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diff --git a/42412-0.txt b/42412-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bb18007 --- /dev/null +++ b/42412-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9162 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42412 *** + + BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + + NO. CCCCI. MARCH, 1849. VOL. LXV. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE, 255 + + THE SYCAMINE. BY [Delta], 274 + + AFTER A YEAR'S REPUBLICANISM, 275 + + THE CAXTONS. PART XI., 287 + + M. PRUDHON.--CONTRADICTIONS ECONOMIQUES, 304 + + THE GREEN HAND.--A "SHORT" YARN. PART II., 314 + + MÉRIMÉE'S HISTORY OF PETER THE CRUEL, 337 + + THE OPENING OF THE SESSION, 357 + + + EDINBURGH: + WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET; + AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. + +_To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._ + + SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. + + PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH. + + + + + BLACKWOOD'S + EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + + NO. CCCCI. MARCH, 1849. VOL. LXV. + + + + +SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE.[1] + + +There are three reasons why the second edition of a good book, upon an +advancing branch of knowledge, should be better than the first. The +author, however conversant he may have been with the subject when he +wrote his book, is always more thoroughly read in it--supposing him a +worthy instructor of the public--his opinions more carefully digested, +and more fully matured, when a second edition is called for. Then he +has had time to reconsider, and, if necessary, remodel his +plan--adding here, retrenching there--introducing new subject-matter +in one place, and leaving out, in another, topics which he had +previously treated of with more or less detail. And, lastly, the +knowledge itself has advanced. New ideas, which in the interval have +established themselves, find a necessary place in the new issue; facts +and hypotheses which have been proved unsound drop naturally out of +his pages; and, on the whole, the later work exhibits a nearer +approach to that truthful summit, on which the eyes of all the +advancers of knowledge are supposed evermore to rest. + +For all these reasons, the second edition of the _Book of the Farm_ is +better than the first. The opinions of the author have been +reconsidered and materially improved--especially in reference to +scientific points; the arrangement has been simplified, and the whole +book condensed, by the exclusion of those descriptions of machinery +which properly belong to the department of agricultural mechanics, and +which we believe are about to be published as a separate work; and the +strides which practical agriculture has taken during the last ten +years, and the topics which have chiefly arrested attention, are +considered with the aid of the better lights we now possess. + +Of all the arts of life, there is none which draws its knowledge from +so great a variety of fountains as practical agriculture. Every branch +of human knowledge is mutually connected--we may say interwoven +with--and throws light upon, or is enlightened by, every other. But +none of those which largely contribute to the maintenance of social +life, and conduce to the power and stability of states, is so varied +in its demands upon the results of intellectual inquiry, as +husbandry,--or rural economy in its largest sense. + +Look at that magnificent ship, which cleaves the waters, now trusting +to her canvass and wafted by favouring breezes; now, despite the +fiercest gales, paddling her triumphant way over hill and valley, +precipice and ravine, which the raging sea, out of her fertile +materials, is every moment fashioning beneath her feet. Is there any +product of human art in which more intellect is embodied than in this +piece of living mechanism? The timber can tell of the axe of the +woodman on far-distant hills, and of the toils of many craftsmen in +fitting it for its present purpose. The iron of the researches of the +mineralogist, the laborious skill of the miner, the alchemy of the +smelter, the wonders of the tilt-hammer, the ingenuity of the +mechanist, and the almost inconceivable and mathematical nicety by +which its various portions are fitted to each other, and, like the +muscles and sinews of the human body, made to play together for a +purpose previously contemplated--an uninstructed man might almost say, +previously agreed upon among themselves. The steam, of what hidden +secrets of nature!--the mysteries of heat, which could not hide +themselves from the searching genius of Black,--the chemistry of +water, which the ever-pondering mind of Watt compelled from unwilling +nature,--the endless contrivances by which its fierce power was tamed +to most submissive obedience in the workshops of Soho. The compass may +for a moment carry us back to the fabled mountains of our infancy, in +which the hidden loadstone attracted the fated vessel to its ruin; but +it brings us forward again to the truer marvels of modern magnetism, +and to the intellect which has been expended in keeping the needle +true to the pole-star in the iron boat, where, surrounded by metallic +influences, countless attractions are incessantly soliciting it to +deviate. And when, as the mid-day sun mounts to the zenith, the +sextant and the quicksilver appear, how does it flash upon us that +modern navigation is the child of astronomy; and that the mind +embodied in the latest Rossian telescope is part and parcel of the +inappreciable mass of thought to which, "walking the waters as a thing +of life," that huge steam-frigate owes its being! + +What a concentration of varied knowledge is seen in this single work +of art! From how many sources has this knowledge come!--how many +diverse pursuits or sciences have yielded their necessary quota to the +common stock!--how many varied talents have been put under +contribution to contrive its many parts, and put them fittingly +together! + +But, to the pursuits of the humble farmer, more aids still contribute +than to those of the dauntless navigator. His patient and quiet life +on land is as dependent upon varied knowledge, draws its instruction +from as many sources, and is more bound up in visible union with all +the branches of human science, than even the active and stirring life +of the dweller on the sea. + +Some of our journal writers are accustomed to ridicule the results of +agricultural skill; to undervalue our successful field improvements; +to laugh at Smithfield Christmas cattle, and at the exhibitions of our +great annual shows. In thoughtlessness, often in ignorance, they +write, and always for a temporary effect, which our progressing +agriculture can well afford to pass by. + +But we ask our rural reader to turn up the first volume of the _Book +of the Farm_, and to cast his eye for a moment on the triad of +beautiful shorthorns represented in the sixth plate; or on the +magnificent stallion of the fourth plate, or on the graceful sheep of +the seventh. We pass over the _points_ in which, to the educated eye, +their beauty consists; we dismiss, for the present, all consideration +of their perfection as well-bred animals, and their fitness for the +special purposes for which they have been reared. We wish him to tell +us, if he can, how much mind has gone to the breeding, rearing, and +feeding of these animals--how many varied branches of knowledge have +lent their aid to this apparently simple and un-imposing result. + +The food on which they have been brought up has been gathered from the +soil--the grass, the hay, the root crops, the linseed, the barley, the +oats. And how much intellect, from the earliest dawn of civilisation, +has been lavished upon the soil!--how many branches of knowledge are +at this moment uniting their strength to develop its latent +capabilities! Geology yields the raw materials upon which, in after +ages, the toils of the husbandman are expended. She explains what are +the variations in the natural quality of these materials; how such +variations have arisen; where they lead to increased, and where to +diminished fertility; how and where the still living rocks may +contribute to the improvement of the dead earth which has been formed +from them; and how, in some apparently insecure regions, the +unsleeping volcano showers over the land, at varying periods, the +elements of an endless fertility. Mineralogy lends her aid to unravel +the origin, and nature, and wants, and capabilities of the soil; and, +as the handmaid and willing follower of geology, dresses and classes +the fragments which geology has let fall from her magnificent +formations. But chemistry, especially, exhausts herself in the cause +of the husbandman. No branch of rural art, as we shall see, is beyond +her province and control. All that the soil originally derives from +geologic and mineral materials, chemistry investigates; all that these +substances naturally become, all that they ought to yield, how they +may be persuaded to yield it; by what changes this is to be brought +about; by means of what agencies, and how applied, such changes are to +be induced:--chemistry busies herself with all this, and labours in +some sense to complete, for the purposes of rural art, the information +which geology and mineralogy had begun. + +Upon the soil the plant grows. What a wonder and a mystery is the +plant! A living, and growing, and breathing existence, that speaks +silently to the eye, and to the sense of touch, and to the sense of +smell--speaks kindly to man, and soothingly, and appeals to his +reasoning powers--but is mute to the most open and wakeful of all his +senses, and by no verbal speech reveals the secrets with which its +full vessels are bursting. How many wise heads have watched, and +tended, and studied it--the humble plant--interpreting its smallest +movements, the meaning of every change of hue upon its leaves and +flowers, and gathering profoundest wisdom from its fixed and voiceless +life! To what new sciences has this study led the way! Botany never +wearies in gathering and classifying; and of modern giants, Linnæus, +and Jussieu, and Decandolle, and Brown, and Lindley, and Hooker, and +Schleiden, have given their best years to unfold and perfect it. +Alongside of descriptive and systematic botany has sprung up the +allied branch of Structural Physiology, and the use of the microscope +has added to this the younger sister Histology; while these two +together, calling in the aid of chemistry, have built up the further +departments of Chemical Physiology and Chemical Histology--departments +too numerous, too profound in their research, and too special in their +several niceties of observation, for one head clearly to comprehend +and limit them. + +And on the plant as it grows, and as a perfect whole, chemistry +expends entire and most gifted intellectual lives. Of what the plant +consists, whence it draws its subsistence, how it takes it in--in what +form, in what quantity, at what period of the day--how the air feeds +it, how the soil sustains it, why it grows well here and badly +there--what are the nature, composition, action, and special +influences of manures--where and when, and of what kind, they should +be applied to the plant--how this or that effect is to be produced by +them, and this or that defect remedied. + +But the life of the plant is an unravelled thread. The steam-frigate +appears to live, and thunders as she moves, breathing fire and smoke. +But the still life of the plant awes and subdues more than all this. +Man may forcibly obstruct the path of the growing twig, but it turns +quietly aside and moves patiently on. The dead iron and wood, and the +forceful steam, all obey man's will--his intellect overmasters their +stubbornness, and tames them into crouching slaves--but the life of +the plant defies him. That life he can extinguish; but to use the +living plant he must obey it, and study its wants and tendencies. How +vastly easier to achieve a boastful triumph over the most stubborn +mineral matter, than to mould to man's will the humblest flower that +grows! + +And each new plant brings with it new conditions of life, new wants, +new virtues, new uses, new whims, if we may so speak, to be humoured. +The iron, and the timber, and the brass are always one and the same to +the mechanist; but with the constitution of each new plant, and its +habits, a new series of difficulties opens up to the cultivator, which +only time and experience, and much study, can overcome. + +But mechanics also exert much influence upon the culture of the soil, +and the rearing of useful plants. And though the greatest achievements +of mechanical skill were not first made on her behalf, yet even the +steam-engine may be said to have become auxiliary to agriculture; and +the thousand ingenious implements which Northampton and York exhibited +at their recent anniversaries, showed in how many quarters, and to how +large an extent, the purely mechanical and constructive arts are +expending their strength in promoting her cause. + +On meteorology, which studies the aërial meteors--registers, +tabulates, and gives even a local habitation and a form to winds, +hurricanes, and typhoons--the progress of the navigator much depends. +They hinder or hasten his progress; but he overcomes them at last. But +atmospheric changes are vital things to the plant and to the soil. +Where no rain falls, the plant withers and dies. If too much falls, it +becomes sickly, and fails to yield a profitable crop. If it falls too +frequently, though not in too large quantity on the whole, one plant +luxuriates and rejoices in the genial season, while another with +difficulty produces a half return. If it falls at unseasonable times, +the seed is denied admission into the ground in spring, or the harvest +refuses to ripen in the autumn. + +So the warmth and the sunshine, and the evening dews and the fogs, and +the electric condition of the air--its transparency and its varying +weight--and prevailing winds and hoar-frosts, and blights and +hail-storms, and the influence of the heavenly bodies on all these +conditions--with all these things the interests of the plant and the +soil demand that scientific agriculture should occupy herself. On +every single branch of knowledge to which we have alluded, the power +and skill profitably to influence the plant are dependent. + +And for what purpose does the plant spring up, the soil feed and +nourish it, and the blessed sun mature its seeds? To adorn, no doubt, +the surface of the beautiful earth, and to keep alive and propagate +its species; but principally to nourish the animal races which supply +food and yield their service to man. And, upon the study of this +nurture and feeding of the animal races, how much intellect has been +expended! Has the stoker who heaps coals upon the engine fire, and +turns one tap occasionally to maintain the water-level in the boiler, +or another to give passage to the steam--and thus keeps the +pile-driver, or the coal-drawer, or the tin mine, or the locomotive, +or the steam-boat, or the colossal pumps of the Haarlem lake, in easy +and continuous operation--has he, or has the man who curiously watches +his operations--have either of them any idea of the long days of +intellectual toil--of the sleepless nights, during which invention was +on the rack--of the mental dejection and throes of suffering, under +which new thoughts were born--of the lives of martyred devotion which +have been sacrificed, while, or in order that the machine, which is so +obediently simple and easily managed, was or might be brought to its +present perfection? Yet all this has been, and has been suffered by +men now gone, though the ignorance of the humble workman, little more +thoughtful than the iron he works with, fails either to feel or to +understand it. + +And so too often it is with you who feed, and with you who look at the +simple process of feeding stock. As the turnip and the barley, and the +oats and the linseed, and the beans, are placed before the almost +perfect short-horn, or the graceful Ayrshire, or the untamed West +Highlander, or the stately stallion, or the well-bred Leicester or +Cheviot ram, or the cushioned and padded Berkshire porker--how little +do you know or think of the science, and long skill, and intellectual +labour, which have been expended in preparing what is to you so +simple! It is not without and beyond the ranks of the agricultural +community only that we need look for those who lessen the intellectual +character of rural industry, and of the rural life. Too many of our +practical men, even of high pretensions, are themselves only the +stokers of the agricultural machine; and, like ungrateful and +degenerate children, in their ignorance deny the head of the mother +that bred and fed them.[2] + +What are the functions of the animals you rear--what the composition +of their several parts--what the nature of the food they require--what +the purposes it serves--what the proportions in which this or that +kind of food ought to be given--what the changes, in the kind and +proportion, to adapt it to the special habits and constitution of the +animal, and the purposes for which it is fed? Are these questions +deep? Yet they have all been thought over and long considered, and +discussed and disputed about, and volumes have been written upon them; +and the chemist, and the physiologist, and the anatomist have, unknown +to you, all laboured zealously and without wearying, in your service. +And what you now find so simple only proves how much their sciences +have done for you. _They_ have fitted the machinery together, _you_ +but throw in the fuel and keep up the steam. + +With the rearing of stock, and the improving of breeds, practical men +are, or fancy themselves, all more or less conversant. How much warm +and persevering genius, guided by purely scientific principles, has +been expended upon our improved shorthorns and Leicesters! Are the +whole lives of a Collins, or a Bakewell, or a Bates, nothing to have +been devoted to pursuits like this? That these were practical men, and +not scientific, and that what they have done is not a debt due by +agriculture to science, is the saying of many. Men who have never read +a book can do, by imitation, what the patient services and skill of +other men discovered, and perfected, and simplified. But in this they +are only stokers. The improvers were sound and cautious experimental +physiologists, guided by the most fixed and certain principles of +animal physiology; and it is the results at which these men arrived +that have become the household words of the stokers of our day, who +call them _practice_ in opposition to _science_. If science could +forget her high duties to the Deity, and to the human race, she might +leave you and your art to your own devices. + +Need we allude to the conditions of animal life--in a state of health, +and in a state of disease; to the varied constitutions of different +races and varieties; to the several adaptations of food, warmth, and +shelter which these demand; and to the extensive course of study which +is now required to furnish the necessary resources to the accomplished +veterinary surgeon? Yet would any breeder be safe for a moment to +invest his money in stock, in a country and climate like ours, had he +not, either in books, or in his own head, or in that of a neighbouring +veterinarian, the results at which the long study of these branches of +knowledge, in connexion with animal health, had discovered and +established? + +We pursue this topic no further at present. We fearlessly assert--we +believe that we have shown--that as much intellect has been +scientifically expended in elucidating and perfecting the various +operations of rural life, by which those magnificent cattle have been +produced by art, as has gone to the elaboration of that wonderful +wave-subduing ship. The vulgar mind, awed by bulk and sound, and +visible emblems of thought, may dissent--may say that we have not so +much to show for it. But the laws of life are sought for and +studied--they are not made by science. The Deity has forbidden human +skill to develop a sheep into an elephant. Living materials, as we +have said, are not plastic like wood and iron; and to change the +constitution and character of a breed of animals may require as great +and as long-continued an exercise of inventive thought as to perfect +an imposing piece of machinery. The real worth of a scientific result +is the amount of mind expended in arriving at it, as the real height +of an animal in the scale of organisation is measured by the +proportionate size of its brain. + +But we have our more palpable and sense-satisfying triumphs too. Look +at that wide valley, with its snow-clad summits at a distance on +either hand, and its glassy river flowing, cribbed and confined, in +the lowest bottom. Smiling fields, and well-trimmed hedge-rows, and +sheltering plantations, and comfortable dwellings, and a busy +population, and abundant cattle, cover its undulating slopes. For +miles industrious plenty spreads over a country which the river +formerly usurped, and the lake covered, and the rush tufted over, and +bog and mossy heath and perennial fogs and drizzling rains rendered +inhospitable and chill. But mechanics has chained the river, and +drained the lakes, and bogs, and clayey bottoms; and giving thus scope +to the application of all the varied practical rules to which science +has led, the natural climate has been subdued, disease extirpated, and +rich and fertile and happy homes scattered over the ancient waste. + +Turn to another country, and a river flows deeply through an arid and +desolate plain. Mechanics lifts its waters from their depths, and from +a thousand artificial channels directs them over the parched surface. +It is as if an enchanter's wand had been stretched over it--the green +herbage and the waving corn, companied by all the industries of rural +life, spring up as they advance. + +Another country, and a green oasis presents itself, busy with life, in +the midst of a desert and sandy plain. Do natural springs here gush +up, as in the ancient oasis of the Libyan wilderness? It is another of +the triumphs of human industry, guided by human thought. Geology, and +her sister sciences, are here the pioneers of rural life and fixed +habitations. The seat of hidden waters at vast depths was discovered +by her. Under her directions mechanics has bored to their sources, and +their gushing abundance now spreads fertility around. + +Such are more sensible and larger triumphs of progressing rural +economy--such as man may well boast of, not only in themselves, but in +their consequences; and they may take their place with the gigantic +vessel of war, as magnificent results of intellectual effort. + +But it is after these first ruder though more imposing conquests over +nature have been made, that the demand for mind, for applied science, +becomes more frequent, and the results of its application less +perceptible. And it is because, in ordinary husbandry, we have not +always before us the striking illustrations which arrest the vulgar +eye, that prevailing ignorance persists in denying its obligations to +scientific research. + +The waters which descend from a chain of hills become a striking +feature in the geography of a country, when they happen to unite +together into a large and magnificent river: they escape unseen and +unnoticed if, keeping apart, they flow in countless tiny streamlets to +the sea. Yet, thus disunited, they may carry fertility over a whole +region, like the Nile when it overflows its banks, or as the river of +Damascus straying among its many gardens; while the waters of the +great river may only refresh and fertilise its own narrow margins, as +the Murray and the Darling do in South Australia, or the deep-bedded +rivers of Southern Africa. + +Thus much we have devoted to the introductory portion of the _Book of +the Farm_. Those of our readers who wish to follow up farther these +scientific views may study _Johnston's Lectures, and Elements, of +Agricultural Chemistry and Geology_: and by the way we would commend, +for applied science, these works of Johnston's, and for practical +knowledge, the book of Stephens, to the special attention of our +emigrating fellow-countrymen, of whom so many in their foreign homes +are likely to regret the overflowing sources of information on every +conceivable topic with which their home literature and home neighbours +supplied them. + +Let us now take a look at the body of Mr Stephens' work. These are the +days of pictorial embellishment--of speaking directly, and plainly, +and palpably to the eye. We have accidentally opened the book at the +217th page. What letterpress description could--so briefly we do not +say, for that is out of the question--but so graphically and fully, +explain the practice of eating off turnips with sheep, and all its +appliances of hurdles and nets, and turnip shears, and feeding +troughs, and hay racks, as the single woodcut which this page +exhibits? And so the practice of bratting and of stelling sheep is +illustrated, and all the forms and fashions of stells in high and low +countries (pp. 231 to 236;) the pulling, dressing, and storing of +turnips, (190 to 195;) the various modes of ploughing, with their ups +and downs, and turnings, and crossings, and gatherings, and feerings, +and gore furrows, and mould furrows, and broad furrows, and cross +furrows, and samcastings, and gaws, and ribs, and rafters, and slices, +and crowns, and centres, and a host of other operations and things +familiar to the farmer, but the very names and designations of which +are Greek to the common English reader. All these the woodcuts explain +beautifully and familiarly to the uninitiated readers, and most +usefully to the incipient farmer. How is the rural economy of Great +Britain and Ireland, in its best forms, stored up, not only for modern +and immediate use, but for the understanding of future ages, by these +illustrations! We would specify, in addition to those already referred +to, the steam-boiling apparatus in page 320; and the taking down of a +stack of corn in page 401; and the feeding of the threshing machine in +page 406; and the hand-sowing of corn in page 553; and the pickling of +wheat, (_chaulage_ of our Gallic neighbours,) page 536; and the +measuring of the grain in the barn, &c., page 419; and the full sacks, +_as they should be_, in the barn, in page 423. To the foreigner, how +do these pictures speak of English customs, costumes, and usages; to +our Trans-atlantic brethren, of the source of those modes and manners +which have at once placed them on an elevation in agricultural art, to +which 800 years of intellectual struggle had barely sufficed to lift +up their fathers and cousins at home; and to the still British +colonial emigrant the precise practices, and latest rural +improvements, which it will be his interest, at once, and his pride, +to introduce into his adopted land! + +How would the _Scriptores Rei Rusticæ_ have gained in usefulness in +their own time, how immensely in interest in ours, had they been +accompanied by such illustrations as these! The clearness of Columella +would have been made more transparent, the obscurity of Palladius +lessened; and Cato and Varro would have preserved to us the actual +living forms, and costumes, and instruments of the ancient Etruscan +times, more clearly than the painted tombs are now revealing to the +antiquarian the fashions of their feasts, and games, and funereal +rites. We have before us the singularly, richly, and extravagantly, +yet graphically and most instructively illustrated book of Georgius +Agricola, _De Re Metallica_ (Basil, 1621.) The woodcuts of the _Book +of the Farm_ have induced us to turn it up, and it is with ever new +admiration that we turn over its old leaves. It has to us the interest +of a child's picture-book; and though, as a _chef-d'oeuvre_ of +illustrative art, the three hundred woodcuts of Stephens do not +approach the book of Agricola, yet what a treasure would the work of +Ausonius Popma on the rural implements of the ancients--their +_instrumenta_ in its widest sense--have been to us, could it have been +illustrated when he wrote (1690) in the style of Agricola, and with +the minuteness and fulness of Stephens! + +The same desire to render minutely intelligible the whole subject +treated of, which these woodcuts show, is manifested in the more solid +letterpress of the book. It was said of Columella, by Matthew Gessner, +that he discoursed "non ut argumentum simplex quod discere amat, +dicendo obscuret, sed ut clarissimâ luce perfundat omnia." Such, the +reader feels, must have been the aim of the author of this book. In +his descriptions, nothing appears to be omitted; nothing is too minute +to be passed over. His book exposes not merely the every-day life, but +the very inmost life--the habits, and usages, and instruments of the +most humble as well as the most important of the operations of the +domestic, equally with the field economy of rural life. We do not +know if its effects upon our town population will ever be such as Beza +ascribes to that of Columella-- + + Tu vero, Juni, silvestria rura canendo, + Post te ipsas urbes in tua rura trahis; + +but certainly, with a few more woodcuts, it would, in minute and +graphic illustration, by prints and letterpress be a most worthy +companion to the work of Agricola. + +The plan of the book is to give a history of the agricultural year, +after the manner of the Roman Palladius and our own old Tucker; and +the present volume embraces the operations of the skilful farmer in +every kind of husbandry during the winter and spring. But, before we +come to the heart of the book, hear what Mr Stephens says about the +agricultural learning of our landed gentry:-- + + "Even though he devote himself to the profession of arms or + the law, and thereby confer distinction on himself, if he + prefer either to the neglect of agriculture he is rendering + himself unfit to undertake the duties of a landlord. To + become a soldier or a lawyer, he willingly undergoes + initiatory drillings and examinations; but to acquire the + duties of a landlord before he becomes one, he considers it + quite unnecessary to undergo initiatory tuition. These, he + conceives, can be learned at any time, and seems to forget + that the conducting of a landed estate is a profession, as + difficult of thorough attainment as ordinary soldiership or + legal lore. The army is an excellent school for confirming, + in the young, principles of honour and habits of discipline; + and the bar for giving a clear insight into the principles + upon which the rights of property are based, and of the + relation betwixt landlord and tenant; but a knowledge of + practical agriculture is a weightier matter than either for a + landlord, and should not be neglected. + + "One evil arising from studying those exciting professions + before agriculture is, that, however short may have been the + time in acquiring them, it is sufficiently long to create a + distaste to learn agriculture afterwards practically--for + such a task can only be undertaken, after the turn of life, + by enthusiastic minds. But as farming is necessarily _the + profession_ of the landowner, it should be learned, + theoretically and practically, before his education is + finished. If he so incline, he can afterwards enter the army + or go to the bar, and the exercise of those professions will + not efface the knowledge of agriculture previously acquired. + This is the proper course, in my opinion, for every young man + destined to become a landowner to pursue, and who is desirous + of finding employment as long as he has not to exercise the + functions of a landlord. Were this course invariably pursued, + the numerous engaging ties of a country life would tend in + many to extinguish the kindling desire for any other + profession. Such a result would be most advantageous for the + country; for only consider the effects of the course pursued + at present by landowners. It strikes every one as an + incongruity for a country gentleman to be unacquainted with + country affairs. Is it not strange that he should require + inducements to learn his hereditary profession,--to become + familiar with the only business which can enable him to + enhance the value of his estate, and increase his income? + Does it not infer infatuation to neglect becoming well + acquainted with the condition of his tenants, by whose + exertions his income is raised, and by which knowledge he + might confer happiness on many families, and in ignorance of + which he may entail lasting misery on many more? It is in + this way too many country gentlemen neglect their moral + obligations. + + "It is a manifest inconvenience to country gentlemen, when + taking a prominent part in county matters without a competent + knowledge of agriculture, to be obliged to apologise for not + having sufficiently attended to agricultural affairs. Such an + avowal is certainly candid, but is anything but creditable to + those who have to make it. When elected members of the + legislature, it is deplorable to find so many of them so + little acquainted with the questions which bear directly or + indirectly on agriculture. On these accounts, the tenantry + are left to fight their own battles on public questions. Were + landowners practically acquainted with agriculture, such + painful avowals would be unnecessary, and a familiar + acquaintance with agriculture would enable the man of + cultivated mind at once to perceive its practical bearing on + most public questions." + +And what he says respectively of the ignorant and skilful factor or +agent is quite as deserving of attention. Not merely whole estates, +but in some parts of the island, whole counties lag in arrear through +the defective education and knowledge of the agents as a class:-- + + "A still greater evil, because less personal, arises on + consigning the management of valuable estates to the care of + men as little acquainted as the landowners themselves with + practical agriculture. A factor or agent, in that condition, + always affects much zeal for the interest of his employer. + Fired by it, and possessing no knowledge to form a sound + judgment, he soon discovers something he considers wrong + among the poorer tenants. Some rent perhaps is in arrear--the + strict terms of the lease have been deviated from--the + condition of the tenant seems declining. These are favourable + symptoms for a successful contention with him. Instead of + interpreting the terms of the lease in a generous spirit, the + factor hints that the rent would be better secured through + another tenant. Explanation of circumstances affecting the + actual condition of the farm, over which he has, perhaps, no + control,--the inapplicability, perhaps, of peculiar covenants + in the lease to the particular circumstances of the farm--the + lease having perhaps been drawn up by a person ignorant of + agriculture,--are excuses unavailingly offered to a factor + confessedly unacquainted with country affairs, and the result + ensues in disputes betwixt him and the tenant. To + explanations, the landlord is _unwilling_ to listen, in order + to preserve intact the authority of the factor; or, what is + still worse, is _unable_ to interfere, because of his own + inability to judge of the actual state of the case betwixt + himself and the tenant, and, of course, the disputes are left + to be settled by the originator of them. Thus commence + actions at law,--criminations and recriminations,--much + alienation of feeling; and at length a proposal for the + settlement of matters, at first perhaps unimportant, by the + arbitration of practical men. The tenant is glad to submit to + an arbitration to save his money; and in all such disputes, + being the weaker party, he suffers most in purse and + character. The landlord, who ought to have been the + protector, is thus converted into the unconscious oppressor + of his tenant. + + "A factor acquainted with practical agriculture would conduct + himself very differently in the same circumstances. He would + endeavour to prevent legitimate differences of opinion on + points of management from terminating in disputes, by skilful + investigation and well-timed compromise. He would study to + uphold the honour of both landlord and tenant. He would at + once see whether the terms of the lease were strictly + applicable to the circumstances of the farm, and, judging + accordingly, would check improper deviations from proper + covenants, whilst he would make allowances for inappropriate + ones. He would soon discover whether the condition of the + tenant was caused more by his own mismanagement than by the + nature of the farm he occupies, and he would conform his + conduct towards him accordingly--encouraging industry and + skill, admonishing indolence, and amending the objectionable + circumstances of the farm. Such a factor is always highly + respected, and his opinion and judgment are entirely confided + in by the tenantry. Mutual kindliness of intercourse, + therefore, always subsists betwixt such factors and the + tenants. No landlord, whether acquainted or unacquainted with + farming, especially in the latter case, should confide the + management of his estate to any person less qualified." + +These extracts are long, but we feel we are rendering the public a +service by placing them where they are likely to be widely read. + +We have mentioned above that the _Book of the Farm_ is full of that +kind of clear home knowledge of rural life which the emigrant in +foreign climes at all resembling our own will delight to read and +profit by; but it will not supply the place of previous agricultural +training. There is much truth and sound practical advice in the +following observations:-- + + "Let _every_ intending settler, therefore, _learn agriculture + thoroughly_ before he emigrates; and, if it suits his taste, + time, and arrangements, let him study in the colony the + necessarily imperfect system pursued by the settlers, before + he embarks in it himself; and the fuller knowledge acquired + here will enable him, not only to understand the colonial + scheme in a short time, but to select the part of the country + best suited to his purpose. But, in truth, he has much higher + motives for learning agriculture here; for a thorough + acquaintance will enable him to make the best use of + inadequate means--to know to apply cheap animal instead of + dear manual labour,--to suit the crop to the soil, and the + labour to the weather;--to construct appropriate dwellings + for himself and family, live stock, and provisions; to + superintend every kind of work, and to show a familiar + acquaintance with them all. These are qualifications which + every emigrant may acquire here, but not in the colonies + without a large sacrifice of time--and time to a settler thus + spent is equal to a sacrifice of capital, whilst eminent + qualifications are equivalent to capital itself. This + statement may be stigmatised by agricultural settlers who may + have succeeded in amassing fortunes without more knowledge + of agriculture than what was picked up by degrees on the + spot; but such persons are incompetent judges of a statement + like this, never having become properly acquainted with + agriculture; and however successful their exertions may have + proved, they might have realised larger incomes in the time, + or as large in a shorter time, had they brought an intimate + acquaintance of the most perfect system of husbandry known, + to bear upon the favourable circumstances they occupied." + +The early winter is spent in ploughing, which we pass over, and +mid-winter chiefly in feeding stock, in threshing out the corn, and in +attending to composts and dunghills. Preparing and sowing the seed is +the most important business of the spring months, to which succeeds +the tending of the lambs and ewes, and the preparation of the land for +the fallow or root crops. These several operations are treated of in +their most minute details, and the latest methods adopted in reference +to every point are fully explained. + +In the husbandry of the most advanced portions of our island, the +turnip occupies a most important place in the estimation of the +skilful farmer, whether his dependence for the means of paying his +rent be placed upon the profits of his corn crops or of his cattle. + +Of the turnip we have now many varieties--though it is only seventy or +eighty years since it was first introduced into field culture--at +least in those districts of the island in which its importance is most +fully recognised. The history of its introduction into Scotland is +thus given by Mr Stephens-- + + "The history of the turnip, like that of other cultivated + plants, is obscure. According to the name given to the swede + in this country, it is a native of Sweden; the Italian name + _Navoni di Laponia_ intimates an origin in Lapland, and the + French names _Chou de Lapone_, _Chou de Suède_, indicate an + uncertain origin. Sir John Sinclair says, 'I am informed that + the swedes were first introduced into Scotland _anno_ 1781-2, + on the recommendation of Mr Knox, a native of East Lothian, + who had settled at Gottenburg, whence he sent some of the + seeds to Dr Hamilton.' There is no doubt the plant was first + introduced into Scotland from Sweden, but I believe its + introduction was prior to the date mentioned by Sir John + Sinclair. The late Mr Airth, Mains of Dunn, Forfarshire, + informed me that his father was the first farmer who + cultivated swedes in Scotland, from seeds sent him by his + eldest son, settled in Gottenburg, when my informant, the + youngest son of a large family, was a boy of about ten years + of age. Whatever may be the date of its introduction, Mr + Airth cultivated them in 1777; and the date is corroborated + by the silence preserved by Mr Wight regarding its culture by + Mr Airth's father when he undertook the survey of the state + of husbandry in Scotland, in 1773, at the request of the + Commissioners of the Annexed Estates, and he would not have + failed to report so remarkable a circumstance as the culture + of so useful a plant, so that it was unknown prior to 1773. + Mr Airth sowed the first portion of seed he received in beds + in the garden, and transplanted the plants in rows in the + field, and succeeded in raising good crops for some years, + before sowing the seed directly in the fields." + +The weight of a good turnip crop--not of an extraordinary crop, which +some persons can succeed in raising, and the accounts of which others +only refuse to credit--is a point of much importance; and it is so, +not merely to the farmer who possesses it, but to the rural community +at large. The conviction that a certain given weight is a fair average +crop in well-farmed land, where it does not exceed his own, will be +satisfactory to the industrious farmer; while it will serve as a +stimulus to those whose soil, or whose skill, have hitherto been +unable to raise so large a weight. According to our author-- + + "A good crop of swede turnips weighs from 30 to 35 tons per + imperial acre. + + "A good crop of yellow turnips weighs from 30 to 32 tons per + imperial acre. + + "A good crop of white globe turnips weighs from 30 to 40 tons + per imperial acre." + +Of all kinds of turnips, therefore, from 30 to 40 tons per imperial +acre are a good crop. + +The readers of agricultural journals must have observed that, of late +years, the results of numerous series of experiments have been +published. Among those that have been made upon turnips, he will have +noticed also that the crop, in about nine cases out of ten, is under +twenty tons; that these crops vary, for the most part, between nine +and sixteen tons; and that some farmers are not ashamed to publish to +the world, that they are content with crops of from seven to ten tons +of turnips an acre. Where is our skill in the management of turnip +soils, if, in the average of years, such culture and crops satisfy any +considerable number of our more intelligent tenantry? We know that +soil, and season, and locality, and numerous accidents, affect the +produce of this crop; but the margin between the _actual_ and the +_possible_ is far too wide to be accounted for in this way. More +skill, more energy, more expenditure in draining, liming, and +manuring--a wider diffusion of our practical and scientific +agricultural literature--these are the means by which the wide margin +is to be narrowed; by which what is in the land is to be brought _out_ +of the land, and thereby the farmer made more comfortable, and the +landlord more rich. + +The subject of sheep and cattle feeding is very important, and very +interesting, and our book is rich in materials which would provoke us +to discuss it at some length, did our limits admit of it. We must be +content, however, with a few desultory extracts. + +The following, in regard to sheep feeding upon turnips, is curious, +and, in our opinion, requires repetition:-- + + "A curious and unexpected result was brought to light by Mr + Pawlett, and is thus related in his own words,--'Being aware + that it was the custom of some sheep-breeders to wash the + food,--such as turnips, carrots, and other roots,--for their + sheep, I was induced also to try the system; and as I usually + act cautiously in adopting any new scheme, generally bringing + it down to the true standard of experience, I selected for + the trial two lots of lambs. One lot was fed, in the usual + manner, on carrots and swedes _unwashed_; the other lot was + fed exactly on the same kinds of food, but the carrots and + swedes were _washed_ very clean every day: they were weighed + before trial, on the 2d December, and again on the 30th + December, 1835. The lambs fed with the unwashed food gained + each 7-1/2 lb., and those on the washed gained 4-3/4 lb. + each; which shows that those lambs which were fed in the + usual way, without having their food washed, gained the most + weight in a month by 2-3/4 lb. each lamb. There appears to me + no advantage in this method of management--indeed animals are + fond of licking the earth, particularly if fresh turned up; + and a little of it taken into the stomach with the food must + be conducive to their health, or nature would not lead them + to take it.'" + +Another experiment on the fattening properties of different breeds of +sheep, under similar treatment, quoted from the _Journal of the Royal +Agricultural Society of England_, is also deserving the attention of +our readers:-- + + "Experiments were made in 1844-5 on the Earl of Radnor's farm + at Coleshill, on the comparative fattening properties of + different breeds of sheep under the same treatment. The sheep + consisted of Leicesters, South-downs, half-breds,--a cross + between the Cotswold and South-down--and Cotswolds. The + sheep, being then lambs, were divided into lots of three each + of each breed, and were grazed four months, from 29th August + 1844 to 4th January 1845, when they were put on hay and + swedes for three months, from 4th January to the 31st of + March following. While on grass, the different breeds gained + in weight as follows:-- + + lb. lb. + The Leicesters being 46 each, gained 10-1/2 each. + South-downs 47 " 11 + Half-breds 44-1/2 " 12 + Cotswolds 56-1/2 " 10-1/2" + +It is one of the most delicate qualifications connected with the +stock-feeder's art to be able to select that stock, and that variety +of it, which, under all the circumstances in which he is placed, will +give him the largest return in money--hence every experiment like the +above, if well conducted, is deserving of his close attention. At the +same time, in rural experiments, more almost than in any other, the +number of elements which interfere with the result, and may modify it, +is so great, that too much confidence ought not to be placed upon +single trials. Repeated results _of one kind_ must be obtained, before +a farmer can be justified in spending much money on the faith of them. + +In turning to the winter feeding of cattle upon turnips and other +food--a subject important enough to justify Mr Stephens in devoting +forty of his closely printed pages to it--we are reminded of a +character of this book which we like very much, which squares +admirably with our own idea of neatness, order, and method, and which +we heartily commend to the attention of our farming friends: this is +the full and minute description he gives of the duties of every class +of servants upon the farm, of the necessity of having these duties +regularly and methodically performed, and of the way in which the +master may bring this about. + +The cattle-man is an important person in the winter feeding of cattle; +he therefore commences this section with an account of the duties and +conduct of this man. Even his dress he describes; and the following +paragraph shows his reason for drawing the young farmer's attention to +it:-- + + "The _dress_ of a cattle-man is worth attending to, as + regards its appropriateness for his business. Having so much + straw to carry on his back, a bonnet or round-crowned hat is + the most convenient head-dress for him; but what is of more + importance when he has charge of a bull, is to have his + clothes of a sober hue, free of gaudy or strongly-contrasted + colours, especially _red_, as that colour is peculiarly + offensive to bulls. It is with red cloth and flags that the + bulls in Spain are irritated to action at their celebrated + bull-fights. Instances are in my remembrance of bulls turning + upon their keepers, not because they were habited in red, but + from some strongly contrasted bright colours. It was stated + that the keeper of the celebrated bull Sirius, belonging to + the late Mr Robertson of Ladykirk, wore a red nightcap on the + day the bull attacked and killed him. On walking with a lady + across a field, my own bull--the one represented in the plate + of the Short-horn Bull, than which a more gentle and generous + creature of his kind never existed--made towards us in an + excited state; and for his excitement I could ascribe no + other cause than the red shawl worn by the lady, for as soon + as we left the field he resumed his wonted quietness. I + observed him excited, on another occasion, in his hammel, + when the cattle-man--an aged man, who had taken charge of him + for years--attended him one Sunday forenoon in a new red + nightcap, instead of his usual black hat. Be the cause of the + disquietude in the animal what it may, it is prudential in a + _cattle_-man to be habited in a sober suit of clothes." + +Then, after insisting upon _regularity of time_ in everything he does, +following the man through a whole day's work, describing all his +operations, and giving figures of all his tools,--his graip, his +shovel, his different turnip choppers, his turnip-slicer, his +wheel-barrow, his chaff-cutters, his linseed bruisers, and his +corn-crushers,--he gives us the following illustration of the +necessity of regularity and method, and of the way to secure them:-- + + "In thus minutely detailing the duties of the cattle-man, my + object has been to show you rather how the turnips and fodder + should be distributed relatively than absolutely; but + whatever hour and minute the cattle-man finds, from + experience, he can devote to each portion of his work, you + should see that he performs _the same operation at the same + time every day_. By paying strict attention to time, the + cattle will be ready for and expect their wonted meals at the + appointed times, and will not complain until they arrive. + Complaints from his stock should be distressing to every + farmer's ears, for he may be assured they will not complain + until they feel hunger; and if allowed to hunger they will + not only lose condition, but render themselves, by + discontent, less capable of acquiring it when the food + happens to be fully given. Wherever you hear lowings from + cattle, you may safely conclude that matters are conducted + there in an irregular manner. The cattle-man's rule is a + simple one, and easily remembered,--_Give food and fodder to + cattle at fixed times, and dispense them in a fixed routine_. + I had a striking instance of the bad effects of irregular + attention to cattle. An old staid labourer was appointed to + take charge of cattle, and was quite able and willing to + undertake the task. He got his own way at first, as I had + observed many labouring men display great ingenuity in + arranging their work. Lowings were soon heard from the stock + in all quarters, both in and out of doors, which intimated + the want of regularity in the cattle-man; whilst the poor + creature himself was constantly in a state of bustle and + uneasiness. To put an end to this disorderly state of things, + I apportioned his entire day's work by his own watch; and on + implicitly following the plan, he not only soon satisfied the + wants of every animal committed to his charge, but had + abundant leisure to lend a hand to anything that required his + temporary assistance. His old heart overflowed with gratitude + when he found the way of making all his creatures happy; and + his kindness to them was so undeviating, they would have done + whatever he liked." + +And the money profit which this attention to regularity will give, in +addition to the satisfaction which attends it, is thus plainly set +down:-- + + "Let us reduce the results of bad management to figures. + Suppose you have three sets of beasts, of different ages, + each containing 20 beasts--that is, 60 in all--and they get + as many turnips as they can eat. Suppose that each of these + beasts acquires only half a pound less live weight every day + than they would under the most proper management, and this + would incur a loss of 30 lbs. a-day of live weight, which, + over 180 days of the fattening season, will make the loss + amount to 5400 lbs. of live weight; or, according to the + common rules of computation, 3240 lbs., or 231 stones, of + dead weight at 6s. the stone, £69, 6s.--a sum equal to more + than five times the wages received by the cattle-man. The + question, then, resolves itself into this--whether it is not + for your interest to save this sum annually, by making your + cattle-man attend your cattle according to a regular plan, + the form of which is in your own power to adopt and pursue?" + +We must pass over the entire doctrine of prepared food, which has +lately occupied so much attention, and has been so ably advocated by +Mr Warner, Mr Marshall, Mr Thompson, and which, among others, has been +so successfully practised by our friend Mr Hutton of Sowber Hill in +Yorkshire. We only quote, by the way, a curious observation of Mr +Robert Stephenson of Whitelaw in East-Lothian: + + "'We shall conclude,' he says, 'by relating a singular + fact'--and a remarkable one it is, and worth + remembering--'that _sheep_ on turnips will consume nearly in + proportion to _cattle_, weight for weight; that is, 10 sheep + of 14 lbs. a-quarter, or 40 stones in all, will eat nearly + the same quantity of turnips as an ox of 40 stones; but turn + the ox to grass, and 6 sheep will be found to consume an + equal quantity. This great difference may perhaps,' says Mr + Stephenson, and I think truly, 'be accounted for by the + practice of sheep cropping the grass much closer and oftener + than cattle, and which, of course, prevents its growing so + rapidly with them as with cattle.'" + +The treatment of farm horses in winter is under the direction of the +ploughman, whose duties are first described, after which the system of +management and feeding of farm and saddle horses is discussed at a +length of thirty pages. + +Among other pieces of curious information which our author gives us is +the nomenclature of the animals he treats of, at their various ages. +This forms a much larger vocabulary than most people imagine, and +comprises many words of which four-fifths of our population would be +unable to tell the meaning. + +Thus, of the sheep he informs us-- + + "A new-born sheep is called a _lamb_, and retains the name + until weaned from its mother and able to support itself. The + generic name is altered according to the sex and state of the + animal; when a female it is a _ewe-lamb_, when a male + _tup-lamb_, and this last is changed to _hogg-lamb_ when it + undergoes emasculation. + + "After a lamb has been weaned, until the first fleece is + shorn from its back, it receives the name of _hogg_, which is + also modified according to the sex and state of the animal, a + female being a _ewe-hogg_, a male a _tup-hogg_, and a + castrated male a _wether-hogg_. After the first fleece has + been shorn, another change is made in the nomenclature; the + ewe-hogg then becomes a _gimmer_, the tup-hogg a + _shearling-tup_, and the wether-hog a _dinmont_, and these + names are retained until the fleece is shorn a second time. + + "After the second shearing another change is effected in all + these names; the gimmer is then a _ewe_ if she is _in lamb_, + but if not, a _barren gimmer_ and if never put to the ram a + _eild gimmer_. The shearling tup is then a _2-shear tup_, and + the dinmont is a _wether_, but more correctly a _2-shear + wether_. + + "A ewe three times shorn is a _twinter ewe_, (_two-winter + ewe_;) a tup is a _3-shear tup_; and a wether still a + _wether_, or more correctly a _3-shear wether_--which is an + uncommon name among Leicester sheep, as the castrated sheep + of that breed are rarely kept to that age. + + "A ewe four times shorn is a _three winter ewe_, or _aged + ewe_; a tup, an _aged tup_, a name he retains ever after, + whatever his age, but they are seldom kept beyond this age; + and the wether is now a _wether_ properly so called. + + "A _tup_ and _ram_ are synonymous terms. + + "A ewe that has borne a lamb, when it fails to be with lamb + again is a _tup-eill_ or _barren ewe_. After a ewe has ceased + to give milk she is a _yeld-ewe_. + + "A ewe when removed from the breeding flock is a _draft ewe_, + whatever her age may be; gimmers put aside as unfit for + breeding are _draft gimmers_, and the lambs, dinmonts or + wethers, drafted out of the fat or young stock are + _sheddings_, _tails_, or _drafts_. + + "In England a somewhat different nomenclature prevails. Sheep + bear the name of _lamb_ until eight months old, after which + they are _ewe_ and _wether teggs_ until once clipped. Gimmers + are _theares_ until they bear the first lamb, when they are + _ewes of 4-teeth_, next year _ewes of 6-teeth_, and the year + after _full-mouthed ewes_. Dinmonts are called _shear hoggs_ + until shorn of the fleece, when they are _2-shear wethers_, + and ever after are _wethers_." + +The names of cattle are a little less complicated. + + "The _names_ given to cattle at their various ages are + these:--A new-born animal of the ox-tribe is called a _calf_, + a male being a _bull-calf_, a female a _quey-calf_, + _heifer-calf_, or _cow-calf_; and a castrated male calf is a + _stot-calf_, or simply a _calf_. Calf is applied to all young + cattle until they attain one year old, when they are + _year-olds_ or _yearlings_--_year-old bull_, _year-old quey_ + or heifer, _year-old stot_. _Stot_, in some places, is a bull + of any age. + + "In another year they are _2-year old bull_, _2-year-old + quey_ or _heifer_, _2-year-old-stot_ or _steer_. In England + females are _stirks_ from calves to 2-year-old, and males + _steers_; in Scotland both young male and females are + _stirks_. The next year they are _3-year-old bull_, in + England 3-year-old female a _heifer_, in Scotland a + _3-year-old quey_, and a male is a _3-year-old stot_ or + _steer_. + + "When a quey bears a calf, it is a _cow_, both in Scotland + and England. Next year the _bulls_ are _aged_; the _cows_ + retain the name ever after, and the _stots_ or _steers_ are + _oxen_, which they continue to be to any age. A cow or quey + that has received the bull is _served_ or _bulled_, and is + then _in calf_, and in that state these are in England + _in-calvers_. A cow that suffers abortion _slips_ its calf. A + cow that has either _missed_ being in calf, or has _slipped_ + calf, is _eill_; and one that has gone dry of milk is a + _yeld-cow_. A cow giving milk is a _milk_ or _milch-cow_. + When two calves are born at one birth, they are _twins_; if + three, _trins_. A quey calf of twins of bull and quey calves, + is a _free martin_, and never produces young, but exhibits no + marks of a hybrid or mule. + + "_Cattle_, _black cattle_, _horned cattle_, and _neat + cattle_, are all generic names for the ox tribe, and the term + _beast_ is a synonyme. + + "An ox without horns is _dodded_ or _humbled_. + + "A castrated bull is a _segg_. A quey-calf whose ovaries have + been obliterated, to prevent her breeding, is a _spayed + heifer_ or _quey_." + +Those of the horse are fewer, and more generally known-- + + "The names commonly given to the different states of the + horse are these:--The new-born one is called a _foal_, the + male being a _colt foal_, and the female a _filly foal_. + After being weaned, the foals are called simply _colt_ or + _filly_, according to the sex, which the colt retains until + broken in for work, when he is a _horse_ or _gelding_ which + he retains all his life; and the filly is then changed into + _mare_. When the colt is not castrated he is an _entire + colt_; which name he retains until he serves mares, when he + is a _stallion_ or _entire horse_; when castrated he is a + _gelding_; and it is in this state that he is chiefly worked. + A mare, when served, is said to be _covered by_ or _stinted + to_ a particular stallion; and after she has borne a foal she + is a _brood mare_, until she ceases to bear, when she is a + _barren mare_ or _eill mare_; and when dry of milk, she is + _yeld_. A mare, while big with young, is _in foal_. Old + stallions are never castrated." + +Those of the pig are as follows-- + + "When new-born, they are called _sucking pigs_, or simply + _pigs_; and the male is a _boar pig_, the female _sow pig_. A + castrated male, after it is weaned, is a _shot_ or _hog_. Hog + is the name mostly used by naturalists, and very frequently + by writers on agriculture; but, as it sounds so like the name + given to young sheep, (hogg,) I shall always use the terms + pig and swine for the sake of distinction. The term _hog_ is + said to be derived from a Hebrew noun, signifying 'to have + narrow eyes,' a feature quite characteristic of this species + of animal. A spayed female is a _cut sow pig_. As long as + both sorts of cut pigs are small and young, they are + _porkers_ or _porklings_. A female that has not been cut, and + before it bears young, is an _open sow_; and an entire male, + after being weaned, is always a _boar_ or _brawn_. A cut boar + is a _brawner_. A female that has taken the boar is said to + be _lined_; when bearing young she is a _brood sow_; and when + she has brought forth pigs she has _littered_ or _farrowed_, + and her family of pigs at one birth form a _litter_ or + _farrow_ of pigs." + +The diseases of cattle, horses, pigs, and poultry, are treated +of--their management in disease, that is, as well as in health. And it +is one of the merits of Mr Stephens that he has taken such pains in +getting up his different subjects--that he seems as much at home in +one department of his art as in another; and we follow him with equal +confidence in his description of field operations, of servant-choosing +and managing, of cattle-buying, tending, breeding, feeding, +butchering, and even cooking and eating--for he is cunning in these +last points also. + +His great predecessor Tucker prided himself, in his "_Five hundred +points_," in mixing up huswifry with husbandry:-- + + "In husbandry matters, where _Pilcrow_[3] ye find, + That verse appertaineth to Huswif'ry kind; + So have ye more lessons, if there ye look well, + Than huswif'ry book doth utter or tell." + +Following Tucker's example, our author scatters here and there +throughout his book much useful information for the farmer's wife; and +for her especial use, no doubt, he has drawn up his curious and +interesting chapter on the treatment of fowls in winter. To show how +minute his knowledge is upon this point, and how implicitly therefore +he may be trusted in greater matters, we quote the following:-- + +"Every yellow-legged chicken should be used, whether male or +female--their flesh never being so fine as the others." "Young fowls +may either be roasted or boiled, the male making the best roasted, and +the female the neatest boiled dish." "The criterion of a fat hen, when +alive, is a plump breast, and the rump feeling thick, fat, and firm, +on being handled laterally between the finger and thumb." + +"Of a fat goose the mark is, plumpness of muscle over the breast, and +thickness of rump when alive; and in addition, when dead and plucked, +of a uniform covering of _white_ fat under a fine skin on the breast." +"Geese are always roasted in Britain, though a boiled goose is not an +uncommon dish in Ireland; and their flesh is certainly much heightened +in flavour by a stuffing of onions, and an accompaniment of apple +sauce." + +We suppose a boiled goose must be especially tasteless, as we once +knew an old schoolmaster on the North Tyne, whose very stupid pupils +were always christened _boiled geese_. + +The threshing and winnowing of grain, which forms so important a part +of the winter operations of a farm, naturally lead our author to +describe and figure the different species of corn plants and their +varieties, and to discuss their several nutritive values, the +geographical range and distribution of each, and the special uses or +qualities of the different varieties. + +Widely spread and known for so many ages, the home or native country +of our cereal plants is not only unknown, but some suppose the several +species, like the varieties of the human race, to have all sprung from +a common stock. + + "It is a very remarkable circumstance, as observed by Dr + Lindley, that the native country of wheat, oats, barley, and + rye should be entirely unknown; for although oats and barley + were found by Colonel Chesney, apparently wild, on the banks + of the Euphrates, it is doubtful whether they were not the + remains of cultivation. This has led to an opinion, on the + part of some persons, that all our cereal plants are + artificial productions, obtained accidentally, but retaining + their habits, which have become fixed in the course of ages." + +Whatever may be the original source of our known species of grain, and +of their numerous varieties, it cannot be doubted that their +existence, at the present time, is a great blessing to man. Of wheat +there are upwards of a hundred and fifty known varieties, of barley +upwards of thirty, and of oats about sixty. While the different +species--wheat, barley, and oats--are each specially confined to large +but limited regions of the earth's surface, the different varieties +adapt themselves to the varied conditions of soil and climate which +exist within the natural geographical region of each, and to the +different uses for which each species is intended to be employed. + +Thus the influence of variety upon the adaptation of the oat to the +soil, climate, and wants of a given locality, is shown by the +following observations:-- + + "The Siberian oat is cultivated in the poorer soils and + higher districts, resists the force of the wind, and yields a + grain well adapted for the support of farm-horses. The straw + is fine and pliable, and makes an excellent dry fodder for + cattle and horses, the saccharine matter in the joints being + very sensible to the taste. It comes early to maturity, and + hence its name." + +The Tartarian oat, from the peculiarity of its form, and from its +"possessing a beard, is of such a hardy nature as to thrive in soils +and climates where the other grains cannot be raised. It is much +cultivated in England, and not at all in Scotland. It is a coarse +grain, more fit for horse-food than to make into meal. The grain is +dark coloured and awny; the straw coarse, harsh, brittle, and rather +short." + +The reader will see from this extract that the English "food for +horses" is, in reality, not the same thing as the "chief o' Scotia's +food;" and that a little agricultural knowledge would have prevented +Dr Johnson from exhibiting, in the same sentence, an example of both +his ignorance and his venom. + +Variety affects appearance and quality; and how these are to be +consulted in reference to the market in which the grain is to be sold, +may be gathered from the following:-- + + "When wheat is quite opaque, indicating not the least + translucency, it is in the best state for yielding the finest + flour--such flour as confectioners use for pastry; and in + this state it will be eagerly purchased by them at a large + price. Wheat in this state contains the largest proportion of + fecula or starch, and is therefore best suited to the + starch-maker, as well as the confectioner. On the other hand, + when wheat is translucent, hard, and flinty, it is better + suited to the common baker than the confectioner and starch + manufacturer, as affording what is called _strong_ flour, + that rises boldly with yeast into a spongy dough. Bakers + will, therefore, give more for good wheat in this state than + in the opaque; but for bread of finest quality the flour + should be fine as well as strong, and therefore a mixture of + the two conditions of wheat is best suited for making the + best quality of bread. Bakers, when they purchase their own + wheat, are in the habit of mixing wheat which respectively + possesses those qualities; and millers who are in the habit + of supplying bakers with flour, mix different kinds of wheat, + and grind them together for their use. Some sorts of wheat + naturally possess _both_ these properties, and on that + account are great favourites with bakers, though not so with + confectioners; and, I presume, to this mixed property is to + be ascribed the great and lasting popularity which Hunter's + white wheat has so long enjoyed. We hear also of '_high + mixed_' Danzig wheat, which has been so mixed for the + purpose, and is in high repute amongst bakers. Generally + speaking, the purest coloured white wheat indicates most + opacity, and, of course, yields the finest flour; and red + wheat is most flinty, and therefore yields the strongest + flour: a translucent red wheat will yield stronger flour than + a translucent white wheat, and yet a red wheat never realises + so high a price in the market as white--partly because it + contains a larger proportion of refuse in the grinding, but + chiefly because it yields less fine flour, that is, starch." + +In regard to wheat, it has been supposed, that the qualities referred +to in the above extract, as especially fitting certain varieties for +the use of the confectioner, &c., were owing to the existence of a +larger quantity of gluten in these kinds of grain. Chemical inquiry +has, however, nearly dissipated that idea, and with it certain +erroneous opinions, previously entertained, as to their superior +nutritive value. Climate and physiological constitution induce +differences in our vegetable productions, which chemical research may +detect and explain, but may never be able to remove or entirely +control. + +The bran, or external covering of the grain of wheat, has recently +also been the subject of scientific and economical investigation. It +has been proved, by the researches of Johnston, confirmed by those of +Miller and others, that the bran of wheat, though less readily +digestible, contains more nutritive matter than the white interior of +the grain. Brown, or household bread, therefore, which contains a +portion of the bran, is to be preferred, both for economy and for +nutritive quality, to that made of the finest flour. + +Upon the economy of mixing potato with wheaten flour, and of home-made +bread, Mr Stephens has the following:-- + + "It is assumed by some people, that a mixture of potatoes + amongst wheaten flour renders bread lighter and more + wholesome. That it will make bread whiter, I have no doubt; + but I have as little doubt that it will render it more + insipid, and it is demonstrable that it makes it dearer than + wheaten flour. Thus, take a bushel of 'seconds' flour, + weighing 56 lbs. at 5s. 6d. A batch of bread, to consist of + 21 lbs., will absorb as much water, and require as much yeast + and salt, as will yield 7 loaves, of 4 lbs. each, for 2s. + 4d., or 4d. per loaf. 