diff options
Diffstat (limited to '43225-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 43225-8.txt | 9530 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 9530 deletions
diff --git a/43225-8.txt b/43225-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d4210d8..0000000 --- a/43225-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9530 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 64, -No. 397, November 1848, by Various - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 64, No. 397, November 1848 - -Author: Various - -Release Date: July 16, 2013 [EBook #43225] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, NOV 1848 *** - - - - -Produced by Brendan OConnor, JoAnn Greenwood, Jonathan -Ingram and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Library of Early -Journals.) - - - - - - - - - - BLACKWOOD'S - - EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. - - NO. CCCXCVII. NOVEMBER, 1848. VOL. LXIV. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - -A GLIMPSE AT GERMANY AND ITS PARLIAMENT, 515 - -SATIRES AND CARICATURES OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, 543 - -A PARCEL FROM PARIS, 557 - -LIFE IN THE "FAR WEST." PART THE LAST, 573 - -THE LATE GEORGE FREDERICK RUXTON, 591 - -THE NAVAL WAR OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, 595 - -DANUBE AND THE EUXINE, 608 - -THE MEMOIRS OF LORD CASTLEREAGH, 610 - -A CALL, 625 - -WHAT IS SPAIN ABOUT? 627 - -CONSERVATIVE UNION, 632 - - - 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. CCCXCVII. NOVEMBER, 1848. VOL. LXIV. - - - - -A GLIMPSE AT GERMANY AND ITS PARLIAMENT. - - -We are not old enough to have been politically detained at Verdun. -Our impressions of Napoleon are soured by no recollections of -personal tyranny; and though a near relative wasted the better -portion of his life in the dreary enjoyments of that conventional -fortress, we do not carry the spirit of clanship so far as to -entertain on that account a revengeful hatred towards the memory of -the Corsican. At the same time, it must be confessed that, towards -the latter part of this past August, the idea of Verdun more than -once recurred unpleasantly to our mind. It became clear to us that, -for this year at least, there was little probability of our realising -certain visions of Highland sport which had been called up by a -perusal of the exciting work of the Stuarts. Her Majesty was coming -down to Balmoral, and, in consequence, the red deer of Aberdeenshire -were safe, at least from a private rifle. The grouse, with a degree -of obstinacy truly irritating, had again failed, and we were little -disposed to levy war against the few and feeble remaining broods -of the cheepers. The Duke of Sutherland, with a just economy, had -shut up his rivers, and given the salmon a jubilee; so that there -was no hope of throwing a fly on the surface of the Shin or the -Laxford. On the other hand, there seemed to be plenty of sport, and -no want of shooting on the Continent. Licences were not required, -and restrictive seasons unknown. The odour of gunpowder was distinct -in Paris as early as the month of February; and ever since then -there had been occasional explosions and discharges all over the -face of Europe. True, a _garde mobile_, or a gentleman in a blouse, -especially when provided with a rusty detonator and bayonet, is an -awkward kind of sportsman to encounter. Barricades may be curious -structures to inspect; but it is not pleasant to be on either side of -them when the Red Republic is in question; and still more ungenial -to be placed exactly in the centre, as once occurred to a worthy -bailie of our acquaintance, who, having been sent to Paris in 1830, -on a special mission to fetch home some stray voters for an impending -election in the west, found, to his intense horror, that the -diligence in which he was located was built up as a popular defence; -that the bullets were whistling through the windows; and that even -his patron, St Rollox, seemed deaf to his intercessions for rescue. - -But as we do not happen to hold stock in the French lines, and -therefore have not thought it necessary, as yet, to identify -ourselves with any of the parties who are presently contending -for the palm of mastery in France; as the crusade under the white -flag or the oriflamme in favour of the descendant of Saint Louis -has not yet been openly proclaimed or enthusiastically preached by -any bearded representative of Peter, the Miraculous Hermit; and -as, moreover, we had seen quite enough of France in her earliest -stages of paroxysm, and had no wish to behold the professors of the -vaudeville and palette engaged, in the present dearth of money, at -the novel occupation of cobbling shoes for the Sardinian soldiery -in the _ateliers nationaux_--we resolved to abstain from Paris in -the meantime, and rather to bend our steps towards Germany, then in -the full ferment of the Schleswig Holstein affair. Germany has been -an old haunt of ours from our boyhood. So far back as 1833, we had -the pleasure of witnessing a tight little skrimmage between the -Heidelberg students and the soldiery in the square of Frankfort; and -since that time we have watched with great interest the progress -of the arts, literature, and sciences, and the development of the -interior resources of the country. Right sorry were we, though not -altogether surprised, to learn that quiet Germany had lighted her -revolutionary pipe from the French insurrectionary fires; that -Mannheim, Heidelberg, and Hanau, those notorious nests of democracy, -had succeeded in perverting the minds of many throughout the circle -of the Rhenish provinces; and that studentism, once comparatively -harmless, had become utterly rampant throughout the land. For -although we never could, even in our earlier years, take any deep -pleasure in cultivating the society of the Burschenschaft, but, -on the contrary, rather regarded them as a race to be eschewed by -all who had a wholesome reverence for soap and a horror for the -Kantean philosophy, we were not unpleased at the national spirit -which they exhibited long ago; and more than once, in the vaults of -the _Himmels-leiter_ and _Jammerthal_, at Nuremberg, we have joined -cordially in the chorus of defiance to French aggression-- - - 'Sie sollen ihn nicht haben - Den Deutschen freien Rhein!' - -That Germany, under her peculiar constitution, should retain her -own, and that the boundaries should be strictly preserved, seemed -to us a highly proper, laudable, and patriotic sentiment; but, when -the Teutonic youth went further, and demanded an immediate return to -the mediæval system, and the glorious times of the Empire, we must -confess that their aspirations seemed to us to savour slightly of -insanity. We are, constitutionally, an admirer of the ancient times. -We do not think that people are happier, or wiser, or better, or -that they fulfil one whit more conscientiously their duties to God -and man, when cooped up and collected within the dingy alleys of a -commercial town, instead of treading the free soil which gave their -fathers birth. We are not especially affected to the over-increase of -factories, neither would we award an ovation to any one for breeding -up human beings expressly for the production of calico. But not, on -that account, would we willingly recur to the days of the forays and -the raids. We don't want to see the clans reintegrated, the philabeg -on every hip, and the hills covered with caterans, each ettling at -his skian-dhu. We have no desire to cross the Border of moonlight -night at the head of a score of jackmen, and, _more majorum_, -regale our ears with the lowing of the Northumbrian kine. We do not -consider such a feat necessary, simply because a remote ancestor -was afflicted with too earnest a desire for the improvement of his -patrimonial breed of cattle, and, having been unluckily found on -the wrong side of the Tweed, died, like a poet as he was, with some -neck-verses in his mouth, at a place denominated Hairibee. But our -German friends--more especially the students--have long been haunted -by some such ideas. _The Robbers_ of Schiller, and the _Goetz von -Berlichingen_ of Goëthe, have had a poisonous effect upon the fancy -or fantasy of the young. They have long been dreaming of doublets, -boots, and spurs, and it needed but a little thing to set them -utterly crazy. Their modern school of painting has for years been -even more mediæval than their literature; and what the poets began, -Schnorr and Cornelius have been rapidly bringing to a head. No one -who is intimate with the German character, will lightly undervalue -the effect of such a popular sentiment, when an actual opportunity -for outbreak is afforded in revolutionary times. - -This feeling, absurd as it is, has been greatly favoured and fostered -by the infinitesimal division of Germany at the Treaty of Vienna, -and the maintenance as sovereignties of small states, which ought -long ago to have been remorselessly absorbed. By that settlement -Germany was declared to consist of no less than thirty-eight separate -and independent states, with no other tie of union than an annual -diet at Frankfort. Previous to the Revolutionary wars, there were -actually about three hundred sovereign rulers in Germany, each of -whom might have worn a crown, if he could only have found money -enough to buy one. This was a miserable farce and a caricature, and -it could not possibly last. The King of Man was a powerful potentate -in comparison with some of these autocrats; and if there had been a -royal house of Benbecula, the crown-prince of that insular Eden would -have been a proper match for the daughter of their sublime Highnesses -of Fugger-Kirchberg-Weisenborn, or Salm-Reifferscheid-Krautheim. The -French invasion blew away a crowd of these little sovereigns, like -mites from the surface of a cheese; but, very unfortunately, a tithe -of them were permitted to clamber back. Some of the larger German -states thought to fortify their position, and to obtain an ascendency -in the Diet, by maintaining several of the minor principalities -intact, and, in return, commanding their votes. Hence the retention -as sovereign princedoms of the three Anhalts, the two Schwartzbergs, -the two Hohenzollerns, the two houses of Reuss, the two Lippes, -Waldeck, Lichtenstein, and Homburg--territories, the outlines of -which you can hardly discover on an ordinary map of Europe, or even -on one of Germany. These are the instances which we think the most -objectionable and absurd, but the case of several others is not much -better. For example, there are four sovereign Saxe Duchies, besides -the kingdom of Saxony proper. - -Thirty-eight, then, were preserved by the Congress of Vienna, -whereas, for the sake of stability, there should not have been more -than five. The remaining German states might have been absorbed, as -were many more, into Austria, Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, and Hanover; -and, in this way, power would have been consolidated, a balance -preserved, and entire centralisation avoided. Instead of which, for -more than thirty years there has been a constellation of princes -and of petty courts throughout Germany, to its infinite detriment -and discredit. Magnificent Lichtenstein, with a territory of two -square miles, and about five thousand subjects, takes rank with -imperial Austria; and Henry, styling himself the twenty-second of -Reuss-Lobenstein and Ebersdorf, has as good a patrimonial sceptre as -Frederick-William of Prussia. Out of all this, what could arise save -endless wrangling and confusion? - -The smaller states, especially those which border on the Rhine, -gradually became the acknowledged hotbeds of sedition. It was there -that the expatriated journalists and crack-brained patriotic poets -sought refuge, when their articles, pamphlets, and ditties, became -too strong for the stomach of the legitimate censor; and there they -have been for years hatching treason upon unaddled eggs. The old -influence exercised by France over the Rhenish Confederation has -never utterly decayed. Each fresh insurrectionary leap in Paris -has been followed by a convulsive movement in the western Germanic -princedoms; and no pains have been spared for the dissemination of -the republican propaganda. Even this evil might have been checked, -had Austria and Prussia acted in unison and good faith towards each -other; but, unfortunately for Europe, the policy of the latter power -has always been of the most tortuous and deceptive kind. Prussia, -raised to and maintained in the first class of European states, -solely on the strength of her military armament, and jealous of -the superior strength of her southern rival, has for many years -been engaged in intrigues with the minor states, for the purpose of -securing to herself an independent position, in the event of the -dissolution of the great German confederation. Unable to obtain -her object through a legitimate supremacy in the Diet, Prussia has -gradually withdrawn from the proceedings of the Federal Congress, -and apparently surrendered to Austria the command of that feeble -body. But by means of the Zollverein, or Commercial League--a scheme -which she maturely prepared and perseveringly pursued--Prussia had -contrived to secure the adhesion of fully three-fourths of the -Germanic states--thus expecting to constitute herself a protectorate -in reality, if not in name, and to set the authority of the Diet at -absolute defiance. - -In England, where very little is known of the secret springs of -continental diplomacy, the Zollverein was regarded as a mere -commercial measure. It was, in reality, nothing more than a -preparation for the coming crisis, in the course of which, as -Prussia fondly hoped, Germany might be rent asunder, and the larger -portion of the spoil accrue naturally to her share. As if to make -the distinction between herself and Austria more apparent, Prussia -began to affect liberalism in a remarkable degree. Her talk was of -constitutions on the broadest basis; and her king was, in words -at least, a Quixote in the cause of freedom. But words, however -skilfully uttered, cannot, in the total absence of action, deceive -a people long. The king of Prussia's promises were not a whit more -fruitful than the prophecies of the free-traders, who told us of an -immediate millennium. The censorship of the press was maintained -as stringently as ever, and no concession was made to the popular -demands, naturally stimulated to excess by this show of liberality on -the part of the sovereign. - -At the commencement of the present year, the affairs of Germany -were thus singularly complicated. Austria stood alone on the basis -of her old position, as an absolute and paternal monarchy, refusing -all innovation. Prussia appeared to favour liberal institutions, -but delayed to grant them--professed her willingness to take the -lead in a new era of Germany, but gave no guarantee for her faith. -In consequence, she was not trusted by the revolutionist party in -the south and west, who, having altogether got the better of their -princes, were determined, on the very first opportunity, to try their -hands at the task of regenerating the whole of Germany. Central -authority there was none, for the Diet, deserted and disregarded by -Prussia, had sunk into utter insignificance, and hardly knew what -function it was still entitled to perform. - -At the tocsin of the French revolution, the south-west of Germany -arose. The princes bordering on the Rhine had long been aware -that they were quite powerless in the event of any general -insurrectionary movement, and, accordingly, they were prepared, -without any hesitation, to grant constitutions by the score, whenever -their bearded subjects thought fit, in earnest, to demand them. A -constitution is a cheap thing, and, to a princely proprietor of -limited means, who needed no seven-league boots to traverse the -circle of his dominions, must be infinitely better than forfeiture. -Baden began the dance. The Grand-duke made no difficulty in granting -to his loving liegemen whatever they were pleased to require. The -last of the Electors--he of Hesse-Cassel--was equally accommodating; -and, in such circumstances, it would have been madness for the -King of Wurtemberg to refuse. In Bavaria, the government attempted -to make a stand; but it was of no use. The late king, one of the -most accomplished of dilettantes, worst of poets, and silliest of -created men, had latterly put the coping-stone to a life of folly, -by engaging, though a prospective saint of the Romish calendar, in a -most barefaced intrigue with the notorious Lola Montes. The indecency -and infatuation of this last _liaison_, far more openly conducted -than any of his former numerous amours, had given intense umbrage, -not only to the people, but to the nobility, whom he had insulted by -elevating the _ci-devant_ opera-dancer to their ranks. Other causes -of offence were not wanting; so that poor Ludwig, though the best -judge of pictures in Europe, was forced to give in, and surrender his -dignity to his son. Then rose Nassau and Frankfort, Saxony and Saxe -Weimar, and what other small states we wot not. - -Constitutions became as plenty in the market as blackberries; indeed, -rather too much so, for at last there was a sort of glut. If the -Germans had merely desired freedom of the press, trial by jury, -burgher-guards, and the repeal of exceptional laws, the gift was -ready for them; but they wanted something more, which the separate -sovereigns could not give. In the midst of the haze of revolution, -the popular eye was fixed upon a dim phantom of German unity--upon -the eidolon of old Germania, once more compact and reunited. True, -the old lady had been laid in her grave long before any of the -present generation were born, not in the fulness of her strength, -but after a gradual decay of atrophy. This, however, was a sort of -political resurrection; for there she, or her image, stood, comely as -in her best days, and clothed in mediæval attire. The dreams of the -students seemed to be in the fair way of accomplishment, and a loud -shout of "_Germania soll leben!_" arose from the banks of the Rhine. - -At Heidelberg, on the 5th of March, an assembly of the German -notables was held. This was a self-constituted congress of -fifty-one persons, and represented eight states, in rather singular -proportions; for while the duchy of Baden contributed no less than -twenty-one members, Wurtemberg nine, and Hesse-Cassel six, Austria -was represented by one individual, and Rhenish Prussia by four. -These gentlemen passed resolutions to the effect that Germany -should become one and united; that her safety lay in herself, and -not in alliance with Russia; and that the time had arrived for the -assemblage of a body of national representatives. In the list of the -parties so gathered together, we find the honoured names of Hecker -and of Struve: the star of Von Gagern of Darmstadt was not yet in the -ascendant. After having delegated to a committee of seven the task of -preparing the basis of a German parliament, this meeting separated, -to assemble again with others on the 30th of March at Frankfort, in -the character of a legislative body. - -Although insurrectionary symptoms had been shown at Cologne and -Dusseldorf--both of them especially black-guard places--Prussia -remained tolerably quiet for a week after constitutions were -circulating like currency on the Rhine. But on the 13th the storm -burst both at Berlin and Vienna. Austria did little more than shrug -her shoulders and submit. Prince Metternich, the oldest statesman -of Europe, and the man most personally identified with the ancient -system, was the main object of popular obloquy; and the master -whom he had served so long and so well was physically incapable of -defending him. The Archduke John espoused the popular side, and -the result was the self-exile of the Prince. The King of Prussia -remained true to his original character of charlatan. First of all, -his troops fired upon the mob; then came a temporising period and a -public funeral, spinning out time, until the result of the Vienna -insurrection was known; and at last Frederick-William appeared -to astonished Europe in the character of the great regenerator -of Germany, and as candidate for the throne of the Empire. The -impudence of the address which he issued upon the memorable 18th of -March, absolutely transcends belief; and that document, doubtless, -will remain to posterity, to be marked as one of the most singular -instances on record of royal confidence in public sottishness and -credulity. Here is a short bit of it; and we are sure the reader will -agree with us in our estimate of the character and sincerity of the -august author:-- - - "We believe it right to declare before all--not only before - Prussia, but before Germany, if such be the will of God, and - before the whole united nation, what are the propositions which we - have resolved to make to our German confederates. Above all, we - demand that Germany be transformed from a confederation of states - into a federal state. We admit that this implies a recognisation - of the federal constitution, which cannot be carried into effect - save by the union of the princes with the people. In consequence, - a temporary federal representation from all the states of Germany - must be formed, and immediately convoked. We admit that such - a federal representation renders constitutional institutions - necessary in the German States, in order that the members of that - representation may sit side by side, with equal rights. We demand - a general military system of defence for Germany, copied, in its - essential parts, from that under which our Prussian armies have - won unfading laurels, in the war of liberation. We demand that the - German army shall be united under one single federal banner, and - we hope to see a federal general-in-chief at its head. We demand a - German federal flag, and we hope that, in a short time, a German - fleet will cause the German name to be respected on neighbouring - and on distant seas. We demand a German federal tribunal, to - settle all political differences between the princes and their - estates, as also between the different German governments. We - demand a common law of settlement for all natives of Germany, - and perfect liberty for them to settle in any German country. We - demand that, for the future, there shall be no barriers raised - against commerce and industry in Germany. We demand a general - Zollverein, in which the same measures and weights, the same - coinage, the same commercial rights, shall cement still more - closely the material union of the country. We propose the liberty - of the press, with the same guarantees against abuses for every - part of Germany. Such are our propositions and wishes, the - realisation of which we shall use our utmost efforts to obtain." - -It certainly is to be regretted, for his own sake, that the King of -Prussia, if he really had the above projects thoroughly at heart, -did not announce them a little sooner. Had he done so, there could -have been no mistake about the matter; and he can hardly plead want -of opportunity. But to delay the annunciation of the above sweeping -scheme until the French revolution had given an impulse to the -turbulent population of the Rhenish states--until constitutions had -been every where granted--until the foundations of a German National -Assembly had been laid--until Austria was paralysed by domestic -insurrection--and finally, until Berlin itself had been in temporary -possession of the mob--does most certainly expose his Majesty of -Prussia to divers grave insinuations affecting his probity and his -honour. Sir Robert Peel, in like manner, told us that, for several -years, he had been secretly preparing matters for the repeal of the -corn-laws. We believe in the admitted treachery; but what shall -we say to the occasion which caused it to be developed? Simply -this, that in both cases there was an utter want of principle. The -King of Prussia, like Peel, thought that he perceived an admirable -opportunity of obtaining power and popularity, by not only yielding -to, but anticipating, the democratic roar; and, in consequence, he -has shared the fate which, even on this earth, is awarded to detected -hypocrites. The south-west of Germany looked coldly on this new ally. -The democratic leaders, however wild in their principles, were, after -their own fashion, sincere; and they had no idea of intrusting the -modelment of their new government to such exceeding slippery hands. -Accordingly, the Frankfort Assembly met, discussed, and quarrelled, -fixed upon a basis of universal suffrage, and summoned together, of -their own authority, though not without recognition of the princes, -the first German Parliament, of which more anon. In the mean time, -valorous Hecker and sturdy Struve, choice republicans both, had -hoisted the red banner in Baden, but were somewhat ignominiously -routed. The Parliament finally met, annihilated the Diet, and -resolved that the provisional central power of Germany should -be vested in a Reichsverweser, or Administrator of the Empire, -irresponsible himself, but with a responsible ministry; and--no doubt -to the infinite disgust of Frederick-William of Prussia, who was -not even named as a candidate--the choice of the Assembly fell upon -Archduke John of Austria, who, as we have already seen, had embraced -the popular side, and forced on, at Vienna, the deposition of the -venerable Metternich. - -The Reichsverweser was not summoned to occupy a bed of roses. -Nominally, he was constituted the most powerful man in the whole -German confederation, the sovereign of an emperor, and the controller -of divers kings, princes, grand-dukes, electors, and landgraves. -In reality he was nobody. Universal suffrage and empire are things -which can hardly exist together; and it very soon appeared that -the motive power, whatever that might be, was exclusively in the -hands of the six hundred and eighty-four individuals who occupied -the church of Saint Paul. To chronicle their doings is not the -object of the present paper. It may be sufficient to remark that the -first stumbling-block in the way of German unity was to discover -the limits of what properly might be denominated Germany. On this -point there were many strange and conflicting opinions. Some were -for incorporating every possession which had fallen under the rule -of any German house,--in which case, Hungary, Lombardy, and part of -Poland, would have fallen under the protection of Frankfort. Some, -with more classical tastes, were desirous of extending their claim -to every country which at any time had been under Teutonic rule,--in -which case, Palestine and Sicily, if not Italy, would fall to be -annexed, and the shadow of the Empire be thrown as far as the Euxine, -on the strength of the ancient tradition that Ovid, in his exile at -Pontus, had studied the German language and composed German poetry. -The map of Europe afforded no solution of the difficulty. There had -been cessions, and clippings, and parings innumerable during the -last century and a half. Limburg had been annexed to Holland, and -Schleswig was clearly under the dominion of Denmark. In this position -the Germans committed the enormous folly of adopting the cause of the -Schleswig malcontents, and of plunging, before their own house was -set in order, into the dangers of a European war. - -Having proceeded thus far in the exposition of German affairs, we -now cede the narrative to our excellent friend Dunshunner, who, -with characteristic kindness, accompanied us in this expedition. -Notwithstanding some few omissions, such as that of entirely -forgetting to muniment himself with letters of credit, we found him a -very agreeable companion. He was perfectly acquainted with Frankfort -and elsewhere, and, we suspect, better known than trusted throughout -the valley of the Rhine. On looking over his notes, we observe that, -with his usual devotedness, he has entirely dispensed with any notice -of our existence--a circumstance which we are the more ready to -pardon, as it relieves us from the necessity of pledging ourselves -to the minute accuracy of his statements. But whatever ingredient of -fiction there may be in his dialogue, this at least is certain, that -as a general picture it is true. - -No man--says Dunshunner--who has this year visited Germany, could -believe that it is the same country which he knew in the days of its -tranquillity. In former times, the tourist, if his opinions happened -to be extra liberal, or slightly savouring of republicanism, would -have done well to abstain from proclaiming them over loudly in the -streets. I have myself seen a dirty Frenchman, of the propaganda -school, ceremoniously conducted from the hotel to the guard-house -of Mayence, by a couple of armed police, in consequence of a tirade -against royalty; and I recollect that, for some time afterwards, -there was considerable speculation as to the place of his ultimate -destination. Now, the danger lies the other way. The more radicalism -you can muster up, the better you will be appreciated in such cities -as Cologne and Frankfort,--the former of which places, if I had my -will, should be deliberately devoted without mercy to the infernal -gods. Always a nest of rascality and filth, Cologne now presents an -appearance which is absolutely revolting. Its streets are swarming -with scores of miscreants in blouses, belching out their unholy -hymns of revolution in your face, and execrating aristocracy with a -gusto that would be refreshing to the soul of Cuffey. The manners -of the people even in the hotels, which I was glad to find nearly -deserted, are rude and ruffianly in the extreme. The very waiters -seem impressed with the idea that civility is a failing utterly -inconsistent with the dignity of regenerated patriots; and they take -such pains to show it that I could well understand the apprehensions -of a timorous countryman, who confessed to me in the steam-boat that -he had been so alarmed at the threatening aspect of a democratic -_kellner_ as to take the precaution of locking himself up in his -bed-room, lest haply, in the course of the night, his weazand should -be made an offering to Nemesis, and his watch and purse transferred -upon the communist principle. - -The traveller who, this year, passed for the first time from Belgium -into Germany, must have been deeply impressed with the marked -difference between the manners of the two people. In Belgium all is -tranquillity, order, and apparent ease. Neither in the towns nor in -the country is there discernible the slightest trace of disaffection -or turbulence. Citizens and peasantry are pursuing their usual -avocations in peace, and the contentment which reigns throughout -bears testimony to the blessings of a firm and prudent government. -But the instant the boundary is passed, you are immediately and -painfully reminded that you have left a land of order, and entered -into one of anarchy. Instead of the quiet civil Belgian traders -and _negociants_, the carriages on the railway--especially the -third class, which I invariably preferred for the sake of enjoying -the full flavour of democratic society--are crowded with every -imaginable species of pongo pertaining to the liberal creed. Your -ears are filled with a gush of guttural jargon, in which the words -_einigkeit_, _despotismus_, and _unabhängigkeit_ prodigiously -preponderate; and ever and anon some canorous votary of freedom -shouts out a stave of a song, constructed upon any thing but -constitutional principles. The first feature which strikes you in the -male portion of the population is, the preposterous length of their -beards. Formerly the Germans used to shave; at least they kept their -chins reasonably clean, and if they cultivated any extra capillary -growth, reserved their care for their mustache. Now every one of them -has a beard like a rabbi, and to use razors is considered the sure -and infallible sign of a loyalist and an aristocrat. At Juliers I had -the pleasure of encountering the first specimen of Young Germany that -crossed my path, and a precious object he was. I had been sitting for -some time _vis-a-vis_ with a little punchy fellow from Vienna, with a -beard as red as that which the old masters have assigned to Barabbas; -and as he spoke little, but smoked a great deal, I was inclined to -think him rather a companionable sort of individual than otherwise. -But, at the station, in stepped a youth apparelled precisely after -the fashion of an assassin in a melodrama. His broad beaver hat, with -a conical crown, was looped up at one side, garnished with an immense -cockade of red, black, and gold, and surmounted by a couple of dingy -ostrich feathers. I lament, for the sake of our home manufactures, -to state that he exhibited no symptom of shirt-collar; nor, so far -as I could observe, had he invested any portion of his capital in -the purchase of interior linen. Over his bare neck there descended -a pointed Maximilian beard. A green blouse, curiously puckered and -slashed on the sleeves, was secured round his person by a glazed -black belt and buckle, and his legs were cased in a pair of rusty -Hessians. In short, he needed but a dagger and a brace of pistols -to render him theatrically complete; and had Fitzball been in the -carriage, the heart of that amiable dramatist would assuredly have -yearned within him at the sight of this living personification of -his own most romantic conceptions. I had forgotten to state that the -patriot had slung by his side a wallet, of the sort which is familiar -to the students of Retzsch, in which he carried his tobacco. - -To my amazement, nobody, not even the gens-d'armes on the platform, -appeared to be the least surprised at this formidable apparition, -who commenced filling his pipe with the calmness of an ordinary -Christian. For my own part, I could not take my eyes off him, but -sate speechlessly staring at this splendid specimen of the Empire. -Nor was it long before he thought fit to favour us with his peculiar -sentiments. Some sort of masonic sign was interchanged between -the new comer and Barabbas, and the former instantly burst forth -into a lecture upon the political prospects of his country. It has -been my fortune to hear various harangues, from the hustings and -elsewhere--and I have even solaced my soul with the outpourings of -civic eloquence--but never was it my fortune to hear such a discourse -upon constitutions as that pronounced by this interesting stranger. -The total demolishment of thrones, the levelling of all ranks, the -abolition of all religions, and the partition of property, were the -themes in which he revelled; and, to my considerable surprise and -infinite disgust, the punchy Viennese assented to one and all of -his propositions. Some remark which I was rash enough to hazard, -impugning the purity of the doctrines professed by the respectable -Louis Blanc, drew upon me the ire of both; and I was courteously -informed, in almost as many words, that freedom, as understood in -Britain, was utterly effete and worn out,--that Germany was fifty -years in advance of the wretched island,--and that, when the German -fleet was fairly launched upon the ocean, satisfaction would be taken -for divers insults which it did not seem convenient to specify. - -It is, of course, utterly out of the question to reason with -maniacs, else I should have been very glad to know why these new -republicans entertained such a decided hatred of England. One can -perfectly well understand the existence of a similar feeling among -the French,--indeed, abuse of our nation is the surest topic to win -applause from a Parisian audience, and it has been, and will be, -employed as the last resource of detected patriots and impostors. -But why Young Germany should hate us, as it clearly does, is to me a -profound enigma. During the Revolutionary wars, we allowed ourselves -to be plundered and subsidised in support of the freedom which the -Germans could not maintain. Prussia, after taking our money, most -infamously went over to France, and laid her clutches upon Hanover. -We forgave the aggression and the treachery, and still continued to -lavish our gold and our blood in their defence, performing, up to -the close of the struggle, the part of a faithful and by far too -generous ally. Notwithstanding all this, which is clearly written in -history, the fact is certain, that every one of these revolutionists -devoutly longs for the downfall of Britain, and would gladly lend -a helping hand to assist. Cobden was fêted on the Continent, not -because he was a commercial reformer, but because he was known to be -a determined enemy to the British aristocracy, and a virulent and -successful demagogue. It was for that reason, and for that alone, -that he was greeted on his progress by the rising rascaldom of -Europe: he was to them the mere type of a coming democracy, and they -cared not a copper for his calico. - -It is comfortable, however, to know that Young Germany has other -enemies, whom she regards with even more jaundiced eyes. There is -not one republican rogue on the Rhine but feels a pang of terror -at the mere mention of the name of Russia. They are perfectly well -aware that Great Britain has no intention of meddling with them, -and that they may cut and carve at their own constitutions without -the slightest risk of exciting an active interference. But they -are not so sure of the permanent neutrality of Nicholas; and an -unwholesome suspicion is constantly present to their minds, that, in -the progress of events, Russia may combine with the constitutional -party in Austria and Bavaria, and restore order by sweeping from -the face of the earth the whole revolutionary gang. And it is not -at all impossible that such may be the result, when the government -of Prussia awakes to a sense of its duty, and their king becomes -thoroughly ashamed of the unworthy part he has acted. At present, -he has the merit of having stirred up a conflagration which he is -not permitted to direct, and the misfortune of finding that, besides -his neighbour's house, his own is threatened with the flames. He has -thrown himself into the arms of the ultra-democratic party, without -the slightest symptom of recognition on their part. His name is in -every mouth a by-word. He is cursed by the constitutionalists for his -treachery and fickleness, and laughed at by the movement party, whose -aim is a pure republic. - -I took the earliest possible opportunity of treating both of the -admirers of freedom to beer at a station, and, in consequence, rose -somewhat in their good graces. He in the garb of the middle ages -had evidently been refreshing himself already in the course of the -forenoon, and proceeded to vary the monotony of the journey by -chanting a hymn of Freiligrath's, which, it struck me, might have -been improved by the omission of considerable bloodthirstiness. I was -not sorry when we arrived at Cologne, and had to submit our baggage -for inspection to the custom-house officers--an operation which they -performed with much civility; nevertheless I thought it incumbent -upon me, before parting, to point out this remnant of feudal tyranny -to my companions, and to request that, when Germany had become a -republic, and kings and kaisers were no more, the grievance might be -redressed. Though neither of them were burdened with goods, they were -kind enough to assure me that my recommendation should be attended -to--a promise which they sealed with oaths; whereupon we shook hands, -and parted, I sincerely trust, for ever. - -Not having the slightest wish to renew my acquaintance with the -skulls of Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, or with the interesting -relics of Saint Ursula and her plurality of virgins, I set off early -next morning on the customary passage up the Rhine. Judging from -the diminished numbers and appearance of the passengers, the hand -of revolution has already weighed heavily upon the industry of this -district. There were none of the English travelling carriages on -board--none of the merry groups that used to congregate under the -awning, and spread the echoes of their laughter and merriment over -the bosom of Father Rhine. Even the artists, that ubiquitous class, -were unrepresented. The quarter-deck was sparsely tenanted by a few -Germans wearing the national cockade, who were evidently on their -way to Frankfort; one or two Frenchmen, who, having nothing to do -in Paris, were killing time by a short summer ramble, and a single -enterprising Cockney and his bride. Every one seemed dull and -dispirited, and utterly without that store of enthusiasm which used -to be expended as a sort of necessary tribute to the glorious scenery -of the river. I made acquaintance with a young Parisian banker, a -gay good-humoured fellow of Herculean proportions, who had fought -on the side of order in the bloody affair of June. He was a decided -Orleanist in his politics, and had no faith whatever in the ultimate -stability of the Republic. - -"I turned out," he said, "with the national guard, and a hard time -we had of it at the barricades. The _canaille_ fought like devils. -But what would you have?--it was neck or nothing with us. Property is -worth little in France, thanks to Lamartine and the rest; but there -is a worse thing than the loss of property--_le pillage et le viol_! -So I fought for the Republic, bad as it is, being the only barrier -between us and absolute ruin. For myself, I am heartily tired of the -whole concern. I have come away with fifty louis in my purse, to -amuse myself for a month; and then I shall return to Paris, in the -full expectation of being shot before the month of February." - -His disgust at the present aspect of Germany was excessive. - -"The fools! the imbeciles! What possible good can they expect to -receive from their revolution? My countrymen were foolish enough--but -we laboured under the curse of centralisation in Paris, and, heaven -knows! we are paying the penalty. The departments of France did -not want a change; but here the infection appears to be universal. -Look at that fat fool with the absurd cockade!--I take him to be a -substantial merchant in one of their towns--he may not have felt the -pressure as yet, but before six months are over his stock will be -lying useless on his hands, and his affairs utterly bankrupt. That -is the price he must pay for national unity, and the privilege of -wearing in his hat a badge about the size of a soup-plate!" - -Presently we were favoured with a specimen of the warlike -preparations of the assembly at Frankfort. That body had, a few days -before, refused their consent to the armistice which the regent had -been empowered to conclude with the king of Denmark; and steamer -after steamer dashed past us, conveying Prussian, Nassau, and -Darmstadt troops from Mayence to the scene of action. With the new -gaudy colours of the Empire trailing at the stern, these vessels came -down the stream, the troops cheering as they went by, and apparently -in high spirits. - -"Very well, gentlemen!" thought I, "go on. The attack on little -Denmark by a great bully of a power may seem a very creditable thing -at present, but we shall see how it will end. Take care you don't -run your heads against a certain individual to the northward, who is -popularly supposed to subsist principally upon spermaceti, and who -would ask no better amusement than that of extracting a little of -your extra democracy with the knout. There would be some grimacing in -Cologne at the sight of a pulk of Cossacks!" - -Coblentz, that pretty little town which reposed so quietly under the -huge shadow of Ehrenbreitstein, was crowded with troops, waiting -for the opportunity of transport. I had scarcely stepped upon the -quay when I found myself enveloped in the embrace of a gentleman in -military accoutrements, who exclaimed with Teutonic fervour-- - -"_Du lieber himmel! Er ist's! August Reignold von Dunshunner, wie -geht's?_" - -I looked up, and presently recognised an old acquaintance in the -person of one Ernest Herrmann, formerly _fahntrager_ or ensign in -a regiment of Wurtemberg infantry, and now a captain in the same -distinguished service. Years before, I had seen a good deal of him at -Stuttgardt, and still remembered with pleasure his accomplishments in -the ball-room and the skittle-ground. - -"Herrmann, my dear fellow!" said I, "is it possible that I meet -you here? Have you changed service, or what brings you here from -Stuttgardt?" - -"Not I," replied Herrmann. "Still true to the old colours; but you -see we have added another since you were last here. The fact is, that -our regiment is on its way for a brush with the Danes, and we expect -to take up our winter-quarters at Copenhagen." - -"Indeed!" - -"Will you not join us? I have no doubt it will be the rarest fun--and -I am sure the colonel would not have the least objection to your -being of our party." - -"Thank you!" said I drily, "I am afraid I should be rather in the -way. And how are our old friends Krauss and Bartenstein, and the -rest?" - -"All well and all here! Come along with me, we are just going to -dinner, and you positively must spend an hour with us. Not that way!" -said my friend, as I was making for one of the larger hotels, at the -door of which two waiters were waving napkins, as if to allure the -unwary passenger--"not that way! We have a quiet _gast-haus_ of our -own, and I think I can promise you a tolerable spread." - -I yielded to the suggestion, and accompanied Herrmann down a back -street until we reached a tavern, which, certainly, I would not -have been inclined to select as my own peculiar domicile. Several -Wurtemberg soldiers were smoking their pipes in the passage, and -the aroma which issued from the _Stuben_ was far more pungent than -pleasant. We ascended a wooden stair leading to an upper apartment, -in which a number of officers were already seated at table. - -"Whom do you think I have here?" cried Herrmann. "Krauss, Offenbach, -Bartenstein--have you forgot our old friend the Freyherr von -Dunshunner?" - -In an instant I was pounced upon by Krauss, who, after a hug of -German fraternity, passed me to his nearest comrade; and in this way -I made the round of the table, until I emerged from the arms of an -aged major, as odorous as Cadwallader when mounted on his goat after -a liberal luncheon upon leeks. - -I used to like the German officers. They were a frank, good-humoured, -rough-and-ready sort of fellows, decently educated, as times go, -and easily and innocently amused. I would rather, however, not mess -with them, for they are extremely national and economical in their -diet; and I never throve much upon the bread soup, sauer kraut, and -pork, which constitute the staple of their entertainments. But I was -gratified at meeting once more with old companions, though under -circumstances singularly changed. The senior officers, I could see, -were not very sanguine as to the results of their expedition, and it -was only among the younger portion that any enthusiasm was exhibited. -So we talked a great deal, and consumed a considerable quantity of -indifferent Moselle, until a messenger announced that time was up, -and the steamer ready to depart. I accompanied my friends to the -quay, and bade them farewell, with a strong conviction that, from the -present state of European affairs, it was highly improbable that we -should ever meet again. - -Two days afterwards I arrived at Frankfort, every hour upon the road -having afforded farther evidence of the entire disorganisation which -is prevalent throughout Germany. In Mayence, that strong garrison -town, any thing but a friendly feeling subsists between the military -and the populace. The latter, long accustomed to strict rule, have -become turbulent and insolent, never omitting any opportunity of -displaying their ill-will, especially to the Austrians, who have as -yet received such demonstrations with the phlegm peculiar to their -nation. But it is very evident that the Austrian soldiery are sick -of this order of things, and that, whenever an opportunity of action -may occur, they will not be slow in taking a summary vengeance on the -blouses. In the mean time discipline is relaxed, and men seem hardly -to know who is their legitimate master. France never yet had so good -an opportunity of achieving that old object of her ambition--the -boundary of the Rhine; and, in the event of a European war, it is -almost certain that the attempt will be made. - -Frankfort, to outward appearance, is, or at least was when I entered -it, as brisk and bustling as ever. The tradesmen, with the exception -of the publishers, to whom the Revolution has been a godsend, may -not be driving so profitable a business, but the influx of strangers -since the Assembly met has been remarkable. Here Young Germany -flourishes in full unwashed and uncontrolled luxuriance. Every -kind of costume which idiocy can devise is to be met with in the -streets, and the conical parliamentary hat confronts you at every -turn. The bustle of politics has superseded that of commerce, and -the conversation relates far more to democracy than to dollars. The -hotels are still crowded, it being the fashion for members of the -same political views to dine together at the _tables-d'hôte_--so -that the traveller who is not aware of this arrangement may, by -going to one house, find himself a participator in a red republican -banquet; whereas, had he merely crossed the street, he might have -fed with moderate conservatives. My old quarters used to be at the -_Weidenbusch_; but by this time I had become so disgusted with -everything savouring of liberalism that I directed the coachman to -drive to the _Russischer Hof_, where I trusted to find rest and peace -under the protecting shadow of Saint Nicholas. - -I was leisurely washing down my evening cutlet with the contents of -a flask of _Liebfrauenmilch_, and wondering whether the pleasant -_cafés_ outside the city gates were still in existence, when a huge -colossus of a man entered the _salle-à-manger_, seated himself -immediately opposite me at table, and demanded a double portion of -_kalbs-braten_. I could not refrain from taking a deliberate view of -the stranger. He appeared to be upwards of sixty, was curiously clad -in duffle, possessed a double, nay, a triple chin, and his small pig -eyes peered out from under their pent-house above a mass of pendulous -and quivering cheek. His stomach, enormous in its development, seemed -to extend from his neck to his knees; his short stubby fingers were -girded with divers seal-rings of solid bullion, and he spoke in the -husky accents of an ogre after too plentiful a repast in the nursery. - -As I gazed upon this marked victim for apoplexy, his features -gradually seemed to become familiar to my eyes. I was certain that -I had heard that short asthmatic wheeze, and seen that pendulous -lip before. Strange suspicions crossed my mind, but it was not -until I saw him produce from his pocket a pipe well known to me in -former days, that I felt assured of being in the presence of my old -preceptor the Herr Professor Klingemann. - -The worthy man had, in the mean time, honoured me with a reciprocal -survey; but either his eyes had failed him, or his memory was not -so retentive as mine, for he betrayed no symptoms of recognising -his quondam pupil. Much affected, I rose up, extended my hand, and -inquired if he did not know me. - -He stared at me in bewilderment until I mentioned my name, and then -suddenly, with a chuckle of delight, he extended his arms, as if to -embrace me across the table--a ceremony which I wisely avoided, as I -have observed that glasses broken in a hotel are invariably charged -at double the original cost. I made the circuit, however, and, after -undergoing the usual hug, and a world of preliminary inquiries, sat -down by the side of my former guide, philosopher, and friend. - -Klingemann had always been suspected to be somewhat of a democrat. -He had smoked his way through all the intricate labyrinth of German -philosophy, in search of what he called the universal system of -reconcilement of theory, until his brain became as muddy as the -Compensation Pond which supplies Edinburgh with water. Of course, -as is always the case under such circumstances, he acquired a -corresponding reputation for profundity, and was, by many of his -students, esteemed the leading metaphysician of Europe. If a man -cannot achieve any other kind of character, he has always this in -reserve: if he will make a point of talking unintelligibly, and of -employing words which nobody else understands, he will, in time, -be raised to the level of Kant and Hegel, without giving himself -any extraordinary trouble in the search for fugitive ideas. But the -politics of Klingemann--at least in my university days--never used -to emerge until he had moistened his clay with a certain modicum of -liquid. Then, to be sure, he would descant with almost superhuman -energy upon constitutional and despotic systems. He used to -demonstrate how perfect liberty was attainable by an immediate return -to the noble principles of the Lacedæmonians, whose social code and -black broth he esteemed as the perfection of human sagacity. He also -held in deep respect the patriarchal form of government, and was of -opinion that the soil of the earth belonged to nobody, but ought to -be cultivated in common. - -Solomon was right when he averred that there is nothing new under -the sun. The principles of communism, as at present advocated on -the Continent by Messrs Louis Blanc and Prudhon, and in England by -the unfortunate Cuffey, were long ago expounded and practised by -Luckie Buchan and Mr Robert Owen. Let us be just in our movement, and -pay honour where honour is due. Let those who embrace the creed do -justice to the manes of its founder, and style themselves Buchanites, -in veneration of that estimable woman whose attempted apotheosis has -been so well described by Mr Joseph Train. Professor Klingemann, -with all his erudition, had never heard of Luckie Buchan; but, for -all that, he was completely of her mind. Had his views been openly -promulgated, there can be little doubt that his labours in the -university would have been cut short in a somewhat despotic manner; -but he had sense enough to avoid observation, and never lectured upon -politics except in private, to a select circle of his acolytes. - -Such was Klingemann when I knew him first. We had corresponded for -a short while after I left the university, but I soon got tired of -the professor's hazy lucubrations, and undutifully omitted to reply, -which in time produced the desired effect. For years I heard nothing -of him, save on one occasion, when he did me the honour to send me -a copy of his _magnum opus_, entitled "An Essay upon the Ideality, -Perceptiveness, and Ratiocination of Notions," closely printed upon -two thousand mortal pages of dingy paper, with a request that I would -be kind enough to translate and publish it in the English language. -As I bore no spite at the moment against any particular bookseller, -and was by no means covetous of working out my own individual ruin, -I did not think it necessary to comply with this philanthropic -suggestion; and the original of the work is perfectly at the service -of any gentleman who may have the fancy for attaining a European -reputation. Klingemann, I dare say, was disappointed, but he bore no -manner of malice. - -"My dear professor," said I, "you are the last man whom I should have -expected to meet in Frankfort. I thought you were far away at the -university, occupied as usual with those sublime works which have -made your name immortal." - -"Ah, Augustus, my dear child!" replied the professor with a deep -sigh, "things have strangely altered since you were here last. I -used to think that I was labouring in the sphere of usefulness, by -concentrating into one focus of ever-brilliant illumination the -scattered rays of human idiosyncrasy and idoneousness; but I find now -that, for many years, I have been sending the plummet vainly down the -deep unfathomable chasm of psychology and speculation! _Wass henker!_ -what keeps that _schelm_ with my _kalbs-braten_? No, my son; I have -discovered, though late, that I am made for action, and henceforth I -shall devote my energies to the amelioration of the human race." - -"As how, my honoured sir? I am somewhat at a loss to understand you." - -"By taking an active interest in the affairs of the outer and living -man, as contradistinguished from the internal reflective being. Know, -August Reignold von Dunshunner, that I am a member of the German -parliament!" - -"You, my dear professor! Is it possible? And yet why should I doubt?" -continued I, bowing reverently to the illustrious man; "at this -particular crisis, Europe imperatively needs the services of her -master spirits." - -"She does," replied the professor, "and Germany requires them in -particular. You see our system was old and antiquated. We were -pressed upon from without, and the dark subtile spirit of the -Metternichian policy spread like a poisonous miasmatical exhalation -over the whole surface of the land. It was time to alter these -things--full time that the most gigantically-gifted and heroical race -of the world should escape from the insidious fetters of a low and -degrading despotism!" - -"Pardon me, my dear professor, but so long a time has elapsed since -I left the university, that I can hardly follow the meaning of some -of these very lengthy words. But am I right in addressing you by your -academic title? Do you still retain possession of your chair?" - -"Of course," replied Klingemann, with a twinkle of his eye. "I -should like to see any of the princes venture just now to infringe -the rights of the universities! Our noble German youth have been the -first to assert the grand principle of unity, and future ages will -record with triumph their deeds at the barricades of Vienna and of -Berlin." - -"And your salary?" - -"I draw it still, with compensation for the loss of students." - -"That must be a pleasant arrangement!" - -"It is. I have left my lectures with a famulus to be read next -winter, in case there should be any class. But, before then, I expect -that Germany will require the active service of its youth." - -"Indeed!" said I; "are you then apprehensive of a general European -war?" - -The learned man made no reply, being intently occupied with his -victuals. There was silence in the room for about a quarter of an -hour, until the professor, having finished his meal, and mopped up -the last drop of gravy with a morsel of bread which he incontinently -devoured, removed the napkin from his bosom, filled out a tumbler of -Moselle, and thus resumed:-- - -"Hear me, young man! I always loved you; for, in the midst of a -certain frivolity of disposition, I discerned the traces of a strong -practical enterprising genius. Nay--I am serious. Often, in the -course of the speculations which have been forced upon me, during the -late headlong current of events, have I thought of you in connexion -with the coming destinies of your country. For--do not mistake my -meaning--the avalanche which is now sliding down the mountain, with -terrific velocity, will not stay itself until it reaches the valley. -The rights of the people are not the sole object of the present -movement. The awakening of the great heart of Germany is the mere -prelude to events that will upset monarchies, overthrow thrones, and -shatter society to its deepest foundations, until, by an unerring -law of nature, which provides that light shall emerge from darkness, -order will uprear itself from the shattered elemental chaos, and the -work of social reorganisation be commenced anew. You see my purpose?" - -"Why, to say the truth, profoundest of professors, I have not the -slightest glimmering of your drift!" - -"You are dull, Herr von Dunshunner!" replied Klingemann, knitting -his brows--"much duller than I could have expected from one who has -attended my lectures. In Britain, you have not yet attained that -point of exalted _rationalismus_, from which alone the true surface -of society can be surveyed. You think, I presume, that your own -present system of government is perfect?" - -"If you mean government by Queen, Lords, and Commons, I am clearly -of opinion that it is. But if you mean to ask my impressions of the -present Cabinet, I rather think I should give you a very different -answer." - -"You mistake me altogether," replied the professor. "What are you, -in Britain but a heterogeneous mixture of all possible races, -without unity of blood, and sometimes even unity of language? Are -not Celt and Saxon, Dane and Norman, jumbled together in the great -social sphere? And can you expect, out of these warring elements, -ever to produce harmony? No, August Reignold! One great error--the -total disregard of unity of race--has hitherto been the enormous -stumbling-block in the way of human perfection, and it is for the -cure of that error that Germany has arisen from her sleep!" - -"And what the deuce--excuse my profanity--do you intend to do?" - -"To reunite and reconstitute the nations upon the foundation of unity -of race," replied the professor. - -"It would be rather a difficult thing to accomplish in my case, -professor." I replied. "Without raising a multiplepoinding; as we say -in Scotland, I could hardly ascertain to which race I really belong. -My father was a Saxon, my mother a Celt--I have a cross of the Norman -ancestry, and a decided dash of the Dane. It would defy anatomy to -rank me!" - -"In cases of admixture," said the professor, lighting his -pipe--"which, be it remarked, are the exceptions, and not the -rule--we are willing to admit the minor test of language. Now, -observe. Western Europe--for we need not complicate ourselves with -the Sclavonic question--may be considered as occupied by four -different races. It is, I believe, quite possible to reduce them to -three, but, in order to avoid controversy, I am willing to take the -higher number. In this way we should have, instead of many separate -states, merely to undertake the arrangement or federalisation of -four distinct races--the Latin, the Teutonic, the Celtic, and -Scandinavian. Each tree should be allowed to grow separately, but all -its branches should be interwoven together, and the result will be a -harmony of system which the world has never yet attained." - -"You hold France to be Celtic, I presume, professor?" - -"Decidedly. The southern portion has an infusion of Latin, and the -northern of Scandinavian blood; but the preponderance lies with the -Celt." - -"And who do you propose should join with France?" - -"Three-fourths of Ireland, the Highlands of Scotland, Wales, and the -Basque Provinces." - -"So far well.--And England?" - -"England is confessedly Saxon; and, as such, the greater portion of -her territory must be annexed to Germany." - -"While Northumberland and the Orkney islands are handed over to -Scandinavia! I'll tell you what, professor--you'll excuse my freedom; -but, although I have heard a good deal of nonsense in the course of -my life, this idea of yours is the most preposterous that was ever -started." - -"We are acting upon it, however," replied Klingemann; "for it is upon -that principle we are claiming Schleswig from Denmark, and Limburg -from the crown of Holland. But for that principle we should be -clearly wrong, since it is admitted that, in all past time, the Eyder -has been the boundary of Germany. All territorial limits, however, -must yield to unity of race." - -"May I ask if there are many members of the German parliament who -favour the same theory?" - -"A good many--at least of the left section." - -"They must be an enlightened set of legislators! Take my word for -it, professor, you will have enough to do in settling the affairs of -Germany Proper, without meddling with any of your neighbours." - -"It must be owned," said the professor, "that we still require a good -deal of internal arrangement. We have our fleet to build." - -"A fleet!--what can you possibly want with a fleet? And if you had -one, where are your harbours?" - -"That is a point for after consideration," replied Klingemann. "I -am not much acquainted with maritime matters, because I never have -seen the sea; but we consider a fleet as quite essential, and are -determined to build one. Then there is the settlement of religious -differences. That, I own, gives me some anxiety." - -"Why should it, in a country where three-fourths of the population, -thanks to metaphysics, are rationalists?" - -"I do not know. There is a proposal to construct a pantheon, somewhat -on the principle of the Valhalla, in which men of all sects may -worship; but I am strongly impressed with the propriety of a unity of -creed as well as a unity of race." - -"And this creed you would make compulsive?" - -"To be sure. We expect obedience to the laws--that is, to our laws, -when we shall have made them; and I cannot see why a law of worship -should be less imperative than a law which binds mankind to the -observance of social institutions." - -Shade of Doctor Martin Luther!