wherein is all its æsthetic beauty and its +holiness—all its moral good—lies far beyond, where it can only be +reached by the most patient, persevering, and unremitting toil; not +forgetting, at the same time, to point out the glorious reward which +awaits the seeker of truth. The effect of such a system would soon be +felt, not only in our national life, but in our very civilization. For +thus would be thrown out upon our society, year after year, a class of +thinkers, of earnest, working, strong-minded men and women, searchers +after truth and disciples of the highest good, instead of the crowd of +half-fledged intellectual idlers who yearly emerge from our schools with +the conceited idea that the course of study is finished, the paths of +investigation fully explored, and that life is henceforth a holiday from +study. Under such a giant impulse our society could not but advance with +enormous strides in all that pertains to true civilization, since +thinkers would then be the rule instead of the exception, and talent +almost universal, which is now, like angels' visits, comparatively 'few +and far between.' This is no Utopian vision: it is a reality within the +scope of human exertion and the capacity of our people of to-day, if men +would but exert themselves to such an end, and properly apply the energy +and labor which is now too often excited upon unworthy and trifling +objects. The realm of knowledge is so boundless that a lifetime is +little enough and short enough to give to mortals even a smattering of +that sea of wisdom which swells around the universe, and he alone can +claim to be a seer who devotes the whole of a long existence to the +investigation of truth; and only when this fact is impressed upon the +minds of youth can they be made to appreciate their true position in +existence, and made efficient workers in the great cause of humanity.</p> + +<p>Yet all education is vain, all intellectual development is of little +benefit, all civilization hollow in its nature and ephemeral in its +duration which lacks the moral element. And by the word <i>moral</i> in this +connection is intended to be understood not only what is usually +conveyed in the term morality, but also all religion. It is a +well-established fact, more particularly exemplified in our own history, +that all political parties founded upon an ephemeral is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>sue, inevitably +disappear with the final adjustment of the questions upon which they are +based, having nothing left to rest upon, so it is in the affairs of +nations. In the weakness of human nature and the fallibility of all +human prescience, no system or theory can be devised which shall endure +through all time, which shall not become effete, useless, and even +erroneous in the progress of human development, and in the ever-shifting +condition of human society. Hence any government and society founded +upon a system of merely human devising, must, in the progress of events, +fall to pieces, and give place to the results of a new and younger +development. The law of God, as contained in Divine revelation, is alone +unchangeable, unmodifiable. It is adapted to meet the requirements of +all lands and all ages, to answer all the necessities of which human +nature is capable, even to its extremest verge of development. Hence all +political systems are durable only in proportion as they, in their +organization, conform to the precepts of Divine law.</p> + +<p>We have used the term 'moral element' as necessarily comprehending all +religion, for the reason that upon religion is necessarily based all +true morality. There is nothing in the physical, and more especially in +the intellectual world, without a final cause; and that so-called +morality which exists entirely separate and distinct from religion, can +be based upon nothing other than self-interest, which, under different +conditions and circumstances, would as unhesitatingly lead to evil. The +'moral man' without religion could as easily be evil minded and +dissolute in a community purely evil as he is upright and honorable in a +civilized and enlightened community of to-day, for the reason that his +morality is nothing more than deference to a certain standard of +honor—in other words, to the <i>tone</i> of the society by which he is +surrounded, bringing with it all the benefits of high public estimation +and a lofty position in society, which tone it must follow, be it good +or bad: it is founded and built up in self-interest. Yet this very tone +of society, and all these standards of honor and uprightness, when +traced to their origin, are found to arise from the precepts of +revelation. We are all, physically and intellectually, the creatures of +circumstance. Experience moulds and develops the intellect. Our moral +natures are not innate, but solely and entirely the result of the +influences by which we are surrounded. There is in the soul no absolute +standard of right; if there were, uprightness would be the same the +world over. But the right of the heathen is a different thing from that +of the Christian; the right of the Chinese or the Japanese is a +different thing from that of more enlightened nations; the right of one +Christian community is different from that of another; and this because +right, considered distinct from religion, is relative, and subject to +all the modifications of different conditions of society. The 'Evil, be +thou my good' of Milton's Satan is a delicate recognition of this fact. +But absolute right is a thing unknown to human <i>nature</i>; it can never be +innate, but comes from without. It can only be apprehended by the +intellect as a thing of God, a part of His nature, given to us as a law, +a rule of action, which we can accept or not, taking upon ourselves the +consequences of its rejection. There can be no standard of absolute +right other than the law of God; there can be no other invariable and +eternal rule of human action.</p> + +<p>And if this position be true of individuals, most assuredly is it true +of nations, which are but individuals in the concrete, subject to the +same vicissitudes, governed by the same laws, physical and moral, and +following the same path of development. Only that form of government +which recognizes the Supreme Being as the chief of rulers, and His law +as the source and model of all human law, can be sure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> of truth and +justice on its side, both in its dealings with other nations and in its +regulation of its own internal affairs. Only such a form can work +steadily for the advancement of its people, both by leading them forward +and by smoothing the rugged path to perfection, and removing every +obstacle which impedes the national progress. However near the +principles of our Government may approach to those of the Divine law, +there is still room and urgent necessity for reform. Yet, in the +universal disfavor into which theocracies have fallen, and in the +intense desire which pervades our people to avoid the complicated evils +of a union between church and state, every attempt to unite religious +principles with those of government is looked upon with positive alarm; +and justly so, since the experience of past centuries proves that both +thrive best in separate spheres, however near they may approach each +other in the abstract, and that when united, the one is apt to prove a +hamper on the other, through the introduction of error and corruption; +while, separated, they act as a mutual restraint, each tending to +control the abnormal development of the other. For these reasons reform +in this particular must move from the people to the government, not from +the government to the people.</p> + +<p>And here we come to the root of the whole matter, to the field where +reform is most needed, that is, in the moral condition of our society. +While there are few nations in which there is such a diversity of +religious views and multiplicity of religious sects, there are few +peoples which are so proverbially irreligious as our own. Yet our +condition in this respect is rather a neutral one than otherwise, for +while we are without any positive immorality which should make us +preëminent above other nations for vice, there is, nevertheless, in our +midst, little of that simple, trusting, unquestioning faith, which is +the 'substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not +seen'—little of that all-pervading and all-powerful reverence for +sacred things, that deep religious feeling which forms a portion of the +very life of most of the nations of the Old World. This is nothing more +than the reaction of the stern Puritan tenets of the colonial times. It +is the logical result of those dark and gloomy theories which aimed to +make religion not only unpalatable but absolutely repelling to the young +and the ardent, causing them to fly to the opposite extreme of throwing +aside religion to 'a more convenient season,' when the pleasures of life +should have lost their charm, and they themselves should be drawing near +the close of their pilgrimage. That theory which made a deadly sin of +that which was at worst but a pardonable misdemeanor and perhaps wholly +innocent in its nature, could not fail in time to react violently, first +through the process of disgust, then through that of inquiry, and +finally to the carrying of speculation to extremes, and practically +pronouncing harmless and innocent that which was really vice. The +popular mind, rebounding from the Puritan ideas, did not pause to +discriminate between the truth and error which were so intimately +mingled in their system, but, sweepingly denouncing all the theories +whose most prominent characteristics were revolting, involved in the +denunciation and rejection much of pure and simple truth, and ran +rapidly along the path of revolution, heedless of every warning, +unchecked by the obstacles which Truth threw in its way, down to the +present time of almost universal looseness.</p> + +<p>Another effect of this rebellion of the national mind against the +Puritan theories is seen in the almost yearly inauguration of some new +sect in religion, in a land which is already so crowded with diverse and +antagonistic religious organizations that it might be termed the land of +sects. However right or wrong in a religious point of view, the Puritans +committed the great <i>social</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> mistake of establishing a new church, +instead of working earnestly to reform the old in those respects in +which it seemed to them to have fallen into error, thereby destroying +the unity of the Christian world. Had the movement stopped here, less +harm would have been done; but it was not of the nature of things that +it should be so. The establishment of the principle that purity of +worship and of belief was to be sought, and diversity of religious +opinion to be gratified in separation and the erection of new +organizations, rather than in the endeavor to purify the old and +established form, at once threw wide open the door of schism, and with +it, in the end, that of scepticism. The movement once begun could +neither be checked nor controlled by any human effort. Others claimed +the right which they themselves had exercised, and the result was soon +seen in the separation of one after another denomination from the +Puritan Church, each, in its turn, to be divided into a score of sects, +according as circumstances should alter religious views. Were the +principles of true religion in themselves progressive, were the +teachings, of the gospel inadequate to or unfitting for all possible +stages of human progress, or were they capable of development, the world +might then have been the gainer. Or, again, were reason infallible, the +separation of the churches would be an incalculable blessing, by +securing to all minds a free investigation upon religious subjects. But +infidelity desires no more powerful coadjutor than human reason in its +freest exercise, because it is so liable to be led away by sophistry, +and its invariable tendency is to reject as myths and fables all things +which it cannot comprehend or for which it cannot see a material cause. +Perfect reason is the twin brother and strongest supporter of faith; but +reason as it exists in the present development of humanity is its most +deadly antagonist. The age of reason has fallen upon us, and its result +is seen in a practical scepticism pervading the whole of our society, +which in its extent and its injurious effects put to the blush the +wildest speculations of the most radical German metaphysicians. Every +day we see around us men of no religious profession, and little if any +religious feeling, calmly facing death without a tremor, without a +thought of the awful beyond. And though the application of the term +infidel to such a man would not fail to arouse his fiercest indignation, +his indifference to the events and the fate of the great hereafter can +arise from nothing else than an utter disbelief in the teachings of Holy +Writ, in the truths of Christianity. Such men are but types of a class, +and that class a very large portion of our population.</p> + +<p>The evils of religious divisions are plain to be seen, even if they +consisted in nothing more than the division and consequent weakening of +Christian effort. The church of God, torn by internal dissensions, +becomes almost powerless for the spread of the gospel, the greater +portion of its strength and energy being exhausted in bolstering up its +different branches as against each other, and in proselytizing within +itself. Where, if united, a small portion of its wealth and energy would +suffice to support in a nourishing condition the worship of a great +people, leaving an immense surplus to be directed to the evangelization +of the heathen world, now, in its divided state, its power and immense +material resources are squandered in the support of innumerable +fragments, each one of which costs as much in labor and in means as +would suffice to sustain the religion of the whole country if united.</p> + +<p>Worse than even this, the incessant bickerings of the Christian world +tend to invalidate, in the minds of the unbelievers, not only among the +heathen, but among ourselves, the teachings of that Word which is its +professed guide. The 'See how these Christians hate each other!' is to +reflecting minds out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>side the church's pale, an almost unconquerable +argument against that religion which professes to be founded upon love. +Hence arises a great portion of that practical infidelity of which we +have spoken, and which is the bane of our civilization. No nation can be +truly great or noble or progressive without religion, and by as much as +we are departing, in our every-day life, from the pure teachings of the +gospel, by so much are we tending to our inevitable downfall. The people +must have some high standard of moral excellence, something to elevate +and purify the tone of society, to lead their aspirations upward away +from the petty toils and cares and vexations, from the sordid desires +and the animal propensities of life, in order to prevent them from +falling into that decay which is inevitably the result of corruption, +following hard upon a devotion to mere self-interest. We are, in a great +measure, a nation of materialists, too much devoted to the pursuit of +selfish and so-called practical aims, too little to the spiritual and +the ethereal. Reform must come, else the soul will become gross and +grovelling, and the nobler part of our natures, the more delicate and +refined sympathies of the heart, the finer faculties of the intellect, +will rust away with disuse, and the whole race become sensual, and +finally effete, however brilliant may be its individual exceptions. From +what direction the needed reform is to come it is not for us to say. +That Almighty Providence which overrules an erring world will doubtless +provide a way for the regeneration of His people. The first great step +is to awaken the people to a sense of the necessity of such a change, +and some more powerful means must be employed to the accomplishment of +that end than have ever yet been applied to our civilization. And the +apostle who, in the hands of God, shall be the means of arousing the +slumbering faith of our people, of awakening them to a full sense of the +danger, and of imparting new energy to the recuperative powers of the +race, will win for himself a loftier position in the world's +appreciation than has yet been conceded to any mere mortal.</p> + +<p>Another great and manifest evil in our society, and one closely +connected with that of which we have just spoken, is the inordinate love +of wealth, and the elevation of the money god to the highest seat in our +temple of worship. Human nature craves distinction. The divisions and +castes in the society of the Old World, from the present day back to the +remotest ages, is not only an evidence, but a practical exemplification +of this fact. The abolition of all these distinctions consequent upon +the establishment of our republican government upon the ground of +political equality, swept away from our ancestors almost the only means +of gratifying this innate propensity. A hard-working, practical, +agricultural people, with no literature, and little if any cultivation +of the fine arts, there was but one road to distinction open to the mass +of the population, and that lay through the avenues of wealth. Hence it +was but natural that affluence should take the place of the hereditary +honors of the olden times, and that the people should bow to the only +distinction, however spurious it might be, which elevated any portion of +themselves above their fellows. With all the evils connected with a +hereditary aristocracy, the distinction which attends upon a nobility is +in a great measure an ideal one. It is not either its wealth or power +which constitutes its charm, but a certain nameless something pertaining +to the ideal, which affects not only the tenants and retainers, but even +our republican selves. It may well be questioned whether we have been +the gainers by substituting for such distinctions a gross and material +one, affecting the bodily senses alone—the animal part of our +nature—and which contains little either to expand the mind or exalt the +aspirations. With us but comparatively<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> few can become distinguished in +the ranks of literature or of art, or, indeed, in any of the higher or +intellectual branches of human attainment; hence for the great mass +there is but one road to distinction, one object to claim every +exertion—the pursuit of wealth. And as a natural consequence, we see +every art, every profession hinging upon this motive. Most of the evils +connected with the administration of our public affairs, the fraud and +corruption which are so prominent, the quadrennial scramble for place, +with its consequent degrading of those positions which should be those +of the highest honor, may be traced to this one source. More than this, +we find the so-called aristocracy of our great cities—a moneyed one +purely—excluding from its ranks those who earn their livelihood in the +pursuit of literature and art, and who, if true to their professions, +are entitled to the very highest rank in society. There are of course +exceptions, but not more than sufficient to prove the rule. A striking +exemplification of the power of wealth among us is seen in these days of +shoddy, when those who have hitherto moved in the humblest circles +suddenly take their positions among the 'upper ten thousand,' and are +treated with a deference to which they have all their lives been +strangers, by virtue of a successful contract or a towering speculation. +The effect of such a state of things upon our civilization is easy to be +seen. A low motive is sure to bring down its followers to its own level. +A people without a lofty and ennobling object is sure to fall into +decay. The grasping spirit which everywhere pervades our society is fast +lowering our people to the level of a race of mercenary jobbers. Truth, +justice, honor, purity, and even religion, are in a great measure lost +sight of in the general scramble for gold, until the strictest +integrity, the most self-sacrificing honesty, are beginning to be looked +upon as marvels, and we have won for ourselves among the nations of the +world the unenviable title of worshippers of the 'almighty dollar.' +Religion itself is twisted and distorted into every imaginable shape to +bring it into harmony with our all-absorbing pursuit: all our ideas of +public policy and of social progress are made to depend upon and +modified by this unworthy motive. We mean not to include those +individuals who, with loftier motives and a true appreciation of man's +spiritual capabilities, are prominent among us, battling earnestly in +the cause of true progress; we are speaking of the mass of our +population. Those few are the goodly leaven who are yet to prove the +regeneration of our race. Bad as is the state of affairs in this +respect, it will, if left to itself, become infinitely worse as each +succeeding year rolls around, for the spirit of greed is progressive in +its nature, growing fatter and fatter upon its success.</p> + +<p>Yet, in another point of view, this same strife for wealth is one great +secret of American prosperity and progress. It is the motive power to +that energy which has peopled the wilderness, erected as if by magic a +mighty republic among the savage wilds, and, above all, spread American +ideas, and with them the germ of human liberty, over the whole broad +earth. To this spirit of greed upon our shores the Old World owes much +of its advancement and most of those useful inventions which are fast +revolutionizing humanity itself. But we are not considering it in this +light; we are viewing it in its moral aspect, that respect in which it +most strongly affects true civilization, which must soon fall away and +lapse into the condition of the ages long past, if it be not sustained +by an enduring moral and religious element. The moral advancement must +keep pace with the intellectual, else the latter will some day reach +that point where extremes meet, and have its weary journey to commence +again.</p> + +<p>It is to be hoped that this evil is al<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>ready on the wane. It is to be +hoped that the present stirring up of our society from its uttermost +depths, with its consequent exploding of worn-out theories, which have +hitherto held their places only through our national lethargy—with its +sweeping away of old-time prejudices, and mingling together of elements +which have hitherto existed distinct and aloof from each other, will +result in bringing true merit to the surface, in awakening our people to +a loftier appreciation of the good and the true, thereby establishing a +higher moral standard among us; that purer motives will henceforth +actuate our society. The fears which are entertained by some that the +present war will prove a severe shock to our civilization, are not +sustained by the facts which are everywhere appearing around us. The +frequent demands upon the generosity and forbearance of a great people, +the constant calls for the exercise of the noblest qualities, the most +self-sacrificing devotion, and that too in support of a great principle +rather than of any present material interest, the very necessity for an +exalted civilization and intellectual development on the part of the +masses, which shall enable them to see in that principle the groundwork +of all their future well-being, both as regards material prosperity and +political position, are constantly bringing before the people, in a +clearer light than ever before, the blessings of honor and uprightness, +the necessity of national purity, and developing a moral element in our +midst, whose good effects will far outbalance the ephemeral and +spasmodic immorality and vice which a state of war usually engenders. +Our people are <i>becoming acquainted</i> with those blessings of individual +well-doing and those principles of philanthropy to which they have for +so long been comparative strangers. And it is this, together with the +unveiling, through the present convulsion, of those errors, both in our +political system and in our society, which have so nearly proved our +ruin, which will make this war in very truth the greatest blessing that +has ever befallen us. And if this moral progress shall be such and so +great as to throw down the golden calf from his throne and make the +place of honor the reward of true merit alone, then shall we have cause, +for the remotest generations, to thank God for this seeming calamity +which has fallen upon us.</p> + +<p>And these same facts, standing out as shining lights in the darkness, +tend to show that we are, after all, not quite so sordid as we seem; +that, with all our worship of the money god, there is yet, away down in +the great American heart, a wealth of strong, true, generous feeling, +ready at the first call of sorrow and of suffering to spring forth and +scatter its golden blessings even beyond the seas. It is not alone that, +years ago, when we were at peace and at the height of prosperity, many +ships left our shores laden down with food, the voluntary contributions +of the American citizen to his starving brethren of the Emerald Isle; +though this of itself was enough to place our civilization on a level +with that of the most polished nation of the Old World. But even now, +when we are struggling for our very existence, when every energy and +every material resource is being exerted to stem the tide of internal +dissensions and crush out the hydra of internal treason; at a time when +the mother country has gone to every length short of open war to aid and +assist those who are striving for our downfall, and her press is +exhausting every epithet of vituperation and scurrilous abuse of us, who +are battling so earnestly in our own defence, and who are entitled by +every truth of human nature to her warmest sympathy—a press which, +adopting the phraseology of its Secession friends and allies, scruples +not to place the civilization of the slaveholding States far in advance +of that of the 'Northern mudsills'—even now, when the cry of the +starving operatives<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> of the English mills comes to us across the water, +forgetting for the time all the abuse and maltreatment we have received, +all the enmity and bitter hostility which the traitorous perfidy of +England has engendered, more than one full-freighted vessel has left our +ports bearing grain to those whom their own proud aristocracy is either +powerless or too niggardly to sustain. Is this not evidence of a +civilization considerably advanced beyond any which history has yet +recorded?—a civilization based upon the golden rule of Christianity, +and upon that still more precious command: 'Love those that hate you, +and do good to those that persecute you.' For it is in its moral aspect +that every civilization must in the end be judged; and that society +which develops such noble principles and feelings as these, which +manifests itself in this higher region of spiritual excellence, in the +exercise of these finer feelings of the heart, is certainly nearest to +perfection, in that it follows most closely the law of God, the truths +of divine revelation. When instances such as these occur on the part of +any of the older nations of the world, it will do for them to boast of a +civilization superior to ours; but until their faith is shown by their +works, suffering humanity the world over will accord to us the palm. Nor +will it answer to ascribe to us an unworthy motive in this matter—a +desire to win credit in the eyes of the world. An individual might, with +some degree of plausibility, fall under such an imputation, but a great +people does not move spontaneously and unitedly in one direction from +such a motive, since none but a pure and just principle can produce +unity in the masses. Such an unworthy and degrading motive is the +property of individuals, not of nations, even if it were possible for +such an idea to be conceived at one and the same time by a multitude of +minds. No! it was the spontaneous expression of a deep and pervading +principle of American society—of American humanity—a free outpouring +of the American heart; and as such it will stand upon the page of +history as the evidence of a civilization behind none of its age.</p> + +<p>Nor is this the only mark of the moral awakening of our people. +Instances are every day appearing in our midst of this truest of +charity, not the least of which are the 'wood processions' of the +Western cities and towns; those long lines of wagons laden with fuel and +provisions for the families of the absent soldiers, whose sole object +and motive is the comfort of those whose protectors and supporters are +sustaining the country's honor in the field; evidences more striking +than the founding of charitable institutions or benevolent societies, +since the latter may, and too often does, arise from the most selfish +and vainglorious motive, while in the former the individual is lost in +the many who press eagerly to bear their part in a noble work, in this +spontaneous outpouring of true and heartfelt benevolence. From this same +spirit arises the wonderful success which attends the efforts of +sanitary commissions and soldiers' aid associations in alleviating the +sufferings and softening the privations of our soldiers in the field. +With such evidences constantly appearing before our eyes of the deep and +noble feelings of the American heart, who can doubt that our +civilization is a progressive one, our enlightenment equal? Who can +doubt the capacity of the American people for good, or look with +foreboding upon our future?</p> + +<p>Another important sign of the times, as evincing our advancing +civilization, is the revival of art in our midst. In the midst of all +our bustle and toil and eager strife for gain, there has ever been a +something wanting to the completeness of our life, a something to fill +and satisfy that yearning of the soul for æsthetic beauty, which is at +once an evidence of its progress and its capacity for diviner things. +Too long have we been absorbed by the desires<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> of our animal nature, in +whose pursuit there is little gratification to that finer portion of our +inner selves which will not be silenced by anything short of the deepest +degradation. The people—the great people—need something—something +higher, more ennobling, more tender—to fill the vacant spot in their +hearts and homes, to preserve the balance between the animal and the +spiritual part of their lives, and to clothe their surroundings with a +higher and holier significance than can arise from the events and +associations of the work-day life. In art the missing link is found, and +whether it be the simple ballad in the evening circle or the modest +print that graces the humble cottage walls—and the humbler the +habitation the deeper the manifestation, because the more touching—it +is but the expression of the people's appreciation of the needs, the +capacities, and the holier aspirations of the better part of humanity. +Hence the revival of art has a deep significance; it is something more +than a forced, an exotic, and hence ephemeral growth; it is the +manifestation of the awakening of the people to the æsthetic sentiment; +it is the actual result of the intellectual and moral needs of society; +it is in itself the striving of a great people for the beautiful and +true. And as such it has a broad and deep foundation in the godlike in +human nature, which shall insure not only its permanence but its +progress as long as the good and the true have any influence whatever +upon our society. That we have had, until a comparatively late period, +no art among us, is the result not of a lack of capacity to comprehend +the beautiful, but of the intense and all-absorbing passion for gain +which has so nearly proved the bane of our society by shutting out the +consideration of better things: that art has so suddenly revived in our +midst is a proof that, so far from having our humanity, our political +position, our very civilization itself swallowed up in the love of the +almighty dollar, as has been predicted of us by foreign wiseacres, we +have been aroused to our danger and to a true appreciation of the better +part of existence; which is itself an evidence of the elasticity and the +recuperative energy of our social system.</p> + +<p>In literature our progress is not so flattering. In its effects upon +civilization a literature can only be judged by that portion of it which +touches the popular heart, which descends to the humblest fireside, and +is most eagerly sought after by the ploughboy and the operative. All +other, however brilliant it may be—and the more brilliant or profound +the farther it is generally removed from the minds of the masses—is to +them but as the stars of a winter night, cold and distant, radiating +little warmth to the longing soul, too far away to awaken more than a +faintly reflected admiration. He who said, 'Give me to write the songs +of a people, and I care not who makes their laws,' touched the tender +spot in the great heart of humanity; he was a sage in that truest of +philosophy, the study of human nature. Though we have our princes in +every branch of literature, who are the result of and an honor to our +civilization, yet for their own results in moulding the tastes, the +habits, and the intellects of the common people, in contributing to +their advancement, they fall far below the efforts of the veriest +penny-a-liner. It is a lamentable fact of our society that while the +more solid literature scarcely pays, the flashiest of so-called 'flash +literature' brings down the golden shower. The writer of the lowest +possible order of literary productions is enriched, and his name is +familiar in the remotest corners of the land, while our monarchs of +literature are oftentimes poverty stricken and comparatively obscure; +and that because the latter is confined to a comparatively small +audience and patronage, while the former speaks to and for the masses; +and, as a natural consequence, the for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>mer controls the tastes of the +greater portion of the reading community, and that too for anything but +good, since he reaps his golden harvest by pandering to the basest of +appetites, the lowest of sensibilities and sympathies; thus retarding +rather than accelerating the intellectual advancement of the people, +this being his material interest.</p> + +<p>And how great is the responsibility of those who thus speak to the ear +of the simple and the unlearned! how terrible the retribution they are +heaping up for themselves in the great hereafter, for thus prostituting +talent which might be made eminently useful in leading the minds of the +common people to the highest and noblest of truths; in making purer and +better in every sense of the word! The idea that the province of +literature, even of fiction, is simply to amuse, is exploded in the +light of advancing civilization. Every writer has a higher mission, and +accordingly as he discharges the duty which his faculty lays upon him, +is he true or false to the true end of his existence, a success or a +failure in the world of intellect and morality. The mission of all +literature is to make mankind both wiser and <i>better</i>, and the writer +who fails to appreciate and act upon this truth is worse than a useless +cumberer of society; he is a curse to his age, and, however great his +present fame, will most assuredly be forgotten with the passing away of +his generation. For does not <i>all</i> human effort resolve itself into this +one thing? Is there any work which we call good or great, or even +important, which is not intended in some way to benefit mankind? Else we +were but butterflies, and our works but mists. In the past ages the +world has not seen and appreciated this fact; but the world of to-day +does appreciate it, and will certainly set every worker upon his proper +pedestal, high or low, according as his efforts have conduced or not to +the welfare of humanity.</p> + +<p>Present reform in this particular is not to be looked for; it must be +external rather than internal. Could the whole mass of light literature +be at once and forever swept out of existence, the people would soon +acquire a love of solid reading as ardent as that which now pervades the +lower stratum of our society for 'yellow-covered' trash. For the love of +knowledge is innate, and the people would necessarily seek for and find +amusement in such reading as could not fail to instruct and educate, to +revive this love of knowledge, and fan it into an ardent flame. But this +cannot be done. The people will ever seek that reading which is most +congenial to their present tastes and habits, and there will ever be +found a legion of those who are eager to supply this sort of mental +pabulum—if it can be so called—for the sake of the golden equivalent. +For these reasons, the literature of the common people must ever follow, +not lead, their civilization; it must continue to be the outward and +visible sign of their progress, instead of the inward and spiritual +grace by which it is pervaded and sustained; and reform must be +inaugurated and consummated in those other influences which tend to +mould the moral man, and which must be so guided as to destroy all these +low and grovelling tastes, by lifting the man into a higher plane of +being, in which the animal shall be wholly subservient to the spiritual. +Hence the province of the true philanthropist lies in those other paths +which we have pointed out, rather than in this, since in them lies the +prospect of success whose <i>fruits</i> will in this most clearly appear.</p> + +<p>It is a significant fact that the foreign view points to but two blots +upon our society, and that foreign detractors harp continually upon +these, and these alone, as evidences of the backwardness of our +civilization—the institution of slavery and the riots which +occasionally disgrace our large cities. For in the light of the facts +and experience of to-day, such a position is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> simply a yielding of the +whole question. When it is considered that the few riots with which we +are afflicted—few in comparison with those which so often convulse +European society—are almost invariably incited and sustained by our +foreign population, and that portion of it, too, latest arrived upon our +shores, it will be seen with what injustice the evil is laid at the door +of American society. It is, in fact, nothing else than the outbreak of +the long-accumulated and long-suppressed discontent and misery of +European lands, which, for the first time for centuries, finds vent upon +the shores of a land of political and social liberty—a reaction of the +springs long held down by the iron hand of tyranny—a violent +restoration of that natural elasticity which had so nearly been +destroyed by ages of social degradation. The mob law, the frequent +resort to the pistol and the bowie knife, and the universal social +recklessness of our own citizens of the Southern States, is the effect +of the institution of slavery, and falls within the discussion of that +question, with the disappearance of which they must inevitably depart.</p> + +<p>Were African slavery a permanent feature in our midst, the argument +against our civilization would be unanswerable. But it has maintained +its ground in spite of, rather than as the result of or in connection +with the spirit of our institutions. It has hitherto been suffered to +exist as an acknowledged evil, solely because the disastrous results +attending its sudden abolition have been justly feared as greater than +any which could at present arise from its continuance. Yet at no period +has the American people ceased to look forward to some future time when +it might safely be rooted out. Our faith has ever been strong, and our +confidence in the ultimate triumph of the right unshaken. That time has +come. The present war, from whose inauguration the question of slavery +abolition was—on our part, at least—entirely absent, has given the +opportunity which our people have not failed to seize. To crush out the +rebellion without meddling with the institutions of the South was at +first the main spring of the war; <i>fiat justitia, ruat cœlum</i>, is now +the voice of the whole people; and the very fact that the nation has so +earnestly taken hold of the work, so sternly determined to sacrifice +everything but its existence to the demolition of this bloody god, is of +itself an evidence of the purity of our civilization. We have not been +dead to the principles of truth and justice involved in this question; +we have been but biding our time, plainly seeing and carefully noting +the direful effects of slavery upon our social organization, and +'heaping up wrath against the day of wrath.' And now, with the blessing +of God upon our efforts, the present war will not cease until the death +blow is given to the accursed institution with all its attendant evils. +We, as a people, are fully aroused and sternly determined henceforth to +let nothing stand in the way of our social advancement, however +time-honored and cherished may have been the obstacle. And when these +evils have all been swept away, as they assuredly will be, we shall +stand forth among the nations in all the glory of a pure and enlightened +civilization, and challenge the world to produce a nobler record, to +point out a happier, more prosperous, more truly progressive people.</p> + +<p>With the close of the present war will arise another important question, +bearing not less strongly than that of slavery upon our ultimate +civilization. The slaveholding States are to be, in a measure, +repeopled. The tide of immigration which has so long and so steadily +streamed toward the West will be for some time diverted to the fertile +plantations of the South. Not only the soldiers of the North, to whom +the war has opened what has hitherto been to them almost a <i>terra +incognita</i>, will seek new homes within the sunny<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> climes; but the flood +of foreign immigration, which, upon the vindication of our national +integrity and power, will quickly double itself in comparison with that +of former years, and sweep toward this new and inviting field; and the +distinctive feature of Southern society—of so-called 'Southern +chivalry'—will soon be swallowed up in the torrent. And what then shall +we have to fill its place? The crude ideas of foreign tyros in the +school of freedom, the conflicting religious, social, and political +theories of European revolutionists, the antagonistic policies of a +hundred different nationalities. All this, in connection with the +difficulties arising from the freeing of so large an African population, +will prove a severe trial to our national civilization, and call for the +exercise of the profoundest wisdom, the most careful discrimination, and +the most patient forbearance on the part of our rulers and statesmen. +And most assuredly the times will themselves produce the men most fitted +for the care of such interests and the decision of such questions. +Though there is need of the firm hand, the utmost watchfulness, and the +strongest exertion on the part of every citizen as well as statesman, it +is not to be feared that the result will in the end be disastrous to our +progress. For the genius of the American people was never yet at fault. +We have handled similar questions before; we are handling a more +important one now, and our capabilities and our power of development are +such that we need not fear but that we shall be enabled to cope with the +exigencies of the future. That genius which has built up a powerful +nation here in the wilderness, which has developed to such a degree the +resources of the laud and the capacities of the people, which has +conceived and executed in so short a time such a social and moral +revolution, has in it too much of the godlike to suffer the work to fall +through from any incapacity to deal with the legitimate consequences of +its action. The power to inaugurate and carry through the work +necessarily implies the capacity to establish and render permanent its +results, to guide the ship when the storm is past. It will find the ways +and means; the times themselves will develop new truths, which will make +the task less difficult than it seems to us of to-day. Such is the +feeling of the people; and this same noble faith and confidence in our +own capacities, this turning a deaf ear to all the possibilities of +failure, and looking with a never-failing trust, a soul-felt faith, to +the triumph of our cause and of our civilization, is our greatest +strength, while it is, at the same time, a conclusive evidence that we +are on the high road of true progress, that our civilization is not a +thing of yesterday, to-day, or to-morrow, but of the eternal ages.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="APHORISM_NO_X" id="APHORISM_NO_X"></a>APHORISM.—NO. X.</h2> + + +<p>'It is a frequent result of poverty to make men rich—a common curse of +wealth to make them poor.' Poverty, making us feel our dependence upon +God, almost compels us to an acquaintance with Him—this leads us to +accept Him as the one Infinite Benefactor; and so gives us wealth that +can never fail: but riches, by encouraging our natural love of +independence, is too apt to keep us away from our Heavenly Father, and +thus plunge us into such poverty as admits of no actual relief. In this +view there is something to hope for in the present distresses of our +country. Rarely have so many people felt that their dependence must be +upon the mercy of God; and rarely, if ever, have so many, with such +earnestness, appealed to the Father of all on the occasion of a +widespread calamity. This must result in a closer union with the +Infinite Giver, and thus in a great increase of true riches.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_ENGLISH_PRESS" id="THE_ENGLISH_PRESS"></a>THE ENGLISH PRESS.</h2> + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>How had <i>The Times</i> been getting on all these years? Slowly but surely. +At first, as has been already stated, feeling its way with difficulty +amid a host of obstacles, long-established and successful rivals, +Government prosecutions abroad, and personal crotchets and peculiarities +at home. John Walter, its founder, retired from the management of the +paper in 1803, and died in 1812, having lived to see his literary +offspring grow up into a strong young giant, with thews and sinews +growing fuller and firmer every day, tossing his weighty arms in every +direction, but never aimlessly; and with his vigorous feet firmly +planted, expanded chest, and head boldly erect, fearlessly standing +forward in the very first rank of the champions of freedom. Mr. Walter's +son John succeeded him in the management in 1803; and, under his abler +and more enlightened administration, the paper rapidly increased in +importance. He opened his columns to all comers, and whenever any +communication appeared to possess more than average ability he +endeavored to engage the writer of it as a regular contributor. He +perfected the system of reporting, and the reports in <i>The Times</i> soon +began to be fuller and more exact perhaps even than Perry's in <i>The +Chronicle</i>. He especially turned his attention to the foreign department +of his journal, and no trouble or expense was spared in obtaining +intelligence from abroad. This had been one of the strong points with +the elder Walter, and he had always striven to be the first to +communicate important foreign news to the world—thus, for instance, +<i>The Times</i> was the first newspaper which announced the execution of +Marie Antoinette. This element was now greatly strengthened and +developed, correspondents were engaged in all the chief cities of +Europe, and, as time progressed, in other quarters of the world as well, +letters from whom appeared as regularly and as early as the post-office +authorities would allow; and a regular system of expresses from the +Continent was organized. But the Government, who saw and felt the +growing greatness of <i>The Times</i>, placed every possible hinderance in +the way—it was not then the custom for the Premier to invite the editor +to dinner—and the letters and foreign packages were delayed in every +possible manner—the machinery of the custom house being even employed +for that purpose—in order that the Government organs might at least get +the start. But fair means and foul alike failed to win over the young +journalistic athlete to the ministerial side, and this illiberal and +selfish policy was at length compelled to give in, beaten at all points. +But there was one thing which was destined to give <i>The Times</i> +supremacy, at which the younger Walter began to work soon after the +reins of power fell into his hands—and that was steam. Great strides +had been made in the art of printing. The first metal types ever cast in +England were those of Caxton, in 1720. Stereotype printing had been +first suggested by William Ged, of Edinburgh, in 1735, and was perfected +and brought into general use by Tillock, in 1779. The printing machine +had been originated by Nicholson, in 1790, and an improved form of it, +made of iron, the invention of Earl Stanhope, was in general use in +1806. Thomas Martyn, a compositor of <i>The Times</i>, invented some further +modifications, and was aided by the younger Walter. Owing, however, to +the violent opposition of his fellow workmen, the ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>periments were +carried on under the greatest secrecy; but the elder Walter could not be +induced to countenance them, and consequently nothing came of them. In +1814, Koenig and Bauer, two German printers, conceived the idea of +printing by steam, and the younger Walter, now by his father's death +permitted to do as he liked, entered warmly into their project. The +greatest silence and mystery was observed, but the employés of <i>The +Times</i> somehow or other obtained an inkling of what was going on, and, +foreseeing a reduction in their numbers, vowed the most terrible +vengeance upon everybody connected with the newfangled invention. Spite +of their threats, however, the necessary machinery was quietly prepared +and erected, and one morning, before day had broken, Mr. Walter called +his printers together, and informed them that that day's issue was +struck off by steam. This ever-memorable day in the history of +journalism was Monday, the 28th of November, 1814. Loud murmurs and +threats were heard among the workmen, and burning down the whole affair +was the least thing suggested; but Mr. Walter had taken precautions, +and, showing his work people that he was prepared to meet any outbreak +on their part, no violence was attempted. Since then <i>The Times</i> has +been regularly printed by steam. Various improvements in steam machinery +have from time to time been patented, and Hoe's gigantic machines—the +production of that country the most prolific of all the world in useful +inventions, America—seemed to show that the limit of the application of +steam to printing had been reached. But a machine still more +wonderful—a machine that possessed all the skill of human intelligence +and ten times the quickness of human fingers—a machine for composing by +steam, was shown at the International Exhibition in London, in 1862. +Printing by steam at once raised the circulation of <i>The Times</i> +enormously, as was but natural, from the facilities which it afforded of +a rapid multiplication of copies; and under the editorship of Thomas +Barnes it soon reached the first place in journalism. But Walter himself +was not idle, and was always on the lookout for fresh and rising talent. +On one occasion, being at a church in the neighborhood of his country +seat in Berkshire, he was very much struck by the sermon which was +preached by a new curate. After the service he went into the vestry, and +had a long conversation with the preacher, the result of which was that +he told him that a curacy was not a very enviable position, and that he +would do much better to go to London, and write for <i>The Times</i> at a +salary of £1,000 a year. It is needless to add that the offer was not +declined.</p> + +<p>In 1817, <i>The Literary Gazette</i> was brought out by William Jordan, as an +organ of literature and the fine arts, and, until The <i>Athenæum</i> was +established, it was without a rival of any consequence. But its +circulation declined, and, after Jordan's death, dwindled down to a very +small number. In 1862 its name was changed to <i>The Parthenon</i>, or +rather, to speak more correctly, <i>The Parthenon</i> arose as a new +publication from the ashes of <i>The Literary Gazette</i>. But change of name +did not produce change of circumstances, and, before many numbers had +appeared, <i>The Parthenon</i> was privately offered for sale at the low sum +of £100, but, failing to meet with a purchaser, it gave up the ghost +early in 1863. In 1817, Lord Sidmouth made a terrific onslaught upon the +press. He issued a circular to the different lord lieutenants of the +counties, to the effect that any justice of the peace might issue a +warrant for the apprehension of any person charged with printing a +libel. One result of this circular and the vigorous prosecutions which +ensued was that William Cobbett for a while gave up printing his +<i>Political<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> Register</i>, and went away to America, from whence he did not +return for two years. He stated his reasons for adopting this course in +his paper, as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'I do not retire from a combat with the attorney-general, but from +a combat with a dungeon, deprived of pen, ink, and paper. A combat +with the attorney-general is quite unequal enough; that, however, I +would have encountered. I know too well what a trial by special +jury is; yet that or any sort of trial I would have stayed to face. +But against the absolute power of imprisonment, without even a +hearing, for time unlimited'—an act had been passed which gave the +secretary of state power to suspend the <i>habeas corpus</i> act—'in +any jail in the kingdom, without the use of pen, ink, and paper, +and without communication with any soul but the keepers—against +such a power it would have been worse than madness to attempt to +strive.'</p></div> + +<p>But the Government met with a notable check in the case of William Howe, +the bookseller. Howe was thrice tried for libel, and, despite the +exertions of Lord Ellenborough, who descended from the judicial bench to +the barrister's table, was thrice acquitted. Persecution after this +languished for a while, but in 1819 were passed those stringent measures +which are known as the Six Acts. One of these gave the judges the power, +upon the conviction of any person a second time of the publication of a +seditious libel, to punish him with fine, imprisonment, banishment, or +transportation. But such monstrous enactments were not suffered to pass +unchallenged, and the result of several animated debates was that the +obnoxious words banishment—a novelty in English jurisprudence—and +transportation were withdrawn, but the remaining provisions of the Six +Acts were carried in all their rigor. But amid much harm, some good was +doubtless effected, for certain provisions were introduced into the act +which declared certain inferior newspapers, which had hitherto evaded +the stamp act, by calling themselves pamphlets and not newspapers, +because they only commented upon the news of the day, to be henceforth +liable to the stamp duties. This really did good service to the better +class of journals, by sweeping away a swarm of newspapers which, by the +quibble above mentioned, were enabled to undersell them.</p> + +<p><i>John Bull</i> was started in 1820, with the avowed object of espousing the +King's side, and covering the Queen and her friends with obloquy. +Theodore Hook was the editor, but very few persons were in the secret. +Every man or woman who was conspicuous as a friend of the Queen was duly +gibbeted, and any tittle-tattle gossip or scandal that could be ferreted +out against them was boldly printed in the most unmistakable terms. +Trial for libel failed to discover the real proprietors, editor, and +writers, and the men who stood their trial as printer, publisher, +proprietor, etc., were manifestly mere shams, men who would swear to +anything and undergo any amount of imprisonment for the consideration of +the smallest coin of the realm. The scandalous details in <i>John Bull</i> +attracted the public at once, and by the time it reached its sixth +number, the circulation had risen to ten thousand, while the first five +numbers were reprinted over and over again, and the first and second +were actually stereotyped. But it began to be whispered about that Hook +was the editor, whereupon he printed and signed a letter denying the +rumor in the most indignant terms. This letter was supplemented by an +editorial, from which the following is an extract:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'The conceit of some people is amusing, and it has not unfrequently +been remarked that conceit is in abundance where talent is most +scarce. Our readers will see that we have received a letter from +Mr. Hook, disowning and disavowing all connection with this +paper.... We are free to confess that two things surprise us in +this business. The first, that anything which we have thought +worthy of giving to the public should have been mistaken for Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +Hook's; and secondly, that such a person as Mr. Hook should think +himself disgraced by a connection with <i>John Bull</i>.'</p></div> + +<p>After the death of the Queen, Hook devoted himself to the demolition of +the Whigs and Radicals. Joseph Hume was his especial target, and was +dished up week after week with a decidedly original Latin garnish: '<i>Ex +humili potens</i>—From a surgeon to a member of Parliament;' '<i>Humili modi +loqui</i>—To talk Scotch like Hume;' '<i>Nequis humasse velit</i>—Let no one +call Hume an ass,' etc., etc. <i>John Bull</i> sustained a great many +convictions for libel, and its dummies were frequently imprisoned, but +they never betrayed Hook, who retained the editorship until his death in +1841. Somewhere about this time <i>The Britannia</i>, a Conservative journal, +of a few years' standing, was incorporated with it. It had meanwhile +considerably moderated its tone, and at the present day enjoys a fair +circulation among steady-going people—chiefly country gentlemen, old +ladies, and parsons—who obstinately cling to Tory principles.</p> + +<p><i>John Bull</i> was not the only newspaper which was prolific in libels, and +perhaps at no time were scandalous attacks upon public and private +persons more common. Mr. Freemantle, writing to the Marquis of +Buckingham, in 1820, says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'The press is completely open to treason, sedition, blasphemy, and +falsehood, with impunity.... I do not know whether you see +Cobbett's <i>Independent Whig</i>, and many other papers now circulating +most extensively, and which are dangerous much beyond anything I +can describe.'</p></div> + +<p>This is a sweeping censure, but, allowing for a little personal +irritation, natural enough under the circumstances—he had been +lampooned himself—is true of a great portion of the press. The supply +was regulated by the demand, and the character of the wares purveyed +depended upon the wants of the market. Editors found that scandal was +eagerly devoured by their subscribers, and they did not therefore +hesitate or scruple to gratify the prevailing tastes of the day. But the +better class of papers were not able to keep clear of the law of libel, +even though they did not condescend to pander to the vitiated tastes of +the multitude. Many of them had to sustain actions for merely reporting +proceedings before the police magistrates and in the law courts, and +many a rascal solaced himself for the disagreeables attending a +preliminary examination at the police court for a criminal offence, by a +verdict in his behalf in a civil action against any newspaper that had +been bold enough to print a report of the proceedings. This kind of +action originated from a ruling of Lord Ellenborough, that it was +'libellous to publish the preliminary examination before a magistrate +previously to committing a man for trial or holding him to bail for any +offence with which he is charged, the tendency of such a publication +being to prejudice the minds of the jurymen against the accused, and to +deprive him of a fair trial.' This monstrous and at the same time absurd +doctrine remained in force for many years, but is now happily no longer +the law of the land.</p> + +<p><i>The Times</i> had now reached the pinnacle of prosperity, and its claims +to be considered the foremost of journals were no longer disputed. The +circulation of <i>The Morning Chronicle</i> had dwindled during the latter +years of Perry's life, and after his death did not revive very much +under Black, his successor. Brougham, Talfourd, and Alderson were among +the writers in <i>The Times</i>, and Captain Sterling, whose vigorous, +slashing articles first gained for <i>The Times</i> the title of the +'Thunderer,' was regularly engaged upon the staff at a salary of £2,000 +a year and a small share in the profits. But the Government still +steadily set its face against it, and in 1821 Mr. Hume loudly inveighed +against the ministry in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> House of Commons for not sending Government +advertisements to <i>The Times</i>, instead of to other journals, which did +not enjoy a tithe of its circulation. The arrangements of the post +office were a great hinderance to the diffusion of newspapers, since the +charge for the carriage of a daily journal was £12 14<i>s.</i>, and for a +weekly £2 4<i>s.</i> a year. The number, therefore, that was sent abroad by +this channel, either to the Continent or our own colonies, was very +small. In 1810 the whole number thus despatched was but three hundred +and eighty-three, and in 1817 it had fallen to two hundred and +seventy-one, owing to the increase in the charges demanded by the +post-office authorities, who were actually allowed to put the money in +their own pockets; and in 1821 it was only two hundred and six. The +circulation through the kingdom of Great Britain itself was not entirely +free, inasmuch as every newspaper sent through the post office was +charged for by weight, at an exorbitant rate, unless it was franked by a +member of Parliament. This regulation continued in force until 1825, +when an act was passed which provided that newspapers should be sent +through the post free, on condition that they were open at both ends, +and had no other writing upon the cover than the necessary address. At +the same time the ridiculous acts which limited the size of newspapers +were done away with, and every printer was henceforth permitted to print +his journal upon any sized sheet he pleased. Two important concessions +were also made to the press at this date, one in the House of Commons, +and the other in the House of Lords. In the former, a portion of the +strangers' gallery was set apart for the exclusive use of the reporters; +and in the latter, reporters were permitted to be present for the first +time. Previously to this, if any one had been rash enough to attempt to +take any notes, an official would pounce upon him, and, with an air of +offended dignity well befitting that august assembly, strike the +offending pencil from his grasp!</p> + +<p>In 1825, Joseph Hume attempted to get the stamp duty reduced on +newspapers to twopence, and the advertisement duty to one shilling; and +in 1827 he tried to gain an exemption from the stamp act for political +pamphlets; but he was defeated on each occasion. In 1827, <i>The Standard</i> +was started as a Tory organ, under the auspices of a knot of able +writers, the chief of whom were Dr. Giffard, the editor, Alaric Attila +Watts, and Dr. Maginn. It has always possessed a good connection among +the Conservative party, but has never been a very profitable concern. +After the abolition of the stamp duty its price was reduced to twopence, +and in 1858 to one penny, and it was the first of the daily journals to +offer a double sheet at that price. In recent times the Letters of +'Manhattan' have given an impulse to its circulation, from their novelty +of style—an impulse which was probably further aided by the ridiculous +but widely believed assertion that those letters had never crossed the +Atlantic, but were penned beneath the shadow of St. Paul's.</p> + +<p>The following statistics of newspapers in the chief countries of Europe +in 1827, will probably prove interesting: France, with a population +of—in round numbers—thirty-two millions, possessed 490 journals; the +Germanic Confederation, with a population of thirteen millions, 305; +Prussia, with a population of twelve millions, 288; Bavaria, with a +population of four millions, 48; the Netherlands, with a population of +six millions, 150; Sweden and Norway, with a population of four +millions, 82; and Denmark, with a population of two millions, 80. Great +Britain, with a population of twenty-three millions, far outstripped +them all, for she boasted 483 newspapers; but was yet compelled to yield +the palm to her Transatlantic kinsmen, for the United States, at the +same date, with a population of twelve millions, circulated the +unequalled num<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>ber of 800. In looking at these figures, one cannot help +being struck with the enormous disproportion between the journals of +Roman Catholic and Protestant countries—a disproportion which is so +significant that comment upon it is unnecessary. But the difference is +still more plainly shown if we take two capitals. Rome, with a +population of one hundred and fifty-four thousand, possessed only 3 +newspapers, while Copenhagen, with a population of one hundred and nine +thousand, enjoyed the advantage of having 53. The London papers were +100, the English provincial papers 225, the Irish papers 85, the Scotch +63, and the Welsh 10. The number of stamps issued was more than +twenty-seven millions, of which London alone consumed more than fifteen +millions; the number of advertisements was seven hundred and seventy +thousand, of which London supplied nearly a half; and the amount of +advertisement duty was £56,000, of which London contributed £22,000.</p> + +<p>The year 1829 is remarkable for the first appearance of <i>The Times</i> with +a double sheet, consisting of eight pages, or forty-eight columns. This +great step in advance must have quite answered the expectations of its +spirited proprietor, for in 1830 <i>The Times</i> paid to Government for +stamps and advertisement duty no less than £70,000. The day of perfect +freedom was beginning to dawn upon the press, although it took a quarter +of a century to remove the last fetter, the stamp, and still longer, if +we take into consideration the paper duty, which was removed in 1862. +First came the abolition of the most oppressive portion of Lord +Castlereagh's Six Acts, next the advertisement duties, and finally the +stamp. The high price of the stamp, fourpence, kept the better journals +at sevenpence, but a numerous class of unstamped journals at twopence +sprang up in defiance of the law, and were allowed for a time to go on +unchecked. They had a large circulation, one of them, <i>The London +Dispatch</i>, attaining to twenty-five thousand a week. Growing bolder with +their impunity, they indulged in the most abominable trash and the most +frantic sedition and treason. They were of course prosecuted and +punished, but they were never finally destroyed until the reduction of +the stamp duty. They did good indirectly, for they formed one of the +strongest arguments in favor of the abolition of that obnoxious impost.</p> + +<p>In 1833 a battle royal raged between Daniel O'Connell and the press; +but, as might have been expected, Dan was no match for the hydra-headed +antagonist he had been rash enough to provoke. The quarrel originated in +a complaint made by the Liberator of a misrepresentation of a speech of +his, and he did this in so intemperate a manner that the reporters +published a letter in <i>The Times</i>, in which they expressed their +determination never again to report a speech of O'Connell's until he had +apologized for the insults he had levelled at them. O'Connell vainly +attempted to put the machinery of the House of Commons in motion against +them, but, after repeated efforts, was obliged to give in. His attacks +were principally levelled at <i>The Times</i>—which then counted among its +contributors the brilliant names of Macaulay, Thackeray, and +Disraeli—for he and John Walter were bitter foes. But he evoked several +powerful defenders of the press, first and foremost among whom was Sir +Robert Peel.</p> + +<p>In 1834 the system of condensing the speeches in Parliament, and placing +the summary before the leading articles, was first introduced into <i>The +Times</i> by Horace Twiss. At this date there occurred a great schism +between the proprietors and writers of <i>The Sun</i>, some of whom seceded, +and brought out <i>The True Sun</i>, in opposition to that eccentric planet +which always rises in the evening despite the general conviction of +mankind that the sun is the luminary of the day. Douglas Jerrold, La<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>man +Blanchard, and, greatest of all, Charles Dickens, commenced their +apprenticeship to literature in this journal, which enjoyed, however, +but a fleeting existence. Jerrold afterward started a paper of his own, +which failed, and then became editor of Lloyd's <i>Weekly London +Newspaper</i>, a post which he retained until his death, and which has +since been ably filled by his son Blanchard Jerrold. Laman Blanchard +became the editor of <i>The Courier</i>, but resigned it when it became a +Tory organ, and was one of the original writers in and proprietors of +<i>Punch</i>. Dickens transferred his services to <i>The Morning Chronicle</i>, in +the columns of which the Sketches by Boz first appeared. Several acts of +Parliament relating to newspapers were passed at this period. In 1833 +the advertisement duty was reduced from three shillings and sixpence to +one shilling and sixpence in England, and one shilling in Ireland. In +1834 an act was passed by which the newspapers of those foreign +countries in which English journals were admitted free of postage, were +allowed to enter Great Britain on the same terms. In 1835 a bill was +passed to relieve the press from the action of common informers, and +placed them under the jurisdiction of the attorney-general alone; and +another, which forbade newspapers to publish lectures delivered at +literary and scientific institutions, without the permission of the +lecturer.</p> + +<p>The time was now fast approaching for the reduction of the stamp duty. +Government was getting wearied of the war with the hydra-headed +unstamped monster, and at last adopted the only expedient likely to be +successful in putting it down, which was to place the higher-class +journals in a position to rival them. From 1831 to 1835 there had been +no less than seven hundred and twenty-eight prosecutions, of which the +year 1835 alone had produced two hundred and nineteen. This fact, joined +to the influential agitation which was now being made for the repeal, +caused the Government to decide upon bringing in a measure of relief. It +took six months and an immense deal of speechifying to bring this +measure to maturity; but at last, in 1836, the stamp duty was reduced +from fourpence to one penny, being one halfpenny less than it had been +originally fixed at in 1760. The Tories were the great friends of this +reduction, and Lord Lyndhurst, who had been instrumental in abolishing +many of the most oppressive enactments with which the measure had been +clogged, wished to do away with the duty altogether. There was of course +a loss to the revenue at first. In the first half year of the new duty, +the number of stamps issued was 21,362,148, realizing £88,502. In the +corresponding previous half year, under the old scale, the number of +stamps had been 14,874,652, and the amount paid, £196,909, so that in +six months the number of stamped newspapers had increased by about one +half.</p> + +<p>In 1837, <i>The Economist</i> was started by John Wilson, and attracted great +attention by its statistical and politico-economical articles, Wilson +afterward became secretary of the treasury, and, having been sent to +India, died there, to add one more to the many illustrious victims that +our Indian empire has exacted. In 1838 a most amusing hoax was +perpetrated upon <i>The Morning Post</i> and <i>Morning Chronicle</i>, which +announced the death of Lord Brougham, and published a most elaborate +biography of him. But the next day there came a letter from Lord +Brougham, declaring that he was still alive and hearty. The joke, +however, did not end here—for people were ill natured enough to assert +that he had been the author of the rumor himself, in order to learn what +the world would say about him; and so widespread had this second rumor +become, that Lord Brougham was compelled to write another letter +contradicting it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<p>The next great event in the history of journalism is the commercial +libel case, Boyle <i>versus</i> Lawson, the printer of <i>The Times</i>. Barnes +had died, and had been succeeded by John T. Delane, a nephew of Mr. +Walter, as editor, who still continues to occupy that responsible post. +The matter originated thus: In May, 1841, <i>The Times</i> published a letter +from the Paris correspondent, containing the particulars of an organized +system of forgery on a gigantic scale, which had been agreed on by +certain persons, whose names were published in full. The plan was to +present simultaneously at the chief Continental cities letters of credit +purporting to emanate from Glynn & Co., the London bankers. The +confederates had fixed the sum they meant to realize at one million, and +had actually secured more than £10,000 before the plot was discovered. +One of them was Boyle, a banker, of good position, at Florence, and he +brought an action for libel and defamation. He pressed on the trial, but +<i>The Times</i> maintained its ground, and at an enormous expense despatched +agents all over the Continent to collect evidence. <i>The Times</i> +triumphantly succeeded in proving the truth of what it—<i>The Times</i> is +always spoken and written of as an individual—had printed; but as the +old law—the greater the truth the greater the libel—still existed, the +jury were compelled to find a verdict for the plaintiff, which they did, +with one farthing damages, and the judge clinched the matter by refusing +the plaintiff his costs. Universal joy was expressed at the result of +the trial, and public meetings were called together in London and the +chief Continental cities for the purpose of making a subscription to +defray the expenses of <i>The Times</i> in defending the action. The +proprietors, however, declined this, but said that, at the same time, +they should feel much gratified if a sum of money were raised for some +public object in commemoration of the event. Accordingly it was decided +to found two scholarships in perpetuity for Christ's Hospital and the +City of London School at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, to be +called the Times' Scholarships, and the nomination to them to be placed +in the hands of the proprietors of <i>The Times</i> in perpetuity. Two marble +tablets were also voted, at the cost of a hundred and fifty guineas +each, with commemorative inscriptions, one to be placed in <i>The Times</i> +office and the other in the Royal Exchange. Two somewhat similar tablets +were also placed in Christ's Hospital and the City of London School. For +these purposes the sum of £2,700 was very quickly subscribed, the lord +mayor leading off with ten guineas. If anything had been wanting to +place <i>The Times</i> upon the pinnacle of preëminence among journals, this +famous trial firmly established it there, and ever since it has been +looked up to as an oracle of the commercial world. But <i>The Times</i> was +not contented to rest quietly on its oars. It was ambitious, and looked +farther afield. In 1845, its vigor, enterprise, and disregard of expense +were exemplified in a remarkable manner. <i>The Times</i> had been in the +habit of sending a special courier to Marseilles, to bring its Indian +despatches, and thus anticipate the regular course of the mail. The +French Government threw every possible obstacle in the courier's way, +and <i>The Times</i> took Lieutenant Waghorn, the originator of the Overland +Route, into its pay. In October, 1845, a special messenger met the mail +on its arrival at Suez on the 19th. Mounted on a dromedary, he made his +way, without stopping, to Alexandria, where Waghorn awaited him with a +steamer. Waghorn came <i>viâ</i> Trieste—special post horses and steamers +and trains being ready for him at the various points of the route—and +he reached London on the morning of the 31st, in time for his despatches +to appear in the morning's issue of the paper. The re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>sult of this was +that <i>The Times</i> reached Paris with the Indian news from London before +the regular mail had reached that city from Marseilles. The next +noticeable enterprise of <i>The Times</i> was the sending out commissioners +to investigate the condition of the poor and laboring population of +London in 1847, an enterprise which was crowned with the moat +satisfactory results. <i>The Times</i> has always been the firm friend of the +poor, and its columns are always open to the tale of distress. No case +is advocated until it has been thoroughly investigated; but when once it +has been mentioned in <i>The Times</i>, subscriptions pour in on all sides. +At the commencement of each year especially, <i>The Times</i> publishes +gratuitously appeals from public charities, and during last January the +sums received through those appeals reached the large amount of £12,000. +The last great exploit of <i>The Times</i> was the sending forth a special +correspondent with the English army to the Crimea, a precedent which it +has followed up since in China, India, Italy, America, and +Schleswig-Holstein. But this was not the first occasion that reporters +had accompanied our armies, for Canning despatched reporters with the +troops sent to Portugal in 1826. The tactics of <i>The Times</i> are very +generally misunderstood and misrepresented. Whatever objections +cavillers and opponents may urge, and with truth too—for the course +taken by <i>The Times</i> is not to be praised on all occasions—it cannot be +denied that <i>The Times</i> is the first journal in the world, a position +which it has reached by its enterprise, vigor, and ability. It has +frequently proved its disinterestedness, and during the great railway +mania of 1845, while it was receiving no less a sum than £6,000 weekly +for advertisements, constantly cautioned its readers against the +prevailing madness, and persistently predicted the crash that was +certain to follow. <i>The Times</i>, while it appears to lead, in reality +waits upon public opinion, and hence the accusations of inconsistency +and tergiversation so freely lavished upon it. <i>The Times</i> is the +printed breath of public opinion. It throws out a feeler, perhaps, +though not quite at first, accompanied by some decided expression of +opinion, and carefully watches the effect upon the public mind. Should +that effect be different to what was expected, <i>The Times</i> knows how to +veer round with the <i>popularis aura</i>. This is not always, however, done +so skilfully but that the act is apparent. It is not the most dignified +course that a journal which aspires to be—and which is—the leading +journal of Europe ought to pursue; but <i>The Times</i> knows human nature, +and knows, too, that were it to adopt any other course, it would fall +from its high estate, and become a mere party organ. Moreover, <i>The +Times</i> possesses an enormous prestige—deservedly won, as this article +has endeavored to show—and that, in a conservative country like +England, is considerably more than half the battle.</p> + +<p>In 1842 appeared the first pictorial newspaper, <i>The Illustrated London +News</i>. It was started by Herbert Ingram, who began life as a provincial +newsboy, and died, in the vigor of his age, member of Parliament for his +native town. It was a success from the first, so great that numerous +competitors sprang up and endeavored to undersell it. But these were all +vastly inferior, and one by one withered away, the most persistent of +them at last passing into the hands of <i>The Illustrated London News</i>, +which now enjoys a larger circulation than any other weekly newspaper, +amounting to about six millions a year!</p> + +<p>There was a satirical paper at this time, called <i>The Age</i>, which, being +of a strongly libellous character, was continually feeling the weight of +the law. It did not improve in character as it grew older, and its +editor, Tommy Holt, was proved upon a trial to have received bribes to +suppress a slander<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> that he had threatened should appear in his paper. +This same Tommy Holt was very successful in inventing 'sensation' +headings for his columns, and by no means either delicate or scrupulous +in so doing. There was another rascally paper of the same description, +called <i>The Satirist</i>, which was at last finally crushed by the Duke of +Brunswick, the result of several actions for libel. Among other new +literary oddities at this time may be mentioned <i>The Fonetic Nūz</i>, +the organ of those enthusiastic reformers who were endeavoring to +accomplish a revolution in our orthography. It lasted, however, but a +very short time.</p> + +<p>The year 1850 saw the initiation of the final campaign directed against +the only remaining burdens of the press. Mr. Ewart and Mr. Milner Gibson +brought forward a motion for the repeal of the advertisement duty, but +were defeated by two hundred and eight votes to thirty-nine. But they +were not cast down by their want of success, but manfully returned to +the charge. In 1851, they procured the appointment of a committee to +inquire into the question, and in 1852, gathering strength, like William +of Orange, from each successive defeat, they brought forward a triple +set of resolutions, one for the abolition of the advertisement duty, +another levelled at the stamp, and the third for the repeal of the paper +duties. They carried the first, but lost the others. In 1854, Mr. Gibson +made a fresh motion concerning the laws affecting the press, and +received a promise that the subject should receive the early attention +of the House; and in 1855, Sir G.C. Lewis, then chancellor of the +exchequer, who had hitherto opposed the repeal of the duty, brought in a +bill for its abolition. After a struggle in both Houses the measure +passed, and received the royal assent on the 15th of June.</p> + +<p>In following up this final struggle, we have passed over one important +period, the railway mania in 1845, which gave birth to no less than +twenty-nine newspapers, entirely occupied with railway intelligence, in +London, besides many others in the provinces. Only two of these have +survived, for the other two railway newspapers which still exist were +established before that memorable madness fell upon the nation. Of +these, Herapath's <i>Journal</i> is the oldest and best, and is the oracle of +the Stock Exchange on railway matters. There are some slight symptoms of +the madness returning in the present year, as far at least as the +metropolis is concerned, and one new railway journal has just been +started in consequence. There are many amusing anecdotes told of +newspapers at this epoch, of which we will quote one. One of these +railway organs had published and paid for, from time to time, lengthy +and elaborate reports of the meetings of a certain company, supplied by +one of the staff of reporters. At length the editor told the reporter +that he thought it was high time for the company to give the paper an +advertisement, after all the favorable notices that bad been given to +the undertaking in question. The reporter acquiesced, and promised to +get the order for an advertisement, but putting it off from time to +time, the editor was induced to make inquiries for himself; whereupon he +had the extreme satisfaction of learning that no such company had ever +existed, and that the elaborate reports of meetings, speeches, etc., had +been entirely fabricated by his ingenious employé! An endeavor was made +last year to resuscitate one of these defunct daily journals, <i>The Iron +Times</i>, and Tommy Holt was the editor. It lingered for some weeks, and +then smashed utterly. The editor called the contributors together, and +told them that there was nothing to pay them with—nothing in fact +remained but the office furniture. 'Take that, my boys,' said he, 'and +divide it among you.' This was accordingly done, and one man marched off +with a table, another with a chair, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> third with a desk, a fourth with +an inkstand, and so on!</p> + +<p>When the stamp duty was abolished as a tax, it remained optional with +the publishers to have any number of their issue stamped they pleased +for transmission through the poet. The number of stamps thus issued in +the first six months after the repeal was 21,646,688, whereas the number +in the corresponding period of 1854, when the tax still existed, was +55,732,499. The number of stamps issued in the year 1854 to the +principal newspapers was as follows: <i>Times</i>, 15,975,739; <i>Morning +Advertiser</i>, 2,392,780; <i>Daily News</i>, 1,485,099; <i>Morning Herald</i>, +1,158,000; <i>Morning Chronicle</i>, 873,500; <i>The Globe</i>, 850,000; and <i>The +Morning Post</i>, 832,500. Of the weeklies, <i>The Illustrated London News</i> +was then the second, 5,627,866; <i>The News of the World</i>, a Liberal, +unillustrated journal, started in 1843, standing first, with 5,673,525 +(the price of this paper is now reduced to twopence, and it is an +admirably conducted journal); Lloyd's <i>Weekly Newspaper</i>, 5,572,897; +<i>The Weekly Times</i>, price one penny, 3,902,169; Reynolds's <i>Weekly +Newspaper</i>, also a penny journal, which is best described by the epithet +'rabid,' 2,496,256; <i>The Weekly Dispatch</i>, price fivepence, an advanced +Liberal journal, which is emphatically the workingman's newspaper, and +originally started in 1801, 1,982,933; Bell's <i>Life in London</i>, +1,161,000. Of the provincial newspapers, <i>The Manchester Guardian</i> heads +the list with 1,066,575, followed by <i>The Liverpool Mercury</i>, with +912,000, and <i>The Leeds Mercury</i>, with 735,000. Foremost among the +Scotch newspapers stands <i>The North British Advertiser</i>, with 808,002; +and the Irish paper with the largest circulation was <i>The Telegraph</i>, +with 959,000. Of the London literary papers the chief was <i>The +Examiner</i>, with 248,560. With one or two exceptions, the circulation of +these journals may be considered to have increased enormously. There are +now published in Great Britain 1,350 different newspapers, of which 240 +are London papers, 20 being dailies, 776 English provincial papers, 143 +Irish, 140 Scotch, 37 Welsh, and 14 are published in the British Isles. +Many of these enjoy but a limited circulation, as naturally follows from +the narrow limit they assign to themselves. Thus several trades have +their special organs, as for instance, the grocers, the bakers, and even +the hairdressers among others.</p> + +<p>Before concluding this article it will be well to notice a few of the +leading journals which have not been mentioned. <i>The Daily Telegraph</i> +was originally started at twopence, in 1855, by Colonel Sleigh, but he, +getting behindhand with his printers to the amount of £1,000, sold them +the paper for another £1,000, and in their hands it has since remained. +The price was reduced to a penny, and, under the new management, its +circulation rapidly increased. <i>The Standard</i> dealt a heavy blow at it +in 1858, by coming out suddenly one morning, without any previous +warning, as a double sheet. This first number was given away in the +streets, in vast quantities, thrown into omnibuses and cabs, pitched +into shops and public houses, and so on. The sale of <i>The Telegraph</i> so +decreased that it was found necessary to enlarge it to the same size as +<i>The Standard</i>, when its circulation rose again immediately. It has now +the largest circulation in the world, more than 100,000 daily, a much +larger London circulation than <i>The Times</i>, though a smaller provincial +and foreign sale; and its clear profits are variously stated by persons +who profess to be well informed, at different sums, the least of which +is £20,000 a year. The chief causes of its success are its independent +and uncompromising tone, the great pains it takes to gain early +intelligence—it has frequently anticipated <i>The Times</i> itself in +foreign news—and the vigorous and able social articles of Mr. George +Augustus Sala. <i>The Daily News</i> was started as a Liberal and Reform +journal in 1846. An enor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>mous sum of money was sunk in establishing it, +for it was not at first successful. Charles Dickens was the first +editor, but politics were not much in the line of the genial and +unrivalled novelist, and he was soon succeeded by John Forster and +Charles Wentworth Dilke, whose connection with the South Kensington +Museum and the great Exhibition has made him a knight, a C. B., and a +very important personage. <i>The Daily News</i> is now one of the ablest and +most successful of London journals, and has had and still enjoys the +assistance of the best writers of the day in every department. The line +which this journal has always maintained toward America will forever +earn it the admiration and gratitude of the United States. Another firm +friend of the great republic is <i>The Morning Star</i>, the organ of Mr. +Bright and the Manchester school, started in 1856. In addition to its +political claims, it has a great hold upon the public as a family +newspaper, by the careful manner in which everything objectionable is +excluded from its columns. Its twin sister, born at the same time, is +called <i>The Evening Star</i>. <i>Bell's Life in London</i>, a weekly journal, +was originally brought out in 1820, and, although it has more than one +successful rival to contend against, it still maintains its preëminence +as the first English sporting paper. It is very carefully edited, each +department being placed under a separate editor, and is the great oracle +in all matters relating to sports and games. The history of one of the +ablest contributors to this journal, who wrote some most charming +articles on fly-fishing and other kindred topics, under the signature of +'Ephemera'—though he was said never to have thrown a fly in his +life—is a very sad one. His name was Fitzgerald, a man of good family +and connections, married to a lady with £1,200 a year, and living in a +good house at the West End. But the alcoholic demon had got hold of him. +He would disappear for days together, and then suddenly present himself +at the office of the paper with nothing on but a shirt and trousers. He +would then sit down and write an article, receive his pay, go away and +purchase decent clothes, return home, and live quietly perhaps for a +month, when he would—to use a prison phrase—break out again as before. +He was last seen, in the streets of London, in a state of complete +intoxication, being carried upon a stretcher by two policemen to the +police cell, where he died the same night.</p> + +<p>At the head of the Sunday papers stands <i>The Observer</i>, founded in 1792. +Like <i>The Globe</i>, it is extremely well informed upon all political +matters, for very good reasons. It spares no expense in obtaining early +news, and is an especial favorite with the clubs. <i>The Era</i> is the great +organ of the theatrical world, but joins to that <i>specialité</i> the +general attributes of an ordinary weekly journal. It was established in +1837. <i>The Field</i>, which calls itself the country gentleman's newspaper, +is all that it professes to be, and a most admirable publication, +treating of games, sports, natural history, and rural matters generally. +It was started by Mr. Benjamin Webster, the accomplished actor manager, +in 1853. But to particularize the principal papers, even in a short +separate notice of a few lines, would far transgress the limits at our +disposal. All the professions are well supplied with journals devoted to +their interests, and it is impossible here to dwell upon them or those +which represent literature and the fine arts. With regard to religious +papers, their name is legion, and they would require a separate article +to be fairly and honestly considered. <i>Punch</i>, too, and his rivals, dead +and living, are in the same category, and must, however reluctantly, be +passed over. Two curiosities, however, of the press must be mentioned. +<i>Public Opinion</i> was started about two years and a half ago. It +consisted of weekly extracts from the leading articles of English and +for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>eign journals, and scraps of news, and other odds and ends. It has +succeeded mainly from its cost of production being so slight, owing to +its paste-and-scissors character, and also because it freely opens its +columns to correspondents <i>de rebus omnibus</i>, who are willing to buy any +number of copies for the pleasure of seeing themselves in print. <i>The +Literary Times</i>, in addition to reviews of books, professed to criticize +the leading articles in the various papers, but, after an existence of +some six months or so, one Saturday morning <i>The Literary Times</i> was +<i>non est inventus</i>.</p> + +<p>In concluding this series of articles, which has run to a much greater +length than he originally intended, the writer is conscious of many +shortcomings and omissions, which he trusts will be pardoned and +overlooked when his principal object is borne in mind. That object has +been to give a general outline of the history of the press, and +especially of its struggles against 'the powers which be;' and, though +tempted now and again—he fears too often for the patience of his +readers—to wander away into particularities, he has always endeavored +to keep that object in view. Above all, he hopes he has at least been +successful in showing the truth of that sentiment which was first +publicly expressed as a toast at a Whig dinner, at the Crown and Anchor +tavern, in 1795: 'The liberty of the press—it is like the air we +breathe—if we have it not, we die!'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="OUR_MARTYRS" id="OUR_MARTYRS"></a>OUR MARTYRS.</h2> + + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Lightly the river runs between</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Hanging cliffs and meadows green.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Blackly the prison, looking down,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Frowns at its shadow's answering frown.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Shut from life in his life's fresh morn,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Crouches a soldier, wounded and worn.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Chained and starved in the dungeon grim,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Day and night are alike to him;</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Save that the murmurous twilight air</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Stings his soul with a deeper despair.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Day by day, as the taunting breeze</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Wafts him the breath of orange trees,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">He fancies in meadows far away</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The level lines of odorous hay;</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And sees the scythes of the mowers run</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">In and out of the steady sun.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Night by night, as the mounting moon</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Climbs from his eager gaze too soon,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The gleams that across the gratings fall,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Broken and bright, on the prison wall,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Seem the tangles of Northern rills,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Like threads of silver winding the hills.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">When, sinking into the western skies,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The sun aslant on the window lies;</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And motes that hovered dusty and dim,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Golden-winged through the glory swim:</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">He drops his head on his fettered hands,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And thinks of the fruitful Northern lands.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Between his fingers' wasted lines,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Tear after tear into sunlight shines,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">As, wandering in a dream, he treads</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The ripened honey of clover heads;</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Or watches the sea of yellow grain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Break into waves on the windy plain;</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Or sees the orchard's grassy gloom</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Spotted with globes of rosy bloom.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Through the shimmer of shadowy haze</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Redden the hills with their autumn blaze.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The oxen stand in the loaded teams;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The cider bubbles in amber streams;</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And child-like laughter and girlish song</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Float with the reaper's shout along.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">He stirs his hands, and the jealous chain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Wakes him once more to his tyrant pain—</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">To festered wounds, and to dungeon taint,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And hunger's agony, fierce and faint.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The sunset vision fades and flits,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And alone in his dark'ning cell he sits:</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Alone with only the jailers grim,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Hunger and Pain, that clutch at him;</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And, tight'ning his fetters, link by link,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Drag him near to a ghastly brink;</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Where, in the blackness that yawns beneath,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Stalks the skeleton form of Death.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Starved, and tortured, and worn with strife;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Robbed of the hopes of his fresh, young life;—</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Shall one pang of his martyr pain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Cry to a sleepless God in vain?</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="AENONE" id="AENONE"></a>ÆNONE:</h2> + +<h2>A TALE OF SLAVE LIFE IN ROME.</h2> + + +<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3> + +<p>But though Ænone's sanguinely conceived plan for Cleotos's happiness had +so cruelly failed, it was not in her heart to yield to his passionate, +unreflecting demand, and send him away from her, even to a kinder home +than he would have found at the house of the captain Polidorus. It would +but increase his ill fortune, by enforcing still greater isolation from +every fount of human sympathy. Though the affection of the wily Leta had +been withdrawn from him, her own secret friendship yet remained, and +could be a protection to him as long as he was at her side; and in many +ways she could yet extend her care and favor to him, until such time as +an outward-bound vessel might be found in which to restore him to his +native country.</p> + +<p>Whether there was any instinct at the bottom of her heart, telling her +that in the possibility of trying events to come his friendship might be +equally serviceable to her, and that, even in the mere distant +companionship of a slave with his mistress, she might feel a certain +protecting influence, she did not stop to ask. Neither did she inquire +whether she wished to retain him for his own benefit alone, and without +thought of any happiness or comfort to be derived by her from his +presence. Had she been accustomed closely to analyze her feelings, she +might have perceived, perhaps, that, in her growing isolation, it was no +unpleasant thing to look upon the features and listen to the tones which +carried her memory back to her early days of poverty, when, except for a +short interval, her life had been at its happiest. But had she known and +acknowledged all this, it would not have startled her, for she would +have felt that, in her heart, there was not the slightest accompanying +shade of disloyalty. Her nature was not one to admit of sudden transfers +of allegiance. It was rather one in which a real love would last +forever. When the first romantic liking for Cleotos had consumed itself, +from the ashes there had sprung no new passion for him, but merely the +flowers of earnest, true-hearted friendship. And it was her misfortune, +perhaps, that the real love for another which had succeeded would not in +turn consume itself, but would continue to flourish green and perennial, +though now seemingly fated to bask no longer in the sunshine of kindly +words and actions, but only to cower beneath the chill of harsh and +wanton neglect.</p> + +<p>Cleotos therefore remained—at first passing weary days of bitter, +heartbreaking despondency. His lost liberty he had borne without much +complaint, for it was merely the fortune of war, and hundreds of his +countrymen were sharing the same fate with him. But to lose that love +upon which he had believed all the happiness of his life depended, was a +blow to which, for a time, no philosophy could reconcile him—the more +particularly as the manner in which that loss had been forced upon him +seemed, to his sensitive nature, to be marked by peculiar severity. To +have had her torn from him in any ordinary way—to part with her in some +quarrel in which either side might be partially right, and thenceforth +never to see her again—or to be obliged to yield her up to the superior +claims of an open, generous rivalry—any of these things would, in +itself, have been sufficient affliction. But it was far worse than all +this to be obliged to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> meet her at every turn, holding out her hand to +him in pleasant greeting, and uttering words of welcoming import; and +all with an unblushing appearance of friendly interest, as though his +relations with her had never been other than those of a fraternal +character, and as though, upon being allowed her mere friendship, there +could be nothing of which he had a right to complain.</p> + +<p>At first, in the agony of his heart, he had no strength to rise above +the weight which crushed him, and to obey the counsels of his pride so +far as to play before her a part of equally assumed indifference. To her +smiling greetings he could return only looks of bitter despair or +passionate entreaty—vainly hoping that he might thereby arouse her +better nature, and bring her in repentance back to him. And at first +sight it seemed not impossible that such a thing might take place; for, +in the midst of all her change of conduct and wilful avoidance of +allusion to the past, she felt no dislike of him. It was merely her love +for him that she had suppressed, and in its place there still remained a +warm regard. If he could have been content with her friendship alone, +she would have granted it all, and would have rejoiced, for the sake of +olden times, to use her influence with others in aid of his upward +progress. Perhaps there were even times when, as she looked upon his +misery and thought of the days not so very far back, in which he had +been all in all to her, her heart may have been melted into something of +its former affection. But if so, it was only for a moment, nor did she +ever allow the weakness to be seen. Her path had been taken, and nothing +now could make her swerve from it. Before her enraptured fancy gleamed +the state and rank belonging to a patrician's wife; and as she wove her +toils with all the resources of her cunning, the prize seemed to +approach her nearer and nearer. Now having advanced so far, she must not +allow a momentary weakness to imperil all. And therefore unwaveringly +she daily met her former lover with the open smile of friendly greeting, +inviting confidence, mingled with the same indescribable glance, +forbidding any renewal of love.</p> + +<p>And so days passed by, and Cleotos, arousing from his apathetic despair, +felt more strongly that, if the lapse of love into mere friendship is a +misfortune, the offer of friendship as a substitute for promised love is +a mockery and an insult: his soul rebelled at being made a passive party +to such a bargain; and he began himself to play the retaliatory part +which a wronged nature naturally suggests to itself. Like Leta, he +learned to hold out the limpid hand in careless greeting, or to mutter +meaningless and cold compliments, and, in any communication with her, to +assume all the appearances of indifferent acquaintanceship. At first, +indeed, it was with an aching heart struggling in his breast, and an +agony of wounded spirit tempting him to cast away all such studied +pretences, and to throw himself upon her mercy, and meanly beg for even +the slightest return of her former affection. But gradually, as he +perceived how vain would be such self-abasement, and how its display +would rather tend to add contempt to her indifference, his pride came to +rescue him from such a course; and he began more and more to tune the +temper of his mind to his actions, and to feel something of the same +coldness which he outwardly displayed.</p> + +<p>Not but that for a while such a disposition was forced and unnatural; +and however steadily composed he felt, and strongly fortified in his +stubborn pride, a look or a word from her would have brought him again a +willing slave to her feet. But that look or word was not given. Perhaps, +in her eager struggle after the glittering prize which she had held out +before herself, she disdained the love which had once delighted her; +perhaps, actuated by a purer and less selfish motive, her friend<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>ship +for Cleotos forbade her, in mere wanton pride, to keep open the wound +which she had made. Whatever the reason, the withdrawal of the +fascinations which had once attracted him, gave his mind leisure and +opportunity to reason with itself in more quietude and composure than +could have been expected. And, as he more and more began to realize how +closely she was wrapped up in her ambition, to the exclusion of any +gentler feeling, and how, under the stimulant of her infatuated hopes, +she was allowing herself each day to act with less guarded resolution, +there were times when he found himself asking whether she had indeed +changed from what she had been, or whether, on the contrary, she had not +always, at heart, been the same as now, and his conception, of her true +character been at fault.</p> + +<p>But, in proportion as the veil of error seemed lifted from his soul, +letting calm content once more shine in upon him, so, on the other hand, +did a night of despair slowly settle upon Ænone. By no reasoning could +she longer urge upon herself the belief that the neglect with which her +lord treated her could be traced to any inoffensive cause. Claims of +court—urgency of military duties—exactions of business might easily +account for transitory slights, but not for long-sustained periods of +indifference, unbroken by a single word of kindness. And as days passed +by and this indifference continued, until at times seeming ready to give +place to openly expressed dislike, and her ears became more and more +accustomed to words of hasty petulance, and Sergius grew still deeper +absorbed in the infatuation which possessed him, and less careful to +conceal its influences from her, and the Greek girl glided hither and +thither, ever less anxious, as she believed her triumph more nearly +assured, to maintain the humble guise which she had at first assumed, +Ænone felt that there had indeed come upon her a sorrow from which there +could be no escape. There were a hundred methods of relief from it which +hourly occurred to her agitated mind, but one after another was in turn +laid aside, as she felt that it would but aggravate the evil, or as the +opportunity to employ it was not given her. To make open complaint of +her wrongs and try to drive Leta from the house—to humble herself +before her, and thereby strive to move her pity—to reproach Sergius for +his neglect, and demand that, since he no longer loved her, he would +send her back to her native place, away from the hollow world of +Rome—to assume toward him, by a strong effort of will, a like +indifference—to watch until she could find some season when his better +nature appeared more impressible, and then to throw herself before him, +as she had once before done, and plead for a return of his love—these +and like expedients fruitlessly passed in review before her. All in turn +failed in promise of relief; and at times it seemed as though the only +course left to her was to lie down in her sorrow and die.</p> + +<p>It was no uncommon thing then, as now, for the husband to neglect his +wife. All Rome rang with the frequent story of marital wrong. But those +were days in which the matron did not generally accept her desertion +with meekness. Brought up in a fevered, unscrupulous society, she had +her own retaliatory resources; and if no efforts were sufficient to +bring back the wandering affection, she could recompense herself +elsewhere for its loss, secure that her wrongs would be held as a +justification, and that her associates, equally aggrieved and avenged, +would applaud her course. But with Ænone, brought up in a provincial +town, under the shelter of her own native purity and innocence, no such +idea could find countenance. Even the thought which sometimes dimly +presented itself, that by some harmless coquetry she might perhaps +excite her husband's jealousy, and thereby chance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> to win back his love, +was one which she always stifled in its beginning as weak and unworthy.</p> + +<p>But the recompenses of friendship were still left to her, and it was +surely doing no wrong to accept them. Therefore the more she realized +that her source of real happiness was becoming estranged from her, so +much the more did she feel naturally drawn toward the society of +Cleotos. To her, of course, he was not a mere slave, but rather a person +of equal birth with herself, who had been beaten down by the same fate +which had elevated her. And in conversation with him, it was easy to +carry her mind back to her early home, and for a little while forget her +present misery. And he, in turn, having been repulsed where he had +placed his highest hopes of happiness, and imbittered with the +disappointment, was not at all loth to transfer, in all innocence, his +devotion to one who extended such kindly condescension toward him. It +therefore happened that the two were naturally drawn much together, and, +for a time, without attracting invidious notice. Those were days in +which the association between master and slave was often of an intimate +character. To the lower class of slaves, indeed, there could be no +familiar approach. It was sufficient for them that at times they could +look upon the faces of their owners from a distance. But above these, +were converging circles, each rising in rank and responsibility, until +there were those who stood at their owners' right hands, more in the +position of friends and confidants than of menials. Of these was +Cleotos, whose winning face and graceful mien, joined to his natural +abilities and his valued accomplishments, would have insured him a +higher position than that of most captives, even if he had not been +assisted by the partiality of his mistress.</p> + +<p>It was his duty to announce her guests, to trim the lamps at which she +read, to read to her when she felt indisposed to do so for herself; to +indite her correspondence—and generally to superintend all those little +elegancies and demands of social life which require grace or mental +ability in their execution. These offices naturally kept him near her +during much of each day—and when Ænone and he were alone, and no task +was before him requiring immediate completion, it was but to be expected +that a mingling of curiosity and friendly interest should lead her to +question him upon his past life, his home, his associates, even his +thoughts. And often it as naturally happened that, while he spoke, the +music of his voice lulled her into forgetfulness of all but the past, +and she would find herself unconsciously relaxing from the somewhat +frigid dignity which she felt called upon to assume, until her features +must have glowed with some expression of her former familiar kindness. +For she would be suddenly startled back into her forced propriety by a +strange and troubled look of puzzled thought flitting across his face—a +look which she could read and analyze better than he could; for it told +her that, without any real suspicion of the truth, he was wondering at +the likeness of that beaming face which bent over him to something which +he had seen elsewhere in the past.</p> + +<p>There was one morning that he sat before her by a little table where he +had been writing a letter at her dictation. The letter was folded and +sealed, and then ensued one of those vacant intervals when each, having +no pressing task at hand, remains for a few moments listlessly thinking +what shall be done next. At that instant Leta passed through the +room—bowing low as she moved before her mistress, and throwing out +toward Cleotos from the corner of her dark eye one of those aggravating +looks in which friendly interest in him and pleasure at his sight were +mingled with a certain cruel warning against any renewal of past +memories. Cleotos retorted with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> similar careless greeting, expressive +of simple friendliness, unconscious of any warmer emotion. But he had +not yet perfectly learned his part; for, as Leta passed out of the room, +the quiver of his lip showed how difficult had been the task of +mastering his forced smile even for that moment.