'If, instead of 7 lbs. of the flour, + the same weight of raw potatoes be substituted, with the hope + of saving by the comparatively low price of the latter + article, the quantity of bread that will be yielded will be + _but a trifle more than would have been produced from 14 lbs. + of flour only_, without the addition of the 7 lbs. of + potatoes; for the starch of this root is the only nutritive + part, and we have proved that but one-seventh or one-eighth + of it is contained in every pound, the remainder being water + and innutritive matter. Only 20 lbs. of bread, therefore, + instead of 28 lbs., will be obtained; and this, though white, + will be comparatively flavourless, and liable to become dry + and sour in a few days; whereas, without the latter addition, + bread made in private families will keep _well_ for 3 weeks, + though, after a fortnight, it begins to deteriorate, + especially in the autumn.' The calculation of comparative + _cost_ is thus shown:-- + + Flour, 14 lbs., say at 1-1/4d. per lb., = 1s. 5-1/2d. + Potatoes, 7 lbs., say at 5s. per sack, = 0 2 + Yeast and fuel, = 0 4-1/2 + ------ + 2s. 0d. + + The yield, 20 lbs., or 5 loaves of 4 lbs. each, will be + nearly 5d. each, which is dearer than the wheaten loaves at + 4d. each, and the bread, besides, of inferior quality. + + "'There are persons who assert--for we have heard them--that + there is no economy in baking at home. An accurate and + constant attention to the matter, with a close calculation of + every week's results for several years--a calculation induced + by the sheer love of investigation and experiment--enables us + to assure our readers, that a gain is invariably made of from + 1-1/2d. to 2d. on the 4 lb. loaf. If _all_ be intrusted to + servants, we do not pretend to deny that the waste may + neutralise the _profit_; but, with care and investigation, we + pledge our veracity that the saving will prove to be + considerable.' These are the observations of a lady well + known to me." + +In the natural history of barley the most remarkable fact is, the high +northern latitudes in which it can be successfully cultivated. Not +only does it ripen in the Orkney and Shetland and Faroe Islands, but +on the shores of the White Sea; and near the North Cape, in north +latitude 70°, it thrives and yields nourishment to the inhabitants. In +Iceland, in latitude 63° to 66° north, it ceases to ripen, not because +the temperature is too low, but because rains fall at an unseasonable +time, and thus prevent the filling ear from arriving at maturity. + +The oat is distinguished by its remarkable nutritive quality, compared +with our other cultivated grains. This has been long known in practice +in the northern parts of the island, where it has for ages formed the +staple food of the mass of the population, though it was doubted and +disputed in the south so much, as almost to render the Scotch ashamed +of their national food. Chemistry has recently, however, set the +matter at rest, and is gradually bringing oatmeal again into general +favour. We believe that the robust health of many fine families of +children now fed upon it, in preference to wheaten flour, is a debt +they owe, and we trust will not hereafter forget, to chemical science. + +On oatmeal Mr Stephens gives us the following information:-- + + "The portion of the oat crop consumed by man is manufactured + into _meal_. It is never called flour, as the millstones are + not set so close in grinding it as when wheat is ground, nor + are the stones for grinding oats made of the same material, + but most frequently only of sandstone--the old red sandstone + or greywacke. Oats, unlike wheat, are always kiln-dried + before being ground; and they undergo this process for the + purpose of causing the thick husk, in which the substance of + the grain is enveloped, to be the more easily ground off, + which it is by the stones being set wide asunder; and the + husk is blown away, on being winnowed by the fanner, and the + grain retained, which is then called _groats_. The groats are + ground by the stones closer set, and yield the meal. The meal + is then passed through sieves, to separate the thin husk from + the meal. The meal is made in two states: one _fine_, which + is the state best adapted for making into bread, in the form + called oat-cake or bannocks; and the other is coarser or + _rounder_ ground, and is in the best state for making the + common food of the country people--porridge, _Scottice_, + parritch. A difference of custom prevails in respect to the + use of these two different states of oatmeal, in different + parts of the country, the fine meal being best liked for all + purposes in the northern, and the round or coarse meal in the + southern counties; but as oat-cake is chiefly eaten in the + north, the meal is there made to suit the purpose of bread + rather than of porridge; whereas, in the south, bread is made + from another grain, and oatmeal is there used only as + porridge. There is no doubt that the round meal makes the + best porridge, when properly made--that is, seasoned with + salt, and boiled as long as to allow the particles to swell + and burst, when the porridge becomes a pultaceous mass. So + made, with rich milk or cream, few more wholesome dishes can + be partaken by any man, or upon which a harder day's work can + be wrought. Children of all ranks in Scotland are brought up + on this diet, verifying the poet's assertion-- + + "The halesome parritch, chief o' Scotia's food." + + BURNS. + + Forfarshire has long been famed for the quality of its brose + and oat-cake, while the porridge of the Borders has as long + been equally famous. It is so everywhere, the sharp soil + producing the finest cake-meal, and clay land the best meal + for boiling. Of meal from the varieties of the oat + cultivated, that of the common Angus oat is the most thrifty + for a poor man, though its yield in meal is less in + proportion to the bulk of corn." + +Much valuable information is given on the management of manure-heaps, +and the forming of composts in winter. We especially recommend to the +reader's attention section 2043, which is too long to extract. +Railways have done much to benefit the farmer: in speaking of +composts, our author gives us the following example of a local injury +produced by them:-- + + "In the vicinity of villages where fish are cured and smoked + for market, refuse of fish heads and guts make an excellent + compost with earth. Near Eyemouth and Burnmouth, on the + Berwickshire coast, 30 barrels of fish refuse, with as much + earth from the head-ridges as will completely cover the heap, + are sufficient for an imperial acre. The barrel contains 30 + gallons, and 4 barrels make a cart-load, and the barrel sells + for 1s. 6d. From 400 to 600 barrels may be obtained for each + farm in the neighbourhood, in the course of the season. Since + the opening of the North British railway, the curing of the + fish is given up, much to the loss of the farmers in that + locality; and the fishermen now send, by the railway, the + fish in a fresh state to the larger towns at a distance. + Thus, railways produce advantage to some, whilst they cause + loss to others. In the northern counties of Scotland, fish + refuse is obtained in large quantities during the herring + fishing season. On the coast of Cornwall, the pilchard + fishing affords a large supply of refuse for composts." + +In regard to the calving of cows, to milking, and to the rearing of +calves, we have information as full, as minute, and as easily +conveyed, as on any of the other subjects which have hitherto engaged +our attention. When treating of the diseases to which cows, on +calving, are subject, we have been interested with the following +case:-- + + "I may here mention an unaccountable fatality which overtook + a short-horn cow of mine, in Forfarshire, immediately after + calving. She was an extraordinary milker, giving not less + than thirty quarts a-day in summer on grass; but what was + more extraordinary, for two calvings the milk never dried up, + but continued to flow to the very day of calving, and after + that event returned in increased quantity. In the third year + she went naturally dry for about one month prior to the day + of reckoning; every precaution, however, was taken that the + milk should dry up without giving her any uneasiness. She + calved in high health, the milk returned as usual in a great + flush after calving, but it was impossible to draw it from + the udder; not a teat would pass milk, _all the four being + entirely corded_. Quills were first introduced into the + teats; and then tubes of larger size were pushed up into the + body of the udder. A little milk ran out of only one of + them--hope revived; but it soon stopped running, and all the + art that could be devised by a skilful shepherd proved + unavailing to draw milk from the udder; rubbing and softening + the udder with goose-fat, making it warmer with warm + water--all to no purpose. To render the case more + distressing, there was not a veterinary surgeon in the + district. At length the udder inflamed, mortified, and the + cow died in the most excruciating agony on the third day, + from being in the highest state of health, though not in high + condition, as her milking propensity usually kept her lean. + No loss of the kind ever affected my mind so much--that + nothing _could_ be done to relieve the distress of an animal + which could not help itself. I was told afterwards by a + shepherd, to whom I related the case, that I should have cut + off all the teats, and although the horrid operation would, + of course, have destroyed her for a milk cow, she might have + been saved for feeding. He had never seen a _cow_ so operated + on; but it suggested itself to him in consequence of having + been obliged at times to cut off the teats of ewes to save + their lives. The suggestion I think is good. The cow was bred + by Mr Currie, when at Brandon in Northumberland." + +Is there really no remedy for so distressing a case as this but that +which his shepherd recommended? He might, for the benefit of his +readers, have consulted our friend Professor Dick, whose opinions he +so frequently and so deservedly quotes. + +The following paragraph is very striking, as showing the cruel +absurdities which ignorance will sometimes not only perpetrate, but +actually establish, as a kind of custom in a country. + + "_Tail-ill or Tail-slip._--A very prevalent notion exists in + Scotland amongst cattle-men, that when the tail of an ox or + of a cow feels soft and supple immediately above the tuft of + hair, there is disease in it; and it is called the tail-ill, + or tail-slip. The almost invariable remedy is to make large + incision with the knife along the under side of the soft + part, stuff the wound full of salt and butter, and sometimes + tar, and roll it up with a bandage for a few days, and when + the application is removed, the animal is declared quite + recovered. Now, this notion is an absurdity. There is no such + disease as that imputed; and as the poor animal subjected to + its cure is thus tormented, the sooner the absurd notion is + exposed the better. The notion will not soon be abandoned by + the cattle-men; but the farmer ought to forbid the + performance of such an operation on any of his cattle without + his special permission, and the absurd practice will fall + into desuetude." + +We have not space for the remainder of this paragraph, which contains +Professor Dick's _demonstration_ that no such disease exists as the +so-called _Tail-ill_. Mr Stephens' narrations are more like a tale +from the times of witchcraft, when old women were supposed to have the +power of bringing disease upon cattle, than of those days of general +enlightenment. + +In sections 2268 and 2269, there is a recipe for making a cow which +has once calved give a _full_ supply of milk all the rest of her life, +and which recipe is said to be infallible. This is a _bon-bouche_, +however, which we shall leave our readers to turn up for themselves; +and we hope the desire to learn it will induce many of our dairy +friends to buy the book. + +The following is the mode adopted in fattening calves at Strathaven, +in Scotland, where the famous veal has been so long grown, chiefly for +the Glasgow market:-- + + "Strathaven in Scotland has long been famed for rearing good + _veal_ for the Glasgow and Edinburgh markets. The dairy + farmers there retain the quey calves for maintaining the + number of the cows, while they feed the male calves for veal. + Their plan is simple, and may be followed anywhere. Milk only + is given to the calves, and very seldom with any admixture, + and they are not allowed to suck the cows. Some give milk, + but sparingly at first, to whet the appetite, and prevent + surfeit. The youngest calves get the first drawn milk, or + _fore-broads_, as it is termed, and the older the + _afterings_, even of two or three cows, being the richest + portion of the milk. After being three or four weeks old, + they get abundance of milk twice a-day. They get plenty of + dry litter, fresh air, moderate warmth, and are kept nearly + in the dark to check sportiveness. They are not bled during + the time they are fed, and a lump of chalk is placed within + their reach. They are fed from 4 to 6 weeks, when they fetch + from £3 to £4 a-piece; and it is found more profitable to + fatten the larger number of calves for that time, to succeed + each other, of from 25 lb. to 30 lb. per quarter, than to + force a fewer number beyond the state of marketable veal." + +The Caledonian Railway now puts this choice veal within the reach of +English mouths; and we hope it will, at the same time, add to the +prosperity and profits of the Strathaven breeders. + +The lambing of ewes, the care of the mothers and offspring, the +diseases to which they are subject, as well as the other operations +which demand the farmer's care in the months of spring, we must pass +by. We could go on commenting and quoting from this book, as we have +already done, till an entire number of Maga was filled up. But as this +would be preposterous, we stop, earnestly pressing upon our readers to +place a copy of this storehouse of rural information in the hands of +every practical husbandman, in whose professional skill they are at +all interested. + +Those who, like ourselves, take an interest in the diffusion of +improved agriculture, scientific, and practical--and especially of our +own agricultural literature in other countries--will be pleased to +learn, not only that the work of which the title is prefixed to the +present article, as well as the others upon agricultural chemistry to +which we have referred, have made their way into the common stock of +the book-stores of the United States, but that the editing of the +American reprint of the second edition of the _Book of the Farm_ has +been undertaken by our friend Professor Norton, of Yale College, (may +his shadow never be less!) so well known and esteemed in Scotland, +where he obtained the Highland Society's £50 prize for a chemical +examination of our native oat, which was published in their +Transactions. He is a worthy representative of the "country of steady +habits" to which he belongs; and we hope his countrymen will be +discriminating enough to appreciate his own character and scientific +labours, as well as the value of the books he undertakes to bring +before them. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Stephens' _Book of the Farm_, Second Edition, vol. I. + +[2] In a recent number of the _North British Agriculturist_, it is +stated that an agricultural stoker, who thought himself qualified to +discourse on the uses of science to agriculture, had astonished a late +meeting of the Newcastle Farmers' Club by telling them that the only +thing science had yet done for agriculture was to show them how to +dissolve bones in sulphuric acid; and that chemistry might boast of +having really effected something if it could teach him to raise long +potatoes, as he used to do, or to grow potato instead of Tartary oats, +as his next-door neighbour could do. No wonder the shrewd Tyne-siders +were astonished. + +[3] Where ¶ (_pilcrow_,) or paragraph, is placed at the side of the +verse. + + + + +THE SYCAMINE. + + + I. + + The frail yellow leaves they are falling + As the wild winds sweep the grove; + Plashy and dank is the sward beneath, + And the sky it is gray above. + + II. + + Foaming adown the dark rocks, + Dirge-like, the waterfall + Mourns, as if mourning for something gone, + For ever beyond its call. + + III. + + Sing, redbreast! from the russet spray; + Thy song with the season blends: + For the bees have left us with the blooms, + And the swallows were summer friends. + + IV. + + The hawthorn bare, with berries sere, + And the bramble by the stream, + Matted, with clay on its yellow trails, + Decay's wan emblems seem. + + V. + + On this slope bank how oft we lay + In shadow of the sycamine tree; + Pause, hoary Eld, and listen now-- + 'Twas but the roaring of the sea! + + VI. + + Oh, the shouts and the laughter of yore-- + How the tones wind round the heart! + Oh, the faces blent with youth's blue skies-- + And could ye so depart! + + VII. + + The crow screams back to the wood, + And the sea-mew to the sea, + And earth seems to the foot of man + No resting-place to be. + + VIII. + + Search ye the corners of the world, + And the isles beyond the main, + And the main itself, for those who went + To come not back again! + + IX. + + The rest are a remnant scatter'd + Mid the living; and, for the dead, + Tread lightly o'er the churchyard mounds; + Ye know not where ye tread! + + [Delta] + + + + +AFTER A YEAR'S REPUBLICANISM. + + +The revolutionary year has almost closed; the anniversary of the days +of February is at hand. A Year's Republicanism has run the course of +its unchecked experience in France: to believe its own boast, it has +ridden boldly forward, seated upon public and popular opinion, in the +form of the widest, and, upon republican principle, the honest basis +of universal suffrage; it has been left to its own full career, +unimpeded by enemies either at home or abroad. And what has been the +result of the race?--what has been the harvest which the republican +soil, so carefully turned over, tilled, and manured, has produced? + +It would be a useless task to recapitulate all the different stages of +the growth of the so-called fair green tree of liberty, and enumerate +all the fruits that it has let drop from time to time, from the +earliest days of last spring, to the tempestuous summer month of June; +and then, through the duller, heavier, and gloomy months of autumn, to +those of winter, which brought a president as a Christmas-box, and +which have shown a few scattered gleams of fancied sunshine, cold at +the best, and quickly obscured again by thick-coming clouds of +dis-accord, misapprehension, and startling opposition of parties. All +the world has had these fruits dished up to it--has handled them, +examined them, tasted them; and, according to their opinions or +prejudices, men have judged their savour bitter or sweet. All that can +be said on the subject, for those who have digested them with +pleasure, is, that "there's no accounting for tastes." In calculating +the value of the year's republicanism which France has treasured up in +its history, it is as well, then, to make no further examination into +the items, but to look to the sum-total as far as it can be added up +and put together, in the present aspect of affairs. In spite of the +openly expressed detestation of the provinces to the capital--in spite +of the increasing spirit of decentralisation, and the efforts made by +the departments to insure a certain degree of importance to +themselves--it is still Paris that reigns paramount in its power, and +as the influential expression, however false in many respects it may +be, of the general spirit of the country. It is upon the aspect of +affairs in Paris, then, and all its numerous conflicting elements, +that observation must still be directed, in order to make a _résumé_, +as far as it is practicable, of this sum-total of a year's republican +rule. The account must necessarily be, more or less, a confused one, +for accounts are not strictly kept in Republican Paris--are +continually varying in their results, according as the political +arithmeticians set about their "casting up"--and are constantly +subject to dispute among the accountants: the main figures, composing +the sum-total, may, however, be enumerated without any great error, +and then they may be put together in their true amount, and according +to their real value, by those before whom they are thus laid. + +One of the most striking figures in the row, inasmuch as the lateness +of the events has made it one of the most prominent, is to be derived +from the position and designs of those who declare themselves to be +the only true and pure republicans in the anomalous Republic of +France, as exemplified by that revolutionary movement which, although +it led to no better result than a _révolution avortée_, takes its date +in the history of the Republic beside the more troublous one of May, +and the more bloody one of June, as "the affair of the 29th of +January." Paris, after the removal of the state of siege, had done its +best to put on its physiognomy of past years, had smeared over its +wrinkles as best it might, and had made sundry attempts to smile +through all this hasty plastering of its poor distorted face. Its +shattered commerce still showed many rags and rents; but it had pulled +its disordered dress with decency about it, and set it forth in the +best lights; it had called foreigners once more around it, to admire +it; and they had come at the call, although slowly and with mistrust. +It had some hopes of mending its rags, then, and even furbishing up a +new fresh _toilette_, almost as smart as of yore; it danced and sang +again, although faintly and with effort. The National Assembly +clamoured and fought, it is true; but Paris was grown accustomed to +such discordant music, and at most only stopped its ears to it: +ministers held their portfolios with ticklish balance, as if about to +let them fall; but Paris was determined not to care who dropped +portfolios, or who caught them: there were clouds again upon the +political horizon, and distant rumblings of a crisis-thunderstorm; but +Paris seemed resolved to look out for fine weather. All on a sudden, +one bright morning, on the 29th of January, the smile vanished: the +troubled physiognomy was again there; the revolutionary air again +pervaded it; and foreigners once more, not liking the looks of the +convulsed face, began to start back in alarm. The _rappel_ was again +beaten, for the turning out of the national guards at the earliest +hour of the morning: that drumming, which for many months had filled +the air incessantly, again deafened sensitive ears and harassed +sensitive nerves. The streets were thronged with troops, marching +forwards in thick battalions; while before them retreated some +hundreds of those nameless beings, who come no one knows whence, and +go no one knows whither--those mysterious beings, peculiar to +revolutionary cities, who only appear like a cloud of stinging dust +when the wind of the revolution-tempest begins to blow, and who in +Paris are either brigands or heroes of barricades, according as the +language of the day may go--back, back, grumbling and threatening, +into the faubourgs, where they vanished until the gale may blow +stormier again, and meet with less resistance. The garden of the +Tuileries was closed to the public, and exhibited an armed array once +more among its leafless trees; the Champs Elysées had again become a +camp and a bivouac; cannon was again posted around the National +Assembly. Formidable military posts surrounded every public building; +the streets were crowded with the curious; thick knots of men again +stood at every corner; people asked once more, "What's on foot now?" +but no one at first could answer: they only repeated from mouth to +mouth the mysterious words of General Changarnier, that "he who should +venture to displace a paving-stone would never again replace it;" and +they knew what that meant. Paris was, all at once, its revolutionary +self again; and, in some degree, so it remained during the ensuing +weeks--with cannon displayed on hazardous points, and the great +railway stations of the capital filled with battalions of soldiers, +bivouacking upon straw in courts and _salles d' attente_; and huge +military posts at every turn, and thick patrols parading gloomily at +night, and palaces and public buildings closed and guarded, just as if +retrograde monarchy were about to suppress fervent liberalism, and a +"glorious republic" had not been established for a country's happiness +wellnigh a year already; just as if republicans, who had conspired +darkly a year before, had not obtained all they _then_ clamoured +for--a republic based upon institutions resulting from universal +suffrage--and were conspiring again. And so it was. A deep-laid +conspiracy--a conspiracy of republicans against a republic, which they +chose to call deceptive and illusory--was again on foot. They had +possessed, for nigh a year, the blessing for which they had conspired, +intrigued, and fought; and they conspired, intrigued, and would have +fought again. One of the figures, then, to form the total which has to +be summed up as the result of a year's republicanism, is--conspiracy; +conspiracy more formidable than ever, because more desperate, more +bloody-minded in its hopes, more destructive in its designs to all +society. + +In spite of the denegations of the Red-republican party, and the +counter-accusations of their allies the _Montagnards_ in the Assembly, +the question of all Paris, "What's on foot now?" was soon answered; and +the answer, spite of these same denegations, and counter-accusations, +was speedily understood and believed by all France. A conspiracy of the +ultra-democrats, Red republicans and Socialists, (all now so shaken up +together in one common dark bag of underhand design, that it is +impossible to distinguish the shades of such parties,) was on the +point of breaking out in the capital: the 29th of January had been +fixed upon by the conspirators for their general insurrection. The Red +republicans (to include all the factions of the anarchist parties under +that title, in which they themselves rejoice, although the designation +be derived from "blood") had felt how strong and overpowering had +become the clamour raised throughout the land against that National +Assembly which had run its course, and was now placed in constant +opposition, not only to the president of the republic, as represented +by his ministers, but to the general spirit and feeling of the country +at large; they were aware, but too feelingly, that, should the Assembly +give way before this clamour, in spite of its evidences of resistance, +and decree its own dissolution, the elections of a new Legislative +Assembly by that universal suffrage which had once been their idol, and +was now to be scouted and despised, would inevitably produce what they +termed a reactionary, and what they suspected might prove, a +counter-revolutionary and monarchic majority; and they had determined, +in spite of their defeat in June, to attempt another revolution, in the +hope of again surprising the capital by a _coup-de-main_, and seizing +the reins of power into their own hands at once. This conspiracy was +affiliated together, in its various branches, by those formidable +_sociétés secrètes_, which, long organised, had been again called into +service by the persevering activity of the party, not only in Paris, +but in all the larger provincial towns, and for which fresh recruits +had been zealously drummed together. A general outbreak all over the +country was regulated to explode simultaneously on the 29th of January, +or during the following night: that monomania, which has never ceased +to possess the minds of the frantic chiefs of the Red-republican party, +and which still entertains the vain dream that, if they rise, all the +lower classes, or what they call "the people," must rise at their call, +to fight in their wild cause, gave them support in their designs. +Pretexts for discontent, at the same time, were not wanting. The +project of the government for a general suppression of the clubs--a +measure which they declared unconstitutional, gave a colour to +disaffection and revolt; and hopes that fresh allies would join the +insurrection gave the party a bold confidence, which it had not +possessed since the days of June. The _garde mobile_, in fact, had been +tampered with. The spirit of these young janissaries of the capital, +for the most part but a year ago the mere _gamins de Paris_, always +vacillating and little to be relied upon, spite of their deeds in June, +had already been adroitly worked upon by the fostering of that jealousy +which subsisted between them and the regular army into a more decided +hatred, when a decree of the government for the reorganisation of the +_corps_ was interpreted by the designing conspirators into an insult +offered to the whole institution, and a preparatory measure to its +total dissolution. Such insinuations, carefully fomented among these +young troops, led to tumultuous demonstrations of disaffection and +discontent. This ferment, so opportune for the designs of the Red +republicans, induced them to believe that their hour of struggle and of +approaching triumph was at hand: they counted on their new allies; all +was ready for the outbreak. But the government was alive to the tempest +rising around it; it was determined to do its duty to the country in +_preventing_ the storm, rather than in suppressing it when once it +should have broken forth. Hence the military preparations which, on the +morning of the 29th of January, had once more rendered all Paris a +fortress and a camp; hence the warning sound of the _rappel_, which at +an early hour had once more roused all the citizens from their beds, +and called alarmed faces forth at windows and upon balconies in the +gloom of the dawn; hence the stern commanding words of General +Changarnier, and the orders to the troops and the national guards, that +any man attempting to raise a stone from the streets should be shot +forthwith, and without mercy; hence the consternation with which the +outpost allies of the Red republicans hurried back growling to their +mysterious dens, wherever such may exist. Prevention was considered +better than cure, in spite of the misinterpretations and +misapprehensions to which it might be exposed, and by which it was +subsequently assailed by the disappointed faction. Arrest then followed +upon arrest; upwards of two hundred of the suspected chiefs of the +conspiracy were hurried off to prison. Among them were former delegates +to the once famous committee of the Luxembourg, whose conduct gave +evidence of the results produced by the dangerous utopian theories set +forth under the lectureship of M. Louis Blanc, and his noble friend the +_soi-disant ouvrier_ Albert. Chiefs of the clubs bore them company in +their incarceration; and the ex-Count D'Alton Shee, the _ex-élégant_ of +the fashionable _salons_ of Paris, but now the socialist-atheist and +anarchist, suffered the same penalty of his actions as leading member +of the club "_De la Solidarité Républicaine_." Turbulent officers of +the Garde Mobile underwent a similar fate. Even the national guard was +not spared in the person of one of its superior officers, whose +agitation and over-zealous movements excited suspicion; and, by the +way, in the general summing up, arrest, imprisonment, restriction of +liberty, may also take their place in the row as another little figure +in the total. + +The conspiracy, however, was suppressed; the insurrection failed +entirely for the time; and Paris was told that it might be perfectly +reassured, and doze quietly again upon its pillow, without any fear +that Red-republicanism should again "murder sleep." But Paris, which +has not learned yet to recover its old quiet habit of sleeping calmly, +and has got too much fever in its system to close its eyes at will, is +not to be lulled by such mere sedatives of ministerial assurance. Once +roused in startled hurry from its bed again, and seeing the opiate of +confidence which was beginning to work its effect in very small doses +snatched from its grasp, it cannot calm its nerves at once. It will +not be persuaded that the crisis is over, and has passed away for +ever; like a child awakened by a nightmare, it looks into all sorts of +dark holes and corners, thinking to see the spectre lurking there. It +knows what it had to expect from the tender mercies of its pitiless +enemies, had they succeeded in their will; what was the _programme_ of +a new Red-republican rule--a _comité du salut public_, the _régime_ of +the _guillotine_, the _épuration_ of suspected aristocrats, the +confiscation of the property of emigrants, a tax of three _milliards_ +upon the rich, a spoliation of all who "possess," the dissolution of +the national guard, the exclusive possession of all arms by the +_soi-disant_ people, and--but the list of such new-old measures of +ultra-republican government would be too long; it is an old tale often +told, and, after all, only a free translation from the measures of +other times. Paris, then, knows all this; it knows the fanatic and +inexpressible rage of its antagonist, to which the fever of madness +lends strength; it allows itself to be told all sorts of fearful +tales--how Socialists, in imitation of their London brethren, have +hired some thousand apartments in different quarters of the capital, +in order to light a thousand fires at once upon a given signal. It +goes about repeating the old vague cry--"_Nous allons avoir quelque +chose_;" and, however foolishly exaggerated its alarm, the results it +experiences are the same--again want of confidence arising from +anxiety, again suspension of trade, again a renewal of misery. The +fresh want of confidence, then, with all the attendant evils in its +train, may again, as the year of republicanism approaches to its +close, be taken as another figure in the sum-total that is sought. + +In the midst of this sudden ferment, which has appeared towards the end +of the republican year like a _tableau final_ at the conclusion of an +act of a drama--hastily thrust forward when the interest of the piece +began to languish,--how stands the state of parties in that Assembly +which, although it is said--and very correctly, it would appear--no +longer to represent the spirit of the country at large, must still be +considered as the great axis of the republic, around which all else +moves? Always tumultuous, disorderly, and disdainful of those +parliamentary forms which could alone insure it the aspect of a +dignified deliberative body, the National Assembly, as it sees its +last days inevitably approaching--although it retards its dissolution +by every quack-doctoring means within its grasp--seems to have plunged, +in its throes, into a worse slough of triple confusion, disorder, and +uncertainty than ever. Jealous of its dignity, unwilling to quit its +power, unwilling--say malicious tongues--to quit its profit, and yet +pressed upon by that public opinion which it would vainly attempt to +deny, to misinterpret, or to despise, it has shown itself more +vacillating, capricious, and childish than ever. It wavers, votes +hither and thither, backwards and forwards--now almost inclined to fall +into the nets spread for it by the ultra-democratic party, that +supports its resistance against all attempts to dissolve it, and upon +the point of throwing itself into that party's arms; and now, again, +alarmed at the allies to whom it would unite itself, starting back from +their embrace, turning round in its majority, and declaring itself +against the sense of its former decisions. Now, it offers an active and +seemingly spiteful opposition to the government; and now, again, it +accepts the first outlet to enable it to turn back upon its course. Now +it is sulky, now alarmed at its own sulkiness; now angry, now begging +its own pardon for its hastiness. It is like a child that does not know +its own mind or temper, and gives way to all the first vagaries that +spring into its childish brain: it neglects the more real interests of +the country, and loses the country's time in its service, in its +eternal interpellations, accusations, recriminations, jealousies, +suspicions, and offended susceptibilities; it quarrels, scratches, +fights, and breaks its own toys--and all this in the midst of the most +inextricable confusion. To do it justice, the Assembly, as represented +by its wavering majority, is placed between two stools of apprehension, +between which it is continually coming to the ground, and making +wofully wry faces: and, between the two, it is not very easy to see how +it should preserve a decent equilibrium. On the one hand, it suspects +the reactionary, and perhaps counter-revolutionary designs of the +moderate party on the right, whose chiefs and leaders have chosen to +hold themselves back from any participation in the governmental posts, +which they have otherwise coveted and fatally intrigued for, as if they +had an _arrière-pensée_ of better and more congenial opportunities in +store, and whose reliance in this respect seems equivocal; and it looks +upon them as monarchists biding their time. On the other hand, it +dreads the _Montagnards_ on the extreme left, with their frantic +excesses and violent measures, however much it has looked for their +support in the momentous question of the dissolution of the Assembly. +It bears no good-will to the president, whose immense majority in the +elections has been mainly due to the hopes of the anti-republicans that +his advent might lead to a total change of government: it bears still +less good-will to the ministers of that president's choice. Between its +two fears, then, no wonder that it oscillates like a pendulum. The +approach of its final dissolution, which it has at last indefinitely +voted, and yet endeavours to retard by fresh obligations for remaining, +gives it that character of bitterness which an old coquette may feel +when she finds her last hope of conquest slipping indubitably away from +her. Without accusing the majority of that desperate clinging to place +from interested motives--which the country, however, is continually +casting in its teeth--it may be owned that it is not willing to see +power wrested from it, when it fears, upon its return to its +constituents, it may never find that power placed in its hands again, +and seeks every means of prolonging the fatal hour under the pretence +of serving the best interests of that country to which it fears to +appeal: and to this state of temper, its waspishness, uncertainty, and +increasing disorder, may be in some degree attributed. + +Of the hopes and designs of the extreme moderate and supposed +reactionary party, little can be said, inasmuch as it has kept its +thoughts to itself, and not permitted itself to give any open +evidences whatever upon the point. But the ardent and impetuous +_Montagnards_ are by no means so cautious: their designs, and hopes, +and fears, have been clearly enough expressed; and they flash forth +continually, as lightnings in the midst of the thunder of their +incessant tumult. The allies and representatives, and, if all tales be +true, the chiefs of the Red-republican party out of the Assembly--they +still cherish the hope of establishing an ultra-democratic republican +government, by some means or other--"by foul if fair should fail"--a +government of despotic rule by violence--of propagandism by +constraint--of systematic anarchy. They still form visions of some +future Convention of which they may be the heroes--of a parliamentary +tyrannical oligarchy, by which they may enforce their extravagant +opinions. Driven to the most flagrant inconsistencies by their false +position, they declare themselves also the true and supreme organ--not +only of those they call "the people," but of the nation at large; +while, at the same time, they affect to despise, and they even +denounce as criminal, the general expression of public opinion, as +evidenced by universal suffrage. They assume the attitudes of +_sauveurs de la patrie_; and in the next breath they declare that +_patrie traitre_ to itself. They vaunt themselves to be the _élus de +la nation_; and they openly express their repugnance to meet again, as +candidates for the new legislative assembly, that majority of the +nation which they now would drag before the tribunal of republicanism +as counter-revolutionary and reactionary. In short, the only universal +suffrage to which they would appeal is that of the furious minority of +their perverted or hired bands among the dregs of the people. They +have thus in vain used every effort to prolong to an indefinite +period, or even to render permanent, if possible, the existence of +that Assembly which their own party attacked in May, and which they +themselves have so often denounced as reactionary. It is the rock of +salvation upon which they fix their frail anchor of power, in default +of that more solid and elevated foundation for their sway, which they +are well aware can now only be laid for them by the hands of +insurgents, and cemented by the blood of civil strife in the already +blood-flooded streets of Paris. With the same necessary inconsistency +which marks their whole conduct, they fix their hopes of advent to +power upon the overthrow of the Assembly of which they are not +masters, together with the whole present system of government; while +they support the principle of the inviolability and immovability of +that same Assembly, under such circumstances called by them "the holy +ark of the country," when a fresh appeal is to be made to the mass of +the nation at large. During the waverings and vacillations of the +majority--itself clinging to place and power--they more than once +expected a triumph for themselves in a declaration of the Assembly's +permanence, with the secret hope, _en arrière pensée_, of finding fair +cause for that insurrection by which alone they would fully profit, if +a _coup-de-main_ were to be attempted by the government, in obedience +to the loudly-expressed clamour of popular opinion, to wreck that +"holy ark" in which they had embarked their lesser hopes. When, +however, they found that the crew were disposed to desert it, on +feeling the storms of public manifestation blowing too hard against +it--when they found that they themselves must in a few weeks, or at +latest months, quit its tottering planks, their rage has known no +bounds. Every manoeuvre that can be used to prolong life, by +prolonging even the daily existence of the Assembly, is unscrupulously +put into practice. They clamour, they interrupt discussion--they +denounce--they produce those daily "_incidents_" of French +parliamentary tradition which prevent the progress of parliamentary +business--they invent fresh interpellations, to create further delays +by long-protracted angry quarrel and acrimony. Part of all this system +of denunciation, recrimination, and acrimonious accusation, belongs, +it is true, to their assumed character as the _dramatis personæ_ of an +imaginary Convention. They have their cherished models of old, to copy +which is their task, and their glory; the dramatic traditions of the +old Convention are ever in their winds, and are to be followed in +manner, and even costume, as far as possible. And thus Ledru Rollin, +another would-be Danton, tosses back his head, and raises his nose +aloft, and pulls up his burly form, to thunder forth his angry +Red-republican indignation; and Felix Pyat, the melodramatic +dramatist, of the _boulevard du crime_--fully in his place where +living dramas, almost as extravagant and ranting as those from his own +pen, are to be performed--rolls his large round dark eyes, and swells +his voice, and shouts, and throws about his arms, after the fashion of +those melodrama actors for whose noisy declamation he has afforded +such good stuff, and because of his picturesque appearance, fancies +himself, it would seem, a new St Just. And Sarrans, _soi-disant_ "the +young," acts after no less melodramatic a fashion, as if in rivalry +for the parts of _jeune premier_ in the drama, but cannot get beyond +the airs of a provincial groundling; and Lagrange, with his ferocious +and haggard countenance, and his grizzled long hair and beard, yells +from his seat, although in the tribune he affects a milder language +now, as if to contradict and deny his past deeds. And Proudhon shouts +too, although he puts on a benevolent _air patelin_, beneath the +spectacles on his round face, when he proposes his schemes for the +destruction of the whole fabric of society. And Pierre Leroux, the +frantic philosopher, shakes his wild greasy mane of hair about his +heavy greasy face, and raves, as ever, discordantly; and old +Lammenais, the renegade ex-priest, bends his gloomy head, and snarls +and growls, and utters low imprecations, instead of priestly +blessings, and looks like another Marat, even if he denies the moral +resemblance to its full extent. And Greppo shouts and struggles with +Felix Pyat for the much-desired part of St Just. And gray-bearded +Couthons, who have not even the ardour of youth to excuse their +extravagancies, rise from their curule chairs to toss up their arms, +and howl in chorus. And even Jules Favre, although he belongs not to +their party, barks, bites, accuses, and denounces too, all things and +all men, and spits forth venom, as if he was regardless where the +venom fell, or whom it blistered; and, with his pale, bilious face, +and scrupulously-attired spare form, seems to endeavour to preserve, +as far as he can, in a new republic, the agreeable tradition of +another Robespierre. And let it not be supposed, that malice or +prejudice attaches to the _Montagnards_ these names. The men of the +last republican era, whom history has execrated, calumniously and +unjustly they will say, are their heroes and their demi-gods; the sage +legislators, whose principles they vaunt as those of republican +civilisation and humanity; the models whom they avowedly, and with a +confessed air of ambition, aspire to copy in word and deed. Part, +however, of the systematic confusion, which it is their evident aim to +introduce into the deliberations of the Assembly, is, in latter days, +to be attributable to their desire to create delays, and lead to +episodical discussions of angry quarrel and recrimination, which may +prolong the convulsive existence of the Assembly to an indefinite +period, or by which they may profit to forward their own designs. Thus +the day is rare, as a ray of sunshine in a permanent equinoctial +storm, when the _Montagnards_ do not start from their seats, upon the +faintest pretext for discontent or accusation of reactionary +tendencies; and, either _en masse_ or individually, fulminate, +gesticulate, clamour, shout, denounce, and threaten. The thunder upon +the "Mountain's" brow is incessant: if it does not burst forth in +heavy peals, it never ceases to growl. Each _Montagnard_ is a Jupiter +in his own conceit, and hurls his thunderbolt with what force he may. +Not a word can be spoken by a supposed reactionary orator without a +murmur--not a phrase completed without a shout of denegation, a +torrent of interruptions, or peeling bursts of ironical laughter. The +"Mountain" is in perpetual labour; but its produce bears more +resemblance to a yelping pack of hungry blood-hounds, than to an +innocent mouse: it is in perpetual movement; and, like crushing +avalanches from its summit, rush down its most energetic members to +the tribune, to attempt to crush the Assembly by vehemence and +violence of language. These scenes of systematic tumult have +necessarily increased in force, since the boiling spite of +disappointment has flowed over in hot reality, in place of the +affected and acted indignation: the rage and agitation no longer know +the least control. The affair of the abolition of the clubs had +scarcely lent an excellent pretext for this violence, when the +suppression of the insurrection, and the arrests consequent upon the +discomfiture of the conspiracy on the 29th of January, gave a wide +field for the exercise of the system of denunciation commonly pursued. +To be beforehand with accusation by counter-accusation, has been +always the tactics of the party: when the party-chiefs find themselves +involved in the suspicion of subversive attempts, they begin the +attack. The _Montagnards_ have burst forth, then, to declare that the +military precautions were a systematic provocation on the part of the +ministry and General Changarnier, to incite the population of Paris to +civil discord; that the only conspiracy existed in the government +itself, to suppress liberty and overthrow the republic--at least to +cast a slur upon the only true republicans, and have an excuse for +tyrannical oppression towards them. They closed their eyes to the fact +that the insurrection, of the proposed reality of which no doubt can +remain, spite of these angry denegations, would have produced a crisis +to which the real reactionary anti-republicans looked as one that +_must_ produce a change in the detested government of the country, +should the moderate party triumph in the struggle, as was probable; +and that by the suppression of the insurrection the crisis was +averted, and the republic evidently consolidated for a time, not +weakened. With their usual inconsistency, and want of logical +deduction, at the same time that they accused the minister of a +useless and provocative display of the military force, they denounced +the conspiracy as real, but as proceeding from "infamous royalists," +and not anarchist Red republicans. And then, to follow up this +pell-mell of self-contradictions--while, on the one hand, they denied +any insurrectionary movement at all, and, on the other, attributed it +to royalists--they called, in their language at the rostrum, the +commencement of the street demonstration on the morning of the 29th of +January--which could not be denied, and which had come down as usual +from the faubourgs, ever ripe for tumult--"the sublime manifestation +of the heroic people." Propositions couched in furious language, for +"_enquêtes parlementaires_," and for the "_mise en accusation des +ministres_"--every possible means of denunciation and intimidation +were employed, to increase the agitated hurly-burly of the Assembly, +and subvert, as far as was possible, the few frail elements of order +and of confidence that still subsisted in it. In marking thus, in +hasty traits, the position of parties in the Assembly, called together +to establish and consolidate the republic upon a basis of peace and +order, what are the figures which are so noted down as forming part of +the sum-total, as the approaching conclusion of the revolutionary year +is about to make up its accounts? As regards the Assembly, increased +confusion, disunion, bitter conflict of exasperated parties, +suspicion, mistrust, disaffection, violence. + +How stands the government of the country after the year's +republicanism? At its head is the Republican President, elected by the +immense majority of the country, but elected upon a deceptive +basis--elected neither for his principles, which were doubtful; nor +for his qualities, which were unknown or supposed to be null; nor even +for his name, (although much error has been founded upon the subject,) +which, after all, dazzled only a comparatively small minority--but +because he was supposed to represent the principle opposed to +republicanism--opposed to the very _régime_ he was elected to +support--opposed to that spirit of which the man who had once saved +the country from anarchy, and had once received the country's +blessings, was considered to be the type--because hopes were founded +on his advent of a change in a system of government uncongenial, and +even hateful, to the mass of the nation; whether by the _prestige_ of +his name he attempted to re-establish an empire, or whether, as +another Monk, he formed only a stepping-stone for a new monarch. +Elected thus upon false principles, the head of the government stands +in an eminently false position. He may have shown himself moderate; +inclined to support the republic upon that "honest" basis which the +better-thinking republicans demand; firm in the support of a cabinet, +the measures of which he approves; and every way sincere and +straightforward, although not in all his actions wise: but his +position remains the same--placed between the ambitious hope of a +party which might almost be said to exist no longer, and which has +become that only of a family and a few old adherents and connexions, +but which attempts to dazzle a country vain and proud of the word +"glory," like France, by the somewhat tarnished glitter of a name, and +the prospect of another which calls itself legitimate;--the _point de +mire_ of the army, but, at the same time, the stalking-horse of a +nation miserably wearied with the present hobby, upon which it has +been forced unwillingly to ride, with about as much pleasure and +_aplomb_ as the famous tailor of Brentford--and, on the other hand, +suspected, accused, and denounced by those who claim to themselves the +only true and pure essence of veritable republicanism. It is a +position placed upon a "see-saw"--placed in the centre, it is true, +but liable, in any convulsive crisis, to be seriously compromised by +the violent and abrupt elevation of either of the ends of the plank, +as it tosses up and down: for the feet of the president, instead of +directing the movements of this perpetually agitated "see-saw," and +giving the necessary steadiness, without which the whole present +republican balance must be overturned, seem more destined to slip +hither and thither in the struggle, at the imminent risk of losing all +equilibrium, and slipping off the plank altogether. As yet, the +president, whenever he appears in public, is followed by shouting and +admiring crowds, who run by his horse, clap their hands, call upon his +name, greet him with noisy cries of "_vive_," grasp his hands, and of +course present some hundreds of petitions; but these demonstrations of +respect must be attributed far less to personal consideration, or +popular affection, or even to the _prestige_ of the name of Napoleon, +than to the eagerness of the Parisian public, even of the lowest +classes--spite of all that may be said of their sentiments by their +would-be leaders, the ultra-democrats--to salute with acclamation the +personage who represents a head, a chief, a _point d'appui +quelconque_--a leading staff, a guiding star, a unity, instead of a +disorderly body--in one word, a resemblance of royalty. It is the +_president_, and not the _man_, who is thus greeted. The usual +curiosity and love of show and parade of the Parisian _badauds_, at +least as "cockney" as the famed Londoner, may be much mixed up again +in all this, but the sentiment remains the same; nor do these +demonstrations alter the position of the man who stands at the head of +the government of France. The ministry, supported in _principle_ by +the country, although not from any personal respect or liking, stands +in opposition to an Assembly, elected by that country, but no longer +representing it. The army shows itself inclined to protect the +government, on the one hand, and is said to be ready, on the other, to +follow in the cry of "_vive l'Empereur!_" should that cry be raised. +The _garde mobile_, although modified by its late reorganisation, is +suspected of versatility and unsoundness, if not exactly of +disaffection: it stands in instant collision with the dislike and +jealousy of the army, and, spite of its courageous part in June, is +looked upon askance by the lovers of order. What aspect, then, have +the figures which may be supposed to represent all this in the +sum-total of the year's republicanism? They bear the forms of +instability, suspicion, doubt, collision, want of confidence in the +future, and all the evils attendant upon the uncertainty of a state of +things which, spite of assurances, and spite of efforts, the greater +part of France seems inclined to look upon merely as provisionary. + +Under what form, then, does the public spirit exhibit itself in +circumstances of so much doubt and instability? The attitude of the +working classes in general, of the very great majority, in fact--for +those still swayed by the delusive arguments, and still more delusive +and destructive promises of the Socialists and Republicans are +comparatively few, although formidable in the ferocity of their +doctrines and their plans, and in the active restlessness of their +feverish and excited energies, which resemble the reckless, +sleepless, activity of the madman--the attitude of the working classes +in Paris is calm, and even expectant; but calm from utter +weariness--calm from the convictions, founded on the saddest +experience, in the wretched results of further revolutions--calm from +a sort of prostrate resignation, and almost despair, in the midst of +the miseries and privations which the last fatal year has increased +instead of diminishing, and written with a twofold scourge upon their +backs: an attitude reassuring, inasmuch as it implies hatred and +opposition to the subversive doctrines of the anarchists, but not +without its dangers, and, to say the least, heartrending and +afflicting--and expectant in the hope and conviction of change in the +cause of stability and order. The feeling which, after a few months of +the rule of a reckless provisionary government, was the prevailing one +among the _majority_ of the working classes--the feeling, which has +been already noted, that king Log, or even king Stork, or any other +concentrated power that would represent stability and order, would be +preferable to the uncertainties of a vacillating republican rule--has +ever gained ground among them since those hopes of re-established +confidence, and a consequent amelioration of their wretched position, +which they first founded upon the meeting of the National Assembly, +and then upon the election of a president, have twice deceived them, +and left them almost as wretched as ever in the stagnation of trade +and commercial affairs. The feeling thus prevalent among the working +classes in the capital, is, at the same time, the feeling of the +country at large, but to an even far wider extent, and more openly +expressed. The hatred of the departments to Paris, as the chief seat +of revolution and disorder, has also increased rather than diminished; +and everywhere the sentiments of utter weariness, disaffection to the +Republic, and impatience under a system of government of which they +are no longer inclined to await the promised blessings, are displayed +upon all possible occasions, and by every possible organ. The upper +classes among moneyed men, and landed proprietors, remain quiet and +hold their tongue. They may be expectant and desirous of change also, +but they show no open impatience, for _they can afford to wait_. It is +they, on the contrary, who more generally express their opinions in +the _possibility_ of the establishment of a prosperous republic--a +possibility which the working classes in their impatience deny. In +spite of all that ultra-democratic journals may say, in their raving +denunciations, borrowed of the language of another Republic, some of +the most eager and decided of those they term "reactionary," and +denounce as "aristocrats," are thus to be found among the lower +working classes. To do justice to the truth of the accusations brought +by the Red republican party, in another respect, it is in the +_bourgeois_ spirit that is to be found the strongest and most openly +avowed reactionary feeling. It is impossible to enter any shop of the +better order in Paris, and speak upon the position of affairs, without +hearing not only the hope, but the expectation openly expressed, of a +monarchic restoration, and that restoration in favour of the elder +branch of the Bourbons. The feeling is universal in this class: the +name of "Henri V.," scarce mentioned at all, and never under this +title, during the reign of Louis Philippe, except in the exclusive +circles of the Faubourg St Germain, is now in every shopkeeper's +mouth. Louis Philippe, the Regency, all the members of the Orleans +family, the Empire, a Bonapartist rule--all are set aside in the minds +of these classes for the now-desired idol of their fickle choice, the +Duke of Bordeaux. In these classes a restoration in favour of Henri V. +is no longer a question of possibility; it is a mere question of time: +it is not "_L'aurons-nous?_" that they ask; it is "_Quand +l'aurons-nous?_" In this respect the real and true republicans, in the +"honest" designation of the term, have certainly every reason to raise +an angry clamour; if sedition to the existing _régime_ of the country +is not openly practised, it is, at all events, openly and generally +expressed. Nor are their accusations brought against the government +entirely without justice; for while, on the one hand, a measure of a +nature altogether arbitrary, under the freedom of a republican rule, +is exercised against a well-known artist, by seizing in his _atelier_ +the portraits of the Duke of Bordeaux, or, as he is called, the Count +of Chambord, and of the Countess, as seditiously exhibited, +lithographed likenesses of the Bourbon heir are to be seen on all +sides at print-shop windows, and in popular temporary print-stalls; in +galleries, arcades, and upon street walls; in _vignettes_, upon +ballads, with such titles, as "_Dieu le veut_," or "_La France le +veut_," or in busts of all dimensions. Again, the _Henri-quinquiste_ +feeling, as it is called, is universal among the fickle _bourgeoisie_ +of Paris--the rock upon which Louis Philippe founded his throne, and +which sank under him in his hour of need: and the _bourgeois_, eager +and confident in their hopes, wilfully shut their eyes to the fact +that, were their detested republic overthrown, there might arise +future convulsions, and future civil strife, between a Bonapartist +faction--which necessarily grows, and increases, and flourishes more +and more under the rule, however temporary, of a chief of the +name--and the legitimist party: for the Orleanists, whether fused by a +compromise of their hopes with the Legitimists, as has been said, or +fallen into the obscurity of forgetfulness or indifference in the +majority of the nation, hold forth no decided banner at the present +moment. In regarding, then, the public spirit among the majority of +all classes in Paris, without consulting the still more reactionary +feeling of the departments, the figures to be added to the sum-total +of the year's republican account will be again found similar to those +already enumerated, in the shape of disaffection, abhorrence of the +republican government, want of confidence in its stability, +expectation and hope of a change, however it may come, and although it +may be brought about by a convulsion. + +Meanwhile the uncertainty and anxiety are increased by the continued +expectation of some approaching crisis, which the explosion of the +insurrection, destined for the 29th of January, would have hastened, +and which the precautions taken for the suppression of the outbreak +have evidently averted for the time. But what confidence can be +expressed in the stability of this temporary state of order in a +country so full of excitement and love of change, and in a state of +continual revolution, in which such conspiracy ceases not to work in +darkness, with the hope of attaining despotic power, and in which +disaffection to the state of things is openly expressed? Events have +run their course with such fearful rapidity, and the unexpected has +been so greatly the "order of the day," in the last year's history of +France, that who can answer for the future of the next months, or even +weeks? Political prophets have long since thrown up the trade of +oracle-giving in despair; and the tripod of the oracle has been left +to the occupation of the chances of the _imprévu_. In spite, then, of +the temporary reassurance of peace given by the last measures of the +government, which have been denounced by the ultra-democrats as +arbitrary, subversive, and unconstitutional, the underground agitation +still continues. Paris dances once more, repeating to itself, however, +the often-repeated words, "_Nous dansons sur un volcan_." The carnival +pursues its noisy pleasures, under the protection of the forests of +bayonets that are continually glittering along the gay sunlit streets, +and to the sound of the drum of the marching military, who still give +Paris the aspect of a garrison in time of war. Gay _salons_ are +opened, and carriages again rattle along the streets on moonlit +nights; but the spirit of Parisian gaiety reposes not upon confidence, +and is but the practical application of the epicurean philosophy that +takes for its maxim, "_Carpe diem_." + +Whatever may be the reality of an approaching crisis, which, however +feeble the symptoms at present, the Parisians insist upon regarding as +near at hand,--whatever may be the hopes of some that the crisis, +however convulsive, must produce a desired change, and the fears of +others of the civil strife,--whatever thus the desires of the +sanguine, the expectations of the hopeful, the apprehensions of the +peaceful, and the terrors of the timorous, the result is still the +same--the uncertainty, the want of confidence, the evils attendant +upon this feeling of instability, so often already enumerated. The +violence and struggling rage of the ultra-democratic and socialist +journals, increasing in denunciation to the death, and positively +convulsive in their rage, as the anti-republican reactionary spirit +grows, and spreads wider, and every day takes firmer root, and even +dares to blossom openly in the expression of public opinion, are +looked upon as the throes of dying agony by the bold, but are regarded +with dread by the less courageous, who know the force of the party's +exaggerated violence, and have already felt the miseries of their +fanatic subversive attempts. Meanwhile, the moderate or honest +republic, which vainly attempts a _juste milieu_ of republicanism, +between extravagance and disaffection, limps sadly forwards; or, as +one of the late satirical pieces, which openly attack the republic on +the stage, expresses it--amidst the applause and shouts of deriding +laughter, which hail it nightly in crowded houses, not so much from +the boxes as from the galleries thronged with types of the +"people"--"_Elle boîte! elle boîte!