--this in thy native land! - -"Well, professor," said I, "you have given me enough to think on for -one night at least. Perhaps to-morrow you will be kind enough to take -me to the parliament, and point out some of the distinguished men who -are about to regenerate the world." - -"Willingly, my dear boy," said the professor; "it is your parliament -as well as mine, for you are clearly of the Saxon race." - -"Which," interrupted I, "I intend to repudiate as soon as the -partition begins; for, whatever may be doing elsewhere, there are at -least no symptoms of barricades in the Highlands." - -Although it exceeded the bounds of human credulity to suppose that a -majority, or even a considerable section of the German parliament, -entertained such preposterous ideas as those which I had just heard -from Klingemann, it was obvious that the supreme authority had -fallen into the hands of men utterly incapable of discharging the -duty of legislators to the country. A movement, commenced by the -universities, and eagerly seconded by the journalists, had resulted -in the abrupt recognition of universal suffrage as the basis of -popular representation. There had been no intermediate stage between -total absence of political privilege and the surrender of absolute -power, without check or discipline, to the many. What wonder, then, -if the revolution, so rashly accomplished, so weakly acquiesced in -by the majority of the princes of Germany, should already be giving -token of its disastrous fruit? What wonder if the representatives -of an excited and turbulent people should carry with them, to the -grave deliberations of the senate, the same wild and crude ideas -which were uppermost in the minds of their constituency? It needed -but a glance at the parliamentary list to discover that, among -the men assembled in the church of St Paul, there were hardly any -fitted, from previous experience, to undertake the delicate task of -reconstructing the constitutions of Germany. There were plenty of -professors--men who had dreamed away the best part of their lives in -abstract contemplation, but who never had mingled with the world, and -who formed their sole estimate of modern society from the books and -traditions of the past. The recluse scholar is proverbially a man -unfit to manage his own affairs, much less to direct the destinies -of nations; and all experience has shown that the popular estimate -has, in this instance, been strictly true. There were poets of name -and note, whose strains are familiar throughout Europe; but, alas! -it is in vain to expect that the power of Orpheus still accompanies -his art, and that the world can be governed by a song. There were -political writers of the Heine school, enthusiastic advocates of -systems which they could neither defend nor explain--worshippers of -Mirabeau and of the heroes of the French Revolution--and most of them -imbued with such religions and social tenets as were promulgated by -Thomas Paine. There were burghers and merchants from the far cities, -who, since the days of their studentism, had fattened on tobacco -and beer; gained small local reputations by resisting the petty -tyranny of some obnoxious burgo-master; and who now, in consequence -of the total bouleversement of society, find themselves suddenly -exalted to a position of which they do not understand the duties, -or comprehend the enormous responsibility. Political adventurers -there were of every description, but few members of that class which -truly represents the intelligence and property of the country. -In the preliminary assembly, the names of five or six mediatised -princes--particularly those of the house of Hohenlohe--and of several -of the higher nobility, were to be found. Few such names occur in -the present roll,--the only mediatised member is the prince of -Waldburg-Zeil-Trauchburg. This is ominous of the tendency of the -parliament, and of its pure democratic condition. - -So much I had learned from a perusal of the debates, which are -now regularly published at Frankfort, and which hereafter may be -considered as valuable documents, illustrating the rise and progress -of revolution. But I was curious to see, with my own eyes, the aspect -of the German parliament, and not a little pleased to find that my -old friend, the professor, was punctual in keeping his appointment. - -Saint Paul's church, a circular building of no great architectural -merit, has been appropriated as the theatre of council. Thither -every morning, a crowd of the enthusiastic Frankforters, and crazy -students in their mediæval garbs, repair to pack the galleries, and -bestow their applause upon the speeches of their favourite members. -It is needless to say that, the more democratic the harangue, the -more liberal is the tribute of cheering. The back benches on one side -of the main body of the hall are reserved for the ladies, who, in -Frankfort at least, are keen partisans of revolution. The volubility -with which these fair creatures discuss the affairs of state, and -questions of political economy which the science of Miss Martineau -could not unravel, is really quite astounding. Whenever you meet -a German woman now, you may prepare to hear a tirade upon popular -freedom: they are, as might be expected, even more bitter than the -men in their denunciation of artificial rank; nor do they seem to -be in the slightest degree aware of the fact, that of all hideous -objects on earth, the worst is a patriot in petticoats. I have heard -such venom and bloodthirstiness expressed by a pair of coral lips -that, upon the whole, I should rather have preferred soliciting a -salute from Medusa. - -Above the president's chair, and painted in fresco upon the wall, is -a very dirty figure intended to represent Germania, clad in garments -which, at first sight, appeared to be covered with a multitude of -black beetles. On a more close inspection, however, you discover that -these are diminutive eagles; but I can hardly recommend the pattern. -The president, Von Gagern, a tall, dark, fanatic-looking man, is -seated immediately below, and confronts the most motley assemblage of -men that I ever had the fortune to behold. - -Klingemann, having intimated to me that it was not his intention to -illuminate the mind of Germany that day by any elaborate discourse, -was kind enough to place himself beside me, and perform the part of -cicerone. My first impression, on surveying the sea of heads in the -assembly, was decidedly unfavourable; for I could hardly discern -amongst the ranks one single individual whose appearance bespoke him -to be a gentleman. The countenances of the members were generally -mean and vulgar, and in many cases absurdly bizarre. Near me sate an -old pantaloon, with a white beard flowing over a frogged surtout, his -head surmounted with a black velvet scull-cap, which gave him all -the appearance of a venerable baboon just escaped from the operation -of trepanning, and a staff of singular dimensions in his hand. This, -Klingemann told me, was Professor Jahn, formerly of Freiburg, and -surnamed the father of gymnastics. - -This superannuated acrobat seemed to be the centre of a group of -literary notables, for my friend pointed out in succession, and with -great pride, the burley forms of Dahlman and other thoroughgoing -professors. In fact, one large section of the hall was nothing but a -Senatus Academicus. - -"But where," said I, "are the poets? I am very curious to see the -collection of modern minstrels. I presume that young fellow with -the black beard, who is firing away in the tribune, and bawling -himself hoarse, must be one of them. He can, at all events, claim the -possession of a full share of godlike insanity." - -"He is not a poet," replied the professor; "that is Simon of Treves, -a very intelligent young man, though a little headstrong. I wish he -would be somewhat milder in his manner." - -"Nay, he seems to be suiting the action to the word, according to the -established rules of rhetoric. So far as I can understand him, he -is just suggesting that divers political opponents, whom he esteems -reactionary, should be summarily ejected from the window!" - -"Ah, good Simon!--but we have all been young once," said the -professor. "After all, he is a stanch adherent of unity." - -"Yes--I daresay he would like to have every thing his own way, in -which case a certain ingenious machine for facilitating decapitation -would probably come into vogue. But the poets?" - -"You see that old man over yonder, with the calm, benignant, nay, -seraphic expression of countenance, which betokens that his soul -is at this moment far withdrawn from its earthly tabernacle, and -wandering amidst those paradisaical regions where unity and light -prevail." - -"Do you allude to that respectable gentleman, rather up in years, who -seems to me to have swallowed verjuice after his coffee this morning, -or to be labouring under a severe attack of toothache?" - -"Irreverend young man! Know that is Ludwig Uhland." - -"You don't mean to say that that crossgrained surly old fellow is the -author of the famous ballads!" exclaimed I. "Why, there is a snarl -on his visage that might qualify him to sit for a fancy portrait of -Churchill in extreme old age!" - -"He is the last of a great race. Look yonder, at that other venerable -figure----" - -"The gentleman who is twiddling his stick across his arm, as though -he were practising the bars of a fandango? Who may he be?" - -"Arndt, the great composer. Have you men like him in your British -parliament?" - -"Why, I must confess we have not yet thought of ransacking the -orchestra for statesmen. Any more?" - -"Yes. You see that tall grizzled man over the way. That is Anastasius -Grün." - -"Graf von Auersperg? Well, he is a gentleman at least; though, as to -poetical pretension, I have always considered him very much on a par -with Dicky Milnes. But where are your statesmen, professor? Where are -the men who have made politics the study of their lives, who have -mastered the theories of government and the science of economics, and -who have all the different treaties of Europe at the ends of their -fingers?" - -"As we are commencing a new era," replied Klingemann, "we need -none of those. Treaties, ideologically considered, are merely -the exponents of the position of past generations, and bear no -reference to the future, the tendency of which is lost in the mists -of eternity. Such men as you describe we had under the Metternich -system, but we have discarded them all with their master." - -"Then I must say that, idiotically considered, you have done a very -foolish thing. Where at least are your financiers?" - -"My dear friend, I must for once admit that you have stumbled on a -weak point. We are very much in want of a financier indeed. Would you -believe it? the sum of five florins a-day, which is the amount of -recompense allowed to each member of the Assembly, has been allowed -to fall into arrear!" - -"What! do each of these fellows get five florins a-day, in return for -cobbling up the Empire? Then it is very easy to see that, unless the -exchequer fails altogether, the parliament will never be prorogued." - -"Certainly not until it has completed the task of adjusting a German -constitution," observed the professor. - -"Which is just saying the same thing in different words. But, pray, -what is exciting this storm of wrath in the bosom of the respectable -Mr Simon?" - -"He is merely denouncing the sovereigns and the aristocracy. It is -a favourite topic. But look there! that is a great man--ah, a very -great man indeed!" - -Without challenging the claim of the individual indicated to -greatness, I am committing no libel when I designate him as the very -ugliest man in Europe. The broad arch of his face was fringed with -a red bush of furzy hair. His eyes were inflamed and pinky, like -those of a ferret labouring under opthalmia, and his nose, mouth, -and tusks, bore a palpable resemblance to the muzzle of the bulldog. -Altogether, it is impossible to conceive a more thoroughly forbidding -figure. This was Robert Blum, the well-known publisher of Leipzig, -who has put himself prominently forward from the very commencement of -the movement; and who, possessing a certain power of language which -may pass with the multitude for eloquence, and professing opinions -of extreme democratic tendency, has gained a popularity and power in -Frankfort, which is not regarded without uneasiness by the members -of the more moderate party. As this worthy was a bookseller, and -Klingemann still in possession of piles of unpublished manuscript, -I could understand and forgive the enthusiasm and veneration of the -latter. - -Simon having concluded his inflammatory harangue, the tribune was -next occupied by a person of a different stamp. He was, I think, -without any exception, the finest-looking man in the Assembly--in -the prime of manhood, tall, handsome, and elegantly dressed, and -bearing, moreover, that unmistakeable air which belongs to the -polished gentleman alone. His manner of speaking was hasty, and -not such as might be approved of by the practised debater, but -extremely fluent and energetic; and it was evident that Simon and his -confederates writhed under the castigation which, half-seriously, -half-sarcastically, the bold orator unsparingly bestowed. Judging -from the occasional hisses, the speaker seemed no favourite either -with the members of the extreme left or with the galleries; but -probably he was used to such manifestations, for he went through -his work undauntedly. I asked his name. It was Felix, Prince of -Lichnowsky. - -Poor Lichnowsky! a few weeks after I saw him in the Assembly, he -was barbarously and brutally murdered by savages at the gate of -Frankfort--the flesh cut off his arms with scythes--his body put up -as a target for their balls--and every execrable device of ingenuity -employed to prolong his suffering. O ye who wink at revolutions -abroad, and who would stimulate the populace to excess--ye who, -in days past, have written or been privy to letters from the Home -Office, conniving at undeniable treason--think of this scene, -and repent of your miserable folly! In a civilised city--among a -Christian and educated population--that deed of hideous atrocity -was perpetrated at noon-day: the young life of one of the most -accomplished and chivalrous cavaliers of Europe was torn from him -piecemeal, in a manner which humanity shudders to record, and for -no other reason than because he had stood forth as the advocate of -constitutional order! Liberal historians, in their commentaries upon -the first French Revolution, spare no pains to argue us into the -conviction that such tragedies as that of the Princess de Lamballe -could not be enacted save amongst a people degraded and brutalised -by long centuries of misgovernment, oppression, and superstition. -They have lied in saying so. A pack of famished wolves is not so -merciless as a human mob, when drunk with the revolutionary puddle; -and were the strong arm of the law once paralysed in Britain, we -should inevitably become the spectators, if not the victims, of the -same butcheries which have disgraced almost every country in Europe -now clamouring for independence and unity. The sacerdotal robes of -the Archbishop of Paris--the gray hairs of Major von Auerswaldt--the -station and public virtue of the Counts of Lamburg, Zichy, and -Latour--could not save these unhappy men from a fate far worse than -simple assassination: and this century and year have likewise been -reserved for the unexampled abomination of Christian men adopting -cannibalism, and feeding upon human flesh, as was the case not a -month ago at Messina! Well might Madame Roland exclaim, "O Liberty! -what things are done in thy name!" Poor Lichnowsky! Better had he -fallen on the fields of Spain, in the combat for honour and loyalty, -with the red steel in his hand, and the flush of victory on his brow, -than have perished so miserably by the hands of the cowardly and -rascal rout of the _free_ city of Frankfort! - -"That's Zitz of Mayence," said the professor, as a heavy-looking -demagogue stumbled clumsily up to the tribune. - -"Oh! that's Zitz, is it?" replied I. "Well, professor, I think I -have had quite enough of the Assembly for one morning, and as I feel -a certain craving for a cigar, I think I shall leave you for the -present." - -"Won't you dine to-day at the Swan?" said Klingemann, "most of my -friends of the left frequent the _table-d'hote_ there, and I should -like to introduce you to Zitz." - -"Thank you!" said I, "I shall be punctual, and pray keep a place for -me;" and so for the present we parted. - -"The dunderheads!" thought I, as I emerged into the street and lit -an undeniable havannah, "here is a nation which, for thirty years -past, has been eating its _sauer-kraut_ and sausages in peace, paying -almost no taxes, and growing its own wine and tobacco, about to be -plunged into irretrievable misery and ruin, by a set of selfish -hounds who look to nothing beyond their stipend of five florins -a-day! Heaven help the idiots! what would they be at? They have got -all manner of constitutions, liberty of the press--though there is -not a man in Germany who could write a decent leading article--and a -great deal more freedom than is good for them already. And now the -world is to be turned upside down, because a parcel of trash, not -a whit more respectable than Cuffey and his confederates, and very -nearly as stupid, have taken the notion of unity into their heads, -and are resolved to build up, with rotten bricks, the ricketty -structure of an empire. Nicholas, my dear friend, there is work -chalked out for you, and ready. If these scum presume to meddle with -their neighbours, they must be crushed like a hive of hornets; and I -do not know any foot so heavy and elephantine as your own!" - -Pondering these things deeply, I strolled on from shop to shop, -gleaning everywhere as I went statistics touching the manner in -which our free-trade innovations have affected the industry of Great -Britain. For a year and a half, the boot and shoe trade has been -remarkably thriving; the London market being the most profitable in -the world, and nothing but British gold exported in return. As to -cotton manufactures, Belgium and Switzerland have the monopoly of -Southern Germany. The trade in Bohemian glass is rapidly superseding -at home the labour of the silversmith. A complete service, so -beautiful that it might be laid out on the table of a prince, costs -about thirty pounds; and the names of the British magnates, which -the dealer pointed to with ineffable triumph as purchasers, were -so numerous as to convince me that the deteriorating influence of -free trade was rapidly rising upwards. The same may be said of the -cutlery, which is now sent to undersell the product of the British -artisan in his own peculiar market. When we couple those facts, which -may be learned in every Continental town, with the state of our -falling revenue, and the grievous direct burden which is imposed upon -us in the shape of property and income tax, it is difficult for any -Briton to understand upon what grounds the financial reputation of -Sir Robert Peel is based, or to comprehend the wisdom of adhering to -a system which sacrifices every thing in favour of the foreigner, and -brings us in return no earthly recompense or gain. - -I duly kept my engagement at the Swan, and was introduced by the -Professor to Zitz, Gervinus, and some more of the radical party. The -dinners at the Swan are unexceptionable; indeed, out of Paris, it is -impossible to discover better. - -"What do you think of our German parliament?" asked a deputy of the -name of Neukirch, next whom I was seated. "It must be an interesting -sight for an Englishman to behold the aspirations of our rising -freedom." - -"Oh, charming!" I replied: "and such splendid oratory--we have -nothing like it in the House of Commons." - -"Do you really think so?" said Neukirch, looking absurdly gratified. - -"I do indeed. The speech which I had the privilege of hearing this -morning from the gentleman opposite--" here I bowed to Simon of -Treves, who was picking the backbone of a pike--"was equal to the -most elaborate efforts of our greatest orator, Mr Chisholm Anstey. -It is not often that one has the fortune to listen to such talent -combined with patriotism!" - -"You speak like a man of sense," said the flattered Simon. "I believe -that I have given those infernal princes their gruel. Lichnowsky had -better hold his peace, for the time is coming when a sharp reckoning -must be held between the aristocrats and the people." - -"_Potz tausend!_" cried Zitz, "do they think to lord it over us -longer with their stars and ribbons? I hold myself to be as good a -man as any grand-duke of them all, and a great deal better than some -I could name who would give a trifle to be out of Germany." - -"And how does the cause of democracy progress in England?" asked -Neukirch. "We are somewhat surprised to find that, after all the -preparation, there has been no revolution in London." - -"As to that," said I, "you must hardly judge us too rashly. Two -distinguished patriots, called Ernest Jones and Fussell, were -desirous of raising barricades; but, somehow or other, the plan was -communicated to Government, the troops refused to fraternise, and the -attempt was postponed for the present." - -"I see!" cried Zitz, "Russian influence has been at work in England -too. Nicholas has been sowing his gold, and the fruit is continued -tyranny." - -"The fact is," said I, "though I would not wish it to be repeated, -that a good many of us are of opinion that we have no tyranny at -all, but rather more freedom than is absolutely necessary for our -happiness." - -"No tyranny!" shouted Zitz; "is there not a chamber of peers?" - -"Too much freedom!" roared Simon of Treves; "have you not an -Established Church?" - -"Is not your sovereign a niece of the odious despot of Hanover?" -asked Neukirch. - -"Is there not a heavy tax on tobacco?" inquired my friend and -preceptor Klingemann. - -"Gentlemen all," said I, "these things must perforce be admitted. -We have a chamber of peers, and are thankful for it, because it -curbs democracy in the Commons. We have an Established Church, -and we honour it, because it has taught the people to fear their -Creator and to reverence their queen. Our sovereign is a niece of -the King of Hanover, and she has no reason whatever to be ashamed -of the connexion. And as to the article of tobacco, I may remark to -my learned friend the professor, that revenue must necessarily be -raised, and that, moreover, I have not smoked a single decent cigar -since I set foot in Germany." - -"These are reactionary doctrines!" growled Zitz; "I fear you are no -true friend of the people." - -"A firmer one never sat under the sign of Geordie Buchanan," said -I; "but I suspect your estimate of the people is somewhat different -from mine. Pray, Herr Neukirch, will you pardon the curiosity of a -stranger, if I ask one or two questions upon points which I do not -thoroughly comprehend? I observe, from the tenor of the proclamations -issued by Herr von Soiron, that you contemplate the erection of one -free, united, and indissoluble Germany." - -"That is precisely our object." - -"Then, am I right in holding that the Reichsverweser concentrates in -his own person the whole power and puissance of the different states?" - -"Just so. He is president of Germany." - -"So that with him and his council rest the whole responsibility of -disposing of the troops of the confederation, of making treaties, of -proclaiming peace and war, of regulating coinage and customs, and, in -fact, of exerting every royal prerogative?" - -"Always with consent of the German parliament," said Zitz. "You -may believe we are not such fools as to substitute one tyrant for -thirty-eight." - -"Then, gentlemen, it appears to me that your whole scheme, upon which -I am not qualified to express an opinion, resolves itself into one -of extensive and entire mediatisation. If the Emperor of Austria and -the King of Prussia have no power to declare peace or war--if their -armies are to obey the orders of the central power at Frankfort--it -will follow, as a matter of course, that their kingly privileges are -at an end. The interchange of ambassadors with foreign states will be -a ceremony so clearly futile that it must at once be abandoned, and -the monarchs will become merely the first of a titular nobility." - -"That is the inevitable and glorious consequence!" cried my new -acquaintance, Neukirch. "You see the whole subject in its proper -light. First, we clip the wings of the princes till they can do -no more than hop about their own home-yards; then we control the -proceedings of the Reichsverweser by a parliament elected on the -principles of universal suffrage; and finally, we can eject the -puppet if necessary, and resolve ourselves into a pure democracy." - -"One thing, then," said I, "is only wanting for this desirable -consummation, and that is, the consent of the princes. I admit that -you may have little trouble with Baden, Wurtemberg, and the like, but -what say Austria, Prussia, and Bavaria to this wholesale abdication -of their thrones?" - -"We don't affect to deny that there may be a crisis approaching. -Austria has her hands full for the present with Italy and Hungary, -and has given no definite reply. But the clubs are strong and active -at Vienna, and on the very first opportunity you will see a general -rising. 'Anarchy first--order afterwards,' is our motto. Then, as to -Prussia, we do not want to push on matters too rapidly there. The -king has been playing into our hands; and, to tell you the truth, we -depend upon him alone for the continuance of our five florins a-day. -So that, in the mean time, you may be sure we shall be moderate in -that quarter. Bavaria may do as she pleases. If the others yield, -that power must necessarily succumb." - -"Then I want to understand a little about the justice of your cause. -You have claimed Schleswig-Holstein as part of Germany, and you have -sent German troops, for the purpose of recovering it as your right?" - -"Quite true." - -"And at the same time Germany, or you as its representatives, -have acknowledged the right of all foreign nations to their own -independence?" - -"We have." - -"Then, will you have the kindness to explain to me how it is that -your philanthropic parliament, holding such principles, has not -thought proper to insist that every Austrian soldier, belonging to -the confederation, should be immediately withdrawn from Lombardy and -Hungary? How is it that General Wrangel, in the north, has ceased to -be a Prussian, and become a German soldier, whilst Marshal Radetsky, -in the south, is fighting without remonstrance at the head of troops -which you claim as your own, and against that independence of a -foreign nation, which you have thought proper expressly to recognise? -If Germany claims Schleswig on the ground of unity of race and -language, how can she, at the same time, countenance a subordinate -German power in infringing the very principle which she has so -determinedly proclaimed?" - -Neither on this occasion, nor on any other, could I obtain a -satisfactory reply to the above question. In fact, from the very -beginning, the conduct of the men who have put themselves at the head -of the present movement, has been checkered by contradictions of -the most glaring and obvious kind. On the fifth of May, the present -vice-president, Von Soiron, put forth an address to the inhabitants -of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, calling upon them to co-operate and -join with the German confederacy, and to send representatives to the -union. Two of these states are comprised in the Austrian, and one in -the Prussian dominions; _but none of them are German_. If nationality -is to be recognised as the ruling principle--and the scheme of German -confederation and empire contemplated nothing else--these countries -would fall to be excluded, since, by language and race, they form -part of a totally different branch of the European family. But before -the ink on their proclamation of strict unity and independence was -dry,--that proclamation containing the following remarkable words, -"The Germans shall not be induced, on any consideration, to abridge -or deprive other nations of that freedom and independence which they -claim for themselves as their own unalienable right,"--we find the -Germans calmly annexing Polish Posen to their league, proposing to -include Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia in the limits of the empire, -and by their official congratulatory address to Radetsky, giving -national countenance to the war of subjugation in Lombardy. Even were -their case otherwise good, such acts as these form an irresistible -argument against their present claim for Schleswig; for upon no -principle whatever are they entitled to add, on one side, to the -possessions of the empire by foreign annexation, and on the other to -repudiate annexation, when in favour of a foreign power. - -But it is useless, in their present state, to demand explanation -from the Germans. They are like men who, in attempting to cross -a ford, have been carried off their feet by the swollen waters, -and are now plunging in the pool, unable to reach the shore. -_Imperium in imperio_ is clearly unattainable. German unity, as at -present contemplated, with a common army, common taxes, and common -constitutions, under one central government, can only be achieved by -an entire prostration of the princes, and the abolition of the kingly -dignity. Austria, Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, and all the states, -must be blotted from the map of Europe, their boundaries erased, -their conditions forgotten, and their names for ever proscribed. The -republican party know this well, and it is in this conviction that -they are still labouring on, taking advantage of the unhappy state of -Austria in relation to its foreign possessions, sympathising with the -Hungarian revolt, and exciting the clubs at Vienna; whilst, at the -same moment, they are availing themselves to the utmost of the weak -and foolish blunder committed by the king of Prussia, and appealing -to his own declaration in favour of German unity, whenever he shows -the slightest symptom of receding from the popular path. There is -hardly a shade of difference between the opinions entertained by -a large mass of the Frankfort parliament, and those professed by -Hecker and Struve, the leaders of the Baden insurrections. The aim -of both parties was the same; but the insurgents sought to attain -their end by a speedy and violent process, for which the others -were not prepared. They proposed to undermine the power of the -sovereigns by a continued course of agitation, to arm a burgher -guard throughout Germany, as a countercheck to the troops, and, -wherever it is possible, to seduce the latter from their allegiance. -In this latter scheme, as recent events have shown, they have been -unfortunately too successful; and the military system of Germany had -afforded them great facilities. The German regiments are not, as is -the case in Britain, transferred from town to town, and from province -to province, in a continual round of service. They are quartered -for years in the same place, make alliances with the town-folks, -and become imbued with all their local and prevalent prejudices. -They are, in fact, too much identified with the populace to be -thoroughly relied on in the case of any sudden emeute, and too much -associated with the landwehr or militia, to be ready to act against -them. Let those who have not reflected upon this serious element -of discord, consider what in all probability would be the state of -an Irish regiment, if quartered permanently among the peasantry of -Tipperary--exposed, not for a short time, but for years, to the -baneful influences of agitation and deliberate seduction, and never -having an opportunity of contemplating elsewhere the advantages of -order and obedience? The circumscribed dimensions of some of the -German states has increased this evil enormously; and the example -set by General Wrangel, when, in the case of the Swedish armistice, -he declared himself to be an Imperial and not a Prussian commander, -cannot but have had a powerful effect in sapping the loyalty of the -troops. If Wrangel took that step in consequence of secret orders -from his master, as is by no means improbable, he may be personally -absolved from blame, but only by shifting to the royal shoulders such -a load of obloquy and scorn as never monarch carried before. If, on -the contrary, Wrangel did this on his own authority, the Prussian -government has evinced lamentable weakness, in not having him tried -by a court-martial, and shot for audacious treason. - -If the monarchies of Germany are to be preserved, it must be through -the resolution of the troops. A congress is at this moment obviously -impossible, nor can it be attempted until the Frankfort parliament -has ran its course--a consummation which some people think is not -only devoutly to be desired, but very near at hand. Things have now -gone so far, that it is difficult to see how any kind of order can -be restored, without the disastrous alternative of commotion and -civil war. There are again symptoms of republican gatherings in the -north, which Prussia cannot this time overlook, without sacrificing -the fragments of her honour. At Vienna, the insurrection has been -successful. The emperor has, a second time, quitted Schönbrunn, and -has openly announced that, when he next returns to his capital, it -will be at the head of an avenging army. There is nothing improbable -in this announcement. The Austrian army is less liable to the -impairing influence already noticed than that of any other German -state; and though there never was a time when its services were so -urgently required at so many menacing points as at the present, there -may yet be strength enough left to crush the insurgent capital. Of -course, in such an event, all men may be prepared to hear from the -liberals the same howl of horror which issued from their sympathising -throats, when the populace of Naples manfully and boldly espoused -the cause of their legitimate sovereign. Sicilian cannibalism can be -pardoned, but Neapolitan loyalty, never! - -It is a vain dream to associate German unity with the existing -system of principalities. Whether Von Gagern is really in earnest, -in attempting to labour towards this end, or whether he is merely -keeping up the appearance of such a union, for the purpose of -paving the way to a more sweeping measure of democracy, may be the -subject of legitimate doubt. If the former be the case, he has -committed a grave error, in allowing the Diet to be annihilated. -Though difficult, it was by no means impossible to have adjusted the -separate constitutions of the German states upon a liberal basis, -and to have devolved upon the chambers the right of nominating the -members of the imperial diet. Such a system might have secured as -much unity of purpose as was requisite for general administration, -without resorting to the dangerous experiment of a parliament elected -by universal suffrage. But nothing of this sort was attempted. On the -contrary, the Diet fell without a struggle: its old functions had -ceased when Prussia deserted it for the carrying out an independent -policy of her own; and no one attempted to resuscitate it by the -infusion of novel blood. - -Notwithstanding such charm as might be derived from the society -of Messrs Zitz, Simon, and Co., and the fund of information which -professor Klingemann was ever ready to pour into my ear, I soon -became tired of Frankfort, and betook myself to the watering-places. -This was a good year for calculating what proportion of the company -usually located during the summer months at Wiesbaden, Homburg, and -Baden, sought those places for the benefit of the Hygeian springs, in -contradistinction to those whose main attraction was the Casino. The -number of the former class, I should say, was comparatively small. -Although one cannot feel much sympathy for such nests of gambling, -maintained, to the discredit of the smaller German princes, for -the sake of the revenue obtained from the Israelitish proprietors -of the banks, it was yet painful to observe the dull appearance -of the towns. There was hardly any remnant of that gaiety and -sprightliness, which used to characterise these haunts of fashion -and dissipation--none of the equipages which were wont to roll along -the environs, with ducal coronets on their blazon. The bazaars were -deserted: the _tables-d'hôte_ miserably attended. If thirty people -assembled in one of the great saloons, which formerly used to be -occupied by two hundred, the countenance of the host relaxed, and -lie evidently caught at the circumstance, as a gleam of returning -prosperity. There were still one or two desperate gamblers to be seen -at the roulette and rouge-et-noir tables, staking their gold with -as much eagerness and stern determination as ever; but, in general, -there seemed to prevail such a serious scarcity of bullion, that -those who possessed any were chary of hazarding their florins. The -brass bands still played as of yore, but their music sounded dull and -melancholy. Few subscribed to raffles, and the balls were miserable -failures. - -The state of the small capitals is still worse. Darmstadt, never -a lively town, is literally shut up. You may wander through the -streets of Carlsruhe, as in the solitudes of Balbec, wondering what -on earth can have become of the whole population, and not be able -to solve the problem, unless, indeed, you should happen to hear the -clattering of the hoofs of the Baden cavalry awakening the dormant -echoes of the street. Then, with a shrill whoop of "Hier kommt die -Badische cavallerie!" man, woman, and child,--chambermaid and waiter, -rush to the windows to admire the exciting spectacle of their native -heroes, mounted upon animals not very much larger than ponies, and, -the moment the procession has passed, relapse into the same state of -somnolency as before. The palaces do not seem to be occupied, and the -voice of the syrens on the boards of the theatres is mute. - -Perfectly disgusted with the change, which was too conspicuous -everywhere, I bent my way towards Switzerland; and there, amidst the -mountains, snows, cascades and glaciers of the Oberland, strove to -banish from my mind all thoughts of revolution and its concomitant -ruin. But Switzerland has suffered, in its way, almost as much as -Germany. Although the central point of Europe to which the steps -of the tourists tend, it furnishes ample proof of the general -consternation and misery in its lonely roads and empty hotels. There -are no English travelling abroad this year. Sometimes you encounter -an American party who have crossed the Atlantic, curious to see how -the old countries are getting on in their novel craze for republican -institutions, but the staple of the travelling commodity consists of -Italian refugees from Lombardy. These men also seem to have adopted -a kind of mediæval garb, more graceful than that of the Germans, and -are, to outward appearance, no despicable specimens of humanity. -They vapour and bluster, largely about their exertions for Italian -independence, though I never could meet with one who had actually -struck a blow in its behalf. They were furious at Charles Albert, -whom they characterised as a "traditore sceleratissimo," and vaunted -that, but for him and his Piedmontese troops, they would long ago -have freed their country from the grasp of the Austrians. I was not -altogether able to comprehend by what process of ratiocination these -illustrious exiles arrived at this result. It would appear odd if -they could not accomplish, with the aid of allies, the very same task -for which they asserted their notorious unassisted competency. This -is a political riddle of such a nature, that I shall not attempt to -solve it. - -It is, however, comfortable to remark, that Swiss industry, in -many of its branches, still continues undiminished. The squat and -unwholesome hunter, who for years has infested the Rosenthal, -still pursues his prey, in the shape of the unwary traveller, with -perpetual impudence and importunity. Out of his clutches you cannot -get, until you have purchased, at triple its artificial value, the -wooden effigy of a chamois, a horn whistle, or the image of an Alpine -cow; and even after you have made your escape, crossed the bridge, -and are in full retreat up the valley, you hear him clamouring -behind you with offers of a staff to sell. From every cottage-door -rush forth hordes of uncompromising children; nay, they surprise -you in the very wastes, far from any human dwelling, and their only -cry is "_Batzen!_" Approach a waterfall, and you are immediately -surrounded by a plump of those juvenile Cossacks, seizing hold of -your skirts, thrusting their hands upwards in your face, and denying -you one moment's leisure to survey the scene. Their yelp for pence is -heard above the sullen roaring of the cataract. In vain you take to -flight--they cleave to you like a swarm of midges. You leap brook, -scale bank, and scour across the meadow towards the road, but you -fare no better than the Baron of Cranstoun in his race with the -Goblin Page; and at last are compelled to ransom yourself by parting -with the whole of the change in your possession. - -If I can judge from the present temper of the Swiss, they are not -likely to return a very complacent answer to the charge made against -them by the central power at Frankfort, of having harboured Struve -and his gang. The German troubles have kept back so many visitors -from their country, that the Swiss are not inclined to be particular -as to the political opinions of any one who may favour them with a -sojourn; and in the present state of matters it is rather difficult -to determine who are rebels or the reverse. Bitterly at this moment -is Switzerland execrating a revolution which has entailed upon her -consequences almost equivalent to the total failure of a harvest. - -After spending a fortnight among the mountains, I retraced my steps -to Frankfort. There I discovered that, in the interim, some little -change had taken place in the aspect of political affairs. Prussia -had at length taken heart of grace, and had remonstrated against -the arbitrary refusal of the armistice with Denmark, which she had -been expressly empowered, by the authority of the Reichsverweser, -to conclude. This tardy recognition of the laws of honour had, -of course, given enormous umbrage to the Frankforters, who now -considered themselves as the supreme arbiters of peace or war in -Europe; the more so, because they were not called upon to pay a -single farthing of the necessary expenses. They appeared to think -that, _jure divino_, they were entitled to the gratuitous services of -the Prussian and Hanoverian armies; and, with that sublime disregard -of cost which we are all apt to feel when negotiating with our -neighbours' money, they were furious at any interruption of the war -unworthily commenced against their small but spirited antagonist. -Such, at least, was the feeling among the burghers, in which they -were powerfully encouraged by the co-operation of the women. It is a -singular fact that, in times of revolution, the fair sex is always -inclined to push matters to greater extremity than the other, for -what reason it is literally impossible to say. I had the pleasure of -spending an evening at a social reunion in Frankfort, and can aver -that the sentiments which emanated from the ladies would have done no -discredit to Demoiselle Theroigne de Mericourt in the midst of the -Reign of Terror. - -But other motives than those of mere abstract democracy had some -influence with the members of the parliament. Many of them who, -in the first instance, had voted for the peremptory infraction of -the armistice, were fully aware that they could not afford as yet -to affront Prussia, or to give her an open pretext for resiling -from the movement party. Such a step would have been tantamount to -annihilation, and therefore they were disposed to succumb. Others, -I verily believe, thought seriously upon their five florins a-day. -Hitherto Prussia had been the only state which had granted a monetary -contingent, and to refuse compliance with her wishes would inevitably -involve a sacrifice of the goose that furnished the supply of -metallic eggs. Therefore, after a long and rather furious debate, -the assembly retracted their former decision, and consented to a -cessation of hostilities. - -A parliament, chosen upon the basis of universal suffrage, is only -safe when its opinions coincide with those of the mob. In the -present instance they were directly counter to the sweet will of the -populace, and of course the decision was received with every symptom -of turbulence. - -"Professor," said I to my learned friend, on the evening after this -memorable debate, "you have given one sensible vote to-day, and I -hope you will never repent of it. But, if you will take my advice, -you will do well to absent yourself from the parliament to-morrow. -There are certain symptoms going on in the streets which I do not -altogether like, for they put me forcibly in mind of what I saw in -Paris this last spring; and, unless a German mob differs essentially -from a French one, we shall smell gunpowder to-morrow. I should be -sorry to, see my ancient preceptor fragmentally distributed as an -offering to the goddess of discord." - -"Don't speak of it, August Reignold, my dear boy!" said the Professor -in manifest terror. "I wouldn't mind much being hauled up to a -lamp-post, for I am heavy enough to break any in Frankfort down; but -the bare notion of dismemberment fills my soul with fear. Well says -the poet, _varium et mutabile_; and he might safely have applied it -to the people. Will you believe that I, whose whole soul is engrossed -with the thoughts of unity and the public weal, was actually hissed -and hooted at as a traitor, when I emerged to-day from the assembly?" - -"It is the penalty you must pay for your political greatness," -I replied. "But, if I were you, I should back out of the thing -altogether. Cobbling constitutions is rather dangerous work in such -times as these; and it strikes me that your valuable health may be -somewhat impaired by your exertions." - -"Heaven knows," said the Professor devoutly, "that I would willingly -die for my country--that is, in my bed. But I do begin to perceive -that I am overworking this frail tenement of clay. Once let this -crisis be past, and I shall return to the university, resume my -philosophic labours, and finish my inchoate treatise upon the -'Natural History of Axioms.'" - -"You will do wisely, Professor, and humanity will owe you a debt: -only don't employ that fellow Blum as your publisher. _Apropos_, what -is Simon, of Treves saying to this state of matters?" - -"Simon of Treves," replied my learned friend, "is little better than -an arrogant coxcomb. He had the inconceivable audacity to laugh in -my face, when I proposed, on the ground of common ancestry, to open -negotiations with the Thracians, and to ask me if it would not be -desirable to include the whole of the Peloponnesus." - -"He must indeed be a blockhead! Well, Professor, keep quiet for the -evening, and don't show yourself in the streets. I am going to take -a little stroll of observation before bed, and to-morrow morning we -shall hold a committee of personal safety." - -On ordinary occasions, the streets of Frankfort are utterly deserted -by ten o'clock. This night, however, the case was different. Groups -of ill-looking, ruffianly fellows, were collected at the corners of -the streets; and more than once, beneath the blouse, I could detect -the glitter of a furtive weapon. There were lights and bustle in the -club-houses, and every thing betokened the approach of a popular -emeute. - -"You will do well," said I to the Swiss porter of the _Russischer -Hof_ on re-entering, "to warn any strangers in your house to keep -within doors to-morrow. Unless I am strangely mistaken, we shall have -a repetition of the scenes in Paris to-morrow. In the mean time, I -shall trouble you for my key." - -I rose next morning at six, and looked out of my window, half -expecting to see a barricade; but for once I was disappointed--the -Germans are a much slower set than the French. At nine, however, -there were reasonable symptoms of commotion, and I could hear the -hoarse roar of a mob in the distance whilst I was occupied in shaving. - -Presently up came a waiter. - -"The Herr Professor desires me to say that, if you have no objection, -he would be glad to breakfast in your room." My apartments were on -the third story. - -"Show him up," said I; and my friend entered as pale as death. - -"O August Reignold, this is a horrible business!" - -"Pshaw!" said I, "how can you expect unity without a row?" - -"But they tell me that the mob are already breaking into the -assembly--into the free, inviolable, sacred parliament of Germany!" - -"Is that all? They might, in my humble opinion, be doing a great deal -worse." - -"And they are beginning to put up barricades." - -"That's serious," said I; "however, one comfort is, that they expect -somebody to attack them. Take your coffee, Professor, and let us -await events with fortitude. You are tolerably safe here." - -The Professor groaned, for his spirit was sorely troubled. I really -felt for the poor man, who was now beginning, for the first time, -to taste the bitter fruits of revolution. They were as ashes in his -academical mouth. - -There was a balcony before my window, from which I could survey the -whole of the Zeil, or principal street of Frankfort. The people were -swarming below as busy as a disturbed nest of ants. A huge gang of -fellows, with pickaxes, took up their post immediately in front of -the hotel, and began to demolish the pavement with a tolerable show -of alacrity. - -"Here is the work of unity begun in earnest!" I exclaimed. "Where -is your armed burgher guard now, Professor? This is a glorious -development of your national theories! Quite right, gentlemen; upset -that carriage--roll out those barrels. In five minutes you will have -erected as pretty a fortalice as would have crowned the sconce of -Drumsnab, if Dugald Dalgetty had had his will. The arrangement also -of stationing sharpshooters at the neighbouring windows is judicious. -Have a care, Professor! If any of these patriots should chance to -recognise a recusant member, you may possibly have the worst of it. -For the sake of shelter, and to prevent accidents, I shall even put -my portmanteau in front of us; for damaged linen is better than an -ounce of lead in the thorax." - -In a very short time the barricade, was completed, but as yet no -assailants had appeared. This circumstance seemed to astonish even -the insurgents, who held a consultation, and then, with tolerable -philosophy, proceeded to light their pipes. They were not altogether -composed of the lower orders; some of them seemed to belong to the -middle-classes, and were the active directors of the defence. We -could not, of course, tell what was going on in other parts of the -town, for all communication was barred. Better for us it was so, for -about this time Prince Lichnowsky, and Major von Auerswaldt were -murdered. - -A considerable period of time elapsed, and yet there was no -appearance of the soldiery. I had almost begun to think that the -insurrection might pass away without bloodshed, when a mounted -aide-de-camp rode up and conferred with the leaders on the barricade. -From his gestures it was evident that he was urging them to disperse, -but this they peremptorily refused. Shortly afterwards a body of -Austrian soldiers charged up the street at double-quick time, and the -firing began in earnest. - -"I am a doomed man!" cried the Professor, and he leaped convulsively -on my bed. "As sure as Archimedes was killed in his closet, I shall -be dragged out to the street and massacred!" - -"No fear of that," said I. "Body of Bacon, man! do you think that -those fellows have nothing else to do than to hunt out philosophers? -That's sharp work though! The windows are strongly manned, and I fear -the military will suffer." - -The loud explosion of a cannon shook the hotel, and a grateful sound -it was, for I knew that, if artillery were employed, the cause of -order was secure. It produced, however, a contrary effect on the -Professor, who thought he was listening to his death-knell. On a -sudden there was a trampling on the stairs. - -"They are coming for me!" groaned the Professor. "_Ora pro nobis!_ -I shall never read a lecture more!" And sure enough the door was -flung open, and five or six Prussian soldiers, bearing their muskets, -entered. Klingemann dropped down in a swoon. - -"You must excuse ceremony, gentlemen," said the corporal; "we have -orders to dislodge the rioters." And forthwith the whole party -stepped out on the balcony, and commenced a regular fusillade. -Presently one of them dropped his weapon, and staggered into the -room; he had received a bad wound in the shoulder. Immediately -afterwards a bullet went plump into my portmanteau. - -"Oh confound it!" cried I; "if they are beginning to attack property, -it is full time to be on the alert. With your leave, friend, I shall -borrow your musket." - -Next morning I took a final farewell of the Professor. The good -man was much agitated, for, besides his bodily terror, he had been -suffering from the effects of a violent purgative attack. - -"I have thought seriously over what you said, my dear boy, and I -begin to perceive that I have been acting very much like a fool. -I shall pack up my chattels this evening, wash my hands of public -affairs, and return to lay my old bones in peace beside those of my -predecessors in the university." - -"You can't do better, Professor; and if, in your prelections, you -would omit all notice of Harmodius and Aristogiton, and say as little -as possible about the Lacedæmonian code, it might tend to promote the -welfare of your students, both in this world and in the next." - -"Of that, my dear August Reignold, I am now thoroughly convinced. But -you must admit that the abstract idea of unity--" - -"Is utter fudge! You see the result of it already in the blood which -is thickening in the streets. Adieu, Professor! Put your cockade in -the fire, and offer my warmest congratulations to your friend Mr -Simon of Treves." - -Two days afterwards I experienced a genuine spasm of satisfaction -while setting my foot on Dutch ground at Arnheim. The change from -a democratic to a conservative country was so exhilarating, that I -nearly slew myself by drinking confusion to democracy in bumpers of -veritable Schiedam. - - - - -SATIRES AND CARICATURES OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.[1] - - -A Comic History of England would be an exceedingly curious, and even -a valuable work. We do not mean a caricatured history, with great -men turned into ridicule, and important events burlesqued; such -absurdities may provoke pity, but they will hardly extort a smile -from any whose suffrage is worth courting. We have had a vast deal -of comic literature in this country during the last dozen years; -quite a torrent of _facetiæ_, a surfeit of slang and puns. One or -two popular humorists gave the impetus, and set a host of imitators -sliding and wriggling down the inclined plane leading from wit -and humour to buffoonery and bad taste. The majority reached in -an instant the bottom of the slope, and have ever since remained -there. The truth is, the funny style has been overdone; the supply -of jokers has exceeded the demand for jokes, until the very word -"comic" resounds unpleasantly upon the public tympanum. It were -a change to revert for a while to the wit of our forefathers, at -least as good, we suspect, as much of more modern manufacture. And -therefore, we repeat, a comic English history, whose claims to -the quality should be founded on its illustration by the songs, -satires, and caricatures of its respective periods, would be -interesting and precious in many ways; particularly as giving an -insight into popular feelings and characteristics, and often as -throwing additional light upon the causes of important revolutions -and political changes. It would certainly be a very difficult book -to compile. Instead of beginning at the usual starting-post of Roman -invasion, it could hardly be carried back to the first William. The -Saxons may possibly have revenged themselves on their conquerors by -satirical ditties, and by rude and grotesque delineations; but it -may be doubted whether any authenticated specimens of either their -poetry or painting are in existence at the present day. It would not -surprise us if King John's courtiers had curried favour with their -master by lampooning the absent Coeur-de-Lion; and doubtless when -there were men sufficiently sacrilegious to slay a churchman at the -altar, others may have ventured to satirise in rude doggrel the -pride and presumption of Thomas à Becket. But have their graceless -effusions survived? Can they be traced in black letter, or deciphered -on the blocks of wood and stone referred to in Mr Wright's preface? -We fear not; and we believe that, up to the date of the invention -of printing, the history suggested would be very meagre, and the -task of writing it most ungrateful. For some time after that date -the humorous illustrations would be written, and not pictorial; -songs and lampoons, perhaps, but of caricatures few or none. For -although caricature, in one variety or other, is ancient as the -Pyramids, its introduction is recent into the country where, of all -others, it seems most at home. Fostered by political liberty, it has -naturalised itself kindly on English soil, but its foreign origin -remains undeniable. Already, in the sixteenth century, Italy had her -Caracci, and France her Callot; whilst in England we vainly seek, -until the appearance of Hogarth, a caricaturist whose name abides in -our memories, or whose works grace our museums. - -It is evident, then, that the easiest way to write a history of the -kind we have spoken of, is to begin at the end and write backwards. -At any rate the historian avoids discouragement, at the very -commencement, from the paucity of materials. And that is the plan -Mr Wright has adopted. Breaking new ground, he naturally selected -the spot most likely to reward his toil, and pitched upon the reigns -of the first three Georges. He could hardly have chosen a more -interesting period; and certainly, without coming inconveniently near -to the present day, he could have fixed on none more prolific in the -satires and drolleries he has made it his business to disinter and -reproduce. - -The contents of Mr Wright's book would sort into two comprehensive -classes--the social and the political; the former the least -voluminous, but the most entertaining. Political satires and -caricatures, under the first two Georges, possess but a moderate -attraction at the present day; and it is not till the period of -the American war--we might almost say not until that of the French -Revolution--that they excite interest, and move to mirth. The hits -at the follies of society at large have a more general and enduring -interest than those levelled at individuals and intrigues long since -passed away. The first ten years of the accession of the house of -Hanover were poor both in the number and quality of caricatures; and -the remoteness of the period has enhanced the difficulty of finding -them. Written satires and pasquinades were abundant, but, to judge -from those preserved, few were worth preserving. Of these ephemeral -publications there exists no important collection, either public or -private. Of caricatures, more are to be got at, although, strange -to say, the British Museum contains very few. There was far less of -humour and spirit in those that appeared during the early part of the -eighteenth century than in those produced during its latter portion. -In fact, until the reign of George II., the art could hardly be said -to be cultivated. In the first hundred pages of the book before us, -which comprise nearly the whole reign of George I., we find only -fourteen cuts--a small proportion of the three hundred scattered -through the two volumes. And scarcely one of the fourteen has the -qualities essential to a genuine caricature. They aim at telling -a story, or conveying an insinuation, rather than at burlesquing -persons. Sometimes the prints or medals (the latter were a favourite -vehicle for the circulation of satire) were simply allegories, and -as such are incorrectly designated by the word caricature, which, as -derived from the Italian _caricare_, implies a thing overcharged or -exaggerated in its proportions. As an instance of these allegories, -we may cite a Jacobite medal, where Britannia is seen weeping, whilst -the horse of Hanover tramples on the lion and unicorn. The English -nation was at that period usually personified by Britannia and her -lion, until Gillray, much later--taking the idea, it is said, from Dr -Arbuthnot's satire--hit off the humourous figure of John Bull, which -has been preserved, with more or less modification, by all subsequent -caricaturists. Hogarth, who first attracted notice in 1723-4, by his -attacks upon the degeneracy of the stage--then abandoned to opera, -masquerade, and pantomime--brought up a broader style of caricature -than his predecessors, but still he was too emblematical. Then, for -a time, caricature got into the hands of amateur artists--female as -well as male. Thus a humorous drawing of the Italian singers, Cuzzoni -and Farinelli, and of Heidegger the ugly manager, is attributed to -the Countess of Burlington. Then, after an interregnum, during which -caricature languished, Gillray arose--Gillray, who, coarse and often -indecent as he was, (in which respects, however, he did but conform -to the tone and manners of his day,) was unquestionably the ablest -of his tribe, the most thoroughly English, and the most irresistibly -humorous caricaturist we have had. The refined might tax him with -grossness, but his delineations went home to the multitude; and to -the multitude the caricaturist must address himself, if he would -produce effect, and enjoy influence. For a while, during the war with -France, Gillray's active pencil was a power in the state. In his turn -he was surpassed in coarseness and vulgarity, but not in wit, by his -contemporary Rowlandson. - -The sketches before us, of the history of England under the house of -Hanover, are not to be considered as dependent on the satires and -caricatures used to illustrate them. They form a general narrative -of the most prominent events of a very important century, with -which are interwoven, when opportunity offers, the most remarkable -pen and pencil pasquinades of the day. The latter, however, have -not always been obtainable, or are not worth recording. As we have -already mentioned, they are scarce at the commencement of the book, -which opens at the death of Queen Anne in 1714. When Jacobite plots -were rife, and party-feeling ran so high as to produce frequent -bloody struggles in London streets, between the Whigs or Hanoverians -and the "Jacks," as the adherents of the Pretender were styled by -their opponents, there appear to have existed no draughtsmen of much -talent for caricature; whilst the poetical satires, judging from -the specimens furnished by Mr Wright, are very middling in merit, -although exceedingly numerous. If there was little wit, there was -much violence and abuse on both sides. On the part of the Jacobites, -agitation was the order of the day; and the mob, both in London and -the provinces, were incited to many excesses--such as attacking -houses, robbing passengers, pulling down Dissenting chapels, and -drinking James the Third's health in the open streets. In Manchester, -in June 1715, the population were for several days masters of -the town. The results were the passing of the Riot Act, and the -quartering of cavalry in the places most disaffected. The Whigs, on -their part, were not idle, but carried on a brisk war of words, and -raked up all the old stories about the Pretender--that he was no -king's son, but a miller's offspring, conveyed into the Queen's bed -in a warming-pan by the Jesuit Father Petre. Of course such tales as -these gave a fine handle to squib and lampoon; and, in reference to -the Jesuit's name, the Whigs designated the Pretender as Peterkin or -Perkin--an appellation offering a convenient coincidence with that -of a previous impudent aspirant to the English crown. To sneers of -this kind the Jacobite minstrels manfully and spiritedly replied; and -although the muse was less propitious in England than in Scotland, -there is no doubt these effusions had a considerable effect upon the -people. But the suppression of the rebellion damped their spirits, -and with it their poetic fire; whilst the exulting Whigs triumphantly -flapped their wings, and crowed a yet louder strain. Perkin and the -warming-pan were the burden of every lay, and a peal of parodies -celebrated the flight of the Stuart. - - "'Twas when the seas were roaring - With blasts of northern wind, - Young Perkin lay deploring, - On warming-pan reclined - Wide o'er the roaring billows - He cast a dismal look, - And shiver'd like the willows - That tremble o'er the brook." - -One would think the "Oxford scholars," accounted such fervent -Jacobites, might have replied victoriously to such tepid couplets as -this. But their hearts were down at their King's repulse. And poor -as the verses were, no doubt they took wonderfully at the time,--so -much, in such things, depends upon the _apropos_. And now a large -section of the Tories, previously favourable to the Jacobites, broke -away from them in their misfortune, made their peace with the ruling -powers, and took the oath of allegiance. But long after fighting -was over in the North--to be revived only in '45 by the chivalrous -Charles Edward--the Jacobite mob kept London in hot water, and, -thanks to the inefficiency of the police, might have done serious -mischief, but for the Muggite Societies formed at that period. These -were simply Whig clubs, meeting at certain public-houses, (the -Magpie and Stump, in Newgate Street, was one,) and sallying out -upon occasion to fight the Jacobites. The latter had also taverns -of rendezvous, but these were few, and it was chiefly the lowest -mob that in London still sported the White Rose, and cursed the -Hanoverian. In most of the many conflicts that then occurred, the -"Jacks" got the worst of it. If they assembled to break windows on an -illumination night, or to burn William or George in effigy, they were -soon assailed by the Loyal Society, or some other Whig association, -who, acting as special constables without having taken the oath, -drubbed them with cudgels, and extinguished their bonfires. It would -appear that the Jacks did not often venture to impede the Whig mob -in the performance of analogous ceremonies; since we read of a -certain Fifth of November, when caricature effigies of the Pretender -and his chief adherents and supporters were carried in triumph -through the streets. "First, two men bearing each a warming-pan, -with a representation of the infant Pretender--a nurse attending -him with a sucking bottle, and another playing with him by beating -the warming-pan. These were followed by three trumpeters, playing -Lillibulero and other Whig tunes. Then came a cart with Ormond and -Marr, appropriately dressed. This was followed by another cart, -containing the Pope and Pretender seated together, and Bolingbroke -as the secretary of the latter. They were all drawn backwards, with -halters round their necks." The sole opposition made by the Jacobites -to this outrageous demonstration, was by the somewhat paltry -proceeding of stealing the faggots collected for the Whig bonfire. -Four months after this, the Jacobites attempted a procession, and a -great fight ensued, in which the Whigs were victorious, after having -"made rare work for the surgeons." The government of the day showed -little mercy to the rioters. Seditious ballad-singers, and persons -holding disloyal discourse, were flogged and pilloried; and at last, -the hanging of several of the disaffected for storming a Mug-house, -put an end to the disturbances. That the Whigs did not bear their -triumph very meekly appears from the following paragraph, extracted -from _Read's Weekly Journal_ of June 15, 1717. - - "Last Monday being supposed to be the birthday of the Sovereign - of the White Rose, in respect to the anniversary, an honest Whig - went from the Roebuck to St James's, with a jackdaw finely dressed - in white roses, and set on a warming-pan bedeckt with the same - sweet-scented commodity, which caused abundance of laughter all - the way, to the great mortification of the Knights Companions of - that order, and all the other Jacks, to see their sovereign so - maltreated in the person of his representative." - -The poor crushed Jacobites were fain to