</p> + +<p>'Poor boy!' said, Ænone, as she witnessed the effort. 'You have not yet +learned not to love her.'</p> + +<p>'Not yet, indeed, my mistress,' he responded. 'But it seems as though I +knew the task better than last week, and would know it still better a +week hence. What can I say? It is not to be thought that I should lapse +in a moment into real indifference, even though I may find out that she +is unworthy of love. There cannot but be an interval during which the +heart will struggle against the judgment, and lead to foolish longings +after what has passed.'</p> + +<p>'True, indeed,' said Ænone.</p> + +<p>'And still, in my heart, I sometimes almost think that I have never +loved her,' he continued in a reflective, dreamy tone; 'that I have been +under a spell—have been made the slave of certain outward fascinations, +which have fettered my judgment. Can it be that one will think he loves +and yet does not?'</p> + +<p>'It is indeed hard to answer, I suppose.'</p> + +<p>'It must be hard; for wherein, after all, is the difference between +being and thinking to be? But yet it seems as though there were times, +even long past and before this captivity, when, being in our own land, +and with nothing to disturb us or make us doubtful of the future, I +looked upon her with a strange kind of fear—wondering whether, though I +loved her with so strong a passion, it might not rather be the passion +of an unlasting, unsatisfying slavery of thought, than of a calm, +lifelong trustfulness. And now it seems to me that if I ever had this +feeling—for I cannot certainly tell whether I ever had or only now +imagine it—it seems to me as though it were an inner instinct warning +me against evil; for day by day I see more clearly that there has been +some veil over my soul, hiding it from a clear perception of what was +suitable for it.'</p> + +<p>'And you begin to dislike her?' inquired Ænone.</p> + +<p>'Not so,' he said. 'Nor do I know whether I ought to do so, if I could. +I believe now that she does not, and perhaps never has loved me, but I +must forgive her for all that. She may have tried to do so, and for a +time have thought that she did, and the true blame may all the while +have rested with me alone. With her strong, unbending temperament, +fearless of correction, and jealous of all control, how, indeed, could +she long cling to one of such a tranquil and yielding nature as myself? +That she loved me not, proves not that she could love no one; and though +she now seems so coldly heartless and so rashly heedless of her fame, +yet who knows what she might have been if fettered by the love of a +spirit more imperious than her own? Who can tell how the great good that +is within her might then have conquered the evil, and her soul have +spurned its present headstrong course, and gloriously aroused itself to +its sole great duty of love and innocent trustfulness?'</p> + +<p>'These, indeed, are very far from being words of dislike,' said Ænone; +'and they only prove that you still love her, or you would not so +readily excuse her.'</p> + +<p>'Neither have I denied that I love her yet,' he said. 'But it is not +with as blind an affection as before. Her touch, her words, her +smile—if given with real love—would still please me as of old; and yet +I should feel that there was something gone from me forever. Even if we +were restored to our own isle, with no enemy near or rival to interrupt +us, I could not but henceforth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> feel that destiny had not meant her for +me, so much would her stronger nature be ill assorted with my own. And +sometimes—'</p> + +<p>'Well?'</p> + +<p>'Sometimes—now that this thraldom of my spirit is passing off—there +comes back to me the memory of another face, a gentle, loving +face—which, if it were possible ever to see it again, I have too long +forgotten, but which, if I may not see it more, I should, for my own +sake, have forgotten long ago. But all this, honored mistress, can be of +no interest to you, and therefore it were foolish to mention it.'</p> + +<p>'Nay, speak to me of it,' murmured Ænone; and, struggle as she would, +the telltale blood began to flow up into her face. 'Is there any woman +who does not care to listen to a love story?' she added, as though in +excuse for her curiosity.</p> + +<p>'It is but a common love tale,' he said, 'and the more so that nothing +came of it. A few stolen interviews—a few promises exchanged—and then +a parting forever. That is all.'</p> + +<p>'But where and when was this?'</p> + +<p>'Six years ago, at Ostia. For, though a Greek, I have been in this land +before now. I was a sailor then, and in that port I met her. Met her and +loved her, and promised to return again. And for a while I meant to do +so; but on our passage back our ship was wrecked. I could not at once +find place upon another, and so took employment on the shore—none the +less, however, intending some day to come back and claim her. What shall +I say? It is the old story. The sea is wide, and I could interchange no +tidings with her. Ill success followed me, and I could not return to +Ostia. Then, little by little, as the months drifted past, and I +believed her lost to me, her image began to fade from my memory. And +then I saw Leta; and under the spell of that new charm, it seemed to me +as though the other one had lost all grasp upon my mind. Not altogether, +though, for even at the height of my later love, I have always borne +about me the last keepsake that she had given me.'</p> + +<p>'Let me see it, what it is like,' said Ænone, faintly; and in obedience +to her command, and perhaps wondering a little that she should take such +interest in so simple a story, Cleotos drew from beneath his tunic a +thread with a coin dangling at the end.</p> + +<p>The tears struggled into Ænone's eyes as she gazed upon the token. It +was a poor little silver coin of the time of the first Cæsars—one of +the few curiosities of her father's family—and which she had given to +her lover as the most precious thing belonging to her. She remembered +that when, in that last stroll by the shore, she had hung it about his +neck with her own hands, and had made him promise always to keep it, she +had received from him a similar token—a bright silver piece of +Vespasian, and had placed it near her heart, while murmuring similar +vows. He had kept his word, and she had not kept hers. For the moment, +she felt even guilty of bad faith, forgetting that when she afterward +gave her more mature affection to Sergius, it was only her duty to lay +aside all that even whispered of past promises.</p> + +<p>'I could not bear to part with it,' he said; 'for it still spoke to me +of her friendship, if not of her love. And a superstitions thought came +into my mind that I might some day see her again, and that, though we +should not meet as lovers, yet she might, perhaps, be pleased to learn +that I had not entirely forgotten her. Would she not, noble lady, do you +think?'</p> + +<p>'She does—that is, it surely should so move her,' said Ænone.</p> + +<p>'So have I still worn it,' he continued. 'And somehow each day brings +back the recollection of her more faithfully to me. Whether it is +because this other absorbing love is passing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> from my heart, and leaving +to me greater freedom of thought—or whether it is that Ostia is now so +near to me that I daily hear of it and see its costumes in the streets, +and thus my recollection of the place is kindled anew—or whether it +is—'</p> + +<p>'Is what?' said Ænone, encouragingly.</p> + +<p>'I know not how to dare say it,' he stammered. 'It is a presumption, +indeed, but I mean it not for such. I would say that there is something +in your face, most noble mistress—a look—a flash of thought—a glance +of the eye—a something I know not what, which reminds me of her whom I +knew so many years ago. So that sometimes, were it not for the +difference of dress and all else around you, so much at variance with +what had been her state, I could almost forget the lapse of years, and +imagine that—Pardon, most noble lady! I meant not to offend!'</p> + +<p>For she had arisen; and now, drawn to her full height, was looking down +upon him with all the coldness of patrician dignity that she could +summon to her aid. He, too, arose, and stood trembling opposite her. For +a moment they remained gazing upon each other; he aghast at the apparent +consequences of his remark, reproaching himself for having so +inconsiderately raised her anger by daring to compare, even in feature, +a lowly country girl with her, and despairingly asking himself what he +should do to restore himself to her favor—she more and more wrapping +herself in a disguise of outward pride and haughty bearing, lest by some +chance his unsuspecting eyes might detect the truth, and yet inwardly +bleeding at the heart to think that she could not reveal herself to him +and promise him her friendship, in full confidence that his love for her +would not return and bring new distress upon them. Then suddenly, while +each stood wondering what course to take, a light step was heard in the +outer hall, and the poet Emilius entered.</p> + + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h3> + +<p>At the interruption, Ænone hastily reseated herself; while Cleotos, in +obedience to a quick and significant motion of her finger, remained in +the room, and, resuming his position at the table, prepared to continue +his writing. The poet Emilius could not, of course, fail to notice this +somewhat confused alteration of posture, but no suspicion of having +intruded upon an embarrassing scene crossed his mind. He merely saw a +proudly erect mistress and a cowering slave; and it was no unusual thing +to interrupt a Roman lady in the act of giving even corporeal correction +to her attendant, nor did the stranger's entrance always cause the +punishment to cease.</p> + +<p>'Has the caitiff been insolent?' he exclaimed, in gallant tone, as he +approached and seated himself before her. 'Has he dared to look too +rebelliously upon so charming a mistress? If so, permit that I may +chastise him for you. It is not fit that such fair hands should be +obliged to wield the rod.'</p> + +<p>'Nay, it is nothing,' she said. 'Nothing, indeed, needing much reproof; +and it is all past now. And wherefore have we lately seen so little of +you?'</p> + +<p>'Commands of court—the claims of Parnassus—all these, fair lady, have +withheld me from heretofore giving to beauty its proper meed of +admiration and worship. To speak more plainly, I have undertaken, by +order of our emperor, the not ungrateful task of weaving a few poetical +sentiments to be recited at the opening of our new amphitheatre. And in +order that the results of my labor might not lessen my already acquired +fame, I judged it most prudent to seclude myself for the past few days +from the gayeties of the world, and give myself up to study and +meditation. Though, after all, I could not deny, if closely questioned, +that my seclusion was but little productive of results; for, upon being +tempted out one evening, sorely against my judgment, to a feast at the +house of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> comedian Bassus, the true poetic inspiration overtook me +at the end of my third goblet, and, calling for parchment, I there +accomplished, in one short hour, the greater portion of my task.'</p> + +<p>'Then, I presume that your ode, unlike your other works, will be of a +cheerful and lively character, more especially as it is written for such +a festive occasion.'</p> + +<p>'Scarcely, perhaps, what the world would call altogether lively, though +here and there a thread of playful thought may gleam upon the more sober +texture of the basis. I have rather judged it proper that, for the due +celebration of an event of such wondrous magnificence, I should give +utterance to deeper and more lasting sentiments, so as to fit the minds +of the spectators for a higher comprehension of its true significance. +But, if you wish, I will read aloud a few of my thoughts; and be assured +that so far no eye has seen the scroll, not even the august eye of the +emperor Titus himself.'</p> + +<p>Ænone inclined her head in assent, and he drew from the breast of his +tunic a small roll of parchment, carefully wrapped in a covering of +embroidered silk.</p> + +<p>'I commence, of course, by an address to the emperor, whom I call the +most illustrious of all the Cæsars, and liken unto Jove. I then +congratulate the spectators not only upon living in his time, but also +upon being there to bask in the effulgence of his majesty; his +countenance being the sight most to be desired, and the games and +combats being merely accessory thereto. After which, I speak to the +gladiators and captives; and prove to them how grateful they should be +to the gods for allowing them the privilege of dying in such an august +presence.'</p> + +<p>'Is it such a privilege, do you think?' inquired Ænone.</p> + +<p>'Perhaps not a privilege, but certainly no great hardship. The trained +gladiators surely cannot complain, for they have voluntarily assumed the +risks; and as for the captives, the most of them will some day die a +violent death of some kind or another, and, therefore, why not now, +attended by the decent observances of the games and the applause of all +the Roman people? But to proceed. From thence I speak of death—its +pleasures and its recompenses; showing that, if there be a future life, +the gods have done wisely to withhold its exact nature from us, and +that, whatever uncertainties may exist in other respects, nothing can be +more true than that those who now die in the arena will, in another +world, find their highest felicity in the privilege of looking up from a +distance at the loved emperor in whose honor they perished, and +beholding him enjoying, through adoption, the society of the inhabitants +of Olympus. I then—but it is useless to detail all the argument. I will +read the poem itself; or rather, if you so permit, I will let this +scribe of yours read it for me. Perhaps, upon hearing it from another's +mouth, I may be led to make still further corrections.'</p> + +<p>Handing the manuscript with all care to Cleotos, the poet leaned back +with eyes closed in delicious revery, now and then arousing himself to +correct some defective emphasis or unsatisfactory intonation, the +tolerance of which, he imagined, would mar the proper effect of the +production, or, with persistent desire for praise, momentarily calling +closer attention to such passages as appeared to him deserving of +especial commendation—and generally omitting no opportunity of exacting +that entire admiration to which he believed his genius entitled him. +Apart from a somewhat extravagant display of high-strained metaphor, the +poem had merit, being bold in scope, sonorous and well rounded in tone, +and here and there gracefully decked with original and pleasing +thoughts. Throughout the whole, however, the singular propensity of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +author for indulgence in morbid and gloomy reflection found its usual +development, while every line was laden with lofty maxims of moral +philosophy, mingled with urgent incentives to the adoption of a virtuous +career;—all, in themselves, both unexceptionable and praiseworthy, but, +nevertheless, having a strange sound in the ears of those who recognized +them as the utterances of one whose conversation was always flippant and +puerile, and whose daily life, in the enormity and uninterrupted +persistency of its profligacy, rendered him the acknowledged leader of +all that was most disreputable and contaminating in Roman society.</p> + +<p>At length, the reading having been fully completed, and the listener's +powers of flattery exhausted, the author carefully rewrapped his poem in +its silken cover and carried it away, to read it, in turn, to other +noble ladies, with the same transparent pretence of giving exclusive +hearing of it to each. For a few moments Ænone remained in thoughtful +silence, with her head bowed upon her hand; recalling the scattered +fragments of the sonorous verses, and wondering why it was that, when +each line had seemed so perfect in itself, and every thought so pure and +noble in its purport and conception, the whole should have left upon her +mind such an undefinable impress of dissatisfaction.</p> + +<p>Cleotos, with unobtrusive scrutiny, seemed to read her thoughts, for, at +the first intimation of her perplexity, he said:</p> + +<p>'It is because the author of those verses has not sincerely felt the +full meaning of what he has there written. For, with whatsoever display +of ingenious and artistic skill fair sounding maxims of morality may be +expressed, yet, if they come not from the heart, their utterance must +seem hollow and unreal. I do not know this author—how or where he +lives. It may be that in his daily life he is outwardly all that could +be desired. But I know this—that he has written about virtue and death, +not because he loves the one and fears not the other, but simply +because, by a display of well-toned periods, he may more surely hope to +gain the applause of the arena and the smiles of the court.'</p> + +<p>'But why should not these sentiments, though called into being by +personal ambition alone, give equal pleasure as if springing directly +from the heart? Are they not, after all, as true?'</p> + +<p>'Nay, honored mistress, neither are they true. This is again where they +fail to please; for in your soul there is an instinct, though you may +not know of it, which forbids that such cold and unsatisfactory +reasoning should bring you comfort. He speaks of death: is it cheering +to be told that, though the gods have appointed death to every person, +they have given it, not as a veiled mercy, but rather as a dreadful +fate—that there is no certainty about our future condition, but that, +if we are destined to live again, it may be with the same evils +encompassing us which bind us now—and that the slave may then still be +a slave, destined forever to look up to and worship the high and mighty +ones who trampled on him here?'</p> + +<p>'That is, in truth, no comfort,' said Ænone. And she bowed her head upon +her hands, and sadly thought how worthless to her would be the gift of +eternal life, if her present sorrows were to follow her. 'But what can +we do? If it were possible to discover and believe in some other fate, +telling us that death, instead of being a dreaded pang, is a boon and +relief to the sick and weary and oppressed—'</p> + +<p>'There is a book,' said Cleotos—and for a moment he hesitated, as +though fearful of proceeding—'there is a book which I have read, and +which tells us all this. It says that death is not merely a fate, but is +a source of blessing; since it leads to a world where the sufferings of +this life shall be recom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>pensed with abundant joy, not to the rich +merely, but more especially to the poor and lowly.'</p> + +<p>'Where is that book?' cried Ænone, with sudden energy, as the wondrous +depth and power of the sentiment flashed upon her. 'Where can I see and +read it? He who can talk like that, must surely have said still more?'</p> + +<p>'I have not that book,' answered Cleotos. 'I have only this little copy +of a small portion of it;' and he hesitatingly drew from beneath his +tunic a single small leaf of discolored parchment, closely filled with +Greek characters. 'But being at Corinth, a year ago, I was permitted to +see the book itself, and to hear portions of it read. It was written to +a Christian church there, by one Paul, a leader of that sect.'</p> + +<p>At the word 'Christian' the first impulse of Ænone was to shrink back, +not knowing but that even the presence of one who had ever come into +contact with any of that despised sect might be injurious to her. For at +once she began to recall many of the tales which she had heard to its +discredit—its members hiding as outcasts in the caves and dens of the +earth—their repeated insults to the gods—their proud and unaccountable +worship of a malefactor—their sacrifice of infants—and other +exaggerations and calumnies, begotten in malice or ignorance, and thence +widely spread, making it not hard to believe that the only fate fit for +those to whom they related was a life of persecution and a cruel death +in the arena.</p> + +<p>But only for a moment did this instinctive horror control her. The +single doctrine which she had just heard advanced already began to bear +its fruits. It seemed, indeed, not unlikely that one who could write +such truths, and those, his disciples, who could so gratefully treasure +them up, might not, after all, be wantonly wicked, but, at the worst, +might be merely victims of mistaken zeal. And then, in turn, she thought +of much that had been related to her in their favor. During her life at +Rome, indeed, she had heard no mention of the Christian sect, unless +accompanied with sneers or contempt. But she remembered how that in +Ostia, while she was yet a very young girl, she had heard it sometimes +whispered that the Christians were kind and loving to all the world, and +free from many sins in which other men openly exulted, and that, through +their great love for their founder, they organized charities which had +never before been even thought of—and how that once, when she had been +very sick, a strange woman had nursed her into health and refused all +payment for it, alleging that her religion bade her give herself up to +such tasks—and how that she had once seen pass by, one who was pointed +out to her as a holy man among the sect—whose name indeed she could not +remember, but whose mild and serene expression yet lived in her +recollection. It was hardly possible that one whose face was so radiant +with universal love and benevolence as to impress itself thus lastingly +upon the heart of a young child could have been very wicked. Nor did it +seem likely that Cleotos, whose greatest weakness was that his life had +been almost too innocent and trusting, could speak well of a sect which +worthily ought to be persecuted. And then again she thought upon that +little book to the sect at Corinth, and she bade Cleotos to read a verse +or two. He did so. At another time she might have listened as she had +listened to the moral maxims of the poet Emilius—judging well of it, +perhaps, for the beauty of its words, but, beyond that, regarding it +simply as some new and more original expression of long-accepted +philosophy. But now, in her trouble, she felt that there was something +in it beyond all known philosophy—a new development of faith, appealing +to the heart, and speaking comfort to all who were in misery. It surely +could not be that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> such words were the emanations of an evil influence.</p> + +<p>'Art thou—answer me, Cleotos—art thou one of the sect of Christians?' +she inquired.</p> + +<p>'How can I tell?' he responded. 'I have so often asked that question of +my heart, and yet have not been able to understand what it has said to +me. There are times when I think that I must pray only to the gods of +Olympus, and that all I have heard or read about other gods must be +untrue. And again, when I read this little parchment of mine, and +remember other like things that have been told to me, and see how they +all speak of death as a relief to the sorrowing, and of another life in +which the down trodden and the captive shall be recompensed for what +they have suffered here, and know that I am one of those who need such +recompense—then I think that perhaps the only true God is the God of +the Christians. But I can learn so little about it all, that I cannot, +from my own judgment, determine which must be right.'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps,' thoughtfully responded Ænone, 'it may be that if you tell me +all you know about it, I may be able to assist your conclusions. Who +knows what light I myself need, or how much of good we may borrow from +this new religion? It cannot be wrong to examine for one's self, and the +gods will not be angry if we gain good doctrine even from wrong sources, +so long as it may make us better. To-morrow, therefore, let us begin.'</p> + +<p>Upon the morrow, therefore, and for many succeeding days, the mistress +and the slave spent stolen moments in groping after the truth of that +faith which makes the high and the low equal. It was a blind search, for +neither of them had any definite comprehension of the history and +doctrine upon which the new religion had been founded. Cleotos had +enjoyed the best opportunities of acquainting himself with it, having +naturally, in his wanderings about the East, and in his contact with the +poor and enslaved of many lands, heard much respecting the Christian +churches and their belief; but having had no instructor, a great portion +of what he had thus received came to him in but distorted and puzzling +array. And Ænone could not comprehend how, when the gods ruled Rome, and +Rome had scattered the Jews, one whom the Jews had had the power to slay +could be greater than all. But between them, for their study, lay the +leaf of parchment, closely covered with writing, beside which the +proudest and choicest philosophy of Rome seemed mockery; and though they +could not understand its full meaning, they knew that it spoke such good +words that, at the least, though it may have come from erring men, it +was no less worthy to have come from a God. Whatever the real nature of +the faith itself, here was certainly a proof that among its attributes +were mercy and peace and brotherly love toward all.</p> + +<p>What might have been the consequences if Ænone had been free to pursue +the investigation as far as she wished—to send for other books to aid +her—to consult more learned teachers, who, though perhaps hiding in +secret shelter, were yet attainable with proper search, cannot be known. +It is not improbable that, in the end, one more might have been added to +the list of those few Roman women of high degree who even then gave up +all their rank and state in order to share the persecutions of the +Nazarenes. But it was otherwise ordered. Already indications, each +slight in itself, but altogether of important bearing, began to present +themselves before her, warning her that jealous eyes were watching her, +and that, if she would avoid the consequences of misconstruction, she +must bring her feeble investigations to a close.</p> + +<p>Until now, Leta, in her struggle to alienate the husband from the wife, +had been actuated simply by the exigencies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> of her ambitious policy. +Bearing in her heart no especial hatred toward her mistress, she would +willingly have spared her, had not the circumstances of the case seemed +to require the ruin of the one preliminary to the exaltation of the +other. But now, other incentives to her efforts were added. First in her +mind came jealousy of Cleotos; for though she had cast him off, and bade +him stifle the yearnings of his heart, and, by the cool exercise of +intellect and craft alone, seek a better fortune for himself, it was +hardly natural that she should feel pleased to have him so soon appear +to take her at her word. She would have better liked to see him display +more prolonged sorrow for her loss. Then came jealousy of Ænone, who had +apparently been able to console him so early. And mingled with all this, +there began to press upon her a startling thought—one which she at +first contemned as unlikely and absurd—but which, though continually +driven away, so obstinately returned and commended itself to her +attention with newer plausibility, that at last she began to give bitter +and anxious heed to it. What if this constant communication between +Ænone and Cleotos were to result in a mutual love? It was no uncommon +thing in those days for the high-born lady to cast her eyes upon the +slave. How mortifying to herself, then, if, while she had been exerting +all her powers of fascination, taxing the utmost resources of her +intellect, and making of her whole existence one labored study for the +purpose of gaining an undue influence over the lord, Cleotos, without +art or disguise or apparent effort, or any advantage other than that +afforded by his simple-hearted, trusting nature, should have quietly won +from the other side of the house a victory of almost equal importance? +And further than this—what if the lord were to perish in some brawl or +by the hired assassin of a rival house; and Ænone, released from her +thraldom, and despising conventional scruples—as again was not uncommon +among the Roman ladies of that day—were to exalt her favorite with +legal honors, and thus make herself, Leta, his slave? This, to be sure, +was an improbable chance; but a mind as active as her own did not +disdain to foresee and provide against all contingencies.</p> + +<p>Then, in addition to everything else, she became absorbed in the one +overwhelming and bitter reflection, that after all her sacrifice and +labor, the anticipated success might be escaping her. It is true that, +thanks to her efforts, the distance between Sergius and Ænone had +widened, until it seemed that there could never be a perfect reunion; +but all this, if the state of partial neglect which had existed in the +beginning could be relied upon as an indication, was a consequence which +might easily, in time, have come of itself. It is true that Sergius had +yielded himself a willing victim to the unlawful fascinations thrown +around him; but yet Leta could not avoid seeing that he regarded her not +with the deep, earnest love which she had hoped to inspire, but rather +with the trifling carelessness of one giving himself up to the plaything +of the hour. Not having, from the very first, been chary of the sidelong +glance and the winning smile, and whatever grace of style or manner +could tempt him to pursuit, as an illusive appearance of success seemed +to beckon her onward, her heart at times grew desperate with the +apprehension that all had been in vain. For Sergius, content that the +wife whom he neglected did not disturb his repose with idle complaints, +had no thought of inflicting any deeper injury upon her, being well +satisfied to have her remain and confer honor upon him by the grace with +which she maintained the dignity of his house. And though well pleased +to sun himself in Leta's smile, there never came to him the thought that +the slave could be worthy of any exaltation, or that her highest +ambition could prompt her to desire more than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> a continuance of the +companionship with which he honored her. All this Leta began to dimly +see; and there were times when, strive to hide it from her heart as she +would, it seemed as though he might be even growing weary of her.</p> + +<p>Thus tormented with doubt and jealousy and the constantly increasing +suspicion of baffled ambition, how was she to act? To accept her +situation as a decree of fate, to fawn upon the mistress like a patient +slave, and, if the lord were to tire of her in the end and give himself +up to other captivations, to submit unmurmuringly to the unavoidable +necessity? All this some might consent to do; but surely not one like +herself, gifted with indomitable will, and stung to desperation with the +sense of great and irreparable sacrifices. To her there could be but one +course. She must abandon her slow and cautious policy, and seek the +earliest opportunity to urge the matter to its crisis. If, by sparing no +watchfulness or ingenuity, or by the exercise of bold and vigorous +manœuvring, she could produce a quarrel and final separation between +Sergius and his wife, it might not be impossible for her to impress upon +him how much she was necessary to his happiness, and thereby elevate +herself into the vacant place. And if unsuccessful, at the least she +would be but sharing a ruin which would fall like an avalanche upon all +alike.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_FIRST_CHRISTIAN_EMPEROR" id="THE_FIRST_CHRISTIAN_EMPEROR"></a>THE FIRST CHRISTIAN EMPEROR.</h2> + + +<p>The last great imperial persecution of the Christians under Diocletian +and Galerius, which was aimed at the entire uprooting of the new +religion, ended with the edict of toleration of 311 and the tragical +ruin of the persecutors. Galerius died soon after of a disgusting and +terrible disease (<i>morbus pedicularis</i>), described with great minuteness +by Eusebius and Lactantius. 'His body,' says Gibbon, 'swelled by an +intemperate course of life to an unwieldy corpulence, was covered with +ulcers and devoured by innumerable swarms of those insects which have +given their name to a most loathsome disease.' Diocletian had withdrawn +from the throne in 305, and in 313 put an end to his imbittered life by +suicide. In his retirement he found more pleasure in raising cabbage +than he had found in ruling the empire; a confession we may readily +believe. (President Lincoln, of the United States, during the dark days +of the civil war, in December, 1862, declared that he would gladly +exchange his position with any common soldier in the tented field.) +Maximin, who kept up the persecution in the East, even after the +toleration edict, as long as he could, died likewise a violent death by +poison, in 313. In this tragical end of their last three imperial +persecutors the Christians saw a palpable judgment of God. The edict of +toleration was an involuntary and irresistible concession of the +incurable impotence of heathenism and the indestructible power of +Christianity. It left but a step to the downfall of the one and the +supremacy of the other in the empire of the Cæsars.</p> + +<p>This great epoch is marked by the reign of Constantine I. He understood +the signs of the time, and acted accordingly. He was the man for the +times, as the times were prepared for him by that Providence which +controls both and fits them for each other. He placed himself at the +head of true<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> progress, while his nephew, Julian the Apostate, opposed +it, and was left behind. He was the chief instrument for raising the +church from the low estate of oppression and persecution to +well-deserved honor and power. For this service a thankful posterity has +given him the surname of the Great, to which he was entitled, though not +by his moral character, yet doubtless by his military and administrative +ability, his judicious policy, his appreciation and protection of +Christianity, and the far-reaching consequences of his reign. His +greatness was not indeed of the first, but of the second order, and is +to be measured more by what he <i>did</i> than by what he <i>was</i>. To the Greek +Church, which honors him even as a canonized saint, he has the same +significance as Charlemagne to the Latin.</p> + +<p>Constantine, the first Christian Cæsar, the founder of Constantinople +and the Byzantine empire, and one of the most gifted, energetic, and +successful of the Roman emperors, was the first representative of the +imposing idea of a Christian theocracy, or of that system of policy +which assumes all subjects to be Christians, connects civil and +religious rights, and regards church and state as the two arms of one +and the same divine government on earth. This was more fully developed +by his successors, it animated the whole Middle Age, and is yet working +under various forms in these latest times; though it has never been +fully realized, whether in the Byzantine, the German, or the Russian +empire, the Roman church-state, the Calvinistic republic of Geneva, or +the early Puritanic colonies of New England. At the same time, however, +Constantine stands also as the type of an undiscriminating and harmful +conjunction of Christianity with politics, of the holy symbol of peace +with the horrors of war, of the spiritual interests of the kingdom of +heaven with the earthly interests of the state.</p> + +<p>In judging of this remarkable man and his reign, we must by all means +keep to the great historical principle, that all representative +characters act consciously or unconsciously as the free and responsible +organs of the spirit of their age, which moulds them first before they +can mould it in turn, and that the spirit of the age itself, whether +good or bad or mixed, is but an instrument in the hands of Divine +Providence, which rules and overrules all the actions and motives of +men.</p> + +<p>Through a history of three centuries Christianity had already overcome +the world, and thus rendered such an outward revolution, as has attached +itself to the name of this prince, both possible and unavoidable. It +were extremely superficial to refer so thorough and momentous a change +to the personal motives of an individual, be they motives of policy, of +piety, or of superstition. But unquestionably every age produces and +shapes its own organs, as its own purposes require. So in the case of +Constantine. He was distinguished by that genuine political wisdom, +which, putting itself at the head of the age, clearly saw that idolatry +had outlived itself in the Roman empire, and that Christianity alone +could breathe new vigor into it and furnish its moral support. +Especially on the point of the external catholic unity, his monarchical +politics accorded with the hierarchical episcopacy of the church. Hence +from the year 313 he placed himself in close connection with the +bishops, made peace and harmony his first object in the Donatist and +Arian controversies, and gave the predicate 'catholic' to the church in +all official documents. And as his predecessors were supreme pontiffs of +the heathen religion of the empire, so he desired to be looked upon as a +sort of bishop, as universal bishop of the eternal affairs of the +church. All this by no means from mere self-interest, but for the good +of the empire, which, now shaken to its foundations and threatened by +barbarians on every side, could only by some new bond of unity be +consolidated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> and upheld until at least the seeds of Christianity and +civilization should be planted among the barbarians themselves, the +representatives of the future. His personal policy thus coincided with +the interests of the state. Christianity appeared to him, as it proved +in fact, the only efficient power for a political reformation of the +empire, from which the ancient spirit of Rome was fast departing, while +internal civil and religious dissensions and the outward pressure of the +barbarians threatened a gradual dissolution of society.</p> + +<p>But with the political he united also a religious motive, not clear and +deep, indeed, yet honest, and strongly infused with the superstitious +disposition to judge of a religion by its outward success, and to +ascribe a magical virtue to signs and ceremonies. His whole family was +swayed by religious sentiment, which manifested itself in very different +forms, in the devout pilgrimages of his Helena, the fanatical Arianism +of Constantia and Constantius, and the fanatical paganism of Julian. +Constantine adopted Christianity first as a superstition, and put it by +the side of his heathen superstition, till finally in his conviction the +Christian vanquished the pagan, though without itself developing into a +pure and enlightened faith.</p> + +<p>At first Constantine, like his father, in the spirit of the Neo-Platonic +syncretism of dying heathendom, reverenced all the gods as mysterious +powers; especially Apollo, the god of the sun, to whom in the year 308 +he presented munificent gifts. Nay, so late as the year 321 he enjoined +regular consultation of the soothsayers in public misfortunes, according +to ancient heathen usage; even later, he placed his new residence, +Byzantium, under the protection of the God of the Martyrs and the +heathen goddess of Fortune; and down to the end of his life he retained +the title and the dignity of a <i>Pontifex Maximus</i>, or high priest of the +heathen hierarchy. His coins bore on the one side the letters of the +name of Christ, on the other the figure of the sun-god, and the +inscription <i>Sol invictus</i>. Of course these inconsistencies may be +referred also to policy and accommodation to the toleration edict of +313. Nor is it difficult to adduce parallels of persons who in passing +from Judaism to Christianity, or from Romanism to Protestantism, have +honestly so wavered between their old and their new position, that they +might be claimed by both. With his every victory over his pagan rivals, +Galerius, Maxentius, and Licinius, his personal leaning to Christianity +and his confidence in the magic power of the sign of the cross +increased; yet he did not formally renounce heathenism, and did not +receive baptism until, in 337, he was laid upon the bed of death.</p> + +<p>He had an imposing and winning person, and was compared by flatterers +with Apollo. He was tall, broad shouldered, handsome, and of a +remarkably vigorous and healthy constitution, but given to excessive +vanity in his dress and outward demeanor, always wearing an oriental +diadem, a helmet studded with jewels, and a purple mantle of silk richly +embroidered with pearls and flowers worked in gold. His mind was not +highly cultivated, but naturally clear, strong, and shrewd, and seldom +thrown off its guard. He is said to have combined a cynical contempt of +mankind with an inordinate love of praise. He possessed a good knowledge +of human nature and administrative energy and tact.</p> + +<p>His moral character was not without noble traits, among which a chastity +rare for the time, and a liberality and beneficence bordering on +wastefulness were prominent. Many of his laws and regulations breathed +the spirit of Christian justice and humanity, promoted the elevation of +the female sex, improved the condition of slaves and of unfortunates, +and gave free play to the efficiency of the church throughout the whole +empire. Altogether he was one of the best, the most fortunate, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +most influential of the Roman emperors, Christian and pagan.</p> + +<p>Yet he had great faults. He was far from being so pure and so venerable +as Eusebius, blinded by his favor to the church, depicts him, in his +bombastic and almost dishonestly eulogistic biography, with the evident +intention of setting him up as a model for all future Christian princes. +It must, with all regret, be conceded, that his progress in the +knowledge of Christianity was not a progress in the practice of its +virtues. His love of display and his prodigality, his suspiciousness and +his despotism, increased with his power.</p> + +<p>The very brightest period of his reign is stained with gross crimes, +which even the spirit of the age and the policy of an absolute monarch +cannot excuse. After having reached, upon the bloody path of war, the +goal of his ambition, the sole possession of the empire, yea, in the +very year in which he summoned the great council of Nicæa, he ordered +the execution of his conquered rival and brother-in-law, Licinius, in +breach of a solemn promise of mercy (324). Not satisfied with this, he +caused soon afterward, from political suspicion, the death of the young +Licinius, his nephew, a boy of hardly eleven years. But the worst of all +is the murder of his eldest son, Crispus, in 326, who had incurred +suspicion of political conspiracy, and of adulterous and incestuous +purposes toward his stepmother Fausta, but is generally regarded as +innocent. This domestic and political tragedy emerged from a vortex of +mutual suspicion and rivalry, and calls to mind the conduct of Philip +II. toward Don Carlos, of Peter the Great toward his son Alexis, and of +Soliman the Great toward his son Mustapha. Later authors assert, though +gratuitously, that the emperor, like David, bitterly repented of this +sin. He has been frequently charged besides, though it would seem +altogether unjustly, with the death of his second wife Fausta (326?), +who, after twenty years of happy wedlock, is said to have been convicted +of slandering her stepson Crispus, and of adultery with a slave or one +of the imperial guards, and then to have been suffocated in the vapor of +an overheated bath. But the accounts of the cause and manner of her +death are so late and discordant as to make Constantine's part in it at +least very doubtful.</p> + +<p>At all events Christianity did not produce in Constantine a thorough +moral transformation. He was concerned more to advance the outward +social position of the Christian religion, than to further its inward +mission. He was praised and censured in turn by the Christians and +pagans, the orthodox and the Arians, as they successively experienced +his favor or dislike. He bears some resemblance to Peter the Great, both +in his public acts and his private character, by combining great virtues +and merits with monstrous crimes, and he probably died with the same +consolation as Peter, whose last words were: 'I trust that in respect of +the good I have striven to do my people (the church), God will pardon my +sins.' It is quite characteristic of his piety that he turned the sacred +nails of the Saviour's cross, which Helena brought from Jerusalem, the +one into the bit of his war horse, the other into an ornament of his +helmet. Not a decided, pure, and consistent character, he stands on the +line of transition between two ages and two religions; and his life +bears plain marks of both. When at last on his deathbed he submitted to +baptism, with the remark, 'Now let us cast away all <i>duplicity</i>,' he +honestly admitted the conflict of two antagonistic principles which +swayed his private character and public life.</p> + +<p>From these general remarks we turn to the leading features of +Constantine's life and reign, so far as they bear upon the history of +the church. We shall consider in order his youth and training, the +vision of the cross, the edict<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> of toleration, his legislation in favor +of Christianity, his baptism and death.</p> + +<p>Constantine, son of the co-emperor Constantius Chlorus, who reigned over +Gaul, Spain, and Britain till his death in 306, was born probably in the +year 272, either in Britain or at Naissus (now called Nissa), a town of +Dardania, in Illyricum. His mother was Helena, daughter of an innkeeper, +the first wife of Constantius, afterward divorced, when Constantius, for +political reasons, married a daughter of Maximian. She is described by +Christian writers as a discreet and devout woman, and has been honored +with a place in the catalogue of saints. Her name is identified with the +discovery of the cross and the pious superstitions of the holy places. +She lived to a very advanced age, and died in the year 326 or 327, in or +near the city of Rome. Rising by her beauty and good fortune from +obscurity to the splendor of the court, then meeting the fate of +Josephine, but restored to imperial dignity by her son, and ending as a +saint of the Catholic church: Helena would form an interesting subject +for a historical novel illustrating the leading events of the Nicene age +and the triumph of Christianity in the Roman empire.</p> + +<p>Constantine first distinguished himself in the service of Diocletian in +the Egyptian and Persian wars; went afterward to Gaul and Britain, and +in the Prætorium at York was proclaimed emperor by his dying father and +by the Roman troops. His father before him held a favorable opinion of +the Christians as peaceable and honorable citizens, and protected them +in the West during the Diocletian persecution in the East. This +respectful, tolerant regard descended to Constantine, and the good +effects of it, compared with the evil results of the opposite course of +his antagonist Galerius, could but encourage him to pursue it. He +reasoned, as Eusebius reports from his own mouth, in the following +manner: 'My father revered the Christian God, and uniformly prospered, +while the emperors who worshipped the heathen gods, died a miserable +death; therefore, that I may enjoy a happy life and reign, I will +imitate the example of my father and join myself to the cause of the +Christians, who are growing daily, while the heathen are diminishing.' +This low utilitarian consideration weighed heavily in the mind of an +ambitious captain, who looked forward to the highest seat of power +within the gift of his age. Whether his mother, whom he always revered, +and who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in her eightieth year (A. D. +325), planted the germ of the Christian faith in her son, as Theodoret +supposes, or herself became a Christian through his influence, as +Eusebius asserts, must remain undecided. According to the heathen +Zosimus, whose statement is unquestionably false and malicious, an +Egyptian, who came out of Spain (probably the bishop Hosius of Cordova, +a native of Egypt, is intended), persuaded him, after the murder of +Crispus (which did not occur before 326), that by converting to +Christianity he might obtain forgiveness of his sins.</p> + +<p>The first public evidence of a positive leaning toward the Christian +religion he gave in his contest with the pagan Maxentius, who had +usurped the government of Italy and Africa, and is universally +represented as a cruel, dissolute tyrant, hated by heathens and +Christians alike. Called by the Roman people to their aid, Constantine +marched from Gaul across the Alps with an army of ninety-eight thousand +soldiers of every nationality, and defeated Maxentius in three battles; +the last in October, 312, at the Milvian bridge, near Rome, where +Maxentius found a disgraceful death in the waters of the Tiber.</p> + +<p>Here belongs the familiar story of the miraculous cross. The precise day +and place cannot be fixed, but the event must have occurred shortly +before the final victory over Maxentius in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> neighborhood of Rome. As +this vision is one of the most noted miracles in church history, and has +a representative significance, it deserves a closer examination. It +marks for us on the one hand the victory of Christianity over paganism +in the Roman empire, and on the other the ominous admixture of foreign, +political, and military interests with it. We need not be surprised that +in the Nicene age so great a revolution and transition should have been +clothed with a supernatural character.</p> + +<p>The occurrence is variously described, and is not without serious +difficulties. Lactantius, the earliest witness, some three years after +the battle, speaks only of a dream by night, in which the emperor was +directed (it is not stated by whom, whether by Christ, or by an angel) +to stamp on the shields of his soldiers 'the heavenly sign of God,' that +is, the cross with the name of Christ, and thus to go forth against his +enemy. Eusebius, on the contrary, gives a more minute account, on the +authority of a subsequent private communication of the aged Constantine +himself under oath—not, however, till the year 338, a year after the +death of the emperor, his only witness, and twenty-six years after the +event. On his march from Gaul to Italy (the spot and date are not +specified), the emperor, while earnestly praying to the true God for +light and help at this critical time, saw, together with his army, in +clear daylight toward evening, a shining cross in the heavens above the +sun, with the inscription: '<i>By this conquer;</i>' and in the following +night Christ himself appeared to him while he slept, and directed him to +have a standard prepared in the form of this sign of the cross, and with +that to proceed against Maxentius and all other enemies. This account of +Eusebius, or rather of Constantine himself, adds to the night dream of +Lactantius the preceding vision of the day, and the direction concerning +the standard, while Lactantius speaks of the inscription of the initial +letters of Christ's name on the shields of the soldiers. According to +Rufinus, a later historian, who elsewhere depends entirely on Eusebius, +and can therefore not be regarded as a proper witness in the case, the +sign of the cross appeared to Constantine in a dream (which agrees with +the account of Lactantius), and upon his awaking in terror, an angel +(not Christ) exclaimed to him: '<i>Hoc vince.</i>' Lactantius, Eusebius, and +Rufinus are the only Christian writers of the fourth century, who +mention the apparition. But we have besides one or two heathen +testimonies, which, though vague and obscure, still serve to strengthen +the evidence in favor of some actual occurrence. The contemporaneous +orator Nazarius, in a panegyric upon the emperor, pronounced March 1, +321, apparently at Rome, speaks of an army of divine warriors and a +divine assistance which Constantine received in the engagement with +Maxentius; but he converts it to the service of heathenism by recurring +to old prodigies, such as the appearance of Castor and Pollux.</p> + +<p>This famous tradition may be explained either as a real miracle implying +a personal appearance of Christ, or as a pious fraud, or as a natural +phenomenon in the clouds and an optical illusion, or finally as a +prophetic dream.</p> + +<p>The propriety of a miracle, parallel to the signs in heaven which +preceded the destruction of Jerusalem, might be justified by the +significance of the victory as marking a great epoch in history, namely, +the downfall of paganism and the establishment of Christianity in the +empire. But even if we waive the purely critical objections to the +Eusebian narrative, the assumed connection, in this case, of the gentle +Prince of peace with the god of battle, and the subserviency of the +sacred symbol of redemption to military ambition, is repugnant to the +genius of the gospel and to sound Christian feeling, unless we stretch +the theory of divine accommodation to the spirit of the age and the +passions and interests of individuals<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> beyond the ordinary limits. We +should suppose, moreover, that Christ, if he had really appeared to +Constantine either in person (according to Eusebius) or through angels +(as Rufinus and Sozomen modify it), would have exhorted him to repent +and be baptized rather than to construct a military ensign for a bloody +battle. In no case can we ascribe to this occurrence, with Eusebius, +Theodoret, and older writers, the character of a sudden and genuine +conversion, as to Paul's vision of Christ on the way to Damascus; for, +on the one hand, Constantine was never hostile to Christianity, but most +probably friendly to it from his early youth, according to the example +of his father, and, on the other, he put off his baptism quite five and +twenty years, almost to the hour of his death.</p> + +<p>The opposite hypothesis of a mere military stratagem or intentional +fraud is still more objectionable, and would compel us either to impute +to the first Christian emperor, at a venerable age, the double crime of +falsehood and perjury, or, if Eusebius invented the story, to deny to +the 'father of church history' all claim to credibility and common +respectability. Besides, it should be remembered that the older +testimony of Lactantius, or whoever was the author of the work on the +Deaths of Persecutors, is quite independent of that of Eusebius, and +derives additional force from the vague heathen rumors of the time. +Finally the <i>Hoc vince</i>, which has passed into proverbial significance +as a most appropriate motto of the invincible religion of the cross, is +too good to be traced to sheer falsehood. Some actual fact, therefore, +must be supposed to underlie the tradition, and the question only is +this, whether it was an external, viable phenomenon or an internal +experience.</p> + +<p>The hypothesis of a natural formation of the clouds, which Constantine +by an optical illusion mistook for a supernatural sign of the cross, +besides smacking of the exploded rationalistic explanation of the New +Testament miracles, and deriving an important event from a mere +accident, leaves the figure of Christ and the Greek or Latin +inscription, '<i>By this sign thou shalt conquer!</i>' altogether +unexplained.</p> + +<p>We are shut up, therefore, to the theory of a dream or vision, and an +experience within the mind of Constantine. This is supported by the +oldest testimony of Lactantius, as well as by the report of Rufinus and +Sozomen, and we do not hesitate to regard the Eusebian cross in the +skies as originally a part of the dream, which only subsequently assumed +the character of an outward objective apparition, either in the +imagination of Constantine or by a mistake of the memory of the +historian, but in either case without intentional fraud. That the vision +was traced to supernatural origin, especially after the happy success, +is quite natural and in perfect keeping with the prevailing ideas of the +age. Tertullian and other ante-Nicene and Nicene fathers attributed many +conversions to nocturnal dreams and visions. Constantine and his friends +referred the most important facts of his life, as the knowledge of the +approach of hostile armies, the discovery of the holy sepulchre, the +founding of Constantinople, to divine revelation through visions and +dreams. Nor are we disposed in the least to deny the connection of the +vision of the cross with the agency of Divine Providence, which +controlled this remarkable turning point of history. We may go farther +and admit a special providence, or what the old divines call a +<i>providentia specialissima</i>; but this does not necessarily imply a +violation of the order of nature or an actual miracle in the shape of an +objective personal appearance of the Saviour. We may refer to a somewhat +similar, though far less important, vision in the life of the pious +English Colonel James Gardiner. The Bible itself sanctions the general +theory of providential or prophetic dreams and nocturnal visions through +which divine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> revelations and admonitions are communicated to men.</p> + +<p>The facts, therefore, may have been these: Before the battle, +Constantine, leaning already toward Christianity as probably the beat +and most hopeful of the various religions, seriously sought in prayer, +as he related to Eusebius, the assistance of the God of the Christians, +while his heathen antagonist, Maxentius, according to Zosimus, was +consulting the sibylline books and offering sacrifice to the idols. +Filled with mingled fears and hopes about the issue of the conflict, he +fell asleep, and saw in a dream the sign of the cross of Christ with a +significant inscription and promise of victory. Being already familiar +with the general use of this sign among the numerous Christians of the +empire, many of whom no doubt were in his own army, he constructed the +<i>labarum</i>,<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> afterward so called, that is, the sacred standard of the +Christian cross with the Greek monogram of Christ,<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> which he had also +put upon the shields of the soldiers. To this cross-standard, which now +took the place of the Roman eagles, he attributed the decisive victory +over the heathen Maxentius.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, after his triumphal entrance into Rome, he had his statue +erected upon the forum with the labarum in his right hand, and the +inscription beneath: 'By this saving sign, the true token of bravery, I +have delivered your city from the yoke of the tyrant.' Three years +afterward the senate erected to him a triumphal arch of marble, which to +this day, within sight of the sublime ruins of the pagan Colosseum, +indicates at once the decay of ancient art and the downfall of +heathenism; as the neighboring arch of Titus commemorates the downfall +of Judaism and the destruction of the temple. The inscription on this +arch of Constantine, however, ascribes his victory over the hated +tyrant, not only to his master mind, but indefinitely also to the +impulse of Deity; by which a Christian would naturally understand the +true God, while a heathen, like the orator Nazarius, in his eulogy on +Constantine, might take it for the celestial guardian power of the <i>urbs +æterna</i>.</p> + +<p>At all events the victory of Constantine over Maxentius was a military +and political victory of Christianity over heathenism; the intellectual +and moral victory having been already accomplished by the literature and +life of the church in the preceding period. The emblem of ignominy and +oppression<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> became thenceforward the badge of honor and dominion, and +was invested in the emperor's view, according to the spirit of the +church of his day, with a magic virtue. It now took the place of the +eagle and other field badges, under which the heathen Romans had +conquered the world. It was stamped on the imperial coin, and on the +standards, helmets, and shields of the soldiers. Above all military +representations of the cross the original imperial labarum shone in the +richest decorations of gold and gems; was intrusted to the truest and +bravest fifty of the body guard; filled the Christians with the spirit +of victory, and spread fear and terror among their enemies; until, under +the weak successors of Theodosius II., it fell out of use, and was +lodged as a venerable relic in the imperial palace at Constantinople.</p> + +<p>Before this victory at Rome (which occurred October 27, 312), either in +the spring or summer of 312, Constantine, in conjunction with his +Eastern colleague, Licinius, had published an edict of religious +toleration, now not extant, but probably a step beyond the edict of the +still anti-Christian Galerius in 311, which was likewise subscribed by +Constantine and Licinius as co-regents. Soon after, in January, 313, the +two emperors issued from Milan a new edict (the third) on religion, +still extant both in Latin and Greek, in which, in the spirit of +religious eclecticism, they granted full freedom to all existing forms +of worship, with special reference to the Christian. This religion the +edict not only recognized in its existing limits, but also—what neither +the first nor perhaps the second edict had done—allowed every heathen +subject to adopt it with impunity. At the same time the church buildings +and property confiscated in the Diocletian persecution were ordered to +be restored, and private property-owners to be indemnified from the +imperial treasury.</p> + +<p>In this notable edict, however, we should look in vain for the modern +Protestant and Anglo-American theory of religious liberty as one of the +universal and inalienable rights of man. Sundry voices, it is true, in +the Christian church itself, at that time and even before, declared +firmly against all compulsion in religion. But the spirit of the Roman +empire was too absolutistic to abandon the prerogative of a supervision +of public worship. The Constantinian toleration was a temporary measure +of state policy, which, as indeed the edict expressly states the motive, +promised the greatest security to the public peace and the protection of +all divine and heavenly powers, for emperor and empire. It was, as the +result teaches, but the necessary transition step to a new order of +things. It opened the door to the elevation of Christianity, and +specifically of Catholic hierarchical Christianity, with its +exclusiveness toward heretical and schismatic sects, to be the religion +of the state. For, once put on an equal footing with heathenism, it must +soon, in spite of numerical minority, bear away the victory from a +religion which had already inwardly outlived itself.</p> + +<p>From this time Constantine decidedly favored the church, though without +persecuting or forbidding the pagan religions. He always mentions the +Christian church with reverence in his imperial edicts, and uniformly +applies to it, as we have already observed, the predicate of catholic. +For only as a catholic, thoroughly organized, firmly compacted, and +conservative institution did it meet his rigid monarchical interest, and +afford the splendid state and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> court dress he wished for his empire. So +early as the year 313 we find the bishop Hosius of Cordova among his +counsellors, and heathen writers ascribe to the bishop even a magical +influence over the emperor. Lactantius, also, and Eusebius of Cæsarea +belonged to his confidential circle. He exempted the Christian clergy +from military and municipal duty (March, 313); abolished various customs +and ordinances offensive to the Christians (315); facilitated the +emancipation of Christian slaves (before 316); legalized bequests to +catholic churches (321); enjoined the civil observance of Sunday, though +not as <i>dies Domini</i>, but as <i>dies Solis</i>, in conformity to his worship +of Apollo, and in company with an ordinance for the regular consulting +of the haruspex (321); contributed liberally to the building of churches +and the support of the clergy; erased the heathen symbols of Jupiter and +Apollo, Mars and Hercules from the imperial coins (323); and gave his +sons a Christian education. This mighty example was followed, as might +be expected, by a general transition of those subjects who were more +influenced in their conduct by outward circumstances than by inward +conviction and principle. The story, that in one year (324) twelve +thousand men, with women and children in proportion, were baptized in +Rome, and that the emperor had promised to each convert a white garment +and twenty pieces of gold, is at least in accordance with the spirit of +that reign, though the fact itself, in all probability, is greatly +exaggerated.</p> + +<p>Constantine came out with still greater decision, when, by his victory +over his Eastern colleague and brother-in-law, Licinius, he became sole +head of the whole Roman empire. To strengthen his position, Licinius had +gradually placed himself at the head of the heathen party, still very +numerous, and had vexed the Christians first with wanton ridicule, then +with exclusion from civil and military office, with banishment, and in +some instances perhaps even with bloody persecution. This gave the +political strife for the monarchy between himself and Constantine the +character also of a war of religions; and the defeat of Licinius in the +battle of Adrianople, in July, 321, and at Chalcedon, in September, was +a new triumph of the standard of the cross over the sacrifices of the +gods; save that Constantine dishonored himself and his cause by the +execution of Licinius and his son.</p> + +<p>The emperor now issued a general exhortation to his subjects to embrace +the Christian religion, still leaving them, however, to their own free +conviction. In the year 325, as patron of the church, he summoned the +council of Nice, and himself attended it; banished the Arians, though he +afterward recalled them; and, in his monarchical spirit of uniformity, +showed great zeal for the settlement of all theological disputes, while +he was blind to their deep significance. He first introduced the +practice of subscription to the articles of a written creed and of the +infliction of civil punishments for non-conformity. In the years +325-329, in connection with his mother, Helena, he erected magnificent +churches on the sacred spots in Jerusalem.</p> + +<p>As heathenism had still the preponderance in Rome, where it was hallowed +by its great traditions, Constantine, by divine command as he supposed, +in the year 330, transferred the seat of his government to Byzantium, +and thus fixed the policy, already initiated by Domitian, or +orientalizing and dividing the empire. In the selection of the +unrivalled locality he showed more taste and genius than the founders of +Madrid, Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg, or Washington. With incredible +rapidity, and by all the means within reach of an absolute monarch, he +turned this nobly situated town, connecting two seas and two continents, +into a splendid residence and a new Christian Rome, 'for which now,' as +Gregory of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> Nazianzen expresses it, 'sea and land emulate each other, to +load it with their treasures, and crown it queen of cities.' Here, +instead of idol temples and altars, churches and crucifixes rose; though +among them the statues of patron deities from all over Greece, mutilated +by all sorts of tasteless adaptations, were also gathered in the new +metropolis. The main hall in the palace was adorned with representations +of the crucifixion and other Biblical scenes. The gladiatorial shows, so +popular in Rome, were forbidden here, though theatres, amphitheatres, +and hippodromes kept their place. It could nowhere be mistaken, that the +new imperial residence was, as to all outward appearance, a Christian +city. The smoke of heathen sacrifices never rose from the seven hills of +New Rome, except during the short reign of Julian the Apostate. It +became the residence of a bishop, who not only claimed the authority of +the apostolic see of neighboring Ephesus, but soon outshone the +patriarchate of Alexandria, and rivalled for centuries the papal power +in ancient Rome.</p> + +<p>The emperor diligently attended divine worship, and is portrayed upon +medals in the posture of prayer. He kept the Easter vigils with great +devotion. He would stand during the longest sermons of his bishops, who +always surrounded him, and unfortunately flattered him only too much. +And he even himself composed and delivered discourses to his court, in +the Latin language, from which they were translated into Greek by +interpreters appointed for the purpose. General invitations were issued, +and the citizens flocked in great crowds to the palace to hear the +imperial preacher, who would in vain try to prevent their loud applause +by pointing to heaven as the source of his wisdom. He dwelt mainly on +the truth of Christianity, the folly of idolatry, the unity and +providence of God, the coming of Christ, and the judgment. At times he +would severely rebuke the avarice and rapacity of his courtiers, who +would loudly applaud him with their mouths and belie his exhortations by +their works. One of these productions is still extant, in which he +recommends Christianity in a characteristic strain, and in proof of its +divine origin cites especially the fulfilment of prophecy, including the +sibylline books and the Fourth Eclogue of Virgil, with the contrast +between his own happy and brilliant reign and the tragical fate of his +persecuting predecessors and colleagues.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless he continued in his later years true, upon the whole, to +the toleration principles of the edict of 313, protected the pagan +priests and temples in their privileges, and wisely abstained from all +violent measures against heathenism, in the persuasion that it would in +time die out. He retained many heathens at court and in public office, +although he loved to promote Christians to honorable positions. In +several cases, however, he prohibited idolatry, where it sanctioned +scandalous immorality, as in the obscene worship of Venus in Phenicia; +or in places which were especially sacred to the Christians, as the +sepulchre of Christ and the grove of Mamre; and he caused a number of +deserted temples and images to be destroyed or turned into Christian +churches. Eusebius relates several such instances with evident +approbation, and praises also his later edicts against various heretics +and schismatics, but without mentioning the Arians. In his later years +he seems, indeed, to have issued a general prohibition of idolatrous +sacrifice; Eusebius speaks of it, and his sons in 341 refer to an edict +to that effect; but the repetition of it by his successors proves that, +if issued, it was not carried into general execution under his reign.</p> + +<p>With this shrewd, cautious, and moderate policy of Constantine, which +contrasts well with the violent fanaticism of his sons, accords the +postponement of his own baptism to his last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> sickness. For this he had +the further motives of a superstitious desire, which he himself +expresses, to be baptized in the Jordan, whose waters had been +sanctified by the Saviour's baptism, and no doubt also a fear that he +might by relapse forfeit the sacramental remission of sins. He wished to +secure all the benefit of baptism as a complete expiation of past sins, +with as little risk as possible, and thus to make the best of both +worlds. Deathbed baptisms then were to half Christians of that age what +deathbed conversions and deathbed communions are now. But he presumed to +preach the gospel, he called himself the bishop of bishops, he convened +the first general council, and made Christianity the religion of the +empire, long before his baptism! Strange as this inconsistency appears +to us, what shall we think of the court bishops who, from false +prudence, relaxed in his favor the otherwise strict discipline of the +church, and admitted him, at least tacitly, to the enjoyment of nearly +all the privileges of believers, before he had taken upon himself even a +single obligation of a catechumen?</p> + +<p>When, after a life of almost uninterrupted health, he felt the approach +of death, he was received into the number of catechumens by laying on of +hands, and then formally admitted by baptism into the full communion of +the church in the year 337, the sixty-fifth year of his age, by the +Arian (or properly Semi-Arian) bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, whom he had +shortly before recalled from exile together with Arius! His dying +testimony then was, as to form, in favor of heretical rather than +orthodox Christianity, but merely from accident, not from intention. He +meant the Christian as against the heathen religion, and whatever of +Arianism may have polluted his baptism, was for the Greek Church fully +neutralized by the orthodox canonization. After the solemn ceremony, he +promised to live thenceforth worthily of a disciple of Jesus; refused to +wear again the imperial mantle of cunningly woven silk, richly +ornamented with gold; retained the white baptismal robe; and died a few +days after, on Pentecost, May 32, 337, trusting in the mercy of God, and +leaving a long, a fortunate, and a brilliant reign, such as none but +Augustus, of all his predecessors, had enjoyed. 'So passed away the +first Christian emperor, the first defender of the faith, the first +imperial patron of the papal see, and of the whole Eastern Church, the +first founder of the holy places, pagan and Christian, orthodox and +heretical, liberal and fanatical, not to be imitated or admired, but +much to be remembered, and deeply to be studied.'</p> + +<p>His remains were removed in a golden coffin by a procession of +distinguished civilians and the whole army, from Nicomedia to +Constantinople, and deposited, with the highest Christian honors, in the +Church of the Apostles, while the Roman senate, after its ancient +custom, proudly ignoring the great religious revolution of the age, +enrolled him among the gods of the heathen Olympus. Soon after his +death, Eusebius set him above the greatest princes of all times; from +the fifth century he began to be recognized in the East as a saint; and +the Greek and Russian Church to this day celebrates his memory under the +extravagant title of <i>Isapostolos</i>, the 'Equal of the Apostles.' The +Latin Church, on the contrary, with truer tact, has never placed him +among the saints, but has been content with naming him 'the Great,' in +just and grateful remembrance of his services to the cause of +Christianity and civilization.</p> + +<p>Constantine marks the beginning of the downfall of ancient and classical +paganism. Still it dragged out a sickly old age for about two hundred +years longer, until at last it died of incurable consumption, without +the hope of a resurrection.</p> + +<p>The final dissolution of heathenism in the Eastern empire may be dated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +from the middle of the fifth century. In the year 435, Theodosius II. +commanded the temples to be destroyed or turned into churches. There +still appear some heathens in civil office and at court so late as the +beginning of the reign of Justinian I. (527-567). But this despotic +emperor prohibited heathenism as a form of worship in the empire on pain +of death, and in 529 abolished the last intellectual seminary of it, the +philosophical school of Athens, which had stood nine hundred years. At +that time just seven philosophers were teaching in that school, the +shades of the ancient seven sages of Greece—a striking play of history, +like the name of the last West-Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, or, in +contemptuous diminutive, Augustulus, combining the names of the founder +of the city and the founder of the empire.</p> + +<p>In the West, heathenism maintained itself until near the middle of the +sixth century, and even later, partly as a private religious conviction +among many cultivated and aristocratic families in Rome, partly even in +the full form of worship in the remote provinces and on the mountains of +Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, and partly in heathen customs and popular +usages, like the gladiatorial shows still extant in Rome in 404, and the +wanton Lupercalia, a sort of heathen carnival, the feast of Lupercus, +the god of herds, still celebrated with all its excesses in February, +495. But, in general, it may be said that the Græco-Roman heathenism, as +a system of worship, was buried under the ruins of the Western empire, +which sank under the storms of the great migration. It is remarkable +that the northern barbarians labored with the same zeal in the +destruction of idolatry as in the destruction of the empire, and really +promoted the victory of the Christian religion. The Gothic king Alaric, +on entering Rome, expressly ordered that the churches of the apostles +Peter and Paul should be spared, as inviolable sanctuaries; and he +showed a humanity, which Augustin justly attributes to the influence of +Christianity (even perverted Arian Christianity) on these barbarous +people. The Christian name, he says, which the heathens blaspheme, has +effected not the destruction, but the salvation of the city. Odoacer, +who put an end to the Western Roman empire in 476, was incited to his +expedition into Italy by St. Severin, and, though himself an Arian, +showed great regard to the catholic bishops. The same is true of his +conqueror and successor, Theodoric the Ostrogoth, who was recognized by +the East-Roman emperor Anastasius as king of Italy (A.D. 500), and was +likewise an Arian. Thus between the barbarians and the Romans, as +between the Romans and the Greeks, and in a measure also the Jews, the +conquered gave laws to the conquerors. Christianity triumphed over both.</p> + +<p>This is the end of Græco-Roman heathenism, with its power, wisdom, and +beauty. It fell a victim to a slow but steady process of incurable +consumption. Its downfall is a sublime tragedy which, with all our +abhorrence of idolatry, we cannot witness without a certain sadness. At +the first appearance of Christianity it comprised all the wisdom, +literature, art, and political power of the civilized world, and led all +into the field against the weaponless religion of the crucified +Nazarene. After a conflict of four or five centuries it lay prostrate in +the dust without hope of resurrection. With the outward protection of +the state, it lost all power, and had not even the courage of martyrdom; +while the Christian church showed countless hosts of confessors and +blood-witnesses, and Judaism lives to-day in spite of all persecution. +The expectation that Christianity would fall about the year 398, after +an existence of three hundred and sixty-five years, turned out in the +fulfilment to relate to heathenism itself.</p> + +<p>The last glimmer of life in the old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> religion was its pitiable prayer +for toleration and its lamentation over the ruin of the empire. Its best +elements took refuge in the church, and became converted, or at least +took Christian names. Now the gods were dethroned, oracles and prodigies +ceased, sibylline books were burned, temples were destroyed, or +transformed into churches, or still stand as memorials of the victory of +Christianity.</p> + +<p>But although ancient Greece and Rome have fallen forever, the spirit of +Græco-Roman paganism is not extinct. It still lives in the natural heart +of man, which at this day as much as ever needs regeneration by the +spirit of God. It lives also in many idolatrous and superstitious usages +of the Greek and Roman Churches, against which the pure spirit of +Christianity has instinctively protested from the beginning, and will +protest, till all remains of gross and refined idolatry shall be +outwardly as well as inwardly overcome, and baptized and sanctified not +only with water, but also with the spirit and fire of the gospel.</p> + +<p>Finally, the better genius of ancient Greece and Rome still lives in the +immortal productions of their poets, philosophers, historians, and +orators—yet no longer an enemy, but a friend and servant of Christ. +What is truly great and noble and beautiful can never perish. The +classic literature had prepared the way for the gospel, in the sphere of +natural culture, and was to be turned thenceforth into a weapon for its +defence. It passed, like the Old Testament, as a rightful inheritance, +into the possession of the Christian church, which saved those precious +works of genius through the ravages of the migration of nations and the +darkness of the Middle Ages, and used them as material in the rearing of +the temple of modern civilization. The word of the great apostle of the +Gentiles was here fulfilled: 'All things are yours.' The ancient +classics, delivered from the dæmoniacal possession of idolatry, have +come into the service of the only true and living God, once 'unknown' to +them, but now everywhere revealed, and are thus enabled to fulfil their +true mission as the preparatory tutors of youth for Christian learning +and culture. This is the noblest, the most worthy, and most complete +victory of Christianity, transforming the enemy into friend and ally.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Λἁβωρον, also λἁβουρον; derived, not from +<i>labor</i>, nor from λἁφυρον, i.e., <i>præda</i>, nor from +λαβεἱν, but probably from a barbarian root, otherwise unknown, and +introduced into the Roman terminology, even before Constantine, by the +Celtic or Germanic recruits. Comp. Du Cange, Glossar., and Suicer, +Thesaur. s.h.v. The labarum, as described by Eusebius, who saw it +himself (Vita Const. i. 30), consisted of a long spear overlaid with +gold, and a cross piece of wood, from which hung a square flag of purple +cloth, embroidered and covered with precious stones. On the top of the +shaft was a crown composed of gold and precious stones, and containing +the monogram of Christ (see next note), and just under this crown was a +likeness of the emperor and his sons in gold. The emperor told Eusebius +(I. ii. c. 7) some incredible things about this labarum, <i>e.g.</i> that +none of its bearers was ever hurt by the darts of the enemy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a><big>X</big> and <big>P</big>, the first two letters of the name +of Christ, so written upon one another as to make the form of the cross: +<img src="images/img174.jpg" alt="glyph" style="margin-bottom: -1em; margin-right: 1em;" /> (<i>i.e.</i> Christos—Alpha and Omega, the beginning and +the end),<br /><br />and similar forms, of which Münter (Sinnbilder der Alten +Christen, p. 36 sqq.) has collected from ancient coins, vessels, and +tombstones more than twenty. The monogram, as well as the sign of the +cross, was in use among the Christians long before Constantine, probably +as early as the Antonines and Hadrian. Yea, the standards and trophies +of victory generally had the appearance of a cross, as Minucius Felix, +Tertullian, Justin, and other apologists of the second century told the +heathens. According to Killen (Ancient Church, p. 317, note), who quotes +Aringhus (Roma Subterranea, II. p. 567) as his authority, the famous +monogram (of course in a different sense) is found even before Christ on +coins of the Ptolemies. The only thing new, therefore, was the <i>union</i> +of this symbol in its <i>Christian</i> sense and application with the Roman +<i>military standard</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> Cicero says, pro Raberio, c. 5: 'Nomen ipsum <i>crucis</i> absit +non modo a corpore civium Romanorum, sed etiam a cogitatione, oculis, +auribus.' With other ancient heathens, however, the Egyptians, the +Buddhists, and even the aborigines of Mexico, the cross seems to have +been in use as a religious symbol. Socrates relates (H.E. v. 17) that at +the destruction of the temple of Serapis, among the hieroglyphic +inscriptions, forms of crosses were found which pagans and Christians +alike referred to their respective religions. Some of the heathen +converts, conversant with hieroglyphic characters, interpreted the form +of the cross to mean <i>the Life to come</i>. According to Prescott (Conquest +of Mexico, iii. 338-340) the Spaniards found the cross among the objects +of worship in the idol temples of Anahnac.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CAUSES_OF_THE_MINNESOTA_MASSACRE" id="CAUSES_OF_THE_MINNESOTA_MASSACRE"></a>CAUSES OF THE MINNESOTA MASSACRE.</h2> + + +<p>If great public phenomena do not come by chance, then there were causes +for the Minnesota massacres, by the Sioux, in 1862-'3, quite apart from +the aboriginal cruelty and ferocity of the Indian nature. We all know +that the carnal Indian man is a bad enough fellow at the best, and +capable of dreadful crimes and misdemeanors, if only to gratify his whim +or the caprice of the moment. And when he is bent upon satiating his +revenge for some real or imaginary wrong, I would back him in the +horrible ingenuity of his devices for torture, in the unrelenting malice +of his vengeance, against any—the most fierce and diabolical—of all +the potentates in the kingdoms of eternal and immutable evil!</p> + +<p>But the white man has always had the advantage of the red man. He was +his superior in knowledge, power, and intellect; and came, for the most +part, of that lordly race, the issue of whose loins already occupy all +the chief countries within the zones of civilization. He knew, +therefore, when he first began to deal with the Indian,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> what manner of +man he was, what his enlightenment was, and how far it reached out into +the darkness where all is night! He knew that this wild, savage, +untamable redskin could not be approached, reconciled, traded with, or +stolen, from, by adopting, in his case, the usages and courtesies of +civil life, as we understand them, but that his own peculiar laws, +customs, and manners must be studied and conformed to, if any headway +were to be made in his regard and confidence.</p> + +<p>At no time, from the beginning to the present day and hour, has any +white man been so fuddled in his wits as to suppose that the Indian +could either act or talk like a clergyman of any recognized Christian +denomination. It was too much, therefore, to expect from him that he +should exhibit any of the fine charities and warm affections which +distinguish the Christian character. He was a redskin, implacable in his +hate, not altogether trustworthy even in his friendships, and jealous of +his reputation and the traditions of his race. Nor was he without +manhood either. A brave, bloody, mocking and defiant manhood! capable of +the endurances of the martyr, exhibiting sometimes the sublimest +self-sacrifice and courage.</p> + +<p>Whether out of these wild and savage materials there lay anywhere, at +any time, the human or divine power to mould a civilized community, does +not appear upon the record. It is certain, however, that after all the +far-too-late attempts to transfigure these savages into the likeness of +a down-East Yankee, or, better still, into the similitude of a Western +farmer, no permanent good results are likely to ensue.</p> + +<p>The red man and the white are separated indeed by the prodigious +distances (ethnologically speaking) not only of race and language, but +of noble tradition and glorious history. They could never amalgamate in +blood, or in the so-called natural sympathies of man. They seem to be +born enemies! as their feelings and their instincts apparently reach +them when they come into contact with each other. They cannot exist side +by side. A mightier than they holds the destinies of both in His hands. +He has tried the redskins. He has given them a good chance upon the +earth, and they have failed to do anything but kill buffalo and breed +like rats—often burrowing like rats—refusing to dig and plant the +teeming, beneficent earth which had been committed to their charge; and +preferring, generally, the life of a vagabond loafer to that of a +thrifty, careful husbandman.</p> + +<p>I do not blame them. They are as God made them, and man left them; for, +I suppose, their forebears—somewhere afar off in Asia, perhaps, in the +dim, immemorial ages—had all passed through the various phases of the +civilization of their time, and that they did not grow out of the tail +of any gorilla. It is not for profane man to inquire what possible +reason there could be for the perpetuation—let alone the creation—of +such a useless, bootless race. There they are, occupiers of the soil for +unknown centuries—before the white man ever saw their faces—many +thousands of them still squatting there, cleaving, like bereaved +Autochthons, to the bosom of the dear old mother who had whelped and so +long nurtured them; and trying to make themselves believe that they are +still masters of the continent.</p> + +<p>What they were made for at all, I do not pretend to divine. The +Divine Maker of all knows best, and what He does is its own +justification—satisfying the wellnigh insatiable cry of the universe +for universal justice. They are the saurians of humanity; and it is +remarkable that the idea of 'progressive development'—if I may be +pardoned for making use of a term in modern philosophy about which there +has been so much assumption and canting—it is remarkable that this +idea, which the name of <i>saurian</i> suggests, should run<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> through all +nature, and be embodied in her finest forms and intelligences. There is +a considerable distance between the saurian and good Master Adam, the +gardener of Eden; but it seems to me, after all, that this brutal, foul, +obscene monster of the prime, was only Adam in the making. He came after +him, a long way, at all events; and if geology had been fashionable in +his time, and he a <i>savant</i>, he might have chalked out for himself a +very fine pedigree.</p> + +<p>For this strange, eccentric Nature, who meant <i>man</i> from the beginning, +and failed to realize her ideal because of those horrible nightmare +dreams of which these saurians, mastodons, mammoths were the visible +representatives, did, nevertheless, make, in every succeeding world (for +every crust of this planet is the crust of a dead world), higher and +higher organizations—until, at last, she gave to man his <i>inscrutable</i> +birth!</p> + +<p>That was, no doubt, a great triumph of power and genius! Man is a noble +animal, the finest of all living fellows! <i>et cetera! et cetera!</i> But +what sort of a fellow was he when he came, in his spindles and +shacklebones, from the womb of the All-mother? Was he a Caucasian, or a +Mongolian, a Negro, a Malay, or a Bosjesman?—this last being an effigy +of man so abominable that no race that I have heard of will include him +even as a lodger in the parish settlements!</p> + +<p>Mark! what a sameness, and yet what an infinite variety, there is in all +the operations and purposes of Nature! She does not grow us <i>men</i> out of +our mothers, but babes—helpless, pitiably, tearfully helpless +<i>babes</i>!—ignorant; who must <i>grow</i> into the perfect stature and the +mature mind of men. Is not this babe also a saurian in its little way? +Does a wider gap separate the saurian from the man, than that which +separates the tiny babe from some Bacon or Raleigh? The law of nature is +progress. It is often, nay, always, a very slow thing—but how sure! how +inevitable! how beneficent in its results! She never makes worse after +bad—and those weird opium monsters of the foreworlds were unspeakably +bad!—but always she makes of bad better; and of better she has made her +best, at present. In the light of this law, <i>were any one mad enough to +grope</i>, he might come to the conclusion that the first man (or race of +men) was anything but a grandee in mind, person, or estate; and that our +seemingly puzzled but at last most wonder-working mother, ycleped +Nature, made some very ugly attempts at man before she reached the +climax of her imagination and her power as it obtains in the man +Caucasian!</p> + +<p>I regard all the colored races—and with no malice or evil of any sort +in my heart toward them—as first experiments in the gamut of human +creation. Neither ethnology nor any other ology will pull out of my +consciousness—let alone my active intellect—the belief that these were +the oldest, the primordial races, or the descendants of such, and that +the white Caucasian man, with his noble brain and heart, his matchless +person, was an afterthought, the brightest since her birth-thought of +the earth's creation. Look into the face of any upgrown modern Indian! +It is an <i>old</i> face, as if the accumulated wrinkles of, not 'forty,' but +a hundred 'centuries' had ploughed their marks there. They seem to +belong to the dawn of time; while our Caucasian man is ever young and +beautiful, the born master of all things.</p> + +<p>We must deal with races according to their faculty, and credit them +according to their faculty. If we fail, we fail in wisdom—and in +prudence, which is a valuable attribute of wisdom. Expect not grapes +from thistles! Expect no virtue—unless it relates to his own +selfishness or his own tribe—from an Indian, or from very many other +men!</p> + +<p>It must not be forgotten, however, that Indians are people who, to say<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +the least of them, are fashioned in the likeness of men. Here, as +elsewhere, Nature sticks to her old plan, and will not budge an inch. In +the chart of the Indian's nature are mapped out the same feelings, +instincts, passions, the same organs and dimensions as belong to the +highest race, or the highest race of the mixed races. She will have no +nonsense about her red children, nor about her black. There they are, as +she (for purposes of her own, not particularly clear) intended them to +be—men, alive, oh!—not descendants of Monboddo's ape, nor of Du +Chaillu's gorilla, but men proper and absolute! with their duties, +responsibilities, and destinies.</p> + +<p>Seeing, therefore, that the Indian (our American Indian, with whom we +have now to do) has all the faculties—however defaced and blurred by +long centuries of bloody crimes, which they regard <i>not</i> as crimes, but +as virtues—seeing that these red, thriftless, bloody-minded Indians +have all the human faculties intact—although, it may be, not so bright +as those of some of our own people who call themselves Americans—is it +not possible that by fair and manly dealing with them, by a just trade, +and conscientious regard for the sanctity of treaty rights and +obligations—that you, whom it may more particularly concern, might so +win their good will as to make them friends instead of enemies? The +devil that lies at the bottom of all savage natures is easily roused, +not at all so easily laid again, and as easily kept in his own place. +Indians are not incapable of friendship, nor of good faith, although the +best require a great deal of looking after—and close looking, too! But +what I want to urge is this: that if you always appeal to the worst +passions of the redskin, rob him of his rights and property, cheat him +by false promises, deceive him at all hands, and then mock him when he +knocks at your door for credit or charity, that he and his may live, you +cannot much wonder if, obeying his traditions, his religion, and the +dictates of his savage nature—now maddened into fury and reckless of +consequences—he indulges in the frightful havoc, the relentless murders +and burnings, which have so lately marked his trail in Minnesota.</p> + +<p>Let no one suppose for a moment, from what I have now said, that I +design to offer any apology, any excuse for the nameless and +unpunishable crimes which these miscreants have perpetrated. I have no +pity and no compassion for them, and surely no word either which I +desire should be construed, in this respect, to their favor. I go with +the old Scotch judge—a rigid Antinomian! who, having tried and +convicted a Calvinist as rigid as himself, asked him what he had to say +why the sentence of the law should not be pronounced against him.</p> + +<p>'My lord,' said the prisoner, 'it's a bad job; but I was predestined to +do it!'</p> + +<p>Whereupon his lordship replied: 'Ay! ay! my cannie laddie! an' I was +predestined to hang ye for't.'</p> + +<p>So while I set forth the necessary, evil nature of the Indian, and the +consequent necessity of his bloody deeds, I also insist upon the +necessity of hanging him for it.</p> + +<p>I plead not for the Indian of Minnesota, after these most shocking, most +appalling butcheries. I love my own race; and not a man, woman, or +child, who was sacrificed by these monsters, but their wounds were my +wounds, and their agonies tore my heart to the very core. Henceforth I +shall never see an Indian but I shall feel the 'goose flesh' of loathing +and horror steal over my Adam's buff! But you, my beloved friends of +Minnesota! you who have suffered so much in your families and homes +during the massacre, are you sure that you did all you could do as +citizens and rulers in this land to see even-handed justice dealt out +between the corrupt Government agencies and storekeepers, and the +helpless Indians? Had these last no just and reasonable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> ground of +complaint? complaint of the General Government, complaint of the delays +in their payment, complaint of the swindling of the storekeepers and +traders?</p> + +<p>They had sold their lands, and gone away to their reservations. But the +money for their lands—promised so faithfully at such a time—where was +that money? <i>Non est!</i> The Indians depended on it, trusted to the +certainty of its coming as the saint trusts in the promises. They came +for it—often, in their history, in the depth of winter, for hundred of +miles, through an inhospitable forest; their wives, children, and braves +starving—many of them left behind in the wilderness to die; their only +weapon made of coarse nails, lashed with wire, and this they called a +gun barrel, and with this they killed what game was killed by the way.</p> + +<p>This did not happen in Minnesota, it is true; but events as horrible and +sickening as this did happen, and brought with them consequences more +horrible still, which will never be forgotten while the State exists or +the language lasts. Scenes were enacted at that 'Lower Agency' which +were disgraceful to human nature, and the victims were invariably the +redskins. Once when Red Iron came there, at the summons, or rather after +the repeated summons of Governor Ramsay, it turned out that nearly four +hundred thousand dollars of the cash payment due to the Sioux, under the +treaties of 1851-'2, were paid to the traders on old indebtedness! How +much of this enormous sum was really due to the traders it is bootless +now to inquire; although it is pretty certain, from what we know of +similar transactions, that not a twentieth part of it was due to them. +Mr. Isaac V. D. Heard, who has written a 'History of the Sioux War and +Massacres of 1862 and 1863,' who is an old resident of Minnesota of +twelve years' standing, acted with General Sibley in his expedition +against the savages in 1862, and was recorder of the military commission +which tried some four hundred of the participants in the outbreak—has +not been deterred by the just hatred which the Minnesota people nurture +against the Indians, and which they will keep hot until their rifles +have exterminated the whole brood of them, from saying a brave word +respecting the iniquities perpetrated by rascal peddlers and official +prigs against the Indians which were the immediate causes of the +massacre and the subsequent wars.</p> + +<p>The Indian was subjected to all sorts of frauds, little and big—the +smaller thieves thinking that they also must live, no matter at whose +expense, although I demur to the proposition. Why should they stop at +stealing a thousand or two, more or less, while that four hundred +thousand swindle leered at them so wickedly over the left shoulder, +mocking at all law and justice, and scot free from all punishment? These +'traders' could charge what sums they liked against the Indian, and get +them too; for there was no one to defeat or check their rapacity. Mr. +Heard tells us that no less a sum than fifty-five thousand dollars was +claimed by one Hugh Tyler, as due to him by the Indians, when the great +swindle just alluded to was committed; and that he was paid out of the +accruing funds. This man was a stranger in the country, an adventurer, +who went out into the wilderness 'for to seek his fortune;' and it is +curious to read the items of which his little bill, fifty-five thousand, +is composed. Here they are: For getting the treaties through the Senate; +for '<i>necessary disbursements</i>' in securing the assent of the chiefs. +Very curious and instructive items they are, to all who consider them. +To say nothing of the corruption of the Senate which the first item +signifies, if it has any meaning at all, there is the guilty record of +the 'necessary disbursements,' or, in other words, <i>bribes</i>, paid to +chiefs for betraying their country and their race. This was a part of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +the regular machinery of the Agencies. All their plans were cut and +dried, and they had men to carry them out. They could not stir a peg +without the assent of the chiefs; and when they found a man too noble to +be a traitor, they got the Governor to break him as a chief, and invest +a more pliable, accommodating redskin with his rank and title. Through +the influence of bad men, and by the forging of lying documents, which +the Indians could not read, and which were never interpreted to them +except to cheat them as to their contents and meaning, they have always +managed to get their treaties signed; after which the newly made chiefs +could not so much as take the liberty to beg a pipe of tobacco of them.</p> + +<p>As a sample of their infamous dealings, we take the following excerpt +from Mr. Heard's book, page 41:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'In 1857, a trader, pretending that he was getting them to sign a +power of attorney to get back the money which had gone to the +traders under the treaty of 1851 and 1852, obtained their +signatures to vouchers, by which he swindled them out of $12,000. +Shortly after, this trader secured the payment of $4,500 for goods +which he claimed (falsely, it is said) to have been stolen. About +the same time a man in Sioux City was allowed a claim of $5,000 for +horses, which he also alleged to have been stolen.</p> + +<p>'In 1858, the chiefs were taken to Washington, and agreed to +treaties for the cession of all their reservations north of the +Minnesota, for which, as ratified by the Senate, they were to have +$166,000; but of this amount they never received a penny until four +years afterward, when $15,000, in goods, were sent to the Lower +Sioux, and these were deducted out of what was due them under +former treaties. The Indians, discovering the fraud, refused to +receive them for several weeks, and only consented to take them +after the Government had agreed to rectify the matter. <i>Most of the +large amount due under these treaties, went into the pockets of +traders, Government officials, and swindlers generally.</i></p> + +<p>'The Indians were grievously disappointed with their bargains, and +from that time the control of affairs passed from the chiefs—who, +it was believed, had been bribed—to the young men. They had now +nearly disposed of all their lands, and received scarcely anything +for them. They were six thousand two hundred in number, and their +annuities, when paid in full, were hardly fifteen dollars apiece.</p> + +<p>'Their sufferings,' continues Mr. Heard, 'were often severe, +especially during the winter and spring previous to the massacres.'</p></div> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Their crops failed them; a heavy fall of snow, late in the season, came +to increase their miseries, and delayed the spring hunts. The Sissetons, +of Lac Traverse, had to eat their horses and dogs—and at least fifteen +hundred of the old men, women, and children had to be supported by the +Government at an extra expense; and this was so inadequately done that +some died of starvation.</p> + +<p>The history of these iniquities is no new thing in Indian affairs. It +is, from first to last, a record of the most shameless lying and fraud. +The Agency seems to have been established there as a sort of Jonathan +Wild's shop, for the purpose of carrying on the trade of thieving. What +did these storekeepers—who credited the Indians for tobacco and rum, +for bread and beef, for clothing, and such other luxuries as they had +come to regard as necessaries—care for the winter prospects of the +wretched Indians, after they had lined their pockets with that four +hundred thousand dollars? Not a dime! And when subsequently it was found +that only half the regular Government payment would be handed over to +the Indians during the next year, these storekeepers—on the 'Wild' +plan—not only refused to give them credit for articles indispensable to +life in the wilderness, but insulted them to boot; and this so +exasperated the proud, revengeful nature of the Indian, that he +remembered it afterward in many a bloody murder which he committed, and +the innocent suffered for the guilty!</p> + +<p>Mr. Heard acquits the Agency, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> all connected with it, of being in +any way the causes of this outbreak. But his own statements of their +dealing with the Indians hardly bear him out in his judgment. I do not +mean to say that the people of the Lower Agency were a whit worse in +such dealings than those of the Upper, or any other similar Agency. It +is an understood thing, and mercilessly practised, that the Indian shall +be fleeced whenever the white man has a chance to fleece him. It is the +law and the gospel of these Agencies; and we must not allow ourselves to +be hoodwinked in this matter by the mistaken humanity of Mr. Heard.</p> + +<p>And yet, if we think of it, there could not have been devised a more +evil scheme, either against the natives or the settlers, than these +wellnigh irresponsible Agencies. From all parts of the Union, from every +country of the Old World, emigrants had come to settle in the beautiful +Minnesota State; they had built themselves good, substantial houses, +ploughed, fenced, and planted their rich and prosperous farms, conquered +the savage wilderness into blooming cornfields, orchards, and +gardens—and here was their true El Dorado! where they hoped to live in +peace, plenty, and security. They were not afraid of the savages, but +their wont was to make friends of them, and to be their friends, +entertaining them at their homes when they visited the settlements, and +doing all they could—with some exceptions—to perpetuate among them a +good feeling and an intelligent understanding.</p> + +<p>To a certain extent, and in some cases, they succeeded in this +straight-forward diplomacy. But the predisposition of the reds to +enmity with the whites was still there, slumbering only, not eradicated; +nor could all the kindness and generosity of the whole Caucasian heart, +heaped upon them in the most lavish profusion, ever root it out. Nature +put it there—I wish she hadn't—for reasons of her own, just as she put +murder into the cruel heart and brain of the tiger in the jungle.</p> + +<p>There was this 'original sin,' therefore, to contend against always, +without reference to any tangible causes or provocations. All knew this. +All knew, from the youngest to the oldest, that the true policy of the +whites was to conciliate the Indians. They knew his inextinguishable +memory of wrongs, his dreadful vengeance, his power, and his constant +opportunity to do irreparable mischief. And, as I said, the settlers +were, for the most part, anxious to smoke the pipe of peace and +friendship with him.</p> + +<p>But what was the good of all this? What, think you, did it avail in the +councils of the savages, when they sat over their fires discussing their +wrongs and prospects? What the good-hearted settlers did in the way of +reconciliation and good will was undone a thousandfold at the Agency. It +is true that the Agency had become necessary to the subsistence of the +Indian, and that this fact made him bear much which, under other +circumstances, he would instantly have resented and punished. But they +well knew how they were robbed; and when did a wrong of that, or any +sort, pass muster upon the Indian's roll of vengeance? Every fraud +against an Indian, every lie told him, every broken promise, every +worthless article sold to him at the Agency, was more than a set-off to +any act of kindness shown to him by the settlers. Add to these local +crimes, the great error of the Government in unduly withholding the +Indian payment for their lands—and you have the Indian's <i>casus belli</i>, +the grounds, or some of them, on which he justified himself to his own +bloody and remorseless conscience, for his inhuman deeds! For the Indian +beeps a conscience, such as it is; but of a truth, better no conscience +than an Indian's conscience! It is like an appeal to hell, one's appeal +to this! all the accursed passions imprisoned there coming up from their +limbos, their eyes glaring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> with the malice of ineradicable hate, and +bloodshot with murder, to support the conscience, and strengthen its +resolution for an unspeakable vengeance.</p> + +<p>But, after all, this poor devil is really to be pitied for his ignorance +and brutality, and as really to be killed without mercy. He is in the +way of civilization, and must go to the wall. I find that Nature herself +is utterly pitiless; that she cares neither for white nor red, nor for +any other color or person, but, like a horrible, crashing car of +Juggernaut, she rolls steadily forward, astride the inevitable +machinery, crushing all who oppose her.</p> + +<p>But this digression is no apology, in the matter of its argument, for +the Indian Agents, who must have been aware, long before the outbreak +took place, that their frauds were fast culminating in the Indian mind, +and that every fresh wrong they did to them was only bringing nearer by +a step the indiscriminate massacre of the settlers.</p> + +<p>There were other causes, however, besides these, to enrage and madden +them, which must not be lost sight of. Our Government had prohibited +their sanguinary wars upon the Chippewas, and they regarded this as an +act of wanton tyranny. They were bred in the faith that war is the true +condition of an Indian man, and that peace was made for women and +children. War was the only outlet for their power, the only field in +which they could distinguish themselves and win immortal renown. All the +great kingdoms of knowledge and literature were shut against them as +with walls of brass. They could not read or write, and their leisure was +passed in idle gossip, or in deliberations on infernal schemes against +the white man to revenge themselves for their wrongs.</p> + +<p>It was not a wise thing to do, I think; although, no doubt, it was +humane enough, as we understand humanity. Did not the 'dragons of the +prime tear other in their slime,' and so thin out the horrible race, +until Nature herself put the final claws of annihilation upon them? Why, +in mercy, then, do we try to prevent the inevitable? War is a great +clearer of the atmosphere; and one of our poets, Coleridge, I believe, +says that 'Carnage is God's daughter'! a bold figure of rhetoric, not +without its apparently sufficient apologies. Why not let the Sioux and +Chippewas, or any other of the wild, irreclaimable brood, fight their +bloodiest, and do their prettiest to help Nature, who seems bent on the +extermination of all inferior races? They have got to die, any +way!—that is a great consolation!—and if the philanthropists at +Washington had only left them to themselves, they would have died by +mutual slaughter—great numbers of them—long ago, and saved said +philanthropists from the crime of killing them, which they are now +doing, by inches!—a far more cruel way of dying.</p> + +<p>I was much pleased, when last summer they were upbraided for doing a +little war against the Chips, in spite of Washington, with the sarcastic +reply of a chief, who said: 'Our Great Father, we know, has always told +us it was wrong to make war; yet now he himself is making war, and +killing a great many. Will you explain this to us? We do not understand +it!' This was a hit, a palpable hit, let who will reconcile it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Heard gives us the following brief statement of the manner in which +treaties are made with the Indians; and I earnestly call the attention +of the Government and all just citizens to its statements. He says:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'The traders, knowing for years before, that the whites will +purchase lands, sell the Indians goods on credit, expecting to +realize their pay from the consideration to be paid by the +Government. They thus become interested instruments to obtain the +consent of the Indians to the treaty. And by reason of their +familiarity with the language, and the associations of half-breed +relatives, are possessed of great facilities<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> to accomplish their +object. The persons deputed by the Government to effect a treaty +are compelled to procure their cooperation, and this they do by +providing that their debts shall be paid. The traders obtain the +concurrence of the Indians by refusing to give them further credit, +and by representing to them that they will receive an immense +amount of money if they sell their lands, and thenceforth will live +at ease, with plenty to eat, and plenty to wear, and plenty of +powder and lead, and of whatever else they may request. After the +treaty is agreed to, the amount of ready money is absorbed by the +<i>exorbitant demands of the traders</i>, and <i>the expenses of the +removal of the Indians to their reservations</i>!