_" Republicans may thus clamour +against the culpable laxity of a government, which permits these +much-applauded attacks upon the Republic, in accordance with the +principle of freedom of opinion, and in pursuance of the abolition of +a theatrical censorship which they themselves condemned: but so it is; +and therein may be sought and found one of the strongest popular +evidences of popular disaffection. And satires too, and caricatures, +abound, in which the unhappy Republic is still more soundly +scourged--demonstrations not less lively, although they call not forth +the evident approbation of a congregated multitude. Now, then, that +the revolutionary year has almost closed there--now that the +anniversary of the days of February is at hand--let people take the +figures enumerated, and justly enumerated, as they will, and place +them as they fancy in the sum-total, and cast them up as they please, +or deduce what value they may from the amount of the first year of new +republicanism in France. Another question. What _fêtes_ are to greet +the anniversaries of the "glorious" days of the "glorious" revolution +which established a "glorious" Republic? Assuredly the _fête_ will not +be in the people's hearts: no, not even in the hearts of those whom +their mis-named, self-appointed friends choose to call, _par +excellence_, "the people." + + + + +THE CAXTONS--PART XI. + + +CHAPTER LII. + +The next day, on the outside of the Cambridge Telegraph, there was one +passenger who ought to have impressed his fellow-travellers with a +very respectful idea of his lore in the dead languages; for not a +single syllable, in a live one, did he vouchsafe to utter from the +moment he ascended that "bad eminence," to the moment in which he +regained his mother earth. "Sleep," says honest Sancho, "covers a man +better than a cloak." I am ashamed of thee, honest Sancho! thou art a +sad plagiarist; for Tibullus said pretty nearly the same thing before +thee,-- + + "Te somnus fusco velavit amictu."[4] + +But is not silence as good a cloak as sleep?--does it not wrap a man +round with as offusc and impervious a fold? Silence--what a world it +covers!--what busy schemes--what bright hopes and dark fears--what +ambition, or what despair! Do you ever see a man in any society +sitting mute for hours, and not feel an uneasy curiosity to penetrate +the wall he thus builds up between others and himself? Does he not +interest you far more than the brilliant talker at your left--the airy +wit at your right, whose shafts fall in vain on the sullen barrier of +the silent man! Silence, dark sister of Nox and Erebus, how, layer +upon layer, shadow upon shadow, blackness upon blackness, thou +stretchest thyself from hell to heaven, over thy two chosen +haunts--man's heart and the grave! + +So, then, wrapped in my greatcoat and my silence, I performed my +journey; and on the evening of the second day I reached the +old-fashioned brick house. How shrill on my ears sounded the bell! How +strange and ominous to my impatience seemed the light gleaming across +the windows of the hall! How my heart beat as I watched the face of +the servant who opened the gate to my summons! + +"All well?" cried I. + +"All well, sir," answered the servant, cheerfully. "Mr Squills, +indeed, is with master, but I don't think there is anything the +matter." + +But now my mother appeared at the threshold, and I was in her arms. + +"Sisty, Sisty!--my dear, dear son!--beggared, perhaps--and my +fault,--mine." + +"Yours!--come into this room, out of hearing--your fault?" + +"Yes, yes!--for if I had had no brother, or if I had not been led +away,--if I had, as I ought, entreated poor Austin not to--" + +"My dear, dearest mother, _you_ accuse yourself for what, it seems, +was my uncle's misfortune--I am sure not even his fault! (I made a +gulp _there_.) No, lay the fault on the right shoulders--the defunct +shoulders of that horrible progenitor, William Caxton the printer; +for, though I don't yet know the particulars of what has happened, I +will lay a wager it is connected with that fatal invention of +printing. Come, come,--my father is well, is he not?" + +"Yes, thank Heaven." + +"And you too, and I, and Roland, and little Blanche! Why then, you are +right to thank Heaven, for your true treasures are untouched. But sit +down and explain, pray." + +"I cannot explain. I do not understand anything more than that he, my +brother,--mine!--has involved Austin in--in--" (a fresh burst of +tears.) + +I comforted, scolded, laughed, preached, and adjured in a breath; and +then, drawing my mother gently on, entered my father's study. + +At the table was seated Mr Squills, pen in hand, and a glass of his +favourite punch by his side. My father was standing on the hearth, a +shade more pale; but with a resolute expression on his countenance, +which was new to its indolent thoughtful mildness! He lifted his eyes +as the door opened, and then, putting his finger to his lips, as he +glanced towards my mother, he said gaily, "No great harm done. Don't +believe her! Women always exaggerate, and make realities of their own +bugbears: it is the vice of their lively imaginations, as Wierus has +clearly shown in accounting for the marks, moles, and hare-lips which +they inflict upon their innocent infants before they are even born. My +dear boy," added my father, as I here kissed him and smiled in his +face, "I thank you for that smile! God bless you!" He wrung my hand, +and turned a little aside. + +"It is a great comfort," renewed my father, after a short pause, "to +know, when a misfortune happens, that it could not be helped. Squills +has just discovered that I have no bump of cautiveness; so that, +craniologically speaking, if I had escaped one imprudence, I should +certainly have run my head against another." + +"A man with your development is made to be taken in," said Mr Squills, +consolingly. + +"Do you hear that, my own Kitty! and have you the heart to blame Jack +any longer--a poor creature cursed with a bump that would take in the +Stock Exchange? And can any one resist his bump, Squills?" + +"Impossible!" said the surgeon authoritatively. + +"Sooner or later it must involve him in its airy meshes--eh, Squills? +entrap him into its fatal cerebral cell. There his fate waits him, +like the ant-lion in its pit." + +"Too true," quoth Squills. "What a phrenological lecturer you would +have made!" + +"Go, then, my love," said my father, "and lay no blame but on this +melancholy cavity of mine, where cautiveness--is not! Go, and let +Sisty have some supper; for Squills says that he has a fine +development of the mathematical organs, and we want his help. We are +hard at work on figures, Pisistratus." + +My mother looked broken-hearted, and, obeying submissively, stole to +the door without a word. But as she reached the threshold she turned +round, and beckoned to me to follow her. + +I whispered to my father, and went out. My mother was standing in the +hall, and I saw by the lamp that she had dried her tears; and that her +face, though very sad, was more composed. + +"Sisty," she said, in a low voice which struggled to be firm, "promise +me that you will tell me all,--the worst, Sisty. They keep it from me, +and that is my hardest punishment; for when I don't know all that +he--that Austin suffers, it seems to me as if I had lost his heart. +Oh, Sisty! My child, my child, don't fear me! I shall be happy +whatever befalls us, if I once get back my privilege--my privilege, +Sisty, to comfort, to share!--do you understand me?" + +"Yes, indeed, my mother! And with your good sense, and clear woman's +wit, if you will but feel how much we want them, you will be the best +counsellor we could have. So never fear, you and I will have no +secrets." + +My mother kissed me, and went away with a less heavy step. + +As I re-entered, my father came across the room and embraced me. + +"My son," he said in a faltering voice, "if your modest prospects in +life are ruined--" + +"Father, father, can you think of me at such a moment! Me!--Is it +possible to ruin the young, and strong, and healthy! Ruin me, with +these thews and sinews!--ruin me, with the education you have given +me--thews and sinews of the mind! Oh no! there, Fortune is harmless! +And you forget, sir,--the saffron bag!" + +Squills leapt up, and, wiping his eyes with one hand, gave me a +sounding slap on the shoulder with the other. + +"I am proud of the care I took of your infancy, Master Caxton. That +comes of strengthening the digestive organs in early childhood. Such +sentiments are a proof of magnificent ganglions in a perfect state of +order. When a man's tongue is as smooth as I am sure yours is, he +slips through misfortune like an eel." + +I laughed outright, my father smiled faintly; and seating myself, I +drew towards me a paper filled with Squills' memoranda, and said, "Now +to find the unknown quantity. What on earth is this? 'Supposed value +of books, £750.' Oh, father! this is impossible. I was prepared for +anything but that. Your books--they are your life!" + +"Nay," said my father; "after all, they are the offending party in +this case, and so ought to be the principal victims. Besides, I +believe I know most of them by heart. But, in truth, we are only +entering all our effects, to be sure (added my father proudly) that, +come what may, we are not dishonoured." + +"Humour him," whispered Squills; "we will save the Books." Then he +added aloud, as he laid finger and thumb on my pulse, "One, two, +three, about seventy--capital pulse--soft and full--he can bear the +whole: let us administer it." + +My father nodded--"Certainly. But, Pisistratus, we must manage your +dear mother. Why she should think of blaming herself, because poor +Jack took wrong ways to enrich us, I cannot understand. But, as I have +had occasion before to remark, Sphinx and Enigma are nouns feminine." + +My poor father! that was a vain struggle for thy wonted innocent +humour. The lips quivered. + +Then the story came out. It seems that, when it was resolved to +undertake the publication of the _Literary Times_, a certain number of +shareholders had been got together by the indefatigable energies of +Uncle Jack; and, in the deed of association and partnership, my +father's name figured conspicuously as the holder of a fourth of this +joint property. If in this my father had committed some imprudence, he +had at least done nothing that, according to the ordinary calculations +of a secluded student, could become ruinous. But, just at the time +when we were in the hurry of leaving town, Jack had represented to my +father that it might be necessary to alter a little the plan of the +paper; and, in order to allure a larger circle of readers, touch +somewhat on the more vulgar news and interests of the day. A change of +plan might involve a change of title; and he suggested to my father +the expediency of leaving the smooth hands of Mr Tibbets altogether +unfettered, as to the technical name and precise form of the +publication. To this my father had unwittingly assented, on hearing +that the other shareholders would do the same. Mr Peck, a printer of +considerable opulence, and highly respectable name, had been found to +advance the sum necessary for the publication of the earlier numbers, +upon the guarantee of the said act of partnership, and the additional +security of my father's signature to a document, authorising Mr +Tibbets to make any change in the form or title of the periodical that +might be judged advisable, concurrent with the consent of the other +shareholders. + +Now it seems that Mr Peck had, in his previous conferences with Mr +Tibbets, thrown much cold water on the idea of the _Literary Times_, +and had suggested something that should "catch the moneyed +public,"--the fact being, as was afterwards discovered, that the +printer, whose spirit of enterprise was congenial to Uncle Jack's, had +shares in three or four speculations, to which he was naturally glad +of an opportunity to invite the attention of the public. In a word, no +sooner was my poor father's back turned than the _Literary Times_ was +dropped incontinently, and Mr Peck and Mr Tibbets began to concentre +their luminous notions into that brilliant and comet-like apparition +which ultimately blazed forth under the title of _The Capitalist_. + +From this change of enterprise the more prudent and responsible of the +original shareholders had altogether withdrawn. A majority, indeed, +were left; but the greater part of those were shareholders of that +kind most amenable to the influences of Uncle Jack, and willing to be +shareholders in anything, since as yet they were possessors of +nothing. + +Assured of my father's responsibility, the adventurous Peck put plenty +of spirit into the first launch of _The Capitalist_. All the walls +were placarded with its announcements; circular advertisements ran +from one end of of the kingdom to the other. Agents were engaged, +correspondents levied _en masse_. The invasion of Xerxes on the Greeks +was not more munificently provided for than that of _The Capitalist_ +upon the credulity and avarice of mankind. + +But as Providence bestows upon fishes the instrument of fins, whereby +they balance and direct their movements, however rapid and erratic, +through the pathless deeps, so to the cold-blooded creatures of our +own species--that may be classed under the genus MONEY-MAKERS--the +same protective power accords the fin-like properties of prudence and +caution, wherewith your true money-getter buoys and guides himself +majestically through the great seas of speculation. In short, the +fishes the net was cast for were all scared from the surface at the +first splash. They came round and smelt at the mesh with their shark +bottle-noses, and then, plying those invaluable fins, made off as fast +as they could--plunging into the mud--hiding themselves under rocks +and coral banks. Metaphor apart, the capitalists buttoned up their +pockets, and would have nothing to say to their namesake. + +Not a word of this change, so abhorrent to all the notions of poor +Augustine Caxton, had been breathed to him by Peck or Tibbets. He ate, +and slept, and worked at the great Book, occasionally wondering why he +had not heard of the advent of the _Literary Times_, unconscious of +all the awful responsibilities which _The Capitalist_ was entailing on +him;--knowing no more of _The Capitalist_ than he did of the last loan +of the Rothschilds. + +Difficult was it for all other human nature, save my father's, not to +breathe an indignant anathema on the scheming head of the +brother-in-law who had thus violated the most sacred obligations of +trust and kindred, and so entangled an unsuspecting recluse. But, to +give even Jack Tibbets his due, he had firmly convinced himself that +_The Capitalist_ would make my father's fortune; and if he did not +announce to him the strange and anomalous development into which the +original sleeping chrysalis of the _Literary Times_ had taken +portentous wing, it was purely and wholly in the knowledge that my +father's "prejudices," as he termed them, would stand in the way of his +becoming a Croesus. And, in fact, Uncle Jack had believed so heartily +in his own project, that he had put himself thoroughly into Mr Peck's +power, signed bills in his own name to some fabulous amount, and was +actually now in the Fleet, whence his penitential and despairing +confession was dated, arriving simultaneously with a short letter from +Mr Peck, wherein that respectable printer apprised my father that he +had continued, at his own risk, the publication of _The Capitalist_, as +far as a prudent care for his family would permit; that he need not say +that a new daily journal was a very vast experiment; that the expense +of such a paper as _The Capitalist_ was immeasurably greater than that +of a mere literary periodical, as originally suggested; and that now, +being constrained to come upon the shareholders for the sums he had +advanced, amounting to several thousands, he requested my father to +settle with him immediately--delicately implying that he himself might +settle as he could with the other shareholders, most of whom, he +grieved to add, he had been misled by Mr Tibbets into believing to be +men of substance, when in reality they were men of straw! + +Nor was this all the evil. The "Great Anti-Bookseller Publishing +Society,"--which had maintained a struggling existence--evinced by +advertisements of sundry forthcoming works of solid interest and +enduring nature, wherein, out of a long list, amidst a pompous array +of "Poems;" "Dramas not intended for the Stage;" "Essays by +Phileutheros, Philanthropos, Philopolis, Philodemus, and Philalethes," +stood prominently forth "The History of Human Error, Vols. I. and II., +quarto, with illustrations,"--the "Anti-Bookseller Society," I say, +that had hitherto evinced nascent and budding life by these +exfoliations from its slender stem, died of a sudden blight, the +moment its sun, in the shape of Uncle Jack, set in the Cimmerian +regions of the Fleet; and a polite letter from another printer (O +William Caxton, William Caxton!--fatal progenitor!) informing my +father of this event, stated complimentarily that it was to him, "as +the most respectable member of the Association," that the said printer +would be compelled to look for expenses incurred, not only in the very +costly edition of the History of Human Error, but for those incurred +in the print and paper devoted to "Poems," "Dramas, not intended for +the stage," "Essays by Phileutheros, Philanthropos, Philopolis, +Philodemus, and Philalethes," with sundry other works, no doubt of a +very valuable nature, but in which a considerable loss, in a pecuniary +point of view, must be necessarily expected. + +I own that, as soon as I had mastered the above agreeable facts, and +ascertained from Mr Squills that my father really did seem to have +rendered himself legally liable to these demands, I leant back in my +chair, stunned and bewildered. + +"So you see," said my father, "that as yet we are contending with +monsters in the dark--in the dark all monsters look larger and uglier. +Even Augustus Cæsar, though certainly he had never scrupled to make as +many ghosts as suited his convenience, did not like the chance of a +visit from them, and never sate alone _in tenebris_. What the amount +of the sums claimed from me may be, we know not; what may be gained +from the other shareholders is equally obscure and undefined. But the +first thing to do is to get poor Jack out of prison." + +"Uncle Jack out of prison!" exclaimed I: "surely, sir, that is +carrying forgiveness too far." + +"Why, he would not have been in prison if I had not been so blindly +forgetful of his weakness, poor man! I ought to have known better. But +my vanity misled me; I must needs publish a great book, as if (said Mr +Caxton, looking round the shelves,) there were not great books enough +in the world! I must needs, too, think of advancing and circulating +knowledge in the form of a journal--I, who had not knowledge enough of +the character of my own brother-in-law to keep myself from ruin! Come +what will, I should think myself the meanest of men to let that poor +creature, whom I ought to have considered as a monomaniac, rot in +prison, because I, Austin Caxton, wanted common sense. And (concluded +my father resolutely) he is your mother's brother, Pisistratus. I +should have gone to town at once; but, hearing that my wife had +written to you, I waited till I could leave her to the companionship +of hope and comfort--two blessings that smile upon every mother in the +face of a son like you. To-morrow I go." + +"Not a bit of it," said Mr Squills firmly; "as your medical adviser, I +forbid you to leave the house for the next six days." + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +"Sir," continued Mr Squills, biting off the end of a cigar which he +pulled from his pocket, "you concede to me that it is a very important +business on which you propose to go to London." + +"Of that there is no doubt," replied my father. + +"And the doing of business well or ill entirely depends upon the habit +of body!" cried Mr Squills triumphantly. "Do you know, Mr Caxton, that +while you are looking so calm, and talking so quietly--just on purpose +to sustain your son and delude your wife--do you know that your pulse, +which is naturally little more than sixty, is nearly a hundred? Do you +know, sir, that your mucous membranes are in a state of high +irritation, apparent by the _papillæ_ at the tip of your tongue? And +if, with a pulse like this, and a tongue like that, you think of +settling money matters with a set of sharp-witted tradesmen, all I can +say is, that you are a ruined man." + +"But--" began my father. + +"Did not Squire Rollick," pursued Mr Squills--"Squire Rollick, the +hardest head at a bargain I know of--did not Squire Rollick sell that +pretty little farm of his, Scranny Holt, for thirty per cent below its +value? And what was the cause, sir?--the whole county was in +amaze!--what was the cause, but an incipient simmering attack of the +yellow jaundice, which made him take a gloomy view of human life, and +the agricultural interest? On the other hand, did not Lawyer Cool, the +most prudent man in the three kingdoms--Lawyer Cool, who was so +methodical, that all the clocks in the county were set by his +watch--plunge one morning head over heels into a frantic speculation +for cultivating the bogs in Ireland, (his watch did not go right for +the next three months, which made our whole shire an hour in advance +of the rest of England!) And what was the cause of that nobody knew, +till I was called in, and fund the cerebral membranes in a state of +acute irritation, probably just in the region of his acquisitiveness +and ideality. No, Mr Caxton, you will stay at home, and take a +soothing preparation I shall send you, of lettuce leaves and +marshmallows. But I," continued Squills, lighting his cigar and taking +two determined whiffs--"but _I_ will go up to town and settle the +business for you, and take with me this young gentleman, whose +digestive functions are just in a state to deal safely with those +horrible elements of dyspepsia--the L. S. D." + +As he spoke, Mr Squills set his foot significantly upon mine. + +"But," resumed my father mildly, "though I thank you very much, +Squills, for your kind offer, I do not recognise the necessity of +accepting it. I am not so bad a philosopher as you seem to imagine; +and the blow I have received has not so deranged my physical +organisation as to render me unfit to transact my affairs." + +"Hum!" grunted Squills, starting up and seizing my father's pulse, +"ninety-six--ninety-six if a beat! And the tongue, sir!" + +"Pshaw!" quoth my father, "you have not even seen my tongue!" + +"No need of that, I know what it is by the state of the eyelids--tip +scarlet, sides rough as a nutmeg grater!" + +"Pshaw!" again said my father, this time impatiently. + +"Well," said Squills solemnly, "it is my duty to say, (here my mother +entered, to tell me that supper was ready,) and I say it to you, Mrs +Caxton, and you, Mr Pisistratus Caxton, as the parties most nearly +interested, that if you, sir, go to London upon this matter, I'll not +answer for the consequences." + +"Oh! Austin, Austin!" cried my mother, running up and throwing her +arms round my father's neck; while I, little less alarmed by Squills' +serious tone and aspect, represented strongly the inutility of Mr +Caxton's personal interference at the first moment. All he could do on +arriving in town would be to put the matter into the hands of a good +lawyer, and that we could do for him; it would be time enough to send +for him when the extent of the mischief done was more clearly +ascertained. Meanwhile Squills griped my father's pulse, and my mother +hung on his neck. + +"Ninety-six--ninety-seven!" groaned Squills in a hollow voice. + +"I don't believe it!" cried my father, almost in a passion--"never +better nor cooler in my life." + +"And the tongue--look at his tongue, Mrs Caxton--a tongue, ma'am, so +bright that you could see to read by it!" + +"Oh! Austin, Austin!" + +"My dear, it is not my tongue that is in fault, I assure you," said my +father, speaking through his teeth; "and the man knows no more of my +tongue than he does of the mysteries of Eleusis." + +"Put it out then," exclaimed Squills, "and if it be not as I say, you +have my leave to go to London, and throw your whole fortune into the +two great pits you have dug for it. Put it out!" + +"Mr Squills!" said my father, colouring--"Mr Squills, for shame!" + +"Dear, dear Austin! your hand is so hot--you are feverish, I am sure." + +"Not a bit of it." + +"But, sir, only just gratify Mr Squills," said I coaxingly. + +"There, there!" said my father, fairly baited into submission, and +shyly exhibiting for a moment the extremest end of the vanquished +organ of eloquence. + +Squills darted forward his lynx-like eyes. "Red as a lobster, and +rough as a gooseberry-bush!" cried Squills, in a tone of savage joy. + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +How was it possible for one poor tongue, so reviled and persecuted, so +humbled, insulted, and triumphed over--to resist three tongues in +league against it? + +Finally, my father yielded; and Squills, in high spirits, declared +that he would go to supper with me, to see that I eat nothing that +could tend to discredit his reliance on my system. Leaving my mother +still with her Austin, the good surgeon then took my arm, and, as soon +as we were in the next room, shut the door carefully, wiped his +forehead, and said--"I think we have saved him!" + +"Would it really, then, have injured my father so much?" + +"So much!--why, you foolish young man, don't you see that, with his +ignorance of business, where he himself is concerned--though, for any +other one's business, neither Rollick nor Cool has a better +judgment--and with his d--d Quixotic spirit of honour worked up into a +state of excitement, he would have rushed to Mr Tibbets, and exclaimed +'How much do you owe? there it is!'--settled in the same way with +these printers, and come back without a sixpence; whereas you and I +can look coolly about us, and reduce the inflammation to the minimum!" + +"I see, and thank you heartily, Squills." + +"Besides," said the surgeon, with more feeling, "your father has +really been making a noble effort over himself. He suffers more than +you would think--not for himself, (for I do believe that, if he were +alone in the world, he would be quite contented if he could save fifty +pounds a-year and his books,) but for your mother and yourself; and a +fresh access of emotional excitement, all the nervous anxiety of a +journey to London on such a business, might have ended in a paralytic +or epileptic affection. Now, we have him here snug; and the worst news +we can give him will be better than what he will make up his mind for. +But you don't eat." + +"Eat! How can I? My poor father!" + +"The effect of grief upon the gastric juices, through the nervous +system, is very remarkable," said Mr Squills, philosophically, and +helping himself to a broiled bone; "it increases the thirst, while it +takes away hunger. No--don't touch Port!--heating! Sherry and water." + + +CHAPTER LV. + +The house-door had closed upon Mr Squills--that gentleman having +promised to breakfast with me the next morning, so that we might take +the coach from our gate--and I remained alone, seated by the +supper-table, and revolving all I had heard, when my father walked in. + +"Pisistratus," said he, gravely, and looking round him, "your +mother!--suppose the worst--your first care, then, must be to try and +secure something for her. You and I are men--_we_ can never want, +while we have health of mind and body; but a woman--and if anything +happens to me"-- + +My father's lip writhed as it uttered these brief sentences. + +"My dear, dear father!" said I, suppressing my tears with difficulty, +"all evils, as you yourself said, look worse by anticipation. It is +impossible that your whole fortune can be involved. The newspaper did +not run many weeks; and only the first volume of your work is printed. +Besides, there must be other shareholders who will pay their quota. +Believe me, I feel sanguine as to the result of my embassy. As for my +poor mother, it is not the loss of fortune that will wound her--depend +on it, she thinks very little of that; it is the loss of your +confidence." + +"My confidence!" + +"Ah yes! tell her all your fears, as your hopes. Do not let your +affectionate pity exclude her from one corner of your heart." + +"It is that--it is _that_, Austin,--my husband--my joy--my pride--my +soul--my all!" cried a soft, broken voice. + +My mother had crept in, unobserved by us. + +My father looked at us both, and the tears which had before stood in +his eyes forced their way. Then opening his arms--into which his Kitty +threw herself joyfully--he lifted those moist eyes upward, and, by the +movement of his lips, I saw that he thanked God. + +I stole out of the room. I felt that those two hearts should be left +to beat and to blend alone. And from that hour, I am convinced that +Augustine Caxton acquired a stouter philosophy than that of the +stoics. The fortitude that concealed pain was no longer needed, for +the pain was no longer felt. + + +CHAPTER LVI. + +Mr Squills and I performed our journey without adventure, and, as we +were not alone on the coach, with little conversation. We put up at a +small inn at the city, and the next morning I sallied forth to see +Trevanion--for we agreed that he would be the best person to advise +us. But, on arriving at St James's Square, I had the disappointment of +hearing that the whole family had gone to Paris three days before, and +were not expected to return till the meeting of Parliament. + +This was a sad discouragement, for I had counted much on Trevanion's +clear head, and that extraordinary range of accomplishment in all +matters of business--all that related to practical life--which my old +patron pre-eminently possessed. The next thing would be to find +Trevanion's lawyer, (for Trevanion was one of those men whose +solicitors are sure to be able and active.) But the fact was, that he +left so little to lawyers, that he had never had occasion to +communicate with one since I had known him; and I was therefore in +ignorance of the very name of his solicitor; nor could the porter, who +was left in charge of the house, enlighten me. Luckily, I bethought +myself of Sir Sedley Beaudesert, who could scarcely fail to give me +the information required, and who, at all events, might recommend me +some other lawyer. So to him I went. + +I found Sir Sedley at breakfast with a young gentleman who seemed +about twenty. The good baronet was delighted to see me; but I thought +it was with a little confusion, rare to his cordial ease, that he +presented me to his cousin, Lord Castleton. It was a name familiar to +me, though I had never before met its patrician owner. + +The Marquis of Castleton was indeed a subject of envy to young idlers, +and afforded a theme of interest to gray-beard politicians. Often had +I heard of "that lucky fellow Castleton," who, when of age, would step +into one of those colossal fortunes which would realise the dreams of +Aladdin--a fortune that had been out to nurse since his minority. +Often had I heard graver gossips wonder whether Castleton would take +any active part in public life--whether he would keep up the family +influence. His mother (still alive) was a superior woman, and had +devoted herself, from his childhood, to supply a father's loss, and +fit him for his great position. It was said that he was clever--had +been educated by a tutor of great academic distinction, and was +reading for a double first class at Oxford. This young marquis was +indeed the head of one of those few houses still left in England that +retain feudal importance. He was important, not only from his rank and +his vast fortune, but from an immense circle of powerful connections; +from the ability of his two predecessors, who had been keen +politicians and cabinet-ministers; from the _prestige_ they had +bequeathed to his name; from the peculiar nature of his property, +which gave him the returning interest in no less than six +parliamentary seats in Great Britain and Ireland--besides that +indirect ascendency which the head of the Castletons had always +exercised over many powerful and noble allies of that princely house. +I was not aware that he was related to Sir Sedley, whose world of +action was so remote from politics; and it was with some surprise that +I now heard that announcement, and certainly with some interest that +I, perhaps from the verge of poverty, gazed on this young heir of +fabulous El-Dorados. + +It was easy to see that Lord Castleton had been brought up with a +careful knowledge of his future greatness, and its serious +responsibilities. He stood immeasurably aloof from all the +affectations common to the youth of minor patricians. He had not been +taught to value himself on the cut of a coat, or the shape of a hat. +His world was far above St James's Street and the clubs. He was +dressed plainly, though in a style peculiar to himself--a white +neckcloth, (which was not at that day quite so uncommon for morning +use as it is now,) trowsers without straps, thin shoes and gaiters. +There was nothing in his manner of the supercilious apathy which +characterises the dandy introduced to some one whom he doubts if he +can nod to from the bow-window at White's--none of such vulgar +coxcombries had Lord Castleton; and yet a young gentleman more +emphatically coxcomb it was impossible to see. He had been told, no +doubt, that, as the head of a house which was almost in itself a party +in the state, he should be bland and civil to all men; and this duty +being grafted upon a nature singularly cold and unsocial, gave to his +politeness something so stiff, yet so condescending, that it brought +the blood to one's cheek--though the momentary anger was +counterbalanced by something almost ludicrous in the contrast between +this gracious majesty of deportment, and the insignificant figure, +with the boyish beardless face, by which it was assumed. Lord +Castleton did not content himself with a mere bow at our introduction. +Much to my wonder how he came by the information he displayed, he made +me a little speech after the manner of Louis XIV. to a provincial +noble--studiously modelled upon that royal maxim of urbane policy +which instructs a king that he should know something of the birth, +parentage, and family, of his meanest gentleman. It was a little +speech, in which my father's learning, and my uncle's services, and +the amiable qualities of your humble servant, were neatly +interwoven--delivered in a falsetto tone, as if learned by heart, +though it must have been necessarily impromptu; and then, reseating +himself, he made a gracious motion of the head and hand, as if to +authorise me to do the same. + +Conversation succeeded, by galvanic jerks and spasmodic starts--a +conversation that Lord Castleton contrived to tug so completely out of +poor Sir Sedley's ordinary course of small and polished small-talk, +that that charming personage, accustomed, as he well deserved, to be +Coryphæus at his own table, was completely silenced. With his light +reading, his rich stores of anecdote, his good-humoured knowledge of +the drawing-room world, he had scarce a word that would fit into the +great, rough, serious matters which Lord Castleton threw upon the +table, as he nibbled his toast. Nothing but the most grave and +practical subjects of human interest seemed to attract this future +leader of mankind. The fact is that Lord Castleton had been taught +everything that relates to _property_--(a knowledge which embraces a +very wide circumference.) It had been said to him "You will be an +immense proprietor--knowledge is essential to your self-preservation. +You will be puzzled, bubbled, ridiculed, duped every day of your life, +if you do not make yourself acquainted with all by which property is +assailed or defended, impoverished or increased. You have a vast stake +in the country--you must learn all the interests of Europe--nay, of +the civilised world--for those interests react on the country, and the +interests of the country are of the greatest possible consequence to +the interests of the Marquis of Castleton." Thus the state of the +Continent--the policy of Metternich--the condition of the Papacy--the +growth of Dissent--the proper mode of dealing with the general spirit +of Democracy, which was the epidemic of European monarchies--the +relative proportions of the agricultural and manufacturing +population--corn-laws, currency, and the laws that regulate wages--a +criticism on the leading speakers of the House of Commons, with some +discursive observations on the importance of fattening cattle--the +introduction of flax into Ireland--emigration--the condition of the +poor--the doctrines of Mr Owen--the pathology of potatoes; the +connexion between potatoes, pauperism, and patriotism; these, and +suchlike stupendous subjects for reflection--all branching, more or +less intricately, from the single idea of the Castleton property--the +young lord discussed and disposed of in half-a-dozen prim, poised +sentences--evincing, I must say in justice, no inconsiderable +information, and a mighty solemn turn of mind. The oddity was, that +the subjects so selected and treated should not come rather from some +young barrister, or mature political economist, than from so gorgeous +a lily of the field. Of a less man, certainly, one would have +said--"Cleverish, but a prig;" but there really was something so +respectable in a man born to such fortunes, and having nothing to do +but to bask in the sunshine, voluntarily taking such pains with +himself, and condescending to identify his own interests--the +interests of the Castleton property--with the concerns of his lesser +fellow-mortals, that one felt the young marquis had in him the stuff +to become a very considerable man. + +Poor Sir Sedley, to whom all these matters were as unfamiliar as the +theology of the Talmud, after some vain efforts to slip the +conversation into easier grooves, fairly gave in, and, with a +compassionate smile on his handsome countenance, took refuge in his +easy-chair and the contemplation of his snuff-box. + +At last, to our great relief, the servant announced Lord Castleton's +carriage; and with another speech of overpowering affability to me, +and a cold shake of the hand to Sir Sedley, Lord Castleton went his +way. + +The breakfast parlour looked on the street, and I turned mechanically +to the window as Sir Sedley followed his guest out of the room. A +travelling carriage, with four post-horses, was at the door; and a +servant, who looked like a foreigner, was in waiting with his master's +cloak. As I saw Lord Castleton step into the street, and wrap himself +in his costly mantle lined with sables, I observed, more than I had +while he was in the room, the enervate slightness of his frail form, +and the more than paleness of his thin, joyless face; and then, +instead of envy, I felt compassion for the owner of all this pomp and +grandeur--felt that I would not have exchanged my hardy health, and +easy humour, and vivid capacities of enjoyment in things the slightest +and most within the reach of all men, for the wealth and greatness +which that poor youth perhaps deserved the more for putting them so +little to the service of pleasure. + +"Well," said Sir Sedley, "and what do you think of him?" + +"He is just the sort of man Trevanion would like," said I, evasively. + +"That is true," answered Sir Sedley, in a serious tone of voice, and +looking at me somewhat earnestly. "Have you heard?--but no, you cannot +have heard yet." + +"Heard what?" + +"My dear young friend," said the kindest and most delicate of all fine +gentlemen, sauntering away that he might not observe the emotion he +caused, "Lord Castleton is going to Paris to join the Trevanions. The +object Lady Ellinor has had at heart for many a long year is won, and +our pretty Fanny will be Marchioness of Castleton when her betrothed +is of age--that is, in six months. The two mothers have settled it all +between them!" + +I made no answer, but continued to look out of the window. + +"This alliance," resumed Sir Sedley, "was all that was wanting to +assure Trevanion's position. When parliament meets, he will have some +great office. Poor man! how I shall pity him! It is extraordinary to +me," continued Sir Sedley, benevolently going on, that I might have +full time to recover myself, "how contagious that disease called +business is in our foggy England! Not only Trevanion, you see, has the +complaint in its very worst and most complicated form, but that poor +dear cousin of mine, who is so young, (here Sir Sedley sighed) and +might enjoy himself so much, is worse than you were when Trevanion was +fagging you to death. But, to be sure, a great name and position, like +Castleton's, must be a very heavy affliction to a conscientious mind. +You see how the sense of its responsibilities has _aged_ him +already--positively, two great wrinkles under his eyes. Well, after +all, I admire him, and respect his tutor: a soil naturally very thin, +I suspect, has been most carefully cultivated; and Castleton, with +Trevanion's help, will be the first man in the peerage--prime-minister +some day, I dare say. And, when I think of it, how grateful I ought to +feel to his father and mother, who produced him quite in their old +age; for, if he had not been born, I should have been the most +miserable of men--yes, positively, that horrible marquisate would have +come to me! I never think over Horace Walpole's regrets, when he got +the earldom of Orford, without the deepest sympathy, and without a +shudder at the thought of what my dear Lady Castleton was kind enough +to save me from--all owing to the Ems waters, after twenty years' +marriage! Well, my young friend, and how are all at home?" + +As when, some notable performer not having yet arrived behind the +scenes, or having to change his dress, or not having yet quite +recovered an unlucky extra tumbler of exciting fluids--and the green +curtain has therefore unduly delayed its ascent--you perceive that the +thorough-bass in the orchestra charitably devotes himself to a prelude +of astonishing prolixity, calling in _Lodoiska_ or _Der Freischutz_ to +beguile the time, and allow the procrastinating histrion leisure +sufficient to draw on his flesh-coloured pantaloons, and give himself +the proper complexion for a Coriolanus or Macbeth--even so had Sir +Sedley made that long speech, requiring no rejoinder, till he saw the +time had arrived when he could artfully close with the flourish of a +final interrogative, in order to give poor Pisistratus Caxton all +preparation to compose himself, and step forward. There is certainly +something of exquisite kindness, and thoughtful benevolence, in that +rarest of gifts,--_fine breeding_; and when now, remanned and +resolute, I turned round and saw Sir Sedley's soft blue eye shyly, but +benignantly, turned to me--while, with a grace no other snuff-taker +ever had since the days of Pope, he gently proceeded to refresh +himself by a pinch of the celebrated Beaudesert mixture--I felt my +heart as gratefully moved towards him as if he had conferred on me +some colossal obligation. And this crowning question--"And how are all +at home?" restored me entirely to my self-possession, and for the +moment distracted the bitter current of my thoughts. + +I replied by a brief statement of my father's involvement, disguising +our apprehensions as to its extent, speaking of it rather as an +annoyance than a possible cause of ruin, and ended by asking Sir +Sedley to give me the address of Trevanion's lawyer. + +The good baronet listened with great attention; and that quick +penetration which belongs to a man of the world enabled him to detect, +that I had smoothed over matters more than became a faithful narrator. + +He shook his head, and, seating himself on the sofa, motioned me to +come to his side; then, leaning his arm over my shoulder, he said in +his seductive, winning way-- + +"We two young fellows should understand each other, when we talk of +money matters. I can say to you what I could not to my respectable +senior--by three years; your excellent father. Frankly, then, I +suspect this is a bad business. I know little about newspapers, except +that I have to subscribe to one in my county, which costs me a small +income; but I know that a London daily paper might ruin a man in a few +weeks. And as for shareholders, my dear Caxton, I was once teased into +being a shareholder in a canal that ran through my property, and +ultimately ran off with £30,000 of it! The other shareholders were all +drowned in the canal, like Pharaoh and his hosts in the Red Sea. But +your father is a great scholar, and must not be plagued with such +matters. I owe him a great deal. He was very kind to me at Cambridge, +and gave me the taste for reading, to which I owe the pleasantest +hours of my life. So, when you and the lawyers have found out what the +extent of the mischief is, you and I must see how we can best settle +it. + +"What the deuce! my young friend--I have no 'encumbrances,' as the +servants, with great want of politeness, call wives and children. And +I am not a miserable great landed millionnaire, like that poor dear +Castleton, who owes so many duties to society that he can't spend a +shilling, except in a grand way and purely to benefit the public. So +go, my boy, to Trevanion's lawyer: he is mine too. Clever +fellow--sharp as a needle. Mr Pike, in Great Ormond Street--name on a +brass plate; and when he has settled the amount, we young scapegraces +will help each other, without a word to the old folks." + +What good it does to a man, throughout life, to meet kindness and +generosity like this in his youth! + +I need not say that I was too faithful a representative of my father's +scholarly pride, and susceptible independence of spirit, to accept +this proposal; and probably Sir Sedley, rich and liberal as he was, +did not dream of the extent to which his proposal might involve him. +But I expressed my gratitude, so as to please and move this last relic +of the De Coverleys, and went from his house straight to Mr Pike's +office, with a little note of introduction from Sir Sedley. I found Mr +Pike exactly the man I had anticipated from Trevanion's +character--short, quick, intelligent, in question and answer; +imposing, and somewhat domineering, in manner--not overcrowded with +business, but with enough for experience and respectability; neither +young nor old; neither a pedantic machine of parchment, nor a jaunty +off-hand coxcomb of West End manners. + +"It is an ugly affair," said he, "but one that requires management. +Leave it all in my hands for three days. Don't go near Mr Tibbets, nor +Mr Peck; and on Saturday next, at two o'clock, if you will call here, +you shall know my opinion of the whole matter." With that Mr Pike +glanced at the clock, and I took up my hat and went. + +There is no place more delightful than a great capital, if you are +comfortably settled in it--have arranged the methodical disposal of +your time, and know how to take business and pleasure in due +proportions. But a flying visit to a great capital, in an unsettled, +unsatisfactory way--at an inn--an inn in the city, too--with a great +worrying load of business on your mind, of which you are to hear no +more for three days; and an aching, jealous, miserable sorrow at the +heart, such as I had--leaving you no labour to pursue, and no pleasure +that you have the heart to share in--oh, a great capital then is +indeed forlorn, wearisome, and oppressive! It is the Castle of +Indolence, not as Thomson built it, but as Beckford drew in his Hall +of Eblis--a wandering up and down, to and fro--a great awful space, +with your hand pressed to your heart; and--oh for a rush on some +half-tamed horse, through the measureless green wastes of Australia! +That is the place for a man who has no home in the Babel, and whose +hand is ever pressing to his heart, with its dull, burning pain. + +Mr Squills decoyed me the second evening into one of the small +theatres; and very heartily did Mr Squills enjoy all he saw, and all +he heard. And while, with a convulsive effort of the jaws, I was +trying to laugh too, suddenly, in one of the actors, who was +performing the worshipful part of a parish beadle, I recognised a face +that I had seen before. Five minutes afterwards, I had disappeared +from the side of Squills, and was amidst that strange world--BEHIND +THE SCENES. + +My beadle was much too busy and important to allow me a good +opportunity to accost him, till the piece was over. I then seized hold +of him, as he was amicably sharing a pot of porter with a gentleman in +black shorts and a laced waistcoat, who was to play the part of a +broken-hearted father in the Domestic Drama in Three Acts, that would +conclude the amusements of the evening. + +"Excuse me," said I apologetically; "but, as the Swan pertinently +observes,--'Should auld acquaintance be forgot?'" + +"The Swan, sir!" cried the beadle aghast--"the Swan never demeaned +himself by such d--d broad Scotch as that!" + +"The Tweed has its swans as well as the Avon, Mr Peacock." + +"St--st--hush--hush--h--u--sh!" whispered the beadle in great alarm, +and eyeing me, with savage observation, under his corked eyebrows. +Then, taking me, by the arm, he jerked me away. When he had got as far +as the narrow limits of that little stage would allow us, Mr Peacock +said-- + +"Sir, you have the advantage of me; I don't remember you. Ah! you need +not look!--by gad, sir, I am not to be bullied,--it was all fair play. +If you will play with gentlemen, sir, you must run the consequences." + +I hastened to appease the worthy man. + +"Indeed, Mr Peacock, if you remember, I refused to play with you; and, +so far from wishing to offend you, I now come on purpose to compliment +you on your excellent acting, and to inquire if you have heard +anything lately of your young friend, Mr Vivian. + +"Vivian?--never heard the name, sir. Vivian! Pooh, you are trying to +hoax me; very good." + +"I assure you, Mr Peac"-- + +"St--st--How the deuce did you know that I was once called Peac--that +is, people called me Peac--A friendly nickname, no more--drop it, sir, +or you 'touch me with noble anger!'" + +"Well, well; 'the rose, by any name, will smell as sweet,' as the +Swan, this time at least, judiciously observes. But Mr Vivian, too, +seems to have other names at his disposal. I mean a young, dark, +handsome man--or rather boy--with whom I met you in company by the +roadside, one morning." + +"O--h!" said Mr Peacock, looking much relieved, "I know whom you mean, +though I don't remember to have had the pleasure of seeing you before. +No; I have not heard anything of the young man lately. I wish I did +know something of him. He was a 'gentleman in my own way.' Sweet Will +has hit him off to a hair!-- + + 'The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's eye, tongue, sword.' + +Such a hand with a cue!--you should have seen him seek 'the bubble +reputation at the _cannon's_ mouth!' I may say, (continued Mr Peacock, +emphatically,) that he was a regular trump--trump!" he reiterated with +a start, as if the word had stung him--"trump! he was a BRICK!" + +Then fixing his eyes on me, dropping his arms, interlacing his +fingers, in the manner recorded of Talma in the celebrated "Qu'en +dis-tu?" he resumed in a hollow voice, slow and distinct-- + +"When--saw--you--him,--young m--m--a--n--nnn?" + +Finding the tables thus turned on myself, and not willing to give Mr +Peac-- any clue to poor Vivian--who thus appeared, to my great +satisfaction, to have finally dropped an acquaintance more versatile +than reputable--I contrived, by a few evasive sentences, to keep Mr +Peac--'s curiosity at a distance, till he was summoned in haste to +change his attire for the domestic drama. And so we parted. + + +CHAPTER LVII. + +I hate law details as cordially as my readers can, and therefore I +shall content myself with stating that Mr Pike's management, at the +end, not of three days, but of two weeks, was so admirable that Uncle +Jack was drawn out of prison, and my father extracted from all his +liabilities, by a sum two-thirds less than was first startlingly +submitted to our indignant horror--and that, too, in a manner that +would have satisfied the conscience of the most punctilious formalist, +whose contribution to the national fund, for an omitted payment to the +Income Tax. the Chancellor of the Exchequer ever had the honour to +acknowledge. Still the sum was very large in proportion to my poor +father's income; and what with Jack's debts, the claims of the +Anti-Publisher Society's printer--including the very expensive plates +that had been so lavishly bespoken, and in great part completed, for +the _History of Human Error_--and, above all, the liabilities incurred +on _The Capitalist_; what with the _plant_, as Mr Peck technically +phrased a great upas-tree of a total, branching out into types, cases, +printing-presses, engines, &c., all now to be resold at a third of +their value; what with advertisements and bills, that had covered all +the dead walls by which rubbish might be shot, throughout the three +kingdoms; what with the dues of reporters, and salaries of writers, +who had been engaged for a year at least to _The Capitalist_, and +whose claims survived the wretch they had killed and buried; what, in +short, with all that the combined ingenuity of Uncle Jack and printer +Peck could supply for the utter ruin of the Caxton family--even after +all deductions, curtailments, and after all that one could extract in +the way of just contribution from the least unsubstantial of those +shadows called the shareholders--my father's fortune was reduced to +little more than £8000, which being placed at mortgage, at 4 per cent, +yielded just £372, 10s. a-year--enough for my father to live upon, but +not enough to afford also his son Pisistratus the advantages of +education at Trinity College, Cambridge. The blow fell rather upon me +than my father, and my young shoulders bore it without much wincing. + +This settled, to our universal satisfaction, I went to pay my farewell +visit to Sir Sedley Beaudesert. He had made much of me, during my stay +in London. I had breakfasted and dined with him pretty often; I had +presented Squills to him, who no sooner set eyes upon that splendid +conformation, than he described his character with the nicest accuracy +as the necessary consequence of such a development for the rosy +pleasures of life, and whose philosophy delighted and consoled Sir +Sedley. We had never once retouched on the subject of Fanny's +marriage, and both of us tacitly avoided even mentioning the +Trevanions. But in this last visit, though he maintained the same +reserve as to Fanny, he referred without scruple to her father. + +"Well, my young Athenian," said he, after congratulating me on the +result of the negotiations, and endeavouring again in vain to bear at +least some share in my father's losses--"well, I see I cannot press +this farther; but at least I _can_ press on you any little interest I +may have, in obtaining some appointment for yourself in one of the +public offices. Trevanion could of course be more useful, but I can +understand that he is not the kind of man you would like to apply to." + +"Shall I own to you, my dear Sir Sedley, that I have no taste for +official employment? I am too fond of my liberty. Since I have been at +my uncle's old tower, I account for half my character by the +Borderer's blood that is in me. I doubt if I am meant for the life of +cities, and I have odd floating notions in my head, that will serve to +amuse me when I get home, and may settle into schemes. And now, to +change the subject, may I ask what kind of person has succeeded me as +Mr Trevanion's secretary?" + +"Why, he has got a broad-shouldered, stooping fellow, in spectacles +and cotton stockings, who has written upon 'Rent,' I believe--an +imaginative treatise in his case, I fear, poor man, for rent is a +thing he could never have received, and not often been trusted to pay. +However, he is one of your political economists, and wants Trevanion +to sell his pictures, as 'unproductive capital.' Less mild than Pope's +Narcissa, 'to make a wash,' he would certainly 'stew a child.' Besides +this official secretary, Trevanion trusts, however, a good deal to a +clever, good-looking young gentleman, who is a great favourite with +him." + +"What is his name?" + +"His name?--oh, Gower--a natural son, I believe, of one of the Gower +family." + +Here two of Sir Sedley's fellow fine gentlemen lounged in, and my +visit ended. + + +CHAPTER LVIII. + +"I swear," cried my uncle, "that it _shall_ be so;" and with a big +frown, and a truculent air, he seized the fatal instrument. + +"Indeed, brother, it must not," said my father, laying one pale, +scholar-like hand mildly on Captain Roland's brown, bellicose, and +bony fist; and with the other, outstretched, protecting the menaced, +palpitating victim. + +Not a word had my uncle heard of our losses, until they had been +adjusted, and the sum paid; for we all knew that the old tower would +have been gone--sold to some neighbouring squire or jobbing +attorney--at the first impetuous impulse of Uncle Roland's +affectionate generosity. Austin endangered! Austin ruined!--he would +never have rested till he came, cash in hand, to his deliverance. +Therefore, I say, not till all was settled did I write to the Captain, +and tell him gaily what had chanced. And, however light I made of our +misfortunes, the letter brought the Captain to the red brick house the +same evening on which I myself reached it, and about an hour later. My +uncle had not sold the tower, but he came prepared to carry us off to +it _vi et armis_. We must live with him, and on him--let or sell the +brick house, and put out the remnant of my father's income to nurse +and accumulate. And it was on finding my father's resistance stubborn, +and that hitherto he had made no way,--that my uncle, stepping back +into the hall, in which he had left his carpet-bag, &c., returned with +an old oak case, and, touching a spring roller, out flew--the Caxton +pedigree. + +Out it flew--covering all the table, and undulating, Nile-like, till +it had spread over books, papers, my mother's work-box, and the +tea-service, (for the table was large and compendious, emblematic of +its owner's mind)--and then, flowing on the carpet, dragged its slow +length along, till it was stopped by the fender. + +"Now," said my uncle solemnly, "there never have been but two causes +of difference between you and me, Austin. One is over; why should the +other last? Aha! I know why you hang back; you think that we may +quarrel about it!" + +"About what, Roland?" + +"About it, I say--and I'll be d--d if we do!" cried my uncle, +reddening, (I never heard him swear before.) "And I have been thinking +a great deal upon the matter, and I have no doubt you are right. So I +brought the old parchment with me, and you shall see me fill up the +blank, just as you would have it. Now, then, you will come and live +with me, and we can never quarrel any more." + +Thus saying, Uncle Roland looked round for pen and ink; and, having +found them--not without difficulty, for they had been submerged under +the overflow of the pedigree--he was about to fill up the _lacuna_, or +hiatus, which had given rise to such memorable controversy, with the +name of "William Caxton, printer in the Sanctuary," when my father, +slowly recovering his breath, and aware of his brother's purpose, +intervened. It would have done your heart good to hear them--so +completely, in the inconsistency of human nature, had they changed +sides upon the question--my father now all for Sir William de Caxton, +the hero of Bosworth; my uncle all for the immortal printer. And in +this discussion they grew animated: their eyes sparkled, their voices +rose--Roland's voice deep and thunderous, Austin's sharp and piercing. +Mr Squills stopped his ears. Thus it arrived at that point, when my +uncle doggedly came to the end of all argumentation--"I swear that it +shall be so;" and my father, trying the last resource of pathos, +looked pleadingly into Roland's eyes, and said, with a tone soft as +mercy, "Indeed, brother, it must not." Meanwhile the dry parchment +crisped, creaked, and trembled in every pore of its yellow skin. + +"But," said I, coming in, opportunely, like the Horatian deity, "I +don't see that either of you gentlemen has a right so to dispose of my +ancestry. It is quite clear that a man has no possession in posterity. +Posterity may possess him; but deuce a bit will he ever be the better +for his great great-grandchildren!" + +SQUILLS.--Hear, hear! + +PISISTRATUS--(_warming_.)--But a man's ancestry is a positive property +to him. How much, not only of acres, but of his constitution, his +temper, his conduct, character, and nature, he may inherit from some +progenitor ten times removed! Nay, without that progenitor would he +ever have been born--would a Squills ever have introduced him into the +world, or a nurse ever have carried him _upo kolpo_? + +SQUILLS.--Hear, hear! + +PISISTRATUS--(_with dignified emotion_)--No man, therefore, has a +right to rob another of a forefather, with a stroke of his pen, from +any motives, howsoever amiable. In the present instance, you will say, +perhaps, that the ancestor in question is apocryphal--it may be the +printer, it may be the knight. Granted; but here, where history is in +fault, shall a mere sentiment decide? While both are doubtful, my +imagination appropriates both. At one time I can reverence industry +and learning in the printer; at another, valour and devotion in the +knight. This kindly doubt gives me two great forefathers; and, through +them, two trains of idea that influence my conduct under different +circumstances. I will not permit you, Captain Roland, to rob me of +either forefather--either train of idea. Leave, then, this sacred void +unfilled, unprofaned; and accept this compromise of chivalrous +courtesy--while my father lives with the Captain, we will believe in +the printer; when away from the Captain, we will stand firm to the +knight." + +"Good!" cried Uncle Roland, as I paused, a little out of breath. + +"And," said my mother softly, "I do think, Austin, there is a way of +settling the matter which will please all parties. It is quite sad to +think that poor Roland, and dear little Blanche, should be all alone +in the tower; and I am sure that we should be much happier +altogether." + +"There!" cried Roland, triumphantly. "If you are not the most +obstinate, hardhearted, unfeeling brute in the world--which I don't +take you to be--brother Austin, after that really beautiful speech of +your wife's, there is not a word to be said farther." + +"But we have not yet heard Kitty to the end, Roland." + +"I beg your pardon, a thousand times, ma'am--sister," said the +Captain, bowing. + +"Well, I was going to add," said my mother, "that we will go and live +with you, Roland, and club our little fortunes together. Blanche and I +will take care of the house, and we shall be just twice as rich +together as we are separately." + +"Pretty sort of hospitality that!" grunted the Captain. "I did not +expect you to throw me over in that way. No, no; you must lay by for +the boy there,--what's to become of him?" + +"But we shall _all_ lay by for him," said my mother simply; "you as +well as Austin. We shall have more to save, if we have both more to +spend." + +"Ah, save!--that is easily said: there would be a pleasure in saving, +then!" said the Captain mournfully. + +"And what's to become of me?" cried Squills, very petulantly. "Am I to +be left here, in my old age--not a rational soul to speak to, and no +other place in the village where there's a drop of decent punch to be +had! 'A plague on both your houses'! as the chap said at the theatre +the other night." + +"There's room for a doctor in our neighbourhood, Mr Squills," said the +Captain. "The gentleman in your profession who _does for us_, wants, I +know, to sell the business." + +"Humph!" said Squills--"a horrible healthy neighbourhood, I suspect!" + +"Why, it has that misfortune, Mr Squills; but with your help," said my +uncle slily, "a great alteration for the better may be effected in +that respect." + +Mr Squills was about to reply, when ring--a-ting--ring--ting! there +came such a brisk, impatient, make-one's-self-at-home kind of +tintanabular alarum at the great gate, that we all started up and +looked at each other in surprise. Who could it possibly be? We were +not kept long in suspense; for, in another moment, Uncle Jack's voice, +which was always very clear and distinct, pealed through the hall; and +we were still staring at each other when Mr Tibbets, with a bran-new +muffler round his neck, and a peculiarly comfortable, greatcoat--best +double Saxony, equally new--dashed into the room, bringing with him a +very considerable quantity of cold air, which he hastened to thaw, +first in my father's arms, next in my mother's. He then made a rush at +the Captain, who ensconced himself behind the dumb waiter with a "Hem! +Mr--sir--Jack--sir--hem, hem!" Failing there, Mr Tibbets rubbed off +the remaining frost upon his double Saxony against your humble +servant; patted Squills affectionately on the back, and then proceeded +to occupy his favourite position before the fire. + +"Took you by surprise, eh?" said Uncle Jack, unpeeling himself by the +hearth-rug. "But no--not by surprise; you must have known Jack's +heart: you at least, Austin Caxton, who know everything--you must have +seen that it overflowed, with the tenderest and most brotherly +emotions; that, once delivered from that cursed Fleet, (you have no +idea what a place it is, sir,) I could not rest, night or day, till I +had flown here--here, to the dear family nest--poor wounded dove that +I am!" added Uncle Jack pathetically, and taking out his +pocket-handkerchief from the double Saxony, which he had now flung +over my father's arm-chair. + +Not a word replied to this eloquent address, with its touching +peroration. My mother hung down her pretty head, and looked ashamed. +My uncle retreated quite into the corner, and drew the dumb waiter +after him, so as to establish a complete fortification. Mr Squills +seized the pen that Roland had thrown down, and began mending it +furiously--that is, cutting it into slivers--thereby denoting, +symbolically, how he would like to do with Uncle Jack, could he once +get him safe and snug under his manipular operations. I leant over the +pedigree, and my father rubbed his spectacles. + +The silence would have been appalling to another man: nothing appalled +Uncle Jack. + +Uncle Jack turned to the fire, and warmed first one foot, then the +other. This comfortable ceremony performed, he again faced the +company--and resumed musingly, and as if answering some imaginary +observations-- + +"Yes, yes--you are right there--and a deuced unlucky speculation it +proved too. But I was overruled by that fellow Peck. Says I to +him--says I--'_Capitalist!