grin and bear it. - -The suppression of political riots was followed by a great prevalence -of highway robberies, in and around the metropolis. The streets -of London were not safe, even in the daytime; and ladies went out -in their chairs guarded by servants with loaded blunderbusses. -The following extracts from newspapers of the time read oddly -enough--especially when we remember that not a hundred and thirty -years have elapsed since the crimes recorded in them occurred. - - "Thursday, 21st January 1720. About five o'clock in the evening, - the stage-coach from London to Hampstead was attacked and robbed - by highwaymen, at the foot of the hill, and one of the passengers - severely beaten for attempting to hide his money." - - "Sunday 24. At eight o'clock in the evening, two highwaymen - attacked a gentleman in a coach on the south side of St Paul's - churchyard, and robbed him." - - "Sunday 31. A gentleman robbed and murdered in Bishopsgate street." - - "Monday, February 1. The Duke of Chandos, coming from Canons, had - another encounter with highwaymen, whom he captured." - - "Tuesday 2. The postboy was attacked by three highwaymen in Tyburn - road, but the Duke of Chandos, happening to pass that way, came to - his rescue." - -His grace of Chandos seems to have been a sort of amateur -thief-taker. Then we read of stage-coaches stopped and robbed -between London and Stoke Newington, and of a certain day, when -"_all_ the stage-coaches coming from Surrey to London were robbed -by highwaymen." At last a reward of one hundred pounds was offered -for the apprehension of any highwayman within five miles of London. -Amongst those captured were several persons of good repute in their -respective callings. They included a London tradesman, a duke's -valet, and the keeper of a boxing-school. - -The speculative madness that prevailed in the year 1719-20, the -"bubble mania," as it was called, offered a fertile field to the -satirist. The contagion was caught from France, where, about that -time, John Law projected his celebrated Mississippi Company, and, -by his wild financial manoeuvres, first rendered money a mere -drug, then plunged Paris and France into the profoundest misery. The -outline of Law's history is familiar to most persons. It will be -remembered how, having killed a man in a duel in his own country, he -broke his prison, and fled to France, met the young Duke of Orleans -at the house of a courtesan named Duclos, and, being handsome, -accomplished, and graceful, contracted with him an intimacy that led -eventually to the hatching of the notable Mississippi scheme. The -delusion began to flourish towards the middle of 1718, and was at its -apogee at the close of the following year. The market for the shares -was in an insignificant street, still existing in Paris under the -name of the Rue Quincampoix, where every house was soon subdivided -into an infinity of little offices, and a dwelling whose usual rent -was of six hundred livres yielded one hundred thousand; where a -cobbler gained two hundred livres a-day, by hiring out his shed to -ladies who came to share in and look on at the game; and a hunchback -earned a handsome income by lending his shoulders as a writing-desk. -The five-hundred-livre shares rose to twenty thousand livres--to a -premium, that is to say, of four thousand per cent. Money was for the -time so abundant, that goods rose immensely, and articles of luxury -were all bought up. Cloth of gold, a French writer tells us, became -exceeding rare, except in the streets, where it was seen draping the -plebeian persons of the newly-enriched speculators. A nobleman and -a Mississippian disputed a partridge in a cook's shop: the latter -obtained it for two hundred livres, or more than eight pounds! -Beranger has devoted a witty stanza to that year of madness. - - "C'était la régence alors - Et sans hyperbole, - Grâce aux plus drôles de corps, - La France étoit folle; - Tous les hommes s'amusaient, - Et les femmes se prêtaient - A la gaudriole an gué, - A la gaudriole." - -As an essential preliminary to holding the office of -Comptroller-general of the French finances, Law allowed the Abbé -de Tençin to convert him to the religion of Rome. This apostasy, -and its disastrous consequences to France, became the subject of -many squibs and satirical verses when the fallacy of the system -ultimately appeared. Before the panic came, however, and an attempted -realisation on the part of some of the largest holders proved -the exaggerated and fictitious value of the bonds, the mania for -speculation had crossed the Channel, and raged in this country. The -South-Sea bill passed through parliament, and received the royal -assent; and on a sudden stock-jobbing seemed to become the sole -business of all classes. The Tory papers ridiculed the folly. Sir -Robert Walpole published a warning pamphlet, a proclamation forbade -the formation of unauthorised companies; but all in vain. Shares -in the most absurd bubbles were eagerly caught at. "A company was -even announced, and its shares bought, which was merely advertised -as 'for an undertaking which shall in due time be revealed.' Among -other odd projects were companies 'for planting of mulberry trees, -and breeding of silk-worms in Chelsea Park;' 'for importing a number -of large jack-asses from Spain, in order to propagate a larger breed -of mules in England;' 'for fattening of hogs.' In August, the stock -of the various London companies was calculated to exceed the value -of five hundred millions." About this time Law's credit balloon -began to collapse, which was a hint to the English jobbers of what -they might in their turn expect. It was nearly the end of the year -when he was compelled to fly from Paris, and take refuge in Venice, -where he died, an impoverished gambler, in May 1729, leaving for sole -inheritance a diamond worth about 1500 pounds sterling, which he had -been in the habit of pawning when hard pushed. Many weeks before his -departure from France, however, the London companies were discredited -and turned into ridicule by a host of songs and satirical pieces, one -of the best of which was the celebrated _South-Sea Ballad; or, Merry -Remarks upon Exchange-Alley Bubbles_. - -"From the month of October to the end of the year, songs, and squibs, -and pamphlets of all descriptions, on the misfortunes occasioned by -the explosion of the bubble system, became exceedingly numerous.... -The general feeling against the directors was becoming so strong in -the month of November, that we are told it had become a practice -among the ladies, when in playing at cards they turned up a knave, -to cry, 'There's a director for you!'" The period of the South-Sea -bubble was particularly prolific in caricatures. A vast number -appeared in Holland and France, and for the first time political -caricatures became common in England. Those of which copies are given -in Mr Wright's book have small claims to wit. Most of the foreign -ones were aimed at Law, and those published in this country at the -'Change Alley speculators. Hogarth's first political caricature -related to the bubbles of 1720, and appeared the following year. - -As in France the temporary glut of wealth produced by Law's financial -operations had the most unfavourable effect upon the public morals, -so in England "the South-Sea convulsion had hardly subsided, when a -general outcry was heard against the alarming increase of atheism, -profaneness, and immorality; and an attempt was made to suppress -them by act of parliament, but the bill for that purpose was not -allowed to pass." Masquerades were especially inveighed against -by the upholders of propriety, and were made the subject of much -satire. The ugliness of Heidegger, "_le surintendant des plaisirs -de l'Angleterre_," as the French called him; the conceit and -caprices of the opera-singers, then, as now, notorious for their -extortionate greediness and constant bickerings and jealousies; -the neglect of Shakspeare and the old dramatists; the prevailing -taste for pantomime and buffoonery--were so many targets for the -wits and caricaturists of the day. But neither Hogarth's pencil -nor the pungent pen of Pope had power to correct the depravity of -public taste. Masquerades continued the favourite amusement of the -town, and opera and pantomime preserved their vogue. The satirists -persevered in their crusade, and as late as 1742 we find Hogarth -still working the mine, in a capital caricature of Monsieur Desnoyer -and Signora Barberina,--the Taglioni and Perrot of their day whose -graceful attitudes he cleverly burlesques. Previously to the year -1737 the stage was used as a political engine, and violent attacks -on the government were introduced into farces and pantomimes. Some -of these were direct and open pasquinades, and gave great umbrage to -the ministry; and amongst them two of the most conspicuous were a -lampooning farce called _Pasquin_, and a dramatic satire entitled the -_Historical Register for the year 1736_, both by Fielding. A still -more abusive piece, to be entitled _The Golden Rump_, was spoken -of as forthcoming; but, before it appeared, the matter was brought -before the House of Commons; an act was passed "for restraining -the licentiousness of the stage," and the office of Licenser of -Plays was established. Thus a stop was put to stage-politics: but -nevertheless--and although, in an age when parties ran so high, this -suppression must materially have diminished the attractiveness of -theatrical entertainments--the theatres continued, for many years, -and from various causes, to receive a very large share of public -attention, and to be made the subject of numerous prose and verse -pamphlets, and of occasional caricatures. Pantomime and burlesque -were still in vogue, but not to the exclusion of the regular drama; -and Shakspeare gained ground, interpreted, as he was, by first-rate -actors--by Garrick, Quin, and Macklin, by Mrs Woffington, Mrs -Clive, Mrs Cibber, and others. About the middle of the century, the -rivalry between Drury and the Garden ran so high as to be a subject -of annoyance and inconvenience to the public. "In October 1749 the -Covent-Garden company opened the theatrical campaign with _Romeo -and Juliet_--a play in which Barry, and especially Mrs Cibber, had -shone with peculiar excellence. Garrick had armed himself for the -contest: he had prepared a rival actress in Miss Bellamy; and he -produced, to the surprise of his opponents, the same play of _Romeo -and Juliet_, at Drury Lane, on the very night it came out at Covent -Garden. The town was divided for a long time between the two 'Romeo -and Juliets,' which produced a mass of contradictory criticism, and -finished by almost emptying both houses, for every body began to tire -of the monotonous repetition of the same play." There is not much -danger, at the present day, of rivalry of this sort. How Garrick -and Quin would stare, were they galvanised out of their graves, to -see Grisi queen of Covent Garden, and Jullien lord of Drury Lane! -Theatrical opposition is a thing nobody now dreams of, unless it -be between a French vaudeville company and an English troop of low -comedians. And were a contest to arise between the English theatres, -it would most likely be of the nature of that which occurred in the -reign of George the First, between the rival harlequins, when it was -common enough for the two great theatres to bring out pantomimes -founded on the same subject--as in 1723, when _Harlequin Dr Faustus_ -had great success at both Drury Lane and Covent Garden. That was -also the period of the first introduction, on the English stage, -of wild beasts, dragons, monsters, and goblins of various kinds, -besides mountebanks, tumblers, and rope-dancers. Even Garrick, -however, did not disdain the pantomime, when he saw in it the means -to annoy and injure a rival. "At the beginning of 1750 he brought -out a new pantomime, entitled _Queen Mab_, in which Woodward acted -the part of harlequin. The great success of this piece, which drew -crowded houses for forty nights, without intermission, gave rise to -a very popular caricature, entitled _The Theatrical Steelyard_, in -which Mrs Cibber, Mrs Woffington, Quin, and Barry, are outweighed -by Woodward's _Harlequin_ and Garrick's _Queen Mab_. Rich, (the -Covent-Garden manager,) dressed in the garb of harlequin, lies on -the ground expiring." Excepting the two important particulars, that -good actors were then as plentiful as they now are scarce, and that -the two great theatres were occupied by Shakspeare and Englishmen, -instead of by fiddlers and foreigners, there is much coincidence -between some recent occurrences in the theatrical world and others a -hundred years old. Then, as now, attempts were made to drive French -actors from the country. These attempts arose, however, from no -apprehension of foreigners injuring or eclipsing native talent, then -so superior to such fears, but from the anti-Gallican feeling abroad -at the time. During the Westminster election of 1749 a company of -French players were performing at the Haymarket, and Lord Trentham, -the government candidate, was accused of favouring and protecting -them. He spoke French well, and was said to affect French manners; -and all this, of course, was made the most of for electioneering -purposes. He was lampooned as "the champion of the French strollers;" -and the mob, with their usual wisdom and admirable logic, said "that -learning to talk French was only a step towards the introduction of -French tyranny." A deluge of ballads descended upon the heads of the -candidate and his assumed _protégés_; and the quality of the poetry -seems to have been on a par with the liberality of the sentiments--to -judge, at least, from the following brilliant specimen:-- - - "Our natives are starving, whom Nature has made - The brightest of wits, and to comedy bred; - Whilst apes are caress'd, which God made by chance, - The worst of all mortals, the strollers from France." - -This is wretched enough, even for an election ditty. And we are -little disposed to join in the regret expressed in Mr Wright's -preface, that no one, as far as he has been able to discover, "has -made any considerable collection of political songs, satires, -and other such tracts, published during the last century and the -present;" since the wit and merit of those he has been able to -get together are in general so exceedingly small. He is, very -judiciously, sparing of his extracts, except when he stumbles upon -a really good song or set of verses, a few of which are scattered -through his volumes. - -To return to the mob-hatred of the French. After the Westminster -election, this feeling was kept up by squib and caricature; and -in November 1755, Garrick having occasion to employ some French -dancers, in a grand spectacle brought out at Drury Lane under the -title of _The Chinese Festival_, a theatre row was the result. It -was kept up for five nights; and on the sixth the mob smashed the -lamps, demolished the scenery, and did several thousand pounds' -worth of damage. This popular antipathy to the French did not, -however, extend to the produce of France, or prevent the higher -classes from patronising and importing French luxuries of all kinds, -as well as a host of milliners, governesses, quacks, valets, and -professors of other menial and decorative arts. The Gallomania of -the fashionable world offered a fine field to the caricaturists, who -made the most of it, to the great delight of the populace. French -fashions, cookery, education, and nicknacks, were alternately taken -as targets for the shafts of ridicule. Mr Wright transfers to his -pages a ludicrous fragment of a print by Boitard, entitled "The -Imports of Great Britain from France," in which an Englishwoman of -quality is seen embracing and caressing a French female dancer, -and assuring her that her arrival is to the honour and delight of -England. And the mob of that day went so far as to believe that it -was the love of the aristocracy for French perfumes and delicacies, -cooks and coiffeurs, which prevented English ministers from properly -protecting the national honour, and avenging the insults put upon -us by our neighbours. The real evil, far more important than the -consumption of French finery and cosmetics, was the importation of -French corruption and immorality, so prevalent in England during -the whole reign of George II., and during a portion of that of -his successor. By this time the masquerades and _ridottos_, which -had kept their ground in spite of the moralists, had grown so -flagrant in their excesses and indecencies that, about the end of -1755, they were nearly suppressed; the earthquake at Lisbon having -come to the aid of the anti-maskers, who took advantage of the -panic it caused in London, to represent it as a judgment on the -profligacy of the age. Previously to that, masquerades--not only -those at public establishments, such as Vauxhall and Ranelagh, -but at the private houses of persons of rank and fashion--offered -glaring examples of indecorum--to use the very mildest word--until -at last Miss Chudleigh, maid of honour to the Princess of Wales, -and afterwards Duchess of Kingston, showed herself at the Venetian -ambassador's in a close-fitting dress of flesh-coloured silk. We -may judge of the court morals of the time from the circumstance, -that her royal mistress's sole rebuke was by throwing her own veil -over the immodest beauty. The host of caricatures to which this -gave rise, and the grossness of many of them, in that day of great -pictorial license, are easily imagined. After this there were very -few masquerades during ten or twelve years, at the end of which -time the court again set the fashion of them, soon after George the -Third's accession. Towards 1770, Mrs Cornelys got up her "Harmonic -Meetings," at Carlisle House in Soho Square. These subscription balls -and masquerades were attended by most of the nobility and leaders of -the _ton_; and, at one of them, we learn the presence of "two royal -dukes, and nearly all the fashionable portion of the aristocracy. On -this occasion, Colonel Luttrell (the same who had opposed Wilkes in -the election for Middlesex) appeared as a dead corpse in a shroud, -in his coffin." Much used, from the very first, for purposes of -intrigue, these assemblies soon became unbearably licentious. The -company fell off, both in numbers and respectability, until the only -way to fill the rooms was by the admission of bad characters. This -made them sink lower and lower, until "we read in the _St James's -Chronicle_ of April 23, 1795, the remark that 'No amusement seems -to have fallen into greater contempt, in this country, than the -masquerades.... They have been lately mere assemblages of the idle -and profligate of both sexes, who made up in indecency what they -wanted in wit.'" A description that has ever since been applicable to -London masquerades, which still continue, we apprehend, to be mere -pretexts for debauchery; whilst even in Paris, whose atmosphere, -and the character of whose inhabitants, have generally been found -more favourable to that class of amusements, the famed opera balls -have sunk, within the last twenty years, into the saturnalia of idle -students, profligate apprentices, and ladies of uncertain virtue. - -It would be unjust to leave out Samuel Foote, in a work treating -of the satires and caricatures of the last century. Possessing -neither the brush of Hogarth nor the pen of Churchill, he wielded a -weapon as formidable in its way--that, namely, of dramatic mimicry, -or stage satire; and he is properly named by Mr Wright the great -theatrical caricaturist of the age. For a time, the reckless and -vindictive wit was the terror of the town: an affront to him, real -or imaginary, caused the unlucky offender to be paraded before the -world, under some fictitious name, upon the boards of his theatre, -which, at first, was the "little" one in the Haymarket. For some -time Foote and Macklin had it between them, but, disagreeing, -Macklin left, whereupon his ex-partner immediately caricatured him -upon the very stage he had so lately trodden. "The Haymarket was -an unlicensed theatre, and Foote evaded the law by serving his -audience with tea, and calling the performance in the bills 'Mr -Foote's giving tea to his friends.' His advertisement ran, 'Mr Foote -presents his compliments to his friends and the public, and desires -them to drink tea at the Little Theatre in the Haymarket, every -morning, at playhouse prices.' The house was always crowded, and -Foote came forward and said, that as he had some young actors in -training, he would go on with his instructions whilst the tea was -preparing." Afterwards he got a license, and rebuilt the theatre. -But his bitter wit and gross personalities continually got him into -trouble, frequently caused his pieces to be prohibited; exposed him -to threatened, if not to actual castigation; and, finally, were the -indirect cause of his death, accelerated, it is generally believed, -by shame and vexation at the false but revolting charge brought -against him by a clergyman he had savagely lampooned. - -The fate of Hogarth was not dissimilar to that of Foote, with the -difference that the painter was slain literally with his own weapons. -Foote's victims had neither the ability nor the opportunity to expose -him, as he did them, upon the stage. The Methodists, Dr Johnson, -the East India Company, and the Duchess of Kingston, each in turn -subjected to his vicious attacks, retorted as best they might by -pamphlets and cudgels, but apparently made little impression on -the player's tough epidermis, until a disreputable parson devised -the poisoned dart with which to inflict a sure and cowardly wound. -But Hogarth caricatured others till others learned to caricature -him,--with less talent, certainly, but with sufficient malice to -annoy and harass the artist, and finally, it is said, to break his -heart. "His constant practice," says Mr Wright, "of introducing -contemporaries into his moral satires, had procured him a host of -enemies in the town; whilst his vain egotism, and the scornful tone -in which he spoke of the other artists of the age, offended and -irritated them." How seldom do satirists preserve temper and coolness -under the retort of their own aggressions! After more than a quarter -of a century passed in turning his neighbours into ridicule, Hogarth -might be thought able to endure a rub or two in his turn, and even to -receive them with good grace and a smiling countenance. But many a -veteran has found, to his cost, that a life passed in the field does -not render bullet-proof. Hogarth made good fight to the last, but -his offensive arms were better than his defensive ones; his enemies' -shot fell thick and fast, and all he could do was to die upon his -guns. For the last twelve or fifteen years of his life he appears -to have been particularly unpopular, and continually caricatured. -His _Analysis of Beauty_, published in 1753, drew upon him a great -deal of ridicule; and in 1758, his opposition to the foundation of -an Academy of Fine Art was the signal for a shower of abuse and -caricatures, more or less witty--oftener _less_ than _more_. But the -campaign that finished him--the Waterloo of the unlucky humorist--was -one he rashly undertook against Wilkes and Churchill, previously -his friends. This was imprudent in the extreme; for he might be -sure that all the minor curs, who had so long yelped at his heels, -would redouble their wearisome assaults when reinforced by such -formidable champions as the _North Briton_ and "Bruiser" Churchill. -Wilkes warned Hogarth that he would not be kicked unresistingly, -but the painter persevered; and Wilkes kept his word. No. 17 of the -_North Briton_ was stinging retaliation for No. 1 of _The Times_; and -Churchill's "Epistle to William Hogarth" was at least as galling -to the artist as his well-known portrait of "A Patriot" could be to -Wilkes. The quarrel was kept up with much spirit till the death of -Hogarth in October 1764. - -The American war, and the ill-advised colonial legislation which -brought it on, gave rise to many caricatures, some of them of -considerable merit. The first of which a transcript is given us by -Mr Fairholt's graver, relates to the Boston tea-riots of 1770. In it -Lord North is pouring tea down the throat of America, personified -by a half-naked woman with a crown of feathers, who rejects the -unwelcome draught in his lordship's face. Britannia weeps in the -background, and Lord Chancellor Mansfield, the compiler of the -obnoxious acts, holds down the victim. When war actually broke -out, and the bloody fight of Bunker's Hill gave a foretaste of its -disasters, satires fell thick upon the ministry as well as upon -the king, whose will, the Opposition maintained, was law with Lord -North's cabinet. In June 1776 a long poem, smart enough, but very -violent and unpatriotic, was published under the title of _Lord -Chatham's Prophecy_. - - "Your plumèd corps though Percy cheers, - And far-famed British grenadiers, - Renown'd for martial skill; - Yet Albion's heroes bite the plain, - Her chiefs round gallant Howe are slain, - On fallow Bunker's Hill." - -Subsequent verses foretell all manner of evils to Great Britain, -and the whole poem breathes a spirit of exultation at our reverses, -which would have been less ungraceful from an American than from -an English pen, and which, at the present day, no amount of party -feeling would be held to justify. But the shamelessness of Whiggery -was then at its height; the pseudo-patriots of the time recked little -of their country's misfortunes when these gave them opportunity of -triumph over a political antagonist. What cared they for the reverses -of British arms, or the lopping off of Britain's colonies, if they -thereby saw themselves nearer the possession of the place and power -whose emoluments they so greedily coveted? Charles Fox, with his -faro-purse empty and an execution in his house, could hardly afford -to be particular as to the strict cleanliness of the path to the -treasury bench. Then or never was the moment to sacrifice public weal -to private advantage. And accordingly, when, "on the 3d December -1777, the Court was thunderstruck with the disastrous intelligence -of the surrender of General Burgoyne and his army at Saratoga, the -Opposition could hardly conceal their exultation: the disgrace and -loss which had fallen on the British arms were exaggerated, and -chanted about the streets in doggerel ballads." An "Ode on the -success of his Majesty's Arms," written in December, and printed in -the _Foundling Hospital for Wit_, celebrates ironically the glorious -results of the campaign, and the skill and prudence of the ministers -at home; and ends with a congratulation on the old tale of King -George's mechanical amusements:-- - - "Then shall my lofty numbers tell, - Who taught the royal babes to spell, - And sovereign arts pursue; - To mend a watch, or set a clock, - New patterns shape for Hervey's frock, - Or buttons make at Kew." - -The homely tastes of George III., his love of farming, and habit -of amusing himself with a turning-lathe, were great themes for -scurrilous attacks upon the royal person, both in print and -caricature. "Mr King the button-maker" was held up to ridicule in -every low publication on the Opposition side of the question. The -_Oxford Magazine_ frequently returned to the charge, sometimes with -almost as much humour as impertinence. This was rather earlier than -the American war, which gave rise to still more offensive inuendoes -against the sovereign. Thus, when an outcry was got up against the -employment of Indians in conjunction with the British troops in North -America, and when all manner of horrible stories of cannibalism and -so forth were set afloat, we are shown a caricature of the king -squatted on the ground, cheek by jowl with a befeathered savage. The -Indian handles a tomahawk, the king holds a skull, and "the Allies" -(this is the title of the disgusting print) gnaw each at his own end -of a large human bone. The brutality of the conception renders such a -caricature as this far more unpleasant than the coarse, but generally -good-humoured, quizzes subsequently executed by Gillray on royal -foibles and economy. Some of our older readers may remember these. -They were published towards the end of the last century. Half-a-dozen -are excellently well copied on pages 205 to 211 of Mr Wright's second -volume. There is "The Introduction"--George III and Queen Charlotte -receiving their daughter-in-law the Princess of Prussia, and -bewildered with delight at the golden dowery she brings. Then we have -the King toasting his muffins, and the Queen frying her sprats; and -again, (the best of them,) the royal pair out for a walk, and majesty -overwhelming an unlucky pig-feeder by a volley of interrogative -iterations. But few caricatures bear description, and least of all -Gillray's, where the design is often of the simplest, and the humour -of the execution every thing. - -Gillray's first attempts at caricature were on the occasion of Lord -Rodney's victory over De Grasse. It will be remembered that, when -the North Administration went out in 1782, one of the first acts of -their Liberal successors was to recall Rodney, a stanch Tory, on -pretext of his not having done all he ought to have done with the -West Indian fleet. England was badgered by her numerous enemies, -and her affairs looked altogether discouraging, when sudden news -arrived of the triumph which established her sovereignty of the -seas. Ministers found themselves in an awkward predicament. It was -neither gracious nor graceful to persist in the victor's recall, -and yet, what else could be done? His successor, Admiral Pigot, had -already sailed. Too late, an express was sent to stop him. "A cold -vote of thanks was given by both Houses to the victorious Rodney, and -he was raised to the peerage, but only as a baron, and was voted a -pension of but £2000 a-year." Such shabby reward for an achievement -of immense importance was, of course, not suffered to pass unnoticed -by the late ministry, now the Opposition. A fleet of caricatures was -launched, and amongst them were two by the then unknown Gillray. In -one of them, "King George runs towards the admiral with the reward -of a baron's coronet, and exclaims, (in allusion to Rodney's recall -and elevation to the peerage,) 'Hold, my dear Rodney, you have -done enough! I will now make a lord of you, and you shall have the -happiness of never being heard of again!'" Probably these maiden -efforts attracted little notice, for some time still elapsed before -Gillray made much use of his pencil for the public amusement. In -this same year of 1782, however, he brought out a clever caricature -of Fox, who had just resigned his foreign secretaryship on Lord -Shelburne's coming to be prime minister, _vice_ Rockingham, deceased. -In this print Charles James is represented, as a sort of parody on -Milton's Satan, gazing with envious eye at Shelburne and Pitt, as -they count their money on the treasury table. - - "Aside he turned - For envy, yet with jealous leer malign - Eyed them askance." - -The expression of Fox's face is excellent, and the likeness good, -but yet it wants something of the raciness of Gillray's later -works. Fox and Burke were the great butts of the satirists at this -particular moment, and also in the following year, on the occasion -of their coalition with Lord North. James Sayer, then in full force -as a caricaturist, and anxious to curry favour with his patron Pitt, -to whom he was subsequently indebted for more than one lucrative -place, was very severe upon them; and the power of caricature at -that time must have been very great, if it be true that Fox admitted -the severest blow received by his India Bill to have been from a -drawing of Sayer's. It was a cry of the day that Fox aimed at a -sort of Indian dictatorship for himself, and the satirists gave him -the nickname of Carlo Khan. In the caricature in question, entitled -"Carlo Khan's Triumphant Entry into Leadenhall Street," "Fox, in his -new character, is conducted to the door of the India House on the -back of an elephant, which exhibits the full face of Lord North, -and he is led by Burke as his imperial trumpeter; for he had been -the loudest supporter of the bill in the House of Commons. A bird -of ill-omen croaks from above the would-be monarch's doom." On the -other side of the question, several good caricatures also appeared, -levelled chiefly at William Pitt, then on the eve of his prime -ministership, and amongst these were three, published anonymously, -which Mr Wright is probably not mistaken in attributing to the pencil -of Rowlandson. - -The imitation of French fashions and manners, and even of French -profligacy, already noticed as gaining ground in English society -about the middle of the eighteenth century, had reached the highest -pitch towards its close. Nothing could be more absurd than the -dresses of 1785, the enormous hats and prodigious _buffonts_ and -buckram monstrosities of the women, except perhaps the rush into -the opposite extreme which took place at the commencement of the -French Revolution. One of the caricatures of 1787, under the title -of "Mademoiselle Parapluie," shows us a young lady serving as an -umbrella, sheltering a whole family from a shower beneath the -tremendous brim of her hat, (a regular fore-and-after), and under the -protecting shadow of a protuberance, concerning whose composition -(crinoline not having then been invented) future ages must remain in -deplorable darkness. Then, every thing was sacrificed to breadth in -costume. Pass we over six or seven years, and the lady of fashion -who, at their commencement, could hardly get through a moderate-sized -doorway, might almost glide head-foremost through the keyhole. A -thin scanty robe, clinging close to the form, a turban and a single -lofty plume, a waist close up under the arms, a watch the size of -a Swedish turnip, with a profusion of seals and pendants, compose -the fashionable female attire of that day. The dress of the men is -equally ridiculous, both in cut and material, the great rage then -being for striped stuffs, known as Zebras, and employed for coats -as well as for the absurd pantaloons, puffed out round the hips and -buttoned tight on the leg, in vogue amongst the beaux of the period. -The modes that succeeded these were equally exaggerated and ugly. And -the frivolity and extravagance of the time kept pace with the follies -of dress. There was a rage for strange sights and extraordinary -exhibitions; and the Londoners, especially, carried this passion to -an extent that rendered them easy dupes of charlatans and impostors. -"It stands recorded in the newspapers of the time, on the 9th of -September 1785,--'Handbills were distributed this morning that a bold -adventurer meant to walk upon the Thames from Riley's Tea Gardens.' -We are further informed that, at the hour appointed, thousands of -people had crowded to the spot, and the river was so thickly covered -with boats, that it was no easy matter to find enough water uncovered -to walk upon." Of course the thing was a mere trick, and the Cockneys -had their disappointment for their pains. Then balloons were the -crotchet of the hour, and they also came from France, where they had -been brought to a certain degree of perfection, but where it was -soon found they were more positively dangerous than probably useful; -for in May 1784, "a royal _ordonnance_ forbade the construction or -sending up of 'any aërostatic machine,' without an express permission -from the king, on account of the various dangers attendant upon -them; intimating, however, that this precaution was not intended -to let the 'sublime discovery' fall into neglect, but only to -confine the experiments to the direction of intelligent persons." -In England, the fancy for them increased, and was the subject of -various caricatures and pamphlets, until the death of a couple of -Frenchmen, thrown to the earth from an immense height, cooled the -soaring courage of the aëronauts. A more destructive and permanent -folly was the passion for gambling, which, in spite of the attacks of -the press, of grave censure and cutting satire, pervaded all ranks -of society. There was a perfect fury for faro; and ladies of high -fashion, and of aristocratic name, thought it not beneath them to -convert their houses into hells. Three of these sporting dames, who -had made themselves a name as keepers of banks, to which they enticed -young men of fortune, were popularly known as "Faro's daughters." -Lord Kenyon, when deciding on a gambling case, pledged himself, in -a moment of virtuous indignation, to sentence _the first ladies in -the land_ to the pillory, should they be brought before him for a -similar offence. Not long afterwards, several titled gamblers were -actually arraigned at his tribunal, but he forgot his threat, and -let them off with a fine. The hint, however, was enough for Gillray, -then in his glory, and for his brothers of the comic brush, and the -moral exposure and castigation which 'Faro's daughters' endured at -the hands of the caricaturists, can have been hardly less stinging -and annoying than actual exposure to the hooting and pelting of the -mob. General demoralisation, the natural consequence of gambling, -characterised this period. Men and women, ruined at the board of -green cloth, recruited their finances as best they might; and when no -other resource remained, the latter bartered their reputation, and -the former took to the road. Those were the palmy days of highway -robbery. "We are in a state of war at home that is shocking," writes -Horace Walpole in 1782. "I mean from the enormous profusion of -housebreakers, highwaymen, and footpads; and, what is worse, from -the savage barbarities of the two latter, who commit the most wanton -cruelties. The grievance is so crying, that one dares not stir out -after dinner but well armed. If one goes abroad to dinner, you would -think he was going to the relief of Gibraltar." Sixty-two years ago, -in January 1786, "the mail was stopped in Pall Mall, close to the -palace, and deliberately pillaged, at so early an hour as a quarter -past eight in the evening." - -After having for some years drawn their principal themes for -satire from the social follies and political dissensions of their -countrymen, the English caricaturists and song-writers found -"fresh fields and pastures new" in foreign menaces and threatened -invasion. In their usual presumptuous tone, French newspapers and -proclamations spoke of the conquest of England by the conqueror of -Italy, as of a project whose realisation admitted not the smallest -doubt. This country had not then that confidence of invincibility -which she gathered from subsequent victories in the field; and the -positive assertions of France, that she had but to throw an army -on the English coast to secure prompt and powerful co-operation -from the Jacobin party, caused considerable alarm in the country. -To kindle true patriotism, and raise the courage of the nation, -recourse was had to loyal songs, and anti-French caricatures. The -anti-Jacobin lent efficient aid, and Gillray put his shoulder to -the wheel. The periodical and the artist were a host in themselves. -Clever verses, and pointed caricatures, followed each other in quick -succession. Soon Buonaparte betook himself to Egypt, the victory of -the Nile spread rejoicing through the land, and caricatures caught -the exultation of the hour. John Bull was represented at dinner, -forking French frigates down his capacious gullet, and supplied -with the provender, as fast as he could devour it, by Nelson and -other nautical cooks. Buonaparte, stripped to the waist, with all -enormous cocked-hat on his head, and the claret flowing freely from -his nose, receives fistic punishment at the hands of Jack Tar. The -suppression of the Irish rebellion of '98, and the death of General -Hoche, who had replaced Buonaparte as the threatened invader of the -British Isles, confirmed the feeling of security our naval triumphs -had inspired. The Peace of Amiens set the wags of the pencil on a -new tack, and Monsieur François was represented as imprinting "The -first Kiss these Ten Years" on the lips of burly, blushing Britannia, -who, whilst accepting the salute, hints a doubt of her admirer's -sincerity. The doubt was justified by the rupture that speedily -followed. The camp of Boulogne was formed; the French army were -reminded of the pleasant pastime, in the shape of rape and robbery, -that awaited them in the island famed for wealth and beauty. On -this side the Channel nothing was left undone that might increase -English contempt and hatred for the blustering bullies upon the -other. Individuals and associations printed and disseminated "loyal -tracts," as they were called. "Every kind of wit and humour was -brought into play to enliven these sallies of patriotism; sometimes -they came forth in the shape of national playbills, sometimes they -were coarse and laughable dialogues between the Corsican and John -Bull." Libels on Buonaparte, burlesques on his acts, parodies of his -bulletins, accounts of the atrocities of his armies, were daily put -forth, mingled with countless songs and tracts of encouragement and -defiance. Some of these were spirited, but generally the substance -and intention were better than the form--at least so they now -appear to us, who read them without the additional savour imparted -by the appropriateness of their time of production. Gillray keeps -better, and one still must smile at his John Bull, standing in -mid-Channel with trousers tucked up to his thighs, offering a fair -fight to his meagre enemy, who contemplates him with a visage of -grim dismay from above the triple batteries of the French coast. It -is said that Buonaparte was much annoyed by personalities levelled -at himself and his family, in some of the caricatures of 1803. They -were often very coarse, and conveyed unhandsome imputations on the -conduct of his female relatives; some of whom--rather flighty dames, -if all tales be true--gave by their conduct plausible grounds for -such attacks. Napoleon himself was represented in every odious and -contemptible shape that could be devised,--as a butcher, a pigmy, -an ogre, and even as a _fiddle_, transformed by an abominable pun -into a _base villain_, upon which John Bull, a complacent smile upon -his honest face, plays with sword instead of bow. This was after -Maida, when the British army had begun to share the high esteem in -which repeated victories had long caused our fleets to be held. -A droll caricature, by Woodward, represents Napoleon abusing his -master-shipwright for not keeping him better supplied with ships; -whilst the unfortunate constructor, with hair on end, and a shrug -to his ears, excuses himself upon the ground that, as fast as he -builds, the English capture. It is to be remarked that hardly any of -the caricatures of Napoleon attempt a likeness of him. They usually -represent him as a lantern-jawed, disconsolate-looking wretch, with -a prodigious cocked-hat and plume of feathers--that is to say, quite -the contrary, both in head and head-dress, of what he really was. -Both Gillray and his successors seem to have preferred sketching him -as the received personification of a Frenchman, to giving a burlesque -portrait or real caricature of the man. We trace this peculiarity, -in many instances, up to the year 1814, when George Cruikshank, in -depicting a Cossack "snuffing out Boney," (an allusion to French -disasters in Russia), still represents the then plump Emperor as a -lean, long-chinned scarecrow, with sash and feathers. Rowlandson -does nearly the same thing, in his vulgar print of Napoleon's -reception in the Island of Elba; and the only caricature reproduced -by Mr Fairholt, in which is preserved the general character of the -Emperor's head, is an anonymous one, where the head is placed on a -dog's shoulders, and "Blucher the Brave," by a rough grasp on the -nape of the quadruped's neck, extracts "the groan of abdication -from the Corsican Bloodhound." Probably the classic regularity of -Napoleon's countenance discouraged the caricaturists from attempting -his likeness. They were deterred by the difficulty of burlesquing a -face whose grave expression and perfect proportion gave no hold to -ridicule, and made it pretty certain that the general resemblance -would be sacrificed to the exaggeration of even a single feature. - -FOOTNOTE: - -[1] _England under the House of Hanover; its History and Condition -during the reigns of the three Georges, illustrated from the -Caricatures and Satires of the day._ By THOMAS WRIGHT, Esq., -M.A.F.S.A. &c. With numerous illustrations, executed by F. W. -FAIRHOLT, F.S.A. In two volumes. London: 1848. - - - - -A PARCEL FROM PARIS. - - -It is some time since we had a gossip about French literature and -_littérateurs_. The fact is, that, since the blessed days of February -drove crestfallen monarchy from France, and began the pleasant state -of things under which that country has since so notably flourished, -literature has been at a complete stand-still in the land beyond the -Channel. We refer especially to the light and amusing class of books -it has been our habit occasionally to notice and extract from. With -these the revolution has played the very mischief. Feuilletons have -made way for bulletins of barricade contests, for reports of state -trials, for the new dictator's edicts and proclamations. The rush -at the _Cabinets de Lecture_ has been for lists of genuine killed -and wounded, not for imaginary massacres, by M. Dumas' heroes, of -hosts of refractory plebeians, or for the full and particular account -of the gallant defence of Bussy d'Amboise, against a quarter of a -hundred hired assassins--all picked men-at-arms, and all setting on -him at once, but of whom, nevertheless, he slays twenty-four, and -only by the twenty-fifth is slain. And, by the bye, what pity it is -that a few of our friend Alexander's redoubted swordsmen could not -have been summoned from their laurel-shaded repose in Père la Chaise, -to avert the recent catastrophe of the house of Orleans. Just a brace -and a half of his king-making _mousquetaires_ would have done the -trick in a trice. Rumour certainly says that, in February last, a -tall dark-complexioned gentleman, with a bran-new African _Kepi_ on -his martial brow, a foil, freshly unbuttoned, in his strong right -hand, and a yell of liberty upon his massive lips, was seen to head -a furious assault upon the Tuileries, at a time when that palace was -undefended. Ill-natured tongues have asserted that this adventurous -forlorn-hope leader was no other than the author of _Monte Christo_; -but of this we credit not a syllable. It is notorious that M. Dumas -is under the deepest obligations to the ex-king of the French, to -whose kind and efficacious patronage (when Duke of Orleans) his first -very sudden, very brilliant, and not altogether deserved success -as a dramatist was mainly due. Equally well known is it that the -popular writer was the favoured and intimate associate of two of -Louis Philippe's sons--the Dukes of Orleans and Montpensier. Take, -in conjunction with these facts, M. Dumas' established reputation -for steady consistency, gravity, and gratitude, and of course -it is impossible to believe that he ever acted so basely to his -benefactors. But, even admitting republican predilections on his -part, his love of liberty would assuredly prevent his constraining -those well-known stanch supporters of the right divine, Messrs Athos, -Artagnan, and Company, who, if set down in Paris in 1848, would have -played the very deuce with the young republic. The giant Porthos -would have stridden along the boulevards, kicking over the barricades -as easily as he raised, single-handed, the stone which six of the -degenerate inhabitants of Bellisle were unable to lift, (_Vide "Le -Vicomte de Bragelonne;"_) whilst the astute Gascon Artagnan would -have packed General Cavaignac in a magnified _bonbon_-box, with -air-holes in the lid, and _Copahine-Mège_ or _Chocolat-Cuillier_ on -the label; and would have conveyed him on board a fishing smack, -there detaining him till he pledged his honour that the king should -have his own again. And, upon the whole, and whatever budding honours -and civic crowns M. Dumas may anticipate under the genial reign of -republicanism, it would have been more to his present interest to -have stuck to monarchy, and led his legions to its rescue. Under the -new regime his occupation is gone; his literary merchandise vainly -seeks a market. Paris, engrossed by domestic broils and political -discussions, by its anarchy, its misery, and its hunger--no longer -cares for the fabulous exploits of Gascon paladins, and of privates -in the Guards, who make thrones to totter, and armies to fly, by -the prowess of their single arm. But M. Dumas is not disheartened. -When the drama languishes, and the feuilleton grows unproductive, -he falls back upon the _Premier-Paris_. When readers are scarce for -twelve-volume romances, and plays in ten acts and thirty _tableaux_ -cease to draw, he starts upon a fresh tack--proposes enlightening -the public on politics, regenerating France through the leaders of -a newspaper. We were greatly amused by his advertisement of the -journal, intended to act as lantern to this shining light of the -new political day. "Our task is easy"--these were its concluding -words--"_Dieu dicte, nous écrivons!_" Setting aside the slight -profanity of this startling assertion, one cannot but admire the -characteristic modesty of the self-conferred secretaryship. We are -assured, however, that M. Dumas has been found far less able and -attractive at the head of the column, than he was in his old place at -the foot of the page. - -The disjointed times being decidedly unfavourable to _belles -lettres_, we were scarcely surprised at the first non-arrival of -the monthly parcel, in which our punctual Paris agent is wont to -forward us the literary novelties of the preceding thirty days. -On a second and a third omission, we grew uneasy, and suspected -the Red Republicans of abstracting our packages _in transitu_; but -absolved the democrats on receipt of advice, that if the books did -not arrive, it was because they were not sent; and that, if they -were not sent, it was because there were none, or as good as none, -to send. At last a case has reached us--half the usual size, but -containing, nevertheless, the French literature of the entire summer. -A poor display indeed! The pens of the novelists have shrivelled in -their grasp; their plump goose-quills have dwindled into emaciated -tooth-picks. Instead of the exuberant eight-volume romance, with -promise of continuation, we have single volumes, meagre tales, -that seem nipped in the bad, blighted by the breath of revolution. -No author, not already involved in one of those tremendous series -with which French writers have lately abused the public patience, -now cares to exceed a volume or two. M. Sue, having got into the -middle of the seven capital sins, is fain to flounder on through -the ocean of iniquity; but his pen flags, evidently affected by -the discouraging influence of the times. M. Dumas has brought out -the final volume of "_Les Quarante Cinq_," a romance which we may -observe, _en passant_, is a scandalous specimen of what the French -call _faire la ligne_--doing the line, writing against paper, upon -the Vauxhall principle of making the smallest possible substance -cover the utmost possible surface. It is pity to see a man of -remarkable talent, which M. Dumas really is, thus degrading himself -into a mere mercantile speculator, lumbering his books with pages -upon pages of useless and meaningless dialogue--if dialogue that is -to be called, of which the following stuff is a specimen:-- - -"You are the Chevalier d'Artagnan." - -"Then let me pass." - -"Useless!" - -"Why useless?" - -"Because his Eminence is not at home." - -"What! His Eminence not at home! Where is he then?" - -"Gone." - -"Gone?" - -"Yes." - -"Where?" &c., &c. - -This is taken at random, from the volume last published of the -_Vicomte de Bragelonne_, in which romance the marvellous and -Crichtonian musketeers, brought forward again, when hard upon -threescore, show less sign of suffering from the march of years -than does the narrative of their adventures from its unconscionable -protraction. Much more than half the book is made up of such -wearisome conferences as that above-cited, where the interlocutors -carry on a sort of cut-and-thrust conversation, with an economy -of words explicable by the fact that in a French feuilleton, or -volume, one word of dialogue makes a line, as well as ten. With the -assistance of his secretary, M. Maquet, and of his son, Alexander -the Younger, M. Dumas gets through a prodigious amount of this sort -of trash, at once productive to his pocket and damaging to his -reputation; and then, when he finds publishers beginning to grumble, -and the public detecting the device, and rejecting the windy repast, -he applies himself in earnest, and produces something exceedingly -good, of which he is quite capable, if once he gets the spur. It -is to the necessity of thus occasionally redeeming his reputation, -that we are indebted for the few really praiseworthy romances he -has written--for the _Chevalier d'Harmental_, for the earlier -portion of the _Mousquetaires_, and for his masterpiece, _Le Comte -de Monte Christo_. His enemies and libellers have asserted, that -the first-named of these books was written by M. Maquet, and only -fathered by Dumas; but the assertion is absurd, and is belied by the -book itself, replete with that vivid animation which characterises -whatever Alexander writes. Moreover, the man who could write such a -novel would have no need to purchase the name of M. Dumas. He would -not lack a publisher, and his reputation would soon be made. We -believe the fact to be, that Maquet is a sort of industrious drudge, -employed by Dumas to rummage chronicles, and to collate and write -down historical incidents and facts, for his employer to distort -and expand into romances. For, as an historical romance writer, M. -Dumas is utterly without a conscience. By him characters and events -are twisted and turned as best suits his convenience. "I have twenty -years' work before me," he is reported to have said, "to illustrate -French history." Heaven knows what sort of an illustrator he is! -We would advise no one to take their notions of French historical -personages from M. Dumas' novels, or from his history either--for he -writes history also, at times, and the only doubt is, which is the -greatest fiction, his history or his romance. But for the titles, it -were not always easy to distinguish between them. It were unfair, -however, whilst quizzing his absurdities, to lose sight of his -merits. These are numerous and remarkable. His spirit and vivacity -of style are extraordinary; and we can call to mind no living writer -superior to him for invention. _Monte Christo_ is his masterpiece. It -is indeed a very striking and amusing book. With defects that forbid -our calling it a first-rate romance of its class, it is yet far more -entertaining than many that claim and obtain the title. The readers -of the _Journal des Debats_ well remember the eagerness with which -each successive _feuilleton_ was looked for, during its appearance -in that paper. We ourselves abominate the _feuilleton_ system, by -which one is a year or two reading a book, imbibing it by daily -crumbs, like the lady who eats her pillau with a bodkin. We waited -till the work was complete, and then read it off the reel,--not at a -sitting, certainly, considering the length, but early and late, in -bed and at board. And being somewhat fastidious in matter of novels, -it is evident _Monte Christo_ must have great attractions thus to -carry us at a canter through its interminable series of volumes. Its -chief fault is the usual one of its author--exaggeration. We are -sure M. Dumas is one of those persons who love to dream with their -eyes open--to build themselves palaces in fairyland, to arrange -gardens after the fashion of that of Eden, to furnish the most -preterperfect of apartments with the most fabulous of furniture, to -hang diamonds on their trees, and a roc's egg in their drawing-room. -His air-constructed castles find a site in the pages of his romances. -The right way to read them is to forget as fast as possible the -improbabilities and impossibilities. The supernatural being out -of vogue, he does not give to Edmund Dantes the lamp of Aladdin, -but (which is quite equivalent) a few double handfuls of precious -stones, whereof the smallest specimen is caught at by a Jew for a -thousand pounds; whilst one of the largest, hollowed out, forms a -convenient receptacle for a score of pills, as big as peas, which it -is the Count's custom to carry about with him. With the aid of this -incalculable wealth, Dantes pursues his grand scheme of revenge upon -the persons to whom he is indebted for fourteen years' undeserved -imprisonment in the dungeons of the Chateau d'If. Gold being the -universal key, all doors fly open before him: nothing is impossible -to the man who scatters millions upon the path leading to the goal of -his desires. Take the treasure for granted, and still there is much -exaggeration to get over; but there are also many truthful touches, -many finely-drawn characters. How exquisitely tender are some of the -scenes between the paralytic and his granddaughter; how capital and -characteristic the interview between the old Italian gambler and -the young French thief, when they are paid by the Count to consider -each other as father and son! In this romance there is none of the -make-weight dialogue so lavishly interpolated in most of the same -author's works. In style, too, and description, M. Dumas here rises -above his average. His style, always lively and piquant, is usually -loose, unpolished, and defaced by conventionalisms the Academy would -hardly sanction. In _Monte Christo_ he has evidently taken pains to -do well, and the result is the best written book he has yet produced. - -But we lose sight of our parcel, as yet but half unpacked. Here -is a volume of the _Député d'Arcis_, (another of the continuation -family,) heavy stuff, seemingly, by Balzac; and this brings us to -the end of the continuations. With these exceptions, the French -writers who have not altogether left off writing, have at least -kept within circumscribed limits. Here we have a volume from M. -Méry of Marseilles, a clever, careless writer, not much known in -England; another by the authoress of _Consuelo_; two more from M. -Alphonse Karr; a couple from that old sinner, Paul de Kock, who -is not often so concise, having superadded, of late years, to his -other transgressions the crime of long-windedness; a brief Sicilian -sketch from M. Paul de Musset. We turn aside a heap of political -matter, of no great merit or value; a few pamphlets, of some talent, -but fugitive interest, by Girardin and others; a ream of portraits -and caricatures; a few more novels whose authors' names or whose -first pages condemn them; _Mourir pour la Patrie_, and some other -revolutionary staves, bad music and worse words, and the box is -empty. We sit down to peruse the little we have selected as worth -perusal from the pile of printed paper. _La Famille Alain_, by Karr, -is the first thing that comes to hand. We have read the greater -part of it already, in the French periodical in which it first -appeared. M. Karr is rather a favourite of ours. There are many good -points about his novels, although he is, perhaps, less popular as a -novelist than as the writer of a small monthly satirical pamphlet, -_Les Guèpes_, The Wasps, which has existed for several years, with -varying, but, upon the whole, with very great success. M. Karr's -wit is of a peculiar order, approaching more nearly to _humour_ -than French wit generally does. There is an odd sort of dryness and -fantastic _naïveté_ in some of his drolleries, quite distinct from -what we are accustomed to in the comic writings of his countrymen. -With this the German origin to be inferred from his name may have -some connexion. There is also a Germanic vagueness and dreaminess in -some of his books, although their scene is usually on French ground, -frequently on the coast of Brittany, a country M. Karr evidently well -knows and loves. One of his great recommendations is the general -propriety of his writings. Of most of them, the tone and tendency -are alike unexceptionable, and some are mere "simple stories," which -the most fastidious papas--who deny that any good thing can proceed -from a French press, and look upon the yellow paper cover with -"Paris" at its foot as the ineradicable mark of the beast, the moral -quarantine flag, betokening uncleanness which no amount of lazaretto -can purge or purify--might with safe conscience place in the hands -of their blooming artless sixteen-year-old daughters. The fact is, -that people _will_ read French novels--so long as they are not -audaciously indecent, immoral, or irreligious--because the present -race of French novelists are far cleverer and more amusing than their -English brethren. And although some French novels are offensive and -abominable, it is not fair to include all in the black list, or to -deny that a great improvement has taken place since the period (the -early years of the reign of the first and last King of the French) -when the Paris press was clogged with indecency and infidelity. We -should be very sorry to put Mrs George Sand's works into the hands of -any young woman; we would insult no woman, of any age, by commending -to her notice the obscene buffoonery of De Kock; but neither would -we condemn the whole flock for a sprinkling of scabby sheep. There -are many French writers of a very different stamp from the two just -named; and M. Karr is one of the better sort. The tale now before -us is a Norman story, possessing better plot and incident than -many of its predecessors; for in these respects, this author--from -indolence, we suspect--is often rather deficient. We need hardly -tell our readers that the Norman is noted for his cunning, and for -his litigious propensities, as the Gascon is for his boasting and -vanity, the Lorrainer for his stolidity, &c., &c. In _La Famille -Alain_, the characteristics of the province, and the casualties -of the peasant's and fisherman's life, are cleverly illustrated. -Tranquille Alain, surnamed Risquetout, from certain bold feats of his -earlier years, lives by the seaside on the produce of his nets. His -family consists of his wife Pélagie, his sons and daughter, Cæsar, -Onesimus, and Berenice, and of his foster-daughter Pulchérie. With -respect to these magnificent names, M. Karr thinks it necessary to -offer some explanation. "I am not their inventor," he says, "and they -are very common in Normandy. There is not a village that has not its -Berenices, its Artemesias, its Cleopatras. I know not whence the -inhabitants originally took these names. Perhaps they were given by -dames of high degree, who took them from Mademoiselle de Scudery's -romances, to bestow them on their rustic god-children, and they have -since remained traditional in the country." The book opens with the -christening of a new fishing-boat, to build which Tranquille Alain -has borrowed a hundred crowns of his cousin Eloi, miller and usurer. -In France, as elsewhere, and especially in Normandy, millers have a -roguish reputation. The loan is to be repaid, part at the beginning -and part at the end of the fishing season, with twenty crowns -interest. But the season sets in stormy and unfavourable; the fish -shun the coast; and at the date appointed for the first payment, the -debtor is unprepared with either principal or interest. At last the -wind lulls, and the angry waves subside into a long sullen swell. -Risquetout and his sons put to sea. - -"Towards the close of day, as the boats reappeared on the horizon, -Eloi Alain came down from Beuzeval, and waited their arrival upon the -beach. They had taken a few whitings. Onesimus was proud, because -almost all the fish had been caught on his line. - -"Risquetout, who had started that morning rather prematurely, without -waiting till the fine weather had thoroughly set in, had a feeling of -fear and embarrassment at sight of the miller. - -"'Have you caught any thing?' said Eloi. - -"'A few whitings. Will you come, and eat some with us?' - -"Eloi made no answer; but when the lines and fish had been taken out -of the boat, and the boat had been washed and hauled up upon the -shore, he followed the three fishers to their home. Pélagie also felt -uneasy at sight of Eloi; she asked him, as Tranquille had done, if he -would eat a whiting, to which he replied,-- - -"'Not to refuse you.' - -"Then, as they changed the fish from one basket to another, he took -up two, and kept them a long time in his hands, repeating, 'Fine -whitings these, very fine whitings!' until Pélagie said:-- - -"'You shall take them home with you, cousin.' - -"Eloi answered nothing; they sat down to dinner; he found the cider -not very good, which did not prevent his drinking a great deal of it. - -"'Well, Tranquille,' said he, at last, 'it is to-day you are to pay -me the hundred and twenty crowns I lent you.' - -"Neither the intrepid Risquetout, nor any of his family, dared to -observe that the loan was not of one hundred and twenty crowns, but -only of one hundred crowns, for which a hundred and twenty were to be -paid back. - -"'True,' said Tranquille Alain, 'true; but the same reason which -prevented my paying you the other day, prevents me to-day; to-day -only have we been able to put to sea. - -"'I am sadly inconvenienced for these hundred and twenty crowns I -lent you, cousin. I had reckoned on them to employ in an affair--I -had taken them from a sum I had in reserve--and here I am, distressed -for want of them.' - -"'I am sorrier for it than you are, cousin, but a little patience and -all will go well.' - -"Tranquille did not dare say that Eloi could not be distressed for -the hundred and twenty crowns, their agreement having been, that he -should repay only a portion at the beginning of the season, and the -remainder at its conclusion. - -"'And when will you pay me?' - -"'Well, cousin, at the end of the season.' - -"'The two halves shall be paid together,' added Pélagie, bolder than -her husband. - -"'It is to-day the money would be useful to me; I miss an affair on -which I should gain fifty crowns! It is very hard to have obliged -people, and to find one's-self in difficulty in consequence. I am so -much in want of money, Risquetout, that if you give me two hundred -francs, I will return you these two bills of sixty crowns each.' - -"'You know very well I have no money, Eloi.' - -"'Never mind, it shows you what sacrifices I would make to-day, to -receive what you owe me.' - -"Again no one dared tell the miller that he was not very sincere when -he offered to sacrifice a hundred and sixty francs to obtain payment -of a sum which would enable him, he said, to gain a