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diff --git a/24491-8.txt b/24491-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..609bf6e --- /dev/null +++ b/24491-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7716 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 6, +December 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. 6, December 1864 + Devoted To Literature And National Policy + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 2, 2008 [EBook #24491] + +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.--DECEMBER, 1864--NO. VI. + + +AN ARMY: ITS ORGANIZATION AND MOVEMENTS + +_FIFTH PAPER._ + + +Before the enlightenment derived from the sad experiences of our present +civil contest, upon the incidents of protracted warfare, probably most +persons conceived of war as a scene of constant activity--a series of +marches, battles, and sieges, with but few intervals of repose. History +records only the active portions of war, taking but little account of +the long periods consumed in the preliminary processes of organization +and discipline, in the occupation of camps and cantonments, in the +stationary watches of opposing armies, lying in the front of each other, +both too weak for aggressive movements, but each strong enough to +prevent such movements on the part of its opponent. Such matters, if +noticed at all, are recorded in a few sentences, making no impression on +the reader. Novels of the 'Charles O'Malley' class have also given +incorrect ideas. Every page relates some adventure--every scene gleams +with sabres and bayonets. Our three years' experience has taught us that +the greater portion of an army's existence is spent in inactivity; that +campaigning is performed only through one half of the year, and of that +time probably not over one third is occupied in progressive movements. +In the campaign of 1861, the only marches of the Army of the Potomac +were to the battle field of Bull Run and the retreat. In 1862, after a +march of fifteen miles to Fairfax Court House and returning, the army +was transferred to Fortress Monroe and moved to Yorktown, where some +weeks were passed in the trenches; it then proceeded up the Peninsula, +and laid a month before Richmond; retreated to Harrison's Landing, and +laid another month; returned to Fortress Monroe, and was shipped to the +vicinity of Washington, marched for about a month, fought at Antietam, +and then laid in camp a month; moved to Warrenton and remained a +fortnight; proceeded to Fredericksburg and continued in camp all winter, +except making the short movements which led to the battle of December, +and the ineffective attempt to turn the rebel left, known as the 'mud +march.' In all this long campaign, from March to December, a period of +nearly nine months, spent in various operations, more than five months +were passed in stationary camps--most of the time occupied, it is true, +in picketing, entrenching, and other duties incident to positive +military operations in proximity to an enemy, but very different from +the duties connected with marching and fighting. The campaign of 1863 +comprised a still smaller period of active movements. Commencing in +April with the battle of Chancellorsville, it continued till the march +to Mine Run in October--seven months; but considerable more than half +the time was spent in camps at Falmouth, Warrenton, and Culpepper. The +great campaign now in progress has consumed (at the time this article is +written) three months, commencing after a six-months' interval of +inaction, and already half the time has been spent in the trenches at +Petersburg. + +Since so large a portion of the time of an army is passed in camps, that +branch of military science which governs the arrangement of forces when +stationary, is one of considerable importance. It is in camps that +armies are educated, that all the details of organization are +systematized, that the _morale_ of troops is cultivated, that a round of +laborious though monotonous duties is performed. Nothing is so trying to +the temper of the individuals composing an army as a long season in a +stationary camp; nothing has more effect for good or for evil upon the +army in the aggregate, than the mode in which the time, at such a +season, is occupied. The commander who does not exercise care to have +his camps pitched in the proper localities, to insure the observance of +hygienic rules, and to keep his men employed sufficiently in military +exercises, will have discontented, unhealthy, and indolent troops. + +The words 'camps' and 'cantonments' are frequently used in the +newspapers without any discrimination; but they denote two entirely +different methods of sheltering troops. A camp is defined to be the +place where troops are established in tents, in huts, or in bivouac; +while cantonments are inhabited places which troops occupy for shelter +when not put in barracks. Of camps there are several kinds, according to +the purposes to be effected by their establishment, such as the nightly +camps while upon the march, camps of occupation, camps in line of +battle, &c. Cantonments are most frequently used when, during the +winter, or other considerable period of inactivity, it is necessary to +distribute an army over a large district of country, so as to guard a +number of points. We have not had any instance of cantonment, properly +speaking, during the present war; but in Europe this method of disposing +troops is frequently adopted. + +The scenes ensuing upon the arrival of an army corps at its camping +ground for a night, after a day's march, are very lively, often amusing, +and sometimes present picturesque effects. Where the country traversed +by the army is known to the commander, he is able to designate the +nightly camps of the different corps with precision; if, on account of +ignorance of the country, this cannot be done, places are approximately +indicated upon the information given by maps or extracted from the +inhabitants, or procured by reconnoitring parties. Usually, however, the +commander possesses considerable topographical information, procured by +his officers in the advance with the cavalry and light troops, so that +he can fix the nightly camps in such a manner that the various corps +shall all be upon the same line, and lie within supporting distances. +The vicinity of streams is invariably selected for a camp, if other +circumstances permit. When a corps arrives within a mile or two of its +destination, the commander sends forward some of his staff officers +(accompanied by a cavalry guard, if the country is suspicious), and +these officers select the different localities for the camps of the +divisions, of the artillery, the cavalry, and the trains, care being +taken to give all equal facilities for wood and water, and at the same +time to take advantage of the features of the country for military +purposes, such as the guarding of roads in all directions, the +establishment of the picket line, &c. The leading division arrives +perhaps at 5 P.M., and its commander is shown to the locality assigned +him. He immediately distributes the ground to the brigades, and the +troops, as fast as they arrive, filing into the designated spots, occupy +but a few moments in the necessary formalities by which disorder is +prevented; then each man quickly spreads his little tent upon the place +which in the military order belongs to him, a general din of cheerful +voices arises, a unanimous rush is made to the water, cooking fires are +kindled in all directions, and in ten minutes a scene of (it may be) +utter desolation becomes full of life and activity. For a couple of +hours the columns continue to file in, until all the hillsides are +covered with tents. Then, far into the night, is heard the braying of +mules, the shouts of drivers, and the rattling of wheels, as the heavy +wagon trains toil to the place of rest. All through the evening prevails +that peculiar, cheerful din of a camp, as peculiar and characteristic as +the roar of a great city; gradually the noises decline, the bugles and +drums sound the tattoo, the fires grow dim, and the vast mass of hardy, +resolute humanity is asleep--all except the two or three score of sick +and dying men, wasted by fever, who have been jolted all day over the +rough roads in the ambulances, and now groan and writhe in delirium upon +their narrow stretchers in the camp hospitals. + +Camps designed to cover and guard a country, are constructed when the +army has not sufficient strength to advance, or when the season +prevents, or some other cause interferes with the prosecution of +hostilities, while at the same time it is necessary to occupy a portion +of the hostile territory. We have had numerous examples of this kind of +camps--indeed, our armies occupy them generally while lying inactive +during the winter. The character of the ground must always determine the +shape and features of such a camp, but unless peculiar modifying +circumstances dictate otherwise, the general form is that of the arc of +a circle. This, with extensions at the sides to cover the flanks, and a +rear guard, is the best for protection. The extent of this kind of camp +is governed by circumstances, but is much greater, generally, than would +be supposed. The camp of an army of 100,000 men, designed to cover any +considerable district of territory, in a country where hills and rivers +assist in giving protection, might have a front (including flanking +parties of cavalry) of from 30 to 50 miles, and a depth of from 10 to +20; besides a continuous chain of forces in the rear, guarding +communications with the base of supplies, from 10 to 50 miles distant. + +Camps in line of battle are generally established when opposing armies, +lying in proximity, must be on the alert for attacks. They cover but +little more ground than is required for the manoeuvres of the force, +and are so arranged that, in case of probable conflict, the troops can +assume immediately the formations of battle. Such camps are arranged in +two or three lines, adapted to the natural features of the country for +defence. The approach of the enemy having been communicated from the +outposts, the tents are rapidly struck, the baggage loaded and sent to +the rear, and in an hour the army is free from all encumbrances, and +ready to meet the advancing foe. Usually, when armies lie in contact, +expecting battle, the troops bivouac--no tents being pitched except at +the headquarters of superior commanders, and at other places +sufficiently in the rear to be free from immediate danger. The troops +may be obliged to remain thus for a day or two, no fires being permitted +in the advanced lines, so that their positions may not be indicated. + +The season for the suspension of active hostilities having arrived, it +is necessary for the commander of an army to select some place in which +his forces can remain for the winter--where they will have sufficient +facilities for fuel and water, where their health can be preserved, +where they can be protected against surprises or annoyance, where the +country can be covered and guarded, and where the supplies can be drawn +with security from the base of operations. After a due consideration of +all the intelligence that can be obtained upon these points, the +commander issues his general directions, the various corps move to their +designated positions, and preparations for the habitations of the winter +are made. Each corps commander, either personally or by his staff +officers, makes a survey of his ground, and assigns the positions of his +divisions. If within a few miles of the enemy, he throws detachments of +observation toward the front, and then proceeds to establish his picket +line, usually some three or five miles in advance of his main line. +Precautions for security being thus adopted, more minute inspections of +the ground are made, so that unhealthy positions may be avoided. The +troops, being placed, immediately proceed to clear the sites of their +respective encampments, and wagons are set to work to bring in logs with +which huts may be constructed. In about a week thousands of diminutive +log houses arise, roofed with the shelter tents of the soldiers, or, +when the occupants have sufficient handicraft ability, with rough +shingles. Shelters are erected, as far as possible, for the animals, +generally being nothing more than frameworks covered with pine brush. If +there are lumber mills in the vicinity, they are set to work, and boards +sawed for floors to the tents and hospitals. The adjacent forests now +begin to disappear rapidly, leaving nothing but an unsightly array of +stumps; for a regiment is entitled to about two hundred cords of wood +per month as fuel, and in a well-wooded country, where the men can +conveniently cut for themselves, much more is consumed. Every regiment +requires, therefore, about eight or ten acres of woodland per month. An +army of a hundred regiments will, in the course of a winter, denude +several square miles of trees, so that (in the proportion which woodland +generally bears to that which is cleared) a space of country equal to a +county may be stripped of its timber. The men, having made themselves +comfortable, are now called on to form working parties, and put the +roads leading to the depots and the various camps in good order, +generally corduroying them, so as to be passable during the winter; +bridges are made over streams, drainage perfected, &c. In a few weeks, +the chief portion of the labor of preparing a winter's camp is +completed. + +The sanitary regulations for camps are very stringent and comprehensive. +The suggestions of experience as to the details by which the diseases +incident to camp life can be prevented, are embodied in orders, and it +is the duty of the medical officers and of the inspectors to see that +they are observed. For instance, it is not permitted to have the floors +of the huts lower than the external ground, and the men are required to +keep pine boughs between their blankets and the earth. The method in +which a camp shall be drained, and the offal disposed of, is prescribed. +The cleanliness of the men is enforced. A rigorous system of reports +upon these and many other particulars exists, so that negligences are +corrected. + +The military occupations which relieve the monotony of camp life are +drilling and picketing. It is in the latter that officers and men find +change and freedom, though it often involves severe exposure. The +ordinary detail for this duty in a corps averages perhaps eight hundred +to one thousand men, who are changed usually every three days. If the +country be well settled, some opportunities are presented during that +interval for intercourse with the 'natives;' but in Virginia, it must be +confessed, the attractions of this kind are few. The secession ladies +are not over well disposed to any wearers of Yankee uniforms, and though +many of them are willing to bestow a few soft words in exchange for tea, +coffee, and sugar, they are not liberal of social courtesies. The young +man who joins our armies expecting to realize for himself the love +adventures he has seen recorded in novels, will find the Southern ladies +less given to romance than the damsels of Spain or Mexico. They are +inclined, also, to be treacherous, as the fate of several gallant +officers, who have gone stealthily beyond the lines to spend an evening +with fair rebel sirens, and found themselves delivered to guerillas, has +shown. Nevertheless, the experience of others never warns an adventurous +youth, and opportunities frequently arise for practical jokes. During +the winter of 1862-'3, while the army was encamped on the Rappahannock, +an officer was fascinated by the charms of a fair widow who resided just +beyond the lines, and frequently made evening visits to her. His +companions, being aware of this, formed a party, on a bitter January +night, and proceeding to the widow's house, surrounded it, and sending +within some who were strangers to him, they announced themselves as +belonging to the rebel army, and captured the enamored lover, +blindfolded, led him out, and mounted him. Crestfallen and moody with, +thoughts of his disgraceful situation, cursing, perhaps, the wiles of +the enchantress, to whom he attributed it, he was made to ride many +weary miles, and then, being dismounted, and the bandage removed from +his eyes, he found himself at his own camp, where he was greeted with +uproarious laughter. + +The duties incident to picketing and outpost stations are so important +that several works by distinguished authors have been written concerning +them, but most of the rules are of too technical a character for recital +in these papers. The friends of soldiers will, however, take interest in +some general statements. The picket line consists of three +portions--first, the stations of the main guard; second, some distance +in advance of these, the picket stations; and third, some two hundred +yards in advance of these, the stations of the sentinels. If the country +is open and hilly, the latter need not be posted closely together, but +in a wooded country they must be quite numerous. It is their duty not to +allow any person to pass their line; and if a force of the enemy, too +strong to be resisted, approaches, they fall back on the pickets. These +should be stationed where they can command the main avenues of approach, +and offer resistance to the advanced parties of the enemy. After such +resistance becomes useless, the various pickets fall back on the grand +guard, which offers a more determined contest. The advance of the enemy +should by these means have been delayed for a couple of hours, affording +time for the troops to get under arms and take the order of battle. + +The following diagram exhibits the general arrangement of picketing: + +[Illustration] + +Let the line A B represent a chain of sentinels on a mile of picket +front, C D a line of picket stations, and E the grand guard. The whole +force of men may perhaps be three hundred, of whom two thirds will +remain at E, posted advantageously upon some eminence protected in part +by a stream and commanding an open country. The remaining one hundred +will be distributed among the picket stations and thrown forward as +sentinels. The whole arrangement is supervised by an officer of +rank--usually a colonel. With a disposition like the above in front of +every division in an army, it is obviously impossible for any +considerable force of an enemy to approach without detection. + +One of the greatest practical difficulties our armies have experienced +has been connected with the system of picketing. The South having been +greatly impoverished in those portions traversed by the contending +armies, and the people entirely destitute of luxuries, there are +innumerable applications from residents outside of the pickets for +admission within the lines, in order to trade with officers, for the +purpose of procuring in return articles from our well-supplied +commissariat. Various other necessities of the people appeal for a +modified degree of rigor in regard to picket arrangements, so that our +armies are never free from the presence of rebel inhabitants, traversing +them in all directions. Perfectly familiar with the country, they are +able to detect any weakly guarded places, and undoubtedly, in frequent +instances, after receiving the kindest treatment, return to their homes +conveying such information to guerillas as enables these prowlers to +penetrate through by-roads and seize animals and straggling soldiers. As +a precaution against such annoyances, a very judicious arrangement was +made last winter by the provost marshal general of the Army of the +Potomac. He established certain points on the picket line at which +traffic might be conducted, and forbade admission to citizens. Some +rigorous system like this is very necessary. + +The social life of camps is, however, the topic of chief interest. The +question is often asked, Is the life of a soldier demoralizing? The +answer must be, 'Yes,' but not for the reasons generally supposed. The +opportunities for vice and dissoluteness are really less than at home. +The hundred thousand men in an army use less liquor than the same number +of men in a city. In fact, liquor is nearly inaccessible to the soldier +when on the march. For other kinds of vice the temptations are few. The +demoralization arises from the terrible monotony of a prolonged camp, +which produces listlessness, indolence, and a devotion to small +amusements; deranges and reverses the whole system of active life, as it +is seen at home; renders a man uncouth; disqualifies soldiers for +anything else than the trade of war. To the officer in his tent and to +the soldier in his log hut, while the cold rains are beating without, +and the ground is knee deep with mud, there is a constant temptation to +find amusement in cards. Gambling thus becomes a pastime too generally +adopted. The books sent to the army are not always of the character best +adapted to the circumstances. Moral essays and tracts will not be very +eagerly sought for by men whose principal object is to kill time. The +reading matter needed is the kind afforded by the periodicals of the +day, unobjectionable novels, biographies, works of travel, etc. + +Camp life has, however, its pleasures, and it must not be supposed that +all succumb to its enervating influences, or that any great number yield +themselves entirely to its demoralizing effects. The period of military +service among our volunteers is too short to permit its full influence +to be experienced, and the connections of our soldiers with their homes +too intimate to allow them to subside completely into the routine +veterans, whose social, mental, and moral nature is altogether lost and +absorbed in the new and artificial military nature imposed on them. + +War collects many characters of peculiar idiosyncrasies, and jumbles +them strangely together, so that curious associations are produced. In +any collection of men upon a staff or in a regiment, gathered from +different localities, will be found characters of the most opposite and +incongruous elements. There will be the youth who has never before +travelled beyond his own village, and is full of small anecdotes of the +persons who have figured in his little world; and the silent and +reserved man of middle age, who, if he can be induced to talk, can tell +of many a wild scene in all quarters of the world in which he has been a +participant, since he stealthily left his native home, a boy of sixteen. +There are men who have passed through all the hardships of life, who +have been soldiers in half a dozen European armies, or miners in +California and Australia, or sailors; and men who have always had wealth +at their disposal, and spent years in foreign travel, viewing the world +only under its sunniest aspects. There are many officers grown gray +while filling subordinate capacities at posts on the Western prairies +and mountains, who can relate many interesting anecdotes of their +companions--the men now prominent in military affairs; and there are +officers of high rank, recently emerged from civil life, who nourish +prodigiously in self-glorification upon their brief warlike experience. +There are brave men, and men whose courage is suspected; quiet men, and +men of opinionated perversity; quick-witted men, and men whose profound +stupidity makes them continual butts for all kinds of practical jokes; +refined, educated, poetical men, and men of boorish habits. In short, +any camp presents such specimens of humanity as would be furnished if +all the ingredients of character and experience that compose the world +had been collected in a huge pepper box and sprinkled miscellaneously +throughout the army. + +In such associations there are of course many occasions for extracting +interesting and comical conversation and incident. Jokes of all kinds +are constantly on the wing, and no one can consider himself safe from +collision with them. Ridiculous nicknames become attached--no one knows +how--to the most dignified characters, and altogether usurp the places +of the genuine cognomens. No person possesses the art of concealment to +such a degree that all his foibles and weaknesses will escape +observation in the companionship of a camp; and when discovered, the +treatment of them is merciless just in proportion to the care with which +they had been hidden. All pretensions will be penetrated, all disguises +unmasked. Every man finds himself placed according to his exact status, +no matter how well contrived his arrangements for passing himself off +for more than his par value. Many an officer, whom the newspapers +delight to praise, because he is over courteous to correspondents, and +takes precautions to have all his achievements published, has a camp +reputation far different from that by which he is known to the public. + +Opinions of all kinds flourish in the army as vigorously as in the outer +world. There are ardent theorists of the progressive order, full of +schemes for radical reforms, and old fogies believing in nothing except +what they lament to see is fast becoming obsolete. There are students +and practical men, authors and mechanics, editors, lawyers, doctors, +clergymen, school teachers, actors, artists, singers, and +representatives of all kinds of trades and avocations. All are now on +the same platform, and, for a time, class distinctions disappear beneath +the assimilating conditions of the new profession. Political strifes +occur, but are rarely virulent. Generally the association together of +men holding different political views, in a common cause, and subject to +the same dangers, is tacitly accepted as the occasion for an armistice. +But politics of all kinds are represented. There are of course +Abolitionists, Republicans, Unionists, and War Democrats; but, strangely +enough, there are also Copperheads, Peace Democrats, peace-at-any-price +men, and even secession sympathizers. Why extremists of the latter +classes should have joined the army voluntarily cannot be surmised; but +there they are, and, moreover, they do their duty. There are some traits +of original manhood so strong that even the poison of treasonable +politics cannot overcome them. + +The daily routine of camp life in a regiment can be told in a few words. +The plan of a regimental camp as laid down in the army regulations is +generally conformed to, with some variations recommended by the +character of the camping ground. The following diagram exhibits the +plan: + +[Illustration] + +REFERENCE. + + N.C.S. Non-commissioned staff. + AST. SURG. Assistant surgeon. + M. Major. + Q.M. Quartermaster. + LT. CL. Lieutenant-colonel. + CL. Colonel. + ADJT. Adjutant. + SURG. Surgeon. + +In our armies the full allowances of camp equipage are not permitted. +Field and staff officers have only three wall tents, and company +officers only the same shelter tents as the men. The trains very rarely +encamp with the regiments. The tents of the men front on streets from +fifteen to twenty feet wide, each company having a street of its own, +and there is much competition as to the adornment of these. Many +regimental camps are decorated with evergreens in an exceedingly +tasteful manner--particularly during warm weather--chapels, arches, +colonnades, etc., being constructed of rude frameworks, so interwoven +with pine boughs that they present a very elegant appearance. + +The daily life of a camp is as follows: At an hour appointed by orders, +varying according to the season of the year, the camp is roused by the +reveille. The old notion that soldiers should be waked before daybreak +in all seasons and all weathers has fortunately been exploded, and the +reveille is not generally sounded in winter till six o'clock. In +pleasant weather the men are formed upon the color line, where they +stack their arms. Breakfast is the next matter in order: after that the +mounting of the guard for the day and the detail of detachments for +picket and other duties. The prisoners are put to work in cleaning up +the camp, and squad drills occupy the morning. About noon the dinner +call is sounded; then come more drills and in the latter part of the +afternoon the dress parade of the regiment. This closes the military +labors of the day. In the evening there are schools for instructions in +tactics, and the time is passed in any amusements that may offer +themselves. About half past eight the tattoo is beaten, when every one, +not absent on duty, must be in camp ready to answer to his name; and +shortly after, the beat of taps proclaims that the military day is +ended, and lights must be extinguished--a regulation not very strictly +enforced. Thus pass the days of camp life. + +Very different are those assemblages of huts down among the pine forests +of Virginia from the pleasant villages, the thriving towns, and the +prosperous cities of the North--very different the life of the soldier +from that which he enjoyed before rebellion sought to sever the country +which from his cradle he had been taught to consider 'one and +inseparable.' + + + + +APHORISMS.--NO. XIV. + + +A Query for the Thoughtful.--May we not justly say that _spirit_, +everywhere, in its various degrees, rules over matter, setting its +forces at defiance for the time, and yet never interfering with their +continued operations? + +This seems a great law of the universe. The power of life, wherever +guided by _will_, whether in beast or man, or even where we can only +venture to speak of instinct, thus asserts its superiority. Within its +appointed range, the laws of the material world are evidently subject to +its control. Iron may be firmly held together by the attraction of +cohesion: but man wills its severance, and it is effected. + +Nor does it contravene the general assertion here made, that we act by +opposing one natural force to another. The rising of the sledge hammer, +to fall with a force more than its own, is just as much against the laws +of matter as the breaking of the iron beneath its blows. + +All _power_, so far as we can judge, is spiritual--_i.e._, originates in +spirit, and is exerted in obedience to _will_, or to something +equivalent. + +Nor, again, will it avail an objector to say that _spirit_ is also under +law as well as matter. The laws of the one sphere, at all events, are +not those of the other. They may have their relations, but they are not +those of equality. Spirit is sovereign--matter subject; or, if in any +case it should be otherwise, it is from some weak refusal of the spirit +to assert its own power. + + + + +ÆNONE: + +A TALE OF SLAVE LIFE IN ROME. + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +Gliding softly beneath the shrubbery, and beneath one of the side +colonnades, Leta gained the house unperceived, passing Sergius, who +loitered where she had been sitting, upon the coping of the fountain +basin. His friends had departed, bearing away with them his gold and +much else that was of value; and he, with the consciousness of evil +besetting him on every side, had morbidly wandered out to try if in the +cool air he could compose his thoughts to sobriety. As he sat rocking to +and fro, and humming to himself broken snatches of song, Leta stood +under one of the arches of the court, glowering at him, and half hoping +that he would lose his balance and fall into the water behind. It was +not deep enough to drown him, but if it had been, she felt in no mood to +rescue him. In a few moments, however, the fresh breeze, partially +dissipating the fumes of the wine which he had drunk, somewhat revived +him; making him more clearly conscious of his misfortunes, indeed, but +engendering in him, for the instant, a new and calmer state of feeling, +which was not sobriety, but which differed from either his former +careless recklessness or maddening ferocity. And in this new phase of +mind, he sat and revolved and re-revolved, in ever-recurring sequence, +the things that had befallen him, and his changed position in the world. + +Alone now, for she, Ænone, had left him. Left him for a stripling of a +slave--a mere creature from the public market. What was the loss of gold +and jewels and quarries to this! And how could he ever hold up his head +again, with this heavy shame upon it! For there could be no +doubt;--alas! no. Had he not seen her press a kiss upon the slave's +forehead? Had she not tenderly raised the menial's head upon her knee +with caressing pity? And, throughout all, had she attempted one word of +justification? Yes, alone in the world now, with no one to love or care +for him! For she must be put away from him forever; she must never call +him husband more. That was a certain thing. But yet--and a kindly gleam +came into his face for the moment--even though guilty, she might not be +thoroughly and utterly corrupt. If he could, at least, believe that she +had been sorely tempted--if he could only, for the sake of past +memories, learn to pity her, rather than to hate! And this became now +the tenor of his thoughts. In his deep reflection of a few hours before, +he had tried to believe that she was innocent. Now, circumstances of +suspicion had so overwhelmed her, that he could not think her innocent; +but he could have wished to believe her less guilty, and thereby have +cherished a kindly feeling toward her. + +Rising up, and now for the first time seeing Leta, as she still stood +under the archway and watched him, he tottered toward her; and, incited +by this new impulse of generous feeling, he pleaded to her--humbling his +pride, indeed, but in all else, whether in word or action, clothing +himself with the graceful dignity of true and earnest manliness. + +'Tell me,' he said, 'whether you know aught about her which can calm my +soul and give me the right to think better of her. You cannot make me +believe that she is innocent--I do not ask it of you. That hope is past +forever. But it may be that you can reveal more than you have yet +mentioned to me. You have watched her, I know. Perhaps, therefore, you +can tell me that she struggled long with herself before she abandoned +me. Even that assurance will help me to think more pityingly of her. +Remember that there was a time when I loved her; and, for the sake of +that time, help me to feel and act generously toward her.' + +As Leta gazed upon him, and saw how his late imperiousness had given +place to earnest, sorrowful entreaty, she hesitated for the moment how +to answer him. There is, perhaps, a latent sympathy in the hardest +heart; and despite her resolve to become at once lost and unpitying, +some sparks of tender feeling, kindled into life by her parting with +Cleotos, yet glimmered in her breast. Cleotos having gone away, she felt +strangely lonesome. Little as she had regarded him when present, it now +seemed as though, in separating from him, she had lost a portion of her +own being. Certainly with him had departed the last link that bound her +to her native land; and though she never expected to return thither, yet +it was not pleasant to feel that she had been cut asunder from all +possibility of it. Now, for the moment, she was in the mood to look +around her for a friend to lean upon; and it might be that she could +find that friend in Sergius, if she would consent to let her vengeance +sleep, and would forbear to pursue him with further machinations. His +love, to be sure, was gone from her, never to be restored; but, after +all, might it not be better to retain his friendship than to incur his +hate? And if she were now to make full disclosure of the past, and ask +his pardon, who could estimate the possible limits of the forgiveness +and generosity which, in his newly found happiness, he might extend to +her? And then, now that her plans had failed, what need of inflicting +further misery upon those who, in their former trust, had lavished +kindnesses upon her? And once more her thoughts reverted to Cleotos; and +with that feeling of utter loneliness sinking into her heart, and making +her crave even to be thought well of by another, she reflected how that +friend of her youth would not fail to ask the blessing of the gods upon +her, if ever, in his native home, he were to hear that she had acted a +generous part, and, by a few simple and easily spoken words, had swept +away the web of mischief which her arts had woven. + +'What can I say?' she exclaimed, hesitatingly, as she met the pleading +look which Sergius fastened upon her. + +'Say the best you can; so that, though I can never forgive her, I may +not think more harshly of her than I ought. Can I forget that I loved +her for years before I ever met yourself; and that, but for you, I might +be loving her still? Can I forget that it was not for my own glory, but +for hers, that I tore myself away from her and went to these late wars, +hoping to win new honors, only that I might lay them at her feet? Night +after night, as I lay in my tent and gazed up at the sky, I thought of +her alone, and how that the stars shone with equal light upon us both; +and I nerved my soul with new strength, to finish my task with +diligence, so that I might the more quickly return to her side. And +then, Leta, then it was that I met yourself; and how sadly and basely I +yielded to the fascinations you threw about me, you too well know. It +was not love I felt for you; think it not. My passion for you was no +more like the calm affection with which I had cherished her, than is the +flame which devours the village like the moonlight which so softly falls +upon and silvers yonder fountain. But, for all that, it has brought +destruction upon me. And now--' + +'And now, Sergius?' + +'Now I am undone by reason of it. From the first moment your ensnaring +glance met mine, I was undone, though I then knew it not. Then was my +pure love for her obscured. Then, impelled by I know not what infernal +spirit, began my downward course of deceit, until at last I almost +learned to hate her whom I had so much loved, and met her, at the end, +with but a simulated affection; caring but little for her, indeed, but +not--the gods be thanked!--so far gone in my selfish cruelty as to be +able to wound her heart by open neglect in that hour of her joy. +Whatever I may have done since then, that day, at least, her happiness +was undimmed. How gladly would I now give up all the honors I have +gained, if I could but restore the peace and quiet of the past! +Remembering all this, Leta, and how much of this cruel wrong is due to +you, can you not have pity? I know that she would never have been +exposed to this temptation but for my own neglect of her, and but for +the fact that you had ambitious purposes of your own to work out. Nay, I +chide you not. Let all that pass and be forgotten. I will be generous, +and never mention it again, if you will only tell me how far your arts, +rather than her own will, have led her astray. It cannot harm you now to +freely utter everything. The time for me to resent it is past. I have no +further power over you, or the will to exercise it if I had.' + +A moment before, and she had been on the point of yielding to the +unaccustomed pity that she began to feel, and so make full disclosure. +But now, as, almost unconsciously to himself, Sergius spoke of her +baffled hopes and vaguely hinted at her altered position toward +himself--a change of which he believed her to be yet ignorant--her fount +of mercy became instantly scaled up, and her nearly melted heart again +turned to flint. Yes, she had almost forgotten her new destiny. But now +at once appeared before her, with all the vividness of reality, the +banquet hall, ringing with the shrill laughter of the heated revellers, +as, with the dice box, they decided her future fate. Like a flash the +softened smile fled from her face, leaving only cold, vindictive +defiance pictured there. And as Sergius, who had been led on from +utterance to utterance by the increasing signs of compassion he read in +her, saw the sudden and unaccountable change, he paused, in mingled +wonderment and dismay; and, with the conviction that his hopes had +failed him, he put off, in turn, his own softened mien, and glaring back +defiance upon her, prepared for desperate struggle. + +'You speak of my new ownership--of the actor Bassus?' she exclaimed. + +'You know it, then?' cried he. 'You have played the spy upon us?' + +'Know it?' she repeated. 'When, in your wild revelling, your raised +voices told me how heedlessly you were bringing ruin upon yourself with +the dice, would I have been anything but a fool not to have remembered +that I, too, being your property, might pass away with the rest? Was it +not fit, then, that I should have stolen to the screen and listened? You +thought to keep it secret, perhaps, until Bassus should send to take me +away from here; for you imagined that I might attempt escape. But you do +not know me yet. Am I a child, to kick and scream, and waste my strength +in unavailing strife against a fate that, in my heart, I feel must +sooner or later be submitted to? Not long ago--it matters not how or +when--I could have avoided it all, but would not. Now that I have +sacrificed that chance, I will go to my doom with a smile upon my lips, +whatever heaviness may be in my heart; for, having chosen my path, I +will not shrink from following it. Thus much for myself. And as for you, +who have tossed me one side to the first poor brute who has begged for +me, and even at this instant have taunted me with the story of baffled +hopes, does it seem becoming in you to appeal longer to me, as you have +done, for comfort?' + +No answer; but in the angry, heated glare with which he faced her, +could be seen the new fury which was rising within him--all the more +violent, perhaps, from the late calm that had possessed him. + +'And yet, for the sake of the past, I might even be willing to comfort +you, if it were possible,' she continued, casting about in her mind for +new tortures with which to rack him, and now suddenly struck with an +inward joy, as her ever-ready invention came to her aid. 'Yes, if I knew +aught of good to tell, I would mention it, for the memory of other days. +But how can I speak with truth, unless to recapitulate new deceits and +wiles which she has practised upon you, and of which, may the gods be my +witness! I would have told you before, but dared not? You say that you +have never loved me, Sergius Vanno. It is well. But if you had done so, +I would have been faithful to you to the end. You say that you loved +her, and that, but for your own falsehood, she would not have strayed +from you. Poor dupe! to believe that, for all that meek, pale face of +hers, she cannot resolve, and act, and mask her purposes as cunningly as +any of the rest of her sex! Shall I tell you more? Do you dream that, +while you have been revelling, she has been idly whimpering in her +chamber? Had you watched outside with me, you might have known better. +Look above your head, Sergius, to where the prison keys are wont to +hang, and tell me where they are now!' + +More from mechanical instinct than from any actual purpose of mind--for +he did not, at the first instant, fully comprehend her meaning--Sergius +followed the motion of her hand, and gazed at the wall above his head; +then passed his fingers along until he touched the empty nail--then +looked back inquiringly at her. + +'The keys are gone, are they not?' she said. 'Fool! to lock up one party +to a fault, and yet let the other one go free! Do you suppose that +during your carousing with your boon companions, she would fail to +succor him for whose sake she has already lost so much?' + +Still he gazed at Leta with a look of puzzled inquiry, which now began, +however, to be disturbed by an expression of painful doubt. Then +suddenly, ascertaining that the keys were really gone, her meaning +flashed upon him; and dropping his hand with a wrathful exclamation, he +turned and strode into the palace. Not, perhaps, with full conviction of +the truth of the suggestion so artfully arrayed before him. But he would +at least prove its truth or falsity; and, with that suspicion fastened +upon his bewildered and unreasoning mind, to doubt was almost to +believe, and crossing the ante-chamber to Ænone's room, he burst in upon +her. + +She had fallen into a troubled sleep--lying dressed upon the outside of +her couch, as, in her agony of mind, she had first thrown herself down. +The unspent tears still trembled upon her eyelids. Beside her lay the +little folded parchment which Cleotos had given her. She had taken it +out to read, hoping, but scarcely believing, that she would now be able +to experience the truth of what she had been told about the earnest +words there written being divinely adapted to give peace to a troubled +heart. But her sorrow was too deep to be healed by phrases whose spirit +could, of necessity, be so imperfectly comprehended by her; and the +writing had slipped unheeded from her light grasp. + +As her husband now entered, she awoke and sat upright, in frightened +attitude, not knowing what fate was about to befall her. + +'Where is he? What have you done with him?' Sergius cried, seizing her +by the arm. + +She did not answer, not knowing, of course, wherefore the question was +put to her, or what it concerned. Yet, perceiving that she was again +suspected of some act of which she was innocent, she would have asked +for mercy and pardon, if time had been given her. But even that was +denied her. Hardly, indeed, could she draw a breath, when she felt that +a new thread was woven in the web of misconception which surrounded her. +For, at that moment, her husband's eye fell upon the forgotten +parchment; and picking it up, he opened it, gave one hasty look, and +then tossed it aside. What need, now, of further proof? Was not that the +slave's writing, recognizable at a glance? Words of love, of course! And +she had gone to sleep fondly holding them in her hand, as a treasure +from which she could not be parted for an instant. Words not freshly +written, either, for the parchment was yellow and discolored. So much +the worse, therefore; for did it not prove a course of long-continued +deception? Could there be any doubt now? Yes, a long deceit. And this +was she for whom, in his simplicity, he had but a moment before been +framing excuses, in the effort to convince himself that her fault had +been one of impulse, rather than of cool deliberation! This was she in +whose behalf he had weakly lowered himself to plead to his own cast-off +slave for extenuating evidences! And once more grasping her by the arm, +he lifted her from the couch, and, followed by Leta, hurried her across +the room into the outer hall, into the court yard, past the fountain, +and so onward until they stood before the prison house. There, seeing +the inner door open, the outer door swinging loosely inward, with the +key yet remaining in its lock, and the captive fled, Sergius deemed her +new crime fully proved, and again turned madly upon her. + +'Where is he? What have you done with him? Am I to be thus balked of my +vengeance? Is it to be endured that, while I entertain my friends, you +should steal off so treacherously, and thus complete the dishonor you +have brought upon me?' + +'I have not--done dishonor--to my lord!' she gasped with difficulty, for +she was almost speechless from the rapidity with which he had hurried +her along, and his close grasp upon her arm pained her. 'Let me but +speak--I will explain--I know not how--' + +'No falsehoods--no pleadings to me!' he cried. 