_ pshaw--no popular interest there--it don't +address the great public! Very confined class the capitalists; better +throw ourselves boldly on the people. Yes,' said I, 'call it the +_anti_-Capitalist.' By Jove, sir, we should have carried all before us! +but I was overruled. The _Anti-Capitalist_!--what an idea! Address the +whole reading world then, sir: everybody hates the capitalist--everybody +would have his neighbour's money. The _Anti-Capitalist_!--sir, we should +have gone off, in the manufacturing towns, like wildfire. But what could +I do?"-- + +"John Tibbets," said my father solemnly, "capitalist or +anti-capitalist, thou hadst a right to follow thine own bent, in +either--but always provided it had been with thine own money. Thou +see'st not the thing, John Tibbets, in the right point of view; and a +little repentance, in the face of those thou hast wronged, would not +have misbecome thy father's son, and thy sister's brother!"-- + +Never had so severe a rebuke issued from the mild lips of Austin +Caxton; and I raised my eyes with a compassionate thrill, expecting to +see John Tibbets gradually sink and disappear through the carpet. + +"Repentance!" cried Uncle Jack, bounding up, as if he had been shot. +"And do you think I have a heart of stone, of pummy-stone!--do you +think I don't repent? I have done nothing but repent--I shall repent +to my dying day." + +"Then there is no more to be said, Jack," cried my father, softening, +and holding out his hand. + +"Yes!" cried Mr Tibbets, seizing the hand, and pressing it to the heart +he had thus defended from the suspicion of being pummy--"yes--that I +should have trusted that dunder-headed, rascally, curmudgeon Peck: that +I should have let him call it _The Capitalist_, despite all my +convictions, when the _Anti_----" + +"Pshaw!" interrupted my father, drawing away his hand. + +"John," said my mother gravely, and with tears in her voice, "you +forget who delivered you from prison,--you forget whom you have nearly +consigned to prison yourself,--you forg--" + +"Hush, hush!" said my father, "this will never do; and it is you who +forget, my dear, the obligations I owe to Jack. He has reduced my +fortune one half, it is true; but I verily think he has made the three +hearts, in which lie my real treasures, twice as large as they were +before. Pisistratus, my boy, ring the bell." + +"My dear Kitty," cried Jack, whimperingly, and stealing up to my +mother, "don't be so hard on me; I thought to make all your +fortunes--I did, indeed." + +Here the servant entered. + +"See that Mr Tibbets' things are taken up to his room, and that there +is a good fire," said my father. + +"And," continued Jack, loftily, "I _will_ make all your fortunes yet. +I have it _here_!" and he struck his head. + +"Stay a moment," said my father to the servant, who had got back to +the door. "Stay a moment," said my father, looking extremely +frightened; "perhaps Mr Tibbets may prefer the inn?" + +"Austin," said Uncle Jack with emotion, "if I were a dog, with no home +but a dog-kennel, and you came to me for shelter, I would turn out--to +give you the best of the straw!" + +My father was thoroughly melted this time. + +"Primmins will be sure to see everything is made comfortable for Mr +Tibbets," said he, waving his hand to the servant. "Something nice for +supper, Kitty, my dear--and the largest punch-bowl. You like punch, +Jack?" + +"Punch, Austin!" said Uncle Jack, putting his handkerchief to his +eyes. + +The Captain pushed aside the dumb waiter, strode across the room, and +shook hands with Uncle Jack; my mother buried her face in her apron, +and fairly ran off; and Squills said in my ear, "It all comes of the +biliary secretions. Nobody could account for this, who did not know +the peculiarly fine organisation of your father's--liver!" + +FOOTNOTE: + +[4] Tibullus, iii. 4, 55. + + + + +M. PRUDHON.--CONTRADICTIONS ECONOMIQUES.[5] + + +If we wished to convert some inveterate democrat--some one of those +eternal agitators of political and social revolutions--whose +reasonings, though perhaps unconsciously to themselves, are all based +on a far too sanguine view of the probable destinies of human +society--there is no text-book we should more willingly select than +this mad and apparently destructive work of M. Prudhon's. The bold +development of those fundamental truths which have hitherto determined +the framework of society, and, still more, the display it presents of +the utter impotence of the wit of man, and all his speculative +ingenuity, to reshape and reorganise the social world, must have, on +every mind accustomed to reflection, a most sobering and +_conservative_ influence. What it was intended to teach is another +matter; but to a mind well constituted it would convey this grave +lesson--to recognise and submit to the inevitable; to be content to +labour for partial remedies and limited results; to be satisfied with +doing good, though it be something short of organic change; to think +it sufficient ambition to be of that "salt of the earth" which +preserves whatever is pure and excellent, without aspiring to be that +consuming flame which is to fuse and recast the world. + +Such was the reflection with which we closed the perusal of the +_Contradictions Economiques_; and this reflection has led us to the +present notice of a work which was not originally taken up with the +intention of bringing it before our readers. We were referred to it as +the work in which a man who has obtained unenviable notoriety had most +systematically developed his ideas. Whether it is so, or not, we do +not pledge ourselves to decide: we have had enough of _Prudhonerie_. +But after a perusal, induced by mere curiosity, it occurred to us that +some brief account of the book, and of the train of thought which it +had suggested to us, and would probably suggest to most English +readers, would not be unacceptable. + +It is worthy of remark, that it is not uniformly from the most perfect +works that we derive the greatest stimulant to thinking, or the +largest supply of food for reflection. Many an important step in +intellectual progress has been due to an author, not one of whose +views have been finally adopted, or would have borne perhaps a +searching examination. The startling effect of paradox--the conflict +with it--the perplexing entanglement of known truth with manifest +error,--all this has supplied a more bracing and vigorous exercise for +the mind, than lucid tenets lucidly set forth by writers of +unimpeachable good sense. God forbid that any one should accuse us of +saying, that it is better to read a bad book than a good one; this +would be the greatest of all absurdities; but there are eras in our +mental progress when much is gained by the contest with bold and +subtle fallacies. There is not a book in our own language more replete +with paradox and sophistry, with half truths and tortuous reasonings, +than Godwin's _Political Justice_; yet we doubt not there are those +living who would acknowledge that the perusal of that once, and for a +short time, celebrated treatise, did more, by the incessant combat it +provoked, to make evident to them the real constitution of human +society, than the smooth sagacity of a hundred Paleys could have done. + +Indeed, when we compare the _Political Justice_ with the reveries of +Communism, so rife amongst our neighbours, we feel proud of our +English dreamer. Godwin's scheme was somewhat as if one of the ancient +stoics, not content with imposing upon his wise man rules of conduct +quite independent of all human passions and affections, had resolved +that the whole multitude of the species should demean themselves +according to the same impracticable rules, and should learn to live, +and labour, and enjoy, like reasoning automata. Under the light +diffused upon them by the author of the _Political Justice_, men were +to set aside all selfishness--all their natural, and even kindly +affections--and to act in unceasing conformity to certain abstractions +of the reasoning faculty; were, in short, neither to love nor to hate; +but, sitting in eternal judgment over themselves, were simply to +reason and to act. Like the iron figures that formerly stood elevated +above the living crowd of Fleet Street, on either side of the +venerable clock of St Dunstan's, they were to keep their eye fixed on +the dial-plate of a most well-regulated conscience; and ever, as the +hour came round, they were to rise and strike, and then subside into +their metallic repose. Still, however, the great sentiment of justice, +to which Godwin made his appeal, afforded him a far more noble and +manly topic than the affected philanthropy on which so many Frenchmen +have been descanting. Justice, though not understood after the manner +of Mr Godwin, is a sentiment which really lives and moves in the very +heart of society. Men respond to an appeal to their sense of justice; +they become ungovernable if that sense of justice is long outraged; +they work upon this sentiment; they can labour and endure according to +its dictates: but for this philanthropy, or fraternity, of which we +hear so much--what has it ever done? It never regulated the +transactions of a single day; never produced a grain of corn, or a +shred of apparel; produces nothing but theories. It is a vain, +importunate, idle, and clamorous sentiment: it is justice all on one +side; it demands incessantly, it gives never; it has hands to petition +with, to clutch with, to rob with, to murder with, but not to work +with; it has no hand that holds the plough, or strikes upon the anvil. + +The _Système des Contradictions Economiques_ may lay claim to the same +sort of praise we have accorded to the _Political Justice_: it prompts +reflection; and a man of intellect sufficiently robust to profit by +such rude gymnastics, will not regret its perusal. It also avoids, +like the work of Godwin, the pernicious cant of universal +philanthropy--pernicious when brought forward as a general motive of +human actions--and looks for a renovation of society in a more +enlightened sentiment of justice--determining anew the value of each +man's labour, and securing to him that value--property being +legitimate only (so far as we can understand our author) when it +contains in it the labour of the proprietor. How Justice is to execute +the task which M. Prudhon, in very vague and mysterious terms, imposes +upon her, we have not the least idea; nor has an attentive perusal of +his book given us the remotest conception of any practical scheme that +he would even make experiment of. But, at all events, it is better to +descant on the energetic sentiment of justice, which desires to earn +and keep its own, than on the idle sublimities of a universal +fraternity--a sentiment which relaxes the springs of industry, by +teaching every man to expect everything from his neighbours, or from +an omnipotent abstraction he calls the state. It is a difference of +some importance, because all these schemes for the renovation of +society do, in fact, end in a sort of moral or immoral preachment. + +When we have said thus much, and added that M. Prudhon attacks the +Communists, of all shades and descriptions, in a quite overwhelming +manner, utterly crushing and annihilating them,--we have said the +utmost that can be admitted, or devised, in praise of his work. It +would require a much longer paragraph to exhaust all that might be +justly said in its condemnation. It is strewed over, knee-deep, with +metaphysical trash. It is steeped in atheism, or something worse, and +infinitely more foolish; for there is a pretence of sustaining "the +hypothesis" of a God, for no other ostensible reason than to provide +an object for the blasphemy that follows. The rudest savages, in their +first conception of a God, regard him as an enemy, and offer +sacrifices to propitiate an unprovoked and wanton anger--the reflected +image of their own wild passions. M. Prudhon's philosophy has actually +brought him, in one respect, back to the creed of the savages. He +proves, by some insane process not worth following, that the Creator +of man is essentially opposed to the progress of human society, and is +to be utterly deserted, desecrated, defied. He does not, indeed, +sacrifice, like the savage; he rather talks rebellion, like Satan. No +one would believe, who had not read the book, with what a mixture of +outrage and levity he speaks of the most sacred of all beings: it is +the doctrine of the rebel-fiend taught with the gesticulation of a +satyr. + +We shall not quote a single passage to justify this censure, for the +same reason that we should not extract the indecencies of a volume in +order to prove the charge of obscenity. Why should the ear be wounded, +or the mind soiled and disgusted, when no end is answered except the +conviction of an offender who, utterly dead to shame, rejoices to see +his impurities or impieties pitched abroad? + +Notwithstanding that formidable appearance of metaphysics to which we +have alluded--his Kant and his Hegel, his thesis, antithesis, and +synthesis, and all his pretensions to extraordinary profundity--it so +happens that the very first elements of that science of political +economy, which he affects to look down upon as from a higher level, +are often miserably misapprehended; or--what is certainly not more to +his credit--they are thrown, for a season, into a wilful oblivion. If +he is discoursing upon the division of labour, and its effect upon the +remuneration of the workman, he ignores, for the time being, the +manifest relation between population and wages, and represents the +wages as decreasing only because the nature of the work required +becomes more and more simple and mechanical. If he is discoursing upon +population, and its pressure upon the means of subsistence, he can +venture to forget the very laws of nature. "You state," he says, "that +population increases in a geometrical ratio--1, 2, 4, 8, 16; well, I +will show that capital and wealth follow a law of progression more +rapid still, of which each term may be considered as the square of the +corresponding number of the geometrical series, as 1, 4, 16, 64, +256."[6] Since all our wealth is derived originally from the soil, man +must, therefore, have it in his power to increase the fertility of the +soil according to the above ratio. It will be something new to our +farmers to learn this. + +In compensation, we presume, for this occasional oblivion of the +truisms of political economy--truisms, in fact, of common sense--we +have, here and there, strange and novel definitions and explanations, +ushered in with that pomp which an egotistical Frenchman can alone +display, and turning out to be as idle verbiage as was ever penned. +Take, as the first specimen we can call to mind, the following +definition of labour. We cannot attempt to translate it: the English +language does not easily mould itself to nonsense of this +sort:--"Qu'est-ce donc que le travail? Nul encore ne l'a défini. Le +travail est l'émission de l'esprit. Travailler, c'est dépenser sa +vie; travailler, en un mot, c'est se dévouer, c'est mourir. Que les +utopistes ne nous parlent plus de dévoûment: c'est le travail, exprimé +et mesuré par ses oeuvres."--(Vol. ii., p. 465.) Labour needed to be +defined, it seemed; and this is the definition, "L'émission de +l'esprit!" And in play, then, as well as in work, is there no emission +of the spirits, or mind, or life of the man? Did M. Prudhon never run +a race, or handle a bat at cricket, or ride with the hounds? or can he +not remember that such things _are_, though not in his philosophy? But +dear, inexpressibly dear to M. Prudhon, is every idea of his own that +savours of paradox; and the more it violates common sense, the more +tenderly he clings to it, cherishes, and vaunts it. This, doubtless, is +one of his favourite children. His celebrated aphorism, "La Propriété +c'est le vol,"--he contradicts it himself in every page of his +writings, yet boasts and cherishes it as his greatest possession, and +the most remarkable discovery of the age. "La définition de la +propriété," he says, in answer to a sarcasm of M. Michelet, "est +mienne, et toute mon ambition est de prouver que j'en ai compris le +sens et l'étendue. _La propriété c'est le vol!_ il ne se dit pas, en +mille ans, deux mots comme celui-là. Je n'ai d'autre bien sur la terre +que cette définition de la propriété: mais je la tiens plus précieuse +que les millions des Rothschild, et j'ose dire qu'elle sera l'évènement +le plus considérable du gouvernement de Louis-Philippe."--(Vol. ii., p. +328.) + +Even in that tenebrous philosophy which he has imported from Germany, +and which he teaches with such caustic condescension to the political +economists, he is very much at fault. It is always, we know, an +adventurous matter to accuse any one who deals in the idealistic +metaphysics of modern Germany of obscurity, or of imperfect knowledge +of the theories taught in his own school. The man has but to dive into +deeper mud to escape from you. Follow him you assuredly cannot; he is +out of sight, and the thick sediment deters; and thus, in the eyes of +all who are not aware what the capture would cost to any hapless +pursuer, the fugitive is sure of his triumph. Nevertheless, we venture +to assert that M. Prudhon is but a young, and a not very promising +scholar in the philosophy of Kant and of Hegel. Two very manifest +blunders it will be enough to indicate: he assimilates his +_Contradictions Economiques_ to the _Antinomies of the Pure Reason_ +developed by Kant; and he confounds Kant with Hegel in a matter where +they are widely opposed, and speaks as if the same law of +contradiction were common to both. + +After alluding to some of his own "contradictions," he says, "Tel est +encore le problème de la divisibilité de la matière à l'infini, que +Kant a démontré pouvoir être nié et affirmé, tour-à-tour, par des +arguments également plausibles et irréfutables."--(Vol. i. p. 43.) It +is the object of Kant, in one of the most striking portions of the +_Critique of Pure Reason_, to show that, in certain problems, the mind +is capable of being led with equal force of conviction to directly +opposite conclusions. The pure reason, it seems, gets hold of the +forms of the understanding, and can extract nothing from them but a +series of antinomies, like that which M. Prudhon has alluded to, where +the infinite divisibility of matter is both proved and disproved with +equal success. Now what analogy is there between the contradictions +which M. Prudhon can develop, in any one of our social laws, and the +antinomies of Kant? In these last, two opposite conclusions of +speculative reason are arrived at, which destroy each other; in the +_Contradictions Economiques_, the good and evil flowing from the same +law may very easily co-exist. They affect different persons, or the +same persons at different times. Free competition, for instance, in +trade or manufacture, may be viewed on its bright side as the promoter +of industry and invention; on its dark side as the fomenter of strife, +and the inflicter of injury on those who lose in the game of wealth. +But the benefit and injury arising from this source do not destroy +each other, like the yes and no of an abstract proposition; they can +be balanced against each other; they co-exist, and, for aught we see, +will eternally co-exist. Let them be as strikingly opposed as you +will, they can have nothing in common with the antinomies of Kant. M. +Prudhon proves that there is darkness and brightness scattered over +the surface of society: he does not prove that the same spot, at the +same moment, is both black and white. + +From Kant he slides to Hegel, as if their tenets on this subject at +all resembled each other. Kant saw in his contradictions an arrest of +the reason, Hegel the very principle and condition of all thought. +Thought involves contradictions. In the simplest idea, that of being, +is involved the idea of no-being; neither can we think of no-being +without having the idea of being. Now as _thought_ and _thing_ are +identical in the absolute, (this every one knows,) whatever may be +said of the thought may be said of the thing, and hence the celebrated +formula, Being = no being--_sein_ = _nicht sein_--something and +nothing are identical. + +As thought and thing are identical in the absolute, logic is a +creation and creation is a logic; thus the metaphysics of Hegel became +a cosmogony in which all things proceed according to the laws of +thought, and are therefore developed in a series of contradictions. +Now let M. Prudhon be as thorough master of the Hegelian logic, or the +Hegelian cosmogony, as he desires to be esteemed, how, in the name of +common sense, can he hope to clear up the difficulties of political +economy by mixing them with a philosophy like this? How will his +thesis and his antithesis help us to adjust the claims between labour +and capital? If he has any adjustment to propose--if he has found what +he calls his synthesis--let us hear it. If the synthesis is only to be +developed in those future evolutions of time, which neither he nor we +can divine, of what use all this angry exposition of the inevitable +_Contradictions_ that mark and constitute the progress of humanity? + +Enough of these metaphysics. It was necessary to say this much of the +peculiar form into which M. Prudhon has chosen to cast his thoughts; +but there will be no occasion to allude to it again. Whatever there is +of truth or significance in his work, may easily be transferred into a +language familiar and intelligible to all. + +We have eaten, says one, of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the +knowledge of good and evil, and the taste of them has been thenceforth +invariably blended together. There is a law of compensation--thus +another expresses it--throughout the world, both moral and physical, +by which every evil is balanced by its good, and every good by its +besetting evil. Humanity, says a third, progresses without doubt, and +obtains at each stage a fuller and a higher life; but there is an +original proportion of misery in its lot, from which there is no +escape: this also swells and darkens as we rise. To use the language +of chemistry, you may increase the volume of this ambient life we +breathe, but still, to every one-hundred part of vital air there shall +be added twenty-five of mephitic vapour. All these are different modes +of expressing the homely truth, that a shadow of evil falls even from +the best of things; and it is this truth which is really developed in +the _Contradictions Economiques_. + +It is a truth which, at times, it may be very needful fully to +recognise. When men of sincere convictions are found agitating society +for some organic change, their errors may be always traced to an +over-sanguine and one-sided view of the capabilities of man for +happiness. The conservative and the movement parties, philosophically +considered, may be described as branching out of different opinions on +the probable or possible progress of society. The philosophical +conservative has accepted humanity as it is--as, in its great +features, it is exhibited throughout all regions of the earth, and in +the page of history: he hails with welcome every addition to human +happiness; he believes in progress, he derides the notion of +perfectibility,--it is a word he cannot use; he recognises much +happiness coming in to mankind from many and various sources, but +still believes that man will never find himself so content on earth as +to cease looking forward for the complement and perfection of his +felicity to another world. The philosopher of the movement party has +made a sort of religion of his hopes of humanity: he conceives some +ideal state, and anticipates its development _here_; he dismantles +heaven and immortality to furnish out his masquerade on earth; or, +with still vaguer notions, he rushes forward upon reforms that imply, +for their justification, the existence of what never yet was seen--a +temperate and enlightened multitude. + +It follows that the conservative has allotted to him the ungracious +and invidious task of discouraging the hopes of a too eager +philanthropy; he is compelled to show, of certain evils, that they are +constantly to be contended against, but never can be eradicated. +Society has been often compared to a pyramid; its broad basis on the +earth, and towering high or not, according as circumstances were +propitious to its formation; but always the broad basis lying on the +earth. He accepts the ancient simile; he recognises the unalterable +pyramid. Without aid of priest or legislator, society assumes this +form; it crystallises thus; higher and higher, broader and broader, it +rises, and extends, but still the lowest stratum is lying close upon +the earth. Will you disguise the fact? It is fruitless, and the +falsehood only recoils upon yourself, rendering what truth you utter +weak and suspicious. Will you strive to make the pyramid stand upon +its apex? It will _not_ stand; and what god or giant have you to hold +it there? Or will you join the madman, who, because the lowest stratum +cannot be made the highest, nor any other but the lowest, would level +the whole pyramid to the ground, and make every part touch the earth? +No; you will do all in your power for that lowest stratum, but you +will not consent that, because all cannot be cultivated and refined, +no one shall have a chance of becoming so. You accept the pyramid. + +When M. Prudhon criticises the laws which preside over the production +and distribution of wealth, and shows their twofold and antagonistic +influence, he is but illustrating the inevitable formation of our +pyramid. Let us follow him in a few instances. + +_The Division of Labour._--This is the first topic on which our author +descants--the first of our economic laws in which he finds his +contradictions--his two poles of good and evil. On the advantages of +the division of labour, we have but to call to mind the earlier +chapters of Adam Smith, wherein these are so truthfully and vividly +described. Indeed, the least reflection is sufficient to show that, if +each man undertook by his own labour to provide for all his wants, it +would be impossible for society to advance beyond the very rudest form +of existence. One man must be tailor, another shoemaker, another +agriculturist, another artist; and these trades or occupations, to be +brought to perfection, must again be subdivided into different +departments of industry--and one man makes the coat, and another +weaves the cloth, one man makes the shoe, and another dresses the +leather. It is needless to say that these departments are again +divided into an almost infinite number of separate occupations; till, +at length, we find that a man employs his whole day in turning one +thread over another, or in manufacturing the eighteenth part of a pin. + +But now, no sooner does this division of employments obtain in +society, than our pyramid begins to form. The man of manual labour +rests still at the basis; he of superior skill, the artist, or the +intellectual workman, rises permanently above him. The more minute +this division of labour, the more simple and mechanical becomes the +labour of the artisan; the education he receives from his employment +becomes more and more limited; he is wanted for so little; he is +esteemed, and, if other circumstances permit, remunerated accordingly. + +"Although," says the celebrated economist, J. B. Say, "a man who +performs one operation all his life comes to execute it better and +more rapidly than any other man, yet at the same time he grows less +capable of every other occupation, physical and moral; his other +faculties are extinguished, and there results a degradation to the +human being considered individually. It is a sad account to give of +one's-self to have accomplished nothing but the eighteenth part of a +pin.... In conclusion, it may be said that the separation of labours +is a skilful employment of the force of man--that it increases +prodigiously the products of society--but it destroys something of the +capacity of the individual man." + +That this inevitable division and subdivision of labour gives rise to, +and renders permanent, the distinction of classes in a community, is +clear enough. But we do not agree with M. Say, and other economists, +in representing that minute subdivision of labour which accompanies a +very advanced state of civilisation, as peculiarly injurious to the +workman. That degradation of the artisan, which might ensue from the +monotony and triviality of his employment, is counteracted by that +variety of interests which spring up in a civilised community. This +eighteenth part of a pin is not all that educates or engages his mind. +He is not a solitary workman. His file and his wire are not his sole +companions. He has the gossip of his neighbourhood, the politics of +his parish, of his town, of his country--whatever fills the columns of +a newspaper, or gives topic of conversation to a populous city--he +has, at least, all this for intellectual food. The man of handicraft +is educated by the city he lives in, not by his handicraft; and the +humblest artisan feels the influence of that higher civilisation from +which he seems at first to be entirely shut out. Hodge the countryman, +who can sow, and plough, and reap; who understands hedging and +ditching, and the management of sheep; who is accomplished in all +agricultural labours, ought to be, if his daily avocations alone +decided the matter, infinitely superior to the village cobbler, who +travels only from the sole to the upper leather, and who squats +stitching all day long. But the cobbler is generally the more knowing, +and certainly the more talkative man. Hodge himself is the first to +recognise it; for he listens to him at the ale-house, which sometimes +brings them together, as to an oracle of wisdom. + +_Machinery._--The benefit derived from machinery needs no explanation. +The more simple order of machines, or instruments--as the plough, the +axe, and the spindle--have never been otherwise considered than as +precious gifts to human industry; and the more complicated machines, +which have been invented in modern times, have no sooner established +themselves, so to speak, in society--have no sooner, at the expense of +some temporary evils, secured themselves a quiet recognised +position--than they, too, have been welcomed in the same character as +signal aids to human industry. But while the machine has added +immensely to the products of labour, it has done nothing to diminish +the class of manual labours. It has done nothing, nor does it seem +probable that it will ever effect anything, towards rendering that +class less requisite or less numerous. On the contrary, it has always, +hitherto, multiplied that class. The machine will not go of itself, +will not manufacture itself, nor keep itself in repair. The human +labourer becomes the slave of the machine. He created it for his +service, and it serves him, but on condition only that he binds +himself to a reciprocal bondage. You spin by a steam-engine, and some +complicated system of reels and pulleys, but the human finger is not +spared--the human volition is still wanted. To manufacture this +machine, to tend it, to govern it--in short, to use it--far more +manual labour is called into requisition than ever turned the simple +spinning-wheel, or teased the flax from the distaff. You have more +garments woven, but the better clad are not exactly those who weave +them. The machine has called into existence, for its own service, an +immense population, ill fed and ill clothed. Our pyramid is extending +at the basis: as it rises higher it is growing broader. + +_Money--Capital._--We class these together because they are intimately +connected. Capital is not money, but there would have been little +accumulation of capital but for the use of money. + +The youthful student of political economy meets with no chapter in his +books of science so amusing, and so thoroughly convincing, as that +which shows him the utility of money, and the reasons which have led +almost all nations to prefer the precious metals for their instruments +of exchange. Without some such instrument, what is to be done? A man +has made a hat, and wants a pound of butter. He cannot divide his hat: +what would be half a hat? Besides, the man who has the butter does not +want the hat. But the precious metals come in marvellously to his aid. +They are divisible into the smallest portions; they are durable, will +not spoil by keeping; they are of steady value, and will not much +depreciate: if the man of butter does not want them, he can always +find somebody that does; no fear but that they will easily pass from +hand to hand, as each one wishes to barter them for whatever he may +want. + +It is generally said, that it is the steadiness of their value that +constituted one chief reason for the selection of gold and silver for +the purposes of money. This is undoubtedly true; but it is also true +(and we do not remember to have heard this previously remarked) that +the use of the precious metals for money has tended to preserve and +perpetuate that steadiness of value. Had gold and silver remained as +simple articles of merchandise, they would probably have suffered +considerable fluctuations in their value from the caprice of fashion +and the altered taste of society. In themselves, they were chiefly +articles of luxury; the employment of them for money made them objects +of indispensable utility. + +Money there must be. Yet mark how its introduction tends to destroy +equality, to favour accumulation, to raise the hill and sink the +valley. If men bartered article against article, they would generally +barter in order to consume. But when one of them barters for gold, he +can lay it by; he can postpone at his pleasure the period of +consumption; he can postpone it for the benefit of his issue. The +piece of gold was bought originally with the sweat of his brow; who +shall say that a year, ten years, fifty years hence, he may not +traffic it again for the sweat of the brow? The pieces of gold +accumulate, his children possess them, and now a generation appears on +the face of the earth who have not toiled, who do not toil all their +lives, who are sustained in virtue of the labours of their ancestor. +Their fathers saved, and they enjoy; or they employ a part of the +accumulation in the purchase of the labour of others, by which means +their riches still further increase. The pyramid rises. But the +descendants of those fathers who had consumed the product of their +labour, they bring no postponed claim into the market. These are they +who must sell their labour. They must work for the children of those +who had saved. Our pyramid broadens at the base. This perpetual value +given to money has enabled the man of one generation to tax all +ensuing generations with the support of his offspring. Hence much +good; for hence the leisure that permits the cultivation of the mind, +that fosters art, and refinement, and reflection: we have to notice +here only how inevitably it builds the pyramid. + +And now two classes are formed, distinct and far asunder--the +capitalist, and he who works for wages. Comes the social reformer, and +he would restore the equality between them. But how? We will fuse, +says one, the two classes together: they shall carry on their +manufacture in a joint partnership: all shall be partners--all shall +be workmen. But even M. Prudhon will tell us that, if the profits of +the great capitalist were divided equally amongst all the artisans he +employs, each one would find his gains increased by a very little; and +it is morally certain that profits equal to those he had obtained +would never accrue from a partnership of many hundreds of workmen. The +wealth of the country would, therefore, be put in jeopardy, and all +the course of its industry and property deranged, for no end whatever. +At all events, exclaims another, we will reduce the inequality which +we cannot expunge, and put down the enormous and tyrannical +capitalist: we will have a law limiting the fortune of each individual +to so many hundreds or thousands; or, if we allow a man to earn and +appropriate unlimited wealth, we will take care that it shall be +dispersed at his death,--not even to his son shall he be permitted to +bequeath more than a certain sum. But all schemes of this kind can +tend only to equalise the fortunes of the first class--those who +employ labour; they do not affect, in the least, the condition of the +second class--the employed. These will not obtain better wages from +smaller capitalists than from larger. A third--it is M. Prudhon +himself--will have a new law of value established, and a new law of +property. It is labour only that shall give title to property, and the +exchangeable value of every article shall be regulated according to +the labour it may be said to contain: propositions, however, which do +not help us in the least degree, for capital is itself the produce of +labour; its claims, therefore, are legitimate; and the very problem +given is to arbitrate between the claims of capital and labour. + +_Rent and Property in Land._--This is the last topic we shall mention. +The absolute necessity of property in land, in order that the soil +should be cultivated, (that is, under any condition in which humanity +has hitherto presented itself,) is a palpable truism. Yet property in +land leads to the exaction of rent--leads to the same division which +we have seen marked out by so many laws between two classes of +society--those who may enjoy leisure, and those who must submit to +labour; classes which are generally distinguished as the rich and +poor, never, we may observe in passing, as the happy and unhappy, for +leisure may be as great a curse as labour. + +It is true that large estates in land exist before corresponding +accumulations of capital have been made in commerce, for land is often +seized by the mere right of conquest; but still these large +possessions would certainly arise as a nation increased its wealth. +The man who has cultivated land successfully will add field to field; +and he who has gained a large sum of money by commerce, or +manufacture, will purchase land with it. The fact therefore, that, in +the early period of a nation's history, the soil has been usurped by +conquest, or by the sheer right of the strongest, interferes not at +all with the real nature of that property; as, independently of this +accident of conquest, land would have become portioned in the same +unequal manner by the operation of purely economical causes. Just in +the same way, the fact that warlike nations have subjected their +captives to slavery--imposed the labours of life on slaves--cannot be +said to have had any influence in originating the existence, at the +present time, of a class of working people. + +Thus every law of political economy, having, as it were, its two +poles, upwards and downwards, helps to erect our pyramid. Religion, +education, charity, permeate the whole mass, and labour to rectify the +apparent injustice of fortune. Admirable is their influence: but yet +we cannot build on any other model than this. + +"Nay, but we can!" exclaim the Communists; and forthwith they project +a complete demolition of the old pyramid, and the erection of a series +of parallelogram palaces, all level with the earth, and palace every +inch of them. + +We have said that M. Prudhon is a formidable adversary of these +Communists--the more formidable from the having himself no great +attachment to "things as they are." His exposition of the manifold +absurdities and self-contradictions into which they fall, may possibly +render good service to his countrymen. Especially we were glad to see, +that on the subject of marriage he is quite sound. No one could more +distinctly perceive, or more forcibly state, the intimate connexion +that lies between property and marriage. "Mais, c'est surtout dans la +famille que se decouvre le sens profond de la propriété. La famille et +la propriété marchent de front, appuyées l'une sur l'autre, n'ayant +l'une et l'autre de signification, et de valeur, que par le rapport +qui les unit. Avec la propriété commence le rôle de la femme. Le +ménage--cette chose toute idéale, et que l'on s'efforce en vain de +rendre ridicule--le ménage est le royaume de la femme, le monument de +la famille. Otez le ménage, otez cette pierre du foyer, centre +d'attraction des époux, il reste des couples, il n'y a plus de +familles."--(Vol. ii. 253.) + +In this country, happily, it would be superfluous--a mere slaying of +the slain--to expose the folly of these Utopias. Utopias indeed!--that +would deprive men of personal liberty, of domestic affection, of +everything that is most valued in life, to shut them up in a strange +building which is to be palace, prison, and workhouse, all in one; +which must have a good deal of the workhouse, if it has anything of +the palace, and will probably have more of the prison in it than +either. + +Briefly, the case may be stated thus:--The _cost_ of such a community +would be liberty, marriage, enterprise, hope, and generosity--for, +under such an institution, what could any man have to give or receive? +The _gain_ would be task-work for all, board and lodging for all, and +a shameless sensuality; the working-bell, the dinner-bell, and the +curfew. It would be a sacrifice of all that is high, ennobling, and +spiritual, to all that is material, animal, and vile. + +But if men think otherwise of the fraternal community--if they think +that, because philanthropy presides, or seems to preside, over its +formation, that therefore philanthropy will continue to animate all +its daily functions--why do they not voluntarily unite and form this +community? They are fond of quoting the example of the early +Christians; these were really under the influence of a fraternal +sentiment, and _acted_ on it: let them do likewise, there is nothing +to prevent them. But no: the French Socialist sees in imagination a +whole state working for him; he has no idea of commencing by +practising the stern virtues of industry, and abstinence, and +fortitude. His mode of thinking is this--a certain being called +Society is to do everything _for him_--at the cost, perhaps, of some +slight service rendered upon his part. If he is poor, it is society +that keeps him so; if he is vicious, it is society that makes him +so--upon society rest all our crimes, and devolve all our duties. + +There lies the great mischief of promulgating these impracticable +theories of Communism. All is taught as being done for the individual. +The egregious error is committed of trusting all to a certain +organisation of society, which is to be a substitute for the moral +efforts of individual man. Patience, fortitude, self-sacrifice, a high +sense of imperative duty, are supposed to be rendered unnecessary in a +scheme of things which, if it were possible, would require these +virtues in a pre-eminent degree. The virtuous enthusiast would find +himself, indeed, utterly mistaken--the stage which he thought prepared +for the exhibition of the serenest virtues, would be a scene given up +to mere animal life: but still, if he limited himself to the teaching +of these virtues--of a godlike temperance, and a perpetual +self-negation--it is not probable, indeed, that he would find many +disciples; neither is it easy to see that any great mischief could +ensue. Every community, where possessions have been in common, which +has at all succeeded, has been sustained by religious zeal--the most +potent of all sentiments, and one extraneous to the framework of +society. French Communism is the product of idleness and sensuality, +provoked into ferocity by commercial distress; clamouring for means of +self-indulgence _from the state_, and prepared to extort its claim by +any amount of massacre. + +Thus we have shown that the work of M. Prudhon, with its +_contradictions_, or laws of good and of evil, tends but to illustrate +the inevitable rise and unalterable nature of our social pyramid. This +was our object, and here must end our present labours on M. Prudhon. +If our readers are disappointed that they have not heard more of his +own schemes for the better construction of society--that they have not +learned more of the mystery concealed under the famous paradox that +has been blown about by all the winds of heaven--_la propriété c'est +le vol!_--we can only say that we have not learned more ourselves. +Moreover, we are fully persuaded he has nothing to teach. All his +strength lies in exposing evils he cannot remedy, and destroying the +schemes of greater quacks than himself. That property itself is not +the subject of his attack, but the mode in which that property is +determined, is all that we can gather. The value of every object of +exchange is to be determined by the labour bestowed upon it; and the +property in it, we presume, is to be decreed to him whose labour has +been bestowed. But capital has been justly defined as accumulated +labour; he who supplies capital supplies labour. We are brought back, +therefore, to the old difficulty of adjusting (by any other standard +than the relative proportion which capital and labour bear at any time +in the market) the claims of capital and labour. Any such equitable +adjustment, by a legislative interference, we may safely pronounce to +be impossible. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] _Système des Contradictions Economiques; ou Philosophie de la +Misère._ Par J. P. PRUDHON. + +[6] Vol. ii., p. 461. + + + + +THE GREEN HAND. + +A "SHORT" YARN.--PART II. + + +We left the forecastle group of the "Gloucester" disappointed by the +abrupt departure of their story-teller, Old Jack, at so critical a +thread of his yarn. As old Jacobs went aft on the quarter-deck, where +the binnacle-lamp before her wheel was newly lighted, he looked in +with a seaman's instinct upon the compass-boxes, to see how the ship +headed; ere ascending to the poop, he bestowed an approving nod upon +his friend the steersman, hitched up his trousers, wiped his mouth +with the back of his hand in a proper deference to female society, and +then proceeded to answer the captain's summons. The passengers, in a +body, had left the grand cabin to the bustling steward and his boys, +previously to assembling there again for tea--not even excepting the +little coterie of inveterate whist-players, and the pairs of +inseparable chess-men, to whom an Indian voyage is so appropriately +the school for future nice practice in etiquette, war, and commerce. +Everybody had at last got rid of sea-sickness, and mustered for a +promenade; so that the lofty poop of the Indiaman, dusky as it was, +and exposed to the breeze, fluttered with gay dresses like the midway +battlement of a castle by the waves, upon which its inmates have +stolen out from some hot festivity. But the long heave from below, +raising her stern-end slowly against the western space of +clear-obscure, in the manner characteristic of a sea abaft the beam, +and rolling her to either hand, exhibited to the eyes on the +forecastle a sort of _alto-relievo_ of figures, amongst whom the male, +in their blank attempts to appear nautical before the ladies, were +distinguished from every other object by their variety of ridiculous +postures. Under care of one or two bluff, good-humoured young +mates--officers polished by previous opportunities of a kind unknown +either to navy-men or mere "cargo-fenders," along with several roguish +little quasi-midshipmen--the ladies were supported against the +poop-rail, or seated on the after-gratings, where their contented +dependence not only saved them from the ludicrous failures of their +fellow-passengers, but gained them, especially the young ones, the +credit of being better sailors. An accompaniment was contributed to +this lively exercise on the part of the gentlemen promenaders, which +otherwise, in the glimmering sea-twilight, would have been striking in +a different sense; by the efforts, namely, of a little band of amateur +musicians under the break of the poop, who, with flute, clarionet, +bugles, trombone, and violin, after sundry practisings by stealth, had +for the first time assembled to play "Rule Britannia." What, indeed, +with the occasional abrupt checks, wild flourishes, and fantastic +variations caused by the ship's roll; and what with the attitudes +overhead, of holding on refractory hats and caps, of intensely +resisting and staggering legs, or of sudden pausing above the slope +which one moment before was an ascent, there was additional force in +the designation quaintly given to such an aspect of things by the +fore-mast Jacks--that of "a cuddy jig." As the still-increasing +motion, however, shook into side-places this central group of cadets, +civilians, and planters adrift, the grander features of the scene +predominated: the broad mass of the ship's hull--looming now across +and now athwart the streak of sinking light behind--drawn out by the +weltering outline of the waters; the entire length of her white decks, +ever and anon exposed to view, with their parallel lines, their +nautical appurtenances, the cluster of hardy men about the windlass, +the two or three "old salts" rolling to and fro along the gangway, and +the variety of forms blending into both railings of the poop. High out +of, and over all, rose the lofty upper outline of the noble ship, +statelier and statelier as the dusk closed in about her--the expanse +of canvass whitening with sharper edge upon the gloom; the hauled-up +clues of the main-course, with their huge blocks, swelling and lifting +to the fair wind--and the breasts of the topsails divided by their +tightened bunt-lines, like the shape of some full-bosomed maiden, on +which the reef-points heaved like silken fringes, as if three sisters, +shadowy and goddess-like, trod in each other's steps towards the +deeper solitude of the ocean; while the tall spars, the interlacing +complicated tracery, and the dark top-hamper showing between, gave +graceful unity to her figure; and her three white trucks, far +overhead, kept describing a small clear arc upon the deep blue zenith +as she rolled: the man at the wheel midway before the doors of the +poop-cabin, with the light of the binnacle upon his broad throat and +bearded chin, was looking aloft at a single star that had come out +beyond the clue of the main-topsail. + +The last stroke of "six bells" or seven o'clock, which had begun to be +struck on the ship's bell when Old Jack broke off his story, still +lingered on the ear as he brought up close to the starboard +quarter-gallery, where a little green shed or pent-house afforded +support and shelter to the ladies with the captain. The erect figure +of the latter, as he lightly held one of his fair guests by the arm, +while pointing out to her some object astern, still retained the +attitude which had last caught the eyes of the forecastle group. The +musical cadets had just begun to pass from "Rule Britannia" to "Shades +of Evening;" and the old sailor, with his glazed hat in his hand, +stood waiting respectfully for the captain's notice. The ladies, +however, were gazing intently down upon the vessel's wake, where the +vast shapes of the waves now sank down into a hollow, now rose +seething up into the rudder-trunk, but all marked throughout with one +broad winding track, where the huge body of the ship had swiftly +passed. From foaming whiteness it melted into yesty green, that became +in the hollow a path of soft light, where the sparks mingled like +golden seed; the wave-tops glimmered beyond: star-like figures floated +up or sank in their long undulations; and the broad swell that heaped +itself on a sudden under the mounting stern bore its bells, and +bubbles, and flashes, upwards to the eye. When the ship rose high and +steady upon it, and one saw down her massy taffrail, it looked to a +terrestrial eye rather like some mystic current issuing from the +archway under a tall tower, whose foundations rocked and heaved: and +so said the romantic girl beside the captain, shuddering at the +vividness of an image which so incongruously brought together the +fathomless deep and the distant shores of solid old England. The eye +of the seaman, however, suggested to him an image more akin to the +profession, as he directed his fair companion's attention to the +trough of the ship's furrow, where, against the last low gleam of +twilight, and by the luminous wake, could be seen a little flock of +black petrels, apparently running along it to catch what the mighty +ploughshare had turned up; while a gray gull or two hovered aslant +over them in the blue haze. As he looked round, too, to aloft, he +exchanged glances with the old sailor who had listened--an expression +which even the ladies understood. "Ah! Jacobs,"--said the captain, +"get the lamp lighted in my cabin, and the tea-kettle aft. With the +roll she has on her, 'twill be more ship-shape there than in the +cuddy." "Ay, ay, sir," said the old seaman. "How does she head just +now, Jacobs?" "Sou'-west and by south, sir." "She'd lie easier for the +ladies though," said the captain, knowing his steward was a favourite +with them, "were the wind a point or two less fair. Our old +acquaintance Captain Williamson, of the Seringapatam now, Jacobs, +old-fashioned as he was, would have braced in his lee-yards only to +steady a lady's tea-cup." "Ay, your honour," replied Jacobs, and his +weather eye twinkled, "and washed the fok'sle under, too! But ye know, +sir, he'd got a reg'lar-built Nabob aboard, and a beauty besides!" +"Ah, Mr Jacobs!" exclaimed the romantic young lady, "what was that? Is +it one of your stories?" "Well, your ladyship, 'tis a bit of a yarn, +no doubt, and some'at of a cur'ous one." "Oh!" said another of the +captain's fair protégées, "I _do_ love these 'yarns,' as you call +them; they are so expressive, so--and all that sort of thing!" +"Nonsense, my love," said her mother; "you don't understand them, and +'tis better you should not,--they are low, and contain a great many +bad words, I fear." "But think of the imagination, aunt," rejoined +the other girl, "and the adventures! Oh, the ocean of all places for +that! Were it not for sea-sickness, I should dote upon it! As for the +_storm_ just now, look how safe we are,--and see how the dear old ship +rises up from the billows, with all her sails so delightfully +mysterious one over another!" "Bless your heart, ma'rm, yes," +responded Old Jack, chuckling; "you talks just like a seaman, beggin' +your pardon. As consarns the tea, sir, I make bould to expect the'll +be a shift o' wind directly, and a slant deck, as soon as we get fair +into the stream, rid o' this bit of a bubble the tail of it kicks up +hereabouts." "Bear a hand, then, Jacobs," said the captain, "and see +all right below for the party in the cabin,--we shall be down in a few +minutes." The captain stood up on the quarter-gallery, to peer round +into the dusk and watch the lifting of the main-royal; but the next +minute he called to the ladies, and their next neighbours, to look +towards the larboard bow, and see the moon rise. A long edge of gray +haze lay around the eastern horizon, on which the dark rim of the sea +was defined beyond the roll of the waves, as with the sweep of a soft +brush dipped in indigo; while to westward it heaved up, weltering in +its own watery light against the gloom. From behind this low fringe of +vapour was silently diffusing, as it were, a pool of faint radiance, +like a brook babbling from under ice; a thread of silver ran along the +line of haze, growing keener at one point, until the arch of the moon +shot slowly up, broad and fair; the wave-heads rising between were +crested here and there with light; the bow of the ship, the bellies of +her fore-canvass, her bowsprit with the jibs hanging idly over it, and +the figure-head beneath, were tinged by a gentle lustre, while the +hollow shadows stole out behind. The distant horizon, meanwhile, still +lay in an obscure streak, which blended into the dark side of the low +fog-bank, so as to give sea and cloud united the momentary appearance +of one of those long rollers that turn over on a beach, with their +glittering crest: you would expect to see next instant what actually +seemed to take place--the whole outline plashing over in foam, and +spreading itself clearly forward, as soon as the moon was free. With +the airy space that flowed from her came out the whole eastern +sea-board, liquid and distinct, as if beyond either bow of the lifting +Indiaman one sharp finger of a pair of compasses had flashed round, +drawing a semicircle upon the dull background, still cloudy, +glimmering, and obscure. From the waves that undulated towards her +stern, the ship was apparently entering upon a smoother zone, where +the small surges leapt up and danced in moonshine, resembling more the +current of some estuary in a full tide. To north-westward, just on the +skirts of the dark, one wing of a large, soft-gray vapour was newly +smitten by the moon-gleam; and over against it on the south-east, +where the long fog-bank sank away, there stretched an expanse of ocean +which, on its farthest verge, gave out a tint of the most delicate +opal blue. The ship, to the south-westward of the Azores, and going +large before the trade-wind, was now passing into the great Gulf +Stream which there runs to the south-east; even the passengers on deck +were sensible of the rapid transition with which the lately cold +breeze became warmer and fitful, and the motion of the vessel easier. +They were surprised, on looking into the waves alongside, to perceive +them struggling, as it were, under a trailing net-work of sea-weed; +which, as far as one could distinctly see, appeared to keep down the +masses of water like so much oil--flattening their crests, +neutralising the force of the wind, and communicating a strangely +sombre green to the heaving element. In the winding track of the +ship's wake the eddies now absolutely blazed: the weeds she had +crushed down rose to the surface again in gurgling circles of flame, +and the showers of sparks came up seething on either side amongst the +stalks and leaves: but as the moonlight grew more equally diffused it +was evident she was only piercing an arm of that local weed-bed here +formed, like an island, in the _bight_ of the stream. Farther ahead +were scattered patches and bunches of the true Florida Gulf-weed, +white and moss-like; which, shining crisp in the level moonlight, and +tipping the surges as it floated past, gave them the aspect of +hoary-bearded waves, or the garlanded horses of Neptune. The sight +still detained the captain's party on deck, and some of the ladies +innocently thought these phenomena indicative of the proximity of +land. + +"I have seldom seen the Stream so distinct hereabouts," said Captain +Collins to his first officer, who stood near, having charge of the +watch. "Nor I, sir," replied the chief mate; "but it no doubt narrows +with different seasons. There goes a flap of the fore-topsail, though! +The wind fails, sir." "'Tis only drawing ahead, I think," said the +captain; "the stream _sucks_ the wind with its heat, and we shall have +it pretty near from due nor'-west immediately." "Shall we round in on +the starboard hand, then, sir, and keep both wind and current _aft_?" +"I think not, Mr Wood," said the captain. "'Twould give us a good three +knots more every hour of the next twenty-four, sir," persisted the +first officer eagerly--and chief mates generally confine their theories +to mere immediate progress. "Yes," rejoined the captain, "but we should +lose hold of the 'trade' on getting out of the stream again. I intend +driving her across, with the nor'wester on her starboard beam, so as to +lie well up afterwards. Get the yards braced to larboard as you catch +the breeze, Mr Wood, and make her course south-west by west." "Very +well, sir." "Ladies," said the captain, "will you allow me to hand you +below, where I fear Jacobs will be impatient with the tea?" "What a +pity, Captain Collins," remarked the romantic Miss Alicia, looking up +as they descended the companion--"what a pity that you cannot have that +delicious moonlight to shine in at your cabin windows just now; the +sailors yonder have it all to themselves." "There is no favour in these +things at sea, Miss Alicia," said the captain, smiling. "Jack shares +the chance there, at least, with his betters; but I can promise those +who honour my poor suite this evening both fine moonshine and a +steadier floor." On reaching the snug little after-cabin, with its +swinging lamp and barometer, its side "state-room," seven feet long, +and its two stern-windows showing a dark glimpse of the rolling waters, +they found the tea-things set, nautical style, on the hard-a-weather, +boxed-up table--the surgeon and one or two elderly gentlemen waiting, +and old Jacobs still trimming up the sperm-oil light. Mrs St Clair, +presiding in virtue of relationship to their host, was still cautiously +pouring out the requisite half-cups, when, above all the bustle and +clatter in the cuddy, could be heard the sounds of ropes thrown down on +deck, of the trampling watch, and the stentorian voice of the first +officer. "Jacobs!" said the captain, a minute or two afterwards; and +that worthy factotum instantly appeared from his pantry alongside of +the door--from whence, by the way, the old seaman might be privy to the +whole conversation--"stand by to _dowse_ the lamp when she heels," an +order purposely mysterious to all else but the doctor. Every one soon +felt a change in the movement of their wave-borne habitation; the +rolling lift of her stern ceased; those who were looking into their +cups saw the tea apparently take a decided inclination to larboard--as +the facetious doctor observed, a "tendency to _port_." The floor +gradually sloped down to the same hand, and a long, wild, gurgling wash +was suddenly heard to run careering past the timbers of the starboard +side. "Dear me!" fervently exclaimed every lady at once; when the very +next moment the lamp went out, and all was darkness. Captain Collins +felt a little hand clutch his arm in nervous terror, but the fair owner +of it said nothing; until, with still more startling effect than +before, in a few seconds there shot through both stern-windows the full +rays of the moon, pouring their radiance into the cabin, shining on the +backs of the books in the hanging shelves by the bulkhead, on the faces +of the party, and the bald forehead of old Jacobs "standing by" the +lamp,--lastly, too, revealing the pretty little Alicia with her hand on +the captain's arm, and her pale terrified face. "Don't be alarmed, +ladies!" said the surgeon, "she's only hauled on the starboard tack!" +"And her counter to the east," said the captain. + +"But who the dev--old gentleman, I mean--put out the lamp?" rejoined +the doctor. "Ah,--I see sir!--'But when the moon, refulgent lamp of +night.'" "Such a surprise!" exclaimed the ladies, laughing, although +as much frightened for a moment by the magical illumination as by the +previous circumstances. "You see," said the captain, "we are not like +a house,--we can bring round our scenery to any window we choose." +"Very prettily imagined it was, too, I declare!" observed a stout old +Bombay officer, "and a fine compliment to the ladies, by Jove, sir!" +"If we had any of your pompous Bengal '_Quy hies_' here though, +colonel," said the doctor, "they wouldn't stand being choused so +unceremoniously out of the weather-side, I suspect." "As to the +agreeable little surprise I meant for the ladies," said Captain +Collins, "I fear it was done awkwardly, never having commanded an +_Indiaman_ before, and laid up ashore this half-a-dozen years. But +one's old feelings get freshened up, and without knowing the old +Gloucester's points, I can't help reckoning her as a lady too,--a very +particular old 'Begum,' that won't let any one else be humoured before +herself,--especially as I took charge of her to oblige a friend." "How +easily she goes now!" said the doctor, "and a gallant sight at this +moment, I assure you, to any one who chooses to put his head up the +companion." "Ah, mamma!" said one of the girls, "couldn't you almost +think this was our own little parlour at home, with the moonlight +coming through the window on both sides of the old elm, where we were +sitting a month ago hearing about India and papa?" + +"Ah!" responded her cousin, standing up, "but there was no track of +moonshine dancing beyond the track of the ship yonder! How blue the +water is, and how much warmer it has grown of a sudden!" + +"We are crossing the great Gulf Stream!" said the captain,--"Jacobs! +open one of the stern-ports." "'Tis the very place and time, this is," +remarked a good-humoured cotton-grower from the Deckan, "for one of +the colonel's tiger-hunts, now!" "Sir!" answered the old officer, +rather testily, "I am not accustomed to thrust my _tiger-hunts_, as +you choose to call my humble experiences, under people's noses!" +"Certainly not, my dear sir," said the planter,--"but what do you say, +ladies, to one of the captain's sea-yarns, then? Nothing better, I'm +sure, here and now, sir--eh?" Captain Collins smiled, and said he had +never spun a yarn in his life, except when a boy, out of +matter-of-fact old junk and tar. "Here is my steward, however," +continued he, "who is the best hand at it I know,--and I daresay he'll +give you one." "Charming!" exclaimed the young ladies; and "What was +that adventure, Mr Jacobs," said Miss Alicia, "with a beauty and a +Nabob in it, that you alluded to a short time ago?" "I didn't to say +disactly include upon it, your ladyship," replied old Jacobs, with a +tug of his hair, and a bow not just _à la maître_; "but the captain +can give you it better nor I can, seeing as his honur were the Nero on +it, as one may say." "Oh!" said the surgeon, rubbing his hands "a lady +and a rupee-eater in the case!" "Curious stories, there _are_, too," +remarked the colonel, "of those serpents of nautch-girls, and rich +fools they've managed to entangle. As for beauty, sir, they have the +devil's, and they'd melt the 'Honourable John's' own revenue! I know a +very sensible man,--shan't mention his name,--but made of rupees, and +a regular _beebee-hater_,--saw one of these--" "Hush, hush, my dear +sir!" interrupted the planter, winking and gesticulating; "very good +for the weather poop,--but presence of ladies!"--"For which I'm not +fit, you'd say, sir?" inquired the colonel, firing up again. "Oh! oh! +you know, colonel!" said the unlucky planter, deprecatingly. "But a +_godown_[7] of best 'Banda' to a cowrie now, the sailor makes his +beauty a complete Nourmahal, with rose-lips and moon-eyes,--and his +Nabob a _jehan punneh_,[8] with a _crore_, besides diamonds. 