hundred and fifty. - -"'What is to be done?' said he. - -"'I wish I had the money, Eloi.' - -"'You say then that you cannot pay, till Michaelmas, the hundred and -twenty crowns you should have paid to-day?' - -"'That is to say, cousin,' cried Pélagie, always bolder or less -patient than her husband, 'that we should have given you half of it.' - -"'Yes; but that half was due a fortnight ago; and, besides, I am in -such want of that half, that--See here, now, I offered just now to -give you back your bills for two hundred francs; well, pay me one, -and I return you both. There is nothing stingy or greedy in that -offer, I hope; I lent you a hundred and twenty crowns, and I cry -quits for sixty.' - -"'Cousin, I repeat that I have no money, and besides, if I had sixty -crowns, I would give them you, which would not prevent my giving you -the sixty others later.' - -"'It is sixty crowns that I lose on the affair I miss for want of -money.' - -"'Pélagie longed to remind Eloi that the profit sacrificed had been -but fifty crowns a few minutes before, but she held her tongue. - -"'I am no Turk,' continued the miller; 'I will renew your bills. Draw -one of a hundred and fifty crowns payable at Michaelmas.' - -"The husband and wife exchanged a look. Pélagie spoke. - -"'What, cousin! a hundred and fifty crowns! That makes, then, thirty -crowns interest from now till Michaelmas, and that on sixty crowns, -or rather on fifty, since only half the sum is due; and out of the -sixty crowns ten are for interest.' - -"'I don't deny it. You think thirty crowns interest too much; well, I -offer sixty for the same time. Give me sixty crowns, and I return the -two bills, and thank you into the bargain, and you will have done me -famous service.' - -"'Ah! cousin, I wish I had never borrowed this money of you!' - -"'I am sure I wish you had not; I should not be pinched for it -to-day. And why am I? Because I won't get you into difficulties, -for I might give your two bills in payment for the affair I speak -of, and then you would be made to pay, or your boats would be sold; -but I prefer being the loser myself, for after all, cousin, we are -brothers' sons, and we must help one another in this world.' - -"'Nevertheless, cousin, thirty crowns are a very high figure.' - -"'Yes; and I should be quite content if you would give me sixty for -the hundred and twenty I lent you; but, Lord bless me! add nothing to -the bill, if you like--let me lose every thing.' - -"'It is fair to add something, Eloi.' - -"'Well, since you find thirty crowns too much, when I should be too -happy to give sixty, add nothing, or add thirty crowns.' - -"Tranquille and his wife looked at each other. - -"'I will do as you wish,' said Risquetout. - -"'Observe,' said the miller, 'that it is not I who wish it. What I -wish, on the contrary, is to see my hundred and twenty crowns which -went out of my pocket, and to receive them without addition; what I -would gladly agree to is, to receive sixty, and make you a present of -the rest.' - -"'Write out the bill; I will make my mark.' - -"Eloi wrote; but, when about to set down the sum upon the stamp he -had brought with him, he checked himself. - -"'Tranquille,' said he, 'the stamp is five sous; it is not fair I -should pay it. Give me five sous.' - -"'There is not a sou in the house,' said Pélagie. - -"'Then we will add it to the amount of the bill. Thus: At Michaelmas -I promise to pay to my cousin, Eloi Alain, the sum of four hundred -and fifty-one francs (one cannot put four hundred and fifty francs -and five sous, it would look so paltry,) which he has been so -obliging as to lend me in hard cash. Signed, Tranquille Alain. There, -put your mark, and you, Pélagie, put yours also.' - -"The signatures given, Eloi returned the old bills with the air of a -benefactor conferring an immense favour. - -"'This time, cousin,' said he, 'be punctual. I shall pay away your -bill to a miller at Cherbourg; and if you are not prepared to take -it up when due, he may not be so accommodating as I am; for, after -all, these four hundred and fifty-one francs would be very useful to -me, if I had them in my pocket instead of having lent them to you. -Four hundred and fifty-one francs are not to be picked up under every -hedge; it is not every day one finds a cousin willing to lend him -four hundred and fifty-one francs.' - -"No one made any observation on this pretended loan of four hundred -and fifty-one francs. - -"'Well, I must be off. I perhaps lost my temper a little, cousin, -but I am really in want of the money. You understand--when one has -reckoned on four hundred and fifty-one francs that one has lent--and -then not to receive a single copper, it is rather vexatious; but, -however, I will manage as I can. I am hasty at the moment, but I bear -no malice. It is all forgotten.' - -"He then took up the two whitings which had been laid aside for him. -At the same time he took a third out of the basket, and placed it -beside one of his, comparing the two. - -"'I think this is a finer one!' he said. And he weighed them, one in -each hand. - -"'There is not much difference,' he observed. - -"He changed them into the opposite hands, weighed them again, and -appeared sadly embarrassed, until his kinsman said to him: - -"'Don't mind, cousin, take the three.' - -"'Here, Onesimus,' said he, 'run a piece of string through their -gills.' - -"Onesimus strung them on the end of a strong line. He was about to -cut the piece off, when Eloi checked him. - -"'Bless me!' said the miller, 'how wasteful children are! He would -cut that capital new cord.' - -"And he carried away the entire cord, with the three whitings at -the end of it, after having several times repeated his advice to -Risquetout to be punctual in the payment of his bill, and after -kissing Berenice, and saying,-- - -"'Good-bye, my dear children; I am delighted to have been of service -to you.' - -"'Our cousin is a very hard and a very griping man,' said Pélagie. - -"'God does not pay his labourers every night,' replied Tranquille, -lifting his woollen cap, 'but sooner or later he never forgets to -pay. Each man shall be recompensed according to his work.'" - -This is by no means the sort of thing generally met with in -French romances of the present day. It is neither the back-slum -and bloody-murder style, nor the self-styled historical, nor the -social-subversive. It is just simple, natural, pleasant reading, free -from anything indecent or objectionable. We have taken this chapter -because it bears extraction well, not as the best in the book, still -less as the only good one. _La Famille Alain_ has a well-contrived -plot and well-managed incidents, contains some droll and quiet -caricature, and many touching and delicately-handled passages. The -correspondence between the young lady at the Paris boarding-school, -and the fisherman's daughter at Dive, and the sketches of the -company at the watering-place, are each excellent in their way. -The introduction of Madame du Mortal and her daughter, and of the -Viscount de Morgenstein, is rather foreign to the story, but affords -M. Karr opportunity of sketching characters by no means uncommon in -France, although little known in England. At this sort of delineation -he is the Gavarni of the pen. - -"The truth is, that Madame du Mortal's existence had been tolerably -agitated. Eight years previously she had quitted M. du Mortal for the -society of an officer, who soon, touched by remorse, had left her -at full liberty to repair their mutual fault by returning to edify -the conjugal mansion by her repentance, and by the exercise of those -domestic virtues she had somewhat neglected. Madame du Mortal did -nothing of the sort; she knew how to create resources for herself. -Formerly, deceived and discouraged people fled to a convent, now they -fly to the feuilleton. When a woman finds herself, by misconduct and -scandal, excluded from society, she does not weep over her fault and -expiate it in a cloister; before long you see her name at the bottom -of a newspaper feuilleton, in which she demands the enfranchisement -of her sex. No great effort of invention was requisite for Madame du -Mortal to devise this resource. Her husband, M. du Mortal, a tall, -corpulent man, with a severe countenance and formidable mustaches, -had long furnished the article MODES to a widely-circulated -newspaper; and under the name of the Marchioness of M----, discoursed -weekly upon tucks and flounces, upon the length of gowns and the -size of bonnets, according to the instructions of milliners and -dressmakers, who paid him to give their names and addresses. Madame -du Mortal devoted herself to the same branch of literature, and -succeeded in seducing some of her husband's customers." - -"The Viscount de Morgenstein was one of those illustrious pianists -whose talent has much less connexion with music than with sleight -of hand. M. de Morgenstein achieved only three notes a minute less -than M. Henry Herz; as he was young and worked hard, it was thought -he would overtake, and perhaps surpass that master. He had long -curling hair, affected a melancholy and despairing countenance, and -was considered to have something fatal in his gait. His mere aspect -betrayed the man overwhelmed by the burden of genius and by the -divine malediction." - -The character of an old country gentleman, who has ruined himself -to marry his niece to a spendthrift count, is very well hit off. -Eloi Alain, who has a grudge against the poor old fellow, persecutes -him in every possible way; his aristocratic and ungrateful nephew -refuses him the pension agreed upon, and, to maintain appearances, -Monsieur Malais de Beuzeval is reduced to shifts worthy of Caleb -Balderstone. Although a _parvenu_, with vanity for the stimulus -of his stratagems, one cannot help feeling sorry for the weak but -kind-hearted old man, who shuffles on a livery coat, and puts a patch -over his eye, to inform visitors, through the wicket, that he himself -is not at home--his own servants having left him; who paints a blaze, -each alternate day, upon the face of his sole remaining horse, that -neighbours may credit the duplicity of his stud; and who illuminates -his drawing-room and jingles his piano in melancholy solitude, to -make the world believe M. de Beuzeval is receiving his friends. His -manoeuvres to procure a supply of forage, and his ingenuity in -dissipating the astonishment of its vender, who cannot comprehend -that the master of broad pastures should purchase a load of hay, are -capitally drawn. Like every thing else, however, the hay comes to an -end, and, at the same time with the horse, the master runs short of -provender. Only the four-legged animal has resources the biped does -not possess. - -"M. de Malais was again compelled to lead out his horse Pyramus -during the night, to graze the neighbours' lucerne. One morning -the inhabitants of the village of Beuzeval heard the castle-bell -announce, as usual, the breakfast. M. de Beuzeval walked into the -breakfast room, but found nothing to eat. He nibbled a stale crust -and set out for Caen, whence he always brought back a little money, -his journeys thither being for the purpose of disposing of some -relic of his departed splendour. But when he had ridden a league he -remembered it was Sunday; the man he had to see would not be at his -shop, and he must wait till the next day. He returned to Beuzeval, -and thence rode down to Dive. Berenice, who was lace-making at her -door, made him a grateful curtsey, and he stopped to exchange a few -words with her. Pélagie, who was preparing dinner, inquired after -Pulchérie. - -"'Madame la Comtesse de Morville is well,' he replied; 'I heard from -her the other day. My nephew, Count de Morville, has promised to -bring the countess to see me this summer.' - -"Onesimus and his father were close to shore. Pélagie begged M. de -Beuzeval's permission to look to their dinner, as they were obliged -to put to sea again as soon as they had eaten it. M. Malais got off -his horse and entered the house. - -"'Your soup smells deliciously,' said he; 'it is cabbage soup.' - -"'A soup you seldom see, M. de Beuzeval.' - -"'Not for want of asking for it. I am passionately fond of cabbage -soup, but they never will make it at my house.' - -"'I daresay not. It is not a soup for gentlefolk.' - -"'Yours smells excellent, Pélagie; but you were always a good cook.' - -"'Ah, sir! there is one thing that helps me to make good dinners for -our men!' - -"'What is that, Pélagie?' - -"'A good appetite. They put to sea last night, and here they come, -tired, wet, dying of hunger: all that is spice for a plain meal.' - -"The fishermen entered. - -"'Come along!' cried M. Malais, 'you have a famous soup waiting for -you. Upon my word, it smells too good; I must taste it. Pélagie, give -me a plate; I will eat a few spoonsful with you. Certainly, it is -but a short time since I took my breakfast--what people call a good -breakfast--but without appetite, without pleasure.' - -"'Indeed! M. Malais, you will do us the honour of tasting our soup?' - -"And Pélagie hastened to put a clean cloth upon the table. Berenice -fetched a pot of cider. Onesimus _moored_ the horse in the shade; -then they all sat down, taking care to give the best place to M. -Malais, who eagerly devoured a plateful of soup." - -We refer to the book itself those who would know how the poor old -gentleman made a second fierce assault on the tureen, and an equally -determined one on the bacon and greens; to what expedients he was -subsequently reduced; how it fared with the Countess Pulchérie and -her scapegrace husband, and what were the struggles, sufferings, and -ultimate rewards, of the courageous and simple-hearted Alains. The -book may safely be recommended to all readers. This is more than we -can say for the next that comes to hand--_Un Mariage de Paris_ by -Méry. This we should pitch into the rubbish-basket after reading the -first two chapters, did it not serve to illustrate what we have often -noted--the profound and barbarous ignorance of French literary men -on the subject of England and the English. Were this confined to the -smaller fry, the inferior herd of _Trans-canalic_ scribblers, one -would not be surprised. It is nothing wonderful that such gentlemen -as M. Paul Feval and poor blind Jacques Arago, should take _le gin_ -and _le boxe_ to be the Alpha and Omega of English propensities and -manners, and should proceed upon that presumption in romances of -such distinguished merit as _Les Mystères de Londres_ and _Zambala -l'Indien_. But M. Méry is a man of letters esteemed amongst his -fellows--a hasty and slovenly writer, certainly, but possessing wit, -and tact, and style, when he chooses to employ them; and having, -moreover, he himself assures us, in the pages of the singular -production now under dissection, been all through England--although -this we apprehend he effected by means of express trains, without -stop or stay, from Folkestone to Berwick-upon-Tweed and back again. -Even this much acquaintance with the British Isles is denied to many -of his contemporaries, who evidently derive their notions of English -habits and customs from the frequenters of the English taverns about -the Places Favart and Madeleine at Paris. M. Méry is above this. -He draws entirely upon his imagination for the manners, morals, -and topography of the country in which his scene is laid. He has -got a few names of places, which he jumbles together in the most -diverting manner. His hero, Cyprian de Mayran, a Paris exquisite of -the first water, saddened by a domestic calamity, comes to London -in quest of dissipation and oblivion. He has some acquaintances -there, dating from a previous visit, and amongst them is the popular -singer Sidora W----, a lady, we are told, "whose talent would have -been very contestable at Paris, but was venerated in London, the -city of universal toleration. When, in Norma, or Fidelio, she kept -only tolerably near to the intentions of the composers, changing -their notes into false coin, a phalanx of admirers rose like one -man, and a triple round of applause rent thirty pair of yellow -gloves. The name of Sidora W---- had _great attraction_, (the italics -are M. Méry's,) and when displayed on gigantic placards, before -_Mansion-house_, or _Post-office_, as well as on the modest gray -circulars of the grocers, at night whole squadrons of noble equipages -were seen manoeuvring between _Long Acre_ and the peristyle of -_Covent Garden_, and the theatre of _Drury Lane_ was invaded." The -nightingale who thus, in 1845, filled to suffocation the walls of -Drury, (a fact Mr Bunn may have difficulty to remember,) had a rural -retreat at Highgate, where she received a motley company. "The -garden of reception was like a vast flower-basket inhabited by a -woman, and surrounded by a dark fringe of mute adorers. There were -all the faces of the English universe: retired Calcutta nabobs; -ex-governors of unknown Archipelagos; colonels whose defunct wives -were Malabar widows, snatched from the funeral pile of their -Indian spouses; admirals bronzed by twenty cruises under the -equator; nephews of Tippoo Saib; disgraced ministers from Lahore; -ex-criminals from Botany Bay, who, having grown rich, were voted -virtuous; princes of Madagascar and Borneo; citizens of New Holland, -(naturalised Englishmen, notwithstanding their close affinity to -orang-outangs,)--in short all the human or inhuman types that Sem, -Cham, and Japhet invented on their escape from the Ark, to amuse -themselves a little after a year's diluvian captivity on the summit -of Mount Ararat. It is only in London such collections are to be met -with; and the foreign naturalist has the gratuitous enjoyment of -them. The capital of England is sometimes generous and disinterested -in its zoological exhibitions." - -Amidst these dingy exotics, Cyprian, "with his Parisian elegance, -his fresh complexion, his hair of a vivid auburn, waving like that -of the Apollo Belvedere," appeared like a swan amongst gray geese; -and, seating himself between "two equinoctial beings not classed -by Buffon," he soon engrossed all the attention of the fascinating -Sidora, to the suppressed but violent indignation of Prince -Rajab-Nandy, and her other copper-coloured admirers. One of these -waylays the handsome Frenchman on his return home. Whilst passing -over _Highgate Bridge_, Cyprian's horse starts violently, and an -"equinoctial gentleman, with nothing _white_ about his whole person, -except a pair of _yellow_ gloves, (a Gallo-Irishism,) springs from -amongst the _brushwood_, and plants himself in the middle of the -bridge, like a satyr in the poem of Ramaiana." A duel is arranged, to -take place at _Cricklewood Cottage_, and Cyprian gallops into London -by _Tottenham-Road_. Having no male acquaintances in London, except -two sobersided bankers, he is at a loss for seconds. Finally he -prevails on two of the opera chorus, in consideration of a new coat -and a sovereign, to accompany him to the field of danger; and, after -duly gloving and dressing them in _Saint-Martin-Court_, he packs them -in a hackney-coach and starts for _Cricklewood_, which we now learn -is on the summit of the _mountain of Hamstead_. "There, in a pavilion -decorated Chinese-fashion, three men of tropical physiognomy awaited -De Mayran...." Opposite the cottage there stretched out, to an -immense distance, over hill and over valley, a gloomy forest, which -served as dueling ground in the quarrelsome days of the Roundheads -and Cavaliers. In a level glade, bare of trees, the Anglo-Indians -paused. It was a wild and solitary place; nevertheless, here and -there, on the fir trees, were seen enormous electioneering placards, -bearing the words, "_Vote for Parker!_" This is rich, particularly if -we bear in mind that the author is perfectly serious, and devoutly -believes he is giving a very curious insight into the local usages -and characteristics of semi-civilised England. M. Méry's hero has -other adventures, equally true to life,--makes new acquaintances on -board a river-steamer; dines with them at _Sceptre and Crown_ at -Greenwich, and at _Star and Garter_ at Richmond; and falls violently -in love with Madame Katrina Lewing, a beautiful Englishwoman. M. Méry -makes merry on the river Thames, which he affects to believe rises in -the immediate vicinity of Richmond, and concerning whose origin and -exiguity he is very facetious. He also displays his acquaintance with -English literature by quoting "the great poet Pope's famous drinking -song in honour of the Thames, '_I you like, little stream!_'" Then -Cyprian prevails on Katrina to elope with him to _Port Natal_, (of -all places in the world!) and realises his fortune as a preparatory -measure; but Katrina proves a mere decoy-duck, and the amorous -Frenchman is stripped of his bank-notes, and left in the dead of -night in the middle of a field. In vain, at daybreak, does he seek -a shepherd to question, because, as M. Méry testifies, English -peasants do not inhabit the fields; shepherds are scarcely known in -the country; and the only one he, the aforesaid Méry, ever beheld, -during his extensive rambles in England, was a well-dressed young -gentleman, with gloves on, reading the _Morning Chronicle_ under a -tree. Then we have a thieves' orgie, where the liquors in demand are -claret and _absinthe_, nothing less--M. Méry not condescending to the -gin, so much abused by his contemporaries. And, finally, a murder -having been committed, its circumstances are investigated on the -spot, by a _Queen's proctor_, assisted by two policemen, a barmaid, -and a physician. We might multiply these literary curiosities; but -we have given enough to prove their author's intimate acquaintance -with the country about which he so agreeably writes. It is related -of M. Méry's friend Dumas, that he once resolved on a visit to -London, posted to Boulogne, steamed to London bridge, and reached St -Paul's, but there turned back, anathematising fog and sea-coal, and -never stopped till he found himself in the Chaussée d'Antin. Without -vouching for the truth of this tale, we must admit its probability -when told of the eccentric Alexander. Mr Méry's knowledge of this -country is just what he might have obtained by an hour's conversation -with his friend, upon the return of the latter from his journey to St -Paul's. But it is a crying sin of French writers, when they get upon -foreign ground, that, in their anxiety to give to their books a tinge -characteristic of the country, (_couleur locale_ they call it,) they -outstrip the limits assigned to them by their real knowledge of the -land and its inhabitants, and, meaning to be effective, become simply -ridiculous. And England is the country, of all others, whose ways -they apparently have most difficulty in rightly comprehending. On a -more southern soil they are less apt to run into absurdities, but sin -chiefly on the side of overcolouring. This may be alleged, although -to no violent extent, of a pleasant little romance by Paul de Musset, -_La Chèvre Jaune_--The Yellow Goat--intended as an illustration of -Sicilian life, particularly amongst the lower orders. The hero of -the tale is a precocious peasant boy, dwelling in the mountains with -his mother--a fierce old lady who owns a rifle, and detests the -Neapolitans. This boy, who herds goats, pets one of them, and trains -her to dance; by which means, and by his own good mien, he gains the -affections of a notary's daughter, whose papa, disapproving of the -attachment, has the peasant taken up on a false accusation of theft. -The boy escapes, turns bandit, and is accompanied in his forays and -ambuscades by his goat, who dances tarantellas on the mountain-tops, -and plays so many queer antics that she finally is held uncanny, and -becomes an object of fear and veneration to the ignorant Sicilians. -The story is prettily and pleasingly told, and is just the sort of -reading for a lazy man on a hot day. But, like most of the same -author's works, it wants vigour and originality. Paul de Musset is -a careful and a polished writer, and whatever he executes conveys -the idea of his having done his best; but his best is by no means -first-rate, and he labours under the great disadvantage of having a -younger brother a far cleverer fellow than himself. Nevertheless, -he is not to be spoken of disrespectfully. Slight as most of his -productions are, they are often graceful, and sometimes witty. One of -his recent _bluettes, Fleuranges_, although a thrice-told tale, is -distinguished by its charming vivacity and lightness. - -We turn to _François le Champi_, by George Sand. We need hardly say -that Madame Dudevant is any thing but a favourite of ours. Whilst -admitting her genius and great literary talent, we deplore the evil -application of such rare powers,--the perversion of intellect so -high to purposes so mischievous. And we cannot agree with M. de -Lomenie, who, in his sketch of her life, asserts the pernicious -influence of her books to be greatly exaggerated, maintaining that -"the catastrophe of almost all of them contains a sort of morality -of misfortune which, to a certain extent, replaces any other." -This is a specious, but a very hollow argument. How many of those -who read George Sand's books have ability or inclination to strike -this nice balance between virtue and vice, and do not rather yield -themselves captives to the seductive eloquence with which the poetess -depicts and palliates the immorality of her characters! Her earlier -works gave her a fair claim to the title of the Muse of Adultery, -which some uncivil critic conferred on her. The personages were -invariably husband, wife, and lover, and the former was by no means -the best treated of the three. After a while she deviated from this -formula--employed other types, and produced occasionally books of -a less objectionable character; but, upon the whole, they are ill -to choose amongst. In the one before us there is no great harm, -but neither is there much to admire. As a literary production, it -is below the average of its predecessors. It is a story of peasant -life in western France. George Sand is taking a country walk one -evening, when her companion accuses her of making her rustics -speak the language of cities. She admits the charge, but urges, in -extenuation, that if she makes the dweller in the fields speak as -he really speaks, she must subjoin a translation for the civilised -reader. Her friend still insists on the possibility of elevating the -peasant dialect, without depriving it of its simplicity; of writing -a book in language that a peasant might employ, and which a Parisian -would understand without a single explanatory note. To professors and -amateurs of literary art, the discussion is of interest. Madame Sand -agrees to attempt the task; and takes for her subject a tale she has -heard related the previous evening, at a neighbouring farm-house. -She calls it _François le Champi_, but her critic cavils at the -very title. _Champi_, he says, is not French. George Sand quotes -Montaigne, to prove the contrary, although the dictionary declares -the word out of date. A _champi_ is a foundling, or child abandoned -in the fields, the derivation being from _champ_. And having thus -justified her hero's cognomen, she at once introduces him, at the -tender age of six years, boarded by the parish with Zabella, an -old woman who dwells in a hovel, and lives on the produce of a few -goats and fowls that find subsistence on the common. Madeleine -Blanchet, the pretty and very young wife of the miller of Cornouer, -takes compassion on the poor infant, and finds means to supply him, -unknown to her brutal husband and cross mother-in-law, with food and -raiment. The child grows into a comely lad, gentle, intelligent, -and right-hearted, and devotedly attached to Madeleine. He enters -the service of the miller, a rough dissipated fellow, given up to -the fascinations of a loose widow, Madame Sévère, a sort of rural -Delilah, who tries to seduce the handsome Champi, and, failing of -success, instils jealousy into the ear of the miller, who drives -François from his house. The young man finds occupation in a distant -village, and returns to the mill of Cornouer only when its master is -dead and Madeleine on a bed of sickness, to rescue his benefactress -from grasping creditors, by means of a sum of money his unknown -father has transmitted to him. George Sand makes every woman in -the book fall in love with the Champi; but he repulses all, save -one, and that one never dreams of loving him otherwise than as a -mother. At last one of the fair ones who would fain have gained his -heart, generously reveals to him, what he himself has difficulty in -believing, that he is in love with Madeleine Blanchet; and, further, -compassionating his timidity, undertakes to break the ice to the -pretty widow. It requires a talent like that of George Sand to give -an air of probability to all this. There are at most but a dozen -years' difference between Madeleine and the Champi, but the reader -has been so much accustomed to look upon them in the light of mother -and son, that he is somewhat startled on finding the boy of nineteen -enamoured of the woman of thirty. The love-passages, however, are -managed with Madame Sand's usual skill. As a picture of peasant life, -the book yields internal evidence of fidelity. The granddaughter -of the farmer-general of Berri has called up the memories of her -youthful days, passed in happy liberty upon the sunny banks of -Indre, and of the years of connubial discontent that went heavily -by in her husband's Aquitanian castle, when country rides and the -study of Nature's book were her chief resources. It was from this -castle of Nohant that the Baroness Dudevant fled, now nearly twenty -years ago, to commence the exceptional existence she since has led. -We may venture to take a page from her _Lettres d'un Voyageur_--a -page replete with that peculiar fascination which renders her pen so -powerful for good or evil. - -"It grieves me not to grow old, it would grieve me much to grow -old alone; but I have not yet met the being with whom I would fain -have lived and died; or, if I have met him, I have not known how -to keep him. Hearken to a tale, and weep. There was a good artist, -called Watelet, who engraved in aquafortis better than any man of -his time. He loved Margaret Lecomte, and taught her to engrave as -well as himself. She left her husband, her wealth, and her country, -to live with Watelet. The world cursed them; then, as they were -poor and humble, it forgot them. Forty years afterwards there were -discovered, in the neighbourhood of Paris, in a little house called -_Moulin-Joli_, an old man who engraved in aquafortis, with an old -woman whom he called his _Meunière_, who also engraved at the same -table. The last plate they executed represented _Moulin-Joli_, -Margaret's house, with this device,--_Cur valle permutem Sabinâ -divitias operosiores!_ It hangs in my room, above a portrait whose -original no one here has seen. During one year, he who gave me that -portrait seated himself every night with me at a little table, and -lived on the same labour as myself. At daybreak we consulted each -other on our work, and we supped at the same table, talking of art, -of sentiment, and of the future. The future has broken its word to -us. Pray for me, O Margaret Lecomte!" - -It is no secret that Madame Dudevant's Watelet was Jules Sandeau, -a French novelist of some ability, whose name still makes frequent -apparitions in the windows of circulating libraries, and at the foot -of newspaper feuilletons. Let us see what M. de Lomenie says of this -period of her life, and of her first appearance in the lists of -literature, in his brief but amusing memoir of this remarkable woman. - -"Some time after the July revolution, there appeared a book entitled, -_Rose et Blanche_, or the Actress and the Nun. This book, which at -first passed unnoticed, fell by chance into a publisher's hands; he -read it, and, struck by the richness of certain descriptive passages, -and by the novelty of the situations, he inquired the author's -address. He was referred to a humble lodging-house, and, upon -applying there, was conducted to a small attic. There he saw a young -man writing at a little table, and a young woman painting flowers -by his side. These were Watelet and Margaret Lecomte. The publisher -spoke of the book, and it appeared that Margaret, who could write -books as well as Watelet, and even better, had written a good part, -and the best part, of this one; only, as books sold badly, or not at -all, she combined with her literary occupations the more lucrative -labour of a colourist. Encouraged by the publisher's approval, she -took from a drawer a manuscript written entirely by herself; the -publisher examined it, bought it, doubtless very cheap, and might -have paid a much higher price without making a bad speculation, for -it was the manuscript of _Indiana_. Soon after that, Margaret Lecomte -left Watelet, took half his name, called herself George Sand, and of -that half name has made herself one which shines to-day amongst the -greatest and most glorious." - -Somebody has hazarded the sweeping assertion that the lover is the -_King_ of George Sand's novels. George Sand herself is the queen -of the class of _femmes incomprises_, the victim of a _mariage de -convenance_. The death of her grandmother left her, at the very -moment she quitted the convent where she had been educated, alone -and almost friendless. Ignorant of the world, she allowed herself -to be married to a rough old soldier, who led a prosaic existence -in a lonely country-house, had no notion of romance, sentiment, or -reverie, and made little allowance for them in others. The days that -ought to rank amongst the brightest memories of a woman's heart, the -early years of marriage, were a blank, or worse, to Aurora Dudevant, -and the bitterness thus amassed not unfrequently breaks forth in -her writings. It has been urged by her partisans, in extenuation of -her conjugal _faux pas_, that her husband was ignorant and brutal. -On the other hand, the idle have invented many of the delinquencies -imputed to her since her separation, just as they have told absurd -stories about her fantastical habits; and have made her out a sort -of literary Lola Montes, swaggering and smoking in man's attire, -and brandishing pistol and horsewhip with virile energy and effect. -The atmosphere of Paris is famous for its magnifying powers. Seen -through it, a grain of sand becomes a mountain, an eccentricity -is often distended into a vice. We lay this down as a rule, which -none who know and understand the French metropolis will dispute; -but we do not, at the same time, in any way take up the gloves -in defence of George Sand, with whom we have not the honour of a -personal acquaintance, and whose writings would certainly incline -us to somewhat ready credence of her irregularities and masculine -addictions. Now that she has attained the ripe age of forty-four, -we may suppose her sobered down a little. Before the February -revolution upset society, and drove the majority of the wealthy from -Paris, we happen to know she was a welcome guest in some of the -most fashionable and aristocratic drawing-rooms of the Faubourg St -Germain, where she was sought and cultivated for the charm of her -conversation. Since the revolution, there have been reports of her -presiding, or at least assisting, at democratic orgies; but these -rumours, as the newspapers say, "require confirmation." Since we -have, somehow or other, got led into this long gossip about the -lady, we will make another extract from the writer already quoted, -who tells an amusing story of his first introduction, obtained by -means of a misdelivered note, intended by the authoress of _Lelia_ -for a man who cured smoky chimnies. A resemblance of name brought -the missive (a summons to a sick funnel) into the hands of the -biographer, who, puzzled at first, finally resolved to take advantage -of the mistake, to ascertain whether George Sand really did wear -boots and spurs, and smoke Virginian in a short pipe. He expected -something masculine and alarming, but in this respect was agreeably -disappointed. - -"I saw before me a woman of short stature, of comfortable plumpness, -and of an aspect not at all _Dantesque_. She wore a dressing gown, in -form by no means unlike the wrapper which I, a commonplace mortal, -habitually wear; her fine hair, still perfectly black, whatever -evil tongues may say, was separated on a brow broad and smooth as a -mirror, and fell freely adown her cheeks, in the manner of Raphael; -a silk handkerchief was fastened loosely round her throat; her eyes, -to which some painters persist in imparting an exaggerated power of -expression, were remarkable, on the contrary, for their melancholy -softness; her voice was sweet, and not very strong; her mouth, -especially, was singularly graceful; and in her whole attitude -there was a striking character of simplicity, nobility, and calm. -In the ample temples and rich development of brow, Gall would have -discerned genius; in the frankness of her glance, in the outline of -her countenance, and in the features, correct but worn, Lavater would -have read, it seems to me, past suffering, a time-present somewhat -barren, an extreme propensity to enthusiasm, and consequently to -discouragement. Lavater might have read many other things, but he -certainly could have discovered neither insincerity, nor bitterness, -nor hatred, for there was not a trace of these on that sad but serene -physiognomy. The Lelia of my imagination vanished before the reality; -and it was simply a good, gentle, melancholy, intelligent, and -handsome face that I had before my eyes. - -"Continuing my examination, I remarked with pleasure that the -_grande désolée_ had not yet completely renounced human vanities; -for, beneath the floating sleeves of her gown, at the junction of -the wrist with the white and delicate hand, I saw the glitter of -two little gold bracelets of exquisite workmanship. These feminine -trinkets, which became her much, greatly reassured me touching the -sombre tint, and the politico-philosophic exaltation, of certain of -George Sand's recent writings. One of the hands that thus caught -my attention concealed a _cigarito_, and concealed it badly, for a -treacherous little column of smoke ascended behind the back of the -prophetess." - -Whether or no the interview thus described really took place, Madame -Dudevant should feel obliged to her biographer for his gentle -treatment and abstinence from exaggeration. On the strength of the -puff of smoke and the epicene dressing gown, many writers would -have sketched her hussar fashion, and hardly have let her off the -mustaches. - -We are nearly at the end of our parcel, at least of such portion of -it as appears worthy a few words. Here are a brace of volumes by M. -de Kock, over which we are not likely long to linger. An esteemed -contributor to Maga expressed, a few years ago, his and our opinion -concerning this ancient dealer in dirt--namely, that he has no -deliberate intention to corrupt the morals or alarm the delicacy of -his readers, for that morals and delicacy are words of whose meaning -he has not the slightest conception. Paul, every Frenchman tells -you, is not read in France, save by milliners' girls and shopboys, -or by literary porters, who solace the leisure of their lodge by a -laugh over his pages, contraband amongst _gens comme il faut_. No -man is a prophet in his own land; and yet we have certain reasons -for believing that, even in France, Paul has more readers, avowed -or secret, than his countrymen admit. But at any rate, we can offer -the old gentleman (for M. Kock must be waxing venerable, and his -son has for some years been before the public as an author,) the -consolatory assurance, that in England he has numerous admirers, -to judge from the thumbed condition of a set of his works, which -caught our eye last summer on the shelves of a London circulating -library. To these amateurs of "Kockneyisms," whether genuine -cockneys, or naturalised cooks and barbers from Gaul, _Taquinet le -Bossu_ will be welcome. The hunchback, everybody knows, is a great -type in France. Who is not acquainted with the glorious _Mayeux_, -the swearing, fighting, love-making hero of a host of popular songs, -anecdotes, and caricatures, and of more than one romance--especially -of a four-volume one by Ricard, a deceased rival of De Kock? -Well, Paul--who, we must admit, is quite original, and disdains -imitation--has never meddled with the hackneyed veteran Mayeux, but -now creates a hunchback of his own. Taquinet is the dwarf clerk of -a notary, luxuriating in a wage of fifty pounds a-year, and a hunch -of the first magnitude. Pert as a magpie, mischievous and confiding, -devoted to the fair sex, and especially to its taller specimens, he -is a fine subject for Monsieur de Kock, who gets him into all manner -of queer scrapes, some not of the most refined description. The -French hunchback, we must observe, is a genus apart--quite different -from high-shouldered people of other countries. Far from being -susceptible on the score of his dorsal protuberance, he views it in -the light of an excellent joke, a benefaction of nature, placed upon -his spine for the diversion of himself and his fellow-men. The words -_bosse_ and _bossu_ (hunch and hunchback) have various idiomatic and -proverbial applications in France. To laugh like a _bossu_, implies -the _ne plus ultra_ of risibility: _se donner une bosse_--literally, -to give one's-self a hunch--is synonymous with sharing in a jovial -repast where much is eaten and more drunk. An excellent caricature in -the _Charivari_, some years ago, represented a group of half-starved -soldiers sitting round a fire of sticks at the foot of Atlas, and -picking a dromedary's scull--"_Pas moyen de se donner une bosse!_" -exclaims one of the dissatisfied conscripts. On twelve hundred francs -per annum, poor Taquinet often makes the same complaint; and, in -hopes of bettering his fortune, wanders into Germany on a matrimonial -venture, there to be jilted by Fraulein Carottsmann, for a strolling -player with one coat and three sets of buttons, who styles himself -Marquis, because he has been occasionally hissed in the line of -characters designated in France by that aristocratic denomination. -Then there is a general of Napoleon's army who cannot write his name; -and a buxom sutler and a handsome aide-de-camp, sundry grisettes, and -the other _dramatis personæ_ habitually to be met with in the pages -of Paul--the whole set forth in indifferent French, and garnished -with buffoonery and impropriety, after the usual fashion of this zany -of Parisian novelists. - -Is it true that M. Honoré de Balzac is married to a female -_millionnaire_, who fell in love with him through his books and his -reputation? If so, let him take our advice and abjure scribbling--at -least till he is in the vein to turn out something better than his -recent productions--better, at least, than the first volume of the -_Député d'Arcis_, now lying before us. What heavy, vulgar trash, -to flow from the pen of a man of his abilities! After beginning -his literary career with a series of worthless books, published -under various pseudonymes, and whose authorship he has since in -vain endeavoured to disclaim, he rose into fame by his _Scènes de -la Vie de Province_, by his _Peau de Chagrin_, his _Père Goriot_, -and other striking and popular works. The hour of his decline then -struck, and he has since been rolling down the hill at a faster rate -than he ascended it. His affectation of originality is wearisome -and nauseous in the extreme. He reminds us of a nurseryman we once -knew, who, despairing of equalling the splendour of a neighbour's -flowers, applied himself to the production of all manner of floral -monstrosities, mistaking distortion for beauty, and eccentricity -for grace. He strains for new conceptions and ideas till he writes -nonsense, or something very little better. And his mania for -introducing the same personages in twenty different books, renders -it necessary to read all in order to understand one. The question -becomes, whether it is worth while going through so much to obtain -so little. Our reply is a decided negative. If the system, however, -be annoying to the reader, for the author it has its advantages. It -is, in fact, a new species of puffery, of considerable ingenuity. -Backwards and forwards, M. de Balzac refers his public; his books -are a system of mutual accommodation and advertisement. Thus, in -the _Député &c._, apropos of a lawsuit, we find in brackets and in -large capitals,--"_See_ UNE TENEBREUSE AFFAIRE." A little farther -on, an allusion being made to the town of Provins, we are requested -to "_See_ PIERRETTE." Similar admonitions are of constant recurrence -in the same author's writings. The plan is really clever, and proves -Paris a step or two ahead of London in the art of advertising. We -have not yet heard of Moses and Doudney stamping on a waistcoat back -an injunction to "Try our trousers," or embroidering on a new surtout -a hint as to the merits of a 'poplin overcoat.' "Buy our bear's -grease!" cries Mr Ross the perfumer. "_Prenez mon ours!_" chimes -in M. Balzac, the author. O Paris! Paris! romantic and republican, -political and poetical, of all the cities of the plain thou art the -queen, and humbug is the chief jewel in thy diadem! - - - - -LIFE IN THE "FAR WEST." - -PART THE LAST. - - -No sooner was it known that Los Americanos had arrived, than nearly -all the householders of Fernandez presented themselves to offer the -use of their "salas" for the fandango which invariably celebrated -their arrival. This was always a profitable event; for as the -mountaineers were generally pretty well "flush" of cash when on -their "spree," and as open-handed as an Indian could wish, the sale -of whisky, with which they regaled all comers, produced a handsome -return to the fortunate individual whose room was selected for the -fandango. On this occasion the sala of the Alcalde Don Cornelio Vegil -was selected and put in order; a general invitation was distributed; -and all the dusky beauties of Fernandez were soon engaged in arraying -themselves for the fête. Off came the coats of dirt and "alegnía" -which had bedaubed their faces since the last "funcion," leaving -their cheeks clear and clean. Water was profusely used, and their -cuerpos were doubtless astonished by the unusual lavation. Their long -black hair was washed and combed, plastered behind their ears, and -plaited into a long queue, which hung down their backs. _Enaguas_ -of gaudy colour (red most affected) were donned, fastened round the -waist with ornamented belts, and above this a snow-white _camisita_ -of fine linen was the only covering, allowing a prodigal display -of their charms. Gold and silver ornaments, of antiquated pattern, -decorate their ears and necks; and massive crosses of the precious -metals, wrought from the gold or silver of their own placeres, hang -pendant on their breasts. The enagua or petticoat, reaching about -half-way between the knee and ancle, displays their well-turned -limbs, destitute of stockings, and their tiny feet, thrust into -quaint little shoes (_zapatitos_) of Cinderellan dimensions. Thus -equipped, with the reboso drawn over their heads and faces, out of -the folds of which their brilliant eyes flash like lightning, and -each pretty mouth armed with its cigarito, they coquettishly enter -the fandango.[2] Here, at one end of a long room, are seated the -musicians, their instruments being generally a species of guitar, -called heaca, _bandolin_, and an Indian drum, called _tombé_--one -of each. Round the room groups of New Mexicans lounge, wrapped in -the eternal sarape, and smoking of course, scowling with jealous -eyes at the more favoured mountaineers. These, divested of their -hunting-coats of buckskins, appear in their bran-new shirts of gaudy -calico, and close fitting buckskin pantaloons, with long fringes -down the outside seam from the hip to the ancle; with mocassins, -ornamented with bright beads and porcupine quills. Each, round his -waist, wears his mountain-belt and scalp-knife, ominous of the -company he is in, and some have pistols sticking in their belt. - -The dances--save the mark!--are without form or figure, at least -those in which the white hunters sport the "fantastic toe." Seizing -his partner round the waist with the gripe of a grisly bear, each -mountaineer whirls and twirls, jumps and stamps; introduces Indian -steps used in the "scalp" or "buffalo" dances, whooping occasionally -with unearthly cry, and then subsiding into the jerking step, raising -each foot alternately from the ground, so much in vogue in Indian -ballets. The hunters have the floor all to themselves. The Mexicans -have no chance in such physical force dancing; and if a dancing -Peládo[3] steps into the ring, a lead-like thump from a galloping -mountaineer quickly sends him sprawling, with the considerate -remark--"Quit, you darned Spaniard! you can't 'shine' in this crowd." - -During a lull, guagés[4] filled with whisky go the rounds--offered -to and seldom refused by the ladies--sturdily quaffed by the -mountaineers, and freely swallowed by the Peládos, who drown -their jealousy and envious hate of their entertainers in potent -aguardiente. Now, as the guagés are oft refilled and as often -drained, and as night advances, so do the spirits of the mountaineers -become more boisterous, while their attentions to their partners -become warmer--the jealousy of the natives waxes hotter thereat--and -they begin to show symptoms of resenting the endearments which the -mountaineers bestow upon their wives and sweethearts. And now, -when the room is filled to crowding,--with two hundred people, -swearing, drinking, dancing, and shouting--the half-dozen Americans -monopolising the fair, to the evident disadvantage of at least -threescore scowling Peládos, it happens that one of these, maddened -by whisky and the green-eyed monster, suddenly seizes a fair one -from the waist-encircling arm of a mountaineer, and pulls her from -her partner. Wagh!--La Bonté--it is he--stands erect as a pillar for -a moment, then raises his hand to his mouth, and gives a ringing -war-whoop--jumps upon the rash Peládo, seizes him by the body as if -he were a child, lifts him over his head, and dashes him with the -force of a giant against the wall. - -The war, long threatened, has commenced; twenty Mexicans draw their -knives and rush upon La Bonté, who stands his ground, and sweeps -them down with his ponderous fist, one after another, as they throng -around him. "Howgh-owgh-owgh-owgh-h!" the well-known war-whoop, -bursts from the throats of his companions, and on they rush to the -rescue. The women scream, and block the door in their eagerness to -escape; and thus the Mexicans are compelled to stand their ground -and fight. Knives glitter in the light, and quick thrusts are given -and parried. In the centre of the room the whites stand shoulder to -shoulder--covering the floor with Mexicans by their stalwart blows; -but the odds are fearful against them, and other assailants crowd up -to supply the place of those who fall. - -Alarm being given by the shrieking women, reinforcements of Peládos -rushed to the scene of action, but could not enter the room, which -was already full. The odds began to tell against the mountaineers, -when Kit Carson's quick eye caught sight of a high stool or stone, -supported by three long heavy legs. In a moment he had cleared his -way to this, and in another the three legs were broken off and in -the hands of himself, Dick Wooton, and La Bonté. Sweeping them round -their heads, down came the heavy weapons amongst the Mexicans with -wonderful effect--each blow, dealt by the nervous arms of Wooton -and La Bonté, mowing down a good half-dozen of the assailants. At -this the mountaineers gave a hearty whoop, and charged the wavering -enemy with such resistless vigour, that they gave way and bolted -through the door, leaving the floor strewed with wounded, many -most dangerously; for, as may be imagined, a thrust from the keen -scalp-knife by the nervous arm of a mountaineer was no baby blow, and -seldom failed to strike home--up to the "Green River"[5] on the blade. - -The field being won, the whites, too, beat a quick retreat to the -house where they were domiciled, and where they had left their -rifles. Without their trusty weapons they felt, indeed, unarmed; -and not knowing how the affair just over would be followed up, lost -no time in making preparations for defence. However, after great -blustering on the part of the prefecto, who, accompanied by a _posse -comitatus_ of "Greasers," proceeded to the house, and demanded the -surrender of all concerned in the affair--which proposition was -received with a yell of derision--the business was compounded by the -mountaineers promising to give sundry dollars to the friends of two -of the Mexicans, who died during the night of their wounds, and to -pay for a certain amount of masses to be sung for the repose of their -souls in purgatory. Thus the affair blew over; but for several days -the mountaineers never showed themselves in the streets of Fernandez -without their rifles on their shoulders, and refrained from attending -fandangos for the present, and until the excitement had cooled down. - -A bitter feeling, however, existed on the part of the men; and one -or two offers of a matrimonial nature were rejected by the papas of -certain ladies who had been wooed by some of the white hunters, and -their hands formally demanded from the respective padres. - -La Bonté had been rather smitten with the charms of one Dolores -Salazar--a buxom lass, more than three parts Indian in her blood, but -confessedly the "beauty" of the Vale of Taos. She, by dint of eye, -and of nameless acts of elaborate coquetry, with which the sex so -universally bait their traps, whether in the salons of Belgravia, or -the rancherias of New Mexico, contrived to make considerable havoc in -the heart of our mountaineer; and when once Dolores saw she had made -an impression, she followed up her advantage with all the arts the -most civilised of her sex could use when fishing for a husband. - -La Bonté, however, was too old a hunter to be easily caught; and, -before committing himself, he sought the advice of his tried -companion Killbuck. Taking him to a retired spot without the village, -he drew out his pipe and charged it--seated himself cross-legged on -the ground, and, with Indian gravity, composed himself for a "talk." - -"Ho, Killbuck!" he began, touching the ground with the bowl of his -pipe, and then turning the stem upwards for "_medicine_"--"Hyar's -a child feels squamptious like, and nigh upon 'gone beaver,' _he_ -is--Wagh!" - -"Wagh!" exclaimed Killbuck, all attention. - -"Old hos," continued the other; "thar's no use câching anyhow what a -niggur feels--so hyar's to 'put out.' You're good for beaver I know; -at deer or buffler, or darned red Injun either, you're 'some.' Now -that's a fact. 'Off-hand,' or 'with a rest,' you make 'em 'come.' -You knows the 'sign' of Injuns slick--Blackfoot or Sioux, Pawnee or -Burntwood, Zeton, Rapaho, Shian, or Shoshonée, Yutah, Piyutah, or -Yamhareek--their trail's as plain as writin', old hos, to you." - -"Wagh!" grunted Killbuck, blushing bronze at all these compliments. - -"Your sight ain't bad. Elks is elk; black-tail deer ain't -white-tails; and b'ar is b'ar to you, and nothin' else, a long mile -off and more." - -"Wa-agh!" - -"Thar ain't a track as leaves its mark upon the plains or mountains -but you can read off-hand; that I've see'd myself. But tell me, old -hos, can you make understand the 'sign' as shows itself in a woman's -breast?" - -Killbuck removed the pipe from his mouth, raised his head, and puffed -a rolling cloud of smoke into the air,--knocked the ashes from the -bowl, likewise made his "medicine"--and answered thus:-- - -"From Red River, away up north amongst the Britishers, to Heely -(Gila) in the Spanish country--from old Missoura to the sea of -Californy, I've trapped and hunted. I knows the Injuns and thar -'sign,' and they knows _me_, I'm thinkin. Thirty winters has snowed -on me in these hyar mountains, and a niggur or a Spaniard[6] would -larn 'some' in that time. This old tool" (tapping his rifle) "shoots -'center,' _she_ does; and if thar's game afoot, this child knows -'bull' from 'cow,' and ought to could. That deer is deer, and goats -is goats, is plain as paint to any but a greenhorn. Beaver's a -cunning crittur, but I've trapped a 'heap;' and at killing meat -when meat's a-running, I'll 'shine' in the biggest kind of crowd. -For twenty year I packed a squaw along. Not one, but a many. First -I had a Blackfoot--the darndest slut as ever cried for fofarraw. I -lodge-poled her on Colter's Creek, and made her quit. My buffler -hos, and as good as four packs of beaver, I gave for old Bull-tail's -daughter. He was head chief of the Ricaree, and 'came' nicely 'round' -me. Thar wasn't enough scarlet cloth, nor beads, nor vermilion in -Sublette's packs for her. Traps wouldn't buy her all the fofarrow she -wanted; and in two years I'd sold her to Cross-Eagle for one of Jake -Hawkin's guns--this very one I hold in my hands. Then I tried the -Sioux, the Shian, and a Digger from the other side, who made the best -mocassin as ever _I_ wore. She was the best of all, and was rubbed -out by the Yutahs in the Bayou Salade. Bad was the best; and after -she was gone under I tried no more. - -"Afore I left the settlements I know'd a white gal, and she was some -punkins. I have never seed nothing as 'ould beat her. Red blood -won't 'shine' any ways you fix it; and though I'm hell for 'sign,' a -woman's breast is the hardest kind of rock to me, and leaves no trail -that I can see of. I've hearn you talk of a gal in Memphis county; -Mary Brand you called her oncest. The gal I said _I_ know'd, her -name I disremember, but she stands afore me as plain as Chimley Rock -on Platte, and thirty year and more har'nt changed a feature in her -face, to me. - -"If you ask this child, he'll tell you to leave the Spanish slut to -her Greasers, and hold on till you take the trail to old Missoura, -whar white and Christian gals are to be had for axing. Wagh!" - -La Bonté rose to his feet. The mention of Mary Brand's name decided -him; and he said-- - -"Darn the Spaniard! she cant shine with me; come, old hos! let's -move." - -And, shouldering their rifles, the two compañeros returned to the -Ronch. More than one of the mountaineers had fulfilled the object of -their journey, and had taken to themselves a partner from amongst -the belles of Taos, and now they were preparing for their return -to the mountains. Dick Wooton was the only unfortunate one. He had -wooed a damsel whose parents peremptorily forbade their daughter to -wed the hunter, and he therefore made ready for his departure with -considerable regret. - -The day came, however. The band of mountaineers were already mounted, -and those with wives in charge were some hours on the road, leaving -the remainder quaffing many a stirrup-cup before they left. Dick -Wooton was as melancholy as a buffalo bull in spring; and as he rode -down the village, and approached the house of his lady-love, who -stood wrapped in reboso, and cigarito in mouth, on the sill of the -door, he turned away his head as if dreading to say adios. La Bonté -rode beside him, and a thought struck him. - -"Ho, Dick!" he said, "thar's the gal, and thar's the mountains: shoot -sharp's the word." - -Dick instantly understood him, and was "himself again." He rode up to -the girl as if to bid her adieu, and she came to meet him. Whispering -one word, she put her foot upon his, was instantly seized round the -waist, and placed upon the horn of his saddle. He struck spurs into -his horse, and in a minute was out of sight, his three companions -covering his retreat, and menacing with their rifles the crowd which -was soon drawn to the spot by the cries of the girl's parents, who -had been astonished spectators of the daring rape. - -The trapper and his bride, however, escaped scatheless, and the whole -party effected a safe passage of the mountains, and reached the -Arkansa, where the band was broken up,--some proceeding to Bent's -Fort, and others to the Platte, amongst whom were Killbuck and La -Bonté, still in company. - -These two once more betook themselves to trapping, the Yellow Stone -being their chief hunting-ground. But we must again leap over months -and years, rather than conduct the reader through all their perilous -wanderings, and at last bring him back to the camp on Bijou, where -we first introduced him to our mountaineers; and as we have already -followed them on the Arapaho trail, which they pursued to recover -their stolen animals from a band of that nation, we will once again -seat ourselves at the camp on Boiling Spring, where they had met a -strange hunter on a solitary expedition to the Bayou Salade, and -whose double-barrelled rifle had excited their wonder and curiosity. - -From him they learned also that a large band of Mormons were -wintering on the Arkansa, _en route_ to the Great Salt Lake and Upper -California; and as our hunters had before fallen in with the advanced -guard of these fanatic emigrants, and felt no little wonder that -such helpless people should undertake so long a journey through the -wilderness, the stranger narrated to them the history of the sect, -which we will also shortly transcribe for the benefit of the reader. - -The Mormons were originally of the sect known as "Latter-day -Saints," which sect flourishes wherever Anglo-Saxon gulls are found -in sufficient numbers to swallow the egregious nonsense of fanatic -humbugs who fatten upon their credulity. In the United States they -especially abounded; but, the creed becoming "slow," one Joe Smith, a -_smart_ man, arose from its ranks, and instilled a little life into -the decaying sect. - -Joe, better known as the "Prophet Joe," was taking his siesta one -fine day, upon a hill in one of the New England States, when an angel -suddenly appeared to him, and made known the locality of a new Bible -or Testament, which contained the history of the lost tribes of -Israel; that these tribes were no other than the Indian nations which -possessed the continent of America at the time of its discovery, -and the remains of which still existed in their savage state; that, -through the agency of Joe, these were to be reclaimed, collected -into the bosom of a church to be there established, according to -principles which would be found in the wonderful book--and which -church was gradually to receive into its bosom all other churches, -sects, and persuasions, with "unanimity of belief and perfect -brotherhood." - -After a certain probation, Joe was led in body and spirit to the -mountain by the angel who first appeared to him, was pointed out the -position of the wonderful book, which was covered by a flat stone, -on which would be found two round pebbles, called Urim and Thummim, -and through the agency of which the mystic characters inscribed on -the pages of the book were to be deciphered and translated. Joe found -the spot indicated without any difficulty, cleared away the earth, -and discovered a hollow place formed by four flat stones; on removing -the topmost one of which sundry plates of brass presented themselves, -covered with quaint and antique carving; on the top lay Urim and -Thummim, (commonly known to the Mormons as Mummum and Thummum, the -pebbles of wonderful virtue,) through which the miracle of reading -the plates of brass was to be performed. - -Joe Smith, on whom the mantle of Moses had so suddenly fallen, -carefully removed the plates and hid them, burying himself in woods -and mountains whilst engaged in the work of translation. However, he -made no secret of the important task imposed upon him, nor of the -great work to which he had been called. Numbers at once believed -him, but not a few were deaf to belief, and openly derided him. -Being persecuted, (as the sect declares, at the instigation of the -authorities,) and many attempts being made to steal his precious -treasure, Joe, one fine night, packed his plates in a sack of beans, -bundled them into a Jersey waggon, and made tracks for the West. Here -he completed the great work of translation, and not long after gave -to the world the "Book of Mormon," a work as bulky as the Bible, and -called "of Mormon," for so was the prophet named by whose hand the -history of the lost tribes had been handed down in the plates of -brass thus miraculously preserved for thousands of years, and brought -to light through the agency of Joseph Smith. - -The fame of the Book of Mormon spread over all America, and even to -Great Britain and Ireland. Hundreds of proselytes flocked to Joe, to -hear from his lips the doctrine of Mormonism; and in a very brief -period the Mormons became a numerous and recognised sect, and Joe was -at once, and by universal acclamation, installed as the head of the -Mormon church, and was ever known by the name of the "Prophet Joseph." - -However, from certain peculiarities in their social system, the -Mormons became rather unpopular in the settled States, and at length -moved bodily into Missouri, where they purchased several tracts -of land in the neighbourhood of Independence. Here they erected a -large building, which they called the Lord's Store, where goods were -collected on the common account, and retailed to members of the -church at moderate prices. All this time their numbers increased in -a wonderful manner, and immigrants from all parts of the States, as -well as Europe, continually joined them. As they became stronger, -they grew bolder and more arrogant in their projects. They had -hitherto been considered as bad neighbours, on account of their -pilfering propensities, and their utter disregard of the conventional -decencies of society--exhibiting the greatest immorality, and -endeavouring to establish amongst their society a universal -concubinage. This was sufficient to produce an ill feeling against -them on the part of their neighbours, the honest Missourians; but -they still tolerated their presence amongst them, until the Saints -openly proclaimed their intention of seizing upon the country, and -expelling by force the present occupants--giving, as their reason, -that it had been revealed to their prophets that the "Land of Zion" -was to be possessed by themselves alone. - -The sturdy Missourians began to think this was a little too strong, -and that, if they permitted such aggressions any longer, they would -be in a fair way of being despoiled of their lands by the Mormon -interlopers. At length matters came to a crisis, and the Saints, -emboldened by the impunity with which they had hitherto carried out -their plans, issued a proclamation to the effect that all in that -part of the country, who did not belong to the Mormon persuasion, -must "clear out," and give up possession of their lands and houses. -The Missourians collected in a body, burned the printing-press from -which the proclamation had emanated, seized several of the Mormon -leaders, and, after