'It will avail you +nothing now. What more proof do I need? Is not the whole story written +out plainly before my eyes? Have you not stolen away to release him, +preferring his safety and favor to my honor or your own? If not, where +is he? Escaped me, by the gods! Escaped me, after all! Fool that I have +been, to leave that key within your meddling reach!' + +Overborne by his violence, not of words merely, but of gesture, Ænone +had, little by little, shrunk from before him as he spoke, until she had +unconsciously passed through the open doorway, and into the narrow +street beyond. Leta and he still remained within the building, standing +beside the swinging door. There was even now but a single pace between +Ænone and himself, and it was scarcely likely that such a trifling +distance could reassure her. It was more probably something in his tone +or action which now gave her courage to meet his imputation. Whatever +the nature of the inspiration, she now suddenly drew herself up, as +though indued with new strength, and answered him with something of the +same recklessness of spirit with which once before during that day she +had cast aside all fear of misconstruction, and, with the sustaining +consciousness of innocence and justice, had defied him. + +'Escaped you?' she cried; 'I thank the gods for it! I did not set him +free, but I would have done so, had I known how. He was my friend--my +brother. Would I have left him, do you think, to suffer torture and +death for simple kindnesses to me, when, with one turn of a key, +I--could have released him? Would I let the memory of other days so +completely pass from my mind as to--' + +How, at that instant, happened the door to close? Was it owing to the +wind, or to a skilful and concealed touch of Leta's hand, or to some +unconscious pressure of Sergius against it? The cause matters little. It +was enough that, of a sudden, the loosely hanging door swung round on +its creaking hinges into its place, fastening itself securely with a +spring bolt as its edge touched the lintel, and leaving Ænone shut out +alone in the dark street upon the other side. + +Upon the instant, Sergius sprang forward to reopen the door. Convinced +of her perfidy, and madly lashing himself into yet further fury with the +consciousness of his wrongs, it was as yet not in his mind that even by +accident such a forced separation as this should befall her. His hand +was upon the bolt--in another second it would have been drawn back--when +his further action was arrested by a few lowly uttered words of Leta. + +Not spoken to him, for, in his present state of mind, he was more than +ever morbidly jealous of any interference or attempted control, and +would most surely have disregarded them. But spoken as though to +herself, in a kind of whispered soliloquy, softly muttered, but yet with +utterance sufficiently distinct to reach his watchful ear. + +'Ah, she will not regard that,' were the words, 'for of course she will +know where to rejoin him.' + +Sergius started as the new idea impressed itself upon him. Could this be +true, indeed? Why not? Was it likely that the wife would have released +the slave whom she loved, and not have told him where they could meet +again? That, surely, would be too foolish an oversight, for it would be +throwing away all the benefits attending the escape. It were hardly +possible that any trust could have been reposed in the prospect of +future chance interviews, for that would be but a slender hope to lean +upon. In that boiling, seething world of Rome, now more than ever +disturbed by the inroads of strangers eagerly looking forward to the +excitements of the amphitheatre, it would be in vain to make even +deliberate and careful search for a lost slave, unless some clew should +be left behind. Yes, she must surely have that clew; and doubtless she +purposed to use it as soon as daylight came. Let her go now, therefore. +It were idle to call her back only for new flight in a few hours hence. + +Still with his hand resting upon the bolt as these reflections passed +through his mind, Sergius glanced keenly at Leta, as though possessed +with some dim suspicion that she had meant her words to be overheard. +Then, feeling reassured by her composed attitude, he turned away, +muttered something to himself the import of which she could not catch, +dropped his hand from the undrawn bolt to his side, stood for a moment +in a kind of maze of confusion, and finally left the prison, and +staggered through the garden to the house. + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Stunned and confused by her sudden exclusion, and naturally believing +that it was the result of deliberate action upon her husband's part, +Ænone now felt all her sudden inspiration of courage deserting her, and +sank half fainting against the outside wall. For a moment it seemed to +her like a dream. She could realize suspicion, harsh language, and even +cruel treatment within a certain limit, for these were all within the +scope of her late experience; but it was hard to comprehend this +unlooked-for and apparently deliberate excess of degradation. But +gradually the mist cleared away from her bewildered mind, and she +recognized the reality of what had befallen her. Still, however, her +thoughts could not at once grapple with the overwhelming sense of the +indignity and suffering cast upon her. She could not doubt that she had +been expelled from her lord's house--cast out unprotected and friendless +in the midst of night, with undeserved reproaches. But, for all that, a +delusive hope clung to her. He could not mean that this should last. It +was but an impulse of sudden anger. He would repent of it in a moment, +and would call upon her to return to him. He would shed tears of bitter +shame, perhaps, and would beg that she would forgive him. And she would +be foolish enough to do so, she felt, at the very first pleading word +from him; though at the same time feeling that her own self-respect +should prompt her to show more lasting resentment. If thus easily forgot +the past, what security could she feel that, in some future transport of +rage, he might not repeat the act? But for all that, she felt that she +would weakly too soon forgive him. + +Sliding her trembling hand down the damp wall, she found along its foot +a ledge of stone more or less projecting in different sections, in +accordance with the architectural requirements of the building. Seating +herself upon the widest portion of this ledge, she now waited to hear +the key again turned in the lock and the door swung open upon its +creaking hinges, and to see loving arms extended with repentant words of +self-reproach. Once or twice she fancied that she heard the key softly +fitted into its place, but it was only the abrasion of two contiguous +branches of a plane tree overhead. Once again she felt certain that she +heard the sound of persons approaching through the garden, but it was +the voice of men in the street--two slaves coming around the corner and +drawing near, speaking some harsh northern dialect which she knew not. +As the men approached, she endeavored to shrink out of sight behind a +perpendicular projection of the wall, and nearly succeeded. They had +passed, indeed, before they noticed her. Then they turned and gazed +curiously at her; and one of them made some remark, apparently of a +jesting nature, for they both laughed. Then again they turned and moved +on out of sight without attempting further molestation. + +But the incident alarmed her, and caused her to realize yet more vividly +than before the exceeding unprotectedness of her situation. These men +had not sought to injure her, but how could she answer for the next who +might approach? It was a lonely, dark street, narrow, and comparatively +seldom used, and but little built upon, being mainly flanked by garden +walls. Upon the side where she sat there were no buildings at all, +excepting low prison houses for slaves, similar to that belonging to the +Vanno palace--for the street ran along an inner slope of the Coelian +Mount and parallel to the Triumphal Way, and thus naturally served as a +rear boundary to the gardens of the palaces and villas which fronted +upon the latter avenue. This very loneliness, therefore, added to her +insecurity; for though it was possible that no one else might pass by +for hours, there was the equal chance that if any one came with evil +intent, she might be murdered before help could be summoned. And at a +time when the broadest streets were never entirely safe even for armed +men, a weak woman, with tempting jewelry upon her person, might well +shudder at being left alone in a narrow alley. + +Slowly and painfully--for the night was cool, and she had now been +sitting long in one position--Ænone raised herself and stood up, looking +hither and thither for some place of refuge. She had now waited more +than an hour, and if her husband had been inclined to recall her from +her exclusion, his repentance would scarcely have tarried so long. His +anger was generally fierce, but of short duration; could it be that in +this case his sense of injury was so great as to make him more +unreasoning than usual? Her heart sank yet lower with a new weight of +despair; but again hope whispered alleviation. He had been drinking +deeply--she said to herself--and had not clearly comprehended what he +had done. And afterward he had probably forgotten all about it, and had +fallen off into sleep. Upon the morrow he would be himself again. +Perhaps he would not then remember the outrage he had committed against +her. Certainly his anger would not still burn when corrected by +returning reason. She must therefore endeavor to gain access again to +the palace, and there avoid his presence, until the morrow brought to +him fresher reflection and a better inclination to listen to +explanation. + +And accordingly she commenced her departure from her hiding place, and +slowly crept along the blank flanking wall of the little street, hoping +soon to gain the palace front. At first it seemed a very easy thing to +do so. Though she had never before been in that portion of the city, she +knew enough of its geography to feel certain that if she followed the +street in either direction, she could not fail to come to some +intersecting alley, through which she could reach the Triumphal Way. +Once there, the route was familiar to her, and she could arrive at her +home in a few minutes. But as she advanced, she found that what had +appeared to be an easy stroll, seemed converted into a toilsome and +perplexing journey. Confused and terrified, the coolness necessary to +pursue in safety even so short a route began to fail her. At times she +imagined that she heard strangers approaching, and then it became +needful to conceal herself again, as well as she could, behind +projections or in recesses of the wall. Then, when once more venturing +out, the shadows of the wall itself or of neighboring buildings would +terrify her into seeking other concealments. And once, after having +resumed her course, she discovered that she had mistaken the direction, +and was retracing her steps. + +At last, after a journey of nearly an hour, during which she had only +advanced as far as a resolute person might have gone in a few minutes, +she reached an intersecting street leading to the Triumphal Way. It was +a wider passage than that which she was leaving, and this fact added to +her dismay. For though she had at first feared the narrower street for +its loneliness, yet now that she had so far glided through it in safety, +she had begun to feel somewhat reassured, and in turn dreaded the more +open channels, since they would naturally be more frequented. It was, +therefore, with new trepidation that, upon turning the corner, she saw, +in the broader street before her, signs of movement and life. The street +happened to be a favorite thoroughfare from the Triumphal Way, across +the Coelian Mount, and, in consequence, was never, perhaps, entirely +deserted. Now that the whole city was throbbing with anticipations of +the morrow's festivities, there were more persons wakeful and wandering +about with feverish expectation than usual. Moreover, it was a street +which abounded with drinking shops, and these were now all open, in +spite of the lateness of the hour, and appeared to be thronged with +customers. One of these shops stood upon the corner where Ænone had +halted. A faint light burned over the doorway to mark the locality; and +through the open passage she could see a crowd of ill-conditioned, +rough-looking men, appearing, in the dim light, more rough and uncouth +than they really were. Here were mingled together artisans of the lower +orders, slaves and professional gladiators, all drinking and singing +together in close fraternity. For a moment Ænone paused and hesitated, +not daring to pass on. If she could reach the farther side without +attracting observation, it would be but one step gained, for there were +many other drinking shops glimmering in the distance along the whole +street, and each one had its special crowd of noisy customers. To escape +one peril seemed only to run into another. Then, as she deliberated and +alternately put her foot forward and withdrew it again in a fruitless +attempt to muster courage to run the gauntlet, two men emerged from the +wine shop, and staggered toward her--a slave and a gladiator, linked arm +in arm, and singing a wild song in discordant keys. Both appeared to be +under the influence of wine, though in different degrees; for while the +former had set no bounds to his license, the latter had somewhat +restrained his propensities, in view of the demands upon his strength +which the morrow's work would surely make. Seeing these men reel toward +her, Ænone turned and fled, without knowing, or, for the moment, caring, +in which direction she went. The men had not at first seen her, but, as +they now caught sight of her flying figure, they set up a drunken whoop, +and attempted to follow. All in vain; for ere they had advanced many +paces, their weakened limbs betrayed them, and they sank powerless upon +the ground, and, forgetting the pursuit, rolled over lovingly in each +other's arms. Meanwhile, Ænone, not daring to look back, and not knowing +that the chase had ended, still fled in wild terror, until at last her +breath failed her, and she tottered helpless into the shade of the +nearest wall. + +She was now lost indeed. How long she had been running, or in which +direction, how many divergences she had taken, or how many narrow alleys +threaded, she knew not. She simply realized that she was in a portion of +the city where she had never been before, and from which extrication +seemed impossible, so dark and narrow and winding seemed the passages in +every direction. Far narrower and darker, indeed, than the lane behind +the palace, and without its protecting solitude. In place of high garden +walls, the whole route seemed lined with miserable tenements, the refuge +of the lowest of the Roman population. There, crowded together in close +communication, were the rabble of poorer slaves and beggars, all equally +marked with rags and filth. + +In all this there was one comfort. However thronged the tenements along +the side might be, the street itself seemed deserted, nor could Ænone +any longer hear the sound of pursuit. That, at least, she had escaped, +and now again she took partial courage as she reflected that with +moderate caution she might yet be able to extricate herself. There must +be some outlet to that neighborhood of squalid misery; and take +whichever way she might, she could scarcely fail, at the end, to emerge +into some more reputable region. + +Again the sound of two persons approaching restrained her, and caused +her to shrink into a corner until they might pass. Unlike the others, +these men had not been drinking, but advanced gravely and steadily, with +a slow, deliberate pace, indicative of weighty reflection. These, also, +were slaves; and before they emerged into sight from the surrounding +darkness, Ænone could distinctly mark the low, plotting whisper with +which they spoke, occasionally rising, from excess of emotion, into a +louder key. As they came opposite to her, they paused--not seeing her, +but simply seeming to be arrested by the vehemence of their debate; and +again their words sank nearly into a whisper. + +'Tell me why I should not do so?' hissed the nearest, a man of gigantic +proportions and development of strength. 'Why should I not leap out of +the arena where these men place me to play a fool's part; and scrambling +over the ranges of seats, plunge this dagger into his heart? Ye gods! +were I once to begin to clamber up, no force could stop me from reaching +him, were he at the very topmost range! And I will--why not?' + +'You would gain but an instant's revenge,' said the other, striving to +soothe him, 'and you would lose--' + +'What? My life, would you say?' retorted the first. 'I know it. I know +well, that before I could strike him thrice, I would myself be beaten +down, a corpse. But one blow from me would be sufficient for him. Ay, +though I used not my knife at all, but only my hardened fist. Would it +not be a fine revenge, say you, thus to kill him? It was on account of +my strength of arm that he laid toils for my capture, and for that alone +he most valued me. Why not, then, prove its quality upon himself? With a +single blow I could crush in his proud head like an egg shell. Then let +them kill me--I care not.' + +'And yet the life once lost by you cannot be gained again,' responded +the other. + +'O feeble-minded!' said the first, with disdain. 'Have I ever so dearly +cared for life that I should thus guard it at the expense of honor? +While I was a free man, in my native Rhodes, with my wife and children +around me, did I not then risk my life among the very first? And am I +likely to value it the more now that I am a slave, with wife torn from +me and sent I know not where, with children slain one by one, as the +only means of capturing me, with the accursed livery of the arena placed +upon me that I may administer to their gaping appetite for blood? Can +all this make me love my life more than I have ever loved it before?' + +'But wait--only wait. There will come a time--' + +'Ay, ay; there will come a time is what all say, and will continue to +say, and yet the time comes not. There is never any time like the +present. All around me are thousands of men, once free and now chained +into slavery--and chained, perhaps, more through their own indolence +than by the power of their masters; and yet they lie supine, and call +upon each other to wait! And to-morrow there will be a thousand such in +the arena, and instead of rising up together in their strength, they +will fight only with each other. What might not that thousand +accomplish, were they to act together in brave and earnest revolt? What +chance would a few hundred pampered pretorians have of staying the +flood? There, seated in fancied security upon their benches, will be the +emperor, the court, the nobles, and the most wealthy of the empire. In +one hour of action, we could sweep these away like chaff, together with +all else that is held most worthy of place and power in the whole +empire! And yet these thousand slaves will not rise up together with me, +and it will not be done!' + +The head of the Hercules dropped upon his chest with a gesture of +despair. + +'You say truly,' responded the other. 'It will not be done, for they +will not act with you. And what can you do alone?' + +'Nothing--nothing; I see it all. I am powerless,' murmured the first. +'Well, I will be patient, and dissimulate. I will do as you request, +Gorgo. I will restrain myself. As for this man--this imperator--why +should I there wreak my vengeance upon him? It would only be giving to +the rest of the people an unlooked-for sight--a newer pleasure, that is +all. I will therefore act the part of a good and faithful slave--will +kiss the rod held over me--and will duly serve my master by slaying my +adversary, whoever he may be, and thus winning that store of gold pieces +which have been laid out as the stake of my life. And then--then I will +go home to my kennel and my bones. But this I swear, by the immortal +gods! that I will follow this man from house to forum, wherever he may +go, until I find a proper chance to strike him down in secret like a +dog. You were right. I must not lose my life to kill him, when I can so +easily slay him and yet live to slay other men as bad as he. My life is +for other things. And when the time comes that I can raise the standard +of insurrection, will you then--' + +'Then I will be with you heart and soul forever, until our freedom is +built up on the ruins of this accursed Rome!' cried the other, striking +his hand responsively into the outstretched palm before him. And the two +men again took up their walk, and passed on until they were swallowed up +in the darkness and their voices, growing more and more indistinct, were +finally hushed. + + + + +THE VISION. + +INSCRIBED TO TEACHERS TO CONTRABANDS IN THE SOUTH. + + + Lo! a picture came before me + Of a million broken chains, + Lying cankered with old blood-drops + Which had oozed from tortured veins, + Reddening the fleecy cotton + Snowed upon the Southern plains. + + And the picture's tints grew deeper, + Redder, blacker, as I gazed, + And my weak knees smote together, + And my eyes grew dim and glazed, + At the vision's spectred horrors + From the graves of vengeance raised. + + For, where liveoaks and magnolias + Gloom the earth with densest shades, + Where the snake and alligator + Lurk in endless everglades, + Where the cloud-lace-fretted sunset + Lingering, longest night evades, + + Where the eagle builds his eyrie + Nearest to the fervid skies, + Where the buzzard swoops to fatten + On the prey that lingering dies, + Where the bloodhound's hellish baying + Stills the hunted bondman's cries, + + There uprose, all ghostly shadowed, + Hosts of wasted, haggard forms; + And their wild eyes glared and glittered + Like heaven's fire in dark-browed storms, + And with outstretched arms toward me + They came rushing in thick swarms. + + And I saw upon their foreheads + Letters where the irons burned, + And their backs left gashed and harrowed + Where the lash for life-blood yearned, + And their lank limbs, fester-eaten, + Showed where gnawing shackles turned. + + There were gaunt and frenzied mothers + With wan children in their arms, + There were youths, and there were maidens, + Curses, tears, and wild alarms, + There were auction blocks and hammers + Where were bartered beauty's charms. + + Ah! my heart grew chill within me, + And my 'frighted blood congealed, + As my soul's eye raised the shadows + Which like curtains half concealed + Deeper horrors, depths of anguish + Left till God's day unrevealed! + + And my soul went up in sighing + To God's ear: 'And _Thou_ dost know, + High and Holy! men are devils, + Earth, like hell, is drowned in woe?' + Came an answer: 'Hark! my war-blast + Dealing sin a staggering blow!' + + 'Father! though the chains be broken,' + Cried my soul, 'the wounds remain, + Deeper than the irons wore them, + 'Neath the brow within the brain, + 'Neath the body in the spirit! + Peals Thy war-blast not in vain? + + 'How shall knowledge, how shall virtue + Dwell with ignorance and sin? + Where is found that earthly saintship + Can consort with devils' din? + Who the saintly self-denying + Through bell's door would look within + + 'E'en to save the devil's victims, + Snatch them from the cooling flames, + Kiss with love their long-charred spirits, + Breathe new souls into their names, + Wing them to the climes supernal, + And to angels' loud acclaims?' + + Then came answer: 'Lo! I call them, + Ministers of love, I call!' + Then I waited in the silence, + With God waited over all, + Till I knew how He forgetteth + No one worthy, great or small. + + For I saw from where the ocean + Drifts its rhythms to the beach, + From where mountain snows eternal + Far toward heaven as stainless reach, + From where gold and russet harvests + Of God's 'whelming bounty teach, + + From where all are always freemen, + From where colleges and schools + Free the mind from Old-World trammels, + Unfit men for tyrants' tools, + From where firesides and altars + Govern hearts with golden rules, + + Came, as flowers come in spring-time + Dropt from Winter's icy hand, + Came to cheer, to teach, to brighten-- + God's commissioned, shining band; + Came with hands and hearts o'erflowing + To renew the Southern land! + + And I watched how spirit-anguish + Songs and smiles soon soothed, allayed, + And how soul-wounds touched by kindness, + As by Christ, could heal and fade, + And how darkness fled affrighted + Where these angels wept and prayed. + + And my soul went up in praising + To God's ear: 'Yea, Thou dost know, + High and Holy! men are devils, + Earth, like hell, is drowned in woe; + But Thy war-blast, in Thy mercy, + Hath dealt sin a staggering blow!' + + + + +THE UNDIVINE COMEDY--A POLISH DRAMA. + +Dedicated to Mary. + + +PART IV. + +'Bottomless perdition.'--_Milton._ + +Fog and cloud! Nothing can be seen from the bastions of the castle of +the Holy Trinity, to the right or to the left, in front or in the rear, +but dense, motionless, snowy mist; a spectral image of that deluge-wrath +which, as it rose to sweep o'er earth, once broke against these stern, +steep cliffs and beetling peaks of rock: no trace is to be seen of the +buried valley, for the ghostly waves of the cold, white sea of foam +shroud it closely in their stifling veils; the glowing face of the +crimson sun shines not as yet upon earth's winding sheet of silent, +clinging, pallid vapor. + +The tower of the castle stands upon a bold and naked granite peak. Built +of the strong rock from which it soars by the giant labor of the now +dying Past, it seems during the lapse of centuries to have grown up from +its stony heart, as the human breast grows from the broad back of the +Centaur. A single banner streams above its lofty turret, the only banner +of the Cross now raised on earth; the symbol of God's mystic love alone +floats high enough to pierce into the unclouded blue of the stormy sky! + +The white and sleeping mist gradually awakens; the sighing and howling +of the bleak winds are heard above; the vapor palpitates in the first +rays of the coming sun, and a drifting ice-floe of curdling clouds +drives wildly o'er this quickening sea of fog and foam. + +Other voices, human voices, mingle with the wails and sobs of the +passing storm: borne upward on the ghastly waves of the spectral cloud +sea, they break against the walls of the granite castle. + +The pallid shroud of mist is suddenly riven, and through the walls of +the chasm torn through the heart of the white foam, glimpses are seen of +the abyss below. + +How dark it looks in the depths! A sea of heads in wild commotion surges +there; the valley swarms with human life as ocean's slimy sands with +creeping things that writhe and sting. + +The sun! the sun! He mounts above the rocky peaks; the pallid vapors +rise in blood and melt in gold, and as they roll and lift into the sky, +more and more distinctly grow upon the view the threatening swarms of +men still gathering below. + +The quivering mist rolls into crimson clouds and scales the craggy +cliffs; it dies softly away into the blue depths of the infinite sky. +The valley glitters like a sea of light, throws back the dewy sunshine +in a dazzling glare, for every hand is armed with sharp and sparkling +blades and points of steel--and millions are seen pouring into its +depths, numberless as they will pour into the vale of the Last Judgment. + + * * * * * + + A cathedral church in the castle of the Holy Trinity. + + Lords, senators, dignitaries are seen seated on either side, each + under the banner of a king or knight. Bands of nobles stand behind + the banners. The Archbishop is in front of the high altar, a choir + of stoled Priests kneel behind and around it. The Man appears, + pauses a few moments on the threshold of the church, then advances + slowly up the aisle to the Archbishop, holding a banner in his + hand. + +CHORUS OF PRIESTS. O God of our fathers! we, Thy last priests, pray in +the last church of Thy Son now standing upon earth for the faith of our +ancestors! Deliver us from our enemies, O Lord our God! + +FIRST COUNT. See with what pride Count Henry regards us. + +SECOND COUNT. As if the whole universe were at his feet. + +THIRD COUNT. And yet he has done nothing but cut his way through the +camp of the peasants at night! + +FIRST COUNT. He left one hundred, nay, it is reported, two hundred of +their men dead upon the place of combat. + +SECOND COUNT. Let us object to his appointment as general-in-chief. + +THE MAN (_kneeling at the feet of the Archbishop_). I lay my trophy at +thy feet! + +ARCHBISHOP (_giving him a sword_). Gird this sword upon thee; it was +once consecrated to Saint Florian! + +MANY VOICES. Long live Count Henry! Vivat! vivat! + +ARCHBISHOP. And thus sealing thee with the sign of the cross, I commit +to thy hands the sole command of this, our last fortress and refuge upon +earth. + +It is the universal wish that thou shouldst assume the rank of +general-in-chief. + +MANY VOICES. Long live our general! Vivat! vivat! + +A VOICE. I will not give my consent to the appointment! + +MANY VOICES. Away with the objector! Long live Count Henry! + +THE MAN. If any one present have just cause to reproach me, let him +proclaim it openly, and not hide himself in the crowd! + + He pauses; no one responds. + +I accept this sword from thy hands, most reverend father; and may God +send me an early and sudden death if I fail to deliver thee! + +CHORUS OF PRIESTS. Gift him with power, O God; and let Thy Holy Spirit +descend upon him! Deliver us from our enemies, O Lord! + +THE MAN. Let us all, princes, knights, and nobles, take a solemn oath to +defend the glory and fame of our fathers! + +Let us swear that though hunger and thirst may lead us to death, they +shall not force us to dishonor! + +Let us vow that no suffering shall induct us to capitulate, to yield one +of our just rights, or to sacrifice any of the duties due to our +Creator! Swear! + +MANY VOICES. We swear. + + The Archbishop elevates the Cross, they kneel and pledge their + faith. + +CHORUS OF PRIESTS. The perjured Thou wilt punish in Thy wrath, O God! + +The faint-hearted Thou wilt punish in Thy wrath, O God! + +The traitor Thou wilt punish in Thy wrath O God! + +THE MAN (_drawing his sword_). Keep the oath, and I promise glory--for +victory, pray to God! + + He leaves the church, surrounded and followed by bands of knights, + nobles, etc. + + * * * * * + + A courtyard in the castle of the Holy Trinity. The Man, counts, + barons, princes, noblemen. + +A COUNT (_leading the Man aside_). What--is all irretrievably lost? + +THE MAN. Not all, unless your courage fail before the time. + +THE COUNT. Before what time? + +THE MAN. Before death! + +A BARON (_leading him off on the other side_). It is reported that you +have seen and spoken with our dreadful foe, Count Henry. If we should +fall into his hands, will he have the least compassion upon us? + +THE MAN. To tell you the truth, such compassion as our fathers never +dreamed could be shown to them: '_the gallows_!' + +THE BARON. We must guard against that to the utmost of our power! + +THE MAN. What says your excellency? + +PRINCE. I must speak a few words alone with you, (_He draws Count Henry +aside_.) It is all very well to encourage our people, but you must +surely be aware that we can hold out no longer. + +THE MAN. What else is left us, prince? + +PRINCE. As you have been appointed chief, it is for you to propose the +terms of _capitulation_. + +THE MAN. Not so loud.... + +PRINCE. Why not? + +THE MAN. Because your excellency would thus forfeit your own life! (_He +turns to the men thronging around him._) He who speaks of surrender will +be punished with death! + +BARON, COUNT, AND PRINCE (_together_.) He who speaks of surrender will +be punished with death! + +ALL. With death! With death! Vivat! vivat! + + EXEUNT. + + * * * * * + + The gallery of the tower. The Man. Jacob. + +THE MAN. Where is my son, Jacob? + +JACOB. He is in the north tower, seated on the threshold of the old +vault and dungeon, singing strange songs of prophecy. + +THE MAN. Man the Leonoren bastion as strongly as possible, stir not from +the spot, and make constant use of the best glass to observe what +movements are going on among the forces of the besiegers. + +JACOB. So help me God the Lord! + +It were well to give a glass of brandy to our troops to keep up their +sinking courage. + +THE MAN. If necessary, open the cellars of our counts and princes. + + Exit Jacob. + +THE MAN (_mounting some feet higher, and standing wider the banner upon +a small terrace_). With the whole power of my eyes I trace your plans; +with the concentrated hatred of my soul I surround you, my enemies! No +longer with a single voice, or with a vain enthusiasm, am I to meet you; +but with the sharp swords and strength of men governed by my will I seek +our last encounter! + +It is a noble thing to be the leader in this contest; to look even from +the bed of death, if so it must be, upon the strange power added to my +own single arm through the many wills subjected to my rule; and glorious +to gaze thus down upon you, my enemies, lying far below in the abyss and +crying up to me from the depths, as the damned cry up to heaven! + +Yet a few hours more of time, and then I, with thousands of the +miserable wretches who have forgotten and renounced their God, will be +no more forever--but come what will, one day of life at least is left +me--I will enjoy it to the utmost--I will rule--combat--live! Is this my +last song? + +The sun sets behind the cliffs; sinks in a long, dark shroud of +vapor--on every side his rays pour blood into the valley. Foreshadow of +my bloody death, I greet thee with a more sincere and faithful heart +than I was wont to salute the allurements of pleasure, deception, +enchantment, love, in the past days of my youth! + +Not through low intrigue, through cunning skill, through laborious +effort, have I attained the fulfilment of my wishes; but suddenly and +unlocked for, as I have ever dreamed I would! + +Ruler over those who were but yesterday my equals, I have reached the +aim of my ambition: I stand on the very threshold of the eternal sleep! + + * * * * * + + A hall in the castle lighted with torches; George reclining upon a + bed; the Man enters, and places his weapons upon a table. + +THE MAN. Let a hundred men keep guard upon the bulwarks, the remainder +may repose after our long and exhausting combat! + +VOICE (_without_). So help me God the Lord! + +THE MAN. You must have been frightened, George, with the noise of our +attack, the firing of musketry, the cries of the soldiers! + +But keep up your courage, my child; we shall not be taken to-day, nor +to-morrow. + +GEORGE. I have indeed heard it all distinctly, but it is not that which +strikes terror to my heart; the thunder of the cannon flies on and is +here no longer--it is something else that haunts me, that appals me, +father! + +THE MAN. You fear for me, George? + +GEORGE. No. I know your hour has not yet struck. + +THE MAN. A heavy weight has fallen from my heart to-day, for in the +plain below, scattered like autumn leaves, lie the corpses of our foes, +foiled in their fierce attack. + +Come, George, we are alone, come! tell me all thy thronging thoughts; I +will listen to thee once more as of old in our own home! + +GEORGE (_hurriedly_). Follow me, then--follow me, father! A dreadful +trial--sentence--is reëchoed here every night. Oh come with me! + + He goes to a door in the wall hidden by a heavy fall of tapestry, + and opens it. + +THE MAN. George! where art thou going? Who has made known to thee this +secret passage into endless vaults covered with eternal darkness? to +this black charnel house, where moulder the bones of earlier and +countless victims? + +GEORGE. Where thine eye, accustomed to the sunshine, has no power to +pierce, my spirit presses forward. + +Gloom roll on to gloom--and darkness gather unto darkness! + + He enters the door, followed by his father, and rapidly descends + into the vault. + + * * * * * + + A long, vaulted, subterranean dungeon. Grates, bars, chains, and + broken instruments of torture. The Man, with a torch in his hand, + stands at the base of a great block of granite, on the top of which + stands George. + +THE MAN. Come down to me, George, I implore! + +GEORGE. Hearest thou not these voices? Seest thou not these forms? + +THE MAN. All is still as the grave--and almost as dark. The light of the +torch is instantly swallowed up by the damp chill gloom around us! + +GEORGE. Listen! Ever nearer! ever clearer! One after another they are +slowly filing on from the depths of the narrow vaults--they are solemnly +seating themselves below, far in the background; behind thee, father! + +THE MAN. Thy madness is my damnation! Thy mind is wandering, my poor +child; thou art destroying the strength which I now so sorely need! + +GEORGE. I see their pale and stately forms as they collect for fearful +judgment! I see the prisoner approach the dreadful bar, his tall form +seems.... I cannot discern his features--they float and flow like +morning mist! Hark! + +CHORUS OF VOICES. We, once chained, beaten, tormented, choked with dust +and broken with stones, through the Power now given to our hands, +proceed in our turn to sentence! + +We too will judge and torture; try and condemn; Satan himself will +delight to assume the execution of our sentence. + +THE MAN. George, what dost thou see? + +George. The prisoner! the prisoner, father! He wring his hands--O +father! father! + +A VOICE. With thee dies out the accursed race; all its power, all its +passions, all its pride, have joined in thee to perish! + +CHORUS OF VOICES. _Because thou hast loved nothing--revered nothing save +thyself and thine own thoughts--thou art condemned--art damned to all +eternity!_ + +THE MAN. I see nothing, but I hear from every side--above--below--sighs +and wails--judgment, threatening, and eternal doom! + +GEORGE. The prisoner! he raises his haughty head as thou dost, father, +when thou art angered! He answers with proud words, as thou dost, when +thou scornest--father! + +CHORUS OF VOICES. In vain! thou plead'st in vain! there is no redemption +for him more, in earth or heaven! + +A VOICE. Yet another day of passing earthly glory, of all share in which +thine ancestors have robbed me and my brethren--and then thou fallest +forever--thou, with thy brethren! + +Your burials will be, as once were ours, without the toll of holy +knells, without tears, sobs, or wailing mourners, without friends, +without relations, and you will die transfixed upon the same rock of +universal human pain! + +THE MAN. I know you, wretched ghosts! wandering stars amid the angelic +hosts! + + He goes forward into the darkness. + +GEORGE. Father! go not into that fearful gloom! Father! in the name of +Jesus Christ--I implore--I conjure thee--father! + +THE MAN (_turning toward his son_). Whom do you see below? Speak, and +tell me truly, George! + +GEORGE. The prisoner--he is thyself, my father! + +He is white as snow--gagged--chained--they drag him on--they torture +thee, my father! + +I hear thy gasping breath--thy groans--thy sobs! (_He falls upon his +knees._) Forgive me, father! My mother shines through the dark--and +commands me to.... + + He falls back in a fainting fit. + +THE MAN (_catching the falling boy in his arms_). This alone was +wanting! Ha! my own, my only child has led me to the brink of hell! + +Mary--inexorable spirit! God!! + +And thou, second Mary, to whom I have so often prayed! + +Here then is the beginning of eternal darkness, eternal torture!... + +Back! back into life! one day of glory is at least still left me! First +must I combat with my fellow men--and then for my eternal struggle! + +CHORUS OF SPIRITS (_dying away in the distance_). _Because thou hast +loved nothing, revered nothing, save thyself and thine own +thoughts--thou art, damned to all eternity!_ + + * * * * * + + A large hall in the castle of the Holy Trinity; arms and armor hang + upon the walls, with various Gothic ornaments. The Man; women, + children, some old men, and nobles are kneeling at his feet. The + Godfather stands in the centre of the hall, and crowds of men are + in the background. + +THE MAN. No, no. By my son--by the memory of my wife--never! never! + +VOICES OF WOMEN. Have mercy upon us! Hunger gnaws our bowels; our +children die of famine; fear is upon us day and night; have pity upon +us! + +VOICES OF MEN. It still is time! Listen to the herald--dismiss not the +envoy! + +GODFATHER. I regard not your reproaches, Count Henry, for my whole life +has been that of a good citizen. + +If I have assumed the office of ambassador, which I am at this moment +fulfilling, it is because I understand the age in which we live, and +estimate our times aright. + +Pancratius is, if I may so express myself, the representative of the +people.... + +THE MAN. Out of my sight, old man!--(_Aside to Jacob._) Bring a +detachment of soldiers hither! + + Exit Jacob. + + The women rise from their knees weeping and sobbing, and the men + draw back a few paces. + +A BARON.--We are all lost, and through you alone, Count Henry! + +SECOND BARON. We renounce all further obedience. + +A PRINCE. Let us arrange for ourselves the terms of the surrender of +this castle with the worthy envoy! + +GODFATHER. The great man who sent me here secures life to you all, if +you will enter into a league with him and acknowledge the justice of the +struggle of the century. + +MANY VOICES. We acknowledge it. + +THE MAN. You have sworn to me, and I have sworn to you, to die upon +these walls; I intend to keep my oath, and you shall be true to yours. +You are all to die with me! + +Ha! can you indeed still wish to live? + +Ha! ask the spirits of your fathers why, when living, they were guilty +of such continuous oppression, and why they ruled with so much +cruelty!--(_To a Count._) Why have you, count, oppressed your +serfs?--(_To another._) Why have you passed your youth in cards and +dice, and your life in the land of the stranger?--(_To another._) Why +have you crept before the great, and scorned the lowly?-(_To one of the +women._) Why did you not bring up your sons to defend you? As knights +and soldiers, they might then have served you now; but you have +preferred dealings with Jews and lawyers: call upon them, then, for life +and safety.--(_He rises and extends his arms toward them._) Why hasten +ye thus to shame? why wrap your last hours in shrouds of infamy? + +On with me, ye knights and nobles! On, where bayonets glitter, swift +balls whistle! + +Oh seek not the accursed gallows prepared for you by the New Men; +believe me, the masked and silent hangman stands waiting to throw the +rope of shame around your high-born throats! + +A VOICE. He speaks the truth--to our bayonets! + +ANOTHER VOICE. We die of hunger; there is no more food! + +VOICES OF WOMEN. Our children! Your children! Mercy! + +GODFATHER. I promise you safety--safety of life and limb.... + +THE MAN (_approaching the Godfather, and seizing him y the shoulder_). +Sacred person of the herald, go! Go, and hide thy gray hairs in the +tents of Jews and low mechanics, that I may not dye them in thine own +base blood! + + Jacob enters with a division of armed men. + +Take aim at this brow, furrowed with the folds of idle learning! Aim at +this liberty cap, which trembles on the brainless head before every +breath from the lips of a man! + + The Godfather escapes. + +ALL _cry, with one breath_: Bind Count Henry! Deliver him up to +Pancratius! + +THE MAN. Wait but a single moment, lords! (_He goes from one soldier to +another._) Do you remember when we climbed a mountain's rocky slope, a +savage wild beast closely tracked our steps, and when you, frightened, +fell into a yawning chasm, I rescued you, and saved your life? You +were most grateful then. Have you forgotten it?--Jerome, we once +were cast away upon the Danube's craggy shore; we braved the waves, +and saved our lives; we were bold swimmers, and we helped each other +well!--Christophe, Hieronymus, you sailed with me upon the wild Black +Sea; we were young sailors then!--(_To others._) When the fire destroyed +your homes, who built your cottages anew?--(_To others._) You fled to me +from cruel lords, and I redressed your wrongs.--(_Addressing himself to +the men generally._) Reflect, and choose!... Speak! will you arm with me +to battle for our rights, or will you leave me here to die alone--with +haughty smiles upon my stiffening lips, because, among so many men, I +found no single _man_? + +THE MEN. Long live Count Henry! we desert him not--vivat! + +THE MAN. Let the remaining meat and brandy be shared among them; then +upon the walls! + +SOLDIERS. Meat and brandy, and then upon the walls! + +THE MAN. Go with them, Jacob, and in an hour be ready to renew the +fight! + +JACOB. So help me God the Lord. + +WOMEN. We curse thee, Count Henry, in the name of our innocent children! + +OTHER VOICES. We, for our fathers! + +OTHER VOICES. We, for our wives! + +THE MAN. And I breathe curses on all craven souls! + + * * * * * + + The wall of the fortress of the Holy Trinity. Troops are lying + scattered about. Broken rocks and stones strew the ground, mingled + with pikes and guns; soldiers are running to and fro; the Man leans + against a bulwark, and Jacob stands beside him. + +THE MAN (_putting his sword into its sheath_). There can be no greater +pleasure than to play at danger when we always win; and when the time +comes to lose, one cast of the die, and all is over! + +JACOB. Our last broadside has driven them back for the moment, but I see +them below there, gathering to renew the storm; however, all is vain, +for since the world a world was, no one has ever escaped his destiny! + +THE MAN. Are there any cartridges left? + +JACOB. Neither balls nor grapeshot: everything has its end! + +THE MAN. Bring then my son to me; I would embrace him once more! + + Exit Jacob. + +The smoke from the powder has dimmed my eyes; it seems to me as if the +valley were swelling up to my feet, and again sinking back to its place; +the socks crack, and cross each other at a thousand angles, and my +thoughts wander, flicker, quiver in the most fantastic forms. (_Seats +himself upon a wall._) It is not worth the trouble to be a man--nor even +an angel; the highest archangel must feel, after some centuries of +existence, as we do after a few years of our fleeting life, utter +weariness in his soul, and long, as we do, for mightier powers! Either +one must be God--or nothing.... + + Enter Jacob with George. + +Take some of the men with you, go through the castle, and drive all +before you upon the walls! + +JACOB. Counts, princes, bankers? + + Exit Jacob. + +THE MAN. Come to me, my dearest son! place thy thin hands in mine, while +I press my lips upon thy pure forehead; thy mother's brow was once as +white and smooth! + +GEORGE. Before thy men took up their arms to-day, I heard mamma's voice; +her words came floating to me as soft and sweet as perfumed air; she +said to me: '_George, thou wilt come to me this very evening, and sit +down beside me_.' + +THE MAN. Did she name me to thee? + +GEORGE. She said: '_This very evening I expect my son_.' + +THE MAN (_aside_). Is my strength to fail me, when I have almost reached +the end of the weary way? No, God will not permit it! For one moment's +fiery madness, I will be thy prisoner to all eternity!--(_Aloud_). Oh, +my son! forgive--forgive the fatal gift of life! We part; and knowest +thou for how long a time? + +GEORGE. Take me with thee, father, and leave me not! I love thee; oh, +leave me not, my father--and I will draw thee on with me! + +THE MAN. Our paths are widely sundered. Amid the choirs of happy angels +thou wilt forget thy father--thou wilt bring me down no drop of cooling +dew. O George! George! my son! my son! + +GEORGE. What dreadful cries! I tremble, father. Louder and louder, +nearer and nearer comes the thunder of the cannon; the last hour--the +prophesied--draws near! + +THE MAN. Jacob! quick--quick--here! + + A band of counts and princes cross the courtyard. Jacob follows + with the soldiers. + +A VOICE. You give us broken arms, and force us to the combat! + +ANOTHER VOICE. Henry, have mercy on thyself! + +THIRD VOICE. Weak, wearied, famished, drive us not upon the walls! + +FOURTH VOICE. Where do they drive us? where? + +THE MAN. To death!--(_To George, folding him in his arms._) With this +embrace I would fain bind thee to my heart forever, George! Alas! I know +our paths are widely sundered: it may not be, my son! my son! + + Struck by a ball, George sinks dying in his arms. + +VOICE (_from above_). To me! to me! pure spirit! Up to me, my son! + +THE MAN. Ha! to my aid, soldiers! (_He draws his sword, and holds it +before the lips of the wounded boy._) The blade is crystal clear; no +moisture dims the cold and glittering steel! Breath and life already +gone! O George, my son! + +Ha! they are upon me! On I on! They are at last but a sword's length +from me! Back! Back! into the abyss, ye sons of freedom. Back! + + Rushing on of man, confusion, struggle. + + * * * * * + + Another part of the wall of the castle. Men in the distance in line + of battle. Jacob is seen stretched out upon the wall: the Man, + sprinkled with blood, hastily approaches him. + +THE MAN. Faithful old man, what has happened to you? + +JACOB. May the devil reward you in hell for your obstinacy, and my dying +agonies! + +So help me God the Lord! + + Dies. + +THE MAN (_throwing away his sword_). I will need thee no longer, sword +of my fathers! My son is in heaven--the very last of my retainers lies +dead at my feet--the craven nobles have deserted their cause; already +they kneel before the victor, and sue and howl for mercy! (_Looking in +every direction around him._) There still is time; as yet the enemy are +not upon me! I will steal a moment's rest before.... + +Ha! the New Men scale the northern tower; they shout 'Count Henry'--they +seek him in every direction! + +Here I am! here I am! here I am! But you are not to pronounce sentence +upon me; the dead have already given in their verdict. I go to meet the +judgment and justice of my God! (_He clambers up a steep cliff jutting +out over the abyss._) I see thee, my eternity, as thou rapidly floatest +on to meet me, black with the shadows of eternal night! shoreless, +limitless, infinite! And in the midst of thy rayless gloom, like a +burning sun, eternally shining, but illumining nothing, I see my God! +(_He takes some steps forward, and stands on the brink of the +precipice._) Ha! they run, the New Men--they see me now! Jesus! Mary! O +Poetry! be cursed by me, as I shall be to all eternity! Up, ye strong +arms! cut through these waves of air! + + He springs into the abyss. + + * * * * * + + The courtyard of the castle. Pancratius, Leonard; Bianchetti stands + at the head of a regiment of soldiers. The remaining princes and + counts, accompanied by their wives and children, file in before + Pancratius. + +PANCRATIUS. Your name? + +A COUNT. Christopher von Volsagen. + +PANCRATIUS. You have pronounced it for the last time! And yours? + +A PRINCE. Wladislaus, Lord of Schwarzwald. + +PANCRATIUS. It shall be heard on earth no more! And yours? + +A BARON. Alexander von Godalberg. + +PANCRATIUS. It is already erased from the list of the living. Go! + +BIANCHETTI (_to Leonard_). They have repulsed us for two long months; +their arms are wretched, and their accoutrements utterly worthless. + +LEONARD. Are there many of them left? + +PANCRATIUS. They are all given over to you for execution, that their +blood may flow as an example to the world. But if there is one among +them who can tell me where Count Henry hides, he shall have his life for +his information! + +MANY VOICES. He vanished from our sight at last. + +THE GODFATHER. Great Pancratius, I appear as mediator between you and +your prisoners; spare these citizens of noble birth, because they have +given up to you the keys and strongholds of the castle of the Holy +Trinity! + +PANCRATIUS. I have conquered by my own strength, and need no mediator. +You will yourself take charge of their immediate execution! + +THE GODFATHER. My whole life has been that of a good citizen. I have +frequently given proof of true patriotism. When I joined your cause, +Pancratius, it was not with the intention of leading my own noble +brethren to--.... + +PANCRATIUS (_interrupting him_). Seize the old pedant! away with him! +let him join his _noble_ brethren! + + The soldiers surround the Godfather and the prisoners. + +Where is Count Henry? Has no one seen him, dead or living? A purse of +gold for Henry, if only for his corpse! + + A division of soldiers descend the wall from above. + +THE LEADER OF THE DIVISION. Citizen general! by the command of General +Bianchetti, I stationed myself with my detachment, on the west side of +the bulwark; upon our entrance into the fort on the third bastion to the +left, I observed a man standing, unarmed, but bleeding and wounded, by a +dead body. I cried immediately to my men: 'Hasten your steps, we must +reach him!' but before we could approach him, he ascended a steep cliff +overhanging the valley, stood for a moment on a sharp and jutting point +of rock, and fixed his haggard eyes upon the depths below. I saw him, +then, extend his arms like a swimmer about to make a sudden plunge; he +threw himself forward with all his force; I saw him a moment in the air, +and we all heard the noise made by the fall of the body as it pitched +and fell from rock to rock into the abyss below. + +This is the sword which we found but a few steps from the spot on which +we first observed him. + + He hands a sword to Pancratius. + +PANCRATIUS (_examining the sword_). Drops of blood stain the handle, but +here are the arms of his house! It is the sword of Count Henry! + +He alone among you all has kept his plighted faith; to him be endless +glory--to you, traitors, the guillotine! + +General Bianchetti, you will see that the fortress of the Holy Trinity +is razed to the ground, and will also superintend the execution of the +prisoners! + +Leonard! + + He withdraws with Leonard. + + A bastion on the north tower. Pancratius, Leonard. + +LEONARD. You require repose after so many sleepless nights; you look +wearied and exhausted with ceaseless labor. + +PANCRATIUS. The hour of rest has not yet struck for me, and the last +sigh of the last of my enemies marks the completion of but half my task. +Look upon these heavy mists, these swamps, these desert plains; they +stand between me and the realization of my plans. Every waste on earth +must be peopled, rocks removed, lakes and rivers everywhere connected; a +portion of the soil must be awarded to every human being; the teeming +hosts of the living must far outnumber the multitudes who have perished; +life and universal prosperity must fill the place of death and ruin, +before our work of general destruction can be at all atoned for. If we +are not to inaugurate an era of social and widespread happiness, our +work of havoc and devastation will have been worse than vain! + +LEONARD. The God of Freedom will give us power for gigantic tasks. + +PANCRATIUS. What! _You_ speak of _God!_ Do you not see that it is +crimson and slippery here--that we are standing deep in human gore? + +Whose blood is this beneath our feet? + +There is nothing behind us save the court of the castle; no one is near +us. I know that we are quite alone, and yet, Leonard, I feel there is +another here! + +LEONARD. I see nothing but this bloody corpse. + +PANCRATIUS. It is the corpse of his faithful old servant--that is only a +dead body; but a spirit haunts this spot, and stands beside me; this +cap--see, _his_ arms are embroidered upon it; Count Henry's shield; +look, Leonard! there is the jutting rock o'erhanging the abyss--upon +this very spot _his_ great heart broke! + +LEONARD. How pale you grow, Pancratius! + +PANCRATIUS. Look up! IT is there! above you! Do you not see it? + +LEONARD. I see nothing but a broken mass of clouds drifting down, and +surging o'er the top of yonder craggy peak o'erhanging the abyss, which +is turning crimson in the setting sun. + +PANCRATIUS. A fearful symbol burns upon it! + +LEONARD. Lean upon me! How ghastly pale you grow! + +PANCRATIUS. Millions of men obeyed my will; where are they now? + +LEONARD. Do you not hear their cries? They ask for you, their saviour. + +Look not on yon steep cliff; your eyes are dying in their sockets as you +gaze upon it! + +PANCRATIUS. HE stands there, motionless; three nails are driven in HIM; +three stars; His outstretched arms are lightning flashes! + +LEONARD. Who? Where! Revive! + +PANCRATIUS. GALILÆE VICISTI! + + He falls dead in the arms of Leonard. + + + + +SELF-SACRIFICE. + + +That for which man offers up his blood or his property, must be more +valuable than they. A good man does not fight with half the courage for +his own life that he shows in the protection of another's. The mother, +who will hazard nothing for herself, will hazard all in the defence of +her child; in short, only for the nobility within us--only for +virtue--will man open his veins and offer up his spirit; but this +nobility--this virtue--presents different phases: with the Christian +martyr, it is faith; with the savage, it is honor; with the republican, +it is liberty.