</p> + +<p>'After that the trader no longer looks to the Indian for his pay; +he gets it from their annuities. He, therefore, does not use the +same means to conciliate their good will that he did when he was +dependent upon their honesty. Claims for depredations upon white +settlers are also deducted out of their moneys before they leave +Washington, on <i>insufficient testimony</i>; and these are always, when +based on fact, <i>double the actual loss</i>; for the Indian Department +is notoriously corrupt, and the hand manipulating the machinery +<i>must be crossed with gold</i>! The 'expenses' of obtaining a claim +enter into the amount demanded and allowed. The demand is not only +generally unjust, but, instead of its being deducted from the +moneys of the wrong doer, <i>it is taken from the annuities of all</i>! +This course punishes the innocent and rewards the guilty, because +the property taken by the depredator is of more value than the +slight percentage he loses.</p> + +<p>'Many of the stipulations as to establishing schools and furnishing +them with farming utensils, are never carried out. Building and +supply contracts are entered into without investigation at +outrageous prices, and goods belonging to the Indians are put into +the traders' stores, and <i>sold to their owners</i>, and the moneys +realized <i>shared by the trader and the Agent</i>!'</p></div> + +<p>Bishop Whipple, of Minnesota, in his appeal for the red man, confirms +this statement beyond doubt or question:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'There is not a man in America,' he says,'who ever gave an hour's +calm reflection to this subject, who does not know that our Indian +system is an organized system of robbery, and has been for years a +disgrace to the nation. It has left savage men without Governmental +control; it has looked on unconcerned at every crime against the +laws of God and man; it has fostered savage life by wasting +thousands of dollars in the purchase of paint, beads, scalping +knives, and tomahawks; it has fostered a system of trade which +robbed the thrifty and virtuous to pay the debts of the indolent +and vicious; it has squandered the funds for civilization and +schools; it has connived at theft; it has winked at murder; and at +last, after dragging the savage down to a brutishness unknown to +his fathers, it has brought a harvest of blood to our door!'</p></div> + +<p>The Bishop continues:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'It was under this Indian system that the fierce, warlike Sioux +were fitted and trained to be the actors in this bloody drama, <i>and +the same causes are to-day, slowly but surely, preparing the way +for a Chippewa war</i>. There is not, to-day, an old citizen of +Minnesota who will not shrug his shoulders as he speaks of the +dishonesty which accompanied the purchase of the lands of the +Sioux. It left in savage minds a deep sense of injustice. Then, +followed ten years of savage life, unchecked by law, uninfluenced +by good example. They were taught by white men that lying was no +disgrace, adultery no sin, and theft no crime. Their hunting +grounds were gone; the onward march of civilization crowded them on +every side. Their only possible hope of being saved from starvation +was the fidelity with which a great nation fulfilled its plighted +faith, which before God and man it had pledged to its heathen +wards. <i>The people here, on the border, and the rulers at +Washington, know how that faith has been broken.</i></p> + +<p>'The constant irritations of such a system would, in time, have +secured an Indian massacre. It was hastened and precipitated by the +sale of nearly eight hundred thousand acres of land, for <i>which +they never received one farthing</i>; for it was all absorbed in +claims! Then came the story (and it was true) that half of their +annuity money had also been taken for claims. They waited two +months, mad, exasperated,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> hungry—the Agent utterly powerless to +undo the wrong committed at Washington—and they resolved on savage +vengeance. For every dollar of which they have been defrauded we +shall pay ten dollars in the cost of the war. It has been so for +fifty years; it will be so again. <i>God's retributive justice always +has compelled a people to reap exactly what they have permitted to +be sown!</i>'</p></div> + +<p>These extracts from the Bishop's Plea confirm what I have stated in the +preceding paragraphs; and the last sentence—which I have marked in +italics—is well worth the while of every reader to ponder well.</p> + +<p>Mr. Heard dates the commencement of the massacre to the breaking of a +stray nest of hen's eggs on the prairie, and what came of the +transaction; but the date lies farther back than that, so far as the +resolution to seize the first favorable opportunity for slaughtering the +whites is concerned—and belongs to the era of the great crimes of our +Government against them, as shown in the forcible seizure of their lands +without their receiving any payment, even 'a farthing' for them; the +hucksters, under the connivance of the Government agents, getting the +whole of it, and, in the instance alluded to a while ago, keeping back +from them, as payment for old debts, about three hundred boxes of the +money upon which they had depended to keep themselves alive during the +winter and the following year.</p> + +<p>Such enormous crimes were sure to reap a bloody harvest. The Indian is +no fool, although he can't do addition and subtraction. He knows when he +is <i>about</i> fairly dealt with, and he knows when he is mightily plucked. +In this case of the 'old debt payment' he knew that he was robbed +wholesale, and through the mouth of Red Iron he proclaimed the fact to +Governor Ramsey, in council assembled. Alluding to this robbery, he +said:</p> + +<p>'We don't think we owe them so much. We want to pay all our debts. We +want our Great Father to send three good men here, to tell us how much +we do owe; and whatever they say, we will pay; and (pointing to the +Indians) that's what all these braves say; our chiefs and all our people +say this!'</p> + +<p>At which all the Indians present responded:</p> + +<p>'Ho! ho!'</p> + +<p>This Red Iron was the principal chief of the Sissetons, and his +indignation at the wrongs done to his race made him so 'boisterous' that +Governor Ramsey was imprudent enough to break him of his chieftainship. +The scene and its results were by no means creditable to the Governor. +This latter personage had summoned Red Iron to meet him at a council, +held December, 1852, and he did not turn up as expected. So, I suppose, +he was sent for, and brought in by the soldiers. He is described by one +who was present, as about forty years old, tall and athletic; six feet +high in his moccasons, with a large, well-developed head, aquiline nose, +thin, compressed lips, and physiognomy beaming with intelligence and +resolution. He was clad in the half military, half Indian costume of the +Dacotah chiefs, as he sat in the council room; and no one greeted or +noticed him. A very poor piece of revenge! In a few minutes the +Governor, turning to the chief in the midst of a breathless silence, by +the aid of an interpreter, opened council. The Governor asked the chief +what excuse he had for not coming to the council when he sent for him.</p> + +<p>Whereupon Red Iron rose to his feet, 'with native grace and dignity,' +says Mr. Heard, his blanket falling from his shoulders, and, purposely +dropping the pipe of peace, he stood erect before the Governor, with his +arms folded and his right hand pressed upon the sheath of his scalping +knife. With the utmost coolness and self-possession, a defiant smile +playing upon his thin lips, and his eyes sternly fixed upon his +excel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>lency, the Indian, with a firm voice, replied:</p> + +<p>'I started to come, but your braves drove me back.'</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Governor</span>. 'What excuse have you for not coming the second time +when I sent for you?'</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Red Iron</span>. 'No other excuse than I have given you.'</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Governor</span>. 'At the treaty, I thought you a good man; but since, +you have acted badly, and I am disposed to break you. I <i>do</i> break you.'</p> + +<p>Red Iron looked at the Governor for a moment with a look of withering +contempt and scorn, and then burst out in a voice full of derisive +mockery.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Red Iron</span>. '<i>You break me!</i> My people made me a chief. My people +love me. I will still be their chief. I have done nothing wrong.'</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Governor</span>. 'Red Iron, why did you get your braves together, and +march around here for the purpose of intimidating other chiefs, and +prevent their coming to council?'</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Red Iron</span>. 'I did not get my braves together; they got +themselves together, to prevent <i>boys</i> going to council to be made +<i>chiefs</i> to sign papers, and to prevent single chiefs going to council +at night, to be <i>bribed</i> to sign papers for <i>money</i> we have never got.' +And then the inexorable fellow continued, without any regard to his +excellency's nerves or conscience: 'We have heard how the M'Dewakantons +were served at Mendota; that by secret councils you got their names on +paper, and took away their money. We don't want to be served so. My +braves wanted to come to council in the <i>daytime</i>, when the sun shines; +and we want no councils in the dark. We want all our people to go to +council together, so that we can all know what is done.'</p> + +<p>The Governor is nothing abashed at these damaging charges, but returns +once more to the assault.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Governor</span>. 'Why did you attempt to come to council with your +braves, when I had forbidden your braves coming to council?'</p> + +<p>To which Red Iron, with the same masterful, defiant smile upon his 'thin +lips,' answers:</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Red Iron</span>. 'You invited the chiefs only, and would not let the +braves come too. This is not the way we have been treated before; this +is not according to our customs; for among Dacotahs, chiefs and braves +go to council together. When you first sent for us there were two or +three chiefs here, and we waited, and we wanted to wait till the rest +would come, that we might all be in council together, and know what was +done, and so that we might all understand the papers, and know what we +were signing. When we signed the treaty, the <i>traders threw a blanket +over our faces, and darkened our eyes; and made us sign papers which we +did not understand, and which were not explained or read to us</i>. We want +our Great Father at Washington to know what has been done.'</p> + +<p>This last speech—whose words hit like bullets—made the Governor wince, +and he replied, with more sharpness than wit:</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Governor</span>. 'Your Great Father has sent me to represent him; and +what I say, he says. He wants you to pay your old debts, in accordance +with the papers you signed when the treaty was made' ['which we did not +understand; which were never read nor explained to us; which we were +forced to sign,' as Red Iron had just told the Governor!]. 'You must +leave that money in my hands to pay those debts. If you refuse to do +that, I will take the money back.'</p> + +<p>The Governor was getting deeper and deeper into the pit which he had dug +for the Indian. This last speech was most unhappy and impolitic for the +side he was advocating. It put dreadful weapons into the hands of Red +Iron, which the crafty 'old man eloquent' did not fail to use against +his antagonist.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p> + +<p>He makes this manly answer, not at all abashed in the presence of the +chief magistrate:</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Red Iron</span>. 'You can take back your money! We sold our land to +you, and you promised to pay us. If you don't give us the money, I will +be glad, and all our people will be glad; for we will have our land back +if you don't give us the money. That paper was not interpreted or +explained to us. We are told it gives about three hundred boxes +($300,000) of our money to some of the traders! We don't think we owe +them so much. We want to pay all our debts. We want our Great Father to +send three good men here to tell us how much we do owe, and whatever +they say, we will pay; and (pointing to the Indians) that's what all +these braves say. Our chiefs and all our people say this.'</p> + +<p>And the Indians responded with the usual 'Ho! ho!' of acquiescence.</p> + +<p>But the Governor don't see it. A poor devil of an Indian, according to +his Christian conviction, ought to be content to pay unaudited, untaxed +bills, wherein the margin is broad enough for any scoundrel to do his +robberies by tens of thousands. So his excellency told Red Iron:</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Governor</span>. 'That can't be done!' [Nay, more confounding and +appalling still, he added:] 'You owe more than your money will pay, and +I am ready now to pay your annuity, and no more; and when you are ready +to receive it, the Agent will pay it.'</p> + +<p>Red Iron replies in a speech full of pathos:</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Red Iron</span>. 'We will receive our annuity, but we will sign no +papers for anything else.' [You've swindled us enough, lied to us deep +enough already, and we have no belief in your words or agreements.] 'The +snow is on the ground, and we have been waiting a long time to get our +money. We are poor; you have plenty. Your fires are warm; your <i>tepees</i> +(wigwams, tents) keep out the cold. We have nothing to eat. We have been +waiting a long time for our moneys. Our hunting season is past. A great +many of our people are sick for being hungry. We must die because you +won't pay us. We may die! but if we do' [hold on, reader! no curses on +the white men are coming next, as one might naturally expect, either +from Christian or heathen orator, under the circumstances!]—'but if we +do,' he continues, 'we will leave our bones on the ground, that our +Great Father may see where his Dacotah children died!' [He has seen many +such shambles, O thou eloquent Indian! eloquent to ears of flint and +hearts of granite! and I never heard that the 'Great Father' ever shed a +single tear over them.] He goes on: 'We are very poor. We have sold our +hunting grounds, and with them the graves of our fathers. We have sold +our own graves.' [Out of all those hundreds of thousands of acres, not +six feet of earth, which they could call their own, left for any one of +them!] 'We have no place to bury our dead, and you will not pay us the +money for our lands.'</p> + +<p>I give this interview, and what transpired there, as a sample of the +treatment which the Indians were in the habit of receiving at the hands +both of the General Government and the State authorities. Not the wisest +kind of treatment, one would think, this which Red Iron received, taking +all the circumstances into account. The reader will be surprised, +however, that Governor Ramsey, not content with 'breaking' the chief, as +he called it—the greatest dishonor which he could inflict upon an +Indian of rank—sent him, when the council broke up, to the guard house, +under an escort of soldiers! This impolitic official ought to have +remembered that the fire was even then ready for the kindling, which +finally burst out in such fearful devastation over his devoted State; +that it was enough to have cheated the Indians, without thus inflaming +their already excited passions, by heaping so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> great an indignity upon +the person of their chief. But he was regardless of everything except +the display of his own power and authority. No doubt he thought he was +acting for the best, and that the dirty redskins needed to be held with +a high hand. But it was bad thinking and doing, nevertheless; a most +shortsighted and foolish policy, which came wellnigh, as it was, to an +Indian outbreak.</p> + +<p>The braves of Red Iron retired under the leadership of Lean Bear, a +crafty fellow, eloquent in his way, and now irreconcilably mad against +the whites; and when he had led them about a quarter of a mile from the +council house, they set up a simultaneous yell, the gathering signal of +the Dacotah. Ere the echoes died away, Indians were hurrying from their +<i>tepees</i> toward them, prepared for battle. They proceeded to an eminence +near the camp, where mouldered the bones of many warriors. It was the +memorable battle ground where their ancestors had fought, in a Waterloo +conflict, the warlike Sacs and Foxes, thereby preserving their lands and +nationality.</p> + +<p>A more favorable occasion, a more fitting locality for the display of +eloquence which should kindle the blood of the Indian into raging fire, +and persuade him to any the most monstrous and inhuman deeds, could not +have been chosen even by Indian sagacity. An old battle ground, where +the Sioux had been victorious over their enemies; the whitened bones of +the ghastly skeletons of their ancestors who fought the battle, +bleaching on the turf, or calling to them from their graves below to +take God's vengeance in their own hands; the memory of the old and new +wrongs inflicted upon them by the whites; the infuriating insult just +offered to their favorite chief—all conspired with the orator's cunning +to give edge to his eloquence and obedience to his commands.</p> + +<p>Governor Ramsey has a good deal to thank God for, that, stimulated by +Lean Bear's rhetoric, the Sioux did not that night attack the whites, +and make an indiscriminate slaughter of the population, as they would +have done, if it had not been for the friendly Indians and half breeds. +Perhaps he thought he was strong enough, for the hour, to defeat them in +any attempt at an outbreak. But it is not strength so much as strategy +which is needed in Indian warfare. To whip the Indians, we must become +Indians in our plan and conduct of battle. The civilization and +mathematics of war, as practised by cultivated people, are useless in +the wilderness, and all our proud and boasted tactics are mere foolish +toying and trifling—a waste of time, strength, and opportunity. No one +doubts that if our troops could meet the Indians in open field, they +would slaughter them like rats; but they know better than to be caught +on the open field, except they are pretty sure of an advantage. They +steal upon you like thieves, shod with moccasons which have no sound; +they think it equally brave to shoot a man from behind a tree as to +sabre him in a hand-to-hand encounter.</p> + +<p>It is dreadful to contemplate what an incarnate fiend we have roused in +this cheated, wronged, and despised Indian. I tremble to think of it. I +tremble when I remember also what Bishop Whipple says in the 'Plea,' +from which I have already quoted; they are words which ought to be +thundered continually into the ears of the 'Great Father,' until he +compels a total revolution in our Indian affairs—words which all +settlers in those regions should keep forever present in their minds; +and, with the Minnesota massacres still fresh in their memory, they +should be taught by them never for a moment to trust an Indian, and +never knowingly to give him just cause for complaint; to go always +armed; to organize, in towns, districts, and counties, the yeomen of the +soil, who must be ready at any moment, by night or day, to meet the +treacherous, ubiquitous enemy. These<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> last will be found of more value +than the 'thundering' suggestion contained in the first of these +precautionary propositions. For it is upon themselves that they must +chiefly rely for defence, these hapless settlers! and upon no +Government, and no soldiers.</p> + +<p>Think of it, our 'Great Father' at Washington! and you, his unruly +children, you Senators and Congressmen! One of your most loyal citizens +in the State of Minnesota, a Christian bishop, well acquainted with all +the facts, the dodges, lies, frauds, and all the ins and outs of your +Indian administration, declares, with the fullest solemnity which his +office and functions can give to words, and with the voice, not of +prophecy, but of logical deduction, that the same causes which brought +about the Sioux massacre, '<span class="smcap">are to-day, slowly but surely, preparing +the way for a Chippewa war</span>!' What a Chippewa war means, those who +did not know in 1861, found out through the Sioux in 1862 and 1863, to +their perpetual sorrow. Like the Bourbons, however, our Government +either cannot or will not learn lessons from experience. If they were +compelled to bear the penalties of their neglect and wanton +maladministration of affairs in the Indian districts, the loss would be +small and the retribution just. But they sit at ease, far away from the +scene of carnage, and 'get' nothing but the 'news,' which they read as +they would any other record of human passion and depravity. It is the +innocent settlers who pay the penalty for the guilt and transgressions +of their rulers.</p> + +<p>It is time somebody, or some vast numbers, banded as one man, began to +think upon this threatening question, and to act upon it. It concerns +the faith and honor of this great republic before all the world, that +the wrongs alluded to should be speedily righted. We are not, in +reality, what our Indian legislation would almost seem to accuse and +convict us of, a nation of man-catchers, baiting our trap with fine +farms, and free government, and happy homes, and abundant prosperity of +all sorts, that so we may inveigle the simple minded, and then hand them +over to the tender mercies of the Indians! God forbid that such crimes +should be ours! But there is a coloring of truth about the whole +programme. We invite settlers to populate our vast and wellnigh +boundless wilderness, promising them protection from enemies abroad and +a happy peace at home; and in the same breath we cheat the savages, and +stir them up to hatred and violence against every white man, woman, and +child in the country. This is like preaching security and peace while +your lighted match is applied to the powder barrel. It is a logic which +confutes itself, and needs no <i>sillygism</i> to prove its lying.</p> + +<p>Why should we not bravely and manfully, with all the wisdom we possess, +confront and reform the evils and iniquities of this system? It is a +part and parcel of the work committed to our charge, that we shall +wisely deal with this people, until God, by His own mysterious means and +agencies, removes them finally from the continent and the planet. There +is no room for the red man where the white man comes. He <i>must</i> give +way. It is destiny, and there is no help for it. He knows this as well +as we do; and he gnaws the grim fact with the teeth of the hopeless +damned. But why imbitter him needlessly against us, against the +Government, against the people among whom he resides, and over whose +dear lives and properties he holds suspended the scalping knife and the +flaming pine brand? We are unworthy of the sovereign possessions +reserved for us from before the foundations of the world—making the +title deeds, therefore, unusually sound and wellnigh unquestionable—if +we cannot deal like rational men with the hordes of savages, whose lands +we have robbed them of, whom we have reduced to mere pensioners upon +our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> caprice—not bounty—and so satisfy them and their claims that the +business of human life may be carried on safely in their vicinity and +actual presence. 'Who art thou that saith 'there is a lion in the way'? +Rise, sluggard, and slay the lion! The road has to be travelled.'</p> + +<p>We are certainly not afraid of any lion, whether he be red or black; +and, until lately, <i>both</i> these monstrous red and black animals lay in +the direct path of the nation, on which it must travel or perish. We +have pretty well mauled and knuckled the black animal, and wellnigh +settled with his keepers, one and all! but this red lion is of a +different sort, and requires altogether another kind of treatment. We +shall yet save the bruised and bleeding black to the service of +civilization and humanity. He never was half a bad fellow at the bottom +of his leonine bowels, and he already takes to white civility and +customs, like an educated, intelligent, and trusty dog of the 'poor dog +Tray' sort! And I, for one, have more than a sneaking affection for his +old black mug, and a world of hope in his future behavior, if we don't +spoil him for the field and for watch and guard at home, by our infernal +'culture,' as the thing is called.</p> + +<p>Is this red lion a more terrible devil to combat, or harder to trick +into civility, or more impervious to the injunctions of the Ten +Commandments? I suppose it will be said that he is; that the black +fellow bolted the whole code at a gobble, and wagged his tail, as if the +feat must surely please his new masters; that he had long had the +benefit of civilized cooking, and knew a gentleman by his toggery; that, +moreover, he was of a teachable, plastic nature, and was meant to lie +down in due time upon the hearth rug before the fire, in any gentleman's +sitting room in the land. It may be true. I believe all this myself, and +a good deal more, about him; and I take renewed hope also for this great +republic—which is the hope of the world!—that it has thus, at last, +tamed him, and fitted him for exhibition upon a nobler theatre than that +of Barnum.</p> + +<p>But the red lion, you say, is untamable—cannot be dealt with +successfully by the wit of white men; and that it is best, therefore, to +rob him of the golden apples which he guards, and which are his only +food, and so starve him out. But you can't deal that way with the Indian +lion, my friend, without feeling the taste of his claws. You have tried +it long enough. Bishop Whipple says, 'for fifty years'! And I ask you +how much nearer are you to the taming of him now, than you were those +'fifty years' ago? Echo answers: 'That's an impudent question!' and I +reply, so be it! but you can't shuffle it off in that way. I have tried +my hand at suggesting how imminent dangers, calamities, and horrors may +even yet be averted from the Western settlements; and if those who urge +that justice shall be done to them, equal to that which we here render, +or try or pretend to render to each other—if those who urge this are +not listened to now, their plea will be remembered when it is all too +late, and thousands of innocent people are again murdered, and their +homes laid waste and desolate.</p> + +<p>I again say, let no one think by these statements that I am making a +special pleading for the Indians, or that I sanction their butcheries. +God knows how far all this is from my thought or feeling! I am a white +man right through all the inmost fibres of my being: too white, I often +fear; for I find my love of race, and pride of blood and ancestry, often +encroach too far upon the proper regions of my humanity, and threaten to +blear my eyesight to the fair claims of the inferior races.</p> + +<p>But I have to do with a thoughtful, reflective, and, at the bottom, just +and humane people; and knowing this, I felt safe, or nearly so, against +all misconstruction, in this my attempt to show that the late Indian +massacres were not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> instigated merely and solely by the passion of the +Indian for blood, but that they had deeper, broader, more tangible +causes than this, some of which I have briefly hinted at. Woe to them by +whom these butcheries came! Woe also to them who, knowing what must +inevitably result from their foul dealings, continued to deal foully +with the Indian—until the doomsday came!</p> + +<p>I have not put in a single tithe of the evidence which I might adduce to +prove my case. It is of no use appealing to the higher powers for +redress. 'I am sick at heart,' says the good Bishop Whipple; 'I fear the +words of one of our statesmen to me were true: 'Bishop, every word you +say of this Indian system is true; the nation knows it. It is useless; +you will not be heard. Your faith is only like that of the man that +stood on the bank of the river, waiting for the water to run by, that he +might cross over dryshod!'' And then he continues, with solemn emphasis +and pity: 'All I have to say is this, that if a nation, trembling on the +brink of anarchy and ruin, is so dead that it will not hear a plea to +redress wrongs which the whole people admit call for reform, God in +mercy pity us and our children!'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BURIED_ALIVE" id="BURIED_ALIVE"></a>BURIED ALIVE.</h2> + +<h3>A Dirge.</h3> + +<p class='center'> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">"There may be thought,</span><br /> +Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily."<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted."</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Deep, deep in the tender heart</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Make a grave for the joys of the Past!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Let never a tear fall hot on their bier,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">But hurry them in as fast</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">As we bury the Beautiful out of our sight,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Ere corruption and horror have saddened our light.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Deep, deep in the sinking heart</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Make a grave for the dreams of the Past!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Let the shrill cries of pain still assail thee in vain,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Though they follow so wild and so fast:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Through the fibres and sinews, and hot, bloody dew</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Let the sharp strokes fall piercing, unceasing, and true.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Call, call on the feverish brain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">To bring aid to the gasping heart!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">To sustain its quick throbs, to suppress its fierce sobs,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">As it must with its idols part:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">While the ruthless spade in the grave it has made</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Hurries forever the beautiful Dead!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Call, call on the tortured soul</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">To stand close by the sinking heart,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">While the nervous mesh of the writhing flesh,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Shuddering and shivering in every part,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Its strange anguish renews as the hot, bloody dews</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Follow the track of the rude spade through.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Call, call on the gifted brain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">To send on in the funeral train</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Her fair children enwrought from the tissue of thought—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Though their wailing will all be in vain—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Yet shrouded in robes of funereal woe</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Let them move on to monotones, solemn and slow!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Rouse, rouse the immortal soul</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">With its hopes and its visions so bright,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">To send them in the train with the thoughts of the brain,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Though their vesture seemed woven of light,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To sigh, wail, and weep o'er the pulse-rhythmed sleep</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Of the Dead in their living urn!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Heave, heave the weird sculptured stone;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Press it deep on the throbbing grave!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">With a wildering moan leave the Buried alone</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">In their tomb in the quivering heart:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">While it pours its wild blood in a hot lava flood</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Round its beautiful sepulchred Dead.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">But my God, they are <i>not</i> at rest!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Can they neither live nor die?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">See, they writhe in their throbbing grave!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">While the nervous mesh of the quivering flesh</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Its strange anguish renews as the hot, bloody dews</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Follow the track of my Beautiful back</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">As they rush into life again,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Bringing nought but a sense of pain!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">We may bury deep the Past—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">Vain is all our bitter task!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">It is throbbing, living still, for beyond all power to kill,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">It can never find a rest in a woman's stormful breast,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">It can never, never sleep rocked by anguish wild and deep,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">It can never quiet lie with shrill sobs for lullaby;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And since woman cannot part from the idols of her heart,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And as severed life is Hell for the souls that love too well,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Better far the tender form whose lorn life is only storm,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">With the coffined dead should seek</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">To lie down in a dreamless sleep—</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">And find rest in the dust with the worm.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">Dig a quiet, lowly grave</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">In the earth where willows wave!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Round the burning anguish deep wrap the cooling winding sheet,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Shroud the children of the brain, and the soul's high-visioned train:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Ah, o'er the snowy sleep let no pitying mortal weep,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">For the <i>weary seek repose</i> with the worm!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">Creeping pines and mosses grow</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">O'er the fragile form below!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Violets, bright-eyed pansies wave o'er the lowly, harmless grave;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Let the butterfly and bee all the summer flutter free,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">O'er the flowers grown from a heart which no wrongs could ever part,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Nor torture e'er remove from the creatures of its love;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">With the wild and feverish brain, and thought's bright but blighted train,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">With strong heart, but anguished soul, and pain's weird and heavy dole—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Let the weary, tired form, whose lost life was only storm,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">In the shroud's pure snow</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">Find release from woe,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Nor hope, nor joy, nor love it e'er again would know!</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="NEGRO_TROOPS" id="NEGRO_TROOPS"></a>NEGRO TROOPS.</h2> + + +<p>There was a time not long since when the serious consideration of a +question like this would have met with little favor. We remember seeing, +in this city of New York, one genial October day, not very many years +ago, a small company of negro soldiers. They were marching in Canal +street, not in Broadway, and seemed to fear molestation even there. The +writer was a schoolboy then, cadet in a military school (one of the +first established of those excellent institutions), and had, of course, +a particular interest in all military matters. So he stopped to look +upon these black soldiers—marching with all the more pride (as it +seemed to him) because they marched under the floating folds of the +stars and stripes. His boy's heart was stirred by the spectacle, and +full of a big emotion; but the fashion of the times overpowered the +generous impulse, and he treated the negro soldiers with contempt.</p> + +<p>This was in the palmy days of the old <i>régime</i>. The stifling of that +generous impulse was one of the glories of the old <i>régime</i>. Not a +decade of years went by, and the writer stood again in the streets of +New York city, and saw another sight of negro soldiers. It was, indeed, +and in all respects, another sight. This time the black men marched in +Broadway; this time they feared no molestation. It was a balmy day in +spring, and God's sunshine glistened gladly from the bright bayonets of +United States black soldiers. What a spectacle it was! There marched the +retributive justice of the nation—'carrying the flag and keeping step +to the music of the Union.' That march was a march of triumph, and its +sublime watchword was: '<span class="smcap">Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and +inseparable</span>!'</p> + +<p>What a marvellous change in public opinion! Now, negro companies are +treated with respect, negro regiments<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> are honored; because we honor the +defenders of our national ensign, which is the representative and symbol +of our national life. The men who joined so gallantly in the assault on +Port Hudson; who fell so nobly at Milliken's Bend, in repelling the +attack of men whose blackness was not, like theirs, of the outside skin, +but of a blacker, deeper dye, the blackness of treason in their inner +hearts; the men whose blood drenched the sands of Morris Island, and +made South Carolina more a sacred soil than it had ever been before, +because it was blood poured out in defence of the nation's honor, and to +wash out the stain of Carolina's dishonor; these men cannot be contemned +now. They have shown themselves noble men. They have made for themselves +a place in American history, along with their fathers at New Orleans, +and their grandfathers under Washington. And the rebel epitaph of the +brave Colonel Shaw, who led them unflinchingly against the iron hail of +Wagner, is no reproach, but a badge of honor: 'We have buried him under +his niggers.'</p> + +<p>Since that memorable assault, another State has witnessed the patriotic +gallantry of these despised 'niggers;' and in the first Virginia +campaign of Lieutenant-General Grant, negroes have borne an honorable +part. There is a division of them attached to the old ninth corps, under +Burnside, in the present organization of the Army of the Potomac. While +that noble army was fighting the battles of the Wilderness, this +division was holding the fords of the Rapid Ann. When Grant swung his +base away from the river, after the disaster to his right wing, and +moved upon Lee's flank, the ninth corps, with its negro division, held +an honorable post in the marching column; and at Spottsylvania Court +House the correspondents tell us how, with the war cry of Fort Pillow in +their mouths, these 'niggers' rushed valiantly to the assault, and +elicited the highest praise for their steadiness and courage. Not less +honorable is the record of the negro troops attached to the coöperating +Army of the Peninsula. The three extracts from official despatches, +which follow, show what the record is.</p> + +<p>May 5th, General Butler telegraphs to Secretary Stanton: 'We have seized +Wilson's Wharf Landing. A brigade of Wild's colored troops are there. At +Powhatan Landing two regiments of the same brigade have landed.'</p> + +<p>May 9th, General Butler telegraphs from Bermuda Landing: 'Our operations +may be summed up in a few words. With seventeen hundred cavalry we have +advanced up the Peninsula, forced the Chickahominy, and have safely +brought them to our present position. These are colored cavalry, and are +now holding position as our advance toward Richmond.'</p> + +<p>May 25th, the War Department announced, in a bulletin, that 'General +Butler, in a despatch dated at headquarters in the field, at seven +o'clock this morning, reports that Major-General Fitzhugh Lee, lately +promoted, made, with cavalry, infantry, and artillery, an attack upon my +post at Wilson's Wharf, north side of James River, below Fort Powhatan, +garrisoned by two regiments, all negro troops, Brigadier-General Wild +commanding, and was handsomely repulsed. Before the attack, Lee sent a +flag, stating that he had force enough to take the place, demanding its +surrender, and in that case the garrison should be turned over to the +authorities at Richmond as prisoners of war(!); but if this proposition +was rejected, he would not be answerable for the consequences when he +took the place. General Wild replied: 'We will try that.' Reinforcements +were at once sent, but the fight was over before their arrival.'</p> + +<p>It has been not unfrequently said that negroes were cowards and would +not fight. The best answer that can be made to that charge is the +official order, hereto annexed, of General<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> 'Baldy' Smith. It will be +remembered that Grant had just accomplished the transfer of his army +from the swamps of the Chickahominy to the south side of the James +River, and had immediately thereupon attacked the earthworks in front of +Petersburg. The time was June—a month later than the official +despatches from Butler already quoted:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'<i>To the Eighteenth Army Corps</i>:</p> + +<p>'The General commanding desires to express to his command his +appreciation of the soldierly qualities which have been displayed +during the campaign of the last seventeen days. Within that time +they have been constantly called upon to undergo all the hardships +of the soldier's life, and be exposed to all of its dangers.</p> + +<p>'Marches under a hot sun have ended in severe battles, and, after +the battle, watchful nights in the trenches gallantly taken from +the enemy.</p> + +<p>'But the crowning point of the honor they are entitled to has been +won since the morning of the 15th instant, when a series of +earthworks on most commanding positions and of formidable strength +have been carried, with all the guns and materials of war of the +enemy, including prisoners and colors. The works have all been +held, and the trophies remain in our hands.</p> + +<p>'This victory is all the more important to us as the troops never +have been regularly organized in camps where time has been given +them to learn the discipline necessary to a well-organized <i>corps +d'armée</i>, but they had been hastily concentrated and suddenly +summoned to take part in the trying campaign of our country's +being. Such honor as they have won will remain imperishable.</p> + +<p>'<i>To the colored troops comprising the division of General Hinks, +the General commanding would call the attention of his command</i>. +With the veterans of the Eighteenth Corps they have stormed the +works of the enemy and carried them, taking guns and prisoners, and +<i>in the whole affair they have displayed all the qualities of good +soldiers</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;">'By command of</span><br /> +'<span class="smcap" style="margin-left: 5em;">W. F. Smith</span>, Major-General.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;">'<span class="smcap">Wm. Russell, Jr</span>.,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">'Assistant Adjt.-General.</span></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;">'Official: <span class="smcap">Solon A. Carter</span>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">'Captain and A. A. A.-G.'</span></p></div> + +<p>It may be added that 'Baldy' Smith has never been known as being +particularly partial to the use of negro troops. He is reported to have +said, after the assault on Petersburg, that the war was virtually ended, +because the negroes had now shown that they could fight, and so it was +only a question of time.</p> + +<p>The man is not to be envied who can contemptuously disregard this +record. And while we give unstinted honor to the heroes whose valor has +made the Army of the Potomac immortal in history, and made its campaign +of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania a campaign of glory, let us not +forget that negro troops in that army, and in other armies in the same +campaign, have borne their part faithfully, and deserve well of the +republic. Nor let us forget the damning atrocities at Fort Pillow, where +black men in United States uniform were massacred in cold blood, because +they were willing rather to die freemen with their white comrades of the +United States army, than live slaves to rebel masters:<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a> thus +vindicating their claim to freedom, and reflecting upon our country's +flag the especial honor which such determined bravery has ever been +awarded among men—reminding us of the Three Hundred at Thermopylæ, and +the Old Guard at Waterloo, disdaining to surrender.</p> + +<p>So strange are the events of history! So mysterious is the plan of +Providence, choosing now, as in the days of the apostle Paul, 'base +things of the world, and things which are despised, yea, and things +which are not, to bring to nought things that are!' What a stinging +example of time's revenges, to be sure, that negroes should have a part +in bringing to nought the rebellion of negro-holders! that they should +be found fighting for the very Government whose power had aided to keep +them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> in bondage to these negro-holders! In face of such facts, will any +one impiously declare that fate, or blind chance, rules the affairs of +men!</p> + +<p>We might well pause at this point to consider the philosophy of +revolutions. It would be an interesting study to investigate the +efficient or radical causes of these singular phenomena of God's +providence—these crises in history, when 'the fountains of the great +deep are broken up,' and the experience of centuries is crowded into the +limits of a single year, and we see the old landmarks all swept away +before the overwhelming tides of a new era. Then it is that precedents +avail us nothing, and we are driven to lay hold of those principles of +justice and right which are alone eternal. For in the storm and wreck of +revolution those principles are our sure beacon lights, shining on, like +the stars, forever. Thus philosophizing, the question would be: Have +revolutions a fixed law? Is there a recurring sequence in the mighty +'logic of events,' that will enable us to define a formula for the +revolutions of systems in society? So science has demonstrated a law for +the revolutions and changes of systems of worlds in infinite space. Or, +are the revolutions of history, like the volcanic disturbances of our +planet earth, in a sort, abnormal? They seem to come, like the <i>deus ex +machina</i> of the Roman poet, to cut the Gordian knots that perplex +statesmen and bewilder nations. The affairs of men get so tangled up +sometimes, that to prevent anarchy and chaos, God sends revolutions, +which sweep away the effete institutions and old, worn-out systems, to +replace them with new and living systems. And thus there is a perpetual +genesis, or new creation, of the world. Let any one read Carlyle's vivid +description of the badness of the eighteenth century, 'bad in that bad +way as never century before was, till the French Revolution came and put +an end to it,' and he will understand something of this question of +revolutions. It suggests the old scholastic dispute of the free agency +of man, and looks as though, granting that freedom, it were, after all, +too great a gift for us. For history seems to teach, as its one grand +lesson, confirming, as always, the revelation in Christ, that men cannot +take care of themselves; and that God leaves them to their own ways long +enough to satisfy them that human agency is inadequate to solve the +question of reform, and then, when the times are ripe, He takes the +reins into His own hand, and starts society anew. It is the patient +process of education by centuries, or by ages—only to be made perfect +in the millennial age. So it is that the world moves. It moves by the +free agency of man, kept in its balance by the guiding hand of God.</p> + + +<h3><a name="VEXED" id="VEXED"></a>I. THE VEXED QUESTION OF THE NEGRO.</h3> + +<p>Thus it is that the second American revolution is settling for us the +vexed question of the negro. What should be done with him, or for him, +or to him, had been the disturbing element in our political system ever +since the African slave trade expired by limitation of the Constitution +in 1808. The devices of human ingenuity (inspired, as we fervently +believe, by the purest patriotism) to stave off the inevitable final +settlement of this account, innumerable as they were, and only limited +by the predestined decree of Supreme Benevolence (which is Supreme +Justice), were, at last, exhausted. The statesmanship of '50 had been +outgrown. The giants of those days had gone, one by one, to their reward +ere yet the first breaths of the revolution that has opened the decade +of '60. Nought remained to their lesser associates, who still survived, +but to bow reverently before the storm, 'as seeing in it Him who is +invisible.' Such recognition, indeed, is the measure of men's patriotism +to-day. The man who so perverts his mind and reason as to shut out the +evidence of the stars<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> and his own consciousness (the German +metaphysician's proof of Deity), and deny that God is, is simply a fool; +and every reflecting mind is ready to sanction and adopt the Psalmist's +word: 'The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.' Equally a fool +is he who shuts his eyes to the overwhelming facts of the last two +years, refusing to be taught by the Providence behind them. Such and so +vast is the revolution by which God has intervened in our history. Such +is the Providence that still guides and guards the nation ordained by +Him to be. Such is the revolution that has swept away the slave system, +and opened for us a new path, and given us a new power of progress.</p> + +<p>Now, these views need not make one a negro-enthusiast. Because the +system of slavery has been swept away, it is not necessary to assert, as +some do, the negro's equality with the white man in those things wherein +he is plainly not his equal. Yet there is an equality that cannot be +denied. The negro is certainly a man, and not a brute animal; although +so demoralized and corrupt had grown to be the tone of society that we +have actually heard the opinion avowed, in all seriousness, that the +negro had no soul. Shylock, in 'The Merchant of Venice,' pleads for +himself and his Jewish brethren, in one of the most pathetic passages of +even Shakspeare's genius, as though the Hebrew race were considered less +than men. And such, indeed, was nearly the case in Shylock's time. On +the other hand, the Moor of Venice disdains to plead as to his +superiors. His conscious equality in presence of the 'grave and reverend +signiors,' gives to his renowned address a consummate dignity, unknown +elsewhere in literature. He felt, indeed, that his victories under the +flag of the republic entitled him not only to equality, but especial +honor. Is it not singular that in this nineteenth century there should +be found men who gladly accord to the Jew, the descendant of Shem, that +of which they refuse even the possibility to the dark descendant of Ham? +Surely the republic of Venice was not so far behind our boasted +civilization. Our civilization still clings to the idea of privilege. +The privilege of caste is only exchanged for the privilege of color.</p> + +<p>Nor need we commit ourselves to the doctrine of some, who would appear +to think that the negro is to be the dominant race of the future; if not +in himself, yet in virtue of his supplementing the composite Anglo-Saxon +race, and thus giving to it a completeness it is assumed not to have at +present. Such we understand to be the doctrine of what styles itself +Miscegenation. It would be pertinent, and, perhaps, conclusive, to cite +on this point the Latin maxim, <i>De gustibus non disputandum</i>.</p> + +<p>There are those who admire a certain new style of music, of which the +melody is chiefly hidden from the appreciation of common folk, and which +has received the title, 'Music of the Future;' looking forward to a time +when, perhaps, men's senses will be preternaturally quickened to +comprehend its discordant harmonies. It is something akin to that vagary +of religious sentiment, which, whatever may be its merits, whatever its +satisfaction for a spiritually illuminated chosen few, is, nevertheless, +beyond the present ken and comprehension and spiritual compass of most +mortals, and may be called the Religion of the Future. The fatal defect +of all these theories is that they serve no purpose of utility. +Considered as creations of ideal beauty, they may charm the fancy and +quicken the imagination, and even exalt the mental habitudes, of a few +devotees. Or, allowing that they are a sort of morning twilight vision, +they <i>may</i>, we cannot dogmatically deny, hereafter develop into a +splendid fulness, in the perfect day. All this may be. But they do not +meet the practical needs of our working life, the wants of weary men and +weary women.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> + +<p>So, what we want for the negro is not a metaphysical theory of his +perfect equality with the white man. Nor, on the other hand, are we at +liberty to say that he is, by virtue of any physical conformation and +structure, something inferior to the white man. Neither of these +positions can be sustained. The one plainly contradicts our observation +and experience; the other needs the proof of science that inferiority is +determined by physical structure. We must face the fact of the negro's +present degraded condition; and we must accept the equal fact of his +being a man, with a soul as precious, in the sight of God, as the soul +of his white brother. For the day when the sublime exordium of the +Declaration of Independence could be stigmatized as a 'glittering +generality,' is gone by. The basis of our American system of government, +it is no longer doubted, is the equality of all men before the law, as +the basis of our Christian faith is the equality of all men before God. +Accepting, then, the two undeniable facts above named, the question is, +What shall we do now with the negro?</p> + + +<h3><a name="SLAVE" id="SLAVE"></a>II. THE NEGRO SLAVE AS A SOLDIER.</h3> + +<p>Without attempting to discuss this interesting question in all its +various aspects, we may briefly advert to some of the problems in the +discussion which would seem to be fairly solved in the employment of the +negro as a United States soldier.</p> + +<p>Thus much is certainly true of the American negro, and herein he is +doubtless superior to the white man; namely, that he is docile, patient, +buoyant of spirit, full of affection, and endowed with a marvellous +apprehension of things spiritual. His <i>patience</i> is shown by his long +bondage, borne without serious murmuring; awaiting the day of +deliverance, confident that the year of jubilee was to come. This point +is lucidly elaborated in a late article, of great interest, in <i>The +Edinburgh Review</i>, said to have been written by a negro escaped from +slavery. The negro's <i>docility</i> appears in his aptitude to catch quickly +the tone of his master's mind, and guide himself by it; in the readiness +with which he yields to superior authority—which may or may not be due +to his spirit-crushing bondage, but which certainly has in it little of +the stupidity we should expect to find if such were the case. The +<i>buoyancy of his spirit</i> overflows in the perpetual music of his laugh +and song amid the hard fortunes of his race. The fulness of his +<i>capacity of affection</i> is attested by his remarkable devotion to master +or mistress, surviving strong amid all vicissitudes, and rising above +the iniquitous injustice that holds him in bonds into that exalted +triumph of the apostle's doctrine: 'Be not overcome of evil, but +overcome evil with good.' As for his <i>readiness to apprehend spiritual +things</i>, the experience of every person who has lived at the South +furnishes abundant proof. Who that has stood on the banks of a Southern +river, when a negro was baptized, and heard the loud chorus of joy of +his brethren and sisters when the sign of the Church was put upon him, +and seen the sympathy of eye and hand that welcomed him to the blessed +company, has not felt that for this poor, despised race there are riches +laid up in that kingdom 'where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and +where thieves do not break through nor steal'? Who that has stood in a +Southern forest on some Sunday afternoon, in the early Southern spring, +when the woods are resonant with the songs of birds, and heard a negro +congregation of believers in their meeting-house near by, joining with +all the fervor of their tropical temperament in this glad hymn of +nature, in the immortal verse of Wesley and Whitfield, has not felt that +to the negro the vision of the New Jerusalem is more of a reality than +has yet been granted to his worldly favored white brother and master? +Ah, no one who has witnessed such scenes all the years of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> childhood +and youth, can deny that among the disciples of Christ are to be +reckoned especially the negro race; who bear His blessed cross in our +day, amid the jeers of a sceptical world, just as in His own day upon +earth the negro Simon of Cyrene bore to the Mount of Calvary the cross +on which the Saviour died.</p> + +<p>What these things prove is just this: the negro's capacity for freedom; +his capacity to know what is the 'perfect law of liberty,' keeping +irresponsible license in check; his absolute freedom from the +bloodthirstiness that seems to horrify so many unthinking persons, who +affect to fear the consequences of putting a musket in a negro's hand. +The incontestable points above enumerated show the groundlessness of +such an alleged fear. It needs only to consider them candidly to be +disabused on that score. No one who has seen and knows the tenderness of +the negro toward the children of his master, and his never-failing +respect toward his mistress, dares say he fears the negro's savageness. +No one who knows the negro's religious sensibility and his unshaken +faith in Christ, dares say he fears. No. Only those fear who know +nothing at all about the negro. They fear whose creed is given them by +men thirsting for the negro's blood, that it may be coined into ungodly +gold.</p> + +<p>Thus much will suffice for objections to negro troops, on the ground of +their incapacity. It is seen that the negro is capable to comprehend the +limitations of liberty; that his nature is not essentially savage, or, +if so, has been softened and tempered into a gentle docility under the +benign influences of civilized society; that, above all, his Christian +education has elevated him to a dignity that despises mean revenge. If +further proof is necessary, the regiments of negro slaves recruited in +Louisiana and the Carolinas, acquiring a discipline that has stood them +in good stead at Olustee (day of gloom) and elsewhere on their native +soil, may be cited in evidence of their capacity.</p> + +<p>But what about our rights in the matter? For we are considering now the +case of the slaves, not the free negro? The proper and sufficient answer +to that question is, What about the rights of slave-holders? What rights +of theirs are we bound to respect now? They have taken the law into +their own hands, and if they cannot enforce it, is it any part of our +business to aid them? Certainly and undoubtedly not. It is part of the +penalty of treason; part of the price they are paying for their ignoble +thrust at the nation's life; and a very light penalty, and cheap price +it is, that they lose their right to hold slaves. Such rights as they +possessed they held under the Constitution. We have been willing, for +the sake of peace (bearing in mind the apostle's injunction, 'If it be +possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men'), to +protect, under the sacred covenant of the nation, what they called their +rights to property; albeit not willing ourselves to touch the 'accursed +thing.' The history of the country is a witness to our good faith. But +plainly the injunction of the apostle becomes impossible of obedience +when men transform themselves into fiends, and hang up in their railway +cars, as trophies, the ghastly skulls of such of us as have been slain +in defence of the national covenant.<a name="FNanchor_E_5" id="FNanchor_E_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_5" class="fnanchor">[E]</a> By their own acts the +slave-holders have cancelled our obligations as to such permissive +rights under the Constitution. We shall not probably hasten to incur any +more such obligations. They say that slavery is the strength of their +society. Doubtless it is. Then, Samson-like, they have pulled down upon +themselves the pillars of their whole fabric, and they cannot complain +if they and all their rights, immunities, and titles are buried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> in the +ruins. In other words, they have appealed from the Constitution, or the +law civil, to the sword, or the law military; and they must abide the +result of that appeal. Such is a brief statement of the question of +negro troops, as affecting the slaves of the South and their traitor +masters.</p> + + +<h3><a name="FREE" id="FREE"></a>III. THE FREE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER.</h3> + +<p>There is another phase of the question, less difficult of solution than +the preceding, perhaps, but by no means less important. It is the case +of the free negro, and especially the free negro of the North. Here +again we need not stop to discuss abstract questions of equality, nor +declare our adherence to the philosophy of Miscegenation. We need not +stop to consider the nature, or justice, of the prejudice which prevails +against the negro at the North. It is undeniable that there is such a +prejudice. Accepting the undoubted fact, we see that it shuts nearly +every avenue of honest industry against the man with a black skin, +restricting him to the most menial offices; and that it is fostered in +many ways by the conventions and usages of our society, so as +practically to put him in a worse condition than his bonded brother at +the South—always except as to his God-given right to his liberty and +labor. Experience has shown that even this is not always fully assured +to the negro; and the July riots of New York indicate the uncertain +tenure of his liberty and life, even under the protection of equal laws. +What then? Shall we remand him to the servitude of the South? Shall we +enact for him a sort of Napoleonic law of general safety, to deprive him +of the poor liberty he has—however profitless the boon may seem to us +to be? Certainly not. Every instinct of humanity rises up against so +monstrous a suggestion. Yet something very like it has a place in the +legislation of some States in the American Union.</p> + +<p>Then what a Providential solution of the question is offered in the +employment of the negro as a soldier! There cannot surely be any +well-founded objection to it. Such opposition as the plan has +encountered seems to spring from the same unreasoning prejudice that +keeps the black man out of all decent industries in our free North. It +is that very prejudice which this plan will overcome. For the first +thing to be done is to raise the negro from his degradation; and to do +this we must obviously begin with teaching him a proper self-respect. +This will bear its fruit in making him respected by others. No one will +say that it is well to foster a feeling which outlaws any single class +in the community from the respect of all. This would be to glorify the +slave system of the South, and lay a basis for possible revolutions. +Thus the employment of the negro as a soldier, while it must inspire the +bondman of the South with a truer sense of his worth and capacity, and +thus tend to weaken the foundation of the whole rebel fabric, will also +correct the unquestioned evil of a growing class of outlaws in the midst +of our society. And if we clothe the negro in the uniform of a soldier +of the United States, the respect of the nation for its brave defenders +will teach him self-respect; at the same time that it will teach the +nation to put a new value upon its idea of loyalty.</p> + +<p>The epitaph commemorative of the Spartan valor that has made Thermopylæ +a name forever, serves to show the conclusion of our whole discussion:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">'Go, stranger, and at Lacedæmon tell,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">That here, obedient to her laws, we fell.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>For the man who is loyal to his flag will not quarrel with the color of +a comrade in arms who has shed blood, red like his own, in defending +that flag from dishonor; just as the man who is loyal to the altar feels +a fellowship for every one, however humble, who bears the name of their +common Master, and is made in the image of their common Father.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> Late Southern newspapers speak of the obstinacy of the +garrison at Fort Pillow, and assert that Forrest would have stopped the +massacre at any time after the capture, if our soldiers had manifested +any disposition to yield.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_5" id="Footnote_E_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> The writer's father saw these skulls hanging in the cars on +a railway in Georgia, after first Bull Run, and saw them handed through +the cars amid the jeers of passengers.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="COLORS_AND_THEIR_MEANING" id="COLORS_AND_THEIR_MEANING"></a>COLORS AND THEIR MEANING.</h2> + + +<p>In order to a due understanding of the signification of colors, it is +necessary we should commence at the foundation. Accordingly I shall +begin by saying that colors are primary, secondary, and tertiary.</p> + +<p>Primary colors are three: red, yellow, and blue.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Red</span> is the color of greatest heat.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Yellow</span> is the color of greatest light.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Blue</span> is the color of chemical change.</p> + +<p>In accordance with this philosophical truth, we should naturally expect +to find a preponderance of blue rays from the sun in the spring time, +and so it is.</p> + +<p>These rays preponderate at the time of ploughing, sowing, and +germination.</p> + +<p>In the summer time, after the plant has started from the ground, and +requires vigorous leaves to bring it to perfection ere the cold winter +rolls around once more, we have the yellow rays. 'Light, more light,' is +then the cry of nature, and as not even length of days affords this +element in sufficient completeness, the sun darts his brightest beams in +'the leafy month of June.'</p> + +<p>Later still in the year, after germination is past and growth perfected, +comes the necessity of heat rays to ripen fruit, vegetables, and grain, +and nature's behests are obeyed in the then preponderance of the red +rays. Much of this effect may be due to the <i>media</i> through which the +sun's rays pass. A sensitized photographic paper is not colored as much +at an altitude of three miles in half an hour as is a similar paper upon +the earth's surface in one moment. At any season of the year, gardeners +can either stimulate or retard germination as they place a blue or +yellow glass over the nursling. That the growth of plants is not due +alone to the rays of the sun we can, without experiment, convince +ourselves, as even ordinary observers are well aware that upon some days +plants shoot up so rapidly as to grow almost visibly under their eyes, +and in other conditions of the atmosphere seemingly remain dormant for +days.</p> + +<p>The germinating influence, let it be due either to peculiar rays alone, +or to atmospheric state, does not contain much coloring matter. The +first spring flowers are of a pale color; as summer advances we have +brighter hues, but not until the approach of fall do we see Flora in all +her gorgeousness of coloring. The paleness of mountain and arctic +flowers, and the brilliancy of those of the tropics, point to the same +cause which gives the temperate zones their brightest flowers when heat +rays preponderate.</p> + +<p>As depth of color seems connected with the red or heat rays; so perfume +belongs rightfully to the summer blossoms; when light is the strongest, +then we have our pinks, and roses, and lilies.</p> + +<p>There are also in the spectrum four secondary colors: orange, green, +indigo, and violet. The secondary colors are alternate with the primary +in the spectrum, and are formed by a mixture of the two primary nearest +them—as orange, formed by a union of red and yellow; green, by a +mixture of yellow and blue; indigo and violet, of blue and red. Thus:</p> + +<ul><li>Red,</li> + +<li><i>Orange</i>,</li> + +<li>Yellow,</li> + +<li><i>Green</i>,</li> + +<li>Blue,</li> + +<li><i>Indigo</i>,</li> + +<li><i>Violet</i>.</li></ul> + + +<p>Tertiary colors are many more than both primary and secondary. They are +hues not found in the spectrum. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> are nature's stepchildren rather +than children, and many of them might not inappropriately be called +children of art; yet although most of them are of inventions that man +has sought out, they are at best but shades, and must all look back to +the spectrum as their common parent.</p> + +<p>Each of the primary colors forms a simple contrast to the other two; +thus blue is contrasted by yellow and by red, either of which forms a +simple contrast to it; but as it is a law of color that compound +contrasts are more effective than simple in the proportion of two to +one, it follows that a mixture of either two of the primitive colors is +the most powerful contrast possible with the other.</p> + +<p>Red and yellow form orange, the greatest and the most harmonious +contrast to blue; red and blue form violet or purple, so much admired in +contrast with yellow in the pansy; yellow and blue form green, the +contrast to red, and the color needed to restore the tone of the optic +nerve when strained or fatigued by undue attention to red. This is the +most common and admirable contrast in the vegetable kingdom; the +brilliant red blossom or fruit, with green leaves, as instance the fiery +tulip, the crimson rose, the scarlet verbena, the burning dahlia, the +cherry and apple trees, the tomato or loveapple of my childhood, and the +scarlet maple and sumach of our American October.</p> + +<p>There are two distinct harmonies of color: the harmony of contrast, and +the harmony of shading. The former is the harmony of striking +diversities found in nature, and the other a mellowing of colors, or +blending of similar hues, attributable to art.</p> + +<p>From this little synopsis of the effects and uses of the prismatic +colors, we shall be enabled the better to understand both the ancient +and modern popular ideas as to colors as representatives and +correspondences. Colors have a mental, moral, and physical +significance—a good and a bad import. The one to which I shall first +direct your attention is that which most readily strikes the eye.</p> + + +<h4>RED.</h4> + +<p>Which Thoreau called the 'color of colors,' in the Hebrew signified to +have dominion, and in early art was symbolical or emblematic of Divine +love, creative power, etc. The word Adam, we have been taught, signifies +red man; it does mean 'the blood,' which, of course, originated 'to be +red,' as a secondary signification. Lanci, the great interpreter of +Sacred Philology at the Vatican, deems 'The Blusher,' to be the true +meaning of the word Adam. God created man, male and female created He +them, and called their name Adam. A blush, so becoming on the +countenance of feminine beauty, is generally deemed a sign of weakness +when visible upon a man's face. But if the above interpretation be +correct, a blush is a man's birthright, which no sense of false shame +should prevent him from modestly claiming. Red, as signifying +perfection, dominion, fruition, was appropriately the name of our first +parents, whether we regard the account of the creation to be literally +understood, as the old theologians believe, or spiritually and +typically, as the modern ones insist.</p> + +<p>Red is the color of what is intense, be it love or hatred, kindness or +cruelty. It denotes the fulness of strong emotions; alike the glowing of +conscious love or the blazing of fierce anger, the fiery ardor of daring +and valor, or the fierce cruelty of hatred and revenge. Of our own +star-spangled banner, we sing:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">'The red is the blood of the brave.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The red garments of cardinals, and especially their red hats, are +supposed to betoken their readiness to spill their blood for Jesus +Christ.</p> + +<p>Red is the color of undeveloped ideas. It is the hue which most quickly +attracts the attention of children and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> savages. All barbarous nations +admire red; many savages paint their faces vermilion before entering +battle, to which they look forward as the means of attaining enviable +position in their tribe; for with barbarians physical prowess is the +only superiority.</p> + +<p>Some animals are excited to madness by the sight of this color. The bull +and the turkey take it as a signal of defiance, which they rush to meet. +'Come, if you dare,' they read it, and impetuously hasten to the onset.</p> + +<p>When the bloody Jeffreys was in his bloodiest humor, he wore into court +a red cap, which was the sure death warrant of those about to be tried.</p> + +<p>The death garment of Charlotte Corday was a red chemise—fit emblem of +the ungovernable instincts, the wild rioting in blood of that reign of +terror.</p> + +<p>Christ was crucified in a scarlet robe, and in that color of love and +perfection, perfected his offering of love for mankind.</p> + + +<h4>YELLOW.</h4> + +<p>Anciently symbolized the sun, the goodness of God, marriage, faith, and +fruitfulness. Old paintings of St. Peter represent him in a yellow +mantle. The Venuses were clothed in saffron-colored tunics; Roman brides +of an early day wore a veil of an orange tinge, called the <i>flameum</i>, a +flame—a flame which, kindled at Hymen's torch, it is to be hoped was +ever burning, never consuming. As every good has its antipodal evil, so +every color has its bad sense, which is contrary or opposite to its +first or good signification.</p> + +<p>In a bad sense, yellow means inconstancy, and the æsthetic Greeks, fully +carrying out this meaning, compelled their public courtesans to +distinguish themselves by mantles of saffron color. The radical sense of +saffron is to fail, to be hollow, to be exhausted. In tracing customs, +it is easy to see the bias unknowingly received from natural +significations, significations which take their rise in the spiritual +world. The <i>San Benito</i> or <i>auto-da-fe</i> dress of the Spanish Inquisition +was yellow, blazoned with a flaming cross; and, as a mark of contempt +for the race, the Jews of Catholic Spain were condemned to wear a yellow +cap. Distinguishing colors in dress have ever been one of the most +common methods of expressing distinction of class and differences of +faith, until thence has arisen the imperative adage: 'Show your colors;' +and he who refuses to do so is despised as a hypocrite or changeling.</p> + +<p>Yellow, as a color, finds but few admirers among modern enlightened +nations; it is recognized as the color of shams; but in China, that +country of contrarities, where printing, fish breeding, gas burning, and +artesian wells have been known and stationary for centuries, where +almond-shaped eyes, club feet, and long cues are types of beauty, where +old men laughingly fly kites, and little boys look gravely on, where +white is mourning, and everything is different from elsewhere—there +yellow is the most admired of colors, restricted to the use of royalty +alone under penalty of death.</p> + +<p>Yellow is the most searching of colors, as indeed it should be from its +correspondence with light. It is gaudy, and does not inspire respect, +for it brings into view every imperfection. Every defect in form or +manner is rendered conspicuous by it, and we involuntarily scan the +whole person of the unfortunate and tasteless wearer of it.</p> + + +<h4>BLUE.</h4> + +<p>In early art, represented truth, honor, and fidelity, and even at this +day we associate blue and truthfulness. Christ and the Virgin were +formerly painted with blue mantles, and blue is especially recognized as +the Virgin's color. We can never turn our eyes upward without seeing +truth's emblematical color. How appropriate that the heavens should be +blue! Of truthfulness and faithfulness it should be our constant +reminder.</p> + +<p>Primary blue enters as a compound<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> into three other colors of the +spectrum: green, indigo, and violet. As a primary color, it is much more +rarely seen in nature than either red or yellow. We have few blue birds, +few blue flowers, few blue fruits. As one of a compound, it is oftener +found than red. The grass, the leaves, everywhere proclaim the marriage +of good, as yellow anciently represented, and truth, as blue symbolized. +There is a deep significance in the change that has come over mankind's +view of the meaning of the first of these colors. With the loss of +faith, the tearing apart of truth and goodness, has come a change of +correspondence. Men have everywhere turned away from the light, though +still professing to strive for truth.</p> + +<p>Each color possesses a character of its own, which proclaims to the +close observer the peculiar qualities of that to which it belongs. The +horticulturist reads the peculiarities of the fruit as readily by its +color as the phrenologist reads his by his 'bumps.' The red one, he will +tell you, is sour, the white one sweet, the pale one flat, and the green +one alkaline; that one is a good table apple, this one a superior cider +apple; and if you further ask the characteristics of a good cider apple, +he will tell you again it is known by its color, not only of the skin, +but also of the pulp, and that it can be foretold whether cider will be +weak, thin, and colorless, or possess strength, or richness, or color.</p> + +<p>The botanist, too, regards color as indicative of quality, the yellow +flower having a bitter taste and a fixed, unfading hue, the black, a +poisonous, destructive property, etc., etc.</p> + +<p>Truth, of which we have seen blue was the correspondent, is never +superficial, and, although apparent truths lie upon the surface, yet a +common adage locates truth at the bottom of a well. Seamen acknowledge +deep indigo blue of water to be indicative of profound depth. Of the +three or primitive colors, the red or heat color, which has been termed +light felt, the yellow or light color, which has been called heat seen, +and the blue, a color of chemical change, which is the color of growth, +these correspond in an unknown degree to the love, wisdom, and truth of +the Supreme One; heat to love, for love is heat; light to wisdom, for +wisdom is light; and germination and growth to truth, for by truth souls +grow into wisdom and love. The more we explore the arcana of nature the +more we will be enabled to discover the correspondence of the natural +with the spiritual world.</p> + + +<h4>WHITE.</h4> + +<p>Is the emblem of light, every white ray of light containing all the +prismatic colors; and as it symbolizes innocence and purity, it is the +color must appropriate for clothing infants, brides, and the dead. We +think of the angels as clothed in white. At the transfiguration of our +Lord and Master, his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, as +no fuller on earth can white them; and in one of the Evangelists his +raiment is described as at that time as white as the light, and so our +highest comparison of whiteness is 'as white as the light.'</p> + + +<h4>BLACK.</h4> + +<p>Formed by a combination in equal proportions of the three primitive +colors in equal intensity, is the color of despair. As mourning, it is +only suitable for those who despair of the future of their friends; but +it is preëminently unsuitable to be worn for those who die in Christian +faith with a Christian hope. Despite its gloomy hue, it has almost +become a sacred color among Christian nations, being worn as the dress +of the priest in his ministerial office, and doubly hallowed from its +association with the dead.</p> + +<p>Black, as an ornamental color, should be below all others, for artistic +effect. An artistic dressmaker places the dark or black plaids or +stripes beneath the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> others. This natural correspondence is almost +universally recognized among enlightened nations in clothing for the +feet. They not only look smaller and more tasteful in black shoes than +in colored, but economy also sanctions them as more useful. The +universal tendency of the nineteenth century is to utilitarianism; the +one question asked is: What is the use? and in use is beauty ever found.</p> + +<p>Ethnological investigation shows that black or dark-colored races have +invariably preceded settlement by the whites. This is in accordance with +the law of color above laid down, viz., that, <i>artistically</i>, black is +below the other colors (and now, in order that I may not be +misunderstood, I explicitly say that because, <i>artistically</i>, black is +the lowest color, it by no means follows that I deem black or olive or +yellow races subjects for slavery, or unworthy of social and political +rights). In accordance with the above axiom, savage and half-civilized +races are found to be at the present day black haired and black eyed. I +will also venture the assertion that nine tenths of all the people in +the world have black hair.</p> + +<p>The Hindoo legend of the eighth incarnation of Vishnu under the name of +Crishna, makes him then of a bluish-black color, which the name Crishna +signifies. His supposititious father, Wanda, said:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'When I named him Crishna, on account of his color, the priest told +me he must be the god who had taken different bodies, red, white, +yellow, and black, in his various incarnations, and now he had +assumed a black color again, since in black all colors are +absorbed.'</p></div> + +<p>Although among Caucasian nations, and especially in cosmopolitan +America, we do not adduce intellectual superiority from the shades or +degrees of whiteness, yet it is said of the Moors that the more the +color approaches the <i>black</i>, the handsomer and of more decisive +character are the men.</p> + +<p>It is a physiological fact brought to light partially through the +census, that black-eyed races and black-eyed people are more subject to +blindness than others. It has also been shown that black-eyed men are +not as good marksmen as blue-eyed or light-eyed men.</p> + +<p>Not only are different races of men subject to different diseases, but +statistics prove that among Caucasian nations, complexion and disease +are in some way connected, as for instance, consumption is more rife +among dark-haired and dark-eyed people than others, and more rapid with +those dark-haired and dark-eyed people who have very fair complexion. As +the difference between golden and black hair lies in that there is in +the one case an excess of sulphur and oxygen with a deficiency of +carbon, and in the other an excess of carbon and a deficiency of sulphur +and oxygen, it can easily be seen why such deficiency or excess, if +arising from idiosyncrasy of the system, should predispose to dissimilar +diseases. But here a wide field yet lies open for experimental and +physiological research.</p> + + +<h4>GREEN.</h4> + +<p>There is scarcely a color but has been or is held sacred by some nation +or religion. With Mahommedans green is the sacred hue. The prophet +originally wore a turban of that dye, and the sultan shows due +preference for that color.</p> + +<p>The tomb of David, which is in possession of the Mahommedans, and which +was at great hazard visited by a lady within the past few years, is +covered by a green satin tapestry, and over it hangs a satin canopy of +red, blue, yellow, and green stripes, the three primitive and the +sacred, compound color.</p> + +<p>Green also seems to have been the sacred color in ancient Peru, virgins +of the sun wearing robes of that hue. The ancient Mexican priests also, +in the performance of their functions, wore crowns of green and yellow +feathers, and at their ears hung green jewels.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> Precious stones of a +green color were held in higher estimation by the Aztecs than any other. +When the Spaniards were first admitted to an audience with Montezuma, he +wore no other ornament on his head than a <i>panache</i> of plumes of royal +green.</p> + +<p>Green comes in the class of secondary colors, being a compound of yellow +and blue, and signifies pale, new, fresh, growing, flourishing (like a +green bay tree); and also unripe, when applied to either fruits or men, +which, as far as the human is concerned, is a term of reproach. A person +without experience, either in position, behavior, or use of anything, is +termed green, and laughed at. They are fresh, new, and, instead of the +admiring exclamation, How green it is! as applied to a plant, is the +reproachful one, How green he is!</p> + +<p>At different seasons of the year, different colors are appropriate in +dress. Light green is the color of freshness, youth, and spring, and +more suitable to be worn in the spring of the year and by young persons, +than later in the season or by mature women. Dark green, like crimson +and orange, is a warmer, more intensified color, with less of liveliness +and freshness.</p> + + +<h4>PURPLE.</h4> + +<p>Is the type of monarchical enlightenment. With Caucasian nations it has +been the symbolic color of royalty, until 'invest with the purple,' in +the course of ages, comes to mean kingdom, government, power, to rule. +Purple is formed by the union of blue and red, truth and valor. Happy +the people who are truly governed by truth and valor! The Tyrian purple +was famous in Homer's days, and our dreams of Tyre and its splendor are +all colored by this most gorgeous of dyes, the manufacture of which from +a species of shell fish gave this ancient city a celebrity which all its +other arts combined could not equal. This was one of the symbolic colors +with which the high priest's robe was wrought in figures of pomegranates +upon its skirt; and when Solomon sent to Hiram, king of Tyre, for a +cunning workman to assist in building the temple, he did not fail to +require he should be skilled in purple. During the time of the Roman +emperors, the Tyrian purple was valued so highly that a pound of cloth +twice dipped was sold for about one hundred and fifty dollars. Even a +purple border about a robe was a mark of dignity.</p> + + +<h4>VIOLET.</h4> + +<p>Is a color that has often been worn by martyrs; formed of a union of red +and blue, it signifies love and truth, and their passion and suffering. +It is the court mourning color all over Europe, with the exception of +England. It is the softest of the prismatic colors, and its very name +carries us in thought to the modest sweet flower which is Flora's emblem +of humility.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Of one of the colors of the spectrum I have failed to speak, because +there was so little to say. Orange is a bright, warm color, not quite as +intense as red, still one which the eye does not readily seek. Its +suitableness in dress is confined mainly to children. Upon them our eye +naturally seeks for bright, warm colors, and rests with a kind of +pleasure upon rich hues. There is nothing upon which the public taste +requires more education than upon the arrangement and modification of +colors. Gardeners need it in setting their plants and putting in their +seeds; florists, in the arrangement of their bouquets; furnishers, in +the decoration of apartments; and especially the fashion leaders, who +decide what colors or shades must or must not be worn together. +Sometimes hues are conjoined by them, that, no matter how loudly +proclaimed <i>au fait</i>, the height of style, or <i>à la mode</i>, are never +artistic, and no <i>dicta</i> can make them so. A fashion framer should needs +be a natural philosopher, and hold the rudiments of all science in her +grasp. Botany, miner<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>alogy, conchology should walk as handmaidens to +philosophy; optics should steer the rudder of color's bark when launched +upon the sea of taste.</p> + +<p>If, when dressed, the aim is to present a light and graceful toilet, +light and delicate shades of color must be worn; no crimson, dark green, +purple, or indigo, but rose, light green, azure, or lavender, with a due +admixture of white, must be the hues chosen. White serves as an +admirable break, and prevents the appearance of violent transition. It +is none the less requisite in bouquets, where no two shades of the same +color should be allowed without either white or green as a separator. +Very handsome self-colored bouquets can be arranged by giving a finish +of the complementary shade. One of the most beautiful I ever remember to +have seen was scarlet verbenas with a base of rose-geranium leaves, the +whole set in a small antique green-and-gold vase.</p> + +<p>Although the mature fall of the year clothes itself in gay colors, it is +deemed an evidence of immaturity for women in the fall time of life to +sport crimson and scarlet and orange. Sober grays (which mean old, +mature), quiet brown, and even sombre blacks, are rather what are looked +for. To dress young when people are old, deceives no one. There is a +beauty of age as well as a beauty of youth. Those who live to be old +have had their share of the former: why should they seek to deprive +themselves of the latter? Aside from the appropriateness of color as to +age, there are yet others as to size and complexion. Light-haired men +should always wear <i>very dark</i> cravats, in order to give tone and +expression to the face. Large women should wear warm colors, if they +wish to create a pleasant impression. They cannot attain grace by any +aid of color, while they will lose the dignity they might naturally +claim if they confined themselves to warm, grave shades.</p> + +<p>An unartistic arrangement of light or drapery in an apartment will +totally destroy the harmony of the most carefully prepared toilet. Rooms +can be toned warm or cold, but, unless some especial object is sought, +neutral tints should predominate, and violent contrasts should be +avoided.</p> + +<p>Who has failed to notice the fantastic tricks played at times upon some +body of worshippers, where light to the church is admitted through +stained glass windows? A lambent red flame lighting up the hair of a +man's head, while at the same moment his beard is blue and luminous. +Over the shoulders of another, the purple mantle of royalty seems about +falling, investing him for a moment with regal splendors, while perhaps +the cadaverous hue of his next neighbor's face well fits him to be some +imagined victim of his new majesty's anger.</p> + +<p>Color ranks as one of the earliest arts. No nation is so low but it +makes some attempt at decorative color, and we may be well assured it +was one of the earliest, if not the earliest method employed in +transmitting intelligence. When this country was first discovered, the +Peruvians were making use of small knotted cords of various colors, +termed <i>quippu</i>, as mediums of records and messages. Our own North +American savages employed wampum, made from various colored shells, for +a similar purpose. Color played its part in ancient Egyptian +hieroglyphics. It speaks to the eye sooner than form. A black flag +hoisted upon the battle field proclaims louder than words the demoniac +cruelty that reigns, while a white signifies that submission has been +decided upon. Joseph's coat of many colors proclaimed the father's +favoritism to his brothers, and worked a mighty change in the history of +the race to which he belonged. This very instance, if we possessed no +other, would prove to us the high estimation in which color was held, +and its symbolic meaning, in the most ancient times.</p> + +<p>The ermine is an animal of such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> spotless purity it will tolerate no +stain on its fur, and by this symbolic name we designate the judge, who +should be stainless, unbiassed, and incorruptible.</p> + +<p>The highest art of the florist is put forth to procure change of color. +Self tulips are valueless beside sports, and to induce this breaking +various methods are put in requisition, as there is no sporting of +colors from natural causes among flowers. A green rose, a blue verbena, +are hailed as triumphs, and secure the propagator an enviable name +either as an amateur or professional florist.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most curious thing connected with color is that some stars +give colored light; and in one instance, in a northern constellation, a +<i>double</i> star gives forth blue rays from one and red from the other. How +our fancy might be permitted to soar away beyond the stars themselves in +wondering fancies as to the meaning of this—truth and love united in a +star, not as a compound color, but each retaining its own hue of blue +and red! What a happy abode of truthful, loving spirits we can imagine +this the dwelling place! And may there not here be a symbol of such a +union?</p> + +<p>The art of color is yet in its infancy, and although Tyrian purple was +magnificent and famous, and the highly prized Turkey red unfading, yet +modern chemical discovery has opened a wide variety of hues unknown to +the ancients.</p> + +<p>Colors obtained from vegetable substances have been the most numerous, +those from the animal kingdom the most brilliant, and from the mineral +the greatest variety from the same substance. A buff, a blue, and a +black, and again a red, a blue, a purple, and a violet, are produced +from the same metal.</p> + +<p>The recent discovery of aniline colors, to be extracted from coal +refuse, has given art new, beautiful, and durable shades of red, blue, +purple, and violet. We know but by description what the lauded Tyrian +purple was, for monopoly caused the art to be lost; but for softness, +richness, and beauty of purple we have none to approach that extracted +from this refuse. Nature means nothing to be lost, and waste arises from +ignorance. She is a royal mistress when royally represented.</p> + +<p>To the mineral kingdom we are indebted for most of the mordants which +fix the hues derived from other sources. That in union is strength is +taught by the most common art.</p> + +<p>Much is yet to be learned in regard to color. Men have understood its +correspondence sufficiently to associate red and cruelty as its lowest +expression, so that the men of the bloody French Revolution received an +undying name from the red cap of the Carmagnole costume—and yellow with +shame, for a ruff of this color on the neck of a woman hanged drove this +fashion out of England—and white with purity, as the ermine of the +judge shows; although, thousands of years ago, the men of Tartary and +Thibet prized the wool of the Crimean sheep stained of a peculiar gray +by its feeding upon the <i>centarina myriocephala</i>, and although modern +gardeners deepen the hues of plants by feeding them judiciously, yet few +attach the requisite importance to color as history. Writers for the +most part pass silently by this great aid to a correct understanding of +past events. Color in costume is no less essential to a true description +or representation than form; in some instances it is more so.</p> + +<p>The <i>color</i> of the silken sails of Cleopatra's vessel, as she sailed +down the Cydnus, proclaimed her royalty as no other could have done.</p> + +<p>A fairy could not be depicted without her green robe, or young Aurora +unless tinted with the hues of morn.</p> + +<p>Here lies the great fault of all sun pictures. The distinctive hues of +complexion, hair, and eyes are not preserved. The flaxen, the auburn, +the brown hair alike take black. Light eyes and dark are +undistinguishable; the clearest complexion becomes muddy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> and full of +lines if the color of the dress is such as to throw the shade upon it.</p> + +<p>A mixture of colors in dress in which either two of the primitives +predominate, is a token of barbarism, even if occurring among so-called +enlightened people.</p> + +<p>Color is an exponent of the degree of civilization.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Red</span> finds its fitness among savage races, and with undeveloped +natures.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Yellow</span> indicates transition from barbarism to civilization.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Green</span>, advanced civilization.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Purple</span>, monarchical enlightenment, which is will individualized +in but one.</p> + +<p>Modification and harmony are only with people free to follow taste and +select for themselves. Among the most enlightened nations these five +states are all found. The highest type, shown by culture, discovery, +art, literature, science, equity, and government, exists with but a few. +The mass are civilized, and continue 'the mass.' It is the natural +tendency of enlightenment to individualize. In proportion to genius, +culture, and <i>perseverance</i>, is one set apart, becomes a leader of the +masses, and should be a teacher of the harmony and correspondence of +color, both by precept and example.</p> + +<p>Strong contrasts are admissible in what is designed to illustrate +particular things, and especially if to be viewed from a distance. To me +no sight is ever more beautiful than the American flag, red, white, and +blue, as the breeze opens every fold and waves it abroad for the gaze of +men; the blue signifying a league and covenant against oppression, to be +maintained in truth, by valor and purity; the very color proclaiming to +despots and tyrannized man that in one land on the broad face of the +earth liberty of conscience prevails, and freedom of speech exists. We +shall not want to change it when this war is over. It is the symbol of +an idea which has never yet found its full utterance. When Liberty and +Union become one and indivisible, it will be the harmonious exponent of +those grand ideas rooted, budded, blossomed, and bearing fruit +forevermore.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BATTLE_OF_THE_WILDERNESS" id="BATTLE_OF_THE_WILDERNESS"></a>BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS.</h2> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Oh, how our pulses leaped and thrilled, when, at the dead of night,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">We saw our legions mustering, and marching forth to fight!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Line after line comes surging on with martial pomp and pride,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And all the pageantries that gild the battle's crimson tide.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">A forest of bright bayonets, like stars at midnight, gleam;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">A hundred glittering standards flash above the silver stream.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">We plunged into the Wilderness, and morning's early dawn</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Disclosed our gallant army in line of battle drawn.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">An early zephyr fresh and sweet breathed through the forest shade;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">A thousand happy warblers, too, a pleasant music made;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And modest blossoms bathed in dew the morning light revealed:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Oh, who could deem those pleasant shades a savage foe concealed?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">With lagging pace the morning hours dragged heavily away,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And yet we wait the coming strife, in battle's stern array.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">A solemn stillness reigns around—but hark! a savage yell,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 3em;">As if ten thousand angry fiends had burst the gates of hell,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Now thrills upon our startled ears. By heaven! the traitors come!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">We see their gleaming banners, we hear the throbbing drum.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">In solid ranks, their countless hordes from the dense woods emerge,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And roll upon our serried lines like ocean's angry surge.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Our ranks are silent—on each face the light of battle glows:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">'Ready!' At once our polished tubes are levelled on our foes.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Now leaps a livid lightning up—from rank to rank it flies—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">A fearful diapason rends the arches of the skies.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The wooded hills seem reeling before that fierce recoil;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">With fire and smoke the valleys like Etna's craters boil:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">From red volcanoes bursting, hissing, hurtling in the sky,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">A thousand death-winged messengers like fiery meteors fly:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Within that seething vortex their shattered cohorts reel.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">'Fix bayonets!' At once our lines bristle with burnished steel.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">'Charge!' And our gallant regiments burst through the <i>feu d'enfer</i>.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Before their furious onset the rebel hosts give way;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And, surging backward, hide again within the forest's shade,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Whose mazes dark and intricate our charging columns stayed.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Now sinks the fiery orb of day, half hidden from our sight</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Amid the sulphurous clouds of war dyed red in lurid light;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And soon the smoking Wilderness with gloom and darkness fills;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The dense, damp foliage on the sod a bloody dew distils.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Sleepless we rest upon our arms. Dim lights flit through the shade:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">We hear the groans of dying men, the rattle of the spade.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And when the morning dawns at last, resounding from afar</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">We hear the crash of musketry, the rising din of war.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">O comrades, comrades, rally round, close up your ranks again;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Weep not our brethren fallen upon the crimson plain;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">For unborn ages shall their tombs with freshest laurels twine;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Their names in characters of light on history's page shall shine:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">We all must die; but few may win a deathless prize of life—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Close up your ranks—again the foe renews the bloody strife.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Two days we struggled fiercely against our stubborn foes—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Two days from out the Wilderness the din of conflict rose.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">But when the third aurora bathed the eastern sky in gold,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And to our soldiers' anxious gaze the field of death unrolled,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Lo! all was silent in our front. The rebel hosts had fled,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Abandoning in hasty flight their wounded and their dead.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Come, friends of freedom, gather round, loud shouts of triumph give:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The field of blood is won at last—let the republic live!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Our country, O our country, our hearts throb wild and high;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Your cause has triumphed. God be praised! Freedom shall never die.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Our eagle proudly soars to-day, his talons bathed in gore,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">For treason's hydra head is crushed—its reign of terror o'er.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Wake, wake your shouts of triumph all through our mighty land,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">From California's golden hills to proud Potomac's strand.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Atlantic's waves exulting Pacific's billows call,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And great Niagara's cataracts in louder thunders fall.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">We've stayed the tempest black as night that on our country lowers,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 3em;">And backward dashed its waves of blood. The victory is ours!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">A light shines from the Wilderness—far up time's pathway streams—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Through death, and blood, and agony, on Calvary's cross it gleams;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">It lights with radiance divine Mount Vernon's humble tomb,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">And sparkles on Harmodius' sword bright flashing through the gloom.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Ho! slaves of yesterday, arise, now will your chains be riven.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Ho! tyrants, tremble, for behold a day of vengeance given.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Gaze on our banners stained with blood—think of your brethren slain;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Say, has not freedom, crushed to earth, sprung forth to life again?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Freedom, high freedom, friend of man, sheath not thy crimson steel;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Still let thy cannon thunder loud, still let thy trumpet peal;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Stay not the justice of thy wrath, stay not thy vengeful hand,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Till slavery and treason have been blotted from our land.</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="TARDY_TRUTHS" id="TARDY_TRUTHS"></a>TARDY TRUTHS.</h2> + +<p>Under the heading of 'Tardy Truths' <i>The New Nation</i>, of May 7th, +republished a compendium of matter some time back given to the world by +M. Emile de Girardin, in his paper <i>La Presse</i>, and in pamphlet form. +This matter purports to have been written by a so-called <i>ex-commandant</i> +in the late Polish insurrection, a certain M. Fouquet, of Marseilles.</p> + +<p>Poland has no reason to fear truth. On the contrary, the difficulty has +been to find means to set it forth, avenues to the public intelligence +and sense of justice, whereby those might be reached who forget the +Latin saying: <i>Audi et alteram partem</i>. The Poles are willing to hear +reproaches, if such as may be profited by, or if the self-constituted +judges be conscientious and unprejudiced.</p> + +<p>But, may we not ask why it is that many of these <i>so-called</i> truths, +professedly founded upon personal acquaintance with Polish localities, +men, and institutions, spring from sources in many respects similar to +that of the recent publication in <i>La Presse</i>, from individuals who +never were in Poland beyond a few hours spent in Warsaw—who have seen +nothing of the country, except as passing in a passenger car from Kracow +to Mohilew, a distance of about seven hundred miles, traversed in about +twenty-four hours—who never understood one word of Polish, of Rossian, +or of any of the cognate tongues—who have never conversed freely with +the inhabitants—who may have been entertained during a few hours by +Government employés or by cautious and distrustful patriots—who were in +a hurry to see St. Petersburg and its <i>elephant</i>, and who learned Polish +history in the Kremlin, in the saloons of some former prince from the +Altay or the Caucasus, or, at best, in the work of M. Koydanoff?</p> + +<p><i>La Presse</i>, in Paris, undertook the charge of saying things which her +franker sisters, <i>Le Nord</i> and <i>La Nation</i>, the avowed organs of Rossian +czarism, did not venture to propound. M. de Girardin, whose paper has, +since a certain period, taken a liberalistic, even socialistic, +infection, is a living example of sundry anomalous eccentricities, such +as Alcibiades, Gracchus, Mirabeau, etc., who speak most liberally, and +act in a contrary manner. He seems to have been adopted by Rossian +diplomatists, and those sanguine of Rossian <i>destiny</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> as a most +convenient defender of czarish ambition—the more so that they found in +him a revealer of things never thought of by the czar; as for instance, +liberality and even democracy in Great Rossia, on the plains of Okka and +Petschora.</p> + +<p>We might compare M. Fouquet's account of Poland with Neumann's account +of Kosciusko, or Freneau's of Washington, but will content ourselves +with referring the reader to better European sources of knowledge, as +the <i>Breslau Zeitung</i>, <i>Ost Deutsche Zeitung</i>, <i>Czas</i>, <i>Wiek</i>, <i>La +Pologne</i>, etc.</p> + +<p>Indeed, it would not be worth our while to pay any attention to M. +Fouquet's allegations, had not the Paris letter of April 4th appeared in +the above-mentioned paper, and were it not likely to mislead many +ignorant of the facts.</p> + +<p>The writer tells us that he has 'experienced a great temptation to tell +what he has seen,' and to 'expose the result of experience acquired at +his own cost, with all attendant risk and danger.' Probably we do not +understand the fear of the author of 'Tardy Truths,' and wish to give no +extended explanation to his conclusion: 'A rare opportunity occurs at +<i>present</i>, and he profits by it.' We have been taught that we must +always have courage to speak the truth. Surely no great amount of that +noble quality is required to make accusations in a paper far from the +scene of action, and pronounce a verdict where there can be no adequate +defence, no judges, only the advantage of the fashion of the day, and +the craving for problematical benefits and friendship, to which we must +apply Moore's comparison:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">'Like Dead Sea fruits, that tempt the eye,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">But turn to ashes on the lips.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Let us never be deceived: a free nation in the embrace of absolutism +must, sooner or later, fall a prey to the cajoler's hypocrisy and greed.</p> + +<p>The correspondent reports that the Polish Committee in Paris declined to +give him information or furnish means, and even said that they did not +wish volunteers. All this may readily be explained by the consideration +that a man who thereafter proved to be so bitter an enemy was not +sufficiently diplomatic to deceive even the obtuse perceptions of so +undeserving a body as the author describes said committee. On the other +hand, it would have been more prudent for the writer to have said less +on this topic, as such hesitation in accepting his services might induce +the reader to think that the Poles were not so anxious for external aid +as he seemed to fancy. We also know that not only at present in Poland, +but in former ages, and in our own days, in the happiest of countries, +there can be no revolution, no war, which will not attract a host of men +covetous of rank or fortune. Lately, in Poland, by certain judicious +arrangements, this calamity has been prevented, to the great +dissatisfaction of many.</p> + +<p>No one can doubt or deny that the interest of various Governments, and +the sense of justice among nations, gave the Poles a right to expect +foreign aid. The assurances of certain politicians and statesmen even +gave <i>reasonable expectation</i> of such a result. Such aid would of course +neither be rejected nor treated with indifference. But the assertion +that the Poles relied <i>solely</i> on such aid is (in the face of the +manifesto of January 22d and July 31st, 1863) either a proof of ill +will, or of entire ignorance of the resources upon which Poland was +bound to rely, and which could not be intrusted to the discretion of +every volunteer or pretended well-wisher to the Polish nation.