inflicting a summary chastisement, "tarred and -feathered" them, and let them go. - -To revenge this insult, the Mormons marshalled an army of Saints, and -marched upon Independence, threatening vengeance against the town -and people. Here they met, however, a band of sturdy backwoodsmen, -armed with rifles, determined to defend the town against the fanatic -mob, who, not relishing their appearance, refused the encounter, and -surrendered their leaders at the first demand. The prisoners were -afterwards released, on condition that the Mormons left that part of -the country without delay. - -Accordingly, they once more "took up their beds and walked," crossing -the Missouri to Clay County, where they established themselves, and -would finally have formed a thriving settlement but for their own -acts of wilful dishonesty. At this time their blasphemous mummery -knew no bounds. Joe Smith, and other prophets who had lately arisen, -were declared to be chosen of God; and it was the general creed -that, on the day of judgment, the former would take his stand on the -right hand of the judgment-seat, and that none would pass into the -kingdom of heaven without his seal and touch. One of their tenets -was the faith in "spiritual matrimony." No woman, it appeared, would -be admitted into heaven unless "passed" by a saint. To qualify them -for this, it was necessary that the woman should first be received -by the guaranteeing Mormon as an "earthly wife," in order that he -did not pass in any of whom he had no knowledge. The consequence of -this state of things may be imagined. The most debasing immorality -was a precept of the order, and an almost universal concubinage -existed amongst the sect, which at this time numbered at least forty -thousand. Their disregard to the laws of decency and morality was -such as could not be tolerated in any class of civilised society. - -Again did the honest Missourians set their faces against this -pernicious example, and when the county to which the Mormons had -removed became more thickly settled, they rose to a man against the -modern Gomorrah. The Mormons, by this time, having on their part -gained considerable accession to their strength, thought to set the -laws at defiance, organised and armed large bodies of men, in order -to maintain the ascendency over the legitimate settlers, and bid fair -to constitute an "imperium in imperio" in the State, and become the -sole possessors of the public lands. This, of course, could not be -tolerated. Governor Boggs at once ordered out a large force of State -militia to put down this formidable demonstration, marched against -the Mormons, and suppressed the insurrectionary movement without -bloodshed. - -From Clay County they moved still farther into the wilds, and settled -at last in Caldwell County, where they built the town of "Far West," -and here they remained for the space of three years. - -During this time they were continually receiving converts to the -faith, and many of the more ignorant country people were disposed to -join them, being only deterred by the fear of incurring ridicule from -the stronger-minded. The body of the Mormons seeing this, called upon -their prophet, Joe Smith, to perform a miracle in public before all -comers, which was to prove to those of their own people who still -doubted the doctrine, the truth of what it advanced--(the power of -performing miracles was steadfastly declared to be in their hands by -the prophets)--and to enlist those who wavered in the Mormon cause. - -The prophet instantly agreed, and declared that, upon a certain day, -he would walk across the broad waters of the Missouri without wetting -the soles of his feet. On the appointed day, the river banks were -thronged by an expectant crowd. The Mormons sang hymns of praise in -honour of their prophet, and were proud of the forthcoming miracle, -which was to set finally at rest all doubt as to his power and -sanctity. - -This power of performing miracles, and effecting miraculous cures of -the sick, was so generally believed by the Mormons, that physic was -never used amongst them. The prophets visited the beds of the sick, -and laid hands upon them, and if, as of course was almost invariably -the case, the patient died, it was attributed to his or her want of -faith; but if, on the contrary, the patient recovered, there was -universal glorification on the miraculous cure. - -Joe Smith was a tall, fine-looking man, of most plausible address, -and possessed the gift of the gab in great perfection. At the time -appointed for the performance of the walking-water miracle, he duly -attended on the river banks, and descended barefoot to the edge of -the water. - -"My brethren!" he exclaimed in a loud voice, "this day is a happy -one to me, to us all, who venerate the great and only faith. The -truth of our great and blessed doctrine will now be proved before the -thousands I see around me. You have asked me to prove by a miracle -that the power of the prophets of old has been given to me. I say -unto you, not only to me, but to all who have faith. I have faith, -and can perform miracles--that faith empowers me to walk across the -broad surface of that mighty river without wetting the soles of my -unworthy feet; but if ye are to _see_ this miracle performed, it is -necessary that ye have faith also, not only in yourselves, but in me. -Have ye this faith in yourselves?" - -"We have, we have!" roared the crowd. - -"Have ye the faith in me, that ye believe I can perform this miracle?" - -"We have, we have!" roared the crowd. - -"Then," said Joe Smith, coolly walking away, "with such faith do ye -know well that I _could_, but it boots not that I _should_, do it; -therefore, my brethren, doubt no more"--and Joe put on his boots and -disappeared. - -Being again compelled to emigrate, the Mormons proceeded into the -state of Illinois, where, in a beautiful situation, they founded the -new Jerusalem, which, it had been declared by the prophet Mormon, -should rise out of the wilderness of the west, and where the chosen -people should be collected under one church, and governed by the -elders after a "spiritual fashion." - -The city of Nauvoo soon became a large and imposing settlement. An -enormous building, called the Temple of Zion, was erected, half -church, half hotel, in which Joe Smith and the other prophets -resided--and large storehouses were connected with it, in which the -goods and chattels belonging to the community were kept for the -common good. - -However, here, as every where else, they were continually quarrelling -with their neighbours; and as their numbers increased, so did their -audacity. A regular Mormon militia was again organised and armed, -under the command of experienced officers, who had joined the sect; -and now the authority of the state government was openly defied. In -consequence, the executive took measures to put down the nuisance, -and a regular war commenced, and was carried on for some time, with -no little bloodshed on both sides; and this armed movement is known -in the United States as the Mormon war. The Mormons, however, who, -it seemed, were much better skilled in the use of the tongue than -the rifle, succumbed: the city of Nauvoo was taken, Joe Smith and -other ringleading prophets captured; and the former, in an attempt to -escape from his place of confinement was seized and shot. The Mormons -declare he had long foretold his own fate, and that when the rifles -of the firing party who were his executioners were levelled at the -prophet's breast, a flash of lightning struck the weapons from their -hands, and blinded for a time the eyes of the sacrilegious soldiers. - -With the death of Joe Smith the prestige of the Mormon cause -declined; but still thousands of proselytes joined them annually, and -at last the state took measures to remove them altogether, as a body, -from the country. - -Once again they fled, as they themselves term it, before the -persecutions of the ungodly! But this time their migration was far -beyond the reach of their enemies, and their intention was to place -between them the impassable barrier of the Rocky Mountains, and to -seek a home and resting-place in the remote regions of the Far West. - -This, the most extraordinary migration of modern times, commenced -in the year 1845; but it was not till the following year that the -great body of the Mormons turned their backs upon the settlements of -the United States, and launched boldly out into the vast and barren -prairies, without any fixed destination as a goal to their endless -journey. For many months, long strings of Pittsburg and Conostoga -waggons, with herds of horses and domestic cattle, wound their way -towards the Indian frontier, with the intention of rendezvousing -at Council Bluffs on the Upper Missouri. Here thousands of waggons -were congregated, with their tens of thousands of men, women, and -children, anxiously waiting the route from the elders of the church, -who on their parts scarcely knew whither to direct the steps of -the vast crowd they had set in motion. At length the indefinite -destination of Oregon and California was proclaimed, and the long -train of emigrants took up the line of march. It was believed the -Indian tribes would immediately fraternise with the Mormons, on their -approaching their country; but the Pawnees quickly undeceived them -by running off with their stock on every opportunity. Besides these -losses, at every camp, horses, sheep, and oxen strayed away and were -not recovered, and numbers died from fatigue and want of provender; -so that, before they had been many weeks on their journey, nearly -all their cattle, which they had brought to stock their new country, -were dead or missing, and those that were left were in most miserable -condition. - -They had started so late in the season, that the greater part were -compelled to winter on the Platte, on Grand Island, and in the -vicinity, where they endured the greatest privations and suffering -from cold and hunger. Many who had lost their stock lived upon -roots and pig-nuts; and scurvy, in a most malignant form, and other -disorders, carried off numbers of the wretched fanatics. - -Amongst them were many substantial farmers from all parts of the -United States, who had given up their valuable farms, sold off all -their property, and were dragging their irresponsible and unfortunate -families into the wilderness--carried away by their blind and -fanatic zeal in this absurd and incredible faith. There were also -many poor wretches from different parts of England, mostly of the -farm-labouring class, with wives and families, crawling along with -helpless and almost idiotic despair, but urged forward by the fanatic -leaders of the movement, who promised them a land flowing with milk -and honey to reward them for all their hardships and privations. - -Their numbers were soon reduced by want and disease. When too late, -they often wished themselves back in the old country, and sighed many -a time for the beer and bacon of former days, now preferable to the -dry buffalo meat (but seldom obtainable) of the Far West. - -Evil fortune pursued the Mormons, and dogged their steps. The year -following, some struggled on towards the promised land, and of these -a few reached Oregon and California. Many were killed by hostile -Indians; many perished of hunger, cold, and thirst, in passing the -great wilderness; and many returned to the States, penniless and -crestfallen, and heartily cursing the moment in which they had -listened to the counsels of the Mormon prophet. The numbers who -reached their destination of Oregon, California, and the Great Salt -Lake, are computed at 20,000, of whom the United States had an -unregretted riddance. - -One party had followed the troops of the American government intended -for the conquest of New Mexico and the Californias. Of these a -battalion was formed, and part of it proceeded to Upper California; -but the way being impracticable for waggons, some seventy families -proceeded up the Arkansa, and wintered near the mountains, intending -to cross to the Platte the ensuing spring, and join the main body of -emigrants on their way by the south pass of the Rocky Mountains. - -In the wide and well-timbered bottom of the Arkansa, the Mormons had -erected a street of log shanties, in which to pass the inclement -winter. These were built of rough logs of cotton-wood, laid one above -the other, the interstices filled with mud, and rendered impervious -to wind or wet. At one end of the row of shanties was built the -"church" or temple--a long building of huge logs, in which the -prayer-meetings and holdings-forth took place. The band wintering on -the Arkansa were a far better class than the generality of Mormons, -and comprised many wealthy and respectable farmers from the western -states, most of whom were accustomed to the life of woodmen, and were -good hunters. Thus they were enabled to support their families upon -the produce of their rifles, frequently sallying out to the nearest -point of the mountains with a waggon, which they would bring back -loaded with buffalo, deer, and elk meat, thereby saving the necessity -of killing any of their stock of cattle, of which but few remained. - -The mountain hunters found this camp a profitable market for their -meat and deer-skins with which the Mormons were now compelled to -clothe themselves, and resorted there for that purpose--to say -nothing of the attraction of the many really beautiful Missourian -girls who sported their tall graceful figures at the frequent -fandangoes. Dancing and preaching go hand in hand in Mormon doctrine, -and the "temple" was generally cleared for a hop two or three times -during the week, a couple of fiddles doing the duty of orchestra. A -party of mountaineers came in one day, bringing some buffalo meat and -dressed deer-skins, and were invited to be present at one of these -festivals. - -Arrived at the temple, they were rather taken aback by finding -themselves in for a sermon, which one of the elders delivered -preparatory to the "physical exercises." The preacher was one -Brown--called, by reason of his commanding a company of Mormon -volunteers, "Cap'en Brown,"--a hard-featured, black-coated, man of -five-and-forty, correctly got up in black continuations and white -handkerchief round his neck, a costume seldom seen at the foot of -the Rocky Mountains. The Cap'en, rising, cleared his voice, and thus -commenced, first turning to an elder (with whom there was a little -rivalry in the way of preaching,) "Brother Dowdle!" (brother Dowdle -blushed and nodded--he was a long tallow-faced man, with black hair -combed over his face,) "I feel like holding forth a little this -afternoon, before we glorify the Lord,--a--a--in the--a--holy dance. -As there are a many strange gentlemen now--a--present, it's about -right to tell 'em--a--what our doctrine just is, and so I tells 'em -right off what the Mormons is. They are the chosen of the Lord; they -are the children of glory, persecuted by the hand of man: they flies -here to the wilderness, and, amongst the _Injine_ and the buffler, -they lifts up their heads, and cries with a loud voice, Susannah, and -hurray for the promised land! Do you believe it? I _know_ it. - -"They wants to know whar we're going. Whar the church goes--thar we -goes. Yes, to hell, and pull the devil off his throne--that's what -we'll do. Do you believe it? I _know_ it. - -"Thar's milk and honey in that land as we're goin' to, and the lost -tribes of Israel is thar, and will jine us. They say as we'll starve -on the road, bekase thar's no game and no water; but thar's manna up -in heaven, and it'll rain on us, and thar's prophets among us as can -make the water 'come.' Can't they, brother Dowdle?" - -"_Well_, they can." - -"And now, what have the Gen_tiles_ and the Philis_tines_ to say -against us Mormons? They says we're thieves, and steal hogs; yes, -d---- 'em! they say we has as many wives as we like. So we have. I've -twenty--forty, myself, and mean to have as many more as I can get. -But it's to pass unfortunate females into heaven that I has 'em--yes, -to prevent 'em going to roaring flames and damnation that I does it. - -"Brother Dowdle," he continued, in a hoarse, low voice, "I've 'give -out,' and think we'd better begin the exercises grettful to the Lord." - -Brother Dowdle rose, and, after saying that "he didn't feel like -saying much, begged to remind all hands, that dancing was solemn -music like, to be sung with proper devotion, and not with laughing -and talking, of which he hoped to hear little or none; that joy -was to be in their hearts, and not on their lips; that they danced -for the glory of the Lord, and not their own amusement, as did the -Gen_tiles_." After saying thus, he called upon brother Ezra to -"strike up:" sundry couples stood forth, and the ball commenced. - -Ezra of the violin was a tall, shambling Missourian, with a pair -of "homespun" pantaloons thrust into the legs of his heavy boots. -Nodding his head in time with the music, he occasionally gave -instructions to such of the dancers as were at fault, singing them to -the tune he was playing, in a dismal nasal tone,-- - - "Down the centre--hands across," - "You, Jake Herring--thump it," - "Now, you all go right a-head-- - Every one of you hump it. - Every one of you--_hump it_." - -The last words being the signal that all should clap the steam on, -which they did _con amore_, and with comical seriousness. - -A mountaineer, Rube Herring, whom we have more than once met in the -course of this narrative, became a convert to the Mormon creed, -and held forth its wonderful doctrines to such of the incredulous -trappers as he could induce to listen to him. Old Rube stood nearly -six feet six in height, and was spare and bony in make. He had picked -up a most extraordinary cloth coat amongst the Mormons, which had -belonged to some one his equal in stature. This coat, which was of -a snuff-brown colour, had its waist about a hand's span from the -nape of Rube's neck, or about a yard above its proper position, and -the skirts reached to his ancles. A slouching felt-hat covered his -head, from which long black hair escaped, hanging in flakes over his -lantern-jaws. His pantaloons of buckskin were shrunk with wet, and -reached midway between his knees and ankles, and his huge feet were -encased in mocassins of buffalo-cow skin. - -Rube was never without the book of Mormon in his hand, and his -sonorous voice might be heard, at all hours of the day and night, -reading passages from its wonderful pages. He stood the badgering -of the hunters with most perfect good humour, and said there never -was such a book as that ever before printed; that the Mormons were -the "biggest kind" of prophets, and theirs the best faith ever man -believed in. - -Rube had let out one day, that he was to be hired as guide by this -party of Mormons to the Great Salt Lake; but their destination being -changed, and his services not required, a wonderful change came over -his mind. He was, as usual, book of Mormon in hand, when brother -Brown announced the change in their plans; at which the book was cast -into the Arkansa, and Rube exclaimed,--"Cuss your darned Mummum and -Thummum! thar's not one among you knows 'fat cow' from 'poor bull,' -and you may go h---- for me." And turning away, old Rube spat out a -quid of tobacco and his Mormonism together. - -Amongst the Mormons was an old man, named Brand, from Memphis -county, state of Tennessee, with a family of a daughter and two -sons, the latter with their wives and children. Brand was a wiry old -fellow, nearly seventy years of age, but still stout and strong, -and wielded axe or rifle better than many a younger man. If truth -be told, he was not a very red-hot Mormon, and had joined them as -much for the sake of company to California, whither he had long -resolved to emigrate, as from any implicit credence in the faith. His -sons were strapping fellows, of the sterling stuff that the Western -pioneers are made of; his daughter Mary, a fine woman of thirty, for -whose state of single blessedness there must doubtless have been -sufficient reason; for she was not only remarkably handsome, but was -well known in Memphis to be the best-tempered and most industrious -young woman in those diggings. She was known to have received several -advantageous offers, all of which she had refused; and report said, -that it was from having been disappointed in very early life in an -_affaire du coeur_, at an age when such wounds sometimes strike -strong and deep, leaving a scar difficult to heal. Neither his -daughter, nor any of his family, had been converted to the Mormon -doctrine, but had ever kept themselves aloof, and refused to join -or associate with them; and, for this reason, the family had been -very unpopular with the Mormon families on the Arkansa; and hence, -probably, one great reason why they now started alone on their -journey. - -Spring had arrived, and it was time the Mormons should start on their -long journey; but whether already tired of the sample they had had -of life in the wilderness, or fearful of encountering the perils -of the Indian country, not one amongst them, with the exception of -old Brand, seemed inclined to pursue the journey farther. That old -backwoodsman, however, was not to be deterred, but declared his -intention of setting out alone, with his family, and risking all the -dangers to be anticipated. - -One fine sunny evening in April of 1847, when the cotton-woods on the -banks of the Arkansa began to put forth their buds, and robins and -blue-birds--harbingers of spring,--were hopping, with gaudy plumage, -through the thickets, three white tilted Conostoga waggons emerged -from the timbered bottom of the river, and rumbled slowly over -the prairie, in the direction of the Platte's waters. Each waggon -was drawn by eight oxen, and contained a portion of the farming -implements and household utensils of the Brand family. The teams were -driven by the young boys, the men following in rear with shouldered -rifles--Old Brand himself, mounted on an Indian horse, leading the -advance. The women were safely housed under the shelter of the waggon -tilts, and out of the first the mild face of Mary Brand smiled adieu -to many of her old companions who had accompanied them thus far, and -now wished them "God-speed" on their long journey. Some mountaineers, -too, galloped up, dressed in buckskin, and gave them rough -greeting,--warning the men to keep their "eyes skinned," and look out -for the Arapahos, who were out on the waters of the Platte. Presently -all retired, and then the huge waggons and the little company were -rolling on their solitary way through the deserted prairies--passing -the first of the many thousand miles which lay between them and the -"setting sun," as the Indians style the distant regions of the Far -West. And on, without casting a look behind him, doggedly and boldly -marched old Brand, followed by his sturdy family. - -They made but a few miles that evening, for the first day the _start_ -is all that is effected; and nearly the whole morning is taken up in -getting fairly underweigh. The loose stock had been sent off earlier, -for they had been collected and corralled the previous night; and, -after a twelve hours' fast, it was necessary they should reach the -end of the day's journey betimes. They found the herd grazing in the -bottom of the Arkansa, at a point previously fixed upon for their -first camp. Here the oxen were unyoked, and the waggons drawn up to -form the three sides of a small square. The women then descended from -their seats, and prepared the evening meal. A huge fire was kindled -before the waggons, and round this the whole party collected; whilst -large kettles of coffee boiled on it, and hoe-cakes baked upon the -embers. - -The women were sadly down-hearted, as well they might be, with the -dreary prospect before them; and poor Mary, when she saw the Mormon -encampment shut out from her sight by the rolling bluffs, and nothing -before her but the bleak, barren prairie, could not divest herself -of the idea that she had looked for the last time on civilised -fellow-creatures, and fairly burst into tears. - -In the morning the heavy waggons rolled on again, across the upland -prairies, to strike the trail used by the traders in passing from -the south fork of the Platte to the Arkansa. They had for guide a -Canadian voyageur, who had been in the service of the Indian traders, -and knew the route well, and who had agreed to pilot them to Fort -Lancaster, on the north fork of the Platte. Their course led for -about thirty miles up the Boiling Spring River, whence they pursued -a north-easterly course to the dividing ridge which separates the -waters of the Platte and Arkansa. Their progress was slow, for the -ground was saturated with wet, and exceedingly heavy for the cattle, -and they scarcely advanced more than ten miles a-day. - -At the camp-fire at night, Antoine, the Canadian guide, amused them -with tales of the wild life and perilous adventures of the hunters -and trappers who make the mountains their home; often extorting a -scream from the women by the description of some scene of Indian -fight and slaughter, or beguiling them of a commiserating tear by the -narrative of the sufferings and privations endured by those hardy -hunters in their arduous life. - -Mary listened with the greater interest, since she remembered that -such was the life, which had been led by one very dear to her--by -one, long supposed to be dead, of whom she had never but once, since -his departure, nearly fifteen years before, heard a syllable. Her -imagination pictured him as the bravest and most daring of these -adventurous hunters, and conjured up his figure charging through the -midst of whooping savages, or stretched on the ground perishing from -wounds, or cold, or famine. - -Amongst the characters who figured in Antoine's stories, a hunter -named La Bonté was made conspicuous for deeds of hardiness, and -daring. The first mention of the name caused the blood to rush to -Mary's face: not that she for a moment imagined it was her La Bonté, -for she knew the name was a common one; but, associated with feelings -which she had never got the better of, it recalled a sad epoch in her -former life, to which she could not look back without mingled pain -and pleasure. - -Once only, and about two years after his departure, had she ever -received tidings of her former lover. A mountaineer had returned from -the Far West to settle in his native State, and had found his way to -the neighbourhood of old Brand's farm. Meeting him by accident, Mary, -hearing him speak of the mountain hunters, had inquired, tremblingly -after La Bonté. Her informant knew him well--had trapped in company -with him--and had heard at the trading fort, whence he had taken his -departure for the settlements, that La Bonté had been killed on the -Yellow Stone by Blackfeet; which report was confirmed by some Indians -of that nation. This was all she had ever learned of the lover of her -youth. - -Now, upon hearing the name of La Bonté so often mentioned by Antoine, -a vague hope was raised in her breast that he was still alive, and -she took an opportunity of questioning the Canadian closely on the -subject. - -"Who was this La Bonté, Antoine, whom you say was so brave a -mountaineer?" she asked one day. - -"J'ne sais pas, he vas un beau garçon, and strong comme le -diable--enfant de garce, mais he pas not care a dam for les sauvages, -pe gar. He shoot de centare avec his carabine; and ride de cheval -comme one Comanche. He trap heap castor, (what you call beevare,) and -get plenty dollare--mais he open hand vare wide--and got none too. -Den, he hont vid de Blackfoot and avec de Cheyenne, and all round de -montaignes he hont dam sight." - -"But, Antoine, what became of him at last? and why did he not come -home, when he made so many dollars?" asked poor Mary. - -"Enfant de garce, mais pourquoi he com home? Pe gar, de -montaigne-man, he love de montaigne and de prairie more better dan he -love de grandes villes--même de Saint Louis ou de Montreal. Wagh! La -Bonté, well he one montaigne-man, wagh! He love de buffaloe, an de -chevreaux plus que de boeuf and de mouton, may be. Mais on-dit dat -he have autre raison--dat de gal he lofe in Missouri not lofe him, -and for dis he not go back. Mais now he go ondare, m' on dit. He vas -go to de Californe, may be to steal de hos and de mule--pe gar, and -de Espagnols rub him out, and take his hair, so he mort." - -"But are you sure of this?" she asked, trembling with grief. - -"Ah, now, j'ne suis pas sûr, mais I tink you know dis La Bonté. -Enfant de garce, maybe you de gal in Missouri he lofe, and not lofe -him. Pe gar! 'fant de garce! fort beau garçon dis La Bonté, pourquoi -you ne l'aimez pas? Maybe he not gone ondare. Maybe he turn op, -autre-fois. De trappares, dey go ondare tree, four, ten times, mais -dey turn op twenty time. De sauvage not able for kill La Bonté, ni de -dam Espagnols. Ah, non! ne craignez pas; pe gar, he not gone ondare -encore." - -Spite of the good-natured attempts of the Canadian, poor Mary burst -into a flood of tears: not that the information took her unawares, -for she long had believed him dead; but because the very mention of -his name awoke the strongest feelings within her breast, and taught -her how deep was the affection she had felt for him whose loss and -violent fate she now bewailed. - -As the waggons of the lone caravan roll on towards the Platte, we -return to the camp where La Bonté, Killbuck, and the stranger, were -sitting before the fire when last we saw them:--Killbuck loquitur. - -"The doins of them Mormon fools can't be beat by Spaniards, stranger. -Their mummums and thummums you speak of won't 'shine' whar Injuns are -about; nor pint out a trail, whar nothin crossed but rattler-snakes -since fust it snow'd on old Pike's Peak. If they pack along them -_profits_, as you tell of, who can make it rain hump-ribs and -marrow-guts when the crowd gets out of the buffler range, they are -'some,' now, that's a fact. But this child don't believe it. I'd -laugh to get a sight on these darned Mormonites, I would. They're -'no account,' I guess; and it's the 'meanest' kind of action to haul -their women critters and their young 'uns to sech a starving country -as the Californys." - -"They are not all Mormons in the crowd," said the strange hunter; -"and there's one family amongst them with some smartish boys and -girls, I tell you. Their name's Brand." - -La Bonté looked up from the lock of his rifle, which he was -cleaning--but either didn't hear, or, hearing, didn't heed, for he -continued his work. - -"And they are going to part company," continued the stranger, "and -put out alone for Platte and the South Pass." - -"They'll lose their hair, I'm thinking," said Killbuck, "if the -Rapahos are out thar." - -"I hope not," continued the other, "for there's a girl amongst them -worth more than that." - -"Poor beaver!" said La Bonté, looking up from his work. "I'd hate to -see any white gal in the hands of Injuns, and of Rapahos worse than -all. Where does she come from, stranger?" - -"Down below St Louis, from Tennessee, I've heard them say." - -"Tennessee," cried La Bonté,--"hurrah for the old State! What's her -name, stran----" At this moment Killbuck's old mule pricked her ears -and snuffed the air, which action catching La Bonté's eye, he rose -abruptly, without waiting a reply to his question, and exclaimed, -"The old mule smells Injuns, or I'm a Spaniard!" - -The hunter did the old mule justice, and she well maintained her -reputation as the best "guard" in the mountains; for in two minutes -an Indian stalked into the camp, dressed in a cloth capote, and in -odds and ends of civilised attire. - -"Rapaho," cried Killbuck, as soon as he saw him; and the Indian -catching the word, struck his hand upon his breast, and exclaimed, -in broken Spanish and English mixed, "Si, si, me Arapaho, white man -amigo. Come to camp--eat heap _carne_--me amigo white man. Come -from Pueblo--hunt cibola--me gun break--_no puedo matar nada: mucha -hambre_, (very hungry)--heap eat." - -Killbuck offered his pipe to the Indian, and spoke to him in his own -language, which both he and La Bonté well understood. They learned -that he was married to a Mexican woman, and lived with some hunters -at the Pueblo fort on the Arkansa. He volunteered the information -that a war party of his people were out on the Platte trail to -intercept the Indian traders on their return from the North Fork; -and as some "Mormones" had just started with three waggons in that -direction, he said his people would make a "roise." Being muy amigo -himself to the whites, he cautioned his present companions from -crossing to the "divide," as the "braves," he said, were a "heap" -mad, and their hearts were "big," and nothing in the shape of white -skin would live before them. - -"Wagh!" exclaimed Killbuck, "the Rapahos know me, I'm thinking; and -small gain they've made against this child. I've knowed the time when -my gun cover couldn't hold more of their scalps." - -The Indian was provided with some powder, of which he stood in need; -and, after gorging as much meat as his capacious stomach would hold, -he left the camp, and started into the mountain. - -The next day our hunters started on their journey down the river, -travelling leisurely, and stopping wherever good grass presented -itself. One morning they suddenly struck a wheel trail, which left -the creek banks and pursued a course at right angles to it, in the -direction of the "divide." Killbuck pronounced it but a few hours -old, and that of three waggons drawn by oxen. - -"Wagh!" he exclaimed, "if them poor devils of Mormonites ain't going -head first into the Rapaho trap. They'll be 'gone beaver' afore long." - -"Ay," said the strange hunter, "these are the waggons belonging to -old Brand, and he has started alone for Laramie. I hope nothing will -happen to them." - -"Brand!" muttered La Bonté. "I knowed that name mighty well once, -years agone; and should hate the worst kind that mischief happened -to any one who bore it. This trail's as fresh as paint; and it goes -against me to let these simple critters help the Rapahos to their own -hair. This child feels like helping 'em out of the scrape. What do -you say, old hos?" - -"I thinks with you, boy," answered Killbuck, "and go in for following -this waggon trail, and telling the poor critters that there's danger -ahead of them. What's your talk, stranger?" - -"I go with you," shortly answered the latter; and both followed -quickly after La Bonté, who was already trotting smartly on the trail. - -Meanwhile the three waggons, containing the household gods of the -Brand family, rumbled slowly over the rolling prairie, and towards -the upland ridge of the "divide," which, studded with dwarf pine -and cedar thickets, rose gradually before them. They travelled with -considerable caution, for already the quick eye of Antoine had -discovered recent Indian sign upon the trail, and, with mountain -quickness, had at once made it out to be that of a war party; -for there were no horses with them, and, after one or two of the -mocassin tracks, the mark of a rope which trailed upon the ground -was sufficient to show him that the Indians were provided with the -usual lasso of skin, with which to secure the horses stolen in the -expedition. The men of the party were consequently all mounted and -thoroughly armed, the waggons moved in a line abreast, and a sharp -look-out was kept on all sides. The women and children were all -consigned to the interior of the waggons; and the latter had also -guns in readiness, to take their part in the defence should an attack -be made. - -However, they had seen no Indians, and no fresh sign, for two days -after they left the Boiling Spring River, and they began to think -they were well out of their neighbourhood. One evening they camped -on a creek called Black Horse, and, as usual, had corralled the -waggons, and forted as well as circumstances would permit, when -three or four Indians suddenly appeared on a bluff at a little -distance, and, making signals of peaceable intentions, approached -the camp. Most of the men were absent at the time, attending to the -cattle or collecting fuel, and only old Brand and one of his young -grandchildren, about fourteen years old, remained in camp. The -Indians were hospitably received, and regaled with a smoke, after -which they began to evince their curiosity by examining every article -lying about, and signifying their wishes that it should be given to -them. Finding their hints were not taken, they laid hold of several -things which took their fancies, and, amongst others, of the pot -which was boiling on the fire, and with which one of them was about -very coolly to walk off, when old Brand, who up to this moment had -retained possession of his temper, seized it out of the Indian's -hand, and knocked him down. One of the others instantly began to -draw the buckskin cover from his gun, and would no doubt have taken -summary vengeance for the insult offered to his companion, when Mary -Brand courageously stepped up to him, and, placing her left hand upon -the gun which he was in the act of uncovering, with the other pointed -a pistol at his breast. - -Whether daunted by the bold act of the girl, or admiring her devotion -to her father, the Indian drew himself back, exclaimed "Howgh!" and -drew the cover again on his piece, went up to old Brand, who all this -time looked him sternly in the face, and, shaking him by the hand, -motioned at the same time to the others to be peaceable. - -The other whites presently coming into camp, the Indians sat quietly -down by the fire, and, when the supper was ready, joined in the -repast, after which they gathered their buffalo robes about them, -and quietly withdrew. Meanwhile Antoine, knowing the treacherous -character of the savages, advised that the greatest precaution should -be taken to secure the stock; and before dark, therefore, all the -mules and horses were hobbled and secured within the corral, the -oxen being allowed to feed at liberty--for the Indians scarcely care -to trouble themselves with such cattle. A guard was also set round -the camp, and relieved every two hours; the fire was extinguished, -lest the savages should fire, by its light, at any of the party, -and all slept with rifles ready at their sides. However, the night -passed quietly, and nothing disturbed the tranquillity of the camp. -The prairie wolves loped hungrily around, and their mournful cry -was borne upon the wind as they chased deer and antelope on the -neighbouring plain; but not a sign of lurking Indians was seen or -heard. - -In the morning, shortly after sunrise, they were in the act of yoking -the oxen to the waggons, and driving in the loose animals which -had been turned out to feed at daybreak, when some Indians again -appeared upon the bluff, and, descending it, confidently approached -the camp. Antoine strongly advised their not being allowed to enter; -but Brand, ignorant of Indian treachery, replied that, so long as -they came as friends they could not be deemed enemies, and allowed no -obstruction to be offered to their approach. It was now observed that -they were all painted, armed with bows and arrows, and divested of -their buffalo robes, appearing naked to the breech-clout, their legs -only being protected by deerskin leggings, reaching to the middle of -the thigh. Six or seven first arrived, and others quickly followed, -dropping in one after the other, until a score or more were collected -round the waggons. Their demeanour, at first friendly, soon changed -as their numbers increased, and they now became urgent in their -demands for powder and lead, and bullying in their manner. A chief -accosted Brand, and, through Antoine, informed him "that, unless the -demands of his braves were acceded to, he could not be responsible -for the consequences; that they were out on the 'war-trail,' and -their eyes were red with blood, so that they could not distinguish -between white and Yutah scalps; that the party, with all their -women and waggons, were in the power of the Indian 'braves,' and -therefore the white chief's best plan was to make the best terms he -could; that all they required was that they should give up their -guns and ammunition 'on the prairie,' and all their mules and -horses--retaining the 'medicine' buffaloes (the oxen) to draw their -waggons." - -By this time the oxen were yoked, and the teamsters, whip in hand, -only waited the word to start. Old Brand foamed whilst the Indian -stated his demands, but, hearing him to the end, exclaimed, "Darn the -red devil! I wouldn't give him a grain of powder to save my life. Put -out, boys!"--and, turning to his horse, which stood ready saddled, -was about to mount, when the Indians sprang at once upon the waggons, -and commenced their attack, yelling like fiends. - -One jumped upon old Brand, pulled him back as he was rising in the -stirrup, and drew his bow upon him at the same moment. In an instant -the old backwoodsman pulled a pistol from his belt, and, putting -the muzzle to the Indian's heart, shot him dead. Another Indian, -flourishing his war-club, laid the old man at his feet; whilst others -dragged the women from the waggons, and others rushed upon the men, -who made brave fight in their defence. - -Mary, when she saw her father struck to the ground, sprang with a -shrill cry to his assistance; for at that moment a savage, frightful -as red paint could make him, was standing over his prostrate body, -brandishing a glittering knife in the air, preparatory to thrusting -it into the old man's breast. For the rest, all was confusion--in -vain the small party of whites struggled against overpowering -numbers. Their rifles cracked but once, and they were quickly -disarmed; whilst the shrieks of the women and children, and the loud -yells of the Indians, added to the scene of horror and confusion. As -Mary flew to her father's side, an Indian threw his lasso at her, -the noose falling over her shoulders, and, jerking it tight, he -uttered a delighted yell as the poor girl was thrown back violently -to the ground. As she fell, another deliberately shot an arrow at her -body, whilst the one who had thrown the lasso rushed forward, his -scalp-knife flashing in his hand, to seize the bloody trophy of his -savage deed. The girl rose to her knees, and looked wildly towards -the spot where her father lay bathed in blood; but the Indian pulled -the rope violently, dragged her some yards upon the ground, and then -rushed with a yell of vengeance upon his victim. He paused, however, -as at that moment a shout as fierce as his own sounded at his very -ear; and, looking up, he saw La Bonté gallopping madly down the -bluff, his long hair and the fringes of his hunting-shirt and leggins -flying in the wind, his right arm supporting his trusty rifle, -whilst close behind him came Killbuck and the stranger. Dashing -with loud hurrahs to the scene of action, La Bonté, as he charged -down the bluff, caught sight of the girl struggling in the hands of -the ferocious Indian. Loud was the war-shout of the mountaineer, as -he struck his heavy spurs to the rowels in his horse's side, and -bounded like lightning to the rescue. In a single stride he was upon -the Indian, and, thrusting the muzzle of his rifle into his very -breast, he pulled the trigger, driving the savage backward by the -blow itself, at the same moment that the bullet passed through his -heart, and tumbled him over stone-dead. Throwing down his rifle, La -Bonté wheeled his obedient horse, and, drawing a pistol from his -belt, again charged the enemy, into the midst of whom Killbuck and -the stranger were dealing death-giving blows. Yelling for victory, -the mountaineers rushed at the Indians; and they, panic-struck at -the sudden attack, and thinking this was but the advanced guard of a -large band, fairly turned and fled, leaving five of their number dead -upon the field. - -Mary, shutting her eyes to the expected death-stroke, heard the loud -shout La Bonté gave in charging down the bluff, and, again looking -up, saw the wild-looking mountaineer rush to her rescue, and save her -from the savage by his timely blow. Her arms were still pinned by the -lasso, which prevented her from rising to her feet; and La Bonté was -the first to run to aid her, as soon as the fight was fairly over. -He jumped from his horse, cut the skin rope which bound her, raised -her from the ground, and, upon her turning up her face to thank him, -beheld his never-to-be-forgotten Mary Brand; whilst she, hardly -believing her senses, recognised in her deliverer her former lover, -and still well-beloved La Bonté. - -"What, Mary! can it be you?" he asked, looking intently upon the -trembling woman. - -"La Bonté, you don't forget me!" she answered, and threw herself -sobbing into the arms of the sturdy mountaineer. - -There we will leave her for the present, and help Killbuck and -his companions to examine the killed and wounded. Of the former, -five Indians and two whites lay dead, grandchildren of old Brand, -fine lads of fourteen or fifteen, who had fought with the greatest -bravery, and lay pierced with arrows and lance wounds. Old Brand had -received a sore buffet, but a hatful of cold water from the creek -sprinkled over his face soon restored him. His sons had not escaped -scot-free, and Antoine was shot through the neck, and, falling, had -actually been half scalped by an Indian, whom the timely arrival of -La Bonté had caused to leave his work unfinished. - -Silently, and with sad hearts, the survivors of the family saw -the bodies of the two boys buried on the river bank, and the spot -marked with a pile of loose stones, procured from the rocky bed of -the creek. The carcasses of the treacherous Indians were left to -be devoured by wolves, and their bones to bleach in the sun and -wind--a warning to their tribe, that such foul treachery as they had -meditated had met with a merited retribution. - -The next day the party continued their course to the Platte. Antoine -and the stranger returned to the Arkansa, starting in the night -to avoid the Indians; but Killbuck and La Bonté lent the aid of -their rifles to the solitary caravan, and, under their experienced -guidance, no more Indian perils were encountered. Mary no longer -sat perched up in her father's Conostoga, but rode a quiet mustang -by La Bonté's side; and no doubt they found a theme with which to -while away the monotonous journey over the dreary plains. South Fork -was passed, and Laramie was reached. The Sweet Water mountains, -which hang over the "pass" to California, were long since in sight; -but when the waters of the North Fork of Platte lay before their -horses' feet, and the broad trail was pointed out which led to the -great valley of Columbia and their promised land, the heads of the -oxen were turned _down_ the stream, where the shallow waters flow -on to join the great Missouri--and not _up_, towards the mountains -where they leave their spring-heads, from which springs flow several -waters--some coursing their way to the eastward, fertilising, in -their route to the Atlantic, the lands of civilised man; others -westward, forcing a passage through rocky cañons, and flowing through -a barren wilderness, inhabited by fierce and barbarous tribes. - -These were the routes to choose from: and, whatever was the cause, -the oxen turned their yoked heads away from the rugged mountains; -the teamsters joyfully cracked their ponderous whips, as the waggons -rolled lightly down the Platte; and men, women, and children, waved -their hats and bonnets in the air, and cried out lustily, "Hurrah for -home!" - -La Bonté looked at the dark sombre mountains ere he turned his -back upon them for the last time. He thought of the many years he -had spent beneath their rugged shadow, of the many hardships he -had suffered, of all his pains and perils undergone in those wild -regions. The most exciting episodes in his adventurous career, his -tried companions in scenes of fierce fight and bloodshed, passed in -review before him. A feeling of regret was creeping over him, when -Mary laid her hand gently on his shoulder. One single tear rolled -unbidden down his cheek, and he answered her inquiring eyes: "I'm not -sorry to leave it, Mary," he said; "but it's hard to turn one's back -upon old friends." - -They had a hard battle with Killbuck, in endeavouring to persuade -him to accompany them to the settlements. The old mountaineer shook -his head. "The time," he said, "was gone by for that. He had often -thought of it, but, when the day arrived, he hadn't heart to leave -the mountains. Trapping now was of no account, he knew; but beaver -was bound to rise, and then the good times would come again. What -could he do in the settlements, where there wasn't room to move, and -where it was hard to breathe--there were so many people?" - -He accompanied them a considerable distance down the river, ever and -anon looking cautiously back, to ascertain that he had not gone out -of sight of the mountains. Before reaching the forks, however, he -finally bade them adieu; and, turning the head of his old grizzled -mule westward, he heartily wrung the hand of his comrade La Bonté; -and, crying Yep! to his well-tried animal, disappeared behind a roll -of the prairie, and was seen no more--a thousand good wishes for the -welfare of the sturdy trapper speeding him on his solitary way. - -Four months from the day when La Bonté so opportunely appeared to -rescue Brand's family from the Indians on Black Horse Creek, that -worthy and the faithful Mary were duly and lawfully united in the -township church of Brandville, Memphis county, State of Tennessee. We -cannot say, in the concluding words of nine hundred and ninety-nine -thousand novels, that "numerous pledges of mutual love surrounded -and cheered them in their declining years," &c. &c.; because it was -only on the 24th of July, in the year of our Lord 1847, that La Bonté -and Mary Brand were finally made one, after fifteen long years of -separation. - - * * * * * - -The fate of one of the humble characters who have figured in these -pages, we must yet tarry a while longer to describe. - -During the past winter, a party of mountaineers, flying from -overpowering numbers of hostile Sioux, found themselves, one stormy -evening, in a wild and dismal cañon near the elevated mountain valley -called the "New Park." - -The rocky bed of a dry mountain torrent, whose waters were now -locked up at their spring-heads by icy fetters, was the only road up -which they could make their difficult way: for the rugged sides of -the gorge rose precipitously from the creek, scarcely affording a -foot-hold to even the active bighorn, which occasionally looked down -upon the travellers from the lofty summit. Logs of pine, uprooted -by the hurricanes which sweep incessantly through the mountain -defiles, and tossed headlong from the surrounding ridges, continually -obstructed their way; and huge rocks and boulders, tumbling from -the heights and blocking up the bed of the stream, added to the -difficulty, and threatened them every instant with destruction. - -Towards sundown they reached a point where the cañon opened out into -a little shelving glade or prairie, a few hundred yards in extent, -the entrance to which was almost hidden by a thicket of dwarf pine -and cedar. Here they determined to encamp for the night, in a spot -secure from Indians, and, as they imagined, untrodden by the foot of -man. - -What, however, was their astonishment, on breaking through the -cedar-covered entrance, to perceive a solitary horse standing -motionless in the centre of the prairie. Drawing near, they found it -to be an old grizzled mustang, or Indian pony, with cropped ears and -ragged tail, (well picked by hungry mules,) standing doubled up with -cold, and at the very last gasp from extreme old age and weakness. -Its bones were nearly through the stiffened skin, the legs of the -animal were gathered under it; whilst its forlorn-looking head and -stretched-out neck hung listlessly downwards, almost overbalancing -its tottering body. The glazed and sunken eye--the protruding and -froth-covered tongue--the heaving flank and quivering tail--declared -its race was run; and the driving sleet and snow, and penetrating -winter blast, scarce made impression upon its callous, insensible, -and worn-out frame. - -One of the band of mountaineers was Marcellin, and a single look -at the miserable beast was sufficient for him to recognise the -once renowned Nez-percé steed of old Bill Williams. That the owner -himself was not far distant he felt certain; and, searching carefully -around, the hunters presently came upon an old deserted camp, before -which lay, protruding from the snow, the blackened remains of pine -logs. Before these, which had been the fire, and leaning with his -back against a pine trunk, and his legs crossed under him, half -covered with snow, reclined the figure of the old mountaineer, his -snow-capped head bent over his breast. His well-known hunting-coat of -fringed elk-skin hung stiff and weather-stained about him; and his -rifle, packs, and traps, were strewed around. - -Awe-struck, the trappers approached the body, and found it frozen -hard as stone, in which state it had probably lain there for many -days or weeks. A jagged rent in the breast of his leather coat, and -dark stains about it, showed he had received a wound before his -death; but it was impossible to say whether to this hurt, or to -sickness, or to the natural decay of age, was to be attributed the -wretched and solitary end of poor Bill Williams. - -A friendly bullet cut short the few remaining hours of the trapper's -faithful steed; and burying, as well as they were able, the body of -the old mountaineer, the hunters next day left him in his lonely -grave, in a spot so wild and remote, that it was doubtful whether -even hungry wolves would discover and disinter his attenuated corpse. - -FOOTNOTES: - -[2] The word _fandango_, in New Mexico, is not applied to the -peculiar dance known in Spain by that name, but designates a ball or -dancing meeting. - -[3] Nickname for the idle fellows hanging about a Mexican town, -translated into "Greasers" by the Americans. - -[4] Cask-shaped gourds. - -[5] The knives used by the hunters and trappers are manufactured at -the "Green River" works, and have that name stamped upon the blade. -Hence the mountain term for doing any thing effectually is "up to -Green River." - -[6] Always alluding to Mexicans, who are invariably called Spaniards -by the Western Americans. - - - - -THE LATE GEORGE FREDERICK RUXTON. - - -The readers of _Blackwood's Magazine_, who for six succeeding -months have followed La Bonté and his mountain companions through -the hardships, humours, and perils of "Life in the Far West," will -surely not learn with indifference, that the gallant young author of -those spirited sketches has prematurely departed to his long home, -from that Transatlantic land whose prairies and forests he so well -loved to tread, and the existence and eccentricities of whose wildest -sons he so ably and pleasantly portrayed. Nearly a month has now -elapsed since the London newspapers contained the mournful tidings -of the death, at St Louis on the Mississippi, and at the early age -of twenty-eight, of Lieutenant George Frederick Ruxton, formerly -of her Majesty's 89th regiment, known to the reading world as the -author of a volume of Mexican adventure, and of the above-named -contributions to this Magazine. The former work has too completely -gained the suffrages of the public to need commendation at our hands: -it divides, with Madame Calderon de la Barca's well-known volumes, -the merit of being the best narration extant of travel and general -observation in modern Mexico. - -Many individuals, even in the most enterprising periods of our -history, have been made the subjects of elaborate biography, with -far less title to the honour than our late departed friend. Time -was not granted him to embody in a permanent shape more than a -tithe of his personal experiences, and strange adventures, in three -quarters of the globe; indeed, when we consider the amount of -physical labour which he endured, and the extent of the fields over -which his wanderings were spread, we are almost led to wonder how -he could have found leisure even to have written so much. At the -early age of seventeen, Mr Ruxton quitted Sandwich, to learn the -practical part of a soldier's profession on the field of civil war -then raging in the peninsula of Spain. He received a commission in -a royal regiment of lancers, under the command of Don Diego Leon, -and was actively engaged in several of the most important combats -of the campaign. For his marked gallantry on these occasions, he -received from Queen Isabella II. the cross of the first class of the -order of St Fernando, an honour which has seldom been awarded to one -so young. On his return from Spain he found himself gazetted to a -commission in the 89th regiment; and it was while serving with that -distinguished corps in Canada that he first became acquainted with -the stirring scenes of Indian life, which he has since so graphically -portrayed. His eager and enthusiastic spirit soon became wearied with -the monotony of the barrack-room; and, yielding to that impulse which -in him was irresistibly developed, he resigned his commission, and -directed his steps towards the stupendous wilds, only tenanted by the -red Indian, or the solitary American trapper. - -Those who are familiar with his writings cannot fail to have -remarked the singular delight with which the author dwells upon the -recollections of this portion of his career, and the longing which -he carried with him to the hour of death, for a return to those -scenes of primitive freedom. "Although liable to an accusation of -barbarism," he writes, "I must confess that the very happiest moments -of my life have been spent in the wilderness of the Far West; and -I never recall, but with pleasure, the remembrance of my solitary -camp in the Bayou Salade, with no friend near me more faithful than -my rifle, and no companions more sociable than my good horse and -mules, or the attendant cayute which nightly serenaded us. With a -plentiful supply of dry pine-logs on the fire, and its cheerful -blaze streaming far up into the sky, illuminating the valley far and -near, and exhibiting the animals, with well-filled bellies, standing -contentedly at rest over their picket-fires, I would sit cross-legged -enjoying the genial warmth, and, pipe in mouth, watch the blue smoke -as it curled upwards, building castles in its vapoury wreaths, and, -in the fantastic shapes it assumed, peopling the solitude with -figures of those far away. Scarcely, however, did I ever wish to -change such hours of freedom for all the luxuries of civilised life; -and, unnatural and extraordinary as it may appear, yet such is the -fascination of the life of the mountain hunter, that I believe not -one instance could be adduced of even the most polished and civilised -of men, who had once tasted the sweets of its attendant liberty, -and freedom from every worldly care, not regretting the moment when -he exchanged it for the monotonous life of the settlements, nor -sighing and sighing again once more to partake of its pleasures and -allurements." - -On his return to Europe from the Far West, Mr Ruxton, animated with -a spirit as enterprising and fearless as that of Raleigh, planned -a scheme for the exploration of Central Africa, which was thus -characterised by the president of the Royal Geographical Society, in -his anniversary address for 1845:--"To my great surprise, I recently -conversed with an ardent and accomplished youth, Lieutenant Ruxton, -late of the 89th regiment, who had formed the daring project of -traversing Africa in the parallel of the southern tropic, and has -actually started for this purpose. Preparing himself by previous -excursions on foot, in North Africa and Algeria, he sailed from -Liverpool early in December last, in the Royalist, for Ichaboe. From -that spot he was to repair to Walvish Bay, where we have already -mercantile establishments. The intrepid traveller had received from -their agents of the establishments such favourable account of the -nations towards the interior, as also of the nature of the climate, -that he has the most sanguine hopes of being able to penetrate to the -central region, if not of traversing it to the Portuguese colonies -of Mozambique. If this be accomplished, then indeed will Lieutenant -Ruxton have acquired for himself a permanent name among British -travellers, by making us acquainted with the nature of the axis of -the great continent of which we possess the southern extremity." - -In pursuance of this hazardous scheme, Ruxton, along with a single -companion, landed on the coast of Africa, a little to the south of -Ichaboe, and commenced his journey of exploration. But it seemed as -if both nature and man had combined to baffle the execution of his -design. The course of their travel lay along a desert of moving sand, -where no water was to be found, and little herbage, save a coarse -tufted grass, and twigs of the resinous myrrh. The immediate place -of their destination was Angra Peguena, on the coast, described as -a frequented station, but which in reality was deserted. One ship -only was in the offing when the travellers arrived, and, to their -inexpressible mortification, they discovered that she was outward -bound. No trace was visible of the river or streams laid down in -the maps as falling into the sea at this point, and no resource -was left to the travellers save that of retracing their steps--a -labour for which their strength was hardly adequate. But for the -opportune assistance of a body of natives, who encountered them at -the very moment when they were sinking from the influence of fatigue -and thirst, Ruxton and his companion would have been added to the -catalogue long of those whose lives have been sacrificed in the -attempt to explore the interior of this fatal country. - -The jealousy of the traders, and of the missionaries settled on the -African coast, who constantly withheld or perverted that information -which was absolutely necessary for the successful prosecution of the -journey, induced Ruxton to abandon the attempt for the present. He -made, however, several interesting excursions towards the interior, -and more especially in the country of the Bosjesmans. - -Finding that his own resources were inadequate for the accomplishment -of his favourite project, Mr Ruxton, on his return to England, made -application for Government assistance. But though this demand was -not altogether refused, it having been referred to, and favourably -reported on by, the Council of the Royal Geographical Society, so -many delays were interposed that Ruxton, in disgust, resolved to -withdraw from the scheme, and to abandon that field of African -research which he had already contemplated from its borders. He -next bent his steps to Mexico; and, fortunately, has presented to -the world his reminiscences of that country, in one of the most -fascinating volumes which, of late years, has issued from the press. -It would, however, appear that the scheme of African research, the -darling project of his life, had again recurred to him at a later -period; for, in the course of the present spring, before setting -out on that journey which was destined to be his last we find the -following expressions in a letter addressed to us:-- - - "My movements are uncertain, for I am trying to get up a yacht - voyage to Borneo and the Indian Archipelago; have volunteered - to Government to explore Central Africa; and the Aborigines - Protection Society wish me to go out to Canada to organise the - Indian tribes; whilst, for my own part and inclination, I wish to - go to all parts of the world at once." - -As regards his second work, we shall not, under the circumstances, be -deemed egotistical, if we here, at the close of its final portion, -express our very high opinion of its merits. Written by a man -untrained to literature, and whose life, from a very early age, had -been passed in the field and on the road, in military adventure and -travel, its style is yet often as remarkable for graphic terseness -and vigour, as its substance every where is for great novelty and -originality. The narrative of "Life in the Far West" was first -offered for insertion in _Blackwood's Magazine_ in the spring of the -present year, when the greater portion of the manuscript was sent, -and the remainder shortly followed. - -The wildness of the adventures which he relates have, perhaps not -unnaturally, excited suspicions in certain quarters as to their -actual truth and fidelity. It may interest our readers to know, that -the scenes described by the author are faithful pictures of the -results of his personal experience. The following are extracts from -letters addressed to us in the course of last summer:-- - - "I have brought out a few more softening traits in the characters - of the mountaineers--but not at the sacrifice of truth--for some - of them have their good points; which, as they are rarely allowed - to rise to the surface, must be laid hold of at once, before they - sink again. Killbuck--that 'old hos' _par exemple_, was really - pretty much of a gentleman, as was La Bonté. Bill Williams, - another 'hard case,' and Rube Herring, were 'some' too. - - "The scene where La Bonté joins the Chase family is so far true - that he did make a sudden appearance; but, in reality, a day - before the Indian attack. The Chases (and I wish I had not given - the proper name[7]) did start for the Platte alone, and were - stampedoed upon the waters of the Platte. - - "The Mexican fandango _is true to the letter_. It does seem - difficult to understand how they contrived to keep their knives - out of the hump-ribs of the mountaineers; but how can you account - for the fact that, the other day, 4000 Mexicans, with 13 pieces of - artillery, behind strong intrenchments and two lines of parapets, - were routed by 900 raw Missourians; 300 killed, as many more - wounded, all their artillery captured, as well as several hundred - prisoners; and that not one American was killed in the affair? - _This is positive fact._ - - "I myself, with three trappers, cleared a fandango at Taos, armed - only with bowie-knives--some score Mexicans, at least, being in - the room. - - "With regard to the incidents of Indian attacks, starvation, - cannibalism, &c., I have invented not one out of my own head. They - are all matters of history in the mountains; but I have, no doubt, - jumbled the _dramatis personæ_ one with another, and may have - committed anachronisms in the order of their occurrence." - -Again he wrote to us as follows:-- - - "I think it would be as well to correct a misapprehension as to - the truth or fiction of the paper. It is _no fiction_. There is no - incident in it which has not actually occurred, nor one character - who is not well known in the Rocky Mountains, with the exception - of two whose names are changed--the originals of these being, - however, equally well known with the others." - -His last letter, written just before his departure from England, a -few weeks previously to his death, will hardly be read by any who -ever knew the writer, without a tear of sympathy with the sad fate of -this fine young man, dying miserably in a strange land, before he had -well commenced the adventurous journey whose excitement and dangers -he so joyously anticipated:-- - - "As you say, human natur can't go on feeding on civilised fixings - in this 'big village;' and this child has felt like going West - for many a month, being half froze for buffler meat and mountain - doins. My route takes me viâ New York, the Lakes, and St Louis, to - Fort Leavenworth, or Independence on the Indian frontier. Thence - packing my 'possibles' on a mule, and mounting a buffalo horse, - (Panchito, if he is alive,) I strike the Santa Fé trail to the - Arkansa, away up that river to the mountains, winter in the Bayou - Salade, where Killbuck and La Bonté joined the Yutes, cross the - mountains next spring to Great Salt Lake--and that's far enough - to look forward to--always supposing my hair is not lifted by - Comanche or Pawnee on the scalping route of the Coon Creeks and - Pawnee Fork. - - "If anything turns up in the expedition which would 'shine' in - Maga, I will send you a despatch.