--ANALECT. + + + + +SHANGHAI: ITS STREETS, SHOPS, AND PEOPLE. + + +China has always been looked upon by Europeans and described in both +ancient and modern works as 'the unchanging country,' and it is a common +fallacy that the China of to-day is exactly what it was a thousand years +ago; that foreign trade and intercourse have had and can have no effect +upon the manners or ideas of the people, and that the descriptions we +read of Chinese towns and their inhabitants, written twenty years ago, +would answer for the same places to-day. In a measure this is true, but +it is not true of the cities which have been opened to foreign trade, or +in fact of any of the Chinese cities where foreigners have been settled +since the war of 1857 and treaties of 1858. + +Since that time the progress of Shanghai, Foo-Chow, Amoy, and Hong-Kong +(which last, however, is purely a British colony) has been amazing, and +men who visited China ten years ago would not recognize these places. +Indeed, it is not unlikely, with the rapid extension of Chinese trade, +and the removal of the prejudices of the people, that the history of +Chinese cities, like those of the Western States and California, will +have to be rewritten every ten years to be at all correct. + +This is peculiarly the case in respect to Shanghai, which, from an +insignificant place, almost unknown in the western world, has sprung up +to an importance in trade surpassing that of any city on the China +coast. It has, from its proximity to the tea district, and easy +communication with the vast country watered by the Yang-tze river, taken +almost without an effort the great trade that once centred in Canton, +and every year shows a greater amount of tonnage in the Woosung river, +and larger exports of tea, silk, and cotton. + +Approaching the entrance to the Woosung river from the Pacific, the +waters of the Yang-tze are plainly discernible at sixty to seventy miles +from its mouth, and when near the point where the ship's head is turned +from the broad current of the great river into that of the Woosung, a +thick, yellow mud rolls out with the tide, and discolors the water as +far as the eye can reach. It is like the waters of the Nile or the +Mississippi, turbulent in the great tideways, and heavy with the +coloring matter of the soil it has washed for thousands of miles. It is +evident that we are approaching a great commercial city, although for +miles we can see only a low coast, well cultivated, but without signs of +a town. The number of ships and steamers passing in and out on a fine +day would remind a New Yorker of the fleet that is always beating +through the Narrows, or is to be seen from the heights of Neversink. In +the three hours it took us to run from the light-ship to the anchorage +at Woosung, no less than seven large steamers passed us, outward bound. + +The tide in the Yang-tze and its branch, the Woosung, runs with +tremendous force, having a rise and fall of eighteen feet at spring +tides, and few ships are able to proceed beyond Woosung with a single +tide, Shanghai lying twelve miles above. They anchor among a fleet of +native junks from the trading places on the Yang-tze, bound to the same +port, and awaiting a change of tide, which the Chinese sailors celebrate +by a great hubbub on the poops of their unwieldy-looking vessels, with +tom-toms and other instruments of the same nature. This fleet of junks +and sampans is a curious sight to the stranger approaching the China +coast for the first time, and, with a ramble through the filthy village +of Woosung, occupies the time which the tides compel him to spend there. + +The junks give proof that if there have been great changes in the trade +of China and in the appearance of the cities where foreigners have +established themselves, there certainly has been none in the mode of +ship building, and in the thousand curious and uncouth ways of working, +acting, and living which have been for generations handed down from +father to son, and which are at the present time in no ways altered from +what they were a thousand years ago. No people in the world are slower +in admitting the ideas of foreign nations, or in taking advantage of the +most obvious improvements daily before their eyes; and, although the +improvements introduced by English and Americans in steamers and vessels +adapted for the navigation of their rivers are so far acknowledged by +them as to lead to the discontinuance of junk building to a marked +extent, yet the vessels they now build are of the same uncouth, clumsy, +and expensive shape as the first they ever put on the stocks. + +Their anchors are still of wood, and occupy the greater part of the +vessel before the foremast; and, instead of cables, they still have +immense coils of rough rope like a hair lariat. The sails are still of +bamboo mats, although occasionally a piece of good American or English +duck is to be seen, stretched on bamboos in the style of the +old-fashioned square sail, and once, on the river Min, we saw a native +pilot-boat rigged with the regular fore-and-aft cut, her sails having +evidently been fashioned by a foreign hand. + +Out of hundreds of junks moored in the Woosung river it was impossible +to find one without the great staring eye under what is called, by +courtesy, the bows, and not a few of them had the open mouth of a +dragon, with ugly teeth, painted under it, near the water-line, the +corners being drawn down, and the eye (from their desire that it should +see 'all ways at once') having a horrid squint. This gave to the boat a +lugubrious expression--if such a term may be allowed--ludicrous in the +extreme; and with fifty or a hundred junks drawn up in squadrons, +squinting and making faces at each other, nothing more thoroughly +Chinese could well be imagined. + +Conspicuous among this fleet were the timber vessels, which were so +loaded as to be able to move only with the tide. The art with which +their lading was tied to the vessels, so as to preserve their shape +while stretching far over the water on either side, was admirable; and, +out of fifty timber junks, all seemed to be loaded in precisely the same +manner. This was accomplished by laying the ends of the poles, tied in +fagots, toward the bows, while their smooth, round butts were exposed to +the action of the tide. The sticks being of uniform length and +thickness, tapering evenly, and about twenty feet long, it was easy to +arrange their fagots so as to give them the swelling lines of a ship, +and enable the junk to breast the storms of the coast without damage to +her cargo. + +Woosung, itself, is a place of no interest whatever--a filthy village, +with a market place on the river; the remains of old forts in its +neighborhood, and extensive rice and cotton fields about it, presenting +the only points worthy of note. + +There is an old Joss house on the outskirts of the village, occupied by +the French as a barracks, or 'garrison of occupation for the protection +of the coast,' as a cadaverous old soldier told us, manned by twenty-six +soldiers, without earthworks or protection of any kind. They constitute +the 'foreign population' of Woosung, and might as well be drafted to +some more healthy locality for any good that they can do. Such as we saw +looked like men just recovering from cholera or yellow fever. + +While lying at Woosung waiting for the tide to change, we were +frequently reminded that we could not be far from a great commercial +entrepôt of the world, by seeing five or six large ships, of one +thousand tons each, rush past with the tide in as many hours, tea-laden +and bound to Europe; but none of our company were prepared for what we +saw as we first rounded the point where a good view of Shanghai is +obtained, and saw, in the brilliant light of a harvest moon, the dense +forest of masts that filled the river. I have seen the mass of shipping +in the Pool at London, and in the Mersey at Liverpool, in the East river +at New York, and the Delaware at Philadephia, in Boston and San +Francisco harbors, and in all the other ports of China, and among them +all Shanghai holds no mean rank. The summer of 1863, from peculiar +circumstances, the dullness of freights elsewhere, and the depredations +of the Alabama and other piratical cruisers, called to the China coast, +and especially to Shanghai, as fine a fleet of clippers as was to be +found in any port of the world; and on that bright mid-summer night we +found them anchored in three parallel rows, crossing the channel of a +river half a mile wide, and stretching for a mile and a half, if not two +miles, up and down before Shanghai. + +Interspersed among these ships of all nations whose flags are known on +the seas, were steamers of all sizes, from the little tugboat to the +large steamers, like the Poyang of fifteen hundred tons, plying on the +Yang-tze and between the ports on the China sea, the Yellow sea, and in +Japan. Of these, no less than seventy-one belong to or trade with +Shanghai, and at that time there could not have been less than forty in +port. + +Beyond the vessels at anchor in the stream, the space to the very banks +of the river was filled up and covered by a cloud of Chinese junks, +sampans, and river boats of every class and name. + +We were before one of the great cities of the world, or one that is yet +to be known as among its most flourishing. The moonlight was reflected +from a long row of stately buildings, palaces in extent and noble +proportions, which lined the bank of the river for more than a mile. +These were the residences and mercantile houses of the merchants, the +public buildings, and the 'foreign concessions' in general, as they are +called. Beyond them could be seen the dim, turreted outlines of the +Chinese city, now closed and hushed for the night, but seemingly of vast +extent. The first and overruling impression here, as in all European +settlements on the China coast, except Canton and Swatow, was the grand +scale on which everything was done. The residences or hongs of the +merchants seemed planned by liberal minds, and executed by as liberal +hands. Space and money are not spared, and to obtain coolness and +comfort in so hot a climate, the ceilings of rooms are made very high, +few of the houses having more than two stories. Generally the material +is the small, over-baked and dark-colored brick of the Chinese, overlaid +with stucco; but occasionally a house is seen built of stone, one or two +of the largest and most valuable being entirely of granite. Generally +these hongs stand in spacious enclosures, or _compounds_, filled with +rare tropical trees and the bamboo so common in China. + +The finest residences are on the river bank or Bund, as it is commonly +called; but the city stretches for several squares back from the river, +being densest in the English Concession. The American quarter, Hong-Que, +although not as well filled with fine houses, is the next in importance, +while the French Concession, nearest to the great city within the walls, +is meanly built, and has more of the native element than either of the +others. For, although it is contrary to Chinese law for any native to +hold property in any of the foreign possessions, in practice large +numbers of Chinamen rent tenements from their foreign owners, and even +own them, the property standing, for convenience' sake, in the name of +some foreign resident in trust. Thus there has gradually grown up around +and upon the concessions a large Chinese city, believed by many to +contain almost as large a population as the city within the walls. This +is not incredible when we consider that the excesses of the Tae-Pings in +Soo-Chow, a large city about thirty miles from Shanghai, have driven +vast numbers of its inhabitants to the latter place, which, being +already densely crowded, has overflowed its walls, and, as the presence +of Europeans has made Shanghai, as it were, a city of refuge for the +exiles, they have naturally crowded around the foreign settlement. In +this manner the population of Shanghai and its environs has been +prodigiously augmented within the last two years, and from a place of +six hundred thousand inhabitants, it has become one of more than a +million of people. It is extremely difficult to obtain even an +approximate estimate of the population of a Chinese city. The estimates +of the Chinese are totally unreliable, varying sometimes in the most +ridiculous manner, and generally being preposterously exaggerated, while +the estimates of strangers or foreigners, unacquainted with the +marvellous abundance of human life in very small spaces, as it is seen +in China, are very rarely correct. For instance, it is not uncommon to +find that residents of this city differ as much as a million of people +in their views of its population, their estimates ranging from nine +hundred thousand to two million. It is not unlikely that a medium +between these two extremes will prove to be correct, the figure twelve +hundred thousand appearing to be the favorite at present among those +conversant with the great changes of the last year.[1] + +Unfortunately this vast increase in so short a period has led to great +mortality among the Chinese, from the dense crowding it has occasioned, +and in the summer months they are severe sufferers from Asiatic cholera, +which rages among them with shocking mortality. The air, even of the +foreign concessions, becomes tainted by the foul miasma rising from the +Chinese city, and no part of Shanghai can be esteemed healthy in the +months of July and August. A more perfect system of drainage in the +foreign concessions will probably lessen the mortality among Europeans, +and it is pleasing to note that this matter is now receiving the +attention which should have been given to it years ago; but no system of +laws or attempts at organizing better sanitary arrangements can +seemingly be successful among the Chinese themselves. Large sums of +money are now appropriated annually for these purposes, according to +their own account, but the mandarins embezzle it, the work is left +undone, and the filth and horrible stench of a Chinese city is +indescribable; it is something monstrous. Europeans and Americans, +accustomed to their own cleanly cities, cannot conceive of it. New York +streets have an unenviable notoriety on the Western continent for their +dirty condition, but New York is a garden of roses compared with a +genuine Chinese city, such as Shanghai within the walls. Even the +Chinese, who might be supposed to be accustomed to it, carry little bags +of musk to their noses as they ride through in their sedans; and half +the Chinese women one meets in Shanghai hold the nostril with the +forefinger and thumb, with a grace and dexterity only acquired by long +practice. + +Mr. Fortune, the celebrated botanist[1] and indefatigable Chinese +traveller, gives to Tient-sin the glory of being the filthiest and most +noisome of Chinese cities, although he mentions Shanghai with high +honor. Canton, from which Europeans have mainly derived their ideas of +China, is comparatively a clean and neat place, far superior to the more +northern cities. + +To descend from generalities to particulars. The smells are a horrible +compound, worse than in Coleridge's 'City of Cologne.' First and +foremost are the sewers, which are all open, the deposits of the +night-soil of the city, with convenient wells at every corner and in +niches in the walls. At these are to be found, at all hours, men with +buckets slung on bamboos, filling them for transportation in these +primitive open vessels to the farmers, who use the compost on their +fields. These wretches, with their vile burdens, are met at every turn, +and pass through the streets and roads in long files, loading the air +with abominations. No attention is paid to the wells and sewers until +they overflow, and, as chance may direct, the coolies take their loads +from the most convenient. + +This is a terrible nuisance, but it is hardly worse than the odors which +arise from the innumerable cook shops, and from the peripatetic bakeries +at every corner. What they are cooking, no man knows, but if not dog +chow-chow, it is sure to be fried in some vegetable oil that sends up a +mighty vapor, hiding the cooks and rolling into the narrow street, where +it scarcely finds vent between the overhanging eaves of the houses. The +sickening smell of the castor bean seems everywhere. Occasionally the +sight and powerful odor of hard-boiled and rotten goose eggs, split open +to show that they are either rotten or half hatched, attract the Chinese +epicure. The oily cakes and crullers that the wandering baker is frying +for a group of children, powerfully offend European olfactories, +although so tempting to the half-naked brats. Many different and +offensive odors come from these greasy cook shops, but the offence in +almost every instance can be traced home to the vegetable oils, greasy +and rancid, which seem to pervade all Chinese cookery, as it is seen in +the streets of the cities. Many of the dishes, but for this oil, would +be quite tempting; and such, as have tasted them in the houses of the +rich, assure us that they are not so bad as they smell. The +much-talked-of edible bird's-nest soup is really a fine dish. The +substance, after it is prepared, all the dirt and feathers being +separated from it, is as clean and pure as isinglass, which it greatly +resembles in appearance. Great care is taken to make it pure before it +is sold for use, and in the shops at Canton it may be seen in every +stage of manufacture. Their ducks and geese are fine birds, and, with +excellent pork, and their never-failing rice, are the favorite dishes of +such as can afford them; which, by the way, they really know how to +cook--an art that is very little understood in England or America. + +Dog chow-chow, kittens, rats, and mice, with crickets and locusts, are +only eaten by the vilest of the vile--poor wretches, who must support +themselves and families on a pittance of about fifteen or twenty dollars +a year. + +Of course there are many things in their way of cookery, and in their +tastes for such articles as sharks' fins, fish maws, _beche-de-mer_, +etc., which are revolting to an educated stomach; but in their way the +Chinese are quite as dainty as the most fastidious of other lands, and +in fine vegetables, fish, and fruits they enjoy as much variety and +evince as discriminating a taste as any people in the world. Their fish +are sold in the markets alive, and taken from the tanks as selected by +the purchaser. Their way of drinking tea will be found, after +familiarity, superior to ours, for when milk is not used the finer aroma +of the leaf is obtained. Indeed, they are very particular in regard to +the quality and decoction of their tea, totally refusing the poisonous +green teas that are consumed in such quantities in England, and +especially in America. + +They know, too, how to draw it, and just at the right moment the boiling +water is poured upon the leaf, and, without allowing it to simmer by the +fire, as we do, long enough to get the flavor of the stalks and stems, +they drink it off as soon as the boiling water has fairly acted upon the +delicate leaves. English tea-drinkers, who like to mix a green and a +black tea, and allow it to steam for a quarter of an hour to make it +strong, complain that Chinese tea is mere dishwater, just as the man +accustomed to get boozy on brandy, made 'fiery' with sulphuric acid, has +no taste for the light French wines. A Chinaman colors his green tea +with Prussian blue for his foreign customers, who like a bright, pretty +color; but he is too wise to drink it. This process of coloring we have +seen, publicly, in the tea factories of Shanghai; and the disgust with +which the manufacturer denied that he ever drank his own wares, was too +strong to be assumed. 'No good,' was his only reply. + +Despite the filth and many disagreeable things to be encountered in a +walk or ride through a city like Shanghai, it is one of the most +interesting places imaginable in which to spend an hour or two on a +summer morning. + +In the heat of the day, at mid-summer, it is dangerous in China, and +especially to a new comer, to be exposed even to the reflected rays of +the sun, and many a poor fellow has lost his life by neglect or contempt +of the cautions of his more experienced friends not to be in the +sunshine between the hours of 10 A. M. and 4 P. M. More than ordinary +precaution is necessary in times of cholera, owing to the peculiar +electrical condition of the atmosphere, in which any exertion or +exposure is often fatal to one recently arrived on the coast. All +excursions to the city are therefore, of necessity, made in the morning +or late in the afternoon. The gates are opened at daybreak, and the +early visitor is almost certain to be unpleasantly reminded of the +prevalence of cholera by the number of dead bodies lying in the streets. +They are those of coolies, or poor persons, who have died during the +night, and having no friends, the public authorities must take them +wherever they chance to die, and provide for their burial. In August, +1863, at a time when the cholera was not particularly virulent, the +deaths were supposed to be five hundred a day, principally among the +poor, who, from insufficient food, miserable lodging in the streets and +porticoes of temples, and constant exposure in the day to the direct +rays of the sun, to say nothing of the filth and foul air of the city, +were peculiarly exposed to the ravages of disease. Another sign of the +presence of cholera, and an odd one, was the number of persons passing +with necks disfigured by perpendicular parallel bars, as if branded by +hot irons. This curious remedy is applied for any pain in the stomach, +however slight, even for sea sickness, and the marks are made with +strong pincers. By the Chinese it is thought very efficacious, although +on what theory it is difficult to understand. + +Entering the city from the north gate, after crossing the ditch that +separates the walls from, the French Concession, we find ourselves in +close and extremely narrow streets, with shops opening upon them, +neither glass nor any partition separating them from passers by. The +same arrangement is quite common in our own streets for fruit-sellers' +shops, toy stores, and newspaper and periodical stands. But instead of +one or two attendants at a stand, in China we find a dozen, in summer +time naked from the waist upward, emaciated by opium smoking, and having +a sickly look painful to see. Most of the shops have a carved railing +and a counter facing the street, the ends of which are ornamented by +grotesque shapes of dogs and gilded idols. A figure of a pug-nosed dog +with bandy legs is very common. At the first glance it would be supposed +that this was one of those nondescripts the Chinese are so fond of +devising, but a closer examination shows that the figure is an admirably +life-like copy of an odd dog, common to Pekin, pug-nosed and +bandy-legged, and no doubt his form will be recognized in many of the +grotesque, awkward-looking figures of which ivory carvings abound in all +countries where Chinese curiosities are to be found. + +Standing on the counter is generally a roll of joss-sticks wound +spirally around a wire frame, and always burning to the tutelary idol of +the shop, for the sake of good luck. It is the duty of one of the boys +to see that this coil of joss-stick is always lighted--a very convenient +arrangement for tobacco smokers strolling through the streets. Another +custom which they have, and which is also supposed to bring success to +the shopkeeper, is to encourage the swallows to build under the eaves +and among the bamboo rafters. Three or four of these nests of swallows, +with broods of twittering young ones, may often be observed in a single +shop, neat stretchers of cotton cloth or bamboo being built under the +nests, to prevent any possible damage to the goods. The birds seem quite +at home amid all the hubbub; and the kind care which protects them amid +a semi-barbarous people is one of those traits of a common humanity--of +kindness to the helpless--which marks the common origin of the most +civilized and most barbarous of the human race. The streets of Shanghai +are not divided among the trades, as in Canton, but shops of all kinds +occur in every crooked lane and alley-way. Principal among them are the +cookshops, some of which are evidently restaurants on a large scale, for +they are filled, from morning till night, with half-naked coolies, +eating indescribable dishes, of which rice is the great staple, and +sipping tea. They all sit at little tables, built for two, or at round +tables, seating half a dozen. In the country and in the suburbs these +last are drawn out into the open air at sunset, and are occupied by +parties taking their tea in a social manner. The roads around Shanghai +are fall of such parties on a warm summer's eve. + +After the cookshops, the confectioners' attract the traveller's eye. An +immense amount of sweetmeats is consumed by the people, and the +confectioners' shops are proportionally numerous. They are distinguished +by copper caldrons sunk in their counters, which are kept always hot and +full of molasses. With a ladle like a milkman's pint measure, they bring +up the sweet mass for their customers, and their stalls are always +crowded. Not only are these established shops well patronized, but an +immense quantity of candy and preserved fruits is sold by the wandering +peddlers, who manufacture and dispose of their good things wherever they +find customers. Preserved lychee, a fruit that looks like a small prune, +and like it is stewed in sirup, is a great favorite; and the coolies in +the foreign quarters, while resting under their burdens, are not +backward in disposing of a saucer of sweetmeats obtained from the +nearest peddler. These sweetmeats, of all kinds, are esteemed very good +by Europeans, and no doubt are quite the same as we receive from China +put up in big-bellied blue jars; but as sold in the streets, the lack of +cleanliness in the entire outfit of the shop, and the necessity of using +the dishes and China spoons from which one can see the neighboring +coolies gobbling their purchases, holding the dishes up to their very +noses, would deter any man of ordinary fastidiousness from attempting an +immediate experiment to establish their identity. + +After eating, we must rank shaving as the second among Chinese +employments. They all wear the cue, even to the infant in arms, whose +mother shaves its head at three months old, and ties up the tiny cue +with a red ribbon, and from that day to the day of his death the child +and man must be periodically shaved; for, of course, no man can shave +his own head. Great is the barber in China, and vast his field of +operations among four hundred millions of people! They shave their +subjects everywhere, even sitting on a stone in an open field, and at +all hours of the day their shops are full. It is in the neatness of his +'shave' and the glossiness of his rich black cue that the Chinese dandy +is distinguishable. Men who cannot afford to shave every day, allow the +hair to grow until the head (always excepting the part which has never +known the razor or the shears) resembles that of a fire zouave just +after enlistment, or a penitentiary prisoner; while the exquisite has +his head shaved with the sharpest razor, giving a bluish cast or frame +for his yellow face. Occasionally the size or thickness of the tail +appears to be unsatisfactory, and a larger surface is spared from the +knife. The refractory hairs growing out in this supplementary patch +surround the genuine cue with a halo an inch or two in height. Lots of +these apostolical-looking Chinese are to be met with in every street, +and, as they rarely wear hats, they have a very comical appearance. This +question of hats is another of curious import among this curious people. +A Chinese gentleman rarely wears one in the streets, his mode of travel +being in a sedan, and his fan or umbrella answering all purposes of +protection from the sun. A mandarin, on the contrary, wears in the ball +of his cap his badge of office, and the time even when he changes his +winter for his summer hat is regulated by the Board of Rites. The poor +coolie is troubled by no such formality, and wears a great umbrella-like +head covering, that he perches on a little bamboo tower, six inches +above his crown, tying down the whole concern by a string that passes +behind his ears. When at leisure, he wears his long cue trailing to his +feet; when busy, it is snugly coiled around his head and out of sight +under his hat. The gentleman and mandarin, on the contrary, never ties +up the cue, its flowing grace, like his long finger nails, being a badge +of his superior condition in being above manual labor. No wonder, then, +that they attach so much importance to the pigtail, and that the man who +dresses it daily is so useful a character in the community. His tools +are unlike anything a civilized barber uses, and his razor, if its uses +were not explained, would hardly be recognized by the name. It is a +thick, broad instrument, shaped more like a cook's cleaver than any +instrument known to other nations; but it does its work well in the +hands of a good operator. After the head is shaved, it is washed with +warm water in an old-fashioned brass barber's basin, such, as was in use +in England two hundred years ago, and, after having had the few +straggling hairs on lip and chin removed, the patient (for truly he +deserves the name) goes through the torture of having all stray hairs +extracted from the inner coating of the nose and ears, an absurd and +barbarous custom that often leads to permanent injury of the latter +organs. If he chances to have ophthalmia, the barber considers that his +eyes need cleaning, and proceeds to wipe out the inner side of the +eyelid with his instrument, of course to their serious injury. In the +ophthalmic hospitals of Chinese cities European physicians have found +this practice a fruitful cause of many diseases of the eyes, but no +remonstrances can induce the people and their barbers to give it up. + +The mustache, as well as the pigtail of immoderate length, is a badge of +a certain dignity, for no man is allowed to cultivate it until he +reaches a certain age, and it is an error to suppose that Asiatics are +totally devoid of beard, for the old fellows among them sport grisly +beards and mustaches of respectable length, and altogether have quite a +venerable look. On the stage the emperor and mandarins are represented +as bearded like Turks. Indeed the excessive length of their horse-hair +mustaches, reaching to their girdles, shows what esteem the people +attach to a long, flowing beard. + +On first landing in China, the impression given by so many long-tailed +and petticoated men is like the memory of a dream wherein one has seen +animals walking like men; and, although custom makes the sight familiar, +a Chinaman always appears an odd creature, especially when he passes the +end of his pigtail under his left shoulder and gently caresses it or +twists the final braid. A comical sight, to be seen almost every day in +Hong-Kong, is a sepoy policeman leading some Chinese culprit to the +lockup: the sepoy, tall and erect, with fierce mustaches, lean as a +tiger, and with a warlike air, leading along the meek Chinaman by the +end of his pigtail, John Chinaman following at about two paces behind, +just at the end of his natural tether. + +We have already alluded to the grotesque appearance of an infant a few +months old, with close-shaved head, and pigtail two inches long, tied up +with a gay ribbon. When the youngster is four years old, and his pigtail +has reached the dignity of seven inches, it is duly braided, and +constitutes his only dress. Then, being armed with a basket, he is sent +out in this primitive and absurd costume to pick chips. + +After the barbers, in order of importance among the Chinese shopkeepers, +come the coffin makers, and they are very important men indeed, in a +country where the worship of ancestors is carried to a degree unknown +elsewhere in the world. Their coffins are of all sizes and degrees of +finish, but of one invariable shape. Some of those seen in Shanghai cost +as much as one thousand taels, equal to $1,500 in American gold. They +are extremely massive, more like miniature junks than the shape we are +accustomed to associate with the idea of a coffin, the head being higher +than the foot, and the lines of the sides swelling gently with very +little taper. The boards of the sides and headpiece are at least three +inches thick, elaborately carved, and gilded in Chinese characters. The +colors are various, black and red predominating. As the body is kept in +this massive shell for several months after decease, and in the house of +the nearest relative, the good sense of making the walls of extra +thickness and strength is very apparent. Even after it is laid in the +tomb, in many parts of the country, the style of sepulture allows the +coffin to be seen, and it is even exposed to the weather in some cases. +Customs differ greatly, however, in different parts of the country. In +the flat region about Shanghai, the tombs are found mostly around the +little streams flowing into the Yang-tze, or the ocean. The coffins are +placed in the open fields, a few shovelfuls of earth are thrown around +them, and they are left undisturbed, for the high weeds and the +accumulations of centuries to form mounds around them. A few regularly +constructed tombs are to be found, but they are rare. In the hill +country bordering the China sea, in the province of Foh-Kien, and +elsewhere on the coast, when the nature of the land will allow, +extensive tombs are hollowed out in the sides of the hills, and the +coffins are deposited out of sight. Here a whole family reposes, it may +be, in one of these majestic tombs (for, seen from a distance, they have +a picturesque and imposing appearance). The popular shape is that of a +horseshoe or half moon, the circle being toward the summit of the hill. +This portion of the tomb is raised like a crown, and facing it is an +altar, with Chinese characters engraven on its pillars, where the +offerings of the relatives or worshippers are placed. Before this is a +place like a court, railed off and flanked, it may be, by smaller altars +on either side, facing other entrances, where the less venerated members +of the family are interred. In front of the whole are two high posts, +the meaning or use of which, if they have any at all, we are not +acquainted with. + +On these altars are burnt the paper offerings sent to their departed +friends, the manufacture and sale of which occupy a numerous and +important class of shops in the great cities. These offerings are +generally of gilt and silver paper, in the form of clothes, horses, +houses, and other conveniences of which their friends showed their +appreciation on earth, and which, by a subtile process of reasoning, +they imagine that they can transmit to them in this cheap and ingenious +manner--simply by burning these paper effigies at the altars by the +tombs! One of the most ingenious and economical of these contrivances, +whereby, with a subtlety of argument worthy of the great trafficker in +indulgences, Tetzel, who so raised Martin Luther's ire, they manage +cheaply to transmit funds to heaven, is the paper dollar, strings of +which are sold in the shops, looking exceedingly like goodly bunches of +the silvery onion. It is worthy of a people who are so niggardly in all +their transactions, who have a copper currency that would sink any man +with a fortune invested in it, and who cheat all that come in contact +with them, that they should cheat their departed friends with these +remittances, a bundle of which are to be obtained for a few cash, and on +reaching the other world are understood to pass for a little fortune. In +the ordinary affairs of life it is their habit to put three prices on +everything they have to sell, and in their dealings with heaven they put +their own valuations, amounting to an advance of several thousand per +cent., on all their offerings. Could anything be more thoroughly in +character? + +There is, however, a certain degree of respect paid to the memory of +departed friends, and an attachment to the soil where lie the bones of +their ancestors, that, in as far as it is harmless, is entitled to our +respectful consideration. It gives a domestic, settled character to the +people, that is worthy of all praise, and should raise them in our +estimation, from whatever cause it may spring. It is well known that +they show the highest respect to the aged, and that those who emigrate +to foreign lands show the greatest anxiety that after death their +remains should be sent back to their own country. Ships from San +Francisco are often largely freighted with the coffins of deceased +Chinamen; and it is worthy of note that few or none of these belong to +men born in Shanghai, the Chinese seen in other lands coming almost +exclusively from Canton, Ningpo, and Amoy. The northern and middle +population of China is not by nature so restless a class as that of the +south, and has borne this character since Europeans have been at all +acquainted with the Chinese. + +The three kinds of shops to which allusion has been made, those of the +cooks, the barbers, and the undertakers, comprise more than one half of +all in Shanghai; but besides these are almost as many varieties of +trades as we are accustomed to in other more civilized countries. +Bankers sit behind their counters, keeping watch over tons of copper +cash, neatly threaded in strings of one thousand each, and pay checks +and make loans with the same regularity as in cities boasting their +superior civilization. Nor are the resources of these native bankers to +be despised. On proper security native and foreign merchants have been +known to obtain loans of several hundred thousand dollars from one +banker. Many of their daily operations are for very considerable +amounts, and are adjusted in credits or in silver. Although they are +cursed with as abominable a currency as any nation in the world, they +do not appear to experience any great difficulty in settlements, every +merchant having his balance, and weighing off the proper amount of +silver, larger payments being made in sycee. This want of a currency +arises from their utter lack of confidence in the coinage of their own +country. No currency that the Imperial Government might issue, not like +the copper cash, or tsien, incapable of adulteration, would be above +suspicion; and while the shameless system of mandarin plunder and fraud +continues, it is hopeless to expect a proper currency in China, unless +the foreigners interfere or obtain the control in this part of the +national affairs which they already have over the customs and the army. +A uniform currency, superior to the wretched, worthless cash, is the +crying need of China. The Mexican, or chop dollar, becomes sadly +depreciated after long circulation, by the clippings and innumerable +marks put upon it, so that it will not pass outside of China, nor does +it long remain out of the pot of the sycee melter. The American half +dollar and quarter and the English shilling are daily becoming more +popular for the smaller transactions of the shops, and the notes of the +local banks possess considerable circulation in their respective cities; +but what is needed more than anything else is an abundance of small +silver coinage for the daily ordinary transactions. The Mexican mint is +quite inadequate to supply so vast and insatiable a country as China, +which should have a currency of its own. No doubt much larger quantities +of silver will continue to reach China directly from California, within +the next few years, in the shape of bars. The great impetus which the +late wild speculations in silver shares is likely to give to the +development of the Washoe mines, is almost certain within a very few +years to so largely increase the yield of California silver as to rival +in amount the immense produce of her gold mines. Careful surveys and the +actual yield of mines, such as the Gould & Curry, and Hale & Norcross on +the Comstock lead, prove that the ore is there in large quantities, and +the stimulus has now been applied which will rapidly bring it to light. +With the increasing facilities between San Francisco and Hong-Kong the +bulk of this must go to China direct, instead of the roundabout course +by which it has reached the East through London. But these are questions +that hardly attract attention at present in Shanghai, or among the +Shanghai bankers, whose shops we were talking of as met with here and +there in the open street. + +Next to one of these respectable, long-tailed gentlemen we found a +first-class apothecary, whose shop and mode of business were widely +different from those of one of the guild at home. The ceilings were +swarming with swallows, whose chattering rivalled that of the folks +below, conspicuous among whom was a fat, greasy old chap, in the dignity +of a gray mustache and a monstrous pair of colored spectacles, the +glasses of which were an inch and a half in diameter, rimmed with horn, +and tied by a string to his ears. He was gravely busy in compounding a +prescription on a piece of paper large enough to cover the side of a +chest of tea, and closely written over with Chinese characters. We +lounged by his side as he put up packet after packet of dried roots and +simples, tasting many of them with his consent. Calamus and liquorice +were among them, and camphor, too. Each packet was of the size of a +pound paper of Stuart's candy (any child can tell you what size that +has), and when the entire prescription was filled, the unfortunate sick +man became possessed of no less than twenty-three of these packages, +enough to keep famine from his door for a week at least, to judge from +their bulk. They filled a goodly basket. It was not one man alone who +carried away such a heap of medicines; but before each applicant, as the +prescriptions spread on the counter were ticked off, rose a pile of +similar packages, which bid fair to become as high as that which had +excited our curiosity. All these drugs were put up neatly in the +light-yellow paper we are accustomed to see round our packs of +fire-crackers, and as neatly sealed with a little gum arabic. Indeed, it +is shrewdly suspected by Father Hue, from this prodigious liberality of +drugs, that the physicians feel bound to give a man all he pays for, in +the hope that out of a multitude of remedies some may chance to suit his +case. The foreign residents of Shanghai aver that the doctors take +contracts to cure their patients in a certain time, and if unsuccessful +at the stipulated day, their patients relieve their minds by a little +elegant abuse of their physician, and take the contract to the next in +their neighborhood. + +It is not uncommon to see their dentists wandering through the streets +with rows of old fangs suspended from their necks like necklaces, +trophies of their skill; and every dead wall in the city has its +vermilion posters, advertising some great quack medicine, so that it is +quite evident that the science of medicine has reached that pitch of +refinement where a host of quacks can ply their arts with as much +success as among the western barbarians. + +Heaven save us, though, from a Chinese doctor! Mechanical surgery is his +forte; for a stomach ache he will pinch your neck; for a broken rib he +will nearly crack the bones of your arm, and if you faint under this he +will hang you up by your heels to restore the circulation. + +According to the diagrams published in the books on medicine, the +knowledge of anatomy possessed by the faculty in China is very slight, +and entirely erroneous; and in all their cures it is very probable that +nature, unassisted except by rest and fasting for a season, does the +work. They certainly are able to give her very little help. + +It is noticeable, however, as a proof of the high esteem in which the +people hold the science, that the shops of the chemists and apothecaries +are kept by a superior class of people, more intelligent in appearance +than their neighbors, and holding a higher rank. + +Of the lower trades there are innumerable shops, the variety of which is +almost bewildering. Every art and manufacture has its minute +subdivisions, and one meets, at every step, signs of the superior +civilization of the people in their admirable division of labor. Silk +looms are working in the open streets, shoemakers and tailors are each +plying their art in their narrow shops. In one they manufacture little +paper offerings for the gods, in another the gods themselves, in the +next their worshippers are supplied with joss-sticks or gayly colored +candles of tallow, mounted on slim sticks, that they may be stuck in the +sand before the divinity. Here you will find a printer hard at work +taking impressions on their delicate paper; next a bookbinder, who sews +the leaves with withes of paper, while in the next shop you can procure +the almanac for the year, months before it is required. In August, 1863, +they were selling copies of the almanac for 1864. Probably this work has +the largest circulation of any in the world, hanging, as it does, in +every house. The only exception may be the Bible, which, it is to be +hoped, will yet be as widely circulated in China as it is among the +other nations of the world. + +Numbers of the people are engaged in the delicate carving we so much +admire in the ivory toys scattered throughout Europe and America, and a +vast number of people in preparing the hanging screens with curious +devices, quaint pictures, and sentences from Confucius, which are found +in almost every house of the better class. They have a great fondness +for the proverbs and wise sayings which, are thus kept always before +their children, like the very good rules and aphorisms we see on the +walls of our Sunday schools. + +A good example of the minute subdivision of the Chinese trades is seen +in the shops devoted exclusively to the sale of camel's-hair pencils, +and others for that of the little squares of red paper, covered with +hieroglyphics, which we receive on a pack of fire-crackers, and which +constitute its 'chop.' + +Jewellers' shops contain very little interesting to a foreigner--most of +the rings and brooches are trashy articles of jade-stone, a greenish +stone which resembles agate or cornelian in opaqueness. The armlets are +of silver, and of the same substance are the large thin circles worn by +the women of Foh-Kien in the ear and resting on the shoulder. Pins for +the fantastic pyramid they erect with their rich black hair are rather +pretty, but are generally ornamented with false pearls. For pearls the +Chinese have a passion, but it requires a judge of the article to +purchase any from them, nine tenths of those in the shops being +fictitious. Seed pearls are also used by them as medicines. In the back +streets it is not uncommon to find places where they make them, and +others where artists are engaged in cutting and polishing on the lathe +the few precious stones they possess. Rock crystal is one of their +favorites, and from it they cut beautiful vases and goblets that are +sometimes as clear as glass. In this, however, they are surpassed by the +Japanese, whoso crystal globes cannot be distinguished from the most +perfect glass. They also cut vases and carve odd figures in an arsenical +stone, of reddish color, with a grain like granite, which is little +known in other countries. + +In Shanghai the shops for the sale of china and porcelain-ware do not +present as fine an assortment as those of Canton, where vases costing +fabulous sums are to be seen, but they are rich with the peculiar +pottery of Soo-Chow. Just at present the display of this ware is not as +fine as usual, owing to the occupation of that city by the Tae-Pings, +but enough remains on hand to show its beauty and general usefulness. +Chinese porcelain ware is as well known in every civilized country of +the world as in China itself, and has ceased to be a curiosity unless +when intelligently viewed in its historical character, for all these +quaint scenes scattered over the magnificent vases we receive illustrate +some event in Chinese history, or some custom which obtains among the +people. + +When evening approaches and the shops are lit up with lanterns, the +numerous and brilliant lantern warehouses attract the attention: some of +the goods they display (and at nightfall they light every lantern in the +shop) are extremely beautiful and costly; all kinds are to be obtained, +from the fine hall-lamp of painted glass to the sixpenny lantern to be +carried in the hand. At night these gay lights give much animation to +the busy streets. Having gone across Shanghai from the south gate to the +French Concession one dark night, after the city gates were closed, a +good opportunity of seeing the interior of a Chinese city after +nightfall (which few foreigners care to avail themselves of) presented +itself. The people were slowly closing their shops for the night. Here +and there a shopkeeper was counting his cash, and calculating at his +counter with the help of the abacus; many of them were sitting at the +doors of their houses, smoking in the evening air; the barbers were +still at work preparing their customers for the night. Like Washington +Irving, these may have considered a good clean shave the best soporific. +Here and there a citizen of the better class was to be seen picking his +way by the light of a lantern, held by a boy, and twice we met sedan +chairs containing women, preceded by a lantern bearer. The passage of +two sedans in these narrow streets is a difficult and unpleasant +process, the bearers generally managing to grind your shins against a +wall. At night it is still more difficult to avoid contact, and the +coolies are incessantly shouting, in a sing-song voice, to prepare the +way. As it was, in the narrower streets we passed between files of dusky +figures and black, inquisitive eyes, ranged on either side to barely +allow passage. The cook-shops were deserted, and the attendants busy in +putting out the fires; only the places where lanterns or candles were +sold seemed to be doing an active trade, although it had scarcely struck +nine. At ten o'clock no doubt all were asleep, for hosts of beggars and +poor wretches were snoring by the roadsides. The most picturesque groups +passed in this evening stroll were those on the bridges, where, by the +light of tallow candles, men and boys were gambling and fighting +crickets. Although probably there was not another European or American +within the walls of the city, the passage was as safe as if made at +noonday, guarded by a file of soldiers. + +A visit to Shanghai would be incomplete if the traveller failed to +inspect the numerous and very curious temples, and to contrast them with +the church edifices erected in the heart of the city by the Protestant +missionaries. There is one without the walls, in the French Concession, +where all the instruments of torture, the devilish devices of heathen +cruelty, are to be seen, a horrid spectacle. The largest of the temples, +however, is within the walls, approached through a wide court, with a +fountain (not in use) in the centre. This court is crowded with fortune +tellers, conjurors, and gamblers of every kind. Some of these gentry +play a game very much like thimble-rigging, in which copper cash, +appears under different inverted teacups. Every man who approaches the +idol draws from among the fortune tellers a stick or a piece of paper, +from the figure on which he is supposed to tell whether his prayer will +succeed, or the work he contemplates prove lucky. Entering the shrine, +it is difficult to see for a few moments, so gloomy is the place and so +grimy every object with the smoke of joss offerings from time +immemorial. A kind of altar faces the worshippers, with a box of sand, +in which are stuck the burning joss-sticks. Before this is a cushion, on +which they prostrate themselves, telling their beads, as they recite +their prayers inaudibly, and bowing to the earth at intervals of a few +minutes. Behind the altar are the idols. These hideous figures are twice +the size of life, and of frightful shape and features, the principal god +being in a tent-like shrine, which permits only a glimpse of his grim +features in the background. On his right hand is the figure of a man +with the beak of an eagle, and on his left a very grotesque divinity, +with a third eye, like that of the Cyclops, in the centre of his +forehead. These two figures, again, are supported by gigantic guardians, +one on either side, who have nothing absolutely monstrous about them, +being distinguished by their saturnine expression. That to the right +hand bears a striking likeness to Daniel Webster's stern and well-known +features. The deep-set eye and compressed lip were those of the great +expounder. + +A heavy cloud from the burning candles and paper offerings filled the +air, and the smell of candle snuff mingled with that of incense. A high +railing separated the worshippers from the idols, but the priests were +quite indifferent and not at all exclusive; so, passing around and +without removing our hats, we made a close inspection of the respected +carvings. A nearer view did not increase their attractions, so, passing +up a flight of stairs, we entered a room where the bonzes were busy +praying for rain and apparently going through a species of litany with +open books in their hands. Our entrance stopped proceedings for a +minute or two, but they soon resumed, quite indifferently, singing and +drawling as though it were tedious, tiresome work. + +They were all good-looking men, in the prime of life, dressed in scarlet +and embroidered robes of much richness. Unlike the rest of the people, +they neither shaved nor wore the cue. We found them drawn in a line +before the altar, from which they were separated by a screen: an open +porch at their back let in light