'Twould +be worth hearing, especially from a lascar. For, 'twixt you and I, +colonel, we know how rare it is to hear of a man who saves his _lac_, +now-a-days, with Yankees in the market, no Nawaubs to fight, and +reform in _cutcheries_[9]!" "There seems something curious about this +said adventure of yours, my dear captain," said Mrs St Clair, +archly,--"and a Beauty too! It makes me positively inquisitive, but I +hope your fair lady has heard the story?" "Why, not exactly, ma'am," +replied Captain Collins, laughing as he caught the doctor looking +preternaturally solemn, after a sly lee-wink to the colonel; who, +having his back to the moonlight, stretched out his legs and indulged +in a grim, silent chuckle, until his royal-tiger countenance was +unhappily brought so far _flush_[10] in the rays as to betray a +singular daguerreotype, resembling one of those cut-paper +phantasmagoria thrown on a drawing-room wall, unmistakably black and +white, and in the character of Malicious Watchfulness. The rubicund, +fidgety little cotton-grower twiddled his thumbs, and looked modestly +down on the deck, with half-shut eyes, as if expecting some bold +revelation of nautical depravity; while the romantic Miss Alicia +coloured and was silent. "However," said the captain, coolly, "it is +no matrimonial secret, at any rate! We both think of it when we read +the Church Service of a Sunday night at home, with Jacobs for the +clerk." "Do, Mr Jacobs, oblige us!" requested the younger of the +girls. "Well, Miss," said he, smoothing down his hair in the doorway, +and hemming, "'Tan't neither for the likes o' me to refuse a lady, nor +accordin' to rules for to give such a yarn in presence of a supperior +officer, much less the captain,--with a midship helm, ye know marm, ye +carn't haul upon one tack nor the other. Not to say but next forenoon +watch----" "I see, Jacobs, my man," interrupted Captain Collins, +"there's nothing for it but to fore-reach upon you, or else you'll be +'Green-Handing' me aft as well as forward; so I must just make the +best of it, and take the _winch_ in my own fashion at once!" "Ay, ay, +sir--ay, ay, your honour!" said Old Jack demurely, and concealing his +gratification as he turned off into the pantry, with the idea of for +the first time hearing the captain relate the incidents in question. +"My old shipmate," said the latter, "is so fond of having trained his +future captain, that it is his utmost delight to spin out everything +we ever met with together into one endless yarn, which would go on +from our first acquaintance to the present day, although no ship's +company ever heard the last of it. Without falling knowingly to +leeward of the truth, he makes out every lucky coincidence, almost, to +have been a feat of mine, and puts in little fancies of his own, so as +to give the whole thing more and more of a marvellous air, the farther +it goes. The most amusing thing is, that he almost always begins each +time, I believe, at the very beginning, like a capstan without a +paul--sticking in one thing he had forgot before, and forgetting +another; sometimes dwelling longer on one part--a good deal like a +ship making the same voyages over again. I knew, now, this evening, +when I heard the men laughing, and saw Old Jack on the forecastle, +what must be in the wind. However, we have shared so many chances, and +I respect the old man so much, not to speak of his having dandled my +little girls on his knee, and being butler, steward, and +flower-gardener at home, that I can't really be angry at him, in spite +of the sort of every man's rope he makes of me!" "How very amusing a +character he is!" said one young lady. "A thought too tarry, perhaps?" +suggested the surgeon. "So very original and like a--seaman!" remarked +Miss Alicia, quietly, but as if some other word that crossed her mind +had been rejected, as descriptive of a different variety, probably +higher. "_Original_, by Jove!" exclaimed the colonel; "if my +_Khansa-man_, or my _Abdar_,[11] were to make such a dancing dervish +and _tumasha_[12] of me behind back, by the holy Vishnu, sir, I'd +rattan him myself within an inch of his life!" "Not an unlikely thing, +colonel," put in the planter; "I've caught the scoundrels at that +trick before now." "What did you do?" inquired the colonel, +speculatively. "Couldn't help laughing, for my soul, sir; the +_puckree bund_[13] rascals did it so well, and so funnily!" The +irascible East-Indian almost started up in his imaginative fury, to +call for his palkee, and chastise his whole verandah, when the doctor +reminded him it was a long way there. "Glorious East!" exclaimed the +medico, looking out astern, "where we may cane our footmen, and +whence, meanwhile, we can derive such Sanscrit-sounding adjurations, +with such fine moonlight!" + +The presence of the first officer was now added to the party, who came +down for a cup of tea, fresh from duty, and flavouring strongly of a +pilot cheroot. "How does she head, Mr Wood?" asked the captain. +"Sou'-west by west, sir,--a splendid night, under everything that will +draw,--spray up to the starboard cat-head!" + +"But as to this story, again, Captain Collins?" said Mrs St Clair, as +soon as she had poured out the chief mate's cup. "Well," said the +captain, "if you choose to listen till bedtime to a plain draught of +the affair, why I suppose I must tell it you; and what remains then +may stand over till next fine night. It _may_ look a little romantic, +being in the days when most people are such themselves; but at any +rate, we sailors--or else we should never have been at sea, you know: +and so you'll allow for that, and a spice to boot of what we used to +call at sea 'love-making;' happily there were no soft speeches in it, +like those in books, for then I shouldn't tell it at all. + +By the time I was twenty-four, I had been nine years at sea, and, at +the end of the war, was third lieutenant of a crack twenty-eight, the +saucy Iris--as perfect a sloop-model, though over-sparred certainly, as +ever was cased off the ways at Chatham, or careened to a north-easter. +The Admiralty had learnt to build by that day, and a glorious ship she +was, _made_ for going after the small fry of privateers, pirates, and +slavers, that swarmed about the time. Though I had roughed it in all +sorts of craft, from a first-rate to a dirty French lugger prize, and +had been eastward, so as to see the sea in its pride at the Pacific, +yet the feeling you have depends on the kind of ship you are in. I +never knew so well what it was to be fond of a ship and the sea; and +when I heard of the poor Iris, that had never been used to anything but +blue water on three parts of the horizon at least, laying her bones not +long after near Wicklow Head, I couldn't help a gulp in the throat. I +once dreamt I had gone down in her, and risen again to the surface with +the _loss of something_ in my brain; while, at the same moment, there I +was, still sitting below on a locker in the wardroom, with the arms of +her beautiful figure-head round me, and her mermaid's tail like the +best-bower cable, with an anchor at the end of it far away out of +soundings, over which I bobbed and dipped for years and years, in all +weathers, like a buoy. We had no Mediterranean time of it, though, in +the Iris, off the Guinea coast, from Cape Palmas to Cape Negro: looking +out to windward for white squalls, and to leeward for black ones, and +inshore for Spanish cattle-dealers, as we called them, had made us all +as sharp as so many marlin-spikes; and our captain was a man that +taught us seamanship, with a trick or two beyond. The slavers had not +got to be so clever then, either, with their schooners and clippers; +they built for stowage, and took the chance, so that we sent in _bale_ +after bale to the West India Admiral, made money, and enjoyed ourselves +now and then at the Cape de Verds. However, this kind of thing was so +popular at home, as pickings after the great haul was over, that the +Iris had to give up her station to a post-frigate, and be paid off. The +war was over, and nobody could expect to be promoted without a friend +near the blue table-cloth, although a quiet hint to a secretary's palm +would work wonders, if strong enough. But most of such lucky fellows as +ourselves dissipated their funds in blazing away at balls and parties, +where the gold band was everything, and the ladies wore blue ribbons +and anchor brooches in honour of the navy. The men spent everything in +a fortnight, even to their clothes, and had little more chance of +eating the king's biscuit with hopes of prize-money; I used to see +knots of them, in red shirts and dirty slops, amongst the fore-mast +Jacks in outwardbound ships, dropping past Greenwich, and waving their +hats to the Hospital. You knew them at once by one of them giving the +song for the topsail halliards, instead of the merchantmen's bull's +chorus: indeed, I could always pick off the dashing man-o'-war's men, +by face and eye alone, out from among the others, who looked as sober +and solitary, with their serious faces and way of going about a thing, +as if every one of them was the whole crew. I once read a bit of poetry +called the "Ancient Mariner," to old Jacobs, who by the bye is +something of a breed betwixt the two kinds, and his remark was--"That +old chap warn't used to hoisting all together with a run, your honour! +By his looks, I'd say he was bred where there was few in a watch, and +the watch-tackle laid out pretty often for an eke to drag down the +fore-tack." + +As I was riding down to Croydon in Surrey, where my mother and sister +had gone to live, I fell in with a sample of the hard shifts the +men-o-war's-men were put to in getting across from harbour to some +merchant port, when all their earnings were chucked away. It was at a +little town called Bromley, where I brought to by the door of a tavern +and had a drink for the horse, with a bottle of cider for myself at +the open window, the afternoon being hot. There was a crowd of +townspeople at the other end of the street, country bumpkins and +boys--women looking out at the windows, dogs barking, and children +shouting--the whole concern bearing down upon us. + +"What's all this?" said I to the ostler. + +"Don't know, sir," said he, scratching his head; "'tis very hodd, sir! +That corner _is_ rather a sharp turn for the coach, sir, and she do +sometimes run over a child there, or somethink. But 'taint her time +yet! Nothink else hever 'appens 'ere, sir." + +As soon as I could hear or see distinctly for the confusion, I observed +the magnet of it to be a party of five or six regular blue-jackets, a +good deal battered in their rig, who were roaring out sea-songs in +grand style as they came along, leading what I thought at first was a +bear. The chief words I heard were what I knew well. "We'll disregard +their tommy-hawks, likewise their scalping-knifes--and fight alongside +of our mates to save our precious lives--like British tars and +souldiers in the North Americay!" + +On getting abreast of the inn-door, and finding an offing with good +holding-ground, I suppose, they hove to and struck up the "Buffalo," +that finest of chaunts for the weather forecastle with a spanking +breeze, outward bound, and the pilot lately dropped-- + + "Come all you young men and maidens, that _wishes_ for to sail, + And I will let you hear of where you must a-roam! + We'll embark into a ship which her taups'ls is let fall, + And all unto an ileyand where we never will go home! + Especiallye you _ladies_ that's inclined for to rove-- + There's _fishes_ in the sea, my love--likewise the buck an' doe, + We'll lie down--on the _banks_--of yon pleasant shadye gro-ove, + Through the wild woods we'll wander and we'll chase the + Buffalo--ho--ho--we'll + Chase the BuffalO!" + +I really couldn't help laughing to see the slapping big-bearded +fellows, like so many foretopmen, showing off in this manner--one +mahogany-faced thorough-bred leading, the rest thundering in at the +chorus, with tremendous stress on the 'Lo-ho-ho,' that made the good +Bromley folks gape. As to singing for money, however, I knew no true +tar with his members whole would do it; and I supposed it to be merely +some 'spree ashore,' until the curious-looking object from behind was +lugged forward by a couple of ropes, proving to be a human figure +about six feet high, with a rough canvass cover as far as the knees. +What with three holes at the face, and the strange colour of the legs, +which were bare--with the pair of turned-up India shoes, and the whole +shape like a walking smoke-funnel over a ship's caboose--I was puzzled +what they would be at. The leading tar immediately took off his hat, +waved it round for a clear space, and gave a hem while he pointed to +the mysterious creature. "Now, my lads!" said he, "this here +wonderful bein' is a savitch we brought aboard of us from the Andyman +Isles, where he was caught one mornin' paddling round the ship in a +canoe made out of the bark of a sartain tree. Bein' the ownly spice of +the sort brought to this country as yet is, and we havin' run short of +the needful to take us to the next port, we expects every lady and +gemman as has the wherewithal, will give us a lift, by consideration +of this same cur'ous sight, and doesn't----" "Heave ahead, Tom, lad!" +said another encouragingly, as the sailor brought up fairly out of +breath--"Doesn't want no man's money for nou't d'ye see, but all fair +an' above board. We're not agoin' to show this here sight excep' you +makes up half-a-guinea amongst ye--arter that, all hands may see +shot-free--them's the articles!" "Ay, ay, Tom, well said, old ship!" +observed the rest; and, after a considerable clinking of coin amongst +the crowd, the required sum was poured, in pence and sixpences, into +Tom's hat. "All right!" said he, as soon as he had counted it,--"hoist +away the tarpaulin, mates!" For my part, I was rather surprised at the +rare appearance of this said savage, when his cover was off--his legs +and arms naked, his face streaked with yellow, and both parts the +colour of red boom-varnish; his red hair done up in a tuft, with +feathers all round it, and a bright feather-tippet over his shoulders, +as he stood, six feet in his yellow slippers, and looking sulkily +enough at the people. "Bobbery puckalow!" said the nautical +head-showman, and all at once up jumped the Andaman islander, dancing +furiously, holding a little Indian _punkah_ over his head, and +flourishing with the other hand what reminded me strongly of a ship's +top-maul--shouting "Goor--goor--gooree!" while two of the sailors held +on by the ropes. The crowd made plenty of room, and Tom proceeded to +explain to them very civilly, that "in them parts 'twas so hot the +natives wouldn't fight, save under a portable awning." Having +exhibited the points of their extraordinary savage, he was calmed +again by another uncouth word of command, when the man-o'-war's-man +attempted a further _traverse_ on the good Bromley folks, for which I +gave him great credit. "Now, my lads and lasses," said he, taking off +his hat again, "I s'pose you're all British subjects and Englishmen!" +at which there was a murmur of applause. "Very good, mates all!" +continued the foretopman approvingly.--"Then, in course, ye knows as +how whatsomever touches British ground is _free_!" "Britons never, +never shall be slaves!" sung out a boy, and the screaming and +hurrahing was universal. Tom stuck his tongue in his cheek to his +messmates, and went on,--"Though we was all pressed ourselves, and has +knocked about in sarvice of our king and country, an' bein' poor men, +we honours the flag, my lads!" "Hoorah! hoorah! hoorr-ray!" "So you +see, gemmen, my shipmates an' me has come to the resolve of lettin' +this here wild savidge go free into the woods,--though, bein' poor +men, d'ye see, we hopes ye'll make it up to us a bit first! What d'ye +say, all hands?--slump together for the other guinea, will ye, and off +he goes this minute,--and d---- the odds! Eh? what d'ye say, +shipmates?" "Ay, ay, Tom, sink the damage too!" said his comrades; +"we'll always get a berth at Blackwall, again!" + +"Stand by to ease off his tow-lines, then," said Tom,--"now look sharp +with the shiners there, my lads--ownly a guinea!" "No! no!" murmured +the townspeople,--"send for the constable!--we'll all be scalped and +murdered in our beds!--no, no, for God's sake, mister sailors!" A +grocer ran out of his door to beg the tars wouldn't think of such a +thing, and the village constable came shoving himself in, with the +beadle. "Come, come," said the constable in a soothing style, while +the beadle tried to look big and blustering, "you musn't do it, my +good men,--not on no desideration, _here_,--in his majesty's name! +Take un on to the next parish!--I horder all good subjects to resist +me!" "_What!_" growled the foretopman, with an air of supreme disgust, +"han't ye no feelin's for liberty hereaway? Parish be blowed! Bill, my +lad, let go his moorings, and give the poor devil his nat'ral +freedom!" "I'm right down ashamed on my country," said Bill. "Hullo, +shipmates, cast off at once, an' never mind the loss,--I hasn't slept +easy myself sin' he wor cotched!" "Nor me either," said another, "but +I'm feared he'll play the devil when he's loose, mate." + +I had been watching the affair all this time from inside, a good deal +amused, in those days, at the trick--especially so well carried out as +it was by the sailors. "Here, my fine fellows," said I at last, "bring +him in, if you please, and let me have a look at him." Next minute in +came the whole party, and, supposing from my dress that I was merely a +long-shore traveller, they put their savage through his dance with +great vigour. "Wonderful tame he's got, your honour!" said the +top-man; "it's nothing to what he does if you freshens his nip." "What +does he eat?" I asked, pretending not to understand the hint. "Why, +nought to speak on, sir," said he; "but we wonst lost a boy doorin' +the cruise, nobody know'd how--though 'twas thought he went o'board, +some on us had our doubts." "Curiously tatooed, too," I said; "I +should like to examine his arm." "A bit obstropolous he is, your +honour, if you handles him!" "Never mind," said I, getting up and +seizing the wrist of the Andaman islander, in spite of his grins; and +my suspicions were immediately fulfilled by seeing a whole range of +familiar devices marked in blue on the fellow's arm--amongst them an +anchor with a heart transfixed by a harpoon, on one side the word +"Sal," and on the other "R.O. 1811." "Where did you steal this +top-maul, you rascal?" said I, coolly looking in his face; while I +noticed one of the men overhauling me suspiciously out of his +weather-eye, and sidling to the door. "I didn't stale it at all!" +exclaimed the savage, giving his red head a scratch, "'twas Bill Green +there--by japers! whack, pillalew, mates, I'm done!" "Lord! oh Lord!" +said Bill himself, quite crestfallen, "if I didn't think 'twas him! +We're all pressed again, mates! It's _the_ leftenant!" "Pressed, bo'?" +said Tom; "more luck, I wish we was--but they wouldn't take ye now for +a bounty, ye know." Here I was fain to slack down and give a hearty +laugh, particularly at recognising Bill, who had been a shipmate of +Jacobs and myself in the old Pandora, and was nicknamed "Green"--I +believe from a little adventure of ours--so I gave the men a guinea +a-piece to carry them on. "Long life to your honour!" said they; and +said Tom, "If I might make so bould, sir, if your honour has got a +ship yet, we all knows ye, sir, and we'd enter, if 'twas for the North +Pole itself!" "No, my lad," said I, "I'm sorry to say I have not got +so far yet. Dykes, my man, can you tell me where your old messmate +Jacobs has got to?" "Why, sir," replied Bill, "I did hear he was +livin' at Wapping with his wife, where we means to give him a call, +too, sir." "Good day, your honour!" said all of them, as they put on +their hats to go, and covered their curiosity again with his +tarpaulin. "I'm blessed, Bill," said Tom, "but we'll knock off this +here carrivanning now, and put before the wind for Blackwall." "Won't +you give your savage his freedom, then," I asked. "Sartinly, your +honour," replied the roguish foretopman, his eye twinkling as he saw +that I enjoyed the joke. "Now, Mick, my lad, ye must run like the +devil so soon as we casts ye off!" "Oh, by the powers, thry me!" said +the Irishman; "I'm tired o' this cannible minnatchery! By the holy +mouse, though, I must have a dhrop o' dew in me, or I'll fall!" Mick +accordingly swigged off a noggin of gin, and declared himself ready to +start. "Head due nor'-east from the sun, Mick, and we'll pick you up +in the woods, and rig you out all square again," said the captain of +the gang, before presenting himself to the mob outside. "Now, gemmen +and ladies all," said the sailor coolly, "ye see we're bent on givin' +this here poor unfort'nate his liberty--an' bein' tould we've got the +law on our side, why, we means to do it. More by token, there's a +leftenant in the Roy'l Navy aboard there, as has made up the little +salvage-money, bein' poor men, orderin' us for to do it--so look out! +If ye only gives him a clear offing, he'll not do no harm. Steady, +Bill--slack off the starboard sheet, Jack--let go--all!" "Oh! +oh!--no! no!--for God's sake!" screamed the bystanders, as they +scuttled off to both hands--"shame! shame!--knock un down! catch +un!--tipstaff! beadle!" "Hurrah!" roared the boys, and off went Mick +O'Hooney in fine style, flourishing his top-maul, with a wild +"hullaloo," right away over a fence, into a garden, and across a field +towards the nearest wood. Everybody fell out of his way as he dashed +on; then some running after him, dogs barking, and the whole of the +seamen giving chase with their tarpaulins in their hands, as if to +drive him far enough into the country. The whole scene was extremely +rich, seen through the open air from the tavern window, where I sat +laughing, till the tears came into my eyes, at Jack-tars' roguishness +and the stupefied Kent rustics, as they looked to each other; then at +the sailors rolling away full speed along the edge of the plantation +where the outlandish creature had disappeared; and, lastly, at the +canvass cover which lay on the spot where he had stood. They were +actually consulting how to guard against possible inroads from the +savage at night, since he might be lurking near, when I mounted and +rode off; I daresay even their hearing that I was a live and real +lieutenant would cap the whole story. + +Croydon is a pretty, retired little town, so quiet and old-fashioned +that I enjoyed the unusual rest in it, and the very look of the canal, +the marketplace, the old English trees and people--by comparison with +even the Iris's white decks, and her circumference of a prospect, +different as it was every morning or hour of the day. My mother and my +sister Jane were so kind--they petted me so, and were so happy to have +me down to breakfast and out walking, even to feel the smell of my +cigar,--that I hardly knew where I was. I gave them an account of the +places I had seen, with a few tremendous storms and a frigate-fight or +two, instead of the horse-marine stories about mermaids and flying +Dutchmen I used to pass upon them when a conceited youngster. Little +Jane would listen with her ear to a large shell, when we were upon sea +matters, and shut her eyes, saying she could fancy the thing so +perfectly in that way. Or was it about India, there was a painted +sandal-wood fan carved in open-work like the finest lace, which she +would spread over her face, because the seeing through it, and its +scent, made her feel as if she were in the tropics. As for my mother, +good simple woman, she was always between astonishment and horror, +never having believed that lieutenants would be so heartless as to +masthead a midshipman for the drunkenness of a boat's crew, nor being +able to understand why, with a gale brewing to seaward, a captain +tried to get his ship as far as he could from land. The idea of my +going to sea again never entered her head, the terrible war being +over, and the rank I had gained being invariably explained to visiters +as at least equal to that of a captain amongst soldiers. To the +present day, this is the point with respect to seafaring matters on +which my venerated and worthy parent is clearest: she will take off +her gold spectacles, smoothing down her silver hair with the other +hand, and lay down the law as to reform in naval titles, showing that +my captain's commission puts me on a level with a military colonel. +However, as usual, I got tired by little and little of this sort of +thing; I fancy there's some peculiar disease gets into a sailor's +brain that makes him uneasy with a firm floor and no offing beyond; +certainly the country about Croydon was to my mind, at that time, the +worst possible,--all shut in, narrow lanes, high hedges and orchards, +no sky except overhead, and no horizon. If I could only have got a +hill, there would have been some relief in having a look-out from it. +Money I didn't need; and as for fame or rank, I neither had the +ambition, nor did I ever fancy myself intended for an admiral or a +Nelson: all my wish was to be up and driving about, on account of +something that was _within_ me. I enjoyed a good breeze as some do +champagne; and the very perfection of glory, to my thinking, was to be +the soul of a gallant ship in a regular Atlantic howler; or to play at +long bowls with one's match to leeward, off the ridges of a sea, with +both weather and the enemy to think of. Accordingly, I wasn't at all +inclined to go jogging along in one of your easy merchantmen, where +you have nothing new to find out; and I only waited to hear from some +friends who were bestirring themselves with the Board, of a ship where +there might be something to do. These were my notions in those days, +before getting sobered down, which I tell you for the sake of not +seeming such a fool in this said adventure. + +Well, one evening my sister Jane and I went to a race-ball at Epsom, +where, of course, we saw all the "beauty and fashion," as they say, of +the country round, with plenty of the army men, who were in all their +glory, with Waterloo and all that; we two or three poor nauticals being +quite looked down upon in comparison, since Nelson was dead, and we had +left nothing at the end to fight with. I even heard one belle ask a +dragoon "what uniform that was--was it the horse-artillery corps?" +"Haw!" said the dragoon, squinting at me through an eyeglass, and then +looking with one eye at his spurs and with the other at his partner, +"Not at all sure! I _do_ think, after all, Miss ----, 'tis the--the +marine body,--a sort of amphibious animals! They weren't with _us_, +though, you know,--_couldn't_ be, indeed, though it _was_ _Water_-loo! +Haw! haw! you'll excuse the joke, Miss ----?" "Ha! ha! how extremely +witty, Captain ----!" said the young lady, and they whirled away +towards the other end of the hall. But, had there been an opportunity, +by the honour of the flag, and nothing personal, I declare I should +have done--what the fool deserved,--had it been before all his brethren +and the Duke himself! It was not ten minutes after, that I saw what I +thought the loveliest young creature ever crossed my eyes, coming out +of the refreshment-room with two ladies, an old and an elderly one. The +first was richly dressed, and I set her down for an aunt, she was so +unlike; the other for a governess. The young lady was near sixteen to +appearance, dressed in white. There were many beauties in the ball-room +you would have called handsomer; but there was something about her +altogether I could compare to nothing else but the white figure-head of +the Iris, sliding gently along in the first curl of a breeze, with the +morning-sky far out on the bow,--curious as you may think it, ladies! +Her hair was brown, and her complexion remarkably pale notwithstanding; +while her eyes were as dark-blue, too, as--as the ocean near the line, +that sometimes, in a clear calm, gets to melt till you scarcely know it +from the sky. "Look, Edward!" whispered my sister, "what a pretty +creature! She can't be English, she looks so different from everybody +in the room! And such diamonds in her hair! such a beautifully large +pearl in her brooch! Who can she be, I wonder?" I was so taken up, +however, that I never recollected at all what Jane said till at night, +in thinking the matter over; and then a whole breeze of whisperings +seemingly came from every corner of the bedroom, of "Who is she!" "Who +can she be?" "Who's her father?" and so on, which I remembered to have +heard. I only noticed at the time that somebody said she was the +daughter of some rich East India Nabob or other, just come home. I had +actually forgot about the young dragoon I meant to find out again, +until a post-captain who was present--one of Collingwood's +flag-lieutenants--went up to the old _chaperone_, whom he seemed to +know, and got into talk with her; I found afterwards she was an +admiral's widow. In a little I saw him introduced to the young lady, +and ask her to dance; I fancied she hung back for a moment, but the +next she bowed, gave a slight smile to the captain's gallant +sea-fashion of deep respect to the sex, and they were soon gliding away +in the first set. Her dancing was more like walking with spread wings +upon air, than upon planks with one's arms out, as the captain did. I'd +have given my eyes, not to speak of my commission and chances to come, +to have gone through that figure with _her_. When the captain had +handed her to her seat again, two or three of the dragoons sauntered up +to Lady Somers's sofa: it was plain they were taken; and after +conversing with the old lady, one of them, Lord somebody I understood, +got introduced, in his turn, to the young beauty. As may be supposed, I +kept a look-out for his asking her to dance, seeing that, if she had +done so with one of the embroidered crew, and their clattering gear, +I'd have gone out that instant, found out the Waterloo fellow next day, +and, if not shot myself, shot him with an anchor button for a bullet, +and run off in the first craft I could get. The cool, easy, cursed +impertinent way this second man made his request, though--just as if he +couldn't be refused, and didn't care about it--it was as different from +the captain of the Diomede's as red from blue! My heart went like the +main-tack blocks, thrashing when you luff too much; so you may guess +what I felt to see the young lady, who was leaning back on the sofa, +give her head a pettish sort of turn to the old one, without a +word,--as much as to say she didn't want to. "My love!" I heard the old +lady say, "I fear you are tired! My lord, your lordship must excuse +Miss Hyde on this occasion, as she is delicate!" The dragoon was a +polite nobleman, according to his cloth; so he kept on talking and +smiling, till he could walk off without seeming as if he'd got his +sabre betwixt his feet; but I fancied him a little down by the head +when he did go. All the time, the young beauty was sitting with her +face as quiet and indifferent as may be, only there was a sparkle in +her blue eyes, and in nothing else but the diamonds in her hair, as she +looked on at the dancing; and, to my eye, there was a touch of the rose +came out on her cheek, clear pale though it was before the dragoon +spoke to her. Not long after, an oldish gentleman came out with a +gray-haired old general from the refreshment-room: a thin, +yellow-complexioned man he was, with no whiskers and a bald forehead, +and a bilious eye, but handsome, and his face as grand and solemn +looking as if he'd been First Lord, or had got a whole court-martial on +his shoulders for next day. I should have known him from a thousand for +a man that had lived in the East, were it nothing but the quick way he +looked over his shoulder for a servant or two, when he wanted his +carriage called--no doubt just as one feels when he forgets he's +ashore, like I did every now and then, looking up out to windward, and +getting a garden-wall or a wood slap into one's eyesight, as 'twere. I +laid down the old gentleman at once for this said Nabob; in fact, as +soon as a footman told him his carriage was waiting, he walked up to +the young lady and her companions, and went off with them, a steward +and a lady patroness convoying them to the break of the steps. The only +notion that ran in my head, on the way home that night with my sister, +was, "By heavens! I might just as well be in love with the bit of sky +at the end of the flying-jib-boom!" and all the while, the confounded +wheels kept droning it into me, till I was as dizzy as the first time I +looked over the fore-royal-yard. The whole night long I dreamt I was +mad after the figure-head of the Iris, and asked her to dance with me, +on which she turned round with a look as cold as water, or plain "No." +At last I caught firm hold of her and jumped overboard; and next moment +we were heaving on the blue swell in sight of the black old Guinea +coast--when round turned the figure, and changed into Miss Hyde; and +the old Nabob hauled us ashore upon a beautiful island, where I woke +and thought I was wanted on deck, although it was only my mother +calling me. + +All I had found out about them was, that Sir Charles Hyde was the name +of the East Indian, and how he was a Bengal judge newly come home; +where they lived, nobody at the ball seemed to know. At home, of +course, it was so absurd to think of getting acquaintance with a rich +Indian judge and his daughter, that I said no more of the matter; +although I looked so foolish and care-about-nothing, I suppose, that +my mother said to Jane she was sure I wanted to go to sea again, and +even urged me to "take a trip to the Downs, perhaps." As for going to +sea, however, I felt I could no more stir _then_, from where I was, +than with a best-bower down, and all hands drunk but the captain. +There was a favourite lazy spot of mine near the house, where I used +to lie after dinner, and smoke amongst the grass, at the back of a +high garden-wall with two doors in it, and a plank across a little +brook running close under them. All round was a green paddock for +cows; there was a tall tree at hand, which I climbed now and then +half-mast high, to get a look down a long lane that ran level to the +sky, and gave you a sharp gush of blue from the far end. Being a +luxurious dog in those days, like the cloth in general when hung up +ashore, I used to call it "The Idler's Walk," and "The Lazy Watch," +where I did duty somewhat like the famous bo'sun that told his boy to +call him every night and say the captain wanted him, when he turned +over with a polite message, and no good to the old tyrant's eyes. + +Well, one afternoon I was stretched on the softest bit of this +retreat, feeling unhappy all over, and trying to think of nothing +particular, as I looked at the wall and smoked my cheroot. Excuse me +if I think that, so far as I remember, there is nothing so +consolatory, though it can't of course cure one, as a fine Manilla for +the "green sickness," as our fore-mast fellows would say. My main idea +was, that nothing on earth could turn up to get me out of this scrape, +but I should stick eternally, with my head-sails shivering aback, or +flapping in a sickening dead calm. It was a beautiful hot summer +afternoon, as quiet as possible, and I was weary to death of seeing +that shadow of the branch lying against the white wall, down to the +keyhole of the nearest door. All of a sudden I heard the sweetest +voice imaginable, coming down the garden as it were, singing a verse +of a Hindostanee song I had heard the Bengal girls chant with their +pitchers on their heads at the well, of an evening,-- + + "'La li ta la, ta perisi, + La na comalay ah sahm-rè, + Madna, ca--rahm + Ram li ta, co-ca-la lir jhi! + La li ta la, vanga-la ta perisi.'" + +"Coc-coka-cokatoo!" screamed a harsh voice, which I certainly could +distinguish from the first. "Pretty cockatoo!" said the other +coaxingly; and next minute the large pink-flushed bird itself popped +his head over the top-stones above the door, floundering about with +his throat foul of the silver chain fast to his leg, till he hung by +his beak on my side of the wall, half choked, and trying to croak out +"Pretty--pretty cocky!" Before I had time to think, the door opened, +and, by heavens! there was my very charmer herself, with the shade of +the green leaves showered over her alarmed face. She had scarcely seen +me before I sprang up and caught the cockatoo, which bit me like an +imp incarnate, till the blood ran down my fingers as I handed it to +its mistress, my heart in my mouth, and more than a quarter-deck bow +in my cap. The young lady looked at me first in surprise, as may be +supposed, and then, with a smile of thanks that set my brain all +afloat, "Oh, dear me!" exclaimed she, "you are hurt!" "_Hurt!_" I +said, looking so bewildered, I suppose, that she couldn't help +laughing. "Tippoo is very stupid," continued she, smiling, "because he +is out of his own country, I think. You shall have no sugar to-night, +cockatoo, for biting your friends." + +"Were you--ever in India--madam?" I stammered out. "Not since I was a +child," she answered; but just then I saw the figure of the Nabob +sauntering down the garden, and said I had particular business, and +must be off. "You are very busy here, sir?" said the charming young +creature archly. "You are longing till you go to sea, I daresay--like +Tippoo and me." "You!" said I, staring at the keyhole, whilst she +caught my eye, and blushed a little, as I thought. "Yes, we are +going--I long to see India again, and I remember the sea too, like a +dream." + +Oh heavens! thought I, when I heard the old gentleman call out, "Lota! +Lota _beebee-lee_! _Kabultah, meetoowah?_"[14] and away she vanished +behind the door, with a smile to myself. The tone of the Judge's +voice, and his speaking Hindoo, showed he was fond of his daughter at +any rate. Off I went, too, as much confused as before, only for the +new thought in my head. "The sea, the sea!" I shouted, as soon as out +of hearing, and felt the wind, as 'twere, coming from aft at last, +like the first ripple. "Yes, by George!" said I, "outward bound for a +thousand. I'll go, if it was before the mast." All at once I +remembered I didn't know the ship's name, or when. Next day, and the +next again, I was skulking about my old place, but nobody +appeared--not so much as a shadow inside the keyhole. At last one +evening, just as I was going away, the door opened; I sauntered slowly +along, when, instead of the charming Lota, out came the flat brown +turban of an ugly _kitmagar_, with a mustache, looking round to see +who was there. "_Salaam_, sah 'b," said the brown fellow, holding the +door behind him with one paw. "_Burra judge sahib bhote bhote salaam_ +send uppiser[15] sah 'b--'ope not _dekhe_[16] after sahib cook-maid." +"_Joot baht, hurkut-jee_,"[17] said I, laughing. "Sah 'b been _my_ +coontree?" inquired the Bengalee more politely. "_Jee_, yes," I said, +wishing to draw him out. "I Inglitch can is-peek," continued the dark +footman, conceitedly; "ver well sah 'b, but one _damned_ misfortune us +for come i-here. Baud _carry_ make--plenty too much _poork_--too much +graug drink. Turmeric--chili--banana not got--not coco-tree got--pah! +Baud coontree, too much i-cold, sah 'b?" "Curse the rascal's +impudence," I thought, but I asked him if he wasn't going back. "Yis, +sah 'b, _such baht_[18] A-il-alàh! Mohummud _burra Meer-kea_. Bote too +much i-smell _my_ coontree." "When are you going?" I asked carelessly. +"Two day this time, sah 'b." "Can you tell me the name of the ship?" I +went on. The Kitmagar looked at me slyly, stroked his mustache, and +meditated; after which he squinted at me again, and his lips opened so +as to form the magic word, "_Buckshish?_" "_Jee_," said I, holding out +a crown-piece, "the ship's name and the harbour?" "Se," began he; the +coin touched his palm,--"ring;" his fingers closed on it, and +"Patahm," dropped from his leathery lips. "The Seringapatam?" I said. +"_Ahn_, sah 'b." "London, eh?" I added; to which he returned another +reluctant assent, as if it wasn't paid for, and I walked off. However, +I had not got round the corner before I noticed the figure of the old +gentleman himself looking after me from the doorway; his worthy +Kitmagar salaaming to the ground, and no doubt giving information how +the "cheep uppiser" had tried to pump him to no purpose. The Nabob +looked plainly as suspicious as if I had wanted to break into his +house, since he held his hand over his eyes to watch me out of sight. + +At night, I told my mother and sister I should be off to London next +day, for sea. What betwixt their vexation at losing me, and their +satisfaction to see me more cheerful, with talking over matters, we +sat up half the night. I was so ashamed, though, to tell them what I +intended, considering what a fool's chase it would seem to any one but +myself, that I kept all close; and, I am sorry to say, I was so full +of my love-affair, with the wild adventure of it, the sea, and +everything besides, as not to feel their anxiety enough. How it was to +turn out I didn't know; but somehow or other I was resolved I'd +contrive to make a rope if I couldn't find one: at the worst, I might +carry the ship, gain over the men, or turn pirate and discover an +island. Early in the morning I packed my traps, drew a cheque for my +prize-money, got the coach, and bowled off for London, to knock up Bob +Jacobs, my sea godfather; this being the very first step, as it seemed +to me, in making the plan feasible. Rough sort of confidant as he may +look, there was no man living I would have trusted before him for +keeping a secret. Bob was true as the topsail sheets; and if you only +gave him the course to steer, without any of the "puzzlements," as he +called the calculating part, he would stick to it, blow high, blow +low. He was just the fellow I wanted, for the lee brace as it were, to +give my weather one a purchase, even if I had altogether liked the +notion of setting off all alone on what I couldn't help suspecting +was a sufficiently hare-brained scheme as it stood; and, to tell the +truth, it was only to a straightforward, simple-hearted tar like +Jacobs that I could have plucked up courage to make it known. I knew +he would enter into it like a reefer volunteering for a cutting out, +and make nothing of the difficulties--especially when a love matter +was at the bottom of it: the chief question was how to discover his +whereabouts, as Wapping is rather a wide word. I adopted the expedient +of going into all the tobacco-shops to inquire after Jacobs, knowing +him to be a more than commonly hard smoker, and no great drinker +ashore. I was beginning to be tired out, however, and give up the +quest, when, at the corner of a lane near the docks, I caught sight of +a little door adorned with what had apparently been part of a ship's +figure-head--the face of a nymph or nereid, four times as large as +life, with tarnished gilding, and a long wooden pipe in her mouth that +had all the effect of a bowsprit, being stayed up by a piece of +marline to a hook in the wall, probably in order to keep clear of +people's heads. The words painted on its two head-boards, as under a +ship's bow, were "Betsy Jacobs," and "licensed" on the top of the +door; the window was stowed full of cakes of cavendish, twists of +negrohead, and coils of pigtail; so that, having heard my old shipmate +speak of a certain Betsey, both as sweetheart and partner, I made at +once pretty sure of having lighted, by chance, on his very dry-dock, +and went in without more ado. I found nobody in the little shop, but a +rough voice, as like as possible to Jacobs' own, was chanting the +sea-song of "Come, cheer up, my lads, 'tis to glory we steer," in the +back-room, in a curious sleepy kind of drone, interrupted every now +and then by the suck of his pipe, and a mysterious thumping sound, +which I could only account for by the supposition that the poor fellow +was mangling clothes, or gone mad. I was obliged to kick on the +counter with all my might, in competition, before an eye was applied +from inside to the little window; after which, as I expected, the head +of Jacobs was thrust out of the door, his hair rough, three days' +beard on his chin, and he in his shirt and trousers. "_Hisht!_" said +he, in a low voice, not seeing me distinctly for the light, "you're +not callin' the watch, my lad! Hold on a bit, and I'll sarve your +orders directly." After another stave of "Hearts of oak are our +ships," &c. in the same drawl, and a still more vigorous thumping than +before, next minute out came Bob again; with a wonderful air of +importance, though, and drawing in one hand, to my great surprise, the +slack of a line of "half-inch," on which he gave now and then a tug +and an ease off, as he came forward, like a fellow humouring a +newly-hooked fish. "Now, then, my hearty!" said he, shading his eyes +with the other hand, "bear a--" "Why, Jacobs, old ship," I said, +"what's this you're after? Don't you know your old apprentice, eh?" + +Jacobs looked at my cap and epaulette, and gave out his breath in a +whistle, the only other sign of astonishment being, that he let go his +unaccountable-looking piece of cord. "Lord bless me, Master Ned!" said +he--"I axes pardon, Lieutenant Collins, your honour!" "Glad you know +me this time, Bob, my lad," said I, looking round,--"and a comfortable +berth you've got of it, I daresay. But what the deuce _are_ you about +in there? _You_ haven't a savage _too_, like some friends of yours I +fell in with a short time ago! Or perhaps a lion or a tiger, eh, +Jacobs?" "No, no, your honour--lions be blowed!" replied he, laughing, +but fiddling with his hands all the while, and standing between me and +the room, as if half ashamed. "'Tis ownly the tiller-ropes of a small +craft I am left in charge of, sir. But won't ye sit down, your honour, +till such time as my old 'ooman comes aboard to relieve me, sir? +Here's a _cheer_, and maybe you'd make so free for to take a pipe of +prime cavendish, your honour?" "Let's have a look into your cabin, +though, Bob my man," said I, curious to know what was the secret; when +all at once a tremendous squall from within let me sufficiently into +it. The sailor had been rocking the cradle, with a fine little fellow +of a baby in it, and a line made fast to keep it in play when he +served the shop. "All the pitch 's in the fire now, your honour," +said he, looking terribly non-plussed; "I've broached him to, and he's +all aback till his mammy gets a hold of him." "A good pipe the little +rogue's got though," said I, "and a fine child he is, Jacobs--do for a +bo'sun yet." "Why, yes, sir," said he, rubbing his chin with a +gratified smile, as the urchin kicked, threw out his arms, and roared +like to break his heart; "I'm thinking he's a sailor all over, by +natur', as one may say. He don't like a calm no more nor myself; but +that's the odds of bein' ashore, where you needs to keep swinging the +hammocks by hand, instead of havin' it done for you, sir." In the +midst of the noise, however, we were caught by the sudden appearance +of Mistress Jacobs herself--a good-looking young woman, with a +market-basket full of bacon and greens, and a chubby little boy +holding by her apron, who came through the shop. The first thing she +did was to catch up the baby out of the cradle, and begin hushing it, +after one or two side-glances of reproach at her husband, who +attempted to cover his disgrace by saying, "Betsy, my girl, where's +your manners? why don't you off hats to the leftenant?--it's my wife, +your honour." Mrs Jacobs curtseyed twice very respectfully, though not +particularly fond of the profession, as I found afterwards; and I soon +quite gained her smiles and good graces by praising her child, with +the remark that he was too pretty ever to turn out a sailor; for, +sharp as mothers are to detect this sort of flattery to anybody else's +bantling, you always find it take wonderfully with respect to their +own. Whenever Jacobs and I were left to ourselves, I struck at once +into my scheme--the more readily for feeling I had the weather-hand of +him in regard of his late appearance. It was too ridiculous, the +notion of one of the best foretopmen that ever passed a weather-earing +staying at home to rock his wife's cradle and attend the shop; and he +was evidently aware of it as I went on. It was a little selfish, I +daresay, and Mrs Jacobs would perhaps have liked me none the better +for it; but I proposed to him to get a berth in the Indiaman, sail +with me for Bombay, and stand by for a foul hitch in something or +other. "Why, sir," said he, "it shan't be said of Bob Jacobs he were +ever the man to hang back where a matter was to be done that must be +done. I doesn't see the whole bearings of it as yet, but ounly you +give the orders, sir, and I'll stick to 'em." "'Tis a long stretch +between this and Bombay, Jacobs," said I, "and plenty of room for +chances." "Ay, ay, sir, no doubt," said he, "ye can _talk_ the length +of the best bower cable." "More than that, Bob my lad," said I, "I +know these Company men; if they once get out of their regular jog, +they're as helpless as a pig adrift on a grating; and before they grow +used to sailing out of convoy, with no frigates to whip them in, +depend upon it Mother Carey[19] will have to teach them a new trick or +two." "Mayhap, sir," put in Jacobs, doubtfully, "the best thing 'ud be +if they cast the ship away altogether, as I've seen done myself for +the matter of an insurance. Ye know, sir, they lets it pass at Lloyd's +now the war's over, seein' it brings custom to the underwriters, if so +be ounly it don't come over often for the profits. Hows'ever it needs +a good seaman to choose his lee-shore well, no doubt." "Oh!" answered +I, laughing, "but the chances are, all hands would want to be Robinson +Crusoe at once! No, no,--only let's get aboard, and take things as +they come." "What's the ship's name, sir?" inquired Jacobs, sinking +his voice, and looking cautiously over his shoulder toward the door. +"The Seringapatam,--do you know her?" I said. "Ay, ay, sir, well +enough," said he, readily,--"a lump of a ship she is, down off +Blackwall in the stream with two more--country-built, and tumbles home +rather much from below the plank-sheer for a sightly craft, besides +being flat in the eyes of her, and round in the counter, just where +she shouldn't, sir. Them Par_chee_ Bombay ship-wrights _does_ clap on +a lot of onchristien flummeries and gilt mouldings, let alone +quarter-galleries fit for the king's castle!" "In short, she's +tea-waggon all over," said I, "and just as slow and as leewardly, to +boot, as teak can make her?" "Her lines is not that bad, though, your +honour," continued Jacobs, "if you just knocked off her poop,--and +she'd bear a deal o' beating for a sea-boat. They've got a smart young +mate, too; for I seed him t'other day a-sending up the yards, and now +she's as square as a frigate, all ready to drop down river." The short +and long of it was, that I arranged with my old shipmate, who was +fully bent on the cruise, whether Mrs Jacobs should approve or not, +that, somehow or other, we should both ship our hammocks on board of +the Seringapatam--he before the mast, and I wherever I could get. On +going to the agent's, however--which I did as soon as I could change +my uniform for plain clothes--I found, to my great disappointment, +from a plan of the accommodations, that not only were the whole of the +poop-cabins taken, but those on the lower-deck also. Most of the +passengers, I ascertained, were ladies, with their children and +nurses, going back to India, and raw young cadets, with a few +commercial and civilian nondescripts; there were no troops or +officers, and room enough, except for one gentleman having engaged the +entire poop, at an immense expense, for his own use. This I, of +course, supposed was the Nabob, but the clerk was too close to inform +me. "You must try another ship, sir," said he, coolly, as he shut the +book. "Sorry for it, but we have another to sail in a fortnight. A.1, +sir; far finer vessel--couple of hundred tons larger--and sails +faster." "You be hanged!" muttered I, walking out; and a short time +after I was on board. The stewards told me as much again; but on my +slipping a guinea into the fingers of one, he suddenly recollected +there was a gentleman in state-room No. 14, starboard side of the main +skylight, who, being alone, might perhaps be inclined to take a chum, +if I dealt with him privately. "Yankee, sir, he is," said the steward, +by way of a useful hint. However, I didn't need the warning: at sight +of the individual's long nose, thin lips, and sallow jaw-bones, +without a whisker on his face, and his shirt-collar turned down, as he +sat overhauling his traps beside the carronade, which was tethered in +the state-room, with its muzzle through the port. He looked a good +deal like a jockey beside his horse; or, as a wit of a schoolboy cadet +said afterwards, the Boston gentleman calling himself Daniel Snout, +Esquire--like Daniel praying in the lion's den, and afraid it might +turn round or roar. I must say the idea didn't quite delight me, nor +the sight of a fearful quantity of luggage which was stowed up against +the bulkhead; but after introducing myself, and objecting to the first +few offers, I at last concluded a bargain with the American for a +hundred and twenty guineas, which, he remarked, was "considerable low, +I prognosticate, mister!" "However," said he, "I expect you're a +conversationable individual a little: I allowed for that, you know, +mister. One can't do much of a trade at sea--that's a fact; and I +calculate we'll swap information by the way. I'm water-pruff, I tell +you, as all our nation is. You'll not _settle_ at Bumbay, I reckon, +mister?" But though I meant to pay my new messmate in my own coin at +leisure afterwards, and be as frank and open as day with him--the only +way to meet a Yankee--I made off at present as fast as possible to +bring my things aboard, resolving to sleep at Blackwall, and then to +stow myself out of sight for sick, until there was somebody to take +off the edge of his confounded talk. + +Next afternoon, accordingly, I found myself once more afloat, the +Indiaman dropping down with the first breeze. The day after, she was +running through the Downs with it pretty strong from north-east, a +fair wind--the pilot-boat snoring off close-hauled to windward, with +a white spray over her nose; and the three _dungaree_ topsails of the +Seringapatam lifting and swelling, as yellow as gold, over her white +courses in the blue Channel haze. The breeze freshened, till she +rolled before it, and everything being topsy-turvy on deck, the lumber +in the way, the men as busy as bees setting her ship-shape--it would +have been as much as a passenger's toes were worth to show them from +below; so that I was able to keep by myself, just troubling my +seamanship so much as to stand clear of the work. Enjoy it I did, too; +by Jove, the first sniff of the weather was enough to make me forget +what I was there for. I was every now and then on the point of fisting +a rope, and singing out with the men; till at length I thought it more +comfortable, even for me, to run up the mizen shrouds when everybody +was forward, where I stowed myself out of sight in the cross-trees. + +About dusk, while I was waiting to slip down, a stronger puff than +ordinary made them clue up the mizen-royal from deck, which I took +upon myself to furl off-hand--quick enough to puzzle a couple of boys +that came aloft for the purpose, especially as, in the mean time, I +had got down upon the topsail-yardarm out of their notice. When they +got on deck again, I heard the little fellows telling some of the men, +in a terrified sort of way, how the mizen-royal had either stowed +itself, or else it was Dick Wilson's ghost, that fell off the same +yard last voyage,--more by token, he used always to make fast the +gaskets just that fashion. At night, however, the wind having got +lighter, with half moonlight, there was a muster of some passengers on +deck, all sick and miserable, as they tried to keep their feet, and +have the benefit of air,--the Yankee being as bad as the worst. I +thought it wouldn't do for me to be altogether free, and accordingly +stuck fast by Mr Snout, with my head over the quarter-deck bulwarks, +looking into his face, and talking away to him, asking all sorts of +questions about what was good for sea-sickness, then giving a groan to +prevent myself laughing, when the spray splashed up upon his +"water-pruff" face, he responding to it as Sancho Panza did to Don +Quixote, when the one examined the other's mouth after a potion. All +he could falter out was, how he wondered I could speak at all when +sick. "Oh! oh dear!" said I, with another howl. "Yes,--'tis merely +because I can't _think_! And I daresay you are thinking so much you +can't _talk_--the sea is so full of meditation, as Lord +Byron--Oh--oh--this water will be the death of me!" "I feel as if--the +whole--tarnation Atlantic was--inside of my bowls!" gasped he through +his nostrils. "Oh!" I could not help putting in, as the ship and Mr +Snout both gave a heave up, "and coming out of you!" + +During all this time I had felt so sure of my ground as scarcely to +trouble myself about the Bengal judge and his fairy treasure of a +daughter; only in the midst of the high spirits brought up by the +breeze, I hugged myself now and then at the thought of their turning +out by degrees as things got settled, and my having such openings the +whole voyage through as one couldn't miss in four or five months. +Nobody would suspect the raw chap I looked, with smooth hair and a +high collar, of any particular cue: I must say there was a little +vanity at the bottom of it, but I kept thinking more and more how snug +and quietly I'd enjoy all that went on, sailing on one tack with the +passengers and the old Nabob himself, and slipping off upon the other +when I could come near the charming young Lota. The notion looks more +like what some scamp of a reefer, cruising ashore, would have hit +upon, than suits my taste now-a-days; but the cockpit had put a spice +of the imp in me, which I never got clear of till this very voyage, as +you shall see, if we get through with the log of it. 'Twas no use, as +I found, saying what one should have to do, except put _heart_ into +it,--with wind, sea, and a love affair to manage all at once, after +making a tangled coil instead of one all clear and above-board. + +The first time I went down into the cuddy was that evening to tea, +where all was at sixes and sevens like the decks; the lamps ill +trimmed, stewards out of the way, and a few lads trying to bear up +against their stomachs by the help of brandy and biscuits. The main +figure was a jolly-looking East Indian, an indigo-planter as he turned +out, with a bald forehead, a hook nose, and his gills covered with +white whiskers that gave him all the cut of a cockatoo. He had his +brown servant running about on every hand, and, being an old stager, +did his best to cheer up the rest; but nothing I saw showed the least +sign of the party I looked after. I was sure I ought to have made out +something of them by this time, considering the stir such a grandee as +Sir Charles Hyde would cause aboard: in fact, there didn't seem to be +many passengers in her, and I began to curse the lying scoundrel of a +_Kitmagar_ for working "Tom Cox's traverse" on me, and myself for +being a greater ass than I'd fancied. Indeed I heard the planter +mention by chance that Sir Charles Hyde, the district judge, had come +home last voyage from India in this very Seringapatam, which no doubt, +I thought, put the Mahommedan rascal up to his trick. + +I was making up my mind to an Indian trip, and the pure pleasure of +Daniel Catoson Snout, Esquire's company for two blessed months, when +all of a sudden I felt the ship bring her wind a-quarter, with a +furious plunge of the Channel water along her bends, that made every +landsman's bowels yearn as if he felt it gurgle through him. One young +fellow, more drunk than sick, gave a wild bolt right over the cuddy +table, striking out with both arms and legs as if afloat, so as to +sweep half of the glasses down on the floor. The planter, who was +three cloths in the wind himself, looked down upon him with a comical +air of pity as soon as he had got cushioned upon the wreck. "My dear +fellow," said he, "what do you feel--eh?" "Feel, you--old blackguard!" +stammered the griffin, "de--dam--dammit, I feel _everything_! Goes +through--through my vitals as if--I was a con--founded _whale_! +C--can't stand it!" "You've drunk yourself aground, my boy!" sung out +the indigo man; "stuck fast on the coral--eh? Never mind, we'll float +you off, only don't flounder that way with your tail!--by Jove, you +scamp, you've ruined my toe--oh dear!" I left the planter hopping +round on one pin, and holding the gouty one in his hand, betwixt +laughing and crying: on deck I found the floating Nab Light bearing +broad on our lee-bow, with Cumberland Fort glimmering to windward, and +the half moon setting over the Isle of Wight, while we stood up for +Portsmouth harbour. The old captain, and most of the officers, were on +the poop for the first time, though as stiff and uncomfortable from +the sort of land-sickness and lumber-qualms that sailors feel till +things are _in_ their places, as the landsmen did until things were +_out_ of them. The skipper walked the weather side by himself and said +nothing: the smart chief officer sent two men, one after another, from +the wheel for "cows" that didn't know where their tails were; and as +for the middies, they seemed to know when to keep out of the way. In a +little, the spars of the men-of-war at Spithead were to be seen as we +rose; before the end of the first watch, we were running outside the +Spit Buoy, which was nodding and plashing with the tide in the last +slant of moonshine, till at last we rounded to, and down went the +anchor in five fathoms, off the Motherbank. What the Indiaman wanted +at Portsmouth I didn't know; but, meantime, I had given up all hopes +of the Nabob being in her, and the only question with me was, whether +I should take the opportunity of giving all hands the slip here, even +though I left my Yankee friend disconsolate, and a clear gainer by +dollars beyond count. + +Early next morning there were plenty of wherries looking out for +fares; so, as the Indiaman was not to sail before the night-ebb, when +the breeze would probably spring up fair again, I hailed one of them +to go ashore at the Point, for a quiet stroll over Southsea Common, +where I meant to overhaul the whole bearings of the case, and think if +it weren't better to go home, and wait the Admiralty's pleasure for a +ship. I hadn't even seen anything of Jacobs, and the whole +hotel-keeping ways of the Indiaman began to disgust me, or else I +should have at once decided to take the chance of seeing Lota Hyde +somehow or other in India; but, again, one could scarcely endure the +notion of droning on in a frigate without so much as a Brest lugger +to let drive at. It was about six o'clock; the morning gun from the +guard-ship off the Dockyard came booming down through the harbour, the +blue offing shone like silver, and the green tideway sparkled on every +surge, up to where they were flashing and poppling on the copper of +the frigates at Spithead. I noticed them crossing yards and squaring; +the farthest out hove up anchor, loosed fore-topsail, cast her head to +starboard, and fired a gun as she stood slowly out to sea under all +sail, with a light air freshening abeam. The noble look of her almost +reconciled me of itself to the service, were it for the mere sake of +having a share in driving such a craft between wind and water. Just +then, however, an incident turned up in spite of me, which I certainly +didn't expect, and which had more, even than I reckoned at the time, +to do with my other adventure; seeing that it made me, both then and +afterwards, do the direct opposite of what I meant to do, and both +times put a new spoke in my wheel, as we say at sea here. + +I had observed a seventy-four, the Stratton, lying opposite the Spit +Buoy; on board of which, as the waterman told me, a court-martial had +been held the day before, where they broke a first lieutenant for +insulting his captain. Both belonged to one of the frigates: the +captain I had seen, and heard of as the worst tyrant in the navy; his +ship was called "a perfect hell afloat;" that same week one of the +boys had tried to drown himself alongside, and a corporal of marines, +after coming ashore and drinking a glass with his sweetheart, had +coolly walked down to the Point, jumped in between two boats at the +jetty, and kept himself under water till he was dead. The lieutenant +had been dismissed the service, and as I recognised the name, I +wondered whether it could actually be my schoolfellow, Tom Westwood, +as gallant a fellow and as merry as ever broke biscuit. Two +sail-boats, one from around the Stratton's quarter, and the other from +over by Gosport, steering on the same tack for Southsea, diverted my +attention as I sauntered down to the beach. The bow of the nearest +wherry grounded on the stones as I began to walk quicker towards the +town-gates, chiefly because I was pretty ready for an early breakfast +at the old Blue Posts, and also because I had a slight notion of what +these gentlemen wanted on Southsea Beach at odd hours. Out they +jumped, however--one man in naval undress, another, a captain, in full +fig, the third, a surgeon--coming right athwart my course to bring me +to. The first I almost at once remembered for the notorious captain of +the Orestes, or N'Oreste, as the midshipmen called her, from her +French build and her character together. "Hallo, you sir!" said the +other captain decidedly, "you must stand still." "Indeed!" said I; +"and why so, if you please?" "Since you _are_ here, we don't intend +allowing you to pass for some few minutes." "And what if I should do +as I choose, sir?" I asked. "If you stir two steps, sir, I shall shoot +you!" replied the captain, who was one of the bullying school. "Oh, +very well," I said, rather confounded by his impertinence, "then I +shall stay;" and I accordingly stood stock-still, with my arms folded, +until the other boat landed its party of two. They were in plain +clothes; nor did I give them any particular attention till the seconds +had stationed their men, when the captain of the Orestes had his back +to me, and his antagonist stood directly facing. As his pale resolved +features came out before me with the morning sun on them, his lips +together, and his nostrils large, I recognised my old friend Westwood. +The captain had broke him the day before, and now he had accepted his +challenge, being a known dead shot, while the lieutenant had never +fired a bullet in cold blood: there was, no doubt, a settled purpose +in the tyrant to crush the first man that had dared to thwart his +will. Westwood's second came forward and mentioned to the other that +his friend was still willing to withdraw the words spoken in first +heat, and would accordingly fire in the air. "Coward!" shouted the +captain of the Orestes immediately; "I shall shoot you through the +heart!" "Sir!" said I to his second, "I _will not_ look on; and if +that gentleman is shot, I will be witness against you both as +murderers!" I dropped down behind a stone out of the line of fire, +and to keep my eyes off the devilish piece of work, though my blood +boiled to knock the fellow down that I was speaking to. Another +minute, and the suspense was too great for me to help looking up: just +at that moment I saw how _set_ Westwood's face was: he was watching +his enemy with an eye that showed to me what the other's must +be--seeking for his life. The seconds gave the word to each other in +the middle, and dropped two white handkerchiefs at once with their +hands together; I caught the flash of Westwood's pistol, when, to my +astonishment, I saw the captain of the Orestes next moment jerk up his +arm betwixt me and the sky, fire in the air, and slowly fall back--he +was dead!