--Meanwhile," &c. &c. - -Poor fellow! he spoke lightly, in the buoyancy of youth and a -confident spirit, of the fate he little thought to meet, but which -too surely overtook him--not indeed by Indian blade, but by the no -less deadly stroke of disease. Another motive, besides that love of -rambling and adventure, which, once conceived and indulged, is so -difficult to eradicate, impelled him across the Atlantic. He had for -some time been out of health at intervals, and he thought the air -of his beloved prairies would be efficacious to work a cure. In a -letter to a friend, in the month of May last, he thus referred to the -probable origin of the evil:-- - - "I have been confined to my room for many days, from the effects - of an accident I met with in the Rocky Mountains, having been - spilt from the bare back of a mule, and falling on the sharp - picket of an Indian lodge on the small of my back. I fear I - injured my spine, for I have never felt altogether the thing - since, and shortly after I saw you, the symptoms became rather - ugly. However, I am now getting round again." - -His medical advisers shared his opinion that he had sustained -internal injury from this ugly fall; and it is not improbable -that it was the remote, but real cause of his dissolution. Up to -this time of writing, (21st October,) however, no details of his -death have reached his afflicted friends, nor any account of it, -other than that given by the public journals. From whatsoever it -ensued, it will be a source of deep and lasting regret to all who -ever enjoyed opportunities of appreciating the high and sterling -qualities of George Frederick Ruxton. Few men, so prepossessing -on first acquaintance, gained so much by being better known. With -great natural abilities, and the most dauntless bravery, he united -a modesty and gentleness peculiarly pleasing. Had he lived, and -resisted his friends' repeated solicitations to abandon a roving -life, and settle down in England, there can be little doubt that -he would have made his name eminent on the list of those daring -and persevering men, whose travels in distant and dangerous lands -have accumulated for England, and for the world, so rich a store of -scientific and general information. And, although the few words we -have thought it right and becoming here to devote to his memory, -will doubtless be more particularly welcome to his personal friends, -we are persuaded that none will peruse without interest this brief -tribute to the merits of a gallant soldier, and accomplished English -gentleman. - -FOOTNOTE: - -[7] In accordance with this suggestion, the name was changed to -Brand. The mountaineers, it seems, are more sensitive to type than -to tomahawks; and poor Ruxton, who always contemplated another -expedition among them, would sometimes jestingly speculate upon his -reception, should they learn that he had shown them up in print. - - - - -THE NAVAL WAR OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.[8] - - -The navy of England is the right arm of the British empire. The -gallantry of British troops requires no praise of ours, as it admits -of no doubt on the part of our enemies. But until some convulsion of -the globe shall make England _Continental_, so long must her chief -force be naval, her chief defence be by her strength at sea, and her -chief victories be gained on the ocean. - -The navy has another incomparable adaptation to the especial -circumstances of England. Her empire is colonial: the extent of Great -Britain itself scarcely equals one of those provinces beyond the -ocean which Providence has given into her hands. Their defence, their -maintenance, and their existence, must depend on the superiority of -our fleet: if it were once extinguished, the British empire must be -again contracted within the British Isles. - -A third, and perhaps a more important qualification than either, -is--that a fleet is the only form of national force which can _never_ -endanger national freedom. - -On those _data_, the question of _national_ fleets is easily decided. -England is not only the first naval power in the world, but she -must _continue_ the first; because a fleet is _necessary_ to her -existence, which _it is not_ to that of any other European throne. -This is the dictate of nature, and is therefore a _law_. Other powers -may possess a fleet as an appendage to their national strength, as -suitable to their rank, or as adding to their means of hostilities. -Still, to them, a fleet is not a _necessity_. Russia, France, and -Spain have no more _necessity_ for a fleet, than Prussia, Austria, -and Switzerland! But England, without a fleet, would be exposed to -invasion on every point of a coast extending two thousand miles. Her -wealth is all loose upon the ocean; her chief territories are all -beyond the ocean: thus, _without_ a fleet, she would be almost wholly -without the means of external defence, of retaliation for injuries, -and of the commerce which is the most essential basis of her revenue. -The result is, that, while the Continental kingdoms might be powerful -states, yet not possess a ship on the seas, England, stript of her -naval superiority, would instantly sink from her high position, -would lose the larger portion of her power, would be separated from -her most important colonies, would see her revenues decay,--and, -if assailed by a foreign enemy, would see her resources suddenly -stopped, and must prepare for the last extremities of struggle, hand -to hand. - -In this view, we do not confine the question to the national fondness -for the sea--to that mixture of boldness and skill which predominates -in the character of our sailors, and forms the especial qualification -of a sea-faring people,--nor to national superiority of any kind; -but to the simple fact, that the possession of predominant power on -the ocean _cannot_ be dispensed with by England, while it _can_ be -dispensed with by every other power of the globe. - -There is also another reason for this supremacy; arising from the -fact, that England may throw her whole national force into a navy; -while other powers, however ambitious of naval eminence, _must_ at -least divide their force between the land and sea services. France, -with its immense frontier, must keep up an immense army during war. -Russia, with a frontier from the Niemen to the North Pole, must keep -up an immense army at all times. The maintenance of those armies -is essential to the national existence, while the maintenance of a -fleet is only gratifying to the national ambition. The consequence -is as clear as a matter of arithmetic. France and Russia, attacking -England separately, _must_ be ultimately beaten. America, even if she -were a more formidable opponent than either, will also be beaten, and -for the same reason. A fleet is not _essential_ to her; the undivided -force of the States will never be applied to her navy. The national -strength will be expanded over inland conquest; the sea-coast towns -will be rapidly reduced to insignificance by the superiority of the -great inland settlements; and the time will come, when the cities of -New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, will have no more weight with -the inland powers of Louisiana and the prairies, than Brighton or -Broadstairs have with the power of London. They will be watering -places, or, at best, warehousing places, and will be no more able to -keep up a navy, than the Isle of Thanet would be able to keep up the -Channel fleet. All this, however, tends only to show, that a fleet is -the supreme instrument of British dominion; and that its strength, -its skill, and its discipline, should employ the utmost activity, -liberality, and vigilance of every Cabinet which desires to do its -duty to the empire. - -We now proceed to give some account of the interesting and -intelligent work of which Captain Plunket has supplied the -translation, accompanied with valuable explanatory notes of his own. - -Some time since, there appeared in the well-known Parisian _Revue des -deux Mondes_, articles on the English and French naval systems, by a -French officer, Captain de la Gravière. The object of those papers -was less to give a history of the naval war, than to ascertain the -causes of that almost unbroken series of triumphs which made the -fame of the British fleet; and, on the other hand, which ultimately -extinguished the fleet of a nation so brave, ambitious, and -enterprising as the French. - -M. de la Gravière, to his credit, had not followed the usual -"perfide Albion" style of the French journalists, nor exhibited -that jesuitical evasion of fact, and the perpetual peevishness -against England, which marks and disgraces French history. He never -sinks English success into failure, or inflates French failure -into victory. He writes with the calmness of a man in search of -the truth; judges with every visible _intention_ of impartiality; -examines the private documents of the transactions; and pronounces a -judgment which, though obviously and essentially _French_, is perhaps -as honest an effort in pursuit of the reality of things, as is -compatible with the nature of our clever and lively libellers on the -other side of the Channel. - -Those volumes begin by some striking remarks of Napoleon at St -Helena. This extraordinary man never spoke of his defeat at Acre in -1799 but with bitter regret. He declared that it was his intention, -had he taken that fortress, to have marched to Constantinople at the -head of the tribes of Mount Lebanon, or to have followed the steps -of Alexander to the Indus. His repulse from Acre, he always said, -"marred his destiny." - -All this verbiage of the great Captain, however, has been -sufficiently exposed by the actual event. He could no more have -marched to Constantinople than he could have marched to the Indus, -nor have marched to the Indus more than he could have marched to -the Pole star. With but 40,000 men, (the whole number which landed -in Egypt,) it would have been utterly impossible for him to have -carried a force through Syria and Asia Minor equal to the attack on -Constantinople--even if the Russians were not _at hand_. The march to -the Indus would have lain through the deserts of Arabia and Persia, -and have stripped him down to a corporal's guard before he had got -half-way. A French foot would never have been dipt in that far-famed -river, which is now a British Canal. The tribes of Lebanon would no -more have recruited his ranks, than they would have given him their -sequins. His destiny lay in another direction. No man knew this -better; and doubtless he rejoiced, when he found himself on board the -frigate carrying him westward, and relieving him of the "glory" of -being slaughtered by the Arabs, and embalmed by the sands. - -But the inveterate hostility of Napoleon seemed to rage against -England, with the ravening of a mad dog, who dies biting the club -which has laid him on the ground. All his anti-English policy was a -succession of gross and ruinous blunders. To assail England without -a fleet was naturally impossible. To form a fleet for the purpose of -assailing her was, therefore, always a new temptation. If, after the -First of June, which destroyed the Channel fleet of France, and the -burning of the arsenals of Toulon, which destroyed her Mediterranean -fleet, France had never built another vessel beyond the tonnage of a -coaster, she would have shown her good sense. But Napoleon, when in -the plenitude of power, went on building huge vessels, only to see -them sent into English ports. - -The waste of time, waste of thought, and waste of money, on those -projects of English invasion, were among the most capital faults of -his extravagant career. He might have made France the great corn -country, or the great garden of Europe, with half the sums which he -threw away only to be beaten. His fifty ships of the line which were -to sweep the Channel, in the absence of our fleet--his one hundred -and twenty thousand men on the shore of Boulogne--all only enhanced -the naval glory of the great commander; who, after pursuing the -French flying squadron of eighteen great ships, with ten, to the West -Indies, finished in one day the naval war, extinguished the existence -of the French and Spanish navies, and crowned his own gallant career. - -The impolicy of these attempts was equally exhibited in another -form--they stimulated at once the power and the spirit of England. -The monotony of a war of defence would have disgusted the gallantry -of the nation, but the victories of the British navy continually -cheered the people under the burdens of the war. What minister could -have dared to propose a "compromising" peace, on the day after the -battle of the Nile? What minister would have dared to propose any -peace on the day after Trafalgar? The war, too, broke down more than -the French fleet--it buried the Opposition. - -The French author divides his history into three periods--the first, -that of the battles of Howe and Hood, of Hotham and Bridport; the -second, that of Jervis; the third, (from 1798 to 1805) belonging -to Nelson, without an equal, without even a competitor--the most -glorious series of successes ever won on the ocean. - -The true definition of these volumes is, in fact, a "Life of -Nelson"--a hurried, but clear and animated memoir, on a subject -which can never be too often repeated to the ear or the heart of -Englishmen; but a subject which is here coloured with the inevitable, -and yet not unamusing, prejudices of a Frenchman and an enemy. -He admits Nelson to have been a naval hero, while he labours to -show that his chief successes arose from a lofty disregard of -circumstances, a native contempt of rule, a transcendental rashness, -which, continually exposing him to the chance of utter ruin, -strangely always issued in victory. But those views are wholly -imaginary. It is the foreign habit, to be perpetually in pursuit of -_astonishment_; to think nothing meritorious which is not _magical_; -and to carry into the greatest and gravest operations of public life -the passion for the harlequinades of the theatre. The supremacy -of Nelson arose from the more substantial grounds, of a thorough -knowledge of his profession, of a strict deference for discipline, -and a sort of instinctive and unhesitating determination to do the -work set before him, with all the powers of his mind and frame. -He, of course, possessed personal intrepidity in the most complete -degree; but this amounted simply to the exposure of his life on all -occasions where duty was to be done. Nelson was no fire-eater--no -man of quarrel. We are not aware that he ever fought a duel. But he -knew what was due to himself as much as any man--a fact shown by his -answer to the Governor of Jamaica, who, having, on some remonstrances -to him, rather haughtily observed, "that old generals were not -accustomed to take advice from young captains." Nelson retorted -by letter--"That he was of the same age as the prime minister of -England, (Pitt), and that he thought himself as capable of commanding -one of his Majesty's ships, as the premier was of governing the -state." - -But Nelson could not have gained his glories alone: he made his -captains like himself; and every sailor in his fleet was ready to -die along with him. His art in this was the simple one of justice. -He acknowledged every man's merit. The officer who distinguished -himself, was sure of receiving due honour from Nelson; promotion -was regulated by service, and every brave man was confident in the -recommendation of the admiral. He was also a kind man by nature: he -hated punishment on board; he spoke good-naturedly to the sailors; -he even gave way to any peculiarity which was not injurious to -discipline. Some of his crew had become Methodists, and, offended -with the general coarse conversation of the ship, desired to have -their mess separate. Nelson immediately gave the required permission. -The hearts of men naturally follow such a leader. - -He had also the powerful sagacity which insures confidence; and no -man doubted that, when Nelson commanded, he was leading to victory. -He was, besides, a master of his profession--all his battles were the -finest lessons of the tactician. He was never outmanoeuvred; he -was never surprised; he was never even thrown into any difficulty, -for which he had not a ready resource. The "Nelson touch" became -proverbial; and the variety, completeness, and brilliancy of his -plans for action sometimes excited the most extraordinary emotion, -even to tears, among his officers. Something of this kind is said to -have occurred on the final summoning of his captains into the cabin -of the Victory, and laying before them his plan for the battle of -Trafalgar. - -Nelson had also the power, perhaps the most characteristic of -genius, of throwing his thought into those shapes of vividness which -penetrate at once to the understanding. When, on steering down for -the French line at Aboukir, some one observed to him that the enemy -were anchored too near the shore, for the British to pass within -them;--"Where a French ship can swing, a British ship can anchor," -was his decisive reply; and he instantly rushed in, and placed -the French line between two fires. Another of those noble maxims -was--"The captain cannot be wrong, who lays his ship alongside the -enemy." It contains the whole theory of British battle. His "I can -see no signal," when he was told that Admiral Parker had made the -signal for retiring at Copenhagen, would have been immortalised, -with the act which accompanied it, among the most brilliant -"sayings and doings" of ancient Greece. But his last and well-known -signal at Trafalgar surpassed all the rest, as much as the triumph -surpassed these triumphs. The addresses of Napoleon to his armies -were unquestionably fine performances. They spoke to the Frenchman -by his feelings, his recollections, his personal pride, and his -national renown. But, with the animation of the trumpet, they had -its sternness and harshness. They were invocations to the French -idol, that was to be worshipped only with perpetual blood. But the -signal at Trafalgar recalled the Englishman only to the feelings of -home. The voice of war never spoke a language more capable of being -combined with all the purposes of peace. "England expects every man -to do his duty" was fitted to bring before the Englishman the memory -of his country, his home, his wife and children, all who might feel -concerned in his conduct and character in the proud transactions of -that great day. We think it the noblest appeal to national feeling -ever made by a warrior to warriors. - -Yet, what was the especial secret of that supreme rank which Nelson -held over all the naval leaders of his time? Others may have been as -intelligent, and indefatigable, and, it is to be hoped, all were as -brave. The secret was--that Nelson was never satisfied with what he -had done, and that he never _half did_ anything. There was no "drawn -battle," among _his_ recollections. This is the more remarkable, -as, for fifty years before, nearly all our naval battles had been -drawn battles. Rodney's defeat of de Grasse was the great exception. -British admirals, who were afraid of nothing else, were afraid of -losing their masts! and were content with knocking down those of the -enemy. Great fleets met each other, passed in parallel lines, fired -their broadsides as they passed, one to the north and the other to -the south. They might as well have been firing salutes. The wind soon -carried them out of sight of each other; the admirals sat down in -their cabins to write their respective histories of "the battle," -which would have been only too much honoured by being called a -_brush_; and the fleets went by mutual consent into harbour. In this -sort of _War_! the French were as clever as we; and the Suffreins, di -Guichens, d'Estaings, and Villeneuves, made their fame on this system -of cannonading a mile off, and getting out of the way as quickly as -possible. - -Rodney first spoiled the etiquette of those affairs, by driving -straight forward through the enemy's line, changing the easy parallel -for the fighting perpendicular, and compelling at least one-half -of the Frenchmen to come to close quarters. This was the method of -Jervis, when his captain told him, that the fleet on which he was -bearing down in the morning twilight were at least twenty. "If they -were fifty," said the brave sailor, "I'll _drive through them_." He -drove through them accordingly, and beat the Spaniards, with half -their numbers. - -Wellington observed, in the Peninsula, that the generals commanding -under him were afraid of nothing but responsibility. This fear -arose from the ignorant insolence, with which the loungers of the -legislature were in the habit of fighting campaigns over their -coffee-cups. It is to be hoped that the fashion has since changed. -But Wellington demurred to the authority, and Nelson seemed not to -have thought of its existence. They both supplied the sufficient -answer to the _home_ campaigners, by beating the enemy wherever they -met him. - -We find a striking evidence of the hatred of "doing well enough" in -one of Nelson's letters to his wife, on Hotham's battle with the -French, under Martin, off Genoa, in 1795. Hotham was one of the old -school, and though, in two awkward engagements, he had taken two of -the French line, while a third had been burned, Nelson was indignant -that the whole French fleet had not been captured. He had urged the -admiral to leave the disabled ships in charge of the frigates, and -chase the French. - -"But," says the letter, "he, much cooler than myself, said, 'we must -be contented--_we had done very well_.'" Nelson's evidently disgusted -remark on this species of contentment is--"Had we taken ten sail, and -suffered the eleventh to escape, when we could have got at her, I -could _never_ have called it _well done_." In another part he says, -"I wish to be an admiral, and in command of the British fleet. I -should very soon do much, or be ruined. My disposition cannot bear -tame and slow measures. _Sure I am_, that, had I commanded our fleet -on the 14th, the whole French fleet would have graced our triumph, -or I should have been in a confounded scrape." This was the language -which, like the impulse of a powerful instinct, predicted the days of -Aboukir, Copenhagen, and Trafalgar. - -But the drag-chain on the progress of British intrepidity was at -length to be taken of. Hotham was succeeded by Jervis. This eminent -officer instantly reformed the whole condition of the Mediterranean -fleet. He had evidently adopted the same conception of naval merit, -which Nelson had so long kept before his eye. In selecting him for -the command of the squadron sent to the Nile, Jervis wrote to the -admiralty: "Nelson is an officer, who, whatever you bid him do, is -sure _to do more_." And, in this spirit, Nelson was not content with -running to Alexandria, and returning to say, that he found no one -there; his resolve was, to find the French wherever they were, and -fight them wherever they were found. - -One word still for gallant old Jervis, the man who first confirmed -the discipline of the navy. His firmness was the secret. When the -Irish conspirators on board the Channel fleet had spread the spirit -of mutiny in 1797, Jervis was warned from the admiralty that his -fleet was in danger. It was suggested to him by some of his officers, -to stop the letters from home: "No," said he, "the precaution is -useless: I will answer for it that the commander-in-chief of _this_ -fleet will know how to maintain his authority, if it is threatened." - -But he left nothing to chance: he prohibited communication between -the ships--he sent for the captains of marines, and ordered that -their men should mess and sleep separately from the sailors; that -the sailors should not be suffered to converse in Irish, and that the -officers should be on the alert. He hanged the detected mutineers -without delay. Forgiveness was out of the question. To Captain -Pellew, who had interceded in favour of a mutineer, whose conduct -had previously been irreproachable, he replied, "We have, we think, -punished only the worthless. It is time, that our men should learn, -that no past conduct can redeem an act of treason." - -Nothing could be more rational, or even more necessary, than this -determination; for treason is the most comprehensive of all crimes. -The mere robber, or murderer, commits his single act of guilt--but -the guilt of the traitor may cost the lives of thousands. The traitor -is never to be regarded as a solitary criminal, and this maxim was -never more necessary than at this moment. If laws are to be turned -into sentimentality, and conspiracy is to be dealt with like the -tricks of children, there must be an end of all security to _honest -men_. If the villains who have been lately inflaming the Irish mind -into madness, had been hanged by the sentence of the drum-head, -within half an hour after their seizure, there would have been no -necessity, at this moment, for keeping up a garrison of 45,000 men -in Ireland. Martial law is the _only_ law fit for the ruffians of -the torch and pike, and the gibbet is the only moral which they will -ever comprehend. To suppose that the Irish conspirators had even -entertained the expectation of forming an established government, or -of being suffered by England to raise a republic--or that any man out -of Bedlam could have dreamt of the possibility of waging a successful -war against England, while her fleets might starve Ireland in a week, -and nothing but English alms even now enables her to live--would be -absolute folly. The true object of Irish conspiracy was, and is, -and will always be, robbery and revenge; a short burst of rapine -and blood, followed by again running away, again begging pardon, -again living on alms, and again laughing at the weak indulgence and -insulted clemency of England. - -Jervis, instead of listening to the cant of men of blood whining -about their wives and children, hanged them; and, by thus ridding his -fleet of a nest of villains, saved it from destruction, and perhaps, -with it, saved not merely the lives of thousands of brave men, whom -their impunity might have debauched into conspiracy, but saved the -honour of our naval name, and restored the enfeebled hopes of his -country. - -We here quote with pleasure from the Frenchman:--"Jervis, in the -face of those symptoms, which threatened the British navy with -disaffection, sternly devoted himself to the establishment of -_implicit obedience_. The efficient organisation of the fleet was -the labour of his life, and occupied his latest thoughts. Never rash -himself, he nevertheless opened the way for the most daring deeds. -Nelson rushed into the arena, and, with the rapidity of lightning, -showed the latent results of the change. The governing principle -witnessed, rather than decreed the change. Its source, in fact, -was _not_ in the Admiralty, but in those floating camps, wherein -the triumphs which astonish us are gradually elaborated. Official -power is but the inert _crucible_ which transmutes the subsidies -of Parliament into ships. But a quickening principle is wanting to -those immense fleets, and the admirals supply it. Jervis and Nelson -rapidly transmitted the creative spark, and bequeathed a certain sort -of sovereignty under the distrustful eye of the English Admiralty--a -kind of dynasty arose--'the mayors of the palace took the sceptre -from the do-nothing kings.'" - -All this is comparatively just. But the Frenchman peeps out under -the panegyrist, after all. Can it be conceived that any other -human being, at the end of nearly half a century, would quote, -with the slightest degree of approval, the report of Decrès, the -French minister of the marine to Napoleon, in 1805, after all -Nelson's victories, and just preceding the most illustrious of them -all--Trafalgar? - -"The boasting of Nelson," writes Decrès, "equals his silliness, -(_ineptie_)--I use the proper word. But he has one eminent -quality--namely, that of aiming among his captains _only_ at a -character for bravery and good fortune. This makes him _accessible -to counsel_, and consequently, in difficult circumstances, if he -commands nominally, _others direct really_." - -We have no doubt that, after scribbling this supreme _ineptie_, -Decrès considered himself to have settled the whole question, and -to have convicted Nelson of being simply a bold blockhead--Nelson, -the man of the hundred fights--the prince of tacticians--the admiral -who had never been beaten, and from whom, at the battle of Aboukir, -Decrès himself was rejoiced to make his escape, after having seen the -ruin of the French fleet. - -We find a good deal of the same sort of petulant perversion, in the -narrative of Nelson's conduct at Naples. M. Gravière suddenly becomes -moral, and tells us the ten-times-told story of Lady Hamilton. But -what is all this to the naval war? Englishmen are not bound to defend -the character of Lady Hamilton; and if Nelson was actually culpable -in their intercourse, (a matter which actually has never yet been -_proved_,) Englishmen, who have some morality,--not Frenchmen, who -make a point of laughing at all morality--may upbraid his conduct. -But a French stoic is simply ridiculous. There are perhaps not fifty -men in all France, who would not have done, and are not doing every -day, where they have the opportunity, all that this moralist charges -Nelson with having done. Even if he were criminal in his private -life, so much the worse for himself in that solemn account which all -must render; but he was not the less the conqueror of Copenhagen, -Aboukir, and Trafalgar. - -The hanging of Caraccioli also figures among the charges. We regret -that this traitor was not left to die of remorse, or by the course of -nature, at the age of eighty. We regret, too, that he could allege -even the shadow of a capitulation for his security. We equally regret -the execution of Ney under a similar shadow. But Caraccioli had been -an _admiral_ in the Neapolitan service, had joined the rebellion by -which rapine and slaughter overspread the country, and had driven the -King into exile. No man more deserved to be hanged, by the order of -his insulted, and apparently ruined King;--he _was_ hanged, and _all_ -rebels ought thus to suffer. They are made for the scaffold. - -The men who plunge a kingdom in blood, whose success must be -purchased by havoc, and whose triumph makes the misery of thousands -or millions, ought to make the small expiation which can be made by -their public punishment; and no country _can_ be safe in which it -is not the custom to hang traitors. Still, those acts, even if they -were of an order which might shock the sensibility of a Frenchman to -breach of treaty, or the sight of blood, have no reference to the -talents and the triumphs of Nelson. - -But these volumes suddenly deviate from the history of the great -admiral, into remarks on the great living soldier of England. There, -too, we must follow them; and our task is no reluctant one; for it -enables us at once to enlighten intelligent inquiry, and to offer our -tribute to pre-eminent fame. But, in this instance, we argue with our -accomplished neighbours on different principles. The Frenchman loves -glory--the Englishman its fruits. The Frenchman loves the excitement -of war; the Englishman hates it, as mischievous and miserable, and to -be palliated only by the stern necessity of self-defence. He honours -intrepidity, but it only when displayed in a cause worthy of human -feeling. No man more exults in the talent of the field; but it is -only when it brings back security to the fireside. The noblest trophy -of Wellington, in the eyes of his country, is the thirty years of -peace won by his sword! - -It has become the fashion of the French to speak of this illustrious -personage with something of a sneer at what they pronounce his "want -of enterprise." Every thing that he has done is by "_phlegm_!" Phlegm -must be a most valuable quality, in that case, for it enabled him -to defeat every officer to whom he had been opposed; and there was -scarcely any man of repute in the French army to whom he had not been -opposed. It is in no spirit of rational taunt, or of that hostility -which, we will hope, has died away between England and France, that -we give the list of the French marshals whom Wellington has fought, -and _always_ beaten, and several of them _several times_:--Junot at -Vimeira, Soult at Oporto and the Pyrenees, Victor and Sebastiani -at Talavera, Massena at Busaco, Marmont at Salamanca, Jourdan at -Vitoria, and a whole group of the chief generals of France, with Ney, -Soult, and Napoleon himself, at their head, at Waterloo. - -But have the British military authors ever doubted the talent, or -disparaged the gallantry, of those distinguished soldiers? Certainly -not; they have given them every acknowledgment which ability and -bravery could demand. Let the French nation read the eloquent pages -of Alison, and see the character given by the historian to the -leaders in the Italian, German, and Spanish campaigns. Let them read -the spirited pages of Napier, and see them decorated almost with the -colours of romance. Does either of these popular and powerful authors -stigmatise the French generals with "_ineptie_," or characterise -their victories, as the mere results of inability either to attack or -to run away? Let them be the example of the future French military -writers, and let those writers learn that there is a European -tribunal, as well as a Parisian one. - -But the French altogether mistake the question. Men like Wellington -are not the growth of any military school, of any especial army, -or of any peculiar nation. Without offering this great soldier any -personal panegyric, he was a military _genius_. Since Marlborough, -England had produced no such commander of an army, and may not -produce another such for a century to come. Nelson was similarly a -_genius_: he sprang at once to the first rank of sea-officers; and -England, fertile as she is in first-rate sailors and brave men, may -never produce another Nelson. Napoleon was a _genius_, and almost -as palpably superior to the crowd of brave and intelligent generals -round him, as if he had been of another species. The conduct of men -of this exclusive capacity is no more a rule for other men, than -their successes are to be depreciated to the common scale of military -good fortune. The campaigns of Napoleon in Italy; the sea campaign -in which Nelson pursued the French fleet half-round the globe, to -extinguish it at Trafalgar; the seven years' continued campaign of -Wellington in the Peninsula, finished by the most splendid march in -European history, from the frontier of Portugal into the heart of -France, have had no example in the past, and can be no example to -the future. The principle, the power, and the success, lie equally -beyond the limits of ordinary calculation. The evident fact is, that -there is an occasional rank of faculty, which puts all calculation -out of sight, which is found to produce effects of a new magnitude, -and which overpasses all difficulties, by the use of an intellectual -element, but occasionally, and but for especial purpose, communicated -to man. - -We have no doubt whatever of the truth of this solution, and are -consequently convinced, that it would have been much wiser in M. -Gravière to have attempted to describe the career of Wellington, than -to pronounce on the principles of his science; and, above all, than -to account for his victories by the very last means of victory--the -mere brutishness of standing still, the simple immobility of passive -force, the mere unintelligent and insensate working of a machine. - -"What a contrast," exclaims the Frenchman, "between these passionate -traits (of Nelson) and the _impassive bearing_ of Wellington, that -_cool and methodical_ leader, who _maintained_ his ground in the -Peninsula by the _sheer force of order and prudence_! Do they belong -to the same nation? Did they command the same men? The admiral, full -of enthusiasm, and devoured by the love of distinction, and the -general, so _phlegmatic_ and _immovable_, who, intrenched behind -his lines at Torres Vedras, or re-forming, without _emotion_, his -_broken_ squares on the field of Waterloo--(where not a single -British square was broken)--seems rather to aim at _wearying out his -enemy_ than at _conquering him_, and triumphs _only_ by his patient -and unconquerable firmness." - -Must it not be asked, Why did the French suffer him to exhibit this -_firmness_? why did they not beat him at once? Do generals win -battles merely by waiting, until their antagonists are tired of -crushing them? - -But the Frenchman still has a resource--he accounts for it all by -the design of a higher power! "It was _thus_, nevertheless, that -the designs of Providence were to be accomplished. It gave to the -general, destined to meet _incontestably superior_ troops(!!), -whose _first_ efforts were _irresistible_, that _systematic_ and -_temporising_ character, which was to _wear out_ the ardour of -our soldiers." Having thus accounted for the French perpetuity of -defeat on land, by a man of stupidity and stone; he accounts, with -equal satisfaction, for the perpetuity of defeat at sea by a man of -activity and animation. "To the admiral who was to meet squadrons -fresh out of harbour, and easily disconcerted by a sudden attack, -Providence gave that fiery courage and audacity which alone could -bring about those great disasters, that would _not_ have been -inflicted under the rules of the old school of tactics." - -The Frenchman, in his eagerness to disparage Wellington as dull, and -Nelson as rash, forgets that he forces his reader to the conclusion, -that tardiness and precipitancy are equally fit to beat the French. -Or if they are _incontestably_ superior troops, and their first onset -is _irresistible_, how is it that they are beaten at the last, or are -ever beaten at all? We also find the curious and rather unexpected -acknowledgment, that Providence was always against them, and that it -had determined on their _defeat_, whether their enemy were swift or -slow. - -We are afraid that we have been premature in giving M. de la -Gravière credit for getting rid of his prejudices. But we shall -set him a better example. We shall not deny that the French make -excellent soldiers; that they have even a sort of national fitness -for soldiership; that they form active, bold, and highly effective -troops: though, for them, as sailors, we certainly cannot say as -much. Henry IV. remarked "that he never knew a French king lucky -at sea;" and Henry spoke the truth. And the wisest thing which -France could do, would be to give up all attempts to be a "naval -power,"--which she never has been, and never can be--and expend her -money and her time on the comforts, the condition, and the spirit of -her people, both citizens and soldiery. - -But, we must assist the French judgment on the character of -Wellington: and a slight detail will prove him to be the most -_enterprising_ leader of troops in the history of modern Europe. -Let us first settle the meaning of the word enterprise. It is not a -foolish restlessness, a giddy fondness for the flourish of Bulletins, -or a precipitate habit of rushing into projects unconsidered and -ineffective. It is activity, guided by intelligence; a daring -effort to attain a probable success. The French generals, in the -commencement of the revolutionary war, dashed at every thing, and yet -were not entitled to the praise of enterprise. They fought under the -consciousness that, unless they attracted Parisian notice by their -battles, they must pay the penalty with their heads. Thus nearly all -the principal generals of the early Republic were guillotined. The -_levée-en-masse_ gave them immense multitudes, who _must_ fight, or -starve. The Republic had _fourteen_ armies at once in the field, who -_must_ be fed; commissioners from Paris were in the camps; and the -general who declined to fight on all occasions, was stripped of his -epaulets, and sent to the "Place de Grève." - -But enterprise, in the style which distinguishes a master of -strategy, is among the rarest military qualities. Marlborough -was almost the only officer, in the last century, remarkable for -enterprise, and its chief example was his march from Flanders -to attack the French and Bavarian army, which he routed in the -magnificent triumph of Blenheim. Wolfe's attack on the heights of -Abraham was a capital instance of enterprise, for it showed at once -sagacity and daring, and both in pursuit of a probable object,--the -surprise of the enemy, and the power of bringing him to an engagement -on fair ground. - -But enterprise has been the _chief_ characteristic of the whole -military career of Wellington. - -His first great Indian victory, Assaye, (23d September 1802,) was an -"enterprise," by which, in defiance of all difficulties, and with -but 5000 men, he beat the army of Scindiah and the rajah of Berar, -consisting of 50,000, of which 30,000 were cavalry. There, instead -of _phlegm_, he was accused of rashness; but his answer was, the -_necessity_ of stopping the enemy's march; and, more emphatic still, -a most consummate victory. - -On his landing in Portugal, at the head of only 10,000 men, (August -5, 1808,) this man of phlegm instantly broke up the whole plan of -Junot. He first dashed at Laborde, commanding a division of 6000 men, -as the advanced guard of the main army; drove him from the mountain -position of Roliça; marched instantly to meet Junot, whom he defeated -at Vimeira; and, on the 15th of September, the British troops were in -possession of Lisbon. The French soon embarked by a convention, and -Portugal was free! This was the work of a _six-weeks'_ campaign by -this passive soldier. - -The convention of Cintra excited displeasure in England, as the -capture of the whole army had been expected, from the high public -opinion of the British commander; and the opinion would not have been -disappointed, if he had continued in the command. The testimony of -Colonel Torrens, (afterwards military secretary to the Duke of York,) -on the court of inquiry, was, "That, on the defeat of the French at -Vimeira, Sir Arthur rode up to Sir Harry Burrard and said--'Now, Sir -Harry, is your time to advance upon the enemy; they are completely -broken, and we may be in Lisbon in _three days_.' Sir Harry's answer -was, 'that he thought a great deal had been done.'" The army was -halted, and the French, who felt that their cause was hopeless, sent -to propose the convention. - -On the 22d of April 1809, Sir Arthur again landed in Portugal, to -take the command of the army, consisting of but 16,000 men, with 24 -guns. His plan was to drive Soult out of Oporto, fight the French, -wherever he found them; and then return and attack Victor on the -Tagus. Such was the project of the man of phlegm! He made a forced -march of 80 miles, in three days and a-half, from Coimbra, crossed -the Douro, drove Soult out of Oporto, ate the dinner which had been -prepared for the Frenchman, and hunted him into the mountains, with -the loss of all his guns and baggage. The French army was ruined for -the campaign. This was the work of _three weeks_ from his landing at -Lisbon! - -Sir Arthur's next enterprise was an advance into Spain. The kingdom -was held by a French force of upwards of 200,000 men, with all the -principal fortresses in their possession, the Pyrenees open, and -the whole force of France ready to repair their losses. The Spanish -armies were ill commanded, ill provided, and in all pitched battles -regularly beaten. The French force sent to stop him at Talavera, on -his road to Madrid, amounted to 60,000 men, under Jourdan, Victor, -and Sebastiani, with King Joseph at the head of the whole. The battle -began on the 27th of July, and, after a desperate struggle of two -days, with a force of nearly three times the number of the British, -ended by the rapid retreat of the French in the night, with the loss -of 20 pieces of cannon and four standards. The Spanish army under -Cuesta did good service on this occasion, but it was chiefly by -guarding a flank. Their position was strong, and they were but little -assailed. The British lost a fourth of their number in killed and -wounded; the French, 10,000 men. - -The purpose of these pages is, not to give a history of the -illustrious Duke's exploits, but to show the utter absurdity of the -French notion, that he gained all his battles by standing still, -until the enemy grew tired of beating him. There is scarcely an -instance in all his battles, in which he did not _seek_ the enemy, -and there is _no instance_ in which he did not beat them! This is a -sufficient answer to the French theory. - -The ruin of the Spanish armies, and the immense numerical superiority -of the French, commanded by Massena, compelled the British general, -in 1810, to limit himself to the defence of Portugal. Massena -followed him at the head of nearly 90,000 men. The British general -might have marched, without a contest, to the lines of Torres Vedras; -but the man of _phlegm_ resolved to fight by the way. He fought at -Busaco, (September 27.) - -Massena, proverbially the most dashing of the French generals--the -"Enfant gâté de la Victoire," as Napoleon styled him--could not -believe that any officer would be so daring as to stop him on -his road. On being told that the English would fight, and on -reconnoitring their position, he said, "I cannot persuade myself that -Lord Wellington will risk the loss of his reputation; but, if he -does, _I shall have him_." - -Napoleon, at Waterloo, was yet to utter the same words, and make -the same mistake. "Ah! je les tiens, ces Anglais."--"To-morrow," -said Massena, "we shall reconquer Portugal, and in a few days I -shall drive the leopards into the sea." The day of Busaco finished -this boast, with a loss to the French of 2000 killed, 6000 wounded, -and with the loss, which Massena, perhaps, felt still more, of his -military reputation for life. - -But the lines of Torres Vedras must not be forgotten in any memorial, -however brief, to the genius of Wellington. The great problem of -all strategists, at that period, was "the defence of Portugal -against an overwhelming force." Dumouriez and Moore had looked only -to the frontier, and justly declared that, from its extent and -broken nature, it was indefensible. Wellington, with a finer _coup -d'oeil_, looked to the half-circle of rising grounds stretching -from the Tagus to the sea, and enclosing the capital. He fortified -them with such admirable secrecy, that the French had scarcely heard -of their existence; and with such incomparable skill, that, when they -saw them at last, they utterly despaired of an attack. They were on -the largest scale of fortified lines ever constructed, their external -circle occupying forty miles. The defences consisted of 10 separate -fortifications, mounting 444 guns, and manned by 28,000 men. They -formed two lines, the exterior mounting 100 guns, the interior (about -eight miles within) mounting 200; the remaining guns being mounted -on redoubts along the shore and the river. The whole force, British -and Portuguese, within the lines, and keeping up the communication to -Lisbon, was nearly 80,000 men. - -The contrast without and within the lines was of the most striking -kind, and formed a new triumph for the feelings of the British -general. Without, all was famine, ferocity, and despair; within, -all was plenty, animation, and certainty of triumph. Massena, after -gazing on those noble works for a mouth, broke up his hopeless -bivouac; retired to Santarem; saved the remnant of his unfortunate -army only by a retreat in the night; was hunted to the frontier; -fought a useless and despairing battle at Fuentes d'Onore; was -beaten, returned into France, and resigned his command. He was -thenceforth forgotten, probably died of the loss of his laurels, and -is now known only by his tomb in the Cemetery of Paris. - -In October of the year 1811, though the British army had gone into -winter quarters, the man of "_passive_ courage" gave the enemy -another example of "enterprise." The fifth French corps, under -Gerard, had begun to ravage Estremadura. General Hill, by the order -of Lord Wellington, moved against the Frenchman; took him by surprise -at Aroyo de Molinos; fought him through the town, and out of the -town; captured his staff, his whole baggage, commissariat, guns, 30 -captains, and 1000 men. He drove the rest up the mountains, and, in -short, destroyed the whole division--Gerard escaping with but 300 men. - -The French field-marshal here amply acknowledged the effect of -enterprise. In his despatch to Berthier from Seville, Soult -says,--"This event is so disgraceful, that I know not how to qualify -it. General Gerard had choice troops with him, yet shamefully -suffered himself to be _surprised_, from excessive presumption and -confidence. The officers and soldiers were in the houses, as in the -midst of peace. I shall order an inquiry, and a severe example." - -The next year began with the two most splendid sieges of the war. A -siege is proverbially the most difficult of all military operations, -requiring the most costly preparations, and taking up the longest -time. Its difficulty is obviously enhanced by the nearness of a -hostile force. Wellington was watched by two French armies, commanded -by Soult and Marmont, either of them of nearly equal force with his -own, and, combined, numbering 80,000 men. Ciudad Rodrigo was one of -the strongest fortresses of the Peninsula; Marmont was on his march -to succour it. Wellington rushed on it, and captured it by storm, -(January 19.) Marmont, finding that he was too late, retired. Badajoz -was the next prize, a still larger and more important fortress. Soult -was moving from the south to its succour. He had left Seville on -the 1st of April; Wellington rushed on it, as he had done on Ciudad -Rodrigo, and took it by one of the most daring assaults on record, -(April 7.) - -This was again the man who conquered "by standing still." The letter -of General Lery, chief engineer of the army of the south, gives the -most unequivocal character of this latter enterprise. "The conquest -of Badajoz cost me eight engineers. Never was there a place in -a better state, or better provided with the requisite number of -troops. I see in that event a marked _fatality_. Wellington, with -his Anglo-Portuguese army, has taken the place, as it were, in the -presence of two armies. In short, I think the capture of Badajoz a -_very extraordinary_ event. I should be much at a loss to account for -it in any manner consistent with probability." The language of this -chief engineer seems, as if he would have brought all concerned to a -court-martial. - -The conqueror, after those magnificent exploits, which realised to M. -Lery's eye something supernatural--the work of a destiny determined -on smiting France--might have indulged his _passiveness_, without -much fear even of French blame. He had baffled the two favourite -marshals of France--he had torn the two chief fortresses of Spain -out of French hands. There was now no enemy in the field. Soult had -halted, chagrined at the fall of Badajoz. Marmont had retired to the -Tormes. Wellington determined to continue their sense of defeat, by -cutting off the possibility of their future communication. The bridge -of Almarez was the only passage over the Tagus in that quarter. -It was strongly fortified and garrisoned. On this expedition he -despatched his second in command, General Hill, an officer who never -failed, and whose name is still held in merited honour by the British -army. The _tête-du-pont_, a strong fortification, was taken by -escalade. The garrison were made prisoners; the forts were destroyed, -(May 19.) The action was sharp, and cost, in killed and wounded, -nearly 200 officers and men. - -Wellington now advanced to Salamanca, the headquarters of Marmont -during the winter; and pursued him out of it, to the Arapeiles, on -the 22d of July. In this battle Marmont was outmanoeuvred and -totally defeated, with the loss of 6000 killed and wounded, 7000 -prisoners, 20 guns, and several eagles and ammunition waggons. -The British army now moved on Madrid. King Joseph fled; Madrid -surrendered, with 181 guns; and the government of Ferdinand and the -Cortes was restored. - -But a still more striking enterprise was to come, the march to -Vitoria,--the brilliant commencement of the campaign of 1813. -Wellington had now determined to drive the French out of Spain. They -still had a force of 160,000 men, including the army of Suchet, -35,000. Joseph, with Jourdan, fearing to be outflanked, moved with -70,000 men towards the Pyrenees. On the 16th of May, Wellington -crossed the Douro. On the 21st of June he fought the battle of -Vittoria, with the loss of 6000 to the enemy, 150 guns, all their -baggage, and the plunder of Madrid. For this great victory Wellington -was appointed field-marshal. - -The march itself was a memorable instance of "enterprise." It was a -movement of four hundred miles, through one of the most difficult -portions of the Peninsula, by a route never before attempted by -an army, and which, probably, no other general in Europe would -have attempted. Its conduct was so admirable, that it was scarcely -suspected by the French; its movement was so rapid, that it -outstripped them; and its direction was so skilful, that King Joseph -and his marshal had scarcely encamped, and thought themselves out of -the reach of attack, when they saw the English columns overtopping -the heights surrounding the valley of the Zadora. - -In his last Spanish battle, the victory of the Pyrenees, where -he had to defend a frontier of sixty miles, he drove Soult over -the mountains, and was the first of all the generals engaged in -Continental hostilities, to plant his columns on French ground! - -Those are the facts of _seven years_ of the most perilous war, -against the most powerful monarch whom Europe had seen for a thousand -years. The French army in the Peninsula had varied from 150,000 to -300,000 men. It was constantly recruited from a national force of -600,000. It was under the authority of a great military sovereign, -wholly irresponsible, and commanding the entire resources of the most -populous, warlike, and powerful of Continental states. The British -general, on the other hand, was exposed to every difficulty which -could embarrass the highest military skill. He had to guide the -councils of the two most self-willed nations in existence. He had -to train native armies, which scoffed at English discipline; he had -the scarcely less difficult task of contending with the fluctuating -opinions of public men in England: yet he never shrank; he never was -shaken in council, and he never was defeated in the field. - -But by what means were all this succession of unbroken victories -achieved? Who can listen to the French babbling, which tells us that -it was done, simply by _standing still to be beaten_? The very nature -of the war, with an army composed of the raw battalions of England, -which had not seen a shot fired since the invasion of Holland in -1794, a period of fourteen years; his political anxieties from his -position with the suspicious governments of Spain and Portugal, -and not less with his own fluctuating Legislature; his encounters -with a force quadruple his own, commanded by the most practised -generals in Europe, and under the supreme direction of the conqueror -of the Continent--A condition of things so new, perplexing, and -exposed to perpetual hazard, in itself implies _enterprise_, a -character of sleepless activity, unwearied resource, and unhesitating -intrepidity--all the very reverse of passiveness. - -That this illustrious warrior did not plunge into conflict on -every fruitless caprice; that he was not for ever fighting for the -Gazette; that he valued the lives of his brave men; that he never -made a march without a rational object, nor ever fought a battle -without a rational calculation of victory--all this is only to say, -that he fulfilled the duties of a great officer, and deserved the -character of a great man. But, that he made more difficult campaigns, -fought against a greater inequality of force, held out against more -defective means, and accomplished more decisive successes, than any -general on record, is mere matter of history. - -His last and greatest triumph was Waterloo,--a victory less over an -army than an empire,--a triumph gained less for England than for -Europe,--the glorious termination of a contest for the welfare of -mankind. Waterloo was a defensive battle. But it was not the rule, -but the exception. The object of the enemy was Brussels: "To-night -you shall sleep in Brussels," was the address of the French Emperor -to his troops. Wellington's was but the wing of a great army spread -over leagues to meet the march of the French to Brussels. His force -consisted of scarcely more than 40,000 British and Hanoverians, -chiefly new troops; the rest were foreigners, who could scarcely be -relied on. The enemy in front of him were 80,000 veterans, commanded -by Napoleon in person. The left wing of the Allied force--the -Prussians--could not arrive till seven in the evening; after the -battle had continued eight hours. The British general, under those -circumstances, could not move; but he was not to be beaten. If he had -80,000 British troops, he would have finished the battle in an hour. -On seeing the Prussian troops in a position to follow up success, he -gave the order to advance; and in a single charge swept the French -army, the Emperor, and his fortunes, from the field! Thus closed the -18th of June 1815. - -Within _three days_, this "man of passiveness" crossed the French -frontier, (June 21,) took every town in his way, (and all the French -towns on that route are fortified,) and, on the 30th, the English -and Prussians invested Paris. On the 3d of July, the capitulation of -Paris, garrisoned by 50,000 regular troops and the national guard, -was signed at St Cloud, and the French army was marched to the Loire, -where it was disbanded. - -We have now given the answer which common sense gives, and which -history will always give, to the childishness of accounting for -Wellington's unrivalled successes by his "doing nothing" until the -"invincible" French chose to grow weary of being invincible. The -historic fact is, that their generals met a superior general; that -their troops met Englishmen, commanded by an officer worthy of such -a command; and that "enterprise" of the most daring, sagacious, and -brilliant order, was the especial, peculiar, and unequalled character -of Wellington. - -The volumes of M. Gravière are interesting; but he must unlearn his -prejudices; or, if that be nationally impossible, he must palliate -them into something like probability. He must do this even in -consideration of the national passion for "glory." To be beaten -by eminent military qualities softens the shame of defeat; but to -be beaten by mere _passiveness_,--to be driven from a scene of -possession by _phlegm_, and to be stript of laurels by the hand of -indolence and inaptitude,--must be the last aggravation of military -misfortune. - -Yet, this stain they must owe to the pen of men who subscribe to the -doctrine, that the great soldier of England conquered simply by his -_incapacity for action_! - -We think differently of the French people and of the French soldiery. -The people are intelligent and ingenious; the soldiery are faithful -and brave. England has _no_ prejudices against either. Willing to -do justice to the merits of all, she rejoices in making allies -of nations, whom she has never feared as _enemies_. She wants no -conquest, she desires no victories. _Her_ glory is the peace of -mankind. - -But, she will not suffer the tombs of her great men to be defaced, -nor their names to be taken down from the temple consecrated to the -renown of their country. - -FOOTNOTE: - -[8] _Sketches of the Last Naval War_; from the French of Captain -GRAVIÈRE. By the Hon. Captain PLUNKET. 2 vols. Longman. - - - - -DANUBE AND THE EUXINE. - - - "Danube, Danube! wherefore comest thou - Red and raging to my caves? - Wherefore leap thy swollen waters - Madly through the broken waves? - Wherefore is thy tide so sullied - With a hue unknown to me? - Wherefore dost thou bring pollution - To the old and sacred sea?" - - "Ha! rejoice, old Father Euxine! - I am brimming full and red; - Noble tidings do I carry - From my distant channel bed. - I have been a Christian river - Dull and slow this many a year, - Rolling down my torpid waters - Through a silence morne and drear; - Have not felt the tread of armies - Trampling on my reedy shore; - Have not heard the trumpet calling, - Or the cannon's gladsome roar; - Only listened to the laughter - From the village and the town, - And the church-bells, ever jangling, - As the weary day went down. - And I lay and sorely pondered - On the days long since gone by, - When my old primæval forests - Echoed to the war-man's cry; - When the race of Thor and Odin - Held their battles by my side, - And the blood of man was mingling - Warmly with my chilly tide. - Father Euxine! thou rememb'rest - How I brought thee tribute then-- - Swollen corpses, gash'd and gory, - Heads and limbs of slaughter'd men! - Father Euxine! be thou joyful! - I am running red once more-- - Not with heathen blood, as early, - But with gallant Christian gore! - For the old times are returning, - And the Cross is broken down, - And I hear the tocsin sounding - In the village and the town; - And the glare of burning cities - Soon shall light me on my way-- - Ha! my heart is big and jocund - With the draught I drank to-day. - Ha! I feel my strength awaken'd, - And my brethren shout to me; - Each is leaping red and joyous - To his own awaiting sea. - Rhine and Elbe are plunging downward - Through their wild anarchic land, - Every where are Christians falling - By their brother Christians' hand! - Yea, the old times are returning, - And the olden gods are here! - Take my tribute, Father Euxine, - To thy waters dark and drear. - Therefore come I with my torrents, - Shaking castle, crag, and town; - Therefore, with the shout of thunder, - Sweep I herd and herdsman down; - Therefore leap I to thy bosom, - With a loud, triumphal roar-- - Greet me, greet me, Father Euxine-- - I am Christian stream no more!" - - - - -THE MEMOIRS OF LORD CASTLEREAGH.