and air. Each priest had before him a +little table with a fancy gilt screen upon it, and as they slowly +proceeded with their drawl, at convenient intervals, each made a slight +bow behind his screen, his head touching it. As they did this with the +regularity of drilled soldiers, and to the pounding of a tom-tom, they +evidently were chanting in chorus, although the ear would have failed to +distinguish it. The tom-toms and wooden drums were beaten at the +pleasure of the parties in charge: nothing like time was apparent to any +but a Chinese ear. + +The idol was a little gilt figure, about six inches high, with the body +of a beast and the head of a man. His peculiarity was the possession of +a supplementary eye, which, as his natural pair squinted horribly, no +doubt was very useful. His position was on a little table surrounded by +tall candles; whether they were borrowed from the Roman Catholics or the +Catholics borrowed the custom from them is a question for the student of +church history. Before the idol was placed another table with ten +elegant bowls, scarcely larger than our teacups, filled with the +choicest fruits and grains that the market afforded. Each article was +perfect of its kind. Rice, tea, the nelumbium, and agaric, a species of +fungus, were among them. Just then the country being in great want of +rain, the priests were trying the coaxing process, and tempting the god +with the best chow-chow to be had; but the next day they got out of +patience, and were to be met parading him through the dusty streets, +exposed to a fierce sun, for the purpose of giving him to understand +that the heat was quite as disagreeable as they had represented it. + +Their arguments for this proceeding are extremely logical: they say that +Joss, in his cool temple, laughs at them, and is disposed to think that +they are humbugging him; therefore, if they give him two or three hours +of good skin-roasting in the sun, he will be much more likely to come to +terms, to avoid a repetition of the process. As they do this every day +until rain comes, it is of course seen in a short time, if they are +patient, that it never fails in the end. + +Indeed, it is quite common to meet in all the large cities processions +of priests, followed by the rabble, who are giving 'Joss an airing.' The +eminently practical object of these mummeries argues very little genuine +respect for the deity, an inference that has often been drawn by +missionaries from other points in their treatment of their idols. + +Their worship of them, such as it is, is almost universal. Every house +has its shrine and altar, and even in the porches of foreign residents +in the quarters occupied by the Chinese servants, one sometimes +(although not often) sees a little figure in a niche, with a tiny +joss-stick before it. Every junk and sampan has its tutelary idol. A +little shrine of bamboo of the size of a common birdcage is built for +it, sometimes fixed and sometimes movable. The interior of this was +gilded once, but the gilt is worn and tarnished by smoke and water. It +has doors that open when the joss-sticks are to be burnt before the toy +figure that presides on a miniature throne. A sampan whose owners are +too poor to supply themselves with decent clothing, will be sure to have +its tawdry baby-house and doll idol, and it frequently has in addition +a roll of paper, four feet by one, like a window curtain, with, a gay +picture of Joss, in a scarlet dress, in the act of dancing, and +generally in a very absurd posture for such a respectable character. + +Every evening at sunset there is a prodigious hubbub from the junks on +the Woosung, made with tom-toms, drums, and other unmelodious +instruments, which are vigorously beaten for ten or fifteen minutes, to +bring good luck, and propitiate the devils, or frighten them away for +the night. From the shore, the rapid motions of a dozen arms on the high +poop of each junk, tossed aloft in the dusk, and the discordant, harsh +sounds that come from so many vessels at once, arrest the attention of +the stranger, and once seen and heard, are never forgotten. + +The pagodas, so often mentioned in accounts of the Chinese empire, +appear to be more numerous in the mountainous districts, where they add +greatly to the picturesque charm of the scenery, and are believed to be +connected with the religious ceremonies of the people. In the flat +country around Shanghai they are not to be met with; at least it was not +our fortune to see any during our brief stay. The only structure like a +tower, if we except the turrets on the city walls and watch towers +erected within the past few years, when the Tae-Pings have threatened +the city, is a tall, white monument, rising to the height of twenty +feet, and without inscription or distinguishing mark of any kind. It +looks like a fine, white tomb, higher and more ambitious than usual, and +truly it is a 'whited sepulchre'! Baby Tower, it is called by the +foreign residents, for it is filled with the bones of infants--not such +as have died a natural death, as Bayard Taylor asserts, but which have +been thrust into this horrid monument of heathen cruelty when but a few +hours old. Humanity shudders at the thought! These dazzling white baby +towers, with their mockery of purity, their object known to all men, and +openly inviting, as it were, the most unnatural and heartless of +murders, are among the most hideous spectacles to be met with in a +heathen land. True, a river or a pond will be pointed out to you in +other parts of China, or in India, where babies are daily drowned like +puppies or kittens; but they do not affect the mind with such a horror +as these palpable structures, erected with the best skill of their +architects for this express purpose. The water closes over the murdered +infant, and no trace of the crime remains; but here is a tower--a high +tower--with deep foundations, filled with the bones of murdered babes +that have been accumulating for generations. + +No wonder that Christian mothers, resident in the East, cannot speak of +them or see them without a shudder, and never willingly pass them in +their drives. Who knows but they might hear, if they approached the +tower, the wail of some poor infant just thrown in, or meet its father +returning from his cruel errand! + +At Shanghai the Baby Tower stands on the southwest side of the city, +without the walls, but at Foo-Chow, where the crime of infanticide is +still more prevalent, they use no baby towers, but have provided ponds +for this express purpose. It is the saddest part of this great national +crime of the Chinese, that it is sanctioned by the mandarins, and viewed +as a disagreeable necessity, not as a crime. + +It has been the fashion of late years to deny the existence of this +abomination; the doubters, wise in their own conceit, insisting that the +crime is too great for human nature. + +Human nature, unfortunately, has proved but a frail barrier to crime of +this character in all parts of the world, and the facts of Chinese +infanticide are indisputable. The witnesses are too numerous, the crime +is too public, and the evidences of it too notorious to deny its +existence. The children destroyed are girls; the most common methods of +destroying them are: 1st, by drowning in a tub of water; 2d, by throwing +into some running stream; 3d, by burying alive. The last-named mode is +adopted under the hope and with the superstitious belief that the next +birth will be a boy. The excuse is that it is too expensive to educate a +girl, but if some friend will take the child to bring up as a wife for a +little boy, the parents will sell or give away the infant rather than +destroy it. The regular price is two thousand copper cash, or $2, for +every year of their lives; for sometimes a girl will be saved for a year +or two, and then sold for a wife or slave. Many instances have come to +the notice of missionaries where large families of girls have been +destroyed. There is one woman now employed as a nurse in a missionary's +family at Fuh-Chow, who says that her mother had eight girls and three +boys, and that she was the only girl permitted by her father to live. We +never heard of an instance of a boy's being destroyed at birth. There is +a village about fifteen miles from Fuh-Chow, which is swarming with +boys, but where girls are very scarce. The people account for it +themselves by alleging the common practice of killing the girls at +birth, a practice which is indulged in by the rich as well as by the +poor.[2] + +But to enter into all the particularities of Chinese life which attract +the attention at Shanghai as in other cities, would be to compile an +account of China and her customs. + +The points of real importance to be considered in connection with +Shanghai, which is fast becoming the commercial centre of Chinese +exports, are the extent to which foreigners have an influence on the +people in modifying their habits, increasing their knowledge, and +dispelling their prejudices. The growth of European influence and the +complete opening of the Chinese empire, in which immense advances have +been made in the last three years, will, in time, it is to be hoped, +lead to the diffusion of the Christian religion, a work attended with +such gigantic difficulties, at the present day, that one cannot +sufficiently admire the courage, patience, and faith which actuate +missionaries to this empire. No representations of these difficulties +which reach the Christian world have done justice to them, for it is +necessary to observe the heartlessness, self-conceit, and prodigious +prejudices of the Chinese to appreciate the noble zeal of the +missionaries. The course of trade and much more correct notions of the +power and objects of the Western nations, and the firmness with which +they use the former to secure the latter, are unquestionably breaking up +with rudeness the ridiculous ideas of the Chinese concerning their own +importance and superior wisdom. If once they can be made learners in +good earnest, the battle is half won, for none doubt their intelligence. +European influence, alone, has effected great changes in five years, and +European and Chinese combined may, in the five years to come, work out +still greater reforms. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Sir Frederick Bruce, in a recent report to the Foreign +Office, says: + +'The growth of Shanghai is wonderful; its population is estimated at +1,500,000, and it bids fair to become soon the most important city of +the East. The Chinese flock to it on account of the security it enjoys; +and the silk manufacture, which was destroyed by the Taiping occupation +of Soochow and Hangchow, is taking root at Shanghai.'--Pekin, 30th +April, 1863. + +[2] Civilized nations profess to look with abhorrence on the +Chinese crime of infanticide, and to believe that the statements of +travellers and missionaries are incredible; but a careful examination of +the mortuary tables of London, Paris, New York, Dublin, Moscow, and +other cities, will show that infanticide is far more common than +supposed. It is a crime easily hidden and hard to trace. Take the +foundling hospitals as a guide to some approximate estimate of the +amount of infanticide in France. We find that she has upwards of 360 +hospitals; that in Paris alone, in five years, from 1819 to 1823, 25,277 +children were received, of whom eleven thirteenths died, and that the +annual number of enfans trouvés ranges from 3,800 to 4,500. These +children, but for the hospital, would have been murdered. Who can tell +how many are thrown into the sewers of Paris? A recent writer states the +number at 10,000, but we deem this an exaggeration. It is significant +that the percentage of births and deaths in all France is less far the +births and greater for the deaths than in England. These tables we +annex. + +It is still more significant that the returns of foundling hospitals, +from widely different countries, show that these institutions, however +charitable and humane their object, are to be viewed as conveniences for +murdering an infant without the actual violence at which humanity +revolts. The proportion of abandoned children who live is so exceedingly +small, that abandonment of a child to a foundling hospital is scarcely +less than murder. If the child live, it may be viewed, almost, as a +direct act of Providence. + +Of 62,000 children brought into the Paris foundling hospitals, 52,500 +died. + +In Dublin, 19,420 children were received in ten years, of whom 17,440 +died. + +In Moscow, 37,000 children were received in twenty years, of whom 35,000 +died. + + COMPARATIVE VIEW OF MOVEMENT OF POPULATION OF +-------------------------------------++------------------------ + ENGLAND. || FRANCE. +-----------+------------+------------++------------+----------- + | 1860. | 1861. || 1860. | 1861. +-----------+------------+------------++------------+----------- +Population | 19,902,918 | 20,119,496 || 35,597,461 | 36,752,565 +Marriages | 170,156 | 163,706 || 290,657 | 283,642 +Births | 684,018 | 693,406 || 953,315 | 987,830 +Deaths | 422,721 | 435,114 || 782,764 | 848,174 +-----------+------------+------------++------------+----------- + | Percentage. || Percentage. +-----------+------------+------------++------------+----------- +Marriages | .855 | .814 || .794 | .772 +Births | 3.437 | 3.461 || 2.605 | 2.688 +Deaths | 2.124 | 2.163 || 2.139 | 2.308 +-----------+------------+------------++------------+----------- + + + + +ON HEARING A 'TRIO. + + + 'All thoughts, all passions, all delights, + Whatever stirs this mortal frame,' + Thrilled through the wildering harmonies + That from the music came. + + All soothing sounds of nature blent, + In wonderful accord, + With pleadings, wild and passionate, + From human hearts outpoured. + + The wailings of the world's sad heart, + Oppressed with social wrongs, + In mournful monotones were mixed + With sounds of angel songs. + + The falling of a nation's tears + O'er Freedom's prostrate form, + Dew droppings sweet from starry spheres, + Swift-rushing wings of storm. + + The voices of Time's children three-- + Past, Present, Future, blent + In that wild 'trio's' harmony, + Thrilled each fine instrument. + + And, at the sound, my soul awoke, + And saw the dawning clear + Of Freedom's coming day illume + Earth's clouded atmosphere! + + + + +THE IDEAL MAN FOR UNIVERSAL IMITATION; OR, THE SINLESS PERFECTION OF +JESUS. + +(A POSITIVE REPLY TO STRAUSS AND RENAN.) + + +The first impression which we receive from the life of Jesus, is that of +perfect innocency and sinlessness in the midst of a sinful world. He, +and He alone, carried the spotless purity of childhood untarnished +through his youth and manhood. Hence the lamb and the dove are his +appropriate symbols. + +He was, indeed, tempted as we are, but he never yielded to temptation. +His sinlessness was at first only the _relative_ sinlessness of Adam +before the fall, which implies the necessity of trial and temptation, +and the peccability, or the possibility of the fall. Had he been endowed +with absolute impeccability from the start, he could not be a true man, +nor our model for imitation; his holiness, instead of being his own +self-acquired act and inherent merit, would be an accidental or outward +gift, and his temptation an unreal show. As a true man, Christ must have +been a free and responsible moral agent; freedom implies the power of +choice between good and evil, and the power of disobedience as well as +obedience, to the law of God. But here is the great fundamental +difference between the first and the second Adam: the first Adam lost +his innocence by the abuse of his freedom, and fell by his own act of +disobedience into the dire necessity of sin; while the second Adam was +innocent in the midst of sinners, and maintained his innocence against +all and every temptation. Christ's _relative_ sinlessness became more +and more _absolute_ sinlessness by his own moral act, or the right use +of his freedom in the perfect active and passive obedience to God. In +other words, Christ's original possibility of _not sinning_, which +includes the opposite possibility of sinning, but excludes the actuality +of sin, was unfolded into the _impossibility of sinning_, which _can_ +not sin because it will not. This is the highest stage of freedom, where +it becomes identical with moral necessity, or absolute and unchangeable +self-determination for goodness and holiness. This is the freedom of God +and of the saints in heaven, with this difference: that the saints +attain that position by deliverance and salvation from sin and death, +while Christ acquired it by his own merit. + +In vain we look through the entire biography of Jesus for a single stain +or the slightest shadow on his moral character. There never lived a more +harmless being on earth. He injured nobody, he took advantage of nobody, +he never spoke an improper word, he never committed a wrong action. He +exhibited a uniform elevation above the objects, opinions, pleasures, +and passions of this world, and disregard to riches, displays, fame, and +favor of men. 'No vice that has a name can be thought of in connection +with Jesus Christ. Ingenious malignity looks in vain for the faintest +trace of self-seeking in His motives; sensuality shrinks abashed from +His celestial purity; falsehood can leave no stain on Him who is +incarnate truth; injustice is forgotten beside His errorless equity; the +very possibility of avarice is swallowed up in His benignity and love; +the very idea of ambition is lost in His divine wisdom and divine +self-abnegation.' + +The apparent outbreak of passion in the expulsion of the profane +traffickers from the temple is the only instance on the record of his +history which might be quoted against his freedom from the faults of +humanity. But the very effect which it produced, shows that, far from +being the outburst of passion, the expulsion was a judicial act of a +religious reformer, vindicating in just and holy zeal the honor of the +Lord of the temple. It was an exhibition, not of weakness, but of +dignity and majesty, which at once silenced the offenders, though +superior in number and physical strength, and made them submit to their +well-deserved punishment without a murmur, and in awe of the presence of +a superhuman power. The cursing of the unfruitful fig tree can still +less be urged, as it evidently was a significant symbolical act, +foreshadowing the fearful doom of the impenitent Jews in the destruction +of Jerusalem. + +The perfect innocence of Jesus, however, is based not only, negatively, +on the absence of any recorded word or act to the contrary and his +absolute exemption from every trace of selfishness and worldliness, but, +positively, also on the unanimous testimony of John the Baptist and the +apostles, who bowed before the majesty of his character in unbounded +veneration, and declare him 'just,' 'holy,' and 'without sin.' It is +admitted, moreover, by his enemies: the heathen judge Pilate, and his +wife, representing, as it were, the Roman law and justice, when they +shuddered with apprehension and washed their hands to be clear of +innocent blood; by the rude Roman centurion, confessing under the cross, +in the name of the disinterested spectators, 'Truly, this was the Son of +God;' and by Judas himself, the immediate witness of his whole public +and private life, exclaiming in despair: 'I sinned in betraying innocent +blood.' Even dumb nature responded in mysterious sympathy, and the +beclouded heavens above and the shaking earth beneath united in paying +their unconscious tribute to the divine purity of their dying Lord. + +The objection that the evangelists were either not fully informed +concerning the facts, or mistaken in their estimate of the character of +Christ, is of no avail. For, in addition to their testimony, we have his +own personal conviction of entire freedom from sin and unworthiness, +which leaves us only the choice between absolute moral purity, and +absolute hypocrisy; such hypocrisy would, indeed, be both the greatest +miracle and the greatest moral monstrosity on record. + +The very fact that Christ came for the express purpose of saving +sinners, implies his own consciousness of personal freedom from guilt +and from all need of salvation. And this is the unmistakable impression +made upon us by his whole public life and conduct. He nowhere shows the +least concern for his own salvation, but knows himself in undisturbed +harmony with his Heavenly Father. While calling most earnestly upon all +others to repent, he stood in no need of conversion and regeneration, +but simply of the regular harmonious unfolding of his moral powers. +While directing all his followers, in the fourth petition of his model +prayer, to ask daily for the forgiveness of their sins as well as their +daily bread, he himself never asked God for pardon and forgiveness, +except in behalf of others. While freely conversing with sinners, he +always does so with the love and interest of a Saviour of sinners. This +is an undeniable historical fact, no matter how you may explain it. And +to remove every doubt, we have his open and fearless challenge to his +bitter enemies: 'Which of you convinceth me of sin?' In this question he +clearly exempts himself from the common fault and guilt of the race. In +the mouth of any other man, this question would at once betray either +the height of hypocrisy, or a degree of self-deception bordering on +madness itself, and would overthrow the very foundation of all human +goodness; while from the mouth of Jesus we instinctively receive it as +the triumphant self-vindication of one who stood far above the +possibility of successful impeachment or founded suspicion. + +The assumption that Christ was a sinner, and knew himself such, although +he professed the contrary and made upon friends and enemies the +impression of spotless innocency, is the most monstrous deception that +can well be imagined. 'If Jesus was a sinner, he was conscious of sin, +as all sinners are, and therefore was a hypocrite in the whole fabric of +his character; realizing so much of divine beauty in it, maintaining the +show of such unfaltering harmony and celestial grace, and doing all this +with a mind confused and fouled by the affectations acted for true +virtues! Such an example of successful hypocrisy would be itself the +greatest miracle ever heard of in the world.' + +It is an indisputable fact, then, both from his mission and uniform +conduct and his express declaration, that Christ knew himself free from +sin and guilt. The only rational explanation of this fact is, that +Christ _was_ no sinner. And this is readily conceded by the greatest +divines--even those who are by no means regarded as orthodox. The +admission of this fact implies the further admission that Christ +differed from all other men, not in degree only, but in _kind_. For +although we must utterly repudiate the pantheistic notion of the +necessity of sin, and must maintain that human nature, in itself +considered, is capable of sinlessness, that it was sinless, in fact, +before the fall, and that it will ultimately become sinless again by the +redemption of Christ; yet it is equally certain that human nature, in +its _present_ condition, is not sinless, and never has been since the +fall, except in the single case of Christ, and that for this very reason +Christ's sinlessness can only be explained on the ground of such an +extraordinary indwelling of God in him as never took place in any other +human being, before or after. The entire Christian world, Greek, Latin, +and Protestant, agree in the scriptural doctrine of the universal +depravity of human nature since the apostasy of the first Adam. Even the +modern and unscriptural dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, of the +freedom of the Virgin Mary from hereditary as well as actual sin, can +hardly be quoted as an exception; for her sinlessness is explained in +the papal decision of 1854 by the assumption of a miraculous +interposition of divine favor, and the reflex influence of the merits of +her Son. There is not a single mortal who must not charge himself with +some defect or folly, and man's consciousness of sin and unworthiness +deepens just in proportion to his self-knowledge and progress in virtue +and goodness. There is not a single saint who has not experienced a new +birth from above, and an actual conversion from sin to holiness, and who +does not feel daily the need of repentance and divine forgiveness. The +very greatest and best of them, as St. Paul and St. Augustine, have +passed through a violent struggle and a radical revolution, and their +whole theological system and religious experience rested on the felt +antithesis of sin and grace. + +But in Christ we have the one solitary and absolute exception to this +universal rule, an individual thinking like a man, feeling like a man, +speaking, acting, suffering, and dying like a man, surrounded by sinners +in every direction, with the keenest sense of sin and the deepest +sympathy with sinners, commencing his public ministry with the call: +'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;' yet never touched in the +least by the contamination of the world, never putting himself in the +attitude of a sinner before God, never shedding a tear of repentance, +never regretting a single thought, word, or deed, never needing or +asking divine pardon, never concerned about the salvation of his own +soul, and boldly facing all his present and future enemies in the +absolute certainty of his spotless purity before God and man! + + +HIS ABSOLUTE HOLINESS. + +A sinless Saviour surrounded by a sinful world, is an astounding fact +indeed, a sublime moral miracle in history. But this freedom from the +common sin and guilt of the race is, after all, only the negative side +of his character, which rises in magnitude as we contemplate the +positive side, namely, absolute moral and religious perfection. It is +universally admitted, even by deists and rationalists, that Christ +taught the purest and sublimest system of ethics, which throws all the +moral precepts and maxims of the wisest men of antiquity far into the +shade. The Sermon on the Mount alone is worth infinitely more than all +that Confucius, Socrates, and Seneca ever said or wrote on duty and +virtue. But the difference is still greater if we come to the more +difficult task of practice. While the wisest and best of men never live +up even to their own imperfect standard of excellency, Christ fully +carried out his perfect doctrine in his life and conduct. He both _was_ +and _did_ that which he _taught_; he preached his own life, and lived +his own doctrine. He is the living incarnation of the ideal standard of +virtue and holiness, and is universally acknowledged to be the highest +model for all that is pure and good and noble in the sight of God and +man. + +We find Christ moving in all ordinary and essential relations of life, +as a son, a brother, a friend, a citizen, a teacher, at home and in +public. We find him among all classes of society, with sinners and +saints, with the poor and the wealthy, with the sick and the healthy, +with little children, grown men and women, with plain fishermen and +learned scribes, with despised publicans and honored members of the +sanhedrim, with friends and foes, with admiring disciples and bitter +persecutors; now with an individual, as Nicodemus or the woman of +Samaria, now in the familiar circle of the twelve, now in the crowds of +the people. We find him in all situations, in the synagogue and the +temple, at home and on journeys, in villages and the city of Jerusalem, +in the desert and on the mountain, along the banks of Jordan and the +shores of the Galilean Sea, at the wedding feast and the grave, in +Gethsemane, in the judgment hall, and on Calvary. In all these various +relations, conditions, and situations, as they are crowded within the +few years of his public ministry, he sustains the same consistent +character throughout, without ever exposing himself to censure. He +fulfils every duty to God, to man, and to himself, without a single +violation of duty, and exhibits an entire conformity to the law, in the +spirit as well as the letter. His life is one unbroken service of God, +in active and passive obedience to His holy will--one grand act of +absolute love to God and love to man, of personal self-consecration to +the glory of his Heavenly Father and the salvation of a fallen race. In +the language of the people who were 'beyond measure astonished at his +works,' we must say, the more we study his life: 'He did all things +well.' In a solemn appeal to his Heavenly Father in the parting hour, he +could proclaim to the world that he had glorified him in the earth, and +finished the work he gave him to do. + + +UNITY OF VIRTUE AND PIETY. + +The first feature in this singular perfection of Christ's character +which strikes our attention, is the perfect harmony of virtue and piety, +of morality and religion, or of love to God and love to man. He is more +than moral, and more than pious; he is holy in the strict and full sense +of the word. There is a divine beauty and perfection in his character, +the mere contemplation of which brings purity, brightness, peace, and +bliss to the soul. + +Piety was the soul of his morality, and lifted it far above the sphere +of legality or conformity to law. Every moral action in him proceeded +from supreme love to God, and looked to the temporal and eternal +welfare of man. The groundwork of his character was the most intimate +and uninterrupted union and communion with his Heavenly Father, from +whom he derived, to whom he referred, everything. Already in his twelfth +year he found his life element and delight in the things of his Father. +It was his daily food to do the will of Him that sent him, and to finish +his work. To Him he looked in prayer before every important act, and +taught his disciples that model prayer which, for simplicity, brevity, +comprehensiveness, and suitableness, can never be surpassed. He often +retired to a mountain or solitary place for prayer, and spent days and +nights in this blessed privilege. But so constant and uniform was his +habit of communion with the great Jehovah, that he kept it up amid the +multitude, and converted the crowded city into a religious retreat. His +self-consciousness was at every moment conditioned, animated, and +impregnated by the consciousness of God. Even when he exclaimed, in +indescribable anguish of body and soul, and in vicarious sympathy with +the misery of the whole race: 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken +me!' the bond of union was not broken, or even loosened, but simply +obscured for a moment, as the sun by a passing cloud, and the enjoyment, +not the possession of it, was withdrawn from his feelings; for +immediately afterward he commended his soul into the hands of his +Father, and triumphantly exclaimed: 'It is finished!' So strong and +complete was this moral union of Christ with God at every moment of his +life, that he fully realized for the first time the idea of religion, +whose object is to bring about such a union, and that he is the personal +representative and living embodiment of Christianity as the true and +absolute religion. + +With all this, the piety of Christ was no inactive contemplation, or +retiring mysticism and selfish enjoyment; but thoroughly practical, ever +active in works of charity, and tending to regenerate and transform the +world into the kingdom of God. 'He went about doing good.' His life is +an unbroken series of good works and virtues in active exercise, all +proceeding from the same union with God, animated by the same love, and +tending to the same end, the glory of God and the happiness of man. + + +COMPLETENESS AND UNIVERSALITY OF HIS CHARACTER. + +The next feature we would notice, is the completeness or pleromatic +fulness of the moral and religious character of Christ. While all other +men represent at best but broken fragments of the idea of goodness and +holiness, he exhausts the list of virtues and graces which may be named. +His soul is a moral paradise full of charming flowers, shining in every +variety of color, under the blue dome of the skies, drinking in the +refreshing dews of heaven and the warming beams of the sun, sending its +sweet fragrance around, and filling the beholder with rapturous delight. + +History exhibits to us many men of commanding and comprehensive genius, +who stand at the head of their age and nation, and furnish material for +the intellectual activity of whole generations and periods, until they +are succeeded by other heroes at a new epoch of development. As rivers +generally spring from high mountains, so knowledge and moral power rises +and is ever nourished from the heights of humanity. Abraham, the father +of the faithful; Moses, the lawgiver of the Jewish theocracy; Elijah, +among the prophets; Peter, Paul, and John among the apostles; Athanasius +and Chrysostom among the Greek, Augustine and Jerome among the Latin +fathers; Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus among the schoolmen; Leo I. and +Gregory VII. among the popes; Luther and Calvin in the line of +Protestant reformers and divines; Socrates, the patriarch of the +ancient schools of philosophy; Homer, Dante, Shakspeare, and Milton, +Göthe and Schiller in the history of poetry, among the various nations +to which they belong; Raphael among painters; Charlemagne, the first and +greatest in the long succession of German emperors; Napoleon, towering +high above all the generals of his training; Washington, the wisest and +best as well as the first of American presidents, and the purest and +noblest type of the American character, may be mentioned as examples of +those representative heroes in history who anticipate and concentrate +the powers of whole generations. But they never represent universal, but +only sectional humanity; they are identified with a particular people or +age, and partake of its errors, superstitions, and failings, almost in +the same proportion in which they exhibit its virtues. Moses, though +revered by the followers of three religions, was a Jew in views, +feelings, habits, and position, as well as by parentage; Socrates never +rose above the Greek type of character; Luther was a German in all his +virtues and faults, and can only be properly understood as a German; +Calvin, though an exile from his native land, remained a Frenchman; and +Washington can be to no nation on earth what he is to the American. +Their influence may and does extend far beyond their respective national +horizons, yet they can never furnish a universal model for imitation. We +regard them as extraordinary but fallible and imperfect men, whom it +would be very unsafe to follow in every view and line of conduct. Very +frequently the failings and vices of great men are in proportion to +their virtues and powers, as the tallest bodies cast the longest +shadows. Even the three leading apostles are models of piety and virtue +only as far as they reflect the image of their Heavenly Master, and it +is only with this limitation that Paul exhorts his spiritual children: +'Be ye followers of me even as I am also of Christ.' + +What these representative men are to particular ages or nations, or +sects or particular schools of science and art, Christ was to the human +family at large in its relation to God. He and he alone is the universal +type for universal imitation. Hence he could, without the least +impropriety, or suspicion of vanity, call upon all men to forsake all +things and to follow him. He stands above the limitations of age, +school, sect, nation, and race. Although a Jew according to the flesh, +there is nothing Jewish about him which is not at the same time of +general significance. The particular and national in him is always duly +subordinated to the general and human. Still less was he ever identified +with a party or sect. He was equally removed from the stiff formalism of +the Pharisees, the loose liberalism of the Sadducees, and the inactive +mysticism of the Essenes. He rose above all the prejudices, bigotries, +and superstitions of his age and people, which exert their power even +upon the strongest and otherwise most liberal minds. + +Witness his freedom in the observance of the Sabbath, by which he +offended the scrupulous literalists, while he fulfilled, as the Lord of +the Sabbath, the true spirit of the law in its universal and abiding +significance; his reply to the disciples, when they traced the +misfortune of the blind man to a particular sin of the subject or his +parents; his liberal conduct toward the Samaritans, as contrasted with +the inveterate hatred and prejudices of the Jews, including his own +disciples at the time; and his charitable judgment of the slaughtered +Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices, and the +eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew them. 'Think ye,' +he addressed the children of superstition, 'that these men were sinners +above all the Galileans, and above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem, +because they suffered such things? I tell you, nay: but except ye +repent, ye shall all likewise perish.' + +All the words and all the actions of Christ, while they were fully +adapted to the occasions which called them forth, retain their force and +applicability undiminished to all ages and nations. He is the same +unsurpassed and unsurpassable model of every virtue to the Christians of +every generation, every clime, every sect, every nation, and every race. + + +HARMONY OF ALL GRACES AND VIRTUES. + +It must not be supposed that a complete catalogue of virtues would do +justice to the character under consideration. It is not only the +completeness, but still more the even proportion and perfect harmony of +virtues and graces apparently opposite and contradictory, which +distinguishes him specifically from all other men. This feature has +struck with singular force all the more eminent writers on the subject. +It gives the finish to that beauty of holiness which is the sublimest +picture presented to our contemplation. + +He was free from all one-sidedness, which constitutes the weakness as +well as the strength of the most eminent men. He was not a man of one +idea, nor of one virtue, towering above all the rest. The moral forces +were so well tempered and moderated by each other, that none was unduly +prominent, none carried to excess, none alloyed by the kindred failing. +Each was checked and completed by the opposite grace. His character +never lost its even balance and happy equilibrium, never needed +modification or re-adjustment. It was thoroughly sound, and uniformly +consistent from the beginning to the end. + +We cannot properly attribute to him any one temperament. He was neither +sanguine, like Peter, nor choleric, like Paul, nor melancholy, like +John, nor phlegmatic, as James is sometimes, though incorrectly, +represented to have been; but he combined the vivacity without the +levity of the sanguine, the vigor without the violence of the choleric, +the seriousness without the austerity of the melancholic, the calmness +without the apathy of the phlegmatic temperament. + +He was equally far removed from the excesses of the legalist, the +pietist, the ascetic, and the enthusiast. With the strictest obedience +to the law, he moved in the element of freedom; with all the fervor of +the enthusiast, he was always calm, sober, and self-possessed; +notwithstanding his complete and uniform elevation above the affairs of +this world, he freely mingled with society, male and female, dined with +publicans and sinners, sat at the wedding feast, shed tears at the +sepulchre, delighted in God's nature, admired the beauties of the +lilies, and used the occupations of the husbandman for the illustration +of the sublimest truths of the kingdom of heaven. His virtue was +healthy, manly, vigorous, yet genial, social, and truly human, never +austere and repulsive, always in full sympathy with innocent joy and +pleasure. He, the purest and holiest of men, provided wine for the +wedding feast, introduced the fatted calf and music and dancing into the +picture of welcome of the prodigal son to his father's house, and even +provoked the sneer of his adversaries that he 'came eating and +drinking,' and was a 'glutton' and a 'winebibber.' + +His zeal never degenerated into passion or rashness, his constancy into +obstinacy, his benevolence into weakness, nor his tenderness into +sentimentality. His unworldliness was free from indifference and +unsociability, his dignity from pride and presumption, his affability +from undue familiarity, his self-denial from moroseness, his temperance +from austerity. He combined child-like innocence with manly strength, +all-absorbing devotion to God with untiring interest in the welfare of +man, tender love to the sinner with uncompromising severity against +sin, commanding dignity with winning humility, fearless courage with +wise caution, unyielding firmness with sweet gentleness. + +He is justly compared with the lion in strength and with the lamb in +meekness. He equally possessed the wisdom of the serpent and the +simplicity of the dove. He brought both the sword against every form of +wickedness, and the peace which the world cannot give. He was the most +effective, and yet the least noisy, the most radical, and yet the most +conservative, calm, and patient of all reformers. He came to fulfil +every letter of the law, and yet he made all things new. The same hand +which drove the profane traffickers from the temple, blessed little +children, healed the lepers, and rescued the sinking disciple; the same +ear which heard the voice of approbation from heaven was open to the +cries of the woman in travail; the same mouth which pronounced the +terrible woe on hypocrites and condemned the impure desire and unkind +feeling as well as the open crime, blessed the poor in spirit, announced +pardon to the adulteress, and prayed for his murderers; the same eye +which beheld the mysteries of God and penetrated the heart of man shed +tears of compassion over ungrateful Jerusalem, and tears of friendship +at the grave of Lazarus. + +These are indeed opposite, yet not contradictory traits of character, as +little as the different manifestations of God's power and goodness in +the tempest and the sunshine, in the towering alps and the lily of the +valley, in the boundless ocean and the dewdrop of the morning. They are +separated in imperfect men, indeed, but united in Christ, the universal +model for all. + + +CHRIST'S PASSION. + +Finally, as all active virtues meet in him, so he unites the active or +heroic virtues with the passive and gentle. He is equally the highest +standard of all true martyrdom. + +No character can become complete without trial and suffering, and a +noble death is the crowning act of a noble life. Edmund Burke said to +Fox, in the English Parliament: 'Obloquy is a necessary ingredient of +all true glory. Calumny and abuse are essential parts of triumph.' The +ancient Greeks and Romans admired a good man struggling with misfortune +as a sight worthy of the gods. Plato describes the righteous man as one +who, without doing any injustice, yet has the appearance of the greatest +injustice, and proves his own justice by perseverance against all +calumny unto death; yea, he predicts that if such a righteous man should +ever appear, he would be 'scourged, tortured, bound, deprived of his +sight, and, after having suffered all possible injury, nailed on a +post.' No wonder that the ancient fathers saw in this remarkable passage +an unconscious prophecy of Christ. But how far is this ideal of the +great philosopher from the actual reality, as it appeared three hundred +years afterward! The great men of this world, who rise even above +themselves on inspiring occasions, and boldly face a superior army, are +often thrown off their equilibrium in ordinary life, and grow impatient +at trifling obstacles. Only think of Napoleon at the head of his +conquering legions and at the helm of an empire, and the same Napoleon +after the defeat at Waterloo and on the island of St. Helena. The +highest form of passive virtue attained by ancient heathenism or modern +secular heroism is that stoicism which meets and overcomes the trials +and misfortunes of life in the spirit of haughty contempt and unfeeling +indifference, which destroys the sensibilities, and is but another +exhibition of selfishness and pride. + +Christ has set up a far higher standard by his teaching, and example, +never known before or since, except in imperfect imitation of him. He +has revolutionized moral philosophy, and convinced the world that +forgiving love to the enemy, holiness and humility, gentle patience in +suffering, and cheerful submission to the holy will of God is the +crowning excellency of moral greatness. 'If thy brother,' he says, +'trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day +turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.' 'Love +your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, +and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you.' This is +a sublime maxim, truly, but still more sublime is its actual exhibition +in his life. + +Christ's passive virtue is not confined to the closing scenes of his +ministry. As human life is beset at every step by trials, vexations, and +hindrances, which should serve the educational purpose of developing its +resources and proving its strength, so was Christ's. During the whole +state of his humiliation he was 'a man of sorrows and acquainted with +grief,' and had to endure 'the contradiction of sinners.' He was poor, +and suffered hunger and fatigue. He was tempted by the devil. His path +was obstructed with apparently insurmountable difficulties from the +outset. His words and miracles called forth the bitter hatred of the +world, which resulted at last in the bloody counsel of death. The +Pharisees and Sadducees forgot their jealousies and quarrels in opposing +him. They rejected and perverted his testimony; they laid snares for him +by insidious questions; they called him a glutton and a winebibber for +eating and drinking like other men, a friend of publicans and sinners +for his condescending love and mercy, a sabbath breaker for doing good +on the sabbath day; they charged him with madness and blasphemy for +asserting his unity with the Father, and derived his miracles from +Beelzebub, the prince of devils. The common people, though astonished at +his wisdom and mighty works, pointed sneeringly at his origin; his own +country and native town refused him the honor of a prophet. Even his +brothers, we are told, did not believe in him, and in their impatient +zeal for a temporal kingdom, they found fault with his unostentatious +proceeding. His apostles and disciples, with all their profound +reverence for his character and faith in his divine origin and mission +as the Messiah, of God, yet by their ignorance, their carnal Jewish +notions, and their almost habitual misunderstanding of his spiritual +discourses, must have constituted a severe trial of patience to a +teacher of far less superiority to his pupils. + +To all this must be added the constant sufferings from sympathy with +human misery as it met him in ten thousand forms at every step. What a +trial for him, the purest, gentlest, most tender hearted, to breath more +than thirty years the foul atmosphere of this fallen world, to see the +constant outbursts of sinful passions, to hear the great wail of +humanity borne to his ear upon the four winds of heaven, to be brought +into personal contact with the blind, the lame, the deaf, the paralytic, +the lunatic, the possessed, the dead, and to be assaulted, as it were, +by the concentrated force of sickness, sorrow, grief, and agony! + +But how shall we describe his passion, more properly so called, with +which no other suffering can be compared for a moment! There is a lonely +grandeur in it, foreshadowed in the word of the prophet; 'I have trodden +the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me.' If great +men occupy a solitary position, far above the ordinary level, on the +sublime heights of thought or action, how much more then Jesus in his +sufferings; he, the purest and holiest of beings! The nearer a man +approaches to moral perfection, the deeper are his sensibilities, the +keener his sense of sin and evil and sorrow in this wicked world. Never +did any man suffer more innocently, more unjustly, more intensely, than +Jesus of Nazareth. Within the narrow limits of a few hours we have here +a tragedy of universal significance, exhibiting every form of human +weakness and infernal wickedness, of ingratitude, desertion, injury, and +insult, of bodily and mental pain and anguish, culminating in the most +ignominious death then known among the Jews and Gentiles, the death of a +malefactor and a slave. The government and the people combined against +him who came to save them. His own disciples forsook him; Peter denied +him; Judas, under the inspiration of the devil, betrayed him. The rulers +of the nation condemned him, rude soldiers mocked him, the furious mob +cried: 'Crucify him!' He was seized in the night, hurried from tribunal +to tribunal, arrayed in a crown of thorns, insulted, smitten, scourged, +spit upon, and hung like a criminal and a slave between two robbers and +murderers! + +How did Christ bear all these little and great trials of life, and the +death on the cross? + +Let us remember first, that, unlike the icy stoics in their unnatural +and repulsive pseudo-virtue, he had the keenest sensibilities and the +deepest sympathies with all human grief, that made him even shed tears +at the grave of a friend and in the agony of the garden, and provide a +refuge for his mother in the last dying hour. But with this truly human +tenderness and delicacy of feeling, he ever combined an unutterable +dignity and majesty, a sublime self-control and imperturbable calmness +of mind. There is a solitary grandeur and majesty in his deepest +sufferings, which forbids a feeling of pity and compassion on our side +as incompatible with the admiration and reverence for his character. We +feel the force of his words to the women of Jerusalem, when they +bewailed him on the way to Cavalry: 'Weep not for me, but weep for +yourselves and your children.' We never hear him break out in angry +passion and violence, although he was at war with the whole ungodly +world. He clearly and fully foresaw and repeatedly foretold his +sufferings to his disciples. + +And yet never murmured, never uttered discontent, displeasure, or +resentment. He was never disheartened, discouraged, ruffled, or fretted, +but full of unbounded confidence that all was well ordered in the +providence of his Heavenly Father. His calmness in the tempest on the +lake, when his disciples were trembling on the brink of destruction and +despair, is an illustration of his heavenly frame of mind. All his works +were performed with a quiet dignity and ease that contrasts most +strikingly with the surrounding commotion and excitement. He never asked +the favor, or heard the applause, or feared the threat of the world. He +moved serenely like the sun above the clouds of human passions and +trials and commotions, as they sailed under him. He was ever surrounded +by the element of peace, even in his parting hour in that dark and +solemn night, when he said to his disturbed disciples: 'Peace I leave +with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto +you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' He was +never what we call unhappy, but full of inward joy, which he bequeathed +to his disciples in that sublimest of all prayers, 'that they might have +his joy fulfilled in themselves.' With all his severe rebuke to the +Pharisees, he never indulged in personalities. He ever returned good for +evil. He forgave Peter for his denial, and would have forgiven Judas, if +in the exercise of sincere repentance he had sought his pardon. Even +while hanging on the cross, he had only the language of pity for the +wretches who were driving the nails into his hands and feet, and prayed +in their behalf: 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' +He did not seek or hasten his martyrdom, like many of the early martyrs +of the Ignatian type, in their morbid enthusiasm and ambitious humility, +but quietly and patiently waited for the hour appointed by the will of +his Heavenly Father. + +But when the hour came, with what self-possession and calmness, with +what strength and meekness, with what majesty and gentleness did he pass +through its dark and trying scenes! A prisoner before Pilate, who +represented the power of the Roman empire, he professes himself a king +of truth, and makes the governor tremble before him. Charged with crime +at the tribunal of the high priest, he speaks to him with the majesty +and dignity of the judge of the world. And in the agony of death on the +cross he dispenses a place in paradise to the penitent robber. In the +history of the