--shot through the heart. One glance at his face gave you a +notion of the devilish meaning he had had; but what was my surprise +when his second walked up to Westwood, and said to him, "Sir, you are +the murderer of Captain Duncombe;--my friend fired in the air as you +proposed." "You are mistaken, sir," answered Westwood, coldly; +"Captain Duncombe sought my life, and I have used the privilege of +self-defence." "The surgeon is of my opinion," said the other; "and I +am sorry to say that we cannot allow you to depart." "I shall give +myself up to the authorities at once," said Westwood. "We have only +your word for that, which I must be permitted, in such a case, to +doubt," replied the captain, whose evident wish was to detain Westwood +by force or threats while he sent off his surgeon. The worst of it +was, as I now found, that since the court-martial and the challenge, +an admiralty order had arrived, in consideration of several gallant +acts during the war, as well as private representation, restoring him +to the service: so that he had in fact called out and shot his +superior officer. As for the charge now brought forward, it was too +absurd for any to believe it, unless from rage or prejudice; the case +was bad enough, at any rate, without it. + +In the mean time I had exchanged a word or two with Westwood's friend; +after which, lifting up a second pistol which lay on the sand, I went +up to the captain. "Sir," said I, "you used the freedom, a little ago, +of forcing me into your concerns, and I have seen the end of it. I +have now got to tell you, having watched your conduct, that either you +must submit to be made fast here for a bit, else, by the God that made +me, I'll shoot you through the head!" The captain looked at me, his +surgeon sidled up to him, and, being a man near my own size, he +suddenly tried to wrench the pistol out of my hands: however, I had +him the next moment under my knee, while Westwood's second secured the +little surgeon, and took a few round sea-turns about his wrists and +ancles with a neckerchief. My companion then gave me a hand to do the +same with his superior officer--the medico all the time singing out +like a bull, and the captain threatening--while the dead body lay +stark and stiff behind us, the eyes wide, the head down, and the +breast up, the hand clenching a pistol, just as he had fallen. +Westwood stood quite unconscious of everything we did, only he seemed +to be watching the knees drawn up as they stiffened, and the +sand-flies hovering about the mouth. "Shall we clap a stopper between +their teeth?" said the second to me--he had been at sea, but who he +was I never knew--"the surgeon will be heard on the walls, he bellows +so!" "Never mind," said I, "we'll just drop them beyond tide-mark--the +lee of the stones yonder." In fact, from the noise the tide was +making, I question if the shots could have been heard even by the +watermen, who had prudently sheered out of sight round a point. I +couldn't help looking, when we had done this, from the captain's body +to his own frigate, as she was sluing round head on to us, at single +anchor, to the turn of tide, with her buoy dancing on the brisk blue +sweep of water, and her figure-head shining in the sunlight. As soon +as we covered over the corpse with dulse-weed, Westwood started as if +we had taken something away from him, or freed him of a spell. +"Westwood!" said I, laying my hand on his shoulder, "you _must_ come +along with me." He said nothing, but followed us quietly round to the +wherries, where I told the watermen that the other party had gone a +different way to keep clear, and we wanted them to pull for Gosport. +At Gosport we had Westwood rigged out in black clothes, his hair +cropped, and whiskers shaved off--as I thought it the fittest thing +for his case, and what he could best carry out, to go aboard of the +Indiaman with me as if he were a missionary. Poor fellow! he didn't +know _what_ he was. So, having waited till dusk, to let the watermen +lose our track, and his friend having posted off for Dover, he and I +both got safe over to the Seringapatam, where I had him stowed in the +first empty state-room I found. I had actually forgot, through the +excitement, all about my missing my first chase: from one hour to +another I kept watching the tide-marks ashore, and the dog-vane on the +ship's quarter, all impatience to hear the word given for "all hands +up anchor," and hoping our worthy friends on Southsea Beach were still +within hearing of the Channel flood. At last the order did come; round +went the capstan merrily enough, till she had hove short and up; the +anchor was catted, and off went the lumbering old craft through the +Solent about midnight, before a fine rattling breeze, in company with +six or seven others, all running for the Needles. They were loosing +the Indiaman's royals when I heard a gun from the guard-ship in +harbour; and a little after up went a rocket, signalling to some +frigate or other at Spithead; and away they kept at it, with lights +from the telegraph to her masthead, for several minutes. "All's up!" +thought I, "and both Westwood and myself are in for it!" + +Next morning at daybreak, accordingly, no sooner did the dawn serve to +show us the Portland Light going out on the weather quarter, with a +whole fleet of Channel craft and Mediterranean brigs about us, we +surging through it as fast as the Indiaman could go,--than _there_ was +a fine forty-four standing off and on right in our course, in fact the +very identical Orestes herself! She picked us out in a moment--bore +up, stood across our weather-bow, and hailed. "What ship's that?" said +the first Luff in her mizen rigging. + +"The Seringapatam, Honourable Company's ship, Captain Williamson!" +sung out our first officer, with his cap off. "Heave to, till I send a +boat aboard of you!" hailed the naval man, and there we bobbed to each +other with mainyards backed. In a few minutes a master's mate with +gig's crew was under our lee-quarter, and the mate came on deck. +"Sir," said he, "the Port Admiral will thank you to deliver these +despatches for Sir Charles Hyde, who I believe is aboard." "Certainly, +sir," said the first officer, "they shall be given to him in an hour's +time." + +"Good morning, and a fine voyage," said the master's mate politely; +and I took the occasion of asking if Captain Duncombe were on board +the Orestes. "No, sir," answered the midshipman, "he happens to be +ashore at present." I have seldom felt so relieved as when I saw the +frigate haul round her mainyard, and go sweeping off to leeward, while +we resumed our course. By noon we had sunk the land about Start Point, +with a breeze which it was no use wasting at that season to take +"departures;" and as the afternoon set in hazy, we were soon out of +sight of Old England for good. For my part, I was bound Eastward at +last with a witness, and, like a young bear, again "all my troubles +before me."--"There is two bells though," interrupted the narrator, +starting. "Let us see what sort of night it is before the ladies +retire." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] Cellar for goods. + +[8] Asylum of the world. + +[9] District judicial courts. + +[10] _Flush_--_i.e._, level. + +[11] Steward and Butler. + +[12] Sport. + +[13] Turban-wearing. + +[14] Little Girl! Do you hear, sweet one? + +[15] Officer. + +[16] Look. + +[17] 'Tis a lie, you scoundrel. + +[18] That is true. + +[19] "_Mother Carey_,"--an obscure sea-divinity chiefly celebrated for +her "_chickens_," as Juno ashore for her peacocks. _Quere_,--a +personification of the providential _Care_ of Nature for her weaker +children, amongst whom the little stormy _petrels_ are conspicuous; +while, at the same time, touchingly associating the Pagan to the +Christian sea mythology by their double name--the latter, a diminutive +of Peter walking by faith upon the waters. In the nautical creed, +"Davy Jones" represents the abstract power, and "Mother Carey" the +practically developed experience, which together make up the life +Oceanic. + + + + +MÉRIMÉE'S HISTORY OF PETER THE CRUEL.[20] + + +The memoirs of a sovereign who had Alburquerque for a minister, Maria +Padilla for a mistress, Henry of Trastamare for a rival, and Edward +the Black Prince for an ally and companion in arms, must be worthy the +researches even of so elegant a scholar and learned an antiquarian as +Prosper Mérimée. When the nations are engrossed by their difficulties +and disasters, and the jarring discord of revolution and thundering +crash of monarchies on every side resound, the history of a +semi-barbarous period, and of a king now five hundred years in his +grave, should be set forth with surpassing talent to attract and +sustain attention. But M. Mérimée is the literary Midas of his day and +country: the subject he handles becomes bright and precious by the +magic of his touch. Though its interest be remote, he can invest it +with all the charm of freshness. Upon a former occasion[21] we noticed +his imaginative productions with well-merited praise; to-day, in the +historian's graver garb, he equally commands admiration and applause. +He has been happy in his selection of a period rich in dramatic +incident and fascinating details; and of these he has made the utmost +profit. In a previous paper, we quoted M. Mérimée's profession of +faith in matters of ancient and mediæval history. In his preface to +the _Chronique de Charles IX._, he avowed his predilection for +anecdotes and personal traits, and the weight he is disposed to attach +to them as painting the manners and character of an epoch, and as +throwing upon the motives and qualities of its prominent personages a +light more vivid and true, than that obtained from the tedious and +often partial narratives of grave contemporary chroniclers. In the +present instance, he has liberally supplied his readers with the fare +he himself prefers. His _History of Pedro the First of Castile_ +abounds in illustrations, in anecdotes and legends of remarkable +novelty and interest; historical flowerets, most agreeably lightening +and relieving the solid structure of a work for which the archives and +libraries of Madrid and Barcelona, the manuscripts of the old Spanish +and Portuguese chroniclers, and the writings of more modern historians +of various nations, have been with conscientious diligence ransacked +and compared. The result has been a book equal in all respects to Mr +Prescott's delightful _History of Ferdinand and Isabella_, to which it +forms a suitable companion. As a master of classic and antiquarian +lore, the Frenchman is superior to the American, to whom he yields +nothing in the vigour of his diction and the grace of his style. + +When Alphonso the Eleventh, king of Castile, died of the plague, in +his camp before Gibraltar, upon Good Friday of the year 1350, the +Iberian peninsula consisted of five distinct and independent +monarchies--Castile, Arragon, Navarre, Portugal, and Granada. The +first of the five, which extended from Biscay and Galicia to Tarifa, +the southernmost town in Europe, was by far the most extensive and +powerful; the second comprised Arragon, Catalonia, and Valencia; +Navarre, poor and scantily peopled, was important as commanding the +principal passes of the Pyrenees, which its monarch could throw open +to a French or English army; Portugal had nearly the same limits as at +the present day; the Moors, the boundary of whose European empire had +long been narrowing, still maintained a precarious footing in the +kingdom of Granada. Alphonso, upon his accession in 1308, had found +Castile a prey to anarchy, and groaning under feudal oppression. The +audacity of the _ricos hombres_, or nobles,[22] had greatly increased +during long minorities, and under the reign of feeble princes. Whilst +they fought amongst themselves for privilege of pillage, the peasantry +and inhabitants of towns, exasperated by the evils inflicted on them, +frequently rose in arms, and exercised bloody reprisals. A +contemporary author, quoted at length by M. Mérimée, represents the +nobility as living by plunder, and abetted by the king's guardians. +Certain towns refused to acknowledge these guardians, detained the +king's revenue, and kept men-at-arms to oppress and rob the poor. +Justice was nowhere in the kingdom; and the roads were impassable by +travellers, except in strong bodies, and well-armed. None dwelt in +unwalled places; and so great was the evil throughout the land, that +no one was surprised at meeting with murdered men upon the highways. +The king's guardians daily imposed new and excessive taxes; towns were +deserted, and the peasantry suffered exceedingly. Alphonso, a +courageous and intelligent prince, saw the evil, and resolved to +remedy it. Without a party of his own, he was compelled to throw +himself into the arms of one of the great factions desolating the +country. By its aid he destroyed the others, and then found himself +strong enough to rule in his own realm. Having proved his power, he +made an example of the most unruly, and pardoned the others. Then, to +give occupation to his warlike and turbulent nobility, he led them +against the Moors of Granada; thus turning to his glory, and to the +aggrandisement of his dominions, the arms which previously had been +brandished but in civil contest. The commons of Castile, grateful for +their deliverance from internal war, and from the exactions of the +rich men, sent him soldiers, and generously supplied him with money. +He compelled the clergy to make sacrifices which, at another period, +would have compromised the tranquillity of the kingdom.[23] But he was +valiant and generous, and had the love of the people; not a voice was +raised to oppose him. On the 29th October 1340, the army of Castile +encountered, near Tarifa, that of Granada, whose ranks were swelled by +prodigious reinforcements from the opposite shores of Barbary. The +battle of Rio Salado was fought; victory loudly declared herself for +the Christians: two hundred thousand Moors (it is said) remained upon +the field, and the power of the Mussulman in Spain was broken for +ever. Following up his success, Alphonso took Algesiras after a long +siege, and was besieging Gibraltar when he was carried off by the +famous black plague, which for several years had ravaged Europe. His +death was mourned by all Spain; and the mere terror of his name would +seem to have dictated the advantageous treaty of peace concluded soon +afterwards with the Saracen. + +Alphonso, a better king than husband, left behind him one legitimate +son, Don Pedro--who at his father's death was fifteen years old, and +whose mother, Doña Maria, was a Portuguese princess--and ten bastards, +a daughter and nine sons, children of his mistress Leonora de Guzman. +In 1350, the first-born of this illegitimate progeny, Don Henry, was +eighteen years of age; he had the establishment of a prince of the +blood, the magnificent domain of Trastamare, and the title of count. +His twin-brother, Don Fadrique, was grand-master of the Knights of +Santiago. The two young men had won their spurs at Gibraltar, whilst +the Infante Pedro, rightful heir to the crown, had been kept in +retirement at Seville, a witness of his mother's daily humiliations, +and himself neglected by the courtiers, always prompt to follow a +king's example. Idle in a deserted court, he passed his time in +weeping over his mother's injuries and his own. Youthful impressions +are ineffaceable. Jealousy and hatred were the first sentiments +experienced by Don Pedro. Brought up by a feeble and offended woman, +the first lessons he imbibed were those of dissimulation and revenge. + +The premature and unexpected death of Don Alphonso was the alarum of a +host of ambitions. Amongst the great patricians of Spain, two in +particular were designated, by public opinion, to take the chief +direction of affairs: these were--Juan Alonzo de Alburquerque, and +Juan Nuñez de Lara. The former, a Portuguese by birth, but holding +vast estates in Spain, had stood beside Don Alphonso during his +struggle with his nobles; had rendered him great, and, to all +appearance, disinterested services; and had been rewarded by the +king's entire confidence. Grand chancellor and prime minister, he had +also had charge of Don Pedro's education. He had great influence with +the queen-mother, and had always skilfully avoided collision with +Leonora de Guzman, who nevertheless feared and disliked him as a +secret and dangerous foe. All circumstances considered, Juan de Lara, +although connected by blood with the royal family, and possessing, as +Lord of Biscay, great power in the north of Spain, thought it +unadvisable to enter the lists with Alburquerque, who, on the other +hand, openly sought his alliance, and even offered to divide with him +the authority devolved upon him by the king's death. With all this +apparent frankness there was little real friendship; and it was well +understood that henceforward the leading characters on the political +stage divided themselves into two opponent parties. On the one hand +were the dowager-queen Maria, Pedro the First, and the astute and +prudent Alburquerque. Opposed to these, but with little union, and +with various views and pretensions, were Juan de Lara, his nephew, +(the lord of Villena)--whose sister was soon afterwards secretly +married to Henry of Trastamare--Leonora de Guzman, and her three +eldest sons. The third of these, Don Tello, was younger than Don +Pedro, but he was crafty and selfish beyond his years. + +Alphonso had hardly given up the ghost, when the reaction commenced. +Leonora fled before the angry countenance of the injured queen-mother. +Refused protection by Lara, from whom she first sought it, she +repaired to her strong fortress of Medina-Sidonia, a gift from her +royal lover. Its governor, her relative, Don Alonzo Coronel, although +reputed a valiant and loyal knight, and, moreover, personally attached +to the faction of the Laras, resigned his command, and would not be +prevailed with to resume it. And amongst all the nobles and +chevaliers, who during Alphonso's life professed themselves devoted to +her, she now could not find one to defend her castle. She saw that her +cause was desperate. Vague accusations were brought against her, of +conspiracy against the new king; and from all sides alarming rumours +reached her of her sons' arrest and probable execution. She lost +courage, and gave up her castle to Alburquerque, in exchange for a +safe-conduct to Seville, which was not respected; for, on her arrival +there, she was shut up in the Alcazar, and treated as a prisoner of +state. Meanwhile her two eldest sons endeavoured to stir up civil war. +They were totally unsuccessful, and finally esteemed themselves +fortunate in being allowed to make their submission, and do homage to +the king. Alburquerque affected to treat them as refractory boys, and +reserved his wrath for their mother, who, even in captivity, proved +herself formidable. By her contrivance, the marriage of Don Henry and +of the niece of Juan de Lara was secretly celebrated and consummated, +in the palace that served her as a prison. When informed, a few hours +subsequently, of the trick that had been played them, the queen-mother +and Alburquerque were furious. Doña Leonora was sent into strict +confinement, in the castle of Carmona. "As to the Count Don Henry, he +was on his guard, and did not wait his enemies' vengeance: he left +Seville by stealth, taking with him a quantity of jewels received from +his mother, and accompanied by two faithful knights--all three having +their faces covered with leathern masks, according to a custom of the +times. By forced marches, and with great fatigue, they traversed the +whole of Spain unrecognised, and reached the Asturias, where they +trusted to find safety amongst devoted vassals." + +The sudden and severe illness of Don Pedro gave rise to fresh +intrigues, and Juan de Lara and Don Fernando of Arragon stood forth as +pretenders to the crown in the event of the king's death. His recovery +crushed their ambitious hopes, but might not have prevented a civil +war between the factions of the two aspirants, had not Don Juan de +Lara and his nephew been suddenly carried off by the prevailing +epidemic. "At any other moment," M. Mérimée remarks, "the premature +death of these two men would doubtless have thrown odious suspicions +on their adversaries. But in no contemporary author do I find the +least insinuation against Alburquerque, thus rid in one day of the +chief obstacles to his ambition. This general respect for a man who +was the object of so many jealousies and hatreds, is an honourable +testimony, worthy of note, as a rare exception to the usage of the +times, and which it would be supremely unjust now to attempt to +invalidate." Alburquerque was now the virtual ruler of Castile: the +young king passed his time in hunting, and left all cares of state to +his sagacious minister, who worked hard to consolidate his master's +power. The Cortes were convoked at Valladolid, whither Pedro proceeded +to open them in person. He was accompanied by the queen-mother, +dragging in her train the unfortunate Leonora de Guzman. At Llerena, +in Estremadura, one of the principal commanderys of the Knights of +Santiago, Don Fadrique, grand-master of that powerful order, received +his half-brother Pedro with great respect, and offered him the +magnificent hospitality of his house. He then asked and obtained +permission to see his mother. + + "In presence of the jailers, mother and son, both so fallen + from their high fortune, threw themselves into each other's + arms, and during the hour to which their interview was + limited, they wept, without exchanging a word. Then a page + informed Don Fadrique that the king required his presence. + After a last embrace he left his mother, never again to + behold her. The unfortunate woman's doom was sealed. From + Llerena, by Alburquerque's order, she was conducted to the + castle of Talavera, belonging to the queen-mother, and + governed by Gutier Fernandez of Toledo, one of her liege men. + There Leonora did not long languish. A few days after her + arrival, a secretary of the queen brought the governor an + order for her death. The execution was secret and mysterious, + and it is certain Don Pedro had no cognisance of it. + Doubtless the queen had exacted from Alburquerque the + sacrifice of her rival, who was no longer protected by the + pity of Juan Nuñez de Lara. 'Many persons,' says Pero Lopez + de Ayala, a Spanish chronicler whom M. Mérimée has taken as + one of his principal authorities, and whose trustworthiness, + impugned by modern authors, he ably vindicates in his + preface, 'were grieved at this deed, foreseeing that from it + wars and scandal would spring, inasmuch as Leonora had sons + already grown up and well-connected.' + + "But the hour of vengeance was not yet come, and the sons of + Leonora bowed their heads before her assassins." + +One of them, whose youth might have been deemed incapable of such +dissimulation, went beyond mere submission. A few days after Leonora's +death, Don Pedro, during a progress through various provinces of his +kingdom, reached the town of Palencia, in whose neighbourhood Tello, +then hardly fifteen years old, and who, following the example of his +elder brothers, kept aloof from the court, had shut himself up in the +castle of Palenzuela. + + "As there was some fear he might prove refractory, Juan + Manrique, a Castilian noble, was sent to assure him of the + king's good will towards him, and at the same time to gain + over the knights, his counsellors. Manrique succeeded in his + mission, and brought Don Tello to Palencia. Instructed by his + guide, the youth hastened to kiss his brother's hand. 'Don + Tello,' said the king, 'do you know that your mother, Doña + Leonora, is dead?' 'Sire,' replied the boy-courtier, 'I have + no other mother or father than your good favour.'" + +The royal bastards humbled and subdued for a time, Alburquerque turned +his attention to more powerful adversaries. The death of its two +chiefs had not entirely dissipated the Lara faction, now headed by Don +Garci Laso de la Vega--a puissant Castilian noble, and an inveterate +enemy of the minister. Garci Laso was in the rich and disaffected city +of Burgos; and on the king's approach he issued some leagues forth to +meet him, escorted by a little army of vassals and retainers. His +enemies took care to call Pedro's attention to this martial retinue, +as indicative of defiance rather than respect. And the Manrique above +mentioned, a creature of Alburquerque's, and a private enemy of Garci +Laso's, took opportunity to quarrel with the latter, and would have +charged him with his troop but for the king's interference. The +commons of Burgos, hearing of these quarrels, and standing in mortal +fear of Alburquerque, sent a deputation to represent to Don Pedro the +danger the city would be in from the presence of rival factions within +its walls, and begged of him to enter with only a small escort. They +added an expression of regret at the arrival of Alburquerque, whom +they knew to be ill-disposed towards them. Although the formula was +respectful and humble, the freedom of these remonstrances incensed the +king, who at once entered the city with his whole force, spears raised +and banners displayed. The citizens made no resistance; a few of those +most compromised fled. Manrique, who commanded the advanced guard, +established himself in the Jews' quarter, which, separated by a strong +wall, according to the custom of the time, from the rest of the town, +formed a sort of internal citadel. Garci Laso, confiding in his great +popularity, and in the fidelity of his vassals, remained in Burgos, +taking up his lodging in one of the archbishop's palaces, of which +another was occupied by the king and his mother. Alburquerque had +quarters in another part of the town. Thus Burgos contained four +camps; and it seemed, says M. Mérimée, as if all the factions in the +kingdom had taken rendezvous there, to settle their differences. + +That night an esquire of the queen-mother secretly sought Garci Laso, +bearing him a strange warning from that princess. "Whatever invitation +he received, he was to beware of appearing before the king." The proud +noble despised caution, repaired next morning to the palace, was +arrested by the king's command, and in his presence, and suffered +death the same day.[24] This execution (murder were perhaps a fitter +word) was followed by others, and terror reigned in Burgos. "Whosoever +had lifted up his voice to defend the privileges of the commons, or +the rights of Don Juan de Lara, knew no retreat safe enough to hide +his head. Don Henry himself feared to remain in the Asturias, and took +refuge on Portuguese territory." The implacable Alburquerque was +determined utterly to crush and exterminate the faction of the Laras. +The possessions of that princely house were confiscated to the crown, +the orphan son of Don Juan de Lara died in Biscay, and his two +daughters fell into the hands of the minister, who detained them as +hostages. But the party, although vanquished, was not yet annihilated. +Alonso Coronel, the same who had abandoned Leonora de Guzman in her +misfortunes, and who had been rewarded with the banner and cauldron of +a _rico hombre_, with the vast lordship and strong castle of Aguilar, +aspired to become its leader. He opened a correspondence with Count +Trastamare and Don Fadrique, who, as enemies of Alburquerque, seemed +to him his natural allies. He attempted to treat with the King of +Granada, and even with the Moors of Africa. Alburquerque decreed his +ruin, assembled a small army round the royal standard, and marched +with Don Pedro to besiege Aguilar. Summoned to surrender, Coronel +replied by a volley of arrows, and was forthwith declared a rebel and +traitor. Leaving a body of troops in observation before Aguilar, which +was capable of a long defence, Alburquerque and his royal pupil set +out for the Asturias, seizing, as they passed, various castles and +fortified places belonging to Coronel, which surrendered without +serious resistance--excepting that of Burguillos, whose commander, +Juan de Cañedo, a liege man of Coronel, made an obstinate defence. +Taken alive, his hands were cut off by the cruel victors. Some months +afterwards, when the king and his vindictive minister, with a powerful +army and battering train, had effected, after a long siege, a breach +in the ramparts of Aguilar, "the mutilated knight, his wounds hardly +healed, suddenly appeared in the camp, and with incredible hardihood +demanded of Pedro permission to enter the fortress and die by the side +of his lord. His heroic fidelity excited the admiration of his +enemies, and the favour was accorded him. Many envied Coronel the +glory of inspiring such devoted attachment, and every one awaited with +thrilling interest the last moments of a man whom all Castile was +accustomed to consider as the model of an accomplished and valiant +knight." The assault was given, the castle taken, and Coronel was led +before Alburquerque. "What!" exclaimed the minister, on beholding his +foe, "Coronel traitor in a kingdom where so much honour has been done +him!" "Don Juan," replied Coronel, "we are sons of this Castile, which +elevates men and casts them down. It is in vain to strive against +destiny. The mercy I ask of you is to put me to a speedy death, even +as I, fourteen years ago to-day, put to death the Master of +Alcantara."[25] "The king, present at the interview, his visor +lowered, listened incognito to this dialogue, doubtless admiring +Coronel's coolness, but giving no orders, for he was unaccustomed to +interfere with his minister." Coronel and several distinguished +knights and gentlemen were led a few paces off, and there beheaded. + +The Lara faction scattered and weakened, circumstances seemed to +promise Alburquerque a long lease of power, when a fatal mistake +prepared his downfall. Pedro grew restless--his high spirit gave forth +flashes; his minister saw that, to check the desire of governing for +himself, it was necessary to provide him with pursuits of more +engrossing interest than the chase. + + "The reign of Don Alphonso had shown what power a mistress + might acquire, and the prudent minister would not leave to + chance the choice of the woman destined to play so important + a part. Fearing a rival, he wished an ally, or rather a + slave. He chose for the king, and blundered egregiously. He + thought to have found the person best suited to his designs, + in Doña Maria de Padilla, a young girl of noble birth, + brought up in the house of his wife, Doña Isabel de Meneses. + She was an orphan, issue of a noble family, formerly attached + to the Lara faction, and ruined by the last civil wars. Her + brother and uncle, poor and ambitious, lent themselves, it + was said, to the degrading bargain. Persuaded that Doña + Maria, brought up in his family, would always consider him as + a master, Alburquerque directed Don Pedro's attention to her, + and himself facilitated their first interview, which took + place during the expedition to the Asturias. Dona Maria de + Padilla, was small in stature, like the majority of Spanish + women, pretty, lively, full of that voluptuous grace peculiar + to the women of Southern Spain, and which our language has no + word exactly to express.[26] As yet the only indication of + talent she had given was her great sprightliness, which + amused the noble lady with whom she lived in an almost + servile capacity. Older than the king, she had over him the + advantage of having already mingled with the crowd, studied + men and observed the court. She soon proved herself worthy to + reign." + +Maria Padilla made little opposition to Alburquerque's project. Her +uncle, Juan de Hinestrosa, himself conducted her to Don Pedro, and +placed her, it may almost be said, in his arms. The complaisance was +royally rewarded. Hinestrosa and the other relations of the favourite +emerged from their obscurity, appeared at court, and soon stood high +in their sovereign's favour, although the pliant uncle was the only +one who retained it till the end of his career. Subsequently, before +the Cortes of 1362, Don Pedro declared that he had been, from the +first, privately married to Maria Padilla--thus invalidating his +public union with Blanche of Bourbon, with whom he had never lived, +and after whose death the declaration was made. He produced three +witnesses of the marriage--the fourth, Juan de Hinestrosa, was then +dead--who positively swore it had taken place in their presence. M. +Mérimée, examines the question minutely, quoting various writers on +the subject, and discussing it _pro_ and _con_; one of his strongest +arguments in favour of the marriage, being the improbability that so +faithful, loyal, and valiant a knight as Hinestrosa proved himself, +would have consented, under any temptation, to play the base part of a +pander. It would not be difficult, however, to trace contradictions +nearly as great in the code of honour and morality of the chevaliers +of the fourteenth century; and, very much nearer to our own times, it +has frequently been seen how large an amount of infamy of that kind +the royal purple has been held to cloak. + +In a very few months after the equivocal union he had brought about, +Alburquerque began to experience its bad effects. Maria Padilla +secretly incited the young king to shake off his leading-strings, and +grasp the reins of government. Afraid to do this boldly and abruptly, +Pedro conspired with the Padillas, and planned a reconciliation with +his brothers Henry and Tello, believing, in his inexperience, that he +could nowhere find better friends, or more disinterested advisers. The +secret of the plot was well kept: Alburquerque unsuspiciously accepted +a frivolous mission to the King of Portugal; during his absence, a +treaty of amity was concluded between the king and the two bastards. +Whilst these intrigues went on, Blanche of Bourbon, niece of the King +of France, waited at Valladolid, in company with the dowager queens of +Castile and Arragon, until it should please Pedro to go thither and +marry her. Pedro had established himself at Torrijos near Toledo, +holding tournaments and festivals in honour of his mistress, with whom +he was more in love than ever; and the French princess waited several +months, to the great indignation of her suite of knights and nobles. +Suddenly a severe countenance troubled the joy of Maria Padilla's +lover. It was that of Alburquerque, who, in grave and regretful words, +represented to the king the affront he put upon the house of France, +and the anxiety of his subjects, who awaited, in his marriage, a +guarantee of future tranquillity. It was of the utmost importance to +give a legitimate heir to the crown of Castile. Subjugated by the +voice of reason, and by the old ascendency of his austere counsellor, +Pedro set out for Valladolid, and was joined on his way by Count Henry +and Don Tello, who came to meet him on foot and unarmed; kissed his +foot and his right hand, as he sat on horseback; and were received by +him with all honour and favour, to the mortification of Alburquerque, +who saw in this reconciliation a proof of the credit of the Padillas, +and a humiliating blow to his authority. The mortification was all the +greater that he, a veteran politician, had been outwitted by mere +children. On the third day of June the king's marriage took place, the +royal pair being conducted in great pomp to the church, mounted upon +white palfreys, and attired in robes of gold brocade trimmed with +ermine--a costume then reserved for sovereigns. In their retinue, +Henry of Trastamare had the precedence of the princes of Arragon--an +honour held excessive by some, and attributed by others to the +sincerity of the reconciliation between the sons of Don Alphonso. A +tournament and bull-fight succeeded the ceremony, and were renewed the +next day. "But in the midst of these festivities, all eyes were fixed +upon the newly-married pair. Coldness, and even aversion for his young +bride, were visible upon the king's countenance; and as it was +difficult to understand how a man of his age, ardent and voluptuous, +could be insensible to the attractions of the French princess, many +whispered that he was fascinated by Maria Padilla, and that his eyes, +charmed by magic art, beheld a repulsive object in place of the young +beauty he led to the altar. Aversion, like sympathy, has its +inexplicable mysteries."[27] + +Upon the second day after his marriage, Don Pedro being alone at +dinner in his palace, (the dinner hour in those days was at nine or +ten in the morning,) his mother and aunt appeared before him, all in +tears, and, having obtained a private audience, taxed him with being +about to desert his wife, and return to Maria Padilla. The king +expressed his astonishment that they should credit idle rumours, and +dismissed them, repeating that he thought not of quitting Valladolid. +An hour afterwards he called for mules, saying he would go visit his +mother; but, instead of doing so, he left the city, accompanied only +by the brother of his mistress, Don Diego Padilla, and by two of his +most confidential gentlemen. Regular relays were in waiting, and he +slept that night at sixteen long leagues from Valladolid. The next day +Doña Maria met him at Puebla de Montalvan. This strange and indecent +escapade was simultaneous with a complete transfer of the king's +confidence from Alburquerque to his brothers and the Padillas. The +minister preserved his dignity to the last, and sent a haughty but +respectful message to his sovereign, by the mouth of his majordomo. +"You know, sire," concluded this knight, Rui Diaz Cabeza de Vaca, "all +that Don Juan Alonzo has done for your service, and for that of the +queen your mother. He has been your chancellor from your birth. He has +always loyally served you, as he served the late king your father. For +you he exposed himself to great perils, when Doña Leonora de Guzman, +and her faction, had all power in the kingdom. My master is still +ignorant of the crimes imputed to him: make them known to him, and he +will refute them. Nevertheless, if any knight do doubt his honour and +his loyalty, I, his vassal, am here ready to defend him with my body, +and with arms in hand." Thus did the arrogant _ricos hombres_ of the +fourteenth century dare address their sovereign, by the mouth of +their knightly retainers. What a contrast between these bold-spoken, +strong-armed magnates, and the puny degenerate grandees of the present +day, sunk in vice, effeminacy, and sloth, and to whom valour, +chivalry, and patriotism are but empty sounds! Alburquerque is a fine +type of the feudal lord--noble as a crowned king, and almost as +powerful. Receiving a cold and discouraging reply to Cabeza de Vaca's +lofty harangue, he retired, followed by an army of adherents and +vassals, to his vast domains and strong castle in Portugal. On their +passage, his men-at-arms pillaged and devastated the country, that +being then the most approved manner for a feudal lord to testify his +discontent. Don Pedro ill concealed his joy at being thus easily rid +of an importunate mentor, whose faithful services to himself and his +father rendered a positive dismissal a most ungraceful act, the shame +of which was saved the king by Alburquerque's voluntary retreat. The +reaction was complete: all the ex-minister's friends were dismissed, +and their places filled by partisans of the Padillas. Many of his acts +were annulled, and several sentences he had given were reversed. Pedro +had no rest till he had effaced every vestige of his wise and prudent +administration. Ingratitude has too often been the vice of kings; in +this instance it brought its own punishment. A few months later we +find Henry of Trastamare, and his brother Tello, leagued with +Alburquerque against the sovereign who had disgraced him in great +measure on their account. This perfidy of the bastards was perfectly +in keeping with the character of the age. "To characterise the +fourteenth century in Spain by its most prevalent vice," says M. +Mérimée, "one should cite, in my opinion, neither brutality of +manners, nor rapacity, nor violence. The most prominent feature of +that sad period is its falseness and deceit: never did history +register so many acts of treason and perfidy. The century, rude in all +other things, shows itself ingenious in the art of deception. It +revels in subtleties. In all agreements, and even in the code of +chivalrous honour, it conceals ambiguities, by which interest knows +well how to profit. The oaths lavished in all transactions, +accompanied by the most solemn ceremonies, are but vain formalities +and matters of habit. He who plights his word, his hand upon the holy +Scriptures, is believed by none unless he deliver up his wife and +children, or, better still, his fortresses, as hostages for his truth. +The latter pledge is held to be the only safe guarantee. Distrust is +general, and every man sees an enemy in his neighbour." The fidelity +of this gloomy picture is fully confirmed by the events of Don Pedro's +reign. Alburquerque set the example to his royal pupil, who was not +slow to follow it, and who soon, in his turn, suffered from the +dominant vice of the time. + +The necessity of pressing forward through a book whose every page +offers temptations to linger, prevents our tracing, in detail, the +subsequent events of Alburquerque's life. He died in the autumn of +1354, almost suddenly, at Medina del Campo, which he and his +confederates had taken by assault, and given up to pillage. His +physician, Master Paul, an Italian attached to the house of Prince +Ferdinand of Arragon, was suspected of having mixed a subtle poison in +the draught he administered to him for an apparently trifling +indisposition. Don Pedro, the person most interested in the death of +his quondam counsellor, and now bitter enemy, was accused of +instigating the deed, and magnificent presents subsequently made by +him to the leech, gave an air of probability to the suspicion. "In his +last moments, Alburquerque belied not the firmness of his character. +Near to death, he assembled his vassals, and made them swear to accept +neither peace nor truce with the king, till they had obtained +satisfaction for his wrongs. He ordered his body to be carried at the +head of their battalion so long as the war lasted, as if resolved to +abdicate his hatred and authority only after triumph. Enclosed in his +coffin, he still seemed to preside over the councils of the league; +and, when deliberations were held, his corpse was interrogated, and +his majordomo, Cabeza de Vaca, replied in the name of his departed +master." There is something solemn and affecting in this post-humous +deference, this homage paid by the living to the dead. Alburquerque +was unquestionably _the_ man of his day in the Peninsula: his grand +and haughty figure stands out upon the historical canvass, in imposing +contrast with the boy-brawlers and intriguing women by whom he was +surrounded. + +Deserted by all--betrayed even by his own mother, who gave up his last +stronghold whilst he was absent on a visit to his mistress--the king +had no resource but to throw himself into the hands of the rebels, +trusting to their magnanimity and loyalty to preserve him his crown. +With Hinestrosa, Simuel Levi his Jew treasurer, and Fernand Sanchez +his private chancellor, for sole companions--and followed by a few +lackeys and inferior officers, mounted on mules and unarmed--he set +out for Toro, then the headquarters of the insurgent league. "Informed +of the approach of this melancholy procession, the chiefs of the +confederates rode out to meet him, well mounted and in magnificent +dresses, beneath which their armour was visible, as if to contrast +their warlike equipage with the humble retinue of the vanquished king. +After kissing his hand, they escorted him to the town with great cries +of joy, caracoling about him, performing _fantasias_, pursuing each +other, and throwing reeds in the Arab manner. It is said that when Don +Henry approached his brother to salute him, the unfortunate monarch +could not restrain his tears. 'May God be merciful to you!' he said; +'for my part, I pardon you.'" There was no sincerity in this +forgiveness; already, in the hour of his humiliation, Pedro had vowed +hatred and vengeance against its authors. At present, however, +artifice and intrigue were the only weapons at his disposal. By the +assistance of Simuel the Jew, who was sincerely attached to him, and +who rendered him many and great services, he gained over a portion of +the revolted nobility, concluded an alliance with the royal family of +Arragon, and finally effected his escape from the sort of +semi-captivity in which he was held. "Profiting by dense fog, Don +Pedro rode out of Toro very early in the morning, a falcon on his +wrist, as though he went a-hawking, accompanied by Levi, and by his +usual escort of some two hundred cavaliers. Either these were bribed, +or the king devised means of detaching them from him, for he soon +found himself alone with the Jew. Then, following the rout to Segovia +at full speed, in a few hours they were beyond pursuit." During the +short period of Pedro's captivity, a great change had taken place in +public feeling. The king's misfortunes, his youth and firmness, +interested many in his behalf. The Cortes, which he summoned at +Burgos, a few days after his escape, granted all his demands of men +and money. M. Mérimée thinks it probable the commons obtained from +him, in return, an extension of their privileges and franchises; but +this is mere conjecture, no records existing of the proceedings of +this Cortes, which was, in fact, rendered irregular by the absence of +the clerical deputies, the Pope having just excommunicated Don Pedro +for his adulteries. "The excommunication, fulminated by a papal legate +at Toledo, the 19th January 1355, does not appear to have altered, in +any degree, the disposition of the people towards the king. On the +contrary, it excited indignation, now that he was reconciled with his +subjects; for Spaniards have always disliked foreign interference in +their affairs." The thunders of Avignon lost not Pedro a single +partisan. He replied to them by seizing the possessions of Cardinal +Gilles Albornoz, and of some other prelates; and, returning threat for +threat, he announced his intention of confiscating the domains of all +the bishops who should waver between him and the Pope. The rebellion +of his nobles, the treason of his mother and friends, the humiliation +he had suffered, had wrought a marked change in the still plastic +character of the young sovereign. Hitherto we have seen him violent +and impetuous; henceforward we shall find dissimulation and cruelty +his most prominent qualities. He had prided himself on chivalrous +loyalty and honour; now all means were good that led to a triumph over +his enemies. Full of hatred and contempt for the great vassals who, +after having insolently vanquished him, basely sold the fruits of +their victory for fair promises and for Simuel Levi's gold, he vowed +to destroy their power, and to build up his authority upon the ruins +of feudal tyranny. + +The angry king lost no time in commencing the work of vengeance. After +a fierce contest in and around Toledo, he routed the army of Count +Henry and Don Fadrique, slew all the wounded, put to death one of the +twenty leaguers, whom he caught in the town, (two had already been +massacred by his order at Medina del Campo,) imprisoned many nobles, +as well as the Bishop of Siguenza, whose palace was given up to +pillage. "Twenty burgesses of Toledo were publicly decapitated as +abettors of the rebellion. Amongst the unfortunate persons condemned +to death was a jeweller, upwards of eighty years old. His son threw +himself at the feet of Don Pedro, petitioning to die in place of his +father. If we may credit Ayala, this horrible exchange was accepted +both by the king and by the father himself." From Toledo, Pedro +marched on Toro, where the bastards, the queen-mother, and most of the +_ricos hombres_ and knights who adhered to the league, had +concentrated their forces, and prepared an obstinate resistance. He +established himself in a village near the town, but lacked the +engines, instruments, and stores necessary to invest the place +regularly. Money was scarce. Fortunately, Simuel Levi was at hand, the +pearl of finance ministers, compared to whom the Mons and Mendizabals +of the nineteenth century are bunglers of the most feeble description. + +"Don Pedro, in his quarters at Morales, was amusing himself one day by +playing at dice. Before him stood open his military chest, which was +also his play-purse. It contained 20,000 doubloons. 'Gold and silver,' +said the king, in a melancholy tone,--'here is all I possess.' The +game over, Simuel took his master aside: 'Sire,' he said, 'you have +affronted me before all the court. Since I am your treasurer, is it +not disgraceful for me that my master be not richer? Hitherto, your +collectors have relied too much upon your easiness and indulgence. Now +that you are of an age to reign for yourself, that all Castile loves +and fears you, it is time to put an end to disorder. Only be pleased +to authorise me to treat with your officers of the finances, and +confide to me two of your castles, and I pledge myself that, in a very +short time, you shall have in each of them a treasure of greater value +than the contents of this casket.'" The king gladly gave what was +required of him, and the Jew kept his word. His manner of doing so +paints the strange immorality of the times. It was customary to pay +all court-salaries and pensions by orders on the royal receivers of +imposts. These usually paid only a part of the amount of such orders, +and unless the demand for the balance were backed by force, it was +never honoured. Simuel Levi, having men-at-arms, jailers, and +executioners at his orders, compelled these reluctant paymasters to +disgorge all arrears; then sending for the king's creditors, he +offered them fifty per cent of their due against receipts for the +whole. Most of them, never expecting to recover a real of the sums +kept back by the dishonest stewards, caught eagerly at the offer. This +clumsy fraud, against which none found anything to say, brought +considerable wealth into the king's coffers, and gave him the highest +opinion of his treasurer, by whose careful administration he soon +found himself the richest monarch in Spain. + +Money removed the obstacles to the siege of Toro. Before the place was +invested, however, Henry of Trastamare, with his usual precocious +selfishness and prudence, found a pretext to leave it. A breach made, +and part of the exterior fortifications in the possession of the royal +troops, the Master of Santiago passed over to the king, who, from the +opposite bank of the Douro, had given him verbal promise of pardon. +The same night an officer of the civic guard opened the gates of the +town to Pedro and his army. At daybreak the garrison of the castle saw +themselves surrounded by overpowering forces, about to mount to the +assault. "None spoke of resistance, or even of capitulation; safety of +life was almost more than they dared hope. Fearing the king's fury, +all refused to go out and implore his clemency. At last a Navarrese +knight, named Martin Abarca, who in the last troubles had taken part +with the bastards, risked himself at a postern, holding in his arms a +child of twelve or thirteen years, natural son of King Alphonso and of +Doña Leonora. Recognising the king by his armour, he called to him and +said--'Sire! grant me pardon, and I hasten to throw myself at your +feet, and to restore to you your brother Don Juan!'--'Martin Abarca,' +said the king, 'I pardon my brother Don Juan; but for you, no +mercy!'--'Well!' said the Navarrese, crossing the ditch, 'do with me +as you list.' And, still carrying the child, he prostrated himself +before the king. Don Pedro, touched by this hardihood of despair, gave +him his life in presence of all his knights." This clemency was soon +obscured by the terrible scenes that followed the surrender of the +castle, when the robe of Pedro's own mother was stained with the blood +of the nobles struck down by her side. She fainted with +horror--perhaps with grief; for Martin Telho, a Portuguese, and her +reputed lover, was amongst the murdered; and, on recovering her +senses, "she saw herself sustained in the arms of rude soldiers, her +feet in a pool of blood, whilst four mangled bodies lay before her, +already stripped of their armour and clothes. Then, despair and fury +restoring her strength, she cursed her son, in a voice broken by sobs, +and accused him of having for ever dishonoured her. She was led away +to her palace, and there treated with the mockery of respect which the +leaguers had shown, the year before, to their royal captive." + +It were quite incompatible with the necessary limits of this paper, to +give even the most meagre outline of the numerous vicissitudes of Don +Pedro's reign, and to glance at a tithe of the remarkable events and +striking incidents his biographer has so industriously and tastefully +assembled. M. Mérimée's work does not bear condensing in a review; +indeed, it is itself a condensation: an ordinary writer would have +spread the same matter over twice the space, and still have deemed +himself concise. The impression left on the reader's mind by this +spirited and admirably written volume is, that not one page could be +omitted without being missed. Sparing as we have been of detail, and +although confining ourselves to a glance at prominent circumstances, +we are still at the very commencement of Don Pedro's reign--the +busiest and most stirring, perhaps, that ever was comprised within the +space of twenty years. Not a few of this warlike, cruel, and amorous +monarch's adventures have been handed down in the form of ballads and +heroic legends, still current in southern Spain, where many of them +have the weight of history--although the license of poetry, and the +transmission through many generations, have frequently greatly +distorted facts. Amongst the numerous objects of his fickle passion +was Doña Aldonza Coronel, who, after some show of resistance, and +taking refuge for a while in a convent where her sister was nun, +showed herself sensible to the solicitations of royalty. Popular +tradition has substituted for Aldonza her sister Maria, widow of Juan +de la Cerda, whom Pedro had put to death. The people of Seville the +Beautiful still believe and tell how "Doña Maria, chaste as lovely, +indignantly repulsed the king's addresses. But in vain did she oppose +the gratings of the convent of St Clara as a bulwark against the +impetuous passion of the tyrant. Warned that his satellites were about +to drag her from the sanctuary, she ordered a large hole to be dug in +the convent garden, in which she lay down, and had herself covered +with branches and earth. The fresh-turned soil would infallibly have +betrayed her, had not a miracle supervened. Scarcely had she entered +this manner of tomb, when flowers and herbage sprang up over it, so +that nothing distinguished it from the surrounding grass. The king, +discrediting the report of his emissaries, went in person to the +convent to carry off the beautiful widow; this time it was not a +miracle, but an heroic stratagem, that saved the noble matron. +Abhorring the fatal beauty that thus exposed her to outrage, she +seized, with a steady hand, a vase of boiling oil, and poured it over +her face and bosom; then, covered with horrible burns, she presented +herself to the king, and made him fly in terror, by declaring herself +afflicted with leprosy. 'On her body, which has been miraculously +preserved,' says Zuñiga, 'are still visible the traces of the burning +liquid, and assuredly it may with good reason be deemed the body of a +saint.'[28] I have dwelt upon this legend, unknown to the contemporary +authors," adds M. Mérimée, "to give an idea of the transformation Don +Pedro's history has undergone at the hands of tradition, and of the +poetical colours imparted to it by the lively imagination of the +people of Spain. After the marvellous narrative, comes the simple +truth of history." Ballads and traditions are echoes of the popular +voice; and, in many of those relating to Don Pedro, we may trace a +disposition to extenuate his faults, extol his justice, and bring into +relief his occasional acts of generosity. The truth is, that, although +harsh and relentless with his arrogant nobles, he was affable with the +people, who beheld in him their deliverer from oppression, and the +unflinching opponent of the iniquities of the feudal system. Facility +of access is a great source of popularity in Spain, where the +independent tone and bearing of the lower orders often surprise +foreigners. In no country in the world is the character of the people +more free from servility. In the poorest peasant there is an air of +native dignity and self-respect, which he loves to see responded to by +consideration and affability on the part of his superiors. Don Pedro +was very accessible to his subjects. When he met his first Cortes at +Valladolid, in 1351, he promised the deputies of the commons that +every Castilian should have liberty to appeal from the decisions of +the magistrates to the king in person. This promise he kept better +than was his wont. In the court of the Alcazar at Seville, near the +gate known as that of the Banners, are shown the remains of a +tribunal, in the open air, where he sat to give his judgments. He had +another habit likely to conciliate and please the people. In imitation +of the Eastern caliphs, whose adventures had doubtless amused his +childhood, he loved to disguise himself, and to ramble at night in the +streets of Seville--to listen to the conversation of the populace, to +seek adventures, and overlook the police. Here was a suggestive text +for balladists and romance writers, who have largely availed +themselves of it. The story of Don Pedro's duel with a stranger, with +whom he quarrelled on one of these expeditions, is well known. An old +woman, sole witness of the encounter, deposed that the combatants had +their faces muffled in their cloaks, but that the knees of one of them +made a cracking noise in walking. This was known to be a peculiarity +of Don Pedro's. Justice was puzzled. The king had killed his +adversary, and had thereby incurred the punishment of decapitation. +Pedro had his head carved in stone, and placed in a niche in the +street where the duel had taken place. The bust, which was +unfortunately renewed in the seventeenth century, is still to be seen +at Seville, in the street of the Candilejo, which takes its name, +according to Zuñiga, from the lamp by whose light the duel was fought. +Condemned at his own tribunal, we need not wonder at the lenity of his +sentence, more creditable to the royal culprit's invention than to his +justice. He appears to have been frequently ingenious in his +judgments. A rich priest had seriously injured a poor shoemaker, and, +for sole punishment, was condemned by the ecclesiastical tribunal to a +few months' suspension from his sacerdotal functions. The shoemaker, +deeming the chastisement inadequate, waylaid his enemy, and soundly +drubbed him. Arrested immediately, he was condemned to death. He +appealed to the king. The partiality of the ecclesiastical judges had +excited some scandal; Don Pedro parodied their sentence by condemning +the shoemaker to make no shoes for one year. Whether this anecdote be +true, or a mere invention, it is certain that a remarkable law was +added, about that time, to the code of the city of Seville, to the +effect that a layman, injuring an ecclesiastic, should thenceforward +be liable only to the same punishment that the priest would have +incurred by a like offence against the layman. + +The murder of the Grand-master of Santiago, slain by his brother's +order, and the death of the unfortunate French princess, who found a +tyrant where she expected a husband, are recorded in the Romances of +the Master Don Fadrique, and of Blanche de Bourbon. The fate of +Blanche, attributed by contemporary chroniclers and modern historians +to Don Pedro's orders, is one of the blackest of the stains upon his +character. The poor queen died in the castle of Jerez--some say by +poison, others by the mace of an arbalister of the guard. She had +lived but twenty-five years, ten of which she had passed in prison. +There is no appearance or probability that Maria Padilla instigated +her assassination. That favourite was kind-hearted and merciful, and +on more than one occasion we find her interceding with the king for +the lives of his enemies and prisoners, and weeping when her +supplications proved fruitless. The ballad makes free with fact, and +sacrifices truth to poetry. It was dramatically correct that the +mistress should instigate the wife's death. "Be not so sad, Doña Maria +de Padilla," says the king; "if I married twice, it was for your +advantage, and to show my contempt for this Blanche of Bourbon. I send +her to Medina Sidonia, to work me a banner--the ground, colour of her +blood, the embroidery, of her tears. This banner, Doña Maria, I will +have it made for you:" and forthwith the ruthless arbalister departs, +after a knight had refused to do the felon deed. "Oh France, my noble +country! oh my Bourbon blood!" cries poor Blanche; "to-day I complete +my seventeen years, and enter my eighteenth. What have I done to you, +Castile? The crowns you gave me were crowns of blood and sighs!" And +thus she laments till the mace falls, "and the brains of her head are +strewed about the hall." The song-writer, amongst other liberties, has +struck eight years off the victim's age, perhaps with the idea of +rendering her more interesting. The exact manner of her death seems +uncertain, although Ayala agrees with the ballad, and most subsequent +historians have followed his version. M. Mérimée is disposed to +exculpate Pedro, alleging the complete inutility of the murder, and +that ten years of captivity and ill treatment were sufficient to +account for the queen's death. Admitting the latter plea, we cannot +see in it a diminution of the crime. In either case Pedro was the +murderer of his hapless wife, who was innocent of all offence against +him; and his extraordinary aversion for whom might well give rise, in +that superstitious age, to the tales of sorcery and magic charms +already quoted. The details of Don Fadrique's death are more precise +and authentic, as it was also more merited. But, although the Master +of Santiago had been guilty of many acts of treason, and at the time +of his death was conspiring against the king, his execution by a +brother's order, and before a brother's eyes, is shocking and +repugnant. It was Don Fadrique's policy, at that moment, to parade the +utmost devotion to Pedro, the better to mask his secret plans. +Arriving one day at Seville, on a visit to the king, he found the +latter playing at draughts with a courtier. True to his habits of +dissimulation, Pedro, who only a few hours previously had decided on +the Master's death, received him with a frank air and pleasant smile, +and gave him his hand to kiss; and then, seeing that he was well +attended, bade him take up his quarters, and then return. After +visiting Maria Padilla, who gazed at him with tears in her +eyes,--knowing his doom, but not daring to warn him,--Fadrique went +down into the court, found his escort gone, and the gates shut. +Surprised and uneasy, he hesitated what to do, when two knights +summoned him to the king's apartments, in a detached building within +the walls of the Alcazar. + + "At the door stood Pero Lopez Padilla, chief of the + mace-bearers of the guard, with four of his people. Don + Fadrique, still accompanied by the Master of Calatrava (Diego + Padilla) knocked at the door. Only one of its folds opened, + and within appeared the king, who forthwith exclaimed, 'Pero + Lopez, arrest the Master!'--'Which of the two, sire?' + inquired the officer, hesitating between Don Fadrique and Don + Diego de Padilla. 'The Master of Santiago!' replied the king + in a voice of thunder. Immediately Pero Lopez, seizing Don + Fadrique's arm, said, 'You are my prisoner.' Don Fadrique, + astounded, made no resistance; when the king cried out, + 'Arbalisters, kill the Master of Santiago!' Surprise, and + respect for the red cross of St James, for an instant + fettered the men to the spot. Then one of the knights of the + palace, advancing to the door, said: 'Traitors! what do you? + Heard you not the king's command to kill the Master?' The + arbalisters lifted the mace, when Don Fadrique, vigorously + shaking off the grasp of Pero Lopez, sprang back into the + court with the intention of defending himself. But the hilt + of his sword, which he wore under the large mantle of his + order, was entangled with the belt, and he could not draw. + Pursued by the arbalisters, he ran to and fro in the court, + avoiding their blows, but unable to get his sword out. At + last one of the king's guards, named Nuño Fernandez, struck + him on the head with his mace, and knocked him down; and the + three others immediately showered their blows upon the fallen + man, who lay bathed in his blood when Don Pedro came down + into the court, seeking the knights of Santiago, to slay them + with their chief." + +In the very chamber of Maria Padilla, the assassin-king gave with his +own hand the first stab to his brother's esquire, who had taken refuge +there. Leaving the ensanguined boudoir, (Maria Padilla's apartments in +the Alcazar were a sort of harem, where much oriental pomp was +observed,) he returned to the Master, and finding he still breathed, +he gave his dagger to an African slave to despatch him. Then he sat +down to dinner in an apartment two paces distant from his brother's +corpse. + +It is a relief to turn from acts of such unnatural barbarity to the +traits of chivalrous generosity that sparkle, at long intervals, it is +true, upon the dark background of Pedro's character. One of these, +connected with a singularly romantic incident, is attested by Alonzo +Martinez de Talavera, chaplain of John II. of Castile, a chronicler M. +Mérimée is disposed to hold in high esteem. In one of his campaigns +against his rebellious brethren and their Arragonese allies, the king +laid siege to the castle of Cabezon, belonging to Count Trastamare; +and whose governor, summoned to yield, refused even to parley. + + "Yet the whole garrison of the castle consisted but of ten + esquires, Castilian exiles; but behind thick and lofty walls, + in a tower built on perpendicular rocks, and against which + battering engines could not be brought, ten resolute men + might defend themselves against an army, and need only yield + to famine. The place being well provisioned, the siege was + likely to be long. But the ten esquires, all young men, were + better able bravely to repulse an assault than patiently to + endure the tedium of a blockade. Time hung heavy upon their + hands, they wanted amusement, and at last they insolently + insisted that the governor should give them women to keep + them company in their eyrie. Now, the only women in Cabezon + were the governor's wife and daughter. 'If you do not deliver + them to us, to be dealt with as we list,' said the garrison + to the governor, 'we abandon your castle, or, better still, + we open its gate to the King of Castile!' In such an + emergency, the code of chivalrous honour was stringent. At + the siege of Tarifa, Alonzo Perez de Guzman, summoned to + surrender the town, under penalty of seeing his son massacred + before his eyes, answered the Moors by throwing them his + sword, wherewith to slay the child. This action, which + procured the governor of Tarifa the surname of Guzman the + Good, was a _fazaña_ (an exploit)--one of those heroic + precedents which everyman of honour was bound to imitate. + _Permittitur homicidium filii potius quam deditio castelli_, + is the axiom of a doctor in chivalry of that epoch. The + governor of Cabezon, as magnanimous in his way as Guzman the + Good, so arranged matters that his garrison no longer thought + of abandoning him. But two of the esquires, less corrupt than + their comrades, conceived a horror of their treason, and + escaped from the castle. Led before the king, they informed + him of the mutiny they had witnessed, and of its + consequences. Don Pedro, indignant, forthwith entreated the + governor to let him do justice on the offenders. In exchange + for those felons, he offered ten gentlemen of his army, who, + before entering Cabezon, should take a solemn oath to defend + the castle against all assailants, even against the king + himself, and to die at their posts with the governor. This + proposal having been accepted, the king had the traitors + quartered, and their remains were afterwards burned. Through + the colours with which a romantic imagination has adorned + this incident, it is difficult to separate truth from + fiction; but we at least distinguish the popular opinion of + the character of Don Pedro--a strange amalgamation of + chivalrous sentiments, and of love of justice, carried to + ferocity." + +There was very little justice, or gratitude either, in the king's +treatment of his Jew treasurer. Don Simuel el Levi,[29] Israelite +though he was, had proved himself a stancher friend and more loyal +subject than any Christian of Pedro's court. He had borne him company +in his captivity--had aided his escape--had renovated his +finances--had been his minister, treasurer, and confidant. Suddenly +Simuel was thrown into prison. On the same day, and throughout the +kingdom, his kinsmen and agents were all arrested. His crime was his +prodigious wealth. Pedro, ignorant of the resources of trade, could +not believe that his treasurer had grown rich otherwise than at his +expense. Simuel's property was seized; then, as he was suspected of +having concealed the greater part of his treasures, he was taken to +Seville and put to the torture, under which he expired. The king is +said to have found in his coffers large sums of gold and silver, +besides a quantity of jewels and rich stuffs, all of which he +confiscated. A sum of 300,000 doubloons was also found in the hands of +Simuel's relatives, receivers under his orders: this proceeded from +the taxes, whose collection was intrusted to him, and was about to be +paid into the king's exchequer. There is reason to believe, adds M. +Mérimée, that Levi, like Jacques Coeur a century later, was the victim +of the ignorance and cupidity of a master he had faithfully +served.