</p> + +<p>Continuing his imputations, the accuser says he only learned afterward +why seven thousand Parisian workmen, registered at M. d'Harcourt's +committee, 'were not sent forth.' The probable purport of this reproach +is: 'They were not sent for fear of the introduction of liberal +elements—and the <i>prole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>tariat</i>—into Poland.' As to the latter, we may +at once confidently answer that, were Poland free to-day, the condition +of the laboring class in Western Europe need not be dreaded for a +hundred years to come. As to the liberal element, does the author indeed +think that Poland has had no Liberalists similar to Voltaire, La +Mennais, Victor Hugo, L. Blanc, Mazzini, or Hertzen? Does he fancy that +Modzewski (in the sixteenth century), Skarga (a Catholic preacher in the +seventeenth), Morsztyn, Jezierski, Andrew Zamoyski, Hugo Kollontay, +Loyko (in the eighteenth), Staszye, Lelewel, Mochnacki, Ostrowski, +Czynski, Mieroslawski, and a host of others, contented with the private +good they did, and forced to shun the jealous watchfulness of suspicious +rulers—does he, we say, fancy that all these needed to be inspired by +the liberality of Parisian workmen, or even that all the aforesaid +workmen would apply themselves to the dissemination of liberal opinions? +It is indeed a great disadvantage to Polish Liberalists, philosophers, +and poets, that they speak and write in a tongue unknown to the noble +philanthropists of the West. A greater amount of knowledge would have +saved hasty tourists, <i>veracious</i> lecturers, and all-knowing +diplomatists many errors in statement and conception, and much aversion +toward a noble people, who, if vanquished, will not be crushed, and will +always reserve the <i>right</i> of <i>protest</i>.</p> + +<p>At all events, this last conclusion of our correspondent leads us to +suspect that he may perchance never have been in Poland—perhaps never +even in Paris—since this <i>non-sending</i> forth of seven thousand +Parisians was better understood by every <i>gamin du faubourg</i> than +apparently by the <i>sincere</i> narrator of 'Tardy Truths.'</p> + +<p>The writer says further, that he expected to find in Kracow 'activity +and infinite means.' Now, the author and the confidence of the Poles +must have been quite strangers to one another, or his imagination must +have misled him farther than was becoming in a man of knowledge and +reflection. He does not mention the date of his journey, but we know +about the period referred to. It is true that at that time Kracow had +not yet been declared in a state of siege by M. Pouilly de Mensdorf, +but, as a personal friend of the Czar, he had then held Galicia and +Kracow during the past year under a more uncertain condition than even +the declaration of a state of siege would have produced. Twenty thousand +chosen officers and soldiers, with discretionary and greatly enlarged +powers, and almost as many policemen and spies, with early fed and +increasing covetousness for rewards, promotions, and orders, kept +constant watch over the ancient capital of Poland, the last remnant of +Polish nationality which had been engulfed in the European peace of +1846.</p> + +<p>We may then safely assert that our author has given us sketches from his +whims and fancies, rather than the mature results of his judgment, and +that he has also neglected to direct his researches into the history of +the past. It is doubtless true that he was not desired as a volunteer, +and that he found danger only, and not fortune, which, indeed, we think +his own sagacity might have taught him from the first.</p> + +<p>We would be forced to doubt that any one understood the policy of the +Polish Committee in Warsaw who should apply the epithet 'mercenary' to +the Polish soldiers. We would not ask our author how much he gave per +diem to those under his own command: we have no wish to rival the wit of +a Russian proclamation which appeared last winter in Warsaw, in which +the Poles in general, including those who fought at Orsza, Wielikie +Luki, Kirchholm, Chocim, Smolensk, Vienna, Zurich, Hohenlinden, +Samocierros, Pultusk, Grochow, Iganie, Zyzyny, Opatow, etc., etc., were +stigmatized as poltroons and cowards!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is certainly true that the battles of late have not represented a +file of twenty thousand men, but to call them on that account <i>frontier +demonstrations</i>, is to add subtle calumny to ungenerous irony; it is a +deviation even from the very 'tardy truths.' It is an assertion not made +in an impartial spirit, but calculated in favor of, and determinately +stated with the intention of sustaining those who are exerting +themselves to prove that Minsk, Grodno, Mohilew, Wolhynia, Podole, +Plock, Augustow, Lithuania, Samogitia, Liefland, etc., were ancient +dependencies of Russia, before she had herself an existence either in +name or fact! If the originator of the term <i>frontier demonstrations</i> +would take the trouble to study the map, he would not be able to cherish +the delusion that his intelligent readers could believe that battles +fought near Kowno, Oszmiana, Upita, Poniewiez, Lida, Ihumen, Dubno, +Pinsk, Mscislaw, etc., were really <i>frontier demonstrations</i>!</p> + +<p>This declaration of the letter from Paris to America would not be of +much service to <i>The Journal of St. Petersburg</i> or <i>The Invalid</i>, of +Moscow, or increase their exhilaration over the extermination of the +Polish race, the destruction of Polish principles. There is nothing more +natural than that a rebuke to the <i>Siècle, Opinion Nationale, Patrie</i>, +and perhaps even others, should follow such statements—their views +undoubtedly stand in complete opposition to those held by M. de +Girardin, and advocated in <i>La Presse</i>.</p> + +<p>The assertion that the Polish National Government had no object in view +but to excite and await the intervention of France; that Galicia was the +principal focus of the rebellion, and that the unknown Government had no +actual existence, is, on the one hand, an unskilful attempt to justify +the Governments of Russia and Austria, and, on the other, by the +ignoring of all the reports of the Polish National Government—all its +obvious facts, its printed documents, its acts everywhere known and +seen, its seizures of papers and documents—and to portray it as a +fraud, a myth, a dream of the imagination, a wild hallucination of a +disordered brain, it suggests to us the thought that the <i>tardy</i> and +present truths here given us of Poland may perhaps have the same origin +as that famous description in one of the St. Petersburg papers, of 'the +at last truly discovered leader of the Polish insurrection,' which was +but a portraiture of a certain, not mentioned but easily guessed, +personage in Paris.</p> + +<p>We have no reply to make to this reproach (we can only wonder that under +the circumstances they should ever have been made) that the Polish +volunteers were badly armed and illy managed—possibly they might have +been better even in a partisan war. But as to the want of skill in the +officers, including such as Skarzynski, Bosak, Padlewski, we wonder that +the writer or his friend F. could not succeed in making their talents +known and valued, and become at least leaders among the blind. Of course +he had to contend with cross-eyed jealousy. Yet if, as a foreigner, and +a learned one too, he was, as he himself informs us, intimately admitted +into various chateaux, it seems almost impossible he should have had no +opportunity to become major, colonel, or even general, since it is well +known, and every foreigner will bear witness to the fact, that in these +<i>chateaux</i> there has always been too much attention and too great +preference shown to foreigners—a preference, however, in which the +lower classes do not participate.</p> + +<p>As to the easy chateau life led in Galicia, as in Russia, we have a +remark to offer. In a country exposed during five or six centuries to +incessant struggle against Asiatic craving for European allurements, or, +to speak more definitely, after ninety-four Mongolian incursions, in +which twenty millions of Polish people were carried off, and thousands +of towns, bourgs, and vil<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>lages were destroyed; after numberless wars, +plunders, and devastations by Jazygs, Turks, Muscovites, Crusaders, +Wallachians, Transylvanians, Swedes, Brandenburgians, etc., etc.; after +a hundred years of the so-called <i>paternal</i> spoliation of Russia, +Prussia, and Austria—there could have been no opportunity, even under +Graff Pouilly de Mensdorf, to build <i>comfortable</i> chateaux on the +mouldering ruins, or for the accumulation of means for an easy life +under the oppressions of an Austrian tariff, which exacted that goods +manufactured in Lemberg should be sent for inspection to the Vienna +custom house before being exposed to sale. There are, however, a few +very splendid chateaux, like oases in the Desert of Sahara; they can be +counted readily on one's fingers; among them few patriots; no +conspirator, much less an insurgent or crippled invalid, ever called to +ask hospitality.</p> + +<p>The calumny so often repeated, so urgently insisted upon, that the aim +of the Polish insurrection was inconsistent, foolish, and wicked, might +not perhaps astonish the reader more than the report of the want of zeal +and faith in the convictions of the Poles, a fact first revealed to the +world in 'Tardy Truths.' This warning with regard to the true character +of the struggle on the shores of the Vistula might prove of service in +aiding the discrimination of the American people, and be useful in +confusing the judgment of the liberal men and newspapers, which, whether +in Germany, Belgium, France, or England, are not too much inclined to +favor the cause of Polish independence; nay, it would spare France the +useless demonstration in the Chambers, made in consequence of the speech +of November 5th. The late efforts of the Poles are also shown to have +been inspired and incited by, and carried on for the benefit of, the +Catholic clergy, stimulated by fanaticism against the liberal, +civilizing, enlightened, Rosso-Greek Church, a view which might and has +proved very useful to modern lecturers and letter writers. The warning +therein given might also serve to degrade the Polish revolution to the +level of some of the slave-holders' rebellion. Let us reflect but for +one single moment on the parallel attempted to be drawn, particularly in +the New York papers, after the unfortunate Mexican imbroglio and +subsequent visit of the Russian fleet, between things so utterly unlike. +The Poles fought for everything most dear to the heart of man, for every +right which he can justly claim, for independence, national existence, +the right to use his own language, for the integrity of his +country;—the States of the South had all these in full possession, nay, +even the right to pass the law binding the North. These things might be +shown to be essentially dissimilar in <i>every</i> respect, but this short +statement is deemed sufficient to show the futility of the comparison.</p> + +<p>Let us now proceed to say a few words with regard to the plausible +arguments so generally set forth for the glorification of the Czar, in +respect to the emancipation of the Polish serfs. The Czar gave in 1864 +what had already been given by the Poles themselves in 1863; less the +soil, which indeed never belonged to him, but for which he exacts +payment. Besides, he has confiscated, without regulations or laws, the +income from forests, rents, fields, and fisheries, belonging to old men, +women, and children, whose only crime was that they had been born Poles, +or whom it pleased the hungry throng of unscrupulous, greedy, and +fanatical officials, unbounded in their zeal as in their power, to +denounce, accuse, or dislike. We could fully prove the fact that the +greater part of the peasants are now forced by bayonets to work for the +exacted pay, and most of them venture to doubt entirely the propriety of +the pretended Russian gift. This one circumstance makes this gift in the +greater part of Poland and even, of Russia more burdensome than the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> old +state of regulated labor; for how is a peasant to procure money in +provinces distant from markets, rivers, and towns? Under what conditions +would it be possible to obtain it? And even in cases where the peasant +may be able to make a sale, the value received for eight bushels of +potatoes will not be sufficient to buy him a common axe. How many +calves, cows, sheep, horses, and hogs are brought back from market from +the impossibility of finding purchasers, even at the lowest prices? Now, +by the decree of January 22d, the Polish National Government gave +freedom, and land relieved from all claims, thus executing what was in +accordance with the spirit and wishes of the Poles, without losing sight +of the difficulties to be encountered. It was their imperative duty to +satisfy and adjust the exigencies of the national political economy. +Fortunately, it was found possible to harmonize the requirements of the +country with the personal interests of the proprietors. The amount of +land held by them was in general so large, that even after endowing the +peasant with the allotted portion, considerable would still remain in +their hands. Diminished in extent and value during the transitional +phase, the remaining land would necessarily rise rapidly in value, +because the emancipated peasant <i>would</i> now <i>have</i> the right to own and +buy land. The calculation might be sustained that it would quintuple in +value in the course of fifty years. Small farms from their possessions +would soon be in the market, farms within the range of small purses and +limited means, and the proprietors did not fail to see the advantage +which would accrue to them in the almost unlimited increase of +purchasers which would soon be found among the enfranchised laborers. +The peasants gained freedom, land, and many advantages, nor were the +proprietors ruined in their advancement. Hence the National Government +effected what the Rossian never intended to do or ever will achieve: +gain and loss were equalized in the national duty of sustaining the +country in its progressive course, stimulating all to labor +simultaneously to support its public burdens, to aid in the general +advancement. The real freedom thus gained, in accordance with the +far-sighted policy of the Polish National Government, opened wide the +door to liberty, trade, commerce, and exchange; a policy which czarism, +even in its most liberal mood, can never admit, because it would condemn +itself, and give the death blow to its own existence. There is another +specialty peculiar to the Rossian Government, never forgotten by those +who live under its rule, viz.: the late emancipation was begun about +three years ago by an ukase of no very decided purport, which was +followed by many others of like uncertain character, according with the +varying views of those by whom they were dictated, by the partisans of +emancipation or by those standing in opposition to it. These ukases are +ranged in their appropriate numerical titles, and there are at least +five hundred thousand of them—whether imperial or senatorial, all +legally binding. What memory could stand such a burden, or what might +legal cavil not find therein?</p> + +<p>It is an easy thing to 'speak for Buncombe,' as we say in America; it is +an easy thing to proclaim measures when we take no thought of how they +may be carried out; it is easy to excite the enthusiasm of the popular +lecturer, always in search of novelty with which to feed his hearers; it +may be pleasant to furnish venom to wounded self-esteem or disappointed +and petty ambition—but it will be found an exceedingly difficult task +to reconcile absolutism with freedom, czarism with liberalism, the +division of men into appointed castes and classes with the existence of +liberty and political equality. We are assured, not only by the writer +of the letter in question, but by the sages of New York, that the Polish +peasants<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> were not willing to fight for Poland, that they called their +countrymen now in arms against Rossia 'dogs of nobles,' and 'that it was +really their duty to rise against and denounce their former <i>masters</i> to +Rossia and Austria!'</p> + +<p>If these assertions are true, who then filled the ranks of the Polish +insurgents? Who furnished food to those who lived for months in the +depths of forests, the haunts of mountain gorges? How was it possible +that without the connivance of the peasants the insurgents should pass +to and fro, or lie hidden in woods and fields? It was stated +authoritatively that the insurgents, were composed principally of +Hungarian refugees, about ten Frenchmen, a few strangers from other +nations, but of the number of the lesser nobility, men, in short, in +search of shelter and fortune. A strange fortune, a marvellous shelter +indeed to reward the greed of the ambitious—exile, death, and torture! +Were the testimony of such witnesses to be relied upon, we might well +exclaim: 'Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.' Yet how is it that we +find among the seven hundred patriots who were hung so many Poles, less +than a half of whom were Catholics, many of whom were Jews, Protestants, +and even Rosso-Greeks of various classes? Among the forty thousand known +deported, torn ruthlessly away from their native homes for centuries, we +find nearly five thousand Israelites, ten thousand peasants (known), and +from four to six thousand of Greek and other creeds. The two villages +near Lida, two in the government of Grodno, the hundreds of villages and +thousands of huts near Dwina, Rzezyca, Mohilew, Witebsk, burned, razed +to the ground by an excited and hired rabble of Muscovite Muziks, who +had sought and found hospitality in Poland for hundreds of +years—certainly all these villages and huts were not inhabited even by +the 'lesser nobility.' And it is also certain that the dwellers were not +so cruelly punished for denouncing the 'dogs of nobles'—an expression, +if we are not mistaken, taken from the vocabulary of the corporal or +subaltern officials, and which has never reached the fourteenth +class—from which the Rossian begins to reckon humanity.</p> + +<p>The allegation of the existence of unrooted feudalism in Poland, because +such a system was known to the whole of Middle Europe, must be accounted +for by the evident ignorance of Polish history; and we assure both +teachers and readers, notwithstanding the evident wish to find it in +Poland, that it was unknown to her, nor could it subsist in the presence +of Polish institutions, habits, customs, and geography.</p> + +<p>We can scarcely suppose it possible that our author means to insinuate +that thousands of noble families bought and transported arms for the +purpose of speculation. Notwithstanding the evidence he had of one such +bad business transaction for the purpose of sustaining and upholding the +insurrection, his frequent intimations of the incorrigible and unruly +character of the few Poles left, would almost authorize us in believing +that such was the intention of the writer when speaking of the aforesaid +arms.</p> + +<p>Oh, in the name of common sense, for the sake of the men whose country +has been torn from them, who may not speak their mothers' tongue in the +land of their fathers, who are forbidden to worship in accordance with +the dictates of their conscience, whose sacred homes are desecrated by +the presence of privileged spies, who cannot sit down in peace in the +holy quiet of evening, because they know that the morrow may see them +dragged off to unknown and inaccessible dungeons, or summoned before +brutal judges without defenders, where they will find accusers, but will +be allowed to cite no witnesses; subjected to witness the horrible +anxiety endured every spring and fall by Polish fathers and mothers lest +the sons of their love should be unexpectedly seized in the night and +hur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>ried off over the Caucasus, the Ural, or to the mouth of the Amour, +to serve in the army of the oppressor for life, or longer than home +memories in such young bosoms could be expected to last, with no +prospect of reward save such as may be reckoned in the number of +<i>palkis</i> and <i>pletnis</i> (whips and lashes); sons, whether rich or poor, +to be exposed to cavil, cunning, and vindictiveness, to the practices of +gambling judges and a profligate soldiery, to a venal police, to +fraudulent employés, themselves badly paid for service, but whose +extortions and abuses always meet with approval, a single complaint +against whom would expose the complainant to be sent through that +hopeless gate always open on the route to Siberia;—oh, for the sake of +common humanity, say not that men placed in such situations have, in +spite of their glorious history, no rights, no claims on human sympathy, +no cause to sacrifice life even when it has become a haunting horror!</p> + +<p>Believe not that such complaints are inventions: the facts are known to +everybody who will look upon them. They are no slanderous stories, but +occurrences renewed with every morning, taking place under all +circumstances and with every transaction patent to the world. They were +appreciated and described in Prussia, and even in Austria verified, not +long before the last campaign. Under such circumstances, what must be +thought of the discoveries and conclusions of writers who assert that +'the Polish nation is a mere chimera'? As no individual, mighty as he +may be, can by a blasphemous word suppress the existence of the Eternal +Father, so neither passion nor love, favor nor animosity, interest nor +purpose of the most talented or ambitious, can erase at pleasure a +nationality which has a history of over a thousand years of existence, a +nationality proved by the last hundred years of incessant struggle for +independence with three giants. This nation has marked its boundaries +with graveyards toward the Dniester, Dnieper, Niemen, and Dwina, where +rest the beaten hordes of Batu or Nogays. Can the record be erased of +the power that broke the sword of the Osmanlis, and was it a <i>chimera</i> +that preserved Western Europe from such sights as Polowce and +Pietschiniegs, etc.? You may perhaps to-day designate as a <i>chimera</i> the +Vienna saved in 1683, that very Vienna which in 1815 first conceived the +idea of sowing the seeds of distrust between Galicians and +Lodomerians—an idea soon after adopted, perfected, and publicly +propagated by Rossians, who applied the practice to Lithuanians, +Volhynians, Podolans, Polans, Radymicians, etc.—an idea now held in the +fierce grasp of Muraview, Anienkow, and probably at no very distant +period to be recalled to the mind of the originator.</p> + +<p>The gentleman's knowledge of Russians (the true name is Rossians, the +other being assumed to effect a certain purpose in Western Europe), +Prussians, and Austrians, to the exclusion of Poles, proves only that +his geographic and ethnographic researches in Poland went no farther +than those of the 'reliable gentleman' who described the Bunker Hill +monument under President Lafayette.</p> + +<p>In addition to the above, let us consult simply the sound of the names +of places, and we can form some idea of the extent of races and +nationalities. Nowgorod, Kaluga, Pskow—are <i>Rossian</i>; Telsze, Szawle, +Rosienie—<i>Lithuanian</i>; Winszpilis, Gielgawa, Libosie—<i>Courland</i>; +Lublin, Ostrolenka, Plock—<i>Polish</i>; Wlodrimirz, Zytomirz, +Berdyczev—<i>Volhynian</i>. In Austria, are the inhabitants of Venice, +Prague, and Buda, Austrian? The name of Prussia is an old one of +Slavonians living at the mouth of the Vistula, and has no etymology in +the Teutonic language. Those of Galicia and Lodomeria are unskilfully +disfigured from Halitsh (Halicz) and Wlodzimir. The name<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> of Prussia was +assumed by Frederic II., margrave of Brandenburg, when he took the title +of king, at the same time giving solemn oaths never to pretend to the +sovereignty of Dantzick (Gdansk), Thorn (Torun), etc.</p> + +<p>The present empire of Alexander is not of <i>Russia</i>, but of <i>Rossia</i>, and +the name of Russia is imposed on Polans near Kiow, on Radymicians near +Nowogrodek, on Drewlans south of the river Pripec, etc.; and we must +remember that Catharine II., in 1764, had solemnly declared by her +ambassadors, Kayserling and Repnin, that she had no right to Russias or +Ruthenias in Poland: 'Declaramus suam Imperatoriam Majestatem Dominam +nostram clementissimam ex usu <i>tituli totius Rossiæ</i>, nec sibi, nec +successoribus suis neque Imperio suo <i>jus ullum</i> in ditiones et terræ +quæ <i>sub nomine Russiæ</i> a Regno Poloniæ magnoque ducatu Lithuaniæ +possiduntur,' etc.</p> + +<p>The prediction of the reëstablishment of serfdom as a result aimed at in +the present Polish struggle, is not only rash but preposterous, and has +no foundation except in a fixed purpose to direct all sympathy toward +Rossia.</p> + +<p>The true bondage that tied man in Poland to the soil, began with the +introduction of police, passports, censors or <i>skaski</i>, recruiting, +conscription, and taxation, introduced by Prussia, Austria, and Rossia, +as so-called <i>improvements</i>. Poland had more free peasants, called +Ziemianin, Kmiec, Kozak, than there were in France during the <i>régime</i> +of the Gabeles or Leibeigenschaft in Germany. That they entirely +disappeared after the fall of Poland was surely not her fault. The +peasants on the estates attached to the clergy of all denominations, to +public schools, to the crown, and to the nation, were in a much better +condition, materially and morally, than are at present those in some +parts of Hainault and Thuringen. Individual abuses by an unconscientious +lord were to be seen as well in Connaught as near Debretschyn, near the +Saone as on the Necker. Times—contemporary with independent Poland, and +hence not very far back—beheld these sins against humanity committed on +a larger scale, and in lands in otherwise happier conditions. The phrase +<i>bonded labor</i> is known under the best institutions. But this excuses no +one. Poland, without any compulsive cause, in 1764 and 1768, took these +questions into consideration; in 1791, was even more explicit; and in +1792, Kosciuszko distinctly settled the condition of the Polish peasant, +and that without opposition from the Polish nobility—a measure +immediately overruled and suppressed by Prussia and Rossia, both +accusing Poland of being a <i>dangerous</i> nest of Jacobinism. In 1807, in +the grand duchy of Warsaw, after it was retaken from Prussia, the +condition of the peasantry was far more clear and protected than even +now promised by the Czar Alexander II., and was probably better +preserved than it can be under the crowd of employés and magistrates, +nominally elected by the peasants, but in fact imported from Saratow, +Kazan, Penza, etc., for the purpose of teaching liberty and Siberian +civilization in Warsaw and Wilna.</p> + +<p>Common sense and the ordinary rules of logic force upon us the +conviction that writings of the above stamp are gotten up to produce +certain effects. Can any be found simple enough to believe that a whole +people would be aroused, armed, and taught to what end and how to use +the given arms, as was done by the manifesto of the Polish National +Government, January 22d, 1863, only to be deceived and in the end +deprived of that for which they had fought? By what right can bad faith +be imputed to land owners whom experience, a sense of justice, and even +interest, had already impelled to get rid of a useless and burdensome +relation? These land owners, even under the Rossian Government (in +1818), had solemnly beg<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>ged the uncle of the present czar, Alexander I., +to allow them to be freed from the onerous responsibilities caused by +serfdom under Rossian surveillance and severity.</p> + +<p>The letter from Paris further states, on what authority we know not, +that the condition of the peasant or serf in Poland was dreadful until +the seventeenth century. This is going very far back, and probably at +that period, if facts could be found to sustain the writer's allegation, +the condition of bondmen—<i>vilains regardants</i>—boors, <i>Lebeigenschaft</i>, +<i>manans</i>, etc., was not better elsewhere. But here again we must differ +in opinion, and beg leave to state, not only to the author of the +letter, but to all other self-constituted authorities, whose knowledge +of Poland is derived from <i>The London Times</i>, <i>Chambers's Magazine</i>, M. +Hilperding, Kattow, or M. Morny, etc., that, with all due respect to +their social positions, we must deny them the title of well-informed +historians and profound judges of Poland and the Slavonic races. Up to +the seventeenth century, the peasantry (Kmiec, Ziemiamin) had its +<i>representatives in the diet</i>, and could find entrance into the ranks of +the nobility, which had no divisions into classes or titular +distinctions. Said nobility had the right to serve their country during +war, and a peasant providing himself with a horse and suitable arms, was +not excluded from that class. They could also take orders among the +clergy, and hence rise to high dignities in the church. Public schools +in Poland were never shut to the peasants, nor were any distinctions +therein authorized in favor of one or other class of pupils. In schools +then they enjoyed all privileges in common, and these were great—a +separate jurisdiction, and the facilities of reaching higher ranks. +Kromer, Janicki, Poniatowski, great names in Polish history, can show no +other origin than one nearer to the Ziemianin than to any other class.</p> + +<p>If the current of fashion did not warp all judgments in favor of Rossia, +the writers of 'Tardy Truths' from Paris and elsewhere would have +reflected a little longer, and would soon have discovered that the +ignorance and poverty of the Polish peasantry were not due solely to the +Poles themselves. Polish schools were formerly all completely free, and +each school even had funds for the poor, called <i>purses</i>, foundations, +etc. Rossia, in the last fifty years, charged as high as $625 for +inscription alone in the higher classes, and about $25 for elementary +beginners. How could a poor family rise in prosperity if this school was +often the first cause of losing the favorite son; if they did send the +child to school they might lose him as a recruit for the army or navy, +as designated by the whim of the treacherous teacher and recruiting +officer; and this did not exempt from public burdens, as they were still +obliged to pay taxes for him during ten years, and contribute to all +public services, as stations (stoyki), wagons and teams (rozgony), +repairing and making public and private roads, extra post service, +besides innumerable services imposed for his own personal benefit by a +spravnik, straptschy, zasiedatel, sotnik, etc. Add to this the thwarting +of intercourse and commerce by every imaginable means under the system +of the famous M. Kankrin.</p> + +<p>Could the peasant or the master become wealthy when a measure called <i>a +ton</i>, weighing about eight hundred and forty pounds, of wheat brought +the enormous sum of $4.25? a load of hay, drawn by one horse, +seventy-five cents when well paid, and <i>nothing</i> when wanted by ulans or +hussars garrisoned in the neighborhood? A hen, with a dozen and a half +well-grown chickens, hardly brought enough to pay the value of the +commonest apron.</p> + +<p>Such things as these were never known in ancient Poland, now so +unanimously accused and condemned by fashionable philanthropy. Even +eighty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> years ago such abuses would have been vainly looked for. We +remember, in our younger days, when conversing with an old sowietnik +(counsellor), to have heard him relate his bewildered astonishment at +the comfort and well-being in Poland when sent under an escort of +Cossacks to introduce Rossian <i>improvements</i>. 'What has become of them?' +we asked innocently. 'Ha!' was his naïve reply; 'St. Petersburg has +since then grown into a splendid city!'</p> + +<p>Let us call the attention of Russo-maniacs to the fact that eighty years +ago, soon after the second partition of Poland, flax in Riga brought +eight hundred and seventy florins, while in 1845 it hardly brought two +hundred and forty florins; and the famous wheat of Sandomir sold, at the +first-named period, at sixty, while in 1856 it brought barely +thirty-five. Yet money now is cheaper than before 1800.</p> + +<p>Did the Polish nobleman, selfish and wicked as now seems the fashion to +describe him, force the peasant of Samogitia to servile work, when the +latter had an opportunity of drawing a good profit from the results of +his labor in the neighboring marts of Memel, Liban, Riga, Mittau, +Venden, etc.? No, must we answer to our readers. <i>There</i> might have been +seen a boor's wife dressed in sky blue lined with fox fur, and drawn to +church in a comfortable kolaska, by two excellent, plump, Samogitian +ponies; and neither did the father of the family exhaust his strength in +night watches or day labor, as he had twenty teams to dispose of, and +could offer to an unexpected visitor a broiled chicken with milk sauce, +and a couple of bottles of brown stout from Barclay, Perkins & Co., of +London. Such prosperity, although then declining, was still to be found +in 1830. Why does it not exist to-day? Let this question be answered by +civilizers and democrats from Tambow, Saratow, or Penza, and their +jealous apologists.</p> + +<p>Our writer seems to think he has made a wonderful discovery when he +exultingly exclaims: 'How surprised these pretended <i>liberals</i> would be +to see that their efforts only tend toward reconstituting a monarchical +Poland (was Poland really monarchical?—we may doubt) under the +protection of a <i>feudal</i> and Catholic Church!' Such charges were also +made in the eighteenth century, and were suggested by similar motives. I +do not feel called upon to defend the Catholics of Poland. I would +simply retort upon the authors of such suggestions, by referring to +certain distinguished rabbis, as Heilprin, Meintzel, Jastrow, etc.; to +Protestants, as Konarski, Potworowski, Kasaius, Krolikowski, Czynski, +and hosts of others; and also to Mohammedans, as Baranowski, Mucha, +Bielak, etc. I cannot condemn a man because he is a Catholic, because I +have everywhere, and in every religious community, found both patriots +and traitors to their country, to their origin, to principle, and to +their religion. But this I must say, that of whatever denomination or +sect be the minister or priest, he has a right to be a faithful son to +his fatherland and race. It happened that in Poland the Catholic priest +stood opposed to the Rossian pope. If the latter can be a Rossian +patriot, why should a like sentiment render guilty a Polish priest? This +animosity in certain circles proceeds from a partiality to the +Rosso-Greek Church, which, some years ago, during the visit of the +emperor Nicholas to England, certain ignorant or du. By way of +parenthesis, we may add that the Rosso-Greek Church separated long ago +from the Eastern Greek Church, preserving, however, all its outward +forms. Peter I. abolished the patriarchate, introduced his own classes +and reforms, and made himself head of the church. He gave the name of +synod to a permanent council, nominated, appointed, dismissed, +controlled, rewarded, and punished by himself, according to his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> own +judgment, passion, or will. The Græco-Rossian Church is kept under the +same discipline as the army, and an offending pope is sent, with the +rank of private, to some remote regiment.</p> + +<p>The author of the letter from Paris somewhat contradictorily asserts +that the women, being superior in Poland, govern the men, but are +themselves governed entirely by the priests. This scarcely tallies with +strict logic; but, for the sake of truth and of a just respect for our +mothers, who taught us to love our country and freedom, who gave us +strength in exile, and faith through persecution, and who instructed us +how to think, and inspired us with those noble sentiments, seemingly +denied to the mothers of the 'fashionable civilization' (of St. +Petersburg), among whom there is not one lady writer—we will thank this +writer for the refutation offered by him to an impudent slander, +emanating from a contributor to <i>Chambers' Magazine</i>, of January last. +We repeat that we thank him for his just tribute to Polish women, +however inimical he may be to the Polish cause, and however much he may +depreciate our sex. Yet it seems strange that, while accusing Polish +women of being entirely under the control of the priests, and hence to +have been chiefly instrumental in fomenting the last insurrection, the +author did not notice, or is purposely silent regarding, a fact which, +as he appears to have been longer in a Galician chateau than elsewhere, +must have fallen under his notice, namely, that in Galicia, the Polish +priest was the <i>most decided opponent</i> to any insurrection. How, then, +could the active Polish women-patriots be instruments of the action +condemned by the apologists of the absolute government of Rossia?</p> + +<p>The admonition to France, on the ground that, after the revolution of +1789, she is committing a contradictory error by showing sympathy toward +a revolution gotten up by priests, is but a consequence of the first +judgment, and we may leave to France and her sense of her own interests +to do what she may think right and profitable. We will simply mention +that, for French glory, and for this error, as the author calls it, two +hundred thousand Poles were slain in Egypt, Italy, San Domingo, Spain, +Germany, Holland, and on the plains of Mozajsk, Kraslaw, Boryssow, +Eylau, Friedland, etc. The monument seen from the balcony of the +Tuileries has the names upon it, which we scarcely can suppose to have +been inscribed for the sole purpose of filling space.</p> + +<p>The friends of Poland believe that they serve the cause of progress by +aiding in the reëstablishment of the Polish nation. We presume there are +plenty of men in France who know that during the last thirty years +Rossia has spread her dominion in Asia over twice the area of Germany +and France together, that she is only eighty miles from Peking, and as +far from India as Vienna is from the Black Sea. Moreover, Asiatic +people, always dreaming of plunder in Europe, once armed with European +Minié rifles and rifled cannon, may repeat anew the incursions of +Attila, Tamerlane, Battu, etc. The end to be gained and the booty will +create the temptation, and offer superior inducements.</p> + +<p>The effort to palliate Rossian cruelty, skilful as it is, by the alleged +necessities of war, by denials, or by asserting it to be mere revenge +for similar atrocities committed by Poles, must be appreciated according +to the sources whence it emanates. What the letter writer or similar +twelve-hour visitors saw in Poland, particularly in Kracow, of people +sharpening knives or preparing deadly poisons, need here be merely +referred to by saying that in times of general confusion we have no +means to foresee or to control personal revenge, and also that we will +not here cite the reports of Polish papers or accounts of Germans. We +will take our data<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> from the Moscow <i>Invalid</i>, the czar's <i>Universal +Journal</i> at Warsaw, and the <i>Journal de Petersbourg</i>. From these we find +it stated that the number of men hanged in three hundred and sixty-five +days of insurrection was eight hundred and fifty, besides many others +whose names were not given because it was simpler and more profitable to +ignore their origin, class, and religion.</p> + +<p>From Kiow alone Anienkow sent away fourteen thousand men, chiefly of +Greek or other non-Roman-Catholic religion, over whom the Catholic +priest had neither control or influence. From Warsaw, every Saturday +during fifty-two weeks, an average of four hundred men, women, and +children were deported, all separated from their natural guides and +protectors. From Liefland, north of the Dwina, were sent off, in one +month, thirty-five hundred of the better educated and comfortable class +of people. A Government paper rejoices that Polish and Catholic +principles, growing there during five centuries, were in a fair way of +extinction, since, as it itself admits, forty-five thousand men had been +transferred to the governments of Samara, Orenburg, Kazan, and similar +localities. To burn the villages of Ibanie, Szarki, Hrodki, Smoloy, +Zabolocie, etc., to destroy the furniture, horses, cattle, and all other +property, to send the inhabitants on foot, only allowing for the aged +and young children a few small wagons, far away into a cold, strange, +savage country, without tools, means, etc.—was all this done merely as +a military necessity, and was it excusable, or, at most, merely +<i>blamable</i>?</p> + +<p>Now, certain correspondents and lecturers, with other gentlemen, deny +the use of the lash or whip on the backs of women and ladies, because +the American people cannot countenance such barbarism. To say the least +of such a denial—it is gratuitous. Austria daily publishes similar +judgments as the result of police court trials. In Rossia, they are not +published, because the administration of lash, whip, and scourge is left +to the <i>paternal</i> discretion of every sergeant, lieutenant, police +commissary, and district constable, and is enjoyed by them to their +hearts' content. It is the method employed for ages by Rossia, and +considered as an indispensable appendage to patriarchal czarism and its +lieutenants. We cannot wonder at such denials, for their authors have +ordinarily been brought up under a better state of things, and never +learned in their youth the possibility of resort to such practices: the +less also can we wonder when we know that they met only similar denials +in the higher Rossian society, and when we consider that such denials +came from a source one is naturally inclined to respect, when the man +denying seems respectable. How can we fancy a lie told by a gentleman in +golden uniform, or a lady in a lace dress? But if the defenders of the +civilization of Rossia and of the noble manners of its aristocracy knew +all the cruel judgments of Rossian masters, the lewdness, recklessness, +indecency, and shallowness often concealed beneath their artificial good +breeding and apparent courtesy, they would learn that laces may cover +coarse tissues, and gold hide corroded brass. The gaudy dress and +uniform serve but to permit more daring deeds; the more they glitter, +the more impunity they confer. Under every Government, and more +especially under a despotism, subaltern officers may be sure of impunity +to abuse, provided it is done under the guise of zeal and devotion.</p> + +<p>During the past year we have heard and read in lectures, newspapers, +correspondences, etc., many flattering statements of the beauty of the +Rossian Government, and the czar's liberality—and as many accusations +and imputations detrimental to the Polish cause. Why the same views were +not held and advocated during the Crimean war we will not ask, but +merely hint at. These statements come from organs whose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> purpose is +readily divined. If we turn to the paper that has opened its columns to +the Paris letter, we find close at hand the advertisement and +recommendation of a programme for our own great country, and the +pointing out of a new Garibaldi for the American Union. Now, neither +said platform nor Garibaldi would be consistent with the condemnation, +irony, and ridicule flung upon the champions for one thousand years of +the growing progress, prosperity, and Christianity of Western Europe.</p> + +<p>We of this generation are grown fixedly into our ancient habits of +thought, and now can make no change; but our successors, perchance, may +possibly be reduced to undersign the manifesto of Rossian Liberalism, +published about a year ago in Moscow, and, in return for false promises +and deceptions, consent to make common cause against Germany and the +whole of Western Europe. What <i>American</i> liberties would gain by such an +eventuality, is not for us, nor for to-day, to say.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="APHORISMS_NO_XI" id="APHORISMS_NO_XI"></a>APHORISMS.—NO. XI.</h2> + + +<p>'A man who has no wants has attained great freedom, and firmness, and +even dignity.'—<span class="smcap">Burke</span>.</p> + +<p>'Mad wants and mean endeavors,' as Carlyle expresses it, 'are among the +signal characteristics and great follies of our nature.'</p> + +<p>But how can we attain to the freedom, firmness, and dignity of having no +wants? Answer: By learning what our real necessities are, and limiting +our sense of want by such knowledge. Otherwise there is little hope for +us; for, as soon as we admit imaginary and factitious needs, we become +the slaves of mere fancy, the sport of mere human opinion, and devoid of +all true dignity.</p> + +<p>How sublime, as compared with the ordinary condition of men, is the +possibility suggested by Burke! <i>Freedom</i>, instead of such slavery as +the love of pleasure occasions, or such as ambition entails upon men! +<i>Firmness</i>, such as he has who does not feel compelled to ask how his +conduct may affect the supply of his wants from day to day! <i>Dignity</i>, +such as we see in every man who studies the great interests of his +being, regardless of any harm that may thereby accrue to his earthly +estate! So free, and firm, and dignified may each be that will.</p> + +<p>But no such good is possible for men who allow their sense of want to be +ruled by the common opinions of men. If the good at which we aim can be +secured only by the possession of this world's favors, as they are +dispensed by the wealthy or the powerful, or the suffrages of the +multitude (votes for office, and the like), then each one becomes the +servant of his fellow men—a servant just as really as if he were hired +to perform any menial office. The party politician, for example, is just +as fully bound by the will of others as a coachman or foot servant. For +him neither freedom, firmness, or dignity is possible. He can do only as +others bid him: he can resist no solicitations to evil on the part of +those whom he would make his constituents: he has no dignity above that +of a tool, in the hands, it may be, of a very unworthy master.</p> + +<p>So in all cases where we allow ourselves to be dependent in such form +and measure that in order to compass our own ends we must look to the +will and behests of others.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="AN_ARMY_ITS_ORGANIZATION_AND_MOVEMENTS" id="AN_ARMY_ITS_ORGANIZATION_AND_MOVEMENTS"></a>AN ARMY: ITS ORGANIZATION AND MOVEMENTS.</h2> + +<h3><i>THIRD PAPER.</i></h3> + + +<p>Cavalry! At this word whose mind does not involuntarily recall pictures +of mailed knights rushing upon each other with levelled lances, and of +the charging squadrons of Austerlitz, of Jena, of Marengo, of the +Peninsula, and of Waterloo? Whose blood is not stirred with a throng of +memories connected with the noble achievements of the war horse and his +rider? Who does not imagine a panorama of all that is gay and glorious +in warfare—prancing coursers, gilded trappings, burnished sabres, +waving pennons, and glittering helmets—rank after rank of gallant +riders—anon the blast of bugles, the drawing of sabres, the mighty +rushing of a thousand steeds, the clash of steel, the shout, the +victory? The chief romance of war attaches itself to the deeds +accomplished by the assistance of the power and endurance of man's +noblest servant. Every one has read so much poetry about valiant youths, +mounted on fiery yet docile steeds, doing deeds of miraculous prowess in +the ranks of their enemies—our literature is so full of tapestried +representations of knightly retinues and charging squadrons—the +towering form of Murat is so conspicuous in the narratives of the +Napoleonic wars—and history has so often repeated the deeds of those +horsemen who performed such illustrious feats in the combats of half a +century ago, that we associate with the cavalry only ideas of splendor +and glory, of wild freedom and dashing gallantry. But the cavalry +service is far different from such vague and fanciful imaginations. +Instead of ease, there is constant labor; instead of freedom, there is a +difficult system of discipline and tactics; and instead of frequent +opportunities for glorious charges, there is a constant routine of +toilsome duty in scouting and picketing, with rarely an opportunity for +assisting prominently in the decision of a great battle, or of winning +renown in overthrowing the ranks of an enemy by the impetuous rush of a +mass of horses against serried bayonets.</p> + +<p>In many respects cavalry is the most difficult branch of military +service to maintain and to operate. It is exceedingly costly, on account +of the great loss of horses by the carelessness of the men, by overwork, +by disease, and by the fatalities of battle. The report of General +Halleck, for the year 1863, stated that from May to October there were +from ten thousand to fourteen thousand cavalry in the Army of the +Potomac, while the number of horses furnished them for the same period +was thirty-five thousand; adding to these the horses taken by capture +and used for mounting men, the number would be sufficient to give each +man a horse every <i>two months</i>. There were two hundred and twenty-three +regiments of cavalry in the service, which, at the same rate, would +require four hundred and thirty-five thousand horses. This is an immense +expenditure of animals, and is attributable in part to the peculiarities +of the volunteer service—such as the lack of care and knowledge on the +part of the officers, and the disposition of the men to break down their +horses by improper riding, and sometimes out of mere wantonness, for the +purpose of getting rid of animals they do not like, for the chance of +obtaining better. A measure has recently been adopted to remedy these +evils, by putting into the infantry cavalry officers and men who show +themselves incompetent to take proper care of their animals, and who +neglect other essentials of cavalry service. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> provision and +transportation of forage for cavalry horses also constitute items of +great cost.</p> + +<p>To attain proficiency and effectiveness, cavalry soldiers require much +longer instruction than those of any other arm. They must become expert +swordsmen, and acquire such skill in equitation that horse and rider +shall resemble the mythical centaurs of the ancients—shall be only one +individual in will. The horses should be as thoroughly trained as the +riders. In European armies this is accomplished in training schools. The +Governments keep constantly on hand large supplies of animals, partly +purchased and partly produced in public stables, and capable instructors +are continually employed in fitting both men and horses for their +duties.</p> + +<p>To insure the provision of proper horses and to recuperate those which +are sent from the army disabled or sick, an immense cavalry depot has +been established at Giesboro', near Washington. Thousands of horses are +kept there ready for service, and as fast as men in the army are +dismounted by the loss of their animals, they are sent to this depot. It +is one of the most useful and best-arranged affairs connected with our +service, and has greatly assisted in diminishing the expense attending +the provision of animals, and in increasing the efficiency of our +cavalry.</p> + +<p>We have had all the difficulties to contend with resulting from +inexperienced riders and untrained horses. No one who has not beheld the +scene, can imagine the awkward appearance of a troop of recruits mounted +on horses unaccustomed to the saddle. The sight is one of the most +laughable that can be witnessed. We have seen the attempt made to put +such a troop into a gallop across a field. Fifty horses and fifty men +instantly became actuated by a hundred different wills, and dispersed in +all directions—some of the riders hanging on to the pommels, with their +feet out of the stirrups, others tugging away at the bridles, and not a +few sprawling on the ground. After a few months' drills, however, a +different scene is presented, and an old troop horse becomes so +habituated to his exercises that not only will he perform all the +evolutions without guidance, but will even refuse to leave the ranks, +though under the most vigorous incitements of whip and spur. An officer +friend was once acting as cavalier to a party of ladies on horseback at +a review, when, unfortunately, the troop in which his horse belonged +happening to pass by, the animal bolted from the group of ladies, and +took his accustomed place in the ranks, nor could all the efforts of his +rider disengage him. Finally, our friend was obliged to dismount, and, +holding the horse by the bit, <i>back</i> him out of the troop to his station +with the party of ladies—a feat performed amid much provoking laughter.</p> + +<p>Cavalry can operate in masses only when circumstances are favorable—the +country open, and the ground free from obstructions. Yet it is in masses +alone that it can be effective, and it can triumph against infantry only +by a <i>shock</i>—from the precipitation of its weight upon the lines, +crushing them by the onset. Before the time of Frederic the Great, the +Prussian horsemen resembled those to be seen at a militia review—they +were a sort of picture soldiers, incapable of a vigorous charge. He +revolutionized the service by teaching that cavalry must achieve success +by a rapid onset, not stopping to fire themselves, and not regarding the +fire of their opponents. By practising these lessons, they were able to +overthrow the Austrian infantry. But if the force of a charge is +dissipated by obstructions on the ground, or is broken by the fire of +the assailed, the effectiveness of cavalry, as a participant in the +manœuvres of a battle field, is entirely destroyed.</p> + +<p>The question of the future of cavalry is at present one of great +interest among military investigators; for notwith<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>standing its +brilliant achievements during our civil war, the fact is apparent that +its sphere has been entirely changed, its old system has become +obsolete, and former possibilities no longer lie within its scope. Since +Waterloo there had not been, until our war commenced, any opportunity to +test the action of cavalry; for its operations in the Crimea and in +Italy were insignificant. The art of warfare had, meanwhile, in many +respects, become revolutionized by the introduction of rifled arms. +Military men waited, therefore, with interest, the experience of the war +in this country, to judge from it as to the part cavalry was to perform +in future warfare. That experience has shown that the day in which +cavalry can successfully charge squares of infantry has passed. When the +smooth-bore muskets alone were used by infantry, cavalry could be formed +in masses for charging at a distance of five hundred yards; now the +formations must be made at the distance of nearly a mile, and that +intervening space must be passed at speed under the constant fire of +cannon and rifles; when the squares are reached, the horses are +frightened and blown, the ranks have been disordered by the +impossibility of preserving a correct front during such a length of time +at rapid speed, and by the loss of men; the charge breaks weakly on the +wall of bayonets, and retires baffled. Infantry, before it learns its +own strength and the difficulty of forcing a horse against a bayonet—or +rather to trample down a man—has an absurd and unfounded fear of +cavalry. This feeling was in part the cause of the panic among our +troops at Bull Run—so much had been said about the Black Horse troop of +the rebels. The Waterloo achievements of the French were then thought +possible of repetition. Now adays it is hardly probable that the veteran +infantry of either army would take the trouble to form squares to resist +cavalry, but would expect to rout it by firing in line. Neither party in +our war has been able to make its mounted forces effective in a general +battle. Nothing has occurred to parallel, upon the battle field, those +exploits of the cavalry—French, Prussian, and English—in the great +wars of the last century, extending to Waterloo.</p> + +<p>The enthusiastic admirers of cavalry still maintain that it is possible +to repeat those exploits, even in face of the improved firearms now in +use. All that is necessary, they say, is to have the cavalry +sufficiently drilled. The ground to be crossed under a positively +dangerous fire is only five hundred or six hundred yards, and once +taught to continue the charge through the bullets for this distance, and +then to throw themselves on the bayonets, horsemen will now, as +heretofore, break the lines of infantry. All very true, <i>if</i> cavalry to +fulfil the conditions named can be obtained; but in <i>them</i> lies the +difficulty. Occasional instances of splendid charges will undoubtedly +occur in future warfare; but it seems to be an established fact that the +day for the glory of cavalry has passed. Once the mailed knight, mounted +on his mailed charger, could overthrow by scores the poor, pusillanimous +pikemen and crossbow men who composed the infantry; he was invulnerable +in his iron armor, and could ride them down like reeds. But gunpowder +and the bayonet have changed this; and now the most confident and +domineering cavalryman will put spurs to his horse and fly at a gallop, +if he sees the muzzle of an infantryman's rifle, with its glittering +bayonet, pointed at him from the thicket.</p> + +<p>Another revolution effected in the mounted service by the improvements +in arms and the consequent changes of tactics, is the diminution of +heavy and the increase of light cavalry—that is, the transfer of the +former into the latter. These two denominations really include all kinds +of cavalry, although the non-military reader may have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> puzzled by +the numerous subordinate denominations to be found in the accounts of +European warfare—such as dragoons, cuirassiers, hussars, lancers, +chasseurs, hulans, etc.</p> + +<p>Heavy cavalry is composed of the heavier men and horses, and is usually +divided into dragoons and cuirassiers. It is designed to act in masses, +and to break the lines of an enemy by the weight of its charge. Usually, +also, it has had some defensive armor, and is a direct descendant from +the knights of the Middle Ages. But the cuirasses, which were sufficient +to resist the balls from smooth-bore muskets, are easily penetrated by +rifles. Consequently the occupation of this kind of cavalry is gone, and +it is likely to disappear gradually from the service. In this country we +have never had anything except light cavalry—the only kind adapted for +use in our Indian warfare. This kind of cavalry is intended to +accomplish results by the celerity of its movements, and all its +equipments should therefore be as light as possible. The chief +difficulty is to prevent the cavalry soldier from overloading his horse, +as he has a propensity not only to carry a large wardrobe and a full +supply of kitchen utensils, but also to 'convey,' in the language of +Pistol, or, in army language, 'gobble up,' or, in plain English, steal +anything that is capable of being fastened to his saddle.</p> + +<p>It is evident that the efficiency of a cavalry soldier depends as much +upon his horse as upon himself; and it is requisite, therefore, that the +weight upon the horse should be as light as possible. The limit has been +fixed at about two hundred pounds for light, and two hundred and fifty +for heavy cavalry; but both of these are too much. A cavalry soldier +ought not to weigh over one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty +pounds, and his accoutrements not over thirty pounds additional; but in +practice, scarcely any horse—except where the rider is a very light +weight—carries less than two hundred and twenty or two hundred and +thirty pounds. One great cause of the evils incident to our cavalry +service is the excessive weight imposed on the horses. The French take +particular pains in this respect; while in England the cavalry is almost +entirely 'heavy,' and, though well drilled, is clumsy. John Bull, with +his roast beef and plum pudding, makes a poor specimen of a light +cavalryman. English officers are now endeavoring to revolutionize their +mounted service, so as to diminish its weight and increase its celerity.</p> + +<p>The <i>arms</i> of cavalry have been various, but it is now well settled that +its true weapon is the sabre, as its true form of operation is the +charge. A great deal of ingenuity has been expended in devising the best +form of sabre. Different countries have different patterns, but the one +adopted in our army is very highly considered. It is pointed, so as to +be used in thrusting; sharp on one edge for cutting; curved, so as to +inflict a deeper wound; and the weight arranged, by a mathematical rule, +so that the centres of percussion and of gravity are placed where the +weapon may be most easily handled. The lance is a weapon very +appropriate to light mounted troops, and is still used by some of the +Cossacks and Arab horsemen. But to wield it effectively requires +protracted training. For a long time in Europe it was the chief weapon +for horsemen; with the knights it was held in exclusive honor, and +continued in use for a considerable period after firearms had destroyed +the prestige of the gentlemen of the golden spurs. Prince Maurice, of +Orange, when he raised mounted regiments to defend the Netherlands +against the Spanish, rejected it, and since his time it has become +obsolete except in some regiments especially drilled to it. Such a +regiment was raised in Philadelphia at the commencement of our war, but +after eighteen months' experience the lances were abandoned. Besides the +sabre, cavalry-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>men are armed with pistols or carbines—the men having +the latter being employed particularly in skirmishing, sometimes on +foot.</p> + +<p>The proportion of mounted troops in an army varies according to the +nature of the country which is the theatre of military operations. In a +level country it should be about one fourth or one fifth, while in one +that is mountainous, it should not be greater than a tenth. As a general +rule, improvements in firearms have produced a decrease in the +proportion of cavalry and lessened its importance. When artillery was +introduced, the cavaliers, who composed the Middle Age armies +exclusively, commenced to disappear; knighthood passed out of existence, +being superseded by mercenary bands. Infantry gradually assumed +importance, which has constantly increased, until it has now attained +the vast predominance. This has not only caused a general diminution of +the proportion of cavalry, but has entailed on the Governments of Europe +the necessity of keeping their cavalry service always at its maximum, so +that the mounted troops may be perfect in their drill; whereas infantry +troops can acquire comparative proficiency in a few months.</p> + +<p>We will give a brief description of the different classes of cavalry, +and close our subject by some remarks on the operation of this arm of +service in our civil war.</p> + +<p>The regiments raised by Prince Maurice, of Orange, above referred to, +were the first known as <i>cuirassiers</i>, on account of the cuirasses which +they wore for defence. All defensive armor is now being laid aside.</p> + +<p><i>Dragoons</i> originally were a class of soldiers who operated both on foot +and mounted. They are supposed to take their name from a kind of firearm +called a 'dragon.' In modern practice dragoons are almost entirely used +as cavalry, and rarely have recourse to any extended service on foot. +The denomination 'dragoons' has recently been abolished from our +service.</p> + +<p><i>Carabineers</i> were at first some Basque and Gascon horsemen in the +French service, whose peculiarly distinguishing characteristic was a +skilful use in the saddle of a short firearm.</p> + +<p><i>Hussars</i> originated in Hungary, taking their denomination from the word +<i>husz</i>, which signifies twenty, and <i>ar</i>, pay—every twentieth man being +required by the state to enter into service. From their origin they were +distinguished for the celerity of their movements and their devotion to +fine costumes.</p> + +<p>The <i>hulans</i> were a species of Polish light cavalry, bearing lances, and +taking their name from their commander—a nobleman named Huland.</p> + +<p><i>Chasseurs</i> are French regiments, designed chiefly to act as scouts and +skirmishers. The <i>chasseurs d'Afrique</i> are cavalry which have been +trained in Algeria, and have become exceedingly expert through conflicts +with the Arabs. The <i>spahis</i> are Arab cavalry, in the French service, +and are such admirable riders that they will charge over all kinds of +ground, and dash upon a foe who judges himself secure amid rocks or +trees or ditches.</p> + +<p>At the commencement of the war the rebel cavalry was superior to that +furnished by the North. For this there were many reasons. Southern +plantation life had accustomed the aristocratic youth to the saddle, and +great attention was bestowed on the training of horses. At the North the +number of skilled riders was comparatively few. Gradually, however, +Northern energy, endurance, and patient discipline began to tell, and +the time soon arrived when the Southern cavalry were invariably driven, +especially in sabre charges, to which Southerners have great aversion. +At present, on account of the scarcity of horses, the difficulty of +supplying forage, and the loss of so many gay youths of the chivalry, +the Southern, cavalry has dwindled into such a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> condition as to be no +longer formidable.</p> + +<p>The service of the cavalry in both armies during the war has been +exclusively as light cavalry—scouting, picketing, raiding, etc. Its +combats have been with forces of its own arm. No commander has yet +succeeded in assisting to determine the issue of a pitched battle by the +charges of his mounted troops. Our cavalry have rendered, however, +brilliant and invaluable services in protecting the rear and flanks of +the armies, and by their magnificent raiding expeditions into the +enemy's country, destroying his supplies, injuring his communications, +diverting his forces, and liberating his slaves. No sufficient accounts +of such expeditions and of the numerous cavalry conflicts have been +published; yet they are very desirable. They would furnish most +interesting narratives, and be a valuable contribution not only to the +history of the times, but to the history of warfare; for the operations +of the cavalry in this war constitute a new era in the history of this +branch of military service. Unless care is exercised to procure such +narratives, our posterity will never know anything of many battle fields +where fought and fell brave troopers from every Northern State.</p> + +<p>The chief duties of officers belonging to the <i>corps of engineers</i>, when +connected with an army acting in the field, are the supervision of +routes of communication, the laying of bridges, the selection of +positions for fortifications, and the indication of the proper character +of works to be constructed. Should a siege occur, a new and very +important class of duties devolves on them, relating to the trenches, +saps, batteries, etc.</p> + +<p>Not only is there in Virginia a lack of good roads, but the numerous +streams have few or no bridges. In many cases where bridges have +existed, one or the other of the contending armies has destroyed them to +impede the march of its opponents. Streams which have an average depth +of three or four feet are, however, generally without bridges, except +where crossed by some turnpike, the common country roads mostly leading +to fords. The famous Bull Run is an example. There were but two or three +bridges over this stream in the space of country penetrated by the roads +generally pursued by our army in advancing or retreating, and these have +been several times destroyed and rebuilt. The stream varies from two to +six feet in depth—the fords being at places of favorable depth, and +where the bottom is gravelly and the banks sloping. Often such streams +as this, and indeed smaller ones, become immensely swelled in volume by +storms, so that a comparatively insignificant rivulet might greatly +delay the march of an army, if means for quickly crossing should not be +provided. The general depth of a ford which a large force, with its +appurtenances, can safely cross, is about three feet, and even then the +bottom should be good and the current gentle. With a greater depth of +water, the men are likely to wet their cartridge boxes, or be swept off +their feet. There is a small stream about three miles from Alexandria, +crossing the Little River turnpike, which has never been bridged, and +which was once so suddenly swollen by rain that all the artillery and +wagons of a corps were obliged to wait about twelve hours for its +subsidence. The mules of some wagons driven into it were swept away. +Fords, unless of the best bottom, are rendered impassable after a small +portion of the wagons and artillery of an army have crossed them—the +gravel being cut through into the underlying clay, and the banks +converted into sloughs by the dripping of water from the animals and +wheels.</p> + +<p>A very amusing scene was presented at the crossing of Hazel River (a +branch of the Rappahannock) last fall, when the Army of the Potomac +first marched to Culpepper. The stream was at least<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> three feet deep, +and at various places four—the current very rapid—the bottom filled +with large stones, and the banks steep, except where a narrow road had +been cut for the wagons. The men adopted various expedients for +crossing. Some went in boldly all accoutred; some took off shoes and +stockings, and carefully rolled up their trousers; others (and they were +the wisest) divested themselves of all their lower clothing. The long +column struggled as best it could through the water, and occasionally, +amid vociferous shouts, those who had been careful to roll up their +trousers would step into a hole up to the middle; others, who had taken +still more precautions, would stumble over a stone and pitch headlong +into the roaring waters, dropping their guns, and splashing vainly about +with their heavy knapsacks, in the endeavor to regain a footing, until +some of their comrades righted them; and others, after getting over +safely, would slip back from the sandy bank, and take an involuntary +immersion. Some clung to the rear of the wagons, but in the middle of +the stream the mules would become fractious, or the wagon would get +jammed against a stone, and the unfortunate passengers were compelled to +drop off and wade ashore, greeted by roars of derisive laughter. On such +occasions soldiers give full play to their humor. They accept the +hardships with good nature, and make the best of any ridiculous incident +that may happen. At the time referred to, many conscripts had just +joined the ranks, and cries resounded everywhere among the old soldiers: +'Hello, conscripts, how do you like this?' 'What d'ye think of sogering +now?' 'This is nothing. You'll have to go in up to yer neck next time.'</p> + +<p>Generally, when the exigencies of the march will permit, bridges are +made over such streams, either by the engineers of the army, or +detachments from the various corps which are passing upon the roads. +They are simple 'corduroy bridges,' and can be laid very expeditiously. +Two or three piers of stones and logs are placed in the stream, string +pieces are stretched upon them, and cross pieces of small round logs +laid down for the flooring. The most extensive bridges of this kind used +by the Army of the Potomac were those over the Chickahominy in the +Peninsular campaign. 'Sumner's bridge,' by which reinforcements crossed +at the battle of Fair Oaks, was laid in this manner. Of course such +bridges are liable to be carried away and to be easily destroyed. Some +of the bridges over the Chickahominy were laid much more thoroughly. +'Cribs' of logs were piled in cob-house fashion, pinned together, and +sunk vertically in the stream. Then string pieces and the flooring were +laid, the whole covered with brush and dirt. Men worked at these bridges +up to the waist in water for many days in succession.</p> + +<p>Military art has devised many expedients for bridging streams, and use +is made of any facilities that may be at hand for constructing the means +of passage; but the only organized bridge trains which move with the +army are those which carry the pontoons. Of these there are various +kinds, made of wood, of corrugated iron, and of india rubber stretched +over frames. But the wooden pontoon boats are most in use. They can be +placed in a river and the flooring laid upon them with great rapidity. +Several very fine bridges have been thus constructed—among them may be +mentioned the one at the mouth of the Chickahominy, across which General +McClellan's army marched in retreating from Harrison's Landing. It was +about a mile long, and was constructed in a few hours.</p> + +<p>To cross a river under the fire of an enemy is one of the most difficult +operations in warfare. Yet it has been frequently accomplished by our +armies. The crossing of the Rappahannock by General Burnside's army, +previous to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> the great battle of Fredericksburg, in December, 1862, is +one of the most remarkable instances of the kind during the war. The +rebel rifle pits lined the southern bank, and the fire from them +prevented our engineers from approaching—the river being only about +seventy-five yards wide. For a long time our artillery failed to drive +the rebels away. About noon of the day on which the crossing was made, +General Burnside ordered a concentration of fire on Fredericksburg, in +the houses of which place the rebels had concealed their forces. A +hundred guns, hurling shot and shell into every building and street of +the city, soon riddled it; but the obstinate foes hid themselves in the +cellars till the storm was over, and then emerged defiantly. They were +only dislodged by sending over a battalion in boats to attack them in +flank, when they retreated, and the bridges were laid.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to explain in articles of this character the mysteries +of intrenchment and fortification, so that they will be comprehensible. +A few notes, however, on some of the principal terms constantly +employed, may be found useful and interesting.</p> + +<p><i>Rifle pits</i>—as the term is now generally used—are small embankments, +made by throwing up dirt from an excavation <i>inside</i>. They can be +erected quickly, for it will be seen that those behind them have the +advantage, not only of the height of the embankment, but also of the +depth of the ditch. Thus an excavation of two feet would give a +protection of <i>four</i> feet. This is the ordinary rifle pit, but when time +permits it receives many improvements.</p> + +<p><i>Breastworks</i> are any erections of logs, dirt, etc., raised breast high, +to shelter the men behind them.</p> + +<p>An <i>abatis</i> consists of obstructions placed in front of a work to form +obstacles to a storming party. The most convenient method of forming it +is to cut down trees and allow them to lie helterskelter. When there is +time, the trees are laid with the butts toward the work, and the +branches outward—the small limbs being removed, and the ends of the +remainder sharpened.</p> + + +<blockquote> +<div class="figleft"><img src="images/imga.jpg" style="margin-bottom: -1em; margin-right: 1em;" alt="glyph" title="" /></div> + +<p><br /><br />A <i>redan</i> is a letter V, with the point toward the enemy, and is used +generally to cover the heads of bridges, etc.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote><div class="figleft"><img src="images/imgb.jpg" style="margin-bottom: -1em; margin-right: 1em;" alt="glyph" title="" /></div> +<p><br /><br />A <i>lunette</i> is the redan with flanking wings.</p></blockquote> + + +<blockquote><div class="figleft"><img src="images/imgc.jpg" style="margin-bottom: -1em; margin-right: 1em;" alt="glyph" title="" /></div> +<p><br /><br /><br />A <i>redoubt</i> is an enclosed parallelogram.</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote><div class="figleft"><img src="images/imgd.jpg" style="margin-bottom: -1em; margin-right: 1em;" alt="glyph" title="" /></div> +<p>These works are very imperfect, because they have exposed points. The +angles are not protected by the fire from the sides. To remedy this +difficulty, the next most usual work is the <i>star fort</i>, made in the +form of a regular or irregular star. It will be perceived that the fire +from the sides covers the angles.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The next and still more improved form of work is the bastioned fort, +which consists of projecting bastions at the corners, the fire from +which enfilades the ditches.</p> + +<p>The following is a diagram of a vertical section of the parapet and +ditch used in all fully constructed field works:</p> + + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/imge.jpg" alt="glyph" title="" /></div> + +<p>A B is the slope of the banquette.</p> + +<p>B C head of the banquette, or place where the men stand to deliver +their fire.</p> + +<p>C D the interior slope of the parapet.</p> + +<p>D E superior slope of the same.</p> + +<p>F G the berme, or place left to prevent the parapet from washing +down into the ditch.</p> + +<p>G H the scarp or interior wall of the ditch.</p> + +<p>H I the bottom of the ditch.</p> + +<p>I K the counterscarp.</p> + +<p>L M N the glacis, which, except the abatis near<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> the ditch, is left +free and open, so as to expose the assailants to the fire from the +parapet.</p> + +<p>The proportions and angles of all the lines given are fixed +according to mathematical rules.</p></div> + + +<p>The operations of a siege present many incidents of great interest; but +we can do nothing more in this article than illustrate the methods in +which the approaches are made to the works the capture of which is +designed. When reconnoissances have established the conclusion that the +works of an enemy cannot be carried by assault, the lines of the +investing army are advanced as near to them as is compatible with +safety; advantage is then taken of the opportunities afforded by the +ground to cover working parties, which are thrown forward to the place +fixed for the first parallel; sometimes these parties can commence their +work only at night. The parallel is only a deep trench with the dirt +thrown toward the enemy; and after the excavation has progressed, the +trench is occupied by parties of troops to resist any sorties of the +enemy, and to prevent attempts against the batteries established behind +the parallel.</p> + +<p>The first parallel being completed, zigzag excavations are made toward +the front to cover the passage of men who proceed to dig the second +parallel. Meanwhile the batteries have commenced to play, and riflemen +have been advanced in trenches at convenient places, whose fire annoys +the gunners of the enemy. The second parallel being made, the batteries +are moved up to it, and the third parallel is proceeded with in a manner +similar to that used for the second.</p> + + +<p>We give below a rough diagram of these operations:</p> + +<blockquote><div class="figcenter"><img src="images/imgf.jpg" alt="glyph" title="" /></div> + + +<p>A B C D E is the work of the enemy to be besieged. The working parties +advance by the zigzag paths M N and O to the position chosen for the +first parallel, K L. At the proper time they proceed by the zigzag paths +to the second parallel, H I, and then to the third, F G. When this is +reached, the enemy's work can generally be carried by storm, unless +already evacuated, for <i>ceteris paribus</i> the advantages generally lie +with the besieging party. The zigzags are called <i>boyaux</i>, and they are +dug in the form represented, so that the bank of earth thrown up may be +always in front of them. Were they in straight lines this could not be.</p> + +<p>The above refers exclusively to the siege of a field work. The +principles for besieging a walled fort or a fortified town are the same, +but the operations are much more complicated.]<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p> +</blockquote> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="LITERARY_NOTICES" id="LITERARY_NOTICES"></a>LITERARY NOTICES.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Popular Edition. <span class="smcap">Results of Emancipation</span>. By <span class="smcap">Augustin +Cochin</span>, Ex-Maire and Municipal Councillor of Paris. Work +crowned by the Institute of France (Académie Française). Translated +by <span class="smcap">Mary L. Booth</span>, Translator of Count de Gasparin's work +on America, etc. Fourth thousand. Boston: Walker, Wise & Co., 245 +Washington street. 1864.</p></div> + +<p>A remarkable book, indicative of a new era in the discussion of social, +religious, political, and economical questions. Prejudice, misstatement, +and fanaticism are apparently so opposed to the clear, candid mind of +the author, that he has needed no effort to avoid them, and in their +stead give us simple truth, broad views of men and things, and the +highest conceptions of duty and charity, together with the nicest +consideration of the rights and material interests, even the local +prejudices and misconceptions, of our fellow mortals. He shows clearly +that a <i>moral</i> wrong can never long tend to <i>material</i> advantage, and +that the laws of <i>society</i> cannot be made ultimately to triumph over the +laws of <i>nature</i>; neither, in general, can a wrong be righted without +some suffering by way of expiation.</p> + +<p>Although filled with statistical details, the work cannot fail to be +intensely interesting to the general reader. Lofty, hopeful, rational, +and yet progressive in its tone, it is calculated to do great good, not +only through the useful information and instructive generalizations it +makes known, but also as a model of right feeling, and consequent good +breeding, in its peculiar sphere.</p> + +<p>The chapters upon the sugar question are wonderfully lucid and +convincing. Their bearing upon mooted points of political economy +recommend them to the study of all interested in that intricate subject. +The distressing relations necessarily existing between slavery and +religious instruction are also plainly set forth, and the general +conclusion of the book (that 'emancipation' is not only possible, but +most expedient, and that, with certain care upon the part of the +Government and of slave owners, an immediate and simultaneous liberation +is likely to breed fewer disturbances and less evil than gradual +disenthralment) seems to be rapidly gaining ground in the convictions of +our own countrymen. The conscience, and prophetic dreams of priests, +women, and poets, have long given assurance of such results, but the +world, of course, required definite experience and practical essays +before instituting any extensive course of action in that direction.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'A council held in the city of London in 1102, under the presidency +of St. Anselm, interdicted trade in slaves. This was eight hundred +years before the same object was debated in the same city before +Parliament. In 1780, Thomas Clarkson proposed to abolish the slave +trade. In 1787, Wilberforce renewed the proposition. Seven times +presented from 1793 to 1799, the bill seven times failed. +Successively laid over, it triumphed at length in 1806 and 1807. +All the Christian nations followed this memorable example. At the +Congress of Vienna, all the Powers pledged themselves to unite +their efforts to obtain <i>the entire and final abolition of a +traffic so odious and so loudly reproved by the laws of religion +and nature</i>. The slave trade was abolished in 1808 by the American +United States; in 1811, by Denmark, Portugal, and Chili; in 1813, +by Sweden; in 1814 and 1815, by Holland; in 1815, by France; in +1822, by Spain. In this same year, 1822, Wilberforce attacked +slavery after the slave trade, and won over public opinion by +appeals and repeated meetings, while his friend Mr. Buxton proposed +emancipation in Parliament. The Emancipation Bill was presented in +1833. On the 1st of August, 1834, slavery ceased to sully the soil +of the English colonies. In 1846, Sweden, in 1847, Denmark, +Uruguay, Wallachia, and Tunis, obeyed the same impulse, which +France followed in 1848, Portugal in 1856, and which Holland +promised to imitate in 1860. An earnest movement agitated Brazil.'</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p> + +<p>In Poland, the serfdom of the peasants was never sanctioned by law, but +existed in later times by reason of exception and abuse. Stanislas +Leszczynski, King of Poland, in 1720 raised his voice in favor of the +peasant population; the same principles were in 1768 defended, sword in +hand, by the Confederation of Bar, discussed in the diets of 1776, 1780, +1788, and finally adopted by the famous Constituent Assembly of 1791. +Thadeus Kosciuszko (May 7th, 1794), then Dictator of Poland, issued a +document giving entire personal liberty to all serfs; and on the 22d of +January, 1863, the members of the 'National Polish Government' decreed +that the peasants were not only free, but were entitled to a certain +portion of land, of which they should be the sole proprietors. In 1861, +Russia emancipated all serfs within her borders. In the United States, +the stern 'logic of events' seems to be rapidly bringing about similar +results, although indeed 'slavery' and 'serfdom' should never be +mentioned together, being so essentially different; the one the +possession of the <i>man</i>, the other merely the ownership of his <i>labor</i> +or of a <i>portion of its results</i>.</p> + +<p>We cannot better conclude than by giving the following extract from the +Introduction of M. Cochin, who, by the way, is a man of good family and +ample fortune, an eminent publicist, and a Catholic of the school of +Lacordaire, Montalembert, Monseigneur d'Orleans, and the Prince de +Broglie:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'It was once exclaimed, Perish the colonies, rather than a +principle! The principle has not perished, the colonies have not +perished.</p> + +<p>'It is not correct that interests should yield to principles; +between legitimate interests and true principles, harmony is +infallible; this is truth. Those who look only to interests are +sooner or later deceived in their calculations; those who, +exclusively occupied with principles, are generous without being +practical, cease to be generous, for they lead the cause which they +serve to certain destruction. It is the will of God that realities +should mingle with ideas, and that material obstacles should compel +the purchase of progress by toil.'</p></div> + +<p>The publishers tell us that, a large demand for this work having arisen, +they have issued this 'popular edition,' wherein the figures in the +original are given as nearly as possible in the American currencies, +measures, etc.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Stumbling Blocks</span>. By <span class="smcap">Gail Hamilton</span>, Author of +'Country Living and Country Thinking,' 'Gala Days,' etc. Boston: +Ticknor & Fields, For sale by D. Appleton & Co., New York.</p></div> + +<p>Gail Hamilton's religious position gives her vast advantages. She is +thoroughly orthodox, Calvinistic, and Congregational, and being neither +Unitarian nor Catholic, will not be regarded as one of the 'Suspect' by +the great community of the so-called evangelical Christians. But she is +a bold, independent thinker, and spurns the trammels of bigotry and +prescription. No party spirit blinds her clear vision, no sectarian +prejudice vitiates her statements of the creeds of others, or induces +her to veil the faults and follies of those worshipping in the same +church with herself. Ministers are by no means immaculate saints in her +eyes. Seating herself in the pews, she preaches better sermons to them +than they are in the habit of giving to their people; taking possession +of their pulpits, she shows them what might and ought to be done from +that throne of power. Petty vanities, subjective experiences recorded in +morbid journals, religious frames of mind frequently dwelt upon until +the tortured self-watcher is driven into insanity, fall under her +scathing rebuke.</p> + +<p>This volume deals chiefly with the shortcomings of the orthodox +religious world. Its faults of temper, its repulsive manners, its custom +of making home unlovely, its distaste of innocent amusement, its habits +of censure, its self-sufficiency and pharisaical character, are touched +with a caustic but healing power. Only the hand of a friend could have +done this thing. No point of doctrine is questioned, no principle of +faith invaded, no charity wounded. She probes in love—her object is +cure. This book is fresh and vigorous, worth thousands of lifeless +sermons and unprofitable religious journals. No prejudice or falsehood +is spared, though it may have taken refuge in the very sanctuary. Her +every shaft is well directed, every arrow powerfully sent, every shot +strikes the bull's eye in its centre. Her words are hailstones rattling +fell and fast, but melt into and soften the heart on which they fall. +Delusions disappear, cant and want of courtesy become odious, shams grow +shameful, while all lovely things bloom lovelier in the light of truth +emanating from this large brain, and poured through this living heart. +We bask in its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> sunshine, growing strong and happy as we read. Christian +fervor and charity, love for Redeemer and redeemed, for saint and +sinner, cheer us through all these well-deserved denunciations. Her +style is clear and rapid, her matter of daily and urgent import, her +characterizations of classes and types of men worthy of La Bruyère +himself, her satire melts into humor, her humor into pathos. She has +been attacked by some of the religious papers, and has herein taken a +true Christian and magnanimous revenge. O Gail! the clergy should open +wide their hearts to take you in, their gifted child, the iconoclast +within the temple, the faithful disciple of Christ, the lover of purity +and truth!</p> + +<p>We quote the following brave words from this remarkable book:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'We sometimes see religious newspapers charging each other with +acts which should exclude the perpetrators from the fraternity of +<i>honest</i> men; for, through the medium of religious newspapers, one +church, or one fraction of a church, or one ecclesiastical body, or +one member of it, accuses another of an act, or a course of action, +which, in sober truth, amounts to nothing more or less than +<i>obvious, persistent deception, dishonesty and trickery</i>.... Can +such be correct transcripts of facts? Is it true that a church, or +any body corporate, whose very existence as such is professedly to +cultivate and disseminate the principles of sound morality and true +religion, does fall so far short of the faith delivered to the +saints—does so far forget its origin, and pervert its aims, as to +violate common law and common honesty, and persist in its +violation, deliberately, against repeated remonstrances, by sheer +force? Yet we see no convulsion in the community. Nothing intimates +that a great grief is fallen upon Israel. Everybody eats, drinks, +and sleeps as usual. The pulpits still stand, and the law and the +gospel are appealed to from that vantage ground. The sacramental +cup is still raised to devout lips. The gray heads of the culprits +still go in and out among the people with no diminishing of +honor—no odium is attached to their persons; no stigmas to their +names. What a state of things does this argue! A whole church +plunges into darkness, and the</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">'Majestic heaven</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Shines not the less for that one vanished star.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>'Can we wonder that the world will not let itself be converted? To +what should it be converted, if it were willing? Would it be an +advance for a community that sends its thieves to prison when it +catches them to merge itself in a community that is content to +print a few columns of <i>exposé</i> on the subject? If the stream where +you wish to drink is muddy, you will scarcely find clear waters by +descending. You want to go up, not down; up on the high lands where +threads of crystal cleave the gray old rocks, and gather purity +from earth's deep bosom and the sky's clear blue.</p> + +<p>'If it is not so, if the acts only appear dishonest because we are +looking at one side, why do we not say so, or why do we say +anything about it? Every man is to be held innocent till he is +proved guilty. If there is any standpoint from which we can view +our opponent's position and find it not dishonest, we ought to +mention it. We have no right to look at him from <i>a</i> standpoint, +and hold him up to view as a criminal, and ignore <i>another</i>, from +which he may be seen as simply mistaken, or deceived, or blameless. +Still less have we a right to take innocent facts and construct +upon them a guilty hypothesis to suit our foregone conclusion. A +<i>right</i> to do it? <i>It is sin</i>. <i>It is more than murder</i>. It may rob +a man of what is more precious to him than his life. It attempts to +take away from a man what, taken, would leave him stripped of his +manhood, and a man's manhood is worth more to him and his friends +than his bone and muscle.'</p></div> + +<p>Ah, Gail, thy keen aim has indeed struck the pupil of the bull's eye! If +false statements of varying dogmas were held 'as criminal as they +undoubtedly are,' if they were never viewed from 'foregone conclusions,' +sects would perish in the death of misconceptions, and warring +Christians would rush into each other's arms with the joy-cry, +'Brothers!' Through the misstatements of centuries, the good Protestant +minister regards the Catholic priest, ready as he may be to die for the +faith of his fathers, as a <i>wilful liar</i>, a <i>conscious deceiver</i>, +selling the souls of his flock for a Judas bribe; while the equally good +priest, in his turn, looks upon the conscientious minister as a despiser +of authority, an enemy of the Church of Christ, refusing to hear what he +believes to be its undoubted teachings, a blind man, leading the blind +into the pit of perdition. The men may be both right from the standpoint +of their 'foregone conclusions,' both wrong from the standpoint of fact. +And so it goes on, through all the lesser sectarian divisions. +Everywhere misstatement, misconception, and smouldering hatred. The +first step to reconciliation among the antagonistic members of Christ's +torn body, would be to put into instantaneous practice the wise, sound, +and just maxims of Gail<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> Hamilton. Let us begin it, lovers of truth and +justice!</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">The Maine Woods</span>. By <span class="smcap">Henry D. Thoreau</span>, Author of +'A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers,' 'Walden,' +'Excursions,' etc. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. For sale by D. +Appleton & Co., New York.</p></div> + +<p>The first of the papers contained in this book was published in 'The +Union Magazine;' the second, 'Chesuncook,' came out in the 'Atlantic +Monthly,' in 1858; the last is now for the first time printed. The +contents of the volume are as follows: Ktaadn, Chesuncook, The Allegash +and East Branch; in the Appendix we have Trees, Flowers, and Shrubs, +List of Plants, List of Birds, Quadrupeds, Outfit for an Excursion, and +a List of Indian Words. Henry D. Thoreau was an enthusiastic lover of +nature, but no blind adorer of her loveliness. He knew her in all her +moods, was familiar with all her caprices. He was a man of strong brain, +and of accurate knowledge in such fields as it pleased him to study. The +woods have never before had such an accurate biographer, such a true +painter. He saw them with the eye of the poet as well as that of the +naturalist. Scholarship and imagination roam with him in the primeval +forests. After the most accurate and detailed description of a moose +which had been killed by his Indian guide, this anti-sentimentalist, but +true forest lover says: 'Here, just at the head of the murmuring rapids, +Joe now proceeded to skin the moose with a pocket knife, while I looked +on; and a tragical business it was—to see that still warm and +palpitating body pierced with a knife, to see the warm milk stream from +the rent udder, and the ghastly naked red carcass appearing from within +its seemly robe, which was made to hide it.' There is no joy of the +hunter here! The words are as 'tragical' and tender as were those of the +melancholy Jaques. That 'warm milk and rent udder' seems to make the +stately creature half human. He proceeds:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'But on more accounts than one, I had had enough of moose hunting. +I had not come to the woods for this purpose, nor had I foreseen +it, though I had been willing to learn how the Indian manœuvred; +but one moose killed was as good, if not as bad, as a dozen. The +afternoon's tragedy and my share in it, as it affected the +<i>innocence</i>, destroyed the <i>pleasure</i> of my adventure. This hunting +of the moose merely for the satisfaction of killing him—not even +for the sake of his hide—without making any extraordinary exertion +or running any risk yourself, is too much like going out by night +to some woodside pasture and shooting your neighbor's horses. These +are God's own horses, poor timid creatures, that will run fast +enough as soon as they smell you, though they are <i>nine</i> feet high +(often eleven, with the antlers).... You strip off its hide, +because that is the common trophy, and moreover you have heard it +may be sold for mocassons—cut a steak from its body, and leave the +huge carcass 'to smell to heaven' for you. It is no better, at +least, than to assist at a slaughter house. This afternoon's +experience suggested to me how base or coarse are the motives which +commonly carry men into the wilderness. The explorers and lumberers +generally are hirelings, paid so much a day for their labor, and as +such they have no more love for wild nature than wood sawyers have +for forests. Other white men and Indians who come here are for the +most part hunters, whose object is to slay as many moose and other +wild animals as possible. But pray, could not one spend some weeks +or years in the solitude of this vast wilderness with other +employments than these—employments perfectly sweet, innocent, and +ennobling? For one that comes with a pencil to sketch or sing, a +thousand come with an axe or rifle. What a coarse and imperfect use +Indians and hunters make of nature! No wonder that their race is so +soon exterminated. I already, and for weeks afterward, felt my +nature the coarser for this part of my woodland experience, and was +reminded that our life should be lived as tenderly and daintily as +one would pluck a flower.'</p></div> + +<p>Again:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'As I sat before the fire on my fir-twig seat, without walls above +or around me, I remembered how far on every hand that wilderness +stretched, before you came to cleared or cultivated fields, and +wondered if any bear or moose was watching the light of my fire; +for nature looked sternly upon me on account of the <i>murder of the +moose</i>.</p> + +<p>'Strange that so few ever come to the woods to see how the pine +lives and grows and spires, lifting its ever-green arms to the +light—to see its perfect success; but most are content to behold +it in the shape of many broad boards brought to market, and deem +<i>that</i> its true success. But the pine is no more lumber than man +is, and to be made into boards and houses is no more its true and +highest use, than the truest use of a man is to be cut down and +made into manure. There is a higher law affecting our relation to +pines as well as to men. A pine cut down, a dead pine, is no more a +pine than a dead human carcass is a man. Can he who has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> discovered +only some of the values of whalebone and whale oil be said to have +discovered the true use of the whale? Can he who slays the elephant +for his ivory be said to have 'seen the elephant'? These are petty +and accidental uses; just as if a stronger race were to kill us in +order to make buttons and flageolets of our bones; for everything +may serve a lower as well as a higher use. Every creature is better +alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who +understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy +it.</p> + +<p>'Is it the lumberman, then, who is the friend and lover of the +pine, stands nearest to it, and understands its nature best? Is it +the tanner who has barked it, or he who has boxed it for +turpentine, whom posterity will fable to have changed into a pine +at last? No! no! it is the poet; he it is who makes the truest use +of the pine—who does not fondle it with an axe, nor tickle it with +a saw, nor stroke it with a plane—who knows whether its heart is +false without cutting into it—who has not bought the stumpage of +the town on which its stands. All the pines shudder and heave a +sigh when <i>that</i> man steps on the forest floor. No, it is the poet, +who loves them as his own shadow in the air, and lets them stand. I +have been into the lumber yard, the carpenter's shop, the tannery, +the lamp-black factory, and the turpentine clearing; but when at +length I saw the tops of the pines waving and reflecting the light +at a distance over all the rest of the forest, I realized that the +former were not the highest use of the pine. It is not their bones +or hide or tallow that I love most. It is the living spirit of the +tree, not its spirit of turpentine, with which I sympathize, and +which heals my cuts. It is as immortal as I am, and, perchance, may +go to as high a heaven, there to tower above me still.'</p></div> + +<p>Reader, was not this man a nature lover, a nature limner, worthy to take +his place among our Giffords, Whittredges, McEntees, Bierstadts, and +Beards? Truly original, natural, and American, who among our descriptive +writers can surpass H. D. Thoreau?</p> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Primary Lessons For Deaf Mutes</span>. By J. A. <span class="smcap">Jacobs</span>, +A. M., Principal of the Kentucky Institution for the Education of +Deaf Mutes. New York: John F. Trow, Printer & Publisher, 50 Greene +street, between Broome & Grand. 1864.</p></div> + +<p>An excellent little work, intended to impart some of the rudimentary +branches of learning to that interesting class of our fellow beings who +can neither speak nor hear. Every effort made for their instruction +should be cordially welcomed, for sad indeed is their position, and very +difficult the discovery of means to reach and develop their often very +bright intelligence. These lessons can be used by parents, guardians, or +elder brothers and sisters, before the deaf-mute child is old enough to +send to a regular institution. They are divided into two parts, bound in +separate little volumes, and <i>filled</i> with cuts illustrating the +text—or rather, the text, as is proper in such a work, illustrates the +cuts, which occupy the larger portion of the book. Teachers cannot but +find these aids of incalculable value.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">The Relations of The Industry of Canada With The Mother Country +And The United States</span>. Being a Speech by <span class="smcap">Isaac +Buchanan</span>, Esq., M. P., as delivered at the late Demonstration +to the Parliamentary Opposition at Toronto; together with a series +of Articles in defence of the National Sentiments contained +therein, which originally appeared in the columns of the <i>Hamilton +Spectator</i>, from the pen of Mr. Buchanan; to which is added a +Speech delivered by him at the Dinner given to the Pioneers of +Upper Canada, at London, Canada West, 10th December, 1863. Now +first published in complete and collected form, with copious Notes +and Annotations, besides an extended Introductory Explanation, and +an Appendix containing various valuable Documents. Edited by +<span class="smcap">Henry J. Morgan</span>, Corresponding Member of the New York +Historical Society, and Author of 'Sketches of Celebrated +Canadians.' Montreal: Printed by John Lovell, St. Nicholas. 1864.</p></div> + +<p>We recommend this book to such of our readers as may be interested in +political economy, not as sound in theory, but as containing a vast +array of facts and giving considerable information with regard to the +internal affairs of our neighbor Canada. The Reciprocity Treaty comes in +for its share of consideration. Mr. Buchanan is a Protectionist, and +uses the arguments of his party with considerable ability. The question +of annexation is also incidentally touched upon. We do not know that we +can give our readers a better idea of the contents and policy of this +book than by placing the dedication before them.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'To the leaders of the forthcoming Party of Order, I dedicate these +pages, because I feel that the province is at the winning or the +losing, and that we shall hereafter have to hail you as the honored +instruments of our Political and Industrial salvation.</p> + +<p>'In Mr. Buchanan's Letter to the Editor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> of the Globe, assuring him +publicly that Mr. Buchanan and all his friends, as in the Past, so +in the Future, would be found opponents to the death of Annexation, +and not its friends, as that journal basely insinuated, he states +that he is of no party, though reluctantly compelled to be in +opposition to the present ministry in consequence of their acts, +Executive as well as Legislative; but that he is of a class far +more numerous than the 'thick and thin' adherents of either of the +present <i>soi-disant</i> parties. Those alluded to by Mr. Buchanan will +form a new party—the Party of Order, which will probably be called +the 'Constitutional Party'—its platform being broad enough to hold +all who value and respect the time-honored Constitution, whether +they be original Reformers or Conservatives in name. The new Party +of Order will comprise these elements:</p> + +<p>'First. Conservative Liberals, or old Reformers, who have been +taught by experience, and are willing now to adopt the word +'Conservative,' at least in its adjective sense.</p> + +<p>'Secondly. Liberal Conservatives, or old Tories, or their +descendants, who have also been taught by experience, and are +willing to adopt the word 'Liberal,' at least in its adjective +sense.</p> + +<p>'Thirdly. Conservatives, and Conservative Liberals, who have +unwittingly been mingled up with the incendiary party, composed of +'Clear Grits' and 'Rouges.'</p> + +<p>'And that in your discussions on the great question of the +Reciprocity Law, now about to agitate both Canada and the United +States, these pages may be of some service, is the fond hope of +your obedient servant,</p> + + +<p class='author'>'<span class="smcap">The Editor</span>.'</p></div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Family Pride</span>. By the Author of 'Pique.' Philadelphia: T. +B. Peterson & Brothers, 306 Chestnut street.</p></div> + +<p>Family Pride is a novel of still greater interest than 'Pique.' The plot +is well conceived, the characters skilfully developed, and the attention +is fascinated even to the end. The moral is unexceptionable, the style +fresh and pure. We must however enter an earnest protest against the +manifest injustice of the closing sentence, where the talented author +has gone out of his way to find a blot for his book, the only stain upon +his fair pages. It reads thus: 'After a variety of vicissitudes, she had +embraced the Romish faith: that religion which relieves from all +personal responsibility in spiritual matters; and which teaches that +earthly penance and ascetic observances will open the gates of heaven to +the vilest of criminals.' We have studied Westminster, Episcopal, and +Catholic catechisms, the teachings in all three of which are that faith +in Christ and sorrow for and renunciation of sin alone can open the +gates of heaven. We regard it as the duty of a conscientious reviewer to +point out an erroneous statement wherever it occurs, whether in regard +to the faith of Protestants, Catholics, Hebrews, Mohammedans, Fire +Worshippers, or any other classes of men whatsoever. Misstatement has +caused an immense deal of bloodshed and bitterness among Christians. The +walls of Zion must be built of the stones of truth.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">The Tanner Boy, and how he became Lieutenant-General</span>. By +<span class="smcap">Major Penniman</span>. 'The boy is father to the man.' Fifth +thousand. Boston: Roberts Brothers, publishers, 143 Washington +street. 1864.</p></div> + +<p>A lively account of the boyhood and subsequent career of one likely to +be famous in American history. The nation's eyes are at this moment +turned hopefully upon the result of Gen. Grant's campaign in Virginia, +and all will be glad to learn that his previous life offers so fair and +pleasant a record. One observation, however, we feel called upon to make +to the entertaining Major: the youth of America should be taught to +love, to live for, and, if need be, to die for their country; but they +should also be taught to shun narrow exclusiveness and boastful vanity. +A government of a whole people should in this respect set a noble +example to all other nations.</p> + +<p>The 'Tanner Boy' has already reached its 'fifth thousand,' and will no +doubt be eagerly read by all the patriotic boys and girls in the land.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Wax Flowers</span>. J. E. Tilton & Co., Boston. 1864.</p></div> + +<p>This little book contains somewhat over a hundred pages, and is gotten +up in the attractive style for which the publications of this firm have +become noted. A prefatory chapter sets forth the object of the work, and +the claims of the art. The first part treats of Wax Fruit, giving the +methods of making moulds and casting therefrom, of preparing the wax, of +coloring the fruit and giving it the proper outward texture. The second +part describes all the articles and materials required for making even +the most elaborate of <span class="smcap">Wax Flowers</span>; gives the way of prepar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>ing +the wax, including its formation into sheets of any required thickness, +with all the minutiæ relating to coloring, &c. The text is clearly and +simply written, and by the aid of ample illustrations everything is made +plain to the learner.</p> + +<p>It is wonderful how exquisitely flowers may be imitated—making one wish +a device for the secreting of the appropriate perfumes.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">The wax once gathered by bees through many a bower,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Glows again in the form of a beautiful flower.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The artist in wax enjoys the best of opportunities for learning Botany, +both analytically and synthetically. A series of models in wax would +make the ocular study of botany possible throughout the year. The taste +for wax flowers is becoming widely extended, and high prices are brought +by the finest specimens of the art. Humanity should heartily welcome an +employment which enables many to escape the suicide of the needle!</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Denise</span>. By the Author of 'Mademoiselle Mori.' In two vols. +New York: James G. Gregory, 540 Broadway.</p></div> + +<p>There is a strange charm about this book. The story is common enough, +the characters have nothing original in their conception, and yet we are +fascinated by the detailed truth of the portraiture from the first page +to the last. The scenes are laid in Farnoux, a town in the old Provençal +districts. The ancient views and manners are still retained, and +interest us by the force of contrast with our own. Mademoiselle Le +Marchand, an odd old maid, with a genius for painting, is really the +character of the book. Denise, the heroine, is quietly and faithfully +drawn. Various picturesque phases of the Catholic faith are artistically +managed, while the faith itself is not treated with much courtesy. As a +general thing we do not like theological novels written from foregone +conclusions. We can imagine however that such a subject might be made +intensely interesting. If a master mind of perfect impartiality would +give us the effect produced upon two minds of equal mental power, of +equal moral worth, by Protestantism or Catholicity—such a study would +both interest and instruct. All religious nicknames should be avoided, +as offensive both to charity and refined taste. Episcopalians do not +like to be called Anglicans; Friends, Quakers; Baptists, Hardshells; +Unitarians, Pantheists; nor Catholics, Romanists. Let us use courtesy to +all men, that so we may have more weight when we attack erroneous +principles.</p> + +<p>By all means read Denise; its studies of the heart are close and +accurate.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="EDITORS_TABLE" id="EDITORS_TABLE"></a>EDITOR'S TABLE.</h2> + + +<h3>THE CAMPAIGN.</h3> + +<p class='center'>[<i>Furnished by a Friend of the Editor of</i> <span class="smcap">The Continental</span>.]</p> + +<p>Three routes of operation are open to an army designing to proceed +against Richmond: first, along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad to +Charlottesville; second, along the railroad from Fredericksburg to +Hanover Court House; and third, by the way of Fortress Monroe. The first +has the disadvantage of presenting a long line of communication, +constantly exposed to inroads from guerillas, and for the purposes of +warfare may be considered as utterly impracticable. It would not, in +fact, be worth considering, had not some critics of Gen. Grant's +movements absurdly insisted that he ought to have adopted this route. +The second route is far more advantageous, and had Gen. Grant's purposes +been confined simply to putting his army before the rebel capital, and +lying there to seize such opportunities as the developments of the +campaign should afford, it might have been expedient to maintain by this +route communications with the Potomac. But the intentions of our +Lieutenant-General were of a much more comprehensive character.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> While, +therefore, following this route in his march, because it gave the most +direct and shortest line to Richmond, he did not use the railroad as a +means of communication. His aim was fixed on an ulterior object. He +designed to put his army in such a position that it should be constantly +assailing Richmond by its presence, although not a gun should be fired. +He, therefore, tried the strength of the rebel works, in passing, and +finding that time would be spent uselessly in attempting to overthrow +them either upon the north or the east, he proceeded to the new position +south of the James, and adopted the third route mentioned for his +communication with the North, having previously used it, also, for the +transportation to the ultimate scene of conflict of a part of his forces +under Gen. Butler.</p> + +<p>Among military men, there have been, since the commencement of the war, +many advocates for an attack on Richmond from the position at +Petersburg. It has many advantages. The facilities for transporting +supplies are easy, it isolates the capital of the Southern government +from its southern and eastern connections, it interferes largely with +the internal trade of the confederacy, it confines the rebel army in a +narrow space, and it necessitates constant efforts on the part of the +confederate commanders to expel the Northern forces, thus constraining +them to leave their works and become assailants. In fine, the position +affords more opportunities for strategically investing Richmond than any +other which is accessible to our armies.</p> + +<p>A clear perception of these advantages determined Gen. Grant to adopt +the position at Petersburg. He was aware that Richmond could not be +directly invested except with a very large army. He desired to +accomplish the results which such an investment would give. He sought to +cut off the city from its principal channels of communication—to +deprive it of its main resources. Have these purposes been effected? At +the time we write it is announced that the army occupies the railroad +leading to Weldon, thus breaking the communication with North Carolina; +that our cavalry has destroyed a portion of the road leading to +Lynchburg; that the forces operating under Gen. Hunter have also +destroyed portions of the Virginia Central and the road between +Gordonsville and Lynchburg; they have also damaged the James River +Canal. The only railroad communication now existing between Richmond and +the South is that by way of Danville. Before this reaches our readers we +trust that the effects of these efforts to isolate the capital of the +confederacy will become evident; that the rebel army will be forced to +leave its intrenchments and meet our brave soldiers in the field, and +that the conflict may have resulted in victory for the cause of the +country and of freedom.</p> + +<p>The various steps of the process by which the army gained the position +at Petersburg are already well known. From the time the camps at +Culpepper Court House were broken up, until the lines were established +south of the James river, the series of movements consisted in masterly +marches by the left, compelling the enemy constantly to fall back from +his intrenched positions to points farther in his rear. Such movements +were not, however made until after trials of the enemy in the front, +some of which resulted in splendid partial successes. They were, +however, not conclusive. The flank movements of our army belong to that +class which are considered among the most difficult in warfare, +requiring great skill in commanders to arrange their details, and +endurance and discipline in the troops to effect them. It is no easy +matter to change position in the face of a wary and vigorous enemy, +ready to fall upon any exposed point in the long array of a marching +column. Yet, several times, the manœuvre has been skilfully and +successfully performed, and each time the rebels have learned it too +late to profit by the chances offered for a surprise.</p> + +<p>Hundreds of miles distant from the principal point of attraction in +Virginia, the other great army of the Union, under Gen. Sherman, has +also been performing similar feats—turning by well-directed marches, +one after another, the intrenched positions of the enemy in the +mountainous district of Georgia. Atlanta, the object of its toils, is a +great centre of railroad communication, and when our armies obtain +possession of it, the confederacy will experience another severing +stroke, almost as severe as that which cleft it in twain by the capture +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> Vicksburg and the reopening of the Mississippi. By such strokes the +pretentious imposture of a Southern nation must be broken into +fragments, even should the armies supporting it remain for a time +organized and defiant; for, under the appliances of modern civilization +and commerce, the possession of a railroad or internal depot of trade is +almost equivalent to the destruction of an army.</p> + +<p>The campaigns of 1863 produced great results, as well geographically as +in the capture of men and munitions from the rebels. At the commencement +of the year they held the Mississippi, they threatened Kentucky and the +borders of the Ohio, they were able to draw supplies from Tennessee, +Arkansas, and Texas. They were, moreover, arrogantly defiant toward the +North, and boasted of their ability to march to its great commercial +centres. At the close of the year they were driven to the confines of +Georgia, they were separated from the trans-Mississippi region, their +boasting had been brought to humility at Gettysburg. The objects to be +accomplished in the great campaign of 1864 are to drive in upon each +other the two armies which resist our progress in Virginia and Georgia, +and to compress the rebellion into the Southern Atlantic States. This +done, the existence of secession is practically at an end, though it may +brag as loudly as ever and keep on foot its armies. For without +Virginia, and without the connections of Atlanta, the existence of an +independent government in the South is impossible: sufficient country +would not remain to support so magnificent an affair. The loss of +Virginia in fact would be the fatal blow to the rebellion; for, however +South Carolina may exalt herself, and however the other States of the +South may aspire, yet it is Virginia which gives tone and respectability +to the Southern confederacy. It is for this, far more than because it is +the rebel capital, that the capture of Richmond is desirable.</p> + +<p>But should it happen—which fortunately is not a reasonable +surmise—that the objects of this year's campaign should not be +attained, we consider that the Southern confederacy exists only in +pretence. Should its ports be to-day opened, should our armies fall back +to their primary bases of operation, should European Powers formally +declare that a slave republic exists, yet the new nation would be +practically a nonentity. Does any one suppose that the United States +would yield Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, New Orleans, and +the Mississippi; that the freemen of Western Virginia would be forsaken; +that Fortress Monroe and Port Royal would be abandoned? How long would a +nation so surrounded, so intersected, exist, or how could it achieve any +prosperity, character, and stability? Constant war, in the effort to +expand and perfect its borders, would be its necessity; but such a +necessity would be its destruction. There is no possibility of +compromise or arrangement in the contest in which we are engaged, except +with the parallel of the Potomac and the Ohio as the dividing border; +but such an arrangement is impossible; entire reconquest becomes the +imperative; it may be delayed, our present hopes may be disappointed, +but the march of our armies thus far has trodden out the life from the +Southern attempt at independence, and any future existence it may have +will be merely muscular paroxysms—not the steady, regular, automatic +movements of freedom and spontaneity.</p> + +<p>Any notice of the operations of our armies would be incomplete without +tributes to the ability of commanders and the valor of our soldiers. In +no previous period of the war have these been more strikingly +exemplified. The capacity of man to endure and his ability to exert +himself continuously without exhausting his energy, are very wonderful. +The reader of military history is constantly struck with this, in +perusing accounts of sieges and marches and battles. War is always +accompanied with a host of terrors—exposures to heat, cold, and +tempests, marches through swamps and snows, suffering by hunger and +thirst and fatigue, lying with bleeding wounds for days and nights +between the lines of friends and foes, toil, danger, privation, pain, in +every form. But among the memorable campaigns in the history of war, +none is more marked for its incessant activity and the cheerful alacrity +with which every hardship was endured, than that in which our army +marched from the Rapidan to the James. From Georgia, too, we have +similar accounts of difficulties met only to be surmounted. Heaven bless +our gallant soldiers everywhere! A nation's hopes and prayers are with +them. May they know the soldier's dearest delight—victory!</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 2, + August, 1864, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONTINENTAL MONTHLY *** + +***** This file should be named 20565-h.htm or 20565-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/5/6/20565/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by Cornell University Digital Collections) + + +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: The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 2, August, 1864 + Devoted to Literature and National Policy + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 11, 2007 [EBook #20565] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONTINENTAL MONTHLY *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by Cornell University Digital Collections) + + + + + + + +THE + +CONTINENTAL MONTHLY: + +DEVOTED TO + +LITERATURE AND NATIONAL POLICY: + +VOL. VI.--AUGUST, 1864.--No. II. + + + + ++--------------------------------------------------------------------+ +|Transcriber's note: Obvious printer errors have been corrected. All | +|other inconsistencies are as in the original. | ++--------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + +AMERICAN CIVILIZATION. + +SECOND PAPER. + + +As a nation we are fast losing that reverence for the powers that be +which is enjoined by Holy Writ, and without which no form of government +can be lasting, no political system can take a firm hold upon the +affections of the people. The opposition press teems with vituperation +and personal abuse of those whom the people themselves have chosen to +control the public policy and administer the public affairs. The +incumbent of the Presidential chair, so far from receiving that respect +and deference to which his position entitles him, becomes the victim of +slander and vilification, from one portion of the country to another, on +the part of those who chance to differ with him in political sentiments. +Even beardless boys, taking their cue from those who, being older, +should know better, are unsparing in the use of such terms as +'scoundrel,' 'fool,' 'tyrant,' as applied to those whom the people have +delighted to honor, either unconscious or utterly heedless of the +disgust with which their language inspires the older and more +thoughtful. And thus it has become a recognized fact that no man's +reputation can withstand the trial of a four years' term of service in +the Presidential office. While this is in a great measure the reaction +from the king worship of the Old World, it is nevertheless a blot upon +our civilization, a departure from those lofty and noble sentiments +which characterize every advanced stage of human intellect, in which the +supremacy and inviolability of the law is acknowledged, and in which the +ruler is reverenced as the representative and impersonation of the law. +And as, in such a stage, respect for the magistrate and the law mutually +react upon each other, so in the present state of affairs the tendency +is, in the course of time, to reach from the ruler to the edict which he +administers, and thus to beget a disrespect and disregard of law itself, +paving the way to that violence and mob rule which, in the present state +of humanity, must inevitably attend the establishment of the democratic +principle. + +The remedy is to be found in reform in the education of our youth, +whereby the utmost respect for the law and for those by whom it is +administered shall be inculcated as the groundwork of all patriotism and +national progress, while at the same time cultivating a loftier +appreciation of the blessings of social order and harmony, and of +well-regulated liberty of thought, speech, and action, and a purer +standard of right. Yet even this will be of little avail except in +connection with the abatement, through the strong good sense of a +thinking and upright people, of that national nuisance of bitter and +unmerciful political partisanship of which we have spoken, all of whose +tendencies are to evil, and so removing from the eyes of our youth a +low, unworthy, and degrading example, which they are too prone to +follow. The child will tread, to a great degree, in the steps of the +father, and the whole course of his intellectual life be governed, more +or less, by the principles and prejudices which he is accustomed every +day to hear from the lips of a parent, who is necessarily the teacher +and, in a great measure, the moulder of his infant mind. How careful, +then, ought every parent to be of the principles which he inculcates and +the examples which he sets in his conversation, especially when that +conversation is directed to a condemnation of the motives or the acts of +the ruling powers!--lest the child be some time inclined to enlarge upon +his views, and carry his deductions farther than he himself ever +dreamed, till he shall finally be led into a contempt of the +institutions as well as of the rulers of his native land, through a +father's teaching, and so grow up an embryo traitor, ready at the first +signal to embark in any revolutionary scheme or wild enterprise of +visionary reform, such as have been and are still the disturbers of our +national prosperity. For an example of such a result in our day we have +but to look at the youth of the Southern States, whose fiery treason, +far exceeding that of their elders, is nothing more than the outgrowth, +the legitimate extension and development of that bitter denunciation of +rulers who chanced to be unpopular with their fathers, of that +unrestrained license of speech which left nothing untouched, however +sacred, however holy it might be, which chanced to stand in the way of +gross and sordid interest. The ideas of the hot-blooded, fire-eating +Southern youth of to-day, the recklessness and the treason, the +denationalizing spirit of revolution and blood which so readily +manifests itself in contempt of the old flag, and the direst hatred of +all that their fathers held sacred and laid down their lives to +sustain--all this is but the idea, intensified and developed, of the +Southerner of a bygone generation; it is but the natural deduction from +his conversation and life, pondered over by the child, fixed deeply in +his heart as the teaching of a revered tutor, and carried out, by a +natural course of reasoning, to its extreme in the parricidal rebellion +of to-day. And yet that idea was, in its inception, apparently harmless +enough, being nothing more than that denunciation and vituperation of +the political leaders and the ruling powers which chanced to be in the +opposition, whereby the child was in due course of time weaned from his +country, and taught to look lightly upon and speak lightly of that which +of old time was only mentioned with love and reverent awe. + +Nor is this the only reform which is needed in the education of our +youth. The phrase 'completing one's education' is used to-day with utter +looseness, and applied to that period when the youth leaves the school +or college for the busy walks of life. How much of error is contained in +such an application of the term he well knows who, after some years of +world life, can look back upon his college days and see what a mere +smattering of knowledge he gained within the 'classic shades,' and how +poorly _educated_ he was, in any and every sense of the word, how ill +fitted for the realities of work-day life, when first he emerged in +self-sufficient pride from the sacred walls, and launched boldly out +upon the world. At the time when, according to the popular acceptation +of the term, the education is completed, it is in truth but just begun; +and he who, upon the slender capital of college lore, should set himself +up for a finished man, one competent to take upon himself the duties, +responsibilities, and labors of active life, would soon find to his +sorrow that he was yet but a babe in wisdom, and yet needed a long and +severe discipline ere he could be considered one of the world's workers. +In the few years devoted, in our country, to the education of youth, +little more can be done than to teach them the value of knowledge and +the proper method and system of its acquisition, leaving to the +exertions of the after years that education of the mind and development +of the intellectual powers which constitute the finished man. And this +should be the object of all our schools, for females as well as for +males, to inculcate the truth that the true education begins where the +schools leave off, and depends entirely upon the scholar himself, aided +only by that groundwork of preparation, that systematizing of effort, +imparted by the tutor in the tender years. This end should be ever +before the teacher's eyes, and the whole course of study adjusted with a +view thereto. And the instruction imparted should be of such a character +as most thoroughly to fit the student for future study, giving him a +firm foothold upon the most essential branches of knowledge, from which +he may advance steadily and securely when left to himself; frequently +warning him that this is but the beginning of great things, and that the +abstrusities of wisdom, wherein is all its aesthetic beauty and its +holiness--all its moral good--lies far beyond, where it can only be +reached by the most patient, persevering, and unremitting toil; not +forgetting, at the same time, to point out the glorious reward which +awaits the seeker of truth. The effect of such a system would soon be +felt, not only in our national life, but in our very civilization. For +thus would be thrown out upon our society, year after year, a class of +thinkers, of earnest, working, strong-minded men and women, searchers +after truth and disciples of the highest good, instead of the crowd of +half-fledged intellectual idlers who yearly emerge from our schools with +the conceited idea that the course of study is finished, the paths of +investigation fully explored, and that life is henceforth a holiday from +study. Under such a giant impulse our society could not but advance with +enormous strides in all that pertains to true civilization, since +thinkers would then be the rule instead of the exception, and talent +almost universal, which is now, like angels' visits, comparatively 'few +and far between.' This is no Utopian vision: it is a reality within the +scope of human exertion and the capacity of our people of to-day, if men +would but exert themselves to such an end, and properly apply the energy +and labor which is now too often excited upon unworthy and trifling +objects. The realm of knowledge is so boundless that a lifetime is +little enough and short enough to give to mortals even a smattering of +that sea of wisdom which swells around the universe, and he alone can +claim to be a seer who devotes the whole of a long existence to the +investigation of truth; and only when this fact is impressed upon the +minds of youth can they be made to appreciate their true position in +existence, and made efficient workers in the great cause of humanity. + +Yet all education is vain, all intellectual development is of little +benefit, all civilization hollow in its nature and ephemeral in its +duration which lacks the moral element. And by the word _moral_ in this +connection is intended to be understood not only what is usually +conveyed in the term morality, but also all religion. It is a +well-established fact, more particularly exemplified in our own history, +that all political parties founded upon an ephemeral issue, inevitably +disappear with the final adjustment of the questions upon which they are +based, having nothing left to rest upon, so it is in the affairs of +nations. In the weakness of human nature and the fallibility of all +human prescience, no system or theory can be devised which shall endure +through all time, which shall not become effete, useless, and even +erroneous in the progress of human development, and in the ever-shifting +condition of human society. Hence any government and society founded +upon a system of merely human devising, must, in the progress of events, +fall to pieces, and give place to the results of a new and younger +development. The law of God, as contained in Divine revelation, is alone +unchangeable, unmodifiable. It is adapted to meet the requirements of +all lands and all ages, to answer all the necessities of which human +nature is capable, even to its extremest verge of development. Hence all +political systems are durable only in proportion as they, in their +organization, conform to the precepts of Divine law. + +We have used the term 'moral element' as necessarily comprehending all +religion, for the reason that upon religion is necessarily based all +true morality. There is nothing in the physical, and more especially in +the intellectual world, without a final cause; and that so-called +morality which exists entirely separate and distinct from religion, can +be based upon nothing other than self-interest, which, under different +conditions and circumstances, would as unhesitatingly lead to evil. The +'moral man' without religion could as easily be evil minded and +dissolute in a community purely evil as he is upright and honorable in a +civilized and enlightened community of to-day, for the reason that his +morality is nothing more than deference to a certain standard of +honor--in other words, to the _tone_ of the society by which he is +surrounded, bringing with it all the benefits of high public estimation +and a lofty position in society, which tone it must follow, be it good +or bad: it is founded and built up in self-interest. Yet this very tone +of society, and all these standards of honor and uprightness, when +traced to their origin, are found to arise from the precepts of +revelation. We are all, physically and intellectually, the creatures of +circumstance. Experience moulds and develops the intellect. Our moral +natures are not innate, but solely and entirely the result of the +influences by which we are surrounded. There is in the soul no absolute +standard of right; if there were, uprightness would be the same the +world over. But the right of the heathen is a different thing from that +of the Christian; the right of the Chinese or the Japanese is a +different thing from that of more enlightened nations; the right of one +Christian community is different from that of another; and this because +right, considered distinct from religion, is relative, and subject to +all the modifications of different conditions of society. The 'Evil, be +thou my good' of Milton's Satan is a delicate recognition of this fact. +But absolute right is a thing unknown to human _nature_; it can never be +innate, but comes from without. It can only be apprehended by the +intellect as a thing of God, a part of His nature, given to us as a law, +a rule of action, which we can accept or not, taking upon ourselves the +consequences of its rejection. There can be no standard of absolute +right other than the law of God; there can be no other invariable and +eternal rule of human action. + +And if this position be true of individuals, most assuredly is it true +of nations, which are but individuals in the concrete, subject to the +same vicissitudes, governed by the same laws, physical and moral, and +following the same path of development. Only that form of government +which recognizes the Supreme Being as the chief of rulers, and His law +as the source and model of all human law, can be sure of truth and +justice on its side, both in its dealings with other nations and in its +regulation of its own internal affairs. Only such a form can work +steadily for the advancement of its people, both by leading them forward +and by smoothing the rugged path to perfection, and removing every +obstacle which impedes the national progress. However near the +principles of our Government may approach to those of the Divine law, +there is still room and urgent necessity for reform. Yet, in the +universal disfavor into which theocracies have fallen, and in the +intense desire which pervades our people to avoid the complicated evils +of a union between church and state, every attempt to unite religious +principles with those of government is looked upon with positive alarm; +and justly so, since the experience of past centuries proves that both +thrive best in separate spheres, however near they may approach each +other in the abstract, and that when united, the one is apt to prove a +hamper on the other, through the introduction of error and corruption; +while, separated, they act as a mutual restraint, each tending to +control the abnormal development of the other. For these reasons reform +in this particular must move from the people to the government, not from +the government to the people. + +And here we come to the root of the whole matter, to the field where +reform is most needed, that is, in the moral condition of our society. +While there are few nations in which there is such a diversity of +religious views and multiplicity of religious sects, there are few +peoples which are so proverbially irreligious as our own. Yet our +condition in this respect is rather a neutral one than otherwise, for +while we are without any positive immorality which should make us +preeminent above other nations for vice, there is, nevertheless, in our +midst, little of that simple, trusting, unquestioning faith, which is +the 'substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not +seen'--little of that all-pervading and all-powerful reverence for +sacred things, that deep religious feeling which forms a portion of the +very life of most of the nations of the Old World. This is nothing more +than the reaction of the stern Puritan tenets of the colonial times. It +is the logical result of those dark and gloomy theories which aimed to +make religion not only unpalatable but absolutely repelling to the young +and the ardent, causing them to fly to the opposite extreme of throwing +aside religion to 'a more convenient season,' when the pleasures of life +should have lost their charm, and they themselves should be drawing near +the close of their pilgrimage. That theory which made a deadly sin of +that which was at worst but a pardonable misdemeanor and perhaps wholly +innocent in its nature, could not fail in time to react violently, first +through the process of disgust, then through that of inquiry, and +finally to the carrying of speculation to extremes, and practically +pronouncing harmless and innocent that which was really vice. The +popular mind, rebounding from the Puritan ideas, did not pause to +discriminate between the truth and error which were so intimately +mingled in their system, but, sweepingly denouncing all the theories +whose most prominent characteristics were revolting, involved in the +denunciation and rejection much of pure and simple truth, and ran +rapidly along the path of revolution, heedless of every warning, +unchecked by the obstacles which Truth threw in its way, down to the +present time of almost universal looseness. + +Another effect of this rebellion of the national mind against the +Puritan theories is seen in the almost yearly inauguration of some new +sect in religion, in a land which is already so crowded with diverse and +antagonistic religious organizations that it might be termed the land of +sects. However right or wrong in a religious point of view, the Puritans +committed the great _social_ mistake of establishing a new church, +instead of working earnestly to reform the old in those respects in +which it seemed to them to have fallen into error, thereby destroying +the unity of the Christian world. Had the movement stopped here, less +harm would have been done; but it was not of the nature of things that +it should be so. The establishment of the principle that purity of +worship and of belief was to be sought, and diversity of religious +opinion to be gratified in separation and the erection of new +organizations, rather than in the endeavor to purify the old and +established form, at once threw wide open the door of schism, and with +it, in the end, that of scepticism. The movement once begun could +neither be checked nor controlled by any human effort. Others claimed +the right which they themselves had exercised, and the result was soon +seen in the separation of one after another denomination from the +Puritan Church, each, in its turn, to be divided into a score of sects, +according as circumstances should alter religious views. Were the +principles of true religion in themselves progressive, were the +teachings, of the gospel inadequate to or unfitting for all possible +stages of human progress, or were they capable of development, the world +might then have been the gainer. Or, again, were reason infallible, the +separation of the churches would be an incalculable blessing, by +securing to all minds a free investigation upon religious subjects. But +infidelity desires no more powerful coadjutor than human reason in its +freest exercise, because it is so liable to be led away by sophistry, +and its invariable tendency is to reject as myths and fables all things +which it cannot comprehend or for which it cannot see a material cause. +Perfect reason is the twin brother and strongest supporter of faith; but +reason as it exists in the present development of humanity is its most +deadly antagonist. The age of reason has fallen upon us, and its result +is seen in a practical scepticism pervading the whole of our society, +which in its extent and its injurious effects put to the blush the +wildest speculations of the most radical German metaphysicians. Every +day we see around us men of no religious profession, and little if any +religious feeling, calmly facing death without a tremor, without a +thought of the awful beyond. And though the application of the term +infidel to such a man would not fail to arouse his fiercest indignation, +his indifference to the events and the fate of the great hereafter can +arise from nothing else than an utter disbelief in the teachings of Holy +Writ, in the truths of Christianity. Such men are but types of a class, +and that class a very large portion of our population. + +The evils of religious divisions are plain to be seen, even if they +consisted in nothing more than the division and consequent weakening of +Christian effort. The church of God, torn by internal dissensions, +becomes almost powerless for the spread of the gospel, the greater +portion of its strength and energy being exhausted in bolstering up its +different branches as against each other, and in proselytizing within +itself. Where, if united, a small portion of its wealth and energy would +suffice to support in a nourishing condition the worship of a great +people, leaving an immense surplus to be directed to the evangelization +of the heathen world, now, in its divided state, its power and immense +material resources are squandered in the support of innumerable +fragments, each one of which costs as much in labor and in means as +would suffice to sustain the religion of the whole country if united. + +Worse than even this, the incessant bickerings of the Christian world +tend to invalidate, in the minds of the unbelievers, not only among the +heathen, but among ourselves, the teachings of that Word which is its +professed guide. The 'See how these Christians hate each other!' is to +reflecting minds outside the church's pale, an almost unconquerable +argument against that religion which professes to be founded upon love. +Hence arises a great portion of that practical infidelity of which we +have spoken, and which is the bane of our civilization. No nation can be +truly great or noble or progressive without religion, and by as much as +we are departing, in our every-day life, from the pure teachings of the +gospel, by so much are we tending to our inevitable downfall. The people +must have some high standard of moral excellence, something to elevate +and purify the tone of society, to lead their aspirations upward away +from the petty toils and cares and vexations, from the sordid desires +and the animal propensities of life, in order to prevent them from +falling into that decay which is inevitably the result of corruption, +following hard upon a devotion to mere self-interest. We are, in a great +measure, a nation of materialists, too much devoted to the pursuit of +selfish and so-called practical aims, too little to the spiritual and +the ethereal. Reform must come, else the soul will become gross and +grovelling, and the nobler part of our natures, the more delicate and +refined sympathies of the heart, the finer faculties of the intellect, +will rust away with disuse, and the whole race become sensual, and +finally effete, however brilliant may be its individual exceptions. From +what direction the needed reform is to come it is not for us to say. +That Almighty Providence which overrules an erring world will doubtless +provide a way for the regeneration of His people. The first great step +is to awaken the people to a sense of the necessity of such a change, +and some more powerful means must be employed to the accomplishment of +that end than have ever yet been applied to our civilization. And the +apostle who, in the hands of God, shall be the means of arousing the +slumbering faith of our people, of awakening them to a full sense of the +danger, and of imparting new energy to the recuperative powers of the +race, will win for himself a loftier position in the world's +appreciation than has yet been conceded to any mere mortal. + +Another great and manifest evil in our society, and one closely +connected with that of which we have just spoken, is the inordinate love +of wealth, and the elevation of the money god to the highest seat in our +temple of worship. Human nature craves distinction. The divisions and +castes in the society of the Old World, from the present day back to the +remotest ages, is not only an evidence, but a practical exemplification +of this fact. The abolition of all these distinctions consequent upon +the establishment of our republican government upon the ground of +political equality, swept away from our ancestors almost the only means +of gratifying this innate propensity. A hard-working, practical, +agricultural people, with no literature, and little if any cultivation +of the fine arts, there was but one road to distinction open to the mass +of the population, and that lay through the avenues of wealth. Hence it +was but natural that affluence should take the place of the hereditary +honors of the olden times, and that the people should bow to the only +distinction, however spurious it might be, which elevated any portion of +themselves above their fellows. With all the evils connected with a +hereditary aristocracy, the distinction which attends upon a nobility is +in a great measure an ideal one. It is not either its wealth or power +which constitutes its charm, but a certain nameless something pertaining +to the ideal, which affects not only the tenants and retainers, but even +our republican selves. It may well be questioned whether we have been +the gainers by substituting for such distinctions a gross and material +one, affecting the bodily senses alone--the animal part of our +nature--and which contains little either to expand the mind or exalt the +aspirations. With us but comparatively few can become distinguished in +the ranks of literature or of art, or, indeed, in any of the higher or +intellectual branches of human attainment; hence for the great mass +there is but one road to distinction, one object to claim every +exertion--the pursuit of wealth. And as a natural consequence, we see +every art, every profession hinging upon this motive. Most of the evils +connected with the administration of our public affairs, the fraud and +corruption which are so prominent, the quadrennial scramble for place, +with its consequent degrading of those positions which should be those +of the highest honor, may be traced to this one source. More than this, +we find the so-called aristocracy of our great cities--a moneyed one +purely--excluding from its ranks those who earn their livelihood in the +pursuit of literature and art, and who, if true to their professions, +are entitled to the very highest rank in society. There are of course +exceptions, but not more than sufficient to prove the rule. A striking +exemplification of the power of wealth among us is seen in these days of +shoddy, when those who have hitherto moved in the humblest circles +suddenly take their positions among the 'upper ten thousand,' and are +treated with a deference to which they have all their lives been +strangers, by virtue of a successful contract or a towering speculation. +The effect of such a state of things upon our civilization is easy to be +seen. A low motive is sure to bring down its followers to its own level. +A people without a lofty and ennobling object is sure to fall into +decay. The grasping spirit which everywhere pervades our society is fast +lowering our people to the level of a race of mercenary jobbers. Truth, +justice, honor, purity, and even religion, are in a great measure lost +sight of in the general scramble for gold, until the strictest +integrity, the most self-sacrificing honesty, are beginning to be looked +upon as marvels, and we have won for ourselves among the nations of the +world the unenviable title of worshippers of the 'almighty dollar.' +Religion itself is twisted and distorted into every imaginable shape to +bring it into harmony with our all-absorbing pursuit: all our ideas of +public policy and of social progress are made to depend upon and +modified by this unworthy motive. We mean not to include those +individuals who, with loftier motives and a true appreciation of man's +spiritual capabilities, are prominent among us, battling earnestly in +the cause of true progress; we are speaking of the mass of our +population. Those few are the goodly leaven who are yet to prove the +regeneration of our race. Bad as is the state of affairs in this +respect, it will, if left to itself, become infinitely worse as each +succeeding year rolls around, for the spirit of greed is progressive in +its nature, growing fatter and fatter upon its success. + +Yet, in another point of view, this same strife for wealth is one great +secret of American prosperity and progress. It is the motive power to +that energy which has peopled the wilderness, erected as if by magic a +mighty republic among the savage wilds, and, above all, spread American +ideas, and with them the germ of human liberty, over the whole broad +earth. To this spirit of greed upon our shores the Old World owes much +of its advancement and most of those useful inventions which are fast +revolutionizing humanity itself. But we are not considering it in this +light; we are viewing it in its moral aspect, that respect in which it +most strongly affects true civilization, which must soon fall away and +lapse into the condition of the ages long past, if it be not sustained +by an enduring moral and religious element. The moral advancement must +keep pace with the intellectual, else the latter will some day reach +that point where extremes meet, and have its weary journey to commence +again. + +It is to be hoped that this evil is already on the wane. It is to be +hoped that the present stirring up of our society from its uttermost +depths, with its consequent exploding of worn-out theories, which have +hitherto held their places only through our national lethargy--with its +sweeping away of old-time prejudices, and mingling together of elements +which have hitherto existed distinct and aloof from each other, will +result in bringing true merit to the surface, in awakening our people to +a loftier appreciation of the good and the true, thereby establishing a +higher moral standard among us; that purer motives will henceforth +actuate our society. The fears which are entertained by some that the +present war will prove a severe shock to our civilization, are not +sustained by the facts which are everywhere appearing around us. The +frequent demands upon the generosity and forbearance of a great people, +the constant calls for the exercise of the noblest qualities, the most +self-sacrificing devotion, and that too in support of a great principle +rather than of any present material interest, the very necessity for an +exalted civilization and intellectual development on the part of the +masses, which shall enable them to see in that principle the groundwork +of all their future well-being, both as regards material prosperity and +political position, are constantly bringing before the people, in a +clearer light than ever before, the blessings of honor and uprightness, +the necessity of national purity, and developing a moral element in our +midst, whose good effects will far outbalance the ephemeral and +spasmodic immorality and vice which a state of war usually engenders. +Our people are _becoming acquainted_ with those blessings of individual +well-doing and those principles of philanthropy to which they have for +so long been comparative strangers. And it is this, together with the +unveiling, through the present convulsion, of those errors, both in our +political system and in our society, which have so nearly proved our +ruin, which will make this war in very truth the greatest blessing that +has ever befallen us. And if this moral progress shall be such and so +great as to throw down the golden calf from his throne and make the +place of honor the reward of true merit alone, then shall we have cause, +for the remotest generations, to thank God for this seeming calamity +which has fallen upon us. + +And these same facts, standing out as shining lights in the darkness, +tend to show that we are, after all, not quite so sordid as we seem; +that, with all our worship of the money god, there is yet, away down in +the great American heart, a wealth of strong, true, generous feeling, +ready at the first call of sorrow and of suffering to spring forth and +scatter its golden blessings even beyond the seas. It is not alone that, +years ago, when we were at peace and at the height of prosperity, many +ships left our shores laden down with food, the voluntary contributions +of the American citizen to his starving brethren of the Emerald Isle; +though this of itself was enough to place our civilization on a level +with that of the most polished nation of the Old World. But even now, +when we are struggling for our very existence, when every energy and +every material resource is being exerted to stem the tide of internal +dissensions and crush out the hydra of internal treason; at a time when +the mother country has gone to every length short of open war to aid and +assist those who are striving for our downfall, and her press is +exhausting every epithet of vituperation and scurrilous abuse of us, who +are battling so earnestly in our own defence, and who are entitled by +every truth of human nature to her warmest sympathy--a press which, +adopting the phraseology of its Secession friends and allies, scruples +not to place the civilization of the slaveholding States far in advance +of that of the 'Northern mudsills'--even now, when the cry of the +starving operatives of the English mills comes to us across the water, +forgetting for the time all the abuse and maltreatment we have received, +all the enmity and bitter hostility which the traitorous perfidy of +England has engendered, more than one full-freighted vessel has left our +ports bearing grain to those whom their own proud aristocracy is either +powerless or too niggardly to sustain. Is this not evidence of a +civilization considerably advanced beyond any which history has yet +recorded?--a civilization based upon the golden rule of Christianity, +and upon that still more precious command: 'Love those that hate you, +and do good to those that persecute you.' For it is in its moral aspect +that every civilization must in the end be judged; and that society +which develops such noble principles and feelings as these, which +manifests itself in this higher region of spiritual excellence, in the +exercise of these finer feelings of the heart, is certainly nearest to +perfection, in that it follows most closely the law of God, the truths +of divine revelation. When instances such as these occur on the part of +any of the older nations of the world, it will do for them to boast of a +civilization superior to ours; but until their faith is shown by their +works, suffering humanity the world over will accord to us the palm. Nor +will it answer to ascribe to us an unworthy motive in this matter--a +desire to win credit in the eyes of the world. An individual might, with +some degree of plausibility, fall under such an imputation, but a great +people does not move spontaneously and unitedly in one direction from +such a motive, since none but a pure and just principle can produce +unity in the masses. Such an unworthy and degrading motive is the +property of individuals, not of nations, even if it were possible for +such an idea to be conceived at one and the same time by a multitude of +minds. No! it was the spontaneous expression of a deep and pervading +principle of American society--of American humanity--a free outpouring +of the American heart; and as such it will stand upon the page of +history as the evidence of a civilization behind none of its age. + +Nor is this the only mark of the moral awakening of our people. +Instances are every day appearing in our midst of this truest of +charity, not the least of which are the 'wood processions' of the +Western cities and towns; those long lines of wagons laden with fuel and +provisions for the families of the absent soldiers, whose sole object +and motive is the comfort of those whose protectors and supporters are +sustaining the country's honor in the field; evidences more striking +than the founding of charitable institutions or benevolent societies, +since the latter may, and too often does, arise from the most selfish +and vainglorious motive, while in the former the individual is lost in +the many who press eagerly to bear their part in a noble work, in this +spontaneous outpouring of true and heartfelt benevolence. From this same +spirit arises the wonderful success which attends the efforts of +sanitary commissions and soldiers' aid associations in alleviating the +sufferings and softening the privations of our soldiers in the field. +With such evidences constantly appearing before our eyes of the deep and +noble feelings of the American heart, who can doubt that our +civilization is a progressive one, our enlightenment equal? Who can +doubt the capacity of the American people for good, or look with +foreboding upon our future? + +Another important sign of the times, as evincing our advancing +civilization, is the revival of art in our midst. In the midst of all +our bustle and toil and eager strife for gain, there has ever been a +something wanting to the completeness of our life, a something to fill +and satisfy that yearning of the soul for aesthetic beauty, which is at +once an evidence of its progress and its capacity for diviner things. +Too long have we been absorbed by the desires of our animal nature, in +whose pursuit there is little gratification to that finer portion of our +inner selves which will not be silenced by anything short of the deepest +degradation. The people--the great people--need something--something +higher, more ennobling, more tender--to fill the vacant spot in their +hearts and homes, to preserve the balance between the animal and the +spiritual part of their lives, and to clothe their surroundings with a +higher and holier significance than can arise from the events and +associations of the work-day life. In art the missing link is found, and +whether it be the simple ballad in the evening circle or the modest +print that graces the humble cottage walls--and the humbler the +habitation the deeper the manifestation, because the more touching--it +is but the expression of the people's appreciation of the needs, the +capacities, and the holier aspirations of the better part of humanity. +Hence the revival of art has a deep significance; it is something more +than a forced, an exotic, and hence ephemeral growth; it is the +manifestation of the awakening of the people to the aesthetic sentiment; +it is the actual result of the intellectual and moral needs of society; +it is in itself the striving of a great people for the beautiful and +true. And as such it has a broad and deep foundation in the godlike in +human nature, which shall insure not only its permanence but its +progress as long as the good and the true have any influence whatever +upon our society. That we have had, until a comparatively late period, +no art among us, is the result not of a lack of capacity to comprehend +the beautiful, but of the intense and all-absorbing passion for gain +which has so nearly proved the bane of our society by shutting out the +consideration of better things: that art has so suddenly revived in our +midst is a proof that, so far from having our humanity, our political +position, our very civilization itself swallowed up in the love of the +almighty dollar, as has been predicted of us by foreign wiseacres, we +have been aroused to our danger and to a true appreciation of the better +part of existence; which is itself an evidence of the elasticity and the +recuperative energy of our social system. + +In literature our progress is not so flattering. In its effects upon +civilization a literature can only be judged by that portion of it which +touches the popular heart, which descends to the humblest fireside, and +is most eagerly sought after by the ploughboy and the operative. All +other, however brilliant it may be--and the more brilliant or profound +the farther it is generally removed from the minds of the masses--is to +them but as the stars of a winter night, cold and distant, radiating +little warmth to the longing soul, too far away to awaken more than a +faintly reflected admiration. He who said, 'Give me to write the songs +of a people, and I care not who makes their laws,' touched the tender +spot in the great heart of humanity; he was a sage in that truest of +philosophy, the study of human nature. Though we have our princes in +every branch of literature, who are the result of and an honor to our +civilization, yet for their own results in moulding the tastes, the +habits, and the intellects of the common people, in contributing to +their advancement, they fall far below the efforts of the veriest +penny-a-liner. It is a lamentable fact of our society that while the +more solid literature scarcely pays, the flashiest of so-called 'flash +literature' brings down the golden shower. The writer of the lowest +possible order of literary productions is enriched, and his name is +familiar in the remotest corners of the land, while our monarchs of +literature are oftentimes poverty stricken and comparatively obscure; +and that because the latter is confined to a comparatively small +audience and patronage, while the former speaks to and for the masses; +and, as a natural consequence, the former controls the tastes of the +greater portion of the reading community, and that too for anything but +good, since he reaps his golden harvest by pandering to the basest of +appetites, the lowest of sensibilities and sympathies; thus retarding +rather than accelerating the intellectual advancement of the people, +this being his material interest. + +And how great is the responsibility of those who thus speak to the ear +of the simple and the unlearned! how terrible the retribution they are +heaping up for themselves in the great hereafter, for thus prostituting +talent which might be made eminently useful in leading the minds of the +common people to the highest and noblest of truths; in making purer and +better in every sense of the word! The idea that the province of +literature, even of fiction, is simply to amuse, is exploded in the +light of advancing civilization. Every writer has a higher mission, and +accordingly as he discharges the duty which his faculty lays upon him, +is he true or false to the true end of his existence, a success or a +failure in the world of intellect and morality. The mission of all +literature is to make mankind both wiser and _better_, and the writer +who fails to appreciate and act upon this truth is worse than a useless +cumberer of society; he is a curse to his age, and, however great his +present fame, will most assuredly be forgotten with the passing away of +his generation. For does not _all_ human effort resolve itself into this +one thing? Is there any work which we call good or great, or even +important, which is not intended in some way to benefit mankind? Else we +were but butterflies, and our works but mists. In the past ages the +world has not seen and appreciated this fact; but the world of to-day +does appreciate it, and will certainly set every worker upon his proper +pedestal, high or low, according as his efforts have conduced or not to +the welfare of humanity. + +Present reform in this particular is not to be looked for; it must be +external rather than internal. Could the whole mass of light literature +be at once and forever swept out of existence, the people would soon +acquire a love of solid reading as ardent as that which now pervades the +lower stratum of our society for 'yellow-covered' trash. For the love of +knowledge is innate, and the people would necessarily seek for and find +amusement in such reading as could not fail to instruct and educate, to +revive this love of knowledge, and fan it into an ardent flame. But this +cannot be done. The people will ever seek that reading which is most +congenial to their present tastes and habits, and there will ever be +found a legion of those who are eager to supply this sort of mental +pabulum--if it can be so called--for the sake of the golden equivalent. +For these reasons, the literature of the common people must ever follow, +not lead, their civilization; it must continue to be the outward and +visible sign of their progress, instead of the inward and spiritual +grace by which it is pervaded and sustained; and reform must be +inaugurated and consummated in those other influences which tend to +mould the moral man, and which must be so guided as to destroy all these +low and grovelling tastes, by lifting the man into a higher plane of +being, in which the animal shall be wholly subservient to the spiritual. +Hence the province of the true philanthropist lies in those other paths +which we have pointed out, rather than in this, since in them lies the +prospect of success whose _fruits_ will in this most clearly appear. + +It is a significant fact that the foreign view points to but two blots +upon our society, and that foreign detractors harp continually upon +these, and these alone, as evidences of the backwardness of our +civilization--the institution of slavery and the riots which +occasionally disgrace our large cities. For in the light of the facts +and experience of to-day, such a position is simply a yielding of the +whole question. When it is considered that the few riots with which we +are afflicted--few in comparison with those which so often convulse +European society--are almost invariably incited and sustained by our +foreign population, and that portion of it, too, latest arrived upon our +shores, it will be seen with what injustice the evil is laid at the door +of American society. It is, in fact, nothing else than the outbreak of +the long-accumulated and long-suppressed discontent and misery of +European lands, which, for the first time for centuries, finds vent upon +the shores of a land of political and social liberty--a reaction of the +springs long held down by the iron hand of tyranny--a violent +restoration of that natural elasticity which had so nearly been +destroyed by ages of social degradation. The mob law, the frequent +resort to the pistol and the bowie knife, and the universal social +recklessness of our own citizens of the Southern States, is the effect +of the institution of slavery, and falls within the discussion of that +question, with the disappearance of which they must inevitably depart. + +Were African slavery a permanent feature in our midst, the argument +against our civilization would be unanswerable. But it has maintained +its ground in spite of, rather than as the result of or in connection +with the spirit of our institutions. It has hitherto been suffered to +exist as an acknowledged evil, solely because the disastrous results +attending its sudden abolition have been justly feared as greater than +any which could at present arise from its continuance. Yet at no period +has the American people ceased to look forward to some future time when +it might safely be rooted out. Our faith has ever been strong, and our +confidence in the ultimate triumph of the right unshaken. That time has +come. The present war, from whose inauguration the question of slavery +abolition was--on our part, at least--entirely absent, has given the +opportunity which our people have not failed to seize. To crush out the +rebellion without meddling with the institutions of the South was at +first the main spring of the war; _fiat justitia, ruat coelum_, is now +the voice of the whole people; and the very fact that the nation has so +earnestly taken hold of the work, so sternly determined to sacrifice +everything but its existence to the demolition of this bloody god, is of +itself an evidence of the purity of our civilization. We have not been +dead to the principles of truth and justice involved in this question; +we have been but biding our time, plainly seeing and carefully noting +the direful effects of slavery upon our social organization, and +'heaping up wrath against the day of wrath.' And now, with the blessing +of God upon our efforts, the present war will not cease until the death +blow is given to the accursed institution with all its attendant evils. +We, as a people, are fully aroused and sternly determined henceforth to +let nothing stand in the way of our social advancement, however +time-honored and cherished may have been the obstacle. And when these +evils have all been swept away, as they assuredly will be, we shall +stand forth among the nations in all the glory of a pure and enlightened +civilization, and challenge the world to produce a nobler record, to +point out a happier, more prosperous, more truly progressive people. + +With the close of the present war will arise another important question, +bearing not less strongly than that of slavery upon our ultimate +civilization. The slaveholding States are to be, in a measure, +repeopled. The tide of immigration which has so long and so steadily +streamed toward the West will be for some time diverted to the fertile +plantations of the South. Not only the soldiers of the North, to whom +the war has opened what has hitherto been to them almost a _terra +incognita_, will seek new homes within the sunny climes; but the flood +of foreign immigration, which, upon the vindication of our national +integrity and power, will quickly double itself in comparison with that +of former years, and sweep toward this new and inviting field; and the +distinctive feature of Southern society--of so-called 'Southern +chivalry'--will soon be swallowed up in the torrent. And what then shall +we have to fill its place? The crude ideas of foreign tyros in the +school of freedom, the conflicting religious, social, and political +theories of European revolutionists, the antagonistic policies of a +hundred different nationalities. All this, in connection with the +difficulties arising from the freeing of so large an African population, +will prove a severe trial to our national civilization, and call for the +exercise of the profoundest wisdom, the most careful discrimination, and +the most patient forbearance on the part of our rulers and statesmen. +And most assuredly the times will themselves produce the men most fitted +for the care of such interests and the decision of such questions. +Though there is need of the firm hand, the utmost watchfulness, and the +strongest exertion on the part of every citizen as well as statesman, it +is not to be feared that the result will in the end be disastrous to our +progress. For the genius of the American people was never yet at fault. +We have handled similar questions before; we are handling a more +important one now, and our capabilities and our power of development are +such that we need not fear but that we shall be enabled to cope with the +exigencies of the future. That genius which has built up a powerful +nation here in the wilderness, which has developed to such a degree the +resources of the laud and the capacities of the people, which has +conceived and executed in so short a time such a social and moral +revolution, has in it too much of the godlike to suffer the work to fall +through from any incapacity to deal with the legitimate consequences of +its action. The power to inaugurate and carry through the work +necessarily implies the capacity to establish and render permanent its +results, to guide the ship when the storm is past. It will find the ways +and means; the times themselves will develop new truths, which will make +the task less difficult than it seems to us of to-day. Such is the +feeling of the people; and this same noble faith and confidence in our +own capacities, this turning a deaf ear to all the possibilities of +failure, and looking with a never-failing trust, a soul-felt faith, to +the triumph of our cause and of our civilization, is our greatest +strength, while it is, at the same time, a conclusive evidence that we +are on the high road of true progress, that our civilization is not a +thing of yesterday, to-day, or to-morrow, but of the eternal ages. + + + + +APHORISM.--NO. X. + + +'It is a frequent result of poverty to make men rich--a common curse of +wealth to make them poor.' Poverty, making us feel our dependence upon +God, almost compels us to an acquaintance with Him--this leads us to +accept Him as the one Infinite Benefactor; and so gives us wealth that +can never fail: but riches, by encouraging our natural love of +independence, is too apt to keep us away from our Heavenly Father, and +thus plunge us into such poverty as admits of no actual relief. In this +view there is something to hope for in the present distresses of our +country. Rarely have so many people felt that their dependence must be +upon the mercy of God; and rarely, if ever, have so many, with such +earnestness, appealed to the Father of all on the occasion of a +widespread calamity. This must result in a closer union with the +Infinite Giver, and thus in a great increase of true riches. + + + + +THE ENGLISH PRESS. + +V. + + +How had _The Times_ been getting on all these years? Slowly but surely. +At first, as has been already stated, feeling its way with difficulty +amid a host of obstacles, long-established and successful rivals, +Government prosecutions abroad, and personal crotchets and peculiarities +at home. John Walter, its founder, retired from the management of the +paper in 1803, and died in 1812, having lived to see his literary +offspring grow up into a strong young giant, with thews and sinews +growing fuller and firmer every day, tossing his weighty arms in every +direction, but never aimlessly; and with his vigorous feet firmly +planted, expanded chest, and head boldly erect, fearlessly standing +forward in the very first rank of the champions of freedom. Mr. Walter's +son John succeeded him in the management in 1803; and, under his abler +and more enlightened administration, the paper rapidly increased in +importance. He opened his columns to all comers, and whenever any +communication appeared to possess more than average ability he +endeavored to engage the writer of it as a regular contributor. He +perfected the system of reporting, and the reports in _The Times_ soon +began to be fuller and more exact perhaps even than Perry's in _The +Chronicle_. He especially turned his attention to the foreign department +of his journal, and no trouble or expense was spared in obtaining +intelligence from abroad. This had been one of the strong points with +the elder Walter, and he had always striven to be the first to +communicate important foreign news to the world--thus, for instance, +_The Times_ was the first newspaper which announced the execution of +Marie Antoinette. This element was now greatly strengthened and +developed, correspondents were engaged in all the chief cities of +Europe, and, as time progressed, in other quarters of the world as well, +letters from whom appeared as regularly and as early as the post-office +authorities would allow; and a regular system of expresses from the +Continent was organized. But the Government, who saw and felt the +growing greatness of _The Times_, placed every possible hinderance in +the way--it was not then the custom for the Premier to invite the editor +to dinner--and the letters and foreign packages were delayed in every +possible manner--the machinery of the custom house being even employed +for that purpose--in order that the Government organs might at least get +the start. But fair means and foul alike failed to win over the young +journalistic athlete to the ministerial side, and this illiberal and +selfish policy was at length compelled to give in, beaten at all points. +But there was one thing which was destined to give _The Times_ +supremacy, at which the younger Walter began to work soon after the +reins of power fell into his hands--and that was steam. Great strides +had been made in the art of printing. The first metal types ever cast in +England were those of Caxton, in 1720. Stereotype printing had been +first suggested by William Ged, of Edinburgh, in 1735, and was perfected +and brought into general use by Tillock, in 1779. The printing machine +had been originated by Nicholson, in 1790, and an improved form of it, +made of iron, the invention of Earl Stanhope, was in general use in +1806. Thomas Martyn, a compositor of _The Times_, invented some further +modifications, and was aided by the younger Walter. Owing, however, to +the violent opposition of his fellow workmen, the experiments were +carried on under the greatest secrecy; but the elder Walter could not be +induced to countenance them, and consequently nothing came of them. In +1814, Koenig and Bauer, two German printers, conceived the idea of +printing by steam, and the younger Walter, now by his father's death +permitted to do as he liked, entered warmly into their project. The +greatest silence and mystery was observed, but the employes of _The +Times_ somehow or other obtained an inkling of what was going on, and, +foreseeing a reduction in their numbers, vowed the most terrible +vengeance upon everybody connected with the newfangled invention. Spite +of their threats, however, the necessary machinery was quietly prepared +and erected, and one morning, before day had broken, Mr. Walter called +his printers together, and informed them that that day's issue was +struck off by steam. This ever-memorable day in the history of +journalism was Monday, the 28th of November, 1814. Loud murmurs and +threats were heard among the workmen, and burning down the whole affair +was the least thing suggested; but Mr. Walter had taken precautions, +and, showing his work people that he was prepared to meet any outbreak +on their part, no violence was attempted. Since then _The Times_ has +been regularly printed by steam. Various improvements in steam machinery +have from time to time been patented, and Hoe's gigantic machines--the +production of that country the most prolific of all the world in useful +inventions, America--seemed to show that the limit of the application of +steam to printing had been reached. But a machine still more +wonderful--a machine that possessed all the skill of human intelligence +and ten times the quickness of human fingers--a machine for composing by +steam, was shown at the International Exhibition in London, in 1862. +Printing by steam at once raised the circulation of _The Times_ +enormously, as was but natural, from the facilities which it afforded of +a rapid multiplication of copies; and under the editorship of Thomas +Barnes it soon reached the first place in journalism. But Walter himself +was not idle, and was always on the lookout for fresh and rising talent. +On one occasion, being at a church in the neighborhood of his country +seat in Berkshire, he was very much struck by the sermon which was +preached by a new curate. After the service he went into the vestry, and +had a long conversation with the preacher, the result of which was that +he told him that a curacy was not a very enviable position, and that he +would do much better to go to London, and write for _The Times_ at a +salary of L1,000 a year. It is needless to add that the offer was not +declined. + +In 1817, _The Literary Gazette_ was brought out by William Jordan, as an +organ of literature and the fine arts, and, until The _Athenaeum_ was +established, it was without a rival of any consequence. But its +circulation declined, and, after Jordan's death, dwindled down to a very +small number. In 1862 its name was changed to _The Parthenon_, or +rather, to speak more correctly, _The Parthenon_ arose as a new +publication from the ashes of _The Literary Gazette_. But change of name +did not produce change of circumstances, and, before many numbers had +appeared, _The Parthenon_ was privately offered for sale at the low sum +of L100, but, failing to meet with a purchaser, it gave up the ghost +early in 1863. In 1817, Lord Sidmouth made a terrific onslaught upon the +press. He issued a circular to the different lord lieutenants of the +counties, to the effect that any justice of the peace might issue a +warrant for the apprehension of any person charged with printing a +libel. One result of this circular and the vigorous prosecutions which +ensued was that William Cobbett for a while gave up printing his +_Political Register_, and went away to America, from whence he did not +return for two years. He stated his reasons for adopting this course in +his paper, as follows: + + 'I do not retire from a combat with the attorney-general, but from + a combat with a dungeon, deprived of pen, ink, and paper. A combat + with the attorney-general is quite unequal enough; that, however, I + would have encountered. I know too well what a trial by special + jury is; yet that or any sort of trial I would have stayed to face. + But against the absolute power of imprisonment, without even a + hearing, for time unlimited'--an act had been passed which gave the + secretary of state power to suspend the _habeas corpus_ act--'in + any jail in the kingdom, without the use of pen, ink, and paper, + and without communication with any soul but the keepers--against + such a power it would have been worse than madness to attempt to + strive.' + +But the Government met with a notable check in the case of William Howe, +the bookseller. Howe was thrice tried for libel, and, despite the +exertions of Lord Ellenborough, who descended from the judicial bench to +the barrister's table, was thrice acquitted. Persecution after this +languished for a while, but in 1819 were passed those stringent measures +which are known as the Six Acts. One of these gave the judges the power, +upon the conviction of any person a second time of the publication of a +seditious libel, to punish him with fine, imprisonment, banishment, or +transportation. But such monstrous enactments were not suffered to pass +unchallenged, and the result of several animated debates was that the +obnoxious words banishment--a novelty in English jurisprudence--and +transportation were withdrawn, but the remaining provisions of the Six +Acts were carried in all their rigor. But amid much harm, some good was +doubtless effected, for certain provisions were introduced into the act +which declared certain inferior newspapers, which had hitherto evaded +the stamp act, by calling themselves pamphlets and not newspapers, +because they only commented upon the news of the day, to be henceforth +liable to the stamp duties. This really did good service to the better +class of journals, by sweeping away a swarm of newspapers which, by the +quibble above mentioned, were enabled to undersell them. + +_John Bull_ was started in 1820, with the avowed object of espousing the +King's side, and covering the Queen and her friends with obloquy. +Theodore Hook was the editor, but very few persons were in the secret. +Every man or woman who was conspicuous as a friend of the Queen was duly +gibbeted, and any tittle-tattle gossip or scandal that could be ferreted +out against them was boldly printed in the most unmistakable terms. +Trial for libel failed to discover the real proprietors, editor, and +writers, and the men who stood their trial as printer, publisher, +proprietor, etc., were manifestly mere shams, men who would swear to +anything and undergo any amount of imprisonment for the consideration of +the smallest coin of the realm. The scandalous details in _John Bull_ +attracted the public at once, and by the time it reached its sixth +number, the circulation had risen to ten thousand, while the first five +numbers were reprinted over and over again, and the first and second +were actually stereotyped. But it began to be whispered about that Hook +was the editor, whereupon he printed and signed a letter denying the +rumor in the most indignant terms. This letter was supplemented by an +editorial, from which the following is an extract: + + 'The conceit of some people is amusing, and it has not unfrequently + been remarked that conceit is in abundance where talent is most + scarce. Our readers will see that we have received a letter from + Mr. Hook, disowning and disavowing all connection with this + paper.... We are free to confess that two things surprise us in + this business. The first, that anything which we have thought + worthy of giving to the public should have been mistaken for Mr. + Hook's; and secondly, that such a person as Mr. Hook should think + himself disgraced by a connection with _John Bull_.' + +After the death of the Queen, Hook devoted himself to the demolition of +the Whigs and Radicals. Joseph Hume was his especial target, and was +dished up week after week with a decidedly original Latin garnish: '_Ex +humili potens_--From a surgeon to a member of Parliament;' '_Humili modi +loqui_--To talk Scotch like Hume;' '_Nequis humasse velit_--Let no one +call Hume an ass,' etc., etc. _John Bull_ sustained a great many +convictions for libel, and its dummies were frequently imprisoned, but +they never betrayed Hook, who retained the editorship until his death in +1841. Somewhere about this time _The Britannia_, a Conservative journal, +of a few years' standing, was incorporated with it. It had meanwhile +considerably moderated its tone, and at the present day enjoys a fair +circulation among steady-going people--chiefly country gentlemen, old +ladies, and parsons--who obstinately cling to Tory principles. + +_John Bull_ was not the only newspaper which was prolific in libels, and +perhaps at no time were scandalous attacks upon public and private +persons more common. Mr. Freemantle, writing to the Marquis of +Buckingham, in 1820, says: + + 'The press is completely open to treason, sedition, blasphemy, and + falsehood, with impunity.... I do not know whether you see + Cobbett's _Independent Whig_, and many other papers now circulating + most extensively, and which are dangerous much beyond anything I + can describe.' + +This is a sweeping censure, but, allowing for a little personal +irritation, natural enough under the circumstances--he had been +lampooned himself--is true of a great portion of the press. The supply +was regulated by the demand, and the character of the wares purveyed +depended upon the wants of the market. Editors found that scandal was +eagerly devoured by their subscribers, and they did not therefore +hesitate or scruple to gratify the prevailing tastes of the day. But the +better class of papers were not able to keep clear of the law of libel, +even though they did not condescend to pander to the vitiated tastes of +the multitude. Many of them had to sustain actions for merely reporting +proceedings before the police magistrates and in the law courts, and +many a rascal solaced himself for the disagreeables attending a +preliminary examination at the police court for a criminal offence, by a +verdict in his behalf in a civil action against any newspaper that had +been bold enough to print a report of the proceedings. This kind of +action originated from a ruling of Lord Ellenborough, that it was +'libellous to publish the preliminary examination before a magistrate +previously to committing a man for trial or holding him to bail for any +offence with which he is charged, the tendency of such a publication +being to prejudice the minds of the jurymen against the accused, and to +deprive him of a fair trial.' This monstrous and at the same time absurd +doctrine remained in force for many years, but is now happily no longer +the law of the land. + +_The Times_ had now reached the pinnacle of prosperity, and its claims +to be considered the foremost of journals were no longer disputed. The +circulation of _The Morning Chronicle_ had dwindled during the latter +years of Perry's life, and after his death did not revive very much +under Black, his successor. Brougham, Talfourd, and Alderson were among +the writers in _The Times_, and Captain Sterling, whose vigorous, +slashing articles first gained for _The Times_ the title of the +'Thunderer,' was regularly engaged upon the staff at a salary of L2,000 +a year and a small share in the profits. But the Government still +steadily set its face against it, and in 1821 Mr. Hume loudly inveighed +against the ministry in the House of Commons for not sending Government +advertisements to _The Times_, instead of to other journals, which did +not enjoy a tithe of its circulation. The arrangements of the post +office were a great hinderance to the diffusion of newspapers, since the +charge for the carriage of a daily journal was L12 14_s._, and for a +weekly L2 4_s._ a year. The number, therefore, that was sent abroad by +this channel, either to the Continent or our own colonies, was very +small. In 1810 the whole number thus despatched was but three hundred +and eighty-three, and in 1817 it had fallen to two hundred and +seventy-one, owing to the increase in the charges demanded by the +post-office authorities, who were actually allowed to put the money in +their own pockets; and in 1821 it was only two hundred and six. The +circulation through the kingdom of Great Britain itself was not entirely +free, inasmuch as every newspaper sent through the post office was +charged for by weight, at an exorbitant rate, unless it was franked by a +member of Parliament. This regulation continued in force until 1825, +when an act was passed which provided that newspapers should be sent +through the post free, on condition that they were open at both ends, +and had no other writing upon the cover than the necessary address. At +the same time the ridiculous acts which limited the size of newspapers +were done away with, and every printer was henceforth permitted to print +his journal upon any sized sheet he pleased. Two important concessions +were also made to the press at this date, one in the House of Commons, +and the other in the House of Lords. In the former, a portion of the +strangers' gallery was set apart for the exclusive use of the reporters; +and in the latter, reporters were permitted to be present for the first +time. Previously to this, if any one had been rash enough to attempt to +take any notes, an official would pounce upon him, and, with an air of +offended dignity well befitting that august assembly, strike the +offending pencil from his grasp! + +In 1825, Joseph Hume attempted to get the stamp duty reduced on +newspapers to twopence, and the advertisement duty to one shilling; and +in 1827 he tried to gain an exemption from the stamp act for political +pamphlets; but he was defeated on each occasion. In 1827, _The Standard_ +was started as a Tory organ, under the auspices of a knot of able +writers, the chief of whom were Dr. Giffard, the editor, Alaric Attila +Watts, and Dr. Maginn. It has always possessed a good connection among +the Conservative party, but has never been a very profitable concern. +After the abolition of the stamp duty its price was reduced to twopence, +and in 1858 to one penny, and it was the first of the daily journals to +offer a double sheet at that price. In recent times the Letters of +'Manhattan' have given an impulse to its circulation, from their novelty +of style--an impulse which was probably further aided by the ridiculous +but widely believed assertion that those letters had never crossed the +Atlantic, but were penned beneath the shadow of St. Paul's. + +The following statistics of newspapers in the chief countries of Europe +in 1827, will probably prove interesting: France, with a population +of--in round numbers--thirty-two millions, possessed 490 journals; the +Germanic Confederation, with a population of thirteen millions, 305; +Prussia, with a population of twelve millions, 288; Bavaria, with a +population of four millions, 48; the Netherlands, with a population of +six millions, 150; Sweden and Norway, with a population of four +millions, 82; and Denmark, with a population of two millions, 80. Great +Britain, with a population of twenty-three millions, far outstripped +them all, for she boasted 483 newspapers; but was yet compelled to yield +the palm to her Transatlantic kinsmen, for the United States, at the +same date, with a population of twelve millions, circulated the +unequalled number of 800. In looking at these figures, one cannot help +being struck with the enormous disproportion between the journals of +Roman Catholic and Protestant countries--a disproportion which is so +significant that comment upon it is unnecessary. But the difference is +still more plainly shown if we take two capitals. Rome, with a +population of one hundred and fifty-four thousand, possessed only 3 +newspapers, while Copenhagen, with a population of one hundred and nine +thousand, enjoyed the advantage of having 53. The London papers were +100, the English provincial papers 225, the Irish papers 85, the Scotch +63, and the Welsh 10. The number of stamps issued was more than +twenty-seven millions, of which London alone consumed more than fifteen +millions; the number of advertisements was seven hundred and seventy +thousand, of which London supplied nearly a half; and the amount of +advertisement duty was L56,000, of which London contributed L22,000. + +The year 1829 is remarkable for the first appearance of _The Times_ with +a double sheet, consisting of eight pages, or forty-eight columns. This +great step in advance must have quite answered the expectations of its +spirited proprietor, for in 1830 _The Times_ paid to Government for +stamps and advertisement duty no less than L70,000. The day of perfect +freedom was beginning to dawn upon the press, although it took a quarter +of a century to remove the last fetter, the stamp, and still longer, if +we take into consideration the paper duty, which was removed in 1862. +First came the abolition of the most oppressive portion of Lord +Castlereagh's Six Acts, next the advertisement duties, and finally the +stamp. The high price of the stamp, fourpence, kept the better journals +at sevenpence, but a numerous class of unstamped journals at twopence +sprang up in defiance of the law, and were allowed for a time to go on +unchecked. They had a large circulation, one of them, _The London +Dispatch_, attaining to twenty-five thousand a week. Growing bolder with +their impunity, they indulged in the most abominable trash and the most +frantic sedition and treason. They were of course prosecuted and +punished, but they were never finally destroyed until the reduction of +the stamp duty. They did good indirectly, for they formed one of the +strongest arguments in favor of the abolition of that obnoxious impost. + +In 1833 a battle royal raged between Daniel O'Connell and the press; +but, as might have been expected, Dan was no match for the hydra-headed +antagonist he had been rash enough to provoke. The quarrel originated in +a complaint made by the Liberator of a misrepresentation of a speech of +his, and he did this in so intemperate a manner that the reporters +published a letter in _The Times_, in which they expressed their +determination never again to report a speech of O'Connell's until he had +apologized for the insults he had levelled at them. O'Connell vainly +attempted to put the machinery of the House of Commons in motion against +them, but, after repeated efforts, was obliged to give in. His attacks +were principally levelled at _The Times_--which then counted among its +contributors the brilliant names of Macaulay, Thackeray, and +Disraeli--for he and John Walter were bitter foes. But he evoked several +powerful defenders of the press, first and foremost among whom was Sir +Robert Peel. + +In 1834 the system of condensing the speeches in Parliament, and placing +the summary before the leading articles, was first introduced into _The +Times_ by Horace Twiss. At this date there occurred a great schism +between the proprietors and writers of _The Sun_, some of whom seceded, +and brought out _The True Sun_, in opposition to that eccentric planet +which always rises in the evening despite the general conviction of +mankind that the sun is the luminary of the day. Douglas Jerrold, Laman +Blanchard, and, greatest of all, Charles Dickens, commenced their +apprenticeship to literature in this journal, which enjoyed, however, +but a fleeting existence. Jerrold afterward started a paper of his own, +which failed, and then became editor of Lloyd's _Weekly London +Newspaper_, a post which he retained until his death, and which has +since been ably filled by his son Blanchard Jerrold. Laman Blanchard +became the editor of _The Courier_, but resigned it when it became a +Tory organ, and was one of the original writers in and proprietors of +_Punch_. Dickens transferred his services to _The Morning Chronicle_, in +the columns of which the Sketches by Boz first appeared. Several acts of +Parliament relating to newspapers were passed at this period. In 1833 +the advertisement duty was reduced from three shillings and sixpence to +one shilling and sixpence in England, and one shilling in Ireland. In +1834 an act was passed by which the newspapers of those foreign +countries in which English journals were admitted free of postage, were +allowed to enter Great Britain on the same terms. In 1835 a bill was +passed to relieve the press from the action of common informers, and +placed them under the jurisdiction of the attorney-general alone; and +another, which forbade newspapers to publish lectures delivered at +literary and scientific institutions, without the permission of the +lecturer. + +The time was now fast approaching for the reduction of the stamp duty. +Government was getting wearied of the war with the hydra-headed +unstamped monster, and at last adopted the only expedient likely to be +successful in putting it down, which was to place the higher-class +journals in a position to rival them. From 1831 to 1835 there had been +no less than seven hundred and twenty-eight prosecutions, of which the +year 1835 alone had produced two hundred and nineteen. This fact, joined +to the influential agitation which was now being made for the repeal, +caused the Government to decide upon bringing in a measure of relief. It +took six months and an immense deal of speechifying to bring this +measure to maturity; but at last, in 1836, the stamp duty was reduced +from fourpence to one penny, being one halfpenny less than it had been +originally fixed at in 1760. The Tories were the great friends of this +reduction, and Lord Lyndhurst, who had been instrumental in abolishing +many of the most oppressive enactments with which the measure had been +clogged, wished to do away with the duty altogether. There was of course +a loss to the revenue at first. In the first half year of the new duty, +the number of stamps issued was 21,362,148, realizing L88,502. In the +corresponding previous half year, under the old scale, the number of +stamps had been 14,874,652, and the amount paid, L196,909, so that in +six months the number of stamped newspapers had increased by about one +half. + +In 1837, _The Economist_ was started by John Wilson, and attracted great +attention by its statistical and politico-economical articles, Wilson +afterward became secretary of the treasury, and, having been sent to +India, died there, to add one more to the many illustrious victims that +our Indian empire has exacted. In 1838 a most amusing hoax was +perpetrated upon _The Morning Post_ and _Morning Chronicle_, which +announced the death of Lord Brougham, and published a most elaborate +biography of him. But the next day there came a letter from Lord +Brougham, declaring that he was still alive and hearty. The joke, +however, did not end here--for people were ill natured enough to assert +that he had been the author of the rumor himself, in order to learn what +the world would say about him; and so widespread had this second rumor +become, that Lord Brougham was compelled to write another letter +contradicting it. + +The next great event in the history of journalism is the commercial +libel case, Boyle _versus_ Lawson, the printer of _The Times_. Barnes +had died, and had been succeeded by John T. Delane, a nephew of Mr. +Walter, as editor, who still continues to occupy that responsible post. +The matter originated thus: In May, 1841, _The Times_ published a letter +from the Paris correspondent, containing the particulars of an organized +system of forgery on a gigantic scale, which had been agreed on by +certain persons, whose names were published in full. The plan was to +present simultaneously at the chief Continental cities letters of credit +purporting to emanate from Glynn & Co., the London bankers. The +confederates had fixed the sum they meant to realize at one million, and +had actually secured more than L10,000 before the plot was discovered. +One of them was Boyle, a banker, of good position, at Florence, and he +brought an action for libel and defamation. He pressed on the trial, but +_The Times_ maintained its ground, and at an enormous expense despatched +agents all over the Continent to collect evidence. _The Times_ +triumphantly succeeded in proving the truth of what it--_The Times_ is +always spoken and written of as an individual--had printed; but as the +old law--the greater the truth the greater the libel--still existed, the +jury were compelled to find a verdict for the plaintiff, which they did, +with one farthing damages, and the judge clinched the matter by refusing +the plaintiff his costs. Universal joy was expressed at the result of +the trial, and public meetings were called together in London and the +chief Continental cities for the purpose of making a subscription to +defray the expenses of _The Times_ in defending the action. The +proprietors, however, declined this, but said that, at the same time, +they should feel much gratified if a sum of money were raised for some +public object in commemoration of the event. Accordingly it was decided +to found two scholarships in perpetuity for Christ's Hospital and the +City of London School at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, to be +called the Times' Scholarships, and the nomination to them to be placed +in the hands of the proprietors of _The Times_ in perpetuity. Two marble +tablets were also voted, at the cost of a hundred and fifty guineas +each, with commemorative inscriptions, one to be placed in _The Times_ +office and the other in the Royal Exchange. Two somewhat similar tablets +were also placed in Christ's Hospital and the City of London School. For +these purposes the sum of L2,700 was very quickly subscribed, the lord +mayor leading off with ten guineas. If anything had been wanting to +place _The Times_ upon the pinnacle of preeminence among journals, this +famous trial firmly established it there, and ever since it has been +looked up to as an oracle of the commercial world. But _The Times_ was +not contented to rest quietly on its oars. It was ambitious, and looked +farther afield. In 1845, its vigor, enterprise, and disregard of expense +were exemplified in a remarkable manner. _The Times_ had been in the +habit of sending a special courier to Marseilles, to bring its Indian +despatches, and thus anticipate the regular course of the mail. The +French Government threw every possible obstacle in the courier's way, +and _The Times_ took Lieutenant Waghorn, the originator of the Overland +Route, into its pay. In October, 1845, a special messenger met the mail +on its arrival at Suez on the 19th. Mounted on a dromedary, he made his +way, without stopping, to Alexandria, where Waghorn awaited him with a +steamer. Waghorn came _via_ Trieste--special post horses and steamers +and trains being ready for him at the various points of the route--and +he reached London on the morning of the 31st, in time for his despatches +to appear in the morning's issue of the paper. The result of this was +that _The Times_ reached Paris with the Indian news from London before +the regular mail had reached that city from Marseilles. The next +noticeable enterprise of _The Times_ was the sending out commissioners +to investigate the condition of the poor and laboring population of +London in 1847, an enterprise which was crowned with the moat +satisfactory results. _The Times_ has always been the firm friend of the +poor, and its columns are always open to the tale of distress. No case +is advocated until it has been thoroughly investigated; but when once it +has been mentioned in _The Times_, subscriptions pour in on all sides. +At the commencement of each year especially, _The Times_ publishes +gratuitously appeals from public charities, and during last January the +sums received through those appeals reached the large amount of L12,000. +The last great exploit of _The Times_ was the sending forth a special +correspondent with the English army to the Crimea, a precedent which it +has followed up since in China, India, Italy, America, and +Schleswig-Holstein. But this was not the first occasion that reporters +had accompanied our armies, for Canning despatched reporters with the +troops sent to Portugal in 1826. The tactics of _The Times_ are very +generally misunderstood and misrepresented. Whatever objections +cavillers and opponents may urge, and with truth too--for the course +taken by _The Times_ is not to be praised on all occasions--it cannot be +denied that _The Times_ is the first journal in the world, a position +which it has reached by its enterprise, vigor, and ability. It has +frequently proved its disinterestedness, and during the great railway +mania of 1845, while it was receiving no less a sum than L6,000 weekly +for advertisements, constantly cautioned its readers against the +prevailing madness, and persistently predicted the crash that was +certain to follow. _The Times_, while it appears to lead, in reality +waits upon public opinion, and hence the accusations of inconsistency +and tergiversation so freely lavished upon it. _The Times_ is the +printed breath of public opinion. It throws out a feeler, perhaps, +though not quite at first, accompanied by some decided expression of +opinion, and carefully watches the effect upon the public mind. Should +that effect be different to what was expected, _The Times_ knows how to +veer round with the _popularis aura_. This is not always, however, done +so skilfully but that the act is apparent. It is not the most dignified +course that a journal which aspires to be--and which is--the leading +journal of Europe ought to pursue; but _The Times_ knows human nature, +and knows, too, that were it to adopt any other course, it would fall +from its high estate, and become a mere party organ. Moreover, _The +Times_ possesses an enormous prestige--deservedly won, as this article +has endeavored to show--and that, in a conservative country like +England, is considerably more than half the battle. + +In 1842 appeared the first pictorial newspaper, _The Illustrated London +News_. It was started by Herbert Ingram, who began life as a provincial +newsboy, and died, in the vigor of his age, member of Parliament for his +native town. It was a success from the first, so great that numerous +competitors sprang up and endeavored to undersell it. But these were all +vastly inferior, and one by one withered away, the most persistent of +them at last passing into the hands of _The Illustrated London News_, +which now enjoys a larger circulation than any other weekly newspaper, +amounting to about six millions a year! + +There was a satirical paper at this time, called _The Age_, which, being +of a strongly libellous character, was continually feeling the weight of +the law. It did not improve in character as it grew older, and its +editor, Tommy Holt, was proved upon a trial to have received bribes to +suppress a slander that he had threatened should appear in his paper. +This same Tommy Holt was very successful in inventing 'sensation' +headings for his columns, and by no means either delicate or scrupulous +in so doing. There was another rascally paper of the same description, +called _The Satirist_, which was at last finally crushed by the Duke of +Brunswick, the result of several actions for libel. Among other new +literary oddities at this time may be mentioned _The Fonetic Nuz_, +the organ of those enthusiastic reformers who were endeavoring to +accomplish a revolution in our orthography. It lasted, however, but a +very short time. + +The year 1850 saw the initiation of the final campaign directed against +the only remaining burdens of the press. Mr. Ewart and Mr. Milner Gibson +brought forward a motion for the repeal of the advertisement duty, but +were defeated by two hundred and eight votes to thirty-nine. But they +were not cast down by their want of success, but manfully returned to +the charge. In 1851, they procured the appointment of a committee to +inquire into the question, and in 1852, gathering strength, like William +of Orange, from each successive defeat, they brought forward a triple +set of resolutions, one for the abolition of the advertisement duty, +another levelled at the stamp, and the third for the repeal of the paper +duties. They carried the first, but lost the others. In 1854, Mr. Gibson +made a fresh motion concerning the laws affecting the press, and +received a promise that the subject should receive the early attention +of the House; and in 1855, Sir G.C. Lewis, then chancellor of the +exchequer, who had hitherto opposed the repeal of the duty, brought in a +bill for its abolition. After a struggle in both Houses the measure +passed, and received the royal assent on the 15th of June. + +In following up this final struggle, we have passed over one important +period, the railway mania in 1845, which gave birth to no less than +twenty-nine newspapers, entirely occupied with railway intelligence, in +London, besides many others in the provinces. Only two of these have +survived, for the other two railway newspapers which still exist were +established before that memorable madness fell upon the nation. Of +these, Herapath's _Journal_ is the oldest and best, and is the oracle of +the Stock Exchange on railway matters. There are some slight symptoms of +the madness returning in the present year, as far at least as the +metropolis is concerned, and one new railway journal has just been +started in consequence. There are many amusing anecdotes told of +newspapers at this epoch, of which we will quote one. One of these +railway organs had published and paid for, from time to time, lengthy +and elaborate reports of the meetings of a certain company, supplied by +one of the staff of reporters. At length the editor told the reporter +that he thought it was high time for the company to give the paper an +advertisement, after all the favorable notices that bad been given to +the undertaking in question. The reporter acquiesced, and promised to +get the order for an advertisement, but putting it off from time to +time, the editor was induced to make inquiries for himself; whereupon he +had the extreme satisfaction of learning that no such company had ever +existed, and that the elaborate reports of meetings, speeches, etc., had +been entirely fabricated by his ingenious employe! An endeavor was made +last year to resuscitate one of these defunct daily journals, _The Iron +Times_, and Tommy Holt was the editor. It lingered for some weeks, and +then smashed utterly. The editor called the contributors together, and +told them that there was nothing to pay them with--nothing in fact +remained but the office furniture. 'Take that, my boys,' said he, 'and +divide it among you.' This was accordingly done, and one man marched off +with a table, another with a chair, a third with a desk, a fourth with +an inkstand, and so on! + +When the stamp duty was abolished as a tax, it remained optional with +the publishers to have any number of their issue stamped they pleased +for transmission through the poet. The number of stamps thus issued in +the first six months after the repeal was 21,646,688, whereas the number +in the corresponding period of 1854, when the tax still existed, was +55,732,499. The number of stamps issued in the year 1854 to the +principal newspapers was as follows: _Times_, 15,975,739; _Morning +Advertiser_, 2,392,780; _Daily News_, 1,485,099; _Morning Herald_, +1,158,000; _Morning Chronicle_, 873,500; _The Globe_, 850,000; and _The +Morning Post_, 832,500. Of the weeklies, _The Illustrated London News_ +was then the second, 5,627,866; _The News of the World_, a Liberal, +unillustrated journal, started in 1843, standing first, with 5,673,525 +(the price of this paper is now reduced to twopence, and it is an +admirably conducted journal); Lloyd's _Weekly Newspaper_, 5,572,897; +_The Weekly Times_, price one penny, 3,902,169; Reynolds's _Weekly +Newspaper_, also a penny journal, which is best described by the epithet +'rabid,' 2,496,256; _The Weekly Dispatch_, price fivepence, an advanced +Liberal journal, which is emphatically the workingman's newspaper, and +originally started in 1801, 1,982,933; Bell's _Life in London_, +1,161,000. Of the provincial newspapers, _The Manchester Guardian_ heads +the list with 1,066,575, followed by _The Liverpool Mercury_, with +912,000, and _The Leeds Mercury_, with 735,000. Foremost among the +Scotch newspapers stands _The North British Advertiser_, with 808,002; +and the Irish paper with the largest circulation was _The Telegraph_, +with 959,000. Of the London literary papers the chief was _The +Examiner_, with 248,560. With one or two exceptions, the circulation of +these journals may be considered to have increased enormously. There are +now published in Great Britain 1,350 different newspapers, of which 240 +are London papers, 20 being dailies, 776 English provincial papers, 143 +Irish, 140 Scotch, 37 Welsh, and 14 are published in the British Isles. +Many of these enjoy but a limited circulation, as naturally follows from +the narrow limit they assign to themselves. Thus several trades have +their special organs, as for instance, the grocers, the bakers, and even +the hairdressers among others. + +Before concluding this article it will be well to notice a few of the +leading journals which have not been mentioned. _The Daily Telegraph_ +was originally started at twopence, in 1855, by Colonel Sleigh, but he, +getting behindhand with his printers to the amount of L1,000, sold them +the paper for another L1,000, and in their hands it has since remained. +The price was reduced to a penny, and, under the new management, its +circulation rapidly increased. _The Standard_ dealt a heavy blow at it +in 1858, by coming out suddenly one morning, without any previous +warning, as a double sheet. This first number was given away in the +streets, in vast quantities, thrown into omnibuses and cabs, pitched +into shops and public houses, and so on. The sale of _The Telegraph_ so +decreased that it was found necessary to enlarge it to the same size as +_The Standard_, when its circulation rose again immediately. It has now +the largest circulation in the world, more than 100,000 daily, a much +larger London circulation than _The Times_, though a smaller provincial +and foreign sale; and its clear profits are variously stated by persons +who profess to be well informed, at different sums, the least of which +is L20,000 a year. The chief causes of its success are its independent +and uncompromising tone, the great pains it takes to gain early +intelligence--it has frequently anticipated _The Times_ itself in +foreign news--and the vigorous and able social articles of Mr. George +Augustus Sala. _The Daily News_ was started as a Liberal and Reform +journal in 1846. An enormous sum of money was sunk in establishing it, +for it was not at first successful. Charles Dickens was the first +editor, but politics were not much in the line of the genial and +unrivalled novelist, and he was soon succeeded by John Forster and +Charles Wentworth Dilke, whose connection with the South Kensington +Museum and the great Exhibition has made him a knight, a C. B., and a +very important personage. _The Daily News_ is now one of the ablest and +most successful of London journals, and has had and still enjoys the +assistance of the best writers of the day in every department. The line +which this journal has always maintained toward America will forever +earn it the admiration and gratitude of the United States. Another firm +friend of the great republic is _The Morning Star_, the organ of Mr. +Bright and the Manchester school, started in 1856. In addition to its +political claims, it has a great hold upon the public as a family +newspaper, by the careful manner in which everything objectionable is +excluded from its columns. Its twin sister, born at the same time, is +called _The Evening Star_. _Bell's Life in London_, a weekly journal, +was originally brought out in 1820, and, although it has more than one +successful rival to contend against, it still maintains its preeminence +as the first English sporting paper. It is very carefully edited, each +department being placed under a separate editor, and is the great oracle +in all matters relating to sports and games. The history of one of the +ablest contributors to this journal, who wrote some most charming +articles on fly-fishing and other kindred topics, under the signature of +'Ephemera'--though he was said never to have thrown a fly in his +life--is a very sad one. His name was Fitzgerald, a man of good family +and connections, married to a lady with L1,200 a year, and living in a +good house at the West End. But the alcoholic demon had got hold of him. +He would disappear for days together, and then suddenly present himself +at the office of the paper with nothing on but a shirt and trousers. He +would then sit down and write an article, receive his pay, go away and +purchase decent clothes, return home, and live quietly perhaps for a +month, when he would--to use a prison phrase--break out again as before. +He was last seen, in the streets of London, in a state of complete +intoxication, being carried upon a stretcher by two policemen to the +police cell, where he died the same night. + +At the head of the Sunday papers stands _The Observer_, founded in 1792. +Like _The Globe_, it is extremely well informed upon all political +matters, for very good reasons. It spares no expense in obtaining early +news, and is an especial favorite with the clubs. _The Era_ is the great +organ of the theatrical world, but joins to that _specialite_ the +general attributes of an ordinary weekly journal. It was established in +1837. _The Field_, which calls itself the country gentleman's newspaper, +is all that it professes to be, and a most admirable publication, +treating of games, sports, natural history, and rural matters generally. +It was started by Mr. Benjamin Webster, the accomplished actor manager, +in 1853. But to particularize the principal papers, even in a short +separate notice of a few lines, would far transgress the limits at our +disposal. All the professions are well supplied with journals devoted to +their interests, and it is impossible here to dwell upon them or those +which represent literature and the fine arts. With regard to religious +papers, their name is legion, and they would require a separate article +to be fairly and honestly considered. _Punch_, too, and his rivals, dead +and living, are in the same category, and must, however reluctantly, be +passed over. Two curiosities, however, of the press must be mentioned. +_Public Opinion_ was started about two years and a half ago. It +consisted of weekly extracts from the leading articles of English and +foreign journals, and scraps of news, and other odds and ends. It has +succeeded mainly from its cost of production being so slight, owing to +its paste-and-scissors character, and also because it freely opens its +columns to correspondents _de rebus omnibus_, who are willing to buy any +number of copies for the pleasure of seeing themselves in print. _The +Literary Times_, in addition to reviews of books, professed to criticize +the leading articles in the various papers, but, after an existence of +some six months or so, one Saturday morning _The Literary Times_ was +_non est inventus_. + +In concluding this series of articles, which has run to a much greater +length than he originally intended, the writer is conscious of many +shortcomings and omissions, which he trusts will be pardoned and +overlooked when his principal object is borne in mind. That object has +been to give a general outline of the history of the press, and +especially of its struggles against 'the powers which be;' and, though +tempted now and again--he fears too often for the patience of his +readers--to wander away into particularities, he has always endeavored +to keep that object in view. Above all, he hopes he has at least been +successful in showing the truth of that sentiment which was first +publicly expressed as a toast at a Whig dinner, at the Crown and Anchor +tavern, in 1795: 'The liberty of the press--it is like the air we +breathe--if we have it not, we die!' + + + + +OUR MARTYRS. + + + Lightly the river runs between + Hanging cliffs and meadows green. + + Blackly the prison, looking down, + Frowns at its shadow's answering frown. + + Shut from life in his life's fresh morn, + Crouches a soldier, wounded and worn. + + Chained and starved in the dungeon grim, + Day and night are alike to him; + + Save that the murmurous twilight air + Stings his soul with a deeper despair. + + Day by day, as the taunting breeze + Wafts him the breath of orange trees, + + He fancies in meadows far away + The level lines of odorous hay; + + And sees the scythes of the mowers run + In and out of the steady sun. + + Night by night, as the mounting moon + Climbs from his eager gaze too soon, + + The gleams that across the gratings fall, + Broken and bright, on the prison wall, + + Seem the tangles of Northern rills, + Like threads of silver winding the hills. + + When, sinking into the western skies, + The sun aslant on the window lies; + + And motes that hovered dusty and dim, + Golden-winged through the glory swim: + + He drops his head on his fettered hands, + And thinks of the fruitful Northern lands. + + Between his fingers' wasted lines, + Tear after tear into sunlight shines, + + As, wandering in a dream, he treads + The ripened honey of clover heads; + + Or watches the sea of yellow grain + Break into waves on the windy plain; + + Or sees the orchard's grassy gloom + Spotted with globes of rosy bloom. + + Through the shimmer of shadowy haze + Redden the hills with their autumn blaze. + + The oxen stand in the loaded teams; + The cider bubbles in amber streams; + + And child-like laughter and girlish song + Float with the reaper's shout along. + + He stirs his hands, and the jealous chain + Wakes him once more to his tyrant pain-- + + To festered wounds, and to dungeon taint, + And hunger's agony, fierce and faint. + + The sunset vision fades and flits, + And alone in his dark'ning cell he sits: + + Alone with only the jailers grim, + Hunger and Pain, that clutch at him; + + And, tight'ning his fetters, link by link, + Drag him near to a ghastly brink; + + Where, in the blackness that yawns beneath, + Stalks the skeleton form of Death. + + Starved, and tortured, and worn with strife; + Robbed of the hopes of his fresh, young life;-- + + Shall one pang of his martyr pain + Cry to a sleepless God in vain? + + + + +AENONE: + +A TALE OF SLAVE LIFE IN ROME. + + +CHAPTER X. + +But though AEnone's sanguinely conceived plan for Cleotos's happiness had +so cruelly failed, it was not in her heart to yield to his passionate, +unreflecting demand, and send him away from her, even to a kinder home +than he would have found at the house of the captain Polidorus. It would +but increase his ill fortune, by enforcing still greater isolation from +every fount of human sympathy. Though the affection of the wily Leta had +been withdrawn from him, her own secret friendship yet remained, and +could be a protection to him as long as he was at her side; and in many +ways she could yet extend her care and favor to him, until such time as +an outward-bound vessel might be found in which to restore him to his +native country. + +Whether there was any instinct at the bottom of her heart, telling her +that in the possibility of trying events to come his friendship might be +equally serviceable to her, and that, even in the mere distant +companionship of a slave with his mistress, she might feel a certain +protecting influence, she did not stop to ask. Neither did she inquire +whether she wished to retain him for his own benefit alone, and without +thought of any happiness or comfort to be derived by her from his +presence. Had she been accustomed closely to analyze her feelings, she +might have perceived, perhaps, that, in her growing isolation, it was no +unpleasant thing to look upon the features and listen to the tones which +carried her memory back to her early days of poverty, when, except for a +short interval, her life had been at its happiest. But had she known and +acknowledged all this, it would not have startled her, for she would +have felt that, in her heart, there was not the slightest accompanying +shade of disloyalty. Her nature was not one to admit of sudden transfers +of allegiance. It was rather one in which a real love would last +forever. When the first romantic liking for Cleotos had consumed itself, +from the ashes there had sprung no new passion for him, but merely the +flowers of earnest, true-hearted friendship. And it was her misfortune, +perhaps, that the real love for another which had succeeded would not in +turn consume itself, but would continue to flourish green and perennial, +though now seemingly fated to bask no longer in the sunshine of kindly +words and actions, but only to cower beneath the chill of harsh and +wanton neglect. + +Cleotos therefore remained--at first passing weary days of bitter, +heartbreaking despondency. His lost liberty he had borne without much +complaint, for it was merely the fortune of war, and hundreds of his +countrymen were sharing the same fate with him. But to lose that love +upon which he had believed all the happiness of his life depended, was a +blow to which, for a time, no philosophy could reconcile him--the more +particularly as the manner in which that loss had been forced upon him +seemed, to his sensitive nature, to be marked by peculiar severity. To +have had her torn from him in any ordinary way--to part with her in some +quarrel in which either side might be partially right, and thenceforth +never to see her again--or to be obliged to yield her up to the superior +claims of an open, generous rivalry--any of these things would, in +itself, have been sufficient affliction. But it was far worse than all +this to be obliged to meet her at every turn, holding out her hand to +him in pleasant greeting, and uttering words of welcoming import; and +all with an unblushing appearance of friendly interest, as though his +relations with her had never been other than those of a fraternal +character, and as though, upon being allowed her mere friendship, there +could be nothing of which he had a right to complain. + +At first, in the agony of his heart, he had no strength to rise above +the weight which crushed him, and to obey the counsels of his pride so +far as to play before her a part of equally assumed indifference. To her +smiling greetings he could return only looks of bitter despair or +passionate entreaty--vainly hoping that he might thereby arouse her +better nature, and bring her in repentance back to him. And at first +sight it seemed not impossible that such a thing might take place; for, +in the midst of all her change of conduct and wilful avoidance of +allusion to the past, she felt no dislike of him. It was merely her love +for him that she had suppressed, and in its place there still remained a +warm regard. If he could have been content with her friendship alone, +she would have granted it all, and would have rejoiced, for the sake of +olden times, to use her influence with others in aid of his upward +progress. Perhaps there were even times when, as she looked upon his +misery and thought of the days not so very far back, in which he had +been all in all to her, her heart may have been melted into something of +its former affection. But if so, it was only for a moment, nor did she +ever allow the weakness to be seen. Her path had been taken, and nothing +now could make her swerve from it. Before her enraptured fancy gleamed +the state and rank belonging to a patrician's wife; and as she wove her +toils with all the resources of her cunning, the prize seemed to +approach her nearer and nearer. Now having advanced so far, she must not +allow a momentary weakness to imperil all. And therefore unwaveringly +she daily met her former lover with the open smile of friendly greeting, +inviting confidence, mingled with the same indescribable glance, +forbidding any renewal of love. + +And so days passed by, and Cleotos, arousing from his apathetic despair, +felt more strongly that, if the lapse of love into mere friendship is a +misfortune, the offer of friendship as a substitute for promised love is +a mockery and an insult: his soul rebelled at being made a passive party +to such a bargain; and he began himself to play the retaliatory part +which a wronged nature naturally suggests to itself. Like Leta, he +learned to hold out the limpid hand in careless greeting, or to mutter +meaningless and cold compliments, and, in any communication with her, to +assume all the appearances of indifferent acquaintanceship. At first, +indeed, it was with an aching heart struggling in his breast, and an +agony of wounded spirit tempting him to cast away all such studied +pretences, and to throw himself upon her mercy, and meanly beg for even +the slightest return of her former affection. But gradually, as he +perceived how vain would be such self-abasement, and how its display +would rather tend to add contempt to her indifference, his pride came to +rescue him from such a course; and he began more and more to tune the +temper of his mind to his actions, and to feel something of the same +coldness which he outwardly displayed. + +Not but that for a while such a disposition was forced and unnatural; +and however steadily composed he felt, and strongly fortified in his +stubborn pride, a look or a word from her would have brought him again a +willing slave to her feet. But that look or word was not given. Perhaps, +in her eager struggle after the glittering prize which she had held out +before herself, she disdained the love which had once delighted her; +perhaps, actuated by a purer and less selfish motive, her friendship +for Cleotos forbade her, in mere wanton pride, to keep open the wound +which she had made. Whatever the reason, the withdrawal of the +fascinations which had once attracted him, gave his mind leisure and +opportunity to reason with itself in more quietude and composure than +could have been expected. And, as he more and more began to realize how +closely she was wrapped up in her ambition, to the exclusion of any +gentler feeling, and how, under the stimulant of her infatuated hopes, +she was allowing herself each day to act with less guarded resolution, +there were times when he found himself asking whether she had indeed +changed from what she had been, or whether, on the contrary, she had not +always, at heart, been the same as now, and his conception, of her true +character been at fault. + +But, in proportion as the veil of error seemed lifted from his soul, +letting calm content once more shine in upon him, so, on the other hand, +did a night of despair slowly settle upon AEnone. By no reasoning could +she longer urge upon herself the belief that the neglect with which her +lord treated her could be traced to any inoffensive cause. Claims of +court--urgency of military duties--exactions of business might easily +account for transitory slights, but not for long-sustained periods of +indifference, unbroken by a single word of kindness. And as days passed +by and this indifference continued, until at times seeming ready to give +place to openly expressed dislike, and her ears became more and more +accustomed to words of hasty petulance, and Sergius grew still deeper +absorbed in the infatuation which possessed him, and less careful to +conceal its influences from her, and the Greek girl glided hither and +thither, ever less anxious, as she believed her triumph more nearly +assured, to maintain the humble guise which she had at first assumed, +AEnone felt that there had indeed come upon her a sorrow from which there +could be no escape. There were a hundred methods of relief from it which +hourly occurred to her agitated mind, but one after another was in turn +laid aside, as she felt that it would but aggravate the evil, or as the +opportunity to employ it was not given her. To make open complaint of +her wrongs and try to drive Leta from the house--to humble herself +before her, and thereby strive to move her pity--to reproach Sergius for +his neglect, and demand that, since he no longer loved her, he would +send her back to her native place, away from the hollow world of +Rome--to assume toward him, by a strong effort of will, a like +indifference--to watch until she could find some season when his better +nature appeared more impressible, and then to throw herself before him, +as she had once before done, and plead for a return of his love--these +and like expedients fruitlessly passed in review before her. All in turn +failed in promise of relief; and at times it seemed as though the only +course left to her was to lie down in her sorrow and die. + +It was no uncommon thing then, as now, for the husband to neglect his +wife. All Rome rang with the frequent story of marital wrong. But those +were days in which the matron did not generally accept her desertion +with meekness. Brought up in a fevered, unscrupulous society, she had +her own retaliatory resources; and if no efforts were sufficient to +bring back the wandering affection, she could recompense herself +elsewhere for its loss, secure that her wrongs would be held as a +justification, and that her associates, equally aggrieved and avenged, +would applaud her course. But with AEnone, brought up in a provincial +town, under the shelter of her own native purity and innocence, no such +idea could find countenance. Even the thought which sometimes dimly +presented itself, that by some harmless coquetry she might perhaps +excite her husband's jealousy, and thereby chance to win back his love, +was one which she always stifled in its beginning as weak and unworthy. + +But the recompenses of friendship were still left to her, and it was +surely doing no wrong to accept them. Therefore the more she realized +that her source of real happiness was becoming estranged from her, so +much the more did she feel naturally drawn toward the society of +Cleotos. To her, of course, he was not a mere slave, but rather a person +of equal birth with herself, who had been beaten down by the same fate +which had elevated her. And in conversation with him, it was easy to +carry her mind back to her early home, and for a little while forget her +present misery. And he, in turn, having been repulsed where he had +placed his highest hopes of happiness, and imbittered with the +disappointment, was not at all loth to transfer, in all innocence, his +devotion to one who extended such kindly condescension toward him. It +therefore happened that the two were naturally drawn much together, and, +for a time, without attracting invidious notice. Those were days in +which the association between master and slave was often of an intimate +character. To the lower class of slaves, indeed, there could be no +familiar approach. It was sufficient for them that at times they could +look upon the faces of their owners from a distance. But above these, +were converging circles, each rising in rank and responsibility, until +there were those who stood at their owners' right hands, more in the +position of friends and confidants than of menials. Of these was +Cleotos, whose winning face and graceful mien, joined to his natural +abilities and his valued accomplishments, would have insured him a +higher position than that of most captives, even if he had not been +assisted by the partiality of his mistress. + +It was his duty to announce her guests, to trim the lamps at which she +read, to read to her when she felt indisposed to do so for herself; to +indite her correspondence--and generally to superintend all those little +elegancies and demands of social life which require grace or mental +ability in their execution. These offices naturally kept him near her +during much of each day--and when AEnone and he were alone, and no task +was before him requiring immediate completion, it was but to be expected +that a mingling of curiosity and friendly interest should lead her to +question him upon his past life, his home, his associates, even his +thoughts. And often it as naturally happened that, while he spoke, the +music of his voice lulled her into forgetfulness of all but the past, +and she would find herself unconsciously relaxing from the somewhat +frigid dignity which she felt called upon to assume, until her features +must have glowed with some expression of her former familiar kindness. +For she would be suddenly startled back into her forced propriety by a +strange and troubled look of puzzled thought flitting across his face--a +look which she could read and analyze better than he could; for it told +her that, without any real suspicion of the truth, he was wondering at +the likeness of that beaming face which bent over him to something which +he had seen elsewhere in the past. + +There was one morning that he sat before her by a little table where he +had been writing a letter at her dictation. The letter was folded and +sealed, and then ensued one of those vacant intervals when each, having +no pressing task at hand, remains for a few moments listlessly thinking +what shall be done next. At that instant Leta passed through the +room--bowing low as she moved before her mistress, and throwing out +toward Cleotos from the corner of her dark eye one of those aggravating +looks in which friendly interest in him and pleasure at his sight were +mingled with a certain cruel warning against any renewal of past +memories. Cleotos retorted with a similar careless greeting, expressive +of simple friendliness, unconscious of any warmer emotion. But he had +not yet perfectly learned his part; for, as Leta passed out of the room, +the quiver of his lip showed how difficult had been the task of +mastering his forced smile even for that moment. + +'Poor boy!' said, AEnone, as she witnessed the effort. 