passion, every word and act are unutterably significant, +from the agony in Gethsemane, when, overwhelmed with the sympathetic +sense of the entire guilt of mankind, and in full view of the terrible +scenes before him--the only guiltless being in the world--he prayed that +the cup might pass from him, but immediately added, 'Not my but thy will +be done,' to the triumphant exclamation on the cross, 'It is finished!' +Even his dignified silence before the tribunal of his enemies and the +furious mob, when 'as a lamb dumb before his shearers he opened not his +mouth,' is more eloquent than any apology. Who will venture to bring a +parallel from the annals of ancient or modern sages, when even a +Rousseau confessed: 'If Socrates suffered and died like a philosopher, +Christ suffered and died like a God!' The passion and crucifixion of +Jesus, like his whole character, stands without a parallel, solitary and +alone in its glory, and will ever continue to be what it has been for +these eighteen hundred years, the most sacred theme of meditation, the +highest exemplar of suffering virtue, the strongest weapon against sin +and Satan, the deepest source of comfort to the noblest and best of men. + + +SUMMARY--CHRIST'S CHARACTER THE GREATEST MORAL MIRACLE IN HISTORY. + +Such was Jesus of Nazareth--a true man in body, soul, and spirit, yet +differing from all men, a character absolutely unique and original, from +tender childhood to ripe manhood moving in unbroken union with God, +overflowing with the purest love to man, free from every sin and error, +innocent and holy, teaching and practising all virtues in perfect +harmony, devoted solely and uniformly to the noblest ends, sealing the +purest life with the sublimest death, and ever acknowledged since as the +one and only perfect model of goodness and holiness! All human greatness +loses on closer inspection; but Christ's character grows more and more +pure, sacred, and lovely, the better we know him. + +No biographer, moralist, or artist can be satisfied with any attempt of +his to set it forth. It is felt to be infinitely greater than any +conception or representation of it by the mind, the tongue, and the +pencil of man or angel. We might as well attempt to empty the waters of +the boundless sea into a narrow well, or to portray the splendor of the +risen sun and the starry heavens with ink. No picture of the Saviour, +though drawn by the master hand of a Raphael or Dürer or Rubens--no +epic, though conceived by the genius of a Dante or Milton or Klopstock, +can improve on the artless narrative of the gospel, whose only but +all-powerful charm is truth. In this case certainly truth is stranger +and stronger than fiction, and speaks best itself without comment, +explanation, and eulogy. Here and here alone the highest perfection of +art falls short of the historical fact, and fancy finds no room for +idealizing the real. For here we have the absolute ideal itself in +living reality. It seems to me that this consideration alone should +satisfy the reflecting mind that Christ's character, though truly +natural and human, must be at the same time truly supernatural and +divine. + +Even Göthe, the most universal and finished, but at the same time the +most intensely worldly of all modern poets, calls Christ 'the Divine +Man,' the 'Holy One,' and represents him as the pattern and model of +humanity. Thomas Carlyle, the great hero-worshipper, found no equal in +all the range of ancient and modern heroism; he calls his life a +'perfect ideal poem,' and his person 'the greatest of all heroes,' whom +he does not name, leaving 'sacred silence to meditate that sacred +matter.' And Ernest Renan, the celebrated French orientalist and critic, +who views Jesus from the standpoint of a pantheistic naturalism, and +expels all miracles from the gospel history, calls him 'the incomparable +man, to whom the universal conscience has decreed the title of _Son of +God_, and that with justice, since he caused religion to take a step in +advance incomparably greater than any other in the past, and probably +than _any yet to come_;' and he closes his 'Life of Jesus' with the +remarkable concession: 'Whatever may be the surprises of the future, +_Jesus will never be surpassed_. His worship will grow young without +ceasing; his legend will call forth tears without end; his sufferings +will melt the noblest hearts; all ages will proclaim that among the sons +of men there is none born greater than Jesus.' + +The whole range of history and fiction furnishes no parallel to such a +character. There never was anything even approaching to it before or +since, except in faint imitation of his example. It cannot be explained +on purely human principles, nor derived from any intellectual and moral +forces of the age in which he lived. On the contrary, it stands in +marked contrast to the whole surrounding world of Judaism and +heathenism, which present to us the dreary picture of internal decay, +and which actually crumbled into ruin before the new moral creation of +the crucified Jesus of Nazareth. He is the one absolute and +unaccountable exception to the universal experience of mankind. He is +the great central miracle of the whole gospel history, and all his +miracles are but the natural and necessary manifestations of his +miraculous person, performed with the same ease with which we perform +our ordinary daily works. + +In vain has infidelity, in ever-changing shapes and forms, assailed the +everlasting foundation of this greatest and sublimest character that +ever blessed or will bless the earth. He arises brighter and stronger +from every fiery ordeal of criticism, and stands out to every beholder +as the greatest benefactor of the race and the only Saviour from sin and +ruin. + +Yes! he still lives, the Divine Man and incarnate God, on the ever fresh +and self-authenticating record of the Gospels, in the unbroken history +of eighteen centuries, and in the hearts and lives of the wisest and +best of our race. Jesus Christ is the most certain, the most sacred, and +the most glorious of all facts, arrayed in a beauty and majesty which +throws the 'starry heavens above us and the moral law within us' into +obscurity, and fills us truly with ever-growing reverence and awe. He +shines forth with the self-evidencing light of the noonday sun. He is +too great, too pure, too perfect to have been invented by any sinful and +erring man. His character and claims are confirmed by the sublimest +doctrine, the purest ethics, the mightiest miracles, the grandest +spiritual kingdom, and are daily and hourly exhibited in the virtues and +graces of all who yield to the regenerating and sanctifying power of his +spirit and example. The historical Christ meets and satisfies our +deepest intellectual and moral wants. Our souls, if left to their +noblest impulses and aspirations, instinctively turn to him as the +needle to the magnet, as the flower to the sun, as the panting hart to +the fresh fountain. We are made for him, and 'our heart is without rest +until it rests in him.' He commands our assent, he wins our admiration, +he overwhelms us to humble adoration and worship. We cannot look upon +him without spiritual benefit. We cannot think of him without being +elevated above all that is low and mean, and encouraged to all that is +good and noble. The very hem of his garment is healing to the touch; one +hour spent in his communion outweighs all the pleasures of sin. He is +the most precious and indispensable gift of a merciful God to a fallen +world. In him are the treasures of true wisdom, in him the fountain of +pardon and peace, in him the only substantial hope and comfort of this +world and that which is to come. Mankind could better afford to lose the +whole literature of Greece and Rome, of Germany and France, of England +and America, than the story of Jesus of Nazareth. Without him, history +is a dreary waste, an inextricable enigma, a chaos of facts without +meaning, connection, and aim; with him it is a beautiful, harmonious +revelation, the slow but sure unfolding of a plan of infinite wisdom and +love: all ancient history converging to his coming, all modern history +receiving from him his higher life and impulse. He is the glory of the +past, the life of the present, the hope of the future. We cannot even +understand ourselves without him. According to an old Jewish proverb: +'The secret of man is the secret of the Messiah.' He is the great +central light of history as a whole, and at the same time the light of +every soul; he alone can solve the mystery of our being, and fulfil our +intellectual desires after truth, all our moral aspirations after +goodness and holiness, and the longing of our feelings after peace and +happiness. + +Not for all the wealth and wisdom of this world would I weaken the faith +of the humblest Christian in his Divine Lord and Saviour; but if, by the +grace of God, I could convert a single sceptic to a child-like faith in +him, who lived and died for me and for all, I would feel that I had not +lived in vain. + + + + +APHORISMS.--NO. XV. + + +'Men,' saith my Lord Bacon, 'think to govern words by their own reason: +but it also happens that words throw back their force upon the +understanding;' and thus, we may justly add, often distort our thoughts, +and lead us to very erroneous conclusions. + +This is apparently the case with the word _motive_, in speaking of human +volitions. A motive power in mechanics is one that produces motion; and +hence the application of the word to the occasion or reason of any +particular act of choice, with the all but inevitable fallacy of +confounding the idea of a mechanical force with that of an influence +upon the mind. That there is some analogy must be admitted; but that +there is such similarity as is often assumed, we are obliged to deny. +The almost total difference between a mechanical power and a thought or +desire--between a material and spiritual subject of operation--is too +apt to be left out of the account. + + + + +SKETCHES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND SCENERY. + +VI.--TO SARANAC AND BACK. + + +Few indeed are the pleasures that can be compared with the keen +enjoyment of travel in a new and beautiful country, where every sense is +stimulated by the purest and most aromatic of atmospheres, and where +rocks, trees, rivers, lakes, and skies offer every possibility of +combination imaginable under the structural conditions of the region. +The life of the scout and the pioneer is a constant succession of +pleasant surprises and unanticipated adventure; every hilltop promises a +new picture, every dawn and sunset an additional novelty for that +gallery, longer than the Louvre, and fuller than the Vatican, of which +memory holds the key and is sole warden. Hardship and even danger are +enclosed in surroundings so beautiful, so fresh and invigorating, that +they seem only to add zest to the pursuit, to give dignity and +significance to an occupation which might perhaps otherwise be +stigmatized as mere selfish vagabondage. Oh, the freedom of the wild +woods! the rest to the soul of the shadowy forest and flower-strewn +turf! The wind may toss the locks, the sun brown the skin, and the +brambles tear the garments, but there are none to cavil, none to count +the gray hairs or the freckles, or see that said garments are of last +year's fashioning. If the eyes look kindly, the peering squirrels will +be content, and if the voice be gentle, the birds will ask no more, +except, perhaps, a crumb or two from the slender stock of woodsman's +fare. The deer and the trout will not question our philosophy, knowing +instinctively, as we do, that there is a great God who made us all, and +who ever encompasseth us with a love surpassing every created +conception. They will only ask of our good will, and that our absolute +need be the limit of our tax upon their lives. With the sky for roof, +and the beech and the pine for friends and teachers, the body has time +to strengthen, and the conscience and inner self to grow steadily +upright, that they may overtop trifles, rise to the height of heavenly +inspirations, and hence win power to withstand the surging floods of +bewildering human passion. When men meet such souls, they are amazed at +their calmness and simplicity, and dimly guess that the All-Powerful, +through His created universe, has been whispering to them secrets of +strength, perseverance, patience, and charity. + +But this subject is boundless as its origin, and we must now to the +particulars of a personal experience, which, if limited, may yet be of +service to others desirous of journeying in the same region. + +Having made a thorough acquaintance with the environs of Elizabethtown, +Elsie and I could no longer resist the blandishment of the blue +mountains ever beckoning us westward through the rocky portal of the +Keene Pass. July 13th, at six A.M., we started in the weekly stage for +Saranac, thirty-six miles distant. The morning was bright; a few low +clouds hung about the tops of the higher hills, and the wind blew from +the east, a direction which here, contrary to our experience near the +seaboard, by no means implies rain. So great is the distance of the +Adirondac plateau from the sea, so numerous its ranges, and so great the +elevation of the ridges lying between it and the ocean, that we found +our ordinary weather calculations all come to nought, east winds blowing +for days without a drop of rain, and western breezes bringing clouds +and moisture. + +The road to Keene winds along a branch of the Boquet River, on which are +one or two quite pretty falls, with consequent mills; it ascends +continually until it reaches the foot of the steep rocks forming the +Keene Pass. The views back over the Boquet Valley and toward the Green +Mountains of Vermont are very lovely, and those obtained in descending +the western slope of this, the Boquet range, are magnificent. Soon left +behind are the high cliffs and the steep slide, where a gathering +avalanche of rocks and earth swept through a forest, carrying off a +great belt of timber, wherewith to strew the little valley, and block +the road and stream below. The rugged mountains on either hand have been +burnt over, and send up into the blue ether bare, white, foot-enticing +peaks. At the base of the western declivity lies the valley of the East +Branch of the Au Sable, and beyond, the great Adirondac range, +overtopped by Whiteface and Mount Tahawus. We greeted these giants with +due reverence, hoping for a nearer acquaintance, for only their extreme +summits are visible from that point, Whiteface bold and peaked, Tahawus +round and indistinct. The great ridge, hiding all but their heads, is +here jagged or flowing, steep, and dark with spruce and pine. It rises +like an impassable wall; of a clear morning, a frowning barrier of +granite and forest; of a hazy afternoon, the shining, glowing rampart of +some celestial city. + +The village of Keene is a straggling collection of dwellings, with an +inn, a post office, and a store or two. It lies in the intervale +bordering the East Branch of the Au Sable, and is twelve miles from +Elizabethtown. + +Thus far, our only fellow traveller had been a school girl, going home +for the summer vacation. At Keene our number was increased by the +addition of another damsel, with accompaniment of two hounds, Spart and +Prince, bound for Saranac. When first fastened behind the open wagon +(our stage), they began a vigorous quarrel, which struck us very much as +a matrimonial squabble, both tied, and neither having a fair chance for +a free fight. Our driver, an excellent specimen of the upright and +intelligent man of Northern New York, cracked his whip, increased the +existing merriment by calling out, 'Wal, dogs, hev ye done fightin'?' +and started up the long declivity leading over the Adirondac range, +through Pitch-off Mountain (another pass), to the plains of North Elba. +The hill is a long one, the cliffs of the mountain pass exceedingly +picturesque, and the black tarn under the beetling crags suggestive of +Poe's 'House of Usher.' Long, however, ere we reached this point, Spart +had gnawed through his rope, and was trotting beside the wagon. Our +driver vainly endeavored to refasten him. Although mild of visage, and +apparently good-natured, he showed so formidable a set of teeth, that it +was thought prudent to desist, and trust to his following his companion, +who still trotted along, coughing and choking, and almost stifled by our +own dust, blown after us by the east wind. After this attempt, Spart +evidently played shy of our whole party, and, having raced ahead during +a few miles, finally disappeared in the woods, probably attracted by the +scent of game. + +We reached North Elba (twelve miles from Keene) about noon, and there +stopped to dine at Scott's, a place widely and favorably known to +travellers in that section of country. Round the plain of North Elba +tower the very highest peaks of the Adirondacs; Tahawus (Marcy), Golden, +McIntire, and the beautiful gateway of the Indian Pass to the south, and +to the north the scarred sides of Whiteface and the bold forms of the +mountains bordering the Wilmington notch. Descending the plain into the +village, we came to the West Branch of the Au Sable, which rises in the +Indian Pass, and flows past the former dwelling of John Brown. The +little wooden tenement is in full view from the road, and stands in the +midst of the clearing made by old John himself, with the aid of his +sons. His grave is in the garden near the house, beside a huge rock. The +place is of his own selection, and is now visited by many who, while +reprehending the means taken by the gray-haired enthusiast for the +accomplishment of his designs, cannot but rejoice that the final freedom +of every human being within the limits of our country seems so probable +a result of the present struggle. The neighbors--even those of opposing +political creeds--give John Brown an excellent character for integrity +and charitable deeds. His family have all left the region, and are, I +believe, scattered through the great West. + +Crossing the Au Sable, we soon came to the tamarac forests and +whortleberry plains, so characteristic of the tract between that river +and the Saranac lakes. We had left the arbor vitæ and the juniper with +the Boquet range, the beech and maple with the valleys and the lower +portions of the Adirondac, and now found ourselves chiefly amid birches, +yellow and white, spruce firs, and interminable stretches of fantastic +tamarac. The hills lower as we reach the lake region proper, and, while +still picturesque, the Saranacs can boast no near mountains such as +skirt Lake Placid and the two 'Ponds of the Au Bable.' Tahawus and +Whiteface are indeed visible from the Saranac waters, but far away, and +shorn of much of their grandeur. The lakes themselves are elevated some +twelve hundred feet, perhaps, above the level of the sea, and the +climate is correspondingly bracing and delightful. There are at Saranac +two inns, at either of which the traveller can make himself very +comfortable. At six o'clock P. M., we found ourselves at the house +immediately upon the lake, and, after an excellent supper, were ready +for a row upon the clear, shining water. The evening was delightful, the +sun just setting, the low, wooded shores (rising beyond into higher +hills) flooded with golden light, the temperature elysian, our oarsman +broad browed, broad shouldered, and athletic, our boat one of the fairy +craft, sharp at both ends, and light as possible, borne by guides over +portages from lake to lake, and the whole scene as placidly beautiful +and reposeful as the most vivid imagination could desire. War, +contention, suffering, even the law, trade, politics, or any acute state +of feeling, seemed incomprehensible excrescences upon the normal state +of man's being, which there, indeed, appeared to be an endless floating +over placid waters, with the tinkling of oars and the even song of birds +for all needful sounds, and those long, low, slanting rays of golden +light forever stealing through half-closed lids, and steeping the nerves +and brain and tired senses in long dreams of peace and quietude--dreams +without the wearisomeness of monotony or the shock of awaking. + +Night, however, came at last, and with it forgetfulness; morning, too, +came in due season, and with it, the daily call for active thought and +exertion. + +From Saranac, by means of boats, guides, and camping out, delightful +excursions can be made through the lakes, the two Saranacs, Round, Long, +and Racket Lakes, and the Racket River. This region has been much +travelled and often described. + +Our faces, however, must be turned eastward, and the following day found +us again in our wagon, _en route_ for Placid Lake. To reach this, we +left the return stage about two miles west of North Elba, and walked +northward two miles through open country and some beautiful woodland, +until we came out upon Bennet's Pond, on whose shore stands the pleasant +farmhouse where we intended to pass the night. The owner and his family +were absent, but we found a smiling little handmaiden, who brought us a +cooling draught, and an antique whaler, who offered to show us the way +to Lake Placid and give us a row. + +Placid Lake is a beautiful, clear sheet of water, about five miles long +and two or three wide. It is divided down the centre by three islands, +charmingly wooded. The surrounding mountains are high, and at the +north-easterly end rises Whiteface, nearly, if not quite, 5,000 feet in +height, the lower portion clad in deciduous trees, the middle in spruce, +and the upper rising bare and white, with a great slide of many hundred +feet extending from the top toward the lake, and marking out the steep +pathway by which the ascent must be made. Bennet's Pond is about a mile +and a half long, and half a mile broad. Bennet is a contraction of +Benedict--Benedictus--Blessèd--and never, surely, did blue expanse of +limpid crystal better merit the appellation--Lake of the Blessèd. Its +shores are gently sloping, and beyond the nearer hills rise the giant +summits of the highest peaks. These two sheets of water are within a +quarter of a mile of each other, but have no communication, and are +divided by a ridge of land, chiefly cleared, from whose top the view is +as beautiful as any view from the same elevation to be obtained in +America. To the north lies Lake Placid, with its shining waves, its +islands, and the stately Whiteface; and to the south, the +heaven-reflecting Lake of the Blessèd, crowned by the noble dome of +Tahawus, and his splendid retinue, Colden, McMartin, McIntire, Wallface, +Dial Mountain, Nipple Top, and Moriah. To the east and west are wooded +hills, completing the panorama, and enclosing a scene as enchanting as +any single one the writer ever looked upon. + +The following day our host, who had meantime returned, drove us down +through the Wilmington Pass to Upper Jay, and thence through Keene to +the Keene Flats, a distance in all of between twenty and twenty-five +miles. + +The Wilmington Pass, though not so rough and rugged as its far-famed +rival, the Indian Pass, is far more beautiful, and quite as majestic. +The great cliffs overhanging the road, and the swift Au Sable, the fine +rapids, and the fall of over a hundred feet, the noble views of +Whiteface and the dark, steep peaks rising round it, all combine to +render this one of the most impressive mountain chasms we have ever +visited. After passing through the defile, we left the West Branch of +the Au Sable, and crossed a low ridge to Upper Jay, where we again came +upon the East Branch, and ploughed our way through heavy sands to Keene, +where we dined, and whence the road up the valley to the Keene Flats +becomes firmer and less tedious. The way was bordered by rich fields of +grass and grain, potatoes in abundance, flax in pale azure flower, and +acres blue with the beautiful campanula or harebell. At the inn in Keene +we met our rebellious friend Spart, who, having tired of his chase, had +returned to his former headquarters. + +Toward the 'Flats,' five miles above Keene, the intervale grows +narrower, and the bordering mountains become loftier, wilder, and +correspondingly more grand. Dix's Peak towers above the southern +extremity of the valley. + +We passed the night at a comfortable farmhouse, there being no inn at +the 'Flats,' and the following morning were driven back to +Elizabethtown, with the increased store of information, health, and +admiration for the Adirondac country we had amassed during our three and +a half days' scouting excursion. + + +MOUNT TAHAWUS. + +The beginning of August found us once more housed under the neat roof of +our farmer host at the Keene Flats, and not only Elsie and myself, but +also sundry friends, drawn thither by our praise of the beauty of the +land and the fineness of the air. There were the brilliant M. W. C., +learned in all philosophical lore, and with feeling and imagination +sufficient to furnish out half a dozen poets; the staid but energetic M. +T., whose portrait in our gallery occupies, a conspicuous place in the +small niche devoted to model women; the gay and witty A. I., whose blue +eyes imperil so many hearts, but whose frank, keen speech quickly puts +to rout all popinjays and useless danglers; also E. B. C. (our +Diogenes), a faithful knight from Caissa's thoughtful train, a rapid +walker and sharp thinker; and last, a merry little four-year-old, whose +quaint sayings are heeded and treasured as if emanations from Delphos or +Dodona. Our Orpheus had gone to Saranac. + +Our purpose was to visit the Au Sable Ponds, with the waterfalls in +their neighborhood, and to ascend Mount Tahawus; but alas! for weather! +The haze settled down so thickly that the nearest hills were +undistinguishable. A violent thunder storm came, but brought no relief. +Desperate, we thought we might at least see the ponds and the falls, and +early one hazy morning started off with strong wagon, stout horses, and +careful driver. The distance to the Lower Pond is seven miles--three +excellent, and four so execrable that nearly all our party preferred +walking to the jolting over rocks and stumps and ploughing through rich, +deep forest mould, dignified by the name of driving. This is a new road, +just opened, and the intention is, we believe, to work it into better +shape as rapidly as possible. The intervale ceases at the end of the +first three miles, where the road leaves the Au Sable and winds up a +hill to the last clearing, whence the view to the blasted, riven sides +of Mount Moriah, towering opposite, is wonderfully grand. Thousands of +acres of bare rock, scarred and lined, and apparently nearly +perpendicular, form the western slope of that gaunt giant. The road soon +after passes the cabin of one of the oldest pioneers of the region, +crosses Gill Brook, on which are some charming cascades, and, through a +noble forest of beech, basswood, maple, birch, and some evergreens, +finds its way to the lofty shores of the Lower Pond. Arrived there, the +haze was thicker than ever, giving to view only the sparkling waters at +our feet, and the nearest mountains, whose craggy sides overhang the +lake. To cap the climax, a fishing party had carried off both boats, so +that a nearer acquaintance with the Lower Pond was impossible, and the +Upper could not be seen at all--these ponds forming no exception to the +general Adirondac rule, that any sheet of water navigable for boats +requires no road upon its bank. And indeed, a road round this Lower Pond +would be a considerable undertaking, the shores are so steep and high, +the rocks often rising perpendicularly from the water. Crossing the +great dam at the outlet, our guide led us through tangled patches of +magnificent wild raspberries, 'through brake and through briar,' to the +opening of a narrow gorge through which poured a small stream. Climbing +up over the rocks and bowlders, we soon reached the end of the chasm, +where we were enchanted by the spectacle of the most fairy-like and +peculiar waterfall we had ever beheld. The Cascade Brook here falls over +a precipice of about 150 feet. The little stream at this point makes a +right-angled turn, and thus is built up an opposing wall of equal +height. The chasm is so deep and narrow, that the water, descending in a +silvery veil, seems flowing from the clouds. A heavy fringe of trees +bordering the top, adds to the mystery and the apparent elevation. The +campanula, as is usual with this delicate blossom, hangs out its blue +bella and slender foliage from every jutting cornice and earth-filled +cranny. Below, the water has worn away a series of steep, narrow steps, +and comes leaping and foaming down, as if a magic wand had touched the +rocks, and at each touch a springing fountain had gushed forth. + +On our way back to the 'Flats,' we went a mile off the main road, to +visit another fall on Roaring Brook. The precipice here is some 250 feet +in height. A great slide has bared the rock for many yards on either +side of the fall, which has worn deep grooves for its passage, and +clings to the face of the mountain, as if it feared to lose itself amid +the savagery of the surrounding desolation. Here, as in all the +neighboring region, are plainly visible the terrible effects of the +great freshet of October 1st, 1856. We were told that, in the vicinity +of this fall, neither the heavy rain nor the rushing waters could for a +time be heard, only the rattling and battering of stones, as if the +Titans had again taken to pelting the poor earth with whatever of rock +and bowlder they could lay their hands upon. The State dam at the outlet +of the lower Au Sable broke down, and the freed lake rushed out through +the valley, over the meadows, carrying away bridges, dams, mills, +houses, and whole fields of earth, with their crops. The Au Sable River +rose three feet in fifteen minutes, and many persons perished before aid +could reach them. Bowlders, rocks, trees, stumps, and timber were +whirled along by the boiling flood. Bowlders of six feet in diameter +were afterward found lying twenty feet above the bed of a brook where +trout had been caught before the freshet. They had been brought down +stream some forty rods, and piled one above another. The effects of the +rise were felt all the way to the mouth of the river, the high stone +bridge at Keeseville being the only one on the whole course left +standing, and that, to this day, bearing a stone inscription marking the +almost incredible height to which the water rose on that eventful first +of October. The inhabitants of the region sued the State for damages; +but as the dam had been constructed in consequence of a petition of +sundry of those inhabitants, for the purpose of running logs down the +river at all seasons, the court decided that the State was not +responsible for the consequences. John's Brook, which flows into the Au +Sable near the farmhouse at which we stayed, bears wild marks of this +desolating freshet; indeed, one can scarcely credit the fact that the +pretty little stream and smoothly purling river could ever have met in +such desperate conflict as is evidenced by the scars and rifts still +existing near their confluence. + +This John's Brook, by the way, is the shortest route up Mount Tahawus, +the entire distance from the 'Flats' being only ten miles. As the +greater number of visitors, however, desire to see the Au Sable Ponds +_en passant_, no path has been 'bushed out,' and that mode of ascent is +practicable only for hunters or woodsmen familiar with the region. + +At length a 'wind blew out of the north, chilling and killing' that +terrible haze, and rendering the prospect of a distant view at least +possible. Tahawus loomed up before the mind's eye clear and majestic. +Such an invitation being irresistible, the little party were soon ready +for their journey, said party consisting of Elsie, E. B. C., and Lucy +D., with three guides--an old pioneer, short, slight, weather-beaten, +and sun-browned, a younger aspirant for scouting honors, tall, handsome, +and athletic, and a novice, making his first ascent of the kingly +mountain, but offering a pair of broad shoulders that promised to do +good service in the bearing of the necessary packs. Each guide carried +his own axe, blanket, and provisions, and, in addition, his share of our +united baggage, which consisted of a thick Mexican blanket, four shawls, +two heavy and two lighter, a woollen cap, a water-proof cloak with hood, +one overcoat, two loaves of bread, a small piece of salt pork, a little +can of butter, two or three pounds of maple sugar, a little bag of +cornmeal, two pounds of crackers, the same quantity of chocolate, some +tea, a small tin pail, a frying pan, three tin saucers, three knives, +forks, and spoons. A pint of brandy and the same of whiskey were carried +in flasks to meet emergencies of cold or weariness, and a canteen for +water was also taken to serve as a pitcher, and to bear that refreshing +element to heights where no springs could be hoped for. It will be seen +that we had reduced our appliances to the smallest quantity compatible +with proper warmth and nourishment, and the possibility of being +detained out several days, perhaps, by stress of weather. We had at +first thought india-rubber blankets indispensable, but having been +advised against their use as conducive to rheumatism, and, besides, +finding them difficult to procure, we started without, and certainly +never missed them. The garments worn on such an excursion should, as far +as practicable, all be woollen, and the shoes moderately thick, but not +too heavy. A light umbrella will be found a useful addition in case of +sudden rain or very hot sun. Each person will carry such toilet +arrangements as he or she may deem necessary, only let them be as light +as possible, every ounce on such a tramp soon becoming a matter of +serious consequence. + +We left the farmhouse at half past six in the morning, and drove in the +wagon as far as the road was good, three miles, namely, to the last +cabin on the way to the Au Sable Ponds. There our guides shouldered +their packs, and our party was increased by the addition of 'Uncle +David,' another ancient pioneer, who was to row us up the Lower Pond in +a large Albany-built boat kept by him for that purpose. He talks of +building a moderate-sized tenement at the lower end of the lake, for the +accommodation of travellers. I doubt not it would be well patronized. + +Now, our Diogenes does not use the lantern of his wit so much to seek +out a thoroughly honest man, as to discover the honesty and good will +pertaining to each individual specimen of the _genus homo_. The +consequence is a series of pleasant results, people usually showing him +whatever of good may be in them, and esteeming him proportionately. As +Uncle David was discussing the amount of furniture required for his +intended caravansary, he paused to ask if feather beds would be thought +a necessity. Diogenes replied that 'every goose needing feathers could +bring them on his own back,' which shaft _took_ immensely, as proved by +the loud guffaws and low chuckles that echoed through the beautiful +forest whose branches shaded us from the August sun. _His_ reputation as +a wit of the first water was firmly established, and every pun and jest +thereafter succeeding was crowned by the halo of this first success. + +The four miles to the Pond were speedily and gayly accomplished, and +there we took boat to cross the lake, Uncle David rowing _us_, and the +good-humored, broad-shouldered 'novice,' the scow to be used for our +return, in case we were not back at the time then supposed probable. +'Bill's' rowing was the source of much merriment, the strokes proving +powerful, but the course amusingly devious. So little does it take to +entertain people in the woods, who have laid aside grim behavior and +questioning philosophies, and have for the nonce become veritable +children of nature, knowing that this earth is beautiful and that God is +good, and caring for little else. + +The Lower Au Sable Pond is from one to two miles long, its banks are +craggy, steep, and high, the general impression grand and somewhat +desolate. The dam, by raising the water, has destroyed many of the trees +along the shore, and filled the upper portion with driftwood, which +blocks the channel and is altogether unsightly. There is a winter road, +a mile in length, cut through the forest from the Lower to the Upper +Pond. This road is so overgrown that in summer it is a mere pathway. The +Upper Pond reached, we again embarked in a light boat, our young athlete +rowing. Uncle David had quitted us at the upper lake. This row was not +necessary, the path to Tahawus, or Mount _Mercy_, as our guides called +it, turning off at a right angle from the lower end of the upper lake, +but was taken to show us the inexpressibly lovely Upper Pond, and +transport us to certain bark shanties presumed to offer excellent +facilities for dining purposes. The lake is about two miles long, and +one broad. Its shores are gently sloping, and wooded with splendid trees +of the primeval forest, beech, birch, maple, and spruce. The soil is +excellent, and the wild flowers and mosses are luxuriant and abundant. +The steep rocks circling the Lower Pond are visible through a cleft, the +singular, jagged ridge known as the Gothic Mountains is in full view, +the sharp peak of the Haystack lifts its bare top far into the skies, +the North River Mountain crowns the south, and graceful waving lines of +wooded hill complete the circle; the clear water gives back the most +wonderful reflections, and those 'ladies of the forest,' the white +birches, could ask no more transparent mirror. There is nothing to mar +the effect of the whole, no driftwood, no burnt patches, no +ragged-looking clearing--all is harmonious and entirely satisfactory. + +Our dinner was a light one. Indeed, our experience was, that while we +required a substantial breakfast and supper, but little was needed in +the middle of the day, and that little better cold than warm. + +Returning in the boat to the end of the lake, we struck into the pathway +to Tahawus, a track of hunters, marked by sable traps; and here began +work in earnest. The pioneer took the lead, sweating and grumbling under +his load, for the day was warm, and the sun but little over an hour past +the meridian. Fortunately, he was not a very rapid walker, making only +from two to two and a half miles per hour, so there was no danger of +fatigue to any of the party, except to our Diogenes, who measures +weariness by time and not by miles, walking more easily eight miles in +two hours than in four. + +On and up we went, ascending a gentle declivity until we came to a brook +said to be two miles from the boat landing. There we cooled, rested, and +drank of the fresh, clear water, before commencing the steep ascent of +the Bartlett Mountain, a spur of the Haystack, needful to be crossed +before reaching the actual foot of Tahawus. The ascent is some three +quarters of a mile, and the descent on the other side about as far, but +not nearly so steep or considerable. Thus, three and a half miles of +walking, through a dense forest, with no view out except an occasional +glimpse of the Haystack, the Skylight, or the side of Tahawus, brought +us from the lake to the basin of the 'Mount Marcy stream.' The sun was +still high in the heavens, and the bark shanties in the 'basin' having +fallen in, rendering the construction of new ones imperatively +necessary, we concluded to push on and build our camp somewhat nearer +the top. + +Descending the Bartlett Mountain, we made our first acquaintance with +the renowned 'black fly' of the Adirondacs. We had heard so much of this +pest, and seen so little of him, that we began to think his existence +somewhat mythical, in short, a traveller's tale, invented by men to keep +women from venturing beyond the well-beaten track of ordinary +journeying. At this, our second halt, however, he assaulted us so +vigorously that we were glad to take refuge in the smoke of a _smudge_ +our guides had lost no time in making. For the benefit of the +uninitiated, we may here explain that a smudge is a fire of leaves or +sticks slightly dampened to make a denser smoke, and intended as a +safeguard against the attacks of black flies, midges, and mosquitoes, +the two latter nuisances appearing in the evening, when the flies have +finished their day's work. We saw the creatures, and found them somewhat +troublesome (especially when, later in the day, they insisted upon +spreading in with bread and butter), but suffered no pain or even +inconvenience from their bite. This may have been owing to the lateness +of the season, or to the non-inflammatory condition of our blood. Pests +they are said to be, and doubtless are; but we think their general +prevalence has been exaggerated, and they will be found chiefly beside +watercourses, near lakes, and on damp, marshy ground. Fishermen are +especially annoyed by them. If we intended to camp out for the mere +pleasure of that kind of life, we would choose the season when the flies +are supposed to have disappeared; but if we had any special object in +view, such as the ascent of some particular mountain, or the sight of +any remarkable natural feature of the land, we would not suffer +ourselves, at any season, to be deterred by fear of the flies. Certain +districts and certain conditions of atmosphere are doubtless especially +favorable to their development, but the refuge, a thick smudge, is +always at hand, or, if that be objected to, the traveller can try the +recipe of an old hunter at the Adirondac Iron Works (where the creatures +are said to be particularly rampant), namely, a coating of grease mixed +with essence of penny-royal. We fear we would prefer the results of a +vigorous attack to the use of this latter safeguard; but no one knows +what he may do until he is well tried. + +A short distance above the 'basin' we came to a final halt, in a +splendid spruce forest, and near a little stream, that necessary +accompaniment of a camping ground. It was feared lest the season was so +far advanced that the spruce bark would no longer peel; but our tall +young aspirant speedily tested the question by a few vigorous, +well-directed strokes of his axe, and soon a great circle of bark, six +feet high and nine feet in breadth, stood ready for use. Five other +pieces, rather less in size, were found sufficient to furnish the sides +and roof of our hut, which was made by cutting down two stout young +saplings to supply the crotched stakes for the triangular front, and a +third, to serve as ridge pole, extending back into the gently sloping +bank of dry turf covered with dead spruce leaves. We were a mile and a +half from the top of Tahawus, and had entered the great belt of spruce +forest encircling the middle regions of the mountain; deciduous trees, +with the exception of a few birches, had already been left behind. Round +these stakes were arranged the great layers of bark, making a perfectly +water-tight cabin, with open doorway, and large enough to give +comfortable shelter to as many as four persons. The enclosed space was +then covered with soft moss, and a thick layer of spruce twigs laid +wrong side up. Over this spicy flooring we spread our gayly-striped +blanket, and then sat down within our substantial wigwam to enjoy the +blaze and crackle of the bright fire of great logs that had been kindled +a few feet from the entrance. + +A similar edifice, somewhat less imposing as to size and detail, was +then constructed for the use of the guides. These operations employed +our three men with their axes the greater part of two hours. Supper was +the next matter under consideration, and was deftly prepared by 'Sid,' +the aspirant, who proved himself an excellent cook. Our bill of fare +consisted of hasty pudding (corn mush), eaten with butter and maple +sugar (a dish for a king, and therefore well suited to sundry of the +sovereign people, only Elsie and I, having no vote, cannot in any sense +be called sovereign), bread and butter, crackers, and toast. Our guides, +in addition, ate a slice of raw pork. Diogenes tried it, but pronounced +it rather too much like candles to be very palatable south of Labrador +or Kamtschatka. + +Supper over, the sun had set, and the only work that remained for the +twilight was the gathering of the fuel to feed the fires during the +coming night. + +Daylight faded away, the moon rose, and the gay chat by the fireside +being exhausted, a silence, profound, and unbroken save by the crackling +flames, fell upon the quiet, gray old forest. By and by the fire died +down, and not a single sound could be heard, not the rustle of a bough, +the tinkling of the stream, or the stirring of any forest creature. The +moon sailed over the treetops, and a ghostly dreaminess lulled every +sense, not to sleep, but to languid repose. Fatigue, thus far, there had +been none, but physical and mental excitement plenty, and hence the +writer's sleep during her first night of camping out lasted about one +half hour. She watched the careful guides, how each one rose once during +the short night to feed the fires, the elder one alert, the two younger +drowsy and but half awake; her mind wandered with Humboldt and Bonpland +to South America, with Dr. Kane to the Arctic zone, with Winthrop over +the Rocky Mountains, with Dr. Livingstone to Central Africa, and with +Father Huc to Tartary and Thibet. The busy, confined life of a city +seemed an absurdity, the woods the only rational place for human beings +to dwell in, and spruce boughs the only bed suitable to the dignity of +mankind. + +Morning broke, and with the dawn the guides were up preparing +breakfast. Bill of fare: Salt pork, first parboiled to extract the +brine, then drained off and fried crisp, bread and butter, toast, +crackers, and tea, with maple sugar, but without milk. Our little tin +pail served alike to draw water, boil hasty pudding, and make tea. But +although the day had dawned and the sun risen, the light was feeble, and +the elder guide shook his head ominously. + +'Indeed,' said he, 'it won't be much use to go on up, for the Haystack +looks so blue that _durn'd_ haze must have come back again, and you'll +have no view from _Mercy_ to-day.' + +'Well, it can't be helped, but we'll try it anyhow!' was the unanimous +response. + +We were a mile and a half from the top of Tahawus, having already +entered the great belt of spruce encircling the middle regions of the +mountain, and having left behind all deciduous trees except a few +birches. The forest here is especially grand, the original wood still +remaining, tall, wide of girth, dark, and sturdy. The girdled trees +standing near our camp looked at us reproachfully in the morning light; +ten giants doomed to death to furnish a night's covering to six pigmies! +Our fires, too, were they safe, or might they not run along the +inflammable turf and perhaps destroy acres of beautiful, precious +timber? + +But time pressed, 'the dishes were washed,' and we must away. All the +heavy articles were left in the camp, and nothing taken up with us +except a light lunch, a canteen of water, and the shawls needed to +protect against the winds on the top. The little stream crossed, the +ascent began quite steeply. A half mile of walking brought us out of the +wood, and to the foot of the great slide, a bare, sloping rock, some +thousand feet in height. Up this slide, either on the rock, or beside +it, through the bushes and the spruce trees, which soon become low and +shrubby, leads the pathway, not difficult, but somewhat fatiguing, from +its steepness. Indeed, the whole way up is so excellent one wonders so +high a mountain can be ascended with so little exertion or actual +climbing. In places, the moss is some, six inches thick, and the feet, +worn with stony ways, sink into it as if there to find lasting repose; +but _Excelsior_ is the cry, and the top of the slide the next goal to be +won. + +Meantime the haze had been turning into mist, and great clouds were +gathering on the bare, rocky head of the mountain. The slide passed, the +path winds through dense, low spruce growth, and, the last steep cliffs +gradually overcome, the extreme limit of tree vegetation (four thousand +eight hundred feet) is passed, and the remaining rocky slope offers no +growth except a few hardy plants, such as sandwort, grasses, and several +varieties of moss and lichen. + +The summit is broad, and, although in part composed of broken rocks, is +quite compact in structure. Its general form is rounded and dome-like. + +But the view? + +Here we were among the clouds, the wind blowing freshly, and the mists +sweeping past, obscuring every object below. In this wind lay our hope, +and scarcely less in the mists, for they might be the means of +dispersing the haze. There went a rift, a patch of blue sky--and there a +bit of green mountain! Then again all was leaden, damp, and cold. We +seemed to have reached the Ultima Thule, to be the sole living creatures +in some far-away corner of an earth gone back to chaos and mysterious +twilight. Again a break, and again appeared a stretch of dark +fir-covered mountain tops, an avalanche-riven peak, a bright, green +field, or a corner of some far-away blue water. This hide-and-go-seek +between landscape and mist lasted some half hour, when the clouds all +rolled away, and left us with bright sunlight and the most glorious view +our eyes had ever rested upon. The extreme distance was still hazy, but +the nearer wilderness of forest and mountain was wild and grand enough +to have satisfied the most fastidious. The elder guide, who had stood +some dozen times on the summit, missed the bits of Lake Champlain and +some dim outlines of hills and waters that ought to have been visible, +but we were quite content with the sharp ridge of the Haystack and its +deep chasm, the bold and beautiful lines of the Gothic Mountains, the +stern, scarred face of Moriah, the distant, still cloud-capped Dix's +Peak, the pleasant valley of the Au Sable, the Camel's Hump, the Schroon +Mountains, the Boreas Waters, Mud and Clear Ponds, the hills about Lake +George, Mounts Seward and Sandanona, Lake Sanford, Mounts McIntire, +McMartin, Golden, Whiteface, Bennet's Pond, the plains of North Elba, +the Skylight, with its singular rock whence is derived its name, and an +infinity of peaks of every possible form, all gathered about us as doing +homage to the stately monarch, the comely and benignant giant, Tahawus. + +The sun was warm, and, sheltered by a rock to screen us from the west +wind, we found a single shawl all-sufficient covering. Diogenes produced +from his capacious pocket sundry lemons, which, added to some maple +sugar, a block of chocolate, and a few crackers, furnished a delightful +repast. We had reached the top of the mountain about nine o'clock. By +eleven the clouds again began to thicken, and grew so dark upon their +under edges that we feared rain. McIntire had collected a murky company +that threatened with the rumble of heavenly artillery. Wishing to +descend the slide before a coming rain should render it slippery, we +took a last look, and hastened away down the rocky slope, through the +shrubby spruces, to the top of the slide, where great stones, flung down +the bare, sloping rock, bounded and rebounded until they plashed into +the marshy pool, one thousand feet below. + +Stopping only long enough at our camp to gather up our 'traps,' and to +inscribe its name, 'Tahawus,' with a tiny sketch from Elsie, and a chess +problem from E. B. C., upon the 'barked' side of a spruce, we hurried +down to the 'Mount Marcy stream,' over the Bartlett Mountain, on to the +Upper Pond. The thunder rumbled all around us, and we had several light +showers. Just as we reached the lake, the storm burst in all its fury. +By the aid of our shawls and umbrellas we managed to keep dry until a +lull came and we could row to the bark shanties, where we purposed +passing the night. It was only half past three, and we might have +returned to the 'Flats' that evening, but we did not care to walk +through the wet woods in the rain, and, besides, desired a still further +acquaintance with the beautiful Upper Pond. + +The three bark huts on the shore of the lake had been recently erected +and used by a hunting and fishing party. They proved perfectly water +tight, and a bright fire of green logs soon dried all dampness out of +our garments. Our supper that night was quite elaborate, both pork and +hasty pudding entering into its composition. The rain continued to +descend, and pattered softly as we disposed ourselves to rest. + +That repose was sweet and unbroken, save by a characteristic 'Te-he-he,' +and 'Good morning, good morning!' uttered in the high but feeble voice +of the elder guide as he came to mend the decaying fire. A reference to +our watches showed the hour to be but one past midnight. It must have +been a profound yearning for human sympathy that had induced our +courteous and considerate guide thus to awaken us. Sleep, however, soon +again took up her broken threads, and so firmly reknit their ravelled +edges, that the web needed the morning dew and the approaching glories +of a brilliant sunrise once more to break and give freedom to the +prisoned senses. + +Our pioneer, who loved every peak and pond in the neighborhood with the +affection of a discoverer, took advantage of the charming morning to row +us all round the lake, to show us the pretty inlet with its beaver dam, +and help us gather the singular leaves of the pitcher plant, and the +beautiful, fragrant white water lilies riding at anchor in the lucent +stream. + +We soon after took up our line of march for the Lower Pond, where we +found 'Uncle David,' with his sturdy wife and pretty, chubby children, +awaiting our arrival. Rowing rapidly down the lake, we took our last +Mount Marcy lunch beside the outlet, and, early in the afternoon, +returned to the Flats. The time devoted to the excursion was thus a +little over two and a half days. Going and returning we had driven six +miles, rowed four miles (exclusive of our visits to the Upper Pond), and +walked somewhat over twenty-one. There had been no fatigue and no +difficult climbing. Indeed, it would be no very serious matter to go one +day and return the next. And hence we advise all travellers in that +region with sound lungs, moderate strength, and any love for forest life +and magnificent scenery, to make the ascent. They will assuredly bring +home with them a host of pleasant memories, and many new and enchanting +pictures for that precious gallery already mentioned. + + + + +TIDINGS OF VICTORY. + + + When David's winning son rebelled, + They smote the traitor low, + And thought the monarch would rejoice + At riddance of his foe. + + But in his chamber all alone + That kingly head was bowed, + And for the erring Absalom + His father wept aloud. + + The ministers astonished stood + At such a burst of grief! + The traitor's death alone could bring + Their sovereign sure relief. + + Back to their tents in sullen gloom + The faithful warriors flee; + While still he cried, 'My son! my son! + Would I had died for thee!' + + My country's wilful erring sons, + Disloyal men, but brave, + Such tears of anguish now she sheds + Above the traitor's grave! + + Amid the pealing notes of joy + For glorious victory won, + Is heard Columbia's piercing cry, + 'O Absalom, my son!' + + Ye faithful men whose crimson blood + In her defence is shed, + Upbraid her not if thus she weep + Above the guilty dead! + + Her noble heart is true to you, + But generous as brave, + She mourns in royal grief apart + For those she could not save. + + + + +THE ESTHETICS OF THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL. + + +It behooves every man, toiling along this dusty roadway of life, to +seize upon something which he may study and elaborate, that at the end +of his journey he may look back and content himself it has not been +utterly in vain to himself and his fellow pilgrims. A man with a mania, +or, as the Greeks have it, a man with a _madness_, is the true +world-advancer. This madness, when cultured, ripens into talent; if +original and inborn, we call it genius, and the subtile anatomists of +the French schools prove it by telling us that the brains of geniuses +are diseased. The healthy oyster ministers only to the palate. It is the +diseased oyster that secretes the pearl for Miss Shoddy's necklace. It +is the diseased brain that shines through the ages, lights men on to new +epochs in knowledge, and advances the race to the millennial perfection. +Immortal Jean Paul, picturing himself in Schoppe, knew this. For what is +all of Schoppe's eloquent and matchless buffoonery, compared with his +wise oracles, in the mad conflicts with his other 'I,' whom he saw in +the mirror of his diseased brain? + +Therefore, let every man have his madness, to which he may give his +leisure and his thoughtful hours. Let it grow upon him, until it becomes +a strong, controlling, natural element, as Mozart grew into music and +Haydon into painting, and is ingrained into his very habit and method of +life; for it is only thus and then he becomes a master, fitted to lead +the van in the world's march. Only, let it be a praise-worthy madness, +and one the development of which wilt secure for himself some new fund +of knowledge, and add to the store of his fellow men. + +It was somewhat in this vein I looked upon a dingy skilling species, +with its rudely crossed hammers--a rough coin, bold, sturdy, and rigid +as the old Norse character itself which formed the initial of my +cabinet--a cabinet which has given to me new ideas of the low-browed +Roman and elegant Greek; has admitted me to the arcana of their +fascinating mythology; has whispered strange tales of a mummy's perfumed +sleep in the shadow of the awful, eternal Sphynx; has taken me to the +fall of Grenada, and, bridging over the dark lapse of the ages, has +emerged with the resurrection of art into the bloody days of early +English history--the grim Puritanic times, when good old John Hull, the +mintmaster, regulated the finances of the colonies, and filled his own +pockets with pine-tree shillings and sixpences; the horrors of Danton +and Marat; marking faithfully each historic change from orient to +Occident, and culminating in that latest triumph of the engraver's +cunning skill--the Philadelphia Sanitary Fair medal, commemorating for +our children and children's children the magnificent benefactions of the +people and the self-devotion of the Commissions--Christian and +Sanitary--the angels of mercy and charity, scattering blessings in the +furrows of war. + +The _utile_ and the _dulce_ of the study of numismatics are shown in +many ways. Caraccio, Aretine, and Raphael studied the figures on the old +oboli and drachmas. So did Le Brun. Rubens was the most conscientious +coin and medal gatherer of his time, and applied them sedulously to the +furtherance of his divine gifts. Petrarch found time between his sonnets +to Laura to make the first classified collection on record, which he +presented to the emperor of Germany, with his well-known and remarkable +letter. Alphonso, king of Naples, visited all parts of Europe gathering +coins in an ivory casket. The splendid Cosmo de' Medici commenced a +cabinet which formed the nucleus of the Florentine collection. Matthias +Corvinus, king of Hungary, made a cabinet, and Francis I. of France laid +the foundation of the Paris collection--the finest in the world. All +artists recognize the value of coins, medals, and medallions. From them +they get the model faces and heads of the Greek and Roman, the copies of +lost statues, the folds of the chlamys and the graceful sweep of the +toga, the eagles and ensigns, rams and trophies, the altars, idols, and +sacrifices, the Olympian games, and the instruments of music, +mathematics, and mechanics. They reveal the secrets of a thousand +antiquated names and ceremonies, which but for the engraver's chronicle +must have been utterly lost. + +Coins throw additional light upon history. They illuminate the dark +passages, clear away the obscurities, and bridge over the gaps. Hugo, in +'Les Miserables,' says men solidified their ideas in architecture before +the printed page came from the brain of Faust. He might have added, they +wrote their histories upon these bits of gold, silver, iron, brass, and +bronze. Vaillant wrote the chronicles of the kings of Syria from a jar +of medals, as Cuvier would build up the mastodon and give you the +monster's habits from a tooth or a tibia. The Roman denarii give the +best idea of Cæsar's well in the forum. The Epidaurian coins with the +snake of Æsculapius tell in brief characters how the Roman senate sent +an embassy to the great father of medicine to come and heal them of the +plague. The migration of the Phocian colony to Asia Minor is succinctly +told in the [Greek: phôchê], or seal, which followed the early Mayflower +stamped upon one of the earliest of the Grecian coins. The late coins of +the Grecian series, with the portraits of Alexander, Ptolemy, Seleucus, +Lysimachus, and others, have lent to the historian a fresh and life-like +picture of those stern days, and have been silent but incontrovertible +witnesses of the truth of the records which have come down to us. +Cymbeline, of Shakspeare, dates back to the Cunobelin of an ancient +Saxon coin, struck before Boadicea's time. Who would have known of the +Grecian domination in Bactria, long after Alexander's time, but for a +casual traveller who found the fact, together with a lost language, upon +a series of coins unearthed in that part of Asia? The coins of Alexander +fix the capture of Egypt; those of Vespasian, the capture of Judea; and +those of Trajan, the capture of Parthia. They were the 'brief +chroniclers of the time'--Stantonian bulletins, announcing each fresh +conquest. + +The coins of the ancient day--for our modern productions can hardly +claim the credit--blend artistic grace and beauty. Upon them art made +its first and some of its best essays. A cabinet of Grecian and Roman +coins is a compact history of art from its inception to its meridian in +the culmination of Grecian splendor--and since that time, if we may +believe Ruskin, we only approximate, or what is worse, degrade. The +gradual decline of art and the decay of the empire are traceable on the +Roman series. You may follow the downward steps, until it becomes nearly +extinct, to revive, after a period of stagnation, in a new feeling in +the quaint but strong and rugged Gothic, the beautiful development of +which may be seen in the coinage of modern Europe from the fifth to the +fifteenth century. The Farnesian Hercules, the Venus de' Medici, the +Apollo Belvidere, and the famous equestrian Marcus Aurelius make their +appearance upon the ancient medals. Undoubtedly many of the magnificent +designs of Grecian medals in particular are but the types of Protogenes +and Apelles, as Houdin's model cast of Washington has been photographed, +as it were, upon the Wright medal. The grand Byzantine school of art is +nowhere better brought out than on the coins of that period. The +details of Constantine's coins are found in the ivory dyptics and those +splendidly illuminated Gospel vellums which art-despising monks kneeled +upon from the seventh to the tenth century, and which art-loving monks, +even in the middle of the nineteenth century, used in the decoration of +their monastery halls at Mount Athos. + +I come to a phase in the study of numismatics which to many will seem +paradoxical--the romance of coins--and pick out here and there a few +incidents, which I shall string together, not heeding closely +chronological sequence. + +One of the saddest pictures in all history is the first mention that is +made of money. Sarah was dead, and Abraham was sojourning among +strangers in a strange land. He mourned for his wife, and stood up +before the sons of Heth, and begged of them to intercede with Ephron, +the Hittite, for the cave of Machpelah, as a burial place. Ephron +liberally offered him the cave and the field, but the patriarch insisted +upon payment; whereupon the Hittite answered: 'My lord, hearken unto me; +the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt +me and thee? Bury, therefore, thy dead.' Abraham weighed the 'four +hundred shekels of silver current (money) with the merchant,' and the +field and the trees and the caves were Abraham's, and Sarah was buried. +The first use of money is the last, and the cave of Machpelah, typical +of the last resting place of all men, is the most important because the +most imperative use of money. He that hoards and he that squanders, +Croesus and Lazarus, at the end of life, provided they have money +enough to purchase their caves of Machpelah, have fortune enough, and +more than enough, for they may not carry gold and silver with them +through the valley of the Shadow. We buy and sell, we loan and +speculate, we hoard our shining wealth as Croesus hoarded the golden +sands of Pactolus in the treasury of Delhi, but when we come to the cave +of Machpelah, we leave it at the entrance, and go into the darkness +unencumbered. + +The earliest and standard specimen of Roman coinage was the _as_, +subdivided almost indefinitely, and originally weighing a pound. This +ponderous coin subserved a purpose which our penny does to-day. It had +upon the obverse the double-headed Janus, and upon the reverse the keel +of a ship, rudely done, but answering the requirements of the light, +juvenile gambling known as pitching coppers. _Capita aut navem_, 'Heads +or the ship,' the Roman boys cried, as Young America cries now, 'Heads +or tails.' It is an eminently conservative custom, and Master Freddy, as +he tosses his new bronze cent, may summarily answer paternal reproof by +showing that Master Tullius, two thousand years ago, pitched the _as_ +his father coined, and, for aught we know, grew to be a wise emperor and +a great man. + +Judea is represented upon several coins of the time of Titus and +Vespasian by the figure of a woman with flowing hair and bared breasts, +seated upon the ground in a posture of sorrow and captivity, above her +the wide-spreading branches of the palm, and behind her a stalwart Roman +soldier in mail, leaning upon his spear. Thus exactly did the Roman +engraver follow out upon these coins the language of the Scriptures. The +Psalmist describes this posture in the lamentations of the Jews over +their captivity. 'By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept.' Still +more remarkable is it that the prophet, in a passage foretelling this +identical captivity, likens Judea to a woman sitting upon the ground +wrapped in sorrow. + +It is not often that coins have been used as vehicles of wit or for +plays upon words, but there are examples upon record. Some of the German +coins represent in the legends the years in which they were minted. A +coin of Gustavus Adolphus also is an excellent illustration of this +practice. The legend is: 'ChrIstVs DVX ergo trIVMphVs.' Take the +capitalized letters or numerals from the words, and arrange them in +their proper order, and you have 1627, the year in which the coin was +struck. Upon a coin of Trio Lucretius, a member of the _Lucretia gens_, +who would have remained unknown to this day but for his coin, a case of +punning by means of types occurs. The obverse has the head of Apollo; +the reverse, the crescent moon and seven stars, or rather _triones_--the +constellation of the Ursa Major. The sun and moon refer to the family +name, while the _triones_ are an allusion to the surname. Pope Urban +VIII., with execrable taste and questionable wit, upon repairing certain +roads, struck a medal with the legend: _Beati qui custodiunt meas vias_, +'Blessed are they who keep my ways.' The 'speaking types' of the ancient +Grecian coins are very curious. The coinage of Rhodes has a rose for a +type, which flower bears the same name as the island. The coins of Side +have a pomegranate, in Greek, _side_ ([Greek: sidê]); Melos, the apple, +in Greek, _melon_ ([Greek: mêlon]); Ancona, in Italy, the elbow, in +Greek, _ancon_ ([Greek: agkon]); Cardia, the heart, in Greek, _cardia_ +[Greek: kardia]. + +The coins of Constantine the Great, 306 A.D., will always remain of +peculiar interest, as connected with the early history of Christianity. +Constantine, after forcing his brother-in-law, Licinius, from his +Eastern dominions, built Constantinople, and made Christianity the state +religion. The principal emblem upon his coins is the Labarum, or sacred +banner, bearing the monogram of Christ--the letters [Greek: Ch] and +[Greek: R]--being the initials of [Greek: CHRISTOU], the angles of which +are occupied by the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, Alpha +and Omega, in allusion to Christ's declaration in Revelation. A rarer +type of Constantine's coins has the monogram, and the legend, _In hoc +signo vinces_. The _signum_ was the vision of a beautiful cross in the +heavens, which was presented to the view of Constantine, near Milan, +during his march against Maxentius. To this cross he attributed both his +victory and conversion. These Christian emblems remained upon the coins +of his successors until the reign of Julian the Apostate, who removed +them and substituted pagan emblems. Nor do they again appear until the +accession of Michael Rhangabe (811-813), when the bust and sometimes the +full length of Christ is on the obverse, with the _nimbus_, and the +legend, _Jesus Christus nica(tor) rex regnantium_. Upon the reverse, the +emperor, with a singular degree of boldness, is seated by the side of +the Virgin, the two holding aloft the banner of the cross. + +We come to more modern coins. England and Ireland were in continual +trouble about the standard of coinage. On the accession of Mary, she +declared the intention of restoring the old standard of silver coinage, +viz., 11 oz. 2 dwt. fine, to 18 dwt. alloy; but, instead of that, the +new coinage was a pennyweight lower than that of Edward. Nor did it mend +matters that her handsome face and Philip's were on the obverse. The +wits of the day had many a joke over it; and Butler's sarcastic pen +could not omit the opportunity of writing: + + 'Still amorous, fond, and billing, + Like Philip and Mary upon a shilling.' + +The first manifestation of displeasure between the mother country and +the colonies was with Massachusetts, of course. The old Bay State was as +impatient toward masters then as later in the Revolution against George, +and still later with the slaveholders. Charles II. was displeased with +the colonists for coining money, which he considered his royal +prerogative, and intimated to Sir Thomas Temple that they must be +punished, and the business stopped. Sir Thomas was considerable of a +wag, and showed the king one of honest John Hull's shillings, on the +reverse of which was the pine tree. The king asked him what sort of a +tree that was. Upon which Sir Thomas replied that, of course, it was the +royal oak, which had saved his majesty's life. The king smiled at the +courtier's wit; but it is not reported that he allowed Hull to continue +the coinage. + +The proverbial misfortunes of Ireland have attended even her coinage, +and her troubles in that direction commenced as early as the reign of +Henry VII. He coined sixpences for Ireland worth only fourpence in +England. Mary issued base shillings and groats for Ireland, and +Elizabeth issued still baser ones, while she purified the coinage of +England. James I. struck copper farthings of two sizes, that if they +failed in England, they might be used in Ireland for pence and +halfpence. Charles I. established a mint in Dublin, but, in the +confusion attendant upon his death, the Irish lost it. Cromwell gave +them tokens in place of coins of the realm; and James II. base silver +money, made principally from brass cannon, and even this alloyed stuff +was gradually diminished in size. White metal followed, then lead, and +finally tin. George I. granted a patent to William Wood in 1737 for +coining pence and halfpence for Ireland, but he coined them of smaller +size than was stipulated in the patent. Dean Swift, with his merciless +satire, drove them out of Ireland, and his majesty, having no use for +them in England, sent them to his American colonies. Circulating media +were scarce here at that time, and anything in the shape of coins was +welcome. George II. did better for Ireland, and gave her honest coins. +In 1760 the famous _voce populi_ halfpenny appeared, a company of +gentlemen in Dublin having obtained permission to issue them. There was +a bit of quiet revenge in this halfpenny. The head of the sovereign, +though apparently done in the usual manner of the king's portrait, was +in reality a portrait of the Pretender. The coins attained a +considerable circulation before the trick was discovered, and then they +were suppressed. + +Coins have figured in sermons. Bishop Latimer, on the 8th of March, +1549, delivered the following sarcastic sermon. On a previous occasion +he had spoken jestingly of the new currency of Edward VI. For this he +was accused of sedition, which charge he answered thus: + +'Thus they burdened me even with sedition. And wot ye what? I chanced in +my last sermon to speak a merry word of a new shilling, to refresh my +auditory, how I was like to put away my new shilling for an old groat. I +was therein noted to speak seditiously. ... I have now gotten one more +fellowe, a companion of sedition; and wot you who is my fellowe? Esay +(Isaiah) the prophet. I spake but of a little prettie shilling; but he +speaketh to Jerusalem after another sort, and was so bold as to meddle +with their coynes. 'Thou proud, thou haughty city of Jerusalem. +_Argentum tuum versum est in scoriam_;' thy silver is turned into what? +into testious _scoriam_, into dross,' Ah! seditious wretch! what had he +to do with the mint? Why should he not have left that matter to some +masters of policy to reprove? Thy silver is dross; it is not fine; it is +counterfeit; thy silver is turned; thou hadst no silver. What pertained +that to Esay? Marry, he replied a piece of diversity in that policy; he +threateneth God's vengeance for it. + +'He went to the root of the matter, which was covetousness, which became +him to reprove; or else that it tended to the hurt of poore people; for +the naughtiness of the silver was the occasion of dearth of all things +in the realm. He imputeth it to them as a crime. He may be called a +master of sedition indeed. Was not this a seditious fellowe, to tell +them this even to their faces?' + +The three-farthing piece struck in Elizabeth's reign is often mentioned +in the poets. Shakspeare has an allusion to it in King John. He +introduces the bastard Falconbridge, ridiculing the personal appearance +of his legitimate elder brother, having just before compared him to a +half-faced groat: + + 'Because he hath an half face, like my father, + With that half face would he have all my land.' + +Farther on, he says he would not have such a person (body): + + 'My face so thin, + That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose, + Lest men should say, Look where three farthings goes;' + +alluding to the rose which was on both the obverse and reverse of the +coin. Beaumont and Fletcher, in the 'Scornful Lady,' show the difference +between the penny and three-farthing piece, and inform us of a knavish +trick then practised, to impose upon ignorant people the lesser as the +greater coin. Lovelass, speaking of Morecraft, the usurer, says: 'He had +a bastard, his own toward issue, whipt and thin cropt, for washing out +the rose in three farthings to make them pence.' + +In England, during the reign of George III., an act was passed to amend +an act of the 51st of the king, respecting the gold coin and the notes +of the Bank of England. By this act the provisions of the former statute +were extended to Ireland, and the notes of the bank there were placed +upon the same basis as those of the Bank of England. While this act was +passing the House, the following epigram appeared in the public papers: + + +BANK NOTES AND GUINEAS. + + Bank notes, it is said, once guineas defied + To swim to a point in trade's foaming tide; + But ere they could reach the opposite brink, + Bank notes cried to gold: 'Help us, cash us, we sink!' + + 'That paper should sink, and guineas should swim, + May appear to some folks a ridiculous whim; + But before they condemn, let them hear this suggestion: + In pun making, gravity's out of the question. + +There is a romantic incident in the early history of Massachusetts, +which has been often told. Money was scarce, and in 1652 the General +Court passed a law for the coinage of sixpences and shillings. Captain +John Hull was appointed the mintmaster, and was to have one shilling in +every twenty for his labor. All the old silver in the colony, wornout +plate, battered tankards, buckles, and spoons, and especially the +bullion seized by the buccaneers then sailing the Spanish Main (for all +was honest that came to Hull's melting pot), was brought in for coinage, +and the mintmaster rapidly grew to be the millionnaire of the colony, +and suitors came from far and wide for the hand of his daughter. Among +them was Samuel Sewall, who was the favorite of the plump and buxom +miss. Hull, the mintmaster, roughly gave his consent: "Take her," said +he, "and you will find her a heavy burden enough." The wedding day came, +and the captain, tightly buttoned up with shillings and sixpences, sat +in his grandfather's chair, till the ceremony was concluded. Then he +ordered his servants to bring in a huge pair of scales. 'Daughter,' said +the mintmaster, 'go into one side of the scales.' Mrs. Sewall obeyed, +and then the mintmaster had his strongbox brought in, an immense +ironbound oaken chest, which the servants were obliged to drag over the +floor. Then the mintmaster unlocked the chest, and ordered the servants +to fill the other side of the scales with shillings and sixpences. Plump +Mrs. Sewall bore down hard upon her side of the scales, but still the +servants shovelled in the bright, fresh pine-tree shillings, until Mrs. +Sewall began to rise. Then the mintmaster ordered them to forbear. +'There, you Sewall,' said the magnanimous old money maker, 'take these +shillings for my daughter's portion. Use her kindly, and thank Heaven +for her; for it is not every wife that is worth her weight in silver.' +And Master Sewell took Mistress Sewall and thirty thousand pounds (not +avoirdupois, but sterling). + +The liberty cap was first used as an emblem by the committee of safety +organized at Philadelphia early in 1775. At a meeting on the 31st of +August of that year, it was resolved by the committee that Owen Biddle +provide a seal for the use of the board, about the size of a dollar, +with a cap of liberty, with this motto: 'This is my right, and I will +defend it.' Upon the first cent issued by the United States Mint for +circulation, in 1793, the cap appears. This cap is the Phrygian cap, and +all nations recognize it as the badge of liberty. When Spartacus rose at +the head of his fellow slaves against their Roman masters to obtain +liberty, his followers were distinguished by this cap. Though their +effort was unsuccessful, the principle of liberty still exists, to be +fought for until the last manacle is struck from the last slave. And +mankind has recognized that early struggle for freedom by adopting the +cap as one of the attributes of the goddess of freedom. + +The freaks of currency are singular. The early Greeks bartered with +cattle; hence we derive _pecunia_ (money) from pecus (the flock). Cowry +shells have bought slaves on the African coast, and wampum answered for +money with the Indian, The Carthaginians, Frederick II. at the siege of +Milan, Philip I. and John the Good, kings of France, used stamped +leather, the latter inserting a silver nail in the centre. St. Louis, of +France, issued the black coin made of billon. The Anglo-Saxons used +rings, torques, and bracelets. Homer says the Greeks carried on their +traffic with bars and spikes of brass. Salt is the money of Abyssinia, +and codfish in Iceland. In Adam Smith's day, the Edinburgh workmen +bought bread with nails, and drank from foaming tankards paid for with +spikes. Marco Polo found mulberry-bark money in China, stamped with the +sovereign's seal, which it was death to counterfeit, as was the case +also with the Continental currency of our own country. The first +families of Virginia, now fighting for the ideas of aristocracy and +labor owned by capital, are the lineal and quite recent descendants of +shiploads of women exported from the crowded capitals of Europe, with +little regard to character or condition, and bought at so many pounds of +tobacco per head. The cannon used by James II. in his desperate struggle +for the throne, were melted up and coined into the famous gun money; and +the bells of Paris which tolled over the horrors of the guillotine, in +the bloody days of Robespierre, met a similar useful end. Charles I., +with a Vandal hand, melted up the plate of the aristocracy and the +almost inestimable relics of Oxford into siege pieces. In 1641, +Massachusetts enacted that wheat should be received in payment of debts; +and during the French Revolution, the convention, upon the motion of +Jean Bon Saint André, discussed the propriety of making wheat the +standard of value. + +From coins to wealth is but a step. The ancients surpassed the moderns +in splendid wealth and lavish extravagance. Seneca, writing superb +treatises in favor of poverty, was worth nearly five millions of +dollars. Lentulus, the astrologer, made his black arts yield him over +three millions. The delighted heirs of Tiberius found nearly thirty-six +millions in his coffers, and in less than a year Caligula spent the +whole of it. Milo's debts were Titanic, amounting to six millions. Cæsar +had a list of creditors whose name was legion, before he obtained any +public office; but he was soon enabled to present Curio with six hundred +thousand dollars, Lucius Paulus with four hundred thousand, and +Servilia, the mother of Brutus, with a trifle of a pearl worth over +thirty thousand. Mark Antony's house was sold to Messala for over half +a million, and Scaurus's villa was burned at a loss of over twelve +millions. Otho spent over fourteen millions in finishing the wing of a +palace commenced by Nero. One of Caligula's dinners cost a million +dollars; and one of Heliogabalus's breakfasts, twenty-seven thousand +dollars, Oesopus, the actor, swallowed a pearl worth eleven thousand +dollars, and Apicius, the gourmand, ate over seventy-seven millions +during his worthless life, and then committed suicide, because he was +reduced one day to only a hundred thousand dollars in his purse. + +I hold in my hand a huge iron token which Ptolemy struck in +commemoration of his conquest of Egypt, and by its side the new two-cent +piece of the United States, fresh and sparkling from the Mint at +Philadelphia. The one antiquated, rude, corroded, and begrimed in its +long conflict with time, and the other bright and vivid, its field and +exergue unmarred, its emblems and legends clear and sharp. The coin of +Ptolemy has a history. The obverse gives us undoubtedly the head of +Jupiter, the cloud bearer, rugged, massive, stern, iron featured, +taurine neck, hair in great serpentine coils and shocks; the reverse, a +magnificent spread eagle, and the inscription in Greek, _Basileus +Ptolemaion_. Ptolemy, flushed with the victory he had won for Alexander, +issued it over two thousand years ago. After subserving the purposes of +Athenian barter, some swarthy Egyptian obtained it; but our friend the +Egyptian, in time, was gathered to his fathers. He was embalmed, and +slept in the shadow of the Pyramid, where his royal predecessors were +sleeping, and by the side of the eternal Sphynx, whose riddle he could +not read in life. Perhaps death unsealed the mystery of those stony lips +to him. The token was placed in the mummy case upon the Egyptian's lips, +perhaps as Charon's toll. But, in that event, evidently our friend the +Egyptian never crossed over the black river of Death, but is still +wandering--a miserable shade--along its banks, seeking rest, and finding +none. Token and Egyptian remained in their tomb while Thebes flourished +and decayed, Tyre and Sidon crumbled into ruins, Rome, mistress of the +world, cowered beneath the scourge of Goth and Vandal and Hun, and the +earth was eclipsed in the night of the ages. Still the Pyramids towered +toward heaven, the Sphynx gazed on with calm, earnest eyes, Memnon made +music of welcome to the sun, and our token sealed the shrivelled silent +lips of the Egyptian. The world emerged from its night. Dante and +Aquinas, Copernicus and Galileo, Luther and Melanchthon, Gutenberg and +Faust, Kant and Schlegel, Bacon, Leibnitz and Newton, Watt and Morse, +tore away the seals before our token saw the light. It came forth into a +new world by the hand of a missionary, preaching a religion founded +three hundred years after it closed the lips of the Egyptian. The +heathen god was upon its field, but the Christian religion had set aside +the old mythology of which it was a representative. I turn from this +relic of the past to the coin of the present, and upon the latter I find +the acknowledgment of that religion, and of dependence upon its +immutable Author: 'In God we trust;' and from this legend I augur +deliverance from the troubles that beset us, the vindication of outraged +laws, the Union of dissevered fragments, the return of peace to our +distracted land, the integrity of the Republic. + + + + +MIRACLES. + + +People refuse to believe in miracles because they esteem, them +incredible: how, then, do they believe in existence--in the being of +anything? Is it credible--to human reason, I mean--that anything should +be without a cause? Nothing, so far as we can judge, _ever comes to_ be +without an efficient cause--something that goes before, with power to +bring that which comes after. + +But existence is an indisputable fact: we must believe it, whether we +can or not. + +Oh yes, one may say, but there is an infinite Being from all eternity, +and He has produced all other forms of existence. + +Very well; but if that be so, do not let us trouble ourselves about what +are called miracles. They come very easily after the creation of +light--the creation of sun and moon and stars; or even of nebulous +matter, so constituted that by its revolution in space it may generate +these wondrous orbs. + +But there is a difficulty, it seems, about laws--natural laws: we are +not to suppose that they will ever he violated. But there is another law +above all these; all at least of the inanimate world, _i.e._, that the +forces of brute matter are subject to the will, or whatever is analogous +to will, in any living creatures. The law of gravitation is one of the +most universally operative; but every bird rising upon its wings, every +dog in its leaps, yea, the grasshopper springing from the earth, sets +this law at defiance. Almost every common law of matter is set aside by +the ingenuity of man, as put forth by that most truly spiritual faculty, +the will. + +Are we then to suppose that the Almighty has so tied his power to +agencies purely material that He can never perform an act except under +their regulation? This would leave Him with no discretional power +whatever--with no such liberty even as that which He has bestowed upon +every creature that has will, or anything like it. Is this the idea of a +God infinite in power, as in wisdom and goodness? Are we to think that +the Almighty has just for once set a universe in motion, and forever +withdrawn Himself from all meddling with its affairs? He permits us to +control the electric power: but is never permitted to direct a +thunderbolt upon the guilty, or to turn one aside from any path it might +incline to pursue! + +Miracles! Is it then so much more wonderful that water should be turned +into wine, than that a little water and a little earth, under the rays +of the sun, should be turned into the beautiful flowers and luscious +fruits of our gardens and orchards? These same elements are even now +maturing gapes, which, with a little management, under merely natural +forces, directed by a human will, may produce wine fit for the wedding +feast of a king. + +Or, in another line of thought, we may ask, Is it much more difficult to +call back a living soul and unite it again to its former body than in +any way to produce that soul at first? + +These and the like considerations apply to the subject of prayer, and +the special favors which it is believed to bring. We men are perpetually +turning the forces of nature where we please, and for the most special +purposes: can we for a moment imagine that the Almighty has less of this +power of control than we? + + + + +LETTER OF HON. R. J. WALKER, IN FAVOR OF THE REËLECTION OF ABRAHAM +LINCOLN. + +_London, September_ 30, 1864. + + [The 'Letter of Hon. R. J. Walker' herewith offered to our readers, + is no ephemeral production, to perish with the passing hour. The + views therein offered, the vital principles discussed, the details + given, the facts handled, have a wide bearing on the future policy + and destiny of our country. Marked by the practical wisdom of the + experienced statesman, while glowing with the fervor of the + patriotic citizen, we have induced him to permit us to include this + Letter in the loyal pages of the CONTINENTAL, where so many of his + important financial essays have already appeared. Our readers will + find it a worthy and logical sequence from the premises heretofore + sustained therein by his able pen.--ED. CON.] + + +The succession of days and years and centuries is noted in calendars; +but it is great events, constituting historical epochs, that mark the +progress and destiny of our race. Decisive battles, vast reforms, civil +or religious, great scientific discoveries or mechanical inventions, +dynastic changes, political revolutions, the union or dismemberment of +states, the birth or death of republics, the rise or fall of +empires--these are the deep notches in the groove of time, the mighty +landmarks in the pathway of humanity. It is the fate of the American +Union, involving the liberty of our country and mankind, that is to be +decided in our approaching Presidential election. How paltry are all +party questions in the presence of an issue so transcendent as this! How +dare we mingle old party names or conflicts with such a question, when +the life of the Union is trembling in the balance! The maintenance of +the Union is the one majestic question, and the _Union party_, in name, +and in fact, is the only one that should exist, until this great issue +is decided. Then, when the Union is rescued from present and future +peril, we may exhume the past, use old party names, or discuss old party +issues, but until then to unfold a party banner, and revive old party +prejudices, is treason to our country and mankind. It is not Democrats +alone, or Republicans alone, as separate parties marshalled against each +other, that can save the Union. During this straggle for the Union, we +do not hear of Democratic or Republican admirals or generals, divisions +or regiments; no, we have only one great Union army, discarding all +party names or symbols, and fighting only for and under the banner of +the Union. It is then a grave objection to the Chicago McClellan +Convention, that, in such a crisis as this, it summoned only a +_Democratic_ Convention, and appealed only to the _Democratic_ party to +save the Government. As well might we summon only a Democratic army to +fight the battles of our country, as conduct such an election as this +under any old party name and banner. Thousands of Republicans as well as +Democrats, together, under the banner of the Union, fight now the +battles of their country. Thousands of Republican as well as Democratic +soldiers sleep in their bloody shrouds, or lie wounded on beds of agony; +but who dare ask to what party they belonged? It was an unholy ambition, +stimulated by party leaders, a thirst for office and emoluments, that +rallied under an old party name at Chicago, when the whole people should +have been summoned to the rescue. + +And who met in council at Chicago? Was it the friends of the Union? No, +it was Democrats, as they called themselves, whether unionists or +disunionists. Avowed disunionists constituted a large and influential +portion of the Convention (profaning the name of Democrats) that met +together at Chicago. Who were Vallandigham and Harris and Long and many +other of their compeers, who not only met together at Chicago, but some +of whom were received with shouts of applause, and resolutions moved by +some of them unanimously adopted. It was a meeting of loyal men and +disloyal, peace and war men, unionists and disunionists. Every +disunionist is a traitor. He is for the overthrow of the Republic, upon +the demand of rebels in arms against the Government. Every peace man now +on the Chicago McClellan platform is a disunionist and a traitor, +because he knows, in his inmost soul, that no peace can be obtained but +upon the ultimatum of Jefferson Davis, now officially proclaimed by him +through the secretary of state to foreign Governments, namely, the +severance of the Union, and the establishment throughout the South of a +separate slave-holding empire. Most of these peace men openly avow their +disunion doctrines, while others attempt to conceal their treason, under +the transparent mask of an "armistice," a "cessation of hostilities," +and an _ultimate_ "convention of the States," ignominiously declaring, +at the same time, by their platform resolutions at Chicago, that to +suppress the rebellion by war _has proved a failure_. What truly loyal +man, by voting for their candidates, will indorse at the polls such a +platform as this? It is a surrender of our country's honor--it is a +capitulation, upon the demand of Southern traitors, whose hands are +dripping with the warm life blood of our sons and brothers, and who now +boldly and defiantly _pledge themselves_ to foreign Governments, as they +always had declared to us, that they will have no peace unless based +upon disunion. Did a Democratic Convention ever before receive avowed +Disunionists and traitors among its number? Did it ever before trail in +the dust the glorious flag of our country? Did it ever agree before, +that our banner should be torn down from half the States and territory +of the Union, and replaced by a foreign standard, having upon it but one +emblazonry--the divinity and perpetuity of Slavery? And shall we treat +with the Confederate authorities on this basis? No; while we will gladly +treat with States and people _desiring to return to the Union_, with +Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet brandishing over our heads the two-edged +sword of Slavery and disunion, we will, in the emphatic words of General +Jackson, "_negotiate only from the mouths of our cannon_." + +General Jackson was, in truth, the father and founder of the Democratic +party. Prior to his first nomination in 1823, in the election of +Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, the parties were known as Federal and +Republican. In the fall of 1823, I united with a few friends in calling, +at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, the FIRST _Democratic_ meeting, by which +General Jackson was nominated as the Democratic candidate for the +Presidency of the United States. I offered the resolutions in his favor +adopted by that meeting, calling the Democratic State Convention of +Pennsylvania which confirmed that nomination in March, 1824. I attended +that Convention, as a delegate from Pittsburg, and wrote the address of +the Convention to the Democracy of the State and of the Union on that +momentous occasion. I supported General Jackson for the Presidency in +1823 (my first vote), 1824, 1828, and 1832, and uniformly adhered to +the Democratic party until after the rebellion of 1861. + +During the great nullification and secession question of South Carolina, +on the first Monday of January, 1833, at Natchez, Mississippi, I made +the opening speech, then published, against nullification and secession, +in favor of "_war_," if necessary to maintain the Union--in favor of +"_coercion_" to put down rebellion in any State. The Legislature of +Mississippi indorsed that speech, and passed resolutions declaring +nullification and _secession_ to be _treason_, and, upon THAT ISSUE, I +was elected by the Legislature to the Senate of the United States. If +Mississippi, under the influence of Jefferson Davis, and other traitor +leaders, has since that period abandoned those principles, she cannot +expect me to follow her, and thereby surrender opinions which I have +uniformly maintained and advocated throughout my life, but more +especially from 1833 until the present period. Mississippi (whose +prosperity I would restore by bringing her back to the Union) indorsed +those opinions when she elected me to the Senate of the United States +over an avowed and distinguished secessionist (George Poindexter), after +a contest of unexampled violence, personal and political, extending from +January, 1833, to January, 1836. + +It was on that occasion that General Jackson wrote his celebrated letter +in favor of my election and sustaining my political course. It was after +the adoption of the secession ordinance by Carolina, that General +Jackson sent our war vessels to Charleston to hold and blockade the +harbor, and our troops, under the illustrious Scott, to maintain, by +force, if necessary, the authority of the Federal Government over the +forts commanding the city of Charleston. Let us suppose that the rebels +had then shot down our flag, captured our forts, made war upon the +Union, and proceeded to dissolve it by force--let us suppose that a +committee from any convention had then dared to nominate General Jackson +for the Presidency upon such a platform as that adopted at Chicago, +proposing an armistice and cessation of hostilities until a National +Convention could be assembled, accompanied by the declaration that the +rebellion could not be crushed by war, who doubts what would have been +the course of that devoted patriot? He would have stamped the +disgraceful and treasonable resolutions under his feet, and indignantly +scouted the traitors who offered them. And now this McClellan Convention +at Chicago professes to represent the Democratic party. As Jefferson was +the founder of the old _Republican_ party, Jackson was the father of the +_Democratic_ party. Now, with perhaps one exception, is there a _single +member_ of that Convention (assuming the name of 'Democratic') that +(like myself) supported General Jackson in 1823, 1824, 1828, and 1832, +and uniformly adhered to the Democratic party until after the rebellion +of 1861? + +What right had that Convention to assume the name of Democracy, while +trampling upon the advice of the founder of the party, and all its great +and vital principles? How dare they offer an 'armistice' and 'the +cessation of hostilities' to rebels in arms against their country, +especially when the so-called rebel government had again and again +declared that they would negotiate upon no terms, except the +acknowledgment of their independence, and the definitive dissolution of +the Union? But, above all, how dare they record the disgraceful and +treasonable falsehood, that the war to suppress the rebellion had +failed, and ask the freemen of America to indorse at the polls such a +declaration? + +And has, indeed, all the blood of patriots shed in defence of the Union +in this war, been poured out in vain? Ye patriot soldiers! now in the +field, say, are you unable or unwilling to suppress the rebellion? Say +it not only in words, but answer the foul accusation by your votes in +the approaching Presidential election. + +The Chicago McClellan Convention says that the war is a failure, and +that therefore there must be an armistice and a cessation of +hostilities. Will not your answer at the polls be this: 'It is a foul +and treasonable falsehood?' + +And is this war for the Union indeed a failure? Let our many and +well-fought battles upon the ocean and the land answer the question. Let +a country nearly as large as half of Europe, taken from the rebels since +the war commenced, respond. Let Shiloh, and Donelson, and Gettysburg and +Vicksburg, and Port Hudson, and New Orleans, and the Mississippi from +its source to its mouth, answer. Why, this wretched calumny had scarcely +been uttered by the McClellan Convention, when Sherman, the great +commander, and his army had washed out the accusation in the blood of +the vanquished, and unfolded our banner at Atlanta, the grand military +strategic centre of Georgia, never to be recalled. And while the shouts +of the great victory in Georgia were still sounding in our ears, +Oppequan responded to the thunders of Atlanta, and the heroic Sheridan, +after a decided victory, was driving the rebel army from the valley of +Virginia. Was Sherman's campaign from Memphis and Nashville to +Chattanooga, and from Chattanooga to Atlanta, a failure? Why, that +campaign is unsurpassed in history. Was Grant's Potomac advance a +failure? What, the hero of the great campaign of the West, terminating +with the capture of Vicksburg and its garrison, not know, or do his +duty! Was the victory of the Wilderness a failure, or the destruction in +successive battles of one third of Lee's army, together with the seizure +of the great Weldon Railroad, or the repulse there of the Confederate +attack--were these failures? Recollect, Grant was Lieutenant-General, +subordinate only to the President and Secretary of War, in planning the +whole campaign, and, while too much credit cannot be given to the heroic +Sherman and noble Sheridan, and their gallant armies, yet, it must be +remembered, that their great victories and strategic military movements +are but a part of Grant's plan--_concentrating_ the three armies of the +Potomac, the Shenandoah, and the West, so as to seize and hold all the +roads connecting with Richmond, and capture the Confederate army and +government. + +And now as to our navy. Were the gallant deeds of Admiral Porter at +Vicksburg, on the Mississippi River, the Arkansas, and the Red River, +failures? Were the destruction of the forts protecting New Orleans and +the capture of that city by the illustrious Farragut failures? Were the +capture or destruction by that gallant man, aided by General Granger, of +the forts commanding the Bay of Mobile, together with the occupation of +its harbor by our fleet--and the destruction there of the Confederate +navy--were these failures? Were the capture of the forts and city of +Pensacola, of all the Florida forts, and the fortifications commanding +Savannah--the defeat of the Merrimac and Tennessee--the destruction of +the Alabama--the capture of Port Royal, and of the forts which commanded +it--were these failures? No; the war is not a failure. It is a glorious +and trancendent success. Already the whole Southern and Southwestern +coast is ours. The whole of the Mississippi is ours, with far more than +a thousand miles of its course from Columbus to its mouth, and even to a +considerable extent up the Mississippi and Missouri, which had been once +in the hands of the enemy. Chesapeake Bay is ours, and all its +tributaries, from the Potomac to the James River. The whole coast of +North and South Carolina, of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, +and Texas, with vast portions of the interior, including many +impregnable positions, is ours. Tennessee, one of the seceded States, is +now wholly ours. Kentucky is loyal. Missouri is ours, and has abolished +Slavery. Maryland is ours, and has, I believe, uprooted Slavery also. +Our whole _Territorial_ domain, greater in extent than one half of +Europe (and about Slavery in which this contest began), is now wholly +ours. Not a rebel flag floats within its limits. When before were such +mighty conquests achieved within so short a period? Why, the conquests +of Alexander, of Cæsar and Napoleon covered no such extent of territory. +And, 'we take no steps backward.' Where our flag now is once unfolded in +any part of rebeldom, there it continues to float, and will float +forever. What are we to negotiate about? Is it as to giving up the +Mississippi and its tributaries, together with New Orleans, Vicksburg, +and Tennessee? Is West Virginia, which has been admitted as a new Free +State, to be surrendered? Are Fortress Monroe and the Chesapeake to be +abandoned? Is the rebel flag to float at Alexandria, and on the heights +of Arlington; and are rebel cannon to be planted there, in sight of and +to command the _very capital of the Union_? Are we to insult loyal +Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, and Delaware, by negotiating about them? +Are we to give back Western to Eastern Virginia? Where is the line of +division to be run, and what armies would be strong enough to maintain +peace upon the border? What portion of the mighty Territories uniting us +with the Pacific are to be surrendered? Are we to turn over to the cruel +despotism of their bloody and relentless masters, the millions of loyal +people of the South, to whom we have given the most sacred pledge of the +protection of the Union? And, last of all, are the two millions of +slaves, as Jefferson Davis complains, who have been emancipated by the +constitutional war proclamation of President Lincoln, are they to be +remanded to Slavery, including the thousands who have so gallantly +fought in our defence? And as to Slavery, or what, if any, may be left +of it, when the war is over, are we to abandon the unquestionable right +to abolish it, as Mr. Lincoln and his friends propose, by a +constitutional amendment? Is Jefferson Davis to come back again as +Senator from Mississippi? Are the traitors Cobb and Thompson to take +their places