[30] + +We have dwelt so long upon the early pages of this history, and have +so often been led astray by the interest of the notes and anecdotes +with which they are thickly strewn, that we have left ourselves +without space for a notice of those portions of the bulky volume most +likely to rivet the attention of the English reader. When the _Grandes +Compagnies_--those formidable condottieri, who, for a time, may be +said to have ruled in France--crossed the Pyrenees to fight for Henry +of Trastamare, whilst the troops of England and Guyenne came to the +help of Pedro; when the great champions of their respective countries, +Edward the Black Prince and Bertrand du Guesclin, bared steel in the +civil strife of Spain,--then came the tug of war and fierce +encounter--then did the tide of battle roll its broad impetuous +stream. For even at that remote period, although Spain boasted a +valiant chivalry and stubborn men-at-arms, her wars were often a +series of skirmishes, surprises, treacheries, and camp-intrigues, +rather than of pitched battles in the field. The same sluggishness and +indolence on the part of Spanish generals, so conspicuous at the +present day, was then frequently observable. We read of +divisions--whose timely arrival would have changed the fate of a +battle--coming up so slowly that their friends were beaten before they +appeared; of generals marching out, and marching back again, without +striking a single blow; or remaining, for days together, gazing at +their opponents without risking an attack. Even then, the Spaniards +were a nation of guerillas. + + "Accustomed to a war of rapid skirmishes against the Moors, + they had adopted their mode of fighting. Covered with light + coats of mail, or with doublets of quilted cloth, mounted on + light and active horses, their _genetaires_ (light horsemen) + hurled their javelins at a gallop, then turned bridle, + without caring to keep their ranks. With the exception of the + military orders, better armed and disciplined than the + _genetaires_, the Spanish cavalry were unable to offer + resistance in line to the English or French men-at-arms." + +The infantry of Spain, afterwards esteemed the best in Europe, was at +that time so lightly considered as to be rarely enumerated in the +strength of an army. The English footsoldiers, on the other hand, had +already achieved a brilliant reputation. "Armed with tall bows of +yew," says M. Mérimée, "they sheltered themselves behind pointed +stakes planted in the ground, and, thus protected against cavalry, let +fly arrows an ell long, which few cuirasses could resist." The +equipment of the English cavalry was far superior to that of the +Spanish horsemen. Ayala recapitulates, with astonishment, the various +pieces of armour in use amongst those northern warriors. Plates of +steel and forged iron were worn over jerkins of thick leather, and +even over shirts of mail. The bull-dog courage of the men was not less +remarkable than the strength of their defensive arms. It is +interesting to read of the exploits of a handful of English soldiers +on the very ground where, four hundred and forty-six years later, an +army of that nation crushed the hosts of France. Sir Thomas Felton, +seneschal of Guyenne, was attacked, when at a considerable distance +from the English army, near Ariñiz, two leagues from Vitoria, by more +than three thousand French gendarmes and Spanish light horse. + + "Felton had but two hundred men-at arms, and as many archers. + He lost not courage, but dismounted his cavalry, and drew + them up on a steep hillock. His brother, William Felton, + alone refused to quit his horse. With lance in rest, he + charged into the midst of the Castilians, and at the first + blow drove his weapon completely through the body and iron + armour of a foe; he was immediately cut to pieces. His + comrades, closing round their banner, defended themselves, + for several hours, with the courage of despair. At last the + adventurers, headed by the Marshal d'Audeneham and the Bègue + de Vilaines, dismounted, and, forming column, broke the + English phalanx, whilst the Spanish cavalry charged it in + rear. All were slain in the first fury of victory, but the + heroic resistance of this scanty band of Englishmen struck + even their enemies with admiration. The memory of Felton's + glorious defeat is preserved in the province, where is still + shown, near Ariñiz, the hillock upon which, after fighting an + entire day, he fell, covered with wounds. It is called, in + the language of the country, _Ingles-mendi_, the English + Hill." + +This gallant but unimportant skirmish comprised (with the exception of +a dash made by Don Tello at the English foragers, of whom he killed a +good number) all the fighting that took place at that time upon the +plain of Vitoria; although some historians have made that plain the +scene of the decisive battle fought soon afterwards, between Edward of +England and Don Pedro on the one hand, and du Guesclin and Henry of +Trastamare on the other. Toreno correctly indicates the ground of this +action, which occurred on the right bank of the Ebro, between Najera +and Navarrete. It is true that the Prince of Wales offered battle near +Vitoria, drawing up his army on the heights of Santo Romano, close to +the village of Alegria, just in the line of the flight of the French +when beaten in 1813. The Prince did this boldly and confidently, +although anxious for the coming up of his rear-guard, which was still +seven leagues off. "That day," says Froissart, "the prince had many a +pang in his heart, because his rear-guard delayed so long to come." +But the enemy were in no haste to attack. Only a day or two +previously, Don Henry had assembled his captains in council of war, +"to communicate to them," says M. Mérimée, "a letter the King of +France had written him, urging him not to tempt fortune by risking a +battle against so able a general as the Prince of Wales, and such +formidable soldiers as the veteran bands he commanded. Bertrand du +Guesclin, Marshal d'Audeneham, and most of the French adventurers, +were of the same opinion--frankly declaring that, in regular battle, +the English were invincible. Du Guesclin's advice was to harass them +by continual skirmishes," &c., &c.; and the result of the council was, +that Don Henry resolved to keep as much as possible on the defensive, +and in the mountains, where his light troops had a great advantage +over their enemies, who were heavily armed, and unaccustomed to a +guerilla warfare. It had been well for him had he adhered to this +resolution, instead of allowing himself to be carried away by his +ardour, and by the confidence with which a successful skirmish had +inspired him. In vain du Guesclin, and the other captains, tried to +detain him in rear of the little river Najerilla: declaring his +intention of finishing the war by one decisive combat, he led his army +into the plain. When the Black Prince, who little expected such +temerity, was informed of the movement--"By St George!" he exclaimed, +"in yonder bastard there lives a valiant knight!" Then he proceeded to +take up his position for the fight that now was certain to take place. +"At sunrise, Count Henry beheld the English army drawn up in line, in +admirable order; their gay banners and pennons floating above a forest +of lances. Already all the men-at-arms had dismounted.[31]... The +Prince of Wales devoutly offered up a prayer, and, having called +heaven to witness the justice of his cause, held out his hand to Don +Pedro: 'Sir King,' he said, 'in an hour you will know if you are King +of Castile.' Then he cried out, 'Banners forward, in the name of God +and St George!" + +We will not diminish, by extract or abridgment, the pleasure of those +of our readers who may peruse M. Mérimée's masterly and picturesque +account of the battle, whose triumphant termination was tarnished by +an act of ferocious cruelty on the part of the Castilian king. Don +Pedro had proved himself, as usual, a gallant soldier in the fight; +and long after the English trumpets had sounded the recall, he spurred +his black charger on the track of the fugitive foe. At last, exhausted +by fatigue, he was returning to the camp, when he met a Gascon knight +bringing back as prisoner Iñigo Lopez Orozco, once an intimate of the +king's, but who had abandoned him after his flight from Burgos. In +spite of the efforts of the Gascon to protect him, Pedro slew his +renegade adherent in cold blood, and with his own hand. The English +were indignant at this barbarous revenge, and sharp words were +exchanged between Pedro and the Black Prince. Indeed, it was hardly +possible that sympathy should exist between the generous and +chivalrous Edward and his blood-thirsty and crafty ally, and this +dispute was the first symptom of the mutual aversion they afterwards +exhibited. From the very commencement, the Prince of Wales appears to +have espoused the cause of legitimacy in opposition to his personal +predilections. His admiration of Count Henry, and good opinion of his +abilities, frequently breaks out. After the signal victory of Najera, +which seemed to have fixed the crown of Castile more firmly than ever +upon Pedro's brow, Edward was the only man who judged differently of +the future. "The day after the battle, when the knights charged by him +to examine the dead and the prisoners came to make their report, he +asked in the Gascon dialect, which he habitually spoke: '_E lo bort, +es mort ó pres?_ And the Bastard, is he killed or taken?' The answer +was, that he had disappeared from the field of battle, and that all +trace of him was lost. '_Non ay res faït!_' exclaimed the prince; +'Nothing is done.'" + +The Black Prince spoke in a prophetic spirit: the sequel proved the +wisdom of his words. The battle of Najera was fought on the 3d April +1367. Two years later, less eleven days, on the 23d March 1369--Edward +and his gallant followers having in the interim returned to Guyenne, +disgusted with the ingratitude and bad faith of the king they had +replaced upon his throne--the Bastard was master of Spain, where Don +Pedro's sole remaining possession was the castle of Montiel, within +whose walls the fallen monarch was closely blockaded. Negotiations +ensued, in which Bertrand du Guesclin shared, and in which there can +be little doubt he played a treacherous part. It is to the credit of +M. Mérimée's impartiality, that he does not seek to shield the French +hero, but merely urges, in extenuation of his conduct, the perverted +morality and strange code of knightly honour accepted in those days. +By whomsoever lured, in the night-time Pedro left his stronghold, +expecting to meet, outside its walls, abettors and companions of a +meditated flight. Instead of such aid, he found himself a captive, and +presently he stood face to face with Henry of Trastamare. The brothers +bandied insults, a blow was dealt, and they closed in mortal strife. +Around them a circle of chevaliers gazed with deep interest at this +combat of kings. Pedro, the taller and stronger man, at first had the +advantage. Then a bystander--some say du Guesclin, others, an +Arragonese, Rocaberti--pulled the king by the leg as he held his +brother under him, and changed the fortune of the duel. What ensued is +best told in the words of Lockhart's close and admirable version of a +popular Spanish ballad:-- + + "Now Don Henry has the upmost, + Now King Pedro lies beneath; + In his heart his brother's poniard + Instant finds its bloody sheath. + + Thus with mortal gasp and quiver, + While the blood in bubbles well'd, + Fled the fiercest soul that ever + In a Christian bosom dwell'd." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[20] _Histoire de Don Pédre I^{er}, Roi de Castille._ Par PROSPER +MÉRIMÉE, de l'Académie Française. Pp. 586. Paris, 1848. + +[21] _Blackwood's Magazine_, No. CCCLXXX. + +[22] The _ricos hombres_, literally rich men, did not yet bear titles, +which were reserved for members of the royal family. Thus, Henry de +Trastamare was commonly designated as "the Count," he being the only +one in Castile. When crowned at Burgos, in 1366, he lavished the titles +of count and marquis, previously so charily bestowed, not only upon the +magnates of the land, but upon Bertrand Duguesclin, Sir Hugh Calverley, +Denia the Arragonese, and other foreign adventurers and allies. "Such +was the generosity, or rather the profusion of the new king, that it +gave rise to a proverbial expression long current in Spain: _Henry's +favours_ (_Mercedes Enriquenas_) was thenceforward the term applied to +recompenses obtained before they were deserved."--MÉRIMÉE, p. 451-2. A +_rico hombre_ was created by receiving at the king's hand a banner and +a cauldron (_Pendon y Caldera_)--the one to guide his soldiers, the +other to feed them. The fidalgos or hidalgos (from _hijodalgo_, the son +of somebody) were dependants of the _ricos hombres_, as these were of +the king. "Every nobleman had a certain number of gentlemen who did him +homage, and held their lands in fee of him. In their turn, these +gentlemen had vassals, so that the labourer had many masters, whose +orders were often contradictory. These mediæval institutions gave rise +to strange complications, only to be unravelled by violence. +Nevertheless, the laws and national usages directed the vassal, +whatever his condition, to obey his immediate superior. Thus, a mere +knight did not incur penalty of treason by taking arms against the king +by order of the rich-man to whom he paid homage."--MÉRIMÉE, p. 29. Some +curious illustrations are subjoined. In 1334, Alphonso took the field +against an insubordinate vassal, and besieged him in his town of Lerma. +Garcia de Padilla, a knight attached to the rebel, seeing an amicable +arrangement impossible, boldly demanded of Don Alphonso a horse and +armour, to go and fight under the banner of his liege lord. The king +instantly complied with his request, warning him, however, that if +taken, he should pay with his head for his fidelity to the lord of +Lerma. "I distinguish," says M. MÉRIMÉE, "in the action and words of +Don Alphonso, the contrast of the knight and the king united in the +same man. The one yields to his prejudices of chivalrous honour, the +other will have the rights of his crown respected. The customs of the +age and the dictates of policy contend in the generous monarch's +breast."--P. 30. + +[23] "It were a great error to attribute to Spain, in the 14th +century, the religious passions and intolerant spirit that animated it +in the 16th. In the wars between Moors and Christians, politics had +long had a far larger share than fanaticism.... Although the +Inquisition had been established more than a century, its power was +far from being what it afterwards became. As to Jews and Moors, they +were subject to the jurisdiction of the Holy Office only when they +sought, by word or writing, to turn Christians from the faith of their +fathers; and even then, royal authorisation was necessary before they +could be prosecuted. And the kings showed themselves, in general, +little disposed to let the clergy increase their influence. In 1350, +Peter IV. of Arragon rigorously forbade ecclesiastics to infringe on +secular jurisdiction.... There was much lukewarmness in matters of +religion; and to this, perhaps, is to be attributed the very secondary +part played by the clergy in all the political debates of the 14th +century. The inferior clergy, living and recruiting its ranks amongst +the people, shared the ignorance and rudeness of the latter. Such was +the prevalent immorality, that a great number of priests maintained +concubines, who were vain of the holy profession of their lovers, and +claimed particular distinctions. The conduct of these ecclesiastics +occasioned no scandal, but the luxury affected by their mistresses +often excited the envy of rich citizens, and even of noble ladies. +Repeatedly, and always in vain, the Cortes launched decrees intended +to repress the insolence of the _damoiselles de prétres_, (_barraganas +de clérigos_,) who formed a distinct class or caste, enjoying special +privileges, and sufficiently numerous to require the invention of laws +for them alone."--MÉRIMÉE, p. 34 to 38. These passages tend to explain +what might otherwise seem incomprehensible--the passive submission of +the Spanish priesthood to encroachments upon their temporal goods. +Since then they have rarely shown themselves so enduring; and the mere +hint of an attack upon their power or opulence has usually been the +signal for mischievous intrigue, and often for bloody strife. It is a +question, (setting aside the _barraganas_, although these, up to no +remote date, may be said to have been rather _veiled_ than +suppressed,) whether the Spanish priests of the 14th century were not +nearly as enlightened as their successors of the 19th. They certainly +were far more tolerant. "Arab language and literature," M. Mérimée +tells us, "were cultivated in schools founded under ecclesiastical +patronage." + +In the Cortes held at Valladolid, in 1351, we find Don Pedro rejecting +the petitions of the clergy, who craved restitution of the revenues +appropriated by the crown, to their prejudice, under his father's +reign. + +[24] In various details of Don Pedro's life and character we trace +resemblance to the eastern despot, although there seems no foundation +for the charges of infidelity brought against him towards the close of +his reign, and which may partly have originated, perhaps, in his close +alliance with the Granadine Moors, a body of whose light cavalry for +some time formed his escort. Contiguity of territory, commercial +intercourse, and political necessities, had assimilated to a certain +extent the manners and usages of Spaniards and Saracens, and given the +former an oriental tinge, of which, even at the present day, faint +vestiges are here and there perceptible. Don Pedro's orientalism was +particularly perceptible in the mode of many of the executions that +ensanguined his reign. He had constantly about him a band of +cross-bowmen who waited on his nod, and recoiled from no cruelty. +Occasionally we find him sending one of them to some distant place to +communicate and execute the doom of an offending subject. This recalls +the Turkish mute and bowstring. These death-dealing archers seem to +have employed mace and dagger more frequently than axe or cord. They +were assassins rather than executioners. They officiated in the case +of Garci Laso. "Alburquerque, impatient of delay, warned the king that +it was time to give final orders. Don Pedro, accustomed to repeat +those of his minister, bade two of Alburquerque's gentlemen go tell +the prisoner's guards to despatch him. The arbalisters, blind +instruments of the king's will, mistrusted an order transmitted to +them by Alburquerque's people, and desired to receive it from their +master's mouth. One of them went to ask him what was to be done with +Garci Laso. 'Let him be killed!' replied the king. This time duly +authorised, the arbalister ran to the prisoner, and struck him down +with a blow of a mace upon his head. His comrades finished him with +their daggers. The body of Garci Laso was thrown upon the public +square, where the king's entrance was celebrated, according to +Castilian custom, by a bull-fight. The bulls trampled the corpse, and +tossed it upon their horns. It was taken from them for exhibition upon +a scaffold, where it remained a whole day. At last it was placed upon +a bier, which was fixed upon the rampart of Camparanda. It was the +treatment reserved for the bodies of great malefactors."--MÉRIMÉE, p. +73. + +[25] "In 1339, Don Gonzalo Martinez, Master of Alcantara, having +rebelled against the king Don Alphonso, was besieged and taken in his +castle of Valencia, and Coronel presided at his execution."--_Chronica +de Don Alphonso XI._, p. 385. + +[26] The Castilian tongue is rich in words descriptive of grace in +women. Spain is, certainly, the country where that quality is most +common. I will cite only a few of those expressions, indicative of +shades easier to appreciate than to translate. _Garbo_ is grace +combined with nobility; _donayre_, elegance of bearing, vivacity of +wit; _salero_, voluptuous and provocative grace; _zandunga_, the kind +of grace peculiar to the Andalusians--a happy mixture of readiness and +nonchalance. People applaud the _garbo_ or _donayre_ of a duchess, the +_salero_ of an actress, the _zandunga_ of a gipsy of Jerez.--MÉRIMÉE, +p. 110. + +[27] The enchantment of Don Pedro by Maria Padilla is a popular +tradition in Andalusia, where the memory of both is vividly preserved. +It is further added, that Maria Padilla was a queen of the +gipsies--their _bari crallisa_--consequently consummate mistress of +the art of concocting philters. Unfortunately, the gipsies were +scarcely seen in Europe till a century later. The author of the +_Première Vie du Pape Innocent VI._ gravely relates that Blanche, +having made her husband a present of a golden girdle, Maria Padilla, +assisted by a Jew, a notorious sorcerer, changed it into a serpent, +one day that the king had it on. The surprise of the king and his +court may be imagined, when the girdle began to writhe and hiss; +whereupon the Padilla easily succeeded in persuading her lover that +Blanche was a magician bent upon destroying him by her arts.--MÉRIMÉE, +p. 120. + +[28] ZUÑIGA, _Anales de Sevilla_.--"The people say, that Maria +Coronel, pursued by Don Pedro, in the suburb of Triana, plunged her +head into a pan in which a gipsy was cooking fritters. I was shown the +house in front of which the incident occurred, and I was desired to +remark, as an incontrovertible proof, that it is still inhabited by +gipsies, whose kitchen is in the open street."--MÉRIMÉE, p. 247. + +[29] We have already adverted to the religious tolerance of the time, +and to the intermixture of Mussulmans and Christians: M. Mérimée gives +some curious details on this subject. The nobility of Castile made no +difficulty to grant the _Don_ to the Moorish cavaliers, and the rich +Jew bankers obtained the same distinction, then very rare amongst the +Christians themselves. Thus Ayala, the chronicler, speaks of Don +Farax, Don Simuel, Don Reduan, &c.; although of Spaniards he gives the +Don only to the princes of the blood, to a few very powerful _ricos +hombres_, to certain great officers of the crown, and to the masters +of the military orders of knights. The Andalusian Moors were +frequently treated as equals by the chevaliers of Castile; but this is +far less astonishing than that the Jews should have attained to high +honours and office. Pedro, however, seems always to have had a leaning +towards them, and the Israelites, on their part, invariably supported +him. He was more than once, in the latter part of his reign, heard to +say that the Moors and Hebrews were his only loyal subjects. At +Miranda, on the Ebro, in 1360, the populace, stirred up by Henry of +Trastamare, massacred the Jews, and pillaged their dwellings. The +object of the Count was to compromise the townspeople, and thus to +attach them indissolubly to his cause. When Pedro arrived, he had the +ringleaders of the riot arrested; and, in his presence, the unhappy +wretches were burned alive, or boiled in immense cauldrons. Obsolete +laws were revived, to justify these terrible executions; but the crime +of the offenders was forgotten in the horror excited by such barbarous +punishments. It was just after these scenes of cruelty that a priest, +coming from Santo-Domingo de la Calzada, craved private audience of +the king, 'Sire,' said he, 'my Lord Saint Dominick has appeared to me +in a dream, bidding me warn you that, if you do not amend your life, +Don Henry, your brother, will slay you with his own hand.' This +prophecy, on the eve of a battle between the brothers, was probably +the result of fanatical hatred, on the part of the priests towards a +king now generally accused of irreligion. Whatever dictated it, Pedro +was at first startled by the prophet's confident and inspired air, but +soon he thought it was a stratagem of his enemies to discourage him +and his troops. The priest, who persisted that his mission was from St +Dominick, was burned alive in front of the army.--MÉRIMÉE, pp. 35, +290, 299, &c. + +[30] "According to the interpolator of the chronicle of the +_Despensero Mayor_, Simuel Levi, whose death he erroneously fixes in +the year 1366, was denounced to the king by several Jews, envious of +his immense riches. Simuel, on being put to the torture, died of +indignation, '_de puro corage_,' says the anonymous author, whom I +copy, since I cannot understand him. There were found, in a vault +beneath his house, three piles of gold and silver lingots, so lofty +'that a man standing behind them was not seen.' The king, on beholding +this treasure, exclaimed--'If Don Simuel had given me the third part +of the smallest of these heaps, I would not have had him tortured. How +could he consent to die rather than speak?' _Sumario de los Reyes de +España_, p. 73. Credat Judæus Apella."--MÉRIMÉE, p. 317. + +Don Pedro was often accused of avarice, although it appears probable +that his fondness of money sprang from his experience of the power it +gave, and of its absolute necessity in the wars in which he was +continually engaged, rather than from any abstract love of gold. When, +after his flight from Spain in 1366, his treasures were traitorously +given up to his rival by Admiral Boccanegra, who had been charged to +convey them to Portugal, they amounted to thirty-six quintals of gold, +(something like fourteen hundred thousand pounds sterling--a monstrous +sum in those days,) besides a quantity of jewels. + +[31] The custom of the time, according to Froissart and others. On the +march, most of the soldiers, sometimes even the archers, were on +horseback; but when the hour of battle arrived, spurs were removed, +horses sent away, and lances shortened. When the time came for flight +and pursuit, the combatants again sprang into their saddles. + + + + +THE OPENING OF THE SESSION. + + +The British Parliament has again been summoned to resume its labours. +The period which intervened between the close of the last, and the +opening of the present session, was fraught with great anxiety to +those who believed that the cause of order and peace depended upon the +check that might be given to the democratic spirit, then raging so +fearfully throughout Europe. France, under the dictatorship of +Cavaignac, had emerged a little from the chaotic slough into which she +had been plunged by the wickedness, imbecility, and treason of a junta +of self-constituted ministers--men who held their commissions from the +sovereign mob of Paris, and who were ready, for that sovereign's sake, +to ruin and prostrate their country. Foremost among these ministers +was Lamartine, a theorist whose intentions might be good, but whose +exorbitant vanity made him a tool in the hands of others who had +embraced revolution as a trade. Of this stamp were Ledru-Rollin, Louis +Blanc, and, we may add, Marrast,--men who had nothing to lose, but +everything to gain, from the continuance of popular disorder. +Fortunately, the daring attempt of June--which, if it had succeeded, +would have surrendered Paris to be sacked--was suppressed with +sufficient bloodshed. Military domination took the place of helpless +democratic fraternity; the barricades went down amidst the thunder of +the cannon, and the rascaldom of the Faubourg St Antoine found, to +their cost, that they were not yet altogether triumphant. Of the +subsequent election of Louis Napoleon to the presidentship we need not +speak. It would be in vain, under present circumstances, to speculate +upon the probable destinies of France. All that we have to remark now +is her attitude, which, we think, is symptomatic of improvement. The +socialist theories are wellnigh exploded. Equality may exist in name, +but it is not recognised as a reality. The provinces have suffered +enough from revolution to abhor the thought of anarchy; and they long +for any government strong and resolute enough to enforce the laws, and +to stamp with its heel on the head of the Jacobin hydra. + +Austria, on the other side, has done her duty nobly. Astounded as we +certainly were at the outbreak of revolution in Vienna, we had yet +that confidence, in the spirit and loyalty of the old Teutonic +chivalry, that we never for a moment believed that the mighty fabric +of ages would be allowed to crumble down, or the imperial crown to +fall from the head of the descendant of the Cæsars. And so it has +proved. The revolt occasioned in the southern provinces by the +co-operation of Jacobinism, under the specious mask of nationality, +with the mean and selfish ambition of an intriguing Italian potentate, +has been triumphantly suppressed. Vienna, after experiencing the +horrors of ruffian occupation--after having seen assassination rife in +her streets, and the homes of her burghers delivered over to the lust +and pillage of the anarchists--has again returned to her fealty. The +insurrections in Bohemia and Hungary have been met by the strong arm +of power; the schemes of treason and of faction have been discomfited; +nor can modern history afford us nobler examples of heroism and +devotion than have been exhibited by Windischgrätz and Jellachich. +Whilst the democratic press, even in this country, was sympathising +with the insurgents--whilst treason, murder, and rapine were palliated +and excused, and fulsome and bombastic panegyrics pronounced upon the +leading demagogues of the movement--we have watched the efforts of +Austria towards the recovery of her equilibrium, with an anxiety which +we scarcely can express; because we felt convinced that, upon her +success or her defeat, upon the maintenance of her position as a +colossal united power, or her division into petty states, depended, in +a large measure, the future tranquillity of Europe. Most happily she +has succeeded, and has thereby given the death-blow to the hopes of +the besotted visionaries at Frankfort. The Central Power of Germany, +as that singular assemblage of mountebanks, with a weak old imbecile +at their head, has been somewhat facetiously denominated--that +pseudo-parliament, which, without power to enforce its decrees, or any +comprehensible scheme of action, has arrogated to itself the right of +over-riding monarchies--is gradually dwindling into contempt. Even +Frederick-William of Prussia, its chief supporter and stay, has found +out his vast mistake in yielding to the democratic principle as the +means of ultimately securing for himself the rule of a united Germany. +The attempt has already wellnigh cost him the crown which he wears. He +now sees, as he might have seen earlier, but for the mists of interest +and ambition, that the present movement was essentially a democratic +one, and that its leaders merely held out the phantom of resuscitated +imperialism in order to make converts, and to strike more effectually +at every hereditary constitution. The farce cannot, in the ordinary +nature of things, last much longer. Without Austria, Bavaria, and +Prussia, there is no central power at all. The Frankfort parliament, +as it at present exists, can be compared to nothing except a great +Masonic assemblage. In humble imitation of the brethren of the mystic +tie, it is solemnly creating grand chancellors, grand seneschals, and, +for aught we know, grand tylers also for an empire which is not in +existence; and, without a farthing in its treasury, is decreeing civil +lists and bounties to its imperial grand master! Unfortunately, the +state of Europe has been such that we cannot afford to laugh even at +such palpable fooleries. They tend to prolong excitement and disorder +throughout a considerable portion of the Continent; and already, +through such antics, we have been on the eve of a general war, +occasioned by the unjust attempts to deprive Denmark of her Schleswig +provinces. The sooner, therefore, that the parliament of Frankfort +ceases to have an existence the better. It hardly can exist if the +larger states do their duty, without jealousy of each other, but with +reference to the common weal. + +But though the democratic progress, under whatsoever form it appeared, +has thus received a check in northern Europe, it is still raging with +undiminished violence in the south. British diplomatic relations with +the See of Rome have received the _coup-de-grace_, in the forcible +expulsion of the Sovereign Pontiff from his territories! The leading +reformer of the age--the propagandist successor of St Peter--has +surrendered his pastoral charge, and fled from the howling of his +flock, now suddenly metamorphosed into wolves. There, as elsewhere, +liberalism has signalised itself by assassination. The star of +freedom, of which Lord Minto was the delegated prophet, has appeared +in the form of a bloody and terrific meteor. Even revolutionised +France felt her bowels moved by some latent Christian compunction, and +prepared an armament to rescue, if needful, the unfortunate patriarch +from his children. More recently, the Grand-duke of Tuscany--a prince +whose mild rule and kindly government were such that democracy itself +could frame no articulate charge against him, beyond the fact of his +being a sovereign--has been compelled to abandon his territory, and to +take refuge elsewhere. + +Such is the state of the continent of Europe at the opening of the new +session of Parliament--a state which, while it undeniably leaves great +room for hope, and in some measure indicates a return to more settled +principles of government, is very far from conveying an assurance of +lasting tranquillity. It is now just a year since the sagacious Mr +Cobden issued the second part of his prophecies to atone for the +failure of the first. The repeal of the corn laws, and the other +free-trade measures, having not only failed to enrich this country at +the ratio of a hundred millions sterling annually--the premium which +was confidently offered by the Manchester Association, as the price of +their experiment--but, having somehow or other been followed by a +calamitous deficit in the ordinary revenue, the member for the West +Riding bethought himself of a new agitation for the disbandment of the +British army, and the suppression of the navy, founded upon the +experiences which he had gathered in the course of his Continental +ovations. He told his faithful myrmidons that all Europe was in a +state of profound peace, and that war was utterly impossible. They +echoed the cry, and at once, as if by magic, the torch of revolution +was lighted up in every country save our own. Nor are we entitled to +claim absolute exemption. Chartism exhibited itself at home in a more +daring manner than ever before: nor do we wonder at this, since the +depreciation of labour in the home market, the direct result of Peel's +injudicious tariffs, drove many a man, from sheer desperation, into +the ranks of the disloyal. Ireland was pacified only by a strong +demonstration of military force; and, had that been withdrawn, +rebellion was the inevitable consequence. Still, though his promises +are thus shown to be utterly false, the undaunted Free-trader, in the +teeth of facts and logic, persists in maintaining his conclusions. +Again he shouts, raves, and agitates for an extensive military +reduction; and, lo! the next Indian mail brings tidings of the war in +the Punjaub! + +Public attention, during the recess, has been very generally directed +to the state of the finances of the country. No wonder. Last year, in +proposing the first of his abortive budgets, Lord John Russell +distinctly calculated the probable excess of the expenditure over the +income at the sum of three millions and a quarter; to balance which he +asked for an augmentation of the income tax--a proposal which the +nation very properly scouted. But, whilst we state now, as we stated +then, our determined opposition to the increase of the direct taxation +of the country, we must remark that the free-trade party were hardly +justified in withholding their support from a minister who had played +their game with such unimpeachable docility, in an emergency directly +resulting from the operation of their cherished system. The statement +of Sir Charles Wood, to the effect that, during the last six years, +the nation had remitted seven and a half millions of annual taxation, +ought surely to have had the effect of an argument upon these +impenetrable men. Seven millions and a half had been sacrificed before +the Moloch of free trade. Good, benevolent, plain-dealing Sir Robert, +and profound, calculating Lord John, had each, in preparing their +annual estimates, lopped off some productive branch of the customs, +and smilingly displayed it to the country, as a proof of their desire +to lessen the weight of the national burdens. That our revenue should +fall was, of course, a necessary consequence. Fall it did, and that +with such rapidity that Sir Robert Peel dared not take off the income +tax, which he had imposed upon the country with a distinct and solemn +pledge that it was merely to be temporary in its duration, but handed +it over as a permanent legacy to his successor, who coolly proposed to +augment it! Now it really required no reflection at all to see that, +if our statesmen chose, for the sake of popularity or otherwise, thus +to tamper with the revenue, and to lessen the amount of the customs, a +deficit must, sooner or later, occur. Not the least baneful effect of +the policy pursued by Sir Robert Peel has been the system of +calculating the estimates so low, and adapting the income so closely +to the national expenditure, that a surplus, to be handed over to the +commissioners for the reduction of the national debt, is now a +tradition. We have abandoned the idea of a surplus, nor can it ever +again be realised under the operation of the present system. Instead +of a surplus we have a permanent income tax, and, more than that, a +fresh debt incurred by us, under Whig management, of no less than ten +millions. + +Such being the state of our finances, the question naturally suggests +itself to the mind of every thinking man, how are we to find a remedy? +The Financial Reform Associations--which are nothing else than the +bastard spawn of the Anti-Corn-law League--are perfectly ready with +their answer. They see no difficulty about it at all. "Act," they say, +"upon the same principle which every man adopts in private life. Since +your income has fallen off, reduce your expenditure. Cut your coat +according to your cloth. Find out what are the most expensive items of +your estimates, and demolish these. If you can't afford to have an +army, don't keep one. Your navy is anything but a source of income; +put it down. In this way you will presently find that you can make +out a satisfactory balance-sheet." + +This is the pounds, shillings, and pence view of the case, and its +supporters are determined to enforce it. Dull statistical pamphlets, +inveighing against the enormous expense of our establishments, are +compiled by pompous pseudo-economists, and circulated by the million. +Looking to the past, it requires no familiarity to predict, that, as +sure as winter follows autumn, so certainly will the Whigs yield to +the pressure from without. Nay, it is not a prediction; for already, +in the Queen's speech, an intimation to that effect has been given. +Now this is a matter of vital moment to every one of us. We are now +verging towards the point which we have long foreseen, when the +effects of unprincipled legislation will be wrested into an argument +against the maintenance of the national greatness. We have a battle to +fight involving a more important stake than ever. We must fight that +battle under circumstances of great disadvantage; for not only has +treachery thinned our ranks, but the abandonment of public principle +by a statesman whose hairs have grown gray in office, has given an +example of laxity most pernicious to the morals of the age. But not +the less readily do we go forward at the call of honour and duty, +knowing that our cause is truth, and confident, even now, that truth +must ultimately prevail. + +In the first place, let us set ourselves right with these same +Financial Reform Associations, so that no charge may be brought +against us of factious opposition to salutary improvement. We have +perused several of their tracts with great care; but, being tolerably +familiar with their statistics already, we have not acquired any large +stock of additional information. They point, however, to many things +which are most undoubted abuses. That a reform is necessary in many +civil departments of the state, has long been our expressed opinion. +Money is not only misapplied, but the revenues which ought to be drawn +from some portions of the public property, find their way into private +pockets, and are not accounted for. We do not doubt that the dockyards +are largely jobbed, and that the nation suffers considerable loss by a +partial and nefarious system of private instead of public contracts. +We are no admirers of sinecures, of unnecessary commissionerships, or +the multiplication of useless offices. The department of Woods and +Forests is an Augean stable, which requires a thorough cleansing. It +is notoriously the most inefficient and the worst served of the public +boards, and it has permitted and winked at peculation to an extent +which is almost incredible. We desire to have the public accounts +better kept, and some security given that the officials will do their +duty. We wish to see patronage fairly and honourably exercised. We +wish to see abuse corrected, curbed, and abolished. + +And why is this not done? Simply for this reason--that we are cursed +with a government in every way unfit for their charge. The present +ruling family party have not among them a vestige of a public virtue. +Jobbing with the Whigs is not an exceptional case--it is a living +principle. It is more to them than the liberty of the press: it is +like the air they breathe; if they have it not, they die. They keep +their adherents together solely by the force of jobbing. Look at their +Irish Trevellyan jobs, their commissions, their unblushing and +unparalleled favouritism! Never, in any one instance, have they +attempted to save a shilling of the public revenue, when, by doing so, +they would interfere with the perquisites of some veteran servitor of +their order. We know this pretty well in Scotland, where jobbing +flourishes all the better because we are denied the superintendence of +a separate Secretary of State--an office which is imperatively called +for. The present is undeniably a time for the exertion of strict +economy in every department, and yet ministers will not vouchsafe to +commence it in their own. During the last two years, various offices +which are not hereditary, which are notorious sinecures, and which are +nevertheless endowed with large salaries, have become vacant; and, in +every case, these have been filled up by Lord John Russell, on the +broad ground that the government could not afford to dispense with +such valuable patronage. + +So far we are at one with the finance reformers. So long as their +object is to reform evident abuses, we are ready not only to applaud, +but to co-operate with them: but the correction of abuses is a very +different thing from that suicidal policy which has been over and over +again attempted in this country--that policy which, by saving +thousands, insures the loss of millions. + +Because our revenue has fallen off, is that any reason why we should +part with our army and navy? Let us assume that the army and navy are +necessary for three purposes--first, for the defence of the country; +secondly, for the maintenance of internal order; and thirdly, for the +retention of our colonies. Let us further assume, that, keeping these +three necessary points in view, it is impossible to effect a numerical +reduction of the force: and we then ask the economists whether, these +premises being allowed, they would push their doctrine of cloth-cutting +so far as still to insist upon a reduction? Not one political tailor of +them all will dare to say so! They know the overwhelming storm of +contempt that would arise in every corner of Great Britain, if they +dared to give vent to such a traitorous sentiment; they leave it +unuttered, but they aver the non-necessity.[32] Here we meet at once +upon fair and open ground; and we ask, whether they mean to aver that +the present force is greater than is required for the three purposes +above mentioned, or whether they mean to aver that any one of these +purposes is unnecessary? This, as we shall presently have occasion to +see, is a very important distinction. + +To the first question, as yet, we have only indefinite answers. We +hear a good deal about clothing allowances and abuses, with which we +have nothing whatever to do. It may be, that there exist some faults +in the army and navy department, and that these could be amended with +a saving of expense to the country: if so, let it be done. We +cordially echo the language of Lord Stanley, on moving his amendment +to the address: "I believe it is possible to effect some reductions in +the civil departments of the army, ordnance, and navy. I also think +that large reductions may be made by checking the abuses which exist +in the administration and management of the dockyards. But the +greatest security we could obtain for having the work well done in the +dockyards, would be the passing of an enactment to deprive all persons +in those yards from voting for members of parliament. I have heard at +least twenty naval officers express an opinion that, until persons +employed in the dockyards shall be prevented from voting for members +of parliament, it will be impossible to exercise efficient control +over the work performed in those establishments. If reductions can be +effected, in God's name let them be made; and, although one may wonder +how such a course has been so long delayed, I will applaud the +government which shall economise without prejudice to the permanent +interests of the empire. But when the country is in a position which +requires that she should have all her resources and powers at hand, I +cannot concur with those who, for the sake of economy, would largely +diminish the naval and military forces of the country." + +Mr Cobden, so far as we can gather from his orations, advocates the +propriety of disbanding the army on the score of peace. He thinks +that, if we were to dismiss our forces, all the other nations of the +earth would follow the example. There is something positively +marvellous in the calm audacity of the man who can rise up, as Cobden +did at Manchester, on the last day of January, and enunciate to his +enraptured audience, that, "notwithstanding all that had been said on +that subject, he reiterated there never was a time when Europe was so +predisposed to listen to advances made by the people of England, on +that subject, as now!" Where, in the name of the Seven Sleepers of +Ephesus, has the man been during the last twelvemonths? What does Mr +Cobden understand by Europe? We should like to know this, for it is +very easy to use a general term, as in the present instance, without +conveying any definite meaning. Does he refer to the governments or +the mobs of Europe--to the well-affected, who wish for order, or to +the Jacobins whose cause he adores? If he meant the latter class to +signify Europe, we can understand him readily enough. He is right: +great indeed would be the joy of the clubs in Paris, Berlin, and +Vienna, if there were not a soldier left. What jubilee and triumph +there would be in every Continental capital! Not the suppression of +the police would excite deeper exultation in the hearts of the +denizens of St Giles', than would the abolition of standing armies in +those of the bearded patriots of the Continent. No need then of +barricades--no fighting for the partition of property--no bloodshed, +preparatory to the coveted rape and pillage! The man who can talk in +this way is beneath the average of idiots; or, otherwise, he is +somewhat worse. Not only during the last year, but within the last +five months, we have seen that the whole standing armies of Europe +have been employed in the task of suppressing insurrection, and have +not been able to do it. Under these circumstances, what state would be +"predisposed" to surrender its citizens to the tender mercies of +democracy? Ignorant indeed must be the audience that could listen to +such pitiable drivelling as this! + +Until it can be shown or proved that our armaments, even in ordinary +times, are larger than are required for the purposes of defence, of +internal tranquillity, and of colonial occupation, there is no cause +for reduction at all. The troops at home are maintained for the first +two objects, since it would be as wise, in the time of peace, to +dismantle the fortifications of a town and to spike the cannon, as to +dispense with an army. Is there no necessity for the troops at home? +The experience of last year alone has shown us what we might expect if +Cobden's views were realised. Glasgow, the second largest city of the +empire, was for a time in the hands of the mob. We doubt whether the +stiffest free-trader in the West would now be disposed to renounce +military protection. Have the people of Liverpool already forgotten +that their shipping and warehouses were threatened with incendiarism, +and that such apprehensions of a rising were entertained, that, at the +earnest entreaty of the magistracy, a camp was established in their +vicinity? What would be the state of Ireland, at this moment, if the +troops were withdrawn, or their number so materially lessened as to +give a chance of success, however momentary, to insurrection? But it +is useless to ask such questions, for, in reality, there is hardly a +sane man in the British islands who does not know what the immediate +result would be, and the horrible penalty we should ultimately pay for +such weak and culpable parsimony. + +It is a very favourite topic, with finance reformers, to refer to the +state of the army and navy as it existed previous to the French +Revolution. "In 1792," they say, "the whole cost of these departments, +including the ordnance, amounted only to five millions and a half--why +should we not now reduce our expenditure to the same amount?" It is +wearisome to enter into the task of explanation with these gentlemen, +who, after all, are but slenderly acquainted with statistics, else +they would at once divine the answer: nevertheless we shall undertake +it. According to the nearest approximation which can be made, the +British islands, in the year 1792, contained a population of about +_fifteen and a half millions_. The census in 1841 showed a population +of _twenty-seven millions_, and at the present moment the number is +probably not short of _thirty_. So that, on the reasonable principle +that military establishments should bear a certain ratio to the +population, and excluding every other consideration, the annual +estimates ought, according to the standard of the financial reformers, +to be at least eleven millions. But then, be it observed, our colonial +possessions were comparatively small compared with their present +extent. Since 1792, we have received accession of the following +colonies and settlements:--Ceylon, Trinidad, St Lucia, Malta, +Heligoland, British Guiana, the Falkland Islands, Hong-Kong, Labuan, +Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, Van Diemen's Land, Western and Southern +Australia, New Zealand, and the Ionian Islands. The area of these new +possessions is considerably more than _six times_ that of the whole +extent of the British islands; the surface of the new colonies being, +in square miles, no less than 828,408, whilst that of Britain proper +is merely 122,823. We purposely abstain from alluding to the extent +and increment of our older colonies, as our object is simply to show +the difference of our position now, from what it was in the year +immediately preceding the outbreak of the first French Revolution. + +In the mean time, however, let us keep strictly to our present point, +which is the necessity of maintaining a standing army at home. Within +the last fifty-seven years, the population at home has doubled--a fact +which, of itself, will account for many social evils utterly beyond +the reach of legislation. The enormous increase of the manufacturing +towns has not been attended with any improvement in the morals of the +people. The statistical returns of criminal commitments show that vice +has spread in a ratio far greater than the increase of population; and +along with vice has appeared its invariable concomitant, disaffection. +Every period of stagnation of trade is marked by a display of +Chartism: the example set by such associations as the League has not +been lost upon the greater masses of the people. Ireland is a volcano +in which the fires of rebellion are never wholly extinguished, and +every internal movement there is sensibly felt upon this side of the +Channel. + +But it is needless, perhaps, to enlarge upon the point, because there +are very few persons who maintain that our home force is greater than +the occasion requires. That admitted, the question is very +considerably narrowed. The reductions demanded would then fall to be +made in that portion of our armaments which is used for colonial +occupation and defence. + +First, let us see what we have to occupy and defend. In 1792, the area +of the British colonies which we still retain was about 565,700 square +miles. Subsequent additions have extended this surface to 1,400,000. +This calculation, be it remarked, is altogether exclusive of India. + +The free-traders themselves do not aver that we maintain a larger +force than is compatible with their magnitude for the occupation of +the colonies. "I am quite aware," says Cobden, "that any great +reduction in our military establishments _must depend upon a complete +change_ in our colonial system; and I consider such a change to be the +necessary consequence of our recent commercial policy." We are glad at +last to arrive at the truth. That one sentence contains the key to the +present crusade against armaments, and it is very well that we should +understand and consider it in time. Our readers must not, however, +understand the word "change" in the literal sense; the following +extract from the Edinburgh tract will put the matter in a clearer +light. "The possession of the colonies is supposed to add lustre to +the crown; but it may be doubted whether the honour is not purchased +at a price considerably beyond its value. The colonies pay no taxes +into the exchequer: we keep them, they do not keep us. An Englishman +may be told that he belongs to an empire on which the sun never sets; +but, as he pays dearly for this in taxation, and gets nothing but +sentiment in return, he may be inclined to question the value of that +vast dominion on his connexion with which he is congratulated. But if +the Englishman makes nothing by the colonial possessions, neither does +the colonist. As things are managed, the union is mutually +embarrassing, while the expenses we incur for maintaining the colonies +are ruinous." Were we right or wrong when we said, two years ago, that +the tendency of free trade was a deliberate movement towards the +dismemberment of the British empire, and the separation of the +colonies from the mother country? Here you have the principle almost +openly avowed. The colonies are said to cost us about four millions +a-year, and this opens too rich a field for the penny-wise economist +to be resisted. Nor are we in the slightest degree surprised at these +men availing themselves of the argument. If they are right in their +premises, they are also right in their conclusion. If the people of +this country are deliberately of opinion that our commercial policy +is, henceforward and for ever, to be regulated upon the principles of +free trade, the colonies should be left to themselves, and Earl Grey +immediately cashiered. This is what Cobden and his followers are +aiming at; this is the ultimate result of the measures planned, and +proposed, and carried by Sir Robert Peel. It is no figment or false +alarm of ours. The free-traders do not take the pains to disguise it: +their main argument for the reduction of our forces is the uselessness +and expense of the colonies, and they seem prepared to lower the +British flag in every quarter of the globe. Our fellow-citizen who has +compiled the last Financial tract speaks to the point with a calm +philosophy which shows the thoroughness of his conviction: he says, +"As foreigners now trade with our colonies on the same terms with +ourselves, it is evident that the colonists prefer our goods, only +because they are better and cheaper than those of foreigners; _it +therefore seems reasonable to suppose that the colonies would continue +to buy from us were the connexion dissolved, or greatly changed in +character_. The United States of America once were our colonies, and +the trade with them has vastly increased since they became +independent." According to this view, it would appear that Papineau +was not only a disinterested patriot, but also, an enlightened +economist! + +See, then, what great matters spring from petty sources!--how personal +ambition, and competition for power between two statesmen of no high +or exalted principle, can in a few years lead to a deliberate project, +and a large confederacy, for the dismemberment of the British empire! +To gain additional swiftness in the race for ascendency, Sir Robert +Peel and Lord John Russell alternately threw away, most uselessly and +recklessly, many of the surest items of the national income. They +sacrificed, until further sacrifice was no longer possible, without +conceding a broad principle. The principle was conceded; and the +bastard system of free trade, without reciprocity and without +equivalent, was substituted for the wiser system which had been the +foundation of our greatness. By this time, indirect taxation had been +reduced so low that the revenue fell below the mark of the +expenditure; the duties levied upon imports exhibited a marked +decline. Both Peel and Russell were committed to free trade, and +neither of them could, with any consistency, retrace their steps. +Russell, then in power, had no alternative except to propose +additional direct burdens, by augmenting the income-tax. This +proposition was rejected, and there was a dead-lock. Lord John was at +his wits' end. The free-traders now propose to relieve him from his +embarrassment, by cutting down the expenditure so as to meet the +diminished income. This can only be done by reducing the army and +navy, and the army and navy cannot be reduced except by sacrificing +the colonies; therefore, say the free-traders, get rid of the colonies +at once, and, the work is ready-done to your hands. + +We defy any man, be he Whig, Peelite, Free-trader, or Chartist, to +controvert the truth of what we have stated above. We anticipated the +result from the first hour that Sir Robert Peel yielded, not to the +expressed will of the nation, but to the clamour of a selfish and +organised faction; and every move since has been in exact concordance +with our anticipations. Last year, Lord John Russell showed some +spirit of resistance to the power which was dragging him downward: he +refused to tamper with the army. In an article which appeared in this +Magazine just twelve months ago, we said--"It is to the credit of the +Whigs that, far as they have been led astray by adopting the +new-fangled political doctrines--rather, as we believe, for the sake +of maintaining power than from any belief in their efficacy--they have +declined all participation with the Manchester crew, in their recent +attempts to lower the position and diminish the influence of Great +Britain." The country knows, by this time, that we cannot repeat the +encomium. Last year, _before there was a single disturbance abroad_, +before insurrection had arisen in Ireland, Lord John Russell brought +forward his budget, and, with the support of the great majority of the +House, not only peremptorily refused to accede to a diminution of our +forces, but actually proposed an augmentation. _This year_, we find in +the royal speech the following paragraph--"The present aspect of +affairs has enabled me to make large reductions on the estimates of +last year." + +"The present aspect of affairs!"