'You have not yet +learned not to love her.' + +'Not yet, indeed, my mistress,' he responded. 'But it seems as though I +knew the task better than last week, and would know it still better a +week hence. What can I say? It is not to be thought that I should lapse +in a moment into real indifference, even though I may find out that she +is unworthy of love. There cannot but be an interval during which the +heart will struggle against the judgment, and lead to foolish longings +after what has passed.' + +'True, indeed,' said AEnone. + +'And still, in my heart, I sometimes almost think that I have never +loved her,' he continued in a reflective, dreamy tone; 'that I have been +under a spell--have been made the slave of certain outward fascinations, +which have fettered my judgment. Can it be that one will think he loves +and yet does not?' + +'It is indeed hard to answer, I suppose.' + +'It must be hard; for wherein, after all, is the difference between +being and thinking to be? But yet it seems as though there were times, +even long past and before this captivity, when, being in our own land, +and with nothing to disturb us or make us doubtful of the future, I +looked upon her with a strange kind of fear--wondering whether, though I +loved her with so strong a passion, it might not rather be the passion +of an unlasting, unsatisfying slavery of thought, than of a calm, +lifelong trustfulness. And now it seems to me that if I ever had this +feeling--for I cannot certainly tell whether I ever had or only now +imagine it--it seems to me as though it were an inner instinct warning +me against evil; for day by day I see more clearly that there has been +some veil over my soul, hiding it from a clear perception of what was +suitable for it.' + +'And you begin to dislike her?' inquired AEnone. + +'Not so,' he said. 'Nor do I know whether I ought to do so, if I could. +I believe now that she does not, and perhaps never has loved me, but I +must forgive her for all that. She may have tried to do so, and for a +time have thought that she did, and the true blame may all the while +have rested with me alone. With her strong, unbending temperament, +fearless of correction, and jealous of all control, how, indeed, could +she long cling to one of such a tranquil and yielding nature as myself? +That she loved me not, proves not that she could love no one; and though +she now seems so coldly heartless and so rashly heedless of her fame, +yet who knows what she might have been if fettered by the love of a +spirit more imperious than her own? Who can tell how the great good that +is within her might then have conquered the evil, and her soul have +spurned its present headstrong course, and gloriously aroused itself to +its sole great duty of love and innocent trustfulness?' + +'These, indeed, are very far from being words of dislike,' said AEnone; +'and they only prove that you still love her, or you would not so +readily excuse her.' + +'Neither have I denied that I love her yet,' he said. 'But it is not +with as blind an affection as before. Her touch, her words, her +smile--if given with real love--would still please me as of old; and yet +I should feel that there was something gone from me forever. Even if we +were restored to our own isle, with no enemy near or rival to interrupt +us, I could not but henceforth feel that destiny had not meant her for +me, so much would her stronger nature be ill assorted with my own. And +sometimes--' + +'Well?' + +'Sometimes--now that this thraldom of my spirit is passing off--there +comes back to me the memory of another face, a gentle, loving +face--which, if it were possible ever to see it again, I have too long +forgotten, but which, if I may not see it more, I should, for my own +sake, have forgotten long ago. But all this, honored mistress, can be of +no interest to you, and therefore it were foolish to mention it.' + +'Nay, speak to me of it,' murmured AEnone; and, struggle as she would, +the telltale blood began to flow up into her face. 'Is there any woman +who does not care to listen to a love story?' she added, as though in +excuse for her curiosity. + +'It is but a common love tale,' he said, 'and the more so that nothing +came of it. A few stolen interviews--a few promises exchanged--and then +a parting forever. That is all.' + +'But where and when was this?' + +'Six years ago, at Ostia. For, though a Greek, I have been in this land +before now. I was a sailor then, and in that port I met her. Met her and +loved her, and promised to return again. And for a while I meant to do +so; but on our passage back our ship was wrecked. I could not at once +find place upon another, and so took employment on the shore--none the +less, however, intending some day to come back and claim her. What shall +I say? It is the old story. The sea is wide, and I could interchange no +tidings with her. Ill success followed me, and I could not return to +Ostia. Then, little by little, as the months drifted past, and I +believed her lost to me, her image began to fade from my memory. And +then I saw Leta; and under the spell of that new charm, it seemed to me +as though the other one had lost all grasp upon my mind. Not altogether, +though, for even at the height of my later love, I have always borne +about me the last keepsake that she had given me.' + +'Let me see it, what it is like,' said AEnone, faintly; and in obedience +to her command, and perhaps wondering a little that she should take such +interest in so simple a story, Cleotos drew from beneath his tunic a +thread with a coin dangling at the end. + +The tears struggled into AEnone's eyes as she gazed upon the token. It +was a poor little silver coin of the time of the first Caesars--one of +the few curiosities of her father's family--and which she had given to +her lover as the most precious thing belonging to her. She remembered +that when, in that last stroll by the shore, she had hung it about his +neck with her own hands, and had made him promise always to keep it, she +had received from him a similar token--a bright silver piece of +Vespasian, and had placed it near her heart, while murmuring similar +vows. He had kept his word, and she had not kept hers. For the moment, +she felt even guilty of bad faith, forgetting that when she afterward +gave her more mature affection to Sergius, it was only her duty to lay +aside all that even whispered of past promises. + +'I could not bear to part with it,' he said; 'for it still spoke to me +of her friendship, if not of her love. And a superstitions thought came +into my mind that I might some day see her again, and that, though we +should not meet as lovers, yet she might, perhaps, be pleased to learn +that I had not entirely forgotten her. Would she not, noble lady, do you +think?' + +'She does--that is, it surely should so move her,' said AEnone. + +'So have I still worn it,' he continued. 'And somehow each day brings +back the recollection of her more faithfully to me. Whether it is +because this other absorbing love is passing from my heart, and leaving +to me greater freedom of thought--or whether it is that Ostia is now so +near to me that I daily hear of it and see its costumes in the streets, +and thus my recollection of the place is kindled anew--or whether it +is--' + +'Is what?' said AEnone, encouragingly. + +'I know not how to dare say it,' he stammered. 'It is a presumption, +indeed, but I mean it not for such. I would say that there is something +in your face, most noble mistress--a look--a flash of thought--a glance +of the eye--a something I know not what, which reminds me of her whom I +knew so many years ago. So that sometimes, were it not for the +difference of dress and all else around you, so much at variance with +what had been her state, I could almost forget the lapse of years, and +imagine that--Pardon, most noble lady! I meant not to offend!' + +For she had arisen; and now, drawn to her full height, was looking down +upon him with all the coldness of patrician dignity that she could +summon to her aid. He, too, arose, and stood trembling opposite her. For +a moment they remained gazing upon each other; he aghast at the apparent +consequences of his remark, reproaching himself for having so +inconsiderately raised her anger by daring to compare, even in feature, +a lowly country girl with her, and despairingly asking himself what he +should do to restore himself to her favor--she more and more wrapping +herself in a disguise of outward pride and haughty bearing, lest by some +chance his unsuspecting eyes might detect the truth, and yet inwardly +bleeding at the heart to think that she could not reveal herself to him +and promise him her friendship, in full confidence that his love for her +would not return and bring new distress upon them. Then suddenly, while +each stood wondering what course to take, a light step was heard in the +outer hall, and the poet Emilius entered. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +At the interruption, AEnone hastily reseated herself; while Cleotos, in +obedience to a quick and significant motion of her finger, remained in +the room, and, resuming his position at the table, prepared to continue +his writing. The poet Emilius could not, of course, fail to notice this +somewhat confused alteration of posture, but no suspicion of having +intruded upon an embarrassing scene crossed his mind. He merely saw a +proudly erect mistress and a cowering slave; and it was no unusual thing +to interrupt a Roman lady in the act of giving even corporeal correction +to her attendant, nor did the stranger's entrance always cause the +punishment to cease. + +'Has the caitiff been insolent?' he exclaimed, in gallant tone, as he +approached and seated himself before her. 'Has he dared to look too +rebelliously upon so charming a mistress? If so, permit that I may +chastise him for you. It is not fit that such fair hands should be +obliged to wield the rod.' + +'Nay, it is nothing,' she said. 'Nothing, indeed, needing much reproof; +and it is all past now. And wherefore have we lately seen so little of +you?' + +'Commands of court--the claims of Parnassus--all these, fair lady, have +withheld me from heretofore giving to beauty its proper meed of +admiration and worship. To speak more plainly, I have undertaken, by +order of our emperor, the not ungrateful task of weaving a few poetical +sentiments to be recited at the opening of our new amphitheatre. And in +order that the results of my labor might not lessen my already acquired +fame, I judged it most prudent to seclude myself for the past few days +from the gayeties of the world, and give myself up to study and +meditation. Though, after all, I could not deny, if closely questioned, +that my seclusion was but little productive of results; for, upon being +tempted out one evening, sorely against my judgment, to a feast at the +house of the comedian Bassus, the true poetic inspiration overtook me +at the end of my third goblet, and, calling for parchment, I there +accomplished, in one short hour, the greater portion of my task.' + +'Then, I presume that your ode, unlike your other works, will be of a +cheerful and lively character, more especially as it is written for such +a festive occasion.' + +'Scarcely, perhaps, what the world would call altogether lively, though +here and there a thread of playful thought may gleam upon the more sober +texture of the basis. I have rather judged it proper that, for the due +celebration of an event of such wondrous magnificence, I should give +utterance to deeper and more lasting sentiments, so as to fit the minds +of the spectators for a higher comprehension of its true significance. +But, if you wish, I will read aloud a few of my thoughts; and be assured +that so far no eye has seen the scroll, not even the august eye of the +emperor Titus himself.' + +AEnone inclined her head in assent, and he drew from the breast of his +tunic a small roll of parchment, carefully wrapped in a covering of +embroidered silk. + +'I commence, of course, by an address to the emperor, whom I call the +most illustrious of all the Caesars, and liken unto Jove. I then +congratulate the spectators not only upon living in his time, but also +upon being there to bask in the effulgence of his majesty; his +countenance being the sight most to be desired, and the games and +combats being merely accessory thereto. After which, I speak to the +gladiators and captives; and prove to them how grateful they should be +to the gods for allowing them the privilege of dying in such an august +presence.' + +'Is it such a privilege, do you think?' inquired AEnone. + +'Perhaps not a privilege, but certainly no great hardship. The trained +gladiators surely cannot complain, for they have voluntarily assumed the +risks; and as for the captives, the most of them will some day die a +violent death of some kind or another, and, therefore, why not now, +attended by the decent observances of the games and the applause of all +the Roman people? But to proceed. From thence I speak of death--its +pleasures and its recompenses; showing that, if there be a future life, +the gods have done wisely to withhold its exact nature from us, and +that, whatever uncertainties may exist in other respects, nothing can be +more true than that those who now die in the arena will, in another +world, find their highest felicity in the privilege of looking up from a +distance at the loved emperor in whose honor they perished, and +beholding him enjoying, through adoption, the society of the inhabitants +of Olympus. I then--but it is useless to detail all the argument. I will +read the poem itself; or rather, if you so permit, I will let this +scribe of yours read it for me. Perhaps, upon hearing it from another's +mouth, I may be led to make still further corrections.' + +Handing the manuscript with all care to Cleotos, the poet leaned back +with eyes closed in delicious revery, now and then arousing himself to +correct some defective emphasis or unsatisfactory intonation, the +tolerance of which, he imagined, would mar the proper effect of the +production, or, with persistent desire for praise, momentarily calling +closer attention to such passages as appeared to him deserving of +especial commendation--and generally omitting no opportunity of exacting +that entire admiration to which he believed his genius entitled him. +Apart from a somewhat extravagant display of high-strained metaphor, the +poem had merit, being bold in scope, sonorous and well rounded in tone, +and here and there gracefully decked with original and pleasing +thoughts. Throughout the whole, however, the singular propensity of the +author for indulgence in morbid and gloomy reflection found its usual +development, while every line was laden with lofty maxims of moral +philosophy, mingled with urgent incentives to the adoption of a virtuous +career;--all, in themselves, both unexceptionable and praiseworthy, but, +nevertheless, having a strange sound in the ears of those who recognized +them as the utterances of one whose conversation was always flippant and +puerile, and whose daily life, in the enormity and uninterrupted +persistency of its profligacy, rendered him the acknowledged leader of +all that was most disreputable and contaminating in Roman society. + +At length, the reading having been fully completed, and the listener's +powers of flattery exhausted, the author carefully rewrapped his poem in +its silken cover and carried it away, to read it, in turn, to other +noble ladies, with the same transparent pretence of giving exclusive +hearing of it to each. For a few moments AEnone remained in thoughtful +silence, with her head bowed upon her hand; recalling the scattered +fragments of the sonorous verses, and wondering why it was that, when +each line had seemed so perfect in itself, and every thought so pure and +noble in its purport and conception, the whole should have left upon her +mind such an undefinable impress of dissatisfaction. + +Cleotos, with unobtrusive scrutiny, seemed to read her thoughts, for, at +the first intimation of her perplexity, he said: + +'It is because the author of those verses has not sincerely felt the +full meaning of what he has there written. For, with whatsoever display +of ingenious and artistic skill fair sounding maxims of morality may be +expressed, yet, if they come not from the heart, their utterance must +seem hollow and unreal. I do not know this author--how or where he +lives. It may be that in his daily life he is outwardly all that could +be desired. But I know this--that he has written about virtue and death, +not because he loves the one and fears not the other, but simply +because, by a display of well-toned periods, he may more surely hope to +gain the applause of the arena and the smiles of the court.' + +'But why should not these sentiments, though called into being by +personal ambition alone, give equal pleasure as if springing directly +from the heart? Are they not, after all, as true?' + +'Nay, honored mistress, neither are they true. This is again where they +fail to please; for in your soul there is an instinct, though you may +not know of it, which forbids that such cold and unsatisfactory +reasoning should bring you comfort. He speaks of death: is it cheering +to be told that, though the gods have appointed death to every person, +they have given it, not as a veiled mercy, but rather as a dreadful +fate--that there is no certainty about our future condition, but that, +if we are destined to live again, it may be with the same evils +encompassing us which bind us now--and that the slave may then still be +a slave, destined forever to look up to and worship the high and mighty +ones who trampled on him here?' + +'That is, in truth, no comfort,' said AEnone. And she bowed her head upon +her hands, and sadly thought how worthless to her would be the gift of +eternal life, if her present sorrows were to follow her. 'But what can +we do? If it were possible to discover and believe in some other fate, +telling us that death, instead of being a dreaded pang, is a boon and +relief to the sick and weary and oppressed--' + +'There is a book,' said Cleotos--and for a moment he hesitated, as +though fearful of proceeding--'there is a book which I have read, and +which tells us all this. It says that death is not merely a fate, but is +a source of blessing; since it leads to a world where the sufferings of +this life shall be recompensed with abundant joy, not to the rich +merely, but more especially to the poor and lowly.' + +'Where is that book?' cried AEnone, with sudden energy, as the wondrous +depth and power of the sentiment flashed upon her. 'Where can I see and +read it? He who can talk like that, must surely have said still more?' + +'I have not that book,' answered Cleotos. 'I have only this little copy +of a small portion of it;' and he hesitatingly drew from beneath his +tunic a single small leaf of discolored parchment, closely filled with +Greek characters. 'But being at Corinth, a year ago, I was permitted to +see the book itself, and to hear portions of it read. It was written to +a Christian church there, by one Paul, a leader of that sect.' + +At the word 'Christian' the first impulse of AEnone was to shrink back, +not knowing but that even the presence of one who had ever come into +contact with any of that despised sect might be injurious to her. For at +once she began to recall many of the tales which she had heard to its +discredit--its members hiding as outcasts in the caves and dens of the +earth--their repeated insults to the gods--their proud and unaccountable +worship of a malefactor--their sacrifice of infants--and other +exaggerations and calumnies, begotten in malice or ignorance, and thence +widely spread, making it not hard to believe that the only fate fit for +those to whom they related was a life of persecution and a cruel death +in the arena. + +But only for a moment did this instinctive horror control her. The +single doctrine which she had just heard advanced already began to bear +its fruits. It seemed, indeed, not unlikely that one who could write +such truths, and those, his disciples, who could so gratefully treasure +them up, might not, after all, be wantonly wicked, but, at the worst, +might be merely victims of mistaken zeal. And then, in turn, she thought +of much that had been related to her in their favor. During her life at +Rome, indeed, she had heard no mention of the Christian sect, unless +accompanied with sneers or contempt. But she remembered how that in +Ostia, while she was yet a very young girl, she had heard it sometimes +whispered that the Christians were kind and loving to all the world, and +free from many sins in which other men openly exulted, and that, through +their great love for their founder, they organized charities which had +never before been even thought of--and how that once, when she had been +very sick, a strange woman had nursed her into health and refused all +payment for it, alleging that her religion bade her give herself up to +such tasks--and how that she had once seen pass by, one who was pointed +out to her as a holy man among the sect--whose name indeed she could not +remember, but whose mild and serene expression yet lived in her +recollection. It was hardly possible that one whose face was so radiant +with universal love and benevolence as to impress itself thus lastingly +upon the heart of a young child could have been very wicked. Nor did it +seem likely that Cleotos, whose greatest weakness was that his life had +been almost too innocent and trusting, could speak well of a sect which +worthily ought to be persecuted. And then again she thought upon that +little book to the sect at Corinth, and she bade Cleotos to read a verse +or two. He did so. At another time she might have listened as she had +listened to the moral maxims of the poet Emilius--judging well of it, +perhaps, for the beauty of its words, but, beyond that, regarding it +simply as some new and more original expression of long-accepted +philosophy. But now, in her trouble, she felt that there was something +in it beyond all known philosophy--a new development of faith, appealing +to the heart, and speaking comfort to all who were in misery. It surely +could not be that such words were the emanations of an evil influence. + +'Art thou--answer me, Cleotos--art thou one of the sect of Christians?' +she inquired. + +'How can I tell?' he responded. 'I have so often asked that question of +my heart, and yet have not been able to understand what it has said to +me. There are times when I think that I must pray only to the gods of +Olympus, and that all I have heard or read about other gods must be +untrue. And again, when I read this little parchment of mine, and +remember other like things that have been told to me, and see how they +all speak of death as a relief to the sorrowing, and of another life in +which the down trodden and the captive shall be recompensed for what +they have suffered here, and know that I am one of those who need such +recompense--then I think that perhaps the only true God is the God of +the Christians. But I can learn so little about it all, that I cannot, +from my own judgment, determine which must be right.' + +'Perhaps,' thoughtfully responded AEnone, 'it may be that if you tell me +all you know about it, I may be able to assist your conclusions. Who +knows what light I myself need, or how much of good we may borrow from +this new religion? It cannot be wrong to examine for one's self, and the +gods will not be angry if we gain good doctrine even from wrong sources, +so long as it may make us better. To-morrow, therefore, let us begin.' + +Upon the morrow, therefore, and for many succeeding days, the mistress +and the slave spent stolen moments in groping after the truth of that +faith which makes the high and the low equal. It was a blind search, for +neither of them had any definite comprehension of the history and +doctrine upon which the new religion had been founded. Cleotos had +enjoyed the best opportunities of acquainting himself with it, having +naturally, in his wanderings about the East, and in his contact with the +poor and enslaved of many lands, heard much respecting the Christian +churches and their belief; but having had no instructor, a great portion +of what he had thus received came to him in but distorted and puzzling +array. And AEnone could not comprehend how, when the gods ruled Rome, and +Rome had scattered the Jews, one whom the Jews had had the power to slay +could be greater than all. But between them, for their study, lay the +leaf of parchment, closely covered with writing, beside which the +proudest and choicest philosophy of Rome seemed mockery; and though they +could not understand its full meaning, they knew that it spoke such good +words that, at the least, though it may have come from erring men, it +was no less worthy to have come from a God. Whatever the real nature of +the faith itself, here was certainly a proof that among its attributes +were mercy and peace and brotherly love toward all. + +What might have been the consequences if AEnone had been free to pursue +the investigation as far as she wished--to send for other books to aid +her--to consult more learned teachers, who, though perhaps hiding in +secret shelter, were yet attainable with proper search, cannot be known. +It is not improbable that, in the end, one more might have been added to +the list of those few Roman women of high degree who even then gave up +all their rank and state in order to share the persecutions of the +Nazarenes. But it was otherwise ordered. Already indications, each +slight in itself, but altogether of important bearing, began to present +themselves before her, warning her that jealous eyes were watching her, +and that, if she would avoid the consequences of misconstruction, she +must bring her feeble investigations to a close. + +Until now, Leta, in her struggle to alienate the husband from the wife, +had been actuated simply by the exigencies of her ambitious policy. +Bearing in her heart no especial hatred toward her mistress, she would +willingly have spared her, had not the circumstances of the case seemed +to require the ruin of the one preliminary to the exaltation of the +other. But now, other incentives to her efforts were added. First in her +mind came jealousy of Cleotos; for though she had cast him off, and bade +him stifle the yearnings of his heart, and, by the cool exercise of +intellect and craft alone, seek a better fortune for himself, it was +hardly natural that she should feel pleased to have him so soon appear +to take her at her word. She would have better liked to see him display +more prolonged sorrow for her loss. Then came jealousy of AEnone, who had +apparently been able to console him so early. And mingled with all this, +there began to press upon her a startling thought--one which she at +first contemned as unlikely and absurd--but which, though continually +driven away, so obstinately returned and commended itself to her +attention with newer plausibility, that at last she began to give bitter +and anxious heed to it. What if this constant communication between +AEnone and Cleotos were to result in a mutual love? It was no uncommon +thing in those days for the high-born lady to cast her eyes upon the +slave. How mortifying to herself, then, if, while she had been exerting +all her powers of fascination, taxing the utmost resources of her +intellect, and making of her whole existence one labored study for the +purpose of gaining an undue influence over the lord, Cleotos, without +art or disguise or apparent effort, or any advantage other than that +afforded by his simple-hearted, trusting nature, should have quietly won +from the other side of the house a victory of almost equal importance? +And further than this--what if the lord were to perish in some brawl or +by the hired assassin of a rival house; and AEnone, released from her +thraldom, and despising conventional scruples--as again was not uncommon +among the Roman ladies of that day--were to exalt her favorite with +legal honors, and thus make herself, Leta, his slave? This, to be sure, +was an improbable chance; but a mind as active as her own did not +disdain to foresee and provide against all contingencies. + +Then, in addition to everything else, she became absorbed in the one +overwhelming and bitter reflection, that after all her sacrifice and +labor, the anticipated success might be escaping her. It is true that, +thanks to her efforts, the distance between Sergius and AEnone had +widened, until it seemed that there could never be a perfect reunion; +but all this, if the state of partial neglect which had existed in the +beginning could be relied upon as an indication, was a consequence which +might easily, in time, have come of itself. It is true that Sergius had +yielded himself a willing victim to the unlawful fascinations thrown +around him; but yet Leta could not avoid seeing that he regarded her not +with the deep, earnest love which she had hoped to inspire, but rather +with the trifling carelessness of one giving himself up to the plaything +of the hour. Not having, from the very first, been chary of the sidelong +glance and the winning smile, and whatever grace of style or manner +could tempt him to pursuit, as an illusive appearance of success seemed +to beckon her onward, her heart at times grew desperate with the +apprehension that all had been in vain. For Sergius, content that the +wife whom he neglected did not disturb his repose with idle complaints, +had no thought of inflicting any deeper injury upon her, being well +satisfied to have her remain and confer honor upon him by the grace with +which she maintained the dignity of his house. And though well pleased +to sun himself in Leta's smile, there never came to him the thought that +the slave could be worthy of any exaltation, or that her highest +ambition could prompt her to desire more than a continuance of the +companionship with which he honored her. All this Leta began to dimly +see; and there were times when, strive to hide it from her heart as she +would, it seemed as though he might be even growing weary of her. + +Thus tormented with doubt and jealousy and the constantly increasing +suspicion of baffled ambition, how was she to act? To accept her +situation as a decree of fate, to fawn upon the mistress like a patient +slave, and, if the lord were to tire of her in the end and give himself +up to other captivations, to submit unmurmuringly to the unavoidable +necessity? All this some might consent to do; but surely not one like +herself, gifted with indomitable will, and stung to desperation with the +sense of great and irreparable sacrifices. To her there could be but one +course. She must abandon her slow and cautious policy, and seek the +earliest opportunity to urge the matter to its crisis. If, by sparing no +watchfulness or ingenuity, or by the exercise of bold and vigorous +manoeuvring, she could produce a quarrel and final separation between +Sergius and his wife, it might not be impossible for her to impress upon +him how much she was necessary to his happiness, and thereby elevate +herself into the vacant place. And if unsuccessful, at the least she +would be but sharing a ruin which would fall like an avalanche upon all +alike. + + + + +THE FIRST CHRISTIAN EMPEROR. + + +The last great imperial persecution of the Christians under Diocletian +and Galerius, which was aimed at the entire uprooting of the new +religion, ended with the edict of toleration of 311 and the tragical +ruin of the persecutors. Galerius died soon after of a disgusting and +terrible disease (_morbus pedicularis_), described with great minuteness +by Eusebius and Lactantius. 'His body,' says Gibbon, 'swelled by an +intemperate course of life to an unwieldy corpulence, was covered with +ulcers and devoured by innumerable swarms of those insects which have +given their name to a most loathsome disease.' Diocletian had withdrawn +from the throne in 305, and in 313 put an end to his imbittered life by +suicide. In his retirement he found more pleasure in raising cabbage +than he had found in ruling the empire; a confession we may readily +believe. (President Lincoln, of the United States, during the dark days +of the civil war, in December, 1862, declared that he would gladly +exchange his position with any common soldier in the tented field.) +Maximin, who kept up the persecution in the East, even after the +toleration edict, as long as he could, died likewise a violent death by +poison, in 313. In this tragical end of their last three imperial +persecutors the Christians saw a palpable judgment of God. The edict of +toleration was an involuntary and irresistible concession of the +incurable impotence of heathenism and the indestructible power of +Christianity. It left but a step to the downfall of the one and the +supremacy of the other in the empire of the Caesars. + +This great epoch is marked by the reign of Constantine I. He understood +the signs of the time, and acted accordingly. He was the man for the +times, as the times were prepared for him by that Providence which +controls both and fits them for each other. He placed himself at the +head of true progress, while his nephew, Julian the Apostate, opposed +it, and was left behind. He was the chief instrument for raising the +church from the low estate of oppression and persecution to +well-deserved honor and power. For this service a thankful posterity has +given him the surname of the Great, to which he was entitled, though not +by his moral character, yet doubtless by his military and administrative +ability, his judicious policy, his appreciation and protection of +Christianity, and the far-reaching consequences of his reign. His +greatness was not indeed of the first, but of the second order, and is +to be measured more by what he _did_ than by what he _was_. To the Greek +Church, which honors him even as a canonized saint, he has the same +significance as Charlemagne to the Latin. + +Constantine, the first Christian Caesar, the founder of Constantinople +and the Byzantine empire, and one of the most gifted, energetic, and +successful of the Roman emperors, was the first representative of the +imposing idea of a Christian theocracy, or of that system of policy +which assumes all subjects to be Christians, connects civil and +religious rights, and regards church and state as the two arms of one +and the same divine government on earth. This was more fully developed +by his successors, it animated the whole Middle Age, and is yet working +under various forms in these latest times; though it has never been +fully realized, whether in the Byzantine, the German, or the Russian +empire, the Roman church-state, the Calvinistic republic of Geneva, or +the early Puritanic colonies of New England. At the same time, however, +Constantine stands also as the type of an undiscriminating and harmful +conjunction of Christianity with politics, of the holy symbol of peace +with the horrors of war, of the spiritual interests of the kingdom of +heaven with the earthly interests of the state. + +In judging of this remarkable man and his reign, we must by all means +keep to the great historical principle, that all representative +characters act consciously or unconsciously as the free and responsible +organs of the spirit of their age, which moulds them first before they +can mould it in turn, and that the spirit of the age itself, whether +good or bad or mixed, is but an instrument in the hands of Divine +Providence, which rules and overrules all the actions and motives of +men. + +Through a history of three centuries Christianity had already overcome +the world, and thus rendered such an outward revolution, as has attached +itself to the name of this prince, both possible and unavoidable. It +were extremely superficial to refer so thorough and momentous a change +to the personal motives of an individual, be they motives of policy, of +piety, or of superstition. But unquestionably every age produces and +shapes its own organs, as its own purposes require. So in the case of +Constantine. He was distinguished by that genuine political wisdom, +which, putting itself at the head of the age, clearly saw that idolatry +had outlived itself in the Roman empire, and that Christianity alone +could breathe new vigor into it and furnish its moral support. +Especially on the point of the external catholic unity, his monarchical +politics accorded with the hierarchical episcopacy of the church. Hence +from the year 313 he placed himself in close connection with the +bishops, made peace and harmony his first object in the Donatist and +Arian controversies, and gave the predicate 'catholic' to the church in +all official documents. And as his predecessors were supreme pontiffs of +the heathen religion of the empire, so he desired to be looked upon as a +sort of bishop, as universal bishop of the eternal affairs of the +church. All this by no means from mere self-interest, but for the good +of the empire, which, now shaken to its foundations and threatened by +barbarians on every side, could only by some new bond of unity be +consolidated and upheld until at least the seeds of Christianity and +civilization should be planted among the barbarians themselves, the +representatives of the future. His personal policy thus coincided with +the interests of the state. Christianity appeared to him, as it proved +in fact, the only efficient power for a political reformation of the +empire, from which the ancient spirit of Rome was fast departing, while +internal civil and religious dissensions and the outward pressure of the +barbarians threatened a gradual dissolution of society. + +But with the political he united also a religious motive, not clear and +deep, indeed, yet honest, and strongly infused with the superstitious +disposition to judge of a religion by its outward success, and to +ascribe a magical virtue to signs and ceremonies. His whole family was +swayed by religious sentiment, which manifested itself in very different +forms, in the devout pilgrimages of his Helena, the fanatical Arianism +of Constantia and Constantius, and the fanatical paganism of Julian. +Constantine adopted Christianity first as a superstition, and put it by +the side of his heathen superstition, till finally in his conviction the +Christian vanquished the pagan, though without itself developing into a +pure and enlightened faith. + +At first Constantine, like his father, in the spirit of the Neo-Platonic +syncretism of dying heathendom, reverenced all the gods as mysterious +powers; especially Apollo, the god of the sun, to whom in the year 308 +he presented munificent gifts. Nay, so late as the year 321 he enjoined +regular consultation of the soothsayers in public misfortunes, according +to ancient heathen usage; even later, he placed his new residence, +Byzantium, under the protection of the God of the Martyrs and the +heathen goddess of Fortune; and down to the end of his life he retained +the title and the dignity of a _Pontifex Maximus_, or high priest of the +heathen hierarchy. His coins bore on the one side the letters of the +name of Christ, on the other the figure of the sun-god, and the +inscription _Sol invictus_. Of course these inconsistencies may be +referred also to policy and accommodation to the toleration edict of +313. Nor is it difficult to adduce parallels of persons who in passing +from Judaism to Christianity, or from Romanism to Protestantism, have +honestly so wavered between their old and their new position, that they +might be claimed by both. With his every victory over his pagan rivals, +Galerius, Maxentius, and Licinius, his personal leaning to Christianity +and his confidence in the magic power of the sign of the cross +increased; yet he did not formally renounce heathenism, and did not +receive baptism until, in 337, he was laid upon the bed of death. + +He had an imposing and winning person, and was compared by flatterers +with Apollo. He was tall, broad shouldered, handsome, and of a +remarkably vigorous and healthy constitution, but given to excessive +vanity in his dress and outward demeanor, always wearing an oriental +diadem, a helmet studded with jewels, and a purple mantle of silk richly +embroidered with pearls and flowers worked in gold. His mind was not +highly cultivated, but naturally clear, strong, and shrewd, and seldom +thrown off its guard. He is said to have combined a cynical contempt of +mankind with an inordinate love of praise. He possessed a good knowledge +of human nature and administrative energy and tact. + +His moral character was not without noble traits, among which a chastity +rare for the time, and a liberality and beneficence bordering on +wastefulness were prominent. Many of his laws and regulations breathed +the spirit of Christian justice and humanity, promoted the elevation of +the female sex, improved the condition of slaves and of unfortunates, +and gave free play to the efficiency of the church throughout the whole +empire. Altogether he was one of the best, the most fortunate, and the +most influential of the Roman emperors, Christian and pagan. + +Yet he had great faults. He was far from being so pure and so venerable +as Eusebius, blinded by his favor to the church, depicts him, in his +bombastic and almost dishonestly eulogistic biography, with the evident +intention of setting him up as a model for all future Christian princes. +It must, with all regret, be conceded, that his progress in the +knowledge of Christianity was not a progress in the practice of its +virtues. His love of display and his prodigality, his suspiciousness and +his despotism, increased with his power. + +The very brightest period of his reign is stained with gross crimes, +which even the spirit of the age and the policy of an absolute monarch +cannot excuse. After having reached, upon the bloody path of war, the +goal of his ambition, the sole possession of the empire, yea, in the +very year in which he summoned the great council of Nicaea, he ordered +the execution of his conquered rival and brother-in-law, Licinius, in +breach of a solemn promise of mercy (324). Not satisfied with this, he +caused soon afterward, from political suspicion, the death of the young +Licinius, his nephew, a boy of hardly eleven years. But the worst of all +is the murder of his eldest son, Crispus, in 326, who had incurred +suspicion of political conspiracy, and of adulterous and incestuous +purposes toward his stepmother Fausta, but is generally regarded as +innocent. This domestic and political tragedy emerged from a vortex of +mutual suspicion and rivalry, and calls to mind the conduct of Philip +II. toward Don Carlos, of Peter the Great toward his son Alexis, and of +Soliman the Great toward his son Mustapha. Later authors assert, though +gratuitously, that the emperor, like David, bitterly repented of this +sin. He has been frequently charged besides, though it would seem +altogether unjustly, with the death of his second wife Fausta (326?), +who, after twenty years of happy wedlock, is said to have been convicted +of slandering her stepson Crispus, and of adultery with a slave or one +of the imperial guards, and then to have been suffocated in the vapor of +an overheated bath. But the accounts of the cause and manner of her +death are so late and discordant as to make Constantine's part in it at +least very doubtful. + +At all events Christianity did not produce in Constantine a thorough +moral transformation. He was concerned more to advance the outward +social position of the Christian religion, than to further its inward +mission. He was praised and censured in turn by the Christians and +pagans, the orthodox and the Arians, as they successively experienced +his favor or dislike. He bears some resemblance to Peter the Great, both +in his public acts and his private character, by combining great virtues +and merits with monstrous crimes, and he probably died with the same +consolation as Peter, whose last words were: 'I trust that in respect of +the good I have striven to do my people (the church), God will pardon my +sins.' It is quite characteristic of his piety that he turned the sacred +nails of the Saviour's cross, which Helena brought from Jerusalem, the +one into the bit of his war horse, the other into an ornament of his +helmet. Not a decided, pure, and consistent character, he stands on the +line of transition between two ages and two religions; and his life +bears plain marks of both. When at last on his deathbed he submitted to +baptism, with the remark, 'Now let us cast away all _duplicity_,' he +honestly admitted the conflict of two antagonistic principles which +swayed his private character and public life. + +From these general remarks we turn to the leading features of +Constantine's life and reign, so far as they bear upon the history of +the church. We shall consider in order his youth and training, the +vision of the cross, the edict of toleration, his legislation in favor +of Christianity, his baptism and death. + +Constantine, son of the co-emperor Constantius Chlorus, who reigned over +Gaul, Spain, and Britain till his death in 306, was born probably in the +year 272, either in Britain or at Naissus (now called Nissa), a town of +Dardania, in Illyricum. His mother was Helena, daughter of an innkeeper, +the first wife of Constantius, afterward divorced, when Constantius, for +political reasons, married a daughter of Maximian. She is described by +Christian writers as a discreet and devout woman, and has been honored +with a place in the catalogue of saints. Her name is identified with the +discovery of the cross and the pious superstitions of the holy places. +She lived to a very advanced age, and died in the year 326 or 327, in or +near the city of Rome. Rising by her beauty and good fortune from +obscurity to the splendor of the court, then meeting the fate of +Josephine, but restored to imperial dignity by her son, and ending as a +saint of the Catholic church: Helena would form an interesting subject +for a historical novel illustrating the leading events of the Nicene age +and the triumph of Christianity in the Roman empire. + +Constantine first distinguished himself in the service of Diocletian in +the Egyptian and Persian wars; went afterward to Gaul and Britain, and +in the Praetorium at York was proclaimed emperor by his dying father and +by the Roman troops. His father before him held a favorable opinion of +the Christians as peaceable and honorable citizens, and protected them +in the West during the Diocletian persecution in the East. This +respectful, tolerant regard descended to Constantine, and the good +effects of it, compared with the evil results of the opposite course of +his antagonist Galerius, could but encourage him to pursue it. He +reasoned, as Eusebius reports from his own mouth, in the following +manner: 'My father revered the Christian God, and uniformly prospered, +while the emperors who worshipped the heathen gods, died a miserable +death; therefore, that I may enjoy a happy life and reign, I will +imitate the example of my father and join myself to the cause of the +Christians, who are growing daily, while the heathen are diminishing.' +This low utilitarian consideration weighed heavily in the mind of an +ambitious captain, who looked forward to the highest seat of power +within the gift of his age. Whether his mother, whom he always revered, +and who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in her eightieth year (A. D. +325), planted the germ of the Christian faith in her son, as Theodoret +supposes, or herself became a Christian through his influence, as +Eusebius asserts, must remain undecided. According to the heathen +Zosimus, whose statement is unquestionably false and malicious, an +Egyptian, who came out of Spain (probably the bishop Hosius of Cordova, +a native of Egypt, is intended), persuaded him, after the murder of +Crispus (which did not occur before 326), that by converting to +Christianity he might obtain forgiveness of his sins. + +The first public evidence of a positive leaning toward the Christian +religion he gave in his contest with the pagan Maxentius, who had +usurped the government of Italy and Africa, and is universally +represented as a cruel, dissolute tyrant, hated by heathens and +Christians alike. Called by the Roman people to their aid, Constantine +marched from Gaul across the Alps with an army of ninety-eight thousand +soldiers of every nationality, and defeated Maxentius in three battles; +the last in October, 312, at the Milvian bridge, near Rome, where +Maxentius found a disgraceful death in the waters of the Tiber. + +Here belongs the familiar story of the miraculous cross. The precise day +and place cannot be fixed, but the event must have occurred shortly +before the final victory over Maxentius in the neighborhood of Rome. As +this vision is one of the most noted miracles in church history, and has +a representative significance, it deserves a closer examination. It +marks for us on the one hand the victory of Christianity over paganism +in the Roman empire, and on the other the ominous admixture of foreign, +political, and military interests with it. We need not be surprised that +in the Nicene age so great a revolution and transition should have been +clothed with a supernatural character. + +The occurrence is variously described, and is not without serious +difficulties. Lactantius, the earliest witness, some three years after +the battle, speaks only of a dream by night, in which the emperor was +directed (it is not stated by whom, whether by Christ, or by an angel) +to stamp on the shields of his soldiers 'the heavenly sign of God,' that +is, the cross with the name of Christ, and thus to go forth against his +enemy. Eusebius, on the contrary, gives a more minute account, on the +authority of a subsequent private communication of the aged Constantine +himself under oath--not, however, till the year 338, a year after the +death of the emperor, his only witness, and twenty-six years after the +event. On his march from Gaul to Italy (the spot and date are not +specified), the emperor, while earnestly praying to the true God for +light and help at this critical time, saw, together with his army, in +clear daylight toward evening, a shining cross in the heavens above the +sun, with the inscription: '_By this conquer;_' and in the following +night Christ himself appeared to him while he slept, and directed him to +have a standard prepared in the form of this sign of the cross, and with +that to proceed against Maxentius and all other enemies. This account of +Eusebius, or rather of Constantine himself, adds to the night dream of +Lactantius the preceding vision of the day, and the direction concerning +the standard, while Lactantius speaks of the inscription of the initial +letters of Christ's name on the shields of the soldiers. According to +Rufinus, a later historian, who elsewhere depends entirely on Eusebius, +and can therefore not be regarded as a proper witness in the case, the +sign of the cross appeared to Constantine in a dream (which agrees with +the account of Lactantius), and upon his awaking in terror, an angel +(not Christ) exclaimed to him: '_Hoc vince._' Lactantius, Eusebius, and +Rufinus are the only Christian writers of the fourth century, who +mention the apparition. But we have besides one or two heathen +testimonies, which, though vague and obscure, still serve to strengthen +the evidence in favor of some actual occurrence. The contemporaneous +orator Nazarius, in a panegyric upon the emperor, pronounced March 1, +321, apparently at Rome, speaks of an army of divine warriors and a +divine assistance which Constantine received in the engagement with +Maxentius; but he converts it to the service of heathenism by recurring +to old prodigies, such as the appearance of Castor and Pollux. + +This famous tradition may be explained either as a real miracle implying +a personal appearance of Christ, or as a pious fraud, or as a natural +phenomenon in the clouds and an optical illusion, or finally as a +prophetic dream. + +The propriety of a miracle, parallel to the signs in heaven which +preceded the destruction of Jerusalem, might be justified by the +significance of the victory as marking a great epoch in history, namely, +the downfall of paganism and the establishment of Christianity in the +empire. But even if we waive the purely critical objections to the +Eusebian narrative, the assumed connection, in this case, of the gentle +Prince of peace with the god of battle, and the subserviency of the +sacred symbol of redemption to military ambition, is repugnant to the +genius of the gospel and to sound Christian feeling, unless we stretch +the theory of divine accommodation to the spirit of the age and the +passions and interests of individuals beyond the ordinary limits. We +should suppose, moreover, that Christ, if he had really appeared to +Constantine either in person (according to Eusebius) or through angels +(as Rufinus and Sozomen modify it), would have exhorted him to repent +and be baptized rather than to construct a military ensign for a bloody +battle. In no case can we ascribe to this occurrence, with Eusebius, +Theodoret, and older writers, the character of a sudden and genuine +conversion, as to Paul's vision of Christ on the way to Damascus; for, +on the one hand, Constantine was never hostile to Christianity, but most +probably friendly to it from his early youth, according to the example +of his father, and, on the other, he put off his baptism quite five and +twenty years, almost to the hour of his death. + +The opposite hypothesis of a mere military stratagem or intentional +fraud is still more objectionable, and would compel us either to impute +to the first Christian emperor, at a venerable age, the double crime of +falsehood and perjury, or, if Eusebius invented the story, to deny to +the 'father of church history' all claim to credibility and common +respectability. Besides, it should be remembered that the older +testimony of Lactantius, or whoever was the author of the work on the +Deaths of Persecutors, is quite independent of that of Eusebius, and +derives additional force from the vague heathen rumors of the time. +Finally the _Hoc vince_, which has passed into proverbial significance +as a most appropriate motto of the invincible religion of the cross, is +too good to be traced to sheer falsehood. Some actual fact, therefore, +must be supposed to underlie the tradition, and the question only is +this, whether it was an external, viable phenomenon or an internal +experience. + +The hypothesis of a natural formation of the clouds, which Constantine +by an optical illusion mistook for a supernatural sign of the cross, +besides smacking of the exploded rationalistic explanation of the New +Testament miracles, and deriving an important event from a mere +accident, leaves the figure of Christ and the Greek or Latin +inscription, '_By this sign thou shalt conquer!_' altogether +unexplained. + +We are shut up, therefore, to the theory of a dream or vision, and an +experience within the mind of Constantine. This is supported by the +oldest testimony of Lactantius, as well as by the report of Rufinus and +Sozomen, and we do not hesitate to regard the Eusebian cross in the +skies as originally a part of the dream, which only subsequently assumed +the character of an outward objective apparition, either in the +imagination of Constantine or by a mistake of the memory of the +historian, but in either case without intentional fraud. That the vision +was traced to supernatural origin, especially after the happy success, +is quite natural and in perfect keeping with the prevailing ideas of the +age. Tertullian and other ante-Nicene and Nicene fathers attributed many +conversions to nocturnal dreams and visions. Constantine and his friends +referred the most important facts of his life, as the knowledge of the +approach of hostile armies, the discovery of the holy sepulchre, the +founding of Constantinople, to divine revelation through visions and +dreams. Nor are we disposed in the least to deny the connection of the +vision of the cross with the agency of Divine Providence, which +controlled this remarkable turning point of history. We may go farther +and admit a special providence, or what the old divines call a +_providentia specialissima_; but this does not necessarily imply a +violation of the order of nature or an actual miracle in the shape of an +objective personal appearance of the Saviour. We may refer to a somewhat +similar, though far less important, vision in the life of the pious +English Colonel James Gardiner. The Bible itself sanctions the general +theory of providential or prophetic dreams and nocturnal visions through +which divine revelations and admonitions are communicated to men. + +The facts, therefore, may have been these: Before the battle, +Constantine, leaning already toward Christianity as probably the beat +and most hopeful of the various religions, seriously sought in prayer, +as he related to Eusebius, the assistance of the God of the Christians, +while his heathen antagonist, Maxentius, according to Zosimus, was +consulting the sibylline books and offering sacrifice to the idols. +Filled with mingled fears and hopes about the issue of the conflict, he +fell asleep, and saw in a dream the sign of the cross of Christ with a +significant inscription and promise of victory. Being already familiar +with the general use of this sign among the numerous Christians of the +empire, many of whom no doubt were in his own army, he constructed the +_labarum_,[A] afterward so called, that is, the sacred standard of the +Christian cross with the Greek monogram of Christ,[B] which he had also +put upon the shields of the soldiers. To this cross-standard, which now +took the place of the Roman eagles, he attributed the decisive victory +over the heathen Maxentius. + +Accordingly, after his triumphal entrance into Rome, he had his statue +erected upon the forum with the labarum in his right hand, and the +inscription beneath: 'By this saving sign, the true token of bravery, I +have delivered your city from the yoke of the tyrant.' Three years +afterward the senate erected to him a triumphal arch of marble, which to +this day, within sight of the sublime ruins of the pagan Colosseum, +indicates at once the decay of ancient art and the downfall of +heathenism; as the neighboring arch of Titus commemorates the downfall +of Judaism and the destruction of the temple. The inscription on this +arch of Constantine, however, ascribes his victory over the hated +tyrant, not only to his master mind, but indefinitely also to the +impulse of Deity; by which a Christian would naturally understand the +true God, while a heathen, like the orator Nazarius, in his eulogy on +Constantine, might take it for the celestial guardian power of the _urbs +aeterna_. + +At all events the victory of Constantine over Maxentius was a military +and political victory of Christianity over heathenism; the intellectual +and moral victory having been already accomplished by the literature and +life of the church in the preceding period. The emblem of ignominy and +oppression[C] became thenceforward the badge of honor and dominion, and +was invested in the emperor's view, according to the spirit of the +church of his day, with a magic virtue. It now took the place of the +eagle and other field badges, under which the heathen Romans had +conquered the world. It was stamped on the imperial coin, and on the +standards, helmets, and shields of the soldiers. Above all military +representations of the cross the original imperial labarum shone in the +richest decorations of gold and gems; was intrusted to the truest and +bravest fifty of the body guard; filled the Christians with the spirit +of victory, and spread fear and terror among their enemies; until, under +the weak successors of Theodosius II., it fell out of use, and was +lodged as a venerable relic in the imperial palace at Constantinople. + +Before this victory at Rome (which occurred October 27, 312), either in +the spring or summer of 312, Constantine, in conjunction with his +Eastern colleague, Licinius, had published an edict of religious +toleration, now not extant, but probably a step beyond the edict of the +still anti-Christian Galerius in 311, which was likewise subscribed by +Constantine and Licinius as co-regents. Soon after, in January, 313, the +two emperors issued from Milan a new edict (the third) on religion, +still extant both in Latin and Greek, in which, in the spirit of +religious eclecticism, they granted full freedom to all existing forms +of worship, with special reference to the Christian. This religion the +edict not only recognized in its existing limits, but also--what neither +the first nor perhaps the second edict had done--allowed every heathen +subject to adopt it with impunity. At the same time the church buildings +and property confiscated in the Diocletian persecution were ordered to +be restored, and private property-owners to be indemnified from the +imperial treasury. + +In this notable edict, however, we should look in vain for the modern +Protestant and Anglo-American theory of religious liberty as one of the +universal and inalienable rights of man. Sundry voices, it is true, in +the Christian church itself, at that time and even before, declared +firmly against all compulsion in religion. But the spirit of the Roman +empire was too absolutistic to abandon the prerogative of a supervision +of public worship. The Constantinian toleration was a temporary measure +of state policy, which, as indeed the edict expressly states the motive, +promised the greatest security to the public peace and the protection of +all divine and heavenly powers, for emperor and empire. It was, as the +result teaches, but the necessary transition step to a new order of +things. It opened the door to the elevation of Christianity, and +specifically of Catholic hierarchical Christianity, with its +exclusiveness toward heretical and schismatic sects, to be the religion +of the state. For, once put on an equal footing with heathenism, it must +soon, in spite of numerical minority, bear away the victory from a +religion which had already inwardly outlived itself. + +From this time Constantine decidedly favored the church, though without +persecuting or forbidding the pagan religions. He always mentions the +Christian church with reverence in his imperial edicts, and uniformly +applies to it, as we have already observed, the predicate of catholic. +For only as a catholic, thoroughly organized, firmly compacted, and +conservative institution did it meet his rigid monarchical interest, and +afford the splendid state and court dress he wished for his empire. So +early as the year 313 we find the bishop Hosius of Cordova among his +counsellors, and heathen writers ascribe to the bishop even a magical +influence over the emperor. Lactantius, also, and Eusebius of Caesarea +belonged to his confidential circle. He exempted the Christian clergy +from military and municipal duty (March, 313); abolished various customs +and ordinances offensive to the Christians (315); facilitated the +emancipation of Christian slaves (before 316); legalized bequests to +catholic churches (321); enjoined the civil observance of Sunday, though +not as _dies Domini_, but as _dies Solis_, in conformity to his worship +of Apollo, and in company with an ordinance for the regular consulting +of the haruspex (321); contributed liberally to the building of churches +and the support of the clergy; erased the heathen symbols of Jupiter and +Apollo, Mars and Hercules from the imperial coins (323); and gave his +sons a Christian education. This mighty example was followed, as might +be expected, by a general transition of those subjects who were more +influenced in their conduct by outward circumstances than by inward +conviction and principle. The story, that in one year (324) twelve +thousand men, with women and children in proportion, were baptized in +Rome, and that the emperor had promised to each convert a white garment +and twenty pieces of gold, is at least in accordance with the spirit of +that reign, though the fact itself, in all probability, is greatly +exaggerated. + +Constantine came out with still greater decision, when, by his victory +over his Eastern colleague and brother-in-law, Licinius, he became sole +head of the whole Roman empire. To strengthen his position, Licinius had +gradually placed himself at the head of the heathen party, still very +numerous, and had vexed the Christians first with wanton ridicule, then +with exclusion from civil and military office, with banishment, and in +some instances perhaps even with bloody persecution. This gave the +political strife for the monarchy between himself and Constantine the +character also of a war of religions; and the defeat of Licinius in the +battle of Adrianople, in July, 321, and at Chalcedon, in September, was +a new triumph of the standard of the cross over the sacrifices of the +gods; save that Constantine dishonored himself and his cause by the +execution of Licinius and his son. + +The emperor now issued a general exhortation to his subjects to embrace +the Christian religion, still leaving them, however, to their own free +conviction. In the year 325, as patron of the church, he summoned the +council of Nice, and himself attended it; banished the Arians, though he +afterward recalled them; and, in his monarchical spirit of uniformity, +showed great zeal for the settlement of all theological disputes, while +he was blind to their deep significance. He first introduced the +practice of subscription to the articles of a written creed and of the +infliction of civil punishments for non-conformity. In the years +325-329, in connection with his mother, Helena, he erected magnificent +churches on the sacred spots in Jerusalem. + +As heathenism had still the preponderance in Rome, where it was hallowed +by its great traditions, Constantine, by divine command as he supposed, +in the year 330, transferred the seat of his government to Byzantium, +and thus fixed the policy, already initiated by Domitian, or +orientalizing and dividing the empire. In the selection of the +unrivalled locality he showed more taste and genius than the founders of +Madrid, Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg, or Washington. With incredible +rapidity, and by all the means within reach of an absolute monarch, he +turned this nobly situated town, connecting two seas and two continents, +into a splendid residence and a new Christian Rome, 'for which now,' as +Gregory of Nazianzen expresses it, 'sea and land emulate each other, to +load it with their treasures, and crown it queen of cities.' Here, +instead of idol temples and altars, churches and crucifixes rose; though +among them the statues of patron deities from all over Greece, mutilated +by all sorts of tasteless adaptations, were also gathered in the new +metropolis. The main hall in the palace was adorned with representations +of the crucifixion and other Biblical scenes. The gladiatorial shows, so +popular in Rome, were forbidden here, though theatres, amphitheatres, +and hippodromes kept their place. It could nowhere be mistaken, that the +new imperial residence was, as to all outward appearance, a Christian +city. The smoke of heathen sacrifices never rose from the seven hills of +New Rome, except during the short reign of Julian the Apostate. It +became the residence of a bishop, who not only claimed the authority of +the apostolic see of neighboring Ephesus, but soon outshone the +patriarchate of Alexandria, and rivalled for centuries the papal power +in ancient Rome. + +The emperor diligently attended divine worship, and is portrayed upon +medals in the posture of prayer. He kept the Easter vigils with great +devotion. He would stand during the longest sermons of his bishops, who +always surrounded him, and unfortunately flattered him only too much. +And he even himself composed and delivered discourses to his court, in +the Latin language, from which they were translated into Greek by +interpreters appointed for the purpose. General invitations were issued, +and the citizens flocked in great crowds to the palace to hear the +imperial preacher, who would in vain try to prevent their loud applause +by pointing to heaven as the source of his wisdom. He dwelt mainly on +the truth of Christianity, the folly of idolatry, the unity and +providence of God, the coming of Christ, and the judgment. At times he +would severely rebuke the avarice and rapacity of his courtiers, who +would loudly applaud him with their mouths and belie his exhortations by +their works. One of these productions is still extant, in which he +recommends Christianity in a characteristic strain, and in proof of its +divine origin cites especially the fulfilment of prophecy, including the +sibylline books and the Fourth Eclogue of Virgil, with the contrast +between his own happy and brilliant reign and the tragical fate of his +persecuting predecessors and colleagues. + +Nevertheless he continued in his later years true, upon the whole, to +the toleration principles of the edict of 313, protected the pagan +priests and temples in their privileges, and wisely abstained from all +violent measures against heathenism, in the persuasion that it would in +time die out. He retained many heathens at court and in public office, +although he loved to promote Christians to honorable positions. In +several cases, however, he prohibited idolatry, where it sanctioned +scandalous immorality, as in the obscene worship of Venus in Phenicia; +or in places which were especially sacred to the Christians, as the +sepulchre of Christ and the grove of Mamre; and he caused a number of +deserted temples and images to be destroyed or turned into Christian +churches. Eusebius relates several such instances with evident +approbation, and praises also his later edicts against various heretics +and schismatics, but without mentioning the Arians. In his later years +he seems, indeed, to have issued a general prohibition of idolatrous +sacrifice; Eusebius speaks of it, and his sons in 341 refer to an edict +to that effect; but the repetition of it by his successors proves that, +if issued, it was not carried into general execution under his reign. + +With this shrewd, cautious, and moderate policy of Constantine, which +contrasts well with the violent fanaticism of his sons, accords the +postponement of his own baptism to his last sickness. For this he had +the further motives of a superstitious desire, which he himself +expresses, to be baptized in the Jordan, whose waters had been +sanctified by the Saviour's baptism, and no doubt also a fear that he +might by relapse forfeit the sacramental remission of sins. He wished to +secure all the benefit of baptism as a complete expiation of past sins, +with as little risk as possible, and thus to make the best of both +worlds. Deathbed baptisms then were to half Christians of that age what +deathbed conversions and deathbed communions are now. But he presumed to +preach the gospel, he called himself the bishop of bishops, he convened +the first general council, and made Christianity the religion of the +empire, long before his baptism! Strange as this inconsistency appears +to us, what shall we think of the court bishops who, from false +prudence, relaxed in his favor the otherwise strict discipline of the +church, and admitted him, at least tacitly, to the enjoyment of nearly +all the privileges of believers, before he had taken upon himself even a +single obligation of a catechumen? + +When, after a life of almost uninterrupted health, he felt the approach +of death, he was received into the number of catechumens by laying on of +hands, and then formally admitted by baptism into the full communion of +the church in the year 337, the sixty-fifth year of his age, by the +Arian (or properly Semi-Arian) bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, whom he had +shortly before recalled from exile together with Arius! His dying +testimony then was, as to form, in favor of heretical rather than +orthodox Christianity, but merely from accident, not from intention. He +meant the Christian as against the heathen religion, and whatever of +Arianism may have polluted his baptism, was for the Greek Church fully +neutralized by the orthodox canonization. After the solemn ceremony, he +promised to live thenceforth worthily of a disciple of Jesus; refused to +wear again the imperial mantle of cunningly woven silk, richly +ornamented with gold; retained the white baptismal robe; and died a few +days after, on Pentecost, May 32, 337, trusting in the mercy of God, and +leaving a long, a fortunate, and a brilliant reign, such as none but +Augustus, of all his predecessors, had enjoyed. 'So passed away the +first Christian emperor, the first defender of the faith, the first +imperial patron of the papal see, and of the whole Eastern Church, the +first founder of the holy places, pagan and Christian, orthodox and +heretical, liberal and fanatical, not to be imitated or admired, but +much to be remembered, and deeply to be studied.' + +His remains were removed in a golden coffin by a procession of +distinguished civilians and the whole army, from Nicomedia to +Constantinople, and deposited, with the highest Christian honors, in the +Church of the Apostles, while the Roman senate, after its ancient +custom, proudly ignoring the great religious revolution of the age, +enrolled him among the gods of the heathen Olympus. Soon after his +death, Eusebius set him above the greatest princes of all times; from +the fifth century he began to be recognized in the East as a saint; and +the Greek and Russian Church to this day celebrates his memory under the +extravagant title of _Isapostolos_, the 'Equal of the Apostles.' The +Latin Church, on the contrary, with truer tact, has never placed him +among the saints, but has been content with naming him 'the Great,' in +just and grateful remembrance of his services to the cause of +Christianity and civilization. + +Constantine marks the beginning of the downfall of ancient and classical +paganism. Still it dragged out a sickly old age for about two hundred +years longer, until at last it died of incurable consumption, without +the hope of a resurrection. + +The final dissolution of heathenism in the Eastern empire may be dated +from the middle of the fifth century. In the year 435, Theodosius II. +commanded the temples to be destroyed or turned into churches. There +still appear some heathens in civil office and at court so late as the +beginning of the reign of Justinian I. (527-567). But this despotic +emperor prohibited heathenism as a form of worship in the empire on pain +of death, and in 529 abolished the last intellectual seminary of it, the +philosophical school of Athens, which had stood nine hundred years. At +that time just seven philosophers were teaching in that school, the +shades of the ancient seven sages of Greece--a striking play of history, +like the name of the last West-Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, or, in +contemptuous diminutive, Augustulus, combining the names of the founder +of the city and the founder of the empire. + +In the West, heathenism maintained itself until near the middle of the +sixth century, and even later, partly as a private religious conviction +among many cultivated and aristocratic families in Rome, partly even in +the full form of worship in the remote provinces and on the mountains of +Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, and partly in heathen customs and popular +usages, like the gladiatorial shows still extant in Rome in 404, and the +wanton Lupercalia, a sort of heathen carnival, the feast of Lupercus, +the god of herds, still celebrated with all its excesses in February, +495. But, in general, it may be said that the Graeco-Roman heathenism, as +a system of worship, was buried under the ruins of the Western empire, +which sank under the storms of the great migration. It is remarkable +that the northern barbarians labored with the same zeal in the +destruction of idolatry as in the destruction of the empire, and really +promoted the victory of the Christian religion. The Gothic king Alaric, +on entering Rome, expressly ordered that the churches of the apostles +Peter and Paul should be spared, as inviolable sanctuaries; and he +showed a humanity, which Augustin justly attributes to the influence of +Christianity (even perverted Arian Christianity) on these barbarous +people. The Christian name, he says, which the heathens blaspheme, has +effected not the destruction, but the salvation of the city. Odoacer, +who put an end to the Western Roman empire in 476, was incited to his +expedition into Italy by St. Severin, and, though himself an Arian, +showed great regard to the catholic bishops. The same is true of his +conqueror and successor, Theodoric the Ostrogoth, who was recognized by +the East-Roman emperor Anastasius as king of Italy (A.D. 500), and was +likewise an Arian. Thus between the barbarians and the Romans, as +between the Romans and the Greeks, and in a measure also the Jews, the +conquered gave laws to the conquerors. Christianity triumphed over both. + +This is the end of Graeco-Roman heathenism, with its power, wisdom, and +beauty. It fell a victim to a slow but steady process of incurable +consumption. Its downfall is a sublime tragedy which, with all our +abhorrence of idolatry, we cannot witness without a certain sadness. At +the first appearance of Christianity it comprised all the wisdom, +literature, art, and political power of the civilized world, and led all +into the field against the weaponless religion of the crucified +Nazarene. After a conflict of four or five centuries it lay prostrate in +the dust without hope of resurrection. With the outward protection of +the state, it lost all power, and had not even the courage of martyrdom; +while the Christian church showed countless hosts of confessors and +blood-witnesses, and Judaism lives to-day in spite of all persecution. +The expectation that Christianity would fall about the year 398, after +an existence of three hundred and sixty-five years, turned out in the +fulfilment to relate to heathenism itself. + +The last glimmer of life in the old religion was its pitiable prayer +for toleration and its lamentation over the ruin of the empire. Its best +elements took refuge in the church, and became converted, or at least +took Christian names. Now the gods were dethroned, oracles and prodigies +ceased, sibylline books were burned, temples were destroyed, or +transformed into churches, or still stand as memorials of the victory of +Christianity. + +But although ancient Greece and Rome have fallen forever, the spirit of +Graeco-Roman paganism is not extinct. It still lives in the natural heart +of man, which at this day as much as ever needs regeneration by the +spirit of God. It lives also in many idolatrous and superstitious usages +of the Greek and Roman Churches, against which the pure spirit of +Christianity has instinctively protested from the beginning, and will +protest, till all remains of gross and refined idolatry shall be +outwardly as well as inwardly overcome, and baptized and sanctified not +only with water, but also with the spirit and fire of the gospel. + +Finally, the better genius of ancient Greece and Rome still lives in the +immortal productions of their poets, philosophers, historians, and +orators--yet no longer an enemy, but a friend and servant of Christ. +What is truly great and noble and beautiful can never perish. The +classic literature had prepared the way for the gospel, in the sphere of +natural culture, and was to be turned thenceforth into a weapon for its +defence. It passed, like the Old Testament, as a rightful inheritance, +into the possession of the Christian church, which saved those precious +works of genius through the ravages of the migration of nations and the +darkness of the Middle Ages, and used them as material in the rearing of +the temple of modern civilization. The word of the great apostle of the +Gentiles was here fulfilled: 'All things are yours.' The ancient +classics, delivered from the daemoniacal possession of idolatry, have +come into the service of the only true and living God, once 'unknown' to +them, but now everywhere revealed, and are thus enabled to fulfil their +true mission as the preparatory tutors of youth for Christian learning +and culture. This is the noblest, the most worthy, and most complete +victory of Christianity, transforming the enemy into friend and ally. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] [Greek: Laboron], also [Greek: labouron]; derived, not from _labor_, +nor from [Greek: laphuron], i.e., _praeda_, nor from [Greek: labein], but +probably from a barbarian root, otherwise unknown, and introduced into +the Roman terminology, even before Constantine, by the Celtic or +Germanic recruits. Comp. Du Cange, Glossar., and Suicer, Thesaur. s.h.v. +The labarum, as described by Eusebius, who saw it himself (Vita Const. +i. 30), consisted of a long spear overlaid with gold, and a cross piece +of wood, from which hung a square flag of purple cloth, embroidered and +covered with precious stones. On the top of the shaft was a crown +composed of gold and precious stones, and containing the monogram of +Christ (see next note), and just under this crown was a likeness of the +emperor and his sons in gold. The emperor told Eusebius (I. ii. c. 7) +some incredible things about this labarum, _e.g._ that none of its +bearers was ever hurt by the darts of the enemy. + +[B] X and P, the first two letters of the name of Christ, +so written upon one another as to make the form of the cross: +[Illustration] (_i.e._ Christos--Alpha and Omega, the beginning and +the end), and similar forms, of which Muenter (Sinnbilder der Alten +Christen, p. 36 sqq.) has collected from ancient coins, vessels, and +tombstones more than twenty. The monogram, as well as the sign of the +cross, was in use among the Christians long before Constantine, probably +as early as the Antonines and Hadrian. Yea, the standards and trophies +of victory generally had the appearance of a cross, as Minucius Felix, +Tertullian, Justin, and other apologists of the second century told the +heathens. According to Killen (Ancient Church, p. 317, note), who quotes +Aringhus (Roma Subterranea, II. p. 567) as his authority, the famous +monogram (of course in a different sense) is found even before Christ on +coins of the Ptolemies. The only thing new, therefore, was the _union_ +of this symbol in its _Christian_ sense and application with the Roman +_military standard_. + +[C] Cicero says, pro Raberio, c. 5: 'Nomen ipsum _crucis_ absit non modo +a corpore civium Romanorum, sed etiam a cogitatione, oculis, auribus.' +With other ancient heathens, however, the Egyptians, the Buddhists, and +even the aborigines of Mexico, the cross seems to have been in use as a +religious symbol. Socrates relates (H.E. v. 17) that at the destruction +of the temple of Serapis, among the hieroglyphic inscriptions, forms of +crosses were found which pagans and Christians alike referred to their +respective religions. Some of the heathen converts, conversant with +hieroglyphic characters, interpreted the form of the cross to mean _the +Life to come_. According to Prescott (Conquest of Mexico, iii. 338-340) +the Spaniards found the cross among the objects of worship in the idol +temples of Anahnac. + + + + +CAUSES OF THE MINNESOTA MASSACRE. + + +If great public phenomena do not come by chance, then there were causes +for the Minnesota massacres, by the Sioux, in 1862-'3, quite apart from +the aboriginal cruelty and ferocity of the Indian nature. We all know +that the carnal Indian man is a bad enough fellow at the best, and +capable of dreadful crimes and misdemeanors, if only to gratify his whim +or the caprice of the moment. And when he is bent upon satiating his +revenge for some real or imaginary wrong, I would back him in the +horrible ingenuity of his devices for torture, in the unrelenting malice +of his vengeance, against any--the most fierce and diabolical--of all +the potentates in the kingdoms of eternal and immutable evil! + +But the white man has always had the advantage of the red man. He was +his superior in knowledge, power, and intellect; and came, for the most +part, of that lordly race, the issue of whose loins already occupy all +the chief countries within the zones of civilization. He knew, +therefore, when he first began to deal with the Indian, what manner of +man he was, what his enlightenment was, and how far it reached out into +the darkness where all is night! He knew that this wild, savage, +untamable redskin could not be approached, reconciled, traded with, or +stolen, from, by adopting, in his case, the usages and courtesies of +civil life, as we understand them, but that his own peculiar laws, +customs, and manners must be studied and conformed to, if any headway +were to be made in his regard and confidence. + +At no time, from the beginning to the present day and hour, has any +white man been so fuddled in his wits as to suppose that the Indian +could either act or talk like a clergyman of any recognized Christian +denomination. It was too much, therefore, to expect from him that he +should exhibit any of the fine charities and warm affections which +distinguish the Christian character. He was a redskin, implacable in his +hate, not altogether trustworthy even in his friendships, and jealous of +his reputation and the traditions of his race. Nor was he without +manhood either. A brave, bloody, mocking and defiant manhood! capable of +the endurances of the martyr, exhibiting sometimes the sublimest +self-sacrifice and courage. + +Whether out of these wild and savage materials there lay anywhere, at +any time, the human or divine power to mould a civilized community, does +not appear upon the record. It is certain, however, that after all the +far-too-late attempts to transfigure these savages into the likeness of +a down-East Yankee, or, better still, into the similitude of a Western +farmer, no permanent good results are likely to ensue. + +The red man and the white are separated indeed by the prodigious +distances (ethnologically speaking) not only of race and language, but +of noble tradition and glorious history. They could never amalgamate in +blood, or in the so-called natural sympathies of man. They seem to be +born enemies! as their feelings and their instincts apparently reach +them when they come into contact with each other. They cannot exist side +by side. A mightier than they holds the destinies of both in His hands. +He has tried the redskins. He has given them a good chance upon the +earth, and they have failed to do anything but kill buffalo and breed +like rats--often burrowing like rats--refusing to dig and plant the +teeming, beneficent earth which had been committed to their charge; and +preferring, generally, the life of a vagabond loafer to that of a +thrifty, careful husbandman. + +I do not blame them. They are as God made them, and man left them; for, +I suppose, their forebears--somewhere afar off in Asia, perhaps, in the +dim, immemorial ages--had all passed through the various phases of the +civilization of their time, and that they did not grow out of the tail +of any gorilla. It is not for profane man to inquire what possible +reason there could be for the perpetuation--let alone the creation--of +such a useless, bootless race. There they are, occupiers of the soil for +unknown centuries--before the white man ever saw their faces--many +thousands of them still squatting there, cleaving, like bereaved +Autochthons, to the bosom of the dear old mother who had whelped and so +long nurtured them; and trying to make themselves believe that they are +still masters of the continent. + +What they were made for at all, I do not pretend to divine. The +Divine Maker of all knows best, and what He does is its own +justification--satisfying the wellnigh insatiable cry of the universe +for universal justice. They are the saurians of humanity; and it is +remarkable that the idea of 'progressive development'--if I may be +pardoned for making use of a term in modern philosophy about which there +has been so much assumption and canting--it is remarkable that this +idea, which the name of _saurian_ suggests, should run through all +nature, and be embodied in her finest forms and intelligences. There is +a considerable distance between the saurian and good Master Adam, the +gardener of Eden; but it seems to me, after all, that this brutal, foul, +obscene monster of the prime, was only Adam in the making. He came after +him, a long way, at all events; and if geology had been fashionable in +his time, and he a _savant_, he might have chalked out for himself a +very fine pedigree. + +For this strange, eccentric Nature, who meant _man_ from the beginning, +and failed to realize her ideal because of those horrible nightmare +dreams of which these saurians, mastodons, mammoths were the visible +representatives, did, nevertheless, make, in every succeeding world (for +every crust of this planet is the crust of a dead world), higher and +higher organizations--until, at last, she gave to man his _inscrutable_ +birth! + +That was, no doubt, a great triumph of power and genius! Man is a noble +animal, the finest of all living fellows! _et cetera! et cetera!_ But +what sort of a fellow was he when he came, in his spindles and +shacklebones, from the womb of the All-mother? Was he a Caucasian, or a +Mongolian, a Negro, a Malay, or a Bosjesman?--this last being an effigy +of man so abominable that no race that I have heard of will include him +even as a lodger in the parish settlements! + +Mark! what a sameness, and yet what an infinite variety, there is in all +the operations and purposes of Nature! She does not grow us _men_ out of +our mothers, but babes--helpless, pitiably, tearfully helpless +_babes_!--ignorant; who must _grow_ into the perfect stature and the +mature mind of men. Is not this babe also a saurian in its little way? +Does a wider gap separate the saurian from the man, than that which +separates the tiny babe from some Bacon or Raleigh? The law of nature is +progress. It is often, nay, always, a very slow thing--but how sure! how +inevitable! how beneficent in its results! She never makes worse after +bad--and those weird opium monsters of the foreworlds were unspeakably +bad!--but always she makes of bad better; and of better she has made her +best, at present. In the light of this law, _were any one mad enough to +grope_, he might come to the conclusion that the first man (or race of +men) was anything but a grandee in mind, person, or estate; and that our +seemingly puzzled but at last most wonder-working mother, ycleped +Nature, made some very ugly attempts at man before she reached the +climax of her imagination and her power as it obtains in the man +Caucasian! + +I regard all the colored races--and with no malice or evil of any sort +in my heart toward them--as first experiments in the gamut of human +creation. Neither ethnology nor any other ology will pull out of my +consciousness--let alone my active intellect--the belief that these were +the oldest, the primordial races, or the descendants of such, and that +the white Caucasian man, with his noble brain and heart, his matchless +person, was an afterthought, the brightest since her birth-thought of +the earth's creation. Look into the face of any upgrown modern Indian! +It is an _old_ face, as if the accumulated wrinkles of, not 'forty,' but +a hundred 'centuries' had ploughed their marks there. They seem to +belong to the dawn of time; while our Caucasian man is ever young and +beautiful, the born master of all things. + +We must deal with races according to their faculty, and credit them +according to their faculty. If we fail, we fail in wisdom--and in +prudence, which is a valuable attribute of wisdom. Expect not grapes +from thistles! Expect no virtue--unless it relates to his own +selfishness or his own tribe--from an Indian, or from very many other +men! + +It must not be forgotten, however, that Indians are people who, to say +the least of them, are fashioned in the likeness of men. Here, as +elsewhere, Nature sticks to her old plan, and will not budge an inch. In +the chart of the Indian's nature are mapped out the same feelings, +instincts, passions, the same organs and dimensions as belong to the +highest race, or the highest race of the mixed races. She will have no +nonsense about her red children, nor about her black. There they are, as +she (for purposes of her own, not particularly clear) intended them to +be--men, alive, oh!--not descendants of Monboddo's ape, nor of Du +Chaillu's gorilla, but men proper and absolute! with their duties, +responsibilities, and destinies. + +Seeing, therefore, that the Indian (our American Indian, with whom we +have now to do) has all the faculties--however defaced and blurred by +long centuries of bloody crimes, which they regard _not_ as crimes, but +as virtues--seeing that these red, thriftless, bloody-minded Indians +have all the human faculties intact--although, it may be, not so bright +as those of some of our own people who call themselves Americans--is it +not possible that by fair and manly dealing with them, by a just trade, +and conscientious regard for the sanctity of treaty rights and +obligations--that you, whom it may more particularly concern, might so +win their good will as to make them friends instead of enemies? The +devil that lies at the bottom of all savage natures is easily roused, +not at all so easily laid again, and as easily kept in his own place. +Indians are not incapable of friendship, nor of good faith, although the +best require a great deal of looking after--and close looking, too! But +what I want to urge is this: that if you always appeal to the worst +passions of the redskin, rob him of his rights and property, cheat him +by false promises, deceive him at all hands, and then mock him when he +knocks at your door for credit or charity, that he and his may live, you +cannot much wonder if, obeying his traditions, his religion, and the +dictates of his savage nature--now maddened into fury and reckless of +consequences--he indulges in the frightful havoc, the relentless murders +and burnings, which have so lately marked his trail in Minnesota. + +Let no one suppose for a moment, from what I have now said, that I +design to offer any apology, any excuse for the nameless and +unpunishable crimes which these miscreants have perpetrated. I have no +pity and no compassion for them, and surely no word either which I +desire should be construed, in this respect, to their favor. I go with +the old Scotch judge--a rigid Antinomian! who, having tried and +convicted a Calvinist as rigid as himself, asked him what he had to say +why the sentence of the law should not be pronounced against him. + +'My lord,' said the prisoner, 'it's a bad job; but I was predestined to +do it!' + +Whereupon his lordship replied: 'Ay! ay! my cannie laddie! an' I was +predestined to hang ye for't.' + +So while I set forth the necessary, evil nature of the Indian, and the +consequent necessity of his bloody deeds, I also insist upon the +necessity of hanging him for it. + +I plead not for the Indian of Minnesota, after these most shocking, most +appalling butcheries. I love my own race; and not a man, woman, or +child, who was sacrificed by these monsters, but their wounds were my +wounds, and their agonies tore my heart to the very core. Henceforth I +shall never see an Indian but I shall feel the 'goose flesh' of loathing +and horror steal over my Adam's buff! But you, my beloved friends of +Minnesota! you who have suffered so much in your families and homes +during the massacre, are you sure that you did all you could do as +citizens and rulers in this land to see even-handed justice dealt out +between the corrupt Government agencies and storekeepers, and the +helpless Indians? Had these last no just and reasonable ground of +complaint? complaint of the General Government, complaint of the delays +in their payment, complaint of the swindling of the storekeepers and +traders? + +They had sold their lands, and gone away to their reservations. But the +money for their lands--promised so faithfully at such a time--where was +that money? _Non est!_ The Indians depended on it, trusted to the +certainty of its coming as the saint trusts in the promises. They came +for it--often, in their history, in the depth of winter, for hundred of +miles, through an inhospitable forest; their wives, children, and braves +starving--many of them left behind in the wilderness to die; their only +weapon made of coarse nails, lashed with wire, and this they called a +gun barrel, and with this they killed what game was killed by the way. + +This did not happen in Minnesota, it is true; but events as horrible and +sickening as this did happen, and brought with them consequences more +horrible still, which will never be forgotten while the State exists or +the language lasts. Scenes were enacted at that 'Lower Agency' which +were disgraceful to human nature, and the victims were invariably the +redskins. Once when Red Iron came there, at the summons, or rather after +the repeated summons of Governor Ramsay, it turned out that nearly four +hundred thousand dollars of the cash payment due to the Sioux, under the +treaties of 1851-'2, were paid to the traders on old indebtedness! How +much of this enormous sum was really due to the traders it is bootless +now to inquire; although it is pretty certain, from what we know of +similar transactions, that not a twentieth part of it was due to them. +Mr. Isaac V. D. Heard, who has written a 'History of the Sioux War and +Massacres of 1862 and 1863,' who is an old resident of Minnesota of +twelve years' standing, acted with General Sibley in his expedition +against the savages in 1862, and was recorder of the military commission +which tried some four hundred of the participants in the outbreak--has +not been deterred by the just hatred which the Minnesota people nurture +against the Indians, and which they will keep hot until their rifles +have exterminated the whole brood of them, from saying a brave word +respecting the iniquities perpetrated by rascal peddlers and official +prigs against the Indians which were the immediate causes of the +massacre and the subsequent wars. + +The Indian was subjected to all sorts of frauds, little and big--the +smaller thieves thinking that they also must live, no matter at whose +expense, although I demur to the proposition. Why should they stop at +stealing a thousand or two, more or less, while that four hundred +thousand swindle leered at them so wickedly over the left shoulder, +mocking at all law and justice, and scot free from all punishment? These +'traders' could charge what sums they liked against the Indian, and get +them too; for there was no one to defeat or check their rapacity. Mr. +Heard tells us that no less a sum than fifty-five thousand dollars was +claimed by one Hugh Tyler, as due to him by the Indians, when the great +swindle just alluded to was committed; and that he was paid out of the +accruing funds. This man was a stranger in the country, an adventurer, +who went out into the wilderness 'for to seek his fortune;' and it is +curious to read the items of which his little bill, fifty-five thousand, +is composed. Here they are: For getting the treaties through the Senate; +for '_necessary disbursements_' in securing the assent of the chiefs. +Very curious and instructive items they are, to all who consider them. +To say nothing of the corruption of the Senate which the first item +signifies, if it has any meaning at all, there is the guilty record of +the 'necessary disbursements,' or, in other words, _bribes_, paid to +chiefs for betraying their country and their race. This was a part of +the regular machinery of the Agencies. All their plans were cut and +dried, and they had men to carry them out. They could not stir a peg +without the assent of the chiefs; and when they found a man too noble to +be a traitor, they got the Governor to break him as a chief, and invest +a more pliable, accommodating redskin with his rank and title. Through +the influence of bad men, and by the forging of lying documents, which +the Indians could not read, and which were never interpreted to them +except to cheat them as to their contents and meaning, they have always +managed to get their treaties signed; after which the newly made chiefs +could not so much as take the liberty to beg a pipe of tobacco of them. + +As a sample of their infamous dealings, we take the following excerpt +from Mr. Heard's book, page 41: + + 'In 1857, a trader, pretending that he was getting them to sign a + power of attorney to get back the money which had gone to the + traders under the treaty of 1851 and 1852, obtained their + signatures to vouchers, by which he swindled them out of $12,000. + Shortly after, this trader secured the payment of $4,500 for goods + which he claimed (falsely, it is said) to have been stolen. About + the same time a man in Sioux City was allowed a claim of $5,000 for + horses, which he also alleged to have been stolen. + + 'In 1858, the chiefs were taken to Washington, and agreed to + treaties for the cession of all their reservations north of the + Minnesota, for which, as ratified by the Senate, they were to have + $166,000; but of this amount they never received a penny until four + years afterward, when $15,000, in goods, were sent to the Lower + Sioux, and these were deducted out of what was due them under + former treaties. The Indians, discovering the fraud, refused to + receive them for several weeks, and only consented to take them + after the Government had agreed to rectify the matter. _Most of the + large amount due under these treaties, went into the pockets of + traders, Government officials, and swindlers generally._ + + 'The Indians were grievously disappointed with their bargains, and + from that time the control of affairs passed from the chiefs--who, + it was believed, had been bribed--to the young men. They had now + nearly disposed of all their lands, and received scarcely anything + for them. They were six thousand two hundred in number, and their + annuities, when paid in full, were hardly fifteen dollars apiece. + + 'Their sufferings,' continues Mr. Heard, 'were often severe, + especially during the winter and spring previous to the massacres.' + +Their crops failed them; a heavy fall of snow, late in the season, came +to increase their miseries, and delayed the spring hunts. The Sissetons, +of Lac Traverse, had to eat their horses and dogs--and at least fifteen +hundred of the old men, women, and children had to be supported by the +Government at an extra expense; and this was so inadequately done that +some died of starvation. + +The history of these iniquities is no new thing in Indian affairs. It +is, from first to last, a record of the most shameless lying and fraud. +The Agency seems to have been established there as a sort of Jonathan +Wild's shop, for the purpose of carrying on the trade of thieving. What +did these storekeepers--who credited the Indians for tobacco and rum, +for bread and beef, for clothing, and such other luxuries as they had +come to regard as necessaries--care for the winter prospects of the +wretched Indians, after they had lined their pockets with that four +hundred thousand dollars? Not a dime! And when subsequently it was found +that only half the regular Government payment would be handed over to +the Indians during the next year, these storekeepers--on the 'Wild' +plan--not only refused to give them credit for articles indispensable to +life in the wilderness, but insulted them to boot; and this so +exasperated the proud, revengeful nature of the Indian, that he +remembered it afterward in many a bloody murder which he committed, and +the innocent suffered for the guilty! + +Mr. Heard acquits the Agency, and all connected with it, of being in +any way the causes of this outbreak. But his own statements of their +dealing with the Indians hardly bear him out in his judgment. I do not +mean to say that the people of the Lower Agency were a whit worse in +such dealings than those of the Upper, or any other similar Agency. It +is an understood thing, and mercilessly practised, that the Indian shall +be fleeced whenever the white man has a chance to fleece him. It is the +law and the gospel of these Agencies; and we must not allow ourselves to +be hoodwinked in this matter by the mistaken humanity of Mr. Heard. + +And yet, if we think of it, there could not have been devised a more +evil scheme, either against the natives or the settlers, than these +wellnigh irresponsible Agencies. From all parts of the Union, from every +country of the Old World, emigrants had come to settle in the beautiful +Minnesota State; they had built themselves good, substantial houses, +ploughed, fenced, and planted their rich and prosperous farms, conquered +the savage wilderness into blooming cornfields, orchards, and +gardens--and here was their true El Dorado! where they hoped to live in +peace, plenty, and security. They were not afraid of the savages, but +their wont was to make friends of them, and to be their friends, +entertaining them at their homes when they visited the settlements, and +doing all they could--with some exceptions--to perpetuate among them a +good feeling and an intelligent understanding. + +To a certain extent, and in some cases, they succeeded in this +straight-forward diplomacy. But the predisposition of the reds to +enmity with the whites was still there, slumbering only, not eradicated; +nor could all the kindness and generosity of the whole Caucasian heart, +heaped upon them in the most lavish profusion, ever root it out. Nature +put it there--I wish she hadn't--for reasons of her own, just as she put +murder into the cruel heart and brain of the tiger in the jungle. + +There was this 'original sin,' therefore, to contend against always, +without reference to any tangible causes or provocations. All knew this. +All knew, from the youngest to the oldest, that the true policy of the +whites was to conciliate the Indians. They knew his inextinguishable +memory of wrongs, his dreadful vengeance, his power, and his constant +opportunity to do irreparable mischief. And, as I said, the settlers +were, for the most part, anxious to smoke the pipe of peace and +friendship with him. + +But what was the good of all this? What, think you, did it avail in the +councils of the savages, when they sat over their fires discussing their +wrongs and prospects? What the good-hearted settlers did in the way of +reconciliation and good will was undone a thousandfold at the Agency. It +is true that the Agency had become necessary to the subsistence of the +Indian, and that this fact made him bear much which, under other +circumstances, he would instantly have resented and punished. But they +well knew how they were robbed; and when did a wrong of that, or any +sort, pass muster upon the Indian's roll of vengeance? Every fraud +against an Indian, every lie told him, every broken promise, every +worthless article sold to him at the Agency, was more than a set-off to +any act of kindness shown to him by the settlers. Add to these local +crimes, the great error of the Government in unduly withholding the +Indian payment for their lands--and you have the Indian's _casus belli_, +the grounds, or some of them, on which he justified himself to his own +bloody and remorseless conscience, for his inhuman deeds! For the Indian +beeps a conscience, such as it is; but of a truth, better no conscience +than an Indian's conscience! It is like an appeal to hell, one's appeal +to this! all the accursed passions imprisoned there coming up from their +limbos, their eyes glaring with the malice of ineradicable hate, and +bloodshot with murder, to support the conscience, and strengthen its +resolution for an unspeakable vengeance. + +But, after all, this poor devil is really to be pitied for his ignorance +and brutality, and as really to be killed without mercy. He is in the +way of civilization, and must go to the wall. I find that Nature herself +is utterly pitiless; that she cares neither for white nor red, nor for +any other color or person, but, like a horrible, crashing car of +Juggernaut, she rolls steadily forward, astride the inevitable +machinery, crushing all who oppose her. + +But this digression is no apology, in the matter of its argument, for +the Indian Agents, who must have been aware, long before the outbreak +took place, that their frauds were fast culminating in the Indian mind, +and that every fresh wrong they did to them was only bringing nearer by +a step the indiscriminate massacre of the settlers. + +There were other causes, however, besides these, to enrage and madden +them, which must not be lost sight of. Our Government had prohibited +their sanguinary wars upon the Chippewas, and they regarded this as an +act of wanton tyranny. They were bred in the faith that war is the true +condition of an Indian man, and that peace was made for women and +children. War was the only outlet for their power, the only field in +which they could distinguish themselves and win immortal renown. All the +great kingdoms of knowledge and literature were shut against them as +with walls of brass. They could not read or write, and their leisure was +passed in idle gossip, or in deliberations on infernal schemes against +the white man to revenge themselves for their wrongs. + +It was not a wise thing to do, I think; although, no doubt, it was +humane enough, as we understand humanity. Did not the 'dragons of the +prime tear other in their slime,' and so thin out the horrible race, +until Nature herself put the final claws of annihilation upon them? Why, +in mercy, then, do we try to prevent the inevitable? War is a great +clearer of the atmosphere; and one of our poets, Coleridge, I believe, +says that 'Carnage is God's daughter'! a bold figure of rhetoric, not +without its apparently sufficient apologies. Why not let the Sioux and +Chippewas, or any other of the wild, irreclaimable brood, fight their +bloodiest, and do their prettiest to help Nature, who seems bent on the +extermination of all inferior races? They have got to die, any +way!--that is a great consolation!--and if the philanthropists at +Washington had only left them to themselves, they would have died by +mutual slaughter--great numbers of them--long ago, and saved said +philanthropists from the crime of killing them, which they are now +doing, by inches!--a far more cruel way of dying. + +I was much pleased, when last summer they were upbraided for doing a +little war against the Chips, in spite of Washington, with the sarcastic +reply of a chief, who said: 'Our Great Father, we know, has always told +us it was wrong to make war; yet now he himself is making war, and +killing a great many. Will you explain this to us? We do not understand +it!' This was a hit, a palpable hit, let who will reconcile it. + +Mr. Heard gives us the following brief statement of the manner in which +treaties are made with the Indians; and I earnestly call the attention +of the Government and all just citizens to its statements. He says: + + 'The traders, knowing for years before, that the whites will + purchase lands, sell the Indians goods on credit, expecting to + realize their pay from the consideration to be paid by the + Government. They thus become interested instruments to obtain the + consent of the Indians to the treaty. And by reason of their + familiarity with the language, and the associations of half-breed + relatives, are possessed of great facilities to accomplish their + object. The persons deputed by the Government to effect a treaty + are compelled to procure their cooperation, and this they do by + providing that their debts shall be paid. The traders obtain the + concurrence of the Indians by refusing to give them further credit, + and by representing to them that they will receive an immense + amount of money if they sell their lands, and thenceforth will live + at ease, with plenty to eat, and plenty to wear, and plenty of + powder and lead, and of whatever else they may request. After the + treaty is agreed to, the amount of ready money is absorbed by the + _exorbitant demands of the traders_, and _the expenses of the + removal of the Indians to their reservations_! + + 'After that the trader no longer looks to the Indian for his pay; + he gets it from their annuities. He, therefore, does not use the + same means to conciliate their good will that he did when he was + dependent upon their honesty. Claims for depredations upon white + settlers are also deducted out of their moneys before they leave + Washington, on _insufficient testimony_; and these are always, when + based on fact, _double the actual loss_; for the Indian Department + is notoriously corrupt, and the hand manipulating the machinery + _must be crossed with gold_! The 'expenses' of obtaining a claim + enter into the amount demanded and allowed. The demand is not only + generally unjust, but, instead of its being deducted from the + moneys of the wrong doer, _it is taken from the annuities of all_! + This course punishes the innocent and rewards the guilty, because + the property taken by the depredator is of more value than the + slight percentage he loses. + + 'Many of the stipulations as to establishing schools and furnishing + them with farming utensils, are never carried out. Building and + supply contracts are entered into without investigation at + outrageous prices, and goods belonging to the Indians are put into + the traders' stores, and _sold to their owners_, and the moneys + realized _shared by the trader and the Agent_!' + +Bishop Whipple, of Minnesota, in his appeal for the red man, confirms +this statement beyond doubt or question: + + 'There is not a man in America,' he says,'who ever gave an hour's + calm reflection to this subject, who does not know that our Indian + system is an organized system of robbery, and has been for years a + disgrace to the nation. It has left savage men without Governmental + control; it has looked on unconcerned at every crime against the + laws of God and man; it has fostered savage life by wasting + thousands of dollars in the purchase of paint, beads, scalping + knives, and tomahawks; it has fostered a system of trade which + robbed the thrifty and virtuous to pay the debts of the indolent + and vicious; it has squandered the funds for civilization and + schools; it has connived at theft; it has winked at murder; and at + last, after dragging the savage down to a brutishness unknown to + his fathers, it has brought a harvest of blood to our door!' + +The Bishop continues: + + 'It was under this Indian system that the fierce, warlike Sioux + were fitted and trained to be the actors in this bloody drama, _and + the same causes are to-day, slowly but surely, preparing the way + for a Chippewa war_. There is not, to-day, an old citizen of + Minnesota who will not shrug his shoulders as he speaks of the + dishonesty which accompanied the purchase of the lands of the + Sioux. It left in savage minds a deep sense of injustice. Then, + followed ten years of savage life, unchecked by law, uninfluenced + by good example. They were taught by white men that lying was no + disgrace, adultery no sin, and theft no crime. Their hunting + grounds were gone; the onward march of civilization crowded them on + every side. Their only possible hope of being saved from starvation + was the fidelity with which a great nation fulfilled its plighted + faith, which before God and man it had pledged to its heathen + wards. _The people here, on the border, and the rulers at + Washington, know how that faith has been broken._ + + 'The constant irritations of such a system would, in time, have + secured an Indian massacre. It was hastened and precipitated by the + sale of nearly eight hundred thousand acres of land, for _which + they never received one farthing_; for it was all absorbed in + claims! Then came the story (and it was true) that half of their + annuity money had also been taken for claims. They waited two + months, mad, exasperated, hungry--the Agent utterly powerless to + undo the wrong committed at Washington--and they resolved on savage + vengeance. For every dollar of which they have been defrauded we + shall pay ten dollars in the cost of the war. It has been so for + fifty years; it will be so again. _God's retributive justice always + has compelled a people to reap exactly what they have permitted to + be sown!_' + +These extracts from the Bishop's Plea confirm what I have stated in the +preceding paragraphs; and the last sentence--which I have marked in +italics--is well worth the while of every reader to ponder well. + +Mr. Heard dates the commencement of the massacre to the breaking of a +stray nest of hen's eggs on the prairie, and what came of the +transaction; but the date lies farther back than that, so far as the +resolution to seize the first favorable opportunity for slaughtering the +whites is concerned--and belongs to the era of the great crimes of our +Government against them, as shown in the forcible seizure of their lands +without their receiving any payment, even 'a farthing' for them; the +hucksters, under the connivance of the Government agents, getting the +whole of it, and, in the instance alluded to a while ago, keeping back +from them, as payment for old debts, about three hundred boxes of the +money upon which they had depended to keep themselves alive during the +winter and the following year. + +Such enormous crimes were sure to reap a bloody harvest. The Indian is +no fool, although he can't do addition and subtraction. He knows when he +is _about_ fairly dealt with, and he knows when he is mightily plucked. +In this case of the 'old debt payment' he knew that he was robbed +wholesale, and through the mouth of Red Iron he proclaimed the fact to +Governor Ramsey, in council assembled. Alluding to this robbery, he +said: + +'We don't think we owe them so much. We want to pay all our debts. We +want our Great Father to send three good men here, to tell us how much +we do owe; and whatever they say, we will pay; and (pointing to the +Indians) that's what all these braves say; our chiefs and all our people +say this!' + +At which all the Indians present responded: + +'Ho! ho!' + +This Red Iron was the principal chief of the Sissetons, and his +indignation at the wrongs done to his race made him so 'boisterous' that +Governor Ramsey was imprudent enough to break him of his chieftainship. +The scene and its results were by no means creditable to the Governor. +This latter personage had summoned Red Iron to meet him at a council, +held December, 1852, and he did not turn up as expected. So, I suppose, +he was sent for, and brought in by the soldiers. He is described by one +who was present, as about forty years old, tall and athletic; six feet +high in his moccasons, with a large, well-developed head, aquiline nose, +thin, compressed lips, and physiognomy beaming with intelligence and +resolution. He was clad in the half military, half Indian costume of the +Dacotah chiefs, as he sat in the council room; and no one greeted or +noticed him. A very poor piece of revenge! In a few minutes the +Governor, turning to the chief in the midst of a breathless silence, by +the aid of an interpreter, opened council. The Governor asked the chief +what excuse he had for not coming to the council when he sent for him. + +Whereupon Red Iron rose to his feet, 'with native grace and dignity,' +says Mr. Heard, his blanket falling from his shoulders, and, purposely +dropping the pipe of peace, he stood erect before the Governor, with his +arms folded and his right hand pressed upon the sheath of his scalping +knife. With the utmost coolness and self-possession, a defiant smile +playing upon his thin lips, and his eyes sternly fixed upon his +excellency, the Indian, with a firm voice, replied: + +'I started to come, but your braves drove me back.' + +GOVERNOR. 'What excuse have you for not coming the second time +when I sent for you?' + +RED IRON. 'No other excuse than I have given you.' + +GOVERNOR. 'At the treaty, I thought you a good man; but since, +you have acted badly, and I am disposed to break you. I _do_ break you.' + +Red Iron looked at the Governor for a moment with a look of withering +contempt and scorn, and then burst out in a voice full of derisive +mockery. + +RED IRON. '_You break me!_ My people made me a chief. My people +love me. I will still be their chief. I have done nothing wrong.' + +GOVERNOR. 'Red Iron, why did you get your braves together, and +march around here for the purpose of intimidating other chiefs, and +prevent their coming to council?' + +RED IRON. 'I did not get my braves together; they got +themselves together, to prevent _boys_ going to council to be made +_chiefs_ to sign papers, and to prevent single chiefs going to council +at night, to be _bribed_ to sign papers for _money_ we have never got.' +And then the inexorable fellow continued, without any regard to his +excellency's nerves or conscience: 'We have heard how the M'Dewakantons +were served at Mendota; that by secret councils you got their names on +paper, and took away their money. We don't want to be served so. My +braves wanted to come to council in the _daytime_, when the sun shines; +and we want no councils in the dark. We want all our people to go to +council together, so that we can all know what is done.' + +The Governor is nothing abashed at these damaging charges, but returns +once more to the assault. + +GOVERNOR. 'Why did you attempt to come to council with your +braves, when I had forbidden your braves coming to council?' + +To which Red Iron, with the same masterful, defiant smile upon his 'thin +lips,' answers: + +RED IRON. 'You invited the chiefs only, and would not let the +braves come too. This is not the way we have been treated before; this +is not according to our customs; for among Dacotahs, chiefs and braves +go to council together. When you first sent for us there were two or +three chiefs here, and we waited, and we wanted to wait till the rest +would come, that we might all be in council together, and know what was +done, and so that we might all understand the papers, and know what we +were signing. When we signed the treaty, the _traders threw a blanket +over our faces, and darkened our eyes; and made us sign papers which we +did not understand, and which were not explained or read to us_. We want +our Great Father at Washington to know what has been done.' + +This last speech--whose words hit like bullets--made the Governor wince, +and he replied, with more sharpness than wit: + +GOVERNOR. 'Your Great Father has sent me to represent him; and +what I say, he says. He wants you to pay your old debts, in accordance +with the papers you signed when the treaty was made' ['which we did not +understand; which were never read nor explained to us; which we were +forced to sign,' as Red Iron had just told the Governor!]. 'You must +leave that money in my hands to pay those debts. If you refuse to do +that, I will take the money back.' + +The Governor was getting deeper and deeper into the pit which he had dug +for the Indian. This last speech was most unhappy and impolitic for the +side he was advocating. It put dreadful weapons into the hands of Red +Iron, which the crafty 'old man eloquent' did not fail to use against +his antagonist. + +He makes this manly answer, not at all abashed in the presence of the +chief magistrate: + +RED IRON. 'You can take back your money! We sold our land to +you, and you promised to pay us. If you don't give us the money, I will +be glad, and all our people will be glad; for we will have our land back +if you don't give us the money. That paper was not interpreted or +explained to us. We are told it gives about three hundred boxes +($300,000) of our money to some of the traders! We don't think we owe +them so much. We want to pay all our debts. We want our Great Father to +send three good men here to tell us how much we do owe, and whatever +they say, we will pay; and (pointing to the Indians) that's what all +these braves say. Our chiefs and all our people say this.' + +And the Indians responded with the usual 'Ho! ho!' of acquiescence. + +But the Governor don't see it. A poor devil of an Indian, according to +his Christian conviction, ought to be content to pay unaudited, untaxed +bills, wherein the margin is broad enough for any scoundrel to do his +robberies by tens of thousands. So his excellency told Red Iron: + +GOVERNOR. 'That can't be done!' [Nay, more confounding and +appalling still, he added:] 'You owe more than your money will pay, and +I am ready now to pay your annuity, and no more; and when you are ready +to receive it, the Agent will pay it.' + +Red Iron replies in a speech full of pathos: + +RED IRON. 'We will receive our annuity, but we will sign no +papers for anything else.' [You've swindled us enough, lied to us deep +enough already, and we have no belief in your words or agreements.] 'The +snow is on the ground, and we have been waiting a long time to get our +money. We are poor; you have plenty. Your fires are warm; your _tepees_ +(wigwams, tents) keep out the cold. We have nothing to eat. We have been +waiting a long time for our moneys. Our hunting season is past. A great +many of our people are sick for being hungry. We must die because you +won't pay us. We may die! but if we do' [hold on, reader! no curses on +the white men are coming next, as one might naturally expect, either +from Christian or heathen orator, under the circumstances!]--'but if we +do,' he continues, 'we will leave our bones on the ground, that our +Great Father may see where his Dacotah children died!' [He has seen many +such shambles, O thou eloquent Indian! eloquent to ears of flint and +hearts of granite! and I never heard that the 'Great Father' ever shed a +single tear over them.] He goes on: 'We are very poor. We have sold our +hunting grounds, and with them the graves of our fathers. We have sold +our own graves.' [Out of all those hundreds of thousands of acres, not +six feet of earth, which they could call their own, left for any one of +them!] 'We have no place to bury our dead, and you will not pay us the +money for our lands.' + +I give this interview, and what transpired there, as a sample of the +treatment which the Indians were in the habit of receiving at the hands +both of the General Government and the State authorities. Not the wisest +kind of treatment, one would think, this which Red Iron received, taking +all the circumstances into account. The reader will be surprised, +however, that Governor Ramsey, not content with 'breaking' the chief, as +he called it--the greatest dishonor which he could inflict upon an +Indian of rank--sent him, when the council broke up, to the guard house, +under an escort of soldiers! This impolitic official ought to have +remembered that the fire was even then ready for the kindling, which +finally burst out in such fearful devastation over his devoted State; +that it was enough to have cheated the Indians, without thus inflaming +their already excited passions, by heaping so great an indignity upon +the person of their chief. But he was regardless of everything except +the display of his own power and authority. No doubt he thought he was +acting for the best, and that the dirty redskins needed to be held with +a high hand. But it was bad thinking and doing, nevertheless; a most +shortsighted and foolish policy, which came wellnigh, as it was, to an +Indian outbreak. + +The braves of Red Iron retired under the leadership of Lean Bear, a +crafty fellow, eloquent in his way, and now irreconcilably mad against +the whites; and when he had led them about a quarter of a mile from the +council house, they set up a simultaneous yell, the gathering signal of +the Dacotah. Ere the echoes died away, Indians were hurrying from their +_tepees_ toward them, prepared for battle. They proceeded to an eminence +near the camp, where mouldered the bones of many warriors. It was the +memorable battle ground where their ancestors had fought, in a Waterloo +conflict, the warlike Sacs and Foxes, thereby preserving their lands and +nationality. + +A more favorable occasion, a more fitting locality for the display of +eloquence which should kindle the blood of the Indian into raging fire, +and persuade him to any the most monstrous and inhuman deeds, could not +have been chosen even by Indian sagacity. An old battle ground, where +the Sioux had been victorious over their enemies; the whitened bones of +the ghastly skeletons of their ancestors who fought the battle, +bleaching on the turf, or calling to them from their graves below to +take God's vengeance in their own hands; the memory of the old and new +wrongs inflicted upon them by the whites; the infuriating insult just +offered to their favorite chief--all conspired with the orator's cunning +to give edge to his eloquence and obedience to his commands. + +Governor Ramsey has a good deal to thank God for, that, stimulated by +Lean Bear's rhetoric, the Sioux did not that night attack the whites, +and make an indiscriminate slaughter of the population, as they would +have done, if it had not been for the friendly Indians and half breeds. +Perhaps he thought he was strong enough, for the hour, to defeat them in +any attempt at an outbreak. But it is not strength so much as strategy +which is needed in Indian warfare. To whip the Indians, we must become +Indians in our plan and conduct of battle. The civilization and +mathematics of war, as practised by cultivated people, are useless in +the wilderness, and all our proud and boasted tactics are mere foolish +toying and trifling--a waste of time, strength, and opportunity. No one +doubts that if our troops could meet the Indians in open field, they +would slaughter them like rats; but they know better than to be caught +on the open field, except they are pretty sure of an advantage. They +steal upon you like thieves, shod with moccasons which have no sound; +they think it equally brave to shoot a man from behind a tree as to +sabre him in a hand-to-hand encounter. + +It is dreadful to contemplate what an incarnate fiend we have roused in +this cheated, wronged, and despised Indian. I tremble to think of it. I +tremble when I remember also what Bishop Whipple says in the 'Plea,' +from which I have already quoted; they are words which ought to be +thundered continually into the ears of the 'Great Father,' until he +compels a total revolution in our Indian affairs--words which all +settlers in those regions should keep forever present in their minds; +and, with the Minnesota massacres still fresh in their memory, they +should be taught by them never for a moment to trust an Indian, and +never knowingly to give him just cause for complaint; to go always +armed; to organize, in towns, districts, and counties, the yeomen of the +soil, who must be ready at any moment, by night or day, to meet the +treacherous, ubiquitous enemy. These last will be found of more value +than the 'thundering' suggestion contained in the first of these +precautionary propositions. For it is upon themselves that they must +chiefly rely for defence, these hapless settlers! and upon no +Government, and no soldiers. + +Think of it, our 'Great Father' at Washington! and you, his unruly +children, you Senators and Congressmen! One of your most loyal citizens +in the State of Minnesota, a Christian bishop, well acquainted with all +the facts, the dodges, lies, frauds, and all the ins and outs of your +Indian administration, declares, with the fullest solemnity which his +office and functions can give to words, and with the voice, not of +prophecy, but of logical deduction, that the same causes which brought +about the Sioux massacre, 'ARE TO-DAY, SLOWLY BUT SURELY, PREPARING +THE WAY FOR A CHIPPEWA WAR!' What a Chippewa war means, those who +did not know in 1861, found out through the Sioux in 1862 and 1863, to +their perpetual sorrow. Like the Bourbons, however, our Government +either cannot or will not learn lessons from experience. If they were +compelled to bear the penalties of their neglect and wanton +maladministration of affairs in the Indian districts, the loss would be +small and the retribution just. But they sit at ease, far away from the +scene of carnage, and 'get' nothing but the 'news,' which they read as +they would any other record of human passion and depravity. It is the +innocent settlers who pay the penalty for the guilt and transgressions +of their rulers. + +It is time somebody, or some vast numbers, banded as one man, began to +think upon this threatening question, and to act upon it. It concerns +the faith and honor of this great republic before all the world, that +the wrongs alluded to should be speedily righted. We are not, in +reality, what our Indian legislation would almost seem to accuse and +convict us of, a nation of man-catchers, baiting our trap with fine +farms, and free government, and happy homes, and abundant prosperity of +all sorts, that so we may inveigle the simple minded, and then hand them +over to the tender mercies of the Indians! God forbid that such crimes +should be ours! But there is a coloring of truth about the whole +programme. We invite settlers to populate our vast and wellnigh +boundless wilderness, promising them protection from enemies abroad and +a happy peace at home; and in the same breath we cheat the savages, and +stir them up to hatred and violence against every white man, woman, and +child in the country. This is like preaching security and peace while +your lighted match is applied to the powder barrel. It is a logic which +confutes itself, and needs no _sillygism_ to prove its lying. + +Why should we not bravely and manfully, with all the wisdom we possess, +confront and reform the evils and iniquities of this system? It is a +part and parcel of the work committed to our charge, that we shall +wisely deal with this people, until God, by His own mysterious means and +agencies, removes them finally from the continent and the planet. There +is no room for the red man where the white man comes. He _must_ give +way. It is destiny, and there is no help for it. He knows this as well +as we do; and he gnaws the grim fact with the teeth of the hopeless +damned. But why imbitter him needlessly against us, against the +Government, against the people among whom he resides, and over whose +dear lives and properties he holds suspended the scalping knife and the +flaming pine brand? We are unworthy of the sovereign possessions +reserved for us from before the foundations of the world--making the +title deeds, therefore, unusually sound and wellnigh unquestionable--if +we cannot deal like rational men with the hordes of savages, whose lands +we have robbed them of, whom we have reduced to mere pensioners upon +our caprice--not bounty--and so satisfy them and their claims that the +business of human life may be carried on safely in their vicinity and +actual presence. 'Who art thou that saith 'there is a lion in the way'? +Rise, sluggard, and slay the lion! The road has to be travelled.' + +We are certainly not afraid of any lion, whether he be red or black; +and, until lately, _both_ these monstrous red and black animals lay in +the direct path of the nation, on which it must travel or perish. We +have pretty well mauled and knuckled the black animal, and wellnigh +settled with his keepers, one and all! but this red lion is of a +different sort, and requires altogether another kind of treatment. We +shall yet save the bruised and bleeding black to the service of +civilization and humanity. He never was half a bad fellow at the bottom +of his leonine bowels, and he already takes to white civility and +customs, like an educated, intelligent, and trusty dog of the 'poor dog +Tray' sort! And I, for one, have more than a sneaking affection for his +old black mug, and a world of hope in his future behavior, if we don't +spoil him for the field and for watch and guard at home, by our infernal +'culture,' as the thing is called. + +Is this red lion a more terrible devil to combat, or harder to trick +into civility, or more impervious to the injunctions of the Ten +Commandments? I suppose it will be said that he is; that the black +fellow bolted the whole code at a gobble, and wagged his tail, as if the +feat must surely please his new masters; that he had long had the +benefit of civilized cooking, and knew a gentleman by his toggery; that, +moreover, he was of a teachable, plastic nature, and was meant to lie +down in due time upon the hearth rug before the fire, in any gentleman's +sitting room in the land. It may be true. I believe all this myself, and +a good deal more, about him; and I take renewed hope also for this great +republic--which is the hope of the world!--that it has thus, at last, +tamed him, and fitted him for exhibition upon a nobler theatre than that +of Barnum. + +But the red lion, you say, is untamable--cannot be dealt with +successfully by the wit of white men; and that it is best, therefore, to +rob him of the golden apples which he guards, and which are his only +food, and so starve him out. But you can't deal that way with the Indian +lion, my friend, without feeling the taste of his claws. You have tried +it long enough. Bishop Whipple says, 'for fifty years'! And I ask you +how much nearer are you to the taming of him now, than you were those +'fifty years' ago? Echo answers: 'That's an impudent question!' and I +reply, so be it! but you can't shuffle it off in that way. I have tried +my hand at suggesting how imminent dangers, calamities, and horrors may +even yet be averted from the Western settlements; and if those who urge +that justice shall be done to them, equal to that which we here render, +or try or pretend to render to each other--if those who urge this are +not listened to now, their plea will be remembered when it is all too +late, and thousands of innocent people are again murdered, and their +homes laid waste and desolate. + +I again say, let no one think by these statements that I am making a +special pleading for the Indians, or that I sanction their butcheries. +God knows how far all this is from my thought or feeling! I am a white +man right through all the inmost fibres of my being: too white, I often +fear; for I find my love of race, and pride of blood and ancestry, often +encroach too far upon the proper regions of my humanity, and threaten to +blear my eyesight to the fair claims of the inferior races. + +But I have to do with a thoughtful, reflective, and, at the bottom, just +and humane people; and knowing this, I felt safe, or nearly so, against +all misconstruction, in this my attempt to show that the late Indian +massacres were not instigated merely and solely by the passion of the +Indian for blood, but that they had deeper, broader, more tangible +causes than this, some of which I have briefly hinted at. Woe to them by +whom these butcheries came! Woe also to them who, knowing what must +inevitably result from their foul dealings, continued to deal foully +with the Indian--until the doomsday came! + +I have not put in a single tithe of the evidence which I might adduce to +prove my case. It is of no use appealing to the higher powers for +redress. 'I am sick at heart,' says the good Bishop Whipple; 'I fear the +words of one of our statesmen to me were true: 'Bishop, every word you +say of this Indian system is true; the nation knows it. It is useless; +you will not be heard. Your faith is only like that of the man that +stood on the bank of the river, waiting for the water to run by, that he +might cross over dryshod!'' And then he continues, with solemn emphasis +and pity: 'All I have to say is this, that if a nation, trembling on the +brink of anarchy and ruin, is so dead that it will not hear a plea to +redress wrongs which the whole people admit call for reform, God in +mercy pity us and our children!' + + + + +BURIED ALIVE. + +A Dirge. + + "There may be thought, + Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily." + + "A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted." + + + Deep, deep in the tender heart + Make a grave for the joys of the Past! + Let never a tear fall hot on their bier, + But hurry them in as fast + As we bury the Beautiful out of our sight, + Ere corruption and horror have saddened our light. + + Deep, deep in the sinking heart + Make a grave for the dreams of the Past! + Let the shrill cries of pain still assail thee in vain, + Though they follow so wild and so fast: + Through the fibres and sinews, and hot, bloody dew + Let the sharp strokes fall piercing, unceasing, and true. + + Call, call on the feverish brain + To bring aid to the gasping heart! + To sustain its quick throbs, to suppress its fierce sobs, + As it must with its idols part: + While the ruthless spade in the grave it has made + Hurries forever the beautiful Dead! + + Call, call on the tortured soul + To stand close by the sinking heart, + While the nervous mesh of the writhing flesh, + Shuddering and shivering in every part, + Its strange anguish renews as the hot, bloody dews + Follow the track of the rude spade through. + + Call, call on the gifted brain + To send on in the funeral train + Her fair children enwrought from the tissue of thought-- + Though their wailing will all be in vain-- + Yet shrouded in robes of funereal woe + Let them move on to monotones, solemn and slow! + + Rouse, rouse the immortal soul + With its hopes and its visions so bright, + To send them in the train with the thoughts of the brain, + Though their vesture seemed woven of light, + To sigh, wail, and weep o'er the pulse-rhythmed sleep + Of the Dead in their living urn! + + Heave, heave the weird sculptured stone; + Press it deep on the throbbing grave! + With a wildering moan leave the Buried alone + In their tomb in the quivering heart: + While it pours its wild blood in a hot lava flood + Round its beautiful sepulchred Dead. + + But my God, they are _not_ at rest! + Can they neither live nor die? + See, they writhe in their throbbing grave! + While the nervous mesh of the quivering flesh + Its strange anguish renews as the hot, bloody dews + Follow the track of my Beautiful back + As they rush into life again, + Bringing nought but a sense of pain! + + We may bury deep the Past-- + Vain is all our bitter task! + It is throbbing, living still, for beyond all power to kill, + It can never find a rest in a woman's stormful breast, + It can never, never sleep rocked by anguish wild and deep, + It can never quiet lie with shrill sobs for lullaby; + And since woman cannot part from the idols of her heart, + And as severed life is Hell for the souls that love too well, + Better far the tender form whose lorn life is only storm, + With the coffined dead should seek + To lie down in a dreamless sleep-- + And find rest in the dust with the worm. + + Dig a quiet, lowly grave + In the earth where willows wave! + Round the burning anguish deep wrap the cooling winding sheet, + Shroud the children of the brain, and the soul's high-visioned train: + Ah, o'er the snowy sleep let no pitying mortal weep, + For the _weary seek repose_ with the worm! + + Creeping pines and mosses grow + O'er the fragile form below! + Violets, bright-eyed pansies wave o'er the lowly, harmless grave; + Let the butterfly and bee all the summer flutter free, + O'er the flowers grown from a heart which no wrongs could ever part, + Nor torture e'er remove from the creatures of its love; + With the wild and feverish brain, and thought's bright but blighted train, + With strong heart, but anguished soul, and pain's weird and heavy dole-- + Let the weary, tired form, whose lost life was only storm, + In the shroud's pure snow + Find release from woe, + Nor hope, nor joy, nor love it e'er again would know! + + + + +NEGRO TROOPS. + + +There was a time not long since when the serious consideration of a +question like this would have met with little favor. We remember seeing, +in this city of New York, one genial October day, not very many years +ago, a small company of negro soldiers. They were marching in Canal +street, not in Broadway, and seemed to fear molestation even there. The +writer was a schoolboy then, cadet in a military school (one of the +first established of those excellent institutions), and had, of course, +a particular interest in all military matters. So he stopped to look +upon these black soldiers--marching with all the more pride (as it +seemed to him) because they marched under the floating folds of the +stars and stripes. His boy's heart was stirred by the spectacle, and +full of a big emotion; but the fashion of the times overpowered the +generous impulse, and he treated the negro soldiers with contempt. + +This was in the palmy days of the old _regime_. The stifling of that +generous impulse was one of the glories of the old _regime_. Not a +decade of years went by, and the writer stood again in the streets of +New York city, and saw another sight of negro soldiers. It was, indeed, +and in all respects, another sight. This time the black men marched in +Broadway; this time they feared no molestation. It was a balmy day in +spring, and God's sunshine glistened gladly from the bright bayonets of +United States black soldiers. What a spectacle it was! There marched the +retributive justice of the nation--'carrying the flag and keeping step +to the music of the Union.' That march was a march of triumph, and its +sublime watchword was: 'LIBERTY AND UNION, NOW AND FOREVER, ONE AND +INSEPARABLE!' + +What a marvellous change in public opinion! Now, negro companies are +treated with respect, negro regiments are honored; because we honor the +defenders of our national ensign, which is the representative and symbol +of our national life. The men who joined so gallantly in the assault on +Port Hudson; who fell so nobly at Milliken's Bend, in repelling the +attack of men whose blackness was not, like theirs, of the outside skin, +but of a blacker, deeper dye, the blackness of treason in their inner +hearts; the men whose blood drenched the sands of Morris Island, and +made South Carolina more a sacred soil than it had ever been before, +because it was blood poured out in defence of the nation's honor, and to +wash out the stain of Carolina's dishonor; these men cannot be contemned +now. They have shown themselves noble men. They have made for themselves +a place in American history, along with their fathers at New Orleans, +and their grandfathers under Washington. And the rebel epitaph of the +brave Colonel Shaw, who led them unflinchingly against the iron hail of +Wagner, is no reproach, but a badge of honor: 'We have buried him under +his niggers.' + +Since that memorable assault, another State has witnessed the patriotic +gallantry of these despised 'niggers;' and in the first Virginia +campaign of Lieutenant-General Grant, negroes have borne an honorable +part. There is a division of them attached to the old ninth corps, under +Burnside, in the present organization of the Army of the Potomac. While +that noble army was fighting the battles of the Wilderness, this +division was holding the fords of the Rapid Ann. When Grant swung his +base away from the river, after the disaster to his right wing, and +moved upon Lee's flank, the ninth corps, with its negro division, held +an honorable post in the marching column; and at Spottsylvania Court +House the correspondents tell us how, with the war cry of Fort Pillow in +their mouths, these 'niggers' rushed valiantly to the assault, and +elicited the highest praise for their steadiness and courage. Not less +honorable is the record of the negro troops attached to the cooeperating +Army of the Peninsula. The three extracts from official despatches, +which follow, show what the record is. + +May 5th, General Butler telegraphs to Secretary Stanton: 'We have seized +Wilson's Wharf Landing. A brigade of Wild's colored troops are there. At +Powhatan Landing two regiments of the same brigade have landed.' + +May 9th, General Butler telegraphs from Bermuda Landing: 'Our operations +may be summed up in a few words. With seventeen hundred cavalry we have +advanced up the Peninsula, forced the Chickahominy, and have safely +brought them to our present position. These are colored cavalry, and are +now holding position as our advance toward Richmond.' + +May 25th, the War Department announced, in a bulletin, that 'General +Butler, in a despatch dated at headquarters in the field, at seven +o'clock this morning, reports that Major-General Fitzhugh Lee, lately +promoted, made, with cavalry, infantry, and artillery, an attack upon my +post at Wilson's Wharf, north side of James River, below Fort Powhatan, +garrisoned by two regiments, all negro troops, Brigadier-General Wild +commanding, and was handsomely repulsed. Before the attack, Lee sent a +flag, stating that he had force enough to take the place, demanding its +surrender, and in that case the garrison should be turned over to the +authorities at Richmond as prisoners of war(!); but if this proposition +was rejected, he would not be answerable for the consequences when he +took the place. General Wild replied: 'We will try that.' Reinforcements +were at once sent, but the fight was over before their arrival.' + +It has been not unfrequently said that negroes were cowards and would +not fight. The best answer that can be made to that charge is the +official order, hereto annexed, of General 'Baldy' Smith. It will be +remembered that Grant had just accomplished the transfer of his army +from the swamps of the Chickahominy to the south side of the James +River, and had immediately thereupon attacked the earthworks in front of +Petersburg. The time was June--a month later than the official +despatches from Butler already quoted: + + '_To the Eighteenth Army Corps_: + + 'The General commanding desires to express to his command his + appreciation of the soldierly qualities which have been displayed + during the campaign of the last seventeen days. Within that time + they have been constantly called upon to undergo all the hardships + of the soldier's life, and be exposed to all of its dangers. + + 'Marches under a hot sun have ended in severe battles, and, after + the battle, watchful nights in the trenches gallantly taken from + the enemy. + + 'But the crowning point of the honor they are entitled to has been + won since the morning of the 15th instant, when a series of + earthworks on most commanding positions and of formidable strength + have been carried, with all the guns and materials of war of the + enemy, including prisoners and colors. The works have all been + held, and the trophies remain in our hands. + + 'This victory is all the more important to us as the troops never + have been regularly organized in camps where time has been given + them to learn the discipline necessary to a well-organized _corps + d'armee_, but they had been hastily concentrated and suddenly + summoned to take part in the trying campaign of our country's + being. Such honor as they have won will remain imperishable. + + '_To the colored troops comprising the division of General Hinks, + the General commanding would call the attention of his command_. + With the veterans of the Eighteenth Corps they have stormed the + works of the enemy and carried them, taking guns and prisoners, and + _in the whole affair they have displayed all the qualities of good + soldiers_. + + 'By command of + 'W. F. SMITH, Major-General. + + 'WM. RUSSELL, JR., + 'Assistant Adjt.-General. + + 'Official: SOLON A. CARTER, + 'Captain and A. A. A.-G.' + + +It may be added that 'Baldy' Smith has never been known as being +particularly partial to the use of negro troops. He is reported to have +said, after the assault on Petersburg, that the war was virtually ended, +because the negroes had now shown that they could fight, and so it was +only a question of time. + +The man is not to be envied who can contemptuously disregard this +record. And while we give unstinted honor to the heroes whose valor has +made the Army of the Potomac immortal in history, and made its campaign +of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania a campaign of glory, let us not +forget that negro troops in that army, and in other armies in the same +campaign, have borne their part faithfully, and deserve well of the +republic. Nor let us forget the damning atrocities at Fort Pillow, where +black men in United States uniform were massacred in cold blood, because +they were willing rather to die freemen with their white comrades of the +United States army, than live slaves to rebel masters:[D] thus +vindicating their claim to freedom, and reflecting upon our country's +flag the especial honor which such determined bravery has ever been +awarded among men--reminding us of the Three Hundred at Thermopylae, and +the Old Guard at Waterloo, disdaining to surrender. + +So strange are the events of history! So mysterious is the plan of +Providence, choosing now, as in the days of the apostle Paul, 'base +things of the world, and things which are despised, yea, and things +which are not, to bring to nought things that are!' What a stinging +example of time's revenges, to be sure, that negroes should have a part +in bringing to nought the rebellion of negro-holders! that they should +be found fighting for the very Government whose power had aided to keep +them in bondage to these negro-holders! In face of such facts, will any +one impiously declare that fate, or blind chance, rules the affairs of +men! + +We might well pause at this point to consider the philosophy of +revolutions. It would be an interesting study to investigate the +efficient or radical causes of these singular phenomena of God's +providence--these crises in history, when 'the fountains of the great +deep are broken up,' and the experience of centuries is crowded into the +limits of a single year, and we see the old landmarks all swept away +before the overwhelming tides of a new era. Then it is that precedents +avail us nothing, and we are driven to lay hold of those principles of +justice and right which are alone eternal. For in the storm and wreck of +revolution those principles are our sure beacon lights, shining on, like +the stars, forever. Thus philosophizing, the question would be: Have +revolutions a fixed law? Is there a recurring sequence in the mighty +'logic of events,' that will enable us to define a formula for the +revolutions of systems in society? So science has demonstrated a law for +the revolutions and changes of systems of worlds in infinite space. Or, +are the revolutions of history, like the volcanic disturbances of our +planet earth, in a sort, abnormal? They seem to come, like the _deus ex +machina_ of the Roman poet, to cut the Gordian knots that perplex +statesmen and bewilder nations. The affairs of men get so tangled up +sometimes, that to prevent anarchy and chaos, God sends revolutions, +which sweep away the effete institutions and old, worn-out systems, to +replace them with new and living systems. And thus there is a perpetual +genesis, or new creation, of the world. Let any one read Carlyle's vivid +description of the badness of the eighteenth century, 'bad in that bad +way as never century before was, till the French Revolution came and put +an end to it,' and he will understand something of this question of +revolutions. It suggests the old scholastic dispute of the free agency +of man, and looks as though, granting that freedom, it were, after all, +too great a gift for us. For history seems to teach, as its one grand +lesson, confirming, as always, the revelation in Christ, that men cannot +take care of themselves; and that God leaves them to their own ways long +enough to satisfy them that human agency is inadequate to solve the +question of reform, and then, when the times are ripe, He takes the +reins into His own hand, and starts society anew. It is the patient +process of education by centuries, or by ages--only to be made perfect +in the millennial age. So it is that the world moves. It moves by the +free agency of man, kept in its balance by the guiding hand of God. + + +I. THE VEXED QUESTION OF THE NEGRO. + +Thus it is that the second American revolution is settling for us the +vexed question of the negro. What should be done with him, or for him, +or to him, had been the disturbing element in our political system ever +since the African slave trade expired by limitation of the Constitution +in 1808. The devices of human ingenuity (inspired, as we fervently +believe, by the purest patriotism) to stave off the inevitable final +settlement of this account, innumerable as they were, and only limited +by the predestined decree of Supreme Benevolence (which is Supreme +Justice), were, at last, exhausted. The statesmanship of '50 had been +outgrown. The giants of those days had gone, one by one, to their reward +ere yet the first breaths of the revolution that has opened the decade +of '60. Nought remained to their lesser associates, who still survived, +but to bow reverently before the storm, 'as seeing in it Him who is +invisible.' Such recognition, indeed, is the measure of men's patriotism +to-day. The man who so perverts his mind and reason as to shut out the +evidence of the stars and his own consciousness (the German +metaphysician's proof of Deity), and deny that God is, is simply a fool; +and every reflecting mind is ready to sanction and adopt the Psalmist's +word: 'The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.' Equally a fool +is he who shuts his eyes to the overwhelming facts of the last two +years, refusing to be taught by the Providence behind them. Such and so +vast is the revolution by which God has intervened in our history. Such +is the Providence that still guides and guards the nation ordained by +Him to be. Such is the revolution that has swept away the slave system, +and opened for us a new path, and given us a new power of progress. + +Now, these views need not make one a negro-enthusiast. Because the +system of slavery has been swept away, it is not necessary to assert, as +some do, the negro's equality with the white man in those things wherein +he is plainly not his equal. Yet there is an equality that cannot be +denied. The negro is certainly a man, and not a brute animal; although +so demoralized and corrupt had grown to be the tone of society that we +have actually heard the opinion avowed, in all seriousness, that the +negro had no soul. Shylock, in 'The Merchant of Venice,' pleads for +himself and his Jewish brethren, in one of the most pathetic passages of +even Shakspeare's genius, as though the Hebrew race were considered less +than men. And such, indeed, was nearly the case in Shylock's time. On +the other hand, the Moor of Venice disdains to plead as to his +superiors. His conscious equality in presence of the 'grave and reverend +signiors,' gives to his renowned address a consummate dignity, unknown +elsewhere in literature. He felt, indeed, that his victories under the +flag of the republic entitled him not only to equality, but especial +honor. Is it not singular that in this nineteenth century there should +be found men who gladly accord to the Jew, the descendant of Shem, that +of which they refuse even the possibility to the dark descendant of Ham? +Surely the republic of Venice was not so far behind our boasted +civilization. Our civilization still clings to the idea of privilege. +The privilege of caste is only exchanged for the privilege of color. + +Nor need we commit ourselves to the doctrine of some, who would appear +to think that the negro is to be the dominant race of the future; if not +in himself, yet in virtue of his supplementing the composite Anglo-Saxon +race, and thus giving to it a completeness it is assumed not to have at +present. Such we understand to be the doctrine of what styles itself +Miscegenation. It would be pertinent, and, perhaps, conclusive, to cite +on this point the Latin maxim, _De gustibus non disputandum_. + +There are those who admire a certain new style of music, of which the +melody is chiefly hidden from the appreciation of common folk, and which +has received the title, 'Music of the Future;' looking forward to a time +when, perhaps, men's senses will be preternaturally quickened to +comprehend its discordant harmonies. It is something akin to that vagary +of religious sentiment, which, whatever may be its merits, whatever its +satisfaction for a spiritually illuminated chosen few, is, nevertheless, +beyond the present ken and comprehension and spiritual compass of most +mortals, and may be called the Religion of the Future. The fatal defect +of all these theories is that they serve no purpose of utility. +Considered as creations of ideal beauty, they may charm the fancy and +quicken the imagination, and even exalt the mental habitudes, of a few +devotees. Or, allowing that they are a sort of morning twilight vision, +they _may_, we cannot dogmatically deny, hereafter develop into a +splendid fulness, in the perfect day. All this may be. But they do not +meet the practical needs of our working life, the wants of weary men and +weary women. + +So, what we want for the negro is not a metaphysical theory of his +perfect equality with the white man. Nor, on the other hand, are we at +liberty to say that he is, by virtue of any physical conformation and +structure, something inferior to the white man. Neither of these +positions can be sustained. The one plainly contradicts our observation +and experience; the other needs the proof of science that inferiority is +determined by physical structure. We must face the fact of the negro's +present degraded condition; and we must accept the equal fact of his +being a man, with a soul as precious, in the sight of God, as the soul +of his white brother. For the day when the sublime exordium of the +Declaration of Independence could be stigmatized as a 'glittering +generality,' is gone by. The basis of our American system of government, +it is no longer doubted, is the equality of all men before the law, as +the basis of our Christian faith is the equality of all men before God. +Accepting, then, the two undeniable facts above named, the question is, +What shall we do now with the negro? + + +II. THE NEGRO SLAVE AS A SOLDIER. + +Without attempting to discuss this interesting question in all its +various aspects, we may briefly advert to some of the problems in the +discussion which would seem to be fairly solved in the employment of the +negro as a United States soldier. + +Thus much is certainly true of the American negro, and herein he is +doubtless superior to the white man; namely, that he is docile, patient, +buoyant of spirit, full of affection, and endowed with a marvellous +apprehension of things spiritual. His _patience_ is shown by his long +bondage, borne without serious murmuring; awaiting the day of +deliverance, confident that the year of jubilee was to come. This point +is lucidly elaborated in a late article, of great interest, in _The +Edinburgh Review_, said to have been written by a negro escaped from +slavery. The negro's _docility_ appears in his aptitude to catch quickly +the tone of his master's mind, and guide himself by it; in the readiness +with which he yields to superior authority--which may or may not be due +to his spirit-crushing bondage, but which certainly has in it little of +the stupidity we should expect to find if such were the case. The +_buoyancy of his spirit_ overflows in the perpetual music of his laugh +and song amid the hard fortunes of his race. The fulness of his +_capacity of affection_ is attested by his remarkable devotion to master +or mistress, surviving strong amid all vicissitudes, and rising above +the iniquitous injustice that holds him in bonds into that exalted +triumph of the apostle's doctrine: 'Be not overcome of evil, but +overcome evil with good.' As for his _readiness to apprehend spiritual +things_, the experience of every person who has lived at the South +furnishes abundant proof. Who that has stood on the banks of a Southern +river, when a negro was baptized, and heard the loud chorus of joy of +his brethren and sisters when the sign of the Church was put upon him, +and seen the sympathy of eye and hand that welcomed him to the blessed +company, has not felt that for this poor, despised race there are riches +laid up in that kingdom 'where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and +where thieves do not break through nor steal'? Who that has stood in a +Southern forest on some Sunday afternoon, in the early Southern spring, +when the woods are resonant with the songs of birds, and heard a negro +congregation of believers in their meeting-house near by, joining with +all the fervor of their tropical temperament in this glad hymn of +nature, in the immortal verse of Wesley and Whitfield, has not felt that +to the negro the vision of the New Jerusalem is more of a reality than +has yet been granted to his worldly favored white brother and master? +Ah, no one who has witnessed such scenes all the years of his childhood +and youth, can deny that among the disciples of Christ are to be +reckoned especially the negro race; who bear His blessed cross in our +day, amid the jeers of a sceptical world, just as in His own day upon +earth the negro Simon of Cyrene bore to the Mount of Calvary the cross +on which the Saviour died. + +What these things prove is just this: the negro's capacity for freedom; +his capacity to know what is the 'perfect law of liberty,' keeping +irresponsible license in check; his absolute freedom from the +bloodthirstiness that seems to horrify so many unthinking persons, who +affect to fear the consequences of putting a musket in a negro's hand. +The incontestable points above enumerated show the groundlessness of +such an alleged fear. It needs only to consider them candidly to be +disabused on that score. No one who has seen and knows the tenderness of +the negro toward the children of his master, and his never-failing +respect toward his mistress, dares say he fears the negro's savageness. +No one who knows the negro's religious sensibility and his unshaken +faith in Christ, dares say he fears. No. Only those fear who know +nothing at all about the negro. They fear whose creed is given them by +men thirsting for the negro's blood, that it may be coined into ungodly +gold. + +Thus much will suffice for objections to negro troops, on the ground of +their incapacity. It is seen that the negro is capable to comprehend the +limitations of liberty; that his nature is not essentially savage, or, +if so, has been softened and tempered into a gentle docility under the +benign influences of civilized society; that, above all, his Christian +education has elevated him to a dignity that despises mean revenge. If +further proof is necessary, the regiments of negro slaves recruited in +Louisiana and the Carolinas, acquiring a discipline that has stood them +in good stead at Olustee (day of gloom) and elsewhere on their native +soil, may be cited in evidence of their capacity. + +But what about our rights in the matter? For we are considering now the +case of the slaves, not the free negro? The proper and sufficient answer +to that question is, What about the rights of slave-holders? What rights +of theirs are we bound to respect now? They have taken the law into +their own hands, and if they cannot enforce it, is it any part of our +business to aid them? Certainly and undoubtedly not. It is part of the +penalty of treason; part of the price they are paying for their ignoble +thrust at the nation's life; and a very light penalty, and cheap price +it is, that they lose their right to hold slaves. Such rights as they +possessed they held under the Constitution. We have been willing, for +the sake of peace (bearing in mind the apostle's injunction, 'If it be +possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men'), to +protect, under the sacred covenant of the nation, what they called their +rights to property; albeit not willing ourselves to touch the 'accursed +thing.' The history of the country is a witness to our good faith. But +plainly the injunction of the apostle becomes impossible of obedience +when men transform themselves into fiends, and hang up in their railway +cars, as trophies, the ghastly skulls of such of us as have been slain +in defence of the national covenant.[E] By their own acts the +slave-holders have cancelled our obligations as to such permissive +rights under the Constitution. We shall not probably hasten to incur any +more such obligations. They say that slavery is the strength of their +society. Doubtless it is. Then, Samson-like, they have pulled down upon +themselves the pillars of their whole fabric, and they cannot complain +if they and all their rights, immunities, and titles are buried in the +ruins. In other words, they have appealed from the Constitution, or the +law civil, to the sword, or the law military; and they must abide the +result of that appeal. Such is a brief statement of the question of +negro troops, as affecting the slaves of the South and their traitor +masters. + + +III. THE FREE NEGRO AS A SOLDIER. + +There is another phase of the question, less difficult of solution than +the preceding, perhaps, but by no means less important. It is the case +of the free negro, and especially the free negro of the North. Here +again we need not stop to discuss abstract questions of equality, nor +declare our adherence to the philosophy of Miscegenation. We need not +stop to consider the nature, or justice, of the prejudice which prevails +against the negro at the North. It is undeniable that there is such a +prejudice. Accepting the undoubted fact, we see that it shuts nearly +every avenue of honest industry against the man with a black skin, +restricting him to the most menial offices; and that it is fostered in +many ways by the conventions and usages of our society, so as +practically to put him in a worse condition than his bonded brother at +the South--always except as to his God-given right to his liberty and +labor. Experience has shown that even this is not always fully assured +to the negro; and the July riots of New York indicate the uncertain +tenure of his liberty and life, even under the protection of equal laws. +What then? Shall we remand him to the servitude of the South? Shall we +enact for him a sort of Napoleonic law of general safety, to deprive him +of the poor liberty he has--however profitless the boon may seem to us +to be? Certainly not. Every instinct of humanity rises up against so +monstrous a suggestion. Yet something very like it has a place in the +legislation of some States in the American Union. + +Then what a Providential solution of the question is offered in the +employment of the negro as a soldier! There cannot surely be any +well-founded objection to it. Such opposition as the plan has +encountered seems to spring from the same unreasoning prejudice that +keeps the black man out of all decent industries in our free North. It +is that very prejudice which this plan will overcome. For the first +thing to be done is to raise the negro from his degradation; and to do +this we must obviously begin with teaching him a proper self-respect. +This will bear its fruit in making him respected by others. No one will +say that it is well to foster a feeling which outlaws any single class +in the community from the respect of all. This would be to glorify the +slave system of the South, and lay a basis for possible revolutions. +Thus the employment of the negro as a soldier, while it must inspire the +bondman of the South with a truer sense of his worth and capacity, and +thus tend to weaken the foundation of the whole rebel fabric, will also +correct the unquestioned evil of a growing class of outlaws in the midst +of our society. And if we clothe the negro in the uniform of a soldier +of the United States, the respect of the nation for its brave defenders +will teach him self-respect; at the same time that it will teach the +nation to put a new value upon its idea of loyalty. + +The epitaph commemorative of the Spartan valor that has made Thermopylae +a name forever, serves to show the conclusion of our whole discussion: + + 'Go, stranger, and at Lacedaemon tell, + That here, obedient to her laws, we fell.' + +For the man who is loyal to his flag will not quarrel with the color of +a comrade in arms who has shed blood, red like his own, in defending +that flag from dishonor; just as the man who is loyal to the altar feels +a fellowship for every one, however humble, who bears the name of their +common Master, and is made in the image of their common Father. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[D] Late Southern newspapers speak of the obstinacy of the garrison at +Fort Pillow, and assert that Forrest would have stopped the massacre at +any time after the capture, if our soldiers had manifested any +disposition to yield. + +[E] The writer's father saw these skulls hanging in the cars on a +railway in Georgia, after first Bull Run, and saw them handed through +the cars amid the jeers of passengers. + + + + +COLORS AND THEIR MEANING. + + +In order to a due understanding of the signification of colors, it is +necessary we should commence at the foundation. Accordingly I shall +begin by saying that colors are primary, secondary, and tertiary. + +Primary colors are three: red, yellow, and blue. + +RED is the color of greatest heat. + +YELLOW is the color of greatest light. + +BLUE is the color of chemical change. + +In accordance with this philosophical truth, we should naturally expect +to find a preponderance of blue rays from the sun in the spring time, +and so it is. + +These rays preponderate at the time of ploughing, sowing, and +germination. + +In the summer time, after the plant has started from the ground, and +requires vigorous leaves to bring it to perfection ere the cold winter +rolls around once more, we have the yellow rays. 'Light, more light,' is +then the cry of nature, and as not even length of days affords this +element in sufficient completeness, the sun darts his brightest beams in +'the leafy month of June.' + +Later still in the year, after germination is past and growth perfected, +comes the necessity of heat rays to ripen fruit, vegetables, and grain, +and nature's behests are obeyed in the then preponderance of the red +rays. Much of this effect may be due to the _media_ through which the +sun's rays pass. A sensitized photographic paper is not colored as much +at an altitude of three miles in half an hour as is a similar paper upon +the earth's surface in one moment. At any season of the year, gardeners +can either stimulate or retard germination as they place a blue or +yellow glass over the nursling. That the growth of plants is not due +alone to the rays of the sun we can, without experiment, convince +ourselves, as even ordinary observers are well aware that upon some days +plants shoot up so rapidly as to grow almost visibly under their eyes, +and in other conditions of the atmosphere seemingly remain dormant for +days. + +The germinating influence, let it be due either to peculiar rays alone, +or to atmospheric state, does not contain much coloring matter. The +first spring flowers are of a pale color; as summer advances we have +brighter hues, but not until the approach of fall do we see Flora in all +her gorgeousness of coloring. The paleness of mountain and arctic +flowers, and the brilliancy of those of the tropics, point to the same +cause which gives the temperate zones their brightest flowers when heat +rays preponderate. + +As depth of color seems connected with the red or heat rays; so perfume +belongs rightfully to the summer blossoms; when light is the strongest, +then we have our pinks, and roses, and lilies. + +There are also in the spectrum four secondary colors: orange, green, +indigo, and violet. The secondary colors are alternate with the primary +in the spectrum, and are formed by a mixture of the two primary nearest +them--as orange, formed by a union of red and yellow; green, by a +mixture of yellow and blue; indigo and violet, of blue and red. Thus: + +Red, + +_Orange_, + +Yellow, + +_Green_, + +Blue, + +_Indigo_, + +_Violet_. + +Tertiary colors are many more than both primary and secondary. They are +hues not found in the spectrum. They are nature's stepchildren rather +than children, and many of them might not inappropriately be called +children of art; yet although most of them are of inventions that man +has sought out, they are at best but shades, and must all look back to +the spectrum as their common parent. + +Each of the primary colors forms a simple contrast to the other two; +thus blue is contrasted by yellow and by red, either of which forms a +simple contrast to it; but as it is a law of color that compound +contrasts are more effective than simple in the proportion of two to +one, it follows that a mixture of either two of the primitive colors is +the most powerful contrast possible with the other. + +Red and yellow form orange, the greatest and the most harmonious +contrast to blue; red and blue form violet or purple, so much admired in +contrast with yellow in the pansy; yellow and blue form green, the +contrast to red, and the color needed to restore the tone of the optic +nerve when strained or fatigued by undue attention to red. This is the +most common and admirable contrast in the vegetable kingdom; the +brilliant red blossom or fruit, with green leaves, as instance the fiery +tulip, the crimson rose, the scarlet verbena, the burning dahlia, the +cherry and apple trees, the tomato or loveapple of my childhood, and the +scarlet maple and sumach of our American October. + +There are two distinct harmonies of color: the harmony of contrast, and +the harmony of shading. The former is the harmony of striking +diversities found in nature, and the other a mellowing of colors, or +blending of similar hues, attributable to art. + +From this little synopsis of the effects and uses of the prismatic +colors, we shall be enabled the better to understand both the ancient +and modern popular ideas as to colors as representatives and +correspondences. Colors have a mental, moral, and physical +significance--a good and a bad import. The one to which I shall first +direct your attention is that which most readily strikes the eye. + + +RED. + +Which Thoreau called the 'color of colors,' in the Hebrew signified to +have dominion, and in early art was symbolical or emblematic of Divine +love, creative power, etc. The word Adam, we have been taught, signifies +red man; it does mean 'the blood,' which, of course, originated 'to be +red,' as a secondary signification. Lanci, the great interpreter of +Sacred Philology at the Vatican, deems 'The Blusher,' to be the true +meaning of the word Adam. God created man, male and female created He +them, and called their name Adam. A blush, so becoming on the +countenance of feminine beauty, is generally deemed a sign of weakness +when visible upon a man's face. But if the above interpretation be +correct, a blush is a man's birthright, which no sense of false shame +should prevent him from modestly claiming. Red, as signifying +perfection, dominion, fruition, was appropriately the name of our first +parents, whether we regard the account of the creation to be literally +understood, as the old theologians believe, or spiritually and +typically, as the modern ones insist. + +Red is the color of what is intense, be it love or hatred, kindness or +cruelty. It denotes the fulness of strong emotions; alike the glowing of +conscious love or the blazing of fierce anger, the fiery ardor of daring +and valor, or the fierce cruelty of hatred and revenge. Of our own +star-spangled banner, we sing: + + 'The red is the blood of the brave.' + +The red garments of cardinals, and especially their red hats, are +supposed to betoken their readiness to spill their blood for Jesus +Christ. + +Red is the color of undeveloped ideas. It is the hue which most quickly +attracts the attention of children and savages. All barbarous nations +admire red; many savages paint their faces vermilion before entering +battle, to which they look forward as the means of attaining enviable +position in their tribe; for with barbarians physical prowess is the +only superiority. + +Some animals are excited to madness by the sight of this color. The bull +and the turkey take it as a signal of defiance, which they rush to meet. +'Come, if you dare,' they read it, and impetuously hasten to the onset. + +When the bloody Jeffreys was in his bloodiest humor, he wore into court +a red cap, which was the sure death warrant of those about to be tried. + +The death garment of Charlotte Corday was a red chemise--fit emblem of +the ungovernable instincts, the wild rioting in blood of that reign of +terror. + +Christ was crucified in a scarlet robe, and in that color of love and +perfection, perfected his offering of love for mankind. + + +YELLOW. + +Anciently symbolized the sun, the goodness of God, marriage, faith, and +fruitfulness. Old paintings of St. Peter represent him in a yellow +mantle. The Venuses were clothed in saffron-colored tunics; Roman brides +of an early day wore a veil of an orange tinge, called the _flameum_, a +flame--a flame which, kindled at Hymen's torch, it is to be hoped was +ever burning, never consuming. As every good has its antipodal evil, so +every color has its bad sense, which is contrary or opposite to its +first or good signification. + +In a bad sense, yellow means inconstancy, and the aesthetic Greeks, fully +carrying out this meaning, compelled their public courtesans to +distinguish themselves by mantles of saffron color. The radical sense of +saffron is to fail, to be hollow, to be exhausted. In tracing customs, +it is easy to see the bias unknowingly received from natural +significations, significations which take their rise in the spiritual +world. The _San Benito_ or _auto-da-fe_ dress of the Spanish Inquisition +was yellow, blazoned with a flaming cross; and, as a mark of contempt +for the race, the Jews of Catholic Spain were condemned to wear a yellow +cap. Distinguishing colors in dress have ever been one of the most +common methods of expressing distinction of class and differences of +faith, until thence has arisen the imperative adage: 'Show your colors;' +and he who refuses to do so is despised as a hypocrite or changeling. + +Yellow, as a color, finds but few admirers among modern enlightened +nations; it is recognized as the color of shams; but in China, that +country of contrarities, where printing, fish breeding, gas burning, and +artesian wells have been known and stationary for centuries, where +almond-shaped eyes, club feet, and long cues are types of beauty, where +old men laughingly fly kites, and little boys look gravely on, where +white is mourning, and everything is different from elsewhere--there +yellow is the most admired of colors, restricted to the use of royalty +alone under penalty of death. + +Yellow is the most searching of colors, as indeed it should be from its +correspondence with light. It is gaudy, and does not inspire respect, +for it brings into view every imperfection. Every defect in form or +manner is rendered conspicuous by it, and we involuntarily scan the +whole person of the unfortunate and tasteless wearer of it. + + +BLUE. + +In early art, represented truth, honor, and fidelity, and even at this +day we associate blue and truthfulness. Christ and the Virgin were +formerly painted with blue mantles, and blue is especially recognized as +the Virgin's color. We can never turn our eyes upward without seeing +truth's emblematical color. How appropriate that the heavens should be +blue! Of truthfulness and faithfulness it should be our constant +reminder. + +Primary blue enters as a compound into three other colors of the +spectrum: green, indigo, and violet. As a primary color, it is much more +rarely seen in nature than either red or yellow. We have few blue birds, +few blue flowers, few blue fruits. As one of a compound, it is oftener +found than red. The grass, the leaves, everywhere proclaim the marriage +of good, as yellow anciently represented, and truth, as blue symbolized. +There is a deep significance in the change that has come over mankind's +view of the meaning of the first of these colors. With the loss of +faith, the tearing apart of truth and goodness, has come a change of +correspondence. Men have everywhere turned away from the light, though +still professing to strive for truth. + +Each color possesses a character of its own, which proclaims to the +close observer the peculiar qualities of that to which it belongs. The +horticulturist reads the peculiarities of the fruit as readily by its +color as the phrenologist reads his by his 'bumps.' The red one, he will +tell you, is sour, the white one sweet, the pale one flat, and the green +one alkaline; that one is a good table apple, this one a superior cider +apple; and if you further ask the characteristics of a good cider apple, +he will tell you again it is known by its color, not only of the skin, +but also of the pulp, and that it can be foretold whether cider will be +weak, thin, and colorless, or possess strength, or richness, or color. + +The botanist, too, regards color as indicative of quality, the yellow +flower having a bitter taste and a fixed, unfading hue, the black, a +poisonous, destructive property, etc., etc. + +Truth, of which we have seen blue was the correspondent, is never +superficial, and, although apparent truths lie upon the surface, yet a +common adage locates truth at the bottom of a well. Seamen acknowledge +deep indigo blue of water to be indicative of profound depth. Of the +three or primitive colors, the red or heat color, which has been termed +light felt, the yellow or light color, which has been called heat seen, +and the blue, a color of chemical change, which is the color of growth, +these correspond in an unknown degree to the love, wisdom, and truth of +the Supreme One; heat to love, for love is heat; light to wisdom, for +wisdom is light; and germination and growth to truth, for by truth souls +grow into wisdom and love. The more we explore the arcana of nature the +more we will be enabled to discover the correspondence of the natural +with the spiritual world. + + +WHITE. + +Is the emblem of light, every white ray of light containing all the +prismatic colors; and as it symbolizes innocence and purity, it is the +color must appropriate for clothing infants, brides, and the dead. We +think of the angels as clothed in white. At the transfiguration of our +Lord and Master, his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, as +no fuller on earth can white them; and in one of the Evangelists his +raiment is described as at that time as white as the light, and so our +highest comparison of whiteness is 'as white as the light.' + + +BLACK. + +Formed by a combination in equal proportions of the three primitive +colors in equal intensity, is the color of despair. As mourning, it is +only suitable for those who despair of the future of their friends; but +it is preeminently unsuitable to be worn for those who die in Christian +faith with a Christian hope. Despite its gloomy hue, it has almost +become a sacred color among Christian nations, being worn as the dress +of the priest in his ministerial office, and doubly hallowed from its +association with the dead. + +Black, as an ornamental color, should be below all others, for artistic +effect. An artistic dressmaker places the dark or black plaids or +stripes beneath the others. This natural correspondence is almost +universally recognized among enlightened nations in clothing for the +feet. They not only look smaller and more tasteful in black shoes than +in colored, but economy also sanctions them as more useful. The +universal tendency of the nineteenth century is to utilitarianism; the +one question asked is: What is the use? and in use is beauty ever found. + +Ethnological investigation shows that black or dark-colored races have +invariably preceded settlement by the whites. This is in accordance with +the law of color above laid down, viz., that, _artistically_, black is +below the other colors (and now, in order that I may not be +misunderstood, I explicitly say that because, _artistically_, black is +the lowest color, it by no means follows that I deem black or olive or +yellow races subjects for slavery, or unworthy of social and political +rights). In accordance with the above axiom, savage and half-civilized +races are found to be at the present day black haired and black eyed. I +will also venture the assertion that nine tenths of all the people in +the world have black hair. + +The Hindoo legend of the eighth incarnation of Vishnu under the name of +Crishna, makes him then of a bluish-black color, which the name Crishna +signifies. His supposititious father, Wanda, said: + + 'When I named him Crishna, on account of his color, the priest told + me he must be the god who had taken different bodies, red, white, + yellow, and black, in his various incarnations, and now he had + assumed a black color again, since in black all colors are + absorbed.' + +Although among Caucasian nations, and especially in cosmopolitan +America, we do not adduce intellectual superiority from the shades or +degrees of whiteness, yet it is said of the Moors that the more the +color approaches the _black_, the handsomer and of more decisive +character are the men. + +It is a physiological fact brought to light partially through the +census, that black-eyed races and black-eyed people are more subject to +blindness than others. It has also been shown that black-eyed men are +not as good marksmen as blue-eyed or light-eyed men. + +Not only are different races of men subject to different diseases, but +statistics prove that among Caucasian nations, complexion and disease +are in some way connected, as for instance, consumption is more rife +among dark-haired and dark-eyed people than others, and more rapid with +those dark-haired and dark-eyed people who have very fair complexion. As +the difference between golden and black hair lies in that there is in +the one case an excess of sulphur and oxygen with a deficiency of +carbon, and in the other an excess of carbon and a deficiency of sulphur +and oxygen, it can easily be seen why such deficiency or excess, if +arising from idiosyncrasy of the system, should predispose to dissimilar +diseases. But here a wide field yet lies open for experimental and +physiological research. + + +GREEN. + +There is scarcely a color but has been or is held sacred by some nation +or religion. With Mahommedans green is the sacred hue. The prophet +originally wore a turban of that dye, and the sultan shows due +preference for that color. + +The tomb of David, which is in possession of the Mahommedans, and which +was at great hazard visited by a lady within the past few years, is +covered by a green satin tapestry, and over it hangs a satin canopy of +red, blue, yellow, and green stripes, the three primitive and the +sacred, compound color. + +Green also seems to have been the sacred color in ancient Peru, virgins +of the sun wearing robes of that hue. The ancient Mexican priests also, +in the performance of their functions, wore crowns of green and yellow +feathers, and at their ears hung green jewels. Precious stones of a +green color were held in higher estimation by the Aztecs than any other. +When the Spaniards were first admitted to an audience with Montezuma, he +wore no other ornament on his head than a _panache_ of plumes of royal +green. + +Green comes in the class of secondary colors, being a compound of yellow +and blue, and signifies pale, new, fresh, growing, flourishing (like a +green bay tree); and also unripe, when applied to either fruits or men, +which, as far as the human is concerned, is a term of reproach. A person +without experience, either in position, behavior, or use of anything, is +termed green, and laughed at. They are fresh, new, and, instead of the +admiring exclamation, How green it is! as applied to a plant, is the +reproachful one, How green he is! + +At different seasons of the year, different colors are appropriate in +dress. Light green is the color of freshness, youth, and spring, and +more suitable to be worn in the spring of the year and by young persons, +than later in the season or by mature women. Dark green, like crimson +and orange, is a warmer, more intensified color, with less of liveliness +and freshness. + + +PURPLE. + +Is the type of monarchical enlightenment. With Caucasian nations it has +been the symbolic color of royalty, until 'invest with the purple,' in +the course of ages, comes to mean kingdom, government, power, to rule. +Purple is formed by the union of blue and red, truth and valor. Happy +the people who are truly governed by truth and valor! The Tyrian purple +was famous in Homer's days, and our dreams of Tyre and its splendor are +all colored by this most gorgeous of dyes, the manufacture of which from +a species of shell fish gave this ancient city a celebrity which all its +other arts combined could not equal. This was one of the symbolic colors +with which the high priest's robe was wrought in figures of pomegranates +upon its skirt; and when Solomon sent to Hiram, king of Tyre, for a +cunning workman to assist in building the temple, he did not fail to +require he should be skilled in purple. During the time of the Roman +emperors, the Tyrian purple was valued so highly that a pound of cloth +twice dipped was sold for about one hundred and fifty dollars. Even a +purple border about a robe was a mark of dignity. + + +VIOLET. + +Is a color that has often been worn by martyrs; formed of a union of red +and blue, it signifies love and truth, and their passion and suffering. +It is the court mourning color all over Europe, with the exception of +England. It is the softest of the prismatic colors, and its very name +carries us in thought to the modest sweet flower which is Flora's emblem +of humility. + + * * * * * + +Of one of the colors of the spectrum I have failed to speak, because +there was so little to say. Orange is a bright, warm color, not quite as +intense as red, still one which the eye does not readily seek. Its +suitableness in dress is confined mainly to children. Upon them our eye +naturally seeks for bright, warm colors, and rests with a kind of +pleasure upon rich hues. There is nothing upon which the public taste +requires more education than upon the arrangement and modification of +colors. Gardeners need it in setting their plants and putting in their +seeds; florists, in the arrangement of their bouquets; furnishers, in +the decoration of apartments; and especially the fashion leaders, who +decide what colors or shades must or must not be worn together. +Sometimes hues are conjoined by them, that, no matter how loudly +proclaimed _au fait_, the height of style, or _a la mode_, are never +artistic, and no _dicta_ can make them so. A fashion framer should needs +be a natural philosopher, and hold the rudiments of all science in her +grasp. Botany, mineralogy, conchology should walk as handmaidens to +philosophy; optics should steer the rudder of color's bark when launched +upon the sea of taste. + +If, when dressed, the aim is to present a light and graceful toilet, +light and delicate shades of color must be worn; no crimson, dark green, +purple, or indigo, but rose, light green, azure, or lavender, with a due +admixture of white, must be the hues chosen. White serves as an +admirable break, and prevents the appearance of violent transition. It +is none the less requisite in bouquets, where no two shades of the same +color should be allowed without either white or green as a separator. +Very handsome self-colored bouquets can be arranged by giving a finish +of the complementary shade. One of the most beautiful I ever remember to +have seen was scarlet verbenas with a base of rose-geranium leaves, the +whole set in a small antique green-and-gold vase. + +Although the mature fall of the year clothes itself in gay colors, it is +deemed an evidence of immaturity for women in the fall time of life to +sport crimson and scarlet and orange. Sober grays (which mean old, +mature), quiet brown, and even sombre blacks, are rather what are looked +for. To dress young when people are old, deceives no one. There is a +beauty of age as well as a beauty of youth. Those who live to be old +have had their share of the former: why should they seek to deprive +themselves of the latter? Aside from the appropriateness of color as to +age, there are yet others as to size and complexion. Light-haired men +should always wear _very dark_ cravats, in order to give tone and +expression to the face. Large women should wear warm colors, if they +wish to create a pleasant impression. They cannot attain grace by any +aid of color, while they will lose the dignity they might naturally +claim if they confined themselves to warm, grave shades. + +An unartistic arrangement of light or drapery in an apartment will +totally destroy the harmony of the most carefully prepared toilet. Rooms +can be toned warm or cold, but, unless some especial object is sought, +neutral tints should predominate, and violent contrasts should be +avoided. + +Who has failed to notice the fantastic tricks played at times upon some +body of worshippers, where light to the church is admitted through +stained glass windows? A lambent red flame lighting up the hair of a +man's head, while at the same moment his beard is blue and luminous. +Over the shoulders of another, the purple mantle of royalty seems about +falling, investing him for a moment with regal splendors, while perhaps +the cadaverous hue of his next neighbor's face well fits him to be some +imagined victim of his new majesty's anger. + +Color ranks as one of the earliest arts. No nation is so low but it +makes some attempt at decorative color, and we may be well assured it +was one of the earliest, if not the earliest method employed in +transmitting intelligence. When this country was first discovered, the +Peruvians were making use of small knotted cords of various colors, +termed _quippu_, as mediums of records and messages. Our own North +American savages employed wampum, made from various colored shells, for +a similar purpose. Color played its part in ancient Egyptian +hieroglyphics. It speaks to the eye sooner than form. A black flag +hoisted upon the battle field proclaims louder than words the demoniac +cruelty that reigns, while a white signifies that submission has been +decided upon. Joseph's coat of many colors proclaimed the father's +favoritism to his brothers, and worked a mighty change in the history of +the race to which he belonged. This very instance, if we possessed no +other, would prove to us the high estimation in which color was held, +and its symbolic meaning, in the most ancient times. + +The ermine is an animal of such spotless purity it will tolerate no +stain on its fur, and by this symbolic name we designate the judge, who +should be stainless, unbiassed, and incorruptible. + +The highest art of the florist is put forth to procure change of color. +Self tulips are valueless beside sports, and to induce this breaking +various methods are put in requisition, as there is no sporting of +colors from natural causes among flowers. A green rose, a blue verbena, +are hailed as triumphs, and secure the propagator an enviable name +either as an amateur or professional florist. + +Perhaps the most curious thing connected with color is that some stars +give colored light; and in one instance, in a northern constellation, a +_double_ star gives forth blue rays from one and red from the other. How +our fancy might be permitted to soar away beyond the stars themselves in +wondering fancies as to the meaning of this--truth and love united in a +star, not as a compound color, but each retaining its own hue of blue +and red! What a happy abode of truthful, loving spirits we can imagine +this the dwelling place! And may there not here be a symbol of such a +union? + +The art of color is yet in its infancy, and although Tyrian purple was +magnificent and famous, and the highly prized Turkey red unfading, yet +modern chemical discovery has opened a wide variety of hues unknown to +the ancients. + +Colors obtained from vegetable substances have been the most numerous, +those from the animal kingdom the most brilliant, and from the mineral +the greatest variety from the same substance. A buff, a blue, and a +black, and again a red, a blue, a purple, and a violet, are produced +from the same metal. + +The recent discovery of aniline colors, to be extracted from coal +refuse, has given art new, beautiful, and durable shades of red, blue, +purple, and violet. We know but by description what the lauded Tyrian +purple was, for monopoly caused the art to be lost; but for softness, +richness, and beauty of purple we have none to approach that extracted +from this refuse. Nature means nothing to be lost, and waste arises from +ignorance. She is a royal mistress when royally represented. + +To the mineral kingdom we are indebted for most of the mordants which +fix the hues derived from other sources. That in union is strength is +taught by the most common art. + +Much is yet to be learned in regard to color. Men have understood its +correspondence sufficiently to associate red and cruelty as its lowest +expression, so that the men of the bloody French Revolution received an +undying name from the red cap of the Carmagnole costume--and yellow with +shame, for a ruff of this color on the neck of a woman hanged drove this +fashion out of England--and white with purity, as the ermine of the +judge shows; although, thousands of years ago, the men of Tartary and +Thibet prized the wool of the Crimean sheep stained of a peculiar gray +by its feeding upon the _centarina myriocephala_, and although modern +gardeners deepen the hues of plants by feeding them judiciously, yet few +attach the requisite importance to color as history. Writers for the +most part pass silently by this great aid to a correct understanding of +past events. Color in costume is no less essential to a true description +or representation than form; in some instances it is more so. + +The _color_ of the silken sails of Cleopatra's vessel, as she sailed +down the Cydnus, proclaimed her royalty as no other could have done. + +A fairy could not be depicted without her green robe, or young Aurora +unless tinted with the hues of morn. + +Here lies the great fault of all sun pictures. The distinctive hues of +complexion, hair, and eyes are not preserved. The flaxen, the auburn, +the brown hair alike take black. Light eyes and dark are +undistinguishable; the clearest complexion becomes muddy and full of +lines if the color of the dress is such as to throw the shade upon it. + +A mixture of colors in dress in which either two of the primitives +predominate, is a token of barbarism, even if occurring among so-called +enlightened people. + +Color is an exponent of the degree of civilization. + +RED finds its fitness among savage races, and with undeveloped +natures. + +YELLOW indicates transition from barbarism to civilization. + +GREEN, advanced civilization. + +PURPLE, monarchical enlightenment, which is will individualized +in but one. + +Modification and harmony are only with people free to follow taste and +select for themselves. Among the most enlightened nations these five +states are all found. The highest type, shown by culture, discovery, +art, literature, science, equity, and government, exists with but a few. +The mass are civilized, and continue 'the mass.' It is the natural +tendency of enlightenment to individualize. In proportion to genius, +culture, and _perseverance_, is one set apart, becomes a leader of the +masses, and should be a teacher of the harmony and correspondence of +color, both by precept and example. + +Strong contrasts are admissible in what is designed to illustrate +particular things, and especially if to be viewed from a distance. To me +no sight is ever more beautiful than the American flag, red, white, and +blue, as the breeze opens every fold and waves it abroad for the gaze of +men; the blue signifying a league and covenant against oppression, to be +maintained in truth, by valor and purity; the very color proclaiming to +despots and tyrannized man that in one land on the broad face of the +earth liberty of conscience prevails, and freedom of speech exists. We +shall not want to change it when this war is over. It is the symbol of +an idea which has never yet found its full utterance. When Liberty and +Union become one and indivisible, it will be the harmonious exponent of +those grand ideas rooted, budded, blossomed, and bearing fruit +forevermore. + + + + +BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. + + + Oh, how our pulses leaped and thrilled, when, at the dead of night, + We saw our legions mustering, and marching forth to fight! + Line after line comes surging on with martial pomp and pride, + And all the pageantries that gild the battle's crimson tide. + A forest of bright bayonets, like stars at midnight, gleam; + A hundred glittering standards flash above the silver stream. + We plunged into the Wilderness, and morning's early dawn + Disclosed our gallant army in line of battle drawn. + An early zephyr fresh and sweet breathed through the forest shade; + A thousand happy warblers, too, a pleasant music made; + And modest blossoms bathed in dew the morning light revealed: + Oh, who could deem those pleasant shades a savage foe concealed? + With lagging pace the morning hours dragged heavily away, + And yet we wait the coming strife, in battle's stern array. + A solemn stillness reigns around--but hark! a savage yell, + As if ten thousand angry fiends had burst the gates of hell, + Now thrills upon our startled ears. By heaven! the traitors come! + We see their gleaming banners, we hear the throbbing drum. + In solid ranks, their countless hordes from the dense woods emerge, + And roll upon our serried lines like ocean's angry surge. + Our ranks are silent--on each face the light of battle glows: + 'Ready!' At once our polished tubes are levelled on our foes. + Now leaps a livid lightning up--from rank to rank it flies-- + A fearful diapason rends the arches of the skies. + The wooded hills seem reeling before that fierce recoil; + With fire and smoke the valleys like Etna's craters boil: + From red volcanoes bursting, hissing, hurtling in the sky, + A thousand death-winged messengers like fiery meteors fly: + Within that seething vortex their shattered cohorts reel. + 'Fix bayonets!' At once our lines bristle with burnished steel. + 'Charge!' And our gallant regiments burst through the _feu d'enfer_. + Before their furious onset the rebel hosts give way; + And, surging backward, hide again within the forest's shade, + Whose mazes dark and intricate our charging columns stayed. + + Now sinks the fiery orb of day, half hidden from our sight + Amid the sulphurous clouds of war dyed red in lurid light; + And soon the smoking Wilderness with gloom and darkness fills; + The dense, damp foliage on the sod a bloody dew distils. + Sleepless we rest upon our arms. Dim lights flit through the shade: + We hear the groans of dying men, the rattle of the spade. + And when the morning dawns at last, resounding from afar + We hear the crash of musketry, the rising din of war. + O comrades, comrades, rally round, close up your ranks again; + Weep not our brethren fallen upon the crimson plain; + For unborn ages shall their tombs with freshest laurels twine; + Their names in characters of light on history's page shall shine: + We all must die; but few may win a deathless prize of life-- + Close up your ranks--again the foe renews the bloody strife. + Two days we struggled fiercely against our stubborn foes-- + Two days from out the Wilderness the din of conflict rose. + But when the third aurora bathed the eastern sky in gold, + And to our soldiers' anxious gaze the field of death unrolled, + Lo! all was silent in our front. The rebel hosts had fled, + Abandoning in hasty flight their wounded and their dead. + + Come, friends of freedom, gather round, loud shouts of triumph give: + The field of blood is won at last--let the republic live! + Our country, O our country, our hearts throb wild and high; + Your cause has triumphed. God be praised! Freedom shall never die. + Our eagle proudly soars to-day, his talons bathed in gore, + For treason's hydra head is crushed--its reign of terror o'er. + Wake, wake your shouts of triumph all through our mighty land, + From California's golden hills to proud Potomac's strand. + Atlantic's waves exulting Pacific's billows call, + And great Niagara's cataracts in louder thunders fall. + We've stayed the tempest black as night that on our country lowers, + And backward dashed its waves of blood. The victory is ours! + + A light shines from the Wilderness--far up time's pathway streams-- + Through death, and blood, and agony, on Calvary's cross it gleams; + It lights with radiance divine Mount Vernon's humble tomb, + And sparkles on Harmodius' sword bright flashing through the gloom. + Ho! slaves of yesterday, arise, now will your chains be riven. + Ho! tyrants, tremble, for behold a day of vengeance given. + Gaze on our banners stained with blood--think of your brethren slain; + Say, has not freedom, crushed to earth, sprung forth to life again? + Freedom, high freedom, friend of man, sheath not thy crimson steel; + Still let thy cannon thunder loud, still let thy trumpet peal; + Stay not the justice of thy wrath, stay not thy vengeful hand, + Till slavery and treason have been blotted from our land. + + + + +TARDY TRUTHS. + + +Under the heading of 'Tardy Truths' _The New Nation_, of May 7th, +republished a compendium of matter some time back given to the world by +M. Emile de Girardin, in his paper _La Presse_, and in pamphlet form. +This matter purports to have been written by a so-called _ex-commandant_ +in the late Polish insurrection, a certain M. Fouquet, of Marseilles. + +Poland has no reason to fear truth. On the contrary, the difficulty has +been to find means to set it forth, avenues to the public intelligence +and sense of justice, whereby those might be reached who forget the +Latin saying: _Audi et alteram partem_. The Poles are willing to hear +reproaches, if such as may be profited by, or if the self-constituted +judges be conscientious and unprejudiced. + +But, may we not ask why it is that many of these _so-called_ truths, +professedly founded upon personal acquaintance with Polish localities, +men, and institutions, spring from sources in many respects similar to +that of the recent publication in _La Presse_, from individuals who +never were in Poland beyond a few hours spent in Warsaw--who have seen +nothing of the country, except as passing in a passenger car from Kracow +to Mohilew, a distance of about seven hundred miles, traversed in about +twenty-four hours--who never understood one word of Polish, of Rossian, +or of any of the cognate tongues--who have never conversed freely with +the inhabitants--who may have been entertained during a few hours by +Government employes or by cautious and distrustful patriots--who were in +a hurry to see St. Petersburg and its _elephant_, and who learned Polish +history in the Kremlin, in the saloons of some former prince from the +Altay or the Caucasus, or, at best, in the work of M. Koydanoff? + +_La Presse_, in Paris, undertook the charge of saying things which her +franker sisters, _Le Nord_ and _La Nation_, the avowed organs of Rossian +czarism, did not venture to propound. M. de Girardin, whose paper has, +since a certain period, taken a liberalistic, even socialistic, +infection, is a living example of sundry anomalous eccentricities, such +as Alcibiades, Gracchus, Mirabeau, etc., who speak most liberally, and +act in a contrary manner. He seems to have been adopted by Rossian +diplomatists, and those sanguine of Rossian _destiny_, as a most +convenient defender of czarish ambition--the more so that they found in +him a revealer of things never thought of by the czar; as for instance, +liberality and even democracy in Great Rossia, on the plains of Okka and +Petschora. + +We might compare M. Fouquet's account of Poland with Neumann's account +of Kosciusko, or Freneau's of Washington, but will content ourselves +with referring the reader to better European sources of knowledge, as +the _Breslau Zeitung_, _Ost Deutsche Zeitung_, _Czas_, _Wiek_, _La +Pologne_, etc. + +Indeed, it would not be worth our while to pay any attention to M. +Fouquet's allegations, had not the Paris letter of April 4th appeared in +the above-mentioned paper, and were it not likely to mislead many +ignorant of the facts. + +The writer tells us that he has 'experienced a great temptation to tell +what he has seen,' and to 'expose the result of experience acquired at +his own cost, with all attendant risk and danger.' Probably we do not +understand the fear of the author of 'Tardy Truths,' and wish to give no +extended explanation to his conclusion: 'A rare opportunity occurs at +_present_, and he profits by it.' We have been taught that we must +always have courage to speak the truth. Surely no great amount of that +noble quality is required to make accusations in a paper far from the +scene of action, and pronounce a verdict where there can be no adequate +defence, no judges, only the advantage of the fashion of the day, and +the craving for problematical benefits and friendship, to which we must +apply Moore's comparison: + + 'Like Dead Sea fruits, that tempt the eye, + But turn to ashes on the lips.' + +Let us never be deceived: a free nation in the embrace of absolutism +must, sooner or later, fall a prey to the cajoler's hypocrisy and greed. + +The correspondent reports that the Polish Committee in Paris declined to +give him information or furnish means, and even said that they did not +wish volunteers. All this may readily be explained by the consideration +that a man who thereafter proved to be so bitter an enemy was not +sufficiently diplomatic to deceive even the obtuse perceptions of so +undeserving a body as the author describes said committee. On the other +hand, it would have been more prudent for the writer to have said less +on this topic, as such hesitation in accepting his services might induce +the reader to think that the Poles were not so anxious for external aid +as he seemed to fancy. We also know that not only at present in Poland, +but in former ages, and in our own days, in the happiest of countries, +there can be no revolution, no war, which will not attract a host of men +covetous of rank or fortune. Lately, in Poland, by certain judicious +arrangements, this calamity has been prevented, to the great +dissatisfaction of many. + +No one can doubt or deny that the interest of various Governments, and +the sense of justice among nations, gave the Poles a right to expect +foreign aid. The assurances of certain politicians and statesmen even +gave _reasonable expectation_ of such a result. Such aid would of course +neither be rejected nor treated with indifference. But the assertion +that the Poles relied _solely_ on such aid is (in the face of the +manifesto of January 22d and July 31st, 1863) either a proof of ill +will, or of entire ignorance of the resources upon which Poland was +bound to rely, and which could not be intrusted to the discretion of +every volunteer or pretended well-wisher to the Polish nation. + +Continuing his imputations, the accuser says he only learned afterward +why seven thousand Parisian workmen, registered at M. d'Harcourt's +committee, 'were not sent forth.' The probable purport of this reproach +is: 'They were not sent for fear of the introduction of liberal +elements--and the _proletariat_--into Poland.' As to the latter, we may +at once confidently answer that, were Poland free to-day, the condition +of the laboring class in Western Europe need not be dreaded for a +hundred years to come. As to the liberal element, does the author indeed +think that Poland has had no Liberalists similar to Voltaire, La +Mennais, Victor Hugo, L. Blanc, Mazzini, or Hertzen? Does he fancy that +Modzewski (in the sixteenth century), Skarga (a Catholic preacher in the +seventeenth), Morsztyn, Jezierski, Andrew Zamoyski, Hugo Kollontay, +Loyko (in the eighteenth), Staszye, Lelewel, Mochnacki, Ostrowski, +Czynski, Mieroslawski, and a host of others, contented with the private +good they did, and forced to shun the jealous watchfulness of suspicious +rulers--does he, we say, fancy that all these needed to be inspired by +the liberality of Parisian workmen, or even that all the aforesaid +workmen would apply themselves to the dissemination of liberal opinions? +It is indeed a great disadvantage to Polish Liberalists, philosophers, +and poets, that they speak and write in a tongue unknown to the noble +philanthropists of the West. A greater amount of knowledge would have +saved hasty tourists, _veracious_ lecturers, and all-knowing +diplomatists many errors in statement and conception, and much aversion +toward a noble people, who, if vanquished, will not be crushed, and will +always reserve the _right_ of _protest_. + +At all events, this last conclusion of our correspondent leads us to +suspect that he may perchance never have been in Poland--perhaps never +even in Paris--since this _non-sending_ forth of seven thousand +Parisians was better understood by every _gamin du faubourg_ than +apparently by the _sincere_ narrator of 'Tardy Truths.' + +The writer says further, that he expected to find in Kracow 'activity +and infinite means.' Now, the author and the confidence of the Poles +must have been quite strangers to one another, or his imagination must +have misled him farther than was becoming in a man of knowledge and +reflection. He does not mention the date of his journey, but we know +about the period referred to. It is true that at that time Kracow had +not yet been declared in a state of siege by M. Pouilly de Mensdorf, +but, as a personal friend of the Czar, he had then held Galicia and +Kracow during the past year under a more uncertain condition than even +the declaration of a state of siege would have produced. Twenty thousand +chosen officers and soldiers, with discretionary and greatly enlarged +powers, and almost as many policemen and spies, with early fed and +increasing covetousness for rewards, promotions, and orders, kept +constant watch over the ancient capital of Poland, the last remnant of +Polish nationality which had been engulfed in the European peace of +1846. + +We may then safely assert that our author has given us sketches from his +whims and fancies, rather than the mature results of his judgment, and +that he has also neglected to direct his researches into the history of +the past. It is doubtless true that he was not desired as a volunteer, +and that he found danger only, and not fortune, which, indeed, we think +his own sagacity might have taught him from the first. + +We would be forced to doubt that any one understood the policy of the +Polish Committee in Warsaw who should apply the epithet 'mercenary' to +the Polish soldiers. We would not ask our author how much he gave per +diem to those under his own command: we have no wish to rival the wit of +a Russian proclamation which appeared last winter in Warsaw, in which +the Poles in general, including those who fought at Orsza, Wielikie +Luki, Kirchholm, Chocim, Smolensk, Vienna, Zurich, Hohenlinden, +Samocierros, Pultusk, Grochow, Iganie, Zyzyny, Opatow, etc., etc., were +stigmatized as poltroons and cowards! + +It is certainly true that the battles of late have not represented a +file of twenty thousand men, but to call them on that