in the McClellan Cabinet? Is Toombs, of Georgia, (as he +boasted) to call the roll of his slaves on the Boston Common? Slavery, +we know, was the sole cause of the war. It was Slavery that fired the +first gun at Sumter, and demanded to rule or ruin the country. It was in +the name of Slavery that the South seceded; and it was to extend and +perpetuate Slavery, as a blessed and divine institution, that they +avowedly framed the Confederate constitution. In the debates of Congress +of 1860-'61, in the proceedings of the Committee of 1833, in the acts of +the Peace Congress, in the various secession ordinances, by the very +terms of the Confederate constitution, Slavery was the sole cause of +this war upon the Government. Slavery was and is our great enemy, and +shall we not destroy it? Slavery was the sole cause of the war, and +shall it not be eradicated? When the patient calls for a physician, he +seeks for the source of the disease, so as not merely to alleviate +present pain, but to remove the cause, and prevent relapses or +successive attacks. If he deals only with palliatives, to assuage for a +brief period the present suffering, when he can remove the cause, and +restore the patient to permanent and perfect health, he is but a quack +and an impostor. + +The party supporting Mr. Lincoln is composed of men of all the old +parties. Its candidate for the Presidency is from the North, and +belonged to the late Republican party. Its candidate for the Vice +Presidency, a brave, loyal, Union-loving man, is from the South, and +belonged (like myself) to the old Democratic party. But the Baltimore +Convention, in the spirit of true nationality and patriotism, discarded +all old party names or issues. It acted only in the name of the Union, +and as one great Union party, and asked all patriots, dismissing for the +present all old party names or issues, to unite with it for the +salvation of the Union. + +My first objection, then, to the organization against Mr. Lincoln is, +that it is a mere party organization, arrayed under an old party name, +and marching under an old party banner. In the midst of a great contest +like this, when all old party names and prejudices should be forgotten, +and when Democrats and Republicans should be united as brethren in the +one grand effort to suppress the rebellion, the Chicago McClellan +Convention reopens old party strifes, renews old party issues, and, +denouncing Republicans, assumes the name and professes to represent the +Democratic party. It was the banner of the Union that was raised by the +Convention at Baltimore, and the salvation of the Union, with its rescue +from present and future perils, the suppression of the rebellion, with +the removal of the cause, constituted the only issues presented by that +Convention to the people of the loyal States of all parties. + +It was far otherwise at Chicago. It was a mere assemblage of partisans, +some for, and some against the Union, in the search of power and +emoluments. It was the flag of the Union that was given to the breeze at +Baltimore. It was the flag of a party that was unfolded at Chicago. +'_For the Union_' was written on the flag of the one--'For the +Democratic party' was inscribed on the standard of the other. It was +said that the Baltimore Convention has made the abolition of Slavery one +of its issues; but, as well might it be objected that it had made the +prosecution of the war, or the maintenance of the army or navy, part of +its creed. The Emancipation Proclamation of the President had its whole +constitutional force as a _war measure_ TO SAVE THE UNION, and, as such, +it was adopted by Mr. Lincoln as ex-officio 'commander-in-chief of the +army and navy of the United States.' That it was, as a war measure, +perfectly constitutional, I have never doubted, and so declared in an +article published at the time in THE CONTINENTAL MAGAZINE. It is the +duty of all persons, not aliens, to unite with the President in +suppressing a rebellion. Slaves, in the relation which they occupy to +the National Government under the Federal Constitution, are '_persons_.' +As _persons_, they are thrice named in the Constitution, and by no other +name whatever. Especially, under the clause providing for direct +taxation, they are _enumerated_ as _persons_, not _valued_ as +_property_. The term 'person' is used more frequently in the +Constitution than any other, and it is applied expressly to slaves, and +to the whole people of the United States, including the President and +Vice President, who are designated therein as persons. This very +question, whether slaves are persons or property under the Constitution, +arose in the great case of _Groves_ vs. _Slaughter_, when, in 1841 (with +a single dissenting opinion, that of Judge Baldwin), after the fullest +argument on both sides, it was unanimously decided by the Supreme Court +of the United States that slaves, in the relation which they hold to the +National Government under the Federal Constitution, are _persons only_, +and not _property_. Were it otherwise, Massachusetts could not forbid +the introduction of slaves from the South for sale there as merchandise; +for Massachusetts could not prohibit the introduction of the cotton or +any property of the South for sale as merchandise within her limits, for +that would have been a prohibition of the _exports from State to State_, +which is forbidden by the Federal Constitution. My own elaborate +argument before the Court, as one of the counsel in that case, will be +found in the appendix to the first edition of the 15th volume of +Peters's Reports. As _persons_, the President has a right to call for +the aid of all residing in the United States, except aliens, to +suppress the rebellion. He has a right to call for the services of the +loyal or rebel masters for such a purpose, as well as for the service of +their slaves. + +It cannot be denied, that the masters, whether rebel or loyal, may be +called and even forced by conscription into the army to suppress the +rebellion. Would it not then be strange if the master could exempt his +slaves from similar services? The only right of the master recognized by +the Constitution, is to the 'service or labor' of his slaves. But he has +a right equally strong to his own service or labor; yet both must yield +to the paramount right of the Government to the services of both or +either to suppress the rebellion. There is not a single word in the +Federal Constitution which, either by inference or express declaration, +exempts slaves, more than any other persons, from the call of the +Federal Government to aid in suppressing a rebellion. Such is the +construction given, by the South to the so-called Confederate +constitution, which is much more stringent than ours in that respect, +for it recognizes slaves as property; yet, the rebel authorities, the +rebel congress and government, force slaves, even by conscription, to +perform military duty--to dig the trenches--to make the earthworks--to +erect the barracks and arsenals--to help to make the cannon, small arms, +and powder, and vessels of war--to construct the fortifications--to +transport the provisions, munitions, and cannon for their armies, +together with the tents and military equipage--to raise the food +indispensable for the support of their military forces--and, of course, +they would, _if they dare_, put arms in their hands to meet us on the +battle field. It is clear, then, not as a confiscation of property +(which is also constitutional under certain circumstances), but as +_persons_, that we have a right to the service of the slaves as well as +of their masters to suppress the rebellion. But it is only by +emancipation (with compensation for loss of their services by loyal men) +that the slaves can be called into our army, and used to suppress the +rebellion. A call by the President for the slaves to serve in our +armies, to risk their lives and shed their blood for the Union, +accompanied by the declaration that they were still slaves, and, upon +the termination of the war, such as survived would be restored to their +masters, with whom their wives and children must still remain in +bondage, would be an atrocious crime, as well as the climax of all +absurdities. No; it is only by emancipation that the services of the +slaves can or ought to be obtained for the suppression of the rebellion. +The Emancipation Proclamation then of the President, with compensation +to loyal masters, is most clearly constitutional during the continuance +of the war, and as a war measure to suppress the rebellion and save the +Union, and such must be the decision of the Supreme Court of the United +States, to which tribunal the President has properly submitted the final +arbitrament of the constitutional question. It is true, when the +rebellion is crushed, the President can issue no new emancipation +proclamation. But neither can he then recall or modify the one already +issued; and if he had the power to recall the proclamation, it would be +an act of perfidy unparalleled in the history of the world. The nation +would be so utterly disgraced by such bad faith as would be involved in +the revocation of the Emancipation Proclamation, as to earn the contempt +of all honest and honorable men, and the loss of sympathy of the +industrial classes and working men of Europe, whose rulers would then no +longer fear to recognize or aid the South. It was the magnificent +uprising of the working classes of England in favor of the Union, that +alone saved both countries from a bloody and disastrous war. + +The Emancipation Proclamation being, as we have seen, clearly +constitutional, as a war measure, with a view to save the Union, was +it, as such, wise and expedient? We have seen that the rebel South, even +by conscription, when necessary, used slaves for military purposes, and +those not used directly in that way are required to raise breadstuff's +and provisions (instead of cotton), to supply the Confederate army. +Indeed the debates of Congress for many years past, will show that the +South boasted, not vainly, of their great military strength, because +they declared that, while the slaves would be used in raising provisions +to supply their forces, the whole white population capable of bearing +arms could then be called into the field. This constituted, as they +declared, their _great military strength_. And is it not then a most +important war measure, to deprive them of that all-powerful and +efficient weapon: which, we have seen, can only be done by emancipation? +Now, let us suppose that while we refuse the use of the colored race, +whether bond or free, in aid of the war, they are used for that purpose +by the South, what would be the result? By the census of 1860, the whole +population of the United States was 31,445,080, of which there were +white, 26,975,575; free colored, 487,996; slaves, 3,953,760; total, of +colored, 4,441,756, of which there were in the seceded States 3,653,110, +and in the loyal States, 788,446. Add the whites in the seceded States, +5,449,463, would thus make the whole population of those States, by the +census of 1860, 9,102,573. In the loyal States, the whole population was +22,342,507; of which 21,553,861 were white, and 788,646 colored. Now +then, if the colored race, as we have seen, in the seceding States, are +used for war purposes by them and not by us, the relative number of +opposing forces would be as follows: Loyal States, 21,553,861; seceded +States, 9,102,573; difference in favor of the Loyal States, 12,451,288. +Now, to begin the process, add to the whites in the Loyal States the +free colored, and the total number is 22,342,507; seceded States, +9,102,573; difference in favor of the Loyal States, 13,239,934. +Continuing the process, if we deduct by the emancipation policy the +whole colored population of the seceded States, the result would be, +Loyal States, 22,342,507; seceded States, 5,449,463. But if, concluding +the process, by the emancipation policy we not only deduct the colored +race from the aid of the South, but add it in aid of the Loyal States, +the result would be, Loyal States, 25,995,617; seceded States, +5,449,463; difference in favor of Loyal States, 20,456,154. Thus the +policy opposed to emancipation and to the use of the colored race by us +in the war, mates the difference in our favor as against the South only +12,451,288, whereas the difference in our favor by the emancipation +policy of the President is 20,546,154. Deduct from this the above +12,451,288; final difference, 8,094,866. Thus we see that, by the +President's policy, there is, in effect, a gain to the Loyal States +equivalent to more than eight millions of people, more than 200,000 of +whom are already soldiers in the Union army, all of whom must be +disbanded if Mr. Lincoln's policy was erroneous. Will any say that a +policy which makes a difference in the relative forces of the two +contending parties of more than eight millions of people in favor of the +North, and which has already increased our army 200,000, is not a most +important war measure, aiding us to suppress the rebellion and save the +Government? and, therefore, it is a policy eminently calculated to +preserve and perpetuate the Union. Indeed, it is this measure which +renders the maintenance of the Union certain, and, without it, the Union +is subjected to great peril. + +As, then, the emancipation policy of the President is not only wise, +beneficent, and constitutional, but renders certain the preservation of +the Union, while that of his opponents subjects it to imminent peril, I +go for the reëlection of Mr. Lincoln. I go for him as a _Union man_, +and because his emancipation policy will certainly save the Union; and I +go against his opponent, because, however loyal he may be, and however +sincere his desire to save the Union, practically he is a disunionist, +because, independent of the Chicago McClellan platform, his +anti-emancipation and anti-negro policy subjects the Union to imminent +peril. Now, with me, in this, as in all preceding elections, the +preservation and perpetuation of the Union constituted the great +transcendent question, involving the liberty of our country and mankind, +and I can give no vote which subjects it to the slightest peril. Save +the Union, and all else will be added in time (including the _ultimate_ +downfall of Slavery, which I predicted and advocated in January, 1844), +has been the doctrine of my life. To that doctrine I still adhere, but +support the President's emancipation policy _now_, because it is the +most efficient, if not the only means of saving and perpetuating the +Union. I opposed emancipation when it was unconstitutional as a _peace +measure_, and because I knew it would cause civil war, invite foreign +intervention, and endanger the Union. I support emancipation now, +because it is constitutional as a war measure, greatly diminishes the +danger of foreign intervention, and insures the maintenance and +perpetuity of the Union. I supported Judge Douglas and opposed the +election of Mr. Lincoln in 1860, because I believed it would imperil the +Union. While always denying that his election would justify disunion, I +feared that the rebellion would be the result. In voting against Mr. +Lincoln in 1860, I did so to save the Union from peril. In voting for +him now, it is to suppress the rebellion and maintain the Union. It is +not for Mr. Lincoln as a man (however worthy he may be), that I now +vote--I vote for principles--I vote for the Union--and in supporting +him, I vote for the best, if not the only means to maintain and +perpetuate the Union. + +But there is another principle of vital importance involved in this +election. The South, under the banner of Slavery, proceeded to secede +from the Union, immediately after the result of the Presidential +election of 1860 was made known. South Carolina seceded in December, +1860. Mississippi followed early in January, 1861, and the Cotton States +all followed during that and the succeeding month of February. Now, Mr. +Lincoln was not and could not be inaugurated as President until March, +1861. The South did not and would not wait for his inaugural address of +that date to know, under the new condition of affairs, what would be the +policy of his Administration. They did not and would not wait for any +measures of his Administration, much less any act of the Government or +of Congress, but proceeded to secede merely because Mr. Lincoln had been +constitutionally elected to the Presidency by the people of the United +States. Such an act was an overthrow of the great fundamental principle +of all free government, namely, that the majority shall govern under the +forms of the Constitution. It was an attack upon the right of suffrage, +an assault upon the ballot box and the great principle of an elective +President, as provided in our Constitution, and which lies at the very +basis of free institutions. That principle is the vital element of our +existence. It is 'the casing air' of liberty. Take it away, and freedom +instantly expires. The right of suffrage is the great American right of +every citizen, rich or poor, humble or exalted. It is the great +palladium of our liberty. It is a Government, like a mighty pyramid, +reposing on its broad and immovable base, the will and affections of the +people. It is the people's Government, and therefore the people maintain +it, and with us two millions of volunteers have rushed to its support. +Therefore, while it is the best Government in peace, it is the strongest +in war. But secession because of the election of a President, is not +only war upon the Union, but war upon the elective franchise, the great +fundamental principle of free government, and without which it is but a +fleeting shadow. Democrats--people of all parties--my countrymen, while +you are asked now by the Chicago Convention to vote against Mr. Lincoln, +you would nullify by that very vote the right of suffrage, because, what +is that suffrage worth, what is your vote but an empty form, if it may +not elect your President? But if, because the minority who have voted +against you, dissatisfied with your choice, can rebel, make war upon +you, because you thus voted, and set up another President for that +minority by force of arms, what is that but to say that the majority +shall not rule; that the right of suffrage shall be nullified; that the +Constitution, under which that vote was given, shall be overthrown? This +is what the rebellion has done in attempting to destroy the Republic, +merely because of the election of Mr. Lincoln. This arrogant and +insolent slave-holding oligarchy would not even wait to hear what the +President of your choice would say. They treated the President of your +choice, and therefore they treated you and the Constitution under which +you acted, with scorn and defiance. So long as you would act with them, +so long as the Northern parasites would adhere to the Southern upas tree +of Slavery, so long as the 'mudsills' of the North, as they arrogantly +called you, would obey the orders of their Southern masters, so long as +you would be their slaves, they would permit the President to be +inaugurated. But so soon as you elected a President against their +dictation, then your suffrages should be nullified by the rebellion of a +minority against the majority. What is this but to say, that the +majority shall not elect a President, and thus render the right of +suffrage an empty form, striking at the fundamental principle of free +government, and substituting the _bayonets_ of the minority for the +_ballots_ of the majority of the people? Freemen of America, is it +possible that by voting against Mr. Lincoln now because of the Southern +rebellion, you will thus declare that the election of a President by the +people is not to be maintained, but that his reëlection is to be +defeated, and that his authority, as your President and as your +representative, is therefore never to extend over the _whole United +States_, because a rebellious minority oppose it by force of arms? This +is one of the transcendent issues involved in this contest. It is in +fact the great question whether the majority shall rule or the +minority--whether self-government is an unreal mockery, or whether it is +indeed a God-given right of _man_, born in the image of his Maker. You +voted that Mr. Lincoln should be President of the _whole United States_. +That was your decision at the ballot box. Has it been obeyed? No: an +arrogant slave-holding minority has rebelled against it, and, within the +boundaries of the area occupied by that minority, has suppressed your +election by the bayonet, and substituted Jefferson Davis, one of the +rebel leaders, in place of Abraham Lincoln. Within the limits of that +rebellion, the power, under the Constitution, which you devolved upon +Abraham Lincoln, has been nullified by force of arms, and now, if you +abandon the war, or defeat his reëlection, your choice will have been +nullified, and he never will have exercised throughout the United States +the power given to him by your suffrages under the Constitution. Now the +party in the North thus acquiescing in this destruction of the right of +suffrage, dares to assume the sacred name of Democracy, which you know +is but Anglicized Greek, meaning the _power of the people_. Shade of the +immortal Jackson! the father and founder of the Democratic party, burst +the cerements of the Hermitage, and blast with the thunders of New +Orleans the wretched traitors who thus dare to profane the sacred name +under which you were chosen President of the United States. + +But there is another grave objection to the McClellan platform adopted +at Chicago. It is its _intentional ambiguity_. The Convention was +composed of unionists and disunionists, of peace and war Democrats, as +they style themselves, and the platform was adapted to suit the views of +both these parties in and out of the Convention. It was a platform upon +which the temple of Janus was to be closed, but with side doors at +either extremity, into one of which the peace men with their olive +branches should enter, and the war men in full military array in the +other, and the lion and the lamb meet together in the centre in cordial +agreement. But, it appears that the war men in this case were only asses +in lions' skins, for in the compromise between antagonistic principles +and candidates, the peace men got far the better of the bargain. While +there were some vague and glittering generalities in favor of the Union, +they were connected with conditions which rendered the destruction of +the Union certain, namely, an armistice and cessation of hostilities, +accompanied by the false and flagitious declaration, calculated to +encourage the enemies of our country at home and abroad, namely, that +the war to suppress the rebellion was a failure. Remember, soldiers, +that the McClellan platform declares that your battles are failures; +that your blood has been shed in vain; that your arms can never crush +the rebellion; that you are inferior in courage to the slave-holding +rebels; that you must admit your defeat, throw down your muskets, return +in disgrace to your homes, disband the army, lay up the navy, recall +Generals Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Meade, and Gilmore, and Admirals +Farragut, Porter, Dupont, Davis, and Winslow, and leave it to the +civilians of Chicago, Vallandigham, Harris, Long, PENDLETON, and others, +to negotiate a peace. + +Now what is an armistice? It is defined to be a suspension of the war +for a limited period. There may be conditions added, but none are named +in the McClellan Chicago platform. Of course, then, it means a cessation +of hostilities by land and sea. Indeed, the platform is weaker than +this, for it proposes directly a 'cessation of hostilities,' not by land +only, or by sea only, but, of course, by _both, as the words are +general_. Now then, the blockade of the rebel ports, and the capture or +destruction of blockade runners and their cargoes, is war upon the +ocean. This blockade, then, is to be abandoned during the armistice, for +there is to be a cessation of hostilities upon the ocean and the land. + +During this interval of peace, when there is to be no blockade of the +Southern ports, what is to follow? By their own accounts and estimates, +the Confederates have within their limits, in cotton (at present +prices), tobacco, and naval stores, a value exceeding one billion of +dollars in gold. Now then, so soon as the armistice was agreed upon, the +war upon the ocean, including the blockade, having ceased, the whole of +this cotton, tobacco, and naval stores, would be shipped to Europe, or +partly to Nassau, on the way to Europe, and this enormous amount +realized by the Confederate government in gold. We know what tremendous +disasters have been produced by the cotton famine in England, France, +and other countries. Now, the first effect of such shipments would be +the total ruin of all our manufactures of cotton and other textile +fabrics. But another still more serious result would follow. We know +that Louis Napoleon is the bitter enemy of the Union; we know that he +has again and again declared that we could not suppress the rebellion; +that he has earnestly thrice endeavored to persuade the British +Government to unite with him in acknowledging the independence of the +South--twice through efforts made directly upon the British Cabinet, and +once through Roebuck and Lindsay, members of the House of Commons, to +induce it by a parliamentary vote to compel the British Ministry to +unite with the Emperor in acknowledging the independence of the South. +That Louis Napoleon is our bitter enemy, is proved also by the +French-Mexican war, in which England, and even Spain, separated from +him. It is proved also by the diplomatic correspondence of Jefferson +Davis, and by his friendly and approving recognition of the +establishment of the French Imperial Government in Mexico. It is further +proved by Louis Napoleon's own letter, in which he declared, that one of +the objects of the Mexican war was the establishment of the equilibrium +of the Latin race upon the American continent. It is farther +demonstrated by the proceedings of the French in Mexico, and especially +recently at Matamoras, in the mutual aid given and received by the +French and Confederate forces. Now, what is the meaning of establishing +the equilibrium of the Latin race on the '_American continent_'? In the +first place, it means European military intervention; in the second +place, it means to embrace not only Mexico, _but the whole Latin race on +the American continent_. By the Latin race is included all Spanish +America. It means, then, in the future, if our Government is overthrown, +that all Spanish America, from the northern boundary of Mexico to Cape +Horn, is to be consolidated into one great Power under imperial sway. It +means to include in this vast empire the command of the Isthmus of +Tehauntepec, the route by Central America (about which Louis Napoleon +has written so much), by Honduras and Chiriqui, but more especially the +Panama, as also the Atrato routes. + +In the great future, whoever commands these routes, especially together +with that of the Isthmus of Suez, which I visited a few months since, +and which Louis Napoleon has nearly completed, will command the commerce +of the world, and, as a consequence, ultimately control the institutions +of the world. Such are the tremendous problems teeming in the brain of +Napoleon the Third, and all, as he believes, depending upon the +destruction of the American Union. I speak of what I know from a +residence now of nearly two years in Europe. Thus it is that Louis +Napoleon intends to bring us within the centrifugal gravitation of the +European balance of power. This wonderful man proposes to extend this +system from the old continents to the new, embracing both, and thus hold +in his grasp the equilibrium--the balance of power of the world. We may +well imagine what that equilibrium will be when Napoleon the Third shall +hold the balance in his hands. Already he has considerable possessions +(insular and continental) in North and South America, and Mexico, under +Maximilian, is substantially a French dependency. He holds Algiers. He +is colonizing Egypt (as I myself saw this year) by his railroads and +canals. He has seized and colonized Cochin China and Annam. He has made +Italy a dependency on the bayonets of Franco. Now then, under these +circumstances, when the blockade shall have terminated, and Jefferson +Davis, who is quite as ambitious and even more talented than Louis +Napoleon, shall hold in his hand more than a billion of dollars' worth +of Southern products ready for immediate shipment, may he not, and will +he not say, through his most able and adroit diplomatic representative +at Paris, 'Recognize the independence of the South, and all these +products shall be shipped for sale in France, and to French +manufacturers,' and thus enable France to crush for the present the +cotton manufacturers of all the rest of the world. It is well known in +Paris that Mr. Slidell is upon terms of the most intimate association +with Louis Napoleon, and has thoroughly convinced him that we cannot +suppress the rebellion. Is it not, then, clear, anxious as Napoleon is +for the success of the South, that he would, in the event of McClellan's +election, at once recognize Southern independence. Indeed, it is the +boast of the Confederate leaders in Europe, since the adoption of the +platform at Chicago, that, upon the election of their candidates, +without waiting four months for the inauguration in March next, Napoleon +will AT ONCE recognize the Confederate government. Indeed, I do not +doubt, from the circumstantial evidence (although I do not know the +fact), that there is already a secret understanding between Jefferson +Davis and Napoleon the Third to recognize the independence of the South +upon the election of the Chicago candidates. Why wait four months, until +the 4th of March next, when the American people, by indorsing the +Chicago platform, shall have declared for peace, with the additional +announcement in that platform, that the war for the suppression of the +rebellion has failed? + +If, indeed, that war has failed, and we cannot thus suppress the +rebellion, it would not only be the right, but, upon the principles of +international law, the duty of every foreign power to acknowledge +Southern independence. Thus is it that the Chicago McClellan platform +invites recognition. What is the meaning of the recognition of the +independence of the South by France, under such circumstances? IT MEANS +WAR. It means, in the first place, commercial treaties stipulating great +advantages in favor of France, and perhaps other Powers. It means, of +course, the overthrow of the blockade, so as to carry out those +treaties. It means conditions destructive of our interests, and +favorable to the recognizing POWERS. It means advantages and +discriminations in tariffs and tonnage duties, and navigation +privileges, which would exclude us from Southern ports, including New +Orleans and the mouth of the Mississippi, and deprive us of the markets +of the South. Such a recognition, then, with its attendant consequences, +means war--war not only with France, but probably with England and +Spain, and other Powers. Doubtless, upon the election of the Chicago +candidates, Napoleon would again ask the Ministry of England to unite +with him in recognizing the independence of the South, and to +participate in the benefits of the proposed commercial treaties. Who can +say that England, under the dangers and sacrifices incurred by a +refusal, would again decline the offer? + +It is clear, then, that the election of the Chicago candidates involves +the most imminent peril of war with France, if not with England, both +acting then in alliance with the Confederate government. That my country +even then would accept the contest rather than the dishonor and ruin of +disunion, I do believe; but who can predict the result of such a +conflict? My countrymen, we are speedily approaching the very edge of a +dark and perilous abyss, into which we may be soon plunged by the +election of the Chicago candidates; I implore you not to make the dread +experiment. You must know that there will be no recognition of the +independence of the South by France or England, or any other Power, if +Abraham Lincoln should be reëlected in November next. The American +people will then have loudly proclaimed, through the ballot box, that +they can and will subdue the rebellion by force of arms; and that they +will continue to negotiate from the mouths of our cannon, until the +Southern armies shall have been dispersed and vanquished. Upon the news +of the reëlection of Mr. Lincoln reaching Europe, the Confederate stock, +now waiting the success of the Chicago candidates, will fall, like +Lucifer, to rise no more. American securities, including those of the +Federal and loyal State Governments, of railroads, and other companies +with real capital, will all be immensely appreciated. The difference in +favor of our country, including the rise in greenbacks, would be +equivalent in a few months to hundreds of millions of dollars. Nor is it +only our stocks that will rise at home and abroad, but the national +character will be immensely exalted. The friends of our country and +liberty in Europe, including the grand mass of the people, will echo +back the exultant shouts of freedom as they roll on from the Pacific to +the Mississippi, from the Mississippi to the lakes, and, bounding from +the glad Atlantic, are carried by steam and lightning to the shores of +Europe. The fetters of American Slavery will be broken by such a result, +and man--immortal man, of whatever race or color, born in the image of +his Maker, will emerge from chatteldom, and rise to the dignity of our +common humanity. + +There is one point still remaining of vast importance. It is the +question of Slavery, so far as it yet lingers within our borders. +Without entering upon other aspects of that case, we call attention to +the proposed amendment for the purpose of abolishing Slavery on the +recommendation of Congress and the ratification of three fourths of the +States, as provided in the Federal Constitution. This is recommended by +Mr. Lincoln, and it is a plank in the Baltimore platform. It passed the +Senate by a more than two-thirds vote, but was defeated, _by the +Democrats_, by a vote of 69 to 94, in the House, thus failing to receive +the two-thirds majority of both Houses of Congress as required by the +Constitution. If, as has been heretofore shown, Slavery is the great +enemy of the Union, and was the sole cause of the rebellion, why not +extirpate the _cause_ of the war? Why not remove what may remain of +Slavery after the war is ended, by the proposed amendment, as +recommended by Mr. Lincoln? This is a war and a Union measure, +calculated to crush the rebellion, to maintain the Union, and to prevent +any future effort to effect its overthrow. This measure, which would +settle finally and forever the Slavery question, will succeed at an +early period, if Mr. Lincoln should be reflected. But this measure the +Democrats oppose, and desire to _keep open_ the Slavery question, for no +object that can be perceived, except to renew the old party alliance +between Slavery South and its Northern supporters, with a view to party +triumphs. If General McClellan succeeds, Slavery, so far as it still +exists, will be cherished, maintained, and perpetuated. The viper will +be warmed into life again, and although it might perhaps recoil for the +present, it would only be to strike at some future period with greater +force and venom at the life of the Republic. These men tell us they are +for the _Union as it was_. Are they for the revival of such scenes as +were perpetrated by Brooks in the American Senate? Are they for the +Kansas frauds and murders and forgeries, including the forgery of a +constitution? Are they for the right of secession, or, while they +dispute the right of a State to secede, do they deny with Buchanan and +Pendleton the right of the Government to prevent its secession? Are they +against secession, but against coercion also? Are they against +rebellion, but opposed to its overthrow by force! Throughout the South, +under the Union as it was, there was no freedom of speech or of the +press, on any question connected with Slavery. Are they for the sale, +under the Union as it was, even of free negroes into perpetual bondage? +Are they for the denial of the rights of Northern citizens throughout +the South? Above all, are they for the renewal of the African slave +trade, as notoriously occurred in 1859 (during the Administration of +Buchanan), at Savannah, in Georgia, when the wretched victims, just +stolen from their native homes in Africa, were carried to Savannah, and +there, in defiance of the Federal Constitution, openly distributed by +sale among the boasted chivalry of the South? If the Chicago candidates +and their party are for these things--if they are for the Union as it +was in these respects, I am against them. I am for the Union (as clearly +intended by the fathers and founders of the Government) as it will be +when Slavery (its great, and, in fact, its only domestic foe) shall +have been entirely extinguished. While I am for the extinction of +Slavery as a Union and as a war measure, I am consoled by the reflection +that, while it will secure the perpetuity of the Union, it will vastly +increase our wealth and power, and advance all our industrial and +material interests. For several years past I have examined this +question, and, in various essays, published at home, but more especially +abroad, have proved by official statistics, from the censuses of 1850 +and 1860, that, under the system of free labor and free schools which +exist in the North, as compared with the South, the product of the Free +States is $217 _per capita_, and that of the slave-holding States $96 +_per capita_. Also, that the lands of the South are worth $10 per acre, +and of the North $25 per acre. It was further proved by me, in those +essays, by the same official data, that, exactly in proportion to the +number of slaves is the decreased production _per capita_ in the Slave +States; that of South Carolina, with 402,406 slaves and 291,388 whites, +being $66 _per capita_, and of Delaware, with 90,589 whites and 1,798 +slaves, being $143 _per capita_; while that of Massachusetts, with her +sterile soil and severe climate, and far inferior natural advantages, +was $235 _per capita_; and the same rule was also shown to hold in +counties of the same Slave States, those counties with few slaves always +producing more _per capita_ than those having many. The result was, as +shown by the census, that if the production of the South in 1859 had +been equal _per capita_ during the same year to that of the Free States, +the additional value of the Southern products would have been +$1,531,631,000 in 1859, and in the aggregate of the decade from 1859 to +1869, $17,873,539,511, exclusive of the addition from the annual +reinvestment of capital. The addition, then, to the value of the +products of the South in a single year, caused by the substitution of +free for slave labor, would be nearly equal to our whole present +national debt, while in the aggregate of the ten years succeeding it +would be nearly ten times greater than the whole national debt, thus +leaving us far richer after the next census, as a consequence of +increased production, notwithstanding the national debt, than if the +rebellion had never occurred. Thus is it that the ways of Providence are +justified to man, and that Slavery chastises its own advocates, while +its overthrow brings increased wealth and safety and honor and happiness +and prosperity to the country. While I do not advocate, then, the +abolition of Slavery in defiance of the Constitution, because it would +make us more wealthy and powerful, more honored, happy, and prosperous, +yet I rejoice that in supporting emancipation, as Mr. Lincoln does, as a +Union and as a war measure, the overthrow of this accursed institution +will be attended with countless benefits to my country and mankind. +Suppress the rebellion by the overthrow of the Southern armies, and +re-establish the Government throughout all our wide domain upon the +broad and eternal foundations of freedom, truth, and justice, then +neither domestic traitors nor foreign despots will ever dash against its +adamantine base. There it will stand, and stand forever, the mighty +continental breakwater between the continents of Asia and of Europe, +against which the breakers of internal faction, and the waves of +despotic power would dash in vain. To that home of the oppressed, to +that asylum of genuine and universal freedom, millions from the Old +World would then come, and unite with us in strengthening and +maintaining a Government based upon the rights of humanity, and +sustained by the affections of the people. While our physical force and +accumulating wealth would thus be rapidly and vastly augmented, our +moral power would be increased in a still grander ratio. Then the cry of +tyrants, that self-government is a phantom, and republics a failure, +would cease to oppress the listening ear of humanity. Then the chains +would soon fall everywhere from the limbs of the slave. Then the +reactionary and feudal party of Europe, now so loudly proclaiming +republics a failure, while exulting over the anticipated fall of the +American Union, would retire discomfited from the contest, while the +rights of man would be immensely promoted, and civilization advance, at +a single bound, more than in the lapse of many centuries. The great +liberal party of England, headed by those immortal champions Bright and +Cobden, would rouse like giants refreshed from their slumber, and carry +the flag of the vote by ballot and extended suffrage triumphantly +throughout the British realm, while Ireland, oppressed Ireland, would +then receive the fullest justice. Then, indeed, all past differences +between England and America would be sunk forever in fraternal concord, +and the peace of the world be maintained. Then Napoleon the Third, who +keeps an army of 600,000 men as a standing menace to Europe and the +world, and who has just, for the present, and for the present only, +extinguished in blood the freedom of Mexico, must abandon his ambitious +projects, or shiver his diadem upon the adamantine rock of popular +freedom. + +But there are complaints from the so-called Democratic party that the +President, and especially the Secretary of State, have surrendered the +Monroe doctrine, and abandoned Mexico to her fate. There is no truth in +this accusation. The President and the Secretary of State, _as regards +the future_, are wholly uncommitted on this question, unless, indeed, it +be for Mexico, by announcing that the people of the loyal States are +unanimously in her favor. I say they are uncommitted for the future, and +the real objection to their course is this: that they have not gratified +the South and its Northern allies, by engaging, ere this, in a war with +France, so as to bring her vast forces in aid of the Confederate +government. Indeed, Mr. Seward is cursed everywhere by the Confederates +and their allies throughout Europe for preventing a war, _at this time_, +on the Mexican question, between France and the United States, 'There is +a time for all things,' and, as I have said before, our only question +_now_, is the salvation of the Union; and when that is secured, will be +the proper period to consider other subordinate questions, foreign or +domestic. No man can speak with more feeling on this question than +myself, for it is a well-known fact that I earnestly opposed, as a +member of the Cabinet of Mr. Polk, the Mexican treaty of 1848, among +other reasons, upon the suggestion then made by me, that if we abandoned +Mexico, it would subject us to the danger of European interference there +(just as it has occurred) by force of arms. That treaty was carried by a +constitutional majority of only three votes, mainly through the +instrumentality of Mr. Calhoun, who was against the invasion of Mexico, +and for 'masterly inactivity,' resting on the banks of the Rio Grande, +because he knew (as declared in my Texas letter of January, 1844) +'Slavery never could cross the Rio Grande,' and that, as a consequence, +all of Mexico which we would permanently hold, as we ought to have done, +from Texas to Tehuantepec, would, Mexico having abolished Slavery, have +become Free States. I believed also that the permanent occupation and +annexation of Mexico would have forever settled all the dangers of the +Slavery question, because it would have flanked the Slave States of the +Southwest, by many powerful Free States adjacent on the Southwest, +containing already seven millions of people, most of whom were of the +colored race, and who would have fought to the last against the +reëstablishment of Slavery. + +Yet, strong and decided as is my opposition to the course of Napoleon on +the Mexican as well as the Confederate question, I believe that the +policy of Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward on this question has been marked by +great courage, devoted patriotism, and the highest statesmanship. I am +not for mingling this or any other question of foreign or domestic +policy with the maintenance of the Union, but have only answered the +assaults of adversaries on the Mexican and other subordinate issues. +This, however, I must say: that the treaty with Mexico, by which we +abandoned that country, having been ratified, I am opposed to any +violation of its provisions. While I adhere to the opinions expressed at +the time by me against that treaty; while I am opposed to forcing Mexico +into our Union, I believe that Napoleon the Third, unwittingly, by his +invasion, has caused Mexico soon to gravitate, by the overwhelming wish +of her people, into the arms of the great Republic. Thus is it that the +French invasion will have settled forever in our favor the question of +the American equilibrium. + +I have published the views expressed in these letters on consultation +with no one. They are my own individual opinions, and I only am +responsible for them. It is quite possible that the Administration may +differ from some of them, but I am just as independent of the +Administration as they are of me. I am not, and never was, a Republican +of 1856 or 1860, and while I have been falsely charged in Europe with +abandoning my free-trade principles, in consequence of the constant and +earnest support given by me to Mr. Lincoln, it must be remembered that a +majority of his Cabinet of 1863 had been Democrats, and supported the +Tariff of 1846. But the Tariff is a very subordinate question, compared +with the salvation of the Union. Besides, if the Tariff of 1846 was +changed, it was not until the 2d of March, 1861, and the change was +caused intentionally, by the previous withdrawal of the Senators and +Representatives of the seceded States from both Houses of Congress. + +I have another answer to this charge. I was for the _free list_ of the +Tariff of 1842, as distinctly stated in my first annual Treasury report, +so as to increase our exports, especially of dyed cotton goods, thereby +producing a corresponding augmentation of our imports and revenue. That +portion of the act of 1846 was defeated by Mr. Calhoun, much to my +regret, injury, and annoyance. + +Besides, the South, by its rebellion, and by thus forcing on us an +enormous Federal debt, has rendered impossible for many years any other +Tariff but that which will bring the largest revenue. Until this debt is +paid, we must have the highest Tariff for revenue, and it can be so +arranged as, while yielding, when the Union is restored, at least +$150,000,000 annually in gold, at the same time to furnish all +incidental aid to American industry that could be desired. + +I have thus far discussed the question as confined to the contest +between the respective candidates for the Presidency of the United +States. But let those who think of supporting General McClellan for the +Presidency remember that, in sustaining him, they must necessarily vote +for Mr. Pendleton for the Vice Presidency. McClellan and Pendleton are +the Siamese twins of Chicago, inseparable, and all who vote for the one, +vote at the same time for the other. No voter can cast his suffrage in +this contest, except by voting for an electoral ticket, and the same +electors for General McClellan who may be chosen in any State, are to +vote for Mr. Pendleton for the Vice Presidency. In other words, if +General McClellan is chosen President, Mr. Pendleton is elected at the +same time to the Vice Presidency of the United States. Now, recollect, +that the Vice President not only presides over the Senate of the United +States, and gives the casting vote in that body, but that, in case of +the death of the President, the Vice President becomes President of the +United States. Now, two Presidents of the United States, within the last +twenty-three years, have died during their term of office (Harrison and +Taylor), and one of them within a month after his inauguration. In both +these cases, the Vice Presidents chosen on the same electoral ticket +with the President, reversed the policy of the President elect. Tyler +reversed the policy of Harrison, and Fillmore reversed the policy of +Taylor. Why may not the same thing again occur, if Mr. Pendleton, by the +death of General McClellan, should succeed him as President? This +renders an inquiry into the course and views of Mr. Pendleton a question +of vital importance. + +Now, Mr. Pendleton, as his votes and speeches show, is against the war +for the Union, and has declared the coercion of a seceding rebel State +not only '_impracticable_,' but 'unconstitutional.' His words are, in +big speech in Congress of the 18th January, 1861, after most of the +Cotton States had seceded: 'Sir (he then said) the whole scheme of +coercion is impracticable. It is contrary to the genius and spirit of +the Constitution.' In accordance with these anti-coercion and anti-war +views, he continued to vote against the prosecution of the war, and +against all the great measures passed for that purpose. He further then +said, 'If your differences are so great that you cannot or will not +reconcile them, then, gentlemen, let the seceding States depart in +peace; let them establish their government and empire, and work out +their destiny according to the wisdom which God has given them.' This is +exactly the doctrine of Jefferson Davis, and of all the rebel leaders: +'LET US ALONE.' _Let us alone_, while we overthrow the Government and +dissolve the Union; _let us alone_, while we seize the mouth of the +Mississippi, and tear down or shoot down the flag of the Union from +every fort of the South. This is their language, and the Chicago +Convention might just as well have nominated Jefferson Davis as George +H. Pendleton as their candidate for the Vice Presidency of the United +States. Such a nomination of an avowed disunionist shows the true spirit +of the Chicago Convention, and that all their general expressions of +devotion to the Union were mere empty sounds, calculated to secure +votes, but utterly false and hypocritical; for, while indulging in these +pharasaical expressions of love for the Union, they nominate, at the +same time, as their candidate for the Vice President, an avowed +secessionist and disunionist. We have nothing to do with the abstract +opinions or wishes of Mr. Pendleton as regards the Union. Jefferson +Davis repeatedly, and up to the very period of secession, expressed +quite as much devotion to the old flag and to the Union as Mr. +Pendleton. But Mr. Davis soon became the head of the rebellion which Mr. +Pendleton declares we ought not, and have no constitutional power, to +suppress by force. Far all practical purposes, then, Mr. Pendleton is +just as much a secessionist and disunionist as Jefferson Davis. Nor can +it be alleged that Mr. Pendleton has changed these views. On the +contrary, as late as this year he voted in Congress against the test +resolution of Green Clay Smith, of Kentucky, declaring 'that it is the +political, civil, moral, and sacred duty of the people to meet the +rebellion, fight it, crush it, and forever destroy it.' Now then, the +Chicago Convention, with a full knowledge of these votes and speeches, +nominated Mr. Pendleton for the Vice Presidency, and contingently for +the Presidency of the United States. They knew full well that Mr. +Pendleton had declared the effort to crush the rebellion impracticable +and unconstitutional, and that, therefore, if the power they proposed to +give him were ratified by his election, he could, and under his oath of +office to support the Constitution, he must, disband our armies, +terminate the war, and permit the dissolution of the Union to be +consummated; or he might repeat his own words of 1861: Let the seceding +States depart in peace; let them establish their government and empire, +and work out their destiny according to the wisdom which God has given +them.' It is, then, a sufficient objection to the Chicago candidates +that Mr. Pendleton, one of the candidates, inseparably connected with +General McClellan on the same electoral ticket, is, as we have seen, +opposed to the war, and for all practical purposes as much a +secessionist and disunionist as Jefferson Davis. This being clear, if +General McClellan is really for the war to save the Union, by crushing +the rebellion, he must refuse to run on the same electoral ticket with +Mr. Pendleton; and if he does not, the people and history will assign to +him the same position. He cannot lend his name to aid the election of +Mr. Pendleton on the same ticket with himself, and profess devotion to +the Union. + +There is yet another point on which I would say a word. It is this: From +the proceedings of the Canada Confederates, and their Northern allies, +and the outgivings of the Richmond press, I conclude that their last +suggestion is this: two or more confederacies, Northern, Southern, +Middle, New England, Northwest, Mississippi, and Pacific. They are to be +united by free trade between them all, and by an alliance offensive and +defensive. That is, whenever any one of these confederacies go to war, +we are to join them in the conflict. Namely, if the Southern Confederacy +wishes to conquer and annex Cuba or Porto Rico, or to conquer and extend +slavery to Central America, and war follows, we are to join them in the +war, and sustain them with our blood and treasure. If so, the temple of +Janus will never be closed on our continent, and war will be our normal +condition--a war not declared by us, or in our own interest, but by the +South, as a foreign government. Such an alliance is visionary, ruinous, +and impracticable. It is simply a scheme to secure Southern +independence. + +Then, as to the free trade to be secured by treaty between the several +confederacies. Recollect that each of these nations is to be foreign and +independent, and to have its separate treaties with foreign Powers. How +long would such treaties and such an alliance last? Why, the flag of the +South would scarcely float over the mouth of the Chesapeake and +Mississippi, before the conflict with us of views and measures would +begin, nursed and promoted by foreign Powers, where each of the new +confederacies would have its separate ministers, representing distinct +and discordant interests. When have such alliances or treaties lasted +even for half a century? Where are all the leagues of antiquity or of +modern Europe? Where are all such leagues and treaties even of the last +century? Where is our own alliance with France of 1778? Where all such +alliances and treaties even of the first half of the present century? +They are all extinguished. Experience proves--the voice of history +proclaims--that treaties or alliances between independent Powers are +always of short duration, being soon swept before the gust of contending +passions, or melted in the crucible of conflicting interests. Where is +the celebrated alliance and treaty of 1814 and 1815 of Vienna, between +the great European Powers, establishing FOREVER, by a congress, the +balance of European power? Is there a single clause now in force? Where +is the clause securing France to the Bourbons, and guaranteeing her +forever against the reign of any of the Bonaparte family? Where are the +states whose independence was forever guaranteed by those treaties? +Where are Parma and Modena and Tuscany? Where is Lombardy, where the +Romagna, Naples, and the Two Sicilies? Where are the duchies of +Lauenburg, Schleswig, and Holstein, and where the treaty of 1852 in +regard to them? All, all have passed away, just as would our proposed +treaties or alliances. The first war would sweep them out of existence. +No, my countrymen; as Washington, the father of his country, most truly +told us in his Farewell Address: 'To the efficacy and permanency of your +Union, a Government _for the whole_ is indispensable. _No alliance_, +however strict between the parts, can be an adequate substitute; they +must inevitably experience the _infractions_ and _interruptions_ which +_all alliances_, in _all time_, have experienced.' + +Washington thus foresaw and warned us against this most insidious +proposition to divide our country into separate confederacies, no matter +how strict the alliances between them might be; and let us adopt his +counsels. + +Is it not strange, while Italy and Germany seek, in Italian and German +unity, relief from the ruin and oppression of so many independent states +and governments, and are each making advances to that great +consummation, that we are asked to adopt the reactionary policy, and +separate glorious Union into distinct confederacies, soon to be followed +by grinding taxation, by immense standing armies, and perpetual wars? + +And now then, my countrymen, I bring this letter to a close, imploring +you to give no vote which will subject the Union to the slightest peril. +Come, then, my friends, of all parties, come, Republicans, and Whigs, +and Democrats, and Irish and German and native citizens, trampling under +our feet all past issues, and all old party names and prejudices, and, +standing on the broad basis of principle, let us vote, not for men or +parties, but for the salvation and perpetuity of the Union. + + R. J. WALKER. + + + + +GENIUS. + + + Far out at sea the wave was high, + While veered the wind and flapped the sail; + We saw a snow-white butterfly + Dancing before the fitful gale, + Far out at sea! + + The little creature, which had lost + Its mate, of danger little knew; + Settled awhile upon the mast, + Then fluttered o'er the waters blue, + Far out at sea! + + Away it danced with shimmering glee, + Now dim, distinct, now seen, now gone: + Night comes, with wind and rain, but he + No more shall dance before the morn, + Far out at sea! + + He dies unlike his mates, I ween, + Perhaps not sooner or more crossed; + But he has known, and felt, and seen, + A wider, larger hope, though lost + Far out at sea! + + + + +LITERARY NOTICES + + + THE AMERICAN CONFLICT: A History of the Great Rebellion in the + United States of America, 1860-'64: Its Causes, Incidents, and + Results: Intended to Exhibit especially its Moral and Political + Phases, with the Drift and Progress of American Opinion respecting + Human Slavery from 1776 to the close of the War for the Union. By + HORACE GREELEY. Illustrated by Portraits on Steel of Generals, + Statesmen, and other Eminent Men; Views of Places of Historical + Interest; Maps, Diagrams of Battle Fields, Naval Actions, etc., + from official sources. Vol. I. Hartford: Published by O. D. Case & + Co. Chicago; Geo. & E. W. Sherwood. 1864. + +It is not our intention here to enter into any critical analysis of the +volume before us, but rather to give the reader an idea of what he may +find within it, in the words of Mr. Greeley himself. It is inscribed to +Mr. Bright, under the following dedication: 'To John Bright, British +Commoner and Christian Statesman, the Friend of my Country, because the +Friend of Mankind, this Record of a Nation's Struggle up from Darkness +and Bondage to Light and Liberty, is regardfully, gratefully inscribed +by the Author.' + +Mr. Greeley says in his preface: 'No one can realize more fully than I +do that the History through whose pages our great-grandchildren will +contemplate the momentous struggle whereof this country has recently +been and still is the arena, will not and cannot _now_ be written; and +that its author must give to the patient, careful, critical study of +innumerable documents and letters, an amount of time and thought which I +could not have commanded, unless I had been able to devote years, +instead of months only, to the preparation of this volume. I know, at +least, what History is, and how it must be made; I know how very far +this work must fall short of the lofty ideal.' ... 'What I have aimed to +do, is so to arrange the material facts, and so to embody the more +essential documents, or parts of documents, illustrating those facts, +that the attentive, intelligent reader may learn from this work, not +only what were the leading incidents of our civil war, but its causes, +incidents, and the inevitable sequence whereby ideas proved the germ of +events.' ... 'My subject naturally divides itself into two parts: I. +_How we got into the war for the Union_; and II. _How we got out of it_. +I have respected this division in my cast of the present work, and +submit this volume as a clear elucidation of the former of these +problems, hoping to be at least equally satisfactory in my treatment of +the latter.' ... 'I shall labor constantly to guard against Mr. +Pollard's chief error--that of supposing that all the heroism, +devotedness, humanity, chivalry, evinced in the contest, were displayed +on one side; all the cowardice, ferocity, cruelty, rapacity, and general +depravity, on the other. I believe it to be the truth, and as such I +shall endeavor to show, that, while this war has been signalized by some +deeds disgraceful to human nature, the general behavior of the +combatants on either side has been calculated to do honor even to the +men who, though fearfully misguided, are still our countrymen, and to +exalt the prestige of the American name.' + +The sale of the work before us has been immense. Such has been the +demand for Vol. I. of 'The American Conflict,' that the publishers have +found it impossible to supply the demand, even with regard to agents and +subscribers. The subscription list already numbers 60,000, although but +one fourth of the Free States have been canvassed. + +Leading heads of chapters are: I. Our Country in 1782 and in 1860. II. +Slavery in America prior to 1776. III. Slavery in the American +Revolution. IV. Slavery Under the Confederation. V. The Convention of +1787 and the Federal Constitution, VI. Slavery after 1787. VII. +Missouri--The Struggle for Restriction. VIII. State Rights--Resolutions +of '98. IX. Abolition--Its Rise and Progress. X. The Churches on Slavery +and Abolition. XI. The Pro-Slavery Reaction--Riots. XII. Texas and her +Annexation to the United States. XIII. The Mission of Samuel Hoar to +South Carolina. XIV. War with Mexico--Wilmot Proviso. XV. The Struggle +for Compromise in 1850. XVI. The Era of Slave Hunting--1850-'60. XVII. +The Nebraska-Kansas Struggle. XVIII. Case of Dred Scott in the Supreme +Court. XIX. Our Foreign Policy--Monroe--Cuba. XX. John Brown and his +Raid. XXI. The Presidential Canvass of 1860. XXII. Secession Inaugurated +in South Carolina. XXIII. The Press and the People of the North +Deprecate Civil War. XXIV. Attempts at Conciliation in Congress. XXV. +Peace Democracy at the North and Peace Conference at Washington. XXVI. +The Union versus the Confederacy. XXVII. The Pause before the Shock. +XXVIII. Siege and Reduction of Fort Sumter. XXIX. The Nation Called to +Arms--and Responds. XXX. Secession Resumes its March. XXXI. The Opposing +Forces in Conflict. XXXII. West Virginia Clings to the Union. XXXIII. +The War in Old Virginia. XXXIV. First Session of the Thirty-Seventh +Congress. XXXV. The Rebellion and War in Missouri. XXXVI. War on the +Seaboard and the Ocean. XXXVII. Kentucky Adheres to the Union. XXXVIII. +The Potomac--Ball's Bluff. Notes and Analytical Index. + +This work demands an extended review, and the readers of THE CONTINENTAL +may again hear of it. Meantime the most varied estimates will be formed +of its merits; as various as the political tenets held by its readers. + +It is illustrated, containing Heads of President and Cabinet, Eminent +Opponents of the Slave Power, Confederate Chieftains, Union Generals, +Confederate Generals, Union Naval Officers, Plans of Battles, etc., etc. + + + DOWN IN TENNESSEE, AND BACK BY WAY OF RICHMOND. By EDMUND KIRKE, + Author of 'Among the Pines,' 'My Southern Friends,' etc. New York: + Carleton, publisher, 413 Broadway. 1864. + +The author of this work, having been familiar with the South in days +more tranquil, had 'a desire to study the undercurrents of popular +sentiment, and to renew his acquaintance with former friends and Union +prisoners,' and so visited the Southwest in May last: the present volume +thus originated. We cannot very readily discern how much of this work is +fact, how much fiction. We have the Union scout, the poor white, the +negro, and other elements belonging both to the romance and reality of +Southern life in these days of struggle. Are the exquisitely simple and +heart-touching thoughts and expressions which fall from the lips of the +poor white or scout, actually true, or are they the coinage of Mr. +Kirke's own vivid fancy? Notwithstanding the hideous jargon in which +they occur, if real they evince a high soul, even in the midst of +ignorance, and are the gems of the work. The book ends with a detailed +account of the author's introduction to Colonel Jaques, and their +subsequent visit to Richmond, an episode in our history quite as +curious as the Sanders and Greeley conference at Clifton House, and +one which has excited quite as wide an interest. Mr. Kirke says of +the poor whites: 'I have endeavored to sketch their characters +faithfully--extenuating nothing and setting nothing down in malice--that +the reader may believe what I _know_, that there is not in the whole +North a more worthy, industrious, loving class of people than the great +body of poor Southern Whites. Take the heel of the man-buying and +woman-whipping aristocrat from off their necks, give them free schools, +and a chance to rise, and they will make the South, with its prolific +soil, its immense water power, and its vast mineral wealth, such a +country as the sun never yet looked upon, and this Union such a Union as +will be the light of nations and the glory of the earth!' + + + POEMS OF THE WAR. By GEORGE H. BOKER. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. + 1864. New York: for sale by D. Appleton & Co. + +Mr. Boker has attained, what his more elaborate efforts sometimes lack, +fire, concentration, and energy, in these 'Poems of the War.' We thank +him heartily that he has taken the glories of our country and the +sufferings and deeds of our dauntless soldiers as his theme. Patriotism +has inspired him, and the ever well-tuned chords of his lyre ring out +with bolder and more soul-stirring melody than of old. 'On Board the +Cumberland,' 'The Sword Bearer,' 'The Ballad of New Orleans,' 'Crossing +at Fredericksburg,' 'The Black Regiment,' 'In the Wilderness,' are truly +national poems, and should be read at every hearthstone in our land. We +quote the closing lines from 'Upon the Hill before Centreville': + + 'Oh, let me not outlive the blow + That seals my country's overthrow! + And, lest this woful end come true, + Men of the North, I turn to you. + Display your vaunted flag once more, + Southward your eager columns pour! + Sound trump and fife and rallying drum; + From every hill and valley come! + Old men, yield up your treasured gold; + Can liberty be priced and sold? + Fair matrons, maids, and tender brides, + Gird weapons to your lovers' sides; + And, though your hearts break at the deed, + Give them your blessing and God-speed; + Then point them to the field of fame, + With words like those of Sparta's dame! + And when the ranks are full and strong, + And the whole army moves along, + A vast result of care and skill, + Obedient to the master will, + And our young hero draws the sword, + And gives the last commanding word + That hurls your strength upon the foe-- + _Oh, let them need no second blow!_ + Strike, as your fathers struck of old, + Through summer's heat and winter's cold; + Through pain, disaster, and defeat; + Through marches tracked with bloody feet; + Through every ill that could befall + The holy cause that bound them all! + Strike as they struck for liberty! + Strike as they struck to make you free! + Strike for the crown of victory!' + +While we honor our brave soldiers and their glorious deeds, let us also +honor their bards, + + 'Nor suffer them to steal, + Unthanked, away, to weep beside the harp, + Dejected, prayerful, while the fields are won.' + + + BROKEN LIGHTS: An Inquiry into the Present Condition and Future + Prospects of Religious Faith. By FRANCES POWER COBBE. Boston: J. E. + Tilton & Co. 1864. + +A book of decided ability, however much we may regret the conclusions +arrived at by its author. Contents of Part I. are: The Present Condition +of Religious Faith. Chapter I. The Great Problem. II. The Solutions of +the Problem, Historical and Rational, Palæologian and Neologian. Under +the head of Palæologian we have The High Church Solution, the Low Church +Solution; under Neologian we have the First Broad Church Solution, the +Second Broad Church Solution. We have then the Solutions of the Parties +Outside the Church, Bishop Colenso on the Pentateuch, and Renan's 'Vie +de Jesus.' Part II. gives us 'The Future Prospects of Religious Faith.' +Under the head of Rational, we have the Rationalist Solution of the +Problems, The Faith of the Future, Theoretic Theism, and Practical +Theism. + +Our author is of the school of Theodore Parker, a Theist. 'Three great +principles--the absolute goodness of God; the final salvation of every +created soul; and the divine authority of conscience--are the obvious +fundamental canons of the Faith of the Future.' We continue our +quotations: 'God will not leave us when all our puny theologies have +failed us, and all our little systems shall have had their day and +ceased to be. We shall yet praise Him who is the light of life, even +though the darkness may seem to gather round us now. Christianity may +fail us, and we may watch it with straining eyes going slowly down from +the zenith where once it shone; but we need neither regret that it +should pass away, nor dread lest we be left in gloom. _Let it pass +away_--that grand and wonderful faith! Let it go down, calmly and +slowly, like an orb which has brightened half our heaven through the +night of the ages, and sets at last in glory, leaving its train of light +long gleaming in the sky, and mingling with the dawn. Already up the +East there climbs another Sun.' Again: 'The faith, then, for which we +must contend--the faith which we believe shall be the religion of future +ages--must be one founded on the Original Revelation of Consciousness, +not on the Traditional Revelation of Church or Book--a faith, not +resting for its sole support on the peculiar History of one nation, but +rated by the whole history of humanity.' ... 'The view which seems to be +the sole fitting one for our estimate of the character of Christ, is +that which regards him as the great REGENERATOR of Humanity. _His coming +was to the life of humanity what Regeneration is to the life of the +individual._ He has transformed the Law into the Gospel. He has changed +the bondage of the alien for the liberty of the sons of God. He has +glorified Virtue into Holiness, Religion into Piety, and Duty into +Love.' + +What a perpetual stumbling block in the way of all unbelief is the +marvellous character of Christ! We may strive to throw away the record, +but He remains a living force within the soul forever. The Theist would +miss Him even in his certain heaven! + +We think we have given, in the few short extracts above, enough to +enable our readers to perceive the standpoint from which this work is +written. It is a clear statement of the dogmas held, the reasons for +their adoption, and the hopes of what is styled the Church of the +Future. Of the ability of many of its adherents there can be no doubt. +The contest is upon the children of Faith. Let them meet it with candor, +fairness, prayer, love, profound biblical and scientific erudition, and +may God comfort us with His eternal truth! + + + DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. By ROBERT BROWNING. Boston: Ticknor & Field. New + York: for sale by D. Appleton & Co. + +This book has been already reviewed by the English critics, who are +always appreciative of Browning's merits, and tender to his faults. It +is as wilful as its predecessors, as unintelligible, as fragmentary, its +rhythm as distorted and broken, its diction as peculiar, its sequences +as disconnected. Yet we think it shows gleams of higher poetic talent +than anything he has yet published. It contains eighteen poems. 'A Death +in the Desert' is an imaginary portrayal of the death of St. John in his +old age in a cave, to which he had been taken by some faithful adherents +to save him from persecution. It is a sketch of power and originality. +St. John is supposed to speak: + + 'If I live yet, it is for good, more love + Through me to men: be nought but ashes here + That keeps awhile my semblance, who was John-- + Still when they scatter, there is left on earth + No one alive who _knew_ (consider this!) + --Saw with his eyes and handled with his hands + That which was from the first the Word of Life. + How will it be when none more saith 'I saw?'' + +Very original and very disagreeable in its highly wrought and subtile +Realism is 'Caliban upon Setebos, or Natural Theology in the Island,' a +study from Shakspeare's 'Tempest.' It is a curious exposition of the +philosophy of such a being. At the close, when Caliban, who speaks in +the third person, is beginning to think of Setebos, 'his dam's god,' as +not so formidable after all, a great storm awakes, which upsets all his +reasoning, and makes him fall flat on his face with fright: + + 'What, what? A curtain o'er the world at once! + Crickets stop hissing; not a bird--or, yes, + There scuds His raven that hath told Him all! + It was fool's play, this prattling! Ha! The wind + Shoulders the pillared dust, death's house o' the move, + And fast invading fires begin! White blaze-- + A tree's head snaps--and there, there, there, there, there, + His thunder follows! Fool to gibe at Him! + Lo! 'Lieth flat and loveth Setebos! + 'Maketh his teeth meet through his upper lip, + Will let those quails fly, will not eat this mouth + One little mess of whelks, so he may 'scape!' + +'Mr. Sludge, the Medium,' one of the longer poems, is intended, +according to rumor, to demolish Mr. Home, and includes some sharp +thrusts at various persons who still patronize him after having found +him guilty of fraud. + +The story runs that a lady and gentleman of eminence, devout +spiritualists, residing at Rome, confessed to Mr. Browning that during +Mr. Home's stay at their house they once forbade his putting his hand +under the table, and the spirits wouldn't rap, and Home burst into +tears, and confessed that _on that occasion only_ he had deceived them; +that on one other occasion he had put phosphorus on the tips of wires +and stretched them from the roof of their house to represent certain +spiritual apparitions. 'And what did you say, how did you act, upon the +discovery?' asked Mr. Browning. 'Oh,' replied the lady, 'I rebuked him +severely; told him plainly how shameful it was that one who had been so +supernaturally gifted should act so, and told him that he ought to +repent.' 'And he still remained with you, and--' 'Oh, yes, we are +perfectly sure that everything was genuine afterward.' Upon which the +poet was so disgusted that he vented his indignation in 'Mr. Sludge.' + + + FIRESIDE TRAVELS. By JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. 'Travelling makes a man + sit still in his old age with satisfaction, and travel over the + world again in his chair and bed by discourse and thoughts.'--_The + Voyage of Italy, by Richard Lassels, Gent_. Boston; Ticknor & + Fields. 1864. New York: for sale by D. Appleton & Co. + +Mr. Lowell says, in big short preface: 'The greater part of this volume +was printed ten years ago in _Putnam's Monthly_ and _Graham's Magazine_. +The additions (most of them about Italy) have been made up, as the +original matter was, from old letters and journals written on the spot. +My wish was to describe not so much what I went to see, as what I saw +that was most unlike what one sees at home. If the reader find +entertainment, he will find all I hoped to give him.' + +And a churl he surely were if he find it not; for a right pleasant book +it is to read--genial and full of the real Lowell humor, almost as +characteristic as Jean Paul's, _der einzige_. 'Cambridge Thirty Years +Ago' will carry many of our most distinguished men back to the sunny +days of youth, while the boys of to-day will be delighted to know how it +fared with them then and there. Contents: Cambridge Thirty Years Ago; A +Moosehead Journal; Leaves from My Journal in Italy and Elsewhere; At +Sea; In the Mediterranean; Italy; A Few Bits of Roman Mosaic. + +There is no use in praising a book of Lowell's; everybody knows, reads, +and loves him. + + SIMONSON'S CIRCULAR ZOOLOGICAL CHART. A Directory to the Study of + the Animal Kingdom. Published by Schermerhorn, Bancroft & Co., 130 + Grand street, New York, and 25 North Fourth street, Philadelphia. + +This chart must prove a valuable guide to the teacher, and a great aid +to the student of Natural History. It appears to have been carefully +compiled from modern standard works, and is divided and subdivided as +accurately as the limited space allows. It is a vast aid to the memory, +showing at a glance the classification of the animal kingdom; and, +bringing together the various groups of animals on one page, it stamps +its complicated lesson on the mind through the rapid power of the eye. +When the enormous number of species is considered, the advantage of such +a chart may be readily imagined. It may be used as an introduction by +the teacher, or side by side with any text book. We heartily recommend +it to notice. + + + PERCE'S MAGNETIC GLOBES. A very ingenious invention is here offered + to the public through Mr. J. F. Trow, of 50 Greene street, New York. + It consists of a hollow Globe made of soft iron, and Magnetic + Objects, representing the races of mankind, animals, trees, + light-houses, are supplied with it, which, _adhering to the + surface_, illustrate clearly the attraction of gravitation, the + rotundity of the earth, its diurnal motion, the changes of day and + night, and many other things very difficult to make intelligible to + children. Teachers will find this globe and its magnetic objects of + incalculable value in affording facilities for striking + illustrations of principles, problems, and various terrestrial + phenomena. + +SIZES AND PRICES. + + No. 1. Library, 12 inches in diameter, revolving + brass meridian $22.00 + + No. 2. Library, 12 inches, plain stand 16.00 + + No. 3. Student's, 5 inches, revolving brass + meridian 5.00 + + No. 4 Student's, 5 inches, plain stand 3.50 + + No. 5. Primary, 3 inches, " " 2.50 + +Suitable Magnetic Objects accompany each Globe. + + + CHRISTUS JUDEX. A Traveller's Tale. By EDWARD ROTH. Philadelphia: + Frederick Leypoldt. 1864. + +A singular romance, interwoven of the art life of the Old, and the +forest life of the New World. The main character is the _Great Stone +Face_, already immortalized by the lamented Hawthorne. It is here +presented to us under a new aspect, and while we think that even those +grand old rocks fail to embody the glorious ideal of a Christus Judex, +we must acknowledge the pleasure we have derived from the fanciful +descriptions and pleasant associations offered us in this dainty little +volume. + + + + +EDITOR'S TABLE. + + +Christmas is again upon us, dear readers; we may almost hear the +gathering chime of its happy bells upon the frosty air. It is a time +when even strangers may hold commune; let us take advantage of it, and +learn to know something of each other. But are we indeed strangers? It +is true that we stand as abstract impersonalities, as disembodied +spirits, unknown even by name to one another. Yet have we held relations +which we cannot shake off even if we would. 'The most obscure of +literary men' we may be, yet has your kind smile often cheered us as we +labored to place before you the wants, wishes, tastes, views, hopes, and +aims of our common country. Caterer as we are for you, through us and +the handywork of our skilful printer have our able writers spun their +golden threads through heart, mind, and soul. Contributors, readers, and +editor are alike linked in these glittering spiritual meshes, and can +never be quite the same as if the web had never held them for its +passing moment in its light zone of thought. For ideas generate duties, +knowledge stimulates action, and to act in a world of doubt may well be +onerous. We frankly confess to you that a dread responsibility has cast +a deep shadow upon all our moments since the commencement of our +intercourse with you. Our butterfly hours were then past: we grew into +work-a-day bees--if only we have stored some honey in your hives to pay +us for the lost idlesse of our dreamy summers! If it 'is greatly wise to +talk with our past hours, and ask them what report they bear to Heaven' +when spent only for ourselves, it is a solemn thing to call them back, +and ask them what report they bear to Heaven for the thousands to whom +they have ministered. We spread the table lovingly before you: what if +there should be something in yourselves to turn our healthful food to +poison? On marches THE CONTINENTAL with its light and heavy freight of +winged words and thoughts, striding from _monthly_ stepping-stone to +stepping-stone on the long route of Time. Stepping-stones in Time are +they now truly, but as we gaze they seem to grow into Eternity, and the +buds which twine their glow around them ripen slowly into ever-living +fruit in the strange clime of the Everlasting Now to which we are all +hastening. + + How clear that Christmas chime upon the frosty air! + +Reader, is it too much to hope that in spite of all our short-comings, +we have yet been loyal to your better hours, and faithful in the field +given us to sow for the heavenly Reapers? We have labored to interest, +amuse, and instruct you for the last eighteen months: have you learned +in that time to _trust_ us as we have learned to care for you? Do you +know us loyal patriots and true Christians, even if of a broad and +all-unsectarian faith? If we are too frank, it is because we are certain +that truth can never contradict itself, that nature must be one with +revelation, that he errs who fears the crucible of the savant or would +hold science in leading strings. THE CONTINENTAL seeks the light, +condemns to silence no new Galileo, tortures no creative Kepler, has no +fires for heretics, and nothing worse than an incredulous smile for the +shivering witches and mediums, the muscular demons of modern +spiritualism. It rejects no scientific investigation honorably pursued, +for all paths lead back to the Maker of the Universe, and the honest +seeker must find Him at the end of his route. That God is our Father, +that we are made in His triune image, that Christ is our elder Brother, +the great Regenerator of our race, is surely the ever open, ever mystic +secret of the universe! + +We have travelled on together through a gloomy year. The air has been +sad with sighs, dim with tears, restless with great sobs of human +anguish. But we are drifting into calmer swells on the great Time-Ocean, +and the _crimson_ year of '64 is almost past. The dwellers of the Valley +already look for the morning star, while those upon the Hilltop hail the +auroral light of '65. Enshrined in and sparkling through its golden +glow two mystic figures gleam; the star of the morning pales before +their splendor. The one is godlike in her majesty, sublime through +conquered suffering, the awful smile of the Crucified seems shining +through the features transfigured since He wore them, and the cross +glitters in all the glory of Self-sacrifice on her broad breast. She +wears a girdle blue as if woven from the depths of heaven, and as we +gaze we see great opals with veiled hearts of fire form into quaint old +runic letters upon it, and the God-word LOVE flashes down the secret of +her inner life upon us. She is still young as when she woke in Paradise, +and, seeing the End, is not yet weary with her long journey of Exile. +Brighter gates than those of Eden stand unbarred before her! In her +right hand she holds unrolled, that all may read, the great Magna Charta +of universal Human Rights, and even at this distance we may see +EMANCIPATION upon its broad margin. We know the once sad spirit now, no +longer _sad_, the _radiant_ Genius of Humanity. + +Her vigorous arm is round a younger and less solemn form, a form of +wildering beauty, whose gold hair glitters like a nimbus in the level +rays of morning; with an irresistible impulse we take her into the +innermost folds of our hearts, we feel her to be _our own_; our banner +in her right hand sways and tosses on the fresh breeze, its stars, round +which new suns are ever clustering, throw their dazzling light upon her, +and the young eagles turning from the sun throng around her to drink the +splendor from her brighter brow. The long streamers from her girdle +float athwart the sky, their wavy lines, red, white, and blue, quiver +with delight as the wild zephyrs caress them, thrilling the air with +shifting play of passionate color. Ha! what miracle is this?--whatsoever +light may fall upon them, under what angle soever we may see them, as +were it magically woven into their warp and woof, we read the word now +graven on our hearts--UNION! Her left hand holds closely clasped to her +heart a great urn, glowing as it were an immense ruby--ah! we need no +words to tell us what the young spirit clasps so fondly to her +breast--we _feel_ it is the dust of the holy dead, who gave their lives +on the red battle field that she might live: their very ashes glow with +living fire! Her white feet rest on the sacred graves of Shiloh, +Antietam, Murfreesboro', Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain, the +Wilderness, Atlanta, Winchester, and Cedar Creek, from which she has +newly risen in her young strength and ever-growing glory. + +She is the brilliant Spirit of our Nation! the new hope of all People! +Her career is ever onward with the Genius of Humanity into the enchanted +realm of the happy Future. No chains are in her white hands now. The +tired laborer rests as she smiles upon him; the bay of the bloodhound +and sharp crack of the lash cease in the white cotton field; the Indian +buries his tomahawk, no longer wounding the still ear of the forest with +his shrill war whoop; the maiden walks fearlessly free, for all men are +now her brothers; shielding her sanctity; the wife is happy, for the +husband has won her esteem, and it is no shame to crown him with her +love; and cherub-children sport around, lovely and happy as the +heaven-seraphs. + +Peace to our glorious dead! Eternal honor to the martyrs of freedom! +From the sharp agonies of their true hearts springs now first to +_conscious_ birth the vigorous Spirit of our Nation. We never knew +aright how very dear to us she was until the traitors tried to tear her +limb from limb because her heart was open to all made in the image of +their God--because she knew the sacred worth of man. + + How near those Christmas chimes peal on the frosty air! + +And if we will but think of it, a Nationality is always of slow growth, +of gradual development. It, like man himself, is born in pain and +anguish. It is indeed a living member of the Grand Man of which Humanity +is composed. Since the forty years wandering of the children of Israel +in the desert, how much suffering has been endured to hold it sacred! +The history of the present time is but a record of fierce struggles to +achieve or hold a Nationality. Poland has hung on the cross of her great +enemy for centuries rather than yield its sanctity. He has torn and +scattered its quivering members, blotted it out in blood from the names +known on earth, it has been murdered, and fed upon by three great +Christian Powers ('Oh, the pity of it!')--Catholic Austria, Protestant +Prussia and Greek-Churched Russia--but it is not dead: it lives in all +the energy of self-abnegating suffering on the mountains of Causasus, +the steppes of Asia, the frozen plains of Siberia, in the depths of +Russian mines, the darkness of Russian prisons, and it still will live +until the last Pole is laid in the last grave of his heroic but +unfortunate race. Such is its vitality when once truly born. Denmark +turns pale and shivers as she feels it may be torn from her; 'Italia, +with the fatal gift of beauty for her dower,' the fair land where fairer +Juliets breathe the enamored air, art--crowned and genius-gifted, +writhes in agony until it may be her own; Greece long bled for it; and +the brave and haughty Magyar, to whom a courser fleet and the free air +are necessities of daily life, braves and bears prisons, chains, and +poverty, in the hope of its attainment. What is this precious +Nationality? Like all basic elements, it is difficult to define. It is +not a State, a Constitution, nor is it made by man at all. An able +writer in _The North American Review_ for October says: 'It may be +said, in general, to be the sum of the differences, geographical, +historical, political, and moral, which separate a people as a community +from every other--of those differences which modify the character of +each individual, and the results of which are combined in the traits of +national character. The consciousness of its existence is developed +slowly, and it is long before the sentiment of Nationality--the true +foundation of patriotism--gains force over the hearts and convictions of +a people. But this sentiment, when it has once taken root, is one of the +_most powerful_ of those by which human conduct is affected. It is a +sentiment of the highest order, lifting men out of narrow and selfish +individualism into a region where they behold their duties as members +one of another, as partakers of the general life of humanity--the +inheritors of the past, the trustees of the future.' + +'What is planetary humanity?' says Krasinski. 'It is the entirety and +unity of all the powers and capacities of the human spirit expressed +visibly on the earth through harmony and concord, the love of its +members, that is of the various nationalities. As all the members of the +human body are the visible and various parts of the invisible human I, +which connects and rules them all, so the visible nationalities must in +their variety and harmonious unity become in some future time the living +members of a universal humanity. The world knows to-day to what point +its history is tending: it knows it is governed by the wisdom of God, +and that its end is the Humanity, the entire universality brought into +perfect accord with the will of God, knowing and executing the laws +given it by God. But the means to this end, the instruments, the living +members, are the _Nationalities_, in which all the varieties of the +human race have their fairest bloom, their most precious flower. What +the tones are in the musical chord they are in humanity, eternal variety +in eternal harmony and concord. It is impossible to conceive Humanity +without them; it would then be unity without variety, consequently no +_proper unity_ at all, a mere lifeness _oneness_. States are of human +creation, an aggregative collection of small parts; but nationalities +are made by God alone, and therefore not states without nationalities, +but states forming nationalities, belong to the coming union of +universal humanity, and pass into the Christian order. States have risen +before this to destroy a nationality, dividing and quartering it for the +profit of some selfish ideal, tearing asunder a living, palpitating +organism, murdering a visible member of the Universal Humanity. He is +but a child who calls this merely a political crime: it is a crime of +the very deepest dye, a crime against the Humanity itself, against +religion, where the daring criminals, striding over all lower spheres, +break into the circles of the living God. To tear asunder a state of +merely human creation, generated only by human interests and passions, +would be a political crime, but to wish to dismember and murder a +God-given nationality, when the realization of the idea of humanity on +the planet cannot be filled without it, is a rebellion against the +eternal truth of God--it is a sacrilege! The recognition of such +violation were participation; opposition to such impiety is religion!' + +Our very origin teaches us union. We have sprung from so many races that +it is throbbing in our very life-pulse, and is written on the red +tablets of our hearts. It runs and dances in our blood, tingles along +our nerves, colors our thoughts, tones our emotions, and determines our +affections. All the old and bitter European animosities die in us, for +its Peoples are fused in our _one_ life pulse. A little child of our own +household now unites in the sacred oneness of American life, English, +Scotch, Irish, Welsh, Dutch, German, French, Saxon, Bohemian, and Polish +nationalities. What lessons we have in our multiform descent, if we will +but heed them; what inner teachings of sympathy and love, if we will but +learn them! Distinctive nationalities, giving such beautiful variety to +the _earth_, here join in the individual, imparting the greatest +complexity and variety to internal _character_. Such nationalities, +still existing unimpaired abroad, are here formed into _one_ of +unequalled breadth and grandeur; their scattered rays of light are here +concentrated into _one_ great focus; the blood of the various Peoples +pours through _one_ great heart, and the common gifts, hopes, creeds of +the separated and warring nations meet in the holy mystery of _one_ +grand national life. Here, indeed, is the widest variety in the closest +unity, the life of the warring Past melting into that of the +myriad-pulsed Present, the certain hope of a harmonious Future. + +The maturity and highest powers of other nations being necessary as its +germs, what wonder that our nationality should be the latest born on +earth, or that in view of the broad love stirring in its soul, because +of its manifold descent, its first articulate accents should be ALL MEN +ARE BORN FREE AND EQUAL! This is a union in the laboratory of +assimilative nature, such as has never before been dreamed of, vital and +all embracing, weaving into one palpitating mesh the very fibres of +being itself. The union of long-jarring nations is consummated, +perfected in us, and shall not we, the children of all climes, be _one_ +in our own marvellous nationality? 'Divide and conquer' is old strategy, +but despots and tyrants strike in vain at this wondrous mingling of all +Peoples in one great PEOPLE, where the People are the Sovereigns; for +this UNION is spun in the loom of Eternal Destiny, throbs in each +linking life-pulse, is knit into our very nature, and kindles in the +close unity and sanctity of our national life under the creative breath +of God himself. Palsied be the hand armed to strike the multitudinously +mingled life of Humanity as it circles through our glorious Union! + +'Peace on earth, good will to men,' chime out the Christmas bells from +old Trinity! + +It is this struggle to preserve our nationality intact which has +sanctified our war, from the red heart of which has grown a patriotism +which, glowing like a central sun, burns away all the dross of our +earlier materialism, gives as self-reliance, and frees us at last from +our long tutelage to the Old World. And never had patriotism a more +solid ground than ours, since the power, growth, and safety of our +nationality are the progress, happiness, and prosperity of humanity +itself. Everything that breathes the breath of human life, however +opposed to it now, is _really_ benefited by our growth. As a Government +we stand first upon the earth; the first utterance of our brave lips +being--all men are born free and equal. Sublime, bold, and living words; +blessed be the lips which uttered them! And we are beginning to fulfil +the inspired ideal. Alas! we have suffered too much from permitting an +evil germ to grow up side by side with this great annunciation, to fall +speedily again into a like error. It has taken down into the dust our +best and dearest, saddened almost every hearthstone in the land, and, +saddest of all, wrought ruin on the Southern soul, maddening our +brethren there into modern Cains, armed against the sacred life of their +and our nationality. For what cause did Cain kill his brother? +'Because,' says St. John, 'his own works were evil, and his brother's +just.' We will surely save it, but that done, we have an arduous task +before us. Christianity and love must take the place of expediency, +machiavelism, and cunning diplomacy in the sphere of politics. We see +the smile of scorn upon the lips of the doubter; he deems the thing +impossible. So he would have pronounced our noble record of the last +three years, three years ago. Nay, it is already half accomplished, +since we now know it must be done. The black man free, the red man must +at last receive attention. The protection of our laws must be thrown +around him; justice must guide our future dealings with him, and sorrow +for all the fearful ills we have wrought upon him must awaken larger +sympathy, and elicit tender mercy. The race are dying out among us: let +us at least soothe their parting hours. And let the Government look well +to its avaricious agents. Our people are generous, and mean to be just; +that is not enough: they must take the proper means, and see that their +beneficent intentions are carried out with regard to this wretched +remnant. It is not possible that a race so full of wild natural +eloquence, of graceful imagery, of tender metaphor, of stern endurance, +can be _utterly_ lost and depraved. Be it our noble task to try to save +these wild children of the forest, while throwing the most complete +protection around our brave frontier population. Our nationality is now +fully born--on our banner is inscribed the equal rights of humanity. Our +mission is revealed to us--it is that labor shall be elevated, and that +equal justice be the law of _actual life_. 'That the human race is in a +real sense one--that its efforts are common, and tend to a joint result, +that its several members may stand in the eye of their Maker, not only +as _individual_ agents, but as contributors to this joint result--is a +doctrine which our reason, perhaps, finds something to support, and +which our heart readily accepts.' This Christmas peal rings to us as it +has never rung before: let it awaken our consciousness of what God means +us to be upon this planet, and touch our heart. It has at last reached +the ear of the emancipated African, after pealing nearly nineteen +hundred years for the more favored part of humanity; and, thanks to the +mercy of God and our own manhood, the most oppressed of the brethren of +Christ may now feel themselves men. The dark wife, in her new right to +be faithful, is at last a woman; her dusky children are now her own, and +cannot be torn from her arms at the dictates of one who has bought at +the human auction block the right to torture the body and soul. Is not +humanity newborn among us? Is the negro of the accursed race of Ham? It +is we who curse, not God, whose very name is Love! Well may our +Christmas bells ring on so merrily, for our age is great and glorious. +It is a pupil of the entire Past, the heir of all its knowledge, the +inheritor of all its wisdom. The Future is its own. _The sphere of +politics must be redeemed from the demons of expediency and interest +which have so long ruled there; it is to be vitalized and purified from +all iniquity._ It is an Augean stable we have to clean, but Hercules was +one, and we are many. The People are at last sovereign. Every man who +works for humanity has God upon his side; he cannot fail, for the might +of Omnipotence is with his puny arm. This is the task now set before us: +it lies directly in our onward path--we cannot take a step really in +advance until it is achieved. If we fail now, all is lost. Our dead +heroes will not rest in their graves until the task is done, and their +young lives will have been a vain sacrifice. This crimson year is dying +fast; bury with it all past wickedness! May our long civil war die out +with its knell, the corpse of Slavery be laid in its bloody grave, and +the vain attempts of assembled despots to destroy our glorious +nationality perish forever! Bury with this blood-red year all malice and +uncharitableness, all sectarian suspicion and distrust, all partisan +political violence and hatred, and let the new year ring in one faith, +one hope, one country undivided and _indivisible_. Our Union means all +this, and a great many things more which it has not yet entered into the +heart of man to conceive. We can effect wonders if we will, for the +_individual_ effort makes the _universal_ all. Who would prove recreant +in such a cause? Come! it is pleasant to work for humanity; fatigue +itself seems sweet, the strength of the race nerves the individual arm, +labor grows into prayer, human sympathy and communion become godlike and +open heaven. We are none of us so little that we can do nothing; we are +all necessary to the good of the whole. The highest individuality and +freedom should generate the widest social love and charity. No labor is +really irksome that helps the masses of our fellow men. If we have the +Promethean fire, let it burn to light and warm them. The race is one, +nor can we be happy while its members suffer. The moment we have done +one duty faithfully, another and a higher awaits us. To be condemned to +work only for ourselves were the true hell, the self-kindled fire of +everlasting torture! We are the children of the nineteenth century, have +been nourished upon the humane laws of this noble country, we are sons +of God, brothers of Christ, heirs of glory, immortals. Let us assume the +majesty of our being, drape ourselves in our heaven-woven robes of love, +open our hearts to the poor and wretched, instruct the ignorant, reclaim +the vicious, bear each other's burdens, frown on vice, give up our petty +vanities, cease our frivolous excuses that, we have no influence, when +every one of us has an immortal in charge, use our strength to forbid +oppression, whether of individuals or nationalities. Then might the day +seen by the prophets, sung by poets, and believed in by devout hearts, +dawn upon this planet before the blessed '65 were tolled to rest. + +"A man shall be more precious than gold, ay, than the finest of gold." + +"The fool shall no more be called prince, nor the deceitful great." + +"And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar +off; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their +spears into spades; nation shall not take sword against nation; neither +shall they learn war any more. + +"And every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there +shall be none to make them afraid." + +"I will give my laws into their mind, and I will write them in their +heart; and I will be their God; and they shall be my people." + +Peace on earth, good will toward men, still peal the Christmas bells, +until the frosty air seems quivering with the new joy of humanity. + +Fair voyage through the realms of Space, the universe of stars, the +passionate throbs of Time, with thy precious human freight, O lovely +Planet, cradling our dead in thy green bosom, and uniting the living in +one great nation; and may the brightest sunshine fall upon thy flowers +until thy young Immortals are all landed in the Port of Heaven! + + + + +'COR UNUM, VIA UNA.' + +GOD BLESS OUR NATIVE LAND! + + + From every clime, and name, and race, + The thronging myriads came, + A mighty Empire's bounds to trace, + A wilderness to tame! + + _Chorus_--From mountain peak to sear-girt shore, + Let Freedom's noble band + Uplift the song thrills each heart's core: + God bless our native land! + + Columbia's plains are broad and fair, + Each coast an ocean laves, + Vast lakes and streams fleet navies bear + Upon their sun-lit waves. + + _Chorus._ + + Her mountains towering meet the skies, + Her vales are clad in green, + Her leafy forests proudly rise, + Pure gold her grain's bright sheen. + + _Chorus._ + + United flows our mingled blood, + And Freedom guards the land, + While linked in closest brotherhood, + Invincible we stand! + + _Chorus._ + + Unfurl our banner! Let it wave + From every plain and crag! + Its beacon light our fathers gave,-- + All hail! our glorious flag! + + _Chorus_--From mountain peak to sea-girt shore, + Let Freedom's noble band + Uplift the song thrills each heart's core: + God bless our native land! + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No. +6, December 1864, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONTINENTAL MONTHLY *** + +***** This file should be named 24491-8.txt or 24491-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/4/9/24491/ + +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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