--Go to, then--let us see what the +phrase is worth--how far the context of the whole speech will justify +the choice of the expression? This is no time for shuffling or +weakness--no time for party-tricks. The atmosphere is dark around us. +By the help of Heaven we have stood the pelting of the storm, and yet +stand unscathed; but the clouds are still black and threatening. We +cannot take a vague assertion, even though it proceeded from a +minister a thousand times more able and trustworthy than the present +premier. We must have proofs before we loosen our cloak, and lessen +the security of our position. + +How stand we with regard to the Continental powers? For the first +time, for many years, the British Sovereign has been unable to state +"that she continues to receive from all foreign powers assurances of +their friendly relations." Instead of that we are simply told, what no +one doubts, that her Majesty is desirous to maintain the most friendly +relations with the other members of the European family. +Unfortunately, however, desire does not always imply possession. Are +we to attribute this omission of the usual paragraph to mere +inadvertence? or are we indeed to conclude that, abroad, there has +arisen a feeling so unfriendly that to hazard the assertion of former +relationship would really be equivalent to a falsehood? It is painful +to allow that we must arrive at the latter conclusion. The moral +weight and influence which Britain once exercised on the Continent has +utterly decayed in the hands of Whig administrations. Instead of +maintaining that attitude of high dignified reserve which becomes the +first maritime power of Europe, we have been exhibited in the light of +a nation of interfering intriguers, whose proffered mediation is +almost equivalent to an insult. Mediators of this kind never are, nor +can be, popular. The answer invariably is, in the language of holy +writ--"Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to +kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian?" and, in consequence, wherever +we have interfered we have made matters worse, or else have been +compelled to submit to an ignominious rebuff. Every one knows what +were the consequences of Lord Palmerston's impertinent and gratuitous +suggestions to the crown of Spain. "What," said Lord Stanley, "is the +state of our relations with that court? You have most unwisely, +through your minister, interfered in the internal administration of +the affairs of that country. That offence has been visited by the +Government of that country upon our ministers in a manner so offensive +that, great as was the provocation given by the British minister, no +man in your Lordship's House, with the information we possess, could +stand up and say that the Government of Spain was justified in the +course they had pursued, however much the magnitude of the offence +might have palliated it. But the state of affairs in Spain is this: +Your minister has been ignominiously driven from Madrid, and you have +quietly and tacitly acquiesced in the insult which the Spanish +Government have put upon you." The immediate consequences of Minto +negotiation in Italy have been assassination and rebellion, the flight +of the Pope from his dominions, and the surrender of the sacred city +to the anarchy of the Club propagandists. But perhaps the worst +instance of our interference is that with the Neapolitan and Sicilian +affairs. We have thus chosen openly to countenance rebellion: we have +gone the length of negotiating with insurgents, for securing them an +independent government. We held out a threat, which we did not dare to +fulfil. After menacing the King of Naples with a squadron off his own +shores, apparently to prevent the expedition then prepared from +setting sail for Sicily--and thereby encouraging the insurgents by the +prospect of British aid--we allowed the fleet to sail, the war to +begin, the city of Messina to be bombarded, and then, with a tardy +humanity, we interfered to check the carnage. In consequence, we are +blamed and detested by both parties. The Neapolitan Government feel +that we have acted towards them in a manner wholly inconsistent with +the character of an ally; that in negotiating with rebels, as we have +done, we have absolutely broken faith, and violated honour; and that +even our last interference was as unprincipled as our first. If the +plea of humanity were to be allowed in such cases, where would be the +end of interference? Durst we have said to Austria, after the +reoccupation of Vienna, "You have taken your city, and may keep it, +but you shall not punish the rebels. If you do, we shall interfere, to +prevent the horrors of military execution"? We think that even Lord +Palmerston, notwithstanding his itch for interposition, would have +hesitated in doing this. Lord Lansdowne, in touching upon the subject +of the Austrian and Hungarian relations, is positively conservative in +his tone. According to him, the British cabinet views rebellion in a +very different light, according as it appears in the centre or the +south of Europe--on the banks of the Danube, or on the shores of the +Mediterranean. "As regarded the administration of the internal affairs +of Austria and Hungary, the British Government had not been asked to +interfere, and had not desired to interfere. They contemplated, as all +Europe did, with that feeling which was experienced when men were seen +successfully struggling with difficulties, a contest which had led to +the display of so much lofty character on the part of individuals. Had +this been the place, he (the Marquis of Lansdowne) should have been as +ready as the noble lord to pay his tribute of respect to individuals +who had appeared in that part of the world, and had been most +successful in their efforts to restore the glories of the Austrian +army in her own dominions. _In the negotiations between the Emperor +and his subjects they had no right to interfere_, neither had they +been invited by either party." This is sound doctrine, we admit, but +why treat Naples otherwise than Austria? Had we any right to interfere +in the negotiations between the King of the Two Sicilies and _his_ +subjects? Not one tittle more than in the other case; and we beg to +suggest to Lord Palmerston, whether it is creditable that this country +should be considered in the light of a bully who hesitates not, in the +case of a lesser power, to take liberties, which he prudently abstains +from doing where one more likely to resent such unwarrantable conduct +is concerned. As for the Sicilians, they feel that they have been +betrayed. But for the prospect of British support, certainly warranted +by our attitude, they might not have gone so far, nor drawn upon their +heads the terrible retribution which overtook them. Such are the +results of Palmerstonian interference, at once dangerous, despicable, +and humiliating. + +We have read with much attention the speech of Lord John Russell, on +the first night of the Session, explanatory of the Italian +transactions; and we must say that his vindication of his +father-in-law is such as to inspire us with a devout hope that the +noble bungler may, in future, be forced to confine his talents for +intrigue to some sphere which does not involve the general +tranquillity of Europe. Considering the manner in which we are mulcted +for the support of the Elliots, we are fairly entitled to ask the +hoary chief of that marauding clan to draw his salary in peace, +without undertaking the task of fomenting civil discord between our +allied powers and their subjects. But even more important is the sort +of admission pervading the address of the Premier, that our +interference in the Sicilian business was regulated by the views +entertained by the French admiral. Sir W. Parker, it seems, did not +take the initiative; it was not his finer sense of humanity which was +offended; for, according to Lord John, "when that expedition reached +Messina, there took place, at the close of the siege of Messina, +events which appeared so horrible and so inhuman in the eyes of the +French admiral that he determined to interfere. It appeared to the +French admiral, that it was impossible such a warfare could continue +without an utter desolation of Sicily, and such alienation from the +Neapolitan Government, on the part of the Sicilians, that no final +terms of agreement could arise; he therefore determined to take upon +himself to put a stop to the further progress of such a horrible +warfare. _After he had so determined, he communicated_ with Sir W. +Parker. Sir W. Parker had a most difficult duty to perform; but, +taking all the circumstances into consideration, our former friendly +relations with the Sicilians--the accounts he had received from the +captain of one of her Majesty's ships then at Messina--the atrocities +he heard of, _and that the French admiral was about to act_--and that +it was important at that juncture that the two nations should act in +concert, his determination was to give orders similar to those which +had been given by the French admiral." Now, although we are fully +alive to the advantage of maintaining the best possible understanding +with the fluctuating French governments, and exceedingly anxious that +no untoward cause for jealousy should arise, we do not think that Lord +John's explanation will be felt as satisfactory by the country. It +appears by this statement, that, had there been no French fleet there, +Sir W. Parker would not have thought himself entitled to interfere. It +is _because_ the French admiral was about to move that he thought fit +to move likewise. If there was any honour in the transaction, we have +forfeited all claim to it by this avowal. If, on the contrary, there +was any wrong done, we excuse it only by the undignified plea, that we +were following the example of France. This is a new position for +Britain to assume--not, in our eyes, one which is likely to raise us +in Continental estimation, or to support the prestige of our maritime +supremacy. To quarrel with our allies is at all times folly; to +vindicate interference on the ground of maintaining a good +understanding with another power, is scarce consonant with principle, +and betrays a conscious weakness on the part of those who have no +better argument to advance. + +See, then, how we are situated with the foreign powers. Spain is +alienated from us--Austria not fervid in her love, for there too, it +would seem, we have most unnecessarily interfered. We are detested in +Naples and Sicily, unpopular elsewhere in Italy, mixed up with the +Schleswig dispute, and on no diplomatic terms with Central Germany. +Our understanding with France has fortunately remained amicable, but +we neither know the policy of France, nor can we foresee under what +circumstances she may be placed in a month from the present time. Is +this a peaceful prospect? Let us hear Lord John Russell, whose +interest it is to make things appear in as favourable a light as +possible:--"I do not contend that there is not cause for anxiety in +the present state of Europe. I am far from thinking that the +revolutions which took place last year have run their course, and that +every nation in which they occurred can now be said to be in a state +of solid security. I rejoice as much as any man that the ancient +empire of Austria, our old ally, is recovering her splendour, and is +showing her strength in such a conspicuous manner. Still I cannot +forget that there are many questions not yet settled with regard to +the internal institutions of Austria--that the question of the +formation of what the honourable gentleman (Mr D'Israeli) has called +an empire without an emperor, is still in debate, and that we cannot +be sure what the ultimate result of these events may be. It is also +true that there may have been, during last year, an excess of +apprehension, caused by the great events that were taking place, and +by the rising up of some wild theories, pretending to found the +happiness of the state and of mankind on visionary and unsound +speculations, on which the happiness of no people or country can ever +be founded. We have seen these opinions prevail in many countries to a +considerable extent; and no one can say that events may not, at some +unforeseen moment, take an unfortunate turn for the peace and +tranquillity of Europe." These are sensible views, moderately but +fairly stated; and we ask nothing more than that his lordship's +measures should be framed in accordance with a belief which is not +only his, but is entertained by every man of ordinary capacity +throughout the country. Experience has shown us that war is almost +invariably preceded by revolution. These are not days in which +potentates can assemble their armies, march across their frontiers +without palpable cause of offence, and seize upon the territory of +their neighbours. But for the spirit of innovation, restlessness, and +lust of change, never more generally exhibited than now amongst the +people, the world would remain at peace. It is only when, as in the +case of Germany and Italy, the sceptre is wrenched from the hands of +the constitutional authorities, and when the rule of demagogues and +experimentalists commences, that the danger of war begins. At such a +time, there are no settled principles of polity or of action. Crude +theories are produced, and, for a time, perhaps, acted upon as though +they were sound realities. Men adopt vague and general terms as their +watchwords, and strive to shape out constitutions to be reared upon +these utterly unsubstantial foundations. Laws are changed, and the +executive loses its power. All is anarchy and confusion, until, by +common consent of those who still retain some portion of their senses, +military despotism is called in to strangle the new-born license. This +is a state of matters which usually results in war. The dominant +authorities feel that their hold of public opinion is most precarious, +unless they can contrive to give that opinion an impulse in another +direction, and, at the same time, to employ, in some way or other, +those multitudes whom revolution has driven from the arts and +occupations of peace, and who, unless so provided for, immediately +degenerate into conspirators at home. War is sometimes resorted to as +the means of avoiding revolution. The disturbed state of the north of +Italy furnished Charles Albert with a pretext for marching his army on +Milan, as much, we believe, on account of the revolutionary spirit +rife within his own dominions, as from any decided hope of territorial +aggrandisement. This was the policy of Napoleon, who perfectly +understood the character of the people he had to deal with, and who +acted on the thorough conviction that war was the necessary +consequence of revolution. We do not say that, in the present +instances, such calamitous results are inevitable--we have hope that +France may this time achieve a permanent constitution without having +recourse to aggression. At the same time, it would be folly to shut +our eyes to the fact that, throughout a great part of Europe, the old +boundaries have been grievously disturbed; and that the modern system +of intervention has a decided tendency to provoke war, at periods when +the popular mind is raised to a pitch of extraordinary violence, and +when the passions are so keenly excited as to disregard the appeals of +reason. + +These considerations are not only directed towards the course of our +foreign policy; they are of vast moment in judging of the expediency +of reducing our forces at this particular time. Last year, with NO +revolutions abroad, the Whigs not only refused to lessen the amount of +our standing army, but increased it. This year, when the Continent is +still in a state of insurrection, and when war is pending in different +parts of Europe--when, moreover, an Indian contest, more serious in +its aspect than any other which we have recently seen, has +commenced--they propose to begin the work of reduction. Her Majesty is +made to say,--"The present aspect of affairs has enabled me to make +large reductions on the estimates of last year!" + +We never have suspected Lord John Russell of possessing much +accomplishment in the art of logic; but, really, in the present +instance, he has the merit of inventing a new system. According to his +own showing, according to his recorded admissions, his doctrine is +this: In time of peace, when there is no occasion for armaments, +increase them; in time of threatened war and actual disturbance, when +there may be every occasion for them, let them be reduced. Yet perhaps +we are wrong: Sir Robert Peel may possibly be admitted as the author +of this vast discovery--in which case, Lord John can merely rank as a +distinguished pupil. The astute baronet, in his zeal for commercial +convulsions, has taught us to expand our currency when there is no +money-famine, and to contract it in the case of exigency. Whether +Californian facts may not hereafter get the better of Tamworth +theories, we shall not at the present moment stop to inquire. In the +mean time let us confine our attention to the proposed reductions. + +We are therefore compelled--reluctantly, for we had hoped better +things from men styling themselves British statesmen--to adopt the +view of Lord Stanley, in his powerful and masterly estimate of the +policy of the present Government. "In the face of all this," said the +noble lord, after recapitulating the posture of affairs at home and +abroad, "ministers have had the confidence to place in the mouth of +their sovereign the astounding declaration, that the aspect of affairs +is such as to enable them to effect large reductions in the estimates. +I venture to state, openly and fearlessly, that it is not the aspect +of affairs abroad or in Ireland, but the aspect of affairs in another +place, which has induced the government to make reductions. _I believe +that they have no alternative but to do as they are ordered._" Here, +then, is the first yielding to the new movement--the first step taken, +at the bidding of the Leaguers, towards a policy which has for its +avowed end the abandonment of the colonies! The question naturally +arises--where is to be the end of these concessions? Are we in reality +ruled by a Manchester faction, or by a body of men of free and +independent opinions, who hold their commissions from the Queen, and +who are sworn to uphold the interests and dignity of their mistress +and of the realm? Let us see who compose that faction, what are their +principles, what are their interests, and what means they employ to +work out the ends which they propose. The splendid speech of Mr +D'Israeli, in moving his amendment to the address--a speech which we +hesitate not to say is superior to any of his former efforts, and +which displays an ability at the present time unequalled in the House +of Commons--a speech not more eloquent than true, not more glowing in +its rhetoric than clear and conclusive in its logical deductions--has +told with withering effect upon the new democratic faction, and has +exposed the ministry which bows before it to the contumely of the +nation at large. "I am told," said the honourable member, "that +England must be contented with a lesser demonstration of brute force. +I am not prepared to contradict that doctrine; but I should like to +have a clear definition of what brute force is. In my opinion, a +highly disciplined army, employed in a great performance--that of the +defence of the country, the maintenance of order, the vindication of a +nation's honour, or the consolidation of national wealth and +greatness--that a body of men thus disciplined, influenced and led by +some of the most eminent generals--by an Alexander, a Cæsar, or a +Wellesley--is one in which moral force is as much entered into as +physical. But if, for instance, I find a man possessing a certain +facility of speech, happily adapted to his cause, addressing a great +body of his fellow-men in inflammatory appeals to their passions, and +stirring them up against the institutions of the country, that is what +I call brute force--which I think the country would be very well +content to do without, and which, if there be any sense or spirit left +in men, or any men of right feeling in the country, they will resolve +to put down as an intolerable and ignominious tyranny! I have often +observed that the hangers-on of the new system are highly fond of +questioning the apothegm of a great Swedish minister, who said, 'With +how little wisdom a nation may be governed!' My observations for the +last few years have led me to the conclusion, not exactly similar, but +analogous to that remark; and if ever I should be blessed with +offspring, instead of using the words of the Swedish statesman, I +would rather address my son in this way, 'My son, see with how much +ignorance you can agitate a nation!' Yes! but the Queen's Ministers +are truckling to these men! That is the position of affairs. Her +Majesty's Ministers have yielded to public opinion. Public opinion on +the Continent has turned out to be the voice of secret societies; and +public opinion in England is the voice and clamour of organised clubs. +Her Majesty's Ministers have yielded to public opinion as a tradesman +does who is detected in an act of overcharge--he yields to public +opinion when he takes a less sum. So the financial affairs of this +country are to be arranged, not upon principles of high policy, or +from any imperial considerations, but because there is an unholy +pressure from a minority which demands it, and who have a confidence +of success because they know that they have already beaten two Prime +Ministers." No one who has perused the report of the proceedings at +the late free-trade dinner at Manchester can have failed to remark +that the League is still alive and active. It was not for mere +purposes of jubilation, for the sake of congratulating each other on +the accomplishment of their old object, that these men assembled. +Exultation there was indeed, and some not over-prudent disclosures as +to the nature and extent of the machinery which they had employed, and +the agencies they had used to excite one class of the community +against the other; their inveterate hatred towards the aristocracy and +landed gentry of Great Britain was shown in the diatribes of almost +every one of the commercial orators. "We cannot," says _The Times_, +"but regret that in those portions of the Manchester speeches which +refer to their corn-law achievements, the minds of the speakers appear +still imbittered with class hatred, and feelings of misplaced +animosity towards their fellow-countrymen." "As a people," quoth +Friend John Bright, "we have found out we have some power. We have +discovered we were not born with saddles on our backs, and country +gentlemen with spurs." Ulterior objects are not only hinted at, but +clearly and broadly propounded. The population of the towns is again +to be pitted against that of the counties, and the counties, if +possible, to be swamped by an inundation of urban voters. The banquet +of Wednesday was followed by the financial meeting of Thursday. George +Wilson, the ancient president of the Anti-Corn-Law League, occupied +the chair. Bright and Cobden, the Bitias and Pandarus of the +cotton-spinners, moved the first of a series of resolutions: and an +association was formed, "for maintaining an efficient care over the +registration of electors in boroughs and counties, and to promote the +increase of the county electors by the extension of the forty-shilling +freehold franchise." It was further agreed "that the association +should co-operate with similar associations throughout the country, +and that parties subscribing £10 annually shall be members of the +council, together with such persons, being members of the association, +as shall be elected by any vote of the council." We hope that these +announcements will open the eyes of those who thought that by yielding +to the former agitation they were adopting the best means of bringing +it to a close. Agitation never is so quieted. The experiment has been +made in Ireland until further yielding was impossible; and so will it +be in Britain, if a higher, a bolder, and a more steadfast line of +policy should not be adopted by future governments. From the present +Cabinet we expect nothing. Their invariable course is to yield; for +they neither have the ability to devise measures for themselves, nor +the public virtue to resist unconstitutional encroachments. For where +is the constitution of this country, if we are to be practically +governed by Leagues, by huge clubs with their ramifications extending, +as in France, throughout every town of the empire, and secretly worked +according to the will of an inscrutable and unscrupulous council? +Public opinion, as we understood the phrase in Britain, manifested +itself in Parliament; now, we are told, that it is something +else--that it is the voice of clubs and assemblies without. Very well, +and very powerfully did Mr D'Israeli allude to this system of +organisation in the close of his animated speech:-- + + "I have noticed the crude and hostile speculations that are + afloat, especially respecting financial reform, not only + because I consider them to be very dangerous to the country; + not only because, according to rumour, they have converted + the Government; but because, avowedly on the part of their + promulgators, they are only tending to ultimate efforts. This + I must say of the new revolutionary movement, that its + proceedings are characterised by frank audacity. They have + already menaced the church, and they have scarcely spared the + throne. They have denounced the constitutional estates of the + realm as antiquated and cumbrous machinery, not adapted to + the present day. No doubt, for the expedition of business, + the Financial Reform Association presents greater facilities + than the House of Commons. It is true that it may be long + before there are any of those collisions of argument and + intellect among them which we have here; they have no + discussions and no doubts; but still I see no part of the + go-a-head system which is likely to supersede the sagacity + and matured wisdom of English institutions; and so long as + the English legislature is the chosen temple of free + discussion, I have no fear, whatever party may be in power, + that the people of England will be in favour of the new + societies. I know very well the difficulties which we have to + encounter--the dangers which illumine the distance. The + honourable gentleman, who is the chief originator of this + movement, made a true observation when he frankly and freely + said, that the best chance for the new revolution lay in the + dislocation of parties in this House. I told you that, when I + ventured to address some observations to the house almost in + the last hour of the last session. I saw the difficulty which + such a state of things would inevitably produce. But let us + not despair; we have a duty to perform, and, notwithstanding + all that has occurred, we have still the inspiration of a + great cause. We stand here to uphold not only the throne, but + the empire; to vindicate the industrial privileges of the + working classes; to reconstruct the colonial system; to + uphold the church, no longer assailed by appropriation + clauses, but by vizored foes; and to maintain the majesty of + parliament against the Jacobin manoeuvres of Lancashire. This + is a stake not lightly to be lost. At any rate, I would + sooner my tongue were palsied before I counselled the people + of England to lower their tone. Yes, I would sooner quit this + House for ever than I would say to the people of England that + they overrated their position. I leave that delicate + intimation to the fervid patriotism of the gentlemen of the + new school. For my part, I denounce their politics, and I + defy their predictions; but I do so because I have faith in + the people of England, their genius, and their destiny!" + +Our views therefore are simply these--that while it is the duty of +government to enforce and practise economy in every department of the +public service, they are not entitled, upon any consideration +whatever, to palter with the public safety. We cannot, until the +estimates are brought forward, pronounce any judgment upon the merits +of the proposed reductions--we cannot tell whether these are to be +numerical, or effected on another principle. Needless expenditure we +deprecate as strongly as the most sturdy adherent of the League, and +we expect and hope that in several departments there will be a saving, +not because that has been clamoured for, but because the works which +occasioned the outlay have been completed. For example, the +introduction of steam vessels into our navy has cost a large sum, +which may not be required in future. But to assign, as ministers have +done, the position of affairs abroad as a reason for reducing our +armaments, is utterly preposterous. It is a miserable pretext to cover +their contemptible truckling, and we are perfectly sure that it will +be appreciated throughout the country at its proper value. It remains +to be seen whether these estimates can be reduced so low as to meet +the expenditure of the country. Our own opinion is, that they cannot, +without impairing the efficiency of either branch of the service; and +we hardly think that ministers will venture to go so far. + +Let us, at all events, hope that Lord John Russell and his colleagues +are not so lost to the sense of their duty, as to make the sweeping +reduction which the Manchester politicians demand--that they will not +consent to renounce the colonies, or to leave them destitute of +defence. Still the question remains--how are we to raise our revenue? +To this point we perpetually recur, for it is in this that the real +difficulty lies. What says her Majesty's Government to this? The +answer is quite short--Nothing. They have no scheme, so far as we are +given to understand. They cannot go back upon indirect taxation; the +country will not stand any increase of the direct burdens. The old +rule was, out of two evils choose the least: the new rule seems to be, +choose neither the one nor the other, but let matters go on as they +best can. We have that confidence in the good sense of the country, +that we cannot believe that this _laissez faire_ system will be much +longer tolerated. The family party, as the interwoven clique of +Russells, Mintos, Greys, and Woods, has not unaptly been designated, +was not placed in power merely to enjoy the sweets of office, or to +provide for their numerous kindred; they must either grapple with the +pressing difficulties of the state, or surrender their places to +others who are more confident and capable. + +Confidence is not wanting in certain quarters, though capability may +be a matter of more dubiety. Mr M'Gregor, M.P. for Glasgow, and +concocter of the famous free-trade tables, is ready at a moment's +notice to produce a new financial scheme, founded upon unerring data, +and promising a large increase of the revenue. Cobden has another +scheme on the irons with the same view, benevolently proposing to lay +the land of Great Britain under further contribution. We believe that, +after the experience of the past, few people will be likely to accept +either budget without considerable hesitation. Both gentlemen have +committed a slight mistake in imitating Joseph's interpretation of the +dream of Pharaoh; they should have inversed the order, and given the +years of famine the precedence of the years of plenty. + +The truth is, that it is a very simple matter to take off existing +taxes, but marvellously difficult to impose new ones. Granting that a +certain sum is required for the annual engagements and expenditure of +the country, no wise statesman would abolish any source of revenue, +without, at the same time, introducing another equivalent. Our error +has been abolition without any equivalent at all. It is all very well +to say, that by reducing import duties upon particular articles you +stimulate the power of production: that stimulus may be +given--individuals may in consequence be enriched--and yet still there +is a defalcation of revenue. This, however, is the best case which can +be pointed out for the reduction of duties, and can only apply, in any +degree, to imports of raw material. The greater part of Sir Robert +Peel's tariff is founded upon a principle directly opposite to this. +He removed import duties from articles which, so far from stimulating +the power of production at home, absolutely crushed that power, by +bringing in foreign to supersede British labour. Thus, in both cases, +there was a sacrifice. In the one there was, at all events, a direct +sacrifice of revenue; in the other, a sacrifice of revenue, and a +sacrifice of labour also. The imposition (and the word is appropriate +either in its plain or its metaphorical meaning) of the property and +income tax, which gave Sir Robert Peel the power of making his +commercial experiments, proved inadequate to replace the deficit. The +promised gain was as visionary as the dividends on certain railway +lines projected about the same period, and no new source of national +income has been opened to supply the loss. + +Lord Brougham, no bad judge of human nature, observed the other night, +that "such was the extent of the self-conceit of mankind, such the +nature and amount of human frailty, that it became no easy matter to +induce a nation to retrace its steps." People are ever loath to accept +as facts the most pregnant evidences of their own deliberate folly. +Perfectly aware of this metaphysical tendency, we are not surprised +that, for the last two or three years, every remonstrance against the +dangers of precipitate commercial legislation should have been treated +with scorn, both by the older advocates of the abolition system, and +by the younger disciples who were converted in a body along with their +master. They have been kind enough, over and over again, to entreat +us to relinquish our defence of what they called an antiquated and +worn-out theory. Their supplications on this score have been so +continuous as to become absolutely painful; nor could we well +understand why and wherefore they should be so very solicitous for our +silence. Our worst enemies cannot accuse us of advocating any +dangerous innovations: our preachment may be tedious, but, at all +events, we do not take the field at the head of an organised +association. Neither can we be blamed for solitary restiveness, for we +do not stand alone in the utterance of such opinions. The public press +of this country has nobly fought the battle. We have had to cope with +dexterous and skilled opponents; but never, upon any public question, +has a great cause been maintained more unflinchingly, more +disinterestedly, and more ably, than that of the true Conservative +party by the free Conservative press. We are now glad to see that our +denunciations of the new system have not been altogether without their +effect. The temporary failure of free trade has been conceded even by +its advocates; but we are referred to accidental causes for that +failure, and the entreaty now is, to give the system a longer trial. +We have no manner of objection to this, provided we are not asked to +submit to any further experiments. We desire nothing better than that +the people of Great Britain, be they agriculturists, or be they +tradesmen, should have the opportunity of testing by experience the +blessings of the free-trade system. The first class, indeed, do not +require any probationary period of low prices to strengthen their +conviction of the fallacy of the anti-reciprocity system, or of the +iniquity of the arrangement which compels them to support the enormous +amount of pauperism engendered by the over amount of population, +systematically encouraged by the manufacturers. "The manufacturers," +said Lord Brougham, "do not, perhaps, tell the world that they +manufacture other things besides cotton twist; but every one who knew +anything of them, knew that they _manufactured paupers_. Where the +land produced one pauper, manufacturers created half-a-dozen." Still +we can hardly expect to be thoroughly emancipated from the effects of +the great delusion, until men of every sort and quality are +practically convinced that their interests have been sacrificed to the +selfish objects of a base and sordid confederation. We have no wish to +hark back without occasion, or prematurely, to the corn laws: but, at +the same time, we are not of the number of those who think that +subsequent events have justified the wisdom of the measure. If the +loyalty of the people of Great Britain did really rest upon so very +narrow a point, that, even amidst the rocking and crashing of thrones +and constitutions upon the Continent, ours would have been endangered +by the maintenance of the former law, we should still have reason to +despair of the ultimate destinies of the country. Are we to understand +that, in such a case, the Jacobin faction would have had recourse to +arms--that the Manchester League would have preached rebellion, or +excited its adherents to insurrection? If not this, where would have +been the danger? Never was any question agitated in which the mass of +the operatives took less interest than in the repeal of the corn laws. +They knew well that no benefit was thereby intended to be conferred +upon them--that no philanthropic motives contributed to the erection +of the bazaars--that the millions of popular tracts were poured forth +from no cornucopia of popular plenty. The very fact, that the hard and +griping men of calico were so liberal with their subscriptions to +promote an agrarian change, was sufficient of itself to create a +strong suspicion in their minds; for when was the purse of the +taskmaster ever produced, save from a motive of selfish interest? We +will not do the masses of the British population the foul injustice to +believe that, under any circumstances, they would have emulated the +frantic example of the French. Cobden has not yet the power of his +friend and correspondent Cremieux: he is a wordy patriot, but nothing +more; and, even had he been inclined for mischief, we do not believe +that, beyond the immediate pale of his confederates, any considerable +portion of the nation would readily have rallied round the standard +of such a Gracchus, even though the tricolor stripes had been +displayed on a field of the choicest calico. + +"The corn law is a settled question!" so shout the free-traders daily, +in high wrath and dudgeon if any one even ventures to allude to +agricultural distress. We grant the fact. It is a settled question, +like every other which has been decided by the legislature, and it +must remain a settled question until the legislature chooses to reopen +it. We do not expect any such consummation for a long time. We agree +perfectly with the other party, that it is folly to continue +skirmishing after the battle is over, and we do not propose to adopt +any such tactics. We are content to wait until the experiment is +developed, to see how the system works, and to accept it if it works +well; but not on that account shall we less oppose the free-traders +when they advance to further innovations. The repeal of the corn laws +was not the whole, but a mere branch of the free-trade policy. It was +undoubtedly the branch more calculated than any other to depress the +agricultural interest, but the trial of it has been postponed longer +than the free-traders expected. They shall have the benefit of that +circumstance; nor shall we say one word out of season upon the +subject. But perhaps, referring again to the Queen's speech, and +selecting this time for our text those paragraphs which stated that +"commerce is reviving," and that "the condition of the manufacturing +districts is likewise more encouraging than it has been for a +considerable period," we may be allowed to offer a few observations. + +We do not exactly understand what her Majesty's ministers mean by the +revival of commerce. This is a general statement which it is very easy +to make, and proportionally difficult to deny. If they mean that our +exports during the last half year have increased, we can understand +them, and very glad indeed we are to learn that such is the case. For +although we have seen of late some elaborate arguments, tending, if +they have any meaning at all, to show that our imports and not our +exports should be taken as the true measure of the national prosperity, +we have that faith in the simple rules of arithmetic which forbids us +from adopting such reasoning. But our gladness at receiving such a +cheering sentiment from the highest possible authority is a good deal +damped by the result of the investigations which we have thought it our +duty to make. We have gone over the tables minutely, and we find that +the exports of the great staples of our industry--cotton, woollen, +silk, linen, hardware, and earthenware--were of less value than those +of 1847 by FOUR MILLIONS AND A HALF, and less than those of 1846 by a +sum exceeding FIVE MILLIONS AND A HALF. With such a fact before us, can +it be wondered at if we are cautious of receiving such unqualified +statements, and exceedingly doubtful of the good faith of the men who +make them? + +But, perhaps, this is not the sense in which ministers understand +commerce. They are entitled to congratulate the country upon one sort +of improvement, which certainly was not owing to any efforts upon +their part. We have at last emerged from the monetary crisis, induced +by the unhappy operation of the Banking Restriction Act, and, in this +way, commerce certainly has improved. The fact that such a change in +the distribution of the precious metals should have taken place whilst +our exports were steadily declining, is very instructive, because it +clearly demonstrates the false and artificial nature of our present +monetary system. The consequences, however, may be serious, as the +price of the British funds cannot now be taken as an index of the +prosperity of the country, either in its agricultural or its +manufacturing capacity, but has merely relation to the possession of a +certain quantity of bullion. The rise of the funds, therefore, does +not impress us with any confidence that there has been a healthy +revival in the commerce of the country. We cannot consider the +question of commerce apart from the condition of the manufacturing +districts; and it is to that quarter we must look, in order to test +the value of the free-trade experiments. + +We have already noticed the enormous decrease, during the last three +years, in the annual amount of our exports. This, coupled with the +immense increase of imported articles of foreign manufacture, proves +very clearly that the British manufacturer has as yet derived no +benefit from the free-trade measures. We do not, of course, mean to +say that free trade has had any tendency to lessen our exports, though +to cripple the colonies is certainly not the way to augment their +capabilities of consumption. We merely point to the fact of the +continued decrease, even in the staples of British industry, as a +proof of the utter fruitlessness of the attempt to take the markets of +the world by storm. We are told, indeed, of exceptional causes which +have interfered with the experiment; but these causes, even allowing +them their fullest possible operation, are in no way commensurate with +the results. For be it remarked, that the free-trade measures +contemplated this result,--that increased imports were to be +compensated by an enormous augmentation of exports: in other words, +that we were to meet with perfect reciprocity from every foreign +nation. Now, admitting that exceptional causes existed to check and +restrain this augmentation, can we magnify these to such an extent as +to explain the phenomenon of a steady and determined fall in our +staple exports, and that long before the occurrence of civil war or +insurrection on the continent of Europe? The explanation is just +this,--the exports fell because the markets abroad were glutted, and +because no state is disposed to imitate the suicidal example of +Britain, or to sacrifice its own rising industry for the sake of +encouraging foreigners. What inducement, it may be asked, has any +state in the world to follow in our wake? Let us take for example +Germany, to whose markets we send annually about six millions and a +half of manufactures. Germany has considerable manufactures of her +own, which give employment to a large portion of the population. Would +it be wise in the Germans, for the sake of reducing the price either +of linen, cotton, or woollen goods by an infinitesimal degree, to +throw all these people idle, and to paralyse labour in every +department, whenever they could be undersold by a foreign artisan? +Undoubtedly not. Germany has nothing whatever to gain by pursuing such +a course. The British market is open to her, but she does not on that +account relax her right of laying duties upon imports from Britain. +She shelters herself against our competition in her home market, +augments her revenue thereby, and avails herself to the very utmost of +our reduced tariffs, to compete in our country with the artisans of +Sheffield and Birmingham. Every new return convinces us more and more +that commercial interchange is the proper subject of international +treaty; but that no nation whatever, and certainly not one so heavily +burdened as ours, can hope for prosperity if it opens its ports +without the distinct assurance of reciprocity. + +Let us try distinctly to ascertain the real amount of improvement +visible in the manufacturing districts. In order to do this, we must +turn to the last official tables, which bring down the trade accounts +from 5th January to 5th December 1848, being a period of eleven +months. We find the following ominous result in the comparison with +the same period in former years:-- + + _Exports of British Produce and Manufactures from the United Kingdom._ + + 1846. 1847. 1848. + + Total, £47,579,413 £47,345,354 £42,158,194 + +FIVE MILLIONS, TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS of decreased exports in +eleven months!--and the manufacturing districts are improving! + +Let us see the ratio of decline on some of the principal articles +which are the product of these districts. We shall therefore omit such +entries as those of butter, candles, cheese, fish, soap, salt, &c., +and look to the staples only. The following results we hardly think +will bear out the somewhat over-confident declaration of the +ministry:-- + + _Export of Principal Manufactures from the United Kingdom._ + + 1846. 1847. 1848. + Cotton manufactures, £16,276,465 £16,082,313 £15,050,579 + Do. yarn, 7,520,578 5,547,943 5,443,800 + Linen manufactures, 2,553,658 2,690,536 2,475,224 + Do. yarn, 797,640 615,550 440,118 + Silk manufactures, 768,888 912,842 520,427 + Woollen yarn, 858,953 941,158 712,035 + Do. manufactures, 5,852,056 6,424,503 5,198,059 + Earthenware, 742,295 773,786 651,184 + Hardwares and cutlery, 2,004,127 2,138,091 1,669,146 + Glass, 241,759 272,411 216,464 + Leather, 307,336 327,715 244,663 + Machinery, 1,050,205 1,186,921 779,759 + ----------- ----------- ----------- + £38,973,920 £37,913,769 £33,401,758 + +Looking at these tables, we fairly confess that we can see no ground +for exultation whatever; on the contrary, there is in every article a +marked and steady decline. Some of the free-trade journals assert +that, although in the earlier part of the last year there certainly +was a marked falling off in our exports, yet that the later months +have almost redeemed the deficiency. That statement is utterly false +and unfounded. In September last, we showed that the exports of the +first seven commodities in the above table, exhibited a decline of +£3,177,370, for the six earlier months of the year, as compared with +the exports in 1847. We continue the account of the same commodities +for eleven months, and we find the deficiency rated at £3,370,603; so +that we still have been going down hill, only not quite at so +precipitate a rate as before. Free-trade, therefore--for which we +sacrificed our revenue, submitted to an income-tax, and ruined our +West India colonies--has utterly failed to stimulate our exports, the +end which it deliberately proposed. + +The diminution of exports implies of course a corresponding diminution +of labour. This is a great evil, but one which is beyond the remedy of +the statesman. You cannot force exports--you cannot compel the foreign +nations to take your goods. We beg attention to the following extract +from the speech of Mr D'Israeli, which puts the matter of export upon +its true and substantial basis:-- + + "Look at your condition with reference to the Brazils. Every + one recollects the glowing accounts of the late + Vice-president of the Board of Trade with respect to the + Brazilian trade--that trade for which you sacrificed your own + colonies. There is an increase in the trade with the Brazils + of 26,500,000 of yards in 1846 over 1845; and 18,500,000 + yards in 1847 over 1845; and this increase has so completely + glutted that market, that goods are selling at Rio and Bahia + at cost price. It is stated in the _Mercantile Journal_, that + 'It is truly alarming to think what may be the result of a + continuance of imports, not only in the face of a very + limited inquiry, but at a period of the year when trade is + almost always at a stand. Why cargo after cargo of goods + should be sent hither, is an enigma we cannot solve. Some few + vessels have yet to arrive; and although trade may probably + revive in the beginning of 1849, what will become of the + goods received and to be received? This market cannot consume + them. Stores, warehouses, and the customhouse are full to + repletion; and if imports continue upon the same scale as + heretofore, and sales have to be forced, we may yet have to + witness the phenomenon of all descriptions of piece goods + being purchased here below the prime cost in the country of + production!' Such is the state of matters in these markets; + and I do not see that your position in Europe is better. + Russia is still hermetically sealed, and Prussia is not yet + stricken. I know that there are some who, at this moment, + think that it is a matter of no consequence how much we may + export; who say that foreigners will not give their + productions for nothing, and that, therefore, we must just + manage things in the most favourable way we can for + ourselves. There is no doubt that foreigners will not give us + their goods without some exchange for them; but the question + which the people of this country are looking at is, to know + exactly what are the terms of exchange which it is beneficial + for us to adopt. That is the whole question. You may glut + markets, as I have shown you have succeeded in doing; but the + only effect of your system, of your attempting to struggle + against those hostile tariffs, by opening your ports, is + that you exchange more of your labour every year and every + month for a less quantity of foreign labour; that you render + British labour or native industry less efficient; that you + degrade British labour--necessarily diminish profits, and, + therefore, must lower wages; while the first philosophers + have shown that you will finally effect a change in the + distribution of the precious metals that must be pernicious + to this country. It is for these reasons that all practical + men are impressed with the conviction that you should adopt + reciprocity as a principle of your commercial tariff--not + merely from its practical importance, but as an abstract + truth. This was the principle of the negotiations at Utrecht, + which was copied by Mr Pitt in his commercial negotiations at + Paris, which formed the groundwork of the instructions to Mr + Eden, and which was wisely adopted and upheld by the cabinet + of Lord Liverpool; but which was deserted, flagrantly, and + openly, and unwisely, in 1846. There is another reason why + you can no longer defend your commercial system--you can no + longer delay considering the state of your colonies. This is + called an age of principles, and no longer of political + expedients--you yourselves are the disciples of economy; and + you have, on every occasion, enunciated it as a principle + that the colonies of England were an integral part of this + country. You ought, then, to act towards your colonies on the + principle you have adopted, but which you have never + practised. The principle of reciprocity is, in fact, the only + principle on which you can reconstruct your commercial system + in a manner beneficial to the mother country and advantageous + to the colonies. It is, indeed, a great principle, the only + principle on which a large and expansive system of commerce + can be founded, so as to be beneficial. The system you are + pursuing is one quite contrary--you go fighting hostile + tariffs with fixed imports; and the consequence is that you + are following a course most injurious to the commerce of the + country. And every year, at the commencement of the session, + you come, not to congratulate the House or the country on the + state of our commerce, but to explain why it suffered, why it + was prostrate; and you are happy on this occasion to be able + to say that it is recovering--from what? From unparalleled + distress." + +The labour market in this country, so far from improving, is, we have +every reason to believe, in a pitiable state. Let us take the one +instance of silk manufactures. Of these we exported, during eleven +months of last year, an amount to the value of £912,842; this year we +have only sent out £520,427, or nearly £400,000 less. But this decline +does not by any means express the amount of the curtailment of labour +in this important branch of industry. The home market has been +inundated with foreign silks, introduced under the tariffs of 1846, +and that to a degree which is wholly without precedent. Let us see the +comparative amount of importations. + + 1846. 1847. 1848. + Silk or satin broad stuffs, 115,292 lbs. 147,656 lbs. 269,637 lbs. + Silk ribbons, 180,375 " 182,978 " 217,243 " + Gauze or crape broad stuffs, 6,536 " 5,588 " 8,243 " + Gauze ribbons, 31,307 " 41,825 " 49,460 " + Gauze mixed, 18 " 8 " 39 " + Mixed ribbons, 1,842 " 3,094 " 2,466 " + Velvet broad stuffs, 26,798 " 27,494 " 29,669 " + Velvet embossed ribbons, 13,550 " 14,192 " 41,461 " + ------------ ------------ ------------ + 375,718 lbs. 422,835 lbs. 618,218 lbs. + +Is there any commentary required on these figures? We should hope that +no one can be dull enough to misapprehend their import. In one year +our exportation of silk goods has fallen to little more than a half: +in two years our importations from the Continent have nearly doubled. +Where ninety British labourers worked for the exporting trade, only +fifty are now employed; and if we suppose that the consumpt of silk +manufactures in this country is the same in 1848 as in 1846, the +further amount of labour which has been sacrificed, by the increased +importations, must be something positively enormous. It is in this way +that free trade beggars the people and fills the workhouses; whilst, +at the same time, it brings down the national revenue to such an ebb, +that it is utterly insufficient to balance the necessary expenditure. +It would be well if politicians would constantly keep in view this one +great truth--That of all the burdens which can be laid upon a people, +the heaviest is the want of employment. No general cheapness, no class +accumulations of wealth, can make up for this terrible want; and the +statesman who deliberately refuses to recognise this principle, and +who, from any motive, deprives the working man of his privilege, is an +enemy to the interests of his country. + +We cannot, and we do not, expect that men who have committed +themselves so deeply as Mr Cobden has done to the principles of free +trade in all its branches, should, under any development of +circumstances, be brought to acknowledge their error. No evidence +however overwhelming, no ruin however widely spread, could shake their +faith, or at any rate diminish the obstinacy of their professions. +They would rather sacrifice, as indeed they seem bent on doing, the +best interests of the British empire, than acknowledge the extent of +their error. Their motto avowedly is, _vestigia nulla retrorsum_. No +sooner is one interest pulled down than they make a rapid and +determined assault upon another, utterly reckless of the misery which +they have occasioned, and hopelessly deaf even to the warnings of +experience. They are true destructives; because they feel that they +dare not pause in their career of violence, lest men should have +leisure, to contemplate the ruin already effected, and should ask +themselves what tangible benefit has been obtained at so terrible a +cost. Mr Cobden knows better than to resume consideration of +free-trade principles, now that we have seen them in actual operation. +He is advancing on with his myrmidons towards the Moscow of free +trade; but, unless we are greatly mistaken, he may have occasion, some +day or other, to revisit his ancient battlefields, but not in the +capacity of a conqueror. There are, however, others, less deeply +pledged, who begin to perceive that in attempting to carry out free +trade without reciprocity, and in the face of hostile tariffs, we are +ruining the trade of Britain for the sole advantage of the foreigner. +Mr Muntz, the member for Birmingham, is not at one with ministers as +to the cheerful prospect of the revival among the manufacturers. + + "When I came here," said he characteristically, "I heard a + great deal about the improvement of trade in the country. But + I went home on Saturday, and there was not a man I met who + had experienced any of this improvement in trade. On the + contrary, every one said that trade was flat and + unprofitable, and that there was no prospect of improvement + because they were so much competed with by foreign + manufacturers. This very morning I met with one of my + travellers, who had just returned from the north of Germany; + and I asked him what was the state of trade. 'Oh,' said he, + 'there is plenty of trade in Germany, but not trade with + England. They manufacture goods so cheaply themselves, that, + at the prices you sell, low as they are, you cannot compete + with the Germans.' I will tell the House another curious + thing. About three or four years ago, the glassmakers of + Birmingham were very anxious for free trade, and, though I + warned them that I did not think they could compete with + foreigners, yet they were quite certain they could. Well, I + introduced them to the minister of the day--the right + honourable baronet the member of Tamworth--when, to my horror + and astonishment, they asked, not for free trade, but for + three years of protection. Why, I said to them, I thought you + were for free trade? 'Yes,' they replied, 'so we are; but we + want the three years of protection to prepare us for free + trade.' Now, on Saturday last, I received a letter from one + of the leading manufacturers, stating that the import duties + on flint-glass would expire very soon, and with those duties + the trade in this country, he feared, was also in great + danger of expiring, owing to the produce of manufactures + being admitted duty-free into this country, while they had + protective duties in their own, thus keeping up the price at + home by sending over the surplus stock here. The letter + concluded by requesting that the protective duties, which + were about to expire, might be renewed. The improvement in + trade, which was so much talked of, is not an improvement in + quality, but an improvement in quantity: there are half a + dozen other trades which have vanished from Birmingham, + because of the over-competition of the Continent. And, + strangely enough, the manufactures that have been the most + injured are those which last week were held up by the public + press as in a most flourishing condition!" + +This statement furnishes ample ground for reflection. The truth is, +that the whole scheme of free trade was erected and framed, not for +the purpose of benefiting the manufacturers at the expense of the +landed interest, but rather to get a monopoly of export for one or +two of the leading manufactures of the empire. Those who were engaged +in the cotton and woollen trade, along with some of the iron-masters, +were at the head of the movement. No influx of foreign manufactured +produce could by possibility swamp _them_ in the home market, for they +are not exposed to that competition with which the smaller trades must +struggle. The Germans will take shirtings, but they will not now take +cutlery from us. The articles which they produce are certainly not so +good as ours, but they are cheaper, and protected, and it is even +worth their while to compete with us in the home markets of Britain. +The same may be said of the trade in brass, gloves, shoes, hats, +earthenware, porcelain, and fifty others. They are not now exporting +trades, and at home, under the new tariffs, we are completely +undersold by the foreigners. As for the glass trade, no one who is +acquainted with the present state of that manufacture on the +Continent, can expect that it will ever again recover. This, in +reality, is the cause of the present depression; and until this is +thoroughly understood by the tradesmen who are suffering, there can be +no improvement for the better. What advantage, we ask, can it be to a +man who finds his profits disappearing, his trade reduced to +stagnation, and his capability of giving employment absolutely +annihilated, to know that, in consequence of some sudden impulse, +twenty million additional yards of calico have been exported from +Great Britain? The glass-blower, the brazier, and the cutler, have not +the remotest interest in calico. They may think, indeed, that part of +the profit so secured may be indirectly advantageous in the purchase +of their wares, but they find themselves lamentably mistaken. The +astute calico-master sells his wares to the foreigner abroad, and he +purchases with equal disinterestedness from the manufacturing +foreigner at home. This is the whole tendency of free trade, and it is +amazing to us that the juggle should find any supporters amongst the +class who are its actual victims. If they look soberly and +deliberately into the matter, they cannot fail to see that the +adoption by the state of the maxim, to sell in the dearest and buy in +the cheapest market, more especially when that market is the home one, +and when cheapness has been superinduced by the introduction of +foreign labour, must end in the consummation of their ruin. Can we +really believe in the assertion of ministers, that manufactures are +improving, when we find, on all hands, such pregnant assurances to the +contrary? For example, there was a meeting held in St James's, so late +as the 11th of January, "to consider the unprecedented number of +unemployed mechanics and workmen now in the metropolis, and to devise +the best means for diminishing their privations and sufferings, by +providing them with employment." Mr Lushington, M.P. for Westminster, +a thorough-paced liberal, moved the first resolution, the tendency of +which was towards the institution of soup kitchens, upon this +preamble, "that the number of operatives, mechanics, and labourers now +thrown out of employment is unusually great, and the consequent +destitution and distress which exist on all sides are painfully +excessive, and deeply alarming." And yet, Mr Lushington, like many of +his class and stamp, can penetrate no deeper into the causes of +distress, than is exhibited in the following paragraph of his +speech:--"The great majority of those whose cases they were now met to +consider, were the victims of misfortune, and not of crime, and, on +that account, they had a legitimate claim upon their sympathy and +commiseration. But private sympathy was impotent to grapple with the +gigantic evil with which they had to contend; isolated efforts and +voluntary alms-giving were but a mere drop in the ocean, compared with +the remedy that the case demanded. They must go further and deeper for +their remedy; and the only efficacious one that could effectually be +brought to bear upon the miseries of the people, was the reduction of +the national expenditure--the cutting down of the army, navy, and +ordnance estimates, and the removal of those taxes that pressed so +heavily upon the poorer portions of the community." This is about as +fine a specimen of unadulterated senatorial drivel as we ever had the +good fortune to meet with; and it may serve as an apt illustration of +the absurd style of argument so commonly employed by the members of +the free-trade party. Suppose that the army were disbanded to-morrow, +and all the sailors in the navy paid off, how would that give +employment to the unfortunate poor? Nay, would it not materially +contribute to increase the tide of pauperism, since no economist has +as yet condescended to explain what sort of employment is to be given +to the disbanded? As to the taxes spoken of by Mr Lushington, what are +they? We really cannot comprehend the meaning of this illustrious +representative of an enlightened constituency. Supposing there was not +a single tax levied in Britain to-morrow, how would that arrangement +better the condition of the people, who are simply starving because +they can get no manner of work whatever? It is this silly but +mischievous babbling, these false and illogical conclusions enunciated +by men who either do not understand what they are saying, or who, +understanding it, are unfit for the station which they occupy, which +tend more than anything else to spread disaffection among the lower +orders, to impress them with the idea that they are unjustly dealt +with, and to stimulate them in their periodical outcry for organic +changes. The remedy lies in restoring to the labouring man those +privileges of which he has been insidiously robbed by the operation of +the free-trade measures. It lies in returning to the system which +secured a full revenue to the nation, whilst, at the same time, it +prevented the minor trades from being swamped by foreign competition. +It lies in refusing to allow one class of the community to extinguish +others, and to throw the burden of the pauperism which it creates upon +the landed interest, already contending with enormous difficulties. +Until this be done, it is in vain to expect any real improvement in +the condition of the working-classes. Each successive branch of +industry that is pulled down, under the operation of the new system, +adds largely to the mass of accumulating misery; and the longer the +experiment is continued, the greater will be the permanent injury to +the country. + +Not the least evil resulting from the free-trade agitation is the +selfishness and division of classes which it has studiously +endeavoured to promote. So long as the agriculturists alone were +menaced, the whole body of the manufacturers were against them. The +tariffs of 1846 struck at the small traders and artisans, and the +merchants looked on with indifference. Now the question relates to the +Navigation Laws, and the shipmasters of Britain complain that they +cannot rouse the nation to a sense of the meditated wrong. Every one +has been ready to advocate free trade in every branch save that with +which he was personally connected; and it is this shortsighted policy +which has given such power to the assailing party. Deeply do we +deplore the folly as well as the wickedness of such divisions. No +nation can ever hope to prosper through the prosperity of one class +alone. It is not the wealth of individuals which gives stability to a +state, but the fair distribution of profitable labour throughout the +whole of the community. In contending for the support of the +Navigation Laws, we are not advocating the cause of the shipmasters, +but that of the nation; and yet we feel that if the principle of free +trade be once fully admitted, no exception can be made, even in this +vital point. If we intend to retain our colonies, we must do justice +to them one way or another. We cannot deprive them of the advantages +which they formerly enjoyed from their connexion with the parent +country, and yet subject them to a burden of this kind, even although +we hold that burden necessary for the effectual maintenance of our +marine. We await the decision of this matter in parliament with very +great anxiety indeed, because we look upon the adoption or the +rejection of Mr Labouchere's bill as the index to our future policy. +If it receives the royal assent, we must perforce prepare for organic +changes far greater than this country has ever yet experienced. The +colonies may still, indeed, be considered as portions of the British +empire, but hardly worth the cost of retention. Free trade will have +done its work. The excise duties cannot be suffered to continue, for +they too, according to the modern idea, are oppressive and unjust; and +the period, thus foreshadowed by Mr Cobden at the late Manchester +banquet, will rapidly arrive: "It is not merely protective duties that +are getting out of favour in this country; but, however strong or weak +it may be at present, still there is firmly and rapidly growing an +opinion decidedly opposed, _not merely to duties for protection, but +to duties for revenue at all_. I venture to say you will not live to +see another statesman in England propose any customs-duty on a raw +material or article of first necessity like corn. I question whether +any statesman who has any regard for his future fame will ever propose +another excise or customs-duty at all." The whole revenue will then +fall to be collected directly: and how long the national creditor will +be able to maintain his claim against direct taxation is a problem +which we decline to solve. The land of Great Britain, like that of +Ireland, will be worthless to its owner, and left to satisfy the +claims of pauperism; and America, wiser than the old country, will +become to the middle classes the harbour of refuge and of peace. + +We do not believe that these things will happen, because we have faith +in the sound sterling sense of Englishmen, and in the destinies of +this noble country. We are satisfied that the time is rapidly +approaching when a thorough reconstruction of our whole commercial and +financial policy will be imperatively demanded from the government--a +task which the present occupants of office are notoriously incapable +of undertaking, but which must be carried through by some efficient +cabinet. Such a measure cannot be introduced piecemeal after the +destructive fashion, but must be based upon clear and comprehensive +principles, doing justice to all classes of the community, and showing +undue favour to none. + +Our observations have already extended to such a length, that we have +little room to speak of that everlasting topic, Ireland. "Ireland," +says Lord John Russell, "is undergoing a great transition." This is +indeed news, and we shall be glad to learn the particulars so soon as +convenient. Perhaps the transition may be explained before the +committee, to which, as usual, Whig helplessness and imbecility has +referred the whole question of Irish distress. The confidence of the +Whigs in the patience of the people of this country must be boundless, +else they would hardly have ventured again to resort to so stale an +expedient. It is easy to devolve the whole duties of government upon +committees, but we are very much mistaken if such trifling will be +longer endured. As to the distress in Ireland, it is fully admitted. +Whenever the bulk of a nation is so demoralised as to prefer living on +alms to honest labour, distress is the inevitable consequence; and the +only way to cure the habit is carefully to withhold the alms. +Ministers think otherwise, and they have carried a present grant of +fifty thousand pounds from the imperial exchequer, which may serve for +a week or so, when doubtless another application will be tabled. This +is neither more nor less than downright robbery of the British people +under the name of charity. Ireland must in future be left to depend +entirely upon her own resources; situated as we are, it would be +madness to support her further; and we hope that every constituency +throughout the United Kingdom will keep a watchful eye on the conduct +pursued by their representatives in the event of any attempt at +further spoliation. From all the evidence before us, it appears that +our former liberality has been thrown away. Not only was no gratitude +shown for the enormous advances of last year, but the money was +recklessly squandered and misapplied, no doubt in the full and +confident expectation of continued remittances. And here we beg to +suggest to honourable members from the other side of the Channel, +whether it might not be well to consider what effect free trade has +had in ameliorating the condition of Ireland. If on inquiry at +Liverpool they should chance to find that pork is now imported direct +from America, not only salted, but fresh and preserved in ice, and +that in such quantities and at so low a rate as seriously to affect +the sale of the Irish produce, perhaps patriotism may operate in +their minds that conviction which reasoning would not effect. If also +they should chance to learn that butter and dairy produce can no +longer command a remunerative price, owing to the increased imports +both from America and the Continent, they will have made one further +step towards the science of political economy, and may form some +useful calculations as to the prospect of future rentals. Should they, +however, still be of opinion that the interests of the Irish people +are inseparably bound up with the continuance of free trade--that +neither prices nor useful labour are matters of any consequence--they +must also bear in mind that they can no longer be allowed to intromit +with the public purse of Britain. The Whigs may indeed, and probably +will, make one other vigorous effort to secure their votes; but no +party in this nation is now disposed to sanction such iniquitous +proceedings, and all of us will so far respond to the call for +economy, as sternly to refuse alms to an indolent and ungrateful +object. + +In conclusion, we shall merely remark that we look forward with much +interest to the financial exposition of the year, in the hope that it +may be more intelligible and satisfactory than the last. We shall then +understand the nature and the amount of the reductions which have been +announced under such extraordinary circumstances, and the state of the +revenue will inform those who feel themselves oppressed by excise +duties, of the chances of reduction in that quarter. Meanwhile we +cannot refrain from expressing our gratitude to both Lord Stanley and +Mr D'Israeli for their masterly expositions of the weak and +vacillating policy pursued by the Whig government abroad, and of the +false colour which was attempted to be thrown upon the state and +prospect of industry at home. Deeply as we lamented the premature +decease of Lord George Bentinck at the very time when the value of his +public service, keen understanding, and high and exalted principle, +was daily becoming more and more appreciated by the country, we are +rejoiced to know that his example has not been in vain; that his noble +and philanthropic spirit still lives in the councils of those who have +the welfare of the British people at heart, and who are resolute not +to yield to the pressure of a base democracy, actuated by the meanest +of personal motives, unscrupulous as to the means which it employs, +impervious to reason, and utterly reckless of consequences, provided +it may attain its end. Against that democracy which has elsewhere not +only shattered constitutions but prostrated society, a determined +stand will be made; and our heartfelt prayer is, that the cause of +truth may prevail. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[32] We find that we have given the leaguers rather too much credit in +the above paragraph. Some of them appear to think that, whether +necessary or not, our forces should be dispensed with; at least so we +gather from the following expressions contained in a dull ill-written +tract, purporting to emanate from the "Edinburgh Financial Reform +Association," which has just come into our hands. Let us hear the +patriotic economists. "If there be any other cause for maintaining a +huge and expensive force, it must be found in the desire to provide +for the scions of the nobility and landed gentry, with a view to +secure votes in both houses of parliament. As is well known, +commissions in the army and navy are held almost entirely by these +classes. No doubt, officers in active service may be said to give work +for their pay, while their gallantry as soldiers is beyond dispute; +but this, unfortunately, does not mend the matter. Their services we +hold to be for the greater part unnecessary; _at all events, they are +services for which the nation cannot afford to pay any longer, and +they_ THEREFORE _ought to be relinquished_." This is intelligible +enough; but we hardly think there are many reasoners of this calibre. + + + + +_Printed by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh._ + + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Obvious typographical errors have been repaired. Accepted older +spellings were retained (for example, "wofully," "bran-new," "lingot," +etc.). + +Text file only: [Delta] refers to the Greek letter, which was the +only signature for "The Sycamine." + +Text file only: Footnote 20, ^{er} refers to superscript "er." + +P. 287, "as offusc and impervious a fold"--unable to verify an +alternate spelling for "offusc." + +P. 299, "the Income Tax. the Chancellor"--period after Tax present in +original; possibly an abbreviation for Taxation. + +P. 321, last line of poem: "Chase the BuffalO!"--capitalization of +final "O" is true to original. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. +401, March 1849, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42412 *** |