account _frontier +demonstrations_, is to add subtle calumny to ungenerous irony; it is a +deviation even from the very 'tardy truths.' It is an assertion not made +in an impartial spirit, but calculated in favor of, and determinately +stated with the intention of sustaining those who are exerting +themselves to prove that Minsk, Grodno, Mohilew, Wolhynia, Podole, +Plock, Augustow, Lithuania, Samogitia, Liefland, etc., were ancient +dependencies of Russia, before she had herself an existence either in +name or fact! If the originator of the term _frontier demonstrations_ +would take the trouble to study the map, he would not be able to cherish +the delusion that his intelligent readers could believe that battles +fought near Kowno, Oszmiana, Upita, Poniewiez, Lida, Ihumen, Dubno, +Pinsk, Mscislaw, etc., were really _frontier demonstrations_! + +This declaration of the letter from Paris to America would not be of +much service to _The Journal of St. Petersburg_ or _The Invalid_, of +Moscow, or increase their exhilaration over the extermination of the +Polish race, the destruction of Polish principles. There is nothing more +natural than that a rebuke to the _Siecle, Opinion Nationale, Patrie_, +and perhaps even others, should follow such statements--their views +undoubtedly stand in complete opposition to those held by M. de +Girardin, and advocated in _La Presse_. + +The assertion that the Polish National Government had no object in view +but to excite and await the intervention of France; that Galicia was the +principal focus of the rebellion, and that the unknown Government had no +actual existence, is, on the one hand, an unskilful attempt to justify +the Governments of Russia and Austria, and, on the other, by the +ignoring of all the reports of the Polish National Government--all its +obvious facts, its printed documents, its acts everywhere known and +seen, its seizures of papers and documents--and to portray it as a +fraud, a myth, a dream of the imagination, a wild hallucination of a +disordered brain, it suggests to us the thought that the _tardy_ and +present truths here given us of Poland may perhaps have the same origin +as that famous description in one of the St. Petersburg papers, of 'the +at last truly discovered leader of the Polish insurrection,' which was +but a portraiture of a certain, not mentioned but easily guessed, +personage in Paris. + +We have no reply to make to this reproach (we can only wonder that under +the circumstances they should ever have been made) that the Polish +volunteers were badly armed and illy managed--possibly they might have +been better even in a partisan war. But as to the want of skill in the +officers, including such as Skarzynski, Bosak, Padlewski, we wonder that +the writer or his friend F. could not succeed in making their talents +known and valued, and become at least leaders among the blind. Of course +he had to contend with cross-eyed jealousy. Yet if, as a foreigner, and +a learned one too, he was, as he himself informs us, intimately admitted +into various chateaux, it seems almost impossible he should have had no +opportunity to become major, colonel, or even general, since it is well +known, and every foreigner will bear witness to the fact, that in these +_chateaux_ there has always been too much attention and too great +preference shown to foreigners--a preference, however, in which the +lower classes do not participate. + +As to the easy chateau life led in Galicia, as in Russia, we have a +remark to offer. In a country exposed during five or six centuries to +incessant struggle against Asiatic craving for European allurements, or, +to speak more definitely, after ninety-four Mongolian incursions, in +which twenty millions of Polish people were carried off, and thousands +of towns, bourgs, and villages were destroyed; after numberless wars, +plunders, and devastations by Jazygs, Turks, Muscovites, Crusaders, +Wallachians, Transylvanians, Swedes, Brandenburgians, etc., etc.; after +a hundred years of the so-called _paternal_ spoliation of Russia, +Prussia, and Austria--there could have been no opportunity, even under +Graff Pouilly de Mensdorf, to build _comfortable_ chateaux on the +mouldering ruins, or for the accumulation of means for an easy life +under the oppressions of an Austrian tariff, which exacted that goods +manufactured in Lemberg should be sent for inspection to the Vienna +custom house before being exposed to sale. There are, however, a few +very splendid chateaux, like oases in the Desert of Sahara; they can be +counted readily on one's fingers; among them few patriots; no +conspirator, much less an insurgent or crippled invalid, ever called to +ask hospitality. + +The calumny so often repeated, so urgently insisted upon, that the aim +of the Polish insurrection was inconsistent, foolish, and wicked, might +not perhaps astonish the reader more than the report of the want of zeal +and faith in the convictions of the Poles, a fact first revealed to the +world in 'Tardy Truths.' This warning with regard to the true character +of the struggle on the shores of the Vistula might prove of service in +aiding the discrimination of the American people, and be useful in +confusing the judgment of the liberal men and newspapers, which, whether +in Germany, Belgium, France, or England, are not too much inclined to +favor the cause of Polish independence; nay, it would spare France the +useless demonstration in the Chambers, made in consequence of the speech +of November 5th. The late efforts of the Poles are also shown to have +been inspired and incited by, and carried on for the benefit of, the +Catholic clergy, stimulated by fanaticism against the liberal, +civilizing, enlightened, Rosso-Greek Church, a view which might and has +proved very useful to modern lecturers and letter writers. The warning +therein given might also serve to degrade the Polish revolution to the +level of some of the slave-holders' rebellion. Let us reflect but for +one single moment on the parallel attempted to be drawn, particularly in +the New York papers, after the unfortunate Mexican imbroglio and +subsequent visit of the Russian fleet, between things so utterly unlike. +The Poles fought for everything most dear to the heart of man, for every +right which he can justly claim, for independence, national existence, +the right to use his own language, for the integrity of his +country;--the States of the South had all these in full possession, nay, +even the right to pass the law binding the North. These things might be +shown to be essentially dissimilar in _every_ respect, but this short +statement is deemed sufficient to show the futility of the comparison. + +Let us now proceed to say a few words with regard to the plausible +arguments so generally set forth for the glorification of the Czar, in +respect to the emancipation of the Polish serfs. The Czar gave in 1864 +what had already been given by the Poles themselves in 1863; less the +soil, which indeed never belonged to him, but for which he exacts +payment. Besides, he has confiscated, without regulations or laws, the +income from forests, rents, fields, and fisheries, belonging to old men, +women, and children, whose only crime was that they had been born Poles, +or whom it pleased the hungry throng of unscrupulous, greedy, and +fanatical officials, unbounded in their zeal as in their power, to +denounce, accuse, or dislike. We could fully prove the fact that the +greater part of the peasants are now forced by bayonets to work for the +exacted pay, and most of them venture to doubt entirely the propriety of +the pretended Russian gift. This one circumstance makes this gift in the +greater part of Poland and even, of Russia more burdensome than the old +state of regulated labor; for how is a peasant to procure money in +provinces distant from markets, rivers, and towns? Under what conditions +would it be possible to obtain it? And even in cases where the peasant +may be able to make a sale, the value received for eight bushels of +potatoes will not be sufficient to buy him a common axe. How many +calves, cows, sheep, horses, and hogs are brought back from market from +the impossibility of finding purchasers, even at the lowest prices? Now, +by the decree of January 22d, the Polish National Government gave +freedom, and land relieved from all claims, thus executing what was in +accordance with the spirit and wishes of the Poles, without losing sight +of the difficulties to be encountered. It was their imperative duty to +satisfy and adjust the exigencies of the national political economy. +Fortunately, it was found possible to harmonize the requirements of the +country with the personal interests of the proprietors. The amount of +land held by them was in general so large, that even after endowing the +peasant with the allotted portion, considerable would still remain in +their hands. Diminished in extent and value during the transitional +phase, the remaining land would necessarily rise rapidly in value, +because the emancipated peasant _would_ now _have_ the right to own and +buy land. The calculation might be sustained that it would quintuple in +value in the course of fifty years. Small farms from their possessions +would soon be in the market, farms within the range of small purses and +limited means, and the proprietors did not fail to see the advantage +which would accrue to them in the almost unlimited increase of +purchasers which would soon be found among the enfranchised laborers. +The peasants gained freedom, land, and many advantages, nor were the +proprietors ruined in their advancement. Hence the National Government +effected what the Rossian never intended to do or ever will achieve: +gain and loss were equalized in the national duty of sustaining the +country in its progressive course, stimulating all to labor +simultaneously to support its public burdens, to aid in the general +advancement. The real freedom thus gained, in accordance with the +far-sighted policy of the Polish National Government, opened wide the +door to liberty, trade, commerce, and exchange; a policy which czarism, +even in its most liberal mood, can never admit, because it would condemn +itself, and give the death blow to its own existence. There is another +specialty peculiar to the Rossian Government, never forgotten by those +who live under its rule, viz.: the late emancipation was begun about +three years ago by an ukase of no very decided purport, which was +followed by many others of like uncertain character, according with the +varying views of those by whom they were dictated, by the partisans of +emancipation or by those standing in opposition to it. These ukases are +ranged in their appropriate numerical titles, and there are at least +five hundred thousand of them--whether imperial or senatorial, all +legally binding. What memory could stand such a burden, or what might +legal cavil not find therein? + +It is an easy thing to 'speak for Buncombe,' as we say in America; it is +an easy thing to proclaim measures when we take no thought of how they +may be carried out; it is easy to excite the enthusiasm of the popular +lecturer, always in search of novelty with which to feed his hearers; it +may be pleasant to furnish venom to wounded self-esteem or disappointed +and petty ambition--but it will be found an exceedingly difficult task +to reconcile absolutism with freedom, czarism with liberalism, the +division of men into appointed castes and classes with the existence of +liberty and political equality. We are assured, not only by the writer +of the letter in question, but by the sages of New York, that the Polish +peasants were not willing to fight for Poland, that they called their +countrymen now in arms against Rossia 'dogs of nobles,' and 'that it was +really their duty to rise against and denounce their former _masters_ to +Rossia and Austria!' + +If these assertions are true, who then filled the ranks of the Polish +insurgents? Who furnished food to those who lived for months in the +depths of forests, the haunts of mountain gorges? How was it possible +that without the connivance of the peasants the insurgents should pass +to and fro, or lie hidden in woods and fields? It was stated +authoritatively that the insurgents, were composed principally of +Hungarian refugees, about ten Frenchmen, a few strangers from other +nations, but of the number of the lesser nobility, men, in short, in +search of shelter and fortune. A strange fortune, a marvellous shelter +indeed to reward the greed of the ambitious--exile, death, and torture! +Were the testimony of such witnesses to be relied upon, we might well +exclaim: 'Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.' Yet how is it that we +find among the seven hundred patriots who were hung so many Poles, less +than a half of whom were Catholics, many of whom were Jews, Protestants, +and even Rosso-Greeks of various classes? Among the forty thousand known +deported, torn ruthlessly away from their native homes for centuries, we +find nearly five thousand Israelites, ten thousand peasants (known), and +from four to six thousand of Greek and other creeds. The two villages +near Lida, two in the government of Grodno, the hundreds of villages and +thousands of huts near Dwina, Rzezyca, Mohilew, Witebsk, burned, razed +to the ground by an excited and hired rabble of Muscovite Muziks, who +had sought and found hospitality in Poland for hundreds of +years--certainly all these villages and huts were not inhabited even by +the 'lesser nobility.' And it is also certain that the dwellers were not +so cruelly punished for denouncing the 'dogs of nobles'--an expression, +if we are not mistaken, taken from the vocabulary of the corporal or +subaltern officials, and which has never reached the fourteenth +class--from which the Rossian begins to reckon humanity. + +The allegation of the existence of unrooted feudalism in Poland, because +such a system was known to the whole of Middle Europe, must be accounted +for by the evident ignorance of Polish history; and we assure both +teachers and readers, notwithstanding the evident wish to find it in +Poland, that it was unknown to her, nor could it subsist in the presence +of Polish institutions, habits, customs, and geography. + +We can scarcely suppose it possible that our author means to insinuate +that thousands of noble families bought and transported arms for the +purpose of speculation. Notwithstanding the evidence he had of one such +bad business transaction for the purpose of sustaining and upholding the +insurrection, his frequent intimations of the incorrigible and unruly +character of the few Poles left, would almost authorize us in believing +that such was the intention of the writer when speaking of the aforesaid +arms. + +Oh, in the name of common sense, for the sake of the men whose country +has been torn from them, who may not speak their mothers' tongue in the +land of their fathers, who are forbidden to worship in accordance with +the dictates of their conscience, whose sacred homes are desecrated by +the presence of privileged spies, who cannot sit down in peace in the +holy quiet of evening, because they know that the morrow may see them +dragged off to unknown and inaccessible dungeons, or summoned before +brutal judges without defenders, where they will find accusers, but will +be allowed to cite no witnesses; subjected to witness the horrible +anxiety endured every spring and fall by Polish fathers and mothers lest +the sons of their love should be unexpectedly seized in the night and +hurried off over the Caucasus, the Ural, or to the mouth of the Amour, +to serve in the army of the oppressor for life, or longer than home +memories in such young bosoms could be expected to last, with no +prospect of reward save such as may be reckoned in the number of +_palkis_ and _pletnis_ (whips and lashes); sons, whether rich or poor, +to be exposed to cavil, cunning, and vindictiveness, to the practices of +gambling judges and a profligate soldiery, to a venal police, to +fraudulent employes, themselves badly paid for service, but whose +extortions and abuses always meet with approval, a single complaint +against whom would expose the complainant to be sent through that +hopeless gate always open on the route to Siberia;--oh, for the sake of +common humanity, say not that men placed in such situations have, in +spite of their glorious history, no rights, no claims on human sympathy, +no cause to sacrifice life even when it has become a haunting horror! + +Believe not that such complaints are inventions: the facts are known to +everybody who will look upon them. They are no slanderous stories, but +occurrences renewed with every morning, taking place under all +circumstances and with every transaction patent to the world. They were +appreciated and described in Prussia, and even in Austria verified, not +long before the last campaign. Under such circumstances, what must be +thought of the discoveries and conclusions of writers who assert that +'the Polish nation is a mere chimera'? As no individual, mighty as he +may be, can by a blasphemous word suppress the existence of the Eternal +Father, so neither passion nor love, favor nor animosity, interest nor +purpose of the most talented or ambitious, can erase at pleasure a +nationality which has a history of over a thousand years of existence, a +nationality proved by the last hundred years of incessant struggle for +independence with three giants. This nation has marked its boundaries +with graveyards toward the Dniester, Dnieper, Niemen, and Dwina, where +rest the beaten hordes of Batu or Nogays. Can the record be erased of +the power that broke the sword of the Osmanlis, and was it a _chimera_ +that preserved Western Europe from such sights as Polowce and +Pietschiniegs, etc.? You may perhaps to-day designate as a _chimera_ the +Vienna saved in 1683, that very Vienna which in 1815 first conceived the +idea of sowing the seeds of distrust between Galicians and +Lodomerians--an idea soon after adopted, perfected, and publicly +propagated by Rossians, who applied the practice to Lithuanians, +Volhynians, Podolans, Polans, Radymicians, etc.--an idea now held in the +fierce grasp of Muraview, Anienkow, and probably at no very distant +period to be recalled to the mind of the originator. + +The gentleman's knowledge of Russians (the true name is Rossians, the +other being assumed to effect a certain purpose in Western Europe), +Prussians, and Austrians, to the exclusion of Poles, proves only that +his geographic and ethnographic researches in Poland went no farther +than those of the 'reliable gentleman' who described the Bunker Hill +monument under President Lafayette. + +In addition to the above, let us consult simply the sound of the names +of places, and we can form some idea of the extent of races and +nationalities. Nowgorod, Kaluga, Pskow--are _Rossian_; Telsze, Szawle, +Rosienie--_Lithuanian_; Winszpilis, Gielgawa, Libosie--_Courland_; +Lublin, Ostrolenka, Plock--_Polish_; Wlodrimirz, Zytomirz, +Berdyczev--_Volhynian_. In Austria, are the inhabitants of Venice, +Prague, and Buda, Austrian? The name of Prussia is an old one of +Slavonians living at the mouth of the Vistula, and has no etymology in +the Teutonic language. Those of Galicia and Lodomeria are unskilfully +disfigured from Halitsh (Halicz) and Wlodzimir. The name of Prussia was +assumed by Frederic II., margrave of Brandenburg, when he took the title +of king, at the same time giving solemn oaths never to pretend to the +sovereignty of Dantzick (Gdansk), Thorn (Torun), etc. + +The present empire of Alexander is not of _Russia_, but of _Rossia_, and +the name of Russia is imposed on Polans near Kiow, on Radymicians near +Nowogrodek, on Drewlans south of the river Pripec, etc.; and we must +remember that Catharine II., in 1764, had solemnly declared by her +ambassadors, Kayserling and Repnin, that she had no right to Russias or +Ruthenias in Poland: 'Declaramus suam Imperatoriam Majestatem Dominam +nostram clementissimam ex usu _tituli totius Rossiae_, nec sibi, nec +successoribus suis neque Imperio suo _jus ullum_ in ditiones et terrae +quae _sub nomine Russiae_ a Regno Poloniae magnoque ducatu Lithuaniae +possiduntur,' etc. + +The prediction of the reestablishment of serfdom as a result aimed at in +the present Polish struggle, is not only rash but preposterous, and has +no foundation except in a fixed purpose to direct all sympathy toward +Rossia. + +The true bondage that tied man in Poland to the soil, began with the +introduction of police, passports, censors or _skaski_, recruiting, +conscription, and taxation, introduced by Prussia, Austria, and Rossia, +as so-called _improvements_. Poland had more free peasants, called +Ziemianin, Kmiec, Kozak, than there were in France during the _regime_ +of the Gabeles or Leibeigenschaft in Germany. That they entirely +disappeared after the fall of Poland was surely not her fault. The +peasants on the estates attached to the clergy of all denominations, to +public schools, to the crown, and to the nation, were in a much better +condition, materially and morally, than are at present those in some +parts of Hainault and Thuringen. Individual abuses by an unconscientious +lord were to be seen as well in Connaught as near Debretschyn, near the +Saone as on the Necker. Times--contemporary with independent Poland, and +hence not very far back--beheld these sins against humanity committed on +a larger scale, and in lands in otherwise happier conditions. The phrase +_bonded labor_ is known under the best institutions. But this excuses no +one. Poland, without any compulsive cause, in 1764 and 1768, took these +questions into consideration; in 1791, was even more explicit; and in +1792, Kosciuszko distinctly settled the condition of the Polish peasant, +and that without opposition from the Polish nobility--a measure +immediately overruled and suppressed by Prussia and Rossia, both +accusing Poland of being a _dangerous_ nest of Jacobinism. In 1807, in +the grand duchy of Warsaw, after it was retaken from Prussia, the +condition of the peasantry was far more clear and protected than even +now promised by the Czar Alexander II., and was probably better +preserved than it can be under the crowd of employes and magistrates, +nominally elected by the peasants, but in fact imported from Saratow, +Kazan, Penza, etc., for the purpose of teaching liberty and Siberian +civilization in Warsaw and Wilna. + +Common sense and the ordinary rules of logic force upon us the +conviction that writings of the above stamp are gotten up to produce +certain effects. Can any be found simple enough to believe that a whole +people would be aroused, armed, and taught to what end and how to use +the given arms, as was done by the manifesto of the Polish National +Government, January 22d, 1863, only to be deceived and in the end +deprived of that for which they had fought? By what right can bad faith +be imputed to land owners whom experience, a sense of justice, and even +interest, had already impelled to get rid of a useless and burdensome +relation? These land owners, even under the Rossian Government (in +1818), had solemnly begged the uncle of the present czar, Alexander I., +to allow them to be freed from the onerous responsibilities caused by +serfdom under Rossian surveillance and severity. + +The letter from Paris further states, on what authority we know not, +that the condition of the peasant or serf in Poland was dreadful until +the seventeenth century. This is going very far back, and probably at +that period, if facts could be found to sustain the writer's allegation, +the condition of bondmen--_vilains regardants_--boors, _Lebeigenschaft_, +_manans_, etc., was not better elsewhere. But here again we must differ +in opinion, and beg leave to state, not only to the author of the +letter, but to all other self-constituted authorities, whose knowledge +of Poland is derived from _The London Times_, _Chambers's Magazine_, M. +Hilperding, Kattow, or M. Morny, etc., that, with all due respect to +their social positions, we must deny them the title of well-informed +historians and profound judges of Poland and the Slavonic races. Up to +the seventeenth century, the peasantry (Kmiec, Ziemiamin) had its +_representatives in the diet_, and could find entrance into the ranks of +the nobility, which had no divisions into classes or titular +distinctions. Said nobility had the right to serve their country during +war, and a peasant providing himself with a horse and suitable arms, was +not excluded from that class. They could also take orders among the +clergy, and hence rise to high dignities in the church. Public schools +in Poland were never shut to the peasants, nor were any distinctions +therein authorized in favor of one or other class of pupils. In schools +then they enjoyed all privileges in common, and these were great--a +separate jurisdiction, and the facilities of reaching higher ranks. +Kromer, Janicki, Poniatowski, great names in Polish history, can show no +other origin than one nearer to the Ziemianin than to any other class. + +If the current of fashion did not warp all judgments in favor of Rossia, +the writers of 'Tardy Truths' from Paris and elsewhere would have +reflected a little longer, and would soon have discovered that the +ignorance and poverty of the Polish peasantry were not due solely to the +Poles themselves. Polish schools were formerly all completely free, and +each school even had funds for the poor, called _purses_, foundations, +etc. Rossia, in the last fifty years, charged as high as $625 for +inscription alone in the higher classes, and about $25 for elementary +beginners. How could a poor family rise in prosperity if this school was +often the first cause of losing the favorite son; if they did send the +child to school they might lose him as a recruit for the army or navy, +as designated by the whim of the treacherous teacher and recruiting +officer; and this did not exempt from public burdens, as they were still +obliged to pay taxes for him during ten years, and contribute to all +public services, as stations (stoyki), wagons and teams (rozgony), +repairing and making public and private roads, extra post service, +besides innumerable services imposed for his own personal benefit by a +spravnik, straptschy, zasiedatel, sotnik, etc. Add to this the thwarting +of intercourse and commerce by every imaginable means under the system +of the famous M. Kankrin. + +Could the peasant or the master become wealthy when a measure called _a +ton_, weighing about eight hundred and forty pounds, of wheat brought +the enormous sum of $4.25? a load of hay, drawn by one horse, +seventy-five cents when well paid, and _nothing_ when wanted by ulans or +hussars garrisoned in the neighborhood? A hen, with a dozen and a half +well-grown chickens, hardly brought enough to pay the value of the +commonest apron. + +Such things as these were never known in ancient Poland, now so +unanimously accused and condemned by fashionable philanthropy. Even +eighty years ago such abuses would have been vainly looked for. We +remember, in our younger days, when conversing with an old sowietnik +(counsellor), to have heard him relate his bewildered astonishment at +the comfort and well-being in Poland when sent under an escort of +Cossacks to introduce Rossian _improvements_. 'What has become of them?' +we asked innocently. 'Ha!' was his naive reply; 'St. Petersburg has +since then grown into a splendid city!' + +Let us call the attention of Russo-maniacs to the fact that eighty years +ago, soon after the second partition of Poland, flax in Riga brought +eight hundred and seventy florins, while in 1845 it hardly brought two +hundred and forty florins; and the famous wheat of Sandomir sold, at the +first-named period, at sixty, while in 1856 it brought barely +thirty-five. Yet money now is cheaper than before 1800. + +Did the Polish nobleman, selfish and wicked as now seems the fashion to +describe him, force the peasant of Samogitia to servile work, when the +latter had an opportunity of drawing a good profit from the results of +his labor in the neighboring marts of Memel, Liban, Riga, Mittau, +Venden, etc.? No, must we answer to our readers. _There_ might have been +seen a boor's wife dressed in sky blue lined with fox fur, and drawn to +church in a comfortable kolaska, by two excellent, plump, Samogitian +ponies; and neither did the father of the family exhaust his strength in +night watches or day labor, as he had twenty teams to dispose of, and +could offer to an unexpected visitor a broiled chicken with milk sauce, +and a couple of bottles of brown stout from Barclay, Perkins & Co., of +London. Such prosperity, although then declining, was still to be found +in 1830. Why does it not exist to-day? Let this question be answered by +civilizers and democrats from Tambow, Saratow, or Penza, and their +jealous apologists. + +Our writer seems to think he has made a wonderful discovery when he +exultingly exclaims: 'How surprised these pretended _liberals_ would be +to see that their efforts only tend toward reconstituting a monarchical +Poland (was Poland really monarchical?--we may doubt) under the +protection of a _feudal_ and Catholic Church!' Such charges were also +made in the eighteenth century, and were suggested by similar motives. I +do not feel called upon to defend the Catholics of Poland. I would +simply retort upon the authors of such suggestions, by referring to +certain distinguished rabbis, as Heilprin, Meintzel, Jastrow, etc.; to +Protestants, as Konarski, Potworowski, Kasaius, Krolikowski, Czynski, +and hosts of others; and also to Mohammedans, as Baranowski, Mucha, +Bielak, etc. I cannot condemn a man because he is a Catholic, because I +have everywhere, and in every religious community, found both patriots +and traitors to their country, to their origin, to principle, and to +their religion. But this I must say, that of whatever denomination or +sect be the minister or priest, he has a right to be a faithful son to +his fatherland and race. It happened that in Poland the Catholic priest +stood opposed to the Rossian pope. If the latter can be a Rossian +patriot, why should a like sentiment render guilty a Polish priest? This +animosity in certain circles proceeds from a partiality to the +Rosso-Greek Church, which, some years ago, during the visit of the +emperor Nicholas to England, certain ignorant or du. By way of +parenthesis, we may add that the Rosso-Greek Church separated long ago +from the Eastern Greek Church, preserving, however, all its outward +forms. Peter I. abolished the patriarchate, introduced his own classes +and reforms, and made himself head of the church. He gave the name of +synod to a permanent council, nominated, appointed, dismissed, +controlled, rewarded, and punished by himself, according to his own +judgment, passion, or will. The Graeco-Rossian Church is kept under the +same discipline as the army, and an offending pope is sent, with the +rank of private, to some remote regiment. + +The author of the letter from Paris somewhat contradictorily asserts +that the women, being superior in Poland, govern the men, but are +themselves governed entirely by the priests. This scarcely tallies with +strict logic; but, for the sake of truth and of a just respect for our +mothers, who taught us to love our country and freedom, who gave us +strength in exile, and faith through persecution, and who instructed us +how to think, and inspired us with those noble sentiments, seemingly +denied to the mothers of the 'fashionable civilization' (of St. +Petersburg), among whom there is not one lady writer--we will thank this +writer for the refutation offered by him to an impudent slander, +emanating from a contributor to _Chambers' Magazine_, of January last. +We repeat that we thank him for his just tribute to Polish women, +however inimical he may be to the Polish cause, and however much he may +depreciate our sex. Yet it seems strange that, while accusing Polish +women of being entirely under the control of the priests, and hence to +have been chiefly instrumental in fomenting the last insurrection, the +author did not notice, or is purposely silent regarding, a fact which, +as he appears to have been longer in a Galician chateau than elsewhere, +must have fallen under his notice, namely, that in Galicia, the Polish +priest was the _most decided opponent_ to any insurrection. How, then, +could the active Polish women-patriots be instruments of the action +condemned by the apologists of the absolute government of Rossia? + +The admonition to France, on the ground that, after the revolution of +1789, she is committing a contradictory error by showing sympathy toward +a revolution gotten up by priests, is but a consequence of the first +judgment, and we may leave to France and her sense of her own interests +to do what she may think right and profitable. We will simply mention +that, for French glory, and for this error, as the author calls it, two +hundred thousand Poles were slain in Egypt, Italy, San Domingo, Spain, +Germany, Holland, and on the plains of Mozajsk, Kraslaw, Boryssow, +Eylau, Friedland, etc. The monument seen from the balcony of the +Tuileries has the names upon it, which we scarcely can suppose to have +been inscribed for the sole purpose of filling space. + +The friends of Poland believe that they serve the cause of progress by +aiding in the reestablishment of the Polish nation. We presume there are +plenty of men in France who know that during the last thirty years +Rossia has spread her dominion in Asia over twice the area of Germany +and France together, that she is only eighty miles from Peking, and as +far from India as Vienna is from the Black Sea. Moreover, Asiatic +people, always dreaming of plunder in Europe, once armed with European +Minie rifles and rifled cannon, may repeat anew the incursions of +Attila, Tamerlane, Battu, etc. The end to be gained and the booty will +create the temptation, and offer superior inducements. + +The effort to palliate Rossian cruelty, skilful as it is, by the alleged +necessities of war, by denials, or by asserting it to be mere revenge +for similar atrocities committed by Poles, must be appreciated according +to the sources whence it emanates. What the letter writer or similar +twelve-hour visitors saw in Poland, particularly in Kracow, of people +sharpening knives or preparing deadly poisons, need here be merely +referred to by saying that in times of general confusion we have no +means to foresee or to control personal revenge, and also that we will +not here cite the reports of Polish papers or accounts of Germans. We +will take our data from the Moscow _Invalid_, the czar's _Universal +Journal_ at Warsaw, and the _Journal de Petersbourg_. From these we find +it stated that the number of men hanged in three hundred and sixty-five +days of insurrection was eight hundred and fifty, besides many others +whose names were not given because it was simpler and more profitable to +ignore their origin, class, and religion. + +From Kiow alone Anienkow sent away fourteen thousand men, chiefly of +Greek or other non-Roman-Catholic religion, over whom the Catholic +priest had neither control or influence. From Warsaw, every Saturday +during fifty-two weeks, an average of four hundred men, women, and +children were deported, all separated from their natural guides and +protectors. From Liefland, north of the Dwina, were sent off, in one +month, thirty-five hundred of the better educated and comfortable class +of people. A Government paper rejoices that Polish and Catholic +principles, growing there during five centuries, were in a fair way of +extinction, since, as it itself admits, forty-five thousand men had been +transferred to the governments of Samara, Orenburg, Kazan, and similar +localities. To burn the villages of Ibanie, Szarki, Hrodki, Smoloy, +Zabolocie, etc., to destroy the furniture, horses, cattle, and all other +property, to send the inhabitants on foot, only allowing for the aged +and young children a few small wagons, far away into a cold, strange, +savage country, without tools, means, etc.--was all this done merely as +a military necessity, and was it excusable, or, at most, merely +_blamable_? + +Now, certain correspondents and lecturers, with other gentlemen, deny +the use of the lash or whip on the backs of women and ladies, because +the American people cannot countenance such barbarism. To say the least +of such a denial--it is gratuitous. Austria daily publishes similar +judgments as the result of police court trials. In Rossia, they are not +published, because the administration of lash, whip, and scourge is left +to the _paternal_ discretion of every sergeant, lieutenant, police +commissary, and district constable, and is enjoyed by them to their +hearts' content. It is the method employed for ages by Rossia, and +considered as an indispensable appendage to patriarchal czarism and its +lieutenants. We cannot wonder at such denials, for their authors have +ordinarily been brought up under a better state of things, and never +learned in their youth the possibility of resort to such practices: the +less also can we wonder when we know that they met only similar denials +in the higher Rossian society, and when we consider that such denials +came from a source one is naturally inclined to respect, when the man +denying seems respectable. How can we fancy a lie told by a gentleman in +golden uniform, or a lady in a lace dress? But if the defenders of the +civilization of Rossia and of the noble manners of its aristocracy knew +all the cruel judgments of Rossian masters, the lewdness, recklessness, +indecency, and shallowness often concealed beneath their artificial good +breeding and apparent courtesy, they would learn that laces may cover +coarse tissues, and gold hide corroded brass. The gaudy dress and +uniform serve but to permit more daring deeds; the more they glitter, +the more impunity they confer. Under every Government, and more +especially under a despotism, subaltern officers may be sure of impunity +to abuse, provided it is done under the guise of zeal and devotion. + +During the past year we have heard and read in lectures, newspapers, +correspondences, etc., many flattering statements of the beauty of the +Rossian Government, and the czar's liberality--and as many accusations +and imputations detrimental to the Polish cause. Why the same views were +not held and advocated during the Crimean war we will not ask, but +merely hint at. These statements come from organs whose purpose is +readily divined. If we turn to the paper that has opened its columns to +the Paris letter, we find close at hand the advertisement and +recommendation of a programme for our own great country, and the +pointing out of a new Garibaldi for the American Union. Now, neither +said platform nor Garibaldi would be consistent with the condemnation, +irony, and ridicule flung upon the champions for one thousand years of +the growing progress, prosperity, and Christianity of Western Europe. + +We of this generation are grown fixedly into our ancient habits of +thought, and now can make no change; but our successors, perchance, may +possibly be reduced to undersign the manifesto of Rossian Liberalism, +published about a year ago in Moscow, and, in return for false promises +and deceptions, consent to make common cause against Germany and the +whole of Western Europe. What _American_ liberties would gain by such an +eventuality, is not for us, nor for to-day, to say. + + + + +APHORISMS.--NO. XI. + + +'A man who has no wants has attained great freedom, and firmness, and +even dignity.'--BURKE. + +'Mad wants and mean endeavors,' as Carlyle expresses it, 'are among the +signal characteristics and great follies of our nature.' + +But how can we attain to the freedom, firmness, and dignity of having no +wants? Answer: By learning what our real necessities are, and limiting +our sense of want by such knowledge. Otherwise there is little hope for +us; for, as soon as we admit imaginary and factitious needs, we become +the slaves of mere fancy, the sport of mere human opinion, and devoid of +all true dignity. + +How sublime, as compared with the ordinary condition of men, is the +possibility suggested by Burke! _Freedom_, instead of such slavery as +the love of pleasure occasions, or such as ambition entails upon men! +_Firmness_, such as he has who does not feel compelled to ask how his +conduct may affect the supply of his wants from day to day! _Dignity_, +such as we see in every man who studies the great interests of his +being, regardless of any harm that may thereby accrue to his earthly +estate! So free, and firm, and dignified may each be that will. + +But no such good is possible for men who allow their sense of want to be +ruled by the common opinions of men. If the good at which we aim can be +secured only by the possession of this world's favors, as they are +dispensed by the wealthy or the powerful, or the suffrages of the +multitude (votes for office, and the like), then each one becomes the +servant of his fellow men--a servant just as really as if he were hired +to perform any menial office. The party politician, for example, is just +as fully bound by the will of others as a coachman or foot servant. For +him neither freedom, firmness, or dignity is possible. He can do only as +others bid him: he can resist no solicitations to evil on the part of +those whom he would make his constituents: he has no dignity above that +of a tool, in the hands, it may be, of a very unworthy master. + +So in all cases where we allow ourselves to be dependent in such form +and measure that in order to compass our own ends we must look to the +will and behests of others. + + + + +AN ARMY: ITS ORGANIZATION AND MOVEMENTS. + +_THIRD PAPER._ + + +Cavalry! At this word whose mind does not involuntarily recall pictures +of mailed knights rushing upon each other with levelled lances, and of +the charging squadrons of Austerlitz, of Jena, of Marengo, of the +Peninsula, and of Waterloo? Whose blood is not stirred with a throng of +memories connected with the noble achievements of the war horse and his +rider? Who does not imagine a panorama of all that is gay and glorious +in warfare--prancing coursers, gilded trappings, burnished sabres, +waving pennons, and glittering helmets--rank after rank of gallant +riders--anon the blast of bugles, the drawing of sabres, the mighty +rushing of a thousand steeds, the clash of steel, the shout, the +victory? The chief romance of war attaches itself to the deeds +accomplished by the assistance of the power and endurance of man's +noblest servant. Every one has read so much poetry about valiant youths, +mounted on fiery yet docile steeds, doing deeds of miraculous prowess in +the ranks of their enemies--our literature is so full of tapestried +representations of knightly retinues and charging squadrons--the +towering form of Murat is so conspicuous in the narratives of the +Napoleonic wars--and history has so often repeated the deeds of those +horsemen who performed such illustrious feats in the combats of half a +century ago, that we associate with the cavalry only ideas of splendor +and glory, of wild freedom and dashing gallantry. But the cavalry +service is far different from such vague and fanciful imaginations. +Instead of ease, there is constant labor; instead of freedom, there is a +difficult system of discipline and tactics; and instead of frequent +opportunities for glorious charges, there is a constant routine of +toilsome duty in scouting and picketing, with rarely an opportunity for +assisting prominently in the decision of a great battle, or of winning +renown in overthrowing the ranks of an enemy by the impetuous rush of a +mass of horses against serried bayonets. + +In many respects cavalry is the most difficult branch of military +service to maintain and to operate. It is exceedingly costly, on account +of the great loss of horses by the carelessness of the men, by overwork, +by disease, and by the fatalities of battle. The report of General +Halleck, for the year 1863, stated that from May to October there were +from ten thousand to fourteen thousand cavalry in the Army of the +Potomac, while the number of horses furnished them for the same period +was thirty-five thousand; adding to these the horses taken by capture +and used for mounting men, the number would be sufficient to give each +man a horse every _two months_. There were two hundred and twenty-three +regiments of cavalry in the service, which, at the same rate, would +require four hundred and thirty-five thousand horses. This is an immense +expenditure of animals, and is attributable in part to the peculiarities +of the volunteer service--such as the lack of care and knowledge on the +part of the officers, and the disposition of the men to break down their +horses by improper riding, and sometimes out of mere wantonness, for the +purpose of getting rid of animals they do not like, for the chance of +obtaining better. A measure has recently been adopted to remedy these +evils, by putting into the infantry cavalry officers and men who show +themselves incompetent to take proper care of their animals, and who +neglect other essentials of cavalry service. The provision and +transportation of forage for cavalry horses also constitute items of +great cost. + +To attain proficiency and effectiveness, cavalry soldiers require much +longer instruction than those of any other arm. They must become expert +swordsmen, and acquire such skill in equitation that horse and rider +shall resemble the mythical centaurs of the ancients--shall be only one +individual in will. The horses should be as thoroughly trained as the +riders. In European armies this is accomplished in training schools. The +Governments keep constantly on hand large supplies of animals, partly +purchased and partly produced in public stables, and capable instructors +are continually employed in fitting both men and horses for their +duties. + +To insure the provision of proper horses and to recuperate those which +are sent from the army disabled or sick, an immense cavalry depot has +been established at Giesboro', near Washington. Thousands of horses are +kept there ready for service, and as fast as men in the army are +dismounted by the loss of their animals, they are sent to this depot. It +is one of the most useful and best-arranged affairs connected with our +service, and has greatly assisted in diminishing the expense attending +the provision of animals, and in increasing the efficiency of our +cavalry. + +We have had all the difficulties to contend with resulting from +inexperienced riders and untrained horses. No one who has not beheld the +scene, can imagine the awkward appearance of a troop of recruits mounted +on horses unaccustomed to the saddle. The sight is one of the most +laughable that can be witnessed. We have seen the attempt made to put +such a troop into a gallop across a field. Fifty horses and fifty men +instantly became actuated by a hundred different wills, and dispersed in +all directions--some of the riders hanging on to the pommels, with their +feet out of the stirrups, others tugging away at the bridles, and not a +few sprawling on the ground. After a few months' drills, however, a +different scene is presented, and an old troop horse becomes so +habituated to his exercises that not only will he perform all the +evolutions without guidance, but will even refuse to leave the ranks, +though under the most vigorous incitements of whip and spur. An officer +friend was once acting as cavalier to a party of ladies on horseback at +a review, when, unfortunately, the troop in which his horse belonged +happening to pass by, the animal bolted from the group of ladies, and +took his accustomed place in the ranks, nor could all the efforts of his +rider disengage him. Finally, our friend was obliged to dismount, and, +holding the horse by the bit, _back_ him out of the troop to his station +with the party of ladies--a feat performed amid much provoking laughter. + +Cavalry can operate in masses only when circumstances are favorable--the +country open, and the ground free from obstructions. Yet it is in masses +alone that it can be effective, and it can triumph against infantry only +by a _shock_--from the precipitation of its weight upon the lines, +crushing them by the onset. Before the time of Frederic the Great, the +Prussian horsemen resembled those to be seen at a militia review--they +were a sort of picture soldiers, incapable of a vigorous charge. He +revolutionized the service by teaching that cavalry must achieve success +by a rapid onset, not stopping to fire themselves, and not regarding the +fire of their opponents. By practising these lessons, they were able to +overthrow the Austrian infantry. But if the force of a charge is +dissipated by obstructions on the ground, or is broken by the fire of +the assailed, the effectiveness of cavalry, as a participant in the +manoeuvres of a battle field, is entirely destroyed. + +The question of the future of cavalry is at present one of great +interest among military investigators; for notwithstanding its +brilliant achievements during our civil war, the fact is apparent that +its sphere has been entirely changed, its old system has become +obsolete, and former possibilities no longer lie within its scope. Since +Waterloo there had not been, until our war commenced, any opportunity to +test the action of cavalry; for its operations in the Crimea and in +Italy were insignificant. The art of warfare had, meanwhile, in many +respects, become revolutionized by the introduction of rifled arms. +Military men waited, therefore, with interest, the experience of the war +in this country, to judge from it as to the part cavalry was to perform +in future warfare. That experience has shown that the day in which +cavalry can successfully charge squares of infantry has passed. When the +smooth-bore muskets alone were used by infantry, cavalry could be formed +in masses for charging at a distance of five hundred yards; now the +formations must be made at the distance of nearly a mile, and that +intervening space must be passed at speed under the constant fire of +cannon and rifles; when the squares are reached, the horses are +frightened and blown, the ranks have been disordered by the +impossibility of preserving a correct front during such a length of time +at rapid speed, and by the loss of men; the charge breaks weakly on the +wall of bayonets, and retires baffled. Infantry, before it learns its +own strength and the difficulty of forcing a horse against a bayonet--or +rather to trample down a man--has an absurd and unfounded fear of +cavalry. This feeling was in part the cause of the panic among our +troops at Bull Run--so much had been said about the Black Horse troop of +the rebels. The Waterloo achievements of the French were then thought +possible of repetition. Now adays it is hardly probable that the veteran +infantry of either army would take the trouble to form squares to resist +cavalry, but would expect to rout it by firing in line. Neither party in +our war has been able to make its mounted forces effective in a general +battle. Nothing has occurred to parallel, upon the battle field, those +exploits of the cavalry--French, Prussian, and English--in the great +wars of the last century, extending to Waterloo. + +The enthusiastic admirers of cavalry still maintain that it is possible +to repeat those exploits, even in face of the improved firearms now in +use. All that is necessary, they say, is to have the cavalry +sufficiently drilled. The ground to be crossed under a positively +dangerous fire is only five hundred or six hundred yards, and once +taught to continue the charge through the bullets for this distance, and +then to throw themselves on the bayonets, horsemen will now, as +heretofore, break the lines of infantry. All very true, _if_ cavalry to +fulfil the conditions named can be obtained; but in _them_ lies the +difficulty. Occasional instances of splendid charges will undoubtedly +occur in future warfare; but it seems to be an established fact that the +day for the glory of cavalry has passed. Once the mailed knight, mounted +on his mailed charger, could overthrow by scores the poor, pusillanimous +pikemen and crossbow men who composed the infantry; he was invulnerable +in his iron armor, and could ride them down like reeds. But gunpowder +and the bayonet have changed this; and now the most confident and +domineering cavalryman will put spurs to his horse and fly at a gallop, +if he sees the muzzle of an infantryman's rifle, with its glittering +bayonet, pointed at him from the thicket. + +Another revolution effected in the mounted service by the improvements +in arms and the consequent changes of tactics, is the diminution of +heavy and the increase of light cavalry--that is, the transfer of the +former into the latter. These two denominations really include all kinds +of cavalry, although the non-military reader may have been puzzled by +the numerous subordinate denominations to be found in the accounts of +European warfare--such as dragoons, cuirassiers, hussars, lancers, +chasseurs, hulans, etc. + +Heavy cavalry is composed of the heavier men and horses, and is usually +divided into dragoons and cuirassiers. It is designed to act in masses, +and to break the lines of an enemy by the weight of its charge. Usually, +also, it has had some defensive armor, and is a direct descendant from +the knights of the Middle Ages. But the cuirasses, which were sufficient +to resist the balls from smooth-bore muskets, are easily penetrated by +rifles. Consequently the occupation of this kind of cavalry is gone, and +it is likely to disappear gradually from the service. In this country we +have never had anything except light cavalry--the only kind adapted for +use in our Indian warfare. This kind of cavalry is intended to +accomplish results by the celerity of its movements, and all its +equipments should therefore be as light as possible. The chief +difficulty is to prevent the cavalry soldier from overloading his horse, +as he has a propensity not only to carry a large wardrobe and a full +supply of kitchen utensils, but also to 'convey,' in the language of +Pistol, or, in army language, 'gobble up,' or, in plain English, steal +anything that is capable of being fastened to his saddle. + +It is evident that the efficiency of a cavalry soldier depends as much +upon his horse as upon himself; and it is requisite, therefore, that the +weight upon the horse should be as light as possible. The limit has been +fixed at about two hundred pounds for light, and two hundred and fifty +for heavy cavalry; but both of these are too much. A cavalry soldier +ought not to weigh over one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty +pounds, and his accoutrements not over thirty pounds additional; but in +practice, scarcely any horse--except where the rider is a very light +weight--carries less than two hundred and twenty or two hundred and +thirty pounds. One great cause of the evils incident to our cavalry +service is the excessive weight imposed on the horses. The French take +particular pains in this respect; while in England the cavalry is almost +entirely 'heavy,' and, though well drilled, is clumsy. John Bull, with +his roast beef and plum pudding, makes a poor specimen of a light +cavalryman. English officers are now endeavoring to revolutionize their +mounted service, so as to diminish its weight and increase its celerity. + +The _arms_ of cavalry have been various, but it is now well settled that +its true weapon is the sabre, as its true form of operation is the +charge. A great deal of ingenuity has been expended in devising the best +form of sabre. Different countries have different patterns, but the one +adopted in our army is very highly considered. It is pointed, so as to +be used in thrusting; sharp on one edge for cutting; curved, so as to +inflict a deeper wound; and the weight arranged, by a mathematical rule, +so that the centres of percussion and of gravity are placed where the +weapon may be most easily handled. The lance is a weapon very +appropriate to light mounted troops, and is still used by some of the +Cossacks and Arab horsemen. But to wield it effectively requires +protracted training. For a long time in Europe it was the chief weapon +for horsemen; with the knights it was held in exclusive honor, and +continued in use for a considerable period after firearms had destroyed +the prestige of the gentlemen of the golden spurs. Prince Maurice, of +Orange, when he raised mounted regiments to defend the Netherlands +against the Spanish, rejected it, and since his time it has become +obsolete except in some regiments especially drilled to it. Such a +regiment was raised in Philadelphia at the commencement of our war, but +after eighteen months' experience the lances were abandoned. Besides the +sabre, cavalry-men are armed with pistols or carbines--the men having +the latter being employed particularly in skirmishing, sometimes on +foot. + +The proportion of mounted troops in an army varies according to the +nature of the country which is the theatre of military operations. In a +level country it should be about one fourth or one fifth, while in one +that is mountainous, it should not be greater than a tenth. As a general +rule, improvements in firearms have produced a decrease in the +proportion of cavalry and lessened its importance. When artillery was +introduced, the cavaliers, who composed the Middle Age armies +exclusively, commenced to disappear; knighthood passed out of existence, +being superseded by mercenary bands. Infantry gradually assumed +importance, which has constantly increased, until it has now attained +the vast predominance. This has not only caused a general diminution of +the proportion of cavalry, but has entailed on the Governments of Europe +the necessity of keeping their cavalry service always at its maximum, so +that the mounted troops may be perfect in their drill; whereas infantry +troops can acquire comparative proficiency in a few months. + +We will give a brief description of the different classes of cavalry, +and close our subject by some remarks on the operation of this arm of +service in our civil war. + +The regiments raised by Prince Maurice, of Orange, above referred to, +were the first known as _cuirassiers_, on account of the cuirasses which +they wore for defence. All defensive armor is now being laid aside. + +_Dragoons_ originally were a class of soldiers who operated both on foot +and mounted. They are supposed to take their name from a kind of firearm +called a 'dragon.' In modern practice dragoons are almost entirely used +as cavalry, and rarely have recourse to any extended service on foot. +The denomination 'dragoons' has recently been abolished from our +service. + +_Carabineers_ were at first some Basque and Gascon horsemen in the +French service, whose peculiarly distinguishing characteristic was a +skilful use in the saddle of a short firearm. + +_Hussars_ originated in Hungary, taking their denomination from the word +_husz_, which signifies twenty, and _ar_, pay--every twentieth man being +required by the state to enter into service. From their origin they were +distinguished for the celerity of their movements and their devotion to +fine costumes. + +The _hulans_ were a species of Polish light cavalry, bearing lances, and +taking their name from their commander--a nobleman named Huland. + +_Chasseurs_ are French regiments, designed chiefly to act as scouts and +skirmishers. The _chasseurs d'Afrique_ are cavalry which have been +trained in Algeria, and have become exceedingly expert through conflicts +with the Arabs. The _spahis_ are Arab cavalry, in the French service, +and are such admirable riders that they will charge over all kinds of +ground, and dash upon a foe who judges himself secure amid rocks or +trees or ditches. + +At the commencement of the war the rebel cavalry was superior to that +furnished by the North. For this there were many reasons. Southern +plantation life had accustomed the aristocratic youth to the saddle, and +great attention was bestowed on the training of horses. At the North the +number of skilled riders was comparatively few. Gradually, however, +Northern energy, endurance, and patient discipline began to tell, and +the time soon arrived when the Southern cavalry were invariably driven, +especially in sabre charges, to which Southerners have great aversion. +At present, on account of the scarcity of horses, the difficulty of +supplying forage, and the loss of so many gay youths of the chivalry, +the Southern, cavalry has dwindled into such a condition as to be no +longer formidable. + +The service of the cavalry in both armies during the war has been +exclusively as light cavalry--scouting, picketing, raiding, etc. Its +combats have been with forces of its own arm. No commander has yet +succeeded in assisting to determine the issue of a pitched battle by the +charges of his mounted troops. Our cavalry have rendered, however, +brilliant and invaluable services in protecting the rear and flanks of +the armies, and by their magnificent raiding expeditions into the +enemy's country, destroying his supplies, injuring his communications, +diverting his forces, and liberating his slaves. No sufficient accounts +of such expeditions and of the numerous cavalry conflicts have been +published; yet they are very desirable. They would furnish most +interesting narratives, and be a valuable contribution not only to the +history of the times, but to the history of warfare; for the operations +of the cavalry in this war constitute a new era in the history of this +branch of military service. Unless care is exercised to procure such +narratives, our posterity will never know anything of many battle fields +where fought and fell brave troopers from every Northern State. + +The chief duties of officers belonging to the _corps of engineers_, when +connected with an army acting in the field, are the supervision of +routes of communication, the laying of bridges, the selection of +positions for fortifications, and the indication of the proper character +of works to be constructed. Should a siege occur, a new and very +important class of duties devolves on them, relating to the trenches, +saps, batteries, etc. + +Not only is there in Virginia a lack of good roads, but the numerous +streams have few or no bridges. In many cases where bridges have +existed, one or the other of the contending armies has destroyed them to +impede the march of its opponents. Streams which have an average depth +of three or four feet are, however, generally without bridges, except +where crossed by some turnpike, the common country roads mostly leading +to fords. The famous Bull Run is an example. There were but two or three +bridges over this stream in the space of country penetrated by the roads +generally pursued by our army in advancing or retreating, and these have +been several times destroyed and rebuilt. The stream varies from two to +six feet in depth--the fords being at places of favorable depth, and +where the bottom is gravelly and the banks sloping. Often such streams +as this, and indeed smaller ones, become immensely swelled in volume by +storms, so that a comparatively insignificant rivulet might greatly +delay the march of an army, if means for quickly crossing should not be +provided. The general depth of a ford which a large force, with its +appurtenances, can safely cross, is about three feet, and even then the +bottom should be good and the current gentle. With a greater depth of +water, the men are likely to wet their cartridge boxes, or be swept off +their feet. There is a small stream about three miles from Alexandria, +crossing the Little River turnpike, which has never been bridged, and +which was once so suddenly swollen by rain that all the artillery and +wagons of a corps were obliged to wait about twelve hours for its +subsidence. The mules of some wagons driven into it were swept away. +Fords, unless of the best bottom, are rendered impassable after a small +portion of the wagons and artillery of an army have crossed them--the +gravel being cut through into the underlying clay, and the banks +converted into sloughs by the dripping of water from the animals and +wheels. + +A very amusing scene was presented at the crossing of Hazel River (a +branch of the Rappahannock) last fall, when the Army of the Potomac +first marched to Culpepper. The stream was at least three feet deep, +and at various places four--the current very rapid--the bottom filled +with large stones, and the banks steep, except where a narrow road had +been cut for the wagons. The men adopted various expedients for +crossing. Some went in boldly all accoutred; some took off shoes and +stockings, and carefully rolled up their trousers; others (and they were +the wisest) divested themselves of all their lower clothing. The long +column struggled as best it could through the water, and occasionally, +amid vociferous shouts, those who had been careful to roll up their +trousers would step into a hole up to the middle; others, who had taken +still more precautions, would stumble over a stone and pitch headlong +into the roaring waters, dropping their guns, and splashing vainly about +with their heavy knapsacks, in the endeavor to regain a footing, until +some of their comrades righted them; and others, after getting over +safely, would slip back from the sandy bank, and take an involuntary +immersion. Some clung to the rear of the wagons, but in the middle of +the stream the mules would become fractious, or the wagon would get +jammed against a stone, and the unfortunate passengers were compelled to +drop off and wade ashore, greeted by roars of derisive laughter. On such +occasions soldiers give full play to their humor. They accept the +hardships with good nature, and make the best of any ridiculous incident +that may happen. At the time referred to, many conscripts had just +joined the ranks, and cries resounded everywhere among the old soldiers: +'Hello, conscripts, how do you like this?' 'What d'ye think of sogering +now?' 'This is nothing. You'll have to go in up to yer neck next time.' + +Generally, when the exigencies of the march will permit, bridges are +made over such streams, either by the engineers of the army, or +detachments from the various corps which are passing upon the roads. +They are simple 'corduroy bridges,' and can be laid very expeditiously. +Two or three piers of stones and logs are placed in the stream, string +pieces are stretched upon them, and cross pieces of small round logs +laid down for the flooring. The most extensive bridges of this kind used +by the Army of the Potomac were those over the Chickahominy in the +Peninsular campaign. 'Sumner's bridge,' by which reinforcements crossed +at the battle of Fair Oaks, was laid in this manner. Of course such +bridges are liable to be carried away and to be easily destroyed. Some +of the bridges over the Chickahominy were laid much more thoroughly. +'Cribs' of logs were piled in cob-house fashion, pinned together, and +sunk vertically in the stream. Then string pieces and the flooring were +laid, the whole covered with brush and dirt. Men worked at these bridges +up to the waist in water for many days in succession. + +Military art has devised many expedients for bridging streams, and use +is made of any facilities that may be at hand for constructing the means +of passage; but the only organized bridge trains which move with the +army are those which carry the pontoons. Of these there are various +kinds, made of wood, of corrugated iron, and of india rubber stretched +over frames. But the wooden pontoon boats are most in use. They can be +placed in a river and the flooring laid upon them with great rapidity. +Several very fine bridges have been thus constructed--among them may be +mentioned the one at the mouth of the Chickahominy, across which General +McClellan's army marched in retreating from Harrison's Landing. It was +about a mile long, and was constructed in a few hours. + +To cross a river under the fire of an enemy is one of the most difficult +operations in warfare. Yet it has been frequently accomplished by our +armies. The crossing of the Rappahannock by General Burnside's army, +previous to the great battle of Fredericksburg, in December, 1862, is +one of the most remarkable instances of the kind during the war. The +rebel rifle pits lined the southern bank, and the fire from them +prevented our engineers from approaching--the river being only about +seventy-five yards wide. For a long time our artillery failed to drive +the rebels away. About noon of the day on which the crossing was made, +General Burnside ordered a concentration of fire on Fredericksburg, in +the houses of which place the rebels had concealed their forces. A +hundred guns, hurling shot and shell into every building and street of +the city, soon riddled it; but the obstinate foes hid themselves in the +cellars till the storm was over, and then emerged defiantly. They were +only dislodged by sending over a battalion in boats to attack them in +flank, when they retreated, and the bridges were laid. + +It is impossible to explain in articles of this character the mysteries +of intrenchment and fortification, so that they will be comprehensible. +A few notes, however, on some of the principal terms constantly +employed, may be found useful and interesting. + +_Rifle pits_--as the term is now generally used--are small embankments, +made by throwing up dirt from an excavation _inside_. They can be +erected quickly, for it will be seen that those behind them have the +advantage, not only of the height of the embankment, but also of the +depth of the ditch. Thus an excavation of two feet would give a +protection of _four_ feet. This is the ordinary rifle pit, but when time +permits it receives many improvements. + +_Breastworks_ are any erections of logs, dirt, etc., raised breast high, +to shelter the men behind them. + +An _abatis_ consists of obstructions placed in front of a work to form +obstacles to a storming party. The most convenient method of forming it +is to cut down trees and allow them to lie helterskelter. When there is +time, the trees are laid with the butts toward the work, and the +branches outward--the small limbs being removed, and the ends of the +remainder sharpened. + +[Illustration] + +A _redan_ is a letter V, with the point toward the enemy, and is used +generally to cover the heads of bridges, etc. + +[Illustration] + +A _lunette_ is the redan with flanking wings. + +[Illustration] + +A _redoubt_ is an enclosed parallelogram. + +[Illustration] + +These works are very imperfect, because they have exposed points. The +angles are not protected by the fire from the sides. To remedy this +difficulty, the next most usual work is the _star fort_, made in the +form of a regular or irregular star. It will be perceived that the fire +from the sides covers the angles. + +The next and still more improved form of work is the bastioned fort, +which consists of projecting bastions at the corners, the fire from +which enfilades the ditches. + +The following is a diagram of a vertical section of the parapet and +ditch used in all fully constructed field works: + +[Illustration: + + A B is the slope of the banquette. + + B C head of the banquette, or place where the men stand to deliver + their fire. + + C D the interior slope of the parapet. + + D E superior slope of the same. + + F G the berme, or place left to prevent the parapet from washing + down into the ditch. + + G H the scarp or interior wall of the ditch. + + H I the bottom of the ditch. + + I K the counterscarp. + + L M N the glacis, which, except the abatis near the ditch, is left + free and open, so as to expose the assailants to the fire from the + parapet. + + The proportions and angles of all the lines given are fixed + according to mathematical rules.] + +The operations of a siege present many incidents of great interest; but +we can do nothing more in this article than illustrate the methods in +which the approaches are made to the works the capture of which is +designed. When reconnoissances have established the conclusion that the +works of an enemy cannot be carried by assault, the lines of the +investing army are advanced as near to them as is compatible with +safety; advantage is then taken of the opportunities afforded by the +ground to cover working parties, which are thrown forward to the place +fixed for the first parallel; sometimes these parties can commence their +work only at night. The parallel is only a deep trench with the dirt +thrown toward the enemy; and after the excavation has progressed, the +trench is occupied by parties of troops to resist any sorties of the +enemy, and to prevent attempts against the batteries established behind +the parallel. + +The first parallel being completed, zigzag excavations are made toward +the front to cover the passage of men who proceed to dig the second +parallel. Meanwhile the batteries have commenced to play, and riflemen +have been advanced in trenches at convenient places, whose fire annoys +the gunners of the enemy. The second parallel being made, the batteries +are moved up to it, and the third parallel is proceeded with in a manner +similar to that used for the second. + + +We give below a rough diagram of these operations: + +[Illustration: + +A B C D E is the work of the enemy to be besieged. The working parties +advance by the zigzag paths M N and O to the position chosen for the +first parallel, K L. At the proper time they proceed by the zigzag paths +to the second parallel, H I, and then to the third, F G. When this is +reached, the enemy's work can generally be carried by storm, unless +already evacuated, for _ceteris paribus_ the advantages generally lie +with the besieging party. The zigzags are called _boyaux_, and they are +dug in the form represented, so that the bank of earth thrown up may be +always in front of them. Were they in straight lines this could not be. + +The above refers exclusively to the siege of a field work. The +principles for besieging a walled fort or a fortified town are the same, +but the operations are much more complicated.] + + + + +LITERARY NOTICES. + + + Popular Edition. RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. By AUGUSTIN + COCHIN, Ex-Maire and Municipal Councillor of Paris. Work + crowned by the Institute of France (Academie Francaise). Translated + by MARY L. BOOTH, Translator of Count de Gasparin's work + on America, etc. Fourth thousand. Boston: Walker, Wise & Co., 245 + Washington street. 1864. + +A remarkable book, indicative of a new era in the discussion of social, +religious, political, and economical questions. Prejudice, misstatement, +and fanaticism are apparently so opposed to the clear, candid mind of +the author, that he has needed no effort to avoid them, and in their +stead give us simple truth, broad views of men and things, and the +highest conceptions of duty and charity, together with the nicest +consideration of the rights and material interests, even the local +prejudices and misconceptions, of our fellow mortals. He shows clearly +that a _moral_ wrong can never long tend to _material_ advantage, and +that the laws of _society_ cannot be made ultimately to triumph over the +laws of _nature_; neither, in general, can a wrong be righted without +some suffering by way of expiation. + +Although filled with statistical details, the work cannot fail to be +intensely interesting to the general reader. Lofty, hopeful, rational, +and yet progressive in its tone, it is calculated to do great good, not +only through the useful information and instructive generalizations it +makes known, but also as a model of right feeling, and consequent good +breeding, in its peculiar sphere. + +The chapters upon the sugar question are wonderfully lucid and +convincing. Their bearing upon mooted points of political economy +recommend them to the study of all interested in that intricate subject. +The distressing relations necessarily existing between slavery and +religious instruction are also plainly set forth, and the general +conclusion of the book (that 'emancipation' is not only possible, but +most expedient, and that, with certain care upon the part of the +Government and of slave owners, an immediate and simultaneous liberation +is likely to breed fewer disturbances and less evil than gradual +disenthralment) seems to be rapidly gaining ground in the convictions of +our own countrymen. The conscience, and prophetic dreams of priests, +women, and poets, have long given assurance of such results, but the +world, of course, required definite experience and practical essays +before instituting any extensive course of action in that direction. + + 'A council held in the city of London in 1102, under the presidency + of St. Anselm, interdicted trade in slaves. This was eight hundred + years before the same object was debated in the same city before + Parliament. In 1780, Thomas Clarkson proposed to abolish the slave + trade. In 1787, Wilberforce renewed the proposition. Seven times + presented from 1793 to 1799, the bill seven times failed. + Successively laid over, it triumphed at length in 1806 and 1807. + All the Christian nations followed this memorable example. At the + Congress of Vienna, all the Powers pledged themselves to unite + their efforts to obtain _the entire and final abolition of a + traffic so odious and so loudly reproved by the laws of religion + and nature_. The slave trade was abolished in 1808 by the American + United States; in 1811, by Denmark, Portugal, and Chili; in 1813, + by Sweden; in 1814 and 1815, by Holland; in 1815, by France; in + 1822, by Spain. In this same year, 1822, Wilberforce attacked + slavery after the slave trade, and won over public opinion by + appeals and repeated meetings, while his friend Mr. Buxton proposed + emancipation in Parliament. The Emancipation Bill was presented in + 1833. On the 1st of August, 1834, slavery ceased to sully the soil + of the English colonies. In 1846, Sweden, in 1847, Denmark, + Uruguay, Wallachia, and Tunis, obeyed the same impulse, which + France followed in 1848, Portugal in 1856, and which Holland + promised to imitate in 1860. An earnest movement agitated Brazil.' + +In Poland, the serfdom of the peasants was never sanctioned by law, but +existed in later times by reason of exception and abuse. Stanislas +Leszczynski, King of Poland, in 1720 raised his voice in favor of the +peasant population; the same principles were in 1768 defended, sword in +hand, by the Confederation of Bar, discussed in the diets of 1776, 1780, +1788, and finally adopted by the famous Constituent Assembly of 1791. +Thadeus Kosciuszko (May 7th, 1794), then Dictator of Poland, issued a +document giving entire personal liberty to all serfs; and on the 22d of +January, 1863, the members of the 'National Polish Government' decreed +that the peasants were not only free, but were entitled to a certain +portion of land, of which they should be the sole proprietors. In 1861, +Russia emancipated all serfs within her borders. In the United States, +the stern 'logic of events' seems to be rapidly bringing about similar +results, although indeed 'slavery' and 'serfdom' should never be +mentioned together, being so essentially different; the one the +possession of the _man_, the other merely the ownership of his _labor_ +or of a _portion of its results_. + +We cannot better conclude than by giving the following extract from the +Introduction of M. Cochin, who, by the way, is a man of good family and +ample fortune, an eminent publicist, and a Catholic of the school of +Lacordaire, Montalembert, Monseigneur d'Orleans, and the Prince de +Broglie: + + 'It was once exclaimed, Perish the colonies, rather than a + principle! The principle has not perished, the colonies have not + perished. + + 'It is not correct that interests should yield to principles; + between legitimate interests and true principles, harmony is + infallible; this is truth. Those who look only to interests are + sooner or later deceived in their calculations; those who, + exclusively occupied with principles, are generous without being + practical, cease to be generous, for they lead the cause which they + serve to certain destruction. It is the will of God that realities + should mingle with ideas, and that material obstacles should compel + the purchase of progress by toil.' + +The publishers tell us that, a large demand for this work having arisen, +they have issued this 'popular edition,' wherein the figures in the +original are given as nearly as possible in the American currencies, +measures, etc. + + STUMBLING BLOCKS. By GAIL HAMILTON, Author of + 'Country Living and Country Thinking,' 'Gala Days,' etc. Boston: + Ticknor & Fields, For sale by D. Appleton & Co., New York. + +Gail Hamilton's religious position gives her vast advantages. She is +thoroughly orthodox, Calvinistic, and Congregational, and being neither +Unitarian nor Catholic, will not be regarded as one of the 'Suspect' by +the great community of the so-called evangelical Christians. But she is +a bold, independent thinker, and spurns the trammels of bigotry and +prescription. No party spirit blinds her clear vision, no sectarian +prejudice vitiates her statements of the creeds of others, or induces +her to veil the faults and follies of those worshipping in the same +church with herself. Ministers are by no means immaculate saints in her +eyes. Seating herself in the pews, she preaches better sermons to them +than they are in the habit of giving to their people; taking possession +of their pulpits, she shows them what might and ought to be done from +that throne of power. Petty vanities, subjective experiences recorded in +morbid journals, religious frames of mind frequently dwelt upon until +the tortured self-watcher is driven into insanity, fall under her +scathing rebuke. + +This volume deals chiefly with the shortcomings of the orthodox +religious world. Its faults of temper, its repulsive manners, its custom +of making home unlovely, its distaste of innocent amusement, its habits +of censure, its self-sufficiency and pharisaical character, are touched +with a caustic but healing power. Only the hand of a friend could have +done this thing. No point of doctrine is questioned, no principle of +faith invaded, no charity wounded. She probes in love--her object is +cure. This book is fresh and vigorous, worth thousands of lifeless +sermons and unprofitable religious journals. No prejudice or falsehood +is spared, though it may have taken refuge in the very sanctuary. Her +every shaft is well directed, every arrow powerfully sent, every shot +strikes the bull's eye in its centre. Her words are hailstones rattling +fell and fast, but melt into and soften the heart on which they fall. +Delusions disappear, cant and want of courtesy become odious, shams grow +shameful, while all lovely things bloom lovelier in the light of truth +emanating from this large brain, and poured through this living heart. +We bask in its sunshine, growing strong and happy as we read. Christian +fervor and charity, love for Redeemer and redeemed, for saint and +sinner, cheer us through all these well-deserved denunciations. Her +style is clear and rapid, her matter of daily and urgent import, her +characterizations of classes and types of men worthy of La Bruyere +himself, her satire melts into humor, her humor into pathos. She has +been attacked by some of the religious papers, and has herein taken a +true Christian and magnanimous revenge. O Gail! the clergy should open +wide their hearts to take you in, their gifted child, the iconoclast +within the temple, the faithful disciple of Christ, the lover of purity +and truth! + +We quote the following brave words from this remarkable book: + + 'We sometimes see religious newspapers charging each other with + acts which should exclude the perpetrators from the fraternity of + _honest_ men; for, through the medium of religious newspapers, one + church, or one fraction of a church, or one ecclesiastical body, or + one member of it, accuses another of an act, or a course of action, + which, in sober truth, amounts to nothing more or less than + _obvious, persistent deception, dishonesty and trickery_.... Can + such be correct transcripts of facts? Is it true that a church, or + any body corporate, whose very existence as such is professedly to + cultivate and disseminate the principles of sound morality and true + religion, does fall so far short of the faith delivered to the + saints--does so far forget its origin, and pervert its aims, as to + violate common law and common honesty, and persist in its + violation, deliberately, against repeated remonstrances, by sheer + force? Yet we see no convulsion in the community. Nothing intimates + that a great grief is fallen upon Israel. Everybody eats, drinks, + and sleeps as usual. The pulpits still stand, and the law and the + gospel are appealed to from that vantage ground. The sacramental + cup is still raised to devout lips. The gray heads of the culprits + still go in and out among the people with no diminishing of + honor--no odium is attached to their persons; no stigmas to their + names. What a state of things does this argue! A whole church + plunges into darkness, and the + + 'Majestic heaven + Shines not the less for that one vanished star.' + + 'Can we wonder that the world will not let itself be converted? To + what should it be converted, if it were willing? Would it be an + advance for a community that sends its thieves to prison when it + catches them to merge itself in a community that is content to + print a few columns of _expose_ on the subject? If the stream where + you wish to drink is muddy, you will scarcely find clear waters by + descending. You want to go up, not down; up on the high lands where + threads of crystal cleave the gray old rocks, and gather purity + from earth's deep bosom and the sky's clear blue. + + 'If it is not so, if the acts only appear dishonest because we are + looking at one side, why do we not say so, or why do we say + anything about it? Every man is to be held innocent till he is + proved guilty. If there is any standpoint from which we can view + our opponent's position and find it not dishonest, we ought to + mention it. We have no right to look at him from _a_ standpoint, + and hold him up to view as a criminal, and ignore _another_, from + which he may be seen as simply mistaken, or deceived, or blameless. + Still less have we a right to take innocent facts and construct + upon them a guilty hypothesis to suit our foregone conclusion. A + _right_ to do it? _It is sin_. _It is more than murder_. It may rob + a man of what is more precious to him than his life. It attempts to + take away from a man what, taken, would leave him stripped of his + manhood, and a man's manhood is worth more to him and his friends + than his bone and muscle.' + +Ah, Gail, thy keen aim has indeed struck the pupil of the bull's eye! If +false statements of varying dogmas were held 'as criminal as they +undoubtedly are,' if they were never viewed from 'foregone conclusions,' +sects would perish in the death of misconceptions, and warring +Christians would rush into each other's arms with the joy-cry, +'Brothers!' Through the misstatements of centuries, the good Protestant +minister regards the Catholic priest, ready as he may be to die for the +faith of his fathers, as a _wilful liar_, a _conscious deceiver_, +selling the souls of his flock for a Judas bribe; while the equally good +priest, in his turn, looks upon the conscientious minister as a despiser +of authority, an enemy of the Church of Christ, refusing to hear what he +believes to be its undoubted teachings, a blind man, leading the blind +into the pit of perdition. The men may be both right from the standpoint +of their 'foregone conclusions,' both wrong from the standpoint of fact. +And so it goes on, through all the lesser sectarian divisions. +Everywhere misstatement, misconception, and smouldering hatred. The +first step to reconciliation among the antagonistic members of Christ's +torn body, would be to put into instantaneous practice the wise, sound, +and just maxims of Gail Hamilton. Let us begin it, lovers of truth and +justice! + + THE MAINE WOODS. By HENRY D. THOREAU, Author of + 'A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers,' 'Walden,' + 'Excursions,' etc. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. For sale by D. + Appleton & Co., New York. + +The first of the papers contained in this book was published in 'The +Union Magazine;' the second, 'Chesuncook,' came out in the 'Atlantic +Monthly,' in 1858; the last is now for the first time printed. The +contents of the volume are as follows: Ktaadn, Chesuncook, The Allegash +and East Branch; in the Appendix we have Trees, Flowers, and Shrubs, +List of Plants, List of Birds, Quadrupeds, Outfit for an Excursion, and +a List of Indian Words. Henry D. Thoreau was an enthusiastic lover of +nature, but no blind adorer of her loveliness. He knew her in all her +moods, was familiar with all her caprices. He was a man of strong brain, +and of accurate knowledge in such fields as it pleased him to study. The +woods have never before had such an accurate biographer, such a true +painter. He saw them with the eye of the poet as well as that of the +naturalist. Scholarship and imagination roam with him in the primeval +forests. After the most accurate and detailed description of a moose +which had been killed by his Indian guide, this anti-sentimentalist, but +true forest lover says: 'Here, just at the head of the murmuring rapids, +Joe now proceeded to skin the moose with a pocket knife, while I looked +on; and a tragical business it was--to see that still warm and +palpitating body pierced with a knife, to see the warm milk stream from +the rent udder, and the ghastly naked red carcass appearing from within +its seemly robe, which was made to hide it.' There is no joy of the +hunter here! The words are as 'tragical' and tender as were those of the +melancholy Jaques. That 'warm milk and rent udder' seems to make the +stately creature half human. He proceeds: + + 'But on more accounts than one, I had had enough of moose hunting. + I had not come to the woods for this purpose, nor had I foreseen + it, though I had been willing to learn how the Indian manoeuvred; + but one moose killed was as good, if not as bad, as a dozen. The + afternoon's tragedy and my share in it, as it affected the + _innocence_, destroyed the _pleasure_ of my adventure. This hunting + of the moose merely for the satisfaction of killing him--not even + for the sake of his hide--without making any extraordinary exertion + or running any risk yourself, is too much like going out by night + to some woodside pasture and shooting your neighbor's horses. These + are God's own horses, poor timid creatures, that will run fast + enough as soon as they smell you, though they are _nine_ feet high + (often eleven, with the antlers).... You strip off its hide, + because that is the common trophy, and moreover you have heard it + may be sold for mocassons--cut a steak from its body, and leave the + huge carcass 'to smell to heaven' for you. It is no better, at + least, than to assist at a slaughter house. This afternoon's + experience suggested to me how base or coarse are the motives which + commonly carry men into the wilderness. The explorers and lumberers + generally are hirelings, paid so much a day for their labor, and as + such they have no more love for wild nature than wood sawyers have + for forests. Other white men and Indians who come here are for the + most part hunters, whose object is to slay as many moose and other + wild animals as possible. But pray, could not one spend some weeks + or years in the solitude of this vast wilderness with other + employments than these--employments perfectly sweet, innocent, and + ennobling? For one that comes with a pencil to sketch or sing, a + thousand come with an axe or rifle. What a coarse and imperfect use + Indians and hunters make of nature! No wonder that their race is so + soon exterminated. I already, and for weeks afterward, felt my + nature the coarser for this part of my woodland experience, and was + reminded that our life should be lived as tenderly and daintily as + one would pluck a flower.' + +Again: + + 'As I sat before the fire on my fir-twig seat, without walls above + or around me, I remembered how far on every hand that wilderness + stretched, before you came to cleared or cultivated fields, and + wondered if any bear or moose was watching the light of my fire; + for nature looked sternly upon me on account of the _murder of the + moose_. + + 'Strange that so few ever come to the woods to see how the pine + lives and grows and spires, lifting its ever-green arms to the + light--to see its perfect success; but most are content to behold + it in the shape of many broad boards brought to market, and deem + _that_ its true success. But the pine is no more lumber than man + is, and to be made into boards and houses is no more its true and + highest use, than the truest use of a man is to be cut down and + made into manure. There is a higher law affecting our relation to + pines as well as to men. A pine cut down, a dead pine, is no more a + pine than a dead human carcass is a man. Can he who has discovered + only some of the values of whalebone and whale oil be said to have + discovered the true use of the whale? Can he who slays the elephant + for his ivory be said to have 'seen the elephant'? These are petty + and accidental uses; just as if a stronger race were to kill us in + order to make buttons and flageolets of our bones; for everything + may serve a lower as well as a higher use. Every creature is better + alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who + understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy + it. + + 'Is it the lumberman, then, who is the friend and lover of the + pine, stands nearest to it, and understands its nature best? Is it + the tanner who has barked it, or he who has boxed it for + turpentine, whom posterity will fable to have changed into a pine + at last? No! no! it is the poet; he it is who makes the truest use + of the pine--who does not fondle it with an axe, nor tickle it with + a saw, nor stroke it with a plane--who knows whether its heart is + false without cutting into it--who has not bought the stumpage of + the town on which its stands. All the pines shudder and heave a + sigh when _that_ man steps on the forest floor. No, it is the poet, + who loves them as his own shadow in the air, and lets them stand. I + have been into the lumber yard, the carpenter's shop, the tannery, + the lamp-black factory, and the turpentine clearing; but when at + length I saw the tops of the pines waving and reflecting the light + at a distance over all the rest of the forest, I realized that the + former were not the highest use of the pine. It is not their bones + or hide or tallow that I love most. It is the living spirit of the + tree, not its spirit of turpentine, with which I sympathize, and + which heals my cuts. It is as immortal as I am, and, perchance, may + go to as high a heaven, there to tower above me still.' + +Reader, was not this man a nature lover, a nature limner, worthy to take +his place among our Giffords, Whittredges, McEntees, Bierstadts, and +Beards? Truly original, natural, and American, who among our descriptive +writers can surpass H. D. Thoreau? + + PRIMARY LESSONS FOR DEAF MUTES. By J. A. JACOBS, + A. M., Principal of the Kentucky Institution for the Education of + Deaf Mutes. New York: John F. Trow, Printer & Publisher, 50 Greene + street, between Broome & Grand. 1864. + +An excellent little work, intended to impart some of the rudimentary +branches of learning to that interesting class of our fellow beings who +can neither speak nor hear. Every effort made for their instruction +should be cordially welcomed, for sad indeed is their position, and very +difficult the discovery of means to reach and develop their often very +bright intelligence. These lessons can be used by parents, guardians, or +elder brothers and sisters, before the deaf-mute child is old enough to +send to a regular institution. They are divided into two parts, bound in +separate little volumes, and _filled_ with cuts illustrating the +text--or rather, the text, as is proper in such a work, illustrates the +cuts, which occupy the larger portion of the book. Teachers cannot but +find these aids of incalculable value. + + THE RELATIONS OF THE INDUSTRY OF CANADA WITH THE MOTHER COUNTRY + AND THE UNITED STATES. Being a Speech by ISAAC + BUCHANAN, Esq., M. P., as delivered at the late Demonstration + to the Parliamentary Opposition at Toronto; together with a series + of Articles in defence of the National Sentiments contained + therein, which originally appeared in the columns of the _Hamilton + Spectator_, from the pen of Mr. Buchanan; to which is added a + Speech delivered by him at the Dinner given to the Pioneers of + Upper Canada, at London, Canada West, 10th December, 1863. Now + first published in complete and collected form, with copious Notes + and Annotations, besides an extended Introductory Explanation, and + an Appendix containing various valuable Documents. Edited by + HENRY J. MORGAN, Corresponding Member of the New York + Historical Society, and Author of 'Sketches of Celebrated + Canadians.' Montreal: Printed by John Lovell, St. Nicholas. 1864. + +We recommend this book to such of our readers as may be interested in +political economy, not as sound in theory, but as containing a vast +array of facts and giving considerable information with regard to the +internal affairs of our neighbor Canada. The Reciprocity Treaty comes in +for its share of consideration. Mr. Buchanan is a Protectionist, and +uses the arguments of his party with considerable ability. The question +of annexation is also incidentally touched upon. We do not know that we +can give our readers a better idea of the contents and policy of this +book than by placing the dedication before them. + + 'To the leaders of the forthcoming Party of Order, I dedicate these + pages, because I feel that the province is at the winning or the + losing, and that we shall hereafter have to hail you as the honored + instruments of our Political and Industrial salvation. + + 'In Mr. Buchanan's Letter to the Editor of the Globe, assuring him + publicly that Mr. Buchanan and all his friends, as in the Past, so + in the Future, would be found opponents to the death of Annexation, + and not its friends, as that journal basely insinuated, he states + that he is of no party, though reluctantly compelled to be in + opposition to the present ministry in consequence of their acts, + Executive as well as Legislative; but that he is of a class far + more numerous than the 'thick and thin' adherents of either of the + present _soi-disant_ parties. Those alluded to by Mr. Buchanan will + form a new party--the Party of Order, which will probably be called + the 'Constitutional Party'--its platform being broad enough to hold + all who value and respect the time-honored Constitution, whether + they be original Reformers or Conservatives in name. The new Party + of Order will comprise these elements: + + 'First. Conservative Liberals, or old Reformers, who have been + taught by experience, and are willing now to adopt the word + 'Conservative,' at least in its adjective sense. + + 'Secondly. Liberal Conservatives, or old Tories, or their + descendants, who have also been taught by experience, and are + willing to adopt the word 'Liberal,' at least in its adjective + sense. + + 'Thirdly. Conservatives, and Conservative Liberals, who have + unwittingly been mingled up with the incendiary party, composed of + 'Clear Grits' and 'Rouges.' + + 'And that in your discussions on the great question of the + Reciprocity Law, now about to agitate both Canada and the United + States, these pages may be of some service, is the fond hope of + your obedient servant, + 'THE EDITOR.' + + FAMILY PRIDE. By the Author of 'Pique.' Philadelphia: T. + B. Peterson & Brothers, 306 Chestnut street. + +Family Pride is a novel of still greater interest than 'Pique.' The plot +is well conceived, the characters skilfully developed, and the attention +is fascinated even to the end. The moral is unexceptionable, the style +fresh and pure. We must however enter an earnest protest against the +manifest injustice of the closing sentence, where the talented author +has gone out of his way to find a blot for his book, the only stain upon +his fair pages. It reads thus: 'After a variety of vicissitudes, she had +embraced the Romish faith: that religion which relieves from all +personal responsibility in spiritual matters; and which teaches that +earthly penance and ascetic observances will open the gates of heaven to +the vilest of criminals.' We have studied Westminster, Episcopal, and +Catholic catechisms, the teachings in all three of which are that faith +in Christ and sorrow for and renunciation of sin alone can open the +gates of heaven. We regard it as the duty of a conscientious reviewer to +point out an erroneous statement wherever it occurs, whether in regard +to the faith of Protestants, Catholics, Hebrews, Mohammedans, Fire +Worshippers, or any other classes of men whatsoever. Misstatement has +caused an immense deal of bloodshed and bitterness among Christians. The +walls of Zion must be built of the stones of truth. + + THE TANNER BOY, AND HOW HE BECAME LIEUTENANT-GENERAL. By + MAJOR PENNIMAN. 'The boy is father to the man.' Fifth + thousand. Boston: Roberts Brothers, publishers, 143 Washington + street. 1864. + +A lively account of the boyhood and subsequent career of one likely to +be famous in American history. The nation's eyes are at this moment +turned hopefully upon the result of Gen. Grant's campaign in Virginia, +and all will be glad to learn that his previous life offers so fair and +pleasant a record. One observation, however, we feel called upon to make +to the entertaining Major: the youth of America should be taught to +love, to live for, and, if need be, to die for their country; but they +should also be taught to shun narrow exclusiveness and boastful vanity. +A government of a whole people should in this respect set a noble +example to all other nations. + +The 'Tanner Boy' has already reached its 'fifth thousand,' and will no +doubt be eagerly read by all the patriotic boys and girls in the land. + + WAX FLOWERS. J. E. Tilton & Co., Boston. 1864. + +This little book contains somewhat over a hundred pages, and is gotten +up in the attractive style for which the publications of this firm have +become noted. A prefatory chapter sets forth the object of the work, and +the claims of the art. The first part treats of Wax Fruit, giving the +methods of making moulds and casting therefrom, of preparing the wax, of +coloring the fruit and giving it the proper outward texture. The second +part describes all the articles and materials required for making even +the most elaborate of WAX FLOWERS; gives the way of preparing +the wax, including its formation into sheets of any required thickness, +with all the minutiae relating to coloring, &c. The text is clearly and +simply written, and by the aid of ample illustrations everything is made +plain to the learner. + +It is wonderful how exquisitely flowers may be imitated--making one wish +a device for the secreting of the appropriate perfumes. + + The wax once gathered by bees through many a bower, + Glows again in the form of a beautiful flower. + +The artist in wax enjoys the best of opportunities for learning Botany, +both analytically and synthetically. A series of models in wax would +make the ocular study of botany possible throughout the year. The taste +for wax flowers is becoming widely extended, and high prices are brought +by the finest specimens of the art. Humanity should heartily welcome an +employment which enables many to escape the suicide of the needle! + + DENISE. By the Author of 'Mademoiselle Mori.' In two vols. + New York: James G. Gregory, 540 Broadway. + +There is a strange charm about this book. The story is common enough, +the characters have nothing original in their conception, and yet we are +fascinated by the detailed truth of the portraiture from the first page +to the last. The scenes are laid in Farnoux, a town in the old Provencal +districts. The ancient views and manners are still retained, and +interest us by the force of contrast with our own. Mademoiselle Le +Marchand, an odd old maid, with a genius for painting, is really the +character of the book. Denise, the heroine, is quietly and faithfully +drawn. Various picturesque phases of the Catholic faith are artistically +managed, while the faith itself is not treated with much courtesy. As a +general thing we do not like theological novels written from foregone +conclusions. We can imagine however that such a subject might be made +intensely interesting. If a master mind of perfect impartiality would +give us the effect produced upon two minds of equal mental power, of +equal moral worth, by Protestantism or Catholicity--such a study would +both interest and instruct. All religious nicknames should be avoided, +as offensive both to charity and refined taste. Episcopalians do not +like to be called Anglicans; Friends, Quakers; Baptists, Hardshells; +Unitarians, Pantheists; nor Catholics, Romanists. Let us use courtesy to +all men, that so we may have more weight when we attack erroneous +principles. + +By all means read Denise; its studies of the heart are close and +accurate. + + + + +EDITOR'S TABLE. + + +THE CAMPAIGN. + +[_Furnished by a Friend of the Editor of_ THE CONTINENTAL.] + +Three routes of operation are open to an army designing to proceed +against Richmond: first, along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad to +Charlottesville; second, along the railroad from Fredericksburg to +Hanover Court House; and third, by the way of Fortress Monroe. The first +has the disadvantage of presenting a long line of communication, +constantly exposed to inroads from guerillas, and for the purposes of +warfare may be considered as utterly impracticable. It would not, in +fact, be worth considering, had not some critics of Gen. Grant's +movements absurdly insisted that he ought to have adopted this route. +The second route is far more advantageous, and had Gen. Grant's purposes +been confined simply to putting his army before the rebel capital, and +lying there to seize such opportunities as the developments of the +campaign should afford, it might have been expedient to maintain by this +route communications with the Potomac. But the intentions of our +Lieutenant-General were of a much more comprehensive character. While, +therefore, following this route in his march, because it gave the most +direct and shortest line to Richmond, he did not use the railroad as a +means of communication. His aim was fixed on an ulterior object. He +designed to put his army in such a position that it should be constantly +assailing Richmond by its presence, although not a gun should be fired. +He, therefore, tried the strength of the rebel works, in passing, and +finding that time would be spent uselessly in attempting to overthrow +them either upon the north or the east, he proceeded to the new position +south of the James, and adopted the third route mentioned for his +communication with the North, having previously used it, also, for the +transportation to the ultimate scene of conflict of a part of his forces +under Gen. Butler. + +Among military men, there have been, since the commencement of the war, +many advocates for an attack on Richmond from the position at +Petersburg. It has many advantages. The facilities for transporting +supplies are easy, it isolates the capital of the Southern government +from its southern and eastern connections, it interferes largely with +the internal trade of the confederacy, it confines the rebel army in a +narrow space, and it necessitates constant efforts on the part of the +confederate commanders to expel the Northern forces, thus constraining +them to leave their works and become assailants. In fine, the position +affords more opportunities for strategically investing Richmond than any +other which is accessible to our armies. + +A clear perception of these advantages determined Gen. Grant to adopt +the position at Petersburg. He was aware that Richmond could not be +directly invested except with a very large army. He desired to +accomplish the results which such an investment would give. He sought to +cut off the city from its principal channels of communication--to +deprive it of its main resources. Have these purposes been effected? At +the time we write it is announced that the army occupies the railroad +leading to Weldon, thus breaking the communication with North Carolina; +that our cavalry has destroyed a portion of the road leading to +Lynchburg; that the forces operating under Gen. Hunter have also +destroyed portions of the Virginia Central and the road between +Gordonsville and Lynchburg; they have also damaged the James River +Canal. The only railroad communication now existing between Richmond and +the South is that by way of Danville. Before this reaches our readers we +trust that the effects of these efforts to isolate the capital of the +confederacy will become evident; that the rebel army will be forced to +leave its intrenchments and meet our brave soldiers in the field, and +that the conflict may have resulted in victory for the cause of the +country and of freedom. + +The various steps of the process by which the army gained the position +at Petersburg are already well known. From the time the camps at +Culpepper Court House were broken up, until the lines were established +south of the James river, the series of movements consisted in masterly +marches by the left, compelling the enemy constantly to fall back from +his intrenched positions to points farther in his rear. Such movements +were not, however made until after trials of the enemy in the front, +some of which resulted in splendid partial successes. They were, +however, not conclusive. The flank movements of our army belong to that +class which are considered among the most difficult in warfare, +requiring great skill in commanders to arrange their details, and +endurance and discipline in the troops to effect them. It is no easy +matter to change position in the face of a wary and vigorous enemy, +ready to fall upon any exposed point in the long array of a marching +column. Yet, several times, the manoeuvre has been skilfully and +successfully performed, and each time the rebels have learned it too +late to profit by the chances offered for a surprise. + +Hundreds of miles distant from the principal point of attraction in +Virginia, the other great army of the Union, under Gen. Sherman, has +also been performing similar feats--turning by well-directed marches, +one after another, the intrenched positions of the enemy in the +mountainous district of Georgia. Atlanta, the object of its toils, is a +great centre of railroad communication, and when our armies obtain +possession of it, the confederacy will experience another severing +stroke, almost as severe as that which cleft it in twain by the capture +of Vicksburg and the reopening of the Mississippi. By such strokes the +pretentious imposture of a Southern nation must be broken into +fragments, even should the armies supporting it remain for a time +organized and defiant; for, under the appliances of modern civilization +and commerce, the possession of a railroad or internal depot of trade is +almost equivalent to the destruction of an army. + +The campaigns of 1863 produced great results, as well geographically as +in the capture of men and munitions from the rebels. At the commencement +of the year they held the Mississippi, they threatened Kentucky and the +borders of the Ohio, they were able to draw supplies from Tennessee, +Arkansas, and Texas. They were, moreover, arrogantly defiant toward the +North, and boasted of their ability to march to its great commercial +centres. At the close of the year they were driven to the confines of +Georgia, they were separated from the trans-Mississippi region, their +boasting had been brought to humility at Gettysburg. The objects to be +accomplished in the great campaign of 1864 are to drive in upon each +other the two armies which resist our progress in Virginia and Georgia, +and to compress the rebellion into the Southern Atlantic States. This +done, the existence of secession is practically at an end, though it may +brag as loudly as ever and keep on foot its armies. For without +Virginia, and without the connections of Atlanta, the existence of an +independent government in the South is impossible: sufficient country +would not remain to support so magnificent an affair. The loss of +Virginia in fact would be the fatal blow to the rebellion; for, however +South Carolina may exalt herself, and however the other States of the +South may aspire, yet it is Virginia which gives tone and respectability +to the Southern confederacy. It is for this, far more than because it is +the rebel capital, that the capture of Richmond is desirable. + +But should it happen--which fortunately is not a reasonable +surmise--that the objects of this year's campaign should not be +attained, we consider that the Southern confederacy exists only in +pretence. Should its ports be to-day opened, should our armies fall back +to their primary bases of operation, should European Powers formally +declare that a slave republic exists, yet the new nation would be +practically a nonentity. Does any one suppose that the United States +would yield Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, New Orleans, and +the Mississippi; that the freemen of Western Virginia would be forsaken; +that Fortress Monroe and Port Royal would be abandoned? How long would a +nation so surrounded, so intersected, exist, or how could it achieve any +prosperity, character, and stability? Constant war, in the effort to +expand and perfect its borders, would be its necessity; but such a +necessity would be its destruction. There is no possibility of +compromise or arrangement in the contest in which we are engaged, except +with the parallel of the Potomac and the Ohio as the dividing border; +but such an arrangement is impossible; entire reconquest becomes the +imperative; it may be delayed, our present hopes may be disappointed, +but the march of our armies thus far has trodden out the life from the +Southern attempt at independence, and any future existence it may have +will be merely muscular paroxysms--not the steady, regular, automatic +movements of freedom and spontaneity. + +Any notice of the operations of our armies would be incomplete without +tributes to the ability of commanders and the valor of our soldiers. In +no previous period of the war have these been more strikingly +exemplified. The capacity of man to endure and his ability to exert +himself continuously without exhausting his energy, are very wonderful. +The reader of military history is constantly struck with this, in +perusing accounts of sieges and marches and battles. War is always +accompanied with a host of terrors--exposures to heat, cold, and +tempests, marches through swamps and snows, suffering by hunger and +thirst and fatigue, lying with bleeding wounds for days and nights +between the lines of friends and foes, toil, danger, privation, pain, in +every form. But among the memorable campaigns in the history of war, +none is more marked for its incessant activity and the cheerful alacrity +with which every hardship was endured, than that in which our army +marched from the Rapidan to the James. From Georgia, too, we have +similar accounts of difficulties met only to be surmounted. Heaven bless +our gallant soldiers everywhere! A nation's hopes and prayers are with +them. May they know the soldier's dearest delight--victory! + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 2, + August, 1864, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONTINENTAL MONTHLY *** + +***** This file should be named 20565.txt or 20565.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/5/6/20565/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by Cornell University Digital Collections) + + +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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