[9] - - -In the absence of any real history of Ireland, the memoirs of its -distinguished persons are of the first importance. They are the -landmarks within which the broad and general track of historic -narrative must be led. They fix character--the most necessary aid to -the larger views of the historian. They disclose to us those secret -springs which regulate the great social machinery; and by an especial -faculty, more valuable than all, they bring us face to face with -minds of acknowledged eminence, teach us the course which the known -conquerors of difficulties have pursued, and exhibit the training -by which the championship of nations is to be sustained. As the old -lawgiver commanded that beautiful statues should be placed before the -Spartan wives, to impress their infants with beauty of countenance -and stateliness of form, the study of greatness has a tendency to -elevate our nature; and though camps and councils may be above our -course, yet the light shed from those higher spheres may guide our -steps through the tangled paths of our humbler world. - -The present memoir gives evidence of an additional merit in -biography: it assists justice; it offers the power of clearing -character, which might have been refused to the living; it brings -forward means of justification, which the dignity of the injured, his -contempt of calumny, or the circumstances of his time, might have -locked up in his bosom. It is an appeal from the passion of the hour -to the soberness of years. It has the sincerity and the sanctity of a -voice from the world of the future. - -The Stewarts, ancestors of the Marquis of Londonderry, came -originally from Scotland, and, settling in Ireland in the reign of -James I., obtained large possessions among the forfeited lands in -Ulster. The family were Protestants, and distinguished themselves -by Protestant loyalty in the troubled times of Ireland--a country -where trouble seems to be indigenous. One of those loyalists was -Colonel William Stewart, who, during the Irish war, under James II., -raised a troop of horse at his own expense, and skirmished vigorously -against the Popish enemy at the siege of Londonderry. For this good -service he was attainted, with all the chief gentry of the kingdom, -in the confiscating parliament of James. But the confiscation was -not carried into effect, and the estate remained to a long line of -successors. - -The father of the late Marquis of Londonderry was the first of -the family who was ennobled. He was an active, intelligent, and -successful man. Representing his county in two parliaments, and, -acting with the government, he partook of that golden shower which -naturally falls from the treasury. He became in succession the -possessor of office and the possessor of title--baron, viscount, -earl, and marquis--and wisely allied himself with English nobility, -marrying, first, a daughter of the Earl of Hertford, and, secondly, -a sister of Lord Camden. The subject of this memoir was a son of the -first marriage, and was born in Ireland on the 18th of June 1769. -From boyhood he was remarkable for coolness and intrepidity, and was -said to have exhibited both qualities in saving a young companion in -the lake of Strangford. At the age of seventeen he was entered of St -John's College, Cambridge, where he seems to have applied himself -actively to the general studies of the place--elementary mathematics, -classics, logic, and moral philosophy. This sufficiently answers the -subsequent taunts at the narrowness of his education. - -As his father had been a politician, his son and heir was naturally -intended for political life. The first step of his ambition was a -costly one. County elections in those days were formidable affairs. -The Hillsborough family had formerly monopolised the county. Young -Stewart was put forward, according to custom, as "the champion of -independence." He gained but half the day, for the Hillsboroughs -still retained one nominee. The young candidate became a member of -parliament, but this step cost £60,000. - -The sacrifice was enormous, and perhaps, in our day, might startle -the proudest rent-roll in England: but, seventy years ago, and in -Ireland, the real expenditure was probably equivalent to £100,000 in -our day. And it must have been still more distressing to the family, -from the circumstance, that the sum had been accumulated to build -a mansion; that the expense of the election also required the sale -of a fine old collection of family portraits; and that the old lord -was forced to spend the remainder of his life in what the biographer -states to be an old barn, with a few rooms added. But his son was -now launched on public life--that stream in which so many dashing -swimmers sink, but in which talent, guided by caution, seldom fails -to float along, until nature or weariness finishes the effort, and -the man disappears, like all who went before. - -The young member, fresh from college, and flushed with triumph -over "parliamentary monopoly," was, of course, a Whig. _Plutarch's -Lives_, and the history of the classic commonwealths, make every -boy at school a Whig. It is only when they emerge from the cloudy -imaginations of republicanism, and the fabulous feats of Greek -championship, that they acquire common sense, and act according to -the realities of things. The future statesman commenced his career by -the ultra-patriotism of giving a "written pledge," on the hustings, -to the support of "parliamentary reform." - -With this act of boyishness he was, of course, taunted in -after-life by the Whigs. But his answer was natural and just: it -was in substance, that he had been, in 1790, an advocate for Irish -reform; and if the Irish parliament had continued under the same -circumstances, he would be an advocate for its reform still. But in -1793 a measure had been carried, which made all change perilous: the -Popish peasantry had been suffered to obtain the right of voting; and -thenceforward he should not aid parliamentary reform. - -It is to be observed, that this language was not used under -the temptation of office, for he did not possess any share in -administration until four years afterwards, in 1797. - -The forty-shilling franchise was the monster evil of Ireland. Every -measure of corruption, of conspiracy, and of public convulsion, -originated in that most mischievous, factious, and false step. It -put the whole parliamentary power of the country into the hands of -faction; made public counsel the dictation of the populace; turned -every thing into a job; and finally, by the pampering of the rabble, -inflamed them into civil war, and, by swamping the constituency, -rendered the extinction of the parliament a matter of necessity to -the existence of the constitution. - -To this measure--at once weak and ruinous, at once the triumph of -faction and the deathblow of Irish tranquillity; at once paralysing -all the powers of the legislature for good, and sinking the peasantry -into deeper degradation--we must give a few words. - -The original condition of the peasantry in Ireland was serfdom. A -few hereditary chiefs, with the power of life and death, ruled the -whole lower population, as the master of the herd rules his cattle. -English law raised them from this condition, and gave them the -rights of Englishmen. But no law of earth could give the Celt the -industry, frugality, or perseverance of the Englishman. The result -was, that the English artificer, husbandman, and trader, became men -of property, while the Celt lingered out life in the idleness of his -forefathers. Robbery was easier than work, and he robbed; rebellion -was more tempting than loyalty, and he rebelled: the result was -the frequent forfeiture of the lands of chiefs, who, prompted by -their priests, excited by their passions, and urged by the hope of -plunder, were continually rebelling, and necessarily punished for -their rebellion. Portions of their lands were distributed as the pay -of the soldiery who conquered them; portions were given to English -colonists, transplanted for the express purpose of establishing -English allegiance, arts, and feelings in Ireland; and portions -devolved to the crown. But we are not to imagine that these were -transfers of smiling landscapes and propitious harvests--that this -was a renewal of the Goth and Vandal, invading flowery shores, and -sacking the dwellings of native luxury. Ireland, in the 16th and -17th centuries, was a wilderness; the fertility of the soil wasted -in swamps and thickets; no inns, no roads; the few towns, garrisons -in the midst of vast solitudes; the native baron, a human brute, -wallowing with his followers round a huge fire in the centre of a -huge wigwam, passing from intoxication to marauding, and from beaten -and broken marauding to intoxication again. A few of those barons had -been educated abroad, but even they, on their return, brought back -only the love of blood, the habit of political falsehood, and the -hatred to the English name, taught in France and Spain. The wars of -the League, the government of the Inquisition, the subtlety of the -Italian courts, thus added their share of civilised atrocity, to the -gross superstitions and rude revenge of Popish Ireland. - -We must get rid of the tinsel which has been scattered by poetry over -the past ages of Ireland. History shows, under the embroidered cloak, -only squalidness. Common sense tells us what _must_ be the condition -of a people without arts, commerce, or agriculture; perpetually -nurturing a savage prejudice, and exhibiting it in the shape of -a savage revenge; ground to the dust by poverty, yet abhorring -exertion; suffering under hourly tyranny, yet incapable of enjoying -the freedom offered to them; and looking on the vigorous and growing -prosperity of the English colonist, with only the feeling of malice, -and the determination to ruin him. The insurrection of 1641, in which -probably 50,000 Protestant lives were sacrificed, was only one of -the broader scenes of a havoc which every age was exemplifying on -a more obscure, but not less ferocious scale. The evidence of this -indolent misery is given in the narrowness of the population, which, -at the beginning of the last century, scarcely reckoned a million -of souls: and this, too, in a country of remarkable fertility, free -from all habitual disease, with a temperate climate, and a breadth -of territory containing at this hour eight millions, and capable of -supporting eight millions more. - -The existing condition of Ireland, even with all the difficulties of -its own creation, is opulence, peace, and security, compared with its -wretchedness at the period of the English revolution. - -The measure of giving votes for members of parliament to the Popish -peasantry was the immediate offspring of faction, and, like all its -offspring, exhibited the fallacy of faction. It failed in every -form. It had been urged, as a means of raising the character of the -peasantry--it instantly made perfidy a _profession_. It had been -urged, as giving the landlord a stronger interest in the comforts and -conciliation of his tenantry--it instantly produced the splitting -of farms for the multiplication of votes, and, consequently, all -the hopeless poverty of struggling to live on patches of tillage -inadequate for the decent support of life. It had been urged, as a -natural means of attaching the peasantry to the constitution--it -instantly exhibited its effects in increased disorder, in nightly -drillings and daylight outbreaks; in the assassination of landlords -and clergy, and in those more daring designs which grow out of -pernicious ignorance, desperate poverty, and irreconcilable -superstition. The populace--beginning to believe that concession had -been the result of fear; that to receive they had only to terrify; -and that they had discovered the secret of power in the pusillanimity -of parliament--answered the gift of privilege by the pike; and -the "forty-shilling freeholder" exhibited his new sense of right -in the insurrection of 1798--an insurrection which the writer of -these volumes--from his intelligence and opportunities a competent -authority--calculates to have cost 30,000 lives, and not less than -three millions sterling! - -The forty-shilling franchise has since been abolished. Its practical -abominations had become too glaring for the endurance of a rational -legislature, and it perished. Yet the "snake was scotched, not -killed." The spirit of the measure remained in full action: it was -felt in the force which it gave to Irish agitation, and in the -insidiousness which it administered to English party. In Ireland it -raised mobs; in England it divided cabinets. In Ireland it was felt -in the erection of a rabble parliament; in England it was felt in -the pernicious principle of "open questions;" until the leaders of -the legislature, like all men who suffer themselves to tamper with -temptation, gave way; and the second great stage of national hazard -was reached, in the shape of the bill of 1829. - -If the projected measure of "endowing the popery of Ireland"--in -other words, of establishing the worship of images, and bowing down -to the spiritual empire of the papacy--shall ever, in the fatuity -of British rulers and the evil hour of England, become law; a third -great stage will be reached, which may leave the country no farther -room for either advance or retrogression. - - * * * * * - -In the year 1796, the father of the young member had been raised to -the earldom of Londonderry, and his son became Viscount Castlereagh. -In the next year his career as a statesman began; he was appointed -by Lord Camden, (brother-in-law of the second Earl of Londonderry,) -Keeper of the Privy Seal of Ireland. - -The conduct of the Irish administration had long wanted the first -quality for all governments, and the indispensable quality for the -government of Ireland,--firmness. It has been said that the temper of -the Irish is Oriental, and that they require an Oriental government. -Their wild courage, their furious passion, their hatred of toil, and -their love of luxury, certainly seem but little fitted to a country -of uncertain skies and incessant labour. The Saracen, transported to -the borders of the Atlantic, might have been the serf, and, instead -of waving the Crescent over the diadems of Asia, might have been -cowering over the turf-fire of the Celt, and been defrauded of the -pomps of Bagdad and the spoils of Jerusalem. The _decision_ of one -of the magnificent despotisms of the East in Ireland might have been -the true principle of individual progress and national renown. The -scimitar might have been the true talisman. - -But the successive British administrations took the false and the -fatal step of meeting the wild hostility of Ireland by the peaceful -policy of England. Judging only from the habits of a country trained -to the obedience of law, they transferred its quiet formalities into -the midst of a population indignant at all law; and, above all, at -the law which they thought of only as associated with the swords -of the soldiers of William. The government, continually changing -in the person of the Viceroy, fluctuated in its measures with the -fluctuation of its instruments; conceded where it ought to have -commanded; bartered power, where it ought to have enforced authority; -attempted to conciliate, where its duty was to have crushed; and -took refuge behind partisanship, where it ought to have denounced -the disturbers of their country. The result was public irritation -and cabinet incapacity--a continual rise in the terms of official -barter, pressing on a continual helplessness to refuse. This could -not last--the voice of the country was soon an uproar. The guilt, the -folly, and the ruin, had become visible to all. The money-changers -were masters of the temple, until judicial vengeance came, and swept -away the traffickers, and consigned the temple to ruin. - -When we now hear the cry for the return of the Irish legislature, we -feel a just surprise that the memory of the old legislature should -have ever been forgotten, or that it should ever be recorded without -national shame. We should as soon expect to see the corpse of a -criminal exhumed, and placed on the judgment-seat of the court from -which he was sent to the scaffold. - -The Marquis of Buckingham, once a popular idol, and received as -viceroy with acclamation, had no sooner dared to remonstrate with -this imperious parliament, than he was overwhelmed with national -rebuke. The idol was plucked from its pedestal; and the Viceroy, -pursued by a thousand libels, was glad to escape across the Channel. -He was succeeded by the Earl of Westmoreland, a man of some talent -for business, and of some determination, but by no means of the -order that "rides the whirlwind, and directs the storm." He, too, -was driven away. In this dilemma, the British cabinet adopted the -most unfortunate of all courses--concession; and for this purpose -selected the most unfitting of all conceders, the Earl Fitzwilliam--a -man of no public weight, though of much private amiability; sincere, -but simple; honest in his own intentions, but perfectly incapable -of detecting the intentions of others. His lordship advanced to the -Irish shore with conciliation embroidered on his flag. His first -step was to take the chief members of Opposition into his councils; -and the immediate consequence was an outrageousness of demand which -startled even his simple lordship. The British cabinet were suddenly -awakened to the hazard of giving away the constitution by wholesale, -and recalled the Viceroy. He returned forthwith, made a valedictory -complaint in parliament, to which no one responded; published an -explanatory pamphlet, which explained nothing; and then sat down -on the back benches of the peerage for life, and was heard of no -more. The Earl was succeeded by Lord Camden, son of the celebrated -chief-justice, but inheriting less of the law than the temperament -of his father. Graceful in manner, and even aristocratic in person, -his councils were as undecided as his mission was undefined. The -aspect of the times had grown darker hour by hour, yet his lordship -speculated upon perpetual serenity. Conspiracy was notorious -throughout the land, yet he moved as tranquilly as if there were not -a traitor in the earth; and on the very eve of a conflagration, of -which the materials were already laid in every county of Ireland, he -relied on the silent spell of the statute-book! - -The secretary, Mr Pelham, afterwards Lord Chichester, wanted the -meekness, or disdained the short-sightedness of his principal; -and, on the first night of his official appearance in the House, -he gave at once the strongest evidence of his own opinion, and the -strongest condemnation of the past system; by boldly declaring that -"concessions to the Catholics seemed only to increase their demands; -that what they now sought was incompatible with the existence of a -British constitution; that concession must stop somewhere; and that -it had already reached its utmost limit, and could not be allowed to -proceed. Here he would plant his foot, and never consent to recede an -inch further." - -The debate on this occasion continued during the night, and until -eight in the morning. All that fury and folly, the bitterness of -party and the keenness of personality, could combine with the -passionate eloquence of the Irish mind, was exhibited in this -memorable debate. The motion of the popish advocates was lost, but -the rebellion was carried. The echo of that debate was heard in the -clash of arms throughout Ireland; and Opposition, without actually -putting the trumpet to their lips, and marshalling conspiracy, had -the guilty honour of stimulating the people into frenzy, which the -Irishman calls an appeal to the god of battles, but which, in the -language of truth and feeling, is a summons to all the sanguinary -resolves and satanic passions of the human mind. - -The secretary, perhaps foreseeing the results of this night, and -certainly indignant at the undisciplined state of the legislative -council, suddenly returned to England; and Lord Castlereagh was -appointed by his relative, the Viceroy, to fill the post of secretary -daring his absence. The rebellion broke out on the night of the 23d -of May 1798. - -In the year 1757, a committee was first established for the relief -of Roman Catholics from their disabilities by law. From this -justifiable course more dangerous designs were suffered to follow. -The success of republicanism in America, and the menaces of war -with republican France, suggested the idea of overthrowing the -authority of government in Ireland. In 1792, his Majesty's message -directed the repeal of the _whole body_ of anti-Romanist statutes, -excepting those which prohibited admission into parliament, and -into thirty great offices of state, directly connected with the -confidential departments of administration. The Romish committee had -already extended their views still farther. The well-known Theobald -Wolfe Tone was their secretary, and he prepared an alliance with -the republicanised Presbyterians of the north, who, in 1791, had -organised in Belfast a club entitled "The United Irishmen." - -The combination of the Romanist of the south and the dissenter of the -north was rapidly effected. Their mutual hatreds were compromised, -for the sake of their common hostility to Church and State. Upwards -of 100,000 men in arms were promised by the north; millions, to be -hereafter armed, were offered by the south; agents were despatched to -urge French expeditions; correspondences were held with America for -aid; the whole machinery of rebellion was in full employment, and a -civil war was already contemplated by a group of villains, incapable -of any one of the impulses of honourable men. - -It is memorable that, in the subsequent convulsion, not one of those -men of blood displayed the solitary virtue of the ruffian--courage. -They lived in subterfuge, and they died in shame. Some of them -perished by the rope, not one of them fell by the sword. The leaders -begged their lives, betrayed their dupes, acknowledged their -delinquencies, and finished their days beyond the Atlantic, inflaming -the hostility of America, libelling the government by which their -lives were spared, and exemplifying the notorious impossibility of -reforming a rebel but by the scaffold. - -Attempts have been made, of late years, to raise those men into the -reputation of heroism; they might as justly have been raised into -the reputation of loyalty. No sophistry can stand against the facts. -Not one of them took the common hazards of the field: they left the -wretched peasantry to fight, and satisfied themselves with harangues. -Even the poetic painting of Moore cannot throw a halo round the head -of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. This hero walked the country in woman's -clothes, to be arrested in his bed, and perish in a prison. Tone cut -his throat. Irishmen are naturally brave; but it is no dishonour to -the nation to know that treason degrades the qualities of nature, and -that conscience sinks the man of nerve into the poltroon. - -It was among the singular instances of good fortune which saved -Ireland in her crisis, that Lord Castlereagh assumed the duties -of Irish Secretary. Uniting mildness of address with known -determination, he was a favourite in the House of Commons, which -in those days was proud of its character alike for manners and -intrepidity. His indefatigable vigilance, and even the natural vigour -of his time of life, rendered him adequate to services and labours -which might have broken down the powers of an older man, and which -must have been declined by the feeble health of his predecessor, -Pelham, who still actually retained the office. Even his family -connexion with the Viceroy may have given him a larger share than -usual of the immediate confidence of government. - -Under all circumstances, he was the fittest man for the time. He -protected the country in the most difficult period of its existence. -There was but one more service to secure Ireland against ruinous -change--the rescue of her councils from the dominion of the mob; and -it was his eminent fortune to effect it, by the Union. - -There is the most ample evidence, that neither parliamentary reform -nor Catholic emancipation were the true objects of the United -Irishmen. The one was a lure to the malcontents of the north, the -other to the malcontents of the south. But the secret council of the -conspiracy--determined to dupe the one, as it despised the other--had -resolved on a democracy, which, in its day of triumph, following the -steps of France, would, in all probability, have declared itself -infidel, and abolished all religion by acclamation. Party in the -north pronounced its alliance with France, by commemorating, with -French pageantry, the anniversary of the Revolution. The remnants of -the old volunteer corps were collected at this menacing festival, -which lasted for some days, and exhibited all the pomp and all the -insolence of Paris. Emblematic figures were borne on carriages -drawn by horses, with republican devices and inscriptions. On one -of those carriages was a figure of Hibernia, with one hand and -foot in shackles, and a volunteer presenting to her a figure of -Liberty, with the motto, "The releasement of the prisoners from the -Bastille." On another was the motto,--"Our Gallic brethren were born -July 14th, 1789. Alas! we are still in embryo." Another inscription -was--"Superstitious jealousy the cause of the Irish Bastille; let -us unite and destroy it." The portrait of Franklin was exhibited -among them, with this inscription,--"Where Liberty is, there is my -country." Gunpowder and arms were put in store, pikes were forged, -and treasonous addresses were privately distributed throughout the -country. - -It is to be observed, that those acts occurred _before_ the accession -of Lord Castlereagh to office: their existence was the result of -that most miserable of all policies--the sufferance of treason, in -the hope that it may die of sufferance. If he had guided the Irish -councils in 1792 instead of in 1794, the growing treason would have -either shrunk from his energy, or been trampled out by his decision. - -It has been the custom of party writers to charge the secretary with -rashness, and even with insolence. The answer is in the fact, that, -until the year in which the revolt became imminent, his conduct was -limited to vigilant precaution--to sustaining the public spirit--to -resisting the demands of faction in the House--and to giving the -loyal that first and best creator of national courage--the proof -that, if they did not betray themselves, they would not be betrayed -by their government. - -In 1798, the rebellion was ripe. The conspirators had been fully -forewarned of their peril by the vigour of public measures. But, -disgusted by the delays of France,--conscious that every hour was -drawing detection closer round them; and still more, in that final -frenzy which Providence suffers to take possession of men abusing its -gifts of understanding,--they at last resolved on raising the flag -of rebellion. A return of the rebel force was made by Lord Edward -Fitzgerald, stating the number of _armed_ men in Ulster, Leinster, -and Munster, at 279,896! and the 23d of May was named as the day of -the general insurrection. - -Government now began to act. On the 12th of March, it arrested the -whole body of the delegates of Leinster, assembled in committee in -the metropolis. The seizure of their papers gave the details of -the treason. Warrants were instantly issued for the arrest of the -remaining leaders, Emmett, M'Nevin, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and -others. We hasten on. A second committee was formed; and again broken -up by the activity of the government. The French agency was next -extinguished, by the arrest of O'Connor, the priest Quigley, and -others, on the point of leaving England for France. Seizures of arms -were made, the yeomanry were put on duty, the loyalists were formed -into corps, armed, and disciplined. - -Lord Edward Fitzgerald had escaped, and a reward of £1000 was -put upon his head. On the 19th of May, only four days before the -outbreak, he was arrested in an obscure lodging in Dublin, stabbed -one of his captors in the struggle, was himself wounded, and died in -prison of his wound. - -During this most anxious period, the life of every leading member -of government was in imminent peril. Plots were notoriously formed -for the assassination of the commander-in-chief, and the chancellor; -but Lord Castlereagh was obviously the especial mark for the -conspirators. In scorn of this danger, he gallantly persevered; and, -on the 22d of May, the very night before the commencement of the -insurrection, he brought down to the House the following message from -the Lord-lieutenant:-- - -"That his excellency had received information, that the disaffected -had been daring enough to form a plan, for the purpose of possessing -themselves, in the course of the _present week_, of the metropolis; -of seizing the seat of government, and those in authority within -the city. That, in consequence of that information, he had directed -every military precaution to be taken which seemed expedient; that -he had made full communication to the magistrates, for the direction -of their efforts; and that he had not a doubt, by the measures -which would be pursued, that the designs of the rebellious would be -effectually and entirely crushed." - -To this message the House of Commons voted an immediate -answer,--"That the intelligence thus communicated filled them -with horror and indignation, while it raised in them a spirit of -resolution and energy." And, for the purpose of publicly showing -their confidence and their determination, the whole of the Commons, -preceded by the speaker and the officers of the House, went on foot, -two by two, in procession through the streets, to the castle, to -carry up their address to the Viceroy. - -Lord Castlereagh, during this most anxious period, was in constant -activity, keeping up the correspondence of his government with the -British Cabinet and the generals commanding in Ireland. But, the -correspondence preserved in the Memoirs is limited to directions to -the military officers--among whom were the brave and good Abercromby, -and Lake, Moore, and others who, like them, were yet to gain their -laurels in nobler fields. - -The rebellion, after raging for six weeks in the south, and -exhibiting the rude daring of the peasantry, in several desperate -attacks on the principal towns garrisoned by the army, was at -length subdued by Lord Cornwallis; who, at once issuing an amnesty, -and acting at the head of a powerful force, restored the public -tranquillity. This promptitude was fortunate; for in August a -debarkation was made by General Humbert in the west, at the head of -eleven hundred French troops, as the advanced guard of an army. This -force, though absurdly inferior to its task, yet, by the rapidity -of its marches, and the daring of its commander, revived the spirit -of insurrection, and was joined by many of the peasantry. But the -whole were soon compelled to lay down their arms to the troops of the -Viceroy. Scarcely had they been sent to an English prison, when a -French squadron, consisting of a ship of the line and eight frigates, -with 5000 troops on board, appeared off the northern coast. They -were not left long to dream of invasion. On the _very next day_, the -squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren was seen entering the French -anchorage. The enemy were instantly attacked. The line-of-battle -ship, the Hoche, with six of the frigates, was captured after a sharp -cannonade; and among the prisoners was found the original incendiary -of the rebellion, Wolfe Tone, bearing the commission of a French -adjutant-general. On his trial and sentence by a court-martial in -Dublin, he solicited to be shot as a soldier, not hanged as a felon. -But there was too much blood on his head to alter the forms of law -for a villain who had returned for the express purpose of adding the -blood of thousands to the past. To escape being hanged, he died by -his own hand, deplorably, but suitably, closing a life which honesty -and industry might have made happy and honourable, by the last and -only crime which he could have added to the long list of his treasons. - -The administration of Lord Castlereagh was now to be distinguished -by another national service of the highest order. The British -government had been awakened, by the rebellion, to the _necessity of -a union_. The object of the rebels was to separate the two islands -by violence: the danger pointed out the remedy, and the object of -government was to join them indissolubly by law. The measure had -been proposed nearly a century before, by the peerage of Ireland -themselves, then shrinking from a repetition of the war of James -II., and the sweeping confiscations of the popish parliament. The -measure was twice proposed to the British cabinet, in 1703 and 1707. -But the restless intrigues of party in the reign of Anne occupied -all the anxieties of a tottering government; and the men who found -it difficult to float upon the surge, thought themselves fortunate -to escape the additional gusts, which might come ruffling the waters -from Ireland. The Volunteer armament, with the example of America, if -not actually inflaming Ireland to revolution, yet kindling a beacon -to every eye which sought the way to republicanism, again awoke the -cabinet to the necessity of a union. The regency question, in which -the Irish parliament attempted to divide, not only the countries, but -the crown--placing one half on the head of the Prince of Wales, and -the other half on the head of the King--again startled the cabinet. -But, as the peril abated, the means of protection were thrown by. The -hurricane of France then came, and dashed against every throne of -Europe, sinking some, shattering others, and throwing clouds, still -pregnant with storm and flame, over the horizon of the civilised -world. But the vices of France suddenly extinguished the European -perils of Revolution. The democracy which, proclaiming universal -peace and freedom, had summoned all nations to be present at the -erection of a government of philosophy, was seen exulting in the -naked display of cruelty and crime. In place of a demigod, Europe -saw a fiend, and shrank from the altar on which nothing was to be -accepted but the spoil and agonies of man. - -Those facts are alluded to, simply to extinguish the gross and common -charge, that the British cabinet fostered the rebellion, only to -compel the country to take refuge in the Union. It is unquestionable, -that the wisdom of its policy had been a maxim for a hundred years; -that the plan was to be found in the portfolio of every cabinet; that -all administrative foresight acknowledged that the time _must_ come -when it would be inevitable, yet put off the hour of action; that it -haunted successive cabinets like a ghost, in every hour of national -darkness, and that they all rejoiced at its disappearance at the -return of day. But when rebellion broke out in Ireland itself--when -it was no longer the reflection from the glare of American democracy, -nor the echo from the howl of France; when the demand of separation -was made by the subjects of the British crown, in the sight of -England--the necessity was irresistible. There was no longer any -alternative between binding in fetters, and binding in law. Then the -resolve of Pitt was made, and its performance was committed to the -hands of a fearless and faithful man. Ireland was relieved from the -burden of a riotous and impoverished independence, and England was -relieved from the contemptible policy of acting by party, which she -despised, and paying a parliament to protect a constitution. - -But we must hasten to other things. There was, of course, an infinite -outcry among all the tribes who lived upon popular corruption. In -closing the gates of the Irish parliament, they had been shut out -from the mart where they had flocked night and day to sell their -influence, their artifices, and themselves. The voluntary slave-trade -was broken up; and the great dealers in political conscience regarded -themselves as robbed of a right of nature. The kings of Benin and -Congo could not be more indignant at the sight of a British cruiser -blockading one of their rivers. The calamity was universal; the whole -body of parliamentary pauperism was compelled to work or starve. -The barrister was forced to learn law; the merchant to turn to his -ledger; the country gentleman, who had so long consoled himself -for his weedy fallows, by the reflection that, if they _grew_ -nothing else, they could at least grow forty-shilling voters, found -"Othello's occupation gone." The whole flight of carrion-crows, whom -the most distant scent of corruption brought upon the wing; all the -locust race, which never alighted, but to strip the soil; the whole -army of sinecurism, the countless generation of laziness and license, -who, as in the monkish days, looked to receiving their daily meal at -the doors of the treasury, felt the sudden sentence of starvation. - -But this, too, passed away. Jobbery, a more than equivalent for the -exemption of the land from the viper, became no longer a trade; -faction itself, of all existing things the most tenacious of life, -gradually dropped off; the natural vitality of the land, no longer -drained away by its blood-suckers, began to show itself in the -vigour of the public mind; peace did its office in the renewal of -public wealth, and perhaps the happiest years of Ireland were those -which immediately followed the Union. If Ireland was afterwards -overshadowed, the cause was to be found in that sullen influence -which had thrown Europe into darkness for a thousand years. - -Lord Castlereagh was now advanced an important step in public life. -Mr Pelham, who from ill health had long been an absentee, resigned -his office. The services of his manly and intelligent substitute -had been too prominent to be overlooked. A not less trying scene of -ministerial courage and ability was about to open, in the proposal of -the Union; and no man could compete with _him_ who had extinguished -the rebellion. - -A letter from his friend Lord Camden (November 1798) thus announced -the appointment:--"Dear Castlereagh,--I am extremely happy to be -informed by Mr Pitt that the wish of the Lord-lieutenant that you -should succeed Mr Pelham (since he has relinquished the situation of -secretary) has been acceded to by the King and his ministers; and -that the consent of the English government has been communicated to -Lord Cornwallis." - -On the 22d of January, a message to the English House of Commons -was brought down, recommending the Union, on the ground of "the -unremitting industry with which the enemies of the country persevered -in their avowed design of separating Ireland from England." On the -31st, Pitt moved eight resolutions as the basis of the measure. -Sheridan moved an amendment, which was negatived by one hundred -and forty to fifteen votes. In the Lords, the address in answer to -the message was carried without a division. It was clear that the -question in England was decided. - -In Ireland the discussion was more vehement, and more protracted; -but the decision was ultimately the same. Parliament went the way of -all criminals. It must be allowed, that its scaffold was surrounded -with popular clamour, to an extraordinary extent. It faced its fate -with national haughtiness, and vigorously proclaimed its own virtues -to the last. But, when the confusion of the scene was over, and the -scaffold was moved away, none lingered near the spot to wring their -hands over the grave. - -The unquestionable fact is, that there was a national sense of the -unfitness of separate legislatures for two countries, whose closeness -of connexion was essential to the existence of both. The Protestant -felt that, by the fatal folly of conceding votes to the popish -peasantry--votes amounting to universal suffrage--parliament must, -in a few years, become popish in all but the name. The landlords -felt that, the constant operation of party on the peasantry must -rapidly overthrow all property. The still more enlightened portion -of society felt that every hour exposed the country more perilously -to civil commotion. And even the narrowest capacity of judging must -have seen, in the smoking harvest, ruined mansions, and slaughtered -population of the revolted counties, the hazard of trusting to a -native parliament; which, though it might punish, could not protect; -and which, in the hour of danger, could not stir hand or foot but by -the help of their mighty neighbour and fast friend. - -If, in the rebellion, a wall of iron had been drawn round Ireland, -and her constitution had been left to the defence furnished by her -parliament alone, that constitution would have been but a cobweb; -parliament would have been torn down like a condemned building; and -out of the ruins would have been instantly compiled some grim and yet -grotesque fabric of popular power--some fearful and uncouth mixture -of legislation and vengeance: a republic erected on the principles -of a despotism; a temple to anarchy, with the passions of the rabble -for its priesthood, and the fallen heads of all the noble, brave, and -intellectual in the land, for the decorations of the shrine. - -The cry of Repeal has revived the recollection of the parliament; but -the country has refused to recognise that cry as national, and even -the echo has perished. It was notoriously adopted, not for its chance -of success, but for its _certainty_ of failure. It was meant to give -faction a _perpetual_ pretext for mendicancy. But the mendicant and -the pretext are now gone together. A few childish people, forgetting -its uselessness and its errors, alone continue to whine over it--as -a weak parent laments the loss of a son whose life was a burden to -him, and whose death was a relief. The Union was one of the highest -services of Lord Castlereagh. - -In corroboration of those sentiments, if they could require any, -it is observable how rapidly the loudest opponents of the measure -lowered their voices, and adopted the tone of government. Plunket, -the ablest rhetorician of the party--who had made his opposition -conspicuous by the ultra-poetic extravagance, of pledging himself -to swear his sons at the altar, as Hamilcar swore Hannibal to Roman -hostility--took the first opportunity of reconciling his wrath to -office, and settled down into a chancellor. Foster, the speaker, -who had led the opposition, received his salary for life without a -pang, and filled the office of chancellor of the Irish exchequer. -Bushe, the Cicero of the house, glowing with oratorical indignation, -condescended to be chief-justice. All the leaders, when the battle -was over, quietly slipped off their armour, hung up sword and shield -on their walls, put on the peace costume of handsome salary, and -subsided into title and pension. - -No one blamed them then, nor need blame them now. They had all been -_actors_--and who shall reproach the actor, when the lamps are put -out and the audience gone, for thinking of his domestic meal, and -dropping into his bed? Nature, like truth, is powerful, and the -instinct of the lawyer _must_ prevail. - -One man alone "refused to be comforted." Grattan, the Demosthenes -of Ireland, for years kept, without swearing it, the Carthaginian -oath, which had slipped out of the mind of Plunket. He talked of -the past with the rapt anguish of a visionary, and eschewed human -occupation with the rigid inutility of a member of La Trappe. Grattan -long continued to linger in Ireland, until he was hissed out of his -patriotic romance, and laughed into England. There, he found, that he -had lost the better part of his life in dreams, and that the world -demanded evidence that he had not lived in vain. Fortunately for his -own fame, he listened to the demand; forgot his sorrows over the -dead in the claims of the living; threw in his share to the general -contribution of the national heart against the tyranny of Napoleon; -and by some noble speeches vindicated the character of his national -eloquence, and left an honourable recollection of himself in that -greatest temple of fame and free minds which the world has ever -seen--the parliament of England. - -Lord Castlereagh, on the final dissolution of the Irish legislature, -transferred his residence to London, where (in July 1802) he took -office under the Addington ministry as President of the Board of -Control--an appointment which, on the return of Pitt, he retained, -until (in 1805) he was placed by the great minister in the office of -secretary for the war and colonial department. - -The death of Pitt (1806) surrendered the cabinet to the Whigs, and -Lord Castlereagh retired with his colleagues. The death of Fox soon -shook the new administration, and their own imprudence broke it up, -(1807.) The Grey and Grenville party were superseded by Perceval; and -Lord Castlereagh returned to the secretaryship at war, which he held -until 1809, when his duel with Canning caused the retirement of both. - -In the Memoir, the circumstances of this painful transaction are -scarcely more than referred to; but the reply to a letter from Lord -Castlereagh to the King, distinctly shows the sense of his conduct -entertained in the highest quarter. - -"The King has no hesitation in assuring Lord Castlereagh that he has, -at all times, been satisfied with the zeal and assiduity with which -he has discharged the duties of the various situations which he has -filled, and with the exertions which, under every difficulty, he has -made for the support of his Majesty's and the country's interest. - -"His Majesty must ever approve of the principle which shall secure -the support and protection of government to officers exposing their -reputation, as well as their lives, in his service; when their -characters and conduct are attacked, and aspersed on loose and -insufficient grounds, without adverting to embarrassments and local -difficulties, of which those on the spot alone can form an adequate -judgment." This, of course, settled the royal opinion; and the -ministerial confidence shortly after reposed in Lord Castlereagh, in -the most conspicuous manner, fully clears his reputation from every -stain. - -But the letter confirms one fact, hitherto not much known, yet -which would alone entitle him to the lasting gratitude of the -empire. In allusion to the campaign of Portugal under Moore, and the -appointment of a successor, it adds,--"It was also this impression -which prompted the King to acquiesce in the appointment of so young -a lieutenant-general as Lord Wellington to the command of the troops -in Portugal." Thus, it is to Lord Castlereagh's sense of talent, and -to his public zeal, that we ministerially owe the liberation of the -Peninsula. His selection of the great duke, in defiance of the claims -of seniority, and probably of parliamentary connexion, gave England -seven years of victory, and finally gave Europe the crowning triumph -of Waterloo. - -But a still more extensive field of statesmanship was now opened to -him. Canning had left the Foreign Office vacant; before the close -of the year it was given to Lord Castlereagh. Another distinction -followed. The unhappy assassination of Perceval left the premiership -vacant; and Lord Castlereagh, though nominally under Lord Liverpool, -virtually became, by his position in the House of Commons, prime -minister. - -There never was a moment of European history, when higher interests -were suspended on the intrepidity, the firmness, and the wisdom of -British council. The Spanish war, difficult, though glorious, was -at all risks to be sustained; Austria had taken up arms, (in 1809,) -was defeated, and was forced to make the bitter peace that follows -disaster. Napoleon, at Erfurth, sat on a throne which looked over -Europe, and saw none but vassals. At home, Opposition flung its old -predictions of evil in the face of the minister, and incessantly -charged him with their realisation. An infirm minister in England at -that crisis would have humiliated her by a treaty; that treaty would -have been but a truce, and that truce would have been followed by -an invasion. But the Secretary never swerved, and his confidence in -the courage of England was rewarded by the restoration of liberty to -Europe. - -The fortunes of Napoleon were at length on the wane. France had been -stripped of her veterans by the retreat from Moscow, and the Russian -and German armies had hunted the wreck of the French across the -Rhine. But, in sight of final victory, the councils of the Allies -became divided, and it was of the first importance to reunite them. -An interesting letter of the late Lord Harrowby, to the present -Marquis of Londonderry, gives the narrative of this diplomatic -mission. - -"I cannot recollect dates, but it was at the time when you, Lord -Aberdeen, and Lord Cathcart, were accredited to the three sovereigns. -It was mooted in Cabinet, I think, by Lord Castlereagh, whether -it would not be desirable, in order to carry the full weight of -the British Government to bear upon the counsels of the assembled -sovereigns, that some one person should be appointed who might speak -in its name to them all. - -"The notion was approved of; and after the Cabinet was over, -Castlereagh called me into his private room, and proposed the mission -to me. I was, of course, highly flattered by such a proposal from -such a person; but I had not a moment's hesitation in telling him, -that I had tried my hand unsuccessfully on a somewhat similar mission -to Berlin, where I had also been accredited to the two Emperors; -that I had found myself quite incompetent to the task, which had -half-killed me; that I thought the measure highly advisable, but that -there was one person only who could execute it, and that person was -himself. He started at first. How could he, as Secretary of State, -undertake it? The thing was unheard of. I then told him, that it was -not strictly true that it had never been done: that Lord Bolingbroke -went to Paris in a diplomatic capacity when Secretary of State; and -that, though in that case the precedent was not a good one, it was -still a precedent, and I believed there were more. The conclusion to -which this conversation led was, that 'he would talk it over with -Liverpool;' and the consequence was that, the next day, or the day -after, his mission was decided." - -A letter, not less interesting, from Lord Ripon, gives some striking -particulars of this mission. Lord Ripon had accompanied him to the -Congress. "I allude to his first mission to the Continent, at the -close of 1813. I travelled with him from the Hague to Bâle, where he -first came in contact with any of the ministers of the Allied powers; -and thence we proceeded to Langres, where the headquarters of the -Grand Army were established, and where the allied sovereigns, the -Emperors of Austria and Russia and the King of Prussia, with their -respective ministers, were assembled." - -The letter proceeds to state the views of the mission, much of whose -success it attributes to the combined suavity and firmness of Lord -Castlereagh's conduct. But, an instance of his prompt and sagacious -decision suddenly occurred. Blucher's impetuous advance had been -checked, with serious loss, by a desperate assault of Napoleon, who, -availing himself of this success, had fallen upon all the advanced -forces of the Allies. There was wavering at headquarters, and there -were even proposals of retiring beyond the Rhine. It was essential to -reinforce Blucher, but there were no troops at hand. Lord Castlereagh -demanded, "Where were any to be found?" He was answered, that there -were two strong corps of Russians and Prussians under the command -of Bernadotte; but that he was "very tenacious of his command," and -they could not be withdrawn without a tedious negotiation,--in other -words, we presume, without fear of giving that clever but tardy -commander a pretext for abandoning the alliance altogether. The -difficulty was, by a high authority, pronounced _insurmountable_. -Lord Castlereagh, who was present at the council, simply demanded, -"whether the reinforcement was _necessary_;" and, on being answered -in the affirmative, declared that the order must be given; that -England had a right to expect that her allies should not be deterred -from a decisive course by any such difficulties; and that he would -take upon himself all the responsibility that might arise, regarding -the Crown-Prince of Sweden. - -The order was issued: Blucher was reinforced; Napoleon was beaten -at Laon; and the campaign rapidly approached its close. Still, -formidable difficulties arose. Napoleon, though he had at last -found that he could not face the army of the Allies, conceived the -daring manoeuvre of throwing himself in their rear--thus alarming -them for their communications, and forcing them to follow him back -through France. The consequences of a desultory war might have been -the revival of French resistance, and the ruin of the campaign. The -manoeuvre became the subject of extreme anxiety in the Allied -camp, and some of the chief authorities were of opinion, that he -ought to be pursued. It is said (though the Memoir has not yet -reached that part of the subject,) that the decision of leaving him -behind, and marching direct on Paris, was chiefly owing to Lord -Castlereagh; who pointed out the weakness of taking counsel from an -enemy, the advantage of finding the road to Paris open at last, and -the measureless political importance of having the capital in their -possession. - -This advice prevailed: a few thousand cavalry were sent in the track -of Napoleon, to entrap him into the idea that he was followed by the -Grand Army, while Schwartzenberg marched in the opposite direction; -and the first intelligence which reached the French army was in the -thunderclap which announced the fall of the Empire! - -Lord Harrowby's letter, in referring to a subsequent period, gives a -curious instance of the chances on which the highest events may turn. - -"Now for my other service in the dark. After the attempt to -assassinate the Duke of Wellington at Paris, the Government was -naturally most anxious to get him away. But how? Under whatever -pretext it might be veiled, _he_ would still call it running away, to -which he was not partial. But, when Castlereagh was obliged to leave -Vienna, in order to attend his duty in parliament, I was fortunate -enough to suggest that the Duke should be sent to replace him; and -that would be a command which he could not refuse to obey. - -"When I mentioned this to the Duke, just after I left you--for I was -then quite full of the memory of my little exploits--he quite agreed -that, if he had been at Paris, on the return of Buonaparte to France, -it would have been _highly probable that they would have seized him_. - -"Small events are great to little men; and it is not _nothing_, -to have contributed in the smallest degree to the success of -the Congress at Vienna, (nor was it then so called,) and of the -subsequent campaign, and to the saving of the Duke for WATERLOO!" - -After this triumphant course of political life, with every gift of -fortune around him, and perhaps the still higher consciousness of -having achieved a historic name, how can we account for the closing -of such a career in suicide? - -The only probable cause was the intolerable burden of public -business, by his having in charge the chief weight of the home -department as well as the foreign. His leadership of the House of -Commons was enough to have worn him out. Canning once said--"that no -vigour of mind or body can stand the wear and tear of a minister, -above ten years." Castlereagh had been immersed in indefatigable -toil since 1794. He had stood "the wear and tear" for thirty years. -His life was wholly devoted to business. During the summer he rose -at five, in winter at seven, and frequently laboured for twelve or -fourteen hours in succession. - -In person he was tall, with a mild and very handsome countenance in -early life, of which we must regret that the portrait in the first -volume of the Memoir gives but an unfavourable resemblance. The most -faithful likeness is that by Sir Thomas Lawrence, in the Windsor -Gallery of Statesmen, though it has the effeminate air which that -admirable painter had the unlucky habit of giving to his men. - -The death of Lord Castlereagh seems to have been justly attributed to -mental exhaustion, with the addition of a fit of the gout, for which -he had taken some depressing medicines. The state of his spirits -was marked by the King, on his Majesty's departure for Scotland. -At the Cabinet Council, he had been observed to remain helplessly -silent, and his signature to public papers had become suddenly almost -illegible. On those symptoms, he was expressly put into the hands -of his physician, and sent to Foot's Cray, his villa in Kent. The -physician attended him until the Monday following. Early on that -day he was hastily summoned, and found his Lordship dead in his -dressing-room. - -A letter from the Duke of Wellington conveyed the lamentable -intelligence to the present Marquis, who was then at Vienna. After -some prefatory remarks, the Duke says--"You will have seen, that I -witnessed the melancholy state of mind which was the cause of the -catastrophe. I saw him after he had been with the King on the 9th -instant, to whom he had likewise exposed it. But, fearing that he -would not send for his physician, I considered it my duty to go to -him; and not finding him, to write to him, which, considering what -has since happened, was a fortunate circumstance. - -"You will readily believe what a consternation this deplorable event -has occasioned here. The funeral was attended by every person in -London of any mark or distinction, of all parties; and the crowd in -the streets behaved respectfully and creditably." - -The Duke's remarks on "the fortunate circumstance" of applying to the -physician, we presume to have meant, the vindication of the Marquis's -character from the guilt of conscious suicide. For the same reason, -we have given the details. They relieve the mind of the Christian -and the Englishman from the conception, that the most accomplished -intellect, and the highest sense of duty, may not be protective -against the mingled crime and folly of self-murder. - -We have now given a general glance at the _matériel_ of those -volumes. They contain a great variety of public documents, valuable -to the future historian, though too _official_ for the general -reader. One, however, is too curious to be altogether passed by: it -is from Lord Brougham, (dated 1812,) offering himself for employment -in American affairs:-- - -"MY LORD,--I am confident that the step which I am now taking cannot -be misconstrued by your lordship. Under the present circumstances, I -beg to make a tender of my services to his Majesty's government in -the conduct of the negotiation with the United States, wheresoever -the same may be carried on. - -"I am induced to think that I might be of use as a negotiator in this -affair. I trust it is unnecessary to add, that I can have no motive -of a private or personal nature in making this offer. Should it be -accepted, I must necessarily sustain a considerable injury in my -professional pursuits," &c. - -We think that, in giving these volumes to the country, the present -Marquis of Londonderry has not merely fulfilled an honourable -fraternal duty, but has rendered a service to public character. -Faction had calumniated Lord Castlereagh throughout a large portion -of his career. The man who breaks down a fierce rebellion, and who -extinguishes a worthless legislature, must be prepared to encounter -the hostility of all whose crimes he has punished, or whose traffic -he has put to shame. The felon naturally hates the hand which holds -the scales of justice, and, if he cannot strike, is sure to malign. -The contemptuous dignity with which Lord Castlereagh looked down upon -his libellers, and his equally contemptuous disregard of defence, of -course only rendered libel more inveterate; and every low artifice of -falsehood was exerted against the administration of a man who was an -honour to Ireland. - -His course in England was in a higher region, and he escaped the -mosquitoes which infest the swamps of Irish political life. Among the -leaders of English party he had to contend with men of honour, and -on the Continent his task was to sustain the cause of Europe. There, -mingling with monarchs in the simplicity of a British gentleman, he -carried with him all the influence of a great British minister, and -entitled himself to that influence by the value of his services. Yet, -among the highest distinctions of his statesmanship, we have but -slight hesitation in naming the rapid overthrow of the rebellion. The -scene was new, the struggle singularly perplexing. Political artifice -was mingled with brute violence. If the spirit of revolt raged in the -superstition, the fears, and the rude memories of peasant life, it -was still more hazardously spread among the professional ranks, whose -ambition was frenzied by the prospect of a republic, or whose guilt -was to be screened by its establishment. He has been charged with -tyranny and torture in its suppression; his correspondence in these -volumes shows the manly view which he took of the true condition of -Ireland. - -The question of the safety of Ireland has now come before the -legislature once again, in all its breadth. Is Ireland to be a -perpetual seat of rebellion? is every ruffian to find there only an -armoury? is every faction to find there only a parade-ground? Is -its soil to be a perpetual fount of waters, that can flow only to -poison the healthful channels of society? Is the power of government -to be employed only in the hideous duties of the gaoler and the -executioner? Is the noblest constitution that man has ever seen to be -utterly paralysed, from the moment when it touches a soil containing -millions of our fellow subjects?--and to be paralysed by the act of -these millions? - -These are the questions which well may disturb the pillow of the -statesmen of England. We have no hesitation in answering them. As the -ruin of Ireland has been the act of a false religion, its renovation -must be the act of the true. This is no time for tardiness in this -experiment. Revolt has thrown aside its arms, but its antipathy -remains. We shall have revolt upon revolt, until the country is -turned into a field of battle or a sepulchre. If the rude, vulgar, -and cowardly conspirators of the present hour have found followers, -what might not be the national hazard if some valorous hand and -vivid intellect--some one of those mighty men who are born to take -the lead of nations, should marshal the willing multitudes at a time -when England was once again struggling for the liberties of Europe? -Are we to leave Ireland, with all its natural advantages, to the -unchecked progress of superstition, until, like the Roman Campagna, -under the same auspices, it exhibits nothing but a desert, where man -by daylight should put on his swiftest speed, and where he should not -sleep by night, unless he had already taken measure of his grave? - -The Memoir prefixed to the official papers in these volumes touches -with singular brevity on the personal characteristics of the late -Marquis of Londonderry. - -But the true biography of a public man is to be found in his -public career. There flattery can deceive no longer, and panegyric -is brought to the test of posterity. It fell to the lot of Lord -Castlereagh to take a lead in the _four_ most memorable transactions -of his time;--in the overthrow of the Irish Rebellion; in the -establishment of the Union; in the downfall of the French empire; -and in the settlement of the peace of Europe at the Congress of -Vienna. Those four are his claims on the living gratitude of his -country, and on the homage of the generations to come. The mind -which was equal to those tasks must have been a mind of power; the -determination which could have sustained him, in defiance of all -personal and public danger, must have been of the highest order -of personal and public intrepidity; and the patriotism which, in -every advance of his official distinctions, and every act of his -ministerial duty, directed his steps, as it then raised him above all -the imputations of party, now retains his memory in that elevation, -which partisanship can no more reach than it can comprehend. -Estimable in all the relations of private life, and honourable in all -the trusts of statesmanship, the bitterness of Opposition has never -dared to touch his personal character; and even faction has shown -its sense of his services, by never venturing to insult his tomb. If -the enemies of Ireland remember him with hatred, the historian of -Ireland must record him with honour. If faction in England cannot yet -be reconciled to the man who kept it at bay, it must remember him as -the statesman who was neither to be bought nor baffled; whose life -was a security to the constitution, and whose conduct formed the most -prominent contrast to that of those subsequent possessors of office, -whom it found the means alternately to corrupt and to control. - -It is not our wish to offer a rash and groundless panegyric to any -man. We refer simply to the facts--to the eminence of England under -his policy, and to its sudden difficulties under the abandonment -of his principles. We think Lord Castlereagh entitled to the full -tribute which can be paid by national respect to the memory of a -statesman distinguished by courage and conduct, by unblemished -honesty, and by unfailing honour. We think him fully entitled to bear -upon his monument the name of--A GREAT BRITISH MINISTER. - -The most passionate avidity for renown cannot desire a nobler name. - -FOOTNOTE: - -[9] _Memoirs and Correspondence of_ VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH, (_second_ -MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY.) Edited by his brother, CHARLES VANE, MARQUIS -OF LONDONDERRY. 2 vols. London: Colburn. - - - - -A CALL. - - - There is a cry throughout the land, - The needy loudly ask for bread; - Craving and unappeased they stand, - They cannot all be duly fed. - The rich in vain large alms bestow-- - They fail to stem the rising tide - Of want, and beggary, and woe, - That hems them in on every side. - - Lo! from the stream that overflows, - Fresh gushing rivulets roll wide, - And far from where their source arose, - They bless the land through which they glide. - Shall Britain let such lesson fail? - Shall not her overburthen'd soil - Afar, where skill and strength avail, - Send forth the hardy sons of toil? - - Arise, ye peasants, bold and strong! - Courage! relieve your burthen'd land, - Toward a gracious country throng - That needs the willing heart and hand: - There with a cheerful vigour strive - For the reward denied ye here, - Through wholesome industry to thrive, - With lessening labour, year by year. - - Your many children, that ye feel - Here as a burthen on your hands, - There shall enrich ye through their zeal, - And tend your flocks, and till your lands. - No cry for bread shall pierce your ear, - Full harvests shall requite your toil, - And, bounteously your age to cheer, - Shall yield ye corn, and wine, and oil. - - Behold the paupers of our land, - By want made dissolute and rude, - With sullen heart and wasted hand - Asking an alms of broken food! - Behold, and snatch them from despair-- - Give them for effort a fair field, - With labour their free limbs may bear-- - And toil from vice shall be their shield. - - And ye whose lot is cast above - Want's perilous and grievous woes! - Be yours a full free work of love, - The debt that man his brother owes. - Bestow not that ye prize the least-- - Give knowledge, valour, skill, and worth. - Statesman and soldier, lawyer, priest, - Physician, merchant, go ye forth. - - And, Britain's daughters! give your aid, - Arise, make ready, cross the wave! - Ye, for meet help and solace made, - Go forth to cheer, to bless, to save! - Let not the exiles vainly ask - For home and sweet domestic cares; - Fulfil your high and gracious task-- - Go forth, join heart and hand with theirs. - - And ask ye all, as forth ye go, - The guidance of a light divine, - That through the darkest hours shall glow, - And steadfast in all peril shine. - Go forth with a believing heart, - Your Guard is sure by night and day; - Forth through the wilderness depart-- - Ye shall find manna on your way. - - JULIA - - - - -WHAT IS SPAIN ABOUT? - - -Whilst France, writhing under self-inflicted wounds, is preserved -from anarchy only by despotism; whilst Germany, convulsed by the -imitative folly of her children, enacts a travestie of Paris -tragedies; and Italy, like a froward child, screaming to go alone -before she can walk, kicks at her leading-strings, and falls upon -her nose--the affairs of a third-rate power, such as Spain has -dwindled into, have naturally enough been overlooked and forgotten. -It is time to recur to them for a moment. Spain has once been, and -yet again may be, a leading member of the European family. Under a -better government, she again may see days of prosperity and peace. -Again her merchant-fleets may cover the seas, her traders be renowned -for enterprise and wealth, her population be commensurate with the -extent and productiveness of her territory. And this may occur whilst -nations, but yesterday paramount in riches and power, sink by their -own madness into impotence and poverty. Her rise will not be more -astonishing than their decadence. - -At present, it appears the destiny of Spain to be misgoverned at home -and misunderstood abroad. The insurrection now budding into life and -vigour in so many of her provinces illustrates this proposition. -Originating in the grossest maladministration, out of Spain its -scope and nature, and the possible importance of its results, are -misconceived and underrated. It differs from any previous revolt -since the death of Ferdinand VII., inasmuch as it is less the -effort of a party, striving for the success of a principle and a -man, than the uprising of a nation struggling to shake off the yoke -of a galling and intolerable tyranny. There can be no doubt that -a very large majority of the Spanish people heartily wish success -to the movement against the existing government of the country. -Unfortunately, a majority of this majority confine themselves to -wishing, instead of putting their hand to the work, which then -would soon be done. Their lukewarmness, however, can hardly be -wondered at, when we remember how many of them have sacrificed -property and security to their political convictions, and ruined -themselves in the strife of parties. Of these parties, the two most -numerous, long opposed to each other, and whose tenets once stood -wide as the poles asunder, have forgotten old hatreds, made mutual -sacrifices, and joined heart and hand against the common foe. The -result is, the division of the country into two camps. On the one -hand is the Queen-mother--in whose dexterous fingers Isabella is a -mere puppet--Narvaez, O'Donnell, and the rest of the corrupt cabal -from the Rue de Courcelles. These have possession of the machinery -and _matériel_ of the state. They hold the purse, which places at -their devotion two armies, one of soldiers, the other of policemen, -_employés_, spies, and venal emissaries of all kinds. To use a simile -appropriate to the times, they have got upon the engine and tender, -coals and water are at their command; but they misguide the train and -ill-treat the passengers, clamorous for escape from their control. -Spain, let Madrid papers argue and deny as they will, is in a state -of general fermentation and violent discontent; on the brink of a -convulsion which may very possibly end in the ousting of Isabella -II., and in the enthronement of her cousin, the Count de Montemolin. -In Spain a republic is an impossibility, and almost without -partisans; and if the present queen be swept away by the tide of -national indignation against her unscrupulous mother, the crown must -naturally devolve upon the son of Don Carlos. At least, he is the -only eligible candidate--we may even say, the only possible one. Don -Francisco, the Incapable, would of course depart with his wife; his -brother, Don Enrique, convicted of instability and of treachery to -his party, would have nobody's support; and the Duke of Montpensier -is so totally out of the question, so wholly without adherents -as an aspirant to the Spanish throne, that we have difficulty in -crediting a statement confidently made by persons worthy of belief, -that the recent victim of a great revolution still directs, from his -retirement in this country, intrigues designed to place a crown upon -the head of the youngest hope of the house of Orleans. On the other -hand, the Carlist party is still strong in Spain--much stronger, -comparatively speaking, than it was two or three years ago; for it -has clung together and preserved its integrity, whilst other parties -have split and become dismembered. And although the bulk of the -Spanish people may be less anxious to get any one man, or set of -men, into power, than to get rid of those who at present so brutally -roughride them; yet the conviction has been gradually gaining -strength that, by character, education, and fair promises, the Count -de Montemolin offers the best guarantees for that firm, impartial, -and just government, under which alone is there a chance of Spain -being raised from her present sunken and unprosperous condition. The -Progresistas, who fiercely hated and fought against the father, rally -round the son, persuaded that from Isabella, so long their idol, they -would in vain look for a realisation of their political programme. Of -their cordial understanding and co-operation with the Carlists there -now can hardly exist a doubt. A very brief retrospect will suffice to -explain its causes and foundation. - -When Louis Philippe completed the job of the Spanish marriages, -the Carlists--who, although grievously stricken and disheartened -by the treaty of Bergara, had never entirely ceased to labour for -the attainment of their one great end--rested upon their arms, -and awaited in comparative inaction the dawn of better days. They -abandoned not hope, nor abjured intrigue; but they may be said to -have ceased, for a while, to conspire. In their fallen state, with -their slender resources, what could they do against the puissant King -of the French? For he it was against whom they must contend, did they -venture to assail the throne of Isabella, and to dispute the rule of -Christina. In England, too, their old enemies, the Whigs, had just -come into power; the name of Palmerston was a sound of ill omen to -Carlist ears; Bilbao and British marines, Passages and Commodore Hay, -were words inseparably coupled, and pregnant with fatal memories -to the upholders of legitimacy in Spain. Supposing that, by dint -of indefatigable exertions, they succeeded in raising funds, in -mustering an army, ill entering Spain sword in hand--forthwith they -were met by that ugly and unnatural monster, the Quadruple Alliance, -waiting, open-mouthed, to blast them to the four winds of heaven. -An attempt, under such circumstances, would have been worse than -useless; it would have been squandering a chance, and the Carlists -had none to throw away. So they waited and watched. Meanwhile, what -did the rulers of Spain--the persons governing behind the mask of -that poor, ill-brought-up, ill-used princess, Isabella? It was -natural to suppose that, having many enemies in the country--many -persons and parties whose ambitions and interests were checked -and thwarted by their ascendency--they would endeavour, as far as -possible, to conciliate and gain over these, or at any rate to secure -the support of the masses, by moderation and good government. A very -moderate amount of this latter, be it observed, would have sufficed -to gain them popularity, and to give stability to their reign. The -nation had endured so much--had suffered so terribly from civil wars, -rebellions, reactions, and the like--that all they expected, almost -all they asked, was to be kicked gently. They dared not think the -screw would be altogether taken off; but, considering the damaged -state of their articulations, they did hope it would be a little -eased. A man who had undergone a course of knout, might look upon -a cat-o'-nine tails as a blessed exchange, and be ready to hug the -drummers who applied it. This was exactly the case with Spain, long -drained by war-contributions and ravaged by contending factions. -From her state of exhaustion and suffering she had not had time to -recover during the honest and conscientious, but brief and too gentle -rule of Espartero. Never was there a finer chance for a party coming -into power than the Christinos or Moderados had, when they seized -the reins. The ball was at their foot, and they had but to pick it -up. Instead of that, they kicked it away. A little of the moderation -their political designation implies--a little, a very little, of -the patriotism and disinterestedness always so loud in their mouths, -and so wanting in their deeds, and they might have won the hearts -of their weary, war-worn countrymen. That moderation--they had it -not, and when vaunting their patriotism they thought only of their -profit. No sooner were they in power than they abandoned themselves -to their vicious instincts, and thought but of filling their pockets. -Christina reverted to her old system of unscrupulous appropriation; -Narvaez, having filled the higher military grades with his creatures, -and made the army his own by pampering and flattery, gave free play -to the unbounded brutality of his nature. Universal corruption became -the order of the day, extending through every administration, from -the minister of the crown down to subalterns and clerks. The revenue, -increasing in the very teeth of Spanish financiers--and which, by -the commonest honesty and the most ordinary amount of ability, might -soon have been rendered sufficient to meet the expenditure of the -country, and the long-neglected claims of the foreign creditor--was -so extravagantly collected, and paid tribute to so many infamous -peculators, that it was hardly recognisable in the reduced form in -which it ultimately reached the treasury. The country groaned, the -honest were indignant, the oppressed murmured, the boldest plotted. -Groans and indignation, murmurs and plots, were alike in vain; alike -they were arbitrarily silenced and crushed. Narvaez and his bayonets -were there, keeping the peace; whilst Christina and her friends, with -smooth and smiling countenances, picked up the doubloons. Quick! a -short shrift and a sharp cartridge for the first who speaks above -his breath. This did for a time, and might have done longer, for -in Spain he who holds the purse holds the power: besides which, -the red breeks of King Louis Philippe's cohorts showed menacingly -along the Pyrenees; and Lord Palmerston, although he had been so -scurvily treated in the matter of the marriages, might still, it was -thought, be induced, in case of need, to send a frigate or two, and a -battalion of marines, to protect his old ally Christina, should any -serious rebellion break out. But one morning the Parisians turned -their king out of his house; and the day afterwards, the Spanish -government, whilst labouring under delirium of some kind, ejected -Mr Bulwer from his; thus throwing, as the saying goes, the haft -after the blade, quarrelling with England at the very moment they -most needed her assistance, and remaining exposed, without hope of -succour, to the assaults and machinations of their numerous enemies. -Whereupon there was an immediate cocking of every Carlist beaver in -or out of Spain. The old chiefs, who for six years had starved and -struggled in the cause of their king, (succumbing finally before a -general's treachery rather than to the arms of their foes,) looked -out from the nooks where they long had rusted in retirement or exile, -and more than one was heard, in the words of the old Jacobite song, - - To shout to the north, where his leader shall roam-- - 'Tis time now for Charlie, our king, to come home. - -There was a like stir amongst the Progresistas, who were being -hanged, banished and imprisoned by the score, on account of revolts -and disturbances in which they had less share than the secret agents -of their persecutors. Either from presumptuous confidence in their -own strength, or because they deemed they had gone too far to recede, -and that it was too late to adopt a conciliatory policy, the clever -gentlemen in power at Madrid, not content with reviving, by their -insane foreign policy, the hopes of two powerful and hostile parties, -continued to increase the number of their domestic enemies by -persevering in a system of tyranny and persecution. The consequence -has been a coalition from which they have every thing to dread--a -coalition which has been denied by those interested to place it in -doubt, but whose existence each succeeding day renders more manifest. - -It may be asked how it is possible for stanch absolutists, such as -the Carlists have always been, to coalesce with men of such liberal -principles as the Progresistas profess. This question is replied -to in three words. When he accepted his father's renunciation in -his favour of his claims upon the crown of Spain, Count Montemolin -did not bind himself to adhere to his father's prejudices, or to -the less tolerant part of his political creed. During nine years' -detention and exile, the young prince, whose adherents claim for him -the rights and title of Charles VI. of Spain, has doubtless become -convinced of the impossibility of ever bringing back the country he -aspires to reign over to the old system of irresponsible absolutism -and priestly tyranny,--a system rendered especially odious by the -weakness and vices of the two last monarchs who governed by it. -The Progresistas, on their part, desire no exclusive favour, no -monopoly of power: compelled to withdraw their support from her they -once enthusiastically defended, they have no other candidate to put -forward. Don Enrique, in whom they once were disposed to confide, -basely sold and betrayed them; and as to Espartero, whose ambition -has been the subject of such fierce diatribes on the part of the -ignorant and the malicious, both in Spain and in England--the idea -of his aspiring to regal power appears too ridiculous, to those -acquainted with his simple tastes and unobtrusive worth, to be for an -instant dwelt upon and seriously refuted. No; all the Progresistas -ask is a free press, elections conducted without bribery or bayonets, -security for persons and property. Do one of these things exist in -Spain now? Let facts reply. We read the answer in the suppression or -silence of every Opposition newspaper; in the packed benches of the -Cortes; in the imprisonment, banishment, and confiscation, without -stated accusation or form of trial, of hundreds of innocent persons. -From this tyranny, than which none can be worse, the Count de -Montemolin promises relief. The Progresistas accept his pledge, and -rally round his standard. - -The Madrid government, which, since the commencement of the present -year, has constantly provoked petty disturbances, as pretexts for -arbitrarily consigning to the dungeon or the colonies as many as -possible of those they dislike or fear, now find themselves face to -face with a real insurrection of most formidable aspect. They have -cried wolf till the wolf has come, and they run considerable risk -of being devoured. In vain they deny their peril, affect to bluster -and talk big; their real alarm peeps through the flimsy cloak of -bravado. A government confident of its strength, and of the support -and sympathies of the governed, does not condescend to treat and -tamper with rebels. If the insurgents be so contemptible in numbers -and resources as the organs of Narvaez and the Queen-mother daily -assert them to be, why not crush them at once, instead of attempting -to buy over their chiefs, who, on their part, pocket the bribes and -laugh at their seducers? If Cabrera, for weeks together, lay sick -and bedridden in a Catalonian village, why was not a detachment, -or, if necessary, a division, sent to apprehend him? Such flimsy -impostures deceive no one. The truth is, that, with the exception -of a few fortified places, the east of Spain is in the hands of the -Carlists and Progresistas, who come up to the walls of the cities -and levy contributions at the very gates. The north only waits the -signal to burst into revolt; in the Castiles alarming demonstrations -are daily made, and armed bands show themselves on various points; in -the large commercial towns in the south, whose desire for a revision -of the present absurd Spanish tariff renders them ardent liberals, -discontent smoulders, and in an instant may burst into a flame. There -are Andalusian cities where the appearance of Espartero, or of some -other popular and influential Progresista, would at once raise the -entire population. At present, however, the revolt is in its infancy, -and can hardly be said to have begun. Its chiefs avoid encounters, -and busy themselves with organisation--which proceeds rapidly, in -spite of the marches and countermarches of Messrs Cordova, Pavia, -Villalonga, and the other Christino generals, and of the glorious -victories narrated in the columns of the _Heraldo_ and other equally -veracious journals. According to these, Cabrera has already been -several times totally routed and driven over the frontier. We have -strong grounds for believing that, up to this moment,--although -his lieutenants have been engaged in small affrays, of little or no -importance, but terminating, with scarcely an exception, in their -favour--he himself has not smelt powder, burned in anger, since he -left Spain in 1840. He waits the proper moment, when his arrangements -shall be completed, to commence operations upon a large scale; and -meanwhile he very judiciously avoids frittering away his strength in -profitless skirmishes. By the last advices worthy of credit, he is at -the head of six thousand men, well armed and uniformed, and nearly -all old soldiers, in high spirits and thorough discipline. This force -does not include the numerous detached and irregular bands spread -over Catalonia and Valencia, or various bodies of Progresistas, who -march under their own banner, but are on the best of terms with -the Carlists, and will co-operate with them in the day of battle. -Arms and ammunition are procured without difficulty from France -and England. The French Republic has its hands too full to attend -seriously to such trifles. Although General Cavaignac, to get rid -of the importunities of that blatant knave Sotomayor, did order the -arrest of a brace of unlucky Progresistas, there is little chance of -his carrying out the preventive system to a rigorous extent, or of -his depriving the starving French manufacturers of the crust they may -obtain by fabricating arms and clothing for the Carlist troops. As -to England, she is, of course, in no way called upon to prevent the -export of Birmingham muskets and Hounslow cartridges, even should she -suspect their destination to be different from that entered at the -custom-house. Indeed, it is shrewdly suspected that Lord Palmerston -would like nothing better than to see his quondam friends ejected -from Spain, and to resume amicable relations with that country by -accrediting an ambassador to the court of Charles VI. - -It is worthy of remark that Cabrera, who made himself so -notorious, during the last civil war in Spain, by his barbarous -cruelties--provoked, but not justified, by his mother's -murder--appears now to have adopted a totally different system, -and to have exchanged his ferocity for moderation and humanity. We -hear of no more cold-blooded shooting of prisoners, or wanton and -unprovoked aggressions; Christino soldiers who have fallen into his -hands, or into those of his subordinates, have been disarmed and -set at liberty; good treatment has been shown to magistrates and -other officials, carried off as hostages or held for ransom. The -contributions levied on the country have been regularised, and are -willingly paid; the peasantry receive the insurgents as liberators, -instead of shunning them as spoilers. Furious at this state of -things, which they can neither alter nor conceal, the Christinos -know not how to show their wrath, or on whom to wreak it; and the -means they resort to for the expression of their spite are perfectly -suicidal. The unfortunate _Constitucional_ of Barcelona, one of -the few remaining papers in Spain which now and then venture to -speak the truth, is arbitrarily suppressed for drawing a faithful -picture of the state of the province; whilst the very next day one -of the government generals confirms the truth of the sketch, and the -disaffection of the peasants, by enforcing the premature gathering -in of the fruits of the earth, to rot and perish in store, and by -forbidding the labourer to carry to the field more than six ounces -of food, lest he should sell or give it to the Carlists--annexing to -these stringent enactments others equally onerous and tyrannical. -All this time, at Madrid and in other cities, arrests continue; and -every day fresh victims are consigned to Ceuta, the Philippines, or -the prisons, their relatives and friends being thenceforward added to -the host of the disaffected. Why, this is stark-staring madness!--the -insanity, preceding perdition, with which God afflicts those he would -destroy. To discomfiture and destruction, total and lasting, the -party still dominant in Spain are to all appearance hastening. None -will pity their fall. They will be condemned not only by all just -men, but by the most reckless advocates of political expediency; -for they have been blind to their own true interests, as well as -unblushingly contemptuous of every principle of morality and good -government. - - - - -CONSERVATIVE UNION. - - -No private calamity which has occurred for years has so startled -the mind of England as the withdrawal of Lord George Bentinck from -the scene of his useful labours. In the prime of life, in the full -possession of a vigorous and masculine intellect, at the head of -a large and increasing political party, who revered him for his -unsullied honour, and loved him for his undaunted courage, he has -been taken from us by one of those mysterious visitations which are -sent as a token that the destinies of the world are indeed in the -hands of God. Short as was his public career, he had won for himself -a name which will not lightly die away in the history of his country, -and his memory will be cherished among us as that of a man who had -the welfare of Britain thoroughly at heart; and who, in an age of -degenerate and vacillating statesmanship, had the firmness to tear -off the mask from the features of hypocrisy, and to expose the awful -consequences of that culpable race for power which has effected the -partial disorganisation of this great and once prosperous empire. - -The loss of such a man at such a time is indeed far more a public -than a private calamity. As such, it has been felt throughout the -realm by thousands who understood the true position of Bentinck as -the champion of native industry, and the utter uncompromising foe of -that selfish and sordid system which seeks to aggrandise the few at -the cost of the labouring many. A large proportion even of those who -originally yielded to the deleterious doctrines of the free-traders, -but who, through sad and wholesome experience, had become alive -to the folly and iniquity of the modern scheme, were gathering -confidence from his unremitting exertions, and preparing to rank -themselves by his side. In him the British colonies have lost their -firmest friend and advocate. The noble struggle which he made this -year in behalf of the oppressed and defrauded West Indian planters, -was, in the opinion of many who knew him well, the proximate cause of -his death; for a similar amount of physical and intellectual labour -has hardly ever been undertaken even by a professional man, and never -without the imminent risk of shattering the constitution. - -We should ill perform our duty to the public, and to the -constitutional party whose cause we have undeviatingly supported, -if we omitted to take this last sad opportunity of testifying our -respect for the memory of so valuable a man. The tendency of the -present age is to estimate merit by success, and to offer its sole -homage to the winner of the desperate game. But those who look deeper -into the secret springs of human action and impulse, can hardly fail -to recognise in Bentinck a character invested with that rare chivalry -and devotion which, by common consent, we accept as the attribute of -our purest patriots and heroes. Chicanery, deceit, and falsehood were -utterly abhorrent to his mind. He had no taste for those state tricks -which have superseded the old manly English method, and no sympathy -for those who used them. He went into the arena of politics as a -soldier might go to battle, confident in the integrity and justice -of the cause in which he was engaged, and determined to maintain it -to the last against any weight of opposition. It was this resolute -and undaunted spirit which at once raised him from comparative -obscurity to the rank of a great parliamentary leader; for those who -co-operated with him knew well that they were dealing with a man -superior to all intrigue, and ready to lay down his life rather than -infringe, in the slightest degree, on the pledge which he had offered -to his country. - -We have no hesitation in saying this, because we are certain that no -one will question the sincerity of our conviction. During the last -two years, and almost without intermission, we have been compelled to -devote a large portion of our space to the consideration of public -questions, and of the political difficulties of the time. On more -than one point our views were seriously opposed to those entertained -and advocated by Lord George Bentinck; nor have we concealed our -opinion that his tactics, however bold, were not the best adapted -for accomplishing the object which we have most warmly at heart, the -reconstitution of the Conservative party upon such clear and defined -principles as may rescue the country from its present perilous -position. - -We feel that the necessity of such a union is so plain and -urgent--that the danger of allowing the affairs of Britain to be -longer administered by a feeble but stubborn ministry has been so -clearly demonstrated--that we cannot any longer afford to remain -inactive, or to indulge in idle recrimination. The safety of the -country peremptorily demands the adoption of a different policy, and -the resumption of the reins of government by hands that are capable -of holding them. It is for the gentlemen of England to decide whether -they shall adopt such a course by uniting cordially hand and heart -to retrieve us from our present embarrassments, or sit idly by as -mere spectators of a fatal course of legislation. The present crisis -is by far too serious to be viewed with indifference, or through the -coloured glass of obsolete party interest. The welfare of the empire -is at stake, and that is a subject with which none of us can dare to -dally. - -What are the differences which at present separate one section of -the Conservatives from the other? They resolve themselves simply -into the adhesion of a few talented, but we must say obstinate men, -to a leader whose tortuous policy has been the main cause of our -present unhappy position. We have no wish to say hard things even of -Sir Robert Peel. We believe, and devoutly hope, that his reign of -office is over, and that no combination of circumstances may occur -to bring him back, even for the shortest period, into power; and, -believing and hoping this, we are content to let him alone, and leave -him to the judgment of that posterity which he is so peculiarly -prone to invoke. But we ask those who have clung with such extreme -tenacity to his cause, seriously to view the effect of the late -legislative measures upon the community at large--to consider how -far the result of the free-trade scheme has corresponded with the -nature of its promise--and to reflect upon the present precarious -state of our oldest and most valuable dependencies. We blame no -one for having entertained an opinion conscientiously differing -from our own. There may not be any disgrace in having, consented -to an experiment which, when put into practice, has resulted in an -absolute failure; but there is disgrace, ay, and infinite dishonour, -in refusing to acknowledge an error when its consequences are made -palpably manifest, and in persisting to gloss it over for the sake of -an egotistical consistency. We do not believe that high-minded and -honourable men will be guilty of such vain and frivolous conduct; and -it is in that belief that we make our present most urgent appeal. - -Look at the effect of our present free-trade laws, not only upon -the revenue, but upon the internal industry of Britain. Is it not -clear and utterly beyond dispute, that our exports, for which we -have sacrificed every thing, are greatly on the decline, and that -our imports are steadily increasing? Not even the merest tyro in -political science,--not even the dullest dolt that clamoured at -the meetings of the League,--will venture to affirm that this is a -state of things which can continue without entailing ruin on the -country; and yet the Whigs, with that insensibility and sottishness -which is as much their characteristic as obstinacy, have announced -for next session their intention of pushing the experiment further! -For a year, we have had no budget, a circumstance entirely without -a parallel in parliamentary history. The excess of the national -expenditure above the revenue has been stated at the enormous sum -of a million and a half, though we believe that in reality three -millions would not cover the deficiency; and a considerable item even -of that revenue is to be cut off from us, when the act repealing -the corn law shall come into full operation. We cannot look for any -improvement in trade whilst we leave our markets open to the produce -of foreign labour, and allow the wealthy classes to be supplied -with almost all their articles of consumption from an unremunerating -source. We must again look to the customs as our main source of -revenue, and more than that, as our absolute salvation from the -anarchy which must ensue, if the hundred small non-exporting trades -of the country are to be sacrificed for the monopoly of the few, and -the millions engaged in these pursuits made beggars and driven to -desperation. - -And what is the state of the monopoly? How have the manufacturers -gained? Let FOUR MILLIONS of diminished exports _on the half year_ -only, and the suppression of the Manchester return of the number of -unemployed operatives in the very metropolis of the League, be the -reply. Yes--it has come to this pass, that the free-traders DARE -not publish to the world the results of their own madness. In the -month of June last, there were within a fraction of EIGHT THOUSAND -workmen without employment in Manchester alone, and the numbers were -increasing so fast, that it was deemed expedient to discontinue -the startling return. How can we be surprised that Chartism and -disaffection are rankling in men's minds, when we take such -deliberate pains to make them paupers? - -We are told that the state of the Continent is such that our export -market is impeded. Let us for the moment admit that such is the -case, and let us see what sort of argument that furnishes for the -continuance of the present system. Is it deliberately proposed that -we are to remain with our ports open, until France and Germany, and -Spain and Italy, are tranquillised? Are the prophets of peace still -so sanguine of the speedy realisation of their visions? Are we to -wait for years--with an increasing debt, a diminished revenue, and -still further stagnation of employment--until our brethren on the -other side of the Channel have reconciled their jarring theories of -Red Republics and of unity, adjusted their boundaries, and again -betaken themselves to the arts of peace? Our own constitution may -well be shattered before that consummation can arrive! But the truth -is, that, in many respects, the Continental disturbances are not -unfavourable to our export trade. If, on the one hand, they have -occasioned a less degree of consumption; on the other, they have -paralysed industry and depreciated capital abroad. Belgium, it is -true, is a formidable competitor for our staples in the foreign -market; but, notwithstanding, we do not expect any serious diminution -in this branch of our foreign trade. The evil of which we complain -is chronic, and it has not been caused by any sudden or violent -convulsions. - -It is to our colonies that we must look for the cause of our -diminished exports. It was our paramount duty and obligation to -have fostered these, and to have made them, by a wise system of -reciprocity, at once the best supporters of our power, and the most -sure and steady consumers of our manufactured produce. We have done -nothing of this. On the contrary, the course which we have thought -proper to pursue towards those integral portions of the empire has -been marked by tyranny and injustice. We have ruined the West Indies, -and yet we wonder why they do not consume our cottons! Our weak and -ridiculous legislation, without foresight and without principle, -has not only retarded the progress of the colonies, but absolutely -frightened them out of our market; and unless a very different system -is speedily adopted, we may have bitter occasion to rue our folly, -and to curse the selfishness of the men who, from mere lust of -personal power, have sacrificed the best interests of the nation. - -How, then, have the manufacturers gained by free trade? On the one -hand, they have not been able, by inviting and giving every facility -to imports, to increase the quantity of their export; on the other, -they have closed up several of their surest markets. The full extent -of our egregious folly has not yet become visible to the public. The -manufacturers, by a sort of retributive justice, are the persons -who are feeling it the most, and ere long they will be compelled to -acknowledge it. It is seriously affecting the trade and commerce -of our greatest cities. The number of vessels which have cleared -out of the Clyde from the port of Glasgow during the last nine -months, is in the proportion of 382 to 602 for the same period in -the previous year! Glasgow, as every one knows, owed its rise and -opulence to its connexion with the colonies, more especially the West -Indies; and here is the heaviest blow which probably was ever heard -of in the history of commerce, struck, through free trade, at the -second city of Britain. It is good that we should know these things; -better if, by revolving them, we can turn experience to advantage. -Let the electors throughout the kingdom, more especially in the -towns, meditate seriously before they are again called on to use -their political franchise; let them reflect on their own diminished -prosperity, and beware of that hollow liberalism combined with -quackery which is the stain and the curse of the age. - -To this position we have been brought by a bad commercial policy, -originated by mean and mercenary men, and most unhappily adopted -by a minister who became a convert towards the close of a long -official life. We have seen and felt the system as it works; and -the only question now for our consideration is, whether we are to -suffer it to endure? If we do so, it is vain to deny that we are on -the verge of general ruin. There is not a symptom of improvement. -Day by day the cry of distress waxes louder, and yet we hesitate to -take the necessary steps for effecting our own emancipation. There -is hardly one man in the country--the bailie of Blairgowrie perhaps -excepted--who can have, or feels, the slightest confidence in the -abilities of Lord John Russell. Such a cabinet as this, in point of -political decrepitude and imbecility, was never yet formed; and it -could not live for an hour save for the unseemly dissensions in the -Conservative camp. These cannot be permitted to last. There is no -merit in personal devotion when pushed beyond its proper sphere; and -the best service which Sir Robert Peel can render to his sovereign, -is utterly to abjure all pretension of ever returning to power. -Surely he can have no wish to head a reactionary movement, or expose -himself to the obloquy of recanting the last edition of his views. - -There is another reason why the Conservatives are imperatively called -upon to unite. Recent disclosures of a very startling nature have -forced upon us the conviction, that the Whigs are worse than weak, -and that they cannot be depended on as steadfast guardians of the -crown. There is more in the famous letter written by Mr Thomas Young, -formerly private secretary to Lord Melbourne, than meets the eye. -We attach no undue importance to this epistle--we shall not stoop -so low as to examine the motives and intention of its author. His -own attempted explanation is, if possible, more damning than the -treasonable missive itself. We could only, were we to exhaust our -whole powers of illustration, repeat what has been already stated -in the masterly article of the _Standard_. It is as clear as day, -that at the time of the passing of the Reform Bill, the underlings -of the Whig administration were cognisant of a hideous project for a -violent and bloody revolution, and that, to take the mildest point -of view, they concealed that knowledge from their masters. Franks -were obtained _from the Home Office_, for the purpose of suborning -the loyalty of at least one officer, high in his Majesty's service, -and proposing to him the odious part of a leader in a popular -insurrection. Whether that letter, written as it probably was in -the fullest confidence, ought or ought not to have seen the light, -especially after the lapse of so many years, is a matter with which -we have no concern. That is a question which is only personal to -Mr Young and his correspondent; but we have the document, and the -whole nation is entitled to inquire into its tenor. And never, upon -any accusation of so grave a nature, was a more miserable defence -preferred. In fact there can be, and there is, no escape from the -legitimate conclusion. At that time a section of the Whigs were -ready, for the sake of carrying their own scheme, not only to have -connived at, but to have lent their whole influence to a popular -outbreak and rising, which might, in all human probability, have been -subversive of the constitution of the country. Lord Melbourne might -not have known of that letter: we go farther, and state our positive -opinion that he was utterly ignorant of its existence, because, -however we may have differed from him in politics, he is a man whose -personal honour and loyalty have always been free from a stain. We -believe--and are glad in stating it--that he was utterly ignorant -of the vile treason which was hatching in his own department; but -we shall not extend the same shelter of belief to others of his -unpatriotic party. That treason was meditated is plain; and very -thankful shall we be if the higher order of the Whigs shall take the -pains, by disavowing and repudiating the acts of their subordinates, -and by withdrawing from those implicated the unmerited rewards -of their sedition, to clear themselves from the heavy suspicion -which this document undoubtedly affixes on their loyalty. It is a -disclosure too grave to be met with a light explanation. The fact of -meditated treason, known to Whig officials, has transpired, and we -are entitled to know how far upwards the rank contagion had spread. - -That letter, apart from its historical value, is important at the -present moment, inasmuch as we think that no one can peruse it -without feeling convinced that, in any struggle for power, the Whigs -would have no scruple in sacrificing principle to their interest. -They have done so already repeatedly, and their tactics have always -been to retain or recover office by making large concessions to -the demands of the Radical or the Irish party. We are not without -apprehension that they are, even now, contemplating some move of a -similar nature, to be made during the ensuing session of Parliament, -for the purpose of retrieving some portion of their lost popularity. -The Radical party have openly threatened to withdraw their support -from the ministry unless some increase of the suffrage shall be -granted; and an agitation to that effect would be particularly -palatable to the free-traders, as it might tend, in some degree, -to draw public attention from the utter failure of their schemes. -Any movement, in such a direction, would be followed by the most -disastrous consequences. A further infusion of the popular element -into the House of Commons, would simply lead to greater encroachments -on the constitution, more reckless experiments upon the stability -of our trade and commerce, and more culpable bidding by ministries -for popularity in every shape. Where is to be the end of such an -agitation--unless, indeed, we were to follow the notable examples -of France and Germany, and adopt universal suffrage--if, on each -occasion when the country is suffering under the pressure of noxious -laws, no mode of relief can be suggested, save through an extension -of the Reform Bill? We should have thought that the success of the -first experiment was not quite so conspicuous as to invite another -of the same nature. The impudence of the Radical faction is really -almost incredible. Mr Cobden and his confederates have got free -trade, from the effects of which we are presently languishing; and -they now propose to revive our spirits and replenish our purses by -stocking the House of Commons with an additional importation of men -of precisely the same caste and opinions as their own! We suspect -that the funds would scarce be lively if the country were assured -that forty Brights, instead of one, were seated in our National -Assembly. - -We therefore again implore the Conservatives to unite without loss -of time, since in their hands alone can we have a thorough guarantee -for the safety of the crown, the stability of the national churches, -and for the integrity of the constitution. Let all lukewarmness, all -promptings of personal ambition, all latent rancour, and all absurd -and unreciprocated confidence, be given to the winds at once; and let -us seriously and diligently apply ourselves to the task of recalling -to Britain and her colonies that measure of prosperity which we -possessed before evil counsels prevailed, and which, even now, is not -beyond our power to recall. The industrious classes of the community, -impoverished and straitened as they have been, have a right to this -service from the high-minded gentlemen of England. The power and the -ability are with us, if we only testify the disposition; and surely -it is madness to remain at idle feud while the enemy are visible at -the gate. - -These remarks are not based upon mere speculation. We are well -assured that, during the last few months, much progress has -been made towards a thorough fusion of the two sections of the -Conservative party, upon clear and common grounds. All difficulties -would by this time probably have been removed, but for the scruples -of two or three gentlemen who are supposed to possess the private -confidence of Sir Robert Peel, and who have hitherto identified -themselves with his fortunes. Now, as it must be perfectly apparent -to any man of common reflection, that the bulk of the Conservatives -never can, under any circumstances, consent to act under the -leadership of Peel; as he himself has, over and over again, publicly -stated that no motive or consideration would induce him to return -to power--it is absolutely incomprehensible to us how such scruples -can exist in the minds of the individuals to whom we allude, if -they really believe in the sincerity of this last declaration of -their leader. No one wants him to take office, and he says that -he will not accept it. So far all are agreed. If we believed that -any one of these distinguished and honourable men is convinced -that the commercial policy of the last three years has been wise -and sound, and that, with any amount of trial, it can terminate -otherwise than fatally for the interests of the country, we should -have no right to address them upon a subject so momentous as this, -and certainly no desire for one moment to gain their co-operation. -But we can very well distinguish betwixt a feeling of strong -attachment to an individual whose talents they have been accustomed -to respect, but whose views they have only partially penetrated, -and a settled conviction in the soundness of the policy which it -has been his destiny to originate. We believe that, hitherto, the -former sentiment, and not the latter one, must be taken as the true -explanation of their conduct--that they are unwilling to abandon -the man, although they have lost their faith in the efficacy of his -measures. Now, if this be the case, how can they justify themselves -for opposing, upon such slender grounds, the reconstruction of the -Conservative party? They must be well aware that Sir Robert Peel has -forfeited for ever the confidence of a large majority of those who, -a few years ago, were his most steadfast and faithful followers, -and that far more through his own deliberate acknowledgment of -double-dealing, than from a mere change of opinion upon any one -point of commercial policy, however important it might appear. It -may be the misfortune of Peel, rather than his fault, that he cannot -estimate the proper value of plain manly confidence and unshrinking -candour; that he has invariably declined the straight for the -crooked path; and that an excess of ingenuity--a vast misfortune -for a statesman--has tempted him to meddle, repeatedly and almost -incessantly, with interests far too important to be approached except -with extreme deliberation. These are the considerations which must -preclude him from being restored to his former rank as leader of the -great Conservative party; and we notice them now, not as matter of -blame to him, but in explanation of the general feeling. And we go -further than this. We say that, in order to render the Conservative -union enduring, it will be absolutely necessary to reconstruct the -party upon clear, avowed, solid, and proclaimed principles, so that -no doubt whatever may be left as to the course which in future is to -be pursued. Instead of that shifting and wavering policy which has -paralysed our colonies, terrified our merchants, and depressed the -money market, we must resolve upon a definite plan for the future, -which shall restore confidence, and secure us, so far as may be, -against the recurrence of similar disasters. We must also determine -whether the present currency laws are to be maintained, or whether -they shall undergo such alterations as shall prevent them from -aggravating the pressure in circumstances of unforeseen difficulty. -On all these points Sir Robert Peel stands strongly and unfortunately -committed. Even since he has been in opposition, he has shown no -symptoms of the slightest relaxation of his last adopted ideas; and -it is quite impossible for us to forget that, through his influence, -the Whigs were enabled to carry that bill which is universally -acknowledged to be the death-warrant of our West Indian colonies. -Under these circumstances, the devotion of his few adherents is not -only an act of Quixotry, but a serious injury to the party which has -a right to expect their services and their aid; and, however much we -may respect the talents of the gentlemen to whom we have alluded, we -must tell them that the period for a definite selection has arrived, -and that, by standing in the way of Conservative reconciliation and -union, they are not performing their proper duty either to their -country or their Queen. - -With such financiers as Goulburn and Herries in the Commons,--with -such eminent statesmen as Lords Stanley, Lyndhurst, and Aberdeen in -the House of Peers,--there can be no doubt of the strength and the -success of the Conservative party if once more thoroughly united. -We have always regarded the unfortunate division as one of the most -serious disasters that ever befell the country, not only because it -destroyed the cohesion and severed the councils of a body which, -under any circumstances, would have been strong enough to keep both -the Whigs and the Radicals in check, but also because it engendered -much apathy and some disgust amongst men who were the most valuable -supporters of Conservative principles, and who, in consequence, -ceased for a time to take any active interest in public affairs. The -unseemly election contests which repeatedly took place in England, -between parties mutually designating themselves Protectionists and -Peelites,--sometimes terminating in the defeat of both, or in the -triumph, through their idle rivalry, of a liberal candidate, who -otherwise never could have succeeded--did a great deal to widen the -breach, and to lessen the mass of the opposition; and we revert with -considerable pride and satisfaction to the fact, that in Scotland no -such unnatural dissension was exhibited, but that men belonging to -every shade of Conservatism were eager to act in concert, whenever a -candidate appeared. We can make allowance for some exasperation on -both sides, under such very peculiar and novel circumstances; but we -hope that we have seen the last of these discreditable and weakening -contests. - -Let, then, the short period which is left between the present time -and the reassembling of Parliament be employed by all the friends -of the old Conservative cause for the promotion of union, and the -establishment of a thoroughly good understanding amongst ourselves. -Let all former causes of offence be cordially forgiven: let us -consider what we are to do, and whom we are to follow; and, these -dispositions made, let them be adhered to with integrity and honour. -The Whig faction is utterly effete and incapable of maintaining -its ground. The free-traders stand before the nation as detected -charlatans and impostors. There is no enemy to fear, if we only go -on boldly and do our duty. But if we hesitate and hang back at the -present crisis, and decline to assume a position which might soon -enable us to apply an effectual remedy to the most pressing disorders -of the country, can we be surprised if the masses, irritated and -provoked, seeing no one great party in the state ready to come to -their assistance, should begin to clamour for organic changes; or if -the colonies, weary of their suffering, and despairing of sympathy, -should question the worth of the bonds which bind them to the mother -country? - -Thus far we have thought it our duty to speak in all sincerity and -plainness. We know well that these sentiments are far from being -confined to ourselves. We feel assured that many of the wisest and -best men who ever adorned her Majesty's councils, or those of her -royal predecessors, are deeply desirous that the present anomalous -state of party should be corrected, and unwholesome separation be -superseded by cordial union. This, we firmly believe, could be -effected without any sacrifice of principle, and the sooner it is -accomplished the better. - -There is but one topic more to which we would fain allude before -concluding the present article. The late rebellious outbreaks in -Ireland seem, in certain quarters, to have revived the notion of the -expediency of a state endowment of the Roman Catholic priesthood. -We place very little faith in the sincerity of an announcement -which some time ago was put forth, on hierarchical authority, in -the public prints, to the effect that, even were such an endowment -to be offered, it would be peremptorily and indignantly refused. -But, sincere or not, that statement may serve as an answer to the -writer in the last Number of the _Quarterly Review_, who supports -the endowment scheme with an unction which we were certainly not -prepared to expect. His argument, from first to last, implies the -same unhappy yielding to agitation and terrorism, which, when applied -to civil matters, has ended in open rebellion, and which, if applied -to ecclesiastical affairs, would infallibly result in the total -overthrow and annihilation of the Protestant Church in Ireland. Does -he really believe that--to assume no argument of a graver nature--the -people of Great Britain will be ready, in the present desperate state -of their finances, to submit to additional taxation for the purpose -of establishing, in permanent comfort, the true instigators of the -disturbances which have caused us so much anxiety and pain? Why, if -such endowment can be vindicated upon any intelligible principle, is -it to be confined to the Roman Catholic clergy of Ireland alone, and -not extended to the dissenting denominations throughout the width -and breadth of the land? On what plea could the Free and Episcopal -churches in Scotland, or the Wesleyan Methodists of England, be -excluded, if such a proposition were for a moment to be seriously -maintained? The reviewer professes to reject, _in toto_, any idea -of the confiscation of existing church property, and therefore he -must fall back, as his sole resource, upon government endowment, -which means simply a new tax on the people of Great Britain, for the -benefit of Ireland--a country which is already exempted from her -share of our heaviest burdens, and annually receiving eleemosynary -aid to an amount which has grievously contributed to increase our -late monetary pressure. It may be that some such project is in -contemplation, for we never have been able to comprehend, without -some such motive as this, the extraordinary anxiety exhibited by -the present Whig government in carrying through their bill for -the establishment of Diplomatic relations with Rome, at the very -moment when the last fragment of temporal power was passing from the -hands of the Pope. But whether this be so or not--whether this is a -mere private crotchet, or a prepared scheme, to come forth in due -season--we are perfectly satisfied that it will be met throughout -the country with a righteous storm of indignation. The Protestantism -of Britain has been its strength and its glory; and it was only when -called upon to choose between that sacred principle and the hardly -less revered one of loyalty, that our forefathers thought themselves -justified in summoning an alien to the British throne. What cost us -then both tears and blood is an operating principle now; and if, -through the grace of God, we have seen order maintained and rebellion -crushed at home, at a period when half of Europe is plunged in the -horrors of anarchy, we do not fear the charge of bigotry, if we -attribute our preservation as much to the religious establishments -of the land, as to the free institutions which Protestantism has -enabled us to maintain. Loyalty is not a thing to be bought: it is a -spontaneous feeling, unpurchaseable at any price; and if the Irish -Catholic clergy have it not now, the most liberal endowment will work -no change in their political feelings. - -One of the arguments most commonly urged by those who advocate this -system of endowment, is, we think, both erroneous in its assumption -and weak in its application. They maintain that the Catholic clergy, -if in the pay of the state, would have less power over the peasantry -of Ireland than at present. Is that altogether a state of matters -which it would be desirable to bring about? Would it be well to sap -the influence of this moral police? There is not a Roman Catholic -priest in Ireland at this moment who does not know, that were he to -give open countenance to rebellion, he would not only be amenable -to the laws of his country, but, under a firm executive government, -would be selected as the earliest example. The situation of Ireland -is such, that we can never calculate upon the loyalty of a large -portion of its population. Centuries have rolled by, and still -the Celtic race persist in being aliens from our own. We cannot -tame them, cannot cultivate them, cannot win their hearts by any -imaginable sacrifice. They persist in their cry of Ireland for -the Irish, and will not see that the thing is as impossible as the -re-establishment of the Saxon heptarchy, and, were it possible, -would be tantamount to delivering them over to the horrors of a -barbarian war. It is no use disguising the fact--we must deal with -men as they are; and who can doubt that there does exist a great -amount of rooted disaffection among the peasantry of Ireland? And -now it is seriously proposed to cure that disaffection, by taking -means calculated to weaken the influence of the priesthood over the -peasantry! In other words, to give up the only hostages we hold, and -leave the most turbulent and uneducated population of Europe, freed -even from religious control, to be worked up to frenzy by the first -lay demagogue who has the art to make them believe that treason is a -synonymous term with patriotism. Even worldly wisdom would repudiate -such a surrender, and the argument is so weak, that it bears with it -its own refutation. - -We have gained nothing whatever by tampering with Roman Catholicism -in Ireland. Neither the moral nor the social condition of the people -has been improved thereby; on the contrary, each successive step -towards conciliation has been met by augmented turbulence. We cannot -afford to push the experiment farther; and surely it would be a -strange thing, if, while the Romish clergy themselves distinctly -repudiate such an arrangement, and refuse to become the stipendiaries -of the British government, any body of men who may be called to the -responsible situation of her Majesty's advisers, should persist in -tendering the obnoxious and repugnant boon: least of all do we expect -that any such proposal can emanate from the Conservatives. We know -that upon this point various opinions have been expressed, and that -Lord George Bentinck was at one time supposed to be not unfavourable -to such a scheme. No man, we firmly believe, ever had the good of -Ireland more thoroughly at heart; and, had his plan for ameliorating -the Irish distress been adopted last year, and the money which was -uselessly squandered, been applied to the construction of permanent -works eminently calculated to open up and develop the resources of -the country, we might ere this time have seen the foundation laid of -a new era of social and industrial prosperity. But the Whig Cabinet, -perverse to the last, could not bring themselves to acknowledge that -the political sagacity of an opponent was greater than their own; -and, therefore the money which we gave with so lavish a hand, has -disappeared without leaving the smallest trace of its employment. -But, in ecclesiastical matters, Lord George Bentinck professed a -latitudinarianism which was not responded to by the great bulk of his -party. They were not disposed to unchristianise the high assembly of -Britain by the introduction of men who openly avowed their denial -of the faith of the Saviour; nor would they consent to put forth -their hands against the ark of the national churches. And therefore -it was that, upon more than one occasion, the Protestant party, -while cheerfully acknowledging the great public services of the late -departed nobleman, did not attempt to conceal that, upon points so -serious as these, there could be no sympathy of opinion between him -and them. - -The single arrow may be easily splintered, but, to use the memorable -words of Genghis-Khan, "So long as the sheaf is bound together in -three places--in love, honesty, and good accord--no man can have -power to grieve us; but, if we be divided from these three places, -that one of us help not the other, we shall be destroyed and brought -to nothing." We recommend the moral contained in the apologue of the -old Asiatic chief to the serious consideration of all men belonging -to the Conservative party; for this they may rely upon, that, not -only is prolonged discord an act of egregious folly, but that any one -who refuses, in the present troublous times, to lend a hand to the -reknitting of the severed tie, cannot, in the estimation of good men, -be considered a friend to his country. And if this be so, what faith -can we repose in him who cut the cords asunder? - - -_Printed by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh._ - - - * * * * * - -Transcriber's Notes: - -Obvious typographical errors were repaired, but valid archaic -spellings were retained. - -Hyphenation variants have been standardized. - -P. 570, "summons to a sick funnel": original read "sick funuel." - -P. 612, "and looking on the vigorous and growing": original showed -"oking" with extra space before it. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume -64, No. 397, November 1848, by Various - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, NOV 1848 *** - -***** This file should be named 43225-8.txt or 43225-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/2/2/43225/ - -Produced by Brendan OConnor, JoAnn Greenwood, Jonathan -Ingram and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Library of Early -Journals.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project -Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you -charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you -do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the -rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose -such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and -research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do -practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is -subject to the trademark license, especially commercial -redistribution. - - - -*** START: FULL LICENSE *** - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project -Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at - www.gutenberg.org/license. - - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy -all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. -If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the -terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or -entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement -and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" -or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the -collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an -individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are -located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from -copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative -works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg -are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project -Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by -freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of -this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with -the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by -keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project -Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in -a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check -the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement -before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or -creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project -Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning -the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United -States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate -access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently -whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, -copied or distributed: - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived -from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is -posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied -and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees -or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work -with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the -work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 -through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the -Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or -1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional -terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked -to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the -permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any -word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or -distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than -"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version -posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), -you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a -copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon -request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other -form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided -that - -- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is - owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he - has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the - Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments - must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you - prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax - returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and - sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the - address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to - the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." - -- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or - destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium - and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of - Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any - money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days - of receipt of the work. - -- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set -forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from -both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael -Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the -Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm -collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain -"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or -corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual -property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a -computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by -your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with -your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with -the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a -refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity -providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to -receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy -is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further -opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER -WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO -WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. -If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the -law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be -interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by -the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any -provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance -with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, -promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, -harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, -that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do -or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm -work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any -Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. - - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers -including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists -because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from -people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. -To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 -and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive -Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent -permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. -Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered -throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 -North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email -contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the -Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To -SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any -particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. -